Warren Bennis on great groups and creative collaboration
Warren Bennis is a highly regarded leadership guru who has authored more than 27 books on the topic, including the best-selling Leaders and On Becoming a Leader. As well, Bennis co-authored Organizing Genius: The Secrets of Creative Collaboration with Patricia Ward Biederman, a book that deals more specifically with organizational change and creative collaboration. Published in 1997, Organizing Genius anticipated today’s much-touted collaborative advantage and the creation of flexible and creative teams.
At the conclusion of the book, the authors drew 15 lessons from analyzing the dynamics of the creative groups featured in the book’s seven case studies, which included Disney’s animation studio, Apple’s original Macintosh team and the legendary Xerox PARC research center. These lessons, also listed here, remain as relevant as when they were first published. They are:
- Greatness starts with superb people
- Every Great Group has a superb leader
- Great Groups and great leaders create each other
- The leaders of Great Groups love talent and know where to find it
- Great Groups are full of talented people who can work together
- Great Groups think they are on a mission from God
- Every Great Group is an island — but has a bridge to the mainland
- Great Groups see themselves as winning underdogs
- Great Groups always have an enemy
- People in Great Groups have no distractions
- Great Groups are optimistic, not realistic
- In Great Groups, the right person has the right job
- The leaders of Great Groups give them what they need and free them from the rest
- Great Groups always deliver a product
- Great work is its own reward
You can read more from Warren Bennis on the secrets of great groups here and on the secrets of creative collaboration here. A recent radio interview with Warren Bennis has him offering his definitive take on what great leadership comes down to - judgement.
Sphere: Related Content
