Customer Reviews

The Leadership Secrets of Colin Powell

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In "Leadership Secrets of Colin Powell," Oren Harari distills and expounds upon the leadership style of one of the most well respected leaders of our time. It is not a biography about or tribute to Powell, neither is it a book written by Powell. Rather, Harari has drawn from a wide range of sources such as personal communication with Powell, magazine articles, books, speeches, etc. The result is a powerfully motivating and thought-provoking book.

"Leadership Secrets" has 16 chapters divided into 3 main sections:

Section 1-Powell as Provocateur-jumps right in with "Know When to Piss People Off." The other chapters in include "Promote a Clash of Ideas," "The Ego Trap," "Don't Go Looking for No," "The Chief Dis-organizer," and, "When to Challenge the Pros."

Section 2-Powell on Strategy and Character-is milder but just as thought provoking with, "Close With the Enemy," "People Over Plans," "Vigilance in Detail," "Situation Dictates Strategy," "Powell's Rules for Picking People," and, "Trust Those in the Trenches."

Section 3-The Powell Character-dwells on some of the less concrete aspects of leadership with "The Powell Way," "Optimism Is a Force Multiplier," "Take Leave when You've Earned It," and, "Prepare for Loneliness."

The book moves along at a good pace. Harari does a nice job of presenting concepts without feeling the need to spell things out in excruciating detail. Each chapter is self-contained making the book easy to pick up and read in spurts. Finally, each chapter ends with a nice summary of the main concepts.

"Leadership Secrets" is certainly on the upper end of the bell curve of business and leadership books. I give it an unequivocal endorsement.

Perhaps no political leader in the United States is more widely respected than Colin Powell, decorated soldier, architect of the 1991 U.S. victory over Iraq, former presidential contender and current Secretary of State. Using anecdotes and quotations from Powell's life, management professor Oren Harari distills leadership philosophies and methods that can be applied to business. The book is written in a short, pithy style, reflecting Powell's own direct approach. While the principles Harari uncovers are not innovative, they are comprehensive and practical. Charged with maintaining an international coalition in the ongoing war on terrorism, Powell has been thrust into one of the world's most important leadership roles. For this reason alone, we from getAbstract recommend Harari's book for its insight into the man's leadership philosophies, which have had a profound influence on U.S. military and government organizations.

I've never been so inspired by an Amazon purchase that I felt compelled to write a review, but "Secrets" is my watershed moment.

As part of my never ending quest to become the best Director of Sales / Manager / Leader possible, I have read countless books paralleling military structure and business structure. For the most part, I digest the material and attempt to adapt it to my personal situation, relationships with my employees, and relationships with my customers. Most often, any direct quote or application is seemingly too obvious an adaption from some military procedure or code. "Secrets", however, was different.

Perhaps because it was written miuns direct contact with Colin Powell (can this *really* be true) that we get the perspective of Harari and his researchers on the relevancy, and not a direct military viewpoint. Perhaps. I can't imagine Harari enlisted the help of an Army platoon to write this book, but probably a young, talented MBA student with little real perspective on military life.

Either way, I earmarked and bookmarked numerous ideas that I'll apply to my work environment and I highly recommend this book to managers who want to be true leaders.

This is an excellent leadership book for military members and corporate managers. If you were in any way confused about how to lead units, build confidence in organizations or improve yourself.....get this book! I can't put it down. I'm pouring over it in preparation for my next military assignment. I originally purchased the book to learn about the "Powell Way", but I quickly realized it could also be "my way" as well. I'm a LCDR in the U.S. Navy and also a freshly minted MBA--what a great book to prepare me for the upcoming challenges in my career.

The book is packed full of cogent examples of problems and how Secretary / General Powell executed his plan to quickly resolve them. I wish, however, the book contained more failures or unsuccessful exploits and the lessons Powell learned. I believe that kind of insight is also just as valuable in leadership....how to deal with failure.

Overall, I highly recommend this book be made required reading for every MBA, officer candidate, cadet and midshipman--Simply put, this is good stuff.

I must admit that Colin Powell was not an autobiography that I would pick up and read. In my fast-paced life even I have formed a mental picture of what Powell is or isn't. I swept through the pages with vigor, as I formed a new image of Colin Powell. I never looked at Powell as a leader. I had stereotyped Powell as just another success story of a son of immigrant parents born in Harlem, New York and a decorated Vietnam veteran that has become on of the United States highest ranking government officials.
The author Oren Harari, a business management professor, did a great job highlighting 18 leadership principals of Colin Powell, before and after September 11, 2001. This book is definitely a clear and well written keeper. I really respect Powell's independence, leadership, and his ability to challenge traditional methods of leadership, and unknowingly created his own style.
What set the pace is how the author explained what the book isn't. I feel that it set the stage for an unbiased and scientific look at Powell's leadership qualities. This book is a good tool for entrepreneurs, business professionals, military personnel, and young people.
Harari is truly a gifted writer, I look forward to adding his books to my library.

Every year I assigned this book as a book report. Every student chose it. However, only one could read it. So this year I had everyone read it for my Leadership class. Best decision I made.

Harari describes General Powell's leadership principles in a respectful and simple manner. One learns to always listen to everyone. Walk the same route every day so people know you will. That way they will come up to General Powell and express their ideas. General Powell had a special phone line for ideas.

My students were constantly getting inspired by this book. They were learning by General Powell's example.

An excellent book and a must read!!!

Oren Harari has pulled together some of Colin Powell's words of wisdom, many of which were already published in Powell's autobiography, and turned them into a useful leadership book. Harari fleshes out many of Powell's ideas and gives memorable examples of what he believes Powell means when he says, for example, that "being responsible sometimes means pissing people off." This book is a tribute to Powell and can at times come across as interpreting the teachings of the Messiah, but since Powell is one of the few leaders in today's world that is virtually universally respected, this is forgivable. The Leadership Secrets of Colin Powell is a valuable addition to any leadership library.

The Leadership Secrets of Colin Powell, by Oren Harari, is a very insightful book about the leadership principles that guide former Secretary of State Colin Powell. There are numerous leadership lessons contained in the book. It is clear that Mr. Powell has an intuitive ability to provide leadership and to make good decisions, even when they are the tough decisions to make. Harari depicts these lessons in an easy to read, and easy to understand fashion. Though much of the book details Mr. Powell's leadership in military or high-level political interactions, the ideas translate into any form of leadership and business.

There are so many examples of Mr. Powell making excellent choices which served to enhance his ability as a leader. I found myself wondering if his style of leadership could be learned, or if it was just a gift. One of the many leadership lessons that Harari imparts is that leadership is - in Powell's case and everyone else's - a learned trait. He states that "leadership skills are learned, and wisdom is the result of many years of hard knocks, false starts, and trial and error." This is a comforting thought for those of us striving to further enhance our leadership skills. There are many methods that Mr. Powell employs to inspire his people to work with him, and to work for him. One of these areas is the importance of optimism. Not blind optimism, but in enthusiasm and high expectations. He believes that if you lower your expectations, or set the bar too low, that is what you will meet, as that is what you are aiming for. If; however, you aim high in an optimistic manner, you are likely to reach those heights. Rather than relying simply on an optimistic approach, Mr. Powell believes in keeping records of achievements and even areas to improve, in this way, the optimism he espouses is proven rather than looked on as mere rhetoric.

One of the chapters that I did not expect dealt with the need to have fun at work, and to stay balanced with your family life. The areas of family, fun, and getting away from the job are often overlooked when it comes to discussions of leadership. There were excellent reminders in this book about the morale raising value of getting away and enjoying your time off. Too often people equate "at the workplace" hours to quality when the same quality might be achieved in a more efficient fashion. There are truly some words of wisdom in this book. I personally enjoyed the discussion about the value of a sense of humor at the workplace. Too often we get caught up in taking ourselves too seriously. The best way to have some fun, as the book states, is to take the job seriously, but don't take yourself too seriously.

Covering a multitude of issues from involving everyone in the "change" process, rewarding your best performers, and getting rid of mediocre performers; Powell also believes in being loyal up, down, and sideways. Harari suggests that by following Powell's leadership style, one can attract the best talent, and the most creative talent. By allowing for innovation and pushing the envelope, a leader can expect to keep things moving forward rather than settling on what has worked in the past. Harari provides insight into the "Powell Way" which requires character, courage, sacrifice, loyalty, and selflessness among other attributes.

This excellent book closes with an appendix entitled: Quotations from Chairman Powell: A Leadership Primer, in which Harari lists a series of quotes regarding leadership and management from Powell, with Harari's "civilian" take on the information. This, in itself, is a very valuable section.

An Excellent book that is worth a 5 star rating.

This is not my usual kind of reading matter -- for some reason, I have never been attracted to biographies. However, this book was recommended by Bill Hybels (of the Willow Creek Global Leadership Summit, GLS) when he interviewed Powell in 2007 on his approach to leadership. The interview at the GLS was really good, and the book kind of hovered on my radar until I bought it recently.

Well, it turns out that the Powell book is really good! To be more accurate, it is not so much a biography as a leadership book based on the life and experience of Powell, who has had a remarkably successful career as a leader by any standards. In Harari's words: "The lessons in this book constitute a clear strategic, philosophical, value-based, and ethical blueprint by which Powell leads". Some of the discussion is (understandably) somewhat militaristic, but Harari does a good job of bringing the principles out.

The book distills Powell's "leadership principles" and presents them clearly and succinctly, together with examples from Harari's experience and other sources. These pithy leadership principles are memorable and direct, making this an easy book to put into practice.

A great quote from Powell himself, which sums up his leadership philosophy rather well: "Leadership is not rank, privilege, titles, or money. It is responsibility".

Recommended for anyone interested in developing their leadership skills.

I purchased this CD set to listen to on the commute. It provides good information to keep in the back of your mind for later situations.