Transformational Leadership
01, 7.1.2013
Transformational leaders come in varied avatars. They can be statesmen, politicians, business leaders or scientists, but all display some common characteristics. The common factor is that they influence, motivate and inspire people.
They are visionary and charismatic, they are innovative risk-takers, they are authoritarian when they need to be, and they provide intellectual stimulation for their teams and followers by creating cognitive dissonance, encouraging creativity and encouraging independent thinking.
Leadership style is strongly influenced by culture. Indian culture lends itself to transformational leadership because there is a respect for hierarchy and a preference for action (karmayog), personalized relationships and a universal respect for duty and obligation.
Transformational leaders lead by vision, by their conviction, even in the face of challenges and initial failures. Conviction is the power of the leader's beliefs, his ideas. Conviction has the power to draw a following, in spite of the rocky path that must inevitably be taken. The transformational leader races ahead and shows the way. His purpose is to win over people to his strategy, not to please and be popular!
Sacrifices from such a leaders, both personal and aspirational, lie at the heart of achieving for the public good.
Decentralization of decision making and power, while it is the order of the day, requires a strong, transformational leader to retain twenty percent of such authority and power to lead a following through situations of crises. He may be seen as domineering, authoritative, and a centralized thinker at such times; but he must be decisive and his subordinates must show faith in his quick decisions.
The leader's intuition must provide the basis for strong and important decisions, in the absence of accurate information. "Big picture thinking" is required for decision making at such times, from the leader. Detailed consultations are not possible for lack of time and leaders must take strong decisions with or without consensus.
Start-up organizations, like Indus, essentially need transformational leadership, which does require direction to be centralized. This does not detract from a leader being caring and considerate towards his people. It is, indeed a prerequisite of survival and advancement. It is what effects change, success and progress.
(This is the essence of the message brought to newly elected Leaders of The Indus Student Council at Bangalore, by Lt. Gen. Arjun Ray (Retd.), CEO of the Indus Trust on the occasion of The Ceremony of Investiture on January 26th, 2012)
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Date: 04/23/2024