When we think of leadership we tend to think of the powerful who are appointed to the position. People like politicians, executives, and coaches may come to mind. They are appointed to these positions and therefore gain a massive influence on a certain population of followers. However, just because they are called leaders, does that mean they are actually leading? This is where many leaders can fall short, they lack the vision and trust to push followers forward. These appointed leaders can lack the personal skills to create rapport with followers, hindering the future growth of a company, country, or team. For those looking to succeed and push past the boundaries holding them back, they should look to a transformational style of leadership. It is leadership that changes and transforms people (Northouse, 2016, p.161). This is a growing field of leadership in that it is a shift in the old paradigm. It gives more focus to the people and their emotions, looking at how to make people better. These leaders are charismatic and have a large vision for the future of their mission.
A great example of a popular transformational leader is Elon Musk. When an employee was asked about his leadership they stated that he had an incredible vision, dedication, and perseverance for the future (Kurt Blazek, 2019). When his ideas are looked at by society and employees in the company as unfathomable, he cannot imagine them failing. Elon possess strong rhetorical skills, a core characteristic to transformational leadership (PSU WC, 2019, L. 10). He is able to communicate the vision with his followers, allowing them to buy in and embrace the vision themselves. In one case he had an engineer working almost 100 hours a week designing a product for SpaceX, only to have that product reimagined by Elon. The engineer however bought in so heavily to his vision that he took the challenge head on. I believe that is a concrete example of how influential Elon Musk is. He has the ability to gain the trust of his engineer that instead of quitting after all his work went to waste, he continued to push forward on the new product with the same intensity. That is the feeling of empowerment instilled into that engineer, he expected more of himself to complete this product. Empowerment is a characteristic of followers in the transformational leadership style (PSU WC, 2019, L.10).
We can see that Elon Musk is a great mold to fit the transformational leadership style. He has charisma, the ability to empower and build trust, as well as a vision. I believe that the most important quality he has as a transformational leader is the belief in his vision, as well as the ability to gain his followers trust in that vision. This is what is pushing the growth of his companies, people feel empowered that their jobs are helping change the world as we know it. As I stated above, leaders can be thought of in many capacities, but it is those who look to transform by leading that can truly succeed.
References
Kurt Blazek, The Transformational Leadership Style of Elon Musk. (2019, October 2). Retrieved from https://www.truscore.com/resources/leadership-style-of-elon-musk/.
Northouse, P. G. (2016). Leadership: Theory and Practice (7th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications.
Pennsylvania State University World Campus (2019). PSYCH 485 Lesson 10: Team Leadership.
Brad Price says
In the article, The Transformational Leadership Style of Elon Musk, it states that “Musk’s most outstanding qualities are his belief in his own vision, his drive and his persistence, refusing to accept obstacles in his path” (Kurt Blazek, 2019). Northouse says that transformational leadership is about the emotions, ethics, and the long-term goals of a company or person (Northouse, 2016). Elon Musk from the article looks like he is a good example of a transformational leader. He gets people excited for his ideas and gets them to follow him. He also pushes people to be better today than they were yesterday. Northouse says that transformational leaders “move followers to accomplish more than what is usually expected of them. That is probably why in the article people said that working for Elon “was incredible and they would never work there again” (Kurt Blazek, 2019). Transformational leaders will get the most out of their employees.
Reference:
Kurt Blazek, The Transformational Leadership Style of Elon Musk. (2019, October 2). Retrieved from https://www.truscore.com/resources/leadership-style-of-elon-musk/.
Northouse, P. G. (2016). Leadership: Theory and Practice (7th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications.