A Review of: The Leadership Challenge by James M. Kouzes and Barry Z. Posner
President John F. Kennedy laid forth a challenge on May 25, 1961 when he declared that the United States would land a man on the moon and return him safely by the end of the decade. It was a challenge that may have seemed insurmountable by many, but that day the moon program began and those that were involved accepted the challenge to send a manned spacecraft on a journey to the moon and back. Numerous steps were taken and obstacles overcome throughout the decade of the 1960s to meet the challenge. It was on July 20, 1969, that Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin in the Apollo 11 spacecraft touched down in the Sea of Tranquility on the moon, and after a short time of exploration they safely returned to earth. This marked the 40th anniversary of that monumental event in the history of the United States and mankind. NASA is setting its sights on the moon once again, for it has plans to send a manned spacecraft to the moon by the end of the decade (Dick, 2006). The old challenge took leadership from many different people to accomplish the vision, and the new challenge will likewise. For many, this type of challenge is beyond their comprehension when it comes to leadership, but leaders are needed in all kinds of circumstances.
Leaders are not just needed to lead nations or moon missions, but leaders are needed in the family, the school classroom, and the local town government. Leaders are needed everywhere and everyone is capable of being a leader in some situation or at a certain level. Leadership is “Everyone’s Business,” according to James Kouzes and Barry Posner (2002). Kouzes and Posner (2002) say their book, The Leadership Challenge, “Is about how leaders mobilize others to want to get extraordinary things done in organizations” (p. xvii). They say further, “It’s about the practices leaders use to transform values into actions, visions into realities, obstacles into innovations, separateness into solidarity, and risks into rewards. It’s about leadership that creates the climate in which people turn challenging opportunities into remarkable successes” (p. xvii).
James Kouzes and Barry Posner are well qualified to write on the subject of leadership, Kouzes became interested in leadership when he was selected as one of the dozens of Eagle Scouts selected to serve in Honor Guard for President John F. Kennedy’s inauguration. He went on to receive a BA degree with honors from Michigan State University in political science and a certificate from San Jose State University’s School of Business for the completion of the internship in organization development. He has been an educator, author, conference speaker, and is chairman emeritus of the Tom Peters Company, a leadership and consulting company. Also, he is an Executive Fellow at the Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship at the Leavey School of Business, Santa Clara University (Kouzes and Posner, 2002).
Barry Posner became interested in leadership during his college years at the University of California, Santa Barbara, where he received his BA degree in political science. He also received the MA degree from the Ohio State University, and the PhD from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, in organizational behavior and administrative theory.Posner is an internationally known scholar educator, author, conference speaker, and served as a consultant in numerous public and private sector organizations around the world. Posner sits on the Board of Directors for the American Institute of Architects, and has served on the boards of Public Allies, Big Brother/Sisters of Santa Clara County, the Center for Excellence in Non-Profits, Sigma Phi Epsilon Fraternity, and numerous other start-up companies. He has in the served as the associate dean for the graduate program and managing partner for the Executive Development Center (Kouzes and Posner, 2002).
The principles and practices that Kouzes and Posner bring to the reader in The Leadership Challenge are based on several decades of research which was started in 1983. The authors wanted to know what people did when they were at their “personal best” in leading others. They started with the assumption that they did to have to interview and star performers, but ordinary people who were doing extraordinary things to find patterns of success. They found what they were looking for in their search. The data of the research can be accessed via the web: http//www.leadershipchallenge.com/research. They also pepper their research-based principles with numerous anecdotes that support their findings from a variety of people and organizations. They do this because they are interested in relating to all kinds of leaders (Kouzes and Posner, 2002). This is stated very clearly in their purpose for writing the book.
Kouzes and Posner have strong belief that ordinary people who exercise leadership become leaders, because good leadership is an understandable and a universal process. It is not meant for the chosen few in particular positions. So, their purpose in writing The Leadership Challenge is to assist people like managers and individual contributors alike, in furthering their abilities to lead others to get extraordinary things done in all walks of life. Kouzes and Posner (2002) say, “They have written the book to develop your capacity to guide to guide others to places they have never been before” (p. xviv). They accomplish this task in the thirteen chapters of the book are summarized below.
Kouzes and Posner look at leadership as a journey or adventure, and so they consider their book a field guide full of principles and practices for the leader to take along with them to assist on the journey of leadership. The book is divided into seven parts and thirteen chapters. The parts are as follows: what leaders do and what constituents expect, model the way, inspire a shared vision, challenge the process, enable others to act, encourage the heart, and leadership for everyone. Chapters one and two introduce the reader to their view of leadership which is a transformational style of leadership as quoted earlier. Chapter one describes the Five Practices of Exemplary Leadership that they have synthesized from their research which include: model the way, inspire a shared vision, challenge the process, enable others to act, and encourage the heart.
This chapter also includes what they call the Ten Commandments of Leadership-fundamentals for applying these leadership practices in your setting. The Ten Commandments of Leadership include: finding your voice by clarifying your personal values, set the example by aligning actions with shared values, envision the future by imaging exciting and ennobling possibilities, enlist others in a common vision by appealing to shared aspirations, search for opportunities by seeking innovative ways to change, grow and improve, experiment and take risks by constantly generating small wins and learning from mistakes, foster collaborative goals and building trust, strengthen others by sharing power and discretion, recognize contributions by showing appreciation for individual excellence, celebrate the values and victories by creating a spirit of community.
Chapter two shows the other side of the leadership coin: the constituents. They reveal from their research the characteristics that people most admire in their leaders. The research found that the tope four characteristics are: honest, forward-looking, competent, and inspiring. there area number of other characteristics that follow in descending order of importance according to the reasearch, but will not be listed at this point.
The five Practices are then dealt with in pairs of chapters from Chapters three through twelve. Specifically, the content of those chapters are as follows: Chapter 3-Find Your Voice; Chapter 4-Set the Example; Chapter 5-Envision the Future; Chapter 6-Enlist Others; Chapter 7-Search for Opportunities; Chapter 8-Experiment and Take Risks; Chapter 9-Foster Collaboration; Chapter 10-Strengthen Others; Chapter 11-Recognize Contributions; and Chapter 12-Celebrate Values and Victories. The authors use chapter thirteen to challenge the reader about how leadership is a learned set of practices, and accessible to anyone. This is a principle I agree with wholeheartedly (Kouzes and Posner, 2002). This summarizes the content of the text, but one needs to consider whether the authors have accomplished their thesis goal.
Kouzes and Posner equate leadership to a journey or adventure of life, and truly it is for they do emphasize the process aspect of leadership to help the leader develop his or her skills throughout the journey. They also present a transformational style of leadership although they do not specifically state it in those terms. They use the word “transform” throughout the text, and make statements that leadership is like the following, “it’s about the practices leaders use to transform values into actions, visions into realities, obstacles into innovations, separateness into solidarity, and risks into rewards” (p. xvii). The research section of their website make it very clear that transformational leadership style is what they are advocating.
Transformational leadership is a broad and encompassing style of leadership that includes a variety of excellent leadership components and one that meets the Christian leader’s Biblical worldview. One of the main reasons for this and it is a strength of the leadership style itself, but also a strength of The Leadership Challenge which is its emphasis on integrity, morality, and ethics. Kouzes and Posner weigh heavy on this aspect of leadership because it is what they discovered in their research, and they believe that credibility is the foundation of leadership. From this they have coined what they call, “The First Law of Leadership: If you don’t believe in the messenger, you won’t believe the message” (p. 33). This call is not only refreshing to see this in leadership theory, but necessary amidst the numerous corporate and Christian leadership scandals in recent years.
Another strength of the book was its section on vision or as they call it, “forward looking.” The authors declare that the forward-looking leader is what differentiates him or her from others. Kouzes and Posner (2002) say, “Envisioning the future is a process that begins with passion, feelings, concern, or an inspiration that something is worth doing” (p. 124). They further state, “Vision . . . means an ideal and unique image of the future for the common good” (p. 125). this challenge is goof for all leaders, and the Christian leader needs to be reminded that he or she must have is the will of God and Great Commission which is both for the common good and worth doing.
Another strength of the book and credit to the authors is the way that they write and present their material. What this reviewer means is that they accomplish the goal of their thesis of presenting principles and then practice for the leader to follow. Also, it is by choice that the book is riddle with stories from all kinds of individuals and levels of leadership. Their presentation is crafted in such an inspiring way, that it challenges the reader to believe that leadership is accessible to everyone and want to go out and lead.
If there is a weakness to the book, it is the opposite side of one of its strengths which has to do with the moral and ethical section. The authors seem to exchange the use of the terms moral and ethical without really explaining the difference. One can pursue a standard of moral behavior, but ethics involves the belief behind the moral behavior. Kouzes and Posner do speak about belief and how important it is to developing this aspect, but they could have done better in explaining the distinction. Also, with regard to this area, by not taking a particular belief stance, it tells the reader to develop their ethical and moral standards based on their belief system. There is a danger here. They do address the dangers of illegitimate use of leadership that arises from wrong beliefs, but there is another more subtle danger of developing moral and ethical standards based on non-Christian beliefs. For example, one’s definition and meaning of integrity may vary based on the belief system that one derives their morality from, especially in a relativistic culture. This of course, is not a Christian leadership text and the authors are appealing to a wide range of individuals in leadership roles, but it must be noted that this approach can produce some problems. The positives of emphasizing morals and ethics though far outweigh any possible negatives with regard to this issue. In summary of this section, Kouzes and Posner write a text on leadership that is consistent with their thesis goal, and have written one that not only informs the reader of the principles, but shows how to practice them. The Leadership Challenge challenges not only secular leaders, but Christian leaders too.
James Kouzes and Barry Posner have written The Leadership Challenge to help leaders develop their ability as they move through the process of their leadership adventure. They have written an excellent volume on the subject of transformational leadership that will build within anyone who is willing to step forward and become a leader. This book truly emboldens what leadership is all about-Everyone’s Business.