Page 78 - Leadership Lessons of the White House Fellows

LEADERS HAVE A LASERLIKE FOCUS ON THEIR PEOPLE

families. We got there promptly, but General Powell was already there help-
ing set up, helping cook the burgers and hot dogs, and personally greeting
every single person, not just on the staff but their families,” Reiss recalled.
“He came over to me and knew not only my name but introduced himself
to my wife, Elisabeth, and thanked her for allowing me to work the hours
that I worked at the NSC. He told her she should feel that she is part of the
NSC family as well. That very brief but very personal interaction with Pow-
ell had an extraordinary impact on her. After he left, she turned to me and
said, ‘You better do a good job for that man. If you need to stay late at work,
I will never complain.’ That’s the sort of transformative impact that leader-
ship can have, and I was able to see it up close and personal with Colin Pow-
ell. This lesson was invaluable when I later worked at the State Department,
where I tried to replicate this sense of teamwork and compassion.”
Powell’s team members knew they were valued because he personally
showed them they were.
U.S. Army Colonel Sharon Richie-Melvan (WHF 82–83) also had a
principal who genuinely appreciated his staff and never missed an oppor-
tunity to prove it. Melvan was an army nurse, a major at the time of her
White House Fellowship. Her principal was Richard Williamson, Sssistant
to the President for Intergovernmental Affairs, whose office was responsi-
ble for assisting the nation’s governors, mayors, and county commissioners
in their interactions with the federal government. Despite working with
some of the finest military leaders in the world during her long army career,
Melvan said that Williamson was one of the best leaders she ever knew. “I
learned so much by watching the way he and the other staff members inter-
acted, whether we were working alone or in teams. He solicited input from
everybody because he valued the input,” she said. “We worked hard each
day and stayed late most nights. But every Friday at five o’clock, the deputy
pulled out the chips, dip, beer, and wine, which were all supplied by Rich,
and we locked the doors, put our feet up, and just sat for about an hour or
so and chatted about what happened during the week. That was every
Friday. Rich respected, valued, and supported each member of the team,
and he taught me to do the same.”
Although Melvan was affected strongly by watching Williamson’s day-
to-day dealings with his staff, she said it was what he did one afternoon
during her Fellowship that showed her more than anything else how
focused he was on his people. Melvan was at work in the Interagency

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