Arts & Lectures
2001-2002 Season Lecture Series News Release
For Immediate Release

December 18, 2001
Contact: Teresa Rounds
(805) 893-5227
e-mail: trounds@education.ucsb.edu

Noted author and educator Warren Bennis
delivers lecture “Leading in an Age of Vulnerability” at UCSB

Summary Facts:

The Gevirtz Graduate School of Education (GGSE) and UCSB Arts & Lectures will present Warren Bennis, hailed as one of the foremost experts on leadership, executive management and changing corporate culture, on Tuesday, January 22 at 7:30 pm in UCSB Campbell Hall. Bennis will deliver the lecture “Leading in an Age of Vulnerability” as part of the Don L. Gevirtz Leadership Lecture Series.

Bennis is the author of over two dozen books, including his collection of essays An Invented Life: Reflections on Leadership and Change, which was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize. Other Bennis titles include Leaders and On Becoming A Leader, both of which have been translated into 21 languages. Distinguished University Professor of Business Administration at the University of Southern California Marshall School of Business, Bennis founded the USC Leadership Institute in 1991. The first of its kind at an American university, the Institute studies leadership at the organizational pinnacle, examining visionary and transformative leadership in a climate of globalization and rapid technological change.

Jules Zimmer, Dean of the GGSE, said, “Warren is a giant in the field of leadership. He was a personal friend of Don Gevirtz. Having him as our second speaker in the Don L. Gevirtz Leadership lecture series is both a tribute to Don and a great honor for the GGSE.”

Bennis’ forthcoming book, co-authored with Bob Thomas, is titled Geeks and Geezers: Partnering Across Generations. Based on a study of 45 leaders ranging in age from 21 to 93, Geeks and Geezers proposes a new model of leadership. The book introduces several novel concepts to describe the underlying patterns of experience that characterize great leaders, including the concept of a “crucible,” the confluence of transformative events and circumstances through which individuals learn resilience and adaptability. Geeks and Geezers is rich with stories from well-known leaders including such geeks as high-tech entrepreneur Sky Dayton, social philanthropist Wendy Kopp, and environmentalist Tara Church, and such geezers as architect Frank Gehry, coaching legend John Wooden, and Don L. Gevirtz himself.

Bennis earned a Bronze Star and Purple Heart serving as the youngest infantry officer fighting in Germany during WW II. After the war he received a B.A. from Antioch College and his Ph.D. in economics and social science from MIT. His 1964 article in the Harvard Business Review “Is Democracy Inevitable?” predicted the end of communism and signaled his arrival on the intellectual world stage. He has been a member of the faculty at MIT’s Sloan School of Management, Harvard University, Boston University and the Indian Institute of Management in Calcutta. He served as the provost and executive vice president of the State University of New York at Buffalo and president of the University of Cincinnati.

Bennis and his books have also had a tremendous impact on the fields of business and government. He has advised four U.S. presidents and his book On Becoming a Leader was required reading for Al Gore’s inner circle. An advisor to numerous Fortune 500 companies worldwide, Bennis has served on the White House Task Force on Science Policy and the boards of the American Chamber of Commerce and the Salk Institute, among others.

This evening, co-presented by the Gevirtz Graduate School of Education and UCSB Arts & Lectures, is part of the Don L. Gevirtz Leadership Lecture Series. Tickets for Warren Bennis are $6 for the general public and $5 for UCSB students.

For tickets or more information,
call UCSB Arts & Lectures at (805) 893-3535.

Editor: For photos, please call
George Yatchisin at (805) 893-3494.

©2001 UCSB Arts & Lectures, University of California, Santa Barbara