Leadership is About Behavior
Leadership is not about personality. It’s about behavior—an observable set of skills and abilities. When we first set out to discover what great leaders actually do when they are at their personal best, we collected thousands of stories from ordinary people about their peak leadership experiences.
Despite differences in culture, gender, age, and other variables, these “Personal Best” stories revealed similar patterns of behavior. In fact, we discovered that when leaders are at their personal best there are five core practices common to all: they Model the Way, Inspire a Shared Vision, Challenge the Process, Enable Others to Act, and last but certainly not least, they Encourage the Heart.
About the Model
The Five Practices of Exemplary Leadership® model continues to prove its effectiveness as a clear, evidence-based path to achieving the extraordinary—for individuals, teams, organizations, and communities. It turns the abstract concept of leadership into easy-to-grasp Practices and behaviors that can be taught and learned by anyone willing to step up and accept the challenge to lead.
As measured and validated by the Leadership Practices Inventory (LPI)—one of the most widely used leadership assessment instruments in the world—ongoing studies consistently confirm that The Five Practices and our assessment tools are positively related to both the effectiveness of leaders and the level of commitment, engagement, and satisfaction of those that follow.
About the Author
Jim Kouzes is the coauthor with Barry Posner of the award-winning and best-selling book, The Leadership Challenge, with over two million copies sold and available in 22 languages.
The Wall Street Journal has cited Jim as one of the 12 best executive educators in the U.S. He is the 2010 recipient of the Thought Leadership Award from the Instructional Systems Association; listed in 2010-2013 as one of HR Magazine’s Most Influential International Thinkers; named one of the Top 100 Thought Leaders in Trustworthy Business Behavior by Trust Across America in 2010-2015 and honored as one of its Lifetime Achievement recipients in 2015; selected by Global Gurus as one of the Top 30 Leadership Gurus in 2015; and ranked by Leadership Excellence magazine as one of the Top 100 Thought Leaders over the last 10 years.
