Government is like an onion. To understand it, you have to peel through many different layers. Most outsiders never get beyond the first or second layer.
Warren G. BennisRead
The most dangerous leadership myth is that leaders are born - that there is a genetic factor to leadership. This myth asserts that people simply either have certain charismatic qualities or not. That's nonsense; in fact, the opposite is true. Leaders are made rather than born.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Leadership is a skill developed through experience, not an inherent trait.
Warren G. Bennis challenges the common belief that leaders possess an innate quality that makes them effective. He argues that the true essence of leadership comes from learning, growth, and the experiences one accumulates over time, suggesting that anyone can become a leader with dedication and effort.
Themes
LeadershipMythCharismaMadeSkills
In practice
Example use cases
In a leadership workshop, to inspire attendees, you might quote Bennis to emphasize that they can all develop into effective leaders.
More from Warren G. Bennis
All quotes →Leaders must encourage their organizations to dance to forms of music yet to be heard.
Warren G. BennisRead
To be authentic is literally to be your own author... to discover your own native energies and desires, and then to find your own way of acting on them.
Warren G. BennisRead
The manager has a short-range view; the leader has a long-range perspective.
Warren G. BennisRead
Trust is the lubrication that makes it possible for organizations to work.
Warren G. BennisRead
People who cannot invent and reinvent themselves must be content with borrowed postures, secondhand ideas, fitting in instead of standing out.
Warren G. BennisRead
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