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The Leadership Secrets of Colin Powell
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Sales rank 291,342
Customers rating (based on 22 reviews)
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The Wall Street Journal, BusinessWeek, New York Times, and USA Today Business Bestseller! WORDS, WISDOM, AND INSIGHTS FROM ONE OF AMERICA'S MOST COMMANDING FIGURES Inspiration from the man who went from humble beginnings in Harlem to the office of Secretary of State Colin Powell is the classic American success story. Born in Harlem to immigrant parents, Powell rose through the ranks of the U.S. military to become chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and a soft-spoken, steel-willed Desert Storm hero. Always seemingly one step ahead of both allies and competitors, he quickly became one of America's most trusted and beloved public icons, acknowledged for his courage, his compassion, and his ability to forge victory under the most trying circumstances. The Leadership Secrets of Colin Powell recounts Powell's core beliefs on leadership, negotiation, self-knowledge, and more. Based on an article written by Oren Harari after Harari met Powell and heard him speak, an article so compelling that it became the subject of a front-page feature in the Wall Street Journal, this leadership primer reveals the secrets and insights that made Colin Powell the success he is today. Short, snappy, and packed with Powell's depth and spirit, it will help readers inspire anyone to achieve extraordinary performance. COLIN POWELL ON: - COMMUNICATION"The day soldiers stop bringing you their problems is the day you have stopped leading them."
- LEADERSHIP"Great leaders are almost always great simplifiers, who can cut through argument, debate, and doubt to offer a solution everybody can understand."
- RESPONSIBILITY"Being responsible sometimes means pissing people off."
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| Publisher | McGraw-Hill | | Release date | 01/2002 | | Availability | | | Edition | Hardcover |
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 Excellent leadership principles
This is not my usual kind of reading matter -- for some reason, I have never been attracted to biographies. However, this book was recommended by Bill Hybels (of the Willow Creek Global Leadership Summit, GLS) when he interviewed Powell in 2007 on his approach to leadership. The interview at the GLS was really good, and the book kind of hovered on my radar until I bought it recently.
Well, it turns out that the Powell book is really good! To be more accurate, it is not so much a biography as a leadership book based on the life and experience of Powell, who has had a remarkably successful career as a leader by any standards. In Harari's words: "The lessons in this book constitute a clear strategic, philosophical, value-based, and ethical blueprint by which Powell leads". Some of the discussion is (understandably) somewhat militaristic, but Harari does a good job of bringing the principles out.
The book distills Powell's "leadership principles" and presents them clearly and succinctly, together with examples from Harari's experience and other sources. These pithy leadership principles are memorable and direct, making this an easy book to put into practice.
A great quote from Powell himself, which sums up his leadership philosophy rather well: "Leadership is not rank, privilege, titles, or money. It is responsibility".
Recommended for anyone interested in developing their leadership skills.
 Great book
I read this book twice and found it to hold many solid principles regarding leadership and management. I highly recommend this book as an easy to read, informative, no B.S. source for anyone who is in or desires to ascend to a leadership position within their organization. Since reading this I have purchase 6 additional copies and distributed them to my first line supervisors.
An Excellent Book on Leadership
The Leadership Secrets of Colin Powell, by Oren Harari, is a very insightful book about the leadership principles that guide former Secretary of State Colin Powell. There are numerous leadership lessons contained in the book. It is clear that Mr. Powell has an intuitive ability to provide leadership and to make good decisions, even when they are the tough decisions to make. Harari depicts these lessons in an easy to read, and easy to understand fashion. Though much of the book details Mr. Powell's leadership in military or high-level political interactions, the ideas translate into any form of leadership and business.
There are so many examples of Mr. Powell making excellent choices which served to enhance his ability as a leader. I found myself wondering if his style of leadership could be learned, or if it was just a gift. One of the many leadership lessons that Harari imparts is that leadership is - in Powell's case and everyone else's - a learned trait. He states that "leadership skills are learned, and wisdom is the result of many years of hard knocks, false starts, and trial and error." This is a comforting thought for those of us striving to further enhance our leadership skills. There are many methods that Mr. Powell employs to inspire his people to work with him, and to work for him. One of these areas is the importance of optimism. Not blind optimism, but in enthusiasm and high expectations. He believes that if you lower your expectations, or set the bar too low, that is what you will meet, as that is what you are aiming for. If; however, you aim high in an optimistic manner, you are likely to reach those heights. Rather than relying simply on an optimistic approach, Mr. Powell believes in keeping records of achievements and even areas to improve, in this way, the optimism he espouses is proven rather than looked on as mere rhetoric.
One of the chapters that I did not expect dealt with the need to have fun at work, and to stay balanced with your family life. The areas of family, fun, and getting away from the job are often overlooked when it comes to discussions of leadership. There were excellent reminders in this book about the morale raising value of getting away and enjoying your time off. Too often people equate "at the workplace" hours to quality when the same quality might be achieved in a more efficient fashion. There are truly some words of wisdom in this book. I personally enjoyed the discussion about the value of a sense of humor at the workplace. Too often we get caught up in taking ourselves too seriously. The best way to have some fun, as the book states, is to take the job seriously, but don't take yourself too seriously.
Covering a multitude of issues from involving everyone in the "change" process, rewarding your best performers, and getting rid of mediocre performers; Powell also believes in being loyal up, down, and sideways. Harari suggests that by following Powell's leadership style, one can attract the best talent, and the most creative talent. By allowing for innovation and pushing the envelope, a leader can expect to keep things moving forward rather than settling on what has worked in the past. Harari provides insight into the "Powell Way" which requires character, courage, sacrifice, loyalty, and selflessness among other attributes.
This excellent book closes with an appendix entitled: Quotations from Chairman Powell: A Leadership Primer, in which Harari lists a series of quotes regarding leadership and management from Powell, with Harari's "civilian" take on the information. This, in itself, is a very valuable section.
An Excellent book that is worth a 5 star rating.
Great Resource
This was a great quick read for leaders in any setting. I found that it outlined some practices I already employed and didn't realize the significance of. I liked it so much I am sharing the concepts at a leadership conference for student leaders on Saturday.
Fantastic Book With Great Life Lessons
Author Owen Harari does a phenomenal job of outlining what Colin Powell believes makes a good leader. What is interesting to note is that Powell is in no way affiliated with this book, so all of the information (lists, quotes, etc.) came from outside sources. He gets the bulk of his information from interviews with Powell as well as articles written in nationally-circulated newspapers. This undoubtedly took an incredible amount of research and it certainly paid off in terms of how the book came together.
The book is broken into 3 parts; and from there, each part is divided into chapters. The first part is entitled "Powell as Provocateur," the second is titled "Powell on Strategy and Execution," and the third part is entitled "The Powell Character." Each chapter has to do with the part that it is contained it. One of my only critiques on the book is that it doesn't seem to fuse together his thoughts on Powell as a man and Powell as a leader. He goes into great detail about each, but he fails to make the connection between the two.
It is my belief that the book played out in strategic fashion. For reasons unknown to me, some in the media have painted Powell as a firm man, but has a tendency to be pushed around a little. Perhaps it's because of his relationship to Bush and Cheney. Regardless, Harari set the tone for this book in the opening chapter entitled, "Know When To Piss People Off." This instantly dispelled the absurd rumor of Powell being soft.
This would make a great gift for anyone you know in a position of power. In addition to effectively outlining the traits required of good leader, there are plenty life lessons to be learned from the text. Powell's occasional stories from his military days seem to perfectly compliment the author's words on what makes Powell a strong, effective, and efficient leader.
A great read overall.
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