Transformational Leadership, Toward a Higher Purpose

This is the second in our series of posts that will explore the nature and practice of leadership through the lenses of different leadership theories and the biographies of different notable leaders and leadership teams. The previous post is On Heroes, Hero Worship and the Heroic in History.

Transformational Leadership, Toward a Higher Purpose

James MacGregor Burns (1918 – 2014) was an American historian and political scientist, presidential biographer, and authority on leadership studies. He was the Woodrow Wilson Professor of Government Emeritus at Williams College and Distinguished Leadership Scholar at the James MacGregor Burns Academy of Leadership of the School of Public Policy at the University of Maryland, College Park. In 1971 Burns received the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award in History and Biography for his work on America’s 32nd president, Roosevelt: The Soldier of Freedom. (Source: Wikipedia)

Burns shifted the focus of leadership studies from the traits and actions of great men to the interaction of leaders and their constituencies as collaborators working toward mutual benefit. He was best known for his contributions to the transactional, transformational, aspirational, and visionary schools of leadership theory. (Source: Wikipedia)

Burns’ Transformation theory of leadership proposes that leadership can and should be a dynamic interaction between leaders and followers with the followers leading the leaders as much and the leaders lead the followers. Burns presents the following quote as an example of this model of leadership.

“To link oneself with the masses, one must act in accordance with the needs and wishes of the masses.… There are two principles here: one is the actual needs of the masses rather than what we fancy they need, and the other is the wishes of the masses, who must make up their own minds instead of our making up their minds for them.… We should pay close attention to the well-being of the masses, from the problems of land and labour to those of fuel, rice, cooking oil and salt.… We should help them to proceed from these things to an understanding of the higher tasks which we have put forward.… Such is the basic method of leadership.” (Source: James MacGregor Burns, Leadership)

In this quote we can see a move away from the top down system of leadership practiced by the kings, queens, empresses and emperors throughout history. You might be surprised to know that these are words of Mao Tse-tung. In a future blog post we will explore the dissonance between this quote and his better-known quote, “Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun.”

We can see, contained in Mao’s quote, the difference between Burns’ definitions of Transactional and Transformational leadership. Transactional leadership is, as it sounds, an exchange. In Mao’s case this would have been the subsistence needs of the masses in exchange for power. Mao looks beyond this “Transactional” notion of leadership with the idea that leaders must care for the basic needs of the masses so that they can then be moved to “higher tasks”. These “higher tasks elevate both the followers and leaders to a level where they can make transformation changes to society and meet much higher needs beyond that of basic subsistence for followers and control for leaders.

“The result of transforming leadership is a relationship of mutual stimulation and elevation that converts followers into leaders and may convert leaders into moral agents.” (Source: James MacGregor Burns, Leadership)

At Ethical Leaders in Action we believe that most, if not all people, can develop themselves to play leadership roles in many different spheres both large and small. The foundation of this development process is a short but powerful list of virtues which can be developed and improved through conscious effort. For more information feel free to take the Virtues of Ethical Leadership Self Inventory (VELSI) which breaks these virtues down into features that can be individually developed. The results of the VELSI come with a quick reference guide to help you understand how the virtues and their individual features fit together. https://ethinact.com/velsi/

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