steven.leonard@ku.edu
Capitol Federal Hall, room 1030L
Education
M.A. in Operational Planning, Army School of Advanced Military Studies
M.S. in Systems Management, Murray State University
B.S. in Engineering, University of Idaho
Academic Areas
Dean's Office
Biography
Steve Leonard is an award-winning faculty member at the University of Kansas School of Business, where he serves as the assistant area director for Management and Entrepreneurship and is a Professor of the Practice. A former senior military strategist, he is a career writer and speaker with a passion for developing and mentoring the next generation of thought leaders. He is a co-founder and emeritus board member of the Military Writers Guild; the co-founder of the national security blog, Divergent Options; a member of the editorial review boards of Military Strategy Magazine and the Arthur D. Simons Center’s Interagency Journal; and an emeritus senior fellow at the Modern War Institute at West Point. Published extensively, he pens a weekly editorial column, Point of Departure, where his writing focuses on issues of foreign policy, national security, strategy and planning, leadership and leader development. He is the author, co-author, or editor of several books, including Power Up (Casemate, 2023), To Boldly Go (Casemate, 2021), Why We Write (Middle West Press, 2019), Winning Westeros (Potomac Books, 2019), and Strategy Strikes Back (Potomac Books, 2018). He is currently working on his next book with Howgate Publishing.
Professor Leonard received his bachelor’s degree in engineering from the University of Idaho in 1987 and his master’s degree in systems management from Murray State University in 1990. He began his Army career as a logistics officer, later specializing in strategic planning and policy. He served in a variety of command and staff positions during his time in uniform, including assignments in the United States, Europe, Korea, and the Middle East. He served two combat tours in Iraq with the 101st Airborne Division, and another with the staff of the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, where he was the principal military assistant to the Deputy National Security Advisor of the Government of Iraq and the senior advisor to the commanding general of Iraq’s National Defense University.