The Student Leadership Challenge: Five Practices for Exemplary Leaders (4th Edition)
James M. Kouzes and Barry Z. Posner
Hoboken: Wiley, 2024
Book Review 2
The Student Leadership Challenge: Five Practices for Exemplary Leaders (4th Edition)
James M. Kouzes and Barry Z. Posner
Hoboken: Wiley, 2024
384 pages
ISBN 978-1-394-27120-5
Reviewed by Kidist Petros Gebregiorgis, Liberty University
James Kouzes and Barry Posner’s book, “The Students’ Leadership Challenge,” serves as a guide for students to become exemplary leaders of their age, to have their voice, and to clarify their values; to recognize and celebrate others’ contributions and success. The authors encourage readers to think at the end of each chapter on their own leadership experiences and skills, both now and in the future. Having worked together for over forty years, they have studied leaders, researched leadership, conducted leadership development seminars, and provided leadership in various roles, with and without titles. They demonstrate that leadership is the art of inspiring others to pursue shared goals.[1]
The main idea of the book is that leadership is something you can learn, not something you’re born with. Anyone can develop leadership skills regardless of their role or title. It offers various tools to help you grow as a leader. The book is aimed at students and young people, helping them experience leadership and influence others to achieve great results.[2]
The Five Practices framework was essential for launching leadership education. These practices include Model the Way, which has two commitments emphasizing knowing personal values and acting on them, and being an exemplary leader; Inspire a Shared Vision, which helps create an exciting future vision and recruit others to it; Challenge the Process, encouraging leaders to seek opportunities, take risks, and view failures as learning opportunities; Enable Others to Act, offering ideas to foster collaboration, teamwork, and empowerment; and
Encourage the Heart, which involves recognizing contributions and celebrating successes.[3]
The book features chapters that explain five practices and ten commitments. Each chapter describes the practice, highlights key leadership behaviors with the specific commitment assigned to that chapter, and includes reflective activities and worksheets to promote action. This new edition preserves the original evidence-based approach while adding exemplary case studies, updated language, and challenges relevant to college students.[4] The stories come from diverse backgrounds, making the ideas more relatable for young readers. The book’s chapters outline the “Ten Commitments of Leadership,” the essential behaviors that student leaders use to achieve remarkable results. They clarify the core principles behind The Five Practices with numerous examples, data, and research evidence.
This edition includes updates on contemporary issues such as mental health, diversity, student inclusion, and climate change activism. The increased focus on flexible leadership in the
“Challenge the Process” section encourages students to view setbacks as opportunities for growth and to try new strategies in low-risk situations.[5] It also addresses virtual challenges by using digital tools that can be shared online. Additional resources are provided for self-evaluation, which can be used as the Student Leadership Practices Inventory assessment.[6]
The book’s foundation is rooted in prolonged research-based outcomes rather than theological or philosophical perspectives, developed over four decades. Kouzes and Posner have conducted extensive interviews and surveys with thousands of leaders across fields such as business, education, community, and government. Their findings show that exceptional achievement is linked to consistent behavioral patterns. The authors highlight that their framework transcends cultural, organizational, and generational boundaries. They stress that leadership development is an ongoing process of self-assessment, rather than merely gaining knowledge.
This book can be used with young people to develop leaders in religious settings. From a theological perspective, the practices of “Model the Way” and “Enable Others to Act” reflect servant leadership principles in biblical teachings, emphasizing good behaviors such as honesty, humility, and helping others. Youth pastors and Christian teachers working with youth leadership may find this book useful for their students.
The book’s framework is based on humanistic psychology and views leadership development mainly as learning skills or changing behaviors, often overlooking spiritual growth,
which relies on the Spirit. It is crucial to recognize that Christian leadership goes beyond management work; it is rooted in faith, accountable to the church, centered on God, and dependent on the Spirit. While the book emphasizes personal identity and skills as a means of leadership,[7] it differs from Christian thought, which in turn emphasizes divine gifts within community, prayer, and Scripture-based life as given to communality rather than as individually achieved goals.[8]
Kouzes and Posner claim that everyone can be a leader.[9] While this inclusive view aligns with the Protestant teaching of the priesthood of all believers, it might overlook the different callings within the body of Christ. But in real situations, we see different levels and degrees of leadership. A healthy church must value leadership as a distinct role and other functions as parts of the body of Christ. This will create order and mutual responsibility in the church. Another concern with respect to biblical thinking would be that, by emphasizing results and processes, the author’s focus on visible achievements could overshadow the less tangible acts of hospitality and service that are vital to church life. A stronger theological foundation would help clarify the difference between leadership as a specific role and faithful discipleship as the universal call for all believers.[10]
Even if the book works well for youth groups, Christian schools, campus ministries, and theological colleges where young people are already involved in leadership and seeking practical advice, it is not typically used for seminary courses unless supplemented with theological texts that provide the necessary theological perspective. For some readers, it might contain repetitive examples and lack deeper insights into leadership models. With careful theological discernment and intentional additions, such as resources on servant leadership and vocational discernment, it can be a helpful tool. It can assist young people in developing skills combined with faithful discipleship to support the church’s mission and witness.
The Student Leadership Challenge can be recommended as a key resource for student leadership. The book explains that abstract ideas can lead to practical actions, and leadership can be exercised by young people. For anyone eager to see young leaders grow and thrive, it provides a clear guide for transforming personal lives and becoming agents of change. The current message from the book is heard everywhere young people are, with millions of copies sold out, radiating the principles updated to meet today’s challenges.
Bibliography
Jamieson, Mark. Coaching Young People for Leadership. London: Critical Publishing, 2023.
Kouzes, James M., and Barry Z. Posner. The Student Leadership Challenge: Five Practices for Exemplary Leaders. 4th ed. Hoboken: Wiley, 2024.
MacArthur, John. The Book on Leadership. Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2004.
Nouwen, Henri. In the Name of Jesus: Reflections on Christian Leadership. New York:
Crossroad, 1989.
Smith, Gordon T. Courage and Calling: Embracing Your God-Given Potential. 3rd ed. Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2022.
[1] James M. Kouzes and Barry Z. Posner, The Student Leadership Challenge: Five Practices for Exemplary Leaders, 4th ed. (Hoboken: Wiley, 2024), ix–x.
[2] Ibid.,3.
[3] Ibid.,4-6.
[4] Ibid.,13.
[5] Ibid.,90.
[6] Ibid.,170.
[7] Ibid.,173.
[8] John MacArthur, The Book on Leadership (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2004), 45–52; and Henri Nouwen, In the Name of Jesus: Reflections on Christian Leadership (New York: Crossroad, 1989), 27–35.
[9] James M. Kouzes and Barry Z. Posner, The Student Leadership Challenge: Five Practices for Exemplary
Leaders, 4th ed. (Hoboken: Wiley, 2024), 5
[10] Gordon T. Smith, Courage and Calling: Embracing Your God-Given Potential, 3rd ed. (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2022), 23–28.
[10] Gordon T. Smith, Courage and Calling: Embracing Your God-Given Potential, 3rd ed. (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2022), 23–28.