Page 152 - Leadership Lessons of the White House Fellows

CHAPTER 15

LEADERS UNDERSTAND

THAT NOT EVERY BATTLE

IS THE END OF THE WAR

Today’s White House Fellows represent the American population in all its
amazing diversity, but the first class of Fellows was far from representative.
It was made up entirely of men even though several highly qualified women
made it to the national finals, including Mary Elizabeth (Hanford) Dole,
who was educated at some of the world’s most prestigious schools: Duke,
Oxford, and Harvard. Dole was disappointed but not bitter over the rejec-
tion and went on to have an incredible career in public service, working in
five presidential administrations. In fact, she served in President Reagan’s
and President George H. W. Bush’s cabinets and even made a bid for the
presidency in 2000. In 2003 she was elected to the U.S. Senate from her
home state of North Carolina. The first lady, Lady Bird Johnson, made her
disappointment very well known when she saw the roster of Fellows that
first year and demanded that all those involved in the selection process give
women candidates an equal opportunity. Program director Tom Carr
pledged to ensure greater diversity in future classes, and he made good on
his promise the next year when Jane Cahill Pfeiffer (WHF 66–67) became
the first woman to be selected as a White House Fellow.

Pfeiffer was a thirty-three-year-old IBM executive on the company’s fast
track when she learned about the White House Fellows program. “They

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