Investing in Leadership: An Interview with Jim Kouzes (Part 2)

Last week, Jim Kouzes was kind enough to respond to several questions I posed about investing in leadership.  In Part 2 of the interview, Jim describes The Student Leadership Challenge and how he and Barry Posner are introducing The Five Practices of Exemplary Leadership to people at a younger age.

LB: Tell us about the Student Leadership Challenge?

JK: The Student Leadership Challenge began as a book. Barry Posner and I applied the same methodology to youth leaders that we did to working professionals in our original work on The Leadership Challenge starting in 1987. We asked students to tell us stories about their “Personal Best Leadership Experiences,” and then validated The Five Practices discussed in the book using the Student Leadership Practices Inventory. For those who are not familiar with our work, The Five Practices are: Model the Way, Inspire a Shared Vision, Challenge the Process, Enable Others to Act, and Encourage the Heart.

The book shows how student leaders actively engage in The Five Practices and provides guidance in how to put these to use in student settings. The Student LPI is a 360-degree assessment that accurately measures the extent to which student leaders are now engaging in The Five Practices. We also have a workshop for students, and facilitator training for teachers, trainers, and other youth workers who want to bring The Student Leadership Challenge to their organizations.  There’s even a virtual classroom option. You can learn more about all of this by visiting our website www.studentleadershipchallenge.com . You can also view a YouTube video about this work in which students talk about their views on leadership practices at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F2mOghQgUx8 .

LB: How many students are being touched by this initiative today, and what’s your goal for five years from now?

JK: In less than five years nearly 300,000 student leaders have participated in programs based on The Student Leadership Challenge.  This doesn’t include graduate level courses. We expect that we’ll have reached at least nearly one million student leaders within the next five years.

LB: Jim, again, thank you so much for sharing your insights and initiatives with us!  To learn more about Jim Kouzes, Barry Posner and their work, click on the many links embedded in the two interviews.  It will be well worth your time!

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