Summer+Leadership+Reading

=​Welcome to the Summer Leadership Reading Discussion!=

Here we will post the reading discussion and processing questions for //Leadership Challenge// by Kouzes and Posner. Below is a list of discussion dates and the activities willbe linked to this page as well. This is an informal reading and discussion group and is not a representation of any official institute or training program for the Leadership Challenge.

June 16: Part 1 June 30: Part 2 July 14: Part 3 July 28: Part 4 August 4: Part 5 Augut 11: Parts 6 and 7

Please click on the Discussion tab to respond to the questions posted here. I have found it easier to type responses in a document and then copy/paste in the post window.

__Part 1__

 * 1) "Leadership is the art of mobilizing others to want to struggle for shared aspirations" (Kouzes and Posner). What does this definition of leadership mean to you?
 * 2) How is Leadership a relatonship and why is that significant?
 * 3) Looking at page 30, what are your top 7 qualities for leaders?
 * 4) How are the top for leadership qualities (honesty, forward looking, inspiring, and competence) related to credibility?
 * 5) K&P talk about how credibility can positively impact customers, investors, and employees (p. 39). Who are these people in the context of your student organization?
 * 6) Describe an experience when you had an immediate manager with high credibility and one with low credibility (p. 38).
 * 7) What are the first two laws of leadership?

__Part 2__

 * 1) Why is it so important to "find your voice" and what do you have to be first, before you can find your voice?
 * 2) Complete the attached values exercise (first two pages only). What are your top five? [[file:Values+to+Ground+your+Way-MTW.pdf]]
 * 3) What are the values of your organization? Does your group even have a shared values set? What do you do to uphold these values? ...to contradict them?
 * 4) What do you think happens when members either don't know the values of the organization, or become disconnected?
 * 5) Examine the signal sending actions on page 78. Talk about a personal example for each, whether it has already happened, or something you intend to do in the future.
 * 6) As leaders, we should spend about 90% of our jobs on teaching others how to do our job. Review the three techniques for teaching others on p. 88 and list one thing you can do to illustrate these techniques in your organizations this year.

For personal reflection only, do not respond:
Answer the following questions (Kouzes and Posner, 2007, pgs. 69-70), jot down the first answer that comes to your mind. Also, the Why is the most important part of these questions.
 * 1) What do you believe in? Why?
 * 2) What brings you suffering? Why?
 * 3) What did you first grab hold of in your organization? Why?
 * 4) What keeps you awake at night? Why?
 * 5) What do you want your life to look like? Why?

Listening Intently Reread the section on listening to others and thinking about the power of words on pages 57-59. I challenge all of you to sit back in meetings and presentations and really think about presenters' word choice. What are their assumptions? What are they passionate about? What are they hiding with words? Paying attention to words will be an extremely valuable tool as a leader.

Personal Audit and Routine Questioning Challenge yourself and take one week and do the Personal Audit on pages 95-96. If you are really honest with yourself. This exercise is extremely enlightening.

Glance over pgs 96-97. Do you routinely question yourself in a positive way? Answer some of the questions from the book for yourself.