Most Popular Books by Warren Bennis

For many years, Warren Bennis has persuasively argued that leaders are not born - they are made. And for countless readers, On Becoming a Leader has served as a beacon of insight, delving into the qualities that define leadership, the people who exemplify it, and the strategies that anyone can apply to achieve it. In a world increasingly defined by turbulence and uncertainty, the call to leadership is more urgent than ever. Featuring a provocative new epilogue on the challenges and opportunities facing leaders today, this new edition will inspire the next generation and guide us into the future.

An intimate look at the founding father of the modern leadership movement Warren Bennis is an acclaimed American scholar, successful organizational consultant and author, and an expert in the field of leadership. His much awaited memoir is filled with insights about the successes and failures from his long and storied life and career. Bennis'' life and career have traversed eight decades of first-hand experience with tumultuous episodes of recent history-from Jewish child in a gentile town in the 30''s, a young army recruit in the Battle of the Bulge to a college student in the one of the first progressive precursors to the civil rights movement to a patient undergoing daily psychoanalysis for five years, and later a university provost during the Vietnam protests. Reveals the triumphs and struggles of the man who is considered the pioneer in the contemporary field of leadership studies Bennis is the author of 27 books including the bestseller On Becoming a Leader This is first book to examine the extraordinary life of Warren Bennis by the man himself.

For the first time, a top leadership scholar and a top leadership practitioner explore the true duties, demands, and privileges of leadership. Intellectual sparks flew when Warren Bennis, the “father” of modern leadership studies and Steven B. Sample, one of the most accomplished university presidents in recent history, came together for candid explorations of the forces that shape successful leaders and unsuccessful ones. The Art and Adventure of Leadership, their final collabu00adoration, reveals the profound insights that the authors gained together over the 16 years in which they co-taught one of the most popular leadership courses in America. Here, each brings his own distinct vantage point as they address the mechanics and mysteries of leadership. The result is a unique examination of the journey of great leaders from momentary setbacks to ultimate success. It offers profound lessons on what determines the difference between failure and redemption for leaders. And it illuu00adminates important and overlooked dimensions of great leaders ranging from Winston Churchill to Steve Jobs. Together, they explore why: A mature leader must grasp when it’s healthy to risk failure, and when failure can’t be tolerated at any cost Leadership isn’t for everyone and requires a particular set of skills and competencies that are often glossed over in most management literature To succeed in an uncertain and fast-changing world, a shrewd leader must understand which aspects of human society change—and which aspects never change A mature, wise leader must seek a balance between high-minded ideals and the gritty realities and compromises that leaders face in their daily lives Above all, meaningful leadership remains a matter of character With incredible insight, this book examines why George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, and other giants were able to recover from failures, learn resilience, and prepare themselves for their moments of destiny. In so doing, it demonstrates and helps cultivate the leadership skills that you need to create your own most meaningful legacy. The Art and Adventure of Leadership is a unique look at leadu00adership, and a critical resource for the leaders of tomorrow.

In Transparency, the authors a powerhouse trio in the field of leadership look at what conspires against a culture of candor in organizations to create disastrous results, and suggest ways that leaders can achieve healthy and honest openness. They explore the lightning-rod concept of transparency which has fast become the buzzword not on...

Warren Bennis has become synonymous with leadership, exploring all its dimensions as both practitioner and scholar for over four decades. Managing the Dream is an intimate portrait of leadership, comprising over a dozen essays that represent the author''s most incisive and creative thinking. It features many of Bennis''s most recent works, including "The End of Leadership," and a new preface reflecting on the challenge of leadership in the new millennium.

In this reissue of the definitive book on leadership, Warren Bennis defines what keeps leaders from performing to their highest potential. Using specific examples from our country''s recent past, Bennis presents theories on why leadership has taken a slide downward. "The best book on how leaders can lead".--Peter Drucker.

For over two decades, Beyond Bureaucracy has helped both modern academic thought and current management practice with its far-reaching examination of the causes and consequences of change in organizations and leadership. From a powerful behavioral science perspective, this classic collection of essays examines the strategic, methodological, and conceptual issues central to changing organizations.

The words of Douglas McGregor, one of the fore-fathers of management theory and one of the top business thinkers of all time, cannot and should not be ignored. McGregor''s vision of a more humanistic workplace may not have been widely accepted over three decades ago, but technological advancements that McGregor himself anticipated have paradoxically helped companies become more human. Viewing employees not as cogs in the machine but as living beings with individual goals-what McGregor called "the human side of the enterprise"-has proven to provide a remarkable competitive advantage. Now, with the rise of the networked economy, the growing power of frontline workers, and the shift in power from mass producer to individual consumer, authors Gary Heil, Warren Bennis, and Deborah Stephens assert that McGregor''s ideas are more important and relevant than ever before. Douglas McGregor, Revisited emphasizes McGregor''s lasting influence and updates his thinking with new concepts, fresh strategies, and modern implementation. This timely work traces McGregor''s original thinking, which has emerged in current approaches that stress distributed leadership, open-minded appraisal techniques, and employee/customer commitment. Highlighted throughout with gems of wisdom in McGregor''s own words, the book describes the value of his theories for today''s managers. The authors carefully outline how to put McGregor''s thinking into practice in your own business so you can: * Devise a better performance management system * Form and supervise effective management teams * Build cooperation instead of internal competition * Cultivate an intrinsically motivating, values-driven workplace * Create a cause worthy of employee commitment Also featured are examples from a host of companies and leaders who have flourished under McGregor''s approach. Authoritative and highly instructive, Douglas McGregor, Revisited offers new generations of managers important lessons from history and from the field. Praise for Douglas McGregor, Revisited "This book revisits in a contemporary manner the most important question facing management today: given what we know about human nature, how should work be managed so as to unleash the vast creative potential of human beings? The evidence is overwhelming that many people either come to an organization or can be appropriately led to exhibit the behavior McGregor characterized as ''Theory Y.'' This book provides a ''how-to'' approach for developing people at work and for establishing high performance organizations."-Joseph A. Maciariello, Horton Professor of Management Peter F. Drucker Graduate School of Management, Claremont Graduate University and Claremont McKenna College. Author of Lasting Value: Lessons from a Century of Agility at Lincoln Electric Douglas McGregor''s seminal works, The Human Side of the Enterprise and The Professional Manager, debunked Taylorism and described a revolutionary way to manage people. He was the first to apply the findings in behavioral science to the world of business. Based on what had been learned about human behavior, McGregor explored the implications of managing people in a different manner than tradition dictated. The nature of work today makes McGregor''s ideas more relevant than ever before. This important book applies his thinking to today''s business world, proving again that the human aspect of work is crucial to organizational effectiveness. It also suggests how you can change your thinking and implement his ideas in your own business and workplace.

Offers an overview of the authors'' own methodology for conducting reengineering and presents a case for using this approach for competing in the 21st century.

"Co-leadership...is a tough-minded strategy that will unleash the hidden talent in any enterprise. Above all, co-leadership is inclusive, not exclusive. It celebrates those who do the real work, not just a few charismatic often isolated leaders who are regally compensated for articulating the organization''s vision." -David A. Heenan and Warren Bennis Today''s heads of big companies are as recognizable to us as the most popular entertainers or sports stars, but the heart and soul of every organization are those leaders below the CEO. Today''s celebrity CEO has become either a figure head or an egomaniac, and often too public a personality to get the real work done. That work is done instead by teams of leaders-exceptional deputies who forge great partnerships to maximize both organizational and personal success. Heenan and Bennis believe we must look beyond the Bill Gateses of the world to understand what makes an organization excel. Written for CEOs, managers, and anyone else interested in modern organizations, this is the first comprehensive study of co-leaders and their often quiet power. Exhaustively researched and illustrated with memorable anecdotes and lively stories, Co-Leaders examines a dozen great partners such as Steve Ballmer of Microsoft, Bob Lutz of Chrysler, Bill Guthridge, coach of the University of North Carolina basketball team, and Anne Sullivan Macy, Helen Keller''s teacher. The changing nature of corporate leadership has seen the emergence of a new Silicon Valley model of success, where boss and subordinate seem more like peers with the spotlight on great partnerships. Talent, not title, is the source of power at a growing number of hot high-tech companies. In these collegial, non-hierarchical organizations, today''s deputy can become tomorrow''s CEO simply by taking his or her breakthrough idea and walking out the door. Good ideas belong, initially at least, to the people who have them, not to the company and not to the boss which is why this new egalitarianism isn''t just a matter of style-it''s a question of survival. Co-leaders know both the executive and subordinate experience, making them better adapted to the needs of the new millennium where men and women who can command and follow will prove to be the greatest assets of any organization. Co-Leaders is intended for everyone who aspires to make his or her organization great. By showing the enterprise through the eyes of inspired deputies, this book reveals how both organizations and individuals can benefit from a more inclusive, less celebrity-oriented definition of leadership. This groundbreaking book argues for a new paradigm: gifted leaders and their talented co-leaders working together to make their organizations stronger, more nimble, more equitable...and ultimately more successful. David A. Heenan is a trustee of the Estate of James Campbell, one of the nation''s largest landowners with assets valued at over $2 billion. A former senior executive with Citicorp and Jardine Matheson, Heenan has served on the faculties of the Wharton School and the Columbia Graduate School of Business. A Wharton Ph.D., he is the author of The New Corporate Frontier and The Re-United States of America, and his articles have appeared in the Harvard Business Review, The Wall Street Journal, and The New York Times. Warren Bennis is Distinguished Professor of Business Administration at the University of Southern California and a consultant to multinational companies and governments throughout the world. Often referred to as "the guru of modern management," he is one of the preeminent authorities on leadership. Author of over a dozen books, including the best-sellers Leaders and On Becoming a Leader, Bennis''s insights have fundamentally shaped the way we think about leaders today.

Although it was first published more than thirty-five years ago, Up the Organization continues to top the lists of best business books by groups as diverse as the American Management Association, Strategy + Business (Booz Allen Hamilton), and The Wharton Center for Leadership and Change Management. 1-800-CEO-READ ranks Townsend’s bestseller first among eighty books that “every manager must read.” This commemorative edition offers a new generation the benefit of Robert Townsend’s timeless wisdom as well as reflections on his work and life by those who knew and worked with him. This groundbreaking book continues to remind us not to get mired in all those sacred organizational routines that stifle people and strangle both profits and profitability. He shows a way to humanize business and a way to have fun while making it all work better than it ever worked before.

Authentic Leadership provides a framework for leaders to understand their purpose in leading, from a seasoned CEO who has truly been there. It focuses on the crucibles of experience through which leaders come to know who they are and solidify what they stand for. It speaks to leaders who want to lead with heart and compassion for those they serve. Purpose, values, relationships, self-discipline, and heart -- these are the five qualities George develops in the book.