Transformational Leadership:

Transformational leadership is a type of leadership style that can inspire positive changes in
those who follow. Style of leadership in which the leader identifies the needed change, creates
a vision to guide the change through inspiration, and executes the change with the
commitment of the members of the group.

The History of Transformational Leadership:

Leadership expert James McGregor Burns introduced the concept of transformational leadership
in his 1978 book, "Leadership." He defined transformational leadership as a process where "leaders
and their followers raise one another to higher levels of morality and motivation."
People will follow a person who inspires them.
A person with vision and passion can achieve great things.
The way to get things done is by injecting enthusiasm and energy.
Bernard M. Bass later developed the concept of transformational leadership further. According his
1985 book, "Leadership and Performance beyond Expectations," this kind of leader:
 Is a model of integrity and fairness
 Sets clear goals.
 Has high expectations.
 Encourages others.
 Provides support and recognition.
 Stirs the emotions of people.
 Gets people to look beyond their self-interest.
 Inspires people to reach for the improbable.

Transformational leadership may be found at all levels of the organization: teams, departments,
divisions, and organization as a whole. Such leaders are visionary, inspiring, daring, risk-takers,
and thoughtful thinkers. They have a charismatic appeal. But charisma alone is insufficient for
changing the way an organization operates. For bringing major changes, transformational leaders
must exhibit the following four factors:
Inspirational Motivation: The foundation of transformational leadership is the promotion of
consistent vision, mission, and a set of values to the members. Their vision is so compelling that
they know what they want from every interaction. Transformational leaders guide followers by
providing them with a sense of meaning and challenge. They work enthusiastically and
optimistically to foster the spirit of teamwork and commitment.

Intellectual Stimulation: Such leaders encourage their followers to be innovative and

creative. They encourage new ideas from their followers and never criticize them publicly for the
mistakes committed by them. The leaders focus on the “what” in problems and do not focus on the
blaming part of it. They have no hesitation in discarding an old practice set by them if it is found
ineffective.

Idealized Influence: They believe in the philosophy that a leader can influence followers only
when he practices what he preaches. The leaders act as role models that followers seek to emulate.
Such leaders always win the trust and respect of their followers through their action. They typically
place their followers needs over their own, sacrifice their personal gains for them, ad demonstrate
high standards of ethical conduct. The use of power by such leaders is aimed at influencing them
to strive for the common goals of the organization.
Individualized Consideration: Leaders act as mentors to their followers and reward them
for creativity and innovation. The followers are treated differently according to their talents and
knowledge. They are empowered to make decisions and are always provided with the needed
support to implement their decisions.
The common examples of transformational leaders are Mahatma Gandhi, Steve job and Obama.

Implications of Transformational Leadership Theory:

The current environment characterized by uncertainty, global turbulence, and organizational
instability calls for transformational leadership to prevail at all levels of the organization. The
followers of such leaders demonstrate high levels of job satisfaction and organizational
commitment, and engage in organizational citizenship behaviors. With such a devoted workforce,
it will definitely be useful to consider making efforts towards developing ways of transforming
organization through leadership.

How to Become a Transformational Leader:

1. Creating an inspiring vision of the future.
2. Motivating people to buy into and deliver the vision.
3. Managing delivery of the vision.
4. Building ever-stronger, trust-based relationships with your people.

Charismatic Leadership:
The charismatic leadership style relies on the charm and persuasiveness of the leader. Charismatic
leaders are driven by their convictions and commitment to their cause.
Charismatic leaders also are sometimes called transformational leaders because they share multiple
similarities. Their main difference is focus and audience. Charismatic leaders often try to make the
status quo better, while transformational leaders focus on transforming organizations into the
leader’s vision.
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was a charismatic leader who used powerful oratory, an engaging
personality, and unwavering commitment to positive change in the lives of millions of people.

Differences between charismatic leadership and other styles:

“Charismatic leadership is a leadership style that is recognizable but may be perceived with less
tangibility than other leadership styles,” writes Mar Bell in “Charismatic Leadership Case Study
with Ronald Reagan as Exemplar.”
Charismatic leadership is similar to other styles. Both it and transformational leadership rely on
the ability of the leader to influence and inspire followers. Transformational and charismatic
leaders motivate the individual or those around them to be better and to work for the greater good
of an organization or society. Other similarities include:

 Leaders rally those around them in service of a common goal

 Initiative and boldness are encouraged

The differences between charismatic and transformational leadership styles lie primarily in how
the individual is viewed.
 The personal vision of a charismatic leader has a great deal of influence over his or her
audience
 Charismatic leaders speak about their moral compass or passion rather than an existing
method of doing business

Democratic and charismatic leaders compared:

When compared to democratic leadership, similarities to the charismatic style include:
 They both place considerable responsibility on the leader
 Leaders guide employees, team members or volunteers in a particular direction
 There is often a spirit of collaboration

The differences between charismatic leadership and democratic leadership include:

 In democratic leadership, workers must have high-level skills in addition to the desire to
work
 Democratic leaders are highly rational and deliberate in their style
 Charismatic leaders appeal to the emotions of the audience
 In the charismatic leadership style, working toward a greater good is emphasized

Comparing autocratic and charismatic leadership:

Likewise, charismatic and autocratic leadership styles share some traits. Both leaders often
increase employee productivity. The key difference: The charismatic leader typically inspires
employees to perform. The autocratic leader uses their authority to demand high performance. The
short-term result is identical, although the long-term consequences may differ.
Charismatic leaders structure their organizations as they see fit. This is another example of a
crossover between charismatic and autocratic leadership styles. The intensity of both styles may
also generate early burnout of their leaders (and followers).

Examples of charismatic leadership:

Charismatic leaders are from all walks of life. In addition to business, this leadership style can be
found in religious institutions and political and social movements.

Religious examples of charismatic leadership:

Martin Luther King, Jr.

Born in 1929, Dr. King followed in the footsteps of his father as a Baptist minister. He started his
civil rights career as the leader of the bus boycott the night that Rosa Parks was arrested in
Montgomery, Alabama. Dr. King’s powerful speeches and belief in peaceful protest put energy
into the civil rights movement. In January 1957, he and several others founded the Southern
Christian Leadership Conference. In 1960, Dr. King gained national notoriety for his arrest at a
lunch counter sit-in, which came to the attention of presidential candidate John F. Kennedy. He
was soon released and went on to have even greater influence in the fight for civil rights.
Martin Luther King, Jr.’s speeches ignited smaller movements for equal rights through the
American South and beyond. Dr. King is best known for the August 28, 1963, march on
Washington that drew more than 200,000 people. At that march, he delivered his famous “I Have
a Dream” speech. The following year, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was passed.

Mother Teresa
Born in Macedonia (now Yugoslavia) as Anjezë Gonxhe Bojaxhiu in 1910, Mother Teresa was a
Roman Catholic nun best known for her work with the poor. Mother Teresa joined the Sisters of
Loreto when she was 18 and moved to India in 1929. As a novitiate, she was sent to Calcutta and
taught at St. Mary’s School for Girls.
In 1946, Mother Teresa abandoned teaching to follow what she considered her calling, founding
the Missionaries of Charity to live and serve in the slums of Calcutta. Over the course of the 1950s
and ’60s, she established a leper colony, an orphanage, a nursing home, a family clinic and a string
of mobile clinics.
In 1971, she traveled to New York to open her first U.S.-based house of charity. In 1985, she spoke
at the 40th anniversary of the United Nations General Assembly. By the time of her death, the
Missionaries of Charity numbered over 4,000 sisters with 610 foundations in 123 countries. Her
Inspiring, devout persona and devotion to a singular idea make her a good example of a charismatic
leader.

Political examples of charismatic leadership:

Ronald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan was born in 1911. He gained fame as an actor after signing a seven-year
movie contract with Warner Brothers in 1937. During World War ll, he made training films for
the military. Although he served as president of the Screen Actors Guild, a labor union, Reagan’s
political views shifted from liberal to conservative in the 1950s.
He began giving motivational talks to businesses and moved to the national stage in 1964, when
he gave a well-received televised speech for Barry Goldwater. He ran for president beginning in
1968 and won in 1980. President Reagan was able to articulate his political vision in ways that
appealed to his followers. Along with Teddy Roosevelt and John F. Kennedy, Reagan is
recognized as one of the most charismatic American presidents of the 20th century.

Sir Winston Churchill

Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill was born in 1874. Although he is best known for being the
prime minister of England during World War ll, he honed his communication skills as a war
correspondent in World War l and crafted legislation for Parliament as a member. He was a
powerful orator who used radio speeches to buoy the British people’s resilience during Germany’s
World War II bombing of England.

Charismatic leadership style requirements:

Common characteristics of leaders with charisma identified by Jay Alden Conger, leadership
expert at the University of Southern California, and Henry Kravis, professor of leadership at
Claremont McKenna College, include:

 Sensitivity to their environment and the needs of their employees or followers

 Articulate and visionary
 Inclined toward personal risk taking
 Adept at using unconventional behavior
Advantages and disadvantages of charismatic leadership
There are many advantages to this leadership style. Charismatic leaders are often a catalyst for
social change. They are, however, not a fit for organizations that depend on rigid structures and
processes to function.

Charismatic leadership pros:

 Charismatic leaders inspire people to work together for a common cause.
 Organizations are committed to a central mission.
 Management prioritizes learning from mistakes in an effort to succeed in their mission.
 Charismatic-led companies tend to be cohesive because their workers have a clear purpose.

Charismatic leadership cons:

 Leaders may develop tunnel vision or arrogance, undoing their previous good deeds.
 Organizations can become dependent on charismatic leaders and may suffer if he or she
retires, leaves the company, or dies suddenly.
 Charismatic leaders sometimes become unresponsive to their subordinates or constituents
 These leaders may not learn from their mistakes, compounding them.
 Charismatic leaders may believe they are above the law, committing financial or ethical
violations.

THE SERVANT AS LEADER:

While servant leadership is a timeless concept, the phrase “servant leadership” was coined by
Robert K. Greenleaf in The Servant as Leader, an essay that he first published in 1970. In that
essay, Greenleaf said:

“The servant-leader is servant first… It begins with the natural feeling that one wants to serve, to
serve first. Then conscious choice brings one to aspire to lead. That person is sharply different
from one who is leader first, perhaps because of the need to assuage an unusual power drive or to
acquire material possessions…The leader-first and the servant-first are two extreme types.
Between them there are shadings and blends that are part of the infinite variety of human nature.

“The difference manifests itself in the care taken by the servant-first to make sure that other
people’s highest priority needs are being served. The best test, and difficult to administer, is: Do
those served grow as persons? Do they, while being served, become healthier, wiser, freer, more
autonomous, more likely themselves to become servants? And, what is the effect on the least
privileged in society? Will they benefit or at least not be further deprived? “

A servant-leader focuses primarily on the growth and well-being of people and the communities
to which they belong. While traditional leadership generally involves the accumulation and
exercise of power by one at the “top of the pyramid,” servant leadership is different. The servant-
leader shares power, puts the needs of others first and helps people develop and perform as highly
as possible.

Scholars are identifying characteristics of servant leadership in order to develop and test theories
about the impact of servant leadership. For example, Robert C. Liden and his colleagues identified
nine dimensions of servant leadership that they used in their research: emotional healing, creating
value for the community, conceptual skills, empowering, helping subordinates grow and succeed,
putting subordinates first, behaving ethically, relationships, and servanthood. Dirk van
Dierendonck reviewed the scholarly literature and identified six key characteristics of servant-
leader behavior: empowering and developing people, humility, authenticity, interpersonal
acceptance, providing direction, and stewardship.
Greenleaf described a philosophy, not a theory. However, based on the views of a number of
scholars, the elements that are most unique to servant leadership compared with other theories are:

(1) the moral component, not only in terms of the personal morality and integrity of the servant-
leader, but also in terms of the way in which a servant-leader encourages enhanced moral reasoning
among his or her followers, who can therefore test the moral basis of the servant-leader's visions
and organizational goals;

(2) The focus on serving followers for their own good, not just the good of the organization, and
forming long-term relationships with followers, encouraging their growth and development so that
over time they may reach their fullest potential;

(3) concern with the success of all stakeholders, broadly defined—employees, customers,
business partners, communities, and society as a whole—including those who are the least
privileged; and

(4) Self-reflection, as a counter to the leader's hubris.

How to Become a Servant Leader:
According to Larry C. Spears, former president of the Robert K. Greenleaf Center for Servant
Leadership, these are the 10 most important characteristics of servant leaders:
1. Listening.
2. Empathy.
3. Healing.
4. Awareness.
5. Persuasion.
6. Conceptualization.
7. Foresight.
8. Stewardship.
9. Commitment to the growth of people.
10. Building community.

1. Listening:
You'll serve people better when you make a deep commitment to listening intently to them and
understanding what they're saying. To improve your listening skills Add to My Personal Learning
Plan, give people your full attention, take notice of their body language, avoid interrupting them
before they've finished speaking, and give feedback on what they say.

2. Empathy:
Servant leaders strive to understand other people's intentions and perspectives. You can be more
empathetic Add to My Personal Learning Plan by putting aside your viewpoint temporarily,
valuing others' perspectives, and approaching situations with an open mind.

3. Healing:
This characteristic relates to the emotional health and "wholeness" of people, and involves
supporting them both physically and mentally.
First, make sure that your people have the knowledge, support and resources Add to My Personal
Learning Plan they need to do their jobs effectively, and that they have a healthy workplace Add
to My Personal Learning Plan. Then take steps to help them be happy and engaged Add to My
Personal Learning Plan in their roles.
You could also use a tool such as the Triple Bottom Line Add to My Personal Learning Plan to
think about how your organization can make a positive impact on the people you lead and the
customers you serve.
4. Self-Awareness:
Self-awareness is the ability to look at yourself, think deeply about your emotions and behavior,
and consider how they affect the people around you and align with your values Add to My Personal
Learning Plan.
You can become more self-aware by knowing your strengths and weaknesses Add to My Personal
Learning Plan, and asking for other people's feedback on them. Also, learn to manage your
emotions Add to My Personal Learning Plan, so that you consider how your actions and behavior
might affect others.

5. Persuasion:
Servant leaders use persuasion – rather than their authority – to encourage people to take action.
They also aim to build consensus in groups Add to My Personal Learning Plan, so that everyone
supports decisions.
There are many tools and models that you can use to be more persuasive, without damaging
relationships or taking advantage of others. You should also build your expert power Add to My
Personal Learning Plan – when people perceive you as an expert, they are more likely to listen to
you when you want to persuade or inspire them.

6. Conceptualization:
This characteristic relates to your ability to "dream great dreams," so that you look beyond day-to-
day realities to the bigger picture.
If you're a senior leader in your company, work through and develop a robust organizational
strategy Add to My Personal Learning Plan. Then, whatever level you're at, create mission and
vision statements Add to My Personal Learning Plan for your team, and make it clear how people's
roles tie in with your teams and organizations long-term objectives. Also, develop long-term focus
Add to My Personal Learning Plan so that you stay motivated to achieve your more distant goals,
without getting distracted.

7. Foresight:
Foresight is when you can predict what's likely to happen in the future by learning from past
experiences, identifying what's happening now, and understanding the consequences of your
decisions.
You can use tools such as SWOT Analysis Add to My Personal Learning Plan and PEST Analysis
Add to My Personal Learning Plan to think about your current situation and environment, while
Scenario Analysis Add to My Personal Learning Plan helps you understand how the future could
Play out. Use the ORAPAPA checklist Add to My Personal Learning Plan when you make a
decision, to learn from experience and make sure that you've considered all the angles.
Also, learn to trust your intuition – if your instinct is telling you that something is wrong, listen to
it!

8. Stewardship:
Stewardship is about taking responsibility for the actions and performance of your team, and being
accountable for the role team members play in your organization.
Whether you're a formal leader or not, you have a responsibility for the things that happen in your
company. Take time to think about your own values, as well as those of your organization, so that
you know what you will and won't stand for. Also, led by example Add to My Personal Learning
Plan by demonstrating the values and behaviors that you want to see in others, and have the
confidence to stand up to people when they act in a way that isn't aligned with them.

9. Commitment to the Growth of People:

Servant leaders are committed to the personal and professional development of everyone on their
teams.
To develop your people Add to My Personal Learning Plan, make sure that you use Training Needs
Assessments Add to My Personal Learning Plan to understand their developmental needs Add to
My Personal Learning Plan and give them the skills they need to do their jobs effectively. Also,
find out what their personal goals are, and see if you can give them projects or additional
responsibilities that will help them achieve these.

10. Building Community:

The last characteristic is to do with building a sense of community within your organization.
You can do this by providing opportunities for people to interact with one another across the
company. For instance, you could organize social events such as team lunches and barbecues,
design your workspace to encourage people to chat informally away from their desks, and dedicate
the first few minutes of meetings to non-work-related conversations.
Encourage people to take responsibility for their work, and remind them how what they do
contributes to the success and overall objectives of the organization.