Friday’s Book: The Truth About Leadership: Part 1 by Kouzes and Posner

You can’t fast-track your way to excellence.

The Truth About Leadership

(pg. xxv)

In a world overwhelmed with leadership and self-help books, Kouzes and Posner have written a book, The Truth About Leadership, looking at the keys of leadership found to be constant over decades of research across cultures and age groups. What I have found refreshing about the book so far is that it isn’t a formula of following 5 easy steps to becoming a great leader. This book challenges the would-be leader to dig deep into their character, work-ethic, and values to evaluate how they are trying to lead. The concepts are not “new.” If you have read leadership books before you have probably come across all of these truths. However, the book does not push them aside as the “obvious” truths of leadership and then sell you a method to lead without them. It forces the leader to really dig into who they are and how they will lead.

The First 5 Truths:

Truth 1 – You Make a Difference

Truth 2 – Credibility is the Foundation of Leadership

Truth 3 – Values Drive Commitment

Truth 4 – Focusing on the Future Sets Leaders Apart

Truth 5 – You Can’t Do It Alone

The book begins with what people value most in a leader – Credibility and Values.* Church leader take note! Your character matters in leadership whether you are leading a Christian community or not. How much more does is play a part when you do lead a community of believers who are striving to live by a certain value system?

The first part of this book is challenging me to take a long hard look at what I value and how my actions actually agree (or disagree) with what I say I value. Without an awareness of what we value and then checking the credibility of our actions in relation to those values, people will not follow us.

What do you value? How do your actions demonstrate these values?

*This is not a book written by authors who are claiming to write from a Christian perspective.

Advertisement