Photograph by Skye Dunlap
On The Books:
Jim Kouzes has expanded a career in business education to encourage broader thinking about leadership.
Local author James Kouzes' three books find meaning of courage and leadership
Expert spreads the word that success comes from the heart
By Mary Spicuzza
Jim Kouzes pauses briefly, then plunges into a detailed description of a lone soldier on a horse riding into battle. He describes the dark night, the fearless warrior, and then talks about how society has come to worship toughness as courage.
Then the author, an amateur etymologist, takes a break from his vivid imagery to share the real history of courage, beginning with the meaning of the word itself.
"We always think of 'courage' as 'tough,'" Kouzes says. "But the word comes from cor, the Latin for heart. Courage comes from the heart, and a 'courageous' person has an intense commitment to a cause."
Most folks wouldn't expect a Silicon Valley business expert to delve into deep discussions of heart and soul, nor stories about the Latin roots of modern language. But Kouzes is not your typical business expert--which is probably one of the keys to his enormous success.
In their latest books, Encouraging the Heart and The Leadership Challenge Planner, Kouzes and his colleague, Barry Z. Posner, break down the meaning of business courage, as well as society's myths about leadership, success and strength. Kouzes and Posner have been leaders in the realm of business writing since the mid-1980s, when their award-winning book The Leadership Challenge: How to Get Extraordinary Things Done In Organizations, helped revolutionize the way business authors write about success. The book now has more than one million copies in print and is available in 11 languages. And more than a million people have used their program--The Leadership Practices Inventory.
Writing is only one aspect of Kouzes' commitment to encouraging individuals to excel. During his tenure at Santa Clara University, where he ran the Leavey School of Business' Executive Development Center from 1981 to 1987, Kouzes led the department to two gold medals for its unique series.
When I tracked Kouzes down in his Palo Alto office of the Tom Peters Group, where he works as chairman, he had just given the opening night lecture for a graduate class at Leavey. Although he is no longer affiliated with the program, Kouzes retains close ties with the school and its dean, his friend and co-author Posner.
Busy Kouzes now alternates between public speaking, writing and teaching. In 1993, The Wall Street Journal cited him as one of the 12 most requested educators for U.S. companies. He also sits on various national boards, including the Organization Development Network and American Society for Training and Development.
But the image of Kouzes as a hurried business exec rushing from appointment to appointment doesn't quite fit. A trained social worker who spent two years with the Peace Corps in Turkey, Kouzes intends his message to extend beyond the world of business.
"Leaders I have the most admiration for are people like Martin Luther King, Gandhi and Mother Theresa. But the people I admire are also many people have never heard of," Kouzes says. "Part of our message is that leadership is everyone's business."
Kouzes has lived in San Jose since 1975, and moved into his Willow Glen home with his wife, Donna, more than 10 years ago. A Washington, D.C. native, Kouzes' pursuits have taken him around the globe.
After getting his degree in political science at the University of Michigan, Kouzes did his stint with the Peace Corps before taking a job in the social work department at the University of Texas.
In 1972 Kouzes moved to San Jose State, where he founded the Joint Center for Human Services Development. Since 1975, he's written nearly 75 articles in addition to his books with Posner. Following The Leadership Challenge, the team published Credibility, in 1993, before getting together for Encouraging the Heart.
The author also has a passion for the roots of modern words. "I get teased by my colleagues," Kouzes laughs. "They're always quizzing me with, 'Hey, Kouzes. What's the etymology of that word?' But words have come to mean so much to me now that I'm a writer. And the language we use is so important."
Kouzes and Posner have shown that words like "heart" and "vision" have a place in corporate America.
In their 1993 book, Credibility, the pair write, "The domain of leaders is the future." And reflecting their natural tendencies to leadership, the two are already working on two new books--one about "challenging the process," the other about "finding a voice."
As our interview winds to a close, I am reminded of a passage in the introduction to Encouraging the Heart, in which Kouzes uses the rainbow-striped zebra as a symbol for values, high standards and the importance of finding a unique voice. This, I realize, is not a tough-guy hero on a white horse, but a writer with a rainbow-colored zebra, on a courageous quest to teach corporate America about heart and soul.
Willow Glen, California Since 1992
