|
Warren Bennis and Patricia Biedeman Organizing Genius: The Secrets of Creative Collaboration Buy this title or join our Management Literature Club and have a chance to GET IT FREE! |
||||||||||||
|
Business Nugget by Robert Morris If you were to look up the word “leadership” in any reputable dictionary, it would probably suggest that you contact Warren Bennis. No one has written more enlightening commentary on the subject of leadership than has he. In Organizing Genius: The Secrets of Creative Collaboration, published by the Perseus Books Group, he and Patricia Ward Biedeman examine a number of what the authors call “Great Groups.” Perhaps the most important point is introduced in the first chapter: “None of us is as smart as all of us.” That is to say, the “Great Man” theory is invalidated by the achievements of truly creative teams such as those at the Disney studios which produced so many animation classics; at Xerox’s Palo Alto Research Center (PARC) which developed the first personal computer; at Apple Computer which then took it to market; in the so-called “War Room” which helped to elect Bill Clinton President in 1992; at the so-called “Skunk Works” where so many of Lockheed’s greatest designs were formulated; at Black Mountain College which “wasn’t simply a place where creative collaboration took place. It was about creative collaboration”; and at Los Alamos (NM) and the University of Chicago where the Manhattan Project eventually produced a new weapon called “the Gadget.” The authors selected precisely the correct title for this brilliant book because all Great Groups are comprised of those who possess immense talent that can only become fully developed within an organization. No single person (even Walt Disney) could have created Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs all by himself. Moreover, there must be strong group leadership to achieve and then sustain such an organization’s combined efforts, without which there can be no effective collaboration. All seven of the Great Groups had such leaders. They resemble the greatest of symphony conductors who keeps talented musicians on the same page, playing the same music, without in any way compromising or diminishing any one musician’s unique and abundant contributions. Heaven knows, it is never easy to lead such a group. Precious few prove equal to the task, emphasis on precious. They have a genius for leading other geniuses. Most of those who read Organizing Genius will never be a member of a Great Group, much less be called upon to lead one or even help to recruit one. The authors know that. Then why read the book? There are several compelling reasons. Here are three: 1. In the modern organization, almost nothing of enduring value is ever accomplished by a single person. Hence the importance of collaboration. If those who comprise a Great Group can work together effectively, then so can those in any other group. Why not expand and extend such success throughout an entire organization? Bennis and Biederman suggest how by explaining what Great Groups share in common. 2. No doubt the authors agree with Noel Tichy (whose Leadership Engine is the subject of another “Business Nugget”) who claims that leaders are those who develop other leaders who, in turn, develop other leaders, et cetera. Ideally, leadership will be active throughout an entire organization. (Revealingly, members of each of the Great Groups “take the lead” whenever their knowledge and talents are needed to help achieve a specific objective. What of value can be learned from those who led the Great Groups? What qualities and values did they share in common? Bennis and Biederman answer these questions. 3. Finally, we do well to remember General Sherman’s assertion that you can take a mule to California and back and you’ll still have a mule. Groucho Marx once suggested that alimony is like feeding hay to a dead horse. Make no mistake about it: Great Groups are comprised of exceptional people who require (and often resist) exceptional leadership. Mules have their uses as do dead horses. Fair enough. However, any organization committed to greatness must attract, develop, and lead great people. The extent to which a Great Group can be assembled and then be effective depends on the extent to which any organization is committed to perfection. Bennis and Biederman conclude Organizing Genius by providing 15 “Take-Home Lessons.” Each is directly relevant to any organization that aspires to accomplish what Steve Jobs once described as being “insanely great.” With all due respect to the command-and-control skills of great leaders in the past (including most of those enshrined in the “Business Hall of Fame”), such skills simply are not effective today. “None of us is as smart as all of us.” A group can become “great” only if and when it possesses both genius in each member and the leadership necessary to achieve creative collaboration by those members. Order Organizing Genius here. Find the full list of Robert Morris's Business Nuggets featured by Eastbook.com here.
Click to order from:
|
|||||||||||||
