The Transformational Leader

Preface: Great Leadership Transforms Everything

LEADERSHIP ROOTED IN a genuine desire to drive lasting change and inspired by something greater than personal achievement has the potential to transform everything. In addition to the apparent benefits, such as increased production and inspiring others to attain peak performance, extraordinary leadership can help us transform entire companies, cities, states, and even the world.

Critics will claim this perspective is unrealistic and impractical, but they're missing something. They fail to recognize that humanity's most outstanding achievements are sparked by men and women who envision a brighter future and work tirelessly to make it a reality. Time and again, ordinary people placed in extraordinary situations step up to rewrite history and change the world, forging their legacies in the process.

Even though Martin Luther King Jr. endured hate, ridicule, and threats, he defiantly stood on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in August 1963 and altered the nation's trajectory with four words: “I have a dream.” As an Albanian-Indian Catholic nun in her forties, Mother Teresa had few resources and even less name recognition until her mission in Calcutta cemented her legacy as one of the 20th century's most remarkable people. As president of the United States, Abraham Lincoln exhibited resolute determination by abolishing slavery against the backdrop of a nation engulfed in civil war. He left an indelible mark on the nation's destiny ...