Saturday, August 13, 2011

Colin Powell on Leadership

Lesson #12  Perpetual optimism is a force multiplier.

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 incompetence 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 "realist," give me the unrealistic aspirations of the optimist any day. 

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