Colin Powell

Respect for leaders by followers can’t be mandated; it must be earned. It has to be given to leaders by their followers.

Colin Powell

So like any football or basketball coach, you always always believe you’re going to win.

Colin Powell

Tell them what you know. Tell them what you don’t know. And only then, tell them what you think. And be sure you distinguish among them.

Colin Powell

The best method of overcoming obstacles is the team method.

Colin Powell

The best way to create a winning team is to train them, give them everything they need to get the job done and second, make sure they know what the job is and what the job will be. So you connect strategy to resources.

Colin Powell

The bottom line in all of it is that, in life, it’s all about people.

Colin Powell

The great leaders that I have worked with are people who have a good sense of empathy with other people. They can walk a factory floor, or walk through a battalion and smell if there’s something wrong.

Colin Powell

The less you associate with some people, the more your life will improve. Any time you tolerate mediocrity in others, it increases your mediocrity. An important attribute in successful people is their impatience with negative thinking and negative acting people.

Colin Powell

The most effective means of ensuring the government’s accountability to the people is an aggressive, free, challenging, untrusting press.

Colin Powell

The ties that bind us are stronger than the occasional stresses that separate us.

Colin Powell