Discussion on The Leadership Transformation and Development

This paper is about the leadership transformation and development. Leaders should develop their leadership skills constantly. As a result, they learn to adapt to challenges at workplace. Rooke and Torbert suggested that leaders think in certain categories called ‘action logics.’ In fact, most psychologists believe that the difference in leaders is more about action logic and less about their personality, philosophy and management style. Action logic shows the behavior of a leader when power and position compromised plus challenged. There are few leaders who try to identify their action logic and change it. Action logics differ from each other and each has its own advantages. However, some are more effective than others. The research is based on a sentence completion survey tool called Leadership Development Profile. Participants were asked to complete the sentence. Response of the participants depicts the picture about the type of the leader which dominates.

Among the seven categories, the three categories at the top of the list (Opportunist, Diplomat and Expert) are leaders who show below average performance at workplace. Achievers placed in the middle are also smart in applying organizational strategies. The last three (Individualist, Strategist and Alchemist) are most innovative and have the capability to transform their organizations and teams. These seven development logics are Opportunist, Diplomat, Expert, Achiever, Individualist, Strategist and Alchemist. The researchers found that only 5% of the executives they surveyed turned out to be manipulators, egotistic and untrusting. These leaders are opportunists who only think about personal gains and treat others as opportunities that can be exploited. They react rudely when given feedback. Diplomats are more kind. They are more interested in controlling their own behavior, rather than other people’s. Diplomats are effective when providing support to other group members.

The survey revealed that the largest percentage of leaders falls in this class called Expert, which is thirty eight percent. These leaders try to perfect their skill and that is why they are called experts. They constantly strive for perfection. Achievers constitute around 30% of the total number of managers surveyed in the research. These managers are both supportive and challenging. Individualists think that no action logic comes naturally. This helps them to deal in an effective way with the people of other action logic. Strategists can create shared visions that help in transformation of both personality and organization. Strategists act as agents of changes in their workplaces. The final leadership action logic is the Alchemist. They have the ability to reorganize themselves as well as the organization. They have extraordinary talent to cope up in different situations.

The researchers have administered the sentence completion survey to thousands of managers and professionals, most between the ages of 25 and 55, at hundreds of European and American companies. The study describes the different transformations of a leadership and about the characteristic of a particular leadership style. The topic of the study is very interesting and it is an in depth research article.

The article is well written and well organized. The language of the article is very simple and easily understandable. This article discusses the leadership transformation and how a leader with such leadership characteristic behaves in an organization. The leader‘s voyage of development is not an easy one. Some people change little in their Lifetime, some change substantially. Those who are willing to work at developing themselves and becoming more self-aware can almost certainly evolve over time into truly transformational leaders. Few may become Alchemists, but many will have the desire and potential to become Individualists and Strategists. Corporations that help their executives and leadership teams examine their action logics can reap rich rewards.