black
grey
blue
red
brown
white

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

Colin Powell

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 bother people for help without first trying to solve the problem yourself.
COLIN POWELL

Help Myself People Problem Solve
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
Trying to get everyone to like you is a sign of mediocrity.
COLIN POWELL

Average Sign Yourself
Leadership is the art of accomplishing more than the science of management says is possible.
COLIN POWELL

Accomplishment Art Leadership Management Possible
Leaders honor their core values, but they are flexible in how they execute them.
COLIN POWELL

Core Execution Leadership Value Yourself
As a leader you set the tone for your entire team. Communicate your vision.
COLIN POWELL

Communication Leadership Team Vision Yourself
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
Maybe we don’t put our young people in situations often enough where they’re allowed to fail. When you fail you gain experience, and with enough experience, you don’t fail as often.
COLIN POWELL

Allow Enough Experience Failure People Situation Young Yourself
One important element of leadership is taking care of the troops.
COLIN POWELL

Care Element Important Leadership Oneself
Trust is the glue that holds an org together & the lubricant that moves it forward.
COLIN POWELL

Hold Move Togetherness Trust
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
Never neglect details. When everyone’s mind is dulled or distracted the leader must be doubly vigilant.
COLIN POWELL

Detail Double Leadership Mindset
Don’t let adverse facts stand in the way of a good decision.
COLIN POWELL

Decision Fact Goodness Stand Way
I think whether you’re having setbacks or not, the role of a leader is to always display a winning attitude.
COLIN POWELL

Attitude Leadership Role Thinking Win
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
Perpetual optimism is a force multiplier.
COLIN POWELL

Force Multiply Optimism
Being responsible sometimes means pissing people off.
COLIN POWELL

People Responsibility
You don’t know what you can get away with until you try.
COLIN POWELL

Ability Let Go Try Yourself
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
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
The chief condition on which, life, health and vigor depend on, is action. It is by action that an organism develops its faculties, increases its energy, and attains the fulfillment of its destiny.
COLIN POWELL

Action Condition Destiny Energy Fulfillment Health Organism
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
All values are important, everyone who has ever touched my life in some way was a mentor for good or bad. Life is a blend, and a person is a blend of all the influences that have touched their lives.
COLIN POWELL

Important Influence Life Live Touch Value
A dream doesn’t become reality through magic; it takes sweat, determination and hard work.
COLIN POWELL

Determination Dreams Hard Work Magic Reality Sweat
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
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

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

Related Topics

Popular Authors

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

Related Topics

Popular Authors

More Colin Powell Quotes