"The Leadership Challenge Planner is a one-hop-at-a-time workbook for leaders. It's designed to help you reflect and act on your need (or organization's) for change...When we began our research, we decided to find out what practices characterize exemplary leaders: people who get extraordinary things done in organizations. Our research began with analyzing what behaviors people demonstrated when they were leading a project that they considered a 'personal best': one that set an individual standard of excellence for them. We collected thousands of stories of leaders performing at their peak, and we looked at what actions seemed to be consistent in all the stories. Several years-and several thousand quantitative and qualitative analyses-later, we found that five practices define exemplary leadership: 1.Challenging the process 2.Inspiring a shared vision 3.Enabling others to act 4.Modeling the way 5.Encouraging the heart...The purpose of this planner is to assist people, managers and nonmanagers alike, in furthering their ability to lead others and get extraordinary things done...We hope that his planner convinces you that leadership is everyone's business...By accepting the challenge to lead, you come to realize that the only limits are those you place on yourself" (from the Introduction).

In this context, throughout the five chapters (3 through 7), James M. Kouzes and Barry Z. Posner list and explain guidelines for these five practices.

1. Guidelines for Challenging the Process- Try these strategies to change, grow, innovate, and improve: *treat every job as an adventure *send people shopping for ideas *put 'idea gathering' on your own agenda *go out and find something that needs fixing *take a class; learn a new skill *experiment, experiment, experiment *make it safe for others to experiment *work with ideas that may sound strange initially *debrief every failure as well as every success *model risk taking.

2. Guidelines for Inspiring a Shared Vision- Try hese strategies to envision an uplifting future and enlist others in the vision: *determine what you want *act on your intuition *test your assumptions *become a futurist *develop your interpersonal competence *breathe life into your vision *speak positively *speak from the heart *make the intangible tangible *listen, listen, listen.

3. Guidelines for Enabling Others to Act- Try these strategies to build trust and strengthen others: *always say we *increase interactions *focus on gains, not losses *from planning and problem-solving partnership *go first *enlarge people's sphere of influence *make sure delegated tasks are relevant *make connections *make heroes of other people *educate, educate, educate.

4. Guidelines for Modeling the Way- Try these strategies to set the example and achieve small wins: *open a dialoque about personal and shared values *audit your actions *be dramatic *tell stories about teacheble moments *take personal interest in everything *make a plan *create a model *break it up, and break it down *ask for volunteers *sell the benefits, benefits, benefits.

5. Guidelines for Encouraging the Heart- Try these strategies to recognize individual contributions and celebrate team accomplishments: *seek out people who are doing things right *personalize and publicize each recognition *link the recognition to a clear set of standards *celebrate individual recognition in a group *be creative about rewards and recognition *give recognition and rewards *tell the story of someone who exemplifies the standards you set *design the reward-and-recognition system participatively *provide feedback en route *schedule celebrations *be a cheer leader, in your own preferred way *stay in love with what you do *have fun, laugh, enjoy.

Highly recommended.

A must read for anybody in a leadership position. "The Leadership Challenge" gives a full idea of what it takes to be an effective leader in today's world. It may be in the corporate world, hospitals, military, schools etc, this book tells it like it is.