| The Leadership Challenge by James Kouzes and | | | | how employees or customers are to be treated. But |
| Barry Posner is outdated, having originated in the | | | | what if you work at Boeing and you advocate a new |
| early 1980's.when everyone was trashing | | | | form of supersonic passenger jet? How do you |
| management. Hence why Tom Peters said in the | | | | model that! Clearly, you can lead by example, but |
| preface to their first edition of 1987 that | | | | modelling the way cannot be a cornerstone of all |
| ''...management as we know it is not dead. But it | | | | leading, unless you assume that it is always based on |
| darned well ought to be!" There is no mention of | | | | human values. This may be important for political |
| management in their book. The result is an | | | | leaders or senior executives but it can't be a |
| overloaded concept of leadership. One problem with | | | | requirement for all leaders. |
| this account is that it makes it hard to see how | | | | Inspire a shared vision |
| lower level employees can lead. Greater specialization, | | | | If you view leading as a journey, vision is simply the |
| driven by increasing complexity, demands both | | | | destination you want others to join you in pursuing. |
| functions, not just one. | | | | Kouzes and Posner are right to claim that leaders |
| Kouzes and Posner Focus on Executives not Leaders | | | | cannot expect to be followed if they have no idea |
| The fundamentals for Kouzes and Posner can be | | | | where they want to go. But advocating a change to |
| questioned if leading is viewed as an occasional act | | | | an existing product, an instance of thought leadership, |
| instead of as an executive position. | | | | is hardly visionary. We reserve the word vision for |
| " Leadership is a journey - But a journey has two | | | | ideas at the grander end of the scale. Having a |
| parts: convincing people to join and getting them to | | | | better idea only counts as a vision if it is long term |
| the destination. Only the first stage is leadership. The | | | | and if it paints a picture of a rather magnificent |
| second phase is a management undertaking. Leaders | | | | future. New ideas can range along a continuum from |
| sell the tickets for the journey; managers drive the | | | | mundane to those that are revolutionary, radical and |
| bus to the destination. This is true even if further | | | | visionary. |
| injections of leadership are needed to resell the | | | | Challenge the process |
| merits of the journey. | | | | For Kouzes and Posner being a leader entails initiating |
| " Credibility is the foundation of leading - But we buy | | | | ''a change from the status quo.'' But they are |
| the ideas of eccentrics whom we would not trust to | | | | equivocal on this principle, unfortunately so, because |
| manage anything. Excellent content can sway us | | | | it is the main one of their five that characterizes |
| even when the promoter (leader) is not personally | | | | leadership. They start by telling us that leaders |
| credible. Character is only required for people in | | | | ''search for opportunities to innovate, grow, and |
| executive positions. | | | | improve.'' They quickly water down this point by |
| " Leadership is a relationship - Managers work closely | | | | saying ''But leaders aren't the only creators or |
| with people to get things done. Because they have | | | | originators of new products, services, or processes.'' |
| power over people there needs to be a relationship | | | | Notice the phrase "aren't the only''. This implies that |
| of trust between them. It is possible to lead at a | | | | Kouzes and Posner see leaders as the occupants of |
| distance so does not require working relationships. | | | | managerial roles. But if all leadership is an informal act, |
| When Martin Luther King led the U.S. Supreme Court | | | | not a position, then championing a new product is |
| to outlaw segregation on buses, he may not have | | | | always leadership. Kouzes and Posner acknowledge |
| known the people in this organization or had any | | | | that new ideas come from ''people on the front lines.'' |
| relationship, with them. | | | | But, for them ''the leader's primary contribution is in |
| " To lead you must first look inside yourself and | | | | the recognition of good ideas, the support of those |
| clarify your values. This is only true to lead within the | | | | ideas, and the willingness to challenge the system to |
| domain of values, if you want people to behave in | | | | get new products...adopted.'' This is a pretty lame |
| accordance with accepted values. But if you are | | | | version of ''challenging the process''. The reason for |
| promoting a new piece of software to your bosses, | | | | the equivocation is simply that there is no room in |
| your personal values are not involved. The examples | | | | Kouzes and Posner's world for management. If there |
| cited by Kouzes and Posner involve major culture | | | | was, they could say that leaders really do challenge |
| changes, challenges to values. Perhaps we should call | | | | the status quo, leaving it to managers to do the |
| this values leadership. Managers need to be clear | | | | supporting, developing and facilitating of those who |
| about their values, however, because we can't trust | | | | do so. |
| them with so much power over us unless we know | | | | Enabling others to act and encouraging the heart |
| where they stand on what is important to us. | | | | There isn't much difference between Kouzes and |
| " You need to be inspiring to lead - The truth is that | | | | Posner's fourth and fifth principles. They both relate |
| leadership style is situational. In scientific and technical | | | | to facilitating teams of people to reach the |
| organizations, there is a demand for "evidence based" | | | | destination, empowering and motivating them to |
| decision making. Here, leaders need to cite hard facts | | | | exert the necessary effort. These two principles |
| to lead and they may do so either quietly or | | | | most clearly pertain to the implementation phase of |
| aggressively, so long as they have the evidence. | | | | the journey and are the easiest ones to classify as |
| Kouzes and Posner outline 5 core practices, but they | | | | managerial. |
| are a mixture of manager and leader actions. | | | | The bottom line is that The Leadership Challenge is a |
| Model the way | | | | widely read book which no doubt inspires executives |
| Kouzes and Posner tell us that ''Leaders' deeds are | | | | to improve their performance, but as an account of |
| far more important than their words...Exemplary | | | | leadership it is badly outdated. There are two main |
| leaders go first. They go first by setting the example | | | | problems with it. They make no place for |
| through daily actions that demonstrate they are | | | | management and they cannot account for acts of |
| deeply committed to their beliefs.'' This is all very well | | | | leadership outside of the formal (or even informal) |
| if you are advocating a change in values, such as | | | | role of managing a team of people. |