During her second public lecture in McCrary Theatre Thursday, March 3, former EPA administrator and New Jersey governor Christine Todd Whitman discussed the qualities that define good leadership and the management style that helped her achieve her goals. Details...
Whitman, who served as Elon’s Isabella Cannon Distinguished Visiting Professor of Leadership this week, said education and common sense are important to good leadership.
“Much of what has guided my efforts is common sense,” said Whitman. “That means treating people you want to lead with courtesy and respect. Leadership is not about the titles you hold or the perks you enjoy. It is about making a difference. If that sounds simple, that’s because it is.”
The most effective leaders are inspired to lead the causes they believe in and to effect change.
“You must know why you are there,” Whitman said. “Leaders are driven by a passion that defines their purpose. Leadership is a vision, and you must share that vision by being clear about your goals.”
Whitman said she began and ended every campaign speech and every administrative meeting at the EPA by reciting her goals. “Eventually, people started to understand what my objectives were and what I hoped to accomplish.”
As governor, Whitman made a commitment to get out of her office regularly, taking a three-day bike tour of New Jersey each year and visiting with ordinary citizens to learn what was important to them. A woman in shorts and a sweaty t-shirt riding up on a bike encouraged people to open up to her, she said.
“You can’t stay in your office and sit behind your desk and understand what really matters,” said Whitman, who once joined snowplow workers at the height of a major snowstorm to take the wheel and find out what their job is like. “You must get out and meet people.”
Aspiring leaders should understand that leadership “can be difficult. It takes patience, resolve and sacrifice,” Whitman said. “But you always have to have room for your family. Family always comes first.” As a freeholder (county commissioner) in Somerset Co., N.J., Whitman said she turned heads the first time she announced she would miss a meeting to attend her daughter’s soccer game. “But soon, I noticed that some of the men began missing a meeting every now and then, too, to go to their child’s soccer game, or their grandchild’s school play,” Whitman said. “Once I set that example, they began to feel it was okay.”
Whitman emphasized the importance for leaders to surround themselves with capable people who can be trusted, then let them do their jobs.
“You must let people do their own jobs,” Whitman said. “President Bush doesn’t review every federal employee and President Lambert doesn’t grade every paper at Elon.”
Loyal members of a team have “honesty and integrity, and tell you what you need to hear, even when it’s not very pleasant,” Whitman said. “Blind loyalty can be a real drawback. You want people who can think for themselves. Clear thinkers help leaders look good.”
After her lecture, Whitman signed copies of her new book, “It’s My Party, Too: The Battle for the Heart of the GOP and the Future of America.”
Whitman is the second Isabella Cannon Distinguished Visiting Professor of Leadership, which is funded by the estate of the late Isabella Cannon, a 1924 alumnus and former mayor of Raleigh, N.C. The visiting professor teaches leadership classes and works directly with students in the Isabella Cannon Leadership Program.