Today’s guest is Jim Kouzes the coauthor with Barry Posner of the award-winning and best-selling book, The Leadership Challenge. He's also the Dean’s Executive Fellow of Leadership, Leavey School of Business, Santa Clara University. Jim tells us about his first meeting with Barry and how they quickly became best friends.  That friendship and their complementary skills and interests led to writing The Leadership Challenge which has sold more than two million copies worldwide! Jim’s focus on the applied and Barry’s emphasis on research has allowed them to develop the Leadership Practices Inventory (LPI) a standard 360 leadership assessment.  Jim explains the process of creating LPI and how real-life examples play heavily into the ability of clients to grasp the concepts. The COVID-19 pandemic has changed the way many people work and think.  Jim discusses the changes in leaders and what employees look for in leadership due to the pandemic and whether we can expect these changes to subside as we move forward or if some of them will become the new norm. If you want a deep understanding of how evidence-based research can become applied skills you can use in daily life this is a great episode for you! Three Key Takeaways: When collaborating on Thought Leadership try to work with those who have complementary skills and not competing interests.  Your Thought Leadership should not include anything you cannot factually demonstrate. Real-life stories of how your Thought Leadership has worked can help others understand the principles of your content.