Becoming a leader is synonymous with becoming yourself. It is precisely that simple, and it is also that difficult.
Warren G. Bennis

Excellence is a better teacher than mediocrity. The lessons of the ordinary are everywhere. Truly profound and original insights are to be found only in studying the exemplary.
Warren G. Bennis

Failing organizations are usually over-managed and under-led.
Warren G. Bennis

Good leaders make people feel that they're at the very heart of things, not at the periphery.
Warren G. Bennis

Great things are accomplished by talented people who believe they will accomplish them.
Warren G. Bennis

Leaders are people who do the right thing; managers are people who do things right.
Warren G. Bennis

Leaders keep their eyes on the horizon, not just on the bottom line.
Warren G. Bennis

Leaders must encourage their organizations to dance to forms of music yet to be heard.
Warren G. Bennis

Leadership is the capacity to translate vision into reality.
Warren G. Bennis

People who cannot invent and reinvent themselves must be content with borrowed postures, secondhand ideas, fitting in instead of standing out.
Warren G. Bennis


Taking charge of your own learning is a part of taking charge of your life, which is the sine qua non in becoming an integrated person.
Warren G. Bennis

The factory of the future will have only two employees, a man and a dog. The man will be there to feed the dog. The dog will be there to keep the man from touching the equipment.
Warren G. Bennis

The manager accepts the status quo; the leader challenges it.
Warren G. Bennis

The manager asks how and when; the leader asks what and why.
Warren G. Bennis

The manager has a short-range view; the leader has a long-range perspective.
Warren G. Bennis

The manager has his eye on the bottom line; the leader has his eye on the horizon.
Warren G. Bennis

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.
Warren G. Bennis

There are two ways of being creative. One can sing and dance. Or one can create an environment in which singers and dancers flourish.
Warren G. Bennis

There is a profound difference between information and meaning.
Warren G. Bennis

Trust is the lubrication that makes it possible for organizations to work.
Warren G. Bennis