Warren G. Bennis Quotes

Trust resides squarely between faith and doubt.

We must move from ... the primacy of technology toward considerations of social justice and equity, from the dictates of organizational convenience toward the aspirations ofself realization and learning, from authoritarianism and dogmatism toward more participation, from uniformity and centralization toward diversity and pluralism, from the concept of work as hard and unavoidable, from life as nasty, brutish, and short toward work as purpose and self~fulfillment, a recognition of leisure as a valid activity in itself.

People who know what they want and why they want it, and have the skills to communicate that to others in a way that gains support

The manager administers; the leader innovates.

Some of the strongest resistance to necessary change is the result of what Jim O'Toole has so aptly characterized as "the ideology of comfort and the tyranny of custom."

If I had to reduce the responsibilities of a good follower to a single rule, it would be to speak truth to power.

Leadership is like beauty - it's hard to define but you know it when you see it.

Our tendency to create heroes rarely jibes with the reality that most nontrivial problems require collective solutions.

Leaders do not avoid, repress, or deny conflict, but rather see it as an opportunity

Good leaders make people feel that they're at the very heart of things, not at the periphery.

Ineffective leaders often act on the advice and counsel of the last person they talked to.

Successful leadership is not about being tough or soft, sensitive or assertive, but about a set of attributes. First and foremost is character

Taking charge of your own learning is a part of taking charge of your life, which is the sine qua non in becoming an integrated person.

Growing other leaders from the ranks isn't just the duty of the leader, it's an obligation.

Leaders must earn the trust of their teams, their organizations, and their stakeholders before attempting to engage their support.

If I were to give off-the-cuff advice to anyone trying to institute change, I would say, "How clear is the metaphor?"

Walt Disney, of all people, did a good job of describing his own netony. "People who have worked with me say I am 'innocence in action,'" he wrote. "They say I have the innocence and unselfconsciousness of a child. Maybe I have. I still look at the world with uncontaminated wonder."

I am reminded how hollow the label of leadership sometimes is and how heroic followership can be.

While great leaders may be as rare as great runners, great actors, or great painters, everyone has leadership potential, just as everyone has some ability at running, acting, and painting.

A passion for continual learning, a refined, discerning ear for the moral and ethical consequences of their actions, and an understanding of the purposes of work and human organisations

The factory of the future will have only two employees, a man and a dog. The man will be there to feed the dog. The dog will be there to keep the man from touching the equipment.

If you're the leader, you've got to give up your omniscient and omnipotent fantasies - that you know and must do everything. Learn how to abandon your ego to the talents of others.

The most dangerous leadership myth is that leaders are born - that there is a genetic factor to leadership. This myth asserts that people simply either have certain charismatic qualities or not. That's nonsense; in fact, the opposite is true. Leaders are made rather than born.

If knowing yourself and being yourself were as easy to do as to talk about, there wouldn't be nearly so many people walking around in borrowed postures, spouting secondhand ideas, trying desperately to fit in rather than to stand out.

Successful leaders are great askers

The organizations of the future will increasingly depend on the creativity of their members to survive. Great Groups offer a new model in which the leader is an equal among Titans. In a truly creative collaboration, work is pleasure, and the only rules and procedures are those that advance the common cause.

It is the capacity to develop and improve their skills that distinguishes leaders from followers.

Leaders know the importance of having someone in their lives who will unfailingly and fearlessly tell them the truth.

People in great groups have blinders on. Their work is all they see. They value failures as learning opportunities. They are optimistic, not realistic, as they proceed from one challenge and crisis to the next.

The manager accepts the status quo; the leader challenges it.

All of great leaders evidence four basic qualities that are central to their ability to lead: adaptive capacity, the ability to engage others through shared meaning, a distinctive voice, and unshakeable integrity. These four qualities mark all exemplary leaders, whatever their age, gender, ethnicity, or race.

One of the worst mistakes is to do nothing.

That's nonsense; in fact, the opposite is true. Leaders are made rather than born.

Great things are accomplished by talented people who believe they will accomplish them.

What job is worth the enormous psychic cost of following a leader who values loyalty in the narrowest sense.

The basis of leadership is the capacity of the leader to change the mindset, the framework of the other person.

Leaders are people who do the right thing; managers are people who do things right.

All great leaders constantly seek new information and new ways of thinking.

In the face of ambiguity, uncertainty, and conflicting demands, often under great time pressure, leaders must make decisions and take effective actions to assure the survival and success of their organizations. This is how leaders add value to their organizations. They lead them to success by exercising good judgment, by making smart calls when especially difficult and complicated decisions simply must be made, and then ensuring that they are well executed.

Leaders wonder about everything, want to learn as much as they can, are willing to take risks, experiment, try new things. They do not worry about failure but embrace errors, knowing they will learn from them.

You are your own raw material. When you know what you consist of and what you want to make of it, then you can invent yourself.

The opposite of hope is despair, and when we despair, it is because we feel there are no choices.

Leadership (according to John Sculley) revolves around vision, ideas, direction, and has more to do with inspiring people as to direction and goals than with day-to-day implementation. A leader must be able to leverage more than his own capabilities. He must be capable of inspiring other people to do things without actually sitting on top of them with a checklist.

What makes a good follower? The single most important characteristic may well be a willingness to tell the truth. In a world of growing complexity leaders are increasingly dependent on their subordinates for good information, whether the leaders want to hear it or not. Followers who tell the truth and leaders who listen to it are an unbeatable combination.

The manager has a short-range view; the leader has a long-range perspective.

Create a compelling vision, one that takes people to a new place, and then translate that vision into a reality.

The ability to plan for what has not yet happened, for a future that has only been imagined, is one of the hallmarks of leadership.

In great groups, the right people always have the right job.