The Art and Adventure of Leadership

For the first time, a top leadership scholar and a top leadership practitioner explore the true duties, demands, and privileges of leadership.

Intellectual sparks flew when Warren Bennis, the “father” of modern leadership studies and Steven B. Sample, one of the most accomplished university presidents in recent history, came together for candid explorations of the forces that shape successful leaders and unsuccessful ones.

The Art and Adventure of Leadership, their final collab­oration, reveals the profound insights that the authors gained together over the 16 years in which they co-taught one of the most popular leadership courses in America.

Here, each brings his own distinct vantage point as they address the mechanics and mysteries of leadership. The result is a unique examination of the journey of great leaders from momentary setbacks to ultimate success. It offers profound lessons on what determines the difference between failure and redemption for leaders. And it illu­minates important and overlooked dimensions of great leaders ranging from Winston Churchill to Steve Jobs.

Together, they explore why:

• A mature leader must grasp when it’s healthy to risk failure, and when failure can’t be tolerated at any cost
• Leadership isn’t for everyone and requires a particular set of skills and competencies that are often glossed over in most management literature
• To succeed in an uncertain and fast-changing world, a shrewd leader must understand which aspects of human society change—and which aspects never change
• A mature, wise leader must seek a balance between high-minded ideals and the gritty realities and compromises that leaders face in their daily lives
• Above all, meaningful leadership remains a matter of character

With incredible insight, this book examines why George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, and other giants were able to recover from failures, learn resilience, and prepare themselves for their moments of destiny. In so doing, it demonstrates and helps cultivate the leadership skills that you need to create your own most meaningful legacy.

WARREN BENNIS, University Professor and Distinguished Professor of Business Administration at the University of Southern California, was widely considered the pioneer of modern leadership studies. He was the author or coauthor of 30 books on leadership, including classics such as On Becoming a Leader, Transparency, and Still Surprised. Over a career that spanned 50 years, he advised four United States presidents as well as many CEOs of Fortune 500 companies.
For more information, visit www.WarrenBennis.com

STEVEN B. SAMPLE, President Emeritus of the University of Southern California, is the author of The Contrarian's Guide to Leadership. After being recruited to USC by Bennis in 1991, he led the university through two decades of explosive growth.
For more information, visit: about.usc.edu/presidentemeritus/

ROB ASGHAR, University Fellow at USC's Center on Public Diplomacy and Special Adviser to the USC President, spent more than 15 years as an aide to Sample and Bennis. His essays and commentaries have been published by the Wall Street Journal, Chicago Tribune, Christian Science Monitor, and other publications around the world.
For more information, visit www.RobAsghar.com or follow him on Twitter via @rasghar

Foreword xiii
Bill George

Preface xvii
Steven B. Sample

Acknowledgments xxiii

Introduction 1

1 Redefining Success and Failure 11

2 Why Success Requires the Right Kind of Appetite for the Fight 31

3 Accepting and Exercising Moral Responsibility: The Ability to Accept—and Manage—Responsibility for Difficult Ethical Choices 45

4 Avoiding Groupthink, Mass Media, and the Failures of the Herd 61

5 A Timeless Reading List That Leads to Timely Success 77

6 When Failure is Baked into the System 95

7 Bankruptcy and Failure as the Great American Pastime: A Land of Second Chances 109

Conclusion: Redeeming Failure 119

Note from the Writer 127

Notes 135

About the Authors 139

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