Page 61 - Leadership Lessons of the White House Fellows

THE LESSONS

No one was injured, and no navy vessels were harmed. Shephard’s home and
family survived intact too, although many homes nearby were ruined. He
spent the next few days jockeying back and forth between the shipyard and
his neighborhood, where he helped people clear downed limbs and other
debris. “My headache was constant and no better,” Shephard said. “I knew
something more serious than a migraine had occurred, but my doctor’s office
was closed, all phones and power were out, and my only option was the
emergency room, which I figured had better things to do than dealing with
a dude with a wicked headache.” Shephard pressed on, and the shipyard
reopened just six days after the storm. It was only then that he agreed to go
to the emergency room. The attending doctor determined after a battery of
tests that Shephard had suffered a subarachnoid hemorrhage in his brain,
an event that often results in paralysis or death. He was admitted to
the intensive care unit and then spent two weeks undergoing a series of
procedures designed to save his life and prevent a future occurrence.
“Lesson number one: As leaders, we tend to think we are indispensable,
but we aren’t. As DeGaulle said, ‘the graveyards are full of indispensable men.’
We are actually more indispensable to our families, but we tend to forget their
needs when we play at being Superman on the job,” Shephard explained.
“The shipyard did well through the storm mostly because of good advance
preparation and excellent work by our on-site emergency teams. The lead-
ership I provided on site during and after Isabel could have been provided
by someone else. It takes a little trust and humility to admit that. If I had
collapsed at the shipyard—a real risk in retrospect—it would have interfered
unnecessarily with the important job at hand. As it was, I didn’t burden my
people by mentioning my situation, and by the grace of God the hemorrhage
neither killed me nor kept me from doing the job. But my surgeon pulled no
punches, saying how dumb it was to wait to seek help when my body was
clearly sending a signal. If I’d died, it would have been a blow to my family,
and my fiftieth birthday would’ve been a major dud. Lesson number two: If
you feel a knife through the top of your head, go see a doctor.” This certainly
points to the need for regular visits to the doctor for full physical checkups.
More important, leaders understand the value of regular exercise and a
healthy lifestyle, which serves as an antidote to the high levels of stress in
one’s professional life.
Thankfully, everything came out okay for Shephard. but it took a personal
tragedy for former Fellow William “Bill” Drummond (WHF 76–77) to realize

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