The Heroic Leadership Imperative: How Leaders Inspire and Mobilize Change

Leaders are expected to be heroic. That is, they are expected to serve three needs of their followers: (1) basic individual needs; (2) group and collective identity needs; and (3) transcendent needs.

The Heroic Leadership Imperative illustrates how leaders who fulfill these expectations succeed attracting followers and initiating social change. Here Scott T. Allison and George R. Goethals identify leaders who have succeeded in meeting all three categories of needs—individuals such as Winsto...