18 Lessons in Leadership

General Colin L. Powell, (US Army-Retired)

Source: Briefing presented by Gen Powell to the Outreach To America Program, SEARS Corporate Headquarters, Chicago, Illinois

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. It's inevitable - if you're

honorable. Trying to get everyone to like you is a sign of

mediocrity. You'll avoid the tough decisions, you'll avoid

confronting the people who need to be confronted, and

you'll 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, you'll simply ensure that the only people

you'll 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

"Don't be buffaloed by experts. Experts often possess more data than judgment. The Elite 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 startups don't have the time for analytically detached experts. They

don't have the money to subsidize lofty elites, either. The president answers the phone and

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drives the truck when necessary; everyone on the payroll visibly produces and contributes

to bottom-line results or they're 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

"Don't 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. Xerox's 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 everyone's evolution.

Lesson 5

"Never neglect details. When everyone's 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

can't 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 they're somehow "above" operational

details. Paradoxically, good leaders understand something alcyon(?) obsessive routine in

carrying out the details begets conformity and complacency, which in turn dulls everyone's

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 Graphic's Harry Quadracchi, Oticon's 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 disorganizer.

Lesson 6

"You don't know what you can get away with until you try."

You know the expression "it's easier to get forgiveness than permission?" Well, it's true.

Good leaders don't wait for official blessing to try things out. They're prudent, not reckless.

But they also realize a fact of life in most organizations you ask enough people for

permission, you'll inevitably come up against someone who believes his job is to say "no."

So the moral is, don't ask. I'm serious. In my own research with colleague Linda Mukai, we

found that less effective middle managers endorsed the sentiment, "If I haven't explicitly

been told 'yes,' I can't do it," whereas the good ones believed "If I haven't explicitly been told

'no,' I can." There's a world of difference between these two points of view.

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Lesson 7

"Keep looking below surface appearances. Don't shrink from doing so (just) because you

might not like what you find.”

"If it ain't broke, don't fix it" is the slogan of the complacent, the arrogant or the scared. It's

an excuse for inaction, a call to non-arms. It's a mind-set that assumes (or hopes) that

today's realities will continue tomorrow in a tidy, linear and predictable fashion. Pure

fantasy. In this sort of culture, you won't find people who proactively take steps to solve

problems as they emerge. Here's a little tip. Don't invest in these companies.

Lesson 8

"Organization doesn't really accomplish anything. Plans don't accomplish anything, either.

Theories of management don't much matter. Endeavors succeed or fail because of the people

involved. Only by attracting the best people will you accomplish great deeds."

In a brain-based economy, your best assets are people. We've heard this expression so often

that it's become trite. But how many leaders really "walk the talk" with this stuff? Too often,

people are assumed to be empty chess pieces to be moved around by grand viziers, which

may explain why so many top managers immerse their calendar time in deal making,

restructuring and the latest management fad. How many immerse themselves in the goal of

creating an environment where the best, the brightest, the most creative are attracted,

retained and-most potentially-unleashed?

Lesson 9

"Organization charts and fancy titles count for next to nothing."

Organization charts are frozen, anachronistic photos in a workplace that ought to be as

dynamic as the external environment around you. If people really followed organization

charts, companies would collapse. In well-run organizations, titles are also pretty

meaningless. At best, they advertise some authority-an official status conferring the ability

to give orders and induce obedience. But titles mean little in terms of real power, which is

the capacity to influence and inspire. Have you ever noticed that people will personally

commit to certain individuals who on paper (or on the org chart) possess little authority-but

instead possess pizzazz, drive, expertise and genuine caring for teammates and products?

On the flip side, non-leaders in management may be formally anointed with all the perks

and frills associated with high positions, but they have little influence on others, apart from

their ability to extract minimal compliance to minimal standards.

Lesson 10

"Never let your ego get so close to your position that when your position goes, your ego goes

with it."

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Too often, change is stifled by people who cling to familiar turfs and job descriptions. One

reason that even large organizations wither is that managers won't challenge old,

comfortable ways of doing things. But real leaders understand that, nowadays, every one of

our jobs is becoming obsolete. The proper response is to obsolete our activities before

someone else does. Effective leaders create a climate where peoples worth is determined by

their willingness to learn new skills and grab new responsibilities, thus perpetually

reinventing their jobs. The most important question in performance evaluation becomes

not, "How well did you perform your job since the last time we met?" but, "How much did

you change it?"

Lesson 11

"Fit no stereotypes. Don't chase the latest fads. The situation dictates which approach best

accomplishes the team's mission."

Flitting from fad to fad creates team confusion, reduces the leader's credibility and drains

organizational coffers. Blindly following a particular fad generates rigidity in thought and

action. Sometimes speed to market is more important than total quality. Sometimes an

unapologetic directive is more appropriate than participatory discussion. To quote Powell,

some situations require the leader to hover closely; others require long, loose leashes.

Leaders honor their core values, but they are flexible in how they execute them. They

understand that management techniques are not magic mantras but simply tools to be

reached for at the right times.

Lesson 12

"Perpetual optimism is a force multiplier."

The ripple effect of a leader's enthusiasm and optimism is awesome. So is the impact of

cynicism and pessimism. Leaders who whine and blame engender those same behaviors

among their colleagues. I am not talking about stoically accepting organizational stupidity

and performance incompetence with a "what, me worry?" smile. I am talking about a gung

ho attitude that says "we can change things here, we can achieve awesome goals, we can be

the best." Spare me the grim litany of the "realist;" give me the unrealistic aspirations of the

optimist any day.

Lesson 13

"Powell's Rules for Picking People" 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."

How often do our recruitment and hiring processes tap into these attributes? More often

than not, we ignore them in favor of length of resume, degrees and prior titles. A string of

job descriptions a recruit held yesterday seem to be more important than who one is today,

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what she can contribute tomorrow or how well his values mesh with those of the

organization. You can train a bright, willing novice in the fundamentals of your business

fairly readily, but it's a lot harder to train someone to have integrity, judgment, energy,

balance and the drive to get things done. Good leaders stack the deck in their favor right in

the recruitment phase.

Lesson 14

(Borrowed by Powell from Michael Korda) "Great leaders are almost always great simplifiers,

who can cut through argument, debate and doubt, to offer a solution everybody can

understand."

Effective leaders understand the KISS principle, or Keep It Simple, Stupid. They articulate

vivid, overarching goals and values, which they use to drive daily behaviors and choices

among competing alternatives. Their visions and priorities are lean and compelling, not

cluttered and buzzword-laden. Their decisions are crisp and clear, not tentative and

ambiguous. They convey an unwavering firmness and consistency in their actions, aligned

with the picture of the future they paint. The result? Clarity of purpose, credibility of

leadership, and integrity in organization.

Lesson 15

Part I: "Use the formula P 40 to 70, in which P stands for the probability of success and the

numbers indicate the percentage of information acquired."

Part II: "Once the information is in the 40 to 70 range, go with your gut."

Powell's advice is, don't take action if you have only enough information to give you less

than a 40 percent chance of being right, but don't wait until you have enough facts to be

100 percent sure, because by then it is almost always too late. His instinct is right. Today,

excessive delays in the name of information-gathering breeds "analysis paralysis."

Procrastination in the name of reducing risk actually increases risk.

Lesson 16

"The commander in the field is always right and the rear echelon is wrong, unless proved

otherwise."

Too often, the reverse defines corporate culture. This is one of the main reasons why

leaders like Ken Iverson of Nucor Steel, Percy Barnevik of Asea Brown Boveri, and Richard

Branson of Virgin have kept their corporate staffs to a bare-bones minimum. (And I do

mean minimum-how about fewer than 100 central corporate staffers for global $30 billionplus ABB? Or around 25 and 3 for multi-billion Nucor and Virgin, respectively?) Shift the

power and the financial accountability to the folks who are bringing in the beans, not the

ones who are counting or analyzing them.

Lesson 17

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"Have fun in your command. Don't always run at a breakneck pace. Take leave when you've

earned it. Spend time with your families." Corollary: "Surround yourself with people who take

their work seriously, but not themselves, those who work hard and play hard."

Herb Kelleher of Southwest Air and Anita Roddick of The Body Shop would agree. Seek

people who have some balance in their lives, who are fun to hang out with, who like to

laugh (at themselves, too) and who have some non-job priorities which they approach with

the same passion that they do their work. Spare me the grim workaholic or the pompous

pretentious "professional;" I'll help them find jobs with my competitor.

Lesson 18

"Command is lonely."

Harry Truman was right. Whether you're a CEO or the temporary head of a project team,

the buck stops here. You can encourage participative management and bottom-up

employee involvement but ultimately, the essence of leadership is the willingness to make

the tough, unambiguous choices that will have an impact on the fate of the organization.

I've seen too many non-leaders flinch from this responsibility. Even as you create an

informal, open, collaborative corporate culture, prepare to be lonely.