MBC, Inc. Newsletter Topics on “Leadership”
As Inspired by “The Leadership Secrets of Colin Powell”
By – *Oren Harari
What is “The Leaders Way?
In General, Powell’s Terms “The Powell Way”
“TRUST”
This is a leadership attribute the General considers paramount. We are talking about trust, confidence and influence without which a leader will find they are lacking and are soon to become ineffective to the nth degree. It is probably easiest to sum this up in the single word ‘trust’. If you have trust, confidence and influence will naturally follow. Trust is never given it must be earned and earned by the actions of the leader. Trust is not the result of your name or position on an organization chart. Trust is what is bestowed upon an individual by subordinates and peers when the leader has performed in a manner to cause the subordinates and peers to look to them as deserving of trust.
Influence over authority is an effect of trust. Just because a person has, authority bestowed upon them by the organization chart does not make them a leader. They may actually have very little in the way of respect of the organization. Influence however is something earned. When your behavior, commitment, courage and confidence present a message of “trust”, people will naturally seek
you out as someone to listen to, to respect and to follow. This earned influence transcends anything the organization chart can bestow. You have probably heard of sphere-of-authority and sphere-of-influence. The organization rewards past performance and bestows a sphere-of-authority upon you, (your place on the org-chart); your sphere-of-influence is something you earn daily by your action.
Organizational authority is needed and sometimes beneficial especially in times of crisis when orders must be given and followed to manage some specific critical issue. However, true leadership based on willing followers is more earned than given. The General tells us “Management is easy; leadership is motivating people, turning people on, getting 110% out of a personal relationship.”
What is that inner ‘stuff’ the makes one person a trusted leader and is completely elusive to others in the organization. Some people, no matter their position on the organization chart are not looked to by their subordinates and peers for leadership, these are only obeyed when orders are given out of respect for the position not out of respect or trust of the individual. Some people call this elusive quality of leadership “charisma.” General Powell in the book “The Leadership Secrets of Colin Powell” by Oren Harari breaks this down to attributes that are definable and the individual can work on developing or improving. The General breaks this down into two distinct functions. The first is “You’re a good leader when people follow only out of curiosity, they trust you.” Then the General, in Oren Harari’s book, breaks down the attributes that develop “Trust”.
Trust the General tells us “Trust comes from believing in you”. Trust is made up of; Competence, character, courage (moral, physical, mental and spiritual), loyalty (up, down and sideways), confidence, selflessness, sacrifice, and empathy (understand them and their anxieties). Building trust must be a planned activity from the leader’s perspective and a continuing point of personal development.
Considering the attributes above (Competence, character, courage, loyalty, confidence, selflessness, sacrifice, and empathy), I would like to address leadership with a real life example that I witnessed several years ago but has stuck with me, a great example of; loyalty and courage.
The following is a short story about “Loyalty and Courage”. T. Moon a manager of Supplier Quality for a major automobile manufacturer assigned a young engineer as the Supplier Quality Engineer to oversee a supplier that was developing some new technology for this particular OEM. As it turned out the supplier was not open and honest about their ability to manufacture the new 
material on which they were bidding. The engineer being new to automotive and to manufacturing did not have the experience or skill to ‘uncover’ this deception. When the ‘model-year’ change-over came and the supplier was not able to deliver parts an emergency plan had to be put in place to go back to the old-technology on-the-fly and try to maintain production and the integrity of the product. (A very difficult task and much attention came for Top Management as to “who-was-responsible-for-this-crisis”). The result of this failure of the supplier to deliver on their commitment cost millions in crisis management, returning to old suppliers and old technology, revision of product description for sales. This was an all out failure. Top Management wanted someone to “Pay”. It would have been quite simple for T. Moon (The manager of the SQE’s to give-up the young engineer, just to ‘throw him under the bus so to speak). Instead she went to the Vice President of Manufacturing and said “I was responsible, I assigned a young inexperienced Engineer to a project that was above his capability and readiness, I set-him-up-to-fail, this is my fault. This move had the possibility of being career ending for her. It was not. T. Moon went on to many more promotions and assignments. She demonstrated not only ‘loyalty’, but also courage, selflessness, character, confidence, sacrifice and empathy.
Can you image how well subordinates, peers and seniors received her? Her credibility skyrocketed and the “trust” factor went completely off the charts. People sought her out and requested transfers to her department. This went on for years to come and she is still thought of today as a great leader, dedicated to her people and someone everyone can count on. She obtained trust!
“Powell Principles – By Oren Harari”
- Don’t be overreliant upon org charts or unduly impressed by job titles.
- Curiosity is key.
- Always work on building your “trust factor.”
- Walk the talk
There are three books I recommend as reading to everyone that is interested in understanding the principles of leadership.
- The Leadership Secrets of Colin Powell by *Oren Harari
- The Powel Principles by *Oren Harari
- It Worked For Me – In Life and Leadership by “Colin Powell”
Please talk with your peers and see if they would benefit from this series. If you think they may, please send them to the web site www.mbcincorp.com they may download the free white paper and be automatically signed up to receive all future leadership articles and quality tips.
Thanks to All
Bill Martin – President
MBC, Inc.
