The Leadership Challenge

And everybody knows them because they literally are the researchers in this field.

Like, they're the de facto, um, they're the authors of The Leadership Challenge and Credibility.

Um, so he's got, uh, good juju with him, and we're gonna get to that.

So s- let's go back, because your history in this field, your time working with big businesses, with working with leaders, um, how can I say it? It's just really interesting, uh, when you look s- Tom Peters Company first, uh, tha- And I'm sure that wasn't your first job, but it is one of the most noted jobs that you have.

...

Jim Kouzes and his research partner, Barry Posner, have been conducting the most significant body of research on leadership on the planet for 50 years now.

And so Jim hired me at the Tom Peters Company, and even though Tom's name was on the door, and I certainly count him as, as a very, um, a significant mentor for me, it was Jim's work, Jim and Barry's work in particular around, uh, the leadership challenge that really, um, brought me into the world of leadership as a focus, and deeply informed my own work, my own body of work, which, you know, I came to develop over, you know, several years and now decades.

So this particular book, The Radical Promise, now, now to your question, what is it that makes this radical other than i- i- instead of just being, you know, common sense? Because doing what you say you will do, and the importance of that, is common sense, and it sounds almost ridiculously simple.

And I didn't set this up, so I actually didn't know you were gonna ask this question, but I had a lady ask this question the other day.

And so the book is called The Leadership Challenge, and it's...

If, you know, if you looked at the pages, they're all highlighted, and there's notes, and they're kind of yellowed at this point.

But I've had this book since I think I was 17, and I went and did, uh, what they call a dual credit program through our local Georgian College at the time.

Because a lot of times we hear, you know, especially if you come from maybe a poor family or that, "Oh, well, you can't do that," or, "You can't do this," or, "You're from this community." And so I think just pushing our personal boundaries and saying, "Hey, you know, maybe I can do that," or, "How can I do something or learn something to help me take to the next level?" And then taking that a step further of, you know, you hear, "Oh, well, it's always been like that." Well, is that the best way to do it, or can we come up with something more creative where we can do it better? So I think that's just something that's really been instilled in my life, and it's because of that book of challenging the process.

Perfect.

The Leadership Challenge.

Great book.

My co-authors on this new book have been my mentors since 1994.

And I started working with Jim back then, and they had this whole body of work on leadership that they published in a book called The Leadership Challenge and many other books.

Wow.

And I learned about the dynamics and practices of leadership directly from Jim Kuzis and Barry Posner.

...

he wrote The Leadership Challenge.

Yeah, yeah.

And, uh, he and Barry Posner state that you have to go through some type of adversity-

Yeah.

Their flagship book, The Leadership Challenge, comes out in its eighth edition next year.

That's crazy.

And millions, they've sold millions of copies of that.

Finding a book about trauma, boarding school, whatever it is your subject.

Leader, it might be The Leadership Challenge by Kouzes and Posner.

Or it might be Lead Yourself First by Raymond Kethledge and Mike Irwin.

It's to find your peace, understand it.