Quote

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.

Colin Powell

Change background

T
T
T

Change font

TAGS & TOPICS

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
Make
Picks
People
Tasks
Leader
Sure
Working
Actually
Best
Task
Important
Pick

More quotes by Colin Powell

Image
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
Image
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
Image
Sometimes what my analytical mind says to me is not what I'll do.
Colin Powell
Image
There are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work, and learning from failure.
Colin Powell
Image
We view Egypt as a good friend of America. We are in constant touch with them. We provide them economic and military assistance as part of our relationship.
Colin Powell
Image
Economy's got to get moving, we've got to get the unemployment rate down. That may be the defining issue of the campaign.
Colin Powell
Image
Saudi Arabia will have to decide its own path, and I don't know if it will decide a path like any other nation in the region or if it will design something that is unique to Saudi Arabia.
Colin Powell
Image
Trust is the glue that holds an org together & the lubricant that moves it forward.
Colin Powell
Image
The person who will decide whether or not there will be war or peace is Saddam Hussein, and all he has to do is give up these terrible weapons that he has used to kill fellow Arabs, fellow Muslims in that part of the world, and to step away from his past behaviour which invaded neighbouring countries.
Colin Powell
Image
Thee are such horrible weapons. And so no sane leader would ever want to cross that line to using nuclear weapons. And, if you are not going to cross that line, then these things are basically useless.
Colin Powell
Image
The essence of leadership is building bonds of trust in your organization.
Colin Powell
Image
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.
Colin Powell
Image
I have always admired the Linking Pin theory of management specialist Rensis Likert. It says that in every organization there are leaders who link the lower level to the upper level. What makes somebody an effective link as a leader is that he conveys down everything that above wants and he conveys up everything that below needs.
Colin Powell
Image
The United States is not stingy. We are the greatest contributor to international relief efforts in the world.
Colin Powell
Image
You have achieved excellence as a leader when people will follow you anywhere if only out of curiosity.
Colin Powell
Image
For all the hardship, I was still excited to be on the trail, testing my endurance, feeling especially alive as strength and fatigue flowed alternately through my limbs.
Colin Powell
Image
Don't be afraid to challenge the pros, even in their own backyard.
Colin Powell
Image
Perpetual optimism is a force multiplier.
Colin Powell
Image
I would not presume from this distance, nor would America presume to say who should be the leader of the Iraqi nation.
Colin Powell
Image
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.
Colin Powell