We have not, however, developed the leaders we need for societal transformation. But we have in the last several decades developed a large number of skillful managers who are managing the activities of society's organizations and systems. Some of these men and women, competent, knowledgeable and committed, in business, government and non-profit organizations, will be the transformational leaders we need to move to the next level of human emergence. They are able to tell us what is the current reality they are concerned about or interested in, and they are able to outline the outcomes of our work with them should we decide to follow them or join them. But we are also excited, inspired and energized because these agendas draw us back to the center of our humanness, our deepest moral and ethical concerns.
Transformational leaders are able to articulate a clear, powerful, transformational agenda.
Transformational leaders are highly effective at gaining the agreement and commitment of other people. Our emerging consensus that good leaders help groups of people build shared visions suggests that good leaders exhibit a certain neutrality and merely facilitate the process of building agreement around an issue. Actually, however, transformational leaders have change agendas which are not negotiable. How those agendas are carried out is open and people whose agreement and commitment is won to the agenda have ample opportunity to join the creative process as the agenda unfolds over a long period of time. Transformational leaders are teachers who effectively facilitate the learning of individuals, teams, organizations, systems, states, countries and even the world if their transformational agenda is global.