Leading for a Lifetime: How Defining Moments Shape Leaders of Today and Tomorrow

by Warren Bennis, Robert J. Thomas

Today's young leaders grew up in the glow of television and computers; the leaders of their grandparents' generation in the shadow of the Depression and World War II. In "Leading for a Lifetime", Warren Bennis and Robert Thomas set to find out how era and values shape those who lead. At the heart of this model are what the authors call "crucibles" - utterly transforming periods of testing from which one can emerge either hopelessly broken or powerfully emboldened to learn and to lead. Whether losing an election or burying a child, learning from a mentor or mastering a martial art, crucibles force us to decide who we are and what we are capable of.

Genres: Leadership, Nonfiction

224 pages, Paperback

First published May 28, 2007

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

[Lorie · Rating 3 out of 5]

required reading for my Organizational Leadership 6000 class (History and Theory of Leadership)

very interesting coverage of how era and personal attributes affect your leadership style and chance for success

an easy read for a graduate class :)

[Nathan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kind of a slow start. Cool concept but I think it could have been completed in 100 pgs. Solid lessons to be learned about adaptive capacity!

[Reid Mccormick · Rating 3 out of 5]

“Stripped to its essentials, leadership involves just three things – a leader, followers, and a common goal.”

I was really excited to read this book. I loved the premise: a study on older leader and younger leaders, finding out what they have in common and where they differ.

Unfortunately this book never seemed to bloomed into the book I was anticipating. Half the book sets up the definition of “geezer” and “geek” (aka old and young) leaders. While the last half of the book is nothing more than pieced together interview excerpts.

The overall concept of the book, the basic ideas of leadership, and research is all good, I do not find fault in the book. However I feel like other books on leadership do a better job tying everything to together.