Warren G. Bennis

The factory of the future will have only two employees, a man and a dog. The man will be there to feed the dog. The dog will be there to keep the man from touching the equipment.

The manager accepts the status quo; the leader challenges it.

Good leaders make people feel that they're at the very heart of things, not at the periphery.

There are two ways of being creative. One can sing and dance. Or one can create an environment in which singers and dancers flourish.

Becoming a leader is synonymous with becoming yourself. It is precisely that simple, and it is also that difficult.

Excellence is a better teacher than mediocrity. The lessons of the ordinary are everywhere. Truly profound and original insights are to be found only in studying the exemplary.

What job is worth the enormous psychic cost of following a leader who values loyalty in the narrowest sense.

Great Groups need to know that the person at the top will fight like a tiger for them.

Make sure you have someone in your life from whom you can get reflective feedback.

Without a terrific leader, you're not going to have a Great Group. But it is also true that you're not going to have a great leader without a Great Group.

This is more than just having a vision. You can see the difference in the often-cited way in which Steve Jobs brought in John Sculley to take over Apple. At the time, Sculley was destined to be the head of Pepsico. The clincher came when Jobs asked him, "How many more years of your life do you want to spend making colored water when you can have an opportunity to come here and change the world?"

Followers who tell the truth, and leaders who listen to it, are an unbeatable combination.

Vision animates, inspires, transforms purpose into action.