Transformational leadership defined
Transformational leaders are sometimes call quiet leaders. They are the ones that lead by example. Their style tends to use rapport, inspiration, or empathy to engage followers. They are known to possess courage, confidence, and the willingness to make sacrifices for the greater good.
They possess a single-minded need to streamline or change things that no longer work. The transformational leader motivates workers and understands how to form them into integral units that work well with others

Differences between transformational leadership and other leadership styles

Transformational leaders specialize in:

- Working to change the system
- Solving challenges by finding experiences that show that old patterns do not fit or work
- Wanting to know what has to change
- Maximizing their teams’ capability and capacity

Transactional leaders do the following:
- Work within the system
- Start solving challenges by fitting experiences to a known pattern
- Want to know the step-by-step approach
- Minimize variation of the organization

Another way to put it: Transactional is a “telling” style, while transformational is a “selling” style.

History transformational leadership
The term “transformational leadership” was coined by sociologist James V. Downton in 1973. Leadership expert James Burns defined transformational leaders as those who seek to change existing thoughts, techniques and goals for better results and the greater good. Burns also described transformational leaders as those who focus on the essential needs of the followers.

A typical case study for transformational leadership is Peter Drucker. He was a professor and management consultant among other things. He predicted some of the 20th-century’s biggest changes, such as the Japanese rise to a world economic power, the age where people would need to learn in order to keep their jobs or get ahead, and the importance of marketing and innovation. He coined the term “knowledge worker.”
Drucker continually called for balanced management, which called for a balance between short-term needs and long-term plans, as well as profitability and other elements of business. He was very interested in how to mesh innovation and entrepreneurship.
He felt that entrepreneurship was a vehicle of innovation. Entrepreneurship was not just high technology, but high tech was a vehicle for change, in attitude, values, and behavior. The entrepreneur systematically looked for change, responded to them and took advantage of opportunities as they present themselves.

Transformational leadership style requirements

Here are some of the characteristics of transformational leaders:

• Very well-organized and expect their followers to be creative
• Team-oriented and expect that followers will work together to create the best possible results
• Respected, and in turn respects followers
• Acts as coach of the team. He or she provides training and motivation to reach the desired goals
• Responsible for their team, but also instills responsibility into team members
• Engenders respect through rapport and a personal influence