Transformational leadership is a leadership style where one or more persons engage with others in such a way that leaders and followers raise one another to higher levels of motivation and morality. A transformational leader focuses on “transforming” others to help each other, to look out for each other, be encouraging, harmonious, and look out for the organization as a whole. James MacGregor Burns (1978) first introduced the concepts of transformational and transactional leadership in his treatment of political leadership, but this term is now used in organizational psychology as well.

According to Burns, the difference between transformational and transactional leadership is what leaders and followers offer one another. “Transforming leadership… occurs when one or more persons engage with others in such a way that leaders and followers raise one another to higher levels of motivation and morality. Their purposes, which might have started out as separate but related, as in the case of transactional leadership, become fused.

Power bases are linked not as counterweights but as mutual support for common purpose. Transformational leaders offer a purpose that transcends short-term goals and focuses on higher order intrinsic needs. This results in followers identifying with the needs of the leader.

The four dimensions of transformational leadership are idealized influence (or charisma), inspirational motivation, intellectual stimulation andindividual consideration.