{"id":850,"date":"2010-01-06T08:00:46","date_gmt":"2010-01-06T13:00:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.achievemax.com\/bookreviews\/?p=850"},"modified":"2012-10-23T14:46:15","modified_gmt":"2012-10-23T18:46:15","slug":"the-leadership-secrets-of-colin-powell","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.achievemax.com\/bookreviews\/the-leadership-secrets-of-colin-powell\/","title":{"rendered":"The Leadership Secrets of Colin Powell"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"TheThe Leadership Secrets of Colin Powell<\/a>\"\"
\nby Oren Harari<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s a book that caught me totally off guard and turned out to be much different than I had expected. I must admit that I was drawn to it because I had the opportunity to meet Colin Powell in person at a reception following one of his many motivational offerings as part of a national speaking tour. Observing him from the audience and later at the reception, I couldn\u2019t help but admire his ability to captivate, motivate, and communicate with a wide variety of personality and leadership styles. Like him or not\u2014agree with or not\u2014you\u2019ve got to admit that this man exudes integrity as he proves to be witty, articulate, insightful, and self-deprecating. He spoke on leadership that particular day, and it was obvious that he was an authority on the subject. He held the audience in the palm of his hand throughout his presentation. Meeting him in person was even more impressive as he looks you straight in the eye and focuses on your every word. It\u2019s easy to understand why he\u2019s gained the admiration and respect of so many.<\/p>\n

Now let me tell you about the book. As I mentioned earlier, this book is misleading\u2014which isn\u2019t necessarily a bad thing. If you\u2019re thinking of passing on this particular publication because you\u2019re not interested in the military and\/or politics, you might want to take a closer look. This is obviously a book on leadership, and you don\u2019t have to be a CEO, Lieutenant-colonel, Senator, or even a front-line manager to find value here. Any reader will find wisdom here that can easily be applied to daily life.<\/p>\n

This book is not a biography of Colin Powell. Again, it dwells on leadership using Powell as the source and role model for the principles it shares and attempts to apply to any setting.<\/p>\n

This book is not written by Powell nor is it intended as a tribute to Colin Powell. The author is a professor of management at the University of San Francisco, speaker, consultant, and prominent author of six previous books. Although it\u2019s obvious that the author respects, admires, and even likes Powell, he admits that this renowned leader has his critics and detractors, and even includes some of their opinions throughout the book. I found this refreshing as it added credibility and realism to the contents.<\/p>\n

Something I found especially useful was a content summary and a recap of Powell Principles at the end of each chapter. At the end of the book, you\u2019ll find a seven-page Leadership Primer containing Quotations from Chairman Powell … an article reprinted from a previous issue of the American Management Association<\/em> magazine. In it you\u2019ll find 18 priceless leadership lessons … a compendium of advice from the General that anyone will find useful in today\u2019s challenging environment.<\/p>\n

Let me close this review with a few samples of what you\u2019ll find within the pages of The Leadership Secrets of Colin Powell<\/em>.<\/p>\n