Learning to Lead: A Workbook on Becoming a Leader

by Warren G. Bennis, Joan Goldsmith

Overview

From leadership expert Warren Bennis, a workbook to help anyone reach their full potential as a leader.

Warren Bennis and Joan Goldsmith maintain that leaders are not born, they are made-in fact, anyone can develop the skills to transform their lives and their organizations. In Learning to Lead, these leadership experts have created a program that enables students, staff, managers, executives, public servants, and professionals to discover their own leadership voice.

In these pages Bennis and Goldsmith offer the wisdom of world leaders, tools for self-assessment, and exercises for building leadership skills. These lessons enable readers to recognize false leadership myths, translate failures into springboards for creativity, and communicate personal visions that inspire others to produce extraordinary results.

An immensely useful workbook and a powerful reformulation of the nature of leadership, Learning to Lead is an invaluable guide to driving your own success and inspiring it in others.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780465004324
Publisher:	Basic Books
Publication date:	04/27/2010
Sold by:	Hachette Digital, Inc.
Format:	NOOK Book
Pages:	264
Sales rank:	305,627
Lexile:	1130L (what's this?)
File size:	3 MB
Age Range:	13 - 18 Years

About the Author

Warren Bennis (1925 - 2014) was an American scholar, organizational consultant, and author, who was widely regarded as the pioneer of the contemporary field of leadership. He served as Distinguished Professor of Business Administration at the University of Southern California, as chairman of the Advisory Board of the Center for Public Leadership at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government, and as a consultant to multinational companies and governments throughout the world.

In 2007, BusinessWeek called him one of ten business school professors who have had the greatest influence on business thinking. He has received twenty honorary degrees and has served on numerous boards of advisors. He authored dozens of articles and over thirty books on leadership, including On Becoming a Leader and Organizing Genius.

Table of Contents

Preface		xi	(10)
Acknowledgments		xxi
Chapter 1--Leadership for a Successful Future		1	(20)
The Future Is in Their Hands		1	(2)
The Integrity of Leadership		3	(1)
Leaders, Not Managers		4	(1)
Trust, Plus Vision, Plus Meaning		5	(1)
The Buried Treasure		6	(1)
An Empowered Work Force		6	(1)
Leadership Can Be Learned		7	(2)
The Learning Plan of This Workbook		9	(1)
The Distinctions between Manager and Leader--An Exercise		9	(5)
Your Leadership Assessment--An Exercise		14	(1)
Leadership Assessment Inventory--An Exercise		15	(3)
Your Leadership Agenda--An Exercise		18	(3)
Chapter 2--How to Use This Workbook		21	(20)
The Reinvention of Self		21	(2)
Leadership of Your Own Life		23	(1)
The Inner Voice		24	(2)
Self-Reflection		26	(1)
Personal Values for Effective Leaders--An Exercise		26	(7)
Personal Goals for Leaders--An Exercise		33	(2)
Group Leadership--An Exercise		35	(2)
Qualities That Support Group Leadership Development--An Exercise		37	(4)
Chapter 3--The Leadership Crisis		41	(28)
The Loss of Leaders		41	(3)
The Leadership Crisis		44	(1)
Leaders from the Past--An Exercise		45	(6)
Leadership Myths--An Exercise		51	(4)
The Leadership Gap?--An Exercise		56	(4)
Leaders in Our Families--An Exercise		60	(4)
Leaders in Our Organization--An Exercise		64	(5)
Chapter 4--Knowing Yourself		69	(30)
The Beginning		69	(2)
The Shift in the Leadership Paradigm		71	(2)
Leaders Are Made by Learning How to Learn--An Exercise		73	(5)
Learning Modes--An Exercise		78	(2)
A Learning Style Presentation--An Exercise		80	(2)
Failure--The Springboard of Hope		82	(2)
Patterns of Failure--An Exercise		84	(8)
Leadership Checklist--An Exercise		92	(3)
The Lifeline--An Exercise		95	(4)
Chapter 5--Creating and Communicating a Vision		99	(20)
A Passionate Commitment to Vision		99	(3)
Alignment of Others to Your Vision		102	(3)
Your Organizational Vision--An Exercise		105	(6)
You in Your Vision--An Exercise		111	(5)
Communication and Your Vision--An Exercise		116	(3)
Chapter 6--Maintaining Trust through Integrity		119	(24)
Trust and Organizational Effectiveness		119	(2)
Qualities of Leadership--An Exercise		121	(2)
Support through Empathy		123	(2)
The Practice of Empathy--An Exercise		125	(7)
Trust through Consistent Integrity		132	(3)
Your Ethical Ten Commandments--An Exercise		135	(4)
The Integrity Gap--An Exercise		139	(4)
Chapter 7--Realizing Intention through Action		143	(24)
A Self-Assessment Prior to Action		144	(2)
Your Goals Statement--An Exercise		146	(2)
Commitment and Desire as Requisites for Action		148	(2)
Commitments and Desires--An Exercise		150	(3)
Strategic Thinking		153	(2)
The Strategy Map--An Exercise		155	(6)
Power to Achieve Your Goals--Exercises		161	(4)
Empowerment: A Conclusion		165	(2)
Books on Leadership: An Annotated Bibliography		167	(10)
References		177	(4)
Index		181

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

Doug Willmore, Chief Administrative Officer, Salt Lake County
“Learning to Lead is one of the finest books for leaders that I have ever had the opportunity to read. Grounded in proven theory, yet written in action, Bennis and Goldsmith have given anyone who aspires to lead more powerfully and more effectively, a pathway to follow. The pathway they lay out requires work and thought, yet it also calls for the best that you have to give – and as such, has allowed for new levels of self-expression, authenticity, and effectiveness in my own leadership. Clear and concise, yet not simple, it is a book that I will return to again and again.”

Catherine Houser, Executive Vice President of Human Resources, MTV Networks
“They say leaders are born, but leadership is a skill that's bred. Learning to Lead is full of smart, practical thinking on how to unlock the potential for greatness that lies within all of us.”

Raz Ingrasci, President & CEO, Hoffman Institute
“Outstanding leaders effectively embrace the paradox of a path that is equal parts inner wisdom and outward action. Now, just when the demand for excellence is greatest, this modern classic by Goldsmith and Bennis gives leaders of every stripe direct access to great mastery from one who knows you perfectly in your highest aspirations – YOURSELF. Live with this book. Use it to recalibrate your inner compass as you step boldly forward into the greatest adventure of your life.”

Tuscon Citizen
“This definitive and practical guide to leadership, now in its revised and updated fourth edition, is especially important in our current work environment of crisis and uncertainty. The ability to develop competent leaders is, without a doubt, one of our society’s most pressing concerns. This handy workbook is filled with wisdom from the world’s most insightful and accomplished leaders and includes useful self-assessments and dozens of interactive skill-building exercises.”

Editorial Reviews

"This modern classic by Bennis and Goldsmith gives leaders of every stripe direct access to great mastery from one who knows you perfectly in your highest aspirations—YOURSELF."
—Raz Ingrasci, President & CEO, Hoffman Institute

"Warren Bennis was the world's most important thinker on the subject that business leaders care about more than any other: themselves."
—Economist

"[Bennis] was recognized for decades as one of the world's foremost experts in the principles and practice of effective leadership.... Few thinkers, writers or scholars possessed greater rhetorical gifts for formulating memorable mottoes, aphorisms and observations about how to achieve and inspire success."—Washington Post

From the Publisher