It Worked For Me Essay

Colin Powell’s “It Worked For Me in Life and Leadership” (2012) is a riveting book that discusses in great detail the simple but often-fundamental leadership principles that have been consigned to oblivion by most people and leaders. The evocative book provides a basis on which one can evaluate their strengths and weaknesses in leadership in all dimensions, particularly at the work place and suggests other areas of improvement that the reader can asses to ensure proper development. Through careful, frequent and honest evaluations from both self and others, it is possible for a person to become the best version of himself or herself; in turn, this contributes to a well-rounded leader.

The third key section of leadership is in endeavor. A principal of praise and sharing the brunt of responsibilities from mistakes with followers has been discuss several times in other books as well as my current Ethical Leadership Class. Phillips (pg. 103) points out this principal with, “When a subordinate did a good job, Lincoln praised, complimented, and rewarded the individual. On the other hand, he shouldered responsibility when mistakes were made.” This aspect of praising and shouldering responsibility causes followers to take risks and to be innovating in their approach to the corporate mission and vision. This inspires people around the leader to learn and grow and maybe have the confidence to be a change agent not just a yes person.

There were four sections of the chapter that was very important. The first section was on remembering the effect one has on people. Leaders need to understand how they affect their people, “their optimism and pessimism are equally infectious” (p. 35). If the leader is in a bad mood, the employees will sense that and be in the same mood. Abrashoff talks about his “dark side” and how he purposely stays away from his crew when he is having a bad day. The second section talks about holding leaders accountable. Leaders need to make sure they recognized their part in a mishap and take some of the blame.

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.

In investigating and writing the final unit 5 project I was able to concentrate on core research initiatives for what a true leader’s role is within an organization. I learned the significance of an organizations vision and mission statement and developed a better sense of how to collaborate with people within an organization and working with them to meet the organizations goals. Additionally I learned the importance of emotional intelligence and using it to make sound judgement with regards to various situations of decision making. I also learned the fundamental of mentoring and how it can contribute to improved performance

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

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.”

One of the biggest lessons learned from this course is that to be an effective leader, you must have a diverse skillset. I’m not sure if there is any one magical component or characteristic in being a great leader. One influence during my review of the literature was that; although easier for some, I see leadership as something we must continually improve upon. This is in contrast to my belief during my first day of class, when I thought leaders just

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

What I found most valuable from module six was Leadership Influence. I found developing and inspiring others with in the Leadership Influence most valuable because I have mixed emotions about my ability to develop and inspire others. I need to work on diagnose, adapt, and communicate more effectively to develop and inspiring my subordinates and peers. The reason I need to work on these are that sometimes I get get tunnel vision and just attack the problem at hand and forget to develop and inspire my subordinates. The first thing that I would apply to my work center is diagnose what is going.

Although, there were many concepts in the book, these four concepts stuck out to me. Being able to apply these things to my life is imperative. The level 5 concept is key to a company’s success. In all my endeavors, I will continue to stay humble while leading people. I have found out the that when you are humble, it will allow individuals to buy into what you are telling them, and it will empower them to what to do what is best for the company. It will build a level of cohesiveness in the company. Also, hedgehog concept will allow for me to understand the direction I am trying to go, and the importance of understanding what is best for the company. I will do this by setting goals that are attainable and goals that are achievable for

Every day the things around us begin to change without us taking much observation of what is truly going on, weather it be big or small. The business world is one that is constantly changing and the people associated in this world have to adapt to those changes. Peter Drucker, the “creator” of management, knew change happens everywhere especially in the business world, so the changes were no surprise to him. In the novel, The Definitive Drucker by Elizabeth Haas Edersheim, Drucker’s ideas and thoughts on leadership, collaboration and motivation by fear of failure really impressed me and got my brain thinking truly like a businessman. Leadership is crucial in every aspect of any business and leadership is made up of the ability to make decisions along with the personality of a person. Collaboration plays a large role in well-run organization; within collaboration the correct skills need to be attached to the right person and a high level of communication through out the organization. Motivation by fear of failure has a large impact of employees in a business because no one wants to fail and that helps motivate some people in a business. These three areas of business feed off one another and together they help improve the business world. Looking at these topics it has helped me learn more about the business world and how it works from the inside out. After reviewing my biggest take-aways from Drucker, it made me think about how I learn and work but also how I can improve

     Chapter 3: Cultivate managers who share your vision was the most important chapter to me. It talks about putting the right managers in the right positions. Welch says, “What we are looking