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Click to edit Master title style,Click to edit Master text styles,Second level,Third level,Fourth level,Fifth level,*,General Colin Powell,Chairman(Ret),Joint Chiefs of Staff,A Leadership Primer,LESSON 1,Being responsible sometimes means pissing people off.,Good leadership involves responsibility to the welfare of the group,which,means that some people will get angry at your actions and decisions.Its,inevitable,if youre honorable.Trying to get everyone to like you is a sign,of mediocrity:youll avoid the tough decisions,youll avoid confronting the,people who need to be confronted,and youll avoid offering differential,rewards based on differential performance because some people might,get upset.Ironically,by procrastinating on the difficult choices,by trying,not to get anyone mad,and by treating everyone equally nicely regardless,of their contributions,youll simply ensure that the only people youll wind,up angering are the most creative and productive people in the organization.,LESSON 2,The day soldiers stop bringing you their problems is the,day you have stopped leading them.They have either lost,confidence that you can help them or concluded that you,do not care.Either case is a failure of leadership.,If this were a litmus test,the majority of CEOs would fail.One,they build so,many barriers to upward communication that the very idea of someone lower,in the hierarchy looking up to the leader for help is ludicrous.Two,the,corporate culture they foster often defines asking for help as weakness or,failure,so people cover up their gaps,and the organization suffers accordingly.,Real leaders make themselves accessible and available.They show concern,for the efforts and challenges faced by underlings,even as they demand high,standards.Accordingly,they are more likely to create an environment where,problem analysis replaces blame.,LESSON 3,Dont 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.,Small companies and start-ups dont have the time for analytically detached,experts.They dont have the money to subsidize lofty elites,either.The,president answers the phone and drives the truck when necessary;everyone,on the payroll visibly produces and contributes to bottom-line results or theyre,history.But as companies get bigger,they often forget who brought them to,the dance:things like all-hands involvement,egalitarianism,informality,market intimacy,daring,risk,speed,agility.Policies that emanate from,ivory towers often have an adverse impact on the people out in the field,who are fighting the wars or bringing in the revenues.Real leaders are,vigilant,and combative,in the face of these trends.,LESSON 4,Dont be afraid to challenge the pros,even in their own backyard.,Learn from the pros,observe them,seek them out as mentors and partners.,But remember that even the pros may have leveled out in terms of their,learning and skills.Sometimes even the pros can become complacent and,lazy.Leadership does not emerge from blind obedience to anyone.Xeroxs,Barry Rand was right on target when he warned his people that if you have,a yes-man working for you,one of you is redundant.Good leadership,encourages everyones evolution.,LESSON 5,Never neglect details.When everyones mind is dulled,or distracted the leader must be doubly vigilant.,Strategy equals execution.All the great ideas and visions in the world are,worthless if they cant be implemented rapidly and efficiently.Good leaders,delegate and empower others liberally,but they pay attention to details,every,day.(Think about supreme athletic coaches like Jimmy Johnson,Pat Riley,and Tony La Russa).,Bad ones,even those who fancy themselves as,progressive visionaries,think theyre somehow above operational details.,Paradoxically,good leaders understand something else:an obsessive routine,in carrying out the details begets conformity and complacency,which in turn,dulls everyones mind.That is why even as they pay attention to details,they,continually encourage people to challenge the process.They implicitly,understand the sentiment of CEO leaders like Quad Graphics Harry,Quadracchi,Oticons Lars Kolind and the late Bill McGowan of MCI,who all,independently asserted that the Job of a leader is not to be the chief organizer,but the chief dis-organizer.,LESSON 6,You dont know what you can get away with until you try.,You know the expression,its easier to get forgiveness than permission.Well,its true.Good leaders dont wait for official blessing to try things out.Theyre,prudent,not reckless.But they also realize a fact of life in most organizations:,if you ask enough people for permission,youll inevitably come up against,someone who believes his job is to say no.So the moral is,dont ask.Less,effective middle managers endorsed the sentiment,If I havent explicitly been,told yes,I cant do it,whereas the good ones believed,If I havent explicitly,b
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