TRANSFORMATIONAL LEADERSHIP: A CASE STUDY OF HER EXCELENCY

MADAM ELLEN JOHNSON SIRLEAF: PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF

LIBERIA.
INTRODUCTION

Many times leadership has been referred to as a journey, a summary of lessons learnt; both
mistakes and achievements, that have been exploited to make one a better leader. It is the ability
of one to see the bigger picture in the midst of present challenges with hope, coupled by the
determination to see a bright future. According to Jenkins (2013), Strong character, selfless
devotion, self-study, education, training, and the accumulation of relevant experience form the
basis of good leadership. According to Winston &Patterson (2006), a leader is one who selects,
equips, trains, and influences his followers who have diverse gifts, abilities, and skills and
focuses the followers to the common mission and objectives causing the followers to willingly
and enthusiastically expend energy in a concerted coordinated effort to achieve the
organizational mission and objectives.
The world today has seen the emergence of diverse forms of leaders, some of whom have risen
to the apex through positive influence among their followers, who admire their visionary
leadership (Hellriegel & Slocum, 1986). On the contrary some leaders elbow their way into
leadership, at times leaving a trail of pain, despair and destruction along their way (Mwirigi,
2016). Effective leadership can be gauged by the influence the leader has contributed to shaping
the world, both in their leadership period and even when they exit the leadership scene.
There are many situations in life that may warrant a leader to make radical changes from the
known norm. This is referred to as Transformational Leadership. It is a leadership style that

causes change in individuals and social systems (Bass, 1998). It is also a death and rebirth
process that causes shifts in philosophies, values and structures in the operating environment. It
is meant to redesign expectations and aspirations of the followers through example, articulation
of an energizing vision and challenging goals (Burns, 1978). There are many examples of
transformational leaders who have impacted the world today. This study examines the life of Her
Excellency Madam Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, President of the Republic of Liberia as one of the
transformational leaders.
SIRLEAF RISE TO LEADERSHIP
Madam Ellen Johnson is the current Head of state in the Republic of Liberia. She was born in
1938 in the city of Monrovia. She grew up and studied in Liberia, and later acquired her
undergraduate and postgraduate degree from Madison Business College, University of Colorado
and Harvard University. After completing her studies abroad, she returned to Liberia where she
worked at the treasury. She then rose up the ranks and in 1979 she was appointed to be minister
of finance at the age of 41. While heading this ministry, she introduced new policies to aid in
better management of government funds. However this position was short-lived after President
Does Government was overthrown in a coup d'tat, a year later. Madam Sirleaf later fled to exile
where she served Top positions in Citibank, equator bank, World Bank, and the United Nations
Development program (UNDP).
Madam Sirleaf first demonstrated her interest in politics and good governance when she
supported the former president of Liberia Charles Taylor rebellion against Doe military regime.
She then later ran unsuccessfully for presidency in 1997, where she emerged second. She
immediately went into self-imposed exile, but later returned to be appointed to chair the

Governance Reform Commission in 2003. Two years later she resigned to run for presidency in
the 2005 general Election where she won to become the President of Liberia and Africa's first
elected female head of state.
LEADERSHIP ACCOPMLISHMENTS
One of the biggest accomplishments of President Ellen Johnson has been rebuilding the
countrys past characterized by 25 years of civil wars, pandemics, and bad governance.
Previously, Liberia power transition had been characterized by blood coups, followed by military
led regimes that oppressed, arrested and even executed those who dared to challenge its
operations (Dunn et.al, 1985). However for the first time Liberia has enjoyed close to a decade of
peace under the government of Ellen Johnson. In 2011, she was awarded the Nobel Prize for
Peace: Nobel Committee credited Sirleaf's contribution to "securing peace in Liberia, to
promoting economic and social development, and to strengthening the position of women (The
Nobel Peace Prize, 2011)
Secondly, President Ellen Johnson stands out as the first elected female head of state in Africa.
As compared to any other continent, African politics are mostly male dominated. This therefore
means that her election and inauguration made history. This is great accomplishment not only for
her as a person, but also to Liberia for been able to elect a Female president despite a history of
civil unrest, while most of the world oldest democracies such as The United states of America are
yet to elect one. She has hence been dubbed the iron lady of Africa. Further, despite Ellen
Johnson political arrests and imprisonments, and later fight to exile, she was able to capture and
combine femininity with the institution of presidency and blend them well to bring forth a
transformation on the economic, social and political systems and practices (Chapell,2006).

President Sirleaf also became Liberias first elected head of state since the end of a 14-year civil
war in 2003.
Among her numerous accomplishments as the current head of state include the introduction of
free universal elementary education for all Liberian children, Construction of more than 800
miles of roads attracting substantial foreign investment in mining, agriculture and forestry, as
well as offshore oil exploration which increased job opportunities. Further there has been
improvement in access to health facilities from about 30 percent to about 70 percent in
2015.President Sirleaf has further initiated a strategic plan referred to as Liberia Rising: Vision
2030, including the five-year development plan tagged; The Agenda for Transformation. The
pillars are Infrastructure, Agriculture, Education, Health and Governance (Executive Mansion,
2016).
As a leader, Johnson Sirleaf has built strong relations with regional partners and the international
community. This has been key in reconstructing the Liberian economy. In 2014, the country was
attacked by an enormous disease: the Ebola Virus, which threatened to crumble the Countries
fragile health systems, however due to Sirleafs strong diplomatic relations, Liberia received
overwhelming support from the international community. In addition President Sirleaf negotiated
the lifting of international trade sanctions against Liberia, and writing off the country's foreign
debt as a measure to revive the ailing economy (Executive mansion, 2016).
DESIRABLE LEADERSHIP QUALITIES OF JOHNSON SIRLEAF
Visionary
A visionary leader often possess the ability to see things with their minds eye often long before
others. Beginning from a history of several decade of civil strife, poor governance, incapacitated
economy; it was only a very visionary leader who could help Liberia overcome this dark past.

When Sirleaf became president, she immediately established economic, social and political
systems and practices (Chapell, 2006) that were the building blocks towards the revitalization of
the national economy. As a practical step towards transformation, she established five pillars:
Security, Economic Revitalization, Basic Services, Infrastructure, and Good Governance as
strategies to attain a sustained economic development (Executive Mansion, 2016). In 2006 when
Sirleaf took office as president, Liberian Economy had experienced a 90 percent decline in Gross
Domestic Product (GDP), However a year later, GDP grew by 12.7 percent. This was evidence
of attainment of the vision she had when she took power.
Resilient
Liberia has in the recent years severed from one of the worst disease epidemic in current timesThe Ebola Virus. Worse still, the country was still establishing its healthcare systems following
over two decade of civil war. This outbreak therefore crippled not only the health systems but the
Countrys economy in totality. However President Sirleaf braced the uncertainty, and established
simple but efficient ways to curb the spread as well as seeking help from the international
community. Further, in 2015 there was a decline in global prices for commodities, affecting
Liberias main exports; iron ore and rubber. This therefore declined the GDP to further to 0.3
percent from the previous 8.7 percent in 2014. Despite this adversity, it is projected that by the
end of 2016, the GDP will rise from 0.3 percent in the previous year, to 3.9 percent. Therefore
the President and the people of Liberia have shown resilience in tough times.
Responsible/Accountable Leadership
A good leader is one who demonstrates consistency between word and action. One of the
inspirations of Sirleaf was to rebuild the good governance and economy of Liberia that had been

shattered by the previous regimes. This would be made possible if there were to be fair systems
and simultaneously eliminating corruption and poor spending in government. In her inauguration
speech, Sirleaf declared that she would be the first to declare her assets, a measure that would cut
across all civil servants and top government officials. In addition, She declined to use funds to
repair the Presidential residence referred to as the Executive Mansion after it was destroyed by
fire (Daygbor; Nathaniel 2010), opting to use the resources on more pressing needs and thereby
choosing to live at her personal home in Monrovia (Glenna, 2009).
Courageous
Sirleaf was elected as the first Female Head of state in Africa and the first black Woman Head of
state in the World. She has beaten great odds by occupying what has been considered to be
predominantly male. She has shown enormous courage by not being afraid to speak of wrongs
even when it meant rubbing some people the wrong way. While working as a minister of finance,
she openly criticized the government spending, and even resigned as a protest against the
government. During President Does term, she was arrested and imprisoned for speaking against
how the country was governed. After been imprisoned for 8 months, she was realized but later
fled to exile.
Good communicator
Any good leader should ensure that their vision is well understood by their subjects. Sirleaf has
been known to be a consistent and accurate communicator. She ensured that right from the time
she assumed office she always gave information on the current status of the nation; reporting on
government accomplishments and future plans, which is done regularly (Executive Mansion,

2016). When the Ebola Epidemic broke out in Liberia, as a president, she announced, the simples
sanitary routines that were to be practiced to curb the spread.
JUSTIFICATION
President Sirleaf can be said to be a charismatic leader. In 2010, Newsweek magazine listed
Johnson Sirleaf as one of the "Ten Best Leaders in the World," while The Economist called her
"the best President the country has ever had." Time placed her among the top ten female leaders.
As many great leaders, Sirleaf rose from humble family background, got married at the tender
age of 17 years, raised her for sons, but never lost her leadership ambition. Despite being a
housewife, she maneuvered through her political dream to become a minister of finance at the
age of 41. She is a good example of a leader to the many aspiring Female presidents around the
world including Madam Hillary Clinton, the Democrat presidential Candidate in United States of
America. Sirleaf has won many awards that demonstrate her exemplary leadership. Shes one of
the three who won the Nobel Peace Prize Laureate in 2011, the Ralph Bunche international
leadership award, 2006 Laureate of the Africa Prize for Leadership for the Sustainable End of
Hunger,(Hunger Project, 2006), and the David Rockefeller bridging leadership award (Synergos,
2006).
LEADERSHIP LESSONS LEANT FROM SIRLEAF
President Sirleaf is a very visionary Leader. She was able to forecast and make practical steps on
how she would lead Liberia towards the path to recovery. She first established basic systems that
would be pillars for economic and social prosperity. She introduced free primary education for
all Liberian children, negotiated for the removal of all trade sanctions that had been imposed on
Liberia in the previous regimes, thus enabling the country export rubber and iron ore. As a result,

the country had its GDP rise by 12.7 percent within the first year. Similarly, as a Leadership
student, I have learnt clearly the need to think and plan strategically. As my action plan; I will be
asking myself this questions; Where do I want to be in the next five years? How will i achieve
this goal? I have therefore decided to plan and write down where I want to be five years from
now in my career and the skills I have to acquire.
Madam Sirleaf is also a very resilient Leader. She has shown the ability to weather tough times
and a great desire to achieve her ambitions. She did not let any condition deter her from reaching
her dream whether in personal life or as a Leader. She overcame the odds in her life raging from
being married young (at 17 years), being divorced, imprisonment, freeing to exile, and the Ebola
virus that ravaged parts of Liberia. As a person I am very resilient. I can stand firm to achieve
whatever I set my mind to do. Despite a very delicate balance that am trying to achieve between
family, work and studies, I am determined to finish my Doctoral studies.
Ellen Johnson Sirleaf has demonstrated a lot of courage in her Leadership, standing firm on her
grounds, even when it came with a price to pay. But even the bigger lesson is that being
courageous does not mean intimidating or undermining other people. Even criticizing another
person should be done in a positive way. As a Leadership student, I have much to learn here.
Sometimes I find it difficult to differ in opinion with my superiors in my work place therefore
settling on their decision even though I felt that my input would have been substantial. However,
I have learnt how to give my opinion, without showing defiance.
President Sirleaf is a good communicator; she has been very consistent and timely with
information, even in tough times. Unlike many governments, Sirleaf continues to give the
Liberian people updates on the current state of the nation. Again on of the reasons she has done

well is her ability to constantly communicate her vision and plan to the citizens of Liberia, thus
enabling the country to work towards a common goal. As a lesson acquired from this lesson, I
want to sharpen my communication skills. To achieve this, I will from now henceforth be
reporting regularly to my immediate boss, (even when not required to), the state of the
assignment that have been delegated to me. I will also further enroll for a short course on public
speaking to improve my communication skills.
As a responsible leader, Sirleaf has always been accountable for her words and action. She has
demonstrated every intention to deliver her promises. She also ensured that her government is
transparent on its expenditure. Sirleaf shows great responsibility by her knowledge on how to
priotize urgent/important issues. Based on this leadership quality, I feel that I have a big lesson to
learn and therefore I will start self-help exercises to enable me become better at this. I will
therefore be listing the activities that I have to do, say in the course of the day, then giving them
priority based on their importance and urgency. I think I will develop a template shown below.
IMPORTANT AND URGENT ISSUES

URGENT BUT NOT IMPORTANT

ISSUES

(priority No. 1)

(priority No. 2)

IMPORTANT BUT NOT URGENT NOT IMPORTANT, NOT URGENT

ISSUES

ISSUES

(priority No. 3)

(Least priority )

Fig 1: Priority table

CONCLUSION
Research based on this paper shows that Sirleaf is an exceptional leader. She has demonstrated
very high standards of integrity, courage and hard work that can be used to benchmark current
and aspiring leaders. She is a role model to the African women to pursue political leadership,
without relenting, having demonstrated an excellent performance within a very short period. She
further has shown that a Leader has the ability to influence her subjects to understand her vision
and hence work towards a common goal without using force and intimidation, and deliver her
mandate very effectively. This is a big lesson to some World Leaders who rule their subjects with
a fist. Therefore, Sirleaf form of leadership is likely to be studied by many researchers/scholars
even after she leaves presidency to examine her leadership qualities thus adding knowledge to
the field of leadership.

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