Photos: Colin Powell tries to inspire leaders

Colin Powell, former secretary of state, spoke Tuesday at Salesforce.com's user and developer conference in San Francisco. Powell urged businesses to take a leadership role in philanthropy and outlined the qualities of a good executive head.

"Good leaders inspire, not motivate," he said. "The best leaders can inspire (workers), so they can do things through self-motivation." Leadership involves developing a vision and conveying that purpose throughout the company, Powell added.

Marc Benioff, CEO of hosted software company Salesforce.com, noted in his introduction that Powell was an early inspiration for Salesforce's own philanthropy program.

Powell (left) used his speech to offer advice to leaders such as Benioff.

"You need to make sure the followers have the skills and tools needed to get the job done," Powell said. "Leadership is about creating bonds of trust."