Battle ready: Advice from Colin Powell for startups Adopt a winning attitude. Like any football or basketball coach, you always " always " believe you're going to win. Disappointments, failures and setbacks are a normal part of the life cycle of a unit or company. A leader has to constantly say, "We have a problem; let's go and get it" " and convey that attitude with passion and intensity.

Take calculated risks

I was with Mikhail Gorbachev as the Soviet Union, the Iron Curtain and the Cold War were going away and the American people were demanding a peace dividend. Gorbachev looked across the table at me and said, "General, you'll have to find a new enemy." The risk is, what do you do? So Defence Secretary Dick Cheney and I decided, let's cut ourselves 25 per cent.

Even with President Bush's approval, we didn't know how Congress would react. It was the toughest bureaucratic battle I ever had to go through: We cut the Defence Department 25 per cent " 500,000 soldiers were let go " and we cut significantly the military industrial complex, telling manufacturers, "You guys may want to return equity to shareholders and get out of the business or merge," and a lot of them did. The lesson: When you have to go through restructuring, design it so your friends have something to rally behind and your enemies have to fight on your battlefield....more    
03:23 PM, Jun 18, 2012

Colin Powell advises 'get mad' in new book Los Angeles: Former US Secretary of State, General Colin Powell has penned a book on leadership skills with the advice "get mad, then get over it," set to hit book stores in May 2012, publisher HarperCollins said on Sunday. "It Worked For Me: Lessons in Leadership and Life" is a collection of personal tales from the four-star US Army general starting with his famous '13 Rules,' as well as the...  
03:19 PM, Sep 26, 2011

In black and white, the meaning of Obama's election First US black President stands on the shoulders of giants. ...  
12:42 PM, Jan 19, 2009

Pakistan will have to eliminate LeT, says Powell Powell said Pakistan had said it will eliminate LeT and has not done so. ...  
01:47 PM, Dec 15, 2008

Bush's man Powell says will vote for Obama
by IANS
Former Secy of State calls Democrat nominee a transformational figure. ...  
02:58 AM, Oct 20, 2008