Page 162 - Leadership Lessons of the White House Fellows

LEADERS ENERGIZE THEIR PEOPLE

one of the most significant events in the history of our country. This was
a transformational moment, and we knew it. And with that knowledge, we
felt the awesome responsibility to get it right.”
Floyd and her crew drove the news van toward the scene of destruction,
but the road became impassable a few blocks from the Twin Towers, and so
they abandoned the vehicle and started walking. Burning ash filled the air.
As Floyd’s crew walked through the streets of Manhattan toward the World
Trade Center, the first tower fell. Floyd and her team couldn’t see what had
happened, but they heard the noise and felt the earth rumble and shake. They
froze, confused and frightened. The rumbling was followed by an eerie calm
that slowly was filled with the sound of distant cries. Suddenly a gray plume
appeared that looked like smoke but smelled like wet concrete. The crew then
saw waves of people covered in ash and soot running toward them, crying,
gasping, and screaming. Some of the people waved frantically, trying to warn
Floyd’s crew of the danger ahead and imploring them to turn around.
“Our team didn’t speak to one another. Instead, what had seemed like
slow motion suddenly came to life and we started walking again, toward
the Twin Towers, my cameraman shooting what he could along the way,”
said Floyd. “We pressed down the West Side Highway, and then the horror
began again: The rumbling. The sonic boom. The cries. The plume. This
time we didn’t stop. We just kept walking toward the World Trade Center.
And here is where I think leadership comes in. I don’t know what makes
a person rush toward danger while everyone else is rushing away from it.
Reporters, after all, are not first responders, working to save lives. We aren’t
in search of loved ones. And we aren’t soldiers defending life and liberty.
But we are serving our country just the same.”
Floyd and her crew were the first to gain access to “the Pile” and the first
to bring Americans the initial horrible images of the devastation. She and her
team worked tirelessly at ground zero every day for nearly three weeks. They
reported on Marines who showed up to dig for survivors with their bare
hands and volunteer firefighters who came from across the country to assist
their brothers and sisters from the New York City Fire Department. Floyd
and her crew located the day care workers who saved scores of children before
the towers fell and filmed those children being reunited with their families.
Floyd’s team was at ground zero when the last two survivors were pulled
from the rubble days after rescue workers had all but given up hope of
finding anyone else alive.

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