I believe the character Tony in Badaracco chapter 6 “Can I resist the flow of success?” best embodies the transformational leadership style. Tony is the leader of a law firm who commits a serious crime and isn't caught. However, he ends up hating having done this and against everyone's opinion he turns to the authorities and confesses. This not only endangers his life and that of his family, but also destroys the professional life he has built (Badaracco page 119). Throughout this chapter Tony shows transformational leadership by ultimately doing the right thing. Tony and his business partner Max take a bride from the mafia to repay the other creditors. At first this excites Tony making him feel like he is actually living. Before this, Tony limited himself to following the movements of daily life, sometimes feeling like a wind-up toy (Badaracco page 125). His decision begins to eat at him and he knows he must do the right thing if he can ever live with himself again. His family tries to dissuade him from confessing, but Tony rejects all their advice. He is not afraid of the mafia, he is looking for the best way to change himself (Badaracco page 128). Throughout his journey from model citizen to criminal, Tony's leadership style takes on the transformational leadership style. Transformational leadership is a process that changes and transforms people. Transformational leadership deals with emotions, values, ethics and standards (Northouse pg. 185). Tony is struggling to do the right thing and make up for what he did. Northouse states that transformational leaders want to be inspired and empowered to succeed in times of uncertainty (Northouse pg. 185). Tony wants every... middle of paper... communication or delegation style an effective leader knows which style to use with each person or group. I believe that to be a successful leader it is important to not just focus on one particular style, but to incorporate many of them. If you take a few highlights of each style and learn to connect them together, you should have a better understanding of leadership as a whole. This course taught me that being a leader is much more challenging than you might think. Leaders have to wear many different hats in many different situations. To become an effective leader you have to work at it. For some it may be easy, but for others it is a skill that is formed and shaped over time. Different experiences and situations help shape leaders into what they will become. I hope to use the different styles we have learned to transform myself into an effective leader in today's society.