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Managing People Is Like Herding Cats /

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This collection spells out the dilemmas facing our leaderless society, details the qualities that successful leaders must have, and explores the challenges that today's leaders must face as they move toward change. The frustrated managers who try command and order and try to herd cats will fail. Cats won't allow themselves to be herded. They may, however, be coaxed, cajoled, persuaded, adored, and gently led.

Paperback

First published January 1, 1997

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About the author

Warren Bennis

102 books122 followers
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.

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5 stars
17 (25%)
4 stars
33 (48%)
3 stars
12 (17%)
2 stars
4 (5%)
1 star
2 (2%)
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
5 reviews1 follower
January 28, 2009
A humorous,insightful approach to leadership and management. There are more comprehensive books on the topic, but none that have been as easy for me to read.
Profile Image for Deborah Marcus.
22 reviews
June 4, 2013
A little out dated, but great thoughts on management and leadership.
6 reviews
August 25, 2025
Pesan Utama

Pesan utama buku ini adalah bahwa kepemimpinan yang efektif memerlukan kemampuan untuk memimpin dan menginspirasi orang lain, bukan hanya mengelola mereka. Bennis menekankan pentingnya membangun kepercayaan dan menghormati anggota tim, serta memiliki visi dan tujuan yang jelas.²

Kelebihan Buku

- Buku ini memberikan wawasan yang berharga tentang kepemimpinan dan bagaimana mengelola orang-orang dengan efektif.
- Penulis memiliki pengalaman yang luas dalam bidang kepemimpinan dan dapat memberikan contoh yang relevan.
- Buku ini ditulis dengan bahasa yang jelas dan mudah dipahami.
7 reviews
August 18, 2025
Review buku managing people is like herding cats :
Menurut warren bennis di era abad ke 21 sekarang organisasi akan lebih efektif jika dipimpin bukan di kelola, dalam hal ini berfokus untuk menginspirasi dan mengatur perubahan bukan memaksakan atau bereaksi terhadapnya.
Dalam hal kepemimpinan bennis mengedepankan pentingnya membangun kepercayaan dan rasa hormat dalam sebuah tim serta menciptakan seorang pemimpin yang rendah hati .
seorang pemimpin juga harus mampu untuk mengenali nilai modal manusia dan memprioritaskan pengembangannya .
Profile Image for Jennifer.
274 reviews7 followers
September 14, 2016
Some of the chapters had good insight on leadership. Other times, it seemed like there was a lot of rants about political and popular culture from 20 years ago. Some of the names are still making political headlines today so it gave some insight to their leadership style as well. There was a lot of name dropping. It had good points, but it just didn't seem very cohesive.
Profile Image for Nico.
50 reviews
August 27, 2012
I recently got started on a leadership kick, thanks to a leadership conference that I went to during the summer, so when I saw that a friend had marked this as to read, so did I. After reading it, I would definitely recommend it to anyone interested in being a leader. Not only did it make a lot of sense, it lined up pretty well with everything I had heard in the leadership conference. There is only one thing that keeps me from rating this 5 stars, and that is the repetition. This book is incredibly repetitive. I understand that many of these concepts are important enough to merit restating, but often it felt like he was repeating an earlier point almost verbatim. There was actually one little paragraph that he did repeat verbatim, separated by a couple of chapters. I won't contest that his ideas are good, because they are, but I think that the presentation could have been a little better.
12 reviews
Read
June 7, 2009
Of course this isn't cool, but I've read an essay or two by this guy before and liked his insights, and enjoy noting what similarities good leaders allegedly have in common.
Profile Image for Ian Fiedalan.
2 reviews2 followers
August 25, 2013
Very sharp and vivid on its description and narrative x if you want to standout a leader, consider this material by Bennis.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews

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