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1、General Colin PowellChairman (Ret), Joint Chiefs of StaffA Leadership Primer,LESSON 1,Being responsible sometimes means pissing people off.,Good leadership involves responsibility to the welfare of the group, whichmeans that some people will get angry at your actions and decisions. Itsinevitable, if
2、 youre honorable. Trying to get everyone to like you is a signof mediocrity: youll avoid the tough decisions, youll avoid confronting thepeople who need to be confronted, and youll avoid offering differentialrewards based on differential performance because some people mightget upset. Ironically, by
3、 procrastinating on the difficult choices, by tryingnot to get anyone mad, and by treating everyone equally nicely regardlessof their contributions, youll simply ensure that the only people youll windup angering are the most creative and productive people in the organization.,LESSON 2,The day soldie
4、rs stop bringing you their problems is theday you have stopped leading them. They have either lostconfidence that you can help them or concluded that youdo not care. Either case is a failure of leadership.,If this were a litmus test, the majority of CEOs would fail. One, they build somany barriers t
5、o upward communication that the very idea of someone lowerin the hierarchy looking up to the leader for help is ludicrous. Two, thecorporate culture they foster often defines asking for help as weakness orfailure, so people cover up their gaps, and the organization suffers accordingly.Real leaders m
6、ake themselves accessible and available. They show concernfor the efforts and challenges faced by underlings, even as they demand highstandards. Accordingly, they are more likely to create an environment whereproblem analysis replaces blame.,LESSON 3,Dont be buffaloed by experts and elites. Experts
7、oftenpossess more data than judgment. Elites can become soinbred that they produce hemophiliacs who bleed to deathas soon as they are nicked by the real world.,Small companies and start-ups dont have the time for analytically detachedexperts. They dont have the money to subsidize lofty elites, eithe
8、r. Thepresident answers the phone and drives the truck when necessary; everyoneon the payroll visibly produces and contributes to bottom-line results or theyrehistory. But as companies get bigger, they often forget who brought them tothe dance: things like all-hands involvement, egalitarianism, info
9、rmality,market intimacy, daring, risk, speed, agility. Policies that emanate fromivory towers often have an adverse impact on the people out in the fieldwho are fighting the wars or bringing in the revenues. Real leaders arevigilant, and combative, in the face of these trends.,LESSON 4,Dont be afrai
10、d to challenge the pros,even in their own backyard.,Learn from the pros, observe them, seek them out as mentors and partners.But remember that even the pros may have leveled out in terms of theirlearning and skills. Sometimes even the pros can become complacent andlazy. Leadership does not emerge fr
11、om blind obedience to anyone. XeroxsBarry Rand was right on target when he warned his people that if you havea yes-man working for you, one of you is redundant. Good leadershipencourages everyones evolution.,LESSON 5,Never neglect details. When everyones mind is dulledor distracted the leader must b
12、e doubly vigilant.,Strategy equals execution. All the great ideas and visions in the world areworthless if they cant be implemented rapidly and efficiently. Good leadersdelegate and empower others liberally, but they pay attention to details, everyday. (Think about supreme athletic coaches like Jimm
13、y Johnson, Pat Rileyand Tony La Russa). Bad ones, even those who fancy themselves as progressive visionaries, think theyre somehow above operational details.Paradoxically, good leaders understand something else: an obsessive routinein carrying out the details begets conformity and complacency, which
14、 in turndulls everyones mind. That is why even as they pay attention to details, theycontinually encourage people to challenge the process. They implicitlyunderstand the sentiment of CEO leaders like Quad Graphics HarryQuadracchi, Oticons Lars Kolind and the late Bill McGowan of MCI, who allindepend
15、ently asserted that the Job of a leader is not to be the chief organizer,but the chief dis-organizer.,LESSON 6,You dont know what you can get away with until you try.,You know the expression, its easier to get forgiveness than permission. Well,its true. Good leaders dont wait for official blessing t
16、o try things out. Theyreprudent, not reckless. But they also realize a fact of life in most organizations:if you ask enough people for permission, youll inevitably come up againstsomeone who believes his job is to say no. So the moral is, dont ask. Lesseffective middle managers endorsed the sentiment, If I havent explicitly beentold yes, I cant do it, whereas the good ones believed, If I havent explicitlybeen told no, I can. Theres a world of difference between these two pointsof view.,
