The Transformational Leadership of Daisaku Ikeda : A Diamond Polishing Diamonds

This article breaks new ground in the literature on Daisaku Ikeda by examining his leadership through the lens of leadership theory, which although well established in the American academe has only recently entered the academic leadership discourse outside the United States. Specifically, Ikeda’s personal actions and organizational leadership is considered through the theory of transformational leadership. This first article is the beginning of an exploration into Ikeda’s transformational leadership and derives from a class project assignment connecting leadership and power with the exhibit Gandhi, King, Ikeda : A Legacy of Building Peace, which the College of Education at DePaul University hosted in 2010. After visiting the exhibit(1) and watching the related video, my leadership students and I discussed how these leaders exhibited power and influence to further their respective movements. The conversation about the leaders’ style and approach reframed the general tone of power in this standard course in the leadership curriculum. Power seems to have a general connotation of being domineering and negative to one of leadership, social justice and the role of influence. Framing the conversation with a tone of positive change, the role of conflict, and the power of one into the power of the collective was an interesting conversation. This vantage directed the leadership conversation about creating change and contributing to the greater good through leadership. Since that time I have consistently used the examples of Gandhi, King, Nelson Mandela, and Daisaku Ikeda within the frame of “transformational leaders.” Daisaku Ikeda was an unknown to everyone in the course before seeing the exhibit ; he is not discussed much within the extant leadership literature. One rare exception is Chilson’s (2014) recent article on Ikeda’s charisma and resultant transformational leadership. However, The Transformational Leadership of Daisaku Ikeda : A Diamond Polishing Diamonds