During my career I’ve had multiple leaders at multiple levels. Some were complete jerks right off the bat; others were great people, but horrible leaders. Another was heralded by Wall Street, and then later torn apart. I’ve had managers that were unethical, and I’ve had some that were completely by the book. Suffice it to say, I’ve seen it all. The majority would fall under transactional leaders. Once I moved on, or they moved on, the relationship was over. They had expectations of me, and I of them, and when we both lived up to our ends, everything was fine. I didn’t burn any bridges, but I also never stayed in contact with them.
However, there was one leader I had that broke the mold and his name was Guy. I still keep in touch with him, and would do anything for him. My relationship with him wasn’t unique; the entire team, even those that weren’t high performers, had great respect for him. The reason was that he was a transformational leader.
According to Northouse (2013), transformational leadership is “the process whereby a person engages with others and creates a connection that raises the level of motivation and morality in both the leader and the follower” (p.186). This was Guy. We all surpassed our sales goals, we had a bond on our team that I haven’t had since. We all did this the right way, and other regions and teams looked to our team as “the leaders”. One reason that we performed so well, and that others looked to us was because we “lived the brand” and identified ourselves to the higher vision of our brand. Again, much of this was because of Guy. He was a charismatic leader, and as Northouse (2013) notes, charismatic leadership “links the identity of the followers to the collective identity of the organization” (p.189).
Another key characteristic of a transformational leader is that they develop others to their fullest, above their self-interest. Again, this was the case. Our team lost several people over the years, me included, to promotional opportunities. In every case, Guy had to sign off on the promotion. Each time this occurred, he lost a high-performer, and was left with a gap in his team. This created additional work for him. He had to hire, train, develop, and integrate a new person to the team. Each time, he never hesitated, and he was an active champion for all of us. He was the embodiment of a selfless leader, and it was a key reason we were all so loyal to him.
We all followed his vision for his team, and as a result we all excelled beyond what we thought possible. Our team performed at a level significantly higher than other teams, and for a longer time. Each year, the majority of us not only met our goals, but we reached our stretch goals. By definition, transformational leadership produces greater effects (Northouse, 2013, p.193). Even after I had moved on to another role, and then another company, Guy’s team continued to outperform others. Other companies recognized this and began actively approaching members of his team as well.
No matter how you define results, Guy and his teams were successful because he was a transformational leader.
Northouse, P. G. (2013). Leadership: Theory and Practice (Sixth Edition). Thousand Oaks, CA, United States: Sage Publications, Inc.
Alexis Mi Kim says
Hi,
I want to work for this amazing leader “Guy”! It sounds like he was a great boss who had great transformational leadership traits. As mentioned by Northouse, P.G. (2013), transformational leaders are attractive to followers since they have intuitive appeal. It sounds like you and rest of the team looked up to him because of his vision for the future. I think it is also great to hear how he always had the best interest for his employees. He clearly put needs of others first and through the process, it also probably helped his employees get promotional opportunities since he was very instrumental in the evolving of transformational process. It is always so encouraging to hear how these type of leaders make such a great impact. Thanks for sharing such a great post!