Malcolm X's Leadership Styles: Transformational and Beyond

Introduction: Malcolm X as a Natural Leader

Malcolm X was a natural-born leader, according to Manning Marable in his biography Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention (2011:33). What made him so was his incessant drive and ability to command others through repetition of "pet themes," as well as his ability to speak rapidly and overtop others (Marable 2011:33). In his early days, before his conversion to Islam, Malcolm X demonstrated a remarkable effectiveness as a "leader of the pack" among the assorted hoodlums with whom he fraternized. In this sense, contingency theory best applies to this stage of Malcolm's life: given his social context at the time, his style of leadership — assertive, combative, and insistent — fit the situation and the type of people with whom he operated, people who respected only muscle and might, of which Malcolm had the intellectual and willful kind. In his later career, Malcolm X demonstrated a transformational and confrontational leadership style that allowed him to develop a focused and militaristic following. This paper discusses Malcolm X's leadership styles through these and other leadership theories.

Part of Malcolm's appeal in his later life was his authenticity and genuineness. He would reiterate his conviction that he and his people should never "sell out" (Marable 2011:154). Selling out on principles was against everything he stood for, and to do so would be to lead his people away from the truth and back into the hands of the entity they were opposing — the government, the social system, and the attitudes of those in power. Malcolm essentially built on his leadership style from his youth but transformed it into a more positive conduit, developing a "chemistry" between his own expression and the atmosphere of the times in order to push forward in a meaningful way for social change (Conger 1999:145).

This was his "art of empowering others" — his ability to transform the lives of his followers by giving them the confidence he himself displayed to confront the injustices of a system that racially profiled and oppressed Black Americans. By "making others feel more powerful…[by] instilling a sense of power" in them through his lectures and his example on and off the street, Malcolm X demonstrated expert transformational leadership qualities (Conger 1987:17). He rose to the top of the Nation of Islam through his masterful orations and attracted many Black Americans to the movement through his absolute conviction in the righteousness of the cause, as well as through his powerful arguments and steadfast deliveries to those who represented the opposition.

Transformational and Authentic Leadership

Malcolm's leading of Black protesters in Los Angeles outside the city prison to demand the release of unjustly imprisoned Black men was a demonstration of authentic leadership as defined by Avolio, Walumbwa, and Weber (2009), who view it as a style of leadership founded on ethical actions, openness, and honest exchange. Malcolm's leadership of the protest — and the protesters' absolute faith in his judgment — showed the kind of trust the people placed in his abilities. When Malcolm went inside to negotiate the release, the protesters waited outside in an orderly line, showing discipline and awaiting his command. He had embraced them by acting on their behalf, and they had embraced him as their representative of rightness.

Malcolm was certainly a confrontational leader, as Eubanks, Antes, Friedrich, Caughron, Blackwell, Bedell-Avers, and Mumford (2010) define the concept. His confrontational style allowed him to lead his loyal followers forward when he left the Nation of Islam after learning of the corruption and hypocrisy of its top leader, Elijah Muhammad (Marable 1999:358). Malcolm confronted Elijah rather than attempting to collaborate with him any further. This confrontation set Malcolm X on a different path, but it also offended Elijah and many others who still supported him.

This example of Malcolm X's leadership style may have actually contributed to his assassination, as he continued to confront people with the truth. It may therefore be argued that had Malcolm taken a less confrontational approach and developed a more collaborative style with Elijah, he might have had a longer and more effective career. However, collaborating with someone he no longer trusted or admired would have meant abandoning his principles, turning him into a hypocrite — which would have potentially undermined both his transformational leadership style and his authentic leadership identity. Thus, while it is difficult to fully endorse his confrontational style in this instance, it fits with his overall ethics-based authenticity. As Eubanks et al. (2010) show, confrontational leadership allows leaders to continue on with their policy, and this is precisely what Malcolm X did: his policy was to transform himself and others into better people according to principles of goodness and justice as he came to understand them.

Conclusion

Malcolm X demonstrated a remarkable leadership style that was transformational in essence but also confrontational — and necessarily so. Part of what made Malcolm such a great transformational leader was his ability to confront the system that Black Americans rejected: a system of oppression and racial profiling. While being confrontational had its limitations, it also helped Malcolm live the ideal he spoke of — being a militaristic Black man unafraid to stand up to the law and the established order.