The transformational leader is not the opposite of the transactional leader: it is an enriched transactional leader.
``Transformational leadership is an expansion of transactional leadership'' (Bass and Avolio, 1994, p. 3). We could say that the transformational leader is a transactional leader who is also charismatic in such a way that pushes his or her collaborators to go further than what is formally demanded of them, always insofar as the extraordinary work is intrinsically motivating for the collaborators. A possible caveat of the transformational leader is that he or she
could become a manipulator in persuading the collaborators to be aligned to his or her vision. Burns states that: ``to appeal solely to `lower' or artificially sustained and intensified needs is to subject followers to manipulation'' (Burns, 1978, p. 458). The problem is that Burns does not make clear what these ``lower'' or artificial needs are,and at what point the leader goes from transforming to manipulating the collaborator.