Customer Reviews

The Five Practices of Exemplary Leadership (J-B Leadership Challenge: Kouzes/Posner)

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This is a 12-page promotional piece for Kouzes' and Posner's books and Leadership Practices Inventory, a 30-item questionnaire about leadership, written in the breathy style of business-school literature. A true non-value. If you are interested in their work, buy The leadership Challenge (Jossey-Bass, 1997), which has the same editorial tone but at least says something.

When I opened this order, I was totally surprised. I thought someone had made a mistake and sent me some advertising literature. I have actually received bigger and better "free" info from advertisers. This is listed as a 16 page book, but is just a 12 page brochure. Don't waste your money making the writers of this book(?) richer!

Kouzes and Posner have once again struck gold in The Five Practices of Exemplary Leadership: When Leaders Are At Their Best. Good things DO come in small packages; this 12 page synopsis speaks directly to the soul of leadership. As an Operations Commander of a mid-size Police Department, I am utilizing the authors' suggestions to change Law Enforcement not only in my agency, but in the larger community we serve. What an AWESOME gift these guys have given to all of us!

This was possibly the worst use of my money, EVER. Learned nothing new. Well, maybe I did learn that I'm already as good a leader as some of my peers, and a better leader than most since I found the "practices" in this short pamphlet (can hardly call it a book) to be no more than common sense.

I studied management theory in college but it wasn't until I read this book that I found a collection of information that was practical, useful and easy to understand. This book is used by my organization as the gold standard for management and leaders. It was handed to me during my hiring orientation as the embodiment of their expectations for leaders.

There is not much worthwhile to say about leadership that is not said in this book. One of the great things about this book is that the recommendations made are based not just on opinion and anecdotes but upon extensive objective findings from surveys and research. Those who have already read a great deal about leadership may find some parts of the book too repetitive of other material. However, for the novice reader or those who are just getting started, this book is a wonderful place to start. In my opinion, this book has to be considered a classic in the field of leadership.