Warren Bennis (1925–2014)

What makes a good leader? This book attempts to provide suggestions on how to be a successful leader.

I truly don't understand why this book is so popular unless the higher star ratings are among people who haven't picked it up in 20 years. It's outdated at best, citing as examples of success companies that have since gone under or lack relevance today (e.g., Motorola, Intel, etc.). The examples of great leaders are almost exclusively male and white, which is acknowledged only in a small footnote stating how difficult it was to find leaders who were women or people of color, which feels like a cop-out to me.

Beyond that, the book spends a whole lot of time saying nothing. The authors admit from the outset that defining leadership is hard to do. Okay, then why write a book about it if you can't even define it? Stories that supposedly support the vague statements made by the authors don't really seem to have anything to do with the point trying to be made and just left for a 'huh' feeling.

Honestly, I'm not sure I got a singular piece of useful information out of this title. It's often the case that these types of books are designed for corporate or other for-profit organizations so it's harder for me in a non-profit setting to derive applicable lessons but usually there's something, unlike the nothing of this book. I certainly won't be seeking any further advice from either of these authors.… (more)

This book has been written in 1989 and in spite of the effort of rejuvenation acted in the introduction and epilogue (written in 2009), it sounds a bit outdated (and the updates are not on core contents but on historical / political changes). I was also a little disappointed by the general tone, which is not so much aimed at organizations. The book is, more generally, an overview on the idea of leadership in the XX century. One nice feature is the use of interviews and quotations from very diverse people.… (more)

It put emphasis that you cant learn leadership just by reading, it is mainly practicing it, which is what I'm lacking at the moment, and it helped me realize that, that I need to put theory to practice. Book will give you a lot of real-world examples, sadly sometimes you are lost about what should you learn from it until the very end of the story. He listed all masteries or abilities that a perfect leader should possess and again with examples and told you how to get better.
Overall enjoyable reading and will come back to some text in the future.… (more)

'Clearly Bennis's best wrok in a long line of impressive, significant contributions.'-Business Forum

'Warren Bennis-master practitioner, researcher, and theoretician all in one-has managed to create a practical primer for leaders without sacrificing an iota of necessary subtlety and complexity. No topic is more important; no more able and caring person has attacked it.'-Tom Peters

'The lessons here are crisp and persuasive.'-Fortune

This is Warren Bennis's most important book.'-Peter Drucker

'A joy to read...studded with gems of insight.'-Dallas Times-Herald

'Only Warren Bennis could write a book on leadershp that is so inspiring and insightful, captivating and wise, eloquent and revealing. His beautifully crafted stories of outstanding leaders and their fascinating paths to power are sure to launch an exciting journey of self-exploration for future leaders.'-Rosabeth Moss Kanter

'Bennis identifies the key ingredients of leaderhsip success and offers a game plan for cultivating those qualities.'-Success

Warren Bennis is Distinguished Professor of Business Administration at the University of Southern California and a consultant to multinational companies and govenments throughout the world. He is the author or coauthor of nineteen books, including the bestselling Leaders and An Invented Life. Training magazine has described him as 'the poet-philosopher-scholar of organizational life, a business theroist, and a management guru.'

Contents

Acknowledgments
New introduiction to the paperback
Edition
Introduction
1 Mastering the ocntext
2 Understanding the basics
3 Knowing yourself
4 Knwing the world
5 Operating on instinct
6 Deploying yourself: Strike hard, try everything
7 Moving through chaos
8 Getting people on your side
9 Organizations can help-or hinder
10 Forging the future
Biographies
References (bibliography)
Index… (more)