Page 82 - Leadership Lessons of the White House Fellows

LEADERS HAVE A LASERLIKE FOCUS ON THEIR PEOPLE

While Tien learned about positive leadership traits from Ambassadors
Esserman and Fisher, some White House Fellows unfortunately learn from
their principals what not to do. Air Force Major John Pustay (WHF 66–67)
was assigned to serve as U.S. Secretary of State Dean Rusk’s military assis-
tant during his Fellowship year. Rusk had been around the White House for
years, serving as secretary of state for both President Kennedy and President
Johnson. He had come from a poor southern farm family and was a hard
worker who put himself through school and eventually became a Rhodes
Scholar, a lawyer, and a decorated military man. However, from Pustay’s
viewpoint, Rusk’s leadership skills were seriously flawed.
“Rusk wasn’t pompous or anything, but he didn’t spend much time
with people in the building. I never got a feeling that he was in touch with
his people,” Pustay recalled. “He did his homework. I think he did the
reading and all that sort of stuff, but I’m not sure that he was a person that
exhibited true leadership in terms of leaving a footprint throughout the
organization, which is very important to me. So later in my career, one of
the major hallmarks of any command or directorship that I had was to
have that footprint that permeated the whole outfit.”
For example, when Pustay was a commander at a large Air Force train-
ing center that included a hospital as well as extensive maintenance and
training wings, he would visit different areas of the complex at all hours of
the day and night with the express purpose of chatting with the people
working there. “I would go to the hospital psychiatric ward and talk to the
residents. I would end up back in the kitchen connected to one of the ten
dining rooms we had, and I would talk to the cooks,” Pustay said. “It was
so important to me to have everybody know who I was and to have them
know that I was interested in what they were all about.”

Pustay’s technique of making himself available to everyone in his com-
mand had a positive impact on his entire outfit. Everyone from the clerk
on the midnight shift to the second in command knew he or she could rely
on their leader to be there for them and to listen to their complaints and
suggestions, day or night. Pustay had built—and was intent on maintain-
ing—a communication bridge between himself and his subordinates, one
that would bind them through every conceivable trial and tribulation. His
unique footprint became an enduring, respected, and necessary element of
the organization and was largely responsible for its ongoing success.

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