Our Views on Transformational Leadership

The concept of transformational leadership has been around for some time.  This is an important fact to realize. It is not something new that is unproven and unfamiliar to us.

According to our research, the formal concept of transformational leadership applied to modern organizations was first developed by James McGregor Burns in 1978. Burns did not study academic schools of thought, but rather based his ideas on his work with actual political leaders, Army officers, and business executives. We share Burns' pragmatic "hands on" approach to transformational leadership.

We have studied the field of leadership to understand where and how transformational leadership fits into the overall leadership spectrum. We would like to share just a little of what we have learned.

"Lead" is the root word for leadership. In its early Anglo-Saxon form, lead is rooted in "loadan" (lithan), which means "to travel."  Later, the word evolved to mean "to help travel in a direction." The addition of the ending "ship" indicates that leaders are recognized by others as possessing certain abilities to lead. Leaders are seen as possessing a certain mastery in their ability to lead others. 

Centuries ago we believed that leadership was a divine right bestowed upon only a few. Today, we believe it is every human being's right to be a transformational leader. Moreover, transformational leadership can be learned by anyone with the will to transform herself/himself through learning and collaboration with others.

We are concerned about helping leaders lead in the right direction. Part of that process is determining what that direction should be. Toward that end, we have evolved a new model of strategic planning that supports the transformational leadership process in organizations. We call this "Transformational Leadership Development."

Where does the "transformational" piece fit in? Management guru Peter Drucker said some time ago that: "Every few hundred years in Western history there occurs a sharp transformation. Within a few short decades, society – its world view, its basic values, its social and political structures, its arts, its key institutions – rearranges itself …. We are currently living through such a time."

Professor Drucker has hit the nail on the head. That is why we have dedicated ourselves to advancing transformational leadership at this particular time. This new age is marked by accelerated global economic and social integration, revolutionary-scale technological innovation, heightened spiritual awareness in all walks of life, greater appreciation for the total person in organizations, and the increasing application of ideas from evolutionary biology and ecology as new organizing concepts for business, government, education, the arts and culture, religion, and other institutions. We are indeed amidst a major transformational period in our human and natural evolution.

Today, many strands of transformational leadership exist. The strain we are most concerned about has to do with "giving leadership to things (issues, priorities, activities) that matter most." This embodies the concept of "doing well by doing good," and forwards on all levels the notion that future solutions to our world's problems must give greater recognition to the interdependence of humans everywhere and our inseparable relationship with Nature.

We are especially interested in the notion that transformational leaders are "authentic" in how they lead. The last consideration for the truly transformational leader is simply to accumulate more personal power and control other human beings. The transformational leader is most concerned about liberating, empowering, and advancing people through learning, creativity, collaboration, connectivity, and spiritual rootedness.

Learning organization theorist Peter Senge was an early advocate of the concept of "servant leadership," which says that leaders exist for one purpose: to serve others. Senge credits his discovery of this notion of leadership to the 1977 book, Servant Leadership, by Robert K. Greenleaf.  Transformational leaders are servant leaders in the highest sense of the word. This too is a part of our concept of what transformational leadership is all about.

We will be adding to these ideas on a daily basis. Please stay tuned.