Summary, Analysis & Review of James Kouzes's & Barry Posner's The Leadership Challenge by Instaread

By: Instaread

Narrated by: Sam Scholl

Length: 28 mins

Publisher's summary

The Leadership Challenge by James Kouzes and Barry Posner takes a close look at the factors that contribute to strong leadership in a variety of fields. In their research, Kouzes and Posner found that there are five practices that leaders commonly list as key to moments when they were effective leaders. Central to every leader's success is credibility, which is related to the characteristics that followers seek in their leaders. These include honesty, a focus on the long term, competence, and the ability to inspire others.

The first practice is for leaders to demonstrate ideal behavior for the team. They can do so by learning how to express the right values to the team and how to gain the team's approval of those values. Leaders should visibly uphold these values in both word and deed, then reinforce shared values in a variety of ways.

Please note: This is a summary, analysis and review of the book and not the original book.

©2016 Instaread (P)2016 Instaread

An excellent fast summary

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

There is no story here, it being non-fiction, but the site wanted a star rating for that, so I gave it five for content.

This is an efficient summary guide to The Leadership Challenge, acceptable to read or listen to in lieu of the original and perfect to read as a supplemental or refresher text. As is common in Instaread titles, the summary is augmented with additional external information that is valuable to the reader.

I liked the narrator on this one. The voice is similar to the guy who says "This is Audible" at the beginning of every Audible title. It's not bland, but not overdone, like a college professor deeply engaged with his topic.

The traditional format for these books is to list the points to be covered (that list is provided below) and then cover the points, and that format works exceptionally well in audio. As these are condensed books for people on a busy schedule, the audio format is perfect for those who can pay attention while listening and doing something else (running on a treadmill for example). The information is, by necessity, very dense, so it's easy to miss things if you get distracted.

The book covers a straightforward approach that has been around for 25 years, widely acclaimed in that time for its effectiveness and its simplicity. This guide breaks down and explores the following Five Practices of Exemplary Leadership:

1- Modeling the Way
2- Inspiring the Shared Vision
3- Challenging the Process
4- Enabling Others to Act
5- Encouraging the Heart

I found it to be an interesting guide, because it is applicable to leadership across a broad array of endeavors, not just business. The summary explicitly mentions the difficulties unique to elected officials or teachers leading a classroom.

I received an advanced reader's copy of this book.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Summary, Analysis & Review of James Kouzes's & Barry Posner's The Leadership Challenge by Instaread?

The the program isn't all or nothing. Take the parts that you need, break the roles up as fits your company.

What does Sam Scholl bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Efficiency. An audiobook can be listened to while doing other things, and this series is all about getting at the information in as efficient a manner as possible.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

The idea of kids growing up to model good behavior to younger kids after their teachers modeled it for them. Tidiness was the specific behavior discussed.

Any additional comments?

I've read the Kindle version as well, and both are excellent.