We work to achieve financial security, pursue professional growth, and, if we are lucky, explore our curiosity and serve the greater good. Regardless of the work we do, leadership plays a central role in shaping our experiences. The bureaucratic structure, administrative climate, and to whom we report influence our engagement and career trajectory. Leaders possess their own styles, often adapting to the institution’s prevailing culture. Some styles are more readily identifiable, such as transactional and transformational leadership approaches. However, others operate quietly behind the scenes, leaving employees flummoxed when trying to decipher the expectations and organizational norms that shape their job responsibilities. Transactional and Transformational Leadership Approaches Identifying types of leadership is a messy game, for classifications can be limiting. Nonetheless, despite potential drawbacks, placing leaders into buckets according to their qualities provides a framework for examining behavioral markers that shape employees’ work lives. Transactional and transformational leadership are two styles that exist along a continuum. Transactional leaders view their job in terms of task management, daily checking off the to-do list in search of …