I used to think that running an organization was equivalent to conducting a symphony orchestra. But I don’t think that’s quite it; it’s more like jazz. There is more improvisation.
WARREN G. BENNISUnderstand the “Gretzky Factor”: Cultivate an instinct, a “touch”, call it what you will, that enables you to know both where the “puck” is now and where it will be soon.
More Warren G. Bennis Quotes
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Ineffective leaders often act on the advice and counsel of the last person they talked to.
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The manager administers; the leader innovates.
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At the time, Sculley was destined to be the head of Pepsico. The clincher came when Jobs asked him, “How many more years of your life do you want to spend making colored water when you can have an opportunity to come here and change the world?”
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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.
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It is the capacity to develop and improve their skills that distinguishes leaders from followers.
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This is more than just having a vision. You can see the difference in the often-cited way in which Steve Jobs brought in John Sculley to take over Apple.
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Great things are achieved by talented people who are absolutely convinced that they not only can but will achieve them.
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Success in management requires learning as fast as the world is changing.
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Every great group is an island… but an island with a bridge to the mainland.
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Create a compelling vision, one that takes people to a new place, and then translate that vision into a reality.
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Followers who tell the truth, and leaders who listen to it, are an unbeatable combination.
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Understand the “Gretzky Factor”: Cultivate an instinct, a “touch”, call it what you will, that enables you to know both where the “puck” is now and where it will be soon.
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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.
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This duality, making yourself better while teaching and developing others’ judgment capabilities, is the key to leadership that is both productive and principled.
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Leadership is like beauty – it’s hard to define but you know it when you see it.
WARREN G. BENNIS






