The Gatekeepers; Radio West, August 2, 2017

Doug Fabrizio, Radio West; The Gatekeepers

[Kip Currier: Heard some very interesting comments from Chris Whipple (author of The Gatekeepers: How the White House Chiefs of Staff Define Every Presidency) on either CNN or MSNBC while I was driving this morning:

[Paraphrasing]

Chiefs of Staff have to manage up, as well as manage down. 

Chiefs of Staff have to be the one person able and willing to close the Oval Office door and tell the President how things really are.

Chiefs of Staff who don't do their jobs well and allow things to happen that shouldn't, commit "Chief of Staff malpractice".]

"Wednesday, journalist Chris Whipple joins us to talk about what’s been called the toughest job in Washington. White House Chiefs of Staff serves as gatekeepers to the Oval Office, and they help define the course of the country. Whipple interviewed all 17 men still living who have served in the position. Ultimately, he says, their style makes or breaks each presidency. We’ll examine the job’s unique challenges and ask how new chief of staff John Kelly might shake up the current West Wing.

CHRIS WHIPPLE is a writer, journalist, documentary filmmaker, and speaker. He earned multiple Peabody and Emmy Awards as a producer CBS’s 60 Minutes and ABC’s Primetime. Most recently, he was the executive producer and writer of Showtime’s The Spymasters: CIA in the Crosshairs. His new book is called The Gatekeepers: How the White House Chiefs of Staff Define Every Presidency [Independent booksellers|Amazon|Audible]"

Where Are the United States Attorneys?; New York Times, June 6, 2017

Editorial Board, New York Times; 

Where Are the United States Attorneys?

"Three months after President Trump abruptly fired half of the nation’s 93 United States attorneys, following the resignations of the other half, he has yet to replace a single one.

It’s bizarre — and revealing — that a man who called himself the “law and order candidate” during the 2016 campaign and spoke of “lawless chaos” in his address to Congress would permit such a leadership vacuum at federal prosecutors’ offices around the country. United States attorneys are responsible for prosecuting terrorism offenses, serious financial fraud, public corruption, crimes related to gang activity, drug trafficking and all other federal crimes.

As is usually the case when confronted with his own incompetence, Mr. Trump has spent his time looking for somebody else to blame...

There are two other obvious, and perhaps simpler, explanations, and both may be correct. Mr. Trump does not actually believe in or care about his campaign claim of “lawless chaos” in our streets. And Mr. Trump is not a good manager — not of his businesses, certainly, and not of the vastly larger, more complex organization he now runs, the one that matters to the well-being of every American."

Mike Tuchen of Talend: Watch the Road, Not the Wipers; New York Times, 4/8/16

Adam Bryant, Corner Office. New York Times; Mike Tuchen of Talend: Watch the Road, Not the Wipers:

"This interview with Mike Tuchen, chief executive of Talend, a software vendor that specializes in big-data integration, was conducted and condensed by Adam Bryant...

How do you hire?

The first questions are always going to be about management and leadership style. And I’ll ask a number of open-ended questions about what’s important to get right as a leader. Some people will talk about the people on the team and the best way to motivate them. The answers that kind of scare me are from candidates who talk about people as if they’re something on a spreadsheet. Leadership and management are all about people.

Then I want to make sure that you’re resilient, because things don’t always go the way you want them to. So I’ll ask questions like, what’s the hardest problem you’ve ever solved? Why was it hard? What did you do uniquely well that someone else wouldn’t have been able to do, and why?"

De Blasio Picks More Liberal Activists Than Managers for City Posts; New York Times, 2/28/14

Nikita Stewart, New York Times; De Blasio Picks More Liberal Activists Than Managers for City Posts:

"In any case, Mr. de Blasio’s mayor’s personnel choices are just one means by which he appears to be easing the mayoralty from the practical details of governing into a platform for the kind of social change usually achieved on the streets and in the courts.

It is a far different approach from that of his predecessor, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, who favored agency heads and staff members with button-down business backgrounds.

“Old habits die very hard,” said Mark Green, a former public advocate and mayoral candidate, and no slouch himself as a liberal. “Giuliani was a prosecutor, Bloomberg was a C.E.O., and so far, Bill’s a political labor activist...”"

Mr. Green, who was Mr. Bloomberg’s opponent in the 2001 election, warned that New Yorkers needed “more of a leader and manager than activist and advocate.”

“He’s been preparing for years to run for mayor but not to be mayor,” Mr. Green said. “The most-asked question I get from earnest citizens is, ‘Can he manage the city?’"