Page 24 - Leadership Lessons of the White House Fellows

OPENING THE DOOR TO THE WHITE HOUSE

My mother was a seventh grade science teacher in the public schools
for twenty-two years, and she ingrained in me the idea that the root cause
of many of the nation’s fundamental social problems was a crumbling edu-
cational system in desperate need of reform. Secretary of Education
William Bennett was a brash education reformer who was determined to
raise student achievement, and so I decided that working with him would
be a great assignment. My wish was granted, but unfortunately, shortly
before I arrived in Washington, Bennett resigned to write and lecture. I
quickly was reassigned to the State Department, where Deputy Secretary
John Whitehead gave me a home and asked me to work on global strate-
gies to help stem the tide of illicit narcotics entering the country. White-
head had been the chairman of Goldman Sachs, and he was a great mentor
and a wonderful leader. But when President George H. W. Bush took office
in January 1989, he appointed William Bennett to a cabinet post as the first
director of the National Office of Drug Control Policy, a position that
came to be known as the drug czar. Bennett would be responsible for coor-
dinating twenty-three federal agencies fighting the war on drugs, and I just
had to get in on that!
I went to my interview with Bill Bennett armed with facts, figures,
and advice on how to win the newly declared War on Drugs. But when I
walked into the room, he didn’t ask to see my data or hear my recom-
mendations. Instead, he looked me over from head to toe and said, “Char-
lie, you look like you can run fast. Do you have good hands?”
“Excuse me, sir?” I replied, dumbstruck.
“I’m talking about football, son.” Bennett grinned. “We have a game
every Sunday. We’re playing Jack Kemp’s team this weekend, and I need a
wide receiver. Can you play or not?”
Recovering quickly, I volunteered, “I’m your man—quicker than a
jackrabbit and good hands to boot.”
That was music to his ears, and to my amazement, he hired me on the
spot to join his team. What an opportunity! Not only did he design a
special program to attack the drug culture and violence that permeated the
nation’s capital in 1989—even the mayor was indicted—he also drove the
first comprehensive national strategy composed of a balanced array of
demand-reduction and supply-reduction actions. I was proud to do my
part, and my experience as a White House Fellow changed my life and
opened great opportunities.

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