Geeks and Geezers

by Warren Bennis, Robert J. Thomas

"Our youngest leaders matured in the glow of computer screens; our oldest in the shadow of the Depression and World War II. In a groundbreaking study of these two disparate groups - affectionately labeled "geeks" and "geezers" - leadership experts Warren G. Bennis and Robert J. Thomas set out to find how era and values shape those who lead. What they discovered was something even more profound: the powerful process through which leaders of any era emerge." Geeks and Geezers will forever change how we view leadership, but also how we reflect on our own formative experiences. Illustrated by compelling interviews with extraordinary individuals under thirty-five and over seventy years of age, the authors present a new model that predicts who is likely to become and remain a leader - and explains why others fail to rise to the challenge. At its heart are what the authors call "crucibles" - utterly transformational experiences from which one can emerge either hopelessly broken or powerfully emboldened to learn and to lead.

Genres: Leadership, Business, Nonfiction, Sociology, Self Help, Entrepreneurship

224 pages, Hardcover

First published August 8, 2002

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

[Mat Rueter · Rating 4 out of 5]

You must see your experiences as invaluable ones that enriched your life, rather than as wasted years.

[Sam · Rating 3 out of 5]

Manacled in the zeitgeist, are we all condemned to the dictates of our age, or are we suppose to influence the age? While I ponder on this egg-and-chicken situation, its interesting to know that the same crucibles that produced great leaders also 'burnt' others to irrelevance.
The Geek vs Geezer debate is an eye-opener. While the Geezer generation had heroes who inspired and/or modelled them, Geeks on the other hand have pop-culture produced celebrities supplying this essential leader development demand. It is then easy to decipher why genuine leaders are so scarce amongst the Geeks and why even the few that appear with any semblance of leadership soon wither away like the celebrities they model, an all to familiar sequence that is also prevalent in everything in the Geek generation - the I-want-it-now microwaved everything.
Accepted that most attributes associated with Geezers are now considered passé, but should we with the bath water throw away the baby? Should we jettison the time-tested leadership development framework bequeathed us by the Geezers for something amorphous?
What caught my interest most is the Neoteny discuss. I will do some more reading on the subject... seems I'm neotenic ;)
Good book!

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fun look at leaders born c.1924 vs. those born c.1973. Included looking at favorite fiction books, books of influence, heroes (or lack of), what is "balance," concerns, aspirations. It proved interesting from a sociology point-of-view, to be sure!

Can help one understand why up-coming leaders and current, end-of-career leaders often "miss" each other and assume nasty things of the others!

Yet the best of each group find themselves having to be adaptable and always wanting to be learners.

Fun read.

[Steve · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the book that I wish I had read three years ago, before I started working on LEADING THE WAY UP MOUNT OLYMPUS. Bennis and Thomas collected interview data about the differences in leadership attitudes. I highly recommend this book to anyone who is interested in leadership research. I learned a lot from this book; it probably deserves to be read again within a year. Readers of Geeks and Geezers will deepen their understanding of generational differences and the leadership crucible.

[Jenny (Reading Envy) · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was mentioned during the ACRL Leading from the Middle Conference. It started out with a lot of promise - analysis of successful (and failing) leaders from the geek and geezer generations, but then devolved into chapters on what makes good leaders. What I was hoping for was tips on how geeks and geezers could relate better and combine their worldviews, rather than those opposing worldviews continuing to cause conflict, but the authors (both geezers, as far as I can tell) seemed more interested in pointing out how good leaders tend to have more in common than differences because of generational issues. I still want to know how to better relate!

[Jonathan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this recently for a class. It was lively and interesting, although it seemed a bit dated. It was published in 2002, and much of the book involved interviews with young dot-com entrepreneurs. Clearly, a lot of the research had taken place before the dot-com bust, and the authors had to cover their tracks in a few places. Nonetheless, the lessons it holds are still relevant.

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bennis and Thomas examine the effects of era/culture on leadership, comparing leaders who came to maturity in the psot WW II era to those who attained leadership status in the 1990s/early 2000s. The study looks at both similarities and differences in expectations, vaues and style. It is useful and interesting, although a bit dated (it was published in 2002) by the post-September 11 era.

[Kevin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very interesting facts learned about the leaders of today and the leaders of the past. Basically just all facts but I recomend this book for anyone interested in going into politics or being a leader for tommorow.

[PeterBlackCoach · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating book on the differences and similarities in leaders of different generations and what were there respective "crucibles" of leadership. Whilst written in 2002, still very relevant today. I particularly liked the concept of neoteny and how it applies to mature aged workers

[Chuck · Rating 4 out of 5]

Could be shorter. Raised some interesting ideas on leadership. Definitely stretched my brain a bit.

[Paulo Mendes · Rating 4 out of 5]

From my perspective the main point in this book is the similarities between those two different generations concerning leadership. Bennis and Thomas proved from their interviews that there are characteristics and abilities shared between geeks and geezers successful leaders (the former born about 1974 and the latter about 1924). Among those in-common things are the ability to learn how to learn, which, by the way, is shown by good leader as well as by people who live good and happy life in spite of any challenges, illness or unhappiness. That`s why good leaders are usually open minded people. They are always learning, they learn both in success and fail. In one of the passages we read “There aren’t gains and losses, just gains and learning”. Another thing that is referred to by both geek and geezers successful leaders is the importance of a balanced life, which means spending enough time with their families and friends rather than sacrifice them for the work. I think it is a very good book. We learn that regardless the era there is some kind of pattern in the process of building a good leader.

[Dale · Rating 3 out of 5]

It is no secret that leaders are shaped by their environment and crucibles. In this book the authors profile several leaders categorizing them as either geeks (computer generation) and geezers (shaped by economic trials and world events).

[Rogerio Lage · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sometimes we find out that even though times passes some things kinda stay the same. Leaders need some skills to get there.

[Kate · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this for a leadership course in 2016, but I loved it.