The Kouzes and Posner Research

During the 1980’s, Jim Kouzes and Barry Posner, two professors of leadership at Santa Clara University, began collecting stories of ordinary people who, through the application of their leadership skills, were somehow able to achieve extraordinary results. As their storyroom grew, they saw a pattern of 5 leadership practices emerge: every one of the ‘personal best’ stories described reliance on one or more of these 5 practices, whether the leaders were aware of their use of the skills or not. Two very important take-aways here: first, we now know what successful leaders actually say and do to accomplish the extraordinary; and second, these practices can be learned, they are not innate.

In the ensuing decades, Kouzes and Posner have not stopped adding to their storyroom: it now contains many thousands of real life leadership examples, and so it is gratifying to know that the 5 practices remain largely unaltered. Our two professors tell us however that the societal context in which the practices are applied have indeed changed (e.g., extensive use of social media, the rise of populism, the lessening of trust in our politicians and business leaders, etc), yet we believe we are much like the early explorers who, in changing weather patterns, nonetheless relied on the same stars to guide them to their destinations.

LeaderShare will use the Kouzes and Posner 5 leadership practices and the 10 related commitments as our guiding stars.