Page 126 - Leadership Lessons of the White House Fellows

LEADERS ARE GREAT COMMUNICATORS

Another important aspect of communication that Powell has mastered
is establishing and maintaining healthy media relations. By personally open-
ing the lines of communication with journalists, Powell assured that giv-
ing access to the media empowered him, and he took the time—even when
there was no need and he was in a position of strength—to meet with jour-
nalists just to hear what they were observing and get their input on world
events. Of course, he would give them his perspective and what he was
observing too. Indeed, Powell confirmed that as he progressed in his career,
he became increasingly more aware of the importance of effective com-
munication with journalists. “You have to learn how to communicate with
the press in a way in which they can use and carry your story,” Powell said.

Another strategy that Conde witnessed during his Fellowship involved the
daily staff meeting that brought Powell together each morning with his
deputy secretary, his four undersecretaries, his sixteen assistant secretaries,
and his chief of staff. Conde attended most of those meetings during his
year in the State Department, and he counts them among the most con-
structive experiences of his Fellowship. Having come from the private sec-
tor, Conde equated the State Department with a multinational Fortune
500 company, and he was struck by how effective the daily staff meeting
was at keeping Powell and his team abreast of the day-to-day workings of
their massive global organization. Powell ran a tight ship when it came to
the daily meeting. The gathering started promptly at 8:30 a.m., and those
who arrived after the secretary—who was always on time—understood
that they were not supposed to enter the room. There was no set agenda.
Powell simply went around the room in a clockwise direction and asked
each person if he or she had something to contribute.
“This was not a meeting for just stating what you were busy with or
to show off what you were doing,” said Conde. “It was extremely efficient.
He wanted to know if there was something that was going to move the
needle for the department on a macro level that day. He wanted to know
what would be meaningful for you today in your region of the world or in
your function. He encouraged people to pass if there was nothing impor-
tant to say, and they often did, so meetings ran anywhere from fifteen min-
utes to forty-five minutes. It just depended on what was on the plate. This
meeting gave the secretary a quick snapshot of where people felt his atten-
tion should be focused that day. And the flip side of it was that he also let

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