Leadership [Paperback]

James MacGregor Burns (Author)

Book Description

Release date: November 9, 1982 | ISBN-10: 0061319759 | ISBN-13: 978-0061319754 | Edition: 1

One of America's leading historians on the role of leadership in American history.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"...An impressive book. Although Burns is sophisticated about the frailties of people, Leadership is also an optimistic book..." -- Walter Johnson, The Washington Post

"...an important book..." -- Kenneth B. Clark, City News

About the Author

James MacGregor Burns received his doctorate in political science from Harvard. In 1971, Burns won the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award for his biography Roosevelt: Soldier of Freedom. A past president of the American Political Science Association, Burns is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and serves as Distinguished Leadership Scholar at the Academy of Leadership that bears his name at the School of Public Policy at the University of Maryland.

Product Details

• Paperback: 544 pages
• Publisher: Harper Perennial; 1 edition (November 9, 1982)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0061319759
• ISBN-13: 978-0061319754
• Product Dimensions: 6 x 1.4 x 9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #309,733 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Leadership: an analysis study November 23, 2005

By Kimberly M. Gay

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

The world of leadership is examined through a sweeping assessment on its power and purpose to its origins in James MacGregor Burns's book, Leadership. This book is a very comprehensive overview of the study of leadership as it distinguishes not only what are the two basic styles of leadership: transforming and transactional, but evaluates the theory and practice of leadership skills as well. Burns stated in Leadership, "I define leadership as leaders inducing followers to act for certain goals that represent the values and the motivations¬-the wants and needs, the aspirations and expectations-of both leaders and followers" (19).

Throughout the book, Burns discussed the leadership styles of political leaders to religious and social leaders. From Martin Luther King, Jr to Moses to Mahatma Gandhi to Napoleon, plus Machiavelli and even Adolf Hitler, Burns cited how these leaders made vital distinctions between wants and needs. According to Burns, "the process of leadership must be seen as part of the dynamics of conflict and of power; that leadership is nothing if not linked to collective purpose; that the effectiveness of leaders must be judged not by their press clippings but by actual social change measured by intent and by the satisfaction of human needs and expectations" (3).

20 of 25 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars The cornerstone of leadership literature February 11, 2002

By Daniel Wilson

Format:Paperback

This is the definitive book on leadership. It is long, dense with historical facts, sparkling with insights, and is essential reading for the leadership scholar. Few other leadership books merit a place on the essential reading list for this field.

Burns's accomplishment of recognizing the taxonomy of leadership is unmatched to this day. He distinguishes, for example, intellectual leadership from executive leadership, and explains how each is forged in the "crucible" of circumstances.

Rather than serving as a "how to" guide on leadership, Burns provides the reader with a framework for understanding his or her leadership role, and the requirements that accompany each role. Finding one's own reflection in this catalog of leadership roles can be an exciting and satisfying moment for the reader.

Burns is best known for developing the concept of "transforming" leadership, or "transformational" leadership as he calls it in this book. It stands in contrast to "transactional" leadership, which holds that every leader-follower encounter is an isolated event.

Whether the reader perseveres through the whole book, or just reads the introductory chapters, he or she will be in the presence of some of the best thinking to date on leadership.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A Classic for the 21st Century April 22, 2007

By Robert E. Levasseur

Format:Paperback

When I was a doctoral student, I wrote my dissertation about transforming leadership. As a full-time doctoral faculty member at one of America's leading online universities, I now mentor students in leadership and organizational change, among other specializations.

Leadership, by James MacGregor Burns the Pulitzer Prize winning author, is the most important book I have read in the field of leadership. In it, Burns coined the term, Transforming Leadership, and distinguished it from its more mundane counterpart, Transactional Leadership.

In so doing, Burns catalyzed much of the theorizing and research into transforming leadership (also called transformational leadership, visionary leadership, and charismatic leadership, among others) from the latter part of the 20th century through today.

In this foundational book, Burns argued that there was a "crisis of leadership" because people did not understand the essence of leadership. Whereas traditional, transactional leaders concern themselves with exchanging money for services, the modern, transforming leader "seeks to satisfy higher needs, and engages the full person of the follower" in a "collective purpose," that is, a common vision or shared goal. The end result is leadership "that can produce social change that will satisfy followers authentic needs" (p. 4).

A classic, the message of this book is as meaningful and urgent today as it was when Burns wrote it. We need a new form of leadership to help us deal with the problems of an ever shrinking, interconnected world. Those who would be part of a collective effort to make the world a better place, would do well to read this book.

Robert E. Levasseur, Ph.D., author of "Leadership and Change in the 21st Century"