Lessons from The White House
The White House Internship Program is designed to cultivate young leaders and give them an opportunity to develop their leadership skills and gain exposure to the public service sector via an Executive Office assignment. Naturally, there’s a lot of exposure to v important public sector leaders. Throughout my time there, I jotted down notes from mentoring meetings, brown bags, round tables and the like. Compiled below are some of the best advice I received in the most magical place in DC.
On Policy
- These are people issues, not women of color issues
- Your pitch should be tailored to your audience. “If they can’t connect emotionally, they probably can’t connect economically” (And you want them to connect economically!)
- Politics are good, you can change things for the better [through policy]
- I don’t expect the government to solve my problems, I expect them to understand it
- Campaigns are supposed to be referendums on policy
- The penalty good people pay for not being in politics is being governed by people worse than themselves – Plato
- Change demand, change the market and policy will follow. We (the people) lead politicians not the other way around
- If you didn’t vote, life wasn’t that bad for you for real
Advice to “head-strong” women
- Pick your battles
- Spend your energy on doing better (not complaining how unfair it is)
- Be strategic but don’t let them know you’re strategic
- Prove yourself (that takes self-confidence) Build up to be the person that they need and let them come to you
Be strategic but don’t let them know you’re strategic
On Intellectual Gravitas
On Career Progression
- Be you… consistently
- Find your why then your what
- Don’t aspire to a title, we need whole people
- You won’t have a clear vision until you are no longer afraid
- Your narrative should be positive
- Execution > strategy; Strategy is 10% and execution is 90%
- Focus on the positive (when you start thinking about how crazy the world is)
- [Have] Honesty, decency, courage, and authenticity
- Pay attention to detail in the mundane things; Excellence is in the mundane task and consistency
- Dignity & Respect
- Be Kind, Be Useful, Be Fearless
Be you… consistently
My biggest take away is the Obama’s standard of treating everyone with respect from interns to other world leaders. ❤️ That’s a quality I personally, strive for.
Be Kind, Be Useful, Be Fearless
- In front of Marine One, After watching The Obamas land
- At the Italian State Arrival
- Midday Election Day
- Quote from Megan Smith, former US CTO