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Don’t take counsel of your fears or naysayers.

Colin Powell

Respect for leaders by followers can’t be mandated; it must be earned. It has to be given to leaders by their followers.
COLIN POWELL

Earn Follow Leadership Mandatory Respect
You don’t know what you can get away with until you try.
COLIN POWELL

Ability Let Go Try Yourself
Experts often possess more data than judgment.
COLIN POWELL

Data Expert Judgement Possession
The day soldiers stop bringing you their problems is the day you have stopped leading them.
COLIN POWELL

Day Leadership Problem Soldier Yourself
Never neglect details. When everyone’s mind is dulled or distracted the leader must be doubly vigilant.
COLIN POWELL

Detail Double Leadership Mindset
Fit no stereotypes. Don’t chase the latest management fads. The situation dictates which approach best accomplishes the team’s mission.
COLIN POWELL

Accomplishment Latest Management Mission Team
If you are going to achieve excellence in big things, you develop the habit in little matters. Excellence is not an exception, it is a prevailing attitude.
COLIN POWELL

Achievement Attitude Development Excellence Yourself
If everybody trusts one another, then the person who didn’t prevail will faithfully execute the decision as if it was their idea.
COLIN POWELL

Decision Execution Faith Ideas Oneself Person Trust
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.
COLIN POWELL

Blood Death Expert Judgement Reality World
Have a sense of humor to break the tension in times of great toil.
COLIN POWELL

Break Greatness Hard Time Tension Time
We are not trapped in what the science of management says we can do. We are capable of doing what the art of leadership says is possible.
COLIN POWELL

Art Leadership Management Possible Science
The most important thing I learned is that soldiers watch what their leaders do. You can give them classes and lecture them forever, but it is your personal example they will follow.
COLIN POWELL

Follow Forever Important Learning Personal Soldier
Treat people kindly. When you are kind to somebody and I don’t mean necessarily “buddy-buddy”, just show kindness and consideration. Show that people are worthy and you respect them and you are glad they’re with you.
COLIN POWELL

Happiness Kindness Necessary People Treat Worth Yourself
It takes more courage to send men into battle than to fight the battle yourself.
COLIN POWELL

Battle Courage Fight Man Yourself
First you train the followers to accomplish the mission. Second, you resource them: Make sure that they have the tools to do the job. Third, you reward them: You give them medals or bonuses.
COLIN POWELL

Accomplishment Follow Job Medal Reward Tools Training Yourself
You can’t make someone else’s choices. You shouldn’t let someone else make yours.
COLIN POWELL

Choice Control Yourself
But just as they did in Philadelphia when they were writing the constitution, sooner or later, you’ve got to compromise. You’ve got to start making the compromises that arrive at a consensus and move the country forward.
COLIN POWELL

Arrival Compromise Constitution Country Start Writing Yourself
Every organization should tolerate rebels who tell the emperor he has no clothes.
COLIN POWELL

Clothes Himself Organization Rebel Tolerance
Don’t let your ego get too close to your position, so that if your position gets shot down, your ego doesn’t go with it.
COLIN POWELL

Ego Position Yourself
The essence of leadership is building bonds of trust in your organization.
COLIN POWELL

Bond Essence Leadership Organization Trust Yourself
My responsibility, our responsibility as lucky Americans, is to try to give back to this country as much as it has given us, as we continue our American journey together.
COLIN POWELL

Country Journey Responsibility Togetherness Try
We are not going to dwell on those things that divide us. We are going to rejoice in those things that keep us together to make this a better country – to reach down and back to touch every young person in need!
COLIN POWELL

Country Division Ourselves Person Rejoice Togetherness
The greatest gifts my parents gave to me were their unconditional love and a set of values.
COLIN POWELL

Gift Greatness Love Myself Parents Value
Leaders have followers. The primary role of a leader is to convey to those followers a sense of purpose, vision, and mission.
COLIN POWELL

Follow Leadership Mission Primary Purpose Role Vision
A mirror reflects a man’s face, but what he is really like is shown by the kind of friends he chooses.
COLIN POWELL

Choice Friendship Himself Mirror Reflection
Always be looking for that which you do well and that which you love doing, and when you find those two things together — man, you got it.
COLIN POWELL

Love Man Togetherness Yourself
One of the fondest expressions around is that we can’t be the world’s policeman. But guess who gets called when suddenly someone needs a cop.
COLIN POWELL

Expression Need Policemen World

Don’t take counsel of your fears or naysayers.

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Don’t take counsel of your fears or naysayers.

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