Dr . Warren Bennis: Leading With Your Own Words and Story
The man that Forbes magazine called the "dean of leadership gurus" told a captivated NBMBAA conference audience that knowing what your talents and a telling your own story are two are of the most important requirements for a successful business leader. Warren Bennis, whose Friday morning Q & A, A Master Class in Leadership, was part of the conference’s Reunion Track and Entrepreneurial Institute, added that authenticity is key to building business relationships, because no one trusts people they perceive as phony. "Their narrative is not embodied in the way they are," Bennis said. Bennis is the author of On Becoming a Leader, largely considered to be one of the top 10 business books of all time. At age 85, he recently released his latest in a long list of titles: Still Surprised. Catherine LeBlanc, interim chief operating office of NBMBAA, moderated the presentation, whose audience included many high school students from the Leaders of Tomorrow® program. Along with answering prepared questions from LeBlanc, Bennis fielded questions from several of these aspiring young business leaders and their professional counterparts. What follows are just a few of the highlights from the conversation. On business judgment: "In my lifetime, I’ve never seen a period filled with so many surprises and such difficulty involved in making judgments," Bennis said. The environment is so influx." To make sound judgments when running a complex organization, he added, "you need the widest number of voices, and those voices have to speak truth to power." On failure: "Failures can very often lead to greater success," Bennis said. "The important matter is how you deal with failure." To turn a failure into a future success, you must reflect on what you can learn from the experience and surround yourself with people who can be a sounding board and a support for your efforts to get back on your feet, he said. On creativity: Although conventional thinking is that creativity is an individual attribute, Bennis said: "Creativity happens in groups. It happens through dialogue." The first 100 attendees received a signed copy of Dr. Bennis' new book. |
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