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191 Colin L. Powell Colin L. Powell What’s the True Secret of Good Leadership? There Is None. Bookstores are filled with hundreds of volumes on leadership and management, many promising the “secret” to being an effective leader. But there are no secrets to good leadership, other than common sense and hard work.Do you remember that firstTown Hall meeting when I arrived at State over a year ago? We talked about the qualities and demands of leadership. I laid out some of the principles that are important to any organization if it is to succeed in its mission and maintain the highest morale among its ranks.Let me recap and add a little more. Dare to be the skunk at the picnic.Every organization should tolerate rebels who tell the emperor he has no clothes.This is not a license to be mean or rude. But make the tough decisions, confront people who need it, reward those who perform best. Speak your mind.Work toward consensus building and don’t hide from reality. The day people stop bringing you their problems is the day you have stopped leading them. Open your door and encourage folks to come in with their ideas and opinions. Let them argue with you.The people in the field, in the trenches,are closest to the problem and that is where the real wisdom lies. It is people who get things done.Plans don’t accomplish work.Organizational charts don’t either. People do.That’s why every individual is important. Set yourself the goal of creating an environment where the best,the brightest,the most creative are attracted,retained and unleashed. Challenge people to reinvent their jobs. Even large organizations can wither when leaders won’t challenge the old, comfortable ways of doing things. Effective leaders create a climate where people’s worth is measured by their willingness to learn new skills and see new responsibilities, thus constantly reinventing their jobs. Perpetual optimism is a multiplier. Do not pollute the atmosphere with pessimism. The ripple effect of a leader’s enthusiasm and optimism is incredible.The Marines call this a gung ho attitude:we can change things,we can achieve the impossible, we are the best. The Marines are right. Avoid whining and blaming.Embrace optimism. In any crisis, occasionally stop and step away from the confusion and shouting.Ask yourself two simple questions:What am I doing that I shouldn’t be doing? and,What am I not doing that I ought to be doing to influence the situation in our favor? Work actively to shape the crisis and create success. Come up for air. Demand excellence from people but also insist that they have lives outside the office.You don’t have to prove to anybody that you can work 16 hours a day if you can get it done in eight. Surround yourself with people who take their work seriously,but not themselves. Of all the little lessons above,the one about people as the ingredient that makes the recipe work stands out. People are the most important part of any organization.That is why leadership is an art; management a science.At the end of the day, leadership is getting people to use their full talents to support your shared objective.That requires all that we’ve said above,to be sure;but above all it requires caring deeply about the people you are leading—about their training, quality of life, their todays, and their tomorrows.Without that caring, it’s all dull science—and doomed to fail sooner or later. During the past year,we’ve explored ways to bring this philosophy of leadership to the State Department in a more structured way.Part of that effort is what we’re doing at the Foreign Service Institute. FSI’s revised Leadership and Management Training Continuum, its Training Continuum for Foreign Service Generalists (see State Magazine for December 2001, page 34) and the recently released (online) Training Continuum for Civil Service Employees provide guidance on the training and education in leadership that is essential throughout an individual’s career. A key element of this approach is the integration of leadership training at all stages of an employee’s professional life, rather than waiting until the employee assumes a senior position.Much of this training and education will be mandatory. Moreover, an employee’s leadership skills will be weighed when he or she is being considered for an assignment or promotion...

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