Page 183 - Leadership Lessons of the White House Fellows

THE LESSONS

its goal had its leadership taken the time to become better organized. Perhaps
if they had worked to build a strong, broad-based constituency first, they
might have been able to overcome the setbacks and realize at least some of
their objectives.”
The Poor People’s Campaign was an eye-opener for McGinty, who also
gained valuable insight from studying his principal, Stewart Udall. Udall
had a keen intellect and a creative approach to problem solving. He was pas-
sionate about the environment and was an idealist in the best sense of the
word. However, he lacked one vital characteristic that would have made him
even more effective: the charisma to persuade. In stark contrast to his mag-
netic and outgoing brother, Arizona Congressman Mo Udall, Stewart was
very much an introvert. He was quiet and thoughtful and often had diffi-
culty getting people to buy into his progressive, somewhat revolutionary
ideas, whereas his brother Mo’s wit and charm were legendary. When Mo
Udall lost to Jimmy Carter in his bid to become the 1976 Democratic pres-
idential nominee, columnist James Kilpatrick declared that he had failed
because he was “too funny to be president.” In 1988, Mo Udall, still a popu-
lar congressman from Arizona, pocketed Kilpatrick’s phrase and titled his
autobiography just that: Too Funny to Be President. Many believe that Mo
Udall, who was elected to fourteen terms in the U.S. House, might have
achieved the presidency if he had not been diagnosed with incurable Parkin-
son’s disease at a relatively young age. It was the obvious dissimilarity
between the Udall brothers, coupled with the failure of the Poor People’s
Campaign, that taught McGinty his most important leadership lesson: If
you want to be a great leader, develop your ability to persuade others.
When his Fellowship came to an end, McGinty returned to Houston,
where he resumed working for an architectural firm. His cutting edge,
award-winning designs and his teachings, writings, and congressional
testimony on architectural design propelled him into the national spotlight.
In 1976 he was elected first vice president of the American Institute of
Architects (AIA), the nation’s primary professional association for licensed
architects. McGinty’s rise to president of the institute came at a time when
several social movements were having an effect on the AIA, one of which
was the consumer rights movement led by Ralph Nader. Nader’s grassroots
efforts had renewed a focus on antitrust laws designed to protect consumers
from monopolies, price gouging, predatory pricing, and other threats to
the establishment and maintenance of a healthy competitive market.

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