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BUSM2411
Leadership & Management

Topic Four – Lessons of Practice

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Key issues for this unit

• What do effective business leaders spend their time

doing?

• How effectively do I behave as a leader, and what are the

obstacles to me doing better?

• How can a leader improve the learning and growth

(and thereby performance) of others?

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Excellent leaders engage in 5 practices - Kouzes & Posner

Model the Inspire a Challenge Enable others Encourage the

way: they shared the to act: they heart: they
act as a role vision: they process: foster reward the
model, and communicat they take collaboration individual
set other e their risks and and get people contributions,
people up vision and learn from to work together and celebrate
for success persuade mistakes thereby group
others to
commit to it
and strengthening accomplishments
successes others
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Source: Kouzes, J and Posner, B 2012 ‘The Leadership Challenge’ 6th Jossey-Bass,
San Francisco, Chapter one
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Are you a good leader in practice?

https://tinyurl.com/leadsurvey2020

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Modelling the way

• Describes the importance of leaders

setting a personal example for
followers, and their willingness to act on
their beliefs, not just to talk about them.

Source: Kouzes, J and Posner, B 2012 ‘The

Leadership Challenge’ 6th Jossey-Bass, San
Francisco, Chapter one
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Inspiring a shared vision:

• Refers to the ability of a leader to
imagine the future and to clearly
articulate the vision to others, thereby
gaining the followers' support and
belief in the vision.

Source: Kouzes, J and Posner, B 2012 ‘The 6

Leadership Challenge’ 6th Jossey-Bass, San
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Challenging the process

•Leaders challenge the process by:
-recognizing and supporting innovative ideas
-experimenting with new systems
-learning from mistakes and successes; and
•- taking risks to bring about change.
•

Source: Kouzes, J and Posner, B 2012 ‘The

Leadership Challenge’ 6th Jossey-Bass, San
Francisco, Chapter one

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Enabling others to act:

• Leaders foster collaboration and get people
to work together, thereby strengthening each
other. Includes concepts such as teamwork,
trust, confidence and empowerment.

Source: Kouzes, J and Posner, B 2012 ‘The

Leadership Challenge’ 6th Jossey-Bass, San
Francisco, Chapter one

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Changing the vision?
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Encouraging the heart

• Describes encompassing both large and
small actions by a leader who encourages
and supports followers and helps the team
to celebrate victories. It is moreover an
expression of genuine emotions.

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Source: Kouzes, J and Posner, B 2012 ‘The
Leadership Challenge’ 6th Jossey-Bass, San
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Management, Leadership et al.
5 Practices of Exemplary Leadership

Credibility: Demonstrate what is Credibility is earned,

actions speak important by how you cannot be
louder than words spend your time, conferred by title or
– must first your priorities, the q’s position..
conquer yourself you ask & the
… people you see.. 11
Source: Kouzes, J and Posner, B 2012 ‘The Leadership Challenge’ 6th Jossey-Bass, San Francisco, Chapter one
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Group Task

• In your teams, think about:

• An issue in your workplace that you solved?
• What leadership skills did you utilise?
• Is it still a problem?
• Share your thoughts with the rest of the class

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Workplace Leadership: Mythology &

Crisis

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The Myth of Leadership 1

• Religious and historical texts tell stories of great
individuals leading their people out of poverty,
hopelessness, ignorance and despair, into great
victories on the battlefield, prosperity, the promised land,
immortality

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The Myth of Leadership 2

• The notion of hierarchy; of strong unassailable leaders;
of (divine) right to rule; of the morality of meekness and
obedience; of leadership – concentrated in the hands of
a singular figure - as necessary to save us from (our
own?) evilness/sin/mistakes/damnation…
• …leadership, subconsciously etched on our psyche…
a powerful narrative in every human culture

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The Myth of Leadership 3

• We invest a lot of faith, and

give a lot of power, to
business (and other) leaders
• Divine rule?
- salaries, rewards, kudos,
given to CEO’s
- colossal, incontestable,
decision-making power
- the figure of the CEO is
deified or demonised

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The Myth of Leadership 4

• Leadership is a useful way for us to simplify life events.

It is easier to explain organisational success and failures
in terms of a leader’s ability than by analysing a complex
array of other sources.
• We like to think we can control life through the rational
actions of leaders, when in fact much of what happens in
life is due to uncontrollable forces (McShane et al.,
2010).

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Crisis in Contemporary Business Leadership 1.

• Studies on workplace leadership indicate that integrity is

the most important characteristic (Gallup Poll, 2014)
- integrity = sincerity, honesty and a commitment to
behaving ethically
• 73% of US public say CEOs can’t be trusted (American
Society for Quality, 2013)

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References

• Bloom, P. & Rhodes, C. (2018). CEO society: The corporate

takeover of everyday life. London: ZED books.
• Charan, R. (2006). Home Depot's blueprint for culture change.
Harvard Business Review, 84(4), 60.
• Jackall, R. (2010). Moral mazes: The world of corporate
managers. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• Quinn, R., Faerman, S., Thompson, M., McGrath, M., & Bright, D.
(2015). Becoming a Master Manager (6th ed.). Hoboken N.J.:
John Wiley & Sons.

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