Warren Gamaliel Bennis (born March 8, 1925) is an American scholar, organizational consultant and author who is widely regarded as a pioneer of the contemporary field of leadership studies

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People who cannot invent and reinvent themselves must be content with borrowed postures, secondhand ideas, fitting in instead of standing out.
Leadership is the capacity to translate vision into reality.
Great things are accomplished by talented people who believe they will accomplish them.
The leaders I met, whatever walk of life they were from, whatever institutions they were presiding over, always referred back to the same failure something that happened to them that was personally difficult, even traumatic, something that made them feel that desperate sense of hitting bottom--as something they thought was almost a necessity. It's as if at that moment the iron entered their soul that moment created the resilience that leaders need.
Excellence is a better teacher than mediocrity. The lessons of the ordinary are everywhere. Truly profound and original insights are to be found only in studying the exemplary.
Good leaders make people feel that they're at the very heart of things, not at the periphery. Everyone feels that he or she makes a difference to the success of the organization. When that happens people feel centered and that gives their work meaning.
Leaders keep their eyes on the horizon, not just on the bottom line.
Leaders must encourage their organizations to dance to forms of music yet to be heard.
Our tendency to create heroes rarely jibes with the reality that most nontrivial problems require collective solutions.
The factory of the future will have two employees a man and a dog. The man's job will be to feed the dog. The dog's job will be to prevent the man from touching any of the automated equipment.
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. Failing organizations are usually over-managed and under-led.
There are two ways of being creative. One can sing and dance. Or one can create an environment in which singers and dancers flourish.
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.
You need people who can walk their companies into the future rather than back them into the future.

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