Jim Kouzes and Barry Posner, internationally recognized experts in the field of leadership and authors of the best-selling Leadership Challenge, explore the important notion of legacy and the critical questions any leader must ask him or herself in order to leave a lasting impact. In a series of 22 short essays, grouped into four parts (significance, relationships, aspirations, and courage), the authors explore the thorny and often ambiguous issues that today's leaders grapple with, including why:

• People don't commit to plans, they commit to causes;
• It's not the leader's vision, it's the sharedvision;
• There is no silver bullet;
• How leading changes who you are;
• and How the legacy you leave is the life you lead.

In what is their most personal work to date, Kouzes and Posner zero in on the core challenges leaders face and offer up a thoughtful and reassuring perspective any leader, or aspiring leader, will learn from and enjoy.

James M. Kouzes is chairman emeritus of the Tom Peters Company, a leadership development firm. A popular seminar and conference speaker, he has been cited by the The Wall Street Journal as one of the 12 most requested "non-university executive-education providers" to US companies.Barry Z. Posner is dean of the Leavey School of Business at Santa Clara University. He has served on several boards (both corporate and non-profit) and on the faculties of numerous executive education programs. He has published over 80 articles and sits on the editorial boards of several journals.