Challenge Is an Opportunity for Greatness: Learn How to Illuminate the Leader Within

“Challenge is the catalyst for leadership. There’s no shortage of challenge and hence there’s no shortage of opportunities for leadership,” Barry Posner says from his office in our recent webinar featuring both Posner and Jim Kouzes, the best-selling authors of The Leadership Challenge.

On February 21, Kouzes and Posner sat down to discuss the recently released 7^th edition of The Leadership Challenge,in their recent webinar The Challenge Continues. They also shared their thoughts on how leadership has evolved as a result of the pandemic and hybrid work, the importance of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DE&I) in leadership, and answered audience questions on the state of leadership today.

Leadership has been the cornerstone of both Kouzes and Posner’s careers. For over 40 years, they have worked as collaborators and have written more than a dozen award-winning leadership books, making them true experts on all things leadership whose perspectives provide deep insight and powerful inspiration, promising to bring out the exemplary leader within everyone.
This one-hour conversation spanned topics including:

• How the application of The Five Practices of Exemplary Leadership® have changed since the pandemic and the transition to remote/hybrid work.
• The updated data included in the latest edition and what that means for organizations and leaders.
• Why the average score on the Leadership Practices Inventory® is higher now than it has been in years.
• The importance of DE&I in leadership.
• Empowering the next generation of leaders.

Reflecting on how much has changed in our world since 2020 with the pandemic, political unrest, and more, Kouzes offers that “Challenge is both the crucible and the opportunity for greatness.” While there has certainly been no shortage of challenge, he explains how those moments of deep reflection and discomfort can provide unique opportunities to illuminate the leader within.

The webinar also features an insightful video from The Leadership Challenge® facilitation set that can be used as an aid when facilitating a Leadership Challenge learning experience. It highlights “Lena,” a Chief Marketing Officer who had to adapt her leadership style when she realized how her behaviors were contributing to a culture of micromanagement and anxiety, and the transformation that occurred on her team when she embraced The Five Practices. A truly relatable story that will help facilitators drive home the point that exemplary leaders adapt and evolve to encourage greatness – both in themselves and in their people.

While organizations, and society itself, continue to evolve at a rapid pace, Kouzes and Posner repeatedly raise the bar on what it means to be a leader in our uncertain world.

Watch The Challenge Continues – A Conversation with Jim Kouzes and Barry Posner.