Page 115 - Great Communication Secrets of Great Leaders

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STRUCTURING THE STAND-UP LEADERSHIP PRESENTATION
CHAPTER 6
Powell and a very capable cadre of senior officers, excelled, expelling Iraqi
forces from Kuwait swiftly, efficiently, and with a minimum of casualties.
DISCIPLINE FIRST
Powell found himself an outsider after President Bush called for a regime
change in Iraq through military means because of the suspicion that Saddam
Hussein possessed weapons of mass destruction. Powell found himself at odds
with Vice President Cheney and to a very large degree with Secretary of
Defense Rumsfeld. Their differences arose from their approach toward Iraq;
all parties agreed that Saddam was a tyrant who deserved to be deposed. Pow-
ell favored international action leading to his removal, a policy that involved
allies as the Gulf War of 1990–1991 had. Cheney was a unilateralist, favoring
the United States going it alone. Powell felt that an armed move would be pre-
emptive and would risk disrupting America’s fragile alliances in the Middle
East, not to mention further upsetting the radical fundamentalist Muslims who
dominated public opinion in the streets. As a result, Powell was the odd man
out. Condoleezza Rice served as the liaison between him and the president.
Nonetheless, Powell’s decision to refrain from public comment on Iraq made
his opposition to unilateral war obvious. To his credit, Powell worked behind
the scenes to get President Bush to bring the Iraqi weapons issue to the United
Nations. He was successful, and Bush eventually went to the U.N. and made a
stirring address, one that by the way went through more than 20 drafts, the
final ones bearing the ideas of Powell himself. 28
In addition to the disagreement over the Iraq question, Powell has had his
share of run-ins with the Bush administration; his decisions have been ques-
tioned, and he is not a favorite of the Republican conservatives, a bedrock sup-
port group for President Bush. Powell is not bothered: “Fights come and fights
29
go.” And he is not above levity in such matters. In a lighthearted exchange
with office secretaries over an empty jar of pretzels, Powell said, “Okay, that’s
enough. I’ve got to get back to work now—and by the way, I’m not resigning.”
His staff cracked up. 30

NO TO HIGHER OFFICE
His son, Michael Powell, chairman of the Federal Communications Commis-
sion, appreciates his father’s even-handedness. “[W]hen there was contempla-
tion he’d run for President, the biggest speculation was, As what? I mean, what
greater accolade to a soldier than you don’t even know his politics.” 31
Powell acknowledged that his wife, Alma, was “unalterably opposed” to
his running for the presidency, but he was comfortable with his own decision
32
not to run. Richard Armitage, a political insider and Powell intimate, quotes
him as saying, “‘On the mornings when I woke up and thought I’m going to