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Kouzes Posner 7th Edition
Kouzes Posner 7th Edition
* The direct quotations and citing of passages from The Leadership Challenge (7th ed.) is
done to preserve the skilled writings and gifted storytellings of Kouzes and Posner.
I wrote a book review of The Leadership Challenge (6th ed.) back in 2017. I can't believe it's
now six years later (2023) and I'm reviewing the seventh edition!
When I worked for an auto collision repair company from 2018 to 2020, we adopted The
Leadership Challenge book and model and ordered 200 copies of The Leadership Challenge (6th
ed.) to hand out to our workshop participants. The Five Practices of Exemplary Leadership (or
MICEE model as we called it) is still talked about today.
The seventh edition (Kouzes & Posner, 2023) offers:
Incisive commentary on the shift toward team-oriented and hybrid work
relationships
Key insights into how to break through a new and pervasive level of cynicism
amongst the modern workforce
Strategies for leveraging the electronic global village to deliver better results
within your team, in your department, and across your organization
Steve Nguyen's Critiques:
1) Although the 7th edition is advertised as providing incisive commentary on hybrid
work, in reality "hybrid work" was mentioned on just 2 pages. Also, it was not "incisive,"
but instead more of a posing of rhetorical questions or providing statements with a mention
of "hybrid work."
2) Kouzes and Posner does a better job providing insights about dealing with cynicism.
And while the word "cynicism" was also only mentioned on 2 pages, the authors do a
better job sharing insights and connecting personal stories of leaders who effectively dealt
with cynicism. However, the example of Stephen Ravizza in the 7th edition (2023) is the
EXACT same example shared in the 4th edition (2007). Likewise, the story about John
Doyle in the 7th edition is the one previously used in the 4th edition.
3) As for the 7th edition including "Strategies for leveraging the electronic global village
to deliver better results within your team, in your department, and across your
organization" — I did not see anything substantively new or different from what was
already discussed in the 6th edition.
The Leadership Challenge
"The Leadership Challenge has its origins in a research project we [Kouzes and Posner] began
over forty years ago. We wanted to know what people did when they were at their “personal
best” in leading others. These personal bests were experiences in which people set their
individual leadership standards of excellence. They were, so to speak, their Olympic gold-medal-
winning performances" (Kouzes & Posner, 2023, p. 304).
"Leadership challenges never cease, and leadership opportunities will always be there for those
who choose to greet them. That is precisely why, from the beginning, we [Kouzes and Posner]
titled this book The Leadership Challenge" (Kouzes & Posner, 2023, p. xix).
"The study of leadership is how people guide others through adversity, uncertainty, and
turbulence; triumph against overwhelming odds; take initiative when there is inertia; and activate
individuals and institutions in the face of stiff resistance. This book describes what leaders did
under challenging circumstances and what you can do to put their leadership behaviors into
practice and make a difference" (Kouzes & Posner, 2023, p. xix-xx).
"The Leadership Challenge is evidence-based. We [Kouzes and Posner] derived The Five
Practices from rigorous research, and we illustrate them with examples from real people doing
real things. With each new edition, we continue to update the stories, cases, and examples of
exactly what real people do when they are at their best. Their names are real, as are their
experiences and quotations. However, for two reasons, we do not mention their organizations.
First, most people are not still connected with that organization or in the same position. Second,
the cases and our focus are about what individuals do, and not about their organizations,
functions, or positions" (Kouzes & Posner, 2023, p. xx).
At the heart of The Leadership Challenge is The Five Practices framework, which resulted from
analysis of thousands of Personal-Best Leadership Experiences and millions of survey responses
(Kouzes & Posner, 2023). Kouzes and Posner illustrate The Five Practices framework with
examples of what ordinary people (leaders from all walks of life) do when they are at their best.
The Five Practices of Exemplary Leadership are the core leadership competencies that emerged
from Kouzes & Posner’s analysis of thousands of Personal-Best Leadership Experience cases.
“These five leadership practices—Model the Way, Inspire a Shared Vision, Challenge the
Process, Enable Others to Act, and Encourage the Heart—provide an operating system for what
people are doing as leaders when they are at their best. There’s abundant empirical evidence that
these leadership practices matter. Embedded within The Five Practices of Exemplary Leadership
are essential behaviors that serve as the basis for becoming an exemplary leader. We [Kouzes
and Posner] call these the Ten Commitments of Exemplary Leadership” (Kouzes & Posner,
2023, p. 13).
After closely examining thousands of personal-best leadership cases, Kouzes and Posner
continue to find that "individuals who guide others along pioneering journeys follow surprisingly
similar paths irrespective of the times or settings. Though each experience was unique in its
expression, there were identifiable behaviors and actions that made a difference" (Kouzes &
Posner, 2023, p. 4).
The Five Practices of Exemplary Leadership (Model the Way; Inspire a Shared Vision;
Challenge the Process; Enable Others to Act; Encourage the Heart) "are not the private property
of the people we [Kouzes and Posner] studied. Nor do they belong to a few select shining stars.
Leadership is not about personality; it’s about behavior. The Five Practices are available to
anyone who accepts the leadership challenge—the challenge of guiding people and organizations
to places they have never been before. It is the challenge of moving beyond the ordinary to the
extraordinary" (Kouzes & Posner, 2023, p. 4).
What I Like:
At the end of each of the Commitments of Leadership chapter (two chapters for each practice [10
Commitments total; 2 for each Practice]), there’s a really useful and actionable “Take Action”
section that tells you “what you need to do to make these leadership behaviors and practices an
ongoing and natural part of your behavioral and attitudinal repertoire” (Kouzes & Posner, 2023,
p. xxiii).
What I absolutely love about The Leadership Challenge book and model is how easy it is to
teach and how simple it is to learn The Five Practices of Exemplary Leadership (Model the Way;
Inspire a Shared Vision; Challenge the Process; Enable Others to Act; Encourage the Heart).
Whether it's a room full of high-school educated, blue-collar leaders or college-educated
executives with MBAs, the "MICEE" model is extremely intuitive and participants latch on to
the leadership model right away! Even more importantly — they're able to explain, demonstrate,
and teach back the model to others!
The authors also renamed the final chapter — from "Leadership Is Everyone's Business" (in the
6th edition) to "Treat Challenge as an Opportunity" (in the 7th edition) — but it remains
essentially unchanged.
In the 7th edition, Kouzes and Posner have further refined the second half of the “Take Action”
section at the end of each behavior chapter. The authors provided more nuanced suggestions to
help readers more effectively make use of each important leadership behavior (Kouzes & Posner,
2023).
Here's a sample comparison between the 6th and 7th editions for the “Take Action” section in the
“Foster Collaboration” chapter.
The actionable suggestions to Foster Collaboration in the 6th edition (2017, p. 218):
The actionable suggestions to Foster Collaboration in the 7th edition (2023, p. 218):
We [Kouzes and Posner] suggest that you foster collaboration by taking these actions to
build trust and facilitate relationships:
• Increase both the quantity and quality of informal interactions among people who need to
work more effectively together.
• Make sure that you use “we” at least three times as often as you use “I.” You can’t do it
alone. “We” is an inclusive word that signals a commitment to teamwork and
collaboration. • Be open to admitting that matters don’t always go as expected and focus
your attention on making sure that the lessons from experience are widely shared. Never
shoot the messenger.
In addition, regular conversations about leadership will let people know it’s important. Use
the opportunity in every interaction to direct people’s attention to aspects of leadership that
you think are important to focus on. Find opportunities to talk with others about these
questions:
• To get extraordinary things done, what can be done to better connect you with those with
whom you need to collaborate? • What are we doing to ensure that people around here feel
included and are involved in decisions that affect the way they do their work?
Summary: The Leadership Challenge (7th ed.) continues to be a compelling, evidence-based,
practical, and delightful masterpiece. The 7th edition of The Leadership Challenge provides new
and refreshed contents and is an incredible and worthwhile update to a timely leadership classic.
Leadership isn't a mystical quality that only a select few have. Nor is it a preordained blessing.
Rather, "leadership is an observable pattern of practices and behaviors, and a definable set of
skills and abilities" (Kouzes & Posner, 2023, p. 314) and it can be learned, strengthened, honed,
and enhanced.
"You don’t have to look up for leadership. Nor do you need to look out for leadership. You only
have to look inward. You have the potential to lead others to places they have never been"
(Kouzes & Posner, 2023, p. 306). The Leadership Challenge (7th ed.) provides an amazingly
simple and memorable blueprint and outlines the actionable steps you can take to make this
happen.