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President Kennedy didn't negotiate out of the Cuban missile crisis simply because he and Khrushchev got along well. Khrushchev didn't have the cards.

Colin Powell

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Colin Powell
Age: 87
Born: 1937
Born: April 5
Diplomat
Former United States Secretary Of State
Politician
Soldier
New York City
New York
Colin Luther Powell
War
Cuban
Didn
Missiles
Wells
Kennedy
Well
Cards
Crisis
Along
Khrushchev
Simply
Missile
President
Negotiate

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The best leaders are those who break that mission down into the organization's constituent parts, so that everybody understands their role and how it all builds into the whole.
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You should never be so involved with your position/job that when the position is gone your entire self image is gone with it.
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I think that military, corporate, and non-political organizations are pretty much similar.
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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.
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It was President [Bill] Clinton and the United States congress in 1998 which said that the regime has to be changed because the regime would not give up its weapons of mass destruction. We came into office in 2001 and kept that policy because Saddam Hussein had not changed.
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We are not going to dwell on those things that divide us. We are going to rejoice in those things that keep us together to make this a better country - to reach down and back to touch every young person in need!
Colin Powell
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You know you're a good leader when people follow you out of curiosity.
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Actually, there is no more important task for a leader than to pick people. To make sure you have the very best people working for you.
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The less you associate with some people, the more your life will improve. Any time you tolerate mediocrity in others, it increases your mediocrity. An important attribute in successful people is their impatience with negative thinking and negative acting people.
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I think the Iranians are clearly determined to have a nuclear program. And we have to assume that with a nuclear program they have the capability and the will to create a nuclear weapon.
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The greatest gifts my parents gave to me...were their unconditional love and a set of values.
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Even the greatest of all strategists must occasionally take into account the presence of an enemy.
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I think you can improve on that natural ability with training and exposure to great leaders of the past and to management theories.
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The essence of leadership is building bonds of trust in your organization.
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There are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work, and learning from failure.
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I can think of nothing that Saddam Hussein can do diplomatically (to avoid war). I think that time is now over. He's had his chance, he has had many chances over the last 12 years and he has blown every one of those chances.
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Leadership is solving problems. 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 or concluded you do not care. Either case is a failure of leadership.
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President Reagan fueled the spirit of America. His smile, his optimism, his total belief in the ultimate triumph of democracy and freedom, and his willingness to act on that belief, helped end the Cold War and usher in a new and brighter phase of history.
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It ain't as bad as you think. It will look better in the morning.
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War should be the politics of last resort. And when we go to war, we should have a purpose that our people understand and support.
Colin Powell