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Warren Bennis (1925-2014)

Warren Bennis (1925-2014)

Leadership Scholar; Founding Director of Leadership Institute, USC

La Verne

Warren G. Bennis, friend and colleague of Dr. Terrence E. Deal, was a highly-awarded and accomplished author, professor, and leadership expert sought out by generations of business leaders including Presidents John F. Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson, Gerald R. Ford, and Ronald Reagan.

Bennis’ research on leadership, change, and creative collaboration are widely studied around the world. He helped establish leadership as an academic field while teaching at MIT, Harvard University, and Boston University, and chairing the Organizational Studies department at MIT. He is known for advancing the idea that successful leaders demonstrate integrity, compassion, and a capacity for both collaboration and inspiration. Bennis’ work is based on the notion that truly inspiring and powerful leadership lies in promoting openness and discussion, and allowing room for others to shine.

He served as Provost and Executive Vice President at the State University of New York (SUNY) at Buffalo and President of the University of Cincinnati before arriving at USC where he was ultimately honored with the titles of Distinguished Professor and University Professor at USC.  Bennis was founding chairman of the USC Leadership Institute at the now Marshall School of Business at USC. The institute was the first of its kind at an American university and became a model for more than 15 other centers around the country, including one at Harvard.

Bennis earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology and business at Antioch College, an honors certificate from the London School of Economics, and a doctorate in economics and social sciences from the Massachusetts Institute for Technology (MIT).