The Student Leadership Challenge: Five Practices for Exemplary Leaders

by James M. Kouzes, Barry Z. Posner

Derived from the classic leadership book The Leadership Challenge,  Fourth Edition , this is a concise, focused primer on the Five Practices of Exemplary Leadership for students. Grounded in the same extensive research as the best selling The Leadership Challenge , this book uses examples and language to which students in higher education can relate. It also features reflective and critical thinking activities at the end of each chapter to help students engage in each of the Five Practices.

Genres: Leadership, Professional Development, Self Help, School, Nonfiction

178 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 2008

About the author

Jim Kouzes has been thinking about leadership ever since he was one of only a dozen Eagle Scouts to be selected to serve in John F. Kennedy's honor guard when Kennedy was inaugurated President of the United States. Kennedy's inaugural call to action -- "Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country." -- inspired Jim to join the Peace Corps, and he taught school in Turkey for two years. That experience made Jim realize that he wanted a career that offered two things: the chance to teach and the opportunity to serve. It was in his first job back in the U.S. training community action agency managers that Jim found his calling, and he has devoted his life to leadership development ever since.
Jim Kouzes is the coauthor with Barry Z. Posner of the award-winning and best-selling book, The Leadership Challenge, with over 3.0 million copies in print. He's a Fellow of the Doerr Institute for New Leaders at Rice University and also served as the Dean's Executive Fellow of Leadership, Leavey School of Business, Santa Clara University. Jim and Barry have coauthored many bestselling leadership books including A Leader's Legacy, Encouraging the Heart, The Truth About Leadership, and Credibility. They are also the developers of The Leadership Practices Inventory—the bestselling off-the-shelf leadership assessment in the world. Their books are extensively researched-based, and over 500 doctoral dissertations and academic studies have been based on their original work.
Not only is Jim a highly regarded leadership scholar, The Wall Street Journal cited Jim as one of the twelve best executive educators in the U.S. He is the 2010 recipient of the Thought Leadership Award from the Instructional Systems Association, listed 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, and ranked by Leadership Excellence magazine as one of the Top 100 Thought Leaders. Jim was presented with the Golden Gavel, the highest honor awarded by Toastmasters International, and he and Barry are also the recipients of the American Society for Training and Development (ASTD) Distinguished Contribution to Workplace Learning and Performance Award, presented in recognition of their extensive body of work and the significant impact they have had on learning and performance in the workplace.

Reviews

[Sydney · Rating 2 out of 5]

Reading this for a pre-pharmacy leadership certificate I'm trying to earn at Campbell University. :)

[Tatum · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was well written, but when I was assigned to read this book, I was told that it was going to give me recommendations on how to defuse and deal with situation as a Reseidential Assistant in college. It didn't discuss a lot of situations that I wanted it to discuss. It was fine, but it didn't give me personally any insight on a leadership role that I wasn't already aware of.

[Amelia Landry · Rating 2 out of 5]

I liked the sentiment but this could have been said in about half as many words. It also seemed way dumbed down. If it was for high school students I could see it being affected but for higher education it felt a little oversimplified.

[Mckinley · Rating 3 out of 5]

it's about behavior:
1. model the way
2. inspire a shared vision
3. challenge the process
4. enable others to act
5. encourage the heart

[Mikayla Lewis · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5/5 stars

[Russell · Rating 5 out of 5]

A phenomenal read and learning tool for student leaders and educators. I would recommend this reading to anyone interesting in learning more about leadership.

[Sophie Guymon · Rating 2 out of 5]

logging this in Goodreads bc reading it was emotionally laborious

[Sarah Curry · Rating 3 out of 5]

I used this book to teach a group of students in a leadership class. The 5 practices were good. but the incessant examples made the chapters so much longer than they needed to be.

[Nina · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a nice, short little leadership book written by two of the biggies in the leadership field. I actually received a copy of this book for free at the last conference I went to, and had heard a lot of good things about it. I decided to give it a quick read in order to see if it was appropriate to assign to a group of student leaders for their summer reading - it certainly is.

While the concepts in this book might seem basic to more experienced student leaders, they are laid out in a very nice format and explained in great depth. Nuances about each topic are thoroughly discussed, which I thought made for many instances of little reminders about leadership that might be overlooked.

The book is divided into chapters delving into each pillar of leadership that the authors identified in their study. I found that laid out in the manner that they are, I can even structure a retreat around them, and slot different events and meetings the group holds into each category.

So far the student feedback on the book has been great too - they seem to be enjoying it!

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book as a part of the Leading Change in Pharmacy elective and thought that it did a good job showing how the five practices can be lived out in student organizations. Most of what I appreciated about this book came as a result of learning more about the five practices and their practical implications. I thought that the book was geared more towards a high school or college audience, rather than a student doing post-graduate work, so there were a few times that I got a little bored with the examples given. I understand, however, that a book can't be perfect for every audience. I think this book would be a great high school graduation gift for a leadership-oriented college senior, or even as a college graduation gift for a student entering post-graduate work.

[Brandy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read this for a project at work.

I feel like I could go either way on this. At first, it felt like it was written with a severe underestimation of students' intelligence. Very dumbed down. The intro chapters I could consider appropriate for late middle school or early high school students.
However, when the authors get to breaking down their five practices, it becomes much more undergrad-leadership-course appropriate. Very effective examples geared toward the undergrad student in any level of student orgs.

For my own purposes, this book was not especially helpful. It's very focused on student organizations in the undergrad setting, not a lot of discussion about ethics or leadership as a more general citizen. But that's okay, that's not what it's billed as either.

[Kristin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I specifically reviewed this book as a potential read in our pharmacy leadership course. I found it to be concise and quick. The "five practices" are memorable and make leadership more concrete. (Model the Way, Inspire a Shared Vision, Challenge the Process, Enable Others to Act, Encourage the Heart)

The concepts were clear and there was a good variety of student-relevant examples. What makes the book excellent, however, is the reflective exercises at the end of each chapters. Students taking the time to completing these will benefit!

For practitioners, K and P first published The Leadership Challenge, which is highly regarded.

[Jay Dewey · Rating 1 out of 5]

Kouzes and Posner took a easy spin off from their old standard The Leadership Challenge thinking that all they had to do was dumb down their classic and it would be fine for teens and people in the early years of college. Sorry, it does not work. How many high school students read self help books. What is written is based on findings from research on adults -- none of it based on research on teens. It's depth is paper thin.

[Amanda Itliong · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love it - can't you tell? My comment made the back of the book!! hehehe!

[Kenzie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love the five practices. Sometimes there are too many student anecdotes but the concepts are very accessible for students

[Abigail Clark · Rating 2 out of 5]

Although this book had very good points about leadership, it was at the same time very redundant. But I guess that was part of the point: to ingrain the five practices of exemplary leadership.

[James Williams · Rating 5 out of 5]

I used this book for a class...great leadership philosophies and concepts!

[Rachel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Somewhat simplified but an easy read. Straightforward and gives some practical examples.