A Challenge Accepted

A Review of The Leadership Challenge, Seventh Edition

By Major Daniel J. Kator

Article published on: March 1, 2025 in Army Lawyer, Issue 3, 2025 Edition

Read Time: < 11 mins

Exemplary leaders focus more on others than on themselves. Success in leadership, work, and life is—and has always been—a function of how well people work and play together. Success in leading is wholly dependent upon the capacity to build and sustain positive relationships. Any discussion of leadership must attend to the dynamics of this bond. Strategies, tactics, skills, and practices are empty without understanding the fundamental human aspirations that connect leaders and constituents.¹

The Leadership Challenge, the seventh edition of the book co-authored by James Kouzes and Barry Posner, gives the reader a framework for team leadership in the environment of today’s public and private sector workplaces. Although not specifically targeted toward a military audience nor dedicated to leadership of and within military organizations, The Leadership Challenge provides military readers with a practical and user-friendly series of tools to use regardless of the type of unit to which they are assigned or the role in which they serve. The authors establish a system using “The Five Practices of Exemplary Leadership” and “The Ten Commitments of Exemplary Leadership”² that, with practice, can effectively be implemented in the leadership and management of a military team, particularly within offices of the staff judge advocate (OSJAs) and their practice divisions. As the Army “shift[s] from simply ‘distributing personnel’ to more deliberately managing the talents” of its personnel,³ the lessons the reader can learn from The Leadership Challenge will be ever more important in building cohesive teams, developing subordinates, and leading in complex environments and challenging scenarios.

Summary

The Leadership Challenge is not simply a how-to guide on leadership. Rather, the authors build on over thirty years of insights gained from their collection of over 5,000 “ Personal Best Leadership questionnaire” surveys, “hundreds of in-depth interviews,” “case studies,” and “the Leadership Practices Inventory (LPI),” ultimately resulting in “a database that currently includes over 4.6 million people from more than 120 different countries.”⁴ This data-driven approach, combined with anecdotes from leaders in the public and private sectors, allows the authors to illustrate leadership best practices for the reader in a concise and easily digestible format. The breakdown of information by chapter and the plethora of relatable anecdotes allow the reader to relate to the information and apply it to their own leadership experiences. While, with few exceptions, the anecdotes and vignettes the authors describe do not specifically apply to leadership in either the legal field or within military service, military leaders and, in particular, judge advocates (JAs), stand to learn and benefit from reading The Leadership Challenge and putting its lessons to use.

Kouzes and Posner organized the book in a way to keep the reader engaged, with stories about leaders in various fields interspersed with quotes, charts, and bullet-point-style lists. The book is structured in twelve chapters, ten of which are based on the “Ten Commitments of Exemplary Leadership,” with two commitments belonging to each of the “Five Practices of Exemplary Leadership.”⁵ Each chapter focuses on and is named after one of the commitments, allowing the reader to tie the lessons in each chapter back to the practices and commitments.

“Model the Way”⁶

In the first practice, the authors emphasize the importance of understanding one’s own values and beliefs and establishing a shared understanding of those values throughout the organization by leading by example. One method of establishing values in an organization that the authors discuss is the use of a leadership philosophy.⁷ The authors demonstrate that, based on data collected from their surveying, subordinates are far more likely to describe their supervisor as effective when the supervisor is clear about their leadership philosophy.⁸ The authors use an effective anecdote involving General H. Norman Schwarzkopf to demonstrate the importance of not only establishing values in an organization, but also setting the example for others through one’s own actions.

The authors tell the story of a commander who leads his unit on a five-mile run at a fast pace during the morning’s physical training (PT), only to have multiple Soldiers fall out after failing to keep up.⁹ General Schwarzkopf takes this as an opportunity to discuss the importance of unit cohesion, one of his values, with the commander and how even something as simple as morning PT can be used to reinforce it.

While many leaders might have passed up this chance encounter—after all, the morning run was mainly for exercise—Schwarzkopf recognized it as an opportune moment for the captain and the Soldiers to learn an important lesson about group cohesion. All that was required was his clarity of belief and understanding that he needed to be alert to opportunities for teaching people about the importance of affirming shared values.¹⁰

Although not specifically targeted toward a military audience nor dedicated to leadership of and within military organizations, The Leadership Challenge provides military readers with a practical and user-friendly series of tools to use regardless of the type of unit to which they are assigned or the role in which they serve.

In this section, the authors also discuss the importance of addressing serious issues as they arise and using them to help further entrench the leader’s values in the organization. The authors argue that “[c]ritical incidents create important teachable moments. They offer leaders the occasion in real-time to demonstrate what’s valued and what’s not.”¹¹ In articulating this point, the authors provide the reader with an important takeaway: sometimes the best way to demonstrate one’s values and impart those same values to other members of an organization is to respond to a crisis or unscheduled occurrence and put those values on full display.

“Inspire a Shared Vision”¹²

With the second practice, the authors touch on the importance of meaning and purpose within one’s work and how leaders can capitalize on these to build better teams and accomplish their goals. In a process reminiscent of the concepts described by author Simon Sinek in his works Start With Why¹³ and Finding Your Why,¹⁴ Kouzes and Posner emphasize how leaders and teams can find strength by identifying and focusing on what sets them apart from other similarly situated individuals and organizations. They describe how employees at a call center who understood the why of their job as helping customers solve problems, as opposed to focusing on merely answering calls and trying to handle issues as quickly as possible, were able to better understand their mission and feel a better sense of connection to their team.¹⁵ Here, as with other places throughout the book, the authors rely on their own studies, as well as social science research conducted by other individuals in the field.

“Challenge the Process”¹⁶

The authors write that “[c]hange is the work of leaders. In today’s world, business-as-usual thinking is unacceptable, and exemplary leaders know that they must transform the way things are done.”¹⁷ In this section, the authors describe how leaders must take the initiative and, at times, think outside the box to create innovative solutions to complex problems. They use the example of Starbucks developing the Frappuccino.¹⁸ Starbucks did not offer any frozen drinks, and one manager noticed that customers were going to her competitors to buy similar products.¹⁹ Despite Starbucks headquarters denying the manager’s requests to offer a similar product, the manager went out on her own to resource and develop the Frappuccino, which the authors note “became the most successful launch in company history.”²⁰

Although the anecdote the authors chose to use does not relate specifically to most readers’ professions (few, if any, are regional managers for coffee chains), any reader, regardless of what organization they lead, can take the lesson about innovation and creative thinking and apply it to themselves and their team. This illustrates Kouzes’s and Posner’s ability to speak to each reader, regardless of background, and convey their message.

“Enable Others to Act”²¹

The fourth section of the book focuses primarily on relationships. The authors emphasize the importance of collaboration and of empowering and developing others. A notable point from this section is that 77 percent of subordinates “strongly agree they are proud to tell others they work in their organization” when their leader very frequently or almost always gives people a great deal of freedom and choice in deciding how to do their work.²² Similar to the Army’s concept of mission command, the authors describe how entrusting subordinates to get the job done and giving them the freedom to do it can result in optimal results.²³

“Encourage the Heart”²⁴

In the final section of The Leadership Challenge, Kouzes and Posner describe the value of recognizing individuals for their work and building team cohesion. The authors note that “individual recognition increases the recipient’s sense of worth and improves performance” and that “[public] celebrations also have this effect, and they add other lasting benefits for individuals that private individual recognition can’t accomplish.”²⁵ JAs will be familiar with this idea, conceptually, as award ceremonies and unit functions where individuals are recognized are the sort of public celebration Kouzes and Posner describe. In this final section, the authors focus on the importance of showing others that their leaders care about them and are personally invested in them and in their success.²⁶

Lessons from The Leadership Challenge for JAs

The Leadership Challenge is a good addition to any JA’s professional reading list. The authors summarize many aspects of team leadership that can be applicable to organizations throughout the Judge Advocate General’s Corps. In particular, the authors’ use of data acquired through years of their own research, combined with short anecdotes, allows the reader to see that the authors’ claims are not just their own musings on leadership; rather, they are solid practices backed by real experiences from leaders and teams across a wide array of employment areas. Each chapter of The Leadership Challenge ends with a recap in the form of bullet points that could, should the reader wish, be used as a quick summary of the covered material and could make the book a useful addition to monthly leadership development program training. While the leaders’ experiences, challenges, successes, and failures detailed in The Leadership Challenge are not analogous to those JAs and other military leaders will experience in the day-to-day leadership challenges presented in military service, commonalities can be applied and learned from regardless of the differences.

In particular, the authors discuss the importance of teams having and understanding their common purpose in their work.²⁷ They noted that one leader “found that there was ‘immense value in creating meaning to the work that is being asked of people.’”²⁸ This lesson is arguably one of the most important for JAs to take away from The Leadership Challenge. The work that JAs do every day can be tedious and, at times, mundane. It requires extreme attention to detail and the ability to respond to last minute changes. Understanding the why and the true meaning behind what is asked of JAs (to get justice for the victim, to ensure the company commander is able to do her job, etc.) is of immense value and may result in an increased sense of satisfaction and value with one’s duties.

The authors of The Leadership Challenge also acknowledge that anyone can improve their abilities as a leader with the proper mindset.²⁹ They write that “[l]earning about leadership is not the same as leading. Deciding to be an exemplary leader is not the same as being one. Leading is doing, and you have to do leadership to be a leader.”³⁰ They state that the starting point is making “leadership development a daily habit.”³¹ JAs should take this to heart. Although they may not be assigned to what once may have been termed a “green tab” position, and they may not lead anyone but themselves, JAs can take lessons from The Leadership Challenge and incorporate them into their own personal leadership development program, even if they are not in a position to lead others. Moreover, they can find or create learning opportunities from small tasks. The authors provide examples such as “facilitat[ing] a meeting, or lead[ing] a special task force, or present[ing] an important proposal, or chair[ing] a professional association conference.”³² In an OSJA, this may be as simple as planning and leading PT one morning, running the Monday morning sync meeting, or planning a social event. The authors of The Leadership Challenge show that individuals seeking to improve their own leadership abilities should seek out these opportunities and, if none are available, make them.

The Leadership Challenge does not contain all the answers for JAs or any other leaders to instantly become better leaders for their teams. However, it is a good starting point for discussions about leadership and further development as individual leaders and as teams. In addition to anecdotes from their own research, the authors cite numerous additional sources.³³ In doing so, they provide the reader with additional resources to develop themselves and others. This, in addition to the authors’ own work, is invaluable. Ultimately, The Leadership Challenge is a stepping stone for JAs and other leaders who wish to better themselves to better lead and serve others. It offers a concise guide to team leadership with techniques backed by the authors’ own research and by others’ successes and failures. It is a worthy addition to any leader’s bookshelf. TAL

Notes