Notes From Speech by Colin Powell

I had the opportunity to listen to Colin Powell speak on leadership at the BAI Retail Delivery Conference with.  Here are some excerpts from his speech . . .

Followers Are the Key

When I went to Ft. Benning, I drove onto the post and the moto says “Follow me.” Put the followers in the best position possible to get it done.  Followers get it done.  Your responsibility is to make sure your followers are “seized with the task.”  What is the purpose of our activity?  I like that word best.  Purpose.  From Purpose you get mission and goals.  It’s not enough for those to exist in the big offices.  Every single person in the organization needs to have a piece of that purpose.  Everyone needs to have a purpose.

Nobody should ever be seen as a janitor, but an essential part of the organization.  They make sure your office shines and is ready to greet people the next day.

The best leaders I know have the ability to push that sense of purpose down to every person in the organization: With passion and intensity.

I’ve always followed this, even when I was Secretary of State.  I would go down to the garage and boiler room and talk to the people about what they did.  I want to know what they do. Just asking about them and their families. This takes work.  It doesn’t happen automatically.

Equip Your Followers to do the Job

The other thing you have to do is to make sure you have the equipment for the task ahead.  It’s one thing to talk a good game.  It’s another to make sure the followers have what they need.  Troops can tell immediately if you just talk the talk.  If you properly equip them, they’ll know.  They’ll connect to the purpose. If not, they won’t.

Deal With Non Performers Right Now

Good leaders have to have the guts to prune an organization.  Some leaders will turn the other way when they have someone who isn’t getting the job done.  The followers all see it and know.  If you don’t do anything about it, if you don’t deal with the non-performers, the rest know.  And they slack off.  Your commitment as a leader is to the organization, not to any one person.  If you don’t, it’s cancerous.

Integrity. Courage. Ethics, Intensity.

People are looking for leadership.  Integrity. Courage. Ethics, Intensity. You need to exude confidence and optimism.

When I was a new Lieutenant at Ft. Benning, an old Sargant came up to me and after telling me he thought I might amount to something some day said, “You know you’re a good leader if people will follow you, if only out of curiosity. You must never show fear. Hunger. Fatigue.  Show none of those emotions.  They’ll follow you if only out of curiosity to see how you get them out of that mess.  The best leaders accomplish leadership through trust, not fear.

Embrace Problems

Leadership is also about problem solving.  Real leaders face reality and solve problems.  They don’t push them aside.  The day people stop bringing you problems, you’re not leading.  They either don’t think you can, or worse, they don’t think that you care.

Four Forces Shaping Our World

Economics and wealth creation is whats changing the world.  Not military and containment.

The second is energy.  The idea that we’ll be energy independent is crazy.  It won’t happen.  We don’t want it to happen.  We’re connected.  It’s not going to change.

The third is the environment.  America will have to be a leader in this area.

Finally, education. We have to get this right.  We have the best universities in he world, but our K-12 is unacceptable.  All the nations of the world are investing here.  We’ll have to as well.

Exciting Times, Great Opportunities

I’ve seen far worse times in our country during my lifetime. Our standing is low, it’s recoverable.

We are the leader.  People still look to us and will continue to look to us.

Tags: ColinPowell, Secretary of State, Leadership, Ft. Benning, problem solving, decision making, ethics, integrity, followership

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