Colin Powell Leadership Analysis

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Colin Powell experience as a leader began while he as attending college, he was a member of the ROTC program where he achieved the rank of company commander of the Pershing Rifles unit. As a young leader, he learned a valuable leadership lesson and committed not to ever fail again as a leader. While serving as the company commander, his goal was to win both the regular and trick drill competitions at the regional meet. A close friend of his was not as committed to his goal based on a personal problem, but Powell had faith in their friendship and refused to release him from the drill team. Powell’s company competed in the competition, but only won one of the two events based on his friend poor performance.
Mr. Powell is an advocate of challenging …show more content…
However, based on the timing, his school was not going to graduate in time for him to take command. He was told that he would lose this command and nothing could be done about it. He devised a plan to challenge this process whereby recommending to his leaders that they should assign him his command while allowing him to complete his school at the same time. They eventually agreed and he graduated six weeks after taking command. This was the first time that the Army had ever made this exception to their long-standing rule. Colin Powell is an inspirational leader, he clearly articulates his agenda and provide everyone with the tools and training necessary to take powerful action. He insists that everyone takes the responsibility for carving out the best ways to execute that agenda. I consider him to be inspirational because he is open and collaborative, he holds his direct reports fully accountable, and he rewards …show more content…
Powell builds and strengthens others by listening and empowering them. He stated that good listening begets good listening. He makes his direct reports feel valued by inquiring about their needs and personal lives, and he sends letters to their families in times of personal crisis or in the wake of a hard-won individual victory. This was important to his direct reports; their confidence was generally high because of the measures he would go through to show them how important they were with him in maintaining a successful organization. Mr. Powell believes when people are confident that they can count on their leaders, they are more likely to demonstrate those virtues themselves. He asserts “You can issue all the memos and give all the motivational speeches you want, but it the rest of the people in your organization don’t see you putting forth your best effort every single day, they won’t either”, (Harari,
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