The Leadership Secrets of Colin Powell

by Oren Harari

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:

Genres: Leadership, Business, Nonfiction, Biography, Professional Development, Business Leadership, Military Fiction

278 pages, Hardcover

First published January 25, 2002

Reviews

[Paula · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this book while researching a presentation on the topic of leadership. Insightful and interesting. Presented some 'nuggets' of wisdon below.

Its the leaders role to overcome instituti9noal and individual inertia. Not afraid to turn up the heat on the poor performers. Success can breed complacancy. Disagree without being disagreeable.

Plans don't accomplish anything - endeavors succeed or fail because of the people involved. It is people who get things done. The most important asset you have is people, and if you don't put people at the center of your process, you'll fail. Decentralization iis key to explaining the economic 'juggernaut that is the US. Breakthroughs don't emerge from formal hierarchies and centralized planning. People follow good leaders out of curiosity - they trust.

The power of optimism. Don't take counsel of your fears or naysayers. Dynamic optimism - take action. Never get so consumed by your career that nothing is left for you and your family.

[Liquidlasagna · Rating 2 out of 5]

not-so-shitty but slightly-shitty
for shallow business psycho-motivation books, its pretty good in places

but its so fucking lame
and cheese

you wish a raccoon with cancer puked cheese-whiz on the book after you read it

it's sorta fun
and you can use the dustcover as a neocon dartboard

...................

the wild Amazone

Harari has drawn from a wide range of sources such as personal communication with Powell, magazine articles, books, speeches, etc.

16 chapters divided into three parts

1 Powell as Provocateur

jumps right in with 'Know When to Piss People Off'

other chapters
Promote a Clash of Ideas
The Ego Trap
Don't Go Looking for No
The Chief Dis-organizer
When to Challenge the Pros

2 Powell on Strategy and Character
[milder but just as thought provoking]

Close With the Enemy
People Over Plans
Vigilance in Detail
Situation Dictates Strategy
Powell's Rules for Picking People
Trust Those in the Trenches

3 The Powell Character
[dwells on some of the less concrete aspects of leadership]

The Powell Way
Optimism Is a Force Multiplier
Take Leave when You've Earned It
Prepare for Loneliness

The book moves along at a good pace. Harari does a nice job of presenting concepts without feeling the need to spell things out in excruciating detail.

Each chapter is self-contained making the book easy to pick up and read in spurts.
Finally, each chapter ends with a nice summary of the main concepts.

Leadership Secrets is certainly on the upper end of the bell curve of business and leadership books. I give it an unequivocal endorsement.

Walter Reade

///////

[Neal Renna · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’ve read a lot of leadership books, this might be the best. I’m a big Jocko Willink fan, there are countless parallels between the 2. Read this book.

[Wendee · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ok advice. It just wasn't very interesting to read.

[Dusty · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book is rubbish. The author spoke to Colin Powell once, used Colin's well publshed leadership "secrets" added general, weak statements about "big companies" who do this or that. What a waste of time.

[Books and coffee · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don’t know where to start...

This book is all I believe in and more. This book explains my principles and why this is the way for a business to flourish, not fail. For a long time I thought that my beliefs are wrong, that my idea of a good manager is wrong, different from the others. I now realise I was right all along and I have set up as my future purpose to, either change the mentality across the business and management, either find another job.

This book will be the perfect Christmas present for all the managers I am working with, even for those supervisors that are in positions they are not capable to lead.

Thank you Mr. Harari.

[Sophia Garcia · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was recommended to me on a list of must reads for graduate students of public affairs. Even though this book was written over 20 years ago, the leadership “secrets” discussed still rain true today. I felt that this book was written in away that a reader could choose to read it front to back or by randomly choosing chapters. In my time as a grad student and my journey as a leader I will keep the lessons I learned from this book in mind. I recommend for anyone looking to unlock the secrets of becoming and being an effective leader.

[Cdivine1 · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found this reading enjoyable as I was able to see the attributes of the good leaders surrounding me and find acceptance in my own actions. The author never really discussed it, but many of these principles would apply to friendships, relationships and family matters outside of the workplace. My favorite chapters were People over Organization and Take Leave When You've Earned it. I found the chapter summary point "Know when to exit" as most meaningful and timely.

[Tod · Rating 5 out of 5]

My number one leadership book that I recommended to my team. The leadership secrets of Colin Powell teaches fundamental leadership principles with supporting examples that every leader should know. These leadership secrets are effective in all organization types; military, for profit, not for profit, government, etc. Colin Powell leadership secrets are foundational for anyone that wants to lead people and organizations.

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some really good pearls of wisdom in the book. I would have given it a 5 star instead of 4 if there’d been a little less hero worship. The book is completely complimentary in everything he’s done, said, and experienced, which isn’t reality of course. But, cherry picking lessons from his life for teaching moments was very helpful to me.

[Anogoya · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just like the man. No bull.

[Rich McCormack · Rating 2 out of 5]

Couldn't finish it...

[Joey · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some good nuggets, but not a masterpiece. Encouraging and an easy read.

[Mwenzie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tried and true approaches to being a good leader — nothing new if you’ve been studying leadership, but fantastic if it’s a new topic for you.

[Connor McGauley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Solid read. Holds up well. Wouldn't necessarily call it "must read" stuff but makes you really respect Powell

[Keith · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[Petr Vařeka · Rating 4 out of 5]

Inspiring and energizing!

[jaimee shirrelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very eye opening and informative.

[Christian · Rating 5 out of 5]

Terrific, will read again - honest perspective from 10,000 ft.

[Stephen Sikorski · Rating 5 out of 5]

Outstanding book outlining great points of a great general. These lessons are applicable from the top to the bottom. I recommend this book to anyone seeking a way to develop themselves as a leader.

[Jason · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the review list at the back of the book:

01. Promote a clash of ideas : Don’t encourage sycophants.
02. Be prepared to piss people off : Don’t placate everyone.
03. Establish trust : Don’t establish your authority.
04. Walk the talk : Don’t talk a good name.
05. Pick the right people : Don’t pick people with resumes.
06. Listen : Don’t lecture.
07. Be vigilant in details : Don’t stick to the big picture.
08. Be a disorganizer : Don’t let sleeping dogs lie.
09. Check your ego at the door : Don’t follow your ego.
10. Let change lead growth : Don’t defend your base.
11. Seek consensus (but don’t be ruled by it) : Don’t rule by decree.
12. Fit no stereotypes : Don’t chase the trends.
13. Simplify : Don’t complicate.
14. Let situation dictate strategy : Don’t respond by the book.
15. Push the envelope : Don’t coast.
16. Close with the enemy : Don’t hedge your bets.
17. View people as partners : Don’t view people as instruments.
18. Challenge the pros : Don’t pay deference to the pros.
19. Don’t rely on charts and titles : Don’t lean on hierarchy.
20. Trust those in the trenches : Don’t trust the inner circle.
21. Make optimism a top priority : Don’t manage enthusiasm.
22. Have fun in your command : Don’t take yourself seriously.
23. Strive for balance : Don’t live to work.
24. Prepare to be lonely : Don’t expect camaraderie.

[Derrick · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good book that gave some advice that to be honest I didn't found that profound or anything else that I didn't know already. So if I were to be asked if I had learned anything new from this book I would say that probably not, everything in the book is pretty simple and straight forward types of things. None-the-less it was a good book. I felt that many of the chapters within the book were somewhat redundant and could've been shortened down considerabley.
I like how the book was set up, it had each chapter that went into one specific iota of leadership qualities and so it would be a good reference book to have and look at later on when needing to be reminded about something. At the end of each chapter it summarized everything and then gave a few (5-ish) "Powell Principles" that also helped sum everything up. Something that after reading the book I could go back in and reread these items and still be reminded about what the book was about and what it's message was without rereading the entire book.
This was a good book that I may go out and buy, someone at work suggested this book to me and allowed me to read his, I might go buy a copy just for future reference, even though the message in it is simple it's always good to read and see in other great leader's lives too.

[Ken · Rating 3 out of 5]

I listened to "It Worked For Me" and I needed another audiobook to accompany me on my drive to see my daughter and grand kids, so I got this from the library. I am thinking that I will look closer at the things I get in the future, because I realize I am more interested in autobiographical works, read by the author. This one seems drier and more textbooky.

Now, I have finished it, it is more textbooky. Some of the secrets were duplications of what I heard Colin Powell himself read in his audiobook. The author even writes that the secrets, as he titled them, are not secrets at all, rather leadership principles. He makes a distinction between being a top manager and being a leader.

Powell presented his leadership stuff, whatever it is called, much better than this biographer. Get "It Worked For Me" rather than this book.

[Eliot · Rating 2 out of 5]

Book on leadership and the development of a leader by a man who can be strategic or tactical depending on the situation. He is a big fan of small leadership and decentralized authority so this book should appeal to leaders of both large and small organizations.

Book is well structured around Powell's leadership rules:
- Know when to piss people off
- Promote a clash of ideas
- Avoid the ego trap
- Don't go looking for no
- Be a Chief Dis-organizer
- Know when to challenge the pros
- Get close with the enemy when required
- Put emphasis on great people over good plans
- Be vigilant about detail
- The situation dictates strategy
- Know how to pick great people
- Trust those in the trenches
- Optimism Is a force multiplier
- Take leave when you've earned It
- Prepare for loneliness

Each section ends with a succinct summary. Well written.

[Diane K · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very easy to read. I had the wonderful opportunity to attend a seminar in Chicago where he was the guest speaker. So this book reflected his personality and no nonsense style perfectly. Even though he has a no nonsense style of leadership, he still has an air of easiness and great sense of humor to balance it out. I would recommend this book to anyone looking to freshen up those leadership skills or those looking for "how-to" tips that really work.

[Kimberly · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was required reading for my one my graduate courses in advanced leadership. It provided incredibly insight into the type of leader that Colin Powell was and what type of individual he was. I actually found this to be very beneficial to me personally. I would highly recommend this book to managers/management, especially if the ultimate goal is become an exceptional leader. Yes, there is a difference between a manager and a leader.

[Togar Silaban · Rating 3 out of 5]

Saya baca versi Bahasa Indonesia.
Buku manajemen kepemimpinan yang menggambarkan pengambilan keputusan yang tepat. Keberanian dan kejujuran Colin Powell.

Keberhasilan Obama menjadi Presiden AS, sebagian dirintis dan disumbangkan olej Powell selain oleh Martin Luther King. Mereka adalah pemimpin kulit hitam Amerika yang luar biasa.

[Jala · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well Im thinking about it and i could get alot of books about people so i did but the only thing i am thinking about is reading this book

[Paul Phua · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting and quite easy to read book that gave some insights into the leadership style of a former General. Although he was a General, his style of leadership is that of a servant leadership style. He is one who took a no-nonsense but bottom-up, respect the people approach, something which I respect him for.

[Beth E · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very interesting book, partly because it speaks to US foreign policy of more than a decade ago, and to see how far we've drifted from the clarity we had then. As for the leadership secrets, they aren't really secrets at all and ones that we've seen in various bosses from time to time. In the end however, always a good reminder.