Warren Bennis was an organizational consultant and author, widely regarded as a pioneer of the contemporary field of leadership studies. His seven lessons are still valid in modern leadership.

1. Leaders are made, not born.

In On Becoming a Leader, Bennis wrote that experiencing struggle and hardship molds leaders. The journey to becoming a leader comes as a result of going through a process of self-discovery: “Before people can learn to lead, they must learn something about this strange new world.” 

• Leadership is like beauty.

Even though he dispensed leadership lessons, Bennis never pretended he knew everything. Pinning down a pearl of wisdom on leadership, he admitted, could be elusive: “To an extent, leadership is like beauty: It’s hard to define, but you know it when you see it.”

• Leading means deeply affecting others

“A leader is not simply someone who experiences the personal exhilaration of being in charge. A leader is someone whose actions have the most profound consequences on other people’s lives, for better or for worse, sometimes forever and ever.”

• A leader is self-aware.

“The leader never lies to himself, especially about himself, knows his flaws as well as his assets, and deals with them directly.” 

• Curiosity and risk-taking make a leader.

“The leader wonders about everything, wants to learn as much as he can, is willing to take risks, experiment, try new things. He does not worry about failure but embraces errors, knowing he will learn from them.” 

• A leader sees the big picture.

“The manager has his eye on the bottom line; the leader has his eye on the horizon.”

• The leader does right.

“The manager does things right; the leader does the right thing.”

It shows that a leader’s role is multi-dimensional and challenging, it requires reflection, self-assessment, growth and ongoing learning.

For leadership coaching skills find out here: