Leadership Lessons — General Colin Powell
General Colin Powell is most remembered for his fervent appeal to the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) for a multilateral invasion of Iraq, to prevent the further development of Weapons of Mass Destruction.
I vividly remember his speech, which showed a bunch of black and white satellite pictures, claiming them to be structures and bunkers that are being used to mass-produce deadly chemical weapons (Weapons of Mass Destruction — WMD).
Colin Powell was a highly decorated four-star US general, twice a Vietnam vet, who was the first African American to rise to the position of the Chairman of the Joint Chief of Staff, National Security Advisor, and Secretary of State. He led the US armed forces during the first Gulf War, which was a spectacular success.
Ratings of General Powell rose to above 70%, and there was widespread speculation that he may even take a stab at becoming the first Black President.
It is with this credibility, that the US Secretary of State, Powell made the pitch at the UNSC. And Iraq and Saddam Hussain was already a villain, their long-drawn war with Iran, invasion of Kuwait, the burning of oil fields while withdrawing, the repression of the Shias and Kurds, and many more has already made them a suspect.
I am sure many who saw the eventual situation including no WMD being found, the destruction over a very long war, and the loss of countless innocent lives, may have fallen for the intelligence presented by Colin Powell. And though later Colin Powell expressed remorse, in a way, I feel that makes him the pioneer of presenting fake news on a grand scale.
But even with the Iraq war and its eventual human and material costs, no one can deny the professional and personal zenith General Powell reached. He fired the imagination of millions of Americans, especially the blacks, and in many ways was the precursor to Obama. And if we keep our biases based on some of his professional actions, there is a lot to learn from his leadership.
Here I present the famous 18 lessons on leadership from General Colin Powell.
Like “The Fog of War” by Robert S. McNamara, this should also not be missed just because the individual concerned is controversial in some respects.
General Colin Powell — A Leadership Primer
“Leadership is the art of accomplishing more than the science of management says is possible.”
§ Lesson #1: Being responsible sometimes means pissing people off.
§ Lesson #2: The day soldiers stop bringing you their problems is the day you have stopped leading them. They have either lost confidence that you can help them or concluded that you do not care. Either case is a failure of leadership.
§ Lesson #3: Don’t be buffaloed by experts and elites. Experts often possess more data than
§ judgment. Elites can become so inbred that they produce hemophiliacs who bleed to death as soon as they are nicked by the real world.
§ Lesson #4: Don’t be afraid to challenge the pros, even in their backyard.
§ Lesson #5: Never neglect details. When everyone’s mind is dulled or distracted the leader must be doubly vigilant.
§ Lesson #6: You don’t know what you can get away with until you try.
§ Lesson #7: Keep looking below surface appearances. Don’t shrink from doing so (just) because you might not like what you find.
§ Lesson #8: Organization doesn’t accomplish anything. Plans don’t accomplish anything, either. Theories of management don’t much matter. Endeavors succeed or fail because of the people involved. Only by attracting the best people will you accomplish great deeds.
§ Lesson #9: Organization charts and fancy titles count for next to nothing.
§ Lesson #10: Never let your ego get so close to your position that when your position goes, your
ego goes with it.
§ Lesson #11: Fit no stereotypes. Don’t chase the latest management fads. The situation dictates which approach best accomplishes the team’s mission.
§ Lesson #12: Perpetual optimism is a force multiplier.
§ Lesson #13: Powell’s Rules for Picking People: Look for intelligence and judgment, and most critically, a capacity to anticipate, to see around corners. Also look for loyalty, integrity, a high energy drive, a balanced ego, and the drive to get things done.
§ Lesson #14: Great leaders are almost always great simplifiers, who can cut through argument, debate, and doubt, to offer a solution everybody can understand.
§ Lesson #15:
Ø Part I: Use the formula P=40 to 70, in which P stands for the probability of success and the numbers indicate the percentage of information acquired.
Ø Part II: Once the information is in the 40 to 70 range, go with your gut.
§ Lesson #16: The commander in the field is always right and the rear echelon is wrong unless
proven otherwise.
§ Lesson #17: Have fun in your command. Don’t always run at a breakneck pace. Take leave
when you’ve earned it: Spend time with your family.
§ Corollary: surround yourself with people who take their work seriously, but not themselves, those who work hard and play hard.
§ Lesson #18: Command is lonely.
