Burns claims that leadership “unlike power-wielding, is thus inseparable from followers’ needs and goals.” I thought that this was interesting given that one of the characteristics of a charismatic leader is that they are understanding of and responsive to the needs of their followers. We tend to think of charismatic leaders as different or extraordinary, but Burns defines responsiveness to followers as a skill that all leaders should have. He then explains the difference between transactional and transformational leadership, which is that transactional leadership “occurs when one person takes the initiative in making contact with others for the purpose of an exchange of valued things,” while transformational leadership is when “one or more persons engage with others in such a way that leaders and followers raise one another to higher levels of motivation and morality.”
According to Bass, society in the last few decades has created a need for more transformational leadership rather than transactional, which I thought was really interesting. I learned about the differences between transactional and transformational leadership in my Leadership 102 class last semester, but I had never thought about this before. Bass argues that after the Cold War, skilled professional jobs became more common, and these educated professionals began to see each other as equals rather than in a supervisor-subordinate relationship. As a result, managers had to find a way to foster autonomy and challenging work in order to provide job satisfaction for their employees. Bass explains a similar trend in the parent-child relationship. In previous generations, parents taught their kids to respect authority without question, while parents today teach their kids about taking responsibility and advocating for themselves. Thinking about the way I was raised vs. the way that my grandparents were raised, I think that this is definitely true.
I was also intrigued by the differences in child-rearing styles now vs. in previous generations and how these differences have fostered transformational leadership. I feel that my parents definitely instilled in me to speak up for what I believe in and take responsibility for my actions, whereas my parents’ and their parents’ generations were most likely taught not to question authority at all. I feel that the way my parents raised me certainly impacted my personal leadership qualities, and it is interesting to see how this works on a national and global leadership scale.