Colin Powell's Leadership Principles

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a. Colin L. Powell is a retired general of the United States Army (1958-1993). He also served as the 65th United States Secretary of State (2001-2005). Other positions held by Mr. Powell include National Security Advisor (1987-1989) and Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff (1989-1993). 3. Leadership Principles. a. “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 them or concluded that you do not care. Either case is a failure of leadership” (1) This is my favorite of Colin Powell’s leadership Principles. I have been in the Army long enough to realize that Soldiers of any rank superior or subordinate rely upon those they can …show more content…

b. “You don 't know what you can get away with until you try” (1) This is another of Collin Powell’s best principals in my opinion, which can be analyzed from so many different angles. As an Accountable Officer, nobody in the entire Brigade knows more than me when it comes to SSA Operations, so I should have the flexibility to make a decision I feel based on my expertise and experience is best for my area of responsibility. (2) One of the worst things a leader can be is indecisive. I would much rather get what I know needs to be done, done and explain the why behind my course of action on the back end, than to ask permission to do it upfront and risk being told no. It has nothing to do with being defiant, but everything to do with knowing your job and having the confidence to explain and make sense of your decisions to your …show more content…

As warrants up to this point, we have made our biggest impact by being subject matter experts in our fields to our Command and not too long ago, that was enough. Now we are expected to not only show up to formation, but do PT with the unit, run the Range, be the SHARP, EO, MRT, and so on. If we base our whole sense of worth on how well we know SARSS-1, what happens when we convert to GCCS-Army? If all we bring to the table is subject matter expertise at the SSA, what happens when we have to go do MDMP in a staff position? The same things that made us great in SARSS will make us great in GCSS-Army. The job did not change, only the computer program used to do