Customer Reviews

The Powell Principles: 24 Lessons from Colin Powell, a Lengendary Leader (The McGraw-Hill Professional Education Series)

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
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Colin Powell gives us his strategies for success in this wonderful book. I am a CEO of a Fortune 500 company who has struggled with some of these issues over the years. This book helped me to understand that I am not alone and that some issues, although unspoken, are shared by all in leadership roles.

Retired four-star general and former Secretary of State Colin Powell is considered one of the most respected leaders in the U.S. Author Oren Harari's short book distills Powell's insights about leadership. As a formidable leader who has managed battles, bureaucracies and humanitarian missions, Powell has firm ideas about how a good leader behaves. Refreshingly, some of his principles are modestly anti-authoritarian. However, Harari does not develop Powell's background or explain how he implemented these principles during his long, varied career. Like the rules promulgated in similar books on leadership, many of these "lessons" seem arbitrary and redundant. Then again, it is interesting and useful to see how a leader of Powell's caliber thinks. Truncated as it may be, we recommend this short, concise collection to aspiring leaders. It is just about enough reading material for a short plane ride, but it provides a fair share of inspiration.

The title of this review is my favorite line from the book. Author Oren Harari gives a short and concise distillation of the leadership principles of former secretary of state Colin Powell. The book is presented as a collection of short sections each outlining one of twenty-four principles espoused in the book. Although much of what is covered in each principle seems like common sense and aligned with what other leadership books have to offer, there is enough that is new and fresh to make this work a worthwhile and fresh read.

One of my favorite principles of the book is presented towards the end and is entitled "Challenge the Pros". The main point of this principle encourages leaders not to be afraid to challenge the pros even in their own backyard. By pros he means consultants, attorneys, accountants and the like. Another one of my favorite principles is the notion of trusting those in the trenches. Powell believes that people in the trenches are closer to everything local --- conditions, allies, enemies, customers, employees, suppliers and competitors. I can not count how many times I have worked for an organization that totally ignores the opinions of those that are actually doing the work.

There are several other principles that I think make this book worth purchasing to add to your leadership knowledge. I also like the way the book is organized. Each lesson is presented in two or three pages with each lesson ending with three suggestions for how to implement or work to introduce the principle into your life or organization. Over the past year, I have read many books on leadership. What is most impressive about this one is that I feel I gained so much more information without having to read 300 pages! The thing that I like the most about Powell's ideas is that he is speaking from experience as a leader in the military as well as the former Secretary of State.

I received the item that I ordered days before it was stated to arrive. The item was in excellent shape. Thus, I will recommend this vender (via amazon.com) to everyone without any reservations.

Dr. J

I was really surprised by the book. I started to read and I could not stop it. I had to put aside a book that was already reading to get inside Powell's Principles. Powell touches the core values that a true leader should bear and need to be concerned. Values that the big coorporations leaders have forgotten while focusing into burocreacy and how to satisfy solely their own management system. Forgetting about how to lead people.
I would recommend the book to anyone who wants to perfect his leadership skills.

Just okay... a nice reference to refresh your thoughts but would have preferred some insight into the lessons!

I found the book to be easily read and understood. I used it to write a comparison contrast paper; referencing my leadership style with what I learned of Colin Powell's principles. I was pleasantly surprised of the similarities although we have been engaged in vastly different employment scenarios.
Colin Powell's principles are interesting. They are simple and follow ethical guidelines. I admire his outlooks. I generally have practiced similar work ethics and supervisory guidelines prior to learning his. However, I look forward to incorporating the principles I had not been utilizing.
The service of Amazon was right on the money as well. The purchase was delivered as promised without any "issues".

Excellent primer and on-going guide to how to enhance one's personal and professional development to help insure a successful career.

Excellent. To the point and usable. I am a better GM/COO because of it. I gave it to my managers for required reading.

It's a bit short...not deep at all....general common sense if you ask me....