This paper examines the call for transformative leadership in the 21st century. It explores recent published articles on the subject matter in order to establish the expectations of a transformative leader. The turn of the century heralded a call for the adoption of a transformative agenda on the African continent. Nonetheless, the turbulent political, dynamic economic shifts and disruptive global events, such as posed by COVID-19, call for a new form of leadership to tackle these unconventional challenges. As an emerging area of study, transformative leadership is described and interpreted differently by leaders all over the world. This author reviews articles published in 2010 and later, to collate current perspectives and theory to equip leaders with a one stop reference document on the subject matter. The author answers the all-important question of, what do transformative leaders do? According to this study, transformative leaders are expected to do four important things namely; renew institutional vision and performance, advocate for ethical social advancement, empower individuals to make meaningful contribution to corporate goals, and sacrificially commit to realize the interests of those they serve. The paper equips policy makers, institutional leaders and business managers with insights on transformative leadership ethos and its potency to secure the benefits of ethical transformation for the well-being of wider society.
Business transformation initiatives update a company's production methods and aim to ensure it operates more efficiently. However, the author suggests that a reactive, piece meal approach to needed change relegates a company to lagging behind its market and stagnates its growth. A proactive, holistic approach to business transformation ensures that a company is attuned to its evolving market environment. It secures the long term the survival, sustainability and success of a company. Findings from this study suggest that customer focus, transformative strategy, ethical practices and well executed growth metrics are essential for successful business transformation. The study shows that transformative leaders step away from limited competitor driven tactics to focus on securing long term growth, superior service delivery and stakeholder satisfaction. These companies use technology to unlock new markets and engage in open collaboration with their customers to create valuable new products. The study reviews metadata drawn from published interviews with transformative CEOs to derive the rules of business transformation. While there are many business development options to choose from in the 21st century, the author challenges company management teams to rethink their company strategy and adopt the essential rules of business transformation to secure their long term survival and success. The study suggests that business transformation is not about making a profit from a bottom-line business plan. Rather, it is about taking the lid off performance, ensuring company sustainability and relevance while fulfilling stakeholder expectations, today and into the future.
The purpose of this study was to the draw the attention of national governments and educators to the escalating poverty of transformative leadership in African society. Governments need to invest in the development of effective leaders for every section, sector and strata in society to transform the continent. On the contrary, education pipelines in Africa are skewed to produce a few university graduates to take up apex leadership positions in society. Yet school dropouts become field leaders who play a critical role in local governance and national transformation initiatives without a leadership education. In this study, the researcher used deductive and inductive methods to thematically analyze current approaches to pedagogy and leadership education in Africa from published literature, academic journals and descriptive statistics. The author suggests that school teachers are in a unique position to reverse the trend of poor leadership in society by equipping students with life skills to resolve social-economic challenges in their circumstances. However, empowering teachers to successfully address this need will require a substantive review of the foundations, philosophy and objectives of national education pipelines. There is also a need to review education structures, curriculum design, teacher training, examination boards and develop supportive policy frameworks to produce transformative leaders for the continent.
The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted market trading activity around the world. The pandemic has disabled supply chains and forced businesses to look for pragmatic ways to keep their doors open. Companies have suspended business commitments citing the force majeure clause. The resulting tension in companies is a hotbed for rising confusion and turmoil. With businesses facing imminent closure and potentially acrimonious court cases, pragmatic businesses have called for round table talks with stakeholders to resolve the crisis. This review suggests that the sensitive uses of conflict management and negotiation skills are crucial to obtaining shared responsibility agreements. Empathy, gently invoking a social contract and deep conversations are helping companies successfully navigate a path through this unprecedented season.
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