The Leadership Challenge
James M. Kouzes and Barry Z. Posner · 1987
The Leadership Challenge (1987) is a book by James M. Kouzes and Barry Z. Posner on Core leadership practices. After studying tens of thousands of "personal best" leadership stories, Kouzes and Posner distilled great leadership into five learnable practices anyone can master. This is the evidence-based playbook for earning credibility and making extraordinary things happen with ordinary people.
The classic evidence-based model of the five practices of exemplary leadership.
Three of the ideas you’ll keep
The Clif summary of The Leadership Challenge pulls out 7 insights. Here are the first three.
- Leadership is a set of learnable behaviors, not a personality trait or a title: the same five practices show up in "personal best" stories regardless of industry, culture, gender, or seniority.
- Credibility is the foundation of leadership: people only follow leaders they believe in, and you build it with DWYSYWD: Do What You Say You Will Do. Keep your promises consistently.
- Model the Way: clarify your own values, say them out loud, then live them. What you do speaks louder than what you say, so align your calendar and your reactions with what you claim matters.
The other 4 — and the full 9-minute summary — are in the app.
What’s inside: 8 chapters
The whole summary runs about 9 minutes, read or listened to.
- Leadership Is Learnable: And It's Everyone's Business
- Credibility: The Foundation You Can't Skip
- Practice 1: Model the Way
- Practice 2: Inspire a Shared Vision
- Practice 3: Challenge the Process
- Practice 4: Enable Others to Act
- Practice 5: Encourage the Heart
- Putting It Together: The Leader's Legacy
Finish The Leadership Challenge tonight.
Read or listen to the full summary in about 9 minutes, then keep the ideas with a minute of review a day. Start with the 2-minute quiz — no card required.
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