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About this quote

What does it mean?
When alone, the Vice President and I use informal nicknames, Colin and Dick.
In plain terms
We call each other by nicknames in private.
What can you take from it?
Informal rapport can coexist with formal roles.

Where it applies

  • private meetings
  • off‑the‑record conversations

Putting it to work

  • use humor to build rapport
  • maintain professionalism in public

Questions to consider

  • When is informal language appropriate in leadership?
  • How does it affect perception?

Another view

Informality may be misinterpreted by outsiders.

More from Colin Powell

  1. 'There is only one China. Taiwan is not independent. It does not enjoy sovereignty as a nation, and that remains our policy, our firm policy.'

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  2. 'I'm sleeping like a baby, too. Every two hours, I wake up, screaming.' (Upon hearing that President Bush was 'sleeping like a baby' on the eve of war with Ira…

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  3. 'We want to see both sides not take unilateral action that would prejudice an eventual outcome, a reunification that all parties are seeking.'

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