How Humane is Your Leadership?

2 timeless acts of gracious leadership

Nobody ever makes it to the top by never getting into trouble. ~General Colin Powell

In his book, My American Journey, the late General Colin Powell recounted how his illustrious military career was rescued from early flash out. He had mistakenly lost his service pistol while serving in Germany.

Two things struck me in his account.

First, Powell immediately bared the truth to his superior, Captain Miller. According to him, this incident could have “ruin his career before it got started.”

The second thing was that his boss, seeing his abilities and potential, did not take this fault against him.

As explained by General Powell, if that incident had occurred in more recent times, the US Army would have held an investigation, called in lawyers and most likely entered a fatal black mark on his military record. Instead, his superior, Captain Miller, concocted an interesting light story to cover him up “teach him a lesson, scare the bejeezus out of him; but let’s not ruin his career before it gets started.” He described his captain’s act after this incident as an “example of humane leadership that does not always play by the book.”

Powell recounted another faux pas when he lost the train tickets for his platoon while en route to Munich. This embarrassing mistake left him and his men stranded in Frankfurt Bahnhof. Captain Miller again implemented a leadership style stated as, “When they fall down, pick ’em up, dust ’em off, pat ’em on the back, and move ’em on.”

Throughout his career, General Powell commended this vital lesson to younger officers, letting them know that “nobody ever makes it to the top by never getting into trouble.”

Takeaways

• Truly great leaders never forecloses giving their earnest and true (though occasionally faltering) subordinates second or even third chances.
• Subordinates must not be reckless or guilty of lying and wilful negligence. Neither should they hide in career limiting cocoons of always playing it safe. We and they will do well to always remember General Colin Powell's timeless counsel — “Nobody ever makes it to the top by never getting into trouble.”

SOURCE

Powell, C. (1995). My American Journey. New York, USA: Random House.

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