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I think leadership is both a trained thing and a natural gift.

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
Natural
Thing
Think
Thinking
Trained
Gift
Leadership

More quotes by Colin Powell

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I think that military, corporate, and non-political organizations are pretty much similar.
Colin Powell
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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.
Colin Powell
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I think all of the attention of the world, to include the attention of the Arab world, should be on Saddam Hussein and whether or not he is prepared to give up the weapons of mass destruction that he has used to terrorise the region.
Colin Powell
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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
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As I've thought about gay marriage, I don't see any reason not to say that [couples] should be able to get married.
Colin Powell
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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.
Colin Powell
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There is no such thing as an unimportant person in an organization.
Colin Powell
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One important element of leadership is taking care of the troops.
Colin Powell
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Always be looking for the opportunities, and always be optimistic about what you can do with that opportunity.
Colin Powell
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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
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The great leaders that I have worked with are people who have a good sense of empathy with other people. They can walk a factory floor, or walk through a battalion and smell if there's something wrong.
Colin Powell
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Politics is different, because the mission is always to get the necessary votes. A good politician goes through everything in terms of mission and vision, and resourcing, but at the end of the day politicians have to make compromises in order to achieve consensus.
Colin Powell
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Over the years, the United States has sent many of its fine young men and women into great peril to fight for freedom beyond our borders. The only amount of land we have ever asked for in return is enough to bury those that did not return.
Colin Powell
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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.
Colin Powell
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Have a sense of humor to break the tension in times of great toil.
Colin Powell
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Effective leaders are made, not born. They learn from trial and error, and from experience.
Colin Powell
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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.
Colin Powell
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Let's not forget that Congress bears a lot of responsibility for many of the problems we have now
Colin Powell
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We need to understand that we as citizens and as a government in any community throughout this country have no more important obligation than to educate those who are going to replace us.
Colin Powell
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Surround yourself with people who take their work seriously, but not themselves, those who work hard and play hard.
Colin Powell