Transformational Leadership works From The Hearts Condition.
I have a very strong strong drive to succeed and I literary dread failure. I know this does not come out as obvious because of my introverted personality but I know too well that I am passively aggressive. I have therefore taken notice of the successful organizations and individuals and always taken interest to know the underlying factors why they’re successful. I attended a school from grade 3 to grade 7 that was a highly ranked in performance. I noted that performance in that school was attributed to one deputy principal that literary took over the leadership of the school from the principal by virtue of his abilities and passion for performance. He had both charisma and knowledge power and it was known that whichever school he went to would always perform. He was promoted to be an education officer and was able to influence performance in the schools within his zone. Unfortunately he died as a young leader from HIV infection because of his immorality and he also left his family heavily indebted. His was not an isolated case because I have witnessed many more successful leaders that achieved great success but lacked in morals and their end was not always good. As a CPA, I did audit work which at times involved investigations and one interesting trend I observed in my career, was that there was almost always a direct correlation between good performance at work and the tendency to cheat for personal gain. This was such that I made an observation that sterling performance of an employee was almost always a red flag for fraud, surprisingly enough fraud was on most occasions done by the star workers. It seems like the star performers are praised and flattered for their performance and are trusted by their employers. Unfortunately, the sterling performance and abilities do not reflect the state of the heart and the value system of the individual and most often there is a mismatch of performance and character.
Tourish[1] has raised issue with the glorification of the leader as the key determinant of success in an organization and the resultant consequences of vesting of so much power to the leader. The author says that there is a fascination with the leader as the key determinant of the success or failure of the organization[2]. Tourish says that the leader to whom so much power is vested in, tend to seek their own personal interests as opposed to the common interests of all others. This leads to abuse of the power for personal gain because they are not driven by a positive motivation for the good of all but a negative motive for personal gain. The emphasis has been on transformational leadership, viewed by Tourish as a one-way relationship where the leader transforms the follower who essentially subordinates to the leader which tends towards an autocratic domination of the leader on the followers. This kind of a relationship results in ‘Negative’ leadership that has been variously conceived as behavior that is insincere, despotic, exploitative, restrictive, failed, laissez-faire and involving the active and passive avoidance of leadership responsibilities[3]. While this negative leadership can be explained from different perspectives, It is clear that this kind of transformative leadership, depends on the character of the leader. A leader who’s character is good and is guided by high moral values, will have positive leadership that empowers the followers as opposed to self aggrandizement of the leader. The opposite is true that if the leaders character is bad with low moral values, they will tend towards negative leadership.
My take is that transformational leadership depends on the character of a leader and their moral value system. This has a big implication on the spirituality of the leader. Jesus said clearly that those things that come out of the mouth come forth from the heart and they defile the man, for out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies and these are the things that defile a man.[4] The heart of a leader determines whether transformational leadership will be positive or negative. This then qualifies the assumption that a leader is the key determinant of the success or failure of an organization and there is need to emphasize on the character of the leader and the transformation of the heart, to be guided by the high moral code that goes with a transformed heart. This transformation should be the more reason that as Christian leaders, we should all the more seek to influence other leaders with the Gospel and also work hard to raise more Christian leaders from the church. I am inspired to continue opening more Christian schools in order to instill Christian values to more children as we raise future leaders of good moral standing and that can lead with the right positive motive for the good of the followers as opposed to self seeking.
[1] Dennis Tourish (2013). The Dark Side of Transformational Leadership. A Critical Perspective. Routledge, April 20, 2013. East Sussex, UK.
[2] Ibid…pg 4
[3] Schilling, J. (2009). From Ineffectiveness To Destruction: A Qualitative Study On The Meaning Of Negative Leadership. Leadership, 5: 102–128.
[4] Bible. Mathew 15: 18-20.
About the Author
Wallace Kamau
Wallace is a believer in Christ, Married to Mary Kamau (Founder and Executive Director of Missions of Hope International) and father to 3 Wonderful children, Imani Kamau (Graduate student at London School of Economics, UK), Victory Kamau (Undergraduate student at Portland state University, Oregon, USA) and David Kamau ( Grade student at Rosslyn Academy). Founder and Director, Missions of Hope International (www.mohiafrica.org), CPA, BAchelor of Commerce (Accounting) from University of Nairobi, Masters of Arts (Leadership) from Pan African Christian University.6 responses to “Transformational Leadership works From The Hearts Condition.”
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Interesting take Wallace. Makes me want to be sure most leaders have a very healthy moral fabric!
Wallace, you are right, it’s the heart of the leader that makes the difference. With that in mind, as leaders, it is important that we guard our hearts to make sure we do not fall victim to the pitfalls of believing our own press. It is easy in leadership to lose ones way. Lord help us all.
Great post Wallace. I think it would be some much easier if there was a moral apiptude test, that no one would cheat on! I wonder if it would be beneficial to create some scenarios in which judgement could be based to see what a person would do. I thinking like how the Prophet came to David and exposed him, what if we included that in the hiring process. Maybe that would give us a glimpse into ones ways of thinking that could tip off their moral character.
Thank you all for your comments that give more insight into this issue of the morals of of the leader. It certainly adds weight to the wise counsel of proverbs that we should guard our hearts above all things, for therein comes all the issues of life.
I totally agree with you Mario and wish that there was such a test that would help select leaders of integrity.
Hi Wallace. I appreciated your blog. You noted that one interesting trend I observed in your career was that there was almost always a direct correlation between good performance at work and the tendency to cheat for personal gain. I found this to be a very accurate statement, as I believe when a leader strives only for personal gain, he/she does not have the best interest of their followers at heart. You also noted that a leader whose character is good and is guided by high moral values will have positive leadership that empowers the followers. I think that is one of the key elements to good leadership: EMPOWERING your follows, so they can feel the success of their accomplishments.
Thank you for sharing your story, Wallace. I appreciate your desire to see leaders grow from the inside out. Regardless of the leadership model, integrity is key!