DOI
https://doi.org/10.52284/NECJ.51.1.article.dutmer
Publication Date
5-29-2024
Abstract
In this article, I situate Cicero’s discussion of the rector rei publicae and orator perfectus in the De republica and De oratore in the context of James MacGregor Burns’s theory of the transformational leadership in his influential 1978 Leadership. I then consider how Cicero’s rector rei publicae would exhibit leadership behaviors of the Full Range Leadership Model, a popular operationalization of transformational leadership theory. Throughout, I also consider the limitations of applying transformational leadership as an interpretive frame for an ancient Roman leader such as Cicero. Cicero’s vision, I contend, can only succeed in being proto-transformational. The result of this analysis is a paper that is of interest to both scholars and students of the Ancient Mediterranean and contemporary Leadership Studies. At the end of this essay, I remark on the continued relevance of the rector-ideal, especially in conversation with another noteworthy philosophical practitioner of leadership: Martin Luther King, Jr.
First Page
19
Last Page
46
Recommended Citation
Dutmer, Evan RW
(2024)
"‘A Mirror for Fellow-Citizens’: Cicero’s Proto-Transformational Leadership Ideal of the Rector Rei Publicae,"
New England Classical Journal: Vol. 51
:
Iss.
1
, 19-46.
https://doi.org/10.52284/NECJ.51.1.article.dutmer
Keywords
Cicero, Transformational Leadership, Rector rei publicae, Leadership Studies