The Leadership Challenge: How to Make Extraordinary Things Happen in Organizations (J-B Leadership Challenge: Kouzes/Posner) Hardcover – April 17, 2017

This book is not your typical leadership fluff. It’s packed with practical wisdom, real-life examples, and enough inspiration to turn even the grumpiest office curmudgeon (yes, looking at you, Oscar the Grouch) into a mission-driven visionary.Kouzes and Posner lay it out clearly—leadership isn’t about a title, it’s about action. And this book gives you the exact actions to take. From modeling the way to encouraging the heart, every chapter is like a pep talk from a coach who also happens to read Harvard Business Review for fun.Sure, I laughed at some of the metaphors (and maybe pictured myself giving TED Talks in a cape), but the strategies are legit. I actually used a few ideas in a team meeting and people nodded so hard I thought someone was going to pull a neck muscle.If you want to inspire, empower, and maybe even get Oscar to stop yelling about trash for five minutes—this is the book. Buy it. Read it. Then go make something extraordinary happen (cape optional).

I am in an Organizational Leadership Masters program and this is one of the main textbooks for one of my classes. I find myself completely immersed while I am reading, and I look FORWARD to reading (which is rare with "textbooks!"). This book answers all every single question I have had about why my leadership was struggling or failing in the past - providing concrete examples and case studies of people who successfully applied the principles. The authors write well, they inject humor, and their enthusiasm is contagious. If you own a small business, if you are a teacher/facilitator of any kind, if you do project management, or if you lead any kind of team, YOU NEED TO READ THIS BOOK. There are a million books out there, but this one is so approachable, so practical, so fun and easy to read, and it's in its 6TH EDITION. That says a lot. Not only does it mean that people keep wanting to read this book, but it also means that the information is totally up to date, describing leadership scenarios we are all dealing with right now, in 2019. Thank you Kouzes and Posner. Amazing work. You have given me hope, reinvigorated my sense of purpose, and provided me with applicable practices I can use within my teams, projects, and organization.

One of the prides of my library is my copy of The Leadership Challenge: How to Get Extraordinary Things Done in Organizations by James M. Kouzes and Barry Z. Posner, which I bought back in 1987. It’s a 1st edition.Tom Peters wrote the foreword. My first underlinings are in the preface, and there are so many little post-it tabs stuck in the sides that it looks like a yellow forest. Each of those tabs represents one or more underlinings of a key idea.The Leadership Challenge is truly a business book classic. But as amazing as the book I own is, and as much value as I’ve gotten from it, it’s not the book I go to today when I’m looking for a comprehensive overview of how leaders work in organizations. For that, I go to the 6th edition of this same book. The 6th edition is a different book from the 1st edition, and it’s a better book. It’s the result of what the authors have learned along the way. Here’s the way they put it.“With each new edition, we get clearer about the leadership actions that make a difference. We reiterate what's still important, discard what's not, and add what's new. We contemporize the framework and freshen up the language and point of view so that the book is highly relevant to current circumstances and conditions. And, we are more authoritatively prescriptive about the best practices of leaders. The more we research and write about leadership, the more confident we become that leadership is within the grasp of everyone. The opportunities for leadership are boundless and boundaryless.”Most business book classics are written once, and then stay pretty much the same forever. They’re classics because they continue to deliver value. This book is different because the authors have taken the time, made the commitment, and done the work to make each edition better than the last. If there’s a 7th edition, I’ll buy it.

Good book to read and good advise

Great book to add to your collection.

The Leadership Challenge by Jim Kouzes and Barry Posner is a true classic. It's been validated by case studies, assessments and leaders around the world. It is cited in most major studies of leadership. It is both simple and complex, revealing layers of depth for dedicated students and practitioners of leadership. The sixth edition brings the Kouzes/Posner evidence-based framework of leadership to life in all new ways. New stories, new research findings, and new 4-color graphics show the power of simple behavioral changes leaders at any level can make.The Five Practices of Exemplary Leadership, the author's model that is based on millions of actual leader assessments, have changed many lives around the world, including mine. Reading others' stories inspires readers to take the plunge and liberate the leader inside themselves. For those already steeped in this work, this edition is very shareable with clear and compelling illustrations to showcase important research. For those who are new to leadership development, there simply isn't a better starting point. It's impossible to read this book without recognizing yourself in it and being stirred to stretch toward your fullest potential.

Great read Enjoyed his wisdom and insights

Although there was plenty of valuable leadership lessons throughout this book, I found it difficult to stay engaged while reading it. Much of the content and case studies seemed all too repetitive. It took me much longer to read this book than it should have because of this.