Colin Powell’s ex-colleague, Tennessee professor recalls his character
Former University of Tennessee Knoxville Professor Sharon Lord served as the top female U.S. Defense official when Colin Powell was a senior aide.
Colin Powell’s legacy, accomplishments and shortcomings have been widely discussed in print, online and television since his death on Monday.
The late four-star Army general and former secretary of state is acclaimed or criticized for what he said or didn’t say about the Iraq War, racism and politics.
News reports, reading his autobiography “My American Journey,” and hearing him speak at a university campus shaped my views of him, but it was from a distance and lacking context.
On the other hand, Knoxville resident and retired University of Tennessee professor Sharon Lord actually met him, worked with him, and gained a sense of his character from both up close and afar.
She served as an assistant deputy secretary of defense at the same time Powell served as senior military assistant to U.S. Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger during the Reagan Administration.
We spoke Tuesday night for over an hour about her memories of Powell.
Integrity and humility were central to the general’s character
Lord said they shared a common set of values.
“He had such integrity and a commitment to doing what was right,” she said.
“One of his characteristics is that he gave attention to lower rank military and to senior military leaders,” she added.
Powell, the son of Jamaican immigrants, grew up to modest means in New York City’s Bronx borough and did not have the academic pedigree of other senior officers who attended West Point or an Ivy League school.
“He had been a simple man from a simple background and he valued the simplest people,” Lord said. “He remained the same person throughout all those years.”
Powell became both first Black and youngest chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff and first Black U.S. secretary of state.
Lord herself is a pioneer as the first woman to be an educational psychology professor at UT in Knoxville. She developed programs and published works and consulted on leadership.
After winning the 1980 U.S. election, President-elect Ronald Reagan’s transition team approached her for the Defense Department job. She became the highest-ranking female official in the department, overseeing manpower, reserve affairs and logistics.
“I wanted to build my career committed to building bridges to races and cultures,” Lord said.
She said she believes Powell felt the same way.
After she left the Defense Department, she became the human services commissioner in her home state of West Virginia. Powell was in the Mountain State for a visit and he recognized her right away.
“He said, ‘Sharon Lord, what are you doing in Charleston, West Virginia? I heard you’ve taken over the world’,” she recalls.
Leaders are authentic and own up to their mistakes
Lord said she was impressed by Powell’s authenticity, a key attribute for a successful leader.
“One of the things I’ve learned is that people and leaders, whether they are corporate or military, who survive over the long term in their lives are authentic,” she said. “They are being their real selves, so they don’t have to change themselves to fit the challenge.”
She explained that this applies to when leaders make mistakes too, such as, when Powell made the case at the United Nations as President George W. Bush’s secretary of state for a preemptive war against Iraq, based on faulty intelligence about weapons of mass destruction.
In this polarized political environment in the United States, solid, steady, honest and authentic leadership are needed more than ever.
Lord describes Powell this way: “In his brain, he was a gentle warrior. In his heart, he was a brilliant leader. In his soul, he was an angel on earth.”
Our leaders are imperfect and we need to hold them to a higher standard. We should also recognize that despite their flaws, we can celebrate their moments of courage, strength and wisdom.
Even more, we should always find ways to emulate them at their best.
David Plazas is the director of opinion and engagement for the USA TODAY Network Tennessee. He is an editorial board member of The Tennessean. He hosts the Tennessee Voices videocast and curates the Tennessee Voices and Latino Tennessee Voices newsletters.. Call him at (615) 259-8063, email him at dplazas@tennessean.com or tweet to him at @davidplazas.