By Jack Pritchard
As I depart KEI after 6 ½ years as president, I want to acknowledge the great support and contributions my colleagues have made in enhancing the credibility and reputation of our small institute. As president I am often praised for the innovative work that KEI does and, while I appreciate the compliment, the real tribute goes to my colleagues who did the actual work. During my tenure, I have been privileged to work with some great individuals. A year ago when several members of KEI’s staff left at the same time to go on to bigger and better things (running their own organizations, going to law school, joining the Foreign Service, etc.), some worried about a new, relatively young staff. But as I always tell people, the current KEI staff is comprised of equally talented individuals who have coalesced into the single finest team I have ever been associated with.
Listening to Colin Powell talk about his new book, It Worked for Me: In Life and Leadership, I am reminded that he has a list of leadership principles that he keeps on his desk. There are 18 of them and some require explanation. It got me thinking about the core principles of leadership that have guided me throughout my career and particularly during the past several years at KEI. They are:
Pritchard’s 13 Principles of Leadership
The point of sharing my philosophy is to say, that while I am enormously proud in the accomplishments of KEI, my greatest pride comes at having some small influence in the personal and professional growth I have seen in all my colleagues, current and former.
I leave KEI in good shape. My single most important and best decision as president of KEI was to recruit and hire Abraham Kim as vice president. KEI is in good hands with Abe as interim president.
Jack Pritchard