General Colin Powell is a statesman in the United States of America who had retired as a four-star General in the USA army (Powell, 2001). In his leadership, Powell emphasized two main passions of enhancing veterans’ lives and aiding in educating young people especially individuals who were underprivileged and immigrants. Colin is considered one of the most popular, adored and admired leaders in the world. This is because Colin’s leadership style is adorable and aligns with the Hersey Blanchard Situational Leadership Model. During his career as a General in the United States army, Colin has shown leadership methods which were suitable to the standards of his colleagues. Throughout his leadership, Powell was generous on how he used his time and insights, gave his views in a down to earth way and in a humorous manner.
General Colin Powell used various leadership theories and perspectives which made his leadership successful. Colin believed that a leader ought to produce innovation, performance and change the top priorities in their organizations. Colin stated that this perspective should guide leaders in creating and asking questions with the intention of challenging the status quo in their organizations. Colin indicates that this leadership perspective will make many leaders piss off their colleagues especially the ones fighting change in the organization. This is achievable through challenging current wisdom in the organization, setting up expectations and clear agendas on one’s leadership and listening, learning and involving individuals in the process of change. For example, in his leadership, Colin had set two main passions of improving veterans’ lives and helping in educating young people in the country.
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
Powell used the perspective of encouraging open and honest communication which helped him in acquiring unique views, perspectives and ideas in his leadership (Powell, 2001). Honest communication helped Colin in achieving accurate and essential information from his subordinates as he made himself available to them making them free to speak their minds without fear. This perspective helped Colin identify the problems his soldiers were facing and coming up with solutions to them. In his statements, Powell said that “the day soldiers stop bringing you their problems is the day you have stopped leading them.” This statement indicated that when subordinates in an organization stopped communicating with their leader about their problems, it shows that they do not trust their leader hence there is a lack of honesty in the organization. Colin used the perspective of making simple and clear mission statement in leadership which he ensured everyone in his organization knew and understood this statement. This is indicated through Colin stating his vital passions in his leadership and aimed at achieving them through involving his subordinates.
Colin used leadership theory of knowing that people are the most important and valuable assets in an organization and taking leadership as his responsibility (Powell & Koltz, 2012). Colin understood that leaders tend to focus more on their mission and forget about the main asset of their leadership which is the people they are leading. Colin believed that people being led and the leadership mission should go hand in hand and he had to work for the people taking care of them. Powell counted more on the people that his leadership plans and the people helped him in creating teamwork in his organization. Colin used to make the critical and decisive decisions for his organization as he considered the leader of the Army as his responsibility. He used to set the appropriate actions, inspiring confidence and hope as well as blessing the correct initiatives in the USA army.
Colin Powell was from a humble background, and he learned how to become a successful leader through combining various experiences in his life. No one motivated Powell, but his hard work in school made him acquire good grades making him able to graduate from college. This indicated that although Powell was not born with greatness, he was able to obtain it through his career. Throughout his military career, Powell acquired higher ranks and medals such as military decorations which included Legion of Merit. The medals and ranks show the demanding life experiences and lessons Powell went through and the power and experience he gained in the period. The knowledge and power created him into the successful leader in the world by not being an ordinary chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff but a leader who acquired leadership skills and styles through a large amount of life experience.
Colin Powell was involved in leading change and innovation in the USA army through employing situation leadership style in his leadership (Powell & Koltz, 2012). The situational leadership style used by Colin was composed of four elements which ensured effective change and innovation. Directing is one of the components which indicates there should be a high task and low relationships in an organization to provide effective change. As suggested by Colin’s military work Powell used to define responsibilities to his subordinates and supervised them closely. This helped him in implementing change and innovation in the USA army. Coaching is another component in Colin leadership style which helped him achieve change and innovation in his organization. Coaching involves high task and high relationship where the leader emphasizes more on communication with his subordinates and the ability to acquire ideas and feedback from them. This helped Powell in implementing change and innovation in the organization especially when his troops were on a war.
Supporting is another critical component which entails low task and high relationship. In the process of implementing change, Powell allowed his subordinates to hold more control in decision making, and he decided on a particular issue. Powell used the component of delegating to ensure change and innovation which involved low task and low relationship. Powell handled cases of decision making and solving problems, and his subordinates were pleased with his active role in these sectors. This was an essential aspect in implementing change and innovation in the army as Powell was responsible for maintaining control of these sectors.
References
Powell, C. (2001). A leadership primer. Washington, DC: Department of the Army.
Powell, C. L., & Koltz, T. (2012). It worked for me: In life and leadership. New York: Harper.
