The Art and Adventure of Leadership: Understanding Failure, Resilience and Success

Praise for THE ART AND ADVENTURE OF LEADERSHIP

"Warren Bennis and Steven Sample delve deep into the heart of leadership and deliver in these pages what they have each demonstrated throughout their respective lives: honesty, wisdom, and insightful ideas worthy of emulation at the highest levels."
Howard Schultz, chairman, president, and CEO, Starbucks Coffee Company

"Warren Bennis and Steven Sample offer sage and timeless advice for those who seek to understand the true nature of leadership."
Marc Benioff, chairman and CEO, Salesforce

"The much–mourned Warren Bennis and his favorite university president Steven Sample are a wise duo whose powerful insights are worth heeding."
Rosabeth Moss Kanter, professor, Harvard Business School; and author of Confidence

"I had the honor of speaking to the class on which this book is based: The Art and Adventure of Leadership. Now readers everywhere can experience Warren′s extraordinary vision of leadership and Steven′s remarkable insights into the everyday practice of leadership."
Marshall Goldsmith, author of the global bestseller What Got You Here Won′t Get You There

"When Warren Bennis and Steven Sample came together to discuss the art of leadership, their contrasting, yet complementary, styles challenged observers to think more deeply about the obligations and opportunities facing leaders. In The Art and Adventure of Leadership, named after the famous class Warren and Steven co–taught at USC for so many years, they and my longtime colleague Rob Asghar have made this illuminating conversation available to new generations of students and practitioners of leadership."
C. L. Max Nikias, president, University of Southern California

Foreword
Bill George

Preface
Steven B. Sample

Acknowledgments

Introduction: An Etymology of the F–Word

Chapter 1 Redefining Success and Failure

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

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

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

Chapter 5 A Timeless Reading List that Leads to Timely Success

Chapter 6 When Failure Is Baked into the System

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

Conclusion

Redeeming Failure

Note From the Writer

About the Authors

Index

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. A noted inventor whose developments are used today in hundreds of millions of homes, Sample is a member of the National Academy of Engineering.
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 dozens of other publications around the world.
For more information, visit www.RobAsghar.com or follow him on Twitter via @rasghar