| Date: 28 April 2011, 05:52
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The Essential Bennis
By Warren Bennis
* Publisher: Jossey-Bass
* Number Of Pages: 480
* Publication Date: 2009-08-10
* ISBN-10 / ASIN: 047043239X
* ISBN-13 / EAN: 9780470432396
Product Description:
"Looking over a lifetime of work, I see that certain themes have always fascinated me. Early on, I felt that bureaucracy was doomed and that something flatter and more collegial would triumph. The need for candor and transparency has been a frequent cry, because I saw how warped organizations become without them. I've long known that organizational decisions inevitably have a moral dimension. The vital role that great followers play in successful leadership has grown ever more obvious. I am increasingly aware how crucial rhetoric and other performing arts are in making a compelling leader—good or bad. That leaders are inevitably shaped by personal crucibles has been confirmed by hundreds of interviews. And it is clear to me now that the process of becoming a leader and the process of becoming a fully integrated human being are one and the same, both grounded in self-discovery." —from the Introduction by Warren Bennis
Summary: True leader of our time
Rating: 4
Warren Bennis is the distinguished professor of Management, at the University of Southern California
and the founding chair of the Leadership Institute.
The Leaning Ivory Tower, 1973, and The Unconscious Conspiracy: Why Leaders Can't Lead, 1976, were classics
before everyone else talked about "Leadership".
I enjoy reading all his books. Bennis books are original, make you think outside the box.
Fast foward to 2009, internet and global connections provide new paradigm for learning. E-Leader conferences took Leadership
to the next level,[...]
Summary: The pre-eminent leader of leadership studies
Rating: 5
I have read and reviewed all of Warren Bennis' books and read most of his articles. Therefore, I was especially eager to examine this volume in which Bennis collaborates with 20 guest contributors on creating what is best viewed as a retrospective examination of the themes, issues, crises, failures, and achievements that have guided and informed - in some respects defined - his life and career thus far. The material is carefully organized within six Parts, each of which has an organizing theme: My Life as a Leader, How Organizations Create or Thwart Leaders, On Becoming a Leader, Leadership as Performance, Cultivating the Leader in Others, and finally, Leadership and the Media. Bennis provided a brief but remarkably enlightening introduction to each Part.
Presumably Patricia Ward Biederman (who co-authored Organizing Genius with Bennis and contributed "The Berkeley of the East" and "What Went Wrong") also assisted with the editing of the abundance of the material. However, the dominant voice is Bennis', as it should be, and he probably reveals more about himself (warts and all) than in any prior publication. I found all of the contributors' articles well worth reading and especially appreciated these:
Scott Snook and Rakesh Khurana on "The End of the Great Man"
James O'Toole on "A Corporate Fear of Too Much Truth"
Note: O'Toole's essay on "Speaking Truth to Power" in Transparency, co-authored with Bennis and Daniel Goleman, is a "must read" for all executives.
Frances Hesselbein on "Understanding the Basics"
Glenn Close on "Leadership as a Performing Art"
Bill George on "The Challenges of Leadership in the Modern World"
Jean Lipman-Blumen on "Followers Make Good Leaders"
Readers will also appreciate the Foreword provided by Charles Handy and the Introduction provided by Bennis. Although the narrative consists of 433 pages, most readers will probably review the Contents and then cherry-pick subjects that are most relevant to their own business needs and interests. However, there are several "gems" among the contents that I came upon literally by accident and would have otherwise missed. Either I did not recognize the author or assumed that the subject would be of little (if any) interest. I urge others not to make that mistake. There is not only "something for everyone in this volume," there a great deal for everyone...and some of that requires a willingness to locate it and then an open mind receptive to what it offers.
In the Introduction, Bennis reflects on certain themes that have always fascinated him (e.g. "that bureaucracy was doomed") and continue to fascinate him. In certain respects, his own contributions to this volume could be viewed (in aggregate) as memoirs but, in my opinion, they can - and should - also be viewed as a "map" of intellectual and emotional "territory," much of which has yet to be explored. As part of the "Bennis Heritage," therefore, I presume to suggest that the implicit challenges in this book are offered with a fervent hope that others will accept them with the courage, curiosity, determination, and humility that Bennis has demonstrated throughout his life and career. With all due respect to his achievements, those qualities are his "essentials." Begin your own journey of self-discovery by allowing him to share his.
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