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The Leadership Challenge cover

The Leadership Challenge

How to Get Extraordinary Things Done in Organizations

Five evidence-based practices that exemplary leaders share.

by James M. Kouzes and Barry Z. Posner

Based on research into what people did when at their personal best as leaders, Kouzes and Posner distill leadership into five practices: Model the Way, Inspire a Shared Vision, Challenge the Process, Enable Others to Act, and Encourage the Heart. The book backs each practice with data and real cases. It frames leadership as a set of learnable behaviors rather than an innate trait.

First-time founders often confuse leadership with title or charisma, and this book replaces that with concrete, repeatable behaviors. The five practices give a practical checklist for showing up as a leader your early team will actually follow.

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