Love Quote by Warren G. Bennis

Leadership, in Bennis's telling, is less about issuing directions than rearranging the emotional geography of a group. "At the very heart of things" is a psychological promise: you matter here, your presence changes the outcome, your work isn't just being consumed by some distant center. The genius of the line is how it reframes power as proximity. A "good leader" doesn't simply hold authority; they redistribute the feeling of centrality so others stop acting like renters in someone else's mission.

The subtext is a quiet indictment of bureaucracies and status games. Most organizations are built to signal periphery: org charts, approvals, hallway decisions, emails CC'd like surveillance. People learn to self-censor, to do only what's asked, to protect themselves from blame. Bennis points to the antidote: not motivational posters, but experiences of inclusion that change behavior. When people feel central, they volunteer information earlier, take smarter risks, and absorb setbacks as shared problems rather than personal punishment.

Context matters: Bennis helped popularize a more human-centered view of leadership in an era when management often meant control, measurement, and compliance. His background in psychology shows in the phrasing - "make people feel" isn't soft; it's strategic. Feelings are data about belonging, agency, and safety. Treat them as peripheral and you get peripheral effort. Put people "at the heart" and you get ownership, the only fuel that scales.