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The Leadership Secrets of Colin Powell
Oren Harari
McGraw-Hill, New York www.book.mcgraw-hill.com
Author's Credentials: Professor of management at the McLaren School of Business, University of San Francisco and co-author of Beep! Beep! Competing in the Age of the Road Runner. Thesis: Secretary of State Powell is the source and role model for leadership principles that can be applied in many settings.
Scope: 18th century to present.
File Under: Nail it to your command and control center.
Reason to Buy/Read: The book is based on the life and wisdom of Colin Powell, a rich vein of experience. The commentaries the author includes avoid generalities and focus on the nuts-and-bolts, practical applications of real-life leadership. It's not a biography, but it goes beyond the superficial words-and-wisdom-of formula.
Though Powell can be distilled to "a guy with integrity who gets things done" there's a certain paradox to his methods that make the book complex enough to keep it interesting. The author does a good job of picking apart Powell's particular definition of terms (what he means by consensus, for example). Further, Powell's insights have been "tested" by the author, who has run them by real-life business people or extrapolated the business connection from research.
While Colin Powell had nothing to do with the writing of this book, he indirectly had input into it. He and the author first met on...