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
There are two ways of being creative. One can sing and dance. Or one can create an environment in which singers and dancers flourish.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Creativity can be expressed directly through art or by fostering a supportive environment for others to create.
Warren G. Bennis highlights two distinct approaches to creativity: the first being the direct act of creating art and the second being the cultivation of an atmosphere that nurtures artistic expression in others. This quote underscores the importance of not only individual creativity but also the role of leadership and environment in inspiring and supporting collective creativity.
Themes
CreativityEnvironmentLeadershipInspirationArt
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about innovation in the workplace, this quote could inspire managers to consider how they foster creativity among their teams.
More from Warren G. Bennis
All quotes βLeaders 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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We all feel that if we have a crazy idea that might get laughed at, there's nothing wrong with seeing if there's a crazy writer out there who agrees with us and can take it to a crazy network and somehow bring something that's a little bit daft and edgy to life.
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I don't know where my ideas come from, but I know where they come to. They come to my desk, and if I'm not there, they go away again.
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Whether we are poets or parents or teachers or artists or gardeners, we must start where we are and use what we have. In the process of creation and relationship, what seems mundane and trivial may show itself to be a holy, precious part of a pattern.
Luci ShawRead