Have Fun With This 20 Question Management/Leadership Guru Quiz

Earlier this year, I composed a quiz about the life and work of Peter Drucker for Corporate Learning Network, Deepen Your Knowledge of Peter Drucker With This 20 Question Quiz.

In that spirit, I’ve designed a new 20 question quiz which I hope you will find to be both fun and of useful information. This could be a summer activity you can do at your leisure, and it could also come in handy if you soon to start the fall semester in almost any subject, business or otherwise.

You may or may not find this to be particularly “easy,” as I’ve deliberately made each of the three multiple choice responses to be plausible. Sometimes your immediate thought of what could be the right answer will not be correct after all.

The answers are below. Please let me know how you did, and if taking this quiz deepened your knowledge of management, leadership, or related topics!

1. Tom Peters has a new book, Excellence Now: Extreme Humanism. Nearly 40 years ago, he broke through with his first book, In Search of Excellence. Who was his coauthor on that book? a. Nancy Austin b. Robert H. Waterman Jr. c. Jim Kouzes
2. Harvard Business School professor Amy Edmondson is known for which theory in particular? a. Management by Objective b. Self-Care c. Psychological Safety
3. W. Chan Kim and Renée A. Mauborgne’s 2017 book Blue Ocean Shift is a sequel to their best-selling book originally published the previous decade. What is its title? a. Blue Ocean Leadership b. Swimming with the Sharks c. Blue Ocean Strategy
4. John Hope Bryant’s 2014 book How the Poor Can Save Capitalism has a front cover endorsement from which former President of the United States? a. Bill Clinton b. Barack Obama c. George W. Bush
5. Before her first book, Radical Candor, Kim Scott was a Silicon Valley veteran. She was a faculty member of which corporate university? a. Hewlett-Packard b. Apple c. Sun Microsystems
6. The late Robert K. Greenleaf is known as the founder of which of these disciplines? a. Open book management b. Positive organizational scholarship c. Servant leadership
7. Before Simon Sinek became famous for Start With Why, he worked in the following industry: a. Advertising b. Pharmaceuticals c. Hospitality
8. Which field did Whitney Johnson study as an undergraduate? a. Religion b. English Literature c. Music
9. Harvard Business School professor Linda A. Hill is the lead author of which 2014 book? a. Collective Genius b. Creativity in the Workplace c. Management Genius
10. Which person is the lead author for the highly influential 1995 book The Knowledge-Creating Company? a. Ikujiro Nonaka b. John Seely Brown c. Guy Kawasaki
11. Margaret Heffernan’s varied career has also included writing, directing, and producing plays. Which outlet has broadcast four of her plays? a. NBC b. BBC 3. CBC
12. Richard Saul Wurman is the founder of which well-known organization? a. Burning Man b. TED c. Esalen Institute
13. Which is not one of Lolly Daskal’s seven archetypes of great leadership? a. Rebel b. Knight c. Risk taker
14. Before he became a leadership guru, L. David Marquet was in which profession? a. Captain of a nuclear powered attack submarine b. Astronaut c. CEO of a major corporation
15. Clifton L. Taulbert’s second book, The Last Train North, was nominated for which award? a. National Book Award b. Pulitzer Prize c. PEN/John Kenneth Galbraith Award for Nonfiction
16. Before she became a well-known author, Liz Wiseman worked for which company? a. Google b. Oracle Corporation c. Nike
17. Bill George currently teaches at Harvard Business School. Previously, he was the CEO of which major company? a. Medtronic b. General Motors c. Johnson & Johnson
18. Margaret J. Wheatley is the co-founder and President of which institution? a. Fetzer Institute b. The Berkana Institute c. Omega Institute
19. Fill in the blanks about this 2018 book by Frederick A. Miller and Judith H. Katz: Safe Enough to Soar: Accelerating Trust, Inclusion, & … in the Workplace a. Collaboration b. Diversity c. Meaning
20. Who is the lead author for Primal Leadership, the 2002 book with coauthors Richard Boyatzis and Annie McKee? a. Warren Bennis b. Rosabeth Moss Kanter c. Daniel Goleman

Correct answers:

1. b.  Robert H. Waterman Jr.
2. c. Psychological Safety
3. c. Blue Ocean Strategy
4. a. Bill Clinton
5. b. Apple
6. c. Servant Leadership
7. a. Advertising
8. c. Music
9. a. Collective Genius
10. a. Ikujiro Nonaka
11. b. BBC
12. b. TED
13. c. Risk Taker
14. a. Captain of a nuclear powered attack submarine
15. b. Pulitzer Prize
16. b. Oracle Corporation
17. a. Medtronic
18. b. The Berkana Institute
19. a. Collaboration
20. c. Daniel Goleman