BOOK REVIEW
Book Title: Developmental Agile Leadership – Empowering Teams in a Changing World
Author: Timothy J. Kloppenborg, Kam Jugdev
Publisher: Business Experts Press, LLC
List Price: 17.99
Format: Paperback, 160 pages
Publication Date: 2025
ISBN: 13: 978-1-63742-884-9 (paperback)
Reviewer: Sunil Kumar Suvvari
Review Date: December 2025
Introduction
Developmental Agile Leadership presents a framework that helps leaders make decisions in a fast-growing VUCA (Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity, and Ambiguity) landscape. This book combines principles of developmental leadership with Agile leadership by overlapping the concepts of Agility, Truth, and Hope in both models. This book helps leaders foster trust, create collective commitments, shared understanding of the outcome, and empowerment of the people closest to the problem through learning agility within their teams and organizations.
The book improves the reader’s thoughts in two parts, the first part lays down the foundation of, principles and values of Developmental Agile Leadership, covering the concepts of cultivating learning Agility, Trust, and Hope in the VUCA landscape. Elaborating on the importance of empowering the team and leading from behind, and navigating through the challenges with a growth mindset. The second section of the book enables the reader on practical implementation by providing tools and strategies to inspire teams and cultivate emergent leaders to drive continuous improvement. Whether you are aspiring to be a leader or have been leading teams for more than a decade, this book will challenge your thoughts of traditional hierarchy-based leadership and evolve your mindset to empower others and embrace change through collective decision-making and shared learning.
Overview of Book’s Structure
Developmental Agile Leadership is structured in two sections; the first one lays the foundations through principles and values of Developmental Agile Leadership and the latter section walks through the implementation of the practices of Developmental Agile Leadership.
Part 1: Embrace Developmental Agile Leadership Principles and Values. This section lays the foundation by explaining the VUCA landscape.
Chapter 1 presents various leadership styles: the transformational leadership, servant leadership, developmental leadership, and agile leadership. Figures such as Figure 1.1 (Developmental Agile Leadership Roadmap) and Figure 1.2 (The Experiential Learning Process – Kolb 2014) provide foundational models for navigating uncertainty.
Chapter 2 explores learning agility, trust, hope, and the growth mindset. Tables like 2.1 (Fixed versus Growth Mindset), 2.2 (Qualities of Trustworthiness), and 2.3 (Hope and Work Outcomes) reinforce these core concepts by highlighting specific behaviors and attributes leaders can cultivate.
Chapter 3 introduces Agile principles, leadership roles, and communication strategies. This section is supported by Tables 3.1 (Effective Transformational leadership behaviors), 3.2 (Effective servant leader behaviors, and 3.3(Effective behaviors demonstrated by developmental leaders) outline behaviors typical of transformational, servant, and developmental leaders. These comparisons offer practical insights into how these leadership styles influence team dynamics and innovation.
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How to cite this work: Suvvari, S. (2026). Developmental Agile Leadership – Empowering Teams in a Changing World, book review, PM World Journal, Vol. XV, Issue II, February. Available online at https://pmworldjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/pmwj161-Feb2026-Suvvari-Developmental-Agile-Leadership-book-review.pdf
About the Reviewer
Sunil Kumar Suvvari
Texas, USA
Sunil Kumar Suvvari is an accomplished Agile leader, researcher, and advocate for web accessibility, with over 15 years of extensive experience in coaching, training, and empowering Agile teams. His expertise spans Agile Project Management, Product Management, Evidence-Based Management, Software Development, Artificial Intelligence, Universal Designs, and fostering inclusive cultures. Sunil has authored and co-authored more than 20 extensively researched articles published in reputed international journals, along with three influential books focusing on Project Management and Agile methodologies.
Sunil currently serves as a distinguished reviewer for numerous prestigious publications such as Springer, Elsevier, Sage Publications and international conferences. His reviewer contributions include roles with the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM), IEEE International Conferences. editorial teams for journals such as the Journal of Advanced Management Studies, and International Journal of Science and Research.
Beyond reviewing, Sunil served as a judge and evaluator for global awards and competitions in business intelligence, accessibility innovation, and coding—including the CODiE Awards, tech hackathons, and leadership challenges.
A sought-after speaker, Sunil has delivered keynote speeches and expert talks at leading professional bodies such as PMI (Project Management Institute), IEEE Technology and Engineering Management Society, ACM (Association for Computing Machinery), International Association of Project Managers (IAPM) and Agile New England, sharing practical insights on accessibility, empathy-driven design, and Agile leadership.
Sunil holds advanced professional certifications, including Professional Scrum Master III, Certified SAFe Practice Consultant, Agile Certified Practitioner (PMI-ACP), and Certified Professional Scrum Product Owner II, among others.
His global mentoring efforts have supported and guided over 1,000 professionals across 24 countries, helping emerging leaders build inclusive, agile careers. Notably, Sunil has empowered more than 100 homemakers to transition into IT leadership roles through personalized mentoring, training, and coaching.
In 2025, he was honored with the Global Leader in Tech for Good Award for his transformative contributions to accessibility, inclusion, and universal design. His mission is to ensure that innovation leaves no one behind and that accessibility is recognized not as an afterthought, but as a catalyst for meaningful progress.
Sunil can be contacted at suvvarisunilkumar@ieee.org
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