The Leadership Challenge By Kouzes & Posner

First published in 1987, The Leadership Challenge is a guide for becoming leader. The book received many awards and its above two million copies are internationally sold. The book teaches principles of leadership that apply whether the leader is running a sports team or a fortune 500 organization. The book includes stories and examples of many leaders from micro to macro level (Founders and Authors, 2013). The basic leadership principles can be adopted by anyone to challenge status quo and increase leader productivity multifold. The book tells about the flow and hierarchy of values too (Machedo, 2013). One can use the guide without an instructor to develop leadership traits.

The book, “Remarkable Leadership”, is significant in our leadership discussion because its main focus is on bringing out the leader quality in all of us. The book’s premises rest on the belief that leaders maybe born but they can also be developed, thus leadership is learnt. The author draws reference on the fact that we are all born with some sort of talent/gift or we may have an interest in something that needs to be developed through training. The critical concepts in the books discuss the qualities and roles that leader should possess, which include being; an advocate for change, an effective communicator, a teacher/mentor, develop necessary relationship, being an innovator, know the importance of teamwork, and one who values learning continuously.

Leadership is, and always has been, a vital aspect of social and economic constructs. It is essential to the survival of societies, industries, organizations, and virtually any group of individuals that come together for a common purpose. However, leadership is difficult to define in a single, definitive sense. As such, theories of leadership, what constitutes a great leader, and how leaders are made have evolved constantly throughout history, and still continue to change today in hopes of improving upon our understanding of leadership, its importance, and how it can be most effective in modern organizational cultures.

Leadership books abound in modern publishing with each promising proven technique to make leaders and teams more effective. Each of the five books assigned provided a different perspective of leadership but several key themes resonated through each. In their own ways, the authors addressed leader identity, risk, competence, hard work, knowledge of people and proper view of self.

Empirically based, the writers begin the book by offering five practices of exemplary leadership: Model the Way, Inspire a Shared Vision, Challenge the Process, Enable Others to Act and Encourage the Heart (p. 14). In their

In Kouzers and Posner’s view, leadership is to mobilize others to get extraordinary things done; and it is not about personality but it’s about behavior.

This paper will discuss the topic of Leadership and both explore, as well as explain, it’s applicability in today’s work environment. The basis for discussion will be centered on the material provided during instruction of Management 371 and the personal LSA Journal entries of John Brennan. Additionally, there are three referenced articles that further explain and highlight the topic of Leadership. Throughout this paper, Leadership and the traits that make up a great leader will be explained.

The fifth top trait I exhibit is Bravery. This attribute has developed overtime, and the military really started me on this journey as a cadet at The Ohio State University. Bravery isn’t always standing in the face of danger, but many times, it is using personal courage to stand up for what is right. It is saying what needs said when it is not the popular thing to do.

The Leadership Challenge by Kouzes and Posner (2007) is the result of twenty years of research on the factors that influence and create great leadership. Through studies and stories from leaders with various backgrounds throughout the world, the practices and characteristics that create great leadership are delineated. Leadership is viewed not as a group of inherent characteristics, but as learned behavior that anyone can achieve. The goal of Kouzes and Posner’s book is to inspire and educate leaders through transformational leadership. As such, leadership is about mobilizing others to become and do extraordinary things.

The authors of the book The Leadership Challenge are regarded as the prominent leadership scholars and educators in the U.S.. Kouzes is the Dean’s Executive Professor of Leadership of Leavey School of Business at Santa Clara University. Posner is the Dean of the Leavey School of Business and professor of Leadship at Santa Clara University. They have been together produced a lot of award-winning leadership books, among which The Leadership Challenge has won both the James A. Hamilton Hospital Administrations’ Book Award and the Critics’ Choice Award. Kouzes & Posner are also the developers of the Leadship Practices Inventory(LPI), a list of questionnaire for evaluating leadership behavior, which is one of the worldwide frequently used leadership assessment tools. The most distinguished honor that both Kouzes & Posner have received is the Management/Leadship Educators of the Year by the International Management Council. They then joined the team of 50 top leadership educators of the nation. Kouzes & Posner are not only studying and researching leadership, speaking actively at universities, leadership conferences, and seminars, but also conducting programs of leadership development for more than a hundred of national & multi-national companies.

This paper will focus upon the learner’s personal leadership assessment, and on qualities that are inherent to leadership as a whole. The leadership skill assessment questionnaire produced an overall score of 26. According to the questionnaire, this was above average in all areas. However, the learner is able to identify areas of continued growth needed to achieve future career goals. Subsequently, these areas will be divulged in this paper as well.

Kouzes, J. M., & Posner, B. Z. (2012). The Leadership Practices Inventory (LPI): Participant's Workbook (Vol. 47). John Wiley & Sons.

In Chapter 10 and 11 explain more in depth on being a good leader and what it takes to accomplish the leadership skill. Being a leader you have able to recognize and contribution with the people working with or lead by leaving a thank you note, smile, and public praise. By making the contribution will allow a leader to be able showing that they care and express their pride with the accomplishment with their team. A good leader will always have confident and respect with the people working with allowing the employee know that you build a trust and believe in them. Another part of being a good leader able to give feedback and able to take risk with their team member. Be able to have the courage and believe in your team. You have to celebrate

Before this class, I had a very primitive and vague definition of leadership. Not only did I define it as per my views and ideologies, but I also said that each individual has their own definition of leadership. My initial belief was that leadership does not have a clear cut definition, but there were well defined leadership traits which made an individual. I also initially believed that personal traits did not translate into leadership traits with no strong correlation. After going through the various modules this class offered, it is safe to say that I have significantly redefined leadership and underwent a strong personal assessment. This paper talks what I took back from each of the class activities, assignments and how my self-assessment compares to the perception of others.

The main theme behind this literature is the ability of an individual to exercise their own abilities in a bid to attain their desired outcomes. Moreover, it illustrates that the individual plays a central role in determining the quality of leadership that he or she exhibits.