Twenty-five years after the publication of Leadership,
Burns expands his theories on how leaders cultivate transformational
leadership skills in themselves and in their successors.
He starts
with the explaining the two opposing styles: those who
occupy the position (they arrange the deck chairs on the
Titanic) and those who transform not only their own position, but
those around it (they fix the ship).
He draws
on
numerous
examples
from
history, citing meaningful examples from the lives of great political
transformational leaders. Unlike many writers, Burns possesses
deep insight
into recent psychological approaches and so has a more profound
understanding of transformational leadership.
Considered a classic by many, the book was the
winner of both a Pulitzer Prize and a National Book Award after
it was published in 1978. It focuses on the many different
types of leadership. Burns argues that the type of leadership
exercised by a general in the military is in many respects different
from that used by an executive in a multinational corporation,
a mayor of city or the head of a religious organization.
Two chapters of the book cover power and purpose
of leadership, three chapters on the origin of leadership, four
chapters are dedicated
to understanding transformational leadership and five chapters
cover transactional leadership. On the change side
of things, he covers heroic, moral, revolutionary and reform
styles of transformational leadership.
He illustrates his points with vivid historical
stories on Joan of Arc, Freud, Gandhi, Mao, the Roosevelt's,
Stalin
and others. He also puts forth his
belief
that great leaders play to mutual need, empathy and growth;
whether one lives
within the status quo or tries to transform it.
• Paperback: 544 pages
A cynic once said in speaking about politics, "The name of the game
is power, who has it, who controls it, and what constraints it." While
most of us will not be involved in the battles for influence that occur
in large corporations or government; as leaders, one must exercise influence.
The laws
of influence are partly based on the laws of reciprocity.
These
rules have been known for long time, but few people seem
to
understand
them.
Managers
often do not understand these rules since they
tend to rely too much on their authority. The problem
is that authority doesn't work
when one wants to:
Much can be learned by a good book honed by
constant improvement. Originally published in 1981, Yukl's
book is now up to the fifth edition. The book is jammed packed
full
of sound theory on leadership. It contains fifteen chapters,
some of which are listed below:
By definition,
transforming something from average to great involves some type
of change and transformation. While the focus of this book is on
the organization, the first transformational principle discussed
in the book involves leadership.
Since there
is not an English word for what he was describing, Collins went
on to call it Level 5 leadership. This ia a very different set of
behaviors from those used by the publicity hungry, greed driven
CEO's in-charge of many United States based MNC's.
Daniel Goleman, Richard Boyatzis, Annie McKee, Richard E. Boyatzis
In his recent
book Primal Leadership, Goleman presents the theory
on why emotional intelligence is an important
foundation
for leader effectiveness.
It makes sense
that leaders are not only be aware and in control of their own
emotions, but also able to influence individuals at an emotional
level. Can you take someone who is feeling "down" and
leave them feeling "up?"
What does a psychologist know about leadership? Quite a lot in
this case. Technically, emotional intelligence is not about
leadership.
However, all individuals who aspire to become a transformational
leader have to master their own emotions since few individuals
wish
to follow someone who cannot control their anger.
The Emotional
Intelligence approach stresses five developmental areas:
There is a
story of a rather old professor who was adamant about not having
his students
read the first edition on any textbook. It was his belief that
good theory only gets better with age and reprints.
While not a
textbook, The Leadership Challenge continues to get
published and republished since it first came out in 1989.
The book presents
five leadership principles. These five are:
a. Challenge
The Process
b. Inspire
a Shared Vision
c. Model the
Way
d. Enable
Others to Act, and
e. Encourage
The Heart.
While not claiming
to be a book on transformational leadership, these principles lend
themselves to its implementation.
This is a book
written from the academic side of view--strong on theory and strong
on research. Bass, along with Burns, have developed
a very strong reputation as an expert in the area of transformational
leadership.
This book takes a different path and focuses on the transformational
leader in the context of the organization. It really goes into the
inside story of how to be a great leader in the world of business.
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