An Invented Life: Reflections On Leadership And Change

by Warren Bennis

In a collection of essays, a business expert examines what his role as a university president taught him about leadership, the ethical dilemmas inherent in modern organizations, Watergate, and the emergence of Japan

Genres: Leadership

238 pages, Hardcover

First published April 1, 1993

About the author

Warren Gamaliel Bennis is an American scholar, organizational consultant and author, widely regarded as a pioneer of the contemporary field of Leadership Studies. Bennis is University Professor and Distinguished Professor of Business Administration and Founding Chairman of The Leadership Institute at the University of Southern California.

“His work at MIT in the 1960s on group behavior foreshadowed -- and helped bring about -- today's headlong plunge into less hierarchical, more democratic and adaptive institutions, private and public,” management expert Tom Peters wrote in 1993 in the foreword to Bennis’ An Invented Life: Reflections on Leadership and Change.

Management expert James O’Toole, in a 2005 issue of Compass, published by Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government, claimed that Bennis developed “an interest in a then-nonexistent field that he would ultimately make his own -- leadership -- with the publication of his ‘Revisionist Theory of Leadership’ in Harvard Business Review in 1961.” O’Toole observed that Bennis challenged the prevailing wisdom by showing that humanistic, democratic-style leaders better suited to dealing with the complexity and change that characterize the leadership environment.

Reviews

[Gayle Turner · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is primarily a compilation of Bemnis' former writings. Published in '93 it seems prescient. His observations and recommendations are surprisingly timely. I highly recommend it to any leader who would like to become a better leader.

[Jen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Short chapters on various topics. Easy to get through.