Transformational Leadership In The 21st Century

Transformational Leadership - If we look back towards the beginning of this current century, the phrase that marked the ending of the previous era in our evolution was “Rapid-Change”, human beings have piled upon their stacks of knowledge in an exponential manner during the past five decades or so, some have even claimed that the number of scientists working today around the globe in various areas is greater than those that have ever been mentioned in recorded history! Almost twenty thousand pages of information are added daily in areas of medical science alone.

All that this extreme trend in progress points towards is the fact that our species is realizing its true potential as beings that are driven by the pursuit of knowledge and it’s applications. But the buzzword here is change, from the way we accumulate information to the method by which it is disseminated are major aspects of most jobs in the 21st century and these techniques and procedures have definitely advanced in many different ways. We as homo-sapiens in this current stage of our development have to deal with change and transformation on almost a daily basis. But the ironic fact is that as the logical progression of our evolutionary road has lead us to this stage, it is also ingrained in our genetics that we form certain habits that stick with us for an entire lifetime. Thus for most lay-people, change is considered an unnecessary aspect of life.

This is where the concept of Transformational Leadership comes in, although human beings are very versatile and creative in their individualities, we have learned to live and grow in the form of societies, and functional societies always have relied upon their leaders to guide them through rough patches and to maintain a stream of steady success. So leadership that is transformational in its essence instills a sense of enthusiasm in those being lead that allows them to embrace the change and to throw away the stagnation that caused the change to be necessary in the first place. A leader who can bring the spirit of transformation to his ranks can also inspire loyalty and dedication to his cause. History’s greatest leaders such as Jesus and Muhammad were able to bring about monumental changes in their peoples, by asking them to completely abandon the existing system of beliefs and to follow a new dogma.

It is clear to anyone who bothers looking at their lives that theirs have been the strongest of impacts on humanity, for many generations, countless acts of passion have been committed in the name of religion and entire institutions were formed around them which continue to function even after 2000 years. Although it is true that such style of leadership is the most difficult kind to muster but it does offer the highest form of reward. What really is needed though is the alignment of the thoughts and goals of those being led with those who lead for a complete spiritual and intellectual union that can inculcate true transformation.