“Success in leadership, success in business, success in life has been, is now, and will continue to be a function of how well people work and play together.”
-BARRY Z. POSNER
Since the first edition was published in 1987, The Leadership Challenge, by Barry Z. Posner, dean of the Leavey School of Business, and his co-author, James M. Kouzes, has sold more than 1.2 million copies and is considered by many to be a classic in the genre. The completely revised third edition was published last October (Jossey Bass, $27.95), and it will be available in paperback this September.
Posner says The Leadership Challenge is as relevant now as it ever was. “Leadership is not a fad, but a timeless requirement for both personal and organizational renewal and growth,” he explains. “As turmoil and uncertainty increases, leadership becomes even more essential, as people look for leaders to provide beacons of light into the darkness of the future ahead.”
“The Five Practices of Exemplary Leadership have remained consistently important over the past two decades in explaining what people are doing when they are at their personal best as leaders: Modeling the Way, Inspiring a Shared Vision, Challenging the Process, Enabling Others to Act, and Encouraging the Heart,” adds Posner.
In this new edition, says Posner, he and co-author Kouzes focus more on the importance of leadership as a relationship. “Success in leadership, success in business, success in life has been, is now, and will continue to be a function of how well people work and play together,” he says. “Success in leading will be wholly dependent upon the capacity to build and sustain those human relationships that enable people to get extraordinary things done on a regular basis.”
Kouzes and Posner have received wide acclaim for their work in the leadership field, and they are the recipients of the McFeely Award, which is given by the International Management Council to the nation’s top management and leadership educators.
For more information, see www.leadershipchallenge.com.