Rating: 
Summary: Valuable Insights...Practical Advice
Review: Those who have already read Kouzes and Posner's The Leadership Challenge will immediately realize that this volume provides a deeper examination of the concepts introduced in Part Six ("Encouraging the Heart") of the previously published work. After introducing and then discussing five "leadership practices common to successful leaders" and ten "behavioral commitments" among those leaders studied iwhile preparing to write The Leadership Challenge, Kouzes and Posner focus on recognizing contributions (i.e. linking rewards with performance) and celebrating accomplishments (i.e. valuing the victories) in Part Six. In this volume, these two "leadership commitments" receive their full attention. The material is carefully organized within 12 chapters which range from "The Heart of Leadership" to "150 Ways to Encourage the Heart." Why did they write this book? There are four reasons. Practicality: "We wanted to offer a set of principles, practices, and examples that would provide leaders with a repeatable process -- a set of essential actions --they could apply in their own settings." Principle: "In this book, we not only demonstrate that encouraging the heart is not soft; we show how powerful a force it is in achieving high standards and stretch goals." Curiosity: "We've been intrigued for some time by this finding that] "female constituents do not report that their leaders encourage the heart any more than do male constituents, regardless of the gender of their leader] and we wanted to explore the practice in depth to see if we could understand more about these differences." Finally, "...because we wanted to add our voices to the discussion of soul and spirit in the workplace." Kouzes and Posner note that the word "encouragement" has its root in the Latin word "cor" which literally means "heart." (So does the word "courage.") To have courage is to have heart. To encourage -- to provide with or give courage -- literally means to give others heart. For me, there are at least three especially important core concepts: First, love what you do. Love those for whom you are responsible. And love them enough to set high standards for them and then give them hope that you and they can meet those standards. Second, don't think of leadership in terms of position, title, power, status, etc. Rather, think of it in terms of initiative. Encourage, recognize and reward initiative whenever and wherever you find it throughout your entire organization. Third and finally, practice what you preach and do that every day. The most effective leaders care....and care deeply. They have credibility because their values and behavior are in unshakable alignment. They have earned others' trust. Those who share my high regard for this book are urged to check out David Maister's Practice What You Preach, Tim Sanders' Love Is the Killer App, David Whyte's The Heart Aroused, and Larry Davis' Pioneering Organizations.
Rating:
Summary: Valuable Insights...Practical Advice
Review: Those who have already read Kouzes and Posner's The Leadership Challenge will immediately realize that this volume provides a deeper examination of the concepts introduced in Part Six ("Encouraging the Heart") of the previously published work. After introducing and then discussing five "leadership practices common to successful leaders" and ten "behavioral commitments" among those leaders studied iwhile preparing to write The Leadership Challenge, Kouzes and Posner focus on recognizing contributions (i.e. linking rewards with performance) and celebrating accomplishments (i.e. valuing the victories) in Part Six. In this volume, these two "leadership commitments" receive their full attention. The material is carefully organized within 12 chapters which range from "The Heart of Leadership" to "150 Ways to Encourage the Heart." Why did they write this book? There are four reasons. Practicality: "We wanted to offer a set of principles, practices, and examples that would provide leaders with a repeatable process -- a set of essential actions --they could apply in their own settings." Principle: "In this book, we not only demonstrate that encouraging the heart is not soft; we show how powerful a force it is in achieving high standards and stretch goals." Curiosity: "We've been intrigued for some time by this finding that] "female constituents do not report that their leaders encourage the heart any more than do male constituents, regardless of the gender of their leader] and we wanted to explore the practice in depth to see if we could understand more about these differences." Finally, "...because we wanted to add our voices to the discussion of soul and spirit in the workplace." Kouzes and Posner note that the word "encouragement" has its root in the Latin word "cor" which literally means "heart." (So does the word "courage.") To have courage is to have heart. To encourage -- to provide with or give courage -- literally means to give others heart. For me, there are at least three especially important core concepts: First, love what you do. Love those for whom you are responsible. And love them enough to set high standards for them and then give them hope that you and they can meet those standards. Second, don't think of leadership in terms of position, title, power, status, etc. Rather, think of it in terms of initiative. Encourage, recognize and reward initiative whenever and wherever you find it throughout your entire organization. Third and finally, practice what you preach and do that every day. The most effective leaders care....and care deeply. They have credibility because their values and behavior are in unshakable alignment. They have earned others' trust. Those who share my high regard for this book are urged to check out David Maister's Practice What You Preach, Tim Sanders' Love Is the Killer App, David Whyte's The Heart Aroused, and Larry Davis' Pioneering Organizations.
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