Description:
Transforming Leadership examines how leaders evolve from ordinary "transactional" deal-makers into dynamic agents of major social change who empower their followers.
Pulitzer Prize-winning author James MacGregor Burns illuminates the evolution of leadership structures--from the chieftains of tribal African societies, through Europe's absolute monarchies, to the blossoming of the Enlightenment's ideals of liberty and democracy. Along the way, he looks at key leaders who attempted to transform their worlds--Elizabeth I, Washington, Jefferson, Gandhi, Eleanor Roosevelt, Gorbachev, and others. The book culminates in a bold and innovative plan to address the greatest global leadership challenge of the twenty-first century: the problem of global poverty.
Brief description:
James MacGregor Burns, political scientist and author, is a senior scholar at the Jepson School of Leadership Studies at the University of Richmond and professor emeritus at Williams College. He is the author of numerous books on leadership, including Roosevelt: The Soldier of Freedom, winner of the Pulitzer Prize in 1978 and the National Book Award.
Review Quotes:
"Mr. Burns calls the reader's attention to a paradox at the heart of all leadership: that the best leaders often follow an agenda set by their followers."
-- "New York Times"