College Essay: Communication Privacy Management Theory

 

On Becoming A Leader

By: Warren Bennis

Summary

 

 

 

Warren Bennis (1925 - 2014) is an American scholar, organizational consultant, and author; he is 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. Also, he authored many articles and over thirty books on leadership, including the bestselling leaders and An Invented Life. Eventually, he was also described as “the poet-philosopher-scholar of organizational life, a business theorist and a management guru.

In this paper we attempt to give a brief and concise summary of one of his bestselling books ON BECOMING A LEADER.  This mentioned book is based on the assumption that leaders are people who are able to express themselves fully. They know who they are, what their strengths and weaknesses, and how to fully deploy their strength and compensate for their weaknesses. They also are aware of what they want, why they want it and how to communicate what they want to others in order to have their support and cooperation. Moreover, those leaders know how to achieve their aims believing that “the key to self-expression is to understand one’s self and the world, and the key to understanding is learning from one’s own life and experience.” ON BECOMING A LEADER is a story of transformation process; it has no beginning, middle or ends but many recurring themes- the need to unlearn so you can learn.

However, before we dive in the ten chapters B. Warren stated in his book let’s first discover what does leadership means. The very broad idea that one can have about leadership is that, it is he process of one person leading a group of people or a president who is leading a nation, but, leadership is a more detailed process than just leading people. Leadership is about having a vision to be share with certain followers who believe in that chosen leader. In more details, leadership is all about inspiring others to be their best versions of their selves, capturing others with energy, words, voice and rallying them around that certain vision or ideology, it is also about taking responsibility for our actions, owning our successes and failures alike, and reminding other people (followers) to do the same. Leadership is about seeing things from other peoples’ perspectives and remembering that we’re all humans and we’re all in this together, regardless of our status, position or rank in life. Gary Yukl (2006) defines leadership as “the process of influencing others to understand and agree about what needs to be done and how  to do it, and the process of facilitating individual and collective efforts to accomplish shared objectives” (p.8). Northouse (2010) defines leadership as “a process whereby an individual influences a group of individuals to achieve a common goal” (p. 3). Eventually, we can say that leadership is a process of a mutual influence between the leader and his followers.

Now that we have been introduced what leadership stands for, it is high time to get to start the book summary beginning with the first chapter which is entitled “Mastering the Context”. At first leaders are nowadays more important than any time before for three main reasons that are: firstly, the success or failure of all companies and organizations lies within the perceived quality of the people in charge of things (decision makers). Secondly, the change and revolt of past decades have left us with no place to hide. We need visionary leader who can compensate clearly charted courses for dead reckoning. The third and final reason it that we as a nation are alarmed at the pervasive corrosion of the impartiality of our institutions. Mastering the context is about understanding our place in the world. we have to understand the state of the world around us in order to enact change within the world and within ourselves. Moreover, we have to know what kind of leaders the world is lacking to know what kind of leaders we must be. And we need be willing to take risks instead of going along with a broken system. In other words the first step to become a leader is to know the context for what it is.

In the second chapter “Understanding the Basics” Bennis listed common basics that all true leaders would share that would be summarized in five main points: Guiding Vision, Passion, Integrity, Trust, Curiosity and Daring. “Guiding Vision” would mean that effective leaders maintain a crystal clear vision which they share with their followers, they also are aware of what they want to do and have the consistency to keep their goal in front of them and pursue it no matter is the cost (setbacks). “Passion” is one of the most important component of being a great leader, because leaders love what they do through which they inspire their followers. “Integrity” would be illustrated in three main features that are: self-knowledge (leaders got to be aware of their strengths and weaknesses), being honest in their actions and thoughts, and finally, maturity would be a part and partial of a leader’s professional or personal life, because they earn their status through dedication, observation, and working with and through others successfully and honestly. The following key concept is “Trust”, which is one of the difficult features a leader can possesses. It is more a product of leadership than a constituent of it. Trust is the one quality that cannot be acquired but earned. The last key point is “Curiosity and Daring”, which can be easily explained in that all leaders are willing to take risks to get more knowledge from their mistakes, failure, and experiences.

Furthermore, Bennis explained more in this chapter and made the act of writing as the most important thing to be done by leaders in order to “codify their thinking”. And writing is the most profound way to do this, because when we write, we express our thoughts more clearly and effectively. Writing is the best way to plumb the depths of our feelings and learn who we are and what we believe in. without forgetting to mention that we have to enjoy the journey and the path we are walking, because the goals that the one pursues are not worth achieving unless he or she enjoy the journey which lead to them, as Norman Lear would say that “You have to look at success incrementally. It takes too long to get to any major success. If one can look at life as being successful on a moment-by-moment basis, one might find that most of it is successful. And take the bow inside for it. When we wait for the big bows, it’s a lousy bargain. They don’t come but once in too long a time.”

Furthermore, the followed chapter is entitled “Knowing yourself”, in which Bennis focused on the notion of the self and how to be aware of it. It will take much efforts and time to get to know yourself, however, we must separate who we are and who we want to be from what the world thinks we are and wants us to be. In other words, regardless of when the self realization arrives or be achieved we need to consider that maintaining and achieving it is a lifetime process rather than a quick task to be done. Some people strike out on a quest for self-knowledge because they don’t like who they are or what they’re doing. They resolve to become masters of their own fate. Eventually, we will find self-realization brings tangible and intangible rewards, because if we continue to do what we have always done, we will continue to get what we have always got, which may be less than what we want or deserve.

Bennis stated, in this chapter, four main lessons that we need to take into consideration if we really want to achieve that self-knowledge level. First, we must listen to our inner self (that deep sound in our heads), however, the alternative to ignoring our inner self is to settle for less than we are capable of. Major stumbling blocks on this path to self-knowledge are denial and blame. Second, a good leader is the one who takes all the responsibility of his actions and thoughts and put the blame on no one. In other words, being responsible of our own failures and success is taking change of our lives. The work place may change and companies and bosses may come and go, while those inherent abilities, learning experiences, viewpoints, and personal qualities are portable assets that will always be at our command, they are our unique inventory of constants in an ever-changing world. Third, we need to learn to a deeper depth and not to just absorb information or mastering a discipline. It is both seeing the world as it is and also as it could be (the version that we can change the word to it), and understand what we see and acting on that basis. Here a set of critical tanking skills can be interfering to make us have the best overview of the things that we observe. The fourth and the last one, is that the true understanding come from the reflecting on our own experiences through having a conversation with ourselves, to question ourselves and know the truth about us. Eventually, by taking mental inventory of our life’s experiences, we take stock of ourselves, realizing that we are as much a product of our experiences as our skills. Unlike everyone else, however, leaders use their experiences as stepping stones to self-knowledge.

Bennis jumped to talk about the importance of know the world and how it works through our own decisions, in other words, almost all of the learning that people do comes across outside the classroom comes from losing oneself in an experience, reading books because he or she wants to read them, trying new things because he or she wants to try them, and reflecting on all of this activities, adding it to his or her tool belt. People who choose not to do this are actively choosing not to be leaders because deciding for ourselves to explore the world and try new things, fail and succeed at them is the key point in understanding our world, and so, becoming a self-educated leader. Moreover, universities are not always the best place to expand our worldly knowledge. Too many schools produce throngs of narrow-minded specialists who, although wizards at making money, are unfinished

as people. They have been taught how to do; they have not learned how to be. Courses in philosophy, history, and literature are infinitely more developmental and inspiring than courses in accounting, marketing research, or computer programming.

Te pursuit of the world knowledge can provide as with the ability to know and see how things can be different from all aspects, however, If we would keep ambition from stunting our intellectual growth, however, we must not be afraid

to lose, to say something that people will not accept and even might think is wrong or crazy, or to say something the institution isn’t ready to hear yet. Furthermore, mistakes are the most synonymous and equal to growth and progress. Leaders realize that people who rarely make mistakes are frequently reluctant to take risks and strike out on their own. They prefer to play it safe, but by doing so they turn in a mediocre performance. Eventually, as Shirley Hufstedler has said that “If you haven’t failed, you haven’t tried very hard.”

Furthermore, the followed chapter “Operating on Instinct” mainly deals with the human instinct and how to direct it. “Life has never been simple and is growing more complex all the time, yet we persist in attempting to reduce it to bumper-sticker dimensions. The advocates of simplicity see reality as mechanical, static, segmented, and rational, when it is, in fact, organic, dynamic, whole, and ambiguous. They see relationships as linear, sequential and serial, discrete, singular and independent, when they are, in fact, parallel and simultaneous, connected, murky, multiple and interdependent. They are determinists, believers in cause-and-effect, when, in fact, probability is the rule and the inevitable hardly ever happens. They wear square hats, when they should try sombreros.

Every decision we make in life is based on incomplete information. At some point, we have to decide that it’s good enough and go ahead with whatever decision we have at hand. Our ability to still make good decisions even with incomplete information relies on instinct – a sense of what the right decision is that comes from inside. And here we are talking about the aforementioned inner voice, that voice which comes from within telling us what is the right thing to do for the moment. Norman Lear said that “Emerson talks about listening to that inner voice and going with it, all voices to the contrary. I don’t know when I started to understand that there was something divine about that inner voice—I certainly didn’t in high school, college, or even in young manhood—but somewhere along the line, I appreciated that, too.” In other words, Lear here is giving the witness that the inner voice is not, necessarily, consciously heard, but all the time that would be included in the actions we take. He added that “When I’ve been most

effective, I’ve followed that inner voice.”

          Often, that inner, instinct, voice inside of us is built out of a lot of learning and experiences about the world, a lot of experience of both success and failure. Learning trains our instincts so that we can make better decisions. Eventually, a leader is a person others rely on to make the difficult decisions and set the direction for everyone. A well-honed instinct is a key to being that kind of leader, and a good leader relies on and trusts that voice.

          Fully expressing yourself is a basic theme of leadership developed throughout the book. The following chapter, “Deploying Yourself: Strike Hard, Try Everything”, is effectively a self-assessment test for achieving full self expression in your environment. Moreover, after you’ve mastered the context of leadership, gotten to know yourself and the world, and become comfortable heeding your instincts when appropriate, you must express yourself as a leader

by letting your true self emerge and take charge. Additionally, the difference between leaders and others is whether or not they pick themselves up and try again if they fail at something they tried. In other words, leaders do not back down from a challenge they are facing, they don’t allow fear to control their actions and worldview.

          As we have mentioned before, reflection was one of the four lessons that led to self-knowledge. However, it is also the means by which we can learn from previous experiences and so we can resolve them and broaden our self-confidence as leaders. Moreover, leaders who are trying to express themselves fully and truly must maintain a perspective, a point of view that’s authentic and unique to them, for which they are being respected and valued as examples of confidence and authenticity. In order to make a full expression of the self, Bennis suggested many steps that can be summarized in four points: 1). Identify what you want and what you are capable of doing, and recognize the difference. 2). Identify the things that drive you and experiences that give you satisfaction, and know the difference between the two. 3). Clarify your personal values and priorities and those of your organization, and measure the difference between the two. 4). Having taken the first three steps, ask yourself if you are able and willing to tackle the obstacles that stand in your way. In the end, it all begins with reflecting on our own successes and failures and start building from there.

          The chapter number seven, “Moving through Chaos”, discusses learning from experience, especially adverse experience, and the transformation of experience into wisdom. “Leaders learn by leading, and they learn best by leading in the face of obstacles. As weather shapes mountains, so problems make leaders.” In other words, it’s commonly thought that leaders don’t have the same crises and disasters that we do. We think they don’t have to deal with office politics, layoffs, demotions, fighting for promotions, and so on. We think they view the world as a set of chess pieces to play with as they wish, that “strategic vision” means playing games with people. While in fact, most leaders had to overcome a great deal of career adversity to get where they’re at today. The only difference is that, at every opportunity, they took the opportunity to try to grow as a person and improve their instincts instead of complaining and commiserating about their hard luck.

          Bennis in this chapter made it clear that leaders have to expect adversity and crisis, because of their high profiles which make them attractive targets. And According to a study by behavioral scientists Michael Lombardo and Morgan McCall at the Center for Creative Leadership, adversity is as random and prevalent in leaders’ lives as good luck. So, obstacles are an important part of the leadership life, and you must stand by yourself to deal with them and reflect on their learning value. Leaders possess the ability to get back again from disasters and learn from them to become stronger and wiser.

          The crucial part that followers play in the life of the leader and in his success and failure is examined in this chapter (chapter 8), and also given some steps to maintain effectiveness and success in the workplace as a leader. In this chapter it is discussed that charisma is not an important trait that a leader needs but a secondary. Some leaders would place a high value on empathy which allows the leaders to gain more support and trust from their followers. Additionally, Lucky Stores’ Don Ritchey observes that “A real essential for effective leadership is that you can’t force people to do very much. They have to want to, and most times I think they want to if they respect the individual who is out in front, and if they have confidence that the person has some sort of vision for the company.”

          Alongside with the above, generating trust would be the key point to make an effective leadership and achieve the wanted success, and this trust can only be achieved through four important qualities that are:  1). Constancy. Stay on course and remain dedicated to your vision. 2). Congruity. Display and confirm your values, theories, and beliefs in everything you say and do. 3). Reliability. Support your co-workers in moments that matter. Be there for them and with them when it counts. 4). Integrity. Honor your commitments and promises. Let your word be your bond. Eventually, the ability to gain support and trust from your followers goes in parallel with how much you know yourself and listen and understand your subordinates’ needs and expressions and also on the implementing of the main four qualities that we just stated.

          The next chapter widely discusses the forces of change and what are the characteristics that organizations must have to in order to survive and thrive in the face of that constant change and Organizations can both impede and encourage the process of change. There are times when it is really difficult to lead a certain group (followers). If they are careless about the vision a leader is sharing with them or have a different direction in mind than the one the leader is providing. Here the leader should attempt to learn from the situation and reflect on it as a former experience later on.

            Employees are the primary resource of any enterprise, but too often management sees them as liabilities instead of assets. This believe would obviously limit and not allow the companies to use all its resources to remake itself. Like individuals, organizations must learn from experience to deploy themselves and all of their assets. Organizations must lead, not merely manage, if they are to fulfill their potential. However, organizations that succeed over time will have the following characteristics in common: 1) A flatter, less hierarchical structure 2) More autonomous units 3) An orientation toward high-value-added products and services 4) Quality controls 5) Service controls 6) Responsiveness 7) Innovative speed 8) Flexibility 9) Highly trained and skilled workers who use their minds as well as their hands 10) Leaders, rather than managers, at all levels. Moreover, leaders must ensure that the companies or organizations they lead offer their employees (followers) the chance to experience things and learn from those experiences to become a potential leader. I mean the company has to develop the sense of leadership within the framework to make future leaders from its employees and give them the chance to rise because managers become leaders through experiences.

          The last chapter “Forging the Future” stands for one idea that is ‘leaders control tomorrow and not be controlled by it’. Becoming an effective leader is a lifelong mission of investigation and discovery. To become an authentic leader the one must master the context of the leadership environment, learn and implement the basic components of leadership, become really aware of his or her true self, reflect on and resolve significant life experiences, and chart the boundaries of the world in which the one lives. Bennis closes on the optimistic note that each of us has the means to shape our future rather than be shaped by it. Armed with al what has been said before, authentic leaders maintain the courage to change themselves and their circumstances and even the companies and organizations’ future.

          Bennis has probably done as much as anyone to shatter the myth of leaders as heroes, born not made. We live in a democracy of leadership now, in which everyone can lead in some way. As more people understand what leadership means and are taught to achieve their potential, it might be expected that competition will increase to ridiculous levels. But whereas competition is the result of everyone striving to win at the same thing, personal visions are unique. To become a leader is to claim the power and assurance that comes from being a one-off.