Page 218 - Leadership Lessons of the White House Fellows

CHAPTER 22

LEADERS ARE

TRANSFORMATIONAL

CHANGE AGENTS

Being in a leadership position is always challenging. Even when profits are
up, recruiting is solid, and costs are containable, a leader has to be vigilant
and proactive to keep things functioning smoothly. But what happens when
a new leader is driven to the scene of an organizational train wreck and
expected to get things back on track? When trust is low and tensions are
high, what’s a leader to do?
Bill Cotter (WHF 65–66) knows the answers to those questions. When
he was serving as an assistant to Commerce Secretary John Connor during
his Fellowship, one of Cotter’s assignments was to find a way to bridge the
communication and enthusiasm gaps between career civil servants and
political appointees in the Commerce Department. “The civil servants
know they will be there way beyond the current administration and are
not about to throw themselves wholeheartedly into the latest bright idea
from the politically appointed short-termers,” Cotter explained. “I realized
there were different agendas and time lines for these two groups, but there
was also a real mutual respect for common goals. I learned a lot from a
series of conversations I had with them, but the essential lesson was that
nearly everyone—new and old, highly placed or at the lowest staff level—
has some insight to contribute that will make the organization better. A
new leader should reach out and have personal conversations with as many

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