“Leaders are not pale reflectors of major social conflicts; they play up some, play down others, ignore still others.”
James MacGregor Burns a historian, political scientist, presidential biographer, as well as a leadership theorist was born in 1918. He is the Woodrow Wilson Professor of Government Emeritus at Williams College and Distinguished Leadership Scholar at the James MacGregor Burns Academy of Leadership of the School of Public Policy at the University of Maryland, College Park.
In 1971 he won a Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award for History for his presidential biography of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. In addition to being the author of several books he served in the military as a combat historian in the Pacific theater during World War II. Not only was he awarded the Bronze Star and four Battle Stars, his experiences enlightened him on leadership in terms of traits and qualities of entitled officers, but not of soldiers of a lowly status.
In 1978 Burns’ wrote his book Leadership that introduced Transactional Leadership and Transformational Leadership. Transactional leadership is when the focus is on the relational bond between leader and follower whereas Transformational leadership focuses on the followers and their values, beliefs, and needs.
Global Unity 