black
grey
blue
red
brown
white

None of us can change our yesterdays but all of us can change our tomorrows.

Colin Powell

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
You can’t get it all done yourself. The best leaders are not afraid of picking people who are better than they are and who may one day replace them.
COLIN POWELL

Afraid Best Leadership Pick Replacement Yorself
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
One important element of leadership is taking care of the troops.
COLIN POWELL

Care Element Important Leadership Oneself
Always show more kindness than seems necessary, because the person receiving it needs it more than you will ever know.
COLIN POWELL

Kindness Necessary Need Yourself
I have never seen a good organization where the standards weren’t high.
COLIN POWELL

Goodness High Myself Organization Standard
We can seldom get our children to do what we tell them, but they almost never fail to imitate us.
COLIN POWELL

Children Failure Imitation Ourselves
You don’t know what you can get away with until you try.
COLIN POWELL

Ability Let Go Try Yourself
Have a sense of humor to break the tension in times of great toil.
COLIN POWELL

Break Greatness Hard Time Tension Time
Trust is the essence of Leadership.
COLIN POWELL

Essence Leadership Trust
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
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
Don’t be afraid to challenge the pros, even in their own backyard.
COLIN POWELL

Advantage Afraid Challenge
As a leader you set the tone for your entire team. Communicate your vision.
COLIN POWELL

Communication Leadership Team Vision 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
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
Perpetual optimism is a force multiplier.
COLIN POWELL

Force Multiply Optimism
Effective leaders are made, not born. They learn from trial and error, and from experience.
COLIN POWELL

Born Errors Experience Leadership Learning
The best way to create a winning team is to train them, give them everything they need to get the job done and second, make sure they know what the job is and what the job will be. So you connect strategy to resources.
COLIN POWELL

Best Connection Creation Job Resources Team Training Way Yourself
Don’t take counsel of your fears or naysayers.
COLIN POWELL

Advice Counseling Fear Voice 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
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
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
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 day soldiers stop bringing you their problems is the day you have stopped leading them.
COLIN POWELL

Day Leadership Problem Soldier 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

None of us can change our yesterdays but all of us can change our tomorrows.

Related Topics

Popular Authors

None of us can change our yesterdays but all of us can change our tomorrows.

Related Topics

Popular Authors

More Colin Powell Quotes