The transcendental leader is a leader in the classical sense. In words of Saint Augustine,``the purpose of all rulers is the well being of those they rule'' (quoted in Gini, 1995, p. 151). This is also the insight of Greenleaf's leadership: ``(the servant-leader) begins with the natural feeling that one wants to serve, to serve first. Then conscious choice brings one
to aspire to lead. The difference manifests itself in the care taken by the servant first to make sure that other people's highest priority needs are being served. The best test is: do those served grow as persons; do they,while being served, become healthier, wiser,freer, more autonomous, more likely themselves to become servants?'' (Greenleaf,1970). Nevertheless, the transcendental leader is not just a server; he or she is a transactional leader, who is also charismatic,
and a server. This last characteristic (being a server) makes it impossible for transcendental leaders to be manipulators, as they must always look after the interests of their collaborators in the first place. This genuine interest of the leader for the collaborator creates, out of reciprocity, a sense of responsibility in the collaborator which is what we call unity. Unity is much stronger than alignment, because the follower does not only believe in the leader but also wants to help him or her. Unity does not mean uniformity, and sometimes will be exactly the opposite: only people that care about each other are able to disagree and to give honest feedback even when it is negative.