Leadership
Cultural Dimensions of Leadership
February 12, 2025
Transformational leadership is one of the many kinds of leadership that is usually on display in the real world. The reason for focusing on this particular type of leadership in this article is to highlight the need for transformational leadership in these tough times when the ability to articulate a vision and motivate the employees along with putting the company before self is badly needed.
The point here is that unless corporate leaders display transformational leadership in these turbulent times, the organizations that they head would not be able to withstand the headwinds of turbulence and navigate the choppy seas of competition.
Examples of transformational leaders include the late legendary Steve Jobs of Apple, Bill Gates of Microsoft, Jack Welch of GE, and NR Narayana Murthy of Infosys. Along with these figures, the names of Aditya Birla and Ratan Tata come to mind when listing the hall of fame for transformational leaders.
Transformational leadership goes beyond normal leadership and as the name implies, it results in a complete rejuvenation of the company and a transformation of its place in the corporate world.
For instance, the late Steve Jobs succeeded in altering consumer perceptions of computing, mobile technology, and the way in which media is consumed in the digital age. Similarly, Bill Gates can be credited with pioneering the personal computing revolution that has benefited Billions of people around the world and has transformed the landscape of the business world.
Further, NR Narayana Murthy can be said to have incubated a whole industry with his stewardship of Infosys that resulted in the IT sector in India taking off in a big way and emerging as a force to reckon with in the world.
Finally, Ratan Tata and Aditya Birla can be credited with transforming what were essentially family owned businesses into a new look professionally managed conglomerates that redefined the map of the corporate world in the county and abroad.
Moreover, these figures succeeded in not only driving their companies to greater heights but also ensured that they were trailblazing and path breaking in their endeavors. For instance, Ratan Tata introduced the concept of the one Lakh Car in India, which ensured that millions of middle class consumers could convert their dream of owning a car into reality.
Apart from Ratan Tata, Capt. Gopinath of the erstwhile Deccan Airways fame transformed the concept of aviation in India by providing the common person with the wherewithal and the connectivity needed by introducing the concept of SimplyFly or bringing flying to the masses.
We shall be discussing each of these figures and the traits of transformational leadership in other articles as well. It would suffice here to state that what each of these leaders had in common was a vision and the ability to translate it into actionable results and actualize it in practice.
The point to be noted is that many leaders have the vision but fail to translate into reality. While some leaders (who are truly extraordinary) like the Late Legendary Dhirubhai Ambani had a combination of vision, mission, ambition, and hard work, which proved that he remains a towering figure in the list of transformational leaders.