Chapter 8-Transformational Leadership Approaches Summary

Transformational or charismatic leadership have been called the “new paradigm” of leadership. According to Burns, “a transformational leader looks for potential motives in followers, seeks to satisfy higher needs, and engages the full person of the follower. The result… is a relationship of mutual stimulation and elevation that converts followers into leaders and may convert leaders into moral agents. The book reviews eight leadership approaches that consist of: James McGregor Burns: Defining A new Paradigm, Bernard Bass: Leadership and Performance Beyond Expectations, Warren Bennis: Behavior Strategies of Exceptional Chief Executives, James Kouzes and Barry Posner: Best Leadership Behaviors, Elliot Jaques: How Leaders Develop Requisites Organizational Structures, David McClelland/Robert J. House: Leadership and Power Motivation, John Kotter and James Heskett: How leaders Build Culture, Jay Conger and Rabindra Kanungo: Charimatic Leadership Behavior, and Marshall and Molly Sashkin: The Visionary Leader-Leadership That Matters. The authors illustrate common behavioral, personal, and context competencies founded throughout the eight approaches of transactional leadership. The four behavioral aspects of leadership found in the theories consist of communicating a vision, creating empowering opportunities, and caring/showing respect for followers. The three shared personal competencies found in the approaches are vision, the power need and its expression, and self-confidence. The context of leadership is the organizational environment or the culture surrounding the leader. Understanding the culture, enables leaders to build and act based on the situation and followers.

I agree that transformational leadership is more effective than transformational leadership, because it focuses on expressing a vision and motivating followers to their full potential through behavioral, personal, and situational aspects of leadership.
Of the eight approaches, which do you think are most useful for transformational leadership? From experience, do you agree with the common competencies established in the eight approaches?