Compass 2016

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Sam Campbell
Sam Campbell from Birming-
ham, Alabama is a rising junior
Business major and a student
in the Distinction in Leadership
Studies program. This paper,
titled “Transformational Leader-
ship: Illustrated by Martin Luther
King, Jr.,” was written for Dr.
Victoria Ott’s “Leadership Stud-
ies: Theory and Practice.”
He served as the founding presi-
dent of BSC’s chapter of Relay
For Life his freshman year. He
also serves as a representative on
Student Government Association.
He’s a contributor and founder
of an upcoming blog www.the-
. You can find
Sam on Instagram at @secamp-
bell1, or LinkedIn.
Transformational Leadership: Illustrated by Martin
Luther King, Jr.
Sam Campbell
Transformational leadership is defined by James MacGregor Burns
as “the ability of a leader to create a vision and move followers to act,
keeping them motivated and invested in the larger goals while achieving
smaller tasks at hand” (Burns 100). Transformational leaders are those
who build relationships with their followers, instead of using followers
for the sake of a business transaction or to merely reach a goal; the latter
is more commonly referred to as a transactional leadership (Burns 101).
Martin Luther King, Jr. is an example of a person that exhibited transfor-
mational leadership; King used transformational leadership to fight for
equality and civil rights for all Americans as illustrated through his vision,
universal message, and rhetorical speech.
One example of King’s transformational leadership style is seen
through his dream or vision. One scholar notes, “King was never a master
strategist” (Grint 405). One might question where that vision rooted from
if King was not an excellent strategist. Burns makes it clear that King’s
vision came from the passion he had for securing equal, civil rights for all
Americans (Grint 405). King’s goal was also to build relationships with his
followers so they would believe in him as a leader, which would lead to
them to eventually believing in his vision. Because of his transformational
leadership, he was able to communicate his vision to his followers to the
point they took those same beliefs and acted upon them (Grint 395).
Burns also notes that a transformational leader is someone that not only
creates a vision, but a transformational leader creates a vision that sustains
and resonates long after that leader moves on or passes away. King is a
testament of a transformational leader because he built relationships with
his people, relationships that ultimately allowed his vision to transform
the hearts and minds of generations long after his death in 1968 (Grint
401).
Another example of King’s transformational leadership style is seen
through unification. While King was not a master strategist, he under-
stood the civil rights movement was not about defeating or battling those
who were opposed to his beliefs or opposed to the civil rights movement
in general. To King, leadership was about a relationship – even with the
people who disliked him; the goal was to gain followers, not fight fire with
fire (Grint 379). Further, King stated, “Now is the time to open the doors
of opportunity to all of God’s children” (Grint 395). This statement by
itself demonstrates that his speech was inclusive. King was creating a uni-
versal message that targeted blacks and whites for a purpose (Grint 396).
In King’s speech, he made it clear that this purpose was for all Americans,
who would benefit from unification through higher moral goals. Burns
clears this up for the reader by noting, “transformational leadership
becomes moral in that it raises the level of human conduct and ethical
aspiration of both leader and led, and thus it has a transforming effect
on both” (Burns 101); King elevated all people (blacks and whites) in his
speech in hopes that all people would become active and engaged in this
movement (Grint 396).
A final example of King’s transformational leadership is seen through
the rhetoric he used in his speeches. Rhetoric is defined as persuasive
speech (Grint 359). King used rhetoric throughout his entire speech, and
he used a number of elements to persuade his audience. Elements he used
were, but not limited to, emotional appeal, energy, passion, and language
(Grint 365). He used these elements and more for an intentional purpose.
The author notes, “Successful speeches are asymmetric dialogues: the