James Kouzes and Barry Posner are the authors of The Leadership Challenge, which has sold close to 2 million copies and spawned an entire franchise of products published by Jossey-Bass and Pfeiffer. They are THE premier leadership experts working today. Both live in the San Francisco Bay area. James Kouzes is the Dean's Executive Professor of Leadership, Leavey School of Business at Santa Clara University, and one of the leading executive educators in the United States.

Barry Posner is Professor of Leadership at Santa Clara University, where he served as Dean of the Leavey School of Business for twelve years (1996-2009).