Page 69 - Leadership Lessons of the White House Fellows

CHAPTER 5

LEADERS FOCUS

ON THE MISSION

“The mission is what you exist for, and everything is secondary to the
mission,” explained former Secretary of State Colin Powell (WHF 72–73).
“The mission is what will take people up the hill. . . . The mission has to
be driven down through every level of the organization so everybody
understands what we are trying to accomplish and is committed to its
accomplishment. The mission has to be clear. It has to be straightforward.
It has to be understandable. But above all, it has to be achievable, and it
has to be something that will cause people to believe so that they will want
to follow you and not just have to follow you.” 16
When he was selected to be in the first class of White House Fellows
in 1965, Tom Veblen was a thirty-five-year-old corporate vice president at
Cargill Inc., where he had worked for the previous six years managing
Cargill’s soybean business in Norfolk, Virginia. He was a high achiever and
a savvy businessman accustomed to jumping in and getting things done,
but he was slightly out of his element in Washington D.C.; he knew he
had to learn the ropes first. His first week as a Fellow in the Department
of the Interior was spent reading reams of documents about the department’s
activities and becoming acquainted with the staff and the office routine. He
quickly decided he liked the atmosphere. The people were down to earth

16 Colin L. Powell, remarks, “2003 Leadership Lecture: Why Leadership Matters in the
Department of State,” October 28, 2003.

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