On Sept 1 Winfried Dressler wrote:
>Is there anybody in the list who really wants to be a transformational
>leader? And if so, why? Surely you have to know first, in which direction
>the transformation should go. I feel very uncomfortable with the idea of
>being a transformational leader having the end of above mentioned leaders
>in mind.
Winried, I am truly surprised!
Is there a leader who does not want to be transformational? Is there a
leader who is not transformational, whether they want to or not?
The transformation may simply to be to have a team that out performs their
own expectations. Or perhaps a smaller transformation, to mentor a young
person from being afraid to speak up from their expertise to one
confortable in their capabilities.
Every time a leader interacts with people, particularly people on his or
her team, they are transforming people. Even in high performing teams in
which leadership shifts from member to member each leadership act is
observed and placed into the mental model of the team - they are
transformed. Hopefully they are transformed for the better.
The surety of this cause and effect is the most sobering ethical aspect of
taking a leadership role. The leader's act will be copied or avoided by
the people being led.
I have met men and women who avoid taking leadership because they don't
want the responsibility of transformation. It saddened me in every case,
they are people I would emulate. Some of these same people were fathers
or mothers, they will transform their children, perhaps they will pass on
their parent's goodness.
--"William J. Hobler, Jr" <bhobler@worldnet.att.net>
Learning-org -- An Internet Dialog on Learning Organizations For info: <rkarash@karash.com> -or- <http://world.std.com/~lo/>