Warren G. Bennis Quotes

Trust is the lubrication that makes it possible for organizations to work.

No leader can create sustainable, significant change without a reservoir of good will. Without that, you always tend to compromise with failure.

The capacity for "uncontaminated wonder," ultimately, is what distinguishes the successful from the ordinary, the happily engaged players of whatever era from the chronically disappointed and malcontent. Therein lies a lesson for geeks, geezers, and the sea of people who fall in between.

Expect the best from your people and they will usually deliver but your expectations must be realistic.

Perhaps the central task of the leader of leaders thus becomes the development of other leaders.

Keep reminding people of what's important and that their fates are correlated.

That is the key challenge facing management today; change is the only constant.

Leaders learn by leading, and they learn bestby leading in the face of obstacles. As weather shapes mountains, problems shape leaders.

Leaders should always expect the very best of those around them. They know that people can change and grow.

Frank Gehry designs buildings that make other architects half his age (he's 78) gasp with envy. Neotony is what makes him lace up his skates and whirl around the ice rink, while visionary buildings come to life and dance in his head.

This duality, making yourself better while teaching and developing others' judgment capabilities, is the key to leadership that is both productive and principled.

Charisma is the result of effective leadership, not the other way around.

Without character, there is no credibility; and without credibility, there is no trust.

This is more than just having a vision. You can see the difference in the often-cited way in which Steve Jobs brought in John Sculley to take over Apple. At the time, Sculley was destined to be the head of Pepsico. The clincher came when Jobs asked him, "How many more years of your life do you want to spend making colored water when you can have an opportunity to come here and change the world?"

Think of a crucible as an occasion for real magic, the creation of something more valuable than an alchemist could possibly imagine. In it, the individual is transformed, changed, created anew. He or she grows in ways that change his or her definition of self.

In life, change is inevitable. In business, change is vital.

Create strategic alliances and partnerships: Now and in years to come, shrewd leaders will create allegiances with other organizations whose fates are correlated with their own.

Find the appropriate balance of competing claims by various groups of stakeholders. All claims deserve consideration but some claims are more important than others.

Great groups give the lie to the remarkably persistent but incorrect notion that successful organizations are the lengthened shadow of a great woman or man. However, each great group has a strong leader. In fact, great groups and great leaders create each other.

Great things are achieved by talented people who are absolutely convinced that they not only can but will achieve them.

I wanted the influence. In the end I wasn't very good at being a president. I looked out of the window and thought that the man cutting the lawn actually seemed to have more control over what he was doing.

Servant leadership teaches us that you have to lay your cards on the table.

Just as no great painting has ever been created by a committee, no great vision has ever emerged from the herd.

A new leader has to be able to change an organization that is dreamless, soulless and visionless... someone's got to make a wake up call.

Every great group is an island... but an island with a bridge to the mainland.

Recognize and respect mutual self-interests, then build creative collaborations to serve them.

Government is like an onion. To understand it, you have to peel through many different layers. Most outsiders never get beyond the first or second layer.

Great groups deliver great results. And for everyone involved in a great group, great work is its own reward.

Understand stakeholder symmetry: Find the appropriate balance of competing claims by various groups of stakeholders.

Failing organizations are usually over-managed and under-led.

Too many companies believe people are interchangeable. Truly gifted people never are. They have unique talents. Such people cannot be forced into roles they are not suited for, nor should they be. Effective leaders allow great people to do the work they were born to do.

Leadership has become a heavy industry. Concern and interest about leadership development is no longer an American phenomenon. It is truly global. Though I will probably be in less demand, I wanted to move on.

Great Groups need to know that the person at the top will fight like a tiger for them.

To be authentic is literally to be your own author... to discover your own native energies and desires, and then to find your own way of acting on them.

I used to think that running an organization was equivalent to conducting a symphony orchestra. But I don't think that's quite it; it's more like jazz. There is more improvisation.

Effective leaders make a full commitment to be a learner, to keep increasing and nourishing their knowledge and wisdom.

I'd always rather err on the side of openness. But there's a difference between optimum and maximum openness, and fixing that boundary is a judgment call. The art of leadership is knowing how much information you're going to pass on - to keep people motivated and to be as honest, as upfront, as you can. But, boy, there really are limits to that.

Without a terrific leader, you're not going to have a Great Group. But it is also true that you're not going to have a great leader without a Great Group.

Don't over-react to the trouble makers.

Leaders must encourage their organizations to dance to forms of music yet to be heard.

I used to think that running an organization was equivalent to conducting a symphony orchestra. But I don't think that's quite it; it's more like jazz. There is more improvisation. Someone once wrote that the sound of surprise is jazz, and if there's any one thing that we must try to get used to in this world, it's surprise and the unexpected. Truly, we are living in world where the only thing that's constant is change.

That's important to remember: it's not just a collection of great individuals but a group of people who enjoy playing in the sandbox, thoroughly enjoying collaborative problem solving.

Leadership is a function of knowing yourself, having a vision that is well communicated, building trust among colleagues, and taking effective action to realize your own leadership potential.

Those who take risks walk the high wire with no fear of falling.

The manager does things right; the leader does the right thing.

The failure to find the right niche for people - or to let them find their own perfect niches - is a major reason that so many workplaces are mediocre, even toxic, in spite of the presence of talent. Leaders of great groups give them whatever they need and free them from everything else.

Followers who tell the truth, and leaders who listen to it, are an unbeatable combination.

Embrace error: Create an atmosphere in which prudent risk taking is strongly encouraged.