Government is like an onion. To understand it, you have to peel through many different layers. Most outsiders never get beyond the first or second layer.
Warren G. BennisRead
If I had to reduce the responsibilities of a good follower to a single rule, it would be to speak truth to power.
Interpretation
What this quote means
A good follower should always have the courage to tell the truth, especially to those in power.
Warren G. Bennis emphasizes the importance of speaking up and being honest in the face of authority. This idea reflects the critical role that integrity and courage play in leadership and followership, suggesting that even those who are not in charge must contribute to accountability by challenging the status quo when necessary.
Themes
TruthPowerLeadershipIntegrityCourage
In practice
Example use cases
During a company meeting when discussing a controversial policy, you can use this quote to encourage team members to express their honest opinions.
More from Warren G. Bennis
All quotes βLeaders must encourage their organizations to dance to forms of music yet to be heard.
Warren G. BennisRead
To be authentic is literally to be your own author... to discover your own native energies and desires, and then to find your own way of acting on them.
Warren G. BennisRead
The manager has a short-range view; the leader has a long-range perspective.
Warren G. BennisRead
Trust is the lubrication that makes it possible for organizations to work.
Warren G. BennisRead
People who cannot invent and reinvent themselves must be content with borrowed postures, secondhand ideas, fitting in instead of standing out.
Warren G. BennisRead
Similar quotes
If we have to use force, it is because we are America. We are the indispensable nation. We stand tall. We see further into the future.
Madeleine AlbrightRead
It is time for a new generation of leadership.
John F. KennedyRead
Asking for people's help - rather than directing it - is almost always the smart way of doing things, regardless of the stakes.
Brian GrazerRead
This is what we call smart power. Using every possible tool and partner to advance peace and security. Leaving no one on the sidelines. Showing respect even for one's enemies. Trying to understand, in so far as psychologically possible, empathize with their perspective and point of view. Helping to define the problems, determine the solutions.
Hillary ClintonRead
Earn the right to be heard by listening to others. Seek to understand a situation before making judgments about it.
John C. MaxwellRead
An army is a collection of armed men obliged to obey one man. Every enactment, every change of rule which impairs this principle weakens the army, impairs its value, and defeats the very object of its existence.
William Tecumseh ShermanRead