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Give me the right people and I don’t much care what organization you give me. Good things will happen. Give me the wrong people and it doesn’t matter what you do with the organization. Bad things will happen.

Colin Powell

Leaders honor their core values, but they are flexible in how they execute them.
COLIN POWELL

Core Execution Leadership Value Yourself
I regret that the presentation I made at the UN turned out to be wrong. It was wrong on the stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction, but pretty much right on intentions and capabilities.
COLIN POWELL

Capability Intention Myself Presentation Regret Weapon Wrong
Good leaders must know how to reward those who succeed and know when to retrain, move, or fire ineffective staff.
COLIN POWELL

Goodness Leadership Move Success
Give me the right people and I don’t much care what organization you give me. Good things will happen. Give me the wrong people and it doesn’t matter what you do with the organization. Bad things will happen.
COLIN POWELL

Care Goodness Organization People Right Yourself
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
The commander in the field is always right and the rear echelon is wrong, unless proved otherwise.
COLIN POWELL

Command Evidence Prove Right Wrong
My own experience is that you get as much information as you can and then you pay attention to your intuition, to your informed instinct.
COLIN POWELL

Attention Experience Information Intuition Pay 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
Preferring members of any one group for no reason other than race or ethnic origin is discrimination for its own sake. This the Constitution forbids.
COLIN POWELL

Constitution Discrimination Origin Reason
Always focus on the front windshield and not the review mirror.
COLIN POWELL

Focus Future Mirror Review
The essence of leadership is building bonds of trust in your organization.
COLIN POWELL

Bond Essence Leadership Organization Trust Yourself
The freedom to do your best means nothing unless you are willing to do your best.
COLIN POWELL

Best Freedom Willing Yourself
You know you’re a good leader when people follow you out of curiosity.
COLIN POWELL

Curiosity Goodness Leadership People
Get mad, then get over it.
COLIN POWELL

Let Go Mad One Liner
I have never seen a good organization where the standards weren’t high.
COLIN POWELL

Goodness High Myself Organization Standard
Effective leaders are made, not born. They learn from trial and error, and from experience.
COLIN POWELL

Born Errors Experience Leadership Learning

Give me the right people and I don’t much care what organization you give me. Good things will happen. Give me the wrong people and it doesn’t matter what you do with the organization. Bad things will happen.

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Give me the right people and I don’t much care what organization you give me. Good things will happen. Give me the wrong people and it doesn’t matter what you do with the organization. Bad things will happen.

Related Topics

Popular Authors

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