What Makes a Leader? By Colin Powell

Make people mad. "Trying to get everyone to like you is a sign of mediocrity. You'll avoid the tough decisions, you'll avoid confrotning the people who need to be confronted and you'll avoid offering differential rewards based on differential performance, because some people might get upset. Ironically, by procrastinating on the difficult choices, by trying not to get anyone mad and by treating everyone equally "nicely", regardless of their contributions, you'll simply ensure that the only people you'll wind up angering are the most creative and productive people in the organization."

Find and fix problems. "Many leaders build so many barriers to upward communication that the very idea of someone lower in the hierarchy looking up to the leader for help is ludicrous. Corporate culture often defines asking for help as weakness or failure, so people cover up their gaps, and the organization suffers accordingly."

Trust those in the field more than experts. "As companies get bigger, they often forget who 'brought them the the dance'. Policies that emanate from ivory towers often have an adverse impact on the people out in the field who are fighting the wars or bringing in the revenues."

Embrace change. "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" is a slogan of the complacent, the arrogant or the scared. It's an excuse for inaction. It's a mind-set that assumes (or hopes) that today's realities will continue tomorrow in a tidy, linear and predictable fashion. Pure fantasy."

Check your ego. "If people really followed organization charts, companies would collapse. In well-run organizations, titles are pretty meaningless. At best, they advertise some authority. But titles mean little in terms of real power, which is the capacity to influence and inspire. Have you ever noticed that people will personally commit to certain individuals who on paper possess little authority, but instead posssess pizzazz, drive, expertise and genuine caring for teammates and products?"

Encourage growth. "Effective leaders create a climate where people's worth is determined by their willingness to learn new skills and grab new responsibilities, thus perpetually reinventing their jobs. The most important question in performance evaluation is not 'How well did you perform your job since we last met?' but 'How much did you change it?'"

Promote positivity. "The ripple effect of a leader's enthusiasm and optimism is awesome. So is the impact of cynicism and pessimism. Leaders who whine and blame engender those same behaviors among their colleagues. I am not talking about stoically accepting organizational stupidity and performance with a 'What, me worry?' smile. I am talking about a gung-ho attitude that says 'We can change things here, we can achieve awesome goals, we can be the best.' Spare me the grim litany of the realist. Give me the unrealistic aspirations of the optimist any day."

From Selling Power, September 2005