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The freedom to do your best means nothing unless you are willing to do your best.

Colin Powell

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.
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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.
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Constitution Discrimination Origin Reason
You can’t make someone else’s choices. You shouldn’t let someone else make yours.
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Choice Control Yourself
Every organization should tolerate rebels who tell the emperor he has no clothes.
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Clothes Himself Organization Rebel Tolerance
Effective leaders are made, not born. They learn from trial and error, and from experience.
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Born Errors Experience Leadership Learning
Excellence is not an exception, it is a prevailing attitude.
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Attitude Excellence Prevail
There are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work, and learning from failure.
COLIN POWELL

Failure Hard Work Inspirational Learning Preparation Result Secret Success
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.
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Afraid Best Leadership Pick Replacement Yorself
Get mad, then get over it.
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Let Go Mad One Liner
Endeavors succeed or fail because of the people involved.
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Failure People Success
Always do your best. Somebody is watching you.
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Best Watch Yourself
Luck tends to come to people who are prepared.
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Hard Work People Preparation
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.
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Achievement Attitude Development Excellence Yourself
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.
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Important Influence Life Live Touch Value
I want to see policies that encourage every American to vote, not make it more difficult to vote.
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Difficult Encouragement Myself Policy
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.
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Best Connection Creation Job Resources Team Training Way Yourself
Bad news isn’t wine. It doesn’t improve with age.
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Age Bad Improvement News Wine
Always focus on the front windshield and not the review mirror.
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Focus Future Mirror Review
The greatest gifts my parents gave to me were their unconditional love and a set of values.
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Gift Greatness Love Myself Parents Value
When you wrestle with a pig, he has fun, and you just end up dirty.
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Animal Dirty End Fight Yourself
Look for intelligence and judgment and, most critically, a capacity to anticipate, to see around corners. Also look for loyalty, integrity, a high energy drive, a balanced ego and the drive to get things done.
COLIN POWELL

Balance Criticism Drive Ego Intelligence Judgement Loyalty
In other words, don’t expect to always be great. Disappointments, failures and setbacks are a normal part of the lifecycle of a unit or a company and what the leader has to do is constantly be up and say ‘we have a problem, let’s go and get it’.
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Disappointment Expectation Failure Greatness Himself Problem Word
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.
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Country Journey Responsibility Togetherness Try
I have never seen a good organization where the standards weren’t high.
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Goodness High Myself Organization Standard
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
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
Never neglect details. When everyone’s mind is dulled or distracted the leader must be doubly vigilant.
COLIN POWELL

Detail Double Leadership Mindset

The freedom to do your best means nothing unless you are willing to do your best.

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The freedom to do your best means nothing unless you are willing to do your best.

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