Oren Harari's analysis of Colin Powell's leadership principles and practices

¶ … Leadership Secrets of Colin Powell by Oren Harari

Collin Powel is considered to have been one of the most successful leaders at his level. It is rare to find parallel leadership models among the military. However, according to an exposition by Harari, Collin postulates that leadership has more to do with responsibility than privilege and rank. He says that people must commit to sharing a mission. Evaluation of the standards of performance, attention to details, getting close to talented people and standing in their midst, people empowerment and showing a strong resolve, are necessary for them to succeed in their endeavours. This article will be reviewing, critiquing, and analyzing the article "The leadership secrets of Colin Powell by Oren Harari." "

Review

The first part of the book starts with a section named "Powell as Provocateur," It contains some mind blowing chapters including "knowing when to piss people off," When to challenge the Pros" and "Promote Clash Ideas" and other parts of the book that talk about how Powel deals with strategy matters and the executive. It also details information about Powel's character. All Chapters in the review end with "Powel Principles." In the Chapter " Prepare for Loneliness" the following principles are brought to light:

Being in command is a lonely place. The leader makes the ultimate decision even as the strong ones come to terms with the heavy significance associated with their leadership position.

Leading by example. All employees wait for the leader to provide direction.

One should know when to leave the scene. There are times when leaving is the best a leader can do for people.

Leadership and responsibility is the same thing. It is actually the most important responsibility. If one wishes to become responsible they must take it unequivocally.

The Leadership secrets of Collin Powel present something to ponder, especially for people looking for inspiration and wisdom in their leadership roles. The author outlines the gains of leadership and the shortfalls that managers face therein in real life. He simplifies the leadership strategy concepts and outlines the attributes that make leaders succeed and attain a great level of loyalty among their followers. Powel postulates that leadership is about pushing the science of management to the edge and even snapping the limits. The book is a great asset for managers, and can help them become successful. Professor Oren Harari breaks down the philosophies of leadership and approaches that are relevant in business environments (Harari, n.d).

The book outlines the central driving principles of negotiation as applied by Collin Powell. Harari met Powell and listened; as the latter spoke, he wrote a strongly compelling article about the leader that it soon became a top featured piece in the Wall Street Journal. He reveals the secrets and insightful methods that made him succeed so much. The descriptions are brief and snappy, but they are full of the spirit and depth that drove Powell's leadership wheels. The leadership secrets of Collin Powell describe how his leadership style goes beyond the templates to examine leadership holistically. The review describes Powell's style that also doubles up as a practical and penetrating approach. The book holds the potential to help readers inspire marked performance in their endeavours. The book analyses:

* Powell as a Provocateur -- the methods that Powell uses to inspire people to have a productive debate that is totally free of squabbles and quarrels.

* The Powell Character -- how to take over the leadership role and set a positive tone throughout the organization

* Powell's Principles -- Pointed credos that have acted as the tenets of a sustained leadership in success and in anxious moments

The review fronts some realistic and honest insights. The Leadership Secrets of Collin Powell happens to be the first book that details Powell's goal driven methods in his leadership. The book provides useful insights to all those who wish to lead with a difference. It does not matter where the leadership happens. It is a mission and people-based leadership style. It has led to excellence in performance and successful competition.

Powell's book summarises the inner attributes of the Man that one of the major papers, The Newsweek, describes as the most respected man in America's "Public Life." It touches on a wide range of issues, such as the strategies that Powell used to make individuals perform better, and his unique gifted manner of articulation of the goals and values expected. The book unveils the techniques that the man used in crystal clear tone and voice. His resolve is captured clearly, while hid serious approach is unmistakably that of a serious general set to achieve his missions. The book presents readers with absolute and practical solutions to leadership. The book delves deep to examine what motivates Collin Powell. It outlines purpose nobility, organization, credibility in leadership performance, victory and organizational integrity. It outlines how these principles can be used to get out of any difficult leadership situation. It is a version of leadership that focuses on more action and little talk. This is a model that is bound to succeed when you don't have failure as one of your options on the cards (Harari, 2003).

Analysis

It is a common tendency to request for the executive summary that highlights and summarises achievements and failures, with the latter trimmed to insignificance while the glorious parts are magnified in such media programs as PowerPoint. This approach is problematic because it is the same executives who must understand the details, if they are to make good of the principles outlined there. Indecisions are largely caused by lack of sufficient information. Executives tend to pry and probe opinions across the spectrum and ask for even more information before they decide. According to Powell, one is likely to miss the window of opportunity with such procrastination. He cites that such a window of opportunity will have been closed, in military scenarios, by the time the leader decides. He points out that there are times when you cannot have sufficient information to decide anything. Good leadership requires that one makes a decision with the available information.

According to Powell, responsibility isn't just about popularity, glory or even infamy or responsibility. He states that leadership entails loneliness and hard work. He states that the glory for him comes from serving people and responsibility is a load that requires strong shoulders to carry. He states that genuine leadership is challenging. Powel also borrows a bit from Winston Churchill. He quotes the famous politician in the expression that success is measured by one's ability to sustain an enthusiastic demeanour between failure episodes.

According to Powell, true leadership is really about integrity. He points out that leaders should not get wrapped up in what they do. He presents a unique and practical leadership model that has been accepted by friends and foes alike. He has bolstered leadership principles. Professor Harari presents these valued points in his book (Oren Harari -- Leadership secrets of Colin Powell -- Leadership Skills, 2007).

This is not a biographical account of Collin Powell. The central and driving theme of this writing is focused on leadership and uses Collin Powel as the icon and agent of positive and successful leadership. It is an outline that uses the author as a vehicle that took the stated principles to the relevant areas of successful application.

Each of the comprehensive chapters deals with any one of the sixteen leadership lessons that Collin discusses. The organization of the content in comprehensive chapters makes it a great read. One can read a chapter at a time and still get everything they need to know about the topics.

The lessons in the book come with illustrated examples anecdotes and quotations from Powell and the famous Fortune 500 leaders in business. Although the life of the author is largely about military service and governance, the lessons he presents in his book are just as applicable in other sectors of social and business life. In fact, the author carefully makes a transition from the military settings to business scenarios and perspectives.

The decision by the author to drop names is a little disappointing. While his references to business institutions and leaders in politics are spot-on and effective, his people referencing is largely strenuous and non-effective. It comes out as though he wishes to brag about who he knows in echelons of power (Harari, 2002).

Critique

Strategic leaders, according to the army leadership, are the people tagged as the highest level think-tanks, poli-military experts and fighters in wars. It further outlines that strategic leadership entails specific interpersonal, technical and conceptual skills and competencies. Such qualities are used by strategic leaders to deliver the anticipated results. Strategic leaders have the task to maintain the military culture even as they present a vision that is compelling for the future. They ought to communicate this vision to a wide audience; even as they lead personally and initiate change.

Strategic leaders operate in areas of heightened uncertainty, complexity, volatility and even ambiguity.

Powell cites that in the early years as an officer in the army, he used his experiences of youth, his first army assignments and his ROTC. He says that even as he moved, he encountered challenges to his personal values and still developed greater competencies. He eventually attained his warrior principles. He says he kept making painful decisions as he learnt more lessons in leadership approaches. He also learnt ways to get along and cooperate with his peers and even his subordinates. He also came to know that actions lead to consequences and thus, subsequently developed his consequences for his actions. He acquired and developed the strength to handle stress, complexity and ambiguity. He used his initial 10 years in the service to refine his leadership skills through the ranks. He says he learned the way to handle leaders in higher hierarchy. He resolved many crises. He was subjected to many situations of uncertainty and ambiguity. In my view, the initial years of his career were the defining moments that shaped what he came to be as he wrote the book.

Powell soon faced greater challenges in his career in the latter years. He used his earlier experiences to bolster his own confidence in higher office. He has been cited by his peers and seniors to have had strong work ethics. He reports to have gained from superior mentorship through the ranks up until he served his term as the chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (Roth, 1994).

Powell was known for his exceptional negotiation skills with ARVN and communication approaches. He succeeded greatly at enabling his teams and those at higher levels reach consensus. Part 43 A of this review shows that the technical and conceptual abilities were developed in the early years of his military service. He attended graduate school at George Washington University. He took charge as a battalion commander for a year in the republic of Korea. He had a stint in the Pentagon for nine months, served under the fellowship program in the White House, attended school at the National War College and took his service to work as the Brigade Commander in 101 stAirborne (Air Assault) regiment. His strategic leadership development entails a number of elements. His strategic leadership improved as his competencies developed. He was appointed the secretary of state in 2011. He came on with a host of experiences that he had accumulated along his career path. He had served three presidents and worked for seven years in the Washington Circle. He was a master of system operations at the White House. He had shown that he would be an effective secretary of state. He came on with a different approach to his predecessors. While they only concentrated on foreign policy, he added himself the duties of ensuring that management worked efficiently. He stated in a speech he delivered in 2002 that he had not moved in government to serve the needs of the American people in foreign policy alone. He stated that he was taking up the job as the leader and manager of the department of foreign policy (Powell & Persico, 1996). He also shared a strong vision with the staff in the state department. He stated clearly that he was taking full charge of the management of the state department. The man has assumed and privately assumed the duties and obligations in a clear sign of statesmanship. The man evolved and transcended the two separate careers of military leadership to statesmanship by using the same competencies that made him succeed in his earlier career days (Johansen, 2003). Collin Powell is gifted with people skills and easily gains admiration from everyone he gets in touch with. This does not mean that everyone always agrees with him; that is an impossible task in a democratic environment. He is often consulted by both democrats and republicans on leadership strategies and other issues. In particular, he served as the chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff under President George W. Bush. He served in the same capacity under the senior Bush and was sought to be the running mate for Bill Clinton in his quest for presidency in 1992. He is one neutral technocrat that transcends party lines with ease and makes friends on both sides of the divide. This is the reason why Collin Powell has been the subject of discussion in over 20 books. He also has an autobiography named 'My American Journey'. Oren Harari identified a practical mission and leadership based on the people during the reading of Collin Powell's autobiography. This is the type of leadership that makes Powell stand out from the crowd.