Victory as a Challenge: Is Ukraine Ready for the Trials of the Future?

Have you ever come across texts that stand out against the familiar stream of analytics? Texts that, when reading them, you realize: they are written from “inside” the processes – sometimes even “inside” entire epochs – they describe? And precisely because of this, they touch on those aspects, those invisible components of daily life that future generations of researchers will never fully grasp, without which the “picture” of turbulent times can never come together. After all, it is from these seemingly insignificant details that the answer to the main question is formed: “Why did it happen this way?” 

Such a rare, profound text is the reflection of Gerard Seijts, Sophia Opatska, Andrew Rozhdestvensky, and Andy Hunder, published in “Organizational Dynamics” under the title “Holding Onto the Victory after the Victory: Leadership Lessons From the War in Ukraine for Recovery and Positive Change”.

What we have before us is not so much an academic paper as an important attempt to capture meaning – the very meanings that are born in the everyday life of a country that, for the twelfth year in a row, has been living and shaping itself in the conditions of the greatest war of our time. A war that has turned Ukraine into a social “laboratory of Leadership”, where, in the struggle for the very right to exist, changes occur that might otherwise take decades. And this experience, it seems, is precisely what our contemporary world so desperately needs. 

So, what have these lessons become? What answers does collective Ukraine propose? And why might holding on to potential Victory turn out to be a far more difficult task than achieving it on the battlefield? About all this – and more – in today’s review of our colleagues’ publication. Enjoy your reading!

From a Three-Day Forecast to a Three-Year Resistance 

The authors begin their virtual conversation with the reader with a paradox: in 2022, at the very start of Russia’s invasion, most Western experts gave Ukraine only a few days, never even allowing the thought of a long-term – and successful – resistance. Yet the cause of their mistake lay in the imperfection of their “formula”. The one that usually factored in the size of armies and economies, but simultaneously overlooked the most important thing: the strength of a society that refused to capitulate. 

This experience, the researchers write, demonstrated that leadership in the 21st century cannot be reduced to “hard power”. It includes moral resilience, shared values, and the ability to mobilize the energy of millions. 

And here the article introduces its key concept – “Victory after Victory”. To hold the country in a state of resistance turned out to be possible. But will it be able to preserve what it has gained after the guns fall silent? Will the energy of resistance dissolve into fragmentation, fatigue, and corruption? These questions become the leitmotif that runs throughout the text.

Resilience as a Daily Practice

Resilience is the first great lesson the authors emphasize. In the Ukrainian context, it does not mean simply “recovery after a blow”. Rather, it is the ability to continue moving forward despite the blows. It manifests not in heroic speeches but in ordinary actions: businesses relocating production and restarting operations; schools that continue lessons in shelters; communities organizing help for neighbors after shelling. 

This Resilience is not individual but collective. It rests on a sense of togetherness, on people’s willingness to stand by one another. On love for their environment and the determination to protect it. And also on the readiness to act even against the odds. And this, the authors argue, is an important lesson for any organization. For, as they note, true Resilience is only possible when it is cultivated in a culture of mutual support, responsibility… and trust. 

At the same time, the article honestly acknowledges: the resource of Resilience is not infinite. A prolonged war exhausts – physically, psychologically, economically. And therefore, the issue of recovery after victory includes another dimension: how to restore societal energy? And how to transform a culture of survival into a culture of development?

Leadership as Symbol and as Action

The next aspect of Ukrainian realities that the authors draw attention to is the very phenomenon of Leadership. In this context, the researchers vividly illustrate the power that seemingly symbolic gestures can possess. The now-famous reply of the defender of Zmiinyi (or Snake) Island to the crew of the missile cruiser “Moskva”, or President Volodymyr Zelensky’s words to allies who suggested his evacuation – “I need ammunition, not a ride” – which spread across the front pages of the world’s media, became events that embodied the collective refusal of an entire nation to capitulate. 

Equally telling, according to the authors, was the story of Olena Zelenska. A person who once avoided the spotlight, in wartime she transformed into a key diplomatic figure, drawing the world’s attention to Ukraine’s humanitarian needs. This is an example of how Leadership can grow despite prior assumptions about one’s own role. 

At the same time, the authors emphasize: Ukrainian Leadership is not confined to those at the very top. It is networked and dispersed. Volunteers, local activists, engineers who convert civilian drones for the front – all of them shape a new model in which Leadership means the ability to take responsibility. Without a title or official position. This is one of the most universal lessons Ukraine offers the world: in times of crisis, societies survive when they are composed of leaders on the ground, rather than relying solely on decisions “from above”.

Fragmentation of Society: Risk and Challenge

The article does not conceal the darker sides of war. War not only unites but also divides. New lines of fracture have appeared in society: between those who fought and those who tried to avoid the front; between those who went abroad and those who stayed; between residents of cities that suffered destruction and those living in relative safety. 

Particular attention is devoted to the issue of relations between men and women under such extreme conditions. Against the backdrop of years of hybrid and then full-scale war, Ukrainian women have assumed an unprecedented degree of responsibility – not only for their own families but also in business, in communities, and in volunteer work. This has opened new horizons for their Leadership. But will this transformation be long-lasting? Will society be able to recognize all the advantages of such collaboration, rather than reverting to old patterns once men return from the front? The authors leave this question open, but it resonates as a challenge demanding serious public discussion.

Grief and Post-Traumatic Growth

Perhaps the most powerful part of the publication concerns loss. Ukraine is a country where almost every family knows what it means to bury a loved one. And yet, here a paradox emerges: grief becomes not only a source of trauma but also a foundation for growth. 

The authors speak of the phenomenon of post-traumatic growth. This is not an abstraction: we see how the memory of the fallen is transformed into new institutions, projects, scholarships. The pain of loss steels Ukrainians in their determination to resist Evil – including by cultivating precisely what the latter strives to annihilate.

Such practices do not only honor the past. They open new paths into the future. And in this sense, Ukrainian society demonstrates a truly unique capacity to transform lived suffering into action.

Education and Critical Thinking: Safeguards Against Self-Destruction

The researchers also do not overlook another crucial aspect of the struggle for the Future – the role of education. The war has sharpened the need for rapid decisions and mobilization. But victory and recovery will require a different resource: the ability to think critically, to analyze, to build complex systems, and to “stitch together” a wounded society anew. 

Without education that nurtures responsibility and develops critical thinking, Ukraine risks losing after Victory. For it is education that will determine whether the state can avoid old traps: corruption, populism, distrust. In this context, universities act not only as academic institutions but as true hubs of a new social contract. And the Ukrainian Catholic University is only one among many examples of such transformations.

Is Victory After Victory Possible?

So, to what conclusions do the authors come? In their view, a potential victory on the battlefield is only half the journey awaiting Ukrainians. The real test will come at the moment of rebuilding a country wounded economically, physically, and morally. Will society be able to integrate veterans? Will it find a balance between memory and development? And will it be able to consolidate new models of Leadership, rather than revert to outdated patterns? 

The authors warn: without deliberate work on these issues, Victory may prove illusory. And that is why they place emphasis on Leadership based on Character – the ability to combine Courage with Humility, Drive with Accountability, Justice with Humanity. And to unite our determination to act with our ability to truly listen to one another.

Afterword

So what is the strength of this article? In its honesty and comprehensiveness. It does not embellish Ukrainian reality, but neither does it reduce the nation to the role of “victim”. It portrays a country that is at once weak and strong, divided and united, traumatized and capable of growth. 

And what is its challenge? In the fact that the text raises an entire layer of painful questions to which we will have to find answers. Simply in order to survive:

• How to integrate the different groups of Ukrainians after the war?
• How to consolidate the new roles women have begun to play in the life of the country?
• How to transform memory into action?
• And how not only to achieve Victory but also to preserve it?

The researchers deliberately leave these questions open. For this is the true value of their work: it begins a conversation that has long awaited its time. And the answers to these questions lie not only with the academic community – but with each of us. 

For Ukraine itself, this publication has become significant for yet another reason. For it is nothing less than a mirror in which we see not only our collective heroism but also our vulnerability. For the world, it is a reminder that true Leadership is not born in comfort. It emerges as a response to the collapse of the familiar order. And for the Center for Leadership of UCU, whose representatives contributed to writing the article, it is confirmation that our task lies not only in teaching theories but in shaping an environment capable of achieving that very “Victory after Victory”. 

If you are interested in the themes raised by the authors, we warmly invite you to explore their full findings.