Page 22 - Leadership Lessons of the White House Fellows

OPENING THE DOOR TO THE WHITE HOUSE

former Tenneco CEO and MIT Corporation Chairman Dana Mead, and
Michelle Peluso, CEO of Travelocity, among others. I am proud to count
myself among their ranks.

MR. GARCIA GOES TO WASHINGTON
When I was twenty-three years old, I saw an advertisement for the White
House Fellowship program in BusinessWeek magazine and was intrigued by
it. In a fit of youthful optimism, I requested information about the program.
However, when the brochure arrived and I scanned the pictures and read the
backgrounds of the current class listed in the back of the booklet, my opti-
mism was crushed. There was no way I could apply for a White House Fel-
lowship; it was totally out of my league. I set the brochure aside but never
stopped dreaming about what it might be like to be a White House Fellow.
A few years later I was assigned to work for Army General John Galvin,
commander of the U.S. Southern Command in the Republic of Panama,
and he asked me to write an in-depth analysis of Cuba’s efforts to destabi-
lize Latin America. After an extensive yearlong study during which I trav-
eled throughout the region gathering data and evidence, I completed the
200-page report. Galvin gave an abbreviated declassified version of it to
his friend Mort Zuckerman, owner and editor in chief of U.S. News &
World Report. Zuckerman was intrigued and wanted to learn more, and so
he visited us in the Republic of Panama, where I gave him a slide presen-
tation highlighting the conclusions of my research. Zuckerman published
a summary of my work in his magazine in a cover story titled “Drugs, Ter-
ror and Politics: The Deadly New Alliance.” Coincidentally, Zuckerman
was part of a regional panel that chose the finalists for the White House
Fellows program from the Boston area. He suggested that I apply for the
program and graciously offered to write a recommendation letter for me
on the basis of the publication of my research in his magazine. General
Galvin offered to write a recommendation letter too, and he also dashed
off handwritten notes to Major General Bernard Loeffke (WHF 70–71)
and Colonel Jack LeCuyer (WHF 77–78), two former Fellows in his com-
mand who he believed could offer me valuable guidance.
I called General Loeffke’s office to make an appointment to discuss my
desire to become a White House Fellow. I spoke with his aide, who checked
and said the general would decide whether to help me the next day, but
only if I agreed to meet him at 0500 hours (five o’clock in the morning)

7