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Leaders Who Changed
the World
Still at its initial stages, this concept of leadership, as the author says, "someday may join the traditional disciplines of history, philosophy and the social sciences in social recognition." Burns in each line delves into the mysteries of leadership. If he explores the struggle of some leaders, he also gives us an account of the towering leaders and personalities who have attempted to change their world. He presents a totally different perspective of the concept of leadership. He writes about grass-root leaders who go about their work quietly, efficiently, transforming the lives of the people around them. These are the people who die unsung, but are leaders in their own right. Talking of emerging, transactional and transformational leadership, the leaders are connected to various situations and the relationship is made clear. Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s example falls in both transactional as well as transformational leadership classes, as his second tenure proved to be even more fascinating than his first. He possessed the qualities of both lion and fox, but in the second tenure, the qualities of the former prevailed. Besides enumerating the various causes and conflicts of leadership, Burns has tried to find the correlation between the agency and structure of leadership. Agency signifies the character and qualities of leaders while structure implies the social and political scenario in which the leader finds himself. The building of the Suez Canal by Ferdinand de Lesseps and his failure in the Panama venture both have been discussed. The failure of the Spanish Armada, despite meticulous planning, is another example. The Elitist theory and the views of Pareto among others like Aristotle and Machiavelli are interesting. The role of ethics, morality, values, human wants and needs have been discussed individually. Burns considers wants and needs "the powerhouses of leadership". The reader finds a mention of leaders spanning continents and centuries. From the American leaders to Mahatma Gandhi and Indira Gandhi all are there. Each leader had a park of creativity, which continues to influence generations, for leadership means "envisioning, energising and enabling". Interesting facts about the rise and the administrative powers of Hitler and Napoleon Bonaparte are there. Napoleon boasted that he "could check his clock at any time of the day and know what every pupil in France was studying." In Anatomy of Motivation, the concept of leaders being led is developed. Marx, Rousseau and Freud’s thoughts regarding human nature are important, here they are discussed with a view to finding how a leader is motivated by his followers. A wonderful analysis of motivation. The anecdotes leave the reader pondering. New facts like Leonardo’s being an artist, a musician and an architect show the efforts that have gone into writing this book. In Creative Leadership, we are told about the role of revolutionary theatre and how it can "influence human thought and lead to human action". With examples of Luis Valdez in California and Augusto Boal in Brazil, theatre through the ages has been used as a consciousness-raising tool. That leaders like Lincoln, Wilson, Roosevelt, Truman have consolidated their position in conflict is another interesting thought. Whether it was the framing of the American Declaration of Independence or the Universal Declaration of Rights, the spirit behind each has been discussed minutely. On the surface, for example, "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness" may be just words, but at the depth, their relation with each other makes one marvel at the sagacity and far-sightedness of the framers of the American Constitution. This is a comprehensive work that not only gives space to ideas from Plato to Marx but also discusses these in relation to the concept. The facts and stories given in the book are not easily available. It evokes a vision of relentless optimism. |
A
book, nay, an encomium to the leaders whose
leadership has transformed the world, this is a work of research in an
area which hasn’t yet been fully studied—leadership. Pulitzer Prize
and National Book Award winner, this book is another elaborate offering
showing how "great leaders emerge from being ordinary transactional
deal makers to become agents of major social change who empower their
followers."
