On Becoming a Leader
by Warren Bennis [more]
Preface: Soon after Warren Bennis published this (now) classic work on leadership in 1987, I was cast into entrepreneurship. This required more leadership skill than I'd ever been challenged to provide. In addition to the quote below, from the first chapter "Building Context," my greatest memory of this book is Bennis stressing the word "becoming." His point throughout the book is that a true leader cannot "be" a leader, they must always be "becoming" one. Isn't that interesting? To become a great leader, says Bennis, one must always become. Great leaders get to know themselves and their weaknesses, and work at overcoming them as opposed (as so many would have us think) to leading a belief that weaknesses don't exist in certain people.
A favorite quote: "A scientist at the University of Michigan once listed what are considered the ten basic dangers to our society. First and most significant is the possibility of some kind of nuclear war or accident that would destroy the human race. The second is the possibility of a worldwide epidemic, disease, famine or depression. The third of this scientist's key problems, that could bring about the destruction of society is the quality of the management and leadership of our institutions." Wow!
