General Colin Powell, Secretary of State in the George W. Bush administration and leader of the US Army during the Gulf War, proposes the following essential principles to be a leader:
1. Being responsible will upset some people
Good leaders must care and be responsible for the welfare of their group, this, on certain occasions, will not like some people who will be upset by what you do and the decisions you make. If, as a leader, you are in search of being loved and understood by all the people who are under your responsibility, you will very surely have difficulties in making decisions, since these will affect people in one way or another, it will also lead to Disjunctions that cannot be allowed, the good leader confronts those who must be confronted and gives recognition to those who have earned it, if you try to like everyone and get their appreciation, you will not be able to make difficult decisions without thinking that this or that member of the group is going to be upset. Proceeding equally well with everyone,Regardless of what they do and their contributions, it makes people who are truly worth and contribute to the well-being of the group feel uncomfortable.
2. The day the soldiers stop bringing their problems to you, that day you stopped being their leader
Most leaders suffer from this disease due to the barriers they put up so that the flow of information is presented from the bottom up, in addition, what they have taught us and what we perceive in the environment is that when someone asks for help, that someone he is branded as weak, because we consider him incapable of solving problems and providing solutions and solutions. The true leader creates climates in which assessing problems is more important than pointing out blame.
3. Don't get carried away by experts and elites. Experts often have more data than judgment
True leaders are those who grease their hands, those who fearlessly work hand in hand with their entire team. When guidelines emerge from penthouse offices they often create disagreements in the country people, they wonder, and rightly so, what is the manager thinking? and they end with phrases like: of course he is not here to realize how things really are.
4. Don't be afraid to challenge the professionals, even in your own field.
It is always good to seek advice from those who have specific knowledge, observe them and learn from them, but do not forget that the leader is you and that even the most sacred experts can make mistakes and, in the case of some advisers who have reached it all, become complacent. and lazy. Leadership does not emerge from blindly obeying anyone.
5. Never leave out the details. When everyone's mind is asleep or distracted, the leader must be doubly vigilant
A valuable leader, in addition to freely delegating and empowering others, maintains attentive observation of day-to-day details, does not ignore matters that he considers to be "operational details" nor does he expect his delegates to resolve them. The effective leader is obsessed with details, thereby nullifying conformism and seeking to challenge people and challenge processes.
6. You don't know what you can do until you do it
The leader is not the one who waits for the consent of others to execute, he is the one who executes and experiments because he knows that if he spends his time asking people for permission, he will surely find one that will say NO. This is why he has decided not to ask, he is prudent but not stupid. The most effective managers are those who think if I have not been told DON'T DO IT explicitly, then I can do it, while weak managers are of the thought if I have not been told to DO IT, it is because I cannot do it yet.
7. Look beyond what you see on the surface
Look, look for solutions, outlets, proposals, new spaces, new markets, new business opportunities, ways to make your production more efficient, ways to satisfy your customers and employees more, look. Don't apply the motto "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." Do you remember when you were a child and took apart toys to find out what was inside them? Get that child afloat again, act proactively and not reactively. The reality will not always be the same and you must be prepared to face it.
8. The organization is not really the achiever
For the vast majority of companies and managers, their best asset is their people, but in reality, how many of them are concerned with fostering environments where the most capable, the most creative and productive are attracted, retained, trained and allowed to give Unleash your creativity and ingenuity without strings attached? In today's economy what really matters, above administrative fashions or managerial theories, is the people who implement them, only the leader who attracts the best achieves the best results.
9. Organization charts and titles are worthless
An organization chart is, at best, a pretty picture framed in fine wood. In a well-run company, the organization chart is of little use, perhaps to know at what level you are, but nothing more. People often follow a person without titles or with fewer titles more than another, but who has skills such as courage, expertise, persistence and who cares about their work, the organization, their group and their colleagues. The true power of a leading manager, apart from having privileged status, lies in the ability to influence and inspire.
10. Never let your ego get so attached to your position that when you lose your position, your ego will go with it.
This lesson is a sister to the previous one. Many times organizations enter a phase of decline because people stick to what it says in the job description manual and do not try to overcome themselves by making it more productive. The real leader understands that our jobs are becoming obsolete and the question today in the performance evaluation is not how well have you performed in your job since the last evaluation? It is how much I change it?
11. Don't look for stereotypes, stop hunting the latest management fads
There is no administrative model or "philosophy" to ensure the general well-being of an organization. Following the fashionable managerial theories is not only dangerous due to the changes that may occur, but also causes mistrust in management and rigidities in management. vision and action. Leaders must be flexible, they understand that management models are not Aladdin's lamp, but useful tools that can be used in certain situations and in certain fields.
12. Perpetual optimism is a force multiplier
An optimistic environment, in which the manager shows the firm attitude that we can change, we can be the best, we can achieve the goals we set for ourselves, it quickly spreads like a virus that infects everyone and allows greater motivation. It is not about accepting everything that is done or thinking that it will improve just by thinking about it and being positive.
13. The powell rule for choosing your people
The leader must look for people who look beyond their noses and who have strong values, integrity, loyalty, a desire to excel, and the energy to push their work to the max. Good leaders make sure they hire well from the start.
14. Great leaders are almost always great simplifiers
Leaders always decide clearly, without a doubt, without showing ambiguity and transmit that firmness to all the people in their group, thereby achieving maximum credibility and integration in the organization. Good leaders keep things simple, they don't get complicated.
15. Use the formula P @ 70
Part I. In the formula P @ 70, the P represents the probability of success and the numbers represent the percentage of information acquired. Part II. Once the information is in the 40 to 70 range, follow your hunch. Do not make any decisions or take any action if you do not have at least a 40% chance of being right, but do not wait to collect 100% of the information to take action, trust your instinct. In addition, procrastination in an effort to reduce risk often increases risk.
16. The commander on the battlefield is always right, and the last in the ranks is wrong, unless proven otherwise.
The responsibility of the leader is great, so it is preferable to keep the final decisions in the hands of few people. Shift financial power and responsibility to those who do business, not to those who analyze data and correct accounts.
17. Enjoy what you do. Don't stay at a pace that wears you out. Take your vacations when they belong - enjoy your family
Passion and persistence when it comes to work are fine, but why not apply them to the other fields of our lives, to relationships with our family, to doing things we like like playing sports or going to the movies. Leaders are able to balance their lives.
18. Harry Truman was right: those in positions of responsibility are very lonely
The essential characteristic of leadership is decision-making and whether we like it or not, the really important decisions are made by a leader, it does not matter if participatory management or bottom-up integration is encouraged, no one is in a position to make the difficult decisions more than the leader.
Source: Harari, Oren. The Powell Principles. McGraw Hill Professional, 2002.
Below is a video of an interview with General Colin Powell expressing his thoughts on leadership. (3 videos, 38 minutes)
