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Warren Bennis was one of the great pioneers in the field of leadership. Small in physical stature, he was a giant in his intellect, his heart, and his spirit. Just as Peter Drucker was the father of management, Bennis was the father of leadership.

Bennis transformed our understanding of what it means to be a leader. He was the first scholar who said leadership is not a set of genetic characteristics, but the result of a lifelong process of self-discovery. Rejecting the notion that leaders are born with certain traits, he opened the door to the real source of leadership: within you. He wrote:

The most dangerous leadership myth is that leaders are born – that there is a genetic factor to leadership. This myth asserts that people simply either have certain charismatic qualities or not. That's nonsense; in fact, the opposite is true. Leaders are made rather than born.

He showed how leaders develop through their life experiences, are shaped by their crucibles, and emerge ever stronger to take on responsibilities of leadership. He said unequivocally, “Leadership is character,” adding,

It is not just a superficial question of style, but has to do with who we are as human beings, and with the forces that have shaped us. The process of becoming a leader is much the same as the process of becoming an integrated human being.

Bennis's early life was deeply influenced by his association at Antioch College and later at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology with Douglas McGregor, author of The Human Side of Enterprise. While in Cambridge, he connected with Abraham Maslow (creator of Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs), Peter Drucker, Paul Samuelson, and Erik Erikson, whose theories on the eight stages of human development influenced Bennis's own generativity in his later years. He went on to write 30 books. Many of today's influential leadership authors, such as Tom Peters, Nitin Nohria, David Gergen, Jim O'Toole, Bob Sutton, Jeff Sonnenfeld, and Doug Conant are indebted to Bennis for their ideas.

As president of the University of Cincinnati, he realized his personal truth, “I was never going to be able to be happy with positional power. What I really wanted was personal power: having influence based on my voice. My real gift is what I can do in the classroom and as a mentor.” Following a heart attack in 1979, he found his home at the University of Southern California.

Bennis's influence on business leaders was widespread and profound. Thousands of leaders who never knew him were inspired by his writings and adopted his approach to leadership. Many chief executive officers (CEOs) have told me personally what a profound influence he had on their leadership.

I first encountered his writing in 1989 when I read On Becoming a Leader. It was a revelation: Finally, I had found a philosophy of leadership I could resonate with. Throughout my years at Medtronic and Harvard Business School (HBS), I have built on his philoso-phies in my work and teaching.

We first met at the World Economic Forum in the late 1990s. He suffered from heart problems, and had recently had a Medtronic defibrillator implanted. In December of 2000 I invited him as a guest patient to an annual Medtronic event, where he graciously thanked the employees who designed and manufactured his defibrillator in front of 10,000 people.

He was fond of saying he had Medtronic “in his heart” and then describing how his defibrillator saved his life half a dozen times. I once witnessed this in person in Cambridge. While he was speaking, his defibrillator went off, and he slumped to the ground, dropping his papers. Ever the gracious soul, he picked up his papers, apologized for the disruption, and continued his talk. When it went off a second time 10 minutes later, the Cambridge Fire Department escorted him to safety.

In 2002, my wife, Penny, and I attended a seminar Bennis and David Gergen led at the Aspen Institute. At the time I was eager to write a book on my experiences at Medtronic but was struggling to find a publisher. My intent was to offer practical approaches to leading and develop leaders that enabled people to be their authentic selves, rather than emulating others. With Bennis's encouragement, Jossey-Bass published Authentic Leadership as part of the Warren Bennis Signature Series. Bennis served as executive editor and wrote in the foreword, “Timeless leadership is always about character, and it is always about authenticity.”

He became my mentor, friend, and intellectual colleague, and gave me the courage to become a writer. As executive editor for my four books in the Warren Bennis Signature Series, he generously shared his time and his insights. In the midst of writing True North, Peter Sims and I spent five days with him going over the conceptual ideas and stories used in the book. Unlike many great scholars who protect their ideas, Bennis genuinely wanted me to expand on his and make them fully accessible to the new generation of leaders, which he later called “the crucible generation.” We shared a common aim to influence the next generation to lead with clear purpose to serve others and make the world a better place.

Two months before he died, Bennis asked my wife and me to discuss leadership in the next-to-last class he ever taught. Although Bennis was beset with bodily ills, his mind and humanity were as sharp as ever. What other professors have you known who were still teaching at age 89? Over dinner that evening Penny asked what he would like on his tombstone. He replied, “Generous Friend.” A generous friend is just what Bennis was to thousands of friends, students, scholars, and mentees whom he influenced with kindness, buoyancy of spirit, and wisdom.

Bennis's last book, Still Surprised, has a photo of him walking barefoot on the beach with his pant legs rolled up, leaving behind large footprints in the sand. These footprints serve as a calling to incorporate his ideas in our leadership. Ultimately, this will become Bennis's greatest legacy. They bring to mind a stanza from Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's A Psalm of Life: