Geek And Geezers Summary

Introduction Warren G. Bennis and Robert J. Thomas’ book Geek and Geezers (2002), provide a unique look at cross-generation of leadership, the ability to succeed, and how a leader defines their success through the crucible. They originally started the study on young and old leaders to show the influences of era on leadership, but it became obvious that there was more. They interviewed a total of 43 leaders of which one group was over 70 years of age and they were called the “geezers”. The second group was called the “geeks” which consisted of leaders under the age of 35. From their study, Bennis and Thomas believe that they have identified the “process an individual makes meaning out of often difficult events which is called the crucible (W. Bennis; R. Thomas, pg. 4).” Bennis and Thomas were able to create a model that reflected the development of leadership within the crucible. They were able to show through their leadership crucible model that all leaders no matter their age through their experience/and or organization of meaning have the competencies of a leader through adaptive captivity, engaging other by shared meaning, having a

The geeks grew up during the time of “era of options” which meant unlike the geezers, the geeks were about “making history” by being over ambitious and exploring all opportunities, but wanted balance in their life too. Geeks wanted to “change the world” or make it better place to live in instead of focusing on money. Geeks saw many opportunities for jobs and growth, but loyalty to one company was not something they thought about. Geeks said the main feature of their era was speed. “It was the digital world which was nonlinear and had ditched the corporate pyramid for the flat organization (11).” What had taken the geezers 20 years to learn the geeks could do in a couple of