USC Professor Warren Bennis to Speak June 14th

Posted by John Hugunin 
 
 
On Monday at 7:30am in Salon A (large upstairs Ballroom) Warren Bennis will make a  rare and exclusive appearance (Warren is retired from speaking) and will speak to our Rotary Club.   Warren  Bennis is University Professor and Distinguished Professor of Business Administration and Founding Chairman of The Leadership Institute at the University of Southern California. He also serves as the Chairman of the Advisory Board of the Center for Public Leadership at Harvard University's Kennedy School.

 The larger ballroom seats more than the usual number in our normal room. This means you can invite your family members and close Trojan friends/alumns to meet and see Warren speak (there are a few houses divided in our Club, so share Warren generously even if you're a Bruin).  

Guests will need to purchase breakfast and please RSVP with your number of guests.  

If you would like your own personalize/autographed copy of Warren's favorite, most recent book THE ESSENTIAL BENNIS (one of 30 written/edited and translated into 21 languages) copies will be available to purchase that morning for $30.00. Warren will remain after the meeting and personalize/ autograph his book for Rotarians, their family, fellow USC friends/alums, and distinguished guests.  CASH OR CHECKS ACCEPTED ONLY PLEASE and a % of the proceeds of the book will go back to our Club.   
SEE BIO BELOW

Warren  Bennis is University Professor and Distinguished Professor of Business Administration and Founding Chairman of The Leadership Institute at the University of Southern California. He also serves as the Chairman of the Advisory Board of the Center for Public Leadership at Harvard University's Kennedy School. He has consulted for many < em>Fortune 500 companies and served as adviser to four U.S. presidents. In May 2000, the Financial Times referred to Bennis as the "professor who established leadership as a respectable academic field." Forbes Magazine cited Bennis as the "Dean of Leadership gurus." In 2007, Business Week named Bennis as one of the "10 most influential thought leaders writing on contemporary business issues." The Wall Street Journal named him as one of the top speakers on management in 1993 and in 2009, Bennis's signature book, On  Becoming a Leader, was republished in a special 20th Anniversary edition and was chosen as one of "the top 10 leadership books of all times."


He has written or edited 30 books, translated into 21 languages. and many articles on his 3 favorite passions: leadership, organization change and creative collaboration. TheFinancial Times recently named Leaders as one of the top 50 business books of all time.  In 1993, Addison-Wesley published a book of his essays An Invented Life: Reflections on Leadership and  Change, which was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize.  Bennis, working with Bob Thomas, published Geeks & Geezers (re-titled: Leading for a Life Time), a book that examines the differences and similarities between leaders 30 years and younger and leaders 70 years and older.  In 2005, HarperCollins published his series of conversations with the late Bob Townsend, Reinventing  Leadership. In 2007, he co-authored with Noel Tichy, Judgment: How Winning Leaders Make Great Calls. In 2008, he co-authored Transparency with Daniel Goleman and Jim O'Toole. His latest book, The Essential Bennis, was released in August 2009, and in August 2010, Surprised: A Memoir of a Life of Leadership will be published.  

 

Bennis has served on the faculty of MIT's Sloan School of Management and was Chairman of the Organizational Studies Department.  He is a former faculty member of Harvard and Boston University, former Provost and Executive Vice President of State University of New York at Buffalo and President of the University of Cincinnati.  His global experience includes teaching at the Indian Institute of Management-Calcutta, INSEAD, the London Business School and IMD.  He has received 18 honorary degrees and has served on numerous boards of advisors, including Claremont University, American Leadership Forum, the American Chamber of Commerce and the Salk Institute.


Bennis is proud of the 4 years he served in the U.S. Army, 1943-1947. At the age of 19 he was one of the youngest infantry commanders in Germany and was awarded the Purple Heart and Bronze Star. His dream remains: to write a terrific one act play.