Frances Hesselbein: Warren, what drove you?. . . At 19, you were a Captain in the United States Army in Germany responsible for the lives of others at 19, that had underneath that, had to have some impact.
Warren Bennis: Oh! It did. That was the beginning really, and I should have started that way. I wasn’t a Captain, you know, I was a Green Second Lieutenant, but I was thrown into a division which had been in combat for about three months luckily. . . They taught me, no kidding, I don’t forget that I was scared out of my wits! So I was ushered by a runner. . . he showed me into platoon headquarters.
There was a guy on my left sleeping on I think banquette in the kitchen, no roof, and another thing on the right with a runner, and the runner said, you take this, the banquette, lie there, I will get on the floor. I said, oh no, I am getting on the floor, because at Benning they taught you to—you eat last, after your troops, you know, and I said, no, I am getting on the floor, I have a blanket, and you don’t anyway.
In the morning—I couldn’t sleep of course, the whole night, and I hear the guy on my left, he turns out to be the First Sergeant saying to the runner on my right, who is a corporal, and he said, who is that on the floor? Who is that guy sleeping on the floor? And the runner said, he is our new platoon leader. So Sergeant Bridges said to [the runner], said, good, we can use him.