Warren Bennis Quotes

If I'm in my position at a company, I may not have the knowledge of the C.E.O., I may not know what's possible, or I may not have the creativity, but if I can identify a problem, that's a valuable thing.

Where visionaries can be good at persuasion, CEOs are good at wielding authority. Visionaries transcend organizations, resources, and current realities, while CEOs master them.

It is difficult for every manager, I think, in the first year.

Many fine coaches never become great managers.

I think you live and learn each year, whether you're a head coach, coordinator, or business manager. You learn different things that work and different things that don't.

The one thing I have learned as a CEO is that leadership at various levels is vastly different. When I was leading a function or a business, there were certain demands and requirements to be a leader. As you move up the organization, the requirements for leading that organization don't grow vertically; they grow exponentially.

A C.E.O.'s job is leadership, problem solving, and team building. I've done that my whole career.

The signs of outstanding leadership appear primarily among the followers. Are the followers reaching their potential? Are they learning? Serving? Do they achieve the required results? Do they change with grace? Manage conflict?

Great CEOs are not just born with shiny hair and a tie.

Managing bottom-up change is its own art.

To me, success in the job is setting a vision, guiding an organization through change - which is exactly what I did at Digitas, and I'm very proud of that - and bringing people together and with you. That, to me, is what it takes to be successful.

I've got an opinion on everything, so I should go into management.

The role of leadership is to transform the complex situation into small pieces and prioritize them.

The true measure of the value of any business leader and manager is performance.

Decisiveness is the one word that makes a good manager.

For success of any mission, it is necessary to have creative leadership. Creative leadership is vital for government, non-governmental organisations as well as for industries.

I could never be a manager. All I have is natural ability.

There are people who are really good managers, people who can manage a big organization, and then there are people who are very analytic or focused on strategy. Those two types don't usually tend to be in the same person. I would put myself much more in the latter camp.

Management's job is to convey leadership's message in a compelling and inspiring way. Not just in meetings, but also by example.

And I'd say one of the great lessons I've learned over the past couple of decades, from a management perspective, is that really when you come down to it, it really is all about people and all about leadership.

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

At the moment we need training for leadership.

I’m an executive now. I have to be a bigger leader, more responsible leader, more careful about how I say things….

Governing is about making tough decisions, but it's also about figuring out a better way to do things.

Throughout my career, I've been someone who's led... and solved problems we had.