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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Leadership is like beauty – it’s hard to define but you know it when you see it.
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Listening to the inner voice – trusting the inner voice – is one of the most important lessons of leadership.
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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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Someone once wrote that the sound of surprise is jazz, and if there’s any one thing that we must try to get used to in this world, it’s surprise and the unexpected. Truly, we are living in world where the only thing that’s constant is change.
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Almost without exception, members of great groups see themselves as winning underdogs, as a feisty David hurling fresh ideas at a big, backward-looking Goliath. They always have an “enemy.”
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If great teams don’t have an “enemy,” they create one for themselves because, as former Coca-Cola CEO Roberto Goizueta pointed out, “you can’t have a war without one.”
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You need people who can walk their companies into the future rather than back them into the future.
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Great things are accomplished by talented people who believe they will accomplish them.
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Leaders are people who do the right thing: managers are people who do things right. Both roles are crucial, but they differ profoundly. I often observe people in top positions doing wrong things well.
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Success in management requires learning as fast as the world is changing.
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One of the worst mistakes is to do nothing.
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Embrace error: Create an atmosphere in which prudent risk taking is strongly encouraged.
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Leaders wonder about everything, want to learn as much as they can, are willing to take risks, experiment, try new things. They do not worry about failure but embrace errors, knowing they will learn from them.
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Our tendency to create heroes rarely jibes with the reality that most nontrivial problems require collective solutions.
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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.
WARREN G. BENNIS