Celebrating 25 Years of The Leadership Challenge: The Bestselling Book That Has Changed the Way People Lead

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1 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Helena Brantley Red Pencil PR + Marketing or HelenaBrantley@RedPencilPR.com Celebrating 25 Years of The Leadership Challenge: The Bestselling Book That Has Changed the Way People Lead The award-winning, bestselling, classic book by Jim Kouzes and Barry Posner that has been the basis for the powerhouse leadership development business marks its 25 th year in print with a new anniversary edition. Featuring an interactive companion App and over 100 new case studies, this fully revised edition shows that even when times change, the need for good leadership endures. I think this is the greatest book on leadership ever written... Marshall Goldsmith Bestselling author, MOJO and What Got You Here Won t Get You There A quarter century after it was first published, The Leadership Challenge: How to Make Extraordinary Things Happen in Organizations (Jossey-Bass; August 2012) is now read in more than 22 languages and has sold more than two million copies worldwide. Jim Kouzes and Barry Posner, the visionary and pioneering authors of the book that has inspired a global leadership campaign, have been researching leadership and developing leaders for more than thirty years. In their breakthrough book, originally published in 1987, they famously turned the abstract concept of leadership into something that can be readily understood and reliably taught. The Leadership Challenge quickly established Kouzes and Posner, two emerging scholars and executive education professionals at Santa Clara University, into major industry thought-leaders. 1

2 Both authors presence in academia is legendary; over the years they have written or contributed to over 50 books and resources on leadership and over 100 journal articles. The Leadership Practices Inventory (LPI), their 360-degree assessment instrument that measures the leadership behaviors described in The Leadership Challenge model, has over three million recorded responses from individuals worldwide; it is a global standard for developing leadership talent. The combination of books, programs, assessments, videos and digital offerings are all designed with one single goal in mind: to liberate the leader within everyone. Kouzes and Posner determined that the most successful, respected leaders engage in The Five Practices of Exemplary Leadership, which are at the heart of The Leadership Challenge. People who effectively demonstrate these leadership practices, regardless of their organizational position or field, make an enormous contribution: 1. Model the Way: Leaders clarify values by finding their voice and affirming shared values, and they set the example by aligning actions with shared values. 2. Inspire a Shared Vision: Leaders envision the future by imagining exciting, ennobling possibilities, and they enlist others in a common vision by appealing to shared aspirations. 3. Challenge the Process: Leaders search for opportunities by seizing the initiative and looking outward for innovative ways to improve. They experiment and take risks by constantly generating small wins and learning from experience. 4. Enable Others to Act: Leaders foster collaboration by building trust and facilitating relationships. They strengthen others by enhancing self-determination and developing competence. 5. Encourage the heart: Leaders recognize contributions by showing appreciation for individual excellence. They celebrate values and victories by creating a spirit of community. 2

3 This 25 th anniversary edition offers over 100 new case studies and addresses issues modern leaders face, such as flexible work arrangements and distributed global workforces. It also comes with a companion App The Leadership Challenge Mobile Tool that is designed to enhance the reading experience by helping the reader engage with and act on ideas presented in the book. Kouzes and Posner offer powerful, practical tools and guidance to help everyone including managers at all levels, government and community leaders, physicians, coaches, teachers, and students learn how to mobilize others to make extraordinary things happen at work, home, school, in the community and in any organization, discipline, or country. Common thinking is that people are either born leaders or they are not. Kouzes and Posner make it clear that becoming an exemplary leader is not something you re born with. It s a set of skills and abilities that are learnable by anyone with the desire to learn and the will to practice. Twenty-five years after their first written collaboration yielded a major contribution to the field of leadership development, Jim Kouzes and Barry Posner are still writing, researching, traveling, lecturing, and exploring fresh ways to help new generations understand not only why exemplary leadership matters, but also how ultimately leaders can make a difference. One of the many lessons they impart is that leadership development is simply one (very important) form of self-development. Meeting the leadership challenge, they write, is a personal and daily challenge for everyone. 3

4 About the Authors Jim Kouzes is the Dean s Executive Fellow of Leadership, Leavey School of Business, at Santa Clara University, and lectures on leadership around the world to corporations, governments and nonprofits. He is a highly regarded leadership scholar and an experienced executive; the Wall Street Journal cited him as one of the twelve best executive educators in the United States. In 2010, Jim received the Thought Leadership Award from the Instructional Systems Association, the most prestigious award given by the trade association of training and development industry providers. Jim was listed as one of HR Magazine s Most Influential Thinkers for 2010 and 2011, named one of the 2010 and 2011 Top 100 Thought Leaders in Trustworthy Business Behavior by Trust Across America and ranked by Leadership Development as number sixteen on its list of The Top 100 Thought Leaders. In 2006, Jim was presented with the Golden Gavel, the highest honor awarded by Toast Masters International. Jim served as president, CEO and chairman of the Tom Peters Company from 1988 through 1999, and prior to that led the Executive Development Center at Santa Clara University ( ). Jim founded the Joint Center for Human Services Development and San Jose State University ( ) and was on the staff of the school of Social Work, University of Texas. His career in training and development began in 1969 when he conducted seminars for Community Action Agency staff and volunteers in the war on poverty. Following graduation from Michigan State University (BA degree with honors in political science), he served as a Peace Corps volunteer ( ). Barry Posner is the Accolti Endowed Professor of Leadership at the Leavey School of Business, Santa Clara University, where he served as dean of the school for twelve years ( ). He has been a distinguished visiting professor at Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Sabanci University (Istanbul), and the University of Western Australia. At Santa Clara he has received the President s Distinguished Faculty Award, the School s Extraordinary Faculty Award, and several other teaching and academic honors. An internationally renowned scholar and educator, Barry is author or coauthor of more than a hundred research and practitioner-focused articles. He currently serves on the editorial review boards for Leadership and Organization Development Journal and The International Journal of Servant-Leadership. In 2011, he was ranked in the Top 10 Most Influential International Thinkers by HR Magazine, listed among the Top 25 Leadership Gurus in the World, and received the Outstanding Scholar Award for Career Achievement from the Journal of Management Inquiry. 4

5 Barry received his BA with honors in political science from the University of California, Santa Barbara; his MA in public administration from the Ohio State University; and his PhD in organizational behavior and administrative theory from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. Having consulted with a wide variety of public and private sector organizations around the globe, Barry also work on strategic level with a number of community-based and professional organizations, currently sitting on the board of the directors of EMQ FamiliesFirst. He has served previously on the boards of the American Institute of Architects (AIA), Big Brothers/Big Sisters of Santa Clara County, Center for Excellence in Nonprofits, Junior Achievement of Silicon Valley and Monterey Bay; Public Allies, San Jose Repertory Theatre, Sigma Phi Epsilon Fraternity, Western Academy of Management, and both publicly traded and start-up companies. THE LEADERSHIP CHALLENGE: How to Make Extraordinary Things Happen in Organizations Authors: James Kouzes and Barry Posner Publication date: August 1, 2012 ISBN: ; 416 pages; $ Facebook.com/KouzesPosner Linkedin.com/groups/Leadership-Challenge About Jossey-Bass Jossey-Bass provides tools, services and publications that inform and inspire those committed to developing themselves, their organizations and their communities. Jossey- Bass publications feature the work of some of the world s most respected authors in leadership, management, business, nonprofit, K-12 and Higher Education, and public health. For more information, visit josseybass.com. Jossey-Bass is an imprint of Wiley. For more information about Wiley s books, please visit our Press Room Follow us on and for more information on our Business books and authors. 5

6 A Conversation with the authors of The Leadership Challenge, Jim Kouzes and Barry Posner Q. The Leadership Challenge celebrates its 25th anniversary this year. To what do you attribute the book s longevity in the marketplace? A. We feel truly honored and humbled that so many people have read our book and that it continues to be relevant in today s changing world. In this anniversary year we re coming out with our 5 th edition, and that probably explains one of the reasons the book has lasted as long as it has. We are always updating, always staying current. Soon after we finish one edition, we re off researching the next one. When we were working on one of the earlier editions of The Leadership Challenge we did a study asking people why they read leadership books in general and our book in particular. The common denominator was that people read books like ours to improve. It s a message we ve taken to heart from the very beginning. We know that folks want to be better leaders as a result of reading our work, so we make a very serious effort to make our books practical and applicable. To that end, at the conclusion of each practice chapter we offer about ten Take Action suggestions on how to put the behaviors into practice. We also offer a number of accompanying tools workbooks, workshops, assessments, video cases, apps, and the like so that users can access lots of options for taking it from the page to the workplace. 6

7 The Leadership Challenge is evidence-based. Over 30 years of original research has gone into this current edition, and we ve analyzed millions of responses to the Leadership Practices Inventory, our 360-degree assessment of leadership behavior. We know that people who do more of what we write about are more successful than those who do less of it, and our readers have come to trust what we write because they know that we don t make idle claims based on the latest fad. But as rigorous as we are about our research, we also want to keep it simple. We want leadership to make sense. We know that the context of leadership is changing all the time, but the content of leadership stays quite constant. These fundamentals of leadership are vital to understand, and after reading The Leadership Challenge we want people to come away knowing that there are Five Practices of Exemplary Leadership and that they can learn and develop these practices. Of course, we also know that while the model we present is simple to understand, it s not easy to learn. You have to be willing to put in the learning and practice to become exemplary. To show people how these practices work in the real world, we provide real stories about real leaders doing real things. Each of our editions includes over 100 case examples of leaders in a variety or roles and settings from around the world. They re stories about people readers can relate to. They re about people that might be down the hall or down the block. People who read The Leadership Challenge are bound to find stories of people just like them engaging in The Five Practices. And finally, we think The Leadership Challenge continues to be relevant in today s marketplace because it s about excellence. The subtitle is How to Make Extraordinary Things Happen in Organizations, and that expresses what all exemplary leaders want. They want to turn challenging opportunities into remarkable successes. They want to take people to places they have never been before. They want to transform values into action. That s our hope for all the readers of The Leadership Challenge. We want them to realize their visions of the future and do their personal best as leaders. Q. What are some of the current trends in leadership development that excite you right now? A. There s a lot to be excited about, but two complementary trends in leadership development stand out right now. The first is a focus on application and the second is an increasing emphasis on practice. We ve said for a very long time that leadership development is not simply a seminar or workshop. These experiences are very important, but they re only initial steps to becoming a better leader. You have to follow up. You have to apply on the job the lessons you learn in the classroom. Research clearly shows that those who follow up are much more likely to improve than those who don t. 7

8 Along with the focus on application is the recognition that daily deliberate practice plays a critical role in leadership development. That may seem obvious, but until recently there was not a lot of discussion of how important it is for leaders to do something every day to improve. It s the same with any set of skills. You have to put in daily practice to become the best you can be. We ve learned in our research that the best leaders are the best learners, and we ve been focusing on building processes and tools to help leaders develop practice routines into their schedules. And technology is now there to support this. For example, we have The Leadership Challenge Mobile Leader Tool, an app that enables leaders to select practice activities, schedule them in their calendars, get reminders, others about it, ask for feedback, and get news updates about leadership. It s vital that leaders find ways to build practice into their daily work lives, and we re excited about how new technologies are providing us with better ways to do that. Q. You write that you are still motivated by the same basic question you first asked in what is that question and why is it still relevant these many years later? A. Leaders make a difference, of that there is no doubt. They take people to places they have never been before. Leadership is not a fad, it doesn't go in and out of fashion, and the leadership challenge never goes away - how to mobilize others to want to struggle for shared aspirations? And leadership is not about a position or place in an organization. Nor is it some genetic trait or the province of a special few men and women. Not only can leaders be found everywhere, and that's the good news. Indeed, armed with this premise, we began in 1982 asking people to tell us about the time that they had been at their personal best as a leader. What were the behaviors and actions you took that made a difference? And we've continued to ask this same question to this day of people, young and old, representing just about every type of organization there is, at all organizational levels, in all functions, and from many different places around the world. What we continue to find is that (a) everyone has a story to tell, and (b) that their behaviors are much more similar than they are different, despite the differences in time, place, personality, environment, and the like. It's this pattern of behavior that we've identified at The Five Practices of Exemplary Leadership. 8

9 Q. You have been working together for more than 30 years, which is longer than many people stay married. Is there a secret to your ongoing collaboration? A. The truth is that you can't do it alone - it's true for leaders and it's also true for authors. We both know how to lead, and how to follow; how to listen, and how to be assertive; how to be as interested in what the other person is thinking and feeling, as you are about your own thoughts and feelings. We've also written how leadership is an affair of the heart, and how it is hard to imagine how leaders (and authors) could get up day after day, putting in the long hours and hard work it takes make extraordinary things happen (like writing a book) without having their hearts in it. And, as we've also explained, the best leaders are the best learners. We're fascinated by people, by their capabilities, capacities, and potentials. Every interview, every workshop, seminar or class, and most conversations teaches us something about what people are capable of doing when they get turned on by something that grabs them and just won't let go. Q. The Leadership Challenge has a strong presence in Asia, why is that? A. Barry recently completed a sabbatical at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, where he had a chance to teach classes both in Hong Kong and mainland China, and interview managers and executives from entrepreneurs and start-up firms to state-run enterprises and multinational corporations. Both of us have conducted seminars, as well, countries such as South Korea, Japan, Singapore, Philippines, Indonesia, and Malaysia. Many people in these companies, young and old, haven't had much of a chance to seriously think about themselves as leaders, appreciate both the impact they have on others, and reflect on just how they made extraordinary things happen. Their "personal best leadership experiences" were entirely in synch with The Five Practices framework. Indeed, our next book focuses on these experiences and the lessons learned. That book is entitled Making Extraordinary Things Happen in Asia: Applying The Five Practices of Exemplary Leadership, and will be published in January. All of the examples, case studies, and stories are from Asia (with Asian leaders in Asian companies). Q. What's the evidence that The Five Practices of Exemplary Leadership make a difference? A. This edition is full of empirical evidence about how those who engage in The Five Practices are more effective leaders than those who don't, and all of this comes directly from their constituents, so it's quite dramatic. We document how positive work attitudes of constituents are not about their age, gender, education, function, field, or nationality, but are a function of how their leaders behave. We also show how leadership, because it is a skill, can be learned and developed for those who want to make a difference. 9

10 Advance Praise for THE LEADERSHIP CHALLENGE Perhaps the most comprehensive field guide ever written for leaders a key part of my personal journey as a leader Patrick Lencioni, President, The Table Group; bestselling author of The Five Dysfunctions of a Team and The Advantage Peter Drucker would probably have called the publishing of Jim Kouzes and Barry Posner s book The Leadership Challenge a distinguished public service. William A. Cohen, Major General, USAFR, Ret. author of Drucker on Leadership and Heroic Leadership The Leadership Challenge the bible for leaders everywhere... Bill George, author, True North, and former Chairman and CEO, Medtronic, Inc. No book has ever chronicled the practices of true leadership better than The Leadership Challenge... Chip Conley, founder, Joie de Vivre Hotels, and author, PEAK and Emotional Equations It s quite simply one of the best books you ll ever read on leadership. Ken Blanchard, co-author, The One Minute Manager and Great Leaders Grow I read The Leadership Challenge as a new manager building Oracle University reading the fifth edition 20 years later, I am struck by how its wisdom stands the test of time... Liz Wiseman, author, Multipliers The Leadership Challenge remains one of the five best books I have ever read... John C. Maxwell, leadership expert and bestselling author, The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership My heart goes out to Jim Kouzes and Barry Posner with the deepest gratitude for this book, the most powerful leadership resource available... Frances Hesselbein, former CEO, Girl Scouts of the USA, and author, My Life in Leadership Jim Kouzes and Barry Posner have taken one of the true leadership classics of the late 20 th century and made it freshly relevant for today s 21 st century leaders. Douglas R. Conant, New York Times bestselling author, TouchPoints, and retired CEO, Campbell Soup Company 10

11 If you have ever aspired to be a leader, or need to take your leadership skills to the highest levels, this is the book for you all you need to do is take the challenge! Brent Jones, former All-Pro football player, Managing Partner, Northgate Capital The Leadership Challenge is the best research-based practical field guide for leaders I have ever read... James Foster, SVP, Chief Product Supply Officer, The Clorox Company The Leadership Challenge is the first book I recommend to all new leaders in Kaiser Permanente. Twenty five years after it was first written, it remains the best guide to leadership success, and in a time of global competition and economic uncertainty, the principles elucidated by Jim Kouzes and Barry Posner serve as a powerful foundation for any individual hoping to help others innovate and embrace change. Leaders should be required to re-read this book every five years of their career. Robert Pearl, MD, Executive Director and CEO, The Permanente Medical Group, Kaiser Permanente Seldom, it seems, have I been in the office of an HR professional where I did not see a copy of The Leadership Challenge. The book has become a go-to source for professionals looking for insight into leadership development John Baldoni, President, Baldoni Consulting LLC, and author, Lead With Purpose, Lead Your Boss, and Lead By Example If you could read only one book about the art and science of leading, then this is without question the book you should read. Heidi Grant Halvorson, PhD, author, Nine Things Successful People Do Differently The fifth edition of The Leadership Challenge will quickly become a classic. Stop what you are doing and start reading, leading and achieving. Pat Williams, SVP, Orlando Magic, and author, Leadership Excellence The Leadership Challenge is indispensable reading for those who take on the leadership of our schools. Kevin Skelly, PhD, Superintendent, Palo Alto Unified School District The Leadership Challenge gives present and future physician leaders the leadership practices that will make them both better leaders and physicians. Fernando Mendoza, MD, M.P.H. Professor and Chief, Division of General Pediatrics; Service Chief, General Pediatrics Lucile Packard Children Hospital; and Associate Dean of Minority Advising and Programs School of Medicine, Stanford University. 11