"Reflections on Leadership" Weighs Merits of Burns' Seminal Study 

James MacGregor Burns launched the academic discipline of leadership studies with the publication of his groundbreaking book "Leadership" in 1978. Almost three decades later, 15 preeminent leadership studies scholars take a fresh look at Burns' leadership theories in "Reflections on Leadership," published by University Press of America in April 2007.

Editor Richard Couto, a founding faculty member of the Jepson School who now serves as a professor of leadership studies in Antioch University's Leadership and Change PhD program, said he first conceived of the idea of such a book about 10 years ago while teaching at Jepson.

Three current faculty members contributed chapters to the book: In the chapter "Leadership and the Common Purpose," Terry Price presents some of the moral dimensions that determine the common good. J. Thomas Wren examines the paradox inherent in reconciling the exclusive nature of leadership with the inclusive nature of popular sovereignty in his chapter "Leadership and the Vox Populi." And in the chapter "Can Organizations Meet the Test of Transforming Leadership," Gill Robinson Hickman challenges Burns' claim that formal organizations can not provide moral, transforming leadership. 

In addition, former faculty members Richard Couto and Tiffany Keller, former visiting senior scholar Georgia Sorenson and former senior fellow James MacGregor Burns contributed chapters to "Reflections on Leadership."

"As a whole, the volume looks back at a classic in the emerging field of leadership studies, addresses central challenges left to us and offers direction for the field's continued evolution," reviewer George Goethals said.