He is famous for many works primarily as a presidential biographer, but he has also influenced leadership studies by coining his own leadership theory.
Burns has a doctorate in political science from Harvard and attended the London School of Economics, and taught at Williams College. Later, Burns would become a Democratic nominee for the 1st Congressional District of Massachusetts in 1958. He has also served as a delegate to four Democratic National Conventions and was a former president of both the American Political Science Association and the International Society of Political Psychology.
As a writer, a list of his most famous works are as follows: Roosevelt: The Lion and the Fox (1956), Roosevelt: The Soldier of Freedom (1970), Leadership (1978), Dead Center: Clinton-Gore Leadership and the Perils of Moderation (1999), The Three Roosevelts: Patrician Leaders Who Transformed America (2001).
His key innovation in leadership theory was shifting away from studying the traits of great men and transactional management to focus on the interaction of leaders and followers as collaborators working toward mutual benefit also known as Transformational leadership. He is best known for contributions to the Transformational, Aspirational and Visionary schools of leadership theory.
Excerpts from his book Leadership:
- Leadership over human beings is exercised when persons with certain motives and purposes mobilize, in competition or conflict with others, institutional, political, psychological, and other resources so as to arouse, engage, and satisfy the motives of followers... in order to realize goals mutually held by both leaders and followers....
- Transformational 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.
- That people can be lifted into their better selves is the secret of transforming leadership and the moral and practical theme of this work.
works cited: http://www.answers.com/topic/james-macgregor-burns
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