Colin Luther Powell (b.1937) is an American military hero and diplomat.
Born in New York City, the African-American son of Jamaican immigrants, Powell was educated at the City College of New York and received a commission in the U.S. Army in 1958.
Decorated for heroism in the Vietnam War, Powell later held a series of command posts and became a White House assistant for national security affairs 1987–89, and chairperson of the Joint Chiefs of Staff 1989–93. He was the chief of the 1990–91 U.S. military operations (Desert Shield and Desert Storm) against Iraq.
During 2001–05, Powell served as U.S. Secretary of State under President George W. Bush. Powell’s controversial 2003 speech to the United Nations, seeking broader international support for the Iraq War, was later exposed to be based on faulty intelligence; Powell has described this speech a “blot” on his record.
Powell has received many awards, notably two Presidential Medals of Freedom, the Citizen’s Medal and the Congressional Gold Medal. His books include his autobiography My American Journey (1995) and It Worked for Me: In Life and Leadership (2012.)
More: Wikipedia • READ: Works by Colin Powell
Being responsible sometimes means pissing people off.
—Colin Powell
Organization charts and fancy titles count for next to nothing.
—Colin Powell
Topics: Organization
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
Topics: Service
Trying to get everyone to like you is a sign of mediocrity.
—Colin Powell
The healthiest competition occurs when average people win by putting in above-average effort.
—Colin Powell
Topics: Effort
A dream doesn’t become reality through magic; it takes sweat, determination and hard work.
—Colin Powell
Topics: Dreams
Get mad, then get over it.
—Colin Powell
Topics: Anger
Leadership is the art of accomplishing more than the science of management says is possible.
—Colin Powell
There comes a time when soft power or talking with evil will not work where, unfortunately, hard power is the only thing that works.
—Colin Powell
If you are going to achieve excellence in big things, you develop the habit in little matters. Excellence is not an exception, it is a prevailing attitude.
—Colin Powell
Topics: Excellence, Attitude
There are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work and learning from failure.
—Colin Powell
Topics: Preparation, Success, Failure, Success & Failure
Don’t be afraid to challenge the pros, even in their own backyard.
—Colin Powell
Topics: Challenges
Every organization should tolerate rebels who tell the emperor he has no clothes.
—Colin Powell
Look for intelligence and judgment and, most critically, a capacity to anticipate, to see around corners. Also look for loyalty, integrity, a high energy drive, a balanced ego and the drive to get things done.
—Colin Powell
Either move or be moved.
—Colin Powell
Topics: Action
Wondering Whom to Read Next?
H. Norman Schwarzkopf American Military Leader
Eric Shinseki American Army Officer
Omar Bradley American Military Leader
George S. Patton American Military Leader
Hyman G. Rickover American Admiral
George Marshall American Military Leader
Douglas MacArthur American Military Leader
Robert S. Johnson American Military Leader
Eddie Rickenbacker American Aviator
Albert Pike American Masonic Scholar