Praise for Organizing Genius
The most riveting management book ever, Organizing Genius has the swashbuckling stories of seven Great Groups who changed the world and how they were led.... These are genuinely classic cases of what Brian Eno calls sceniusgroup genius. Besides retelling the stories well, Warren Bennis has the insight (hes the author of excellent books on leadership) to tease out the elements that Great Groups have in common.
Global Business Network book club newsletter
Warren Benniss latest book, and one of his best, teases out organizing secrets to show through case studies that great groups are project-driven.... The authors deliver abundant clues on why some people just work together, and others collaborate for extraordinary achievement.
Cincinnati Enquirer
Mention the name Warren Bennis and the word leadership springs to mind. This latest book by Bennis and coauthor Patricia Ward Biederman... has to rank among his most interesting, entertaining and, ultimately, practical contributions. The stories are insightful, the lessons are well-formulated. For every manager who is confronted with the question, How can I get my people to do a better job? this book provides useful ideas.
Organizational Dynamics
Working from the assumption that none of us is as smart as all of us,... Organizing Genius attempts to uncover the elements of creative collaboration by examining six of this centurys most extraordinary groups.... The stories of how these groups broke new ground make for engrossing reading.
The President
Any new book by Warren Bennis is an event to get excited about.... In Organizing Genius Bennis and Biederman examine six Great Groups in such diverse areas as politics, animation, and the arts.... These are the lessons that virtually any organization can learn and commit to in order to transform its own management team into a collaborative and successful group of leaders.
Government Training News
This well-written book contains an amazing summary (within a relatively small space of 229 pages) of the workings of highly gifted groups. The story of these groups can help educators of the gifted to organize authentic and dynamic cooperative learning environments in their schools and classrooms.
Gifted Education News-Page
Organizing Genius is long overduea jargon-free, pleasure-to-read study of a special kind of teamwork, the kind that sets out to do the impossible and does.
Alvin and Heidi Toffler, authors of The Third Wave
Creative collaboration is the elan vitale of all organizations striving for excellence, and the Take-Home Lessons provided by Professor Bennis and Ms. Biederman will equally benefit the League of Women Voters and Southwest Airlines.
Herb Kelleher, Chairman, President, and CEO,
Southwest Airlines
Organizing Genius is another inspiring, timely contribution from the thought leader of leadership studies, Warren Bennis. It illuminates with wisdom and stories one of the most essential issues for 21st-century managers: how to create collaborative advantage by turning individual talent into teamwork.
Rosabeth Moss Kanter, author of World Class
This is an extremely important book. For the first time someone explains why extraordinary groups and extraordinary individuals do fit togetherand must fit togetherto achieve truly exceptional performance.
Tom Peters, author of The Pursuit of WOW!
Once again, Warren Bennis has brought great insight to the work of managers. At a time when companies are going through wrenching changes, Bennis and Pat Biederman describe what it really takes to make critical collaboration work.
James A. Champy, Chair of Consulting, Perot Systems;
coauthor of Reengineering the Corporation
Easy to endorse, creative collaboration is daunting to realize. Drawing on six fascinating case studies, Warren Bennis and Patricia Ward Biederman tease out the crucial ingredients of groups that have been notably creative.
Howard Gardner, Professor, Harvard School of Education;
author of Frames of Mind
Through these compelling stories of Great Groups, we learn both the jewels of wisdom that crown the heads of great leaders, and the Achilles heels that turn some leaders into once-great.
Robert W Galvin, Chairman of the Executive Committee, Motorola Inc.
ORGANIZING GENIUS
The Secrets of Creative Collaboration
None of us is as smart as all of us.
Warren Bennis
Patricia Ward Biederman
Many of the designations used by manufacturers and sellers to distinguish their products are claimed as trademarks. Where those designations appear in this book and Perseus Books was aware of a trademark claim, the designations have been printed in initial capital letters (e.g., Macintosh).
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Bennis, Warren G.
Organizing genius : the secret of creative collaboration / Warren
Bennis, Patricia Ward Biederman.
p. cm.
None of us is as smart as all of us.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-201-57051-3
ISBN 0-201-33989-7 (pbk.)
eBook ISBN: 9780465004232
1. Organizational effectivenessCase studies. 2. Strategic alliances (Business)Case studies. 3. Creative thinkingCase studies. 4. Creative ability in businessCase studies. I. Biederman, Patricia Ward. II. Title.
HD58.9.B45 1997
158.7dc20
96-41454
CIP
Copyright 1997 by Warren Bennis and Patricia Ward Biederman Foreword copyright 1997 by Charles Handy
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher. Printed in the United States of America.
Cover design by Suzanne Heiser
Text design by Wilson Graphics
Set in 13-point Bembo by Shepard Poorman
Previously published by Perseus Publishing
Published by Basic Books, A Member of the Perseus Books Group
To my darling Grace,
who has watched over every word of this book
as lovingly as she has watched over me
Warren Bennis
To Rosalie Marie Ward
and Eric Paul Biederman,
who made all things possible
Patricia Ward Biederman
F OREWORD
T here are groups, and there are Great Groups. To turn the first into the second must be every leaders dream. This book provides the clues, provokes some questions, and leaves some mystery remaining.
Great Groups hope to make a dent in the universe, as Steve Jobs told the team that created the Macintosh computer. They flare like a rocket for a while, then vanish, leaving behind their creation, be it the first atom bomb, a new kind of college, an amazing computer, or a family of cartoon characters to delight the world. Can they ever repeat the trick, one wonders, or are they like butterflies given one brief but beautiful life? And is there life after the group for its members, or must they settle for a form of immortality, one given them by their creation?
Warren Benniss great gift is the ability to find meaning and messages where the rest of us see only happenings, or yesterdays news. In this book, he and Patricia Ward Biederman make the past come alive again before our eyes, creating the I wish I were there feeling, but go on to draw lessons for life and work that apply to all of us, particularly to those who want to make anything of significance happen in their bit of the world.