Page 250 - Leadership Lessons of the White House Fellows

BECOMING A FELLOW

The goal with questioning like that, Mead said, is to smoke out can-
didates with fragile personalities and, conversely, to detect those with
towering egos. Neither would be able to function effectively in a fast-paced
office full of high-performing, aggressive bureaucrats. Demanding candi-
dates who issued declarations such as “I wouldn’t work for So and So if
you paid me” or “Don’t send me over to that idiot at the Department of
Such and Such” instantly were counted as “knockouts” by Mead and the
other commissioners. Whether the candidate was down for the count or a
home run hitter, at the end of each interview Mead would ask himself this
question: Is that someone I’d like to work with?

DELIBERATIONS
Once the last interviews are done and the candidates have departed, the
commissioners meet for deliberations that according to Mead generally last
five hours or more. “It can be a very exhausting process,” Mead said. “It
takes time, and people take it very seriously.” Throughout Selection Week-
end, the commissioners typically have shared their opinions and reserva-
tions about individual candidates, and that speeds the decision-making
process. For example, if a commissioner has identified a perceived short-
coming in a candidate or has a gut feeling about a candidate one way or
another, he or she will share that insight with another interviewer, who will
use it as a springboard when he or she interviews the candidate later. There-
fore, by the time deliberations roll around, it is unlikely that there is any
key facet of a candidate that at least one commissioner has not explored.
During their deliberations, the commissioners discuss whether each can-
didate fits the description of the ideal Fellow as described by White House
Fellows Director Janet Eissenstat in a White House Fellows newsletter from
July 2006:

The Fellows who go on to make their mark in the world are focused and pas-
sionate about their work, yet they retain an intellectual curiosity about the broader
world around them. They are flexible and responsive to challenges and change.
These Fellows demonstrate a personal and professional maturity that manifests
itself in the ability to have intelligent discussions marked by intellectual honesty
and a deep respect for their fellow man. Importantly, they are also results-oriented
and take responsibility seriously. They are humble and recognize that in order to
be a truly successful leader, you must remain connected to your core values. No

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