Colin Powell, A Natural Storyteller

A great leader who I admire is Colin Powell. He was born on April 5th, 1937 to immigrant parents, Luther and Maud Powell, from Jamaica. He was raised in the south Bronx and graduated from Morris High School in 1954. While studying geology at a community college he decided to join into the Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) program. He graduated from the program in 1958 and was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the U.S. Army. He married his wife, Alma Vivian Johnson in 1962 and they have three children together.

As is evident, the book starts with the introduction of the fundamental beliefs that the author has, and develops these into more elaborate and widely applicable areas. The insightful descriptions and advice given here are illustrative of how much input leadership requires from a person at a personal level. It requires a person to put their heart and mind into what they are doing to ensure that they are effective. Powell starts with personal experiences and wisdom that he has “collected or made up over the years” (p. 5). The points given are quite practical and illustrative of a person who has taken the time to learn, build and develop himself or herself in a way that is thoughtful, empirical and relatable. The first of his points I found

The overall objective of the book is to teach new, and old, leaders to become better leaders. While anyone can benefit from reading this

Most people recognize Colin Powell as one of the most admired and popular leaders of our time. Often times in leadership you will not always be popular or admired, so what makes this leader different? It was those core values ingrained in him at early age by his parents that would shape him as a future leader (Koltz & Powell, 2012). As with any great leader he’s had his fair share of trials and tribulations, but like an infantry officer he continued to press forward. Colin Powell has been a visionary and ethical leader since the early days of Persian Gulf to Washington’s corridors (Roth, 1993). Throughout my research he has become a personal inspiration for me due to his ability to inspire and motivate those around him. Let’s take a brief look into his background to provide a better understanding of his leadership style.

The central controlling idea of the book is that a leader must constantly look to improve their ability to lead and be tactically proficient.

General Colin Powell did the Commencement speech at Howard University on May 25, 1994. He did the speech after a cloud of controversy had happen at the university. A racist Black Muslim made a speech at Howard University. Howard policy is that anybody can express his or her freedom of speech on there campus. As you can figure out, the white community did not think of that very well. Connie Chung did a report saying that Howard University was a racist institution. All of this pressure was coming down at once. Howard said that they did not agree with the Black Muslims beliefs but will let them speak and express their opinions.

Colin Powell had a lot of choices and achievements in life were some of the choices good or bad? He had made some good choices like going to college and some of the choices he had made were not so good. But not just did he have good choices he also had achievements like overcoming a lot of injuries from the army or like being a four-star general in the army

Of all the leaders to research, whom I have discovered to be the most fitting for this assignment and inspirational in leadership style, comes out of the second section of the book WAR titled Killing by Sebastian Junger. This section of the book focuses a lot on the Commander of Battle Company Captain Dan Kearney and his leadership attributes as the Company Commander. It is actually in the first section of the book Fear did I first appreciate this Commander and why Junger makes mention of his battlefield decisions throughout the book. Although the book does a great job at portraying Kearney’s attributes, it is in the movie Restrepo where I was able to best appreciate his leadership attributes through the live

One of these values is to instill trust in people and they will trust you in return. This concept truly goes hand in hand with the leadership classes we had at the start of WOILE. I have taken away much insight about a Colin Powell and his leadership styles. What follows are a few things that really stood out to me. Thirteen Rules

This shows how respected he was among the Washington staff. This also shows the competence, candor, and integrity Powell posses throughout his term in Washington D.C. Colin Powell continues to advance through the ranks and through the staff jobs he was appointed to. He then served as senior military aide to Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger, helping to coordinate the invasion of Granada and the bombing of Libya (Biography.com, 2010). To help coordinate these attacks would have to take great courage, because there’s always a chance of casualties. He commits to these plans and excels with both operations.

General Powell highlights 18 lessons learned in leadership that are applied to successful companies, and how they are applied to leadership in his presentation to the Outreach Program, and the Sears Corporate Headquarters. These approaches can be applied not only in business but life in general. I will highlight three of the lessons that have impacted my career in the military

After reading all 18 of Colin Powell leadership principles, three of the principles stood out that I could identify with. The first, “Being responsible sometimes means pissing people off.”

General Powell displays transformation leadership through individualized consideration. “IC involves dealing with others as individuals and considering their needs, abilities, and aspirations as you work together to further their development.” General Powell’s Army background influences the idea of taking raw iron and fashioning it into a sword; as noted in his quote “leaders are made, not born” implies leadership is a shaping process. Transformational leaders who display individual consideration tend to coach and mentor, excel in two-way communications, listens effectively, and personalize interactions with subordinates. Part of General Powell’s principle of empowerment is an investment in the leadership potential of team members. This investment is necessary in sustaining productive organizations.

Colin Powell had to make lots of choices and most of them directly affected him. Like when he joined the ROTC, that started his military career. If he did not join the ROTC he may not have joined the military. The military is what brought him into fame. Colin Powell has set a very good example for the rest of the world around him.

In his book “It Worked for Me: In Life and Leadership,” Powell talks about his 13 rules he developed and continues to live by to this day. The rules range from checking you ego and staying optimistic. He gives different examples of his 13 rules with stories and tips that are both thought provoking and value focused regardless if the audience is military or civilian. In my review and analysis I will cover some of