Barry Posner is the Michael J. Accolti, S.J. Professor of Leadership and Management and Entrepreneurship Department Chair. His tenure at Santa Clara University includes 4,386 days as Dean of the Business School. Barry's academic contributions have been recognized with numerous awards, including the Association for Talent Development’s highest honor for Distinguished Contribution to Workplace Learning and Performance. He has been acknowledged as one of America’s Top 50 leadership coaches, ranked among the Most Influential HR Thinkers globally by HR magazine, and the World’s Top 75 Leadership and Management Experts by Inc. magazine.
He is the co-author, with Jim Kouzes, of the award-winning and best-selling leadership book, The Leadership Challenge. With over three million copies sold, the book is described as a groundbreaking research study combining keen insights with practical applications and has been translated into 22 foreign languages. It is listed among the Top 100 Business Books of All Time, receiving book-of-the-year honors by the American Council of Health Care Executives and Fast Company and the Critic's Choice Award from the nation’s book review editors.
Barry has co-authored other award-winning, inspiring, and practical books on leadership: Lawyers as Leaders: What It Takes and Why It Matters: Everyday People, Extraordinary Leadership: How to Make a Difference Regardless of Your Title, Role, or Authority; Leading in Law: Leadership Development for Law Students; Leadership in Higher Education: Practices That Make a Difference; Stop Selling & Start Leading; Learning Leadership: The Five Fundamentals for Becoming an Exemplary Leader; Turning Adversity Into Opportunity; Finding the Courage to Lead; Great Leadership Creates Great Workplaces; Credibility: How Leaders Gain and Lose It, Why People Demand It; The Truth About Leadership: The No-Fads, Heart-of-the Matter Facts You Need to Know; Encouraging the Heart: A Leaders Guide to Recognizing and Rewarding Others; A Leader’s Legacy; Extraordinary Leadership in Australia and New Zealand; Making Extraordinary Things Happen in Asia; and, The Student Leadership Challenge.
Kouzes and Posner’s Leadership Practices Inventory (LPI) has been described as “the most reliable and up-to-date leadership instrument available today.” More than five million people worldwide have completed the 360-degree online version. As an internationally renowned scholar, Barry has published over 100 research and practitioner-oriented articles in leading journals, including the Harvard Business Review, Academy of Management Journal, Journal of Applied Psychology, Personnel Psychology, Journal of Selling, and IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management. He has served on several public and nonprofit boards, such as the American Institute of Architects, Center for Excellence in Nonprofits, Global Women’s Leadership Network, Sigma Phi Epsilon Fraternity, SVCreates, Uplift Family Services, and Berkeley Food Network.
Barry received an undergraduate degree in political science from the University of California, Santa Barbara, a master's degree in public administration from The Ohio State University, and his Ph.D. in organizational behavior and administrative theory from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. At Santa Clara, he has received several outstanding teaching and leadership honors. Barry has been a visiting professor at the University of Western Australia, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Sabanci University (Istanbul), University of Auckland (New Zealand), and Seattle University.
Described as a warm, engaging, and pragmatic conference speaker and dynamic workshop facilitator, Barry has worked with organizations such as Amazon, Apple, the Australian Institute of Management, the Conference Board of Canada, Genentech, HP, IKEA, Kaiser Permanente, L.L. Bean, Levi Strauss, Merck, NetApp, Northrop Grumman, Petronas, and Trader Joe's. He has also been involved in leadership development efforts at over 75 college campuses. Barry has delivered presentations and conducted workshops throughout the United States and around the world.
Last updated: March 2025