Leading to Transform Our World

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For over 30 years, as the above quotations suggest, some leadership scholars have asserted a belief in the potential of transformative leadership to create equitable change; yet in this century, its potential is still unrealized. Perhaps, this is because the theory is comprehensive and complex. Its focus on advocacy and activism for justice and equity require practitioners to act with moral courage, recognizing the potential for both push-back and considerable rewards as they work to transform workplaces and communities.

This chapter will briefly explain the origins of the theory, clarify its fundamental characteristics, and offer some insight into its potential as a vehicle for social change. It will demonstrate that transformative leadership theory (TLT) responds to the current sense of alienation, marginalization, or even oppression expressed by so many people throughout the world by offering a vision of hope and solidarity for an interdependent world. This chapter will begin with a very brief overview of some of today’s challenges and the need for socially just, activist-oriented leadership that will not only improve organizations but, as argued above, successfully meet today’s challenges.