Warren G. Bennis Quotes

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

The most dangerous leadership myth is that leaders are born.

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

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

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.

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

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

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

Becoming a leader is synonymous with becoming yourself. It is precisely that simple, and it is also that difficult.

Trust is the emotional glue that binds followers and leaders together.

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

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

There are two ways of being creative. One can sing and dance. Or one can create an environment in which singers and dancers flourish.

The manager asks how and when; the leader asks what and why.

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

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

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

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

Vision animates, inspires, transforms purpose into action.

There is a profound difference between information and meaning.

People who cannot invent and reinvent themselves must be content with borrowed postures, secondhand ideas, fitting in instead of standing out.

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

Learning to be an effective leader is no different than learning to be an effective person. And that's the hard part

To become a leader, then, you must become yourself, become the maker of your own life

One of the qualities that all the leaders have is a voracious appetite to learn whatever they do not as yet know and understand, coupled with an openness to new experiences.

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

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

The learning person looks forward to failure or mistakes. The worst problem in leadership is basically early success.

Don't over-react to the trouble makers.

Leaders keep their eyes on the horizon, not just on the bottom line.

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.

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

Excellence is a better teacher than mediocrity.

The manager has his eye on the bottom line; the leader has his eye on the horizon.

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

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

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.

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

The manager administers; the leader innovates.

Trust resides squarely between faith and doubt.

Recognize the skills and traits you don't possess, and hire the people who have them.

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

In order to serve its purpose, a vision has to be a shared vision.

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.

The future has no shelf life

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

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

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

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

Companies which get misled by their own success are sure to be blind sided.