22 Inspiring Thoughts on Leadership by Warren Bennis

Warren Bennis died last week at an ageless 89.  I say ageless because although his career spanned decades he never stopped learning and had an insatiable curiosity that kept him focused on making the future a better place, never looking back on what’s past.

 

Considered by many to be the father of leadership, Bennis’ approach was both holistic and humanistic. He believed that that true leaders were not born but made, and equated the process of becoming a leader to  becoming a fully integrated human being. Both, he believed were rooted in self-discovery.

 

His autobiography ‘Still Surprised: A Memoir of a Life in Leadership,’ written when he was 85, is evidence that his perspective and his vision remain as refreshing and vital to today’s leaders as they were to the generations of leaders he mentored over the course of decades. His classic, ‘On Becoming a Leader,’ is considered by many to be the leadership bible.

 

While Bennis spent his life in education, administration, and business. He has advised almost every president since Kennedy, and has mentored more  admirable businesses than anyone could have imagined. As an author, his legacy was prolific. You can find his books here: http://amzn.com/e/B000AQ4MEE.

 

Below are 22 of his most inspiring quotes to whet your appetite.

  1. 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.
  2. Leadership is the capacity to translate vision into reality.
  3. Leaders must encourage their organizations to dance to forms of music yet to be heard.
  4. There are two ways of being creative. One can sing and dance. Or one can create an environment in which singers and dancers flourish.
  5. Leaders are people who do the right thing; managers are people who do things right.
  6. The manager accepts the status quo; the leader challenges it.
  7. People who cannot invent and reinvent themselves must be content with borrowed postures, secondhand ideas, fitting in instead of standing out.
  8. Good leaders make people feel that they’re at the very heart of things, not at the periphery.
  9. 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.
  10. Create a compelling vision, one that takes people to a new place, and then translate that vision into a reality.
  11. Success in management requires learning as fast as the world is changing.
  12. The manager has his eye on the bottom line; the leader has his eye on the horizon.
  13. 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.
  14. Becoming a leader is synonymous with becoming yourself. It is precisely that simple, and it is also that difficult.
  15. Trust is the lubrication that makes it possible for organizations to work.
  16. Great things are accomplished by talented people who believe they will accomplish them.
  17. Leaders know the importance of having someone in their lives who will unfailingly and fearlessly tell them the truth.
  18. You need people who can walk their companies into the future rather than back them into the future.
  19. Failing organizations are usually over-managed and under-led.
  20. There is a profound difference between information and meaning.
  21. Leaders keep their eyes on the horizon, not just on the bottom line.
  22. The manager asks how and when; the leader asks what and why.