An Invented Life : Reflections on Leadership and Change

In his collection of essays, a business expert examines, among other things, what his role as a university president taught him about leadership, the ethical dilemmas inherent in modern organizations, Watergate, and the emergence of Japan. 30,000 first printing. $50,000 ad/promo. Tour.

If the text at hand were an art show, it would be described as a retrospective. Here, Bennis (On Becoming a Leader, 1989, etc.) has assembled an immensely appealing collection of three decades' worth of essays (a few originals but most reprints from magazines like Harvard Business Review, etc.) that hit the high points of a productive career informed largely by a principled absorption with organizational leadership. Among the insights that the author (Business Administration/USC) has gained during his many years as an academic administrator and business consultant is that managers do things right while leaders do the right thing. In the autobiographical title piece, which opens the book, Bennis weighs how WW II, a liberal education (on the GI Bill) at Antioch, postgraduate study at MIT, a seven-year stint as president of the University of Cincinnati, and other formative experiences shaped his thinking on personal as well as professional matters. With pardonable pride, he includes prescient commentaries (which first appeared in the mid- 60's) on the transnational triumph of democracy and the eclipse of institutional bureaucracy, closing with a contemporary appraisal of ``Our Federalist Future.'' The author also offers short-take value judgments on the stewardship of company directors; change as the Global Village's most exacting constant; the challenge of dealing with the modern world's information overload; ethical standards in the public as well as private sector; the challenge of knowing when to resign; and what an ex-President referred to as ``the vision thing.'' There's also an instructive critique of the search committee that led Bennis to believe he was a short-list candidate to head Northwestern University, plus a cautionary explanation of why assertiveness training may not pay off for women bent on cracking corporate America's glass ceiling. A sort of intellectual memoir that delivers an engaging sampler of an important business scholar's past and present work. -- Copyright ©1993, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Bennis ( Leaders ), a former president of the Univeristy of Cincinnati and currently a business professor at the University of Southern California, analyzes leadership and change in these superb essays. He maintains that America has a shortage of leaders ("people who do the right thing") and an abundance of managers ("people who do things right"), which results in "underled and overmanaged" American business and educational organizations. Bennis blames America's management schools. "We teach people how to be good technicians . . . but we just don't train people for leadership." In studying 90 leaders, Bennis discovered that their only common characteristic was "a guiding purpose, an overarching vision." His thoughts on corporate boards, ethics and information overload are perceptive, as is his essay on "Searching for the Perfect University President." This book should appeal to the business, educational administration and trade markets.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Bennis, a well-known name in management literature, has written many books, including On Becoming a Leader ( LJ 8/89). This work is a collection of articles written over a 30-year time frame--none of which is outdated. Many focus on the nature of leadership and incorporate Bennis's own reflections on serving as a university president. Included are essays on democracy and trust in the workplace, followership, the role of corporate boards, and ethical issues in organizations. Highly recommended for all business collections.
- Jane M. Kathman, Coll. of St. Benedict Lib., St. Joseph, Minn.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.