Quotes from Warren G. Bennis

To become a leader, then, you must become yourself, become the maker of your own life

It is the capacity to develop and improve their skills that distinguishes leaders from followers.

The leader has a clear idea of what he wants to do professionally and personally, and the strength to persist in the face of setbacks, even failures

Companies which get misled by their own success are sure to be blind sided.

The future has no shelf life

Excellence is a better teacher than mediocrity.

Make sure you have someone in your life from whom you can get reflective feedback.

Neotony is a metaphor for the quality of life - the gift - that keeps the fortunate of whatever age focused on all the marvelous undiscovered things to come.

More leaders have been made by accident, circumstance, sheer grit, or will than have been made by all the leadership courses put together.

Leaders must earn the trust of their teams, their organizations, and their stakeholders before attempting to engage their support.

Trust is the emotional glue that binds followers and leaders together.

Without character, there is no credibility; and without credibility, there is no trust.

Trust resides squarely between faith and doubt.

Followers who tell the truth, and leaders who listen to it, are an unbeatable combination.

Leaders know the importance of having someone in their lives who will unfailingly and fearlessly tell them the truth.

If I had to reduce the responsibilities of a good follower to a single rule, it would be to speak truth to power.

Encourage reflective backtalk: Leaders know the importance of having someone in their lives who will unfailingly and fearlessly tell them the truth.

You are your own raw material. When you know what you consist of and what you want to make of it, then you can invent yourself.

People who know what they want and why they want it, and have the skills to communicate that to others in a way that gains support

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."

Leadership is the capacity to translate vision into reality.

Organizations should try to find out if their learning programs actually work.

Great groups deliver great results. And for everyone involved in a great group, great work is its own reward.

Great leaders love talent and know where to find it. They surround themselves with talented people who can work effectively together.