Synopses & Reviews
Review
"An excellent examination of the art of motivating, organizing, and directing people for the common good." Michelle Kaske, Booklist
Review
"Harvesting vignettes from American and world history and reading them in light of new sociological and psychological research, [Burns'] latest book aims to put 'transforming leadership' at the core of Western values....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." Christopher Caldwell, The New York Times Book Review
Review
"Amusing asides, in which Burns describes how he attempted to apply his understanding of leadership principles to raising his children, enliven the scholarly consideration of leadership's evolution over the centuries. These accessible anecdotes...will ensure the book's influence extends beyond its most obvious implications for political science." Publishers Weekly
Review
"A wonderful walkabout a stroll with a brilliant, humane, and beloved old professor whose courses you took long ago....[Transforming Leadership] is methodical, logically arranged, and easy to follow." Philip Gold, The Washington Times
Review
"Burns [offers] a new vision that focuses on the ways that leaders emerge from being ordinary 'transactional' deal-makers to become dynamic agents of major social change who empower their followers....[Transforming Leadership] culminates in a bold and innovative plan to address the greatest global leadership challenge of the 21st century: The long-intractable problem of global poverty." The North Adams Transcript
Synopsis
In 1978, Burns published Leadership, his seminal examination of how leaders shape the course of history by transforming followers into creative new leaders. Now Burns expands the subject, offering a new vision focusing on the ways that leaders emerge from being ordinary "transactional" brokers to become true agents of principled social change.
About the Author
James MacGregor Burns is senior scholar at the Jepson School of Leadership Studies at the University of Richmond and Woodrow Wilson Professor of Political Science Emeritus at Williams College. He is the author of numerous books, including Transforming Leadership, The American Experiment, The Deadlock of Democracy, Roosevelt: The Lion and the Fox, Roosevelt: The Soldier of Freedom, and The Three Roosevelts (with coauthor Susan Dunn).
Table of Contents
PROLOGUE: Empowering Happiness
PART ONE CHANGE
1 The Mysteries of Leadership
Cleopatra's Nose
Slaves of History
What Leadership Analysis Can Do
2 Searching for the X Factor
The Quest for Causality
What Is Transforming Leadership?
The Power of Vision
PART TWO LEADERS
3 Kings and Queens, Knights and Pawns
Kings of Africa
Elizabeth I: Ruler or Ruled?
Reining in the Knights
The Plight of the Pawns
4 Leaders as Planners
The Winds and Waves of War
Dreamers with Shovels
The Power of Steam Shovels
The Transformation of Harvard University
PART THREE LEADERSHIP
5 The Transformation of American Leadership
Collective Leadership on Trial
The Most Remarkable Work
One Man's Leadership for Rights
A Dependence on the People
Partiesthe People's Constitution
6 France: Trials of Leadership
Crown Rule and Crowd Leadership
The Rule of Terror
Napoleonic Rulership
The Gaullist Brand of Leadership
7 Leadership as Conflict
His Majesty's Opposition
Irrepressible Conflict?
The Russian Oppositionists
PART FOUR PEOPLE
8 The Anatomy of Motivation
Sheer Want
Real Need
Empowering Motives
9 Creative Leadership
Liberating Ideas
The Springs of Creativity
Golden Ages
The Transforming Vision
10 The Leader-Follower Paradox
Followers as Leaders
Leaders as Followers
From Engagement to Empowerment
11 Conflict: The Arming of Leadership
The Conflict over Conflict
The Leadership of Conflict
The Power of Leadership
PART FIVE TRANSFORMATION
12 The Power of Values
What Values for Leaders?
Transforming Values
Empowering Values
13 The People, Yes?
The X Factor
"Life, Liberty, and..."
"...the Pursuit of Happiness"
EPILOGUE: Global Poverty: Putting Leadership to Work
Notes
Acknowledgments
index