Rating: 
Summary: Brilliant Book
Review: Warren Bennis is truely a leader and a mentor of leaders. What Warren has to say about leadership should be taught to us first in grade school, and then over and over and over again for the rest of our lives. What Warren has to say is excitingly simple, yet mostly lacking in our current line-up of World Goverment and Corporate leaders.
Rating: 
Summary: Too Political
Review: Warren Bennis' "On Becoming A Leader" was one of the worst and most disappointing leadership books I ever read. I like to experiment with different authors and books about management and leadership. My readings include, but are not limited to, the works of William J. Bennett, Ken Blanchard, James Collins, Dr. Stephen R. Covey, H.W. Crocker, W. Edwards Deming, Viktor Frankl, Lou Holtz, Dr. Spencer Johnson, General John A. LeJeune (USMC), Vince Lombardi, Miyamoto Musashi, William Oncken, General George Patton (USA), Rick Pitino, Steven Pressfield, Wess Roberts, Field Marshal Erwin Rommel, Robert Schuller, Hyrum Smith, Major General Perry Smith (USAF), Sun Tzu, and John Wooden. This book does not make my listing of the top 50 leadership, management, or character refinement books I read.Besides never having read any of Bennis' books before, I was attracted to "On Becoming A Leader" by the front cover's announcement, "The Leadership Classic Recommended by Vice President Al Gore to All His Advisors." Unfortunately, I believe Mr. Gore's recommendation was largely based on Bennis' obvious political leanings that permeated the book. The political overtones were distracting and definitely detracted from Bennis' credibility in presenting his ideas. While I found certain sections of the book interesting, overall the book failed to inspire me to think introspectively about leadership like the works of the authors listed above.
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