Organizing Genius: The Secrets of Creative Collaboration 
asked by advisor on November 26, 2006 2:19 AM
For years, Warren Bennis has written about leadership in works such as Learning to Lead, Beyond Leadership, and the bestselling On Becoming a Leader. His aim in these well-received titles was to catalog the traits and styles of leadership that help individuals excel in their work. In his new book (and already another bestseller) Organizing Genius, Bennis declares the age of the empowered individual ended: what matters now is "collaborative advantage" and the assembling of powerful teams. Drawing from six case studies that include Xerox's PARC labs, the 1992 Clinton campaign, and Disney animation studios, Bennis and coauthor Patricia Biederman distill the characteristics of successful collaboration, showing how talent can be pooled and managed for greater results than any individual is capable of producing. Organized in easily digested chapters and written in clear, concise prose, Organizing Genius will be useful to folks finding their way in new organizational structures. The lessons Bennis and Biederman offer in the final chapter of the book don't constitute the obvious advice most business books convey; these are real experiences gleaned from the stories of collaboration they surveyed.
Reviews
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I selected this book as a core text for the leadership development program on collaboration for my company. Bennis is simply the gold standard. In the glut of "Here's one thing that will change your life, move your cheese or fill your bucket simplistic and even dangerous books that cram the shelves and compete for our attention" this book stands out because it lucidly and clearly tells compelling stories. I don't know who Patricia Biederman is; but I'm guessing she is responsible for the clarity of the prose here. And that's reason enough to put her name on the front cover.
The responsibility I am charged with when I go to work everyday is to build leadership development that can impact business results.
This book can hel me do that because it teaches not by instruction---but by story.
The responsibility I am charged with when I go to work everyday is to build leadership development that can impact business results.
This book can hel me do that because it teaches not by instruction---but by story.
reviewed by avi on November 28, 2006 11:56 AM
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This is an informative book on leadership qualities and insights by Warren Bennis, who is a distinguished professor of business administration at USC, and who has also advised at least four presidents. Bennis discusses four organizations that were able to combine incredibly gifted people in such a synergy as to create hitherto unknown super-accomplishments: Walt Disney Studios with the first full-length animated film, Xerox and Apple with the first user friendly computer, Lockheed's Skunkworks with the first US jet fighter, and the Manhattan Project which yeilded the atomic bomb. What were the key ingredients to their success? What did they do wrong, but succeeded in spite of such matters? These questions are entertainingly answered in this book.
Among the fifteeen traits listed are: always having an enemy, seeing themselves as the underdogs, isolating themselves from unnecessary outside interferences, and hiring people that have both great ability and a talent for collaboration.
Interesting and Useful - Five Stars
Among the fifteeen traits listed are: always having an enemy, seeing themselves as the underdogs, isolating themselves from unnecessary outside interferences, and hiring people that have both great ability and a talent for collaboration.
Interesting and Useful - Five Stars
reviewed by spiderman on November 29, 2006 2:02 AM