Colin Powell (1937-2021)

Colin Luther Powell was an American Army general, diplomat, and statesman who was the 65th United States secretary of state from 2001 to 2005 and was the highest-ranking African American in the federal executive branch in American history until the election of Barack Obama as president in 2008. Originally a member of the Republican Party, he was the first African-American to hold the office. He was the 15th national security advisor from 1987 to 1989, and the 12th chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff from 1989 to 1993.

Quotes

The day soldiers stop bringing you their problems is the day you have stopped leading them. They have either lost confidence that you can help them or concluded that you do not care. Either case is a failure of leadership.
Avoid having your ego so close to your position that when your position falls, your ego goes with it.
Being responsible sometimes means pissing people off.

Responsibility
Bad news isn't wine. It doesn't improve with age.

Miscellaneous
Experts often possess more data than judgment.

Education, Wisdom
Get mad, then get over it.

Anger
Giving back involves a certain amount of giving up.

Charity
Have a vision. Be demanding.

Success
If you are going to achieve excellence in big things, you develop the habit in little matters. Excellence is not an exception, it is a prevailing attitude.

Success
Leadership is solving problems. The day soldiers stop bringing you their problems is the day you have stopped leading them. They have either lost confidence that you can help or concluded you do not care. Either case is a failure of leadership.

Leadership
Many interviewers when they come to talk to me, think they're being progressive by not mentioning in their stories any longer that I'm black. I tell them, 'Don't stop now. If I shot somebody you'd mention it.'

Race
Perpetual optimism is a force multiplier.

Optimism, Success
There are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work, and learning from failure.

Success
When we are debating an issue, loyalty means giving me your honest opinion, whether you think I'll like it or not. Disagreement, at this stage, stimulates me. But once a decision has been made, the debate ends. From that point on, loyalty means executing the decision as if it were your own.

Decisions
You don't know what you can get away with until you try.

Risk
Great leaders are almost always great simplifiers, who can cut through argument, debate, and doubt to offer a solution everybody can understand.

Leadership
Over the years, the United States has sent many of its fine young men and women into great peril to fight for freedom beyond our borders. The only amount of land we have ever asked for in return is enough to bury those that did not return.

America