Leadership Lessons of White House Fellows

The White House Fellowship Program was created more than forty years ago by the bi-partisan efforts of President Lyndon B. Johnson and John W. Gardner, former president of the Carnegie Corp. The program provides some of the nation's most promising citizens with a first hand look at the behind-the-scenes workings of the U.S. political system. A select group of men and women -- chosen through an intense application, interview, and deliberation process -- spend an entire year working alongside top government officials.

Charles Garcia, author of Leadership Lessons of the White House Fellows: Learn How to Inspire Others, Achieve Greatness, and Find Success in Any Organization, shares some of the lessons learned.

LEADERSHIP LESSON #1: There’s more to life than work. Great leaders have deep reserves of physical, spiritual, and emotional energy, and that energy is usually fueled by a strong and supportive relationship with the people they love, regular exercise, a healthy lifestyle, and setting aside time for reflection.

THE STORY BEHIND THE LESSON: Doris Kearns Goodwin
At 6:00 a.m. on a cold January morning in 1973, presidential historian, Pulitzer Prize-winning author, and NBC news analyst Doris Kearns Goodwin (WHF 67-68) received a call from former President Lyndon B. Johnson, with whom she had become a trusted confidante while working on his memoirs.

“He told me to get married, have children, and spend time with them,” Goodwin said. “He talked about how he should have spent more time with his family, because that’s a different and more worthy kind of posterity than the public one that he had been seeking throughout his entire political career. That would be our last conversation, because he died of a heart attack two days later—but what a wonderful thing to leave me with.”

Goodwin heeded Johnson’s words. For example, she turned down the chance to be considered for the position of head of the Peace Corps during the Carter administration because she knew it would require her to travel often and be away from her young children. Over the years she’s concluded that those who live the richest lives manage to achieve a healthy balance of work, love, and play.

“To commit yourself to just one of those spheres without the others is to leave open an older age filled with sadness, because once the work is gone, you have nothing left—no hobbies, no sports,” Goodwin said. “Your family may love you, but they are not in the center of your life as they might have been had you paid attention to them all the way through. And I always argue that the ability to relax and replenish your energy is absolutely essential.”

LEADERSHIP LESSON #2: Always focus on the mission. To be a great leader, you have to be intensely focused on the core mission of your organization: know it, understand it, and live it.

Sign up for ITworld's Daily newsletter
Follow ITworld on Twitter @IT_world

• Email
• Print
• Share
  • Slashdot
  • Digg
  • Stumble
  • Reddit
  • Newsvine