Bennis speaks for a breif moment in chapter two on the idea that people will accept the vision of a leader regardless of their own convictions (or belief in the falsehood of the leader’s claims) based upon how adamant and sincere the leader states their case for their vision. This reminds me of Bryan Caplin’s The Myth of the Rational Voter, where he discusses this quirk of humans the one Bennis discuses being just one of them and how it plays out in the political landscape of a democracy. For the less reading inclined here is a video ofCaplin summing up the main points of his book.
Another idea that Bennis gets into that struck a cord is discussed at the end of the chapter when he discusses the study done on regret retarding pursuing ones dreams. Sumed up the study found that men who pursued their dream even if that dream failed, were happier later in life than those who never tried at all, for having the self-satisfaction of knowing that they tried. I personally found this the most powerful idea in the entire chapter and would have prefferd he spent more time discussing it.
