WHITE HOUSE DEPUTY CHIEF OF STAFF SPEAKS

01 Apr 2009

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RON BROWN SCHOLAR PROGRAM SELECTION WEEKEND  DINNER
MARCH 20, 2009

The Ron Brown Scholar Program welcomed long-time friend of the Program and White House Deputy Chief of Staff to President Barack H. Obama, Mona K. Sutphen to its annual Selection Weekend Dinner at the Renaissance M Street Hotel in Washington, DC last week to address the 15 finalists in the 2009 Scholarship competition. Below are her remarks to the group.

Sutphen remarks:

Great to be back with the Ron Brown Scholar family. Feels like it was just yesterday that I was at the Scholar event in Charlottesville, but what a difference a few months make. It’s great to see so many familiar Ron Brown faces – and new ones.

I’m just going to share a few minutes of thoughts….musings really.

Needless to say, it has been a heady and historic time. As my husband will attest, I have sacrificed quite a bit to work for this President. But it is an incredible honor to serve this President and this time in our nation’s history.

I cannot articulate the intensity and seriousness of the issues we face – a banking crisis, economic recession and two active wars. But what I have appreciated thus far – and what I found most compelling about the President from the beginning – was that he had a vision.

A vision for how to lead and rebuild the country and finally tackle some of the really broken issues we face – like healthcare and our unsustainable energy consumption.

I must say that although the days seem to be so intense that they blur into each other, there are moments here and there when I’m in the Oval and the President is talking with his top advisors and I think, how did this happen to me? How is this my life?

It got me thinking about my career to date and some of the lessons I’ve learned along the way. These rules are what I want to share with you this evening.

I have entitled them Mona’s Nine Career Rules:

1. Spend your first 10 years learning skills – languages, law or medical degrees, landscaping, whatever. It may not seem relevant to your career path, but it will become relevant in the future.

2. Related to number 1, play to your strengths. If you hate numbers, don’t go for being a banker. If you hate the sight of blood, don’t be a doctor. You can try to force-fit your career, but most people succeed in careers they’re good at and have interest in.

3. Be honest. If you mess something up, don’t try to cover it up. People respect you if you admit you made a mistake. If you get caught trying to blame others or covering your tracks, you’ll get fired. It’s not worth it.

4. Admit what you don’t know. I struggle with this a lot, though in my new job there is so much that is new that I spend 12 hours a day asking questions. I don’t believe the saying that there are no dumb questions. Some people do ask dumb questions. You want to try to walk the line.

5. Being ambitious is great. Being careerist is not. Wanting to succeed is natural, but if it is your only focus, you inevitably will trip up – I see it all the time – and more importantly won’t enjoy your life very much.

6. One step at a time. Don’t think two steps ahead in your career. Never take a job you don’t want because you think it will lead to a job you do want. There are too many variables at play – and most likely, in the end you’ll be stuck with a bad job you didn’t want.

7. Follow the people, not the job description. If you work for great people you will learn invaluable lessons. It is worth taking a lower level job with someone who will teach and empower you rather than having a great title.

8. Most important rule of all: don’t be a jerk. I stole this rule from a former Foreign Service colleague who did my entry-level diplomatic training. As he put it, life is short. Being a jerk doesn’t help you get ahead. It just makes you a jerk that no one likes. He’s right.

9. To end on a serious note: You can’t take all the credit. No one succeeds without the help of others. Don’t kid yourself that you’re different; and that means you must reach back and help those behind you. The greatest legacy is helping others.