Jim Kouzes, The Leadership Challenge

If you’re interested in leadership, you know that a new book on the topic gets published, oh, about every 20 seconds. And most of them are eminently miss-able – the same tired truisms with a new smear of lipstick – with the life of a mayfly.

And then there are a few classics, books that have really stood the test of time. One of those is The Leadership Challenge, co-authored by Jim Kouzes and his long-time writing partner Barry Posner. It was recently nominated by 800 CEO Reads as one of their best business books of all time, and in part its strength lies in the fact that it is insight based on research, not just someone’s thought du jour. Jim is not only a author, he’s also the Dean’s Executive Professor of Leadership at the Leavey School of Business in Santa Clara University and at one stage was CEO of the Tom Peters Company for ten or eleven years.

In our interview we talk about:

• How 25% of the success of leadership can be explained (and what to do about that other 75%)
• Why challenging the process is a crucial part of Great Work
• A terrific story from Ben & Jerry’s. (Anything involving ice cream fits into Great Work as far as I’m concerned.)
• The power of a creative partnership – and how he and Barry have maintained their working relationship for close to three decade

You can get access to a wide range of leadership materials at Jim’s website

Listen to my interview with Jim Kouzes

0:16 Michael introduces Jim Kouzes

0:54 Jim’s book The Leadership Challenge

5:38 How 25% of the success of leadership can be explained (and what to do about that other 75%)

7:18 The power of a creative partnership – and how he and Barry have maintained their working relationship for close to three decade

10:02 Why challenging the process is a crucial part of Great Work

14:42 A terrific story from Ben & Jerry’s. (Anything involving ice cream fits into Great Work as far as I’m concerned.)

If you enjoyed this post, you'll also like:

1. Stewart Friedman, Total Leadership
2. Suzi Pomerantz, Innovative Leadership International
3. Annie McKee, Leadership
4. Ed Cohen, Leadership Without Borders
5. Dave Ulrich, The Leadership Code