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Effective leaders are made, not born. They learn from trial and error, and from experience.

Colin Powell

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
It takes more courage to send men into battle than to fight the battle yourself.
COLIN POWELL

Battle Courage Fight Man Yourself
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
A dream doesn’t become reality through magic; it takes sweat, determination and hard work.
COLIN POWELL

Determination Dreams Hard Work Magic Reality Sweat
The freedom to do your best means nothing unless you are willing to do your best.
COLIN POWELL

Best Freedom Willing Yourself
When you wrestle with a pig, he has fun, and you just end up dirty.
COLIN POWELL

Animal Dirty End Fight Yourself
Luck tends to come to people who are prepared.
COLIN POWELL

Hard Work People Preparation
It is not the role of the United States to dictate change, but to enter into discussions with our friends.
COLIN POWELL

Change Discussion Friendship Ourselves Role
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
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
Don’t bother people for help without first trying to solve the problem yourself.
COLIN POWELL

Help Myself People Problem Solve
The commander in the field is always right and the rear echelon is wrong, unless proved otherwise.
COLIN POWELL

Command Evidence Prove Right Wrong
You can be sure that the American spirit will prevail over this tragedy.
COLIN POWELL

Spirit Tragedy Yourself
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
You don’t know what you can get away with until you try.
COLIN POWELL

Ability Let Go Try Yourself
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
I have never seen a good organization where the standards weren’t high.
COLIN POWELL

Goodness High Myself Organization Standard
Pissing people off doesn’t mean you’re doing the right things, but doing the right things will almost inevitably piss people off.
COLIN POWELL

People Perspective Right Yourself
Surround yourself with people who take their work seriously, but not themselves, those who work hard and play hard.
COLIN POWELL

Hard Work People Play Serious Work
You should never be so involved with your position/job that when the position is gone your entire self image is gone with it.
COLIN POWELL

Image Job Position Yourself
Trust is the glue that holds an org together & the lubricant that moves it forward.
COLIN POWELL

Hold Move Togetherness Trust
The day soldiers stop bringing you their problems is the day you have stopped leading them.
COLIN POWELL

Day Leadership Problem Soldier Yourself
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
Bad news isn’t wine. It doesn’t improve with age.
COLIN POWELL

Age Bad Improvement News Wine
An organization that is not facing up to people who are not getting the job done, is going to have difficulties.
COLIN POWELL

Difficult Face Organization People
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
Have a sense of humor to break the tension in times of great toil.
COLIN POWELL

Break Greatness Hard Time Tension Time

Effective leaders are made, not born. They learn from trial and error, and from experience.

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Effective leaders are made, not born. They learn from trial and error, and from experience.

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Popular Authors

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