Book

THE GATEKEEPERS

Quotes Throughout the Book to Keep Top of Mind:

(CoS Learnings from this Book // notes by Anthony D’Apolito III)

General Learnings

“The White House chief translates the president’s agenda into reality.” (p. 11)
“‘One of the things I’ve learned is that the big breakthroughs are typically the result of a lot of grunt work – just a whole lot of blocking and tackling.’ Grunt work is what chiefs of staff do.” (p. 11)
“Some of the great blunders of modern history have happened because a chief of staff failed to tell the president what he did not want to hear.” (p. 12)
“Adams [Sherman Adams] was loyal, selfless, and so fiercely protective of the president….” – Chris Whipple (p. 18)
“The sacrifices a President must make to be a great President are enormous, but they make the difference. P.S: If you can take this load and still smile, you are indeed a President.” – Donald Rumsfeld (p. 68)
In exchange for this amount of work, CoS are frequently catapulted to roles of much greater authority in a short span of time:
Richard Nixon's chief of staff Alexander Haig, became Secretary of State under Ronald Reagan
Gerald Ford's chief of staff Dick Cheney later became a congressman for Wyoming, Secretary of Defense under George H. W. Bush, and vice president under George W. Bush
Donald Rumsfeld, another chief of staff under Ford, later became Secretary of Defense in 2 administrations
Jack Lew, Obama's fourth chief of staff, was later appointed Secretary of the Treasury
In the corporate world, a CoS would rarely serve as COO, chief strategist, office manager, or gatekeeper, while the other responsibilities may remain the same. (srce article)

Sherman Adams – Dwight D. Eisenhower’s chief of staff and the first-ever person in the role

“Presidents need help.’ That’s what the Brownlow Committee, formed by Franklin Roosevelt in 1936, concluded about the burdens of the commander in chief. Eisenhower had found help in the form of an irascible former New Hampshire governor named Sherman Adams. When Ike made his first entrance into the Executive Mansion, the story goes, an usher handed the new president a letter. ‘Never bring me a sealed envelope!’ Ike barked. Nothing he decreed, should come to the president without first being screened by someone he trusted. Soon Adams was installed as the president’s gatekeeper – and the first White House chief of staff was born.“ – Chris Whipple (p. 18) [Envelope story]
“But Adams was more than a gatekeeper; he was the White House version of Ike’s army chief of staff: funneling information, framing decisions, and acting as a broker among quarreling cabinet members.” – Chris Whipple (p. 18)

H. R. Haldeman – Richard Nixon’s chief of staff

“....The president’s time is his most valuable asset.” – H. R. Haldeman (p. 22)
“‘Our job is not to do the work of the government, but to get the work out where it belongs – out to the Departments,’ Haldeman began. He continued: ‘Nothing goes to the president that is not completely staffed out first , for accuracy and form, for lateral coordination, checked for related material, reviewed by competent staff concerned with that area – and all that is essential for Presidential attention.’” – H. R. Haldeman (p. 23)
“The former advance man was always scanning the horizon for threats.” – Chris Whipple (p. 25)
“He expected perfection. He said, ‘This White House is the president’s house and it should be the best in the world.’” – Terry O’Donnell (p. 23)
“Haldeman often acted as a brake on presidential orders he considered unwise or even illegal…. Better to let the president cool off, and return another day.” – Chris Whipple; H. R. Haldeman (p. 30)

Donald Rumsfeld – Gerald Ford’s chief of staff

“Immediately pick your successor,” he told him. “And always remember: You are not indispensable.” – Donald Rumsfeld (p. 9)
“When you’re White House chief of staff, you don’t have a lot of leisure time that you can just be visiting.” – Donald Rumsfeld (p. 55)

Jack Watson – Jimmy Carter’s chief of staff

“‘The thing about Jack, more than his intellect, was his discipline,’ he says. ‘We used to joke about his desk. He would polish it. The desk was always shiny and there was nothing on it.’ Watson, who had been part of an elite U.S. Marines special operations unit, made it all look effortless.” – Alan Novak (p. 78)
Organization, clearer sense of priorities, and more of a professional operation. (p. 102)

Donald Regan – Ronald Reagan’s first chief of staff

Ronald Reagan’s favorite Russian phrase: “You remember that expression: ‘trust but verify’? Well, he was trust. She was verify.” – Ronald Reagan (p. 133)
“The most important word in the title is staff.” – Howard H. Baker Jr. (p. 133)
“Ideally, the chief is the COO to the president’s CEO.” – Ken Duberstein (p. 136)
“You can’t be a president’s chief of staff if you think you are president consciously or unconsciously,” he said. “You’ve got to realize… that you’re working for him, and carrying out his policies. You’re free to argue with him, to debate with him, to disagree with him – but you can’t ever substitute your judgment for his .“ – Howard H. Baker Jr. (p. 150)

James A. Baker III – Ronald Reagan’s second chief of staff

“One thing I believed was to surround myself with really good people.” – James Baker (p. 111)
“Part of the chief’s job was to be a ‘javelin catcher’, as Jack Watson had put it, and it did not take long for the spears to start flying.” – Jack Watson; Chris Whipple (p. 112)
“‘You do not serve your president well if you are just a yes man,’ explains Baker. ‘That’s not what presidents need; that’s not what presidents want. One of the things I am most proud of is that all of the presidents I have worked for have said, ‘Jim Baker was able to tell me what he really thought, whether I wanted to hear it or not.’ You have to be willing to do that. You have to be willing to speak truth to power.’” – James Baker (p. 113)
“He had this zen quality, " she says. “He was put together and he just exuded this air of calm and cool and above it all…. He was the one who you thought knew everything; he was giving context and perspective…. He was a straight shooter. And extremely bright.” – Susan Zirinsky, CBS News White House producer (p. 114)
“In the gospel according to Baker, preparation was the first commandment. ‘Day in and day out, he’s focused. He does not wing it. He thinks before he speaks,’ says Tutwiler…. ‘He has that yellow legal pad, and he writes everything down,’” – Tutwiler; Chris Whipple (p. 114)
“Baker logged sixteen-hour days and personally returned every phone call, no matter the hour.” – Chris Whipple (p. 115)
“Baker is not perfect,” says Tutwiler. “But he can handle pressure. He’s a Steady Eddie. And he’s a realist. It’s almost clinical. He doesn’t lead with emotion. He can handle a whole lot of incoming and just not get rattled.” – Tutwiler (p. 118)
“You gotta have nerves of steel, you have to have endless energy, you gotta know how to pace yourself – because it is not just the most important job, it’s the hardest job: You have to be like three people.” – Mary Matalin, who served three Republican presidents (p. 130)
“You are extraordinarily powerful when you are White House chief of staff, he says. “You may be the second-most-powerful person in Washington. But the minute you forget that your power is all vicarious from the president – then you’re in trouble. Your job is to make sure the president gets to hear all sides of every issue.” – Ken Duberstein (p. 130)

Ken Duberstein - Ronald Reagan’s final chief of staff

“Always remember,” he said, looking at Emmanuel, “that when you open your mouth, it is not you but the president who is speaking.” – Ken Duberstein (p. 5)

John Sununu - George H. W. Bush’s chief of staff

“You have to create a firewall between the president and those who are clawing to see the president,” he told Rahm. “Even if it creates problems for the chief of staff…” – John Sununu (p. 7)
Sununu – a strong, principled man – George H. W. Bush speaking about John Sununu’s character (p. 163)
“For chiefs of staff that are the spear catchers, the javelin catchers, it’s especially hard on their family,” – John Sununu (p. 178)

Thomas F. “Mack” McLarty - Bill Clinton’s first chief of staff

“Try to keep some perspective about what you’re doing and try to maintain your humanity,” he told Rahm. “You don’t always succeed. We’re all human and we make mistakes. It starts with recognizing what a privilege it is to serve the president of the United States, but more importantly, the people of this country. Keep that in perspective and don’t let it get out of proportion with this regal title of ‘chief of staff.’” – Thomas F. “Mack” McLarty (p. 6)
“The chief of staff cannot be a dear old friend.” – Reich (p. 188)

Leon Panetta – Bill Clinton’s second chief of staff

“Panetta stepped in and brought discipline and focus.” (p. 7)
“Always, always, be straight and honest with the president of the United States,” he said. “Always tell him what he may not want to hear – because frankly, a lot of people in the White House will always tell the president what he wants to hear.” – Leon Panetta (p. 7)
“There would be no more uninvited guests dropping in on the Oval Office…. He’s actually a very gentle soul, but he knows when discipline is necessary.” – Reich (p. 199)
“You just have to be very smart. You have to know when to be tough, and also when to let the reins be a little looser. Because the people around you have to have some degree of autonomy or else they’re not going to do well.” – Reich (p. 201)

Erskine Bowles – Bill Clinton’s third chief of staff

“We went back and took all of the president’s old schedules and then we got the reality – because people record what the president actually does. We color-coded it: Foreign policy was red, economic policy was blue, and so on…. The color-coding helped show Clinton just how inefficient his schedule was.” – Erskine Bowles (p. 198/99)
“‘You’ve got to be prepared to be fired,’ Bowles says. “Because if you’re not, then you’re not going to give him the right advice. And the right advice is not always yes.’” – Don Rumsfeld (p. 208)
“The power of the chief of staff is derived,” says Bowles. “If you have the trust and the confidence of the president, you have all the power you need to get what you need done. If you’ve lost the confidence of a president, people smell it, feel it, know it within seconds – and you become an overblown scheduler.” (Erskine Bowles (p. 209)

Andrew Card - George W. Bush’s first chief of staff

“Card, who had watched five previous chiefs in action, had a couple of conditions for accepting the job. ‘First,’ he told Bush, ‘we have to have a very candid relationship. You have to be comfortable with me saying anything to you – and I will be comfortable with you saying anything to me.’ The second thing was, ‘As long as I’m your chief of staff I can’t be your friend.’ And then I said, ‘If you’re looking for more than one chief of staff at the same time, I don’t want to be one of them.’” – Andrew Card (p. 223)
“The more power everybody had, the more effective everybody would be. The Bush model was, ‘We’re all on the same team and we all need to perform at our highest level.’” – Mary Matalin (p. 227)

John Podesta - the head of Obama’s transition team

“But this morning he preached humility and patience. ‘You’ve got to slow down, and listen,’ he said. ‘You’ve got to resist the temptation to always have the answer. Slow down, listen. You’ll learn a lot and you’ll make better decisions.’” – John Podesta (p. 6)
“At some level that’s being a battlefield commander. You’ve just got to keep your troops focused on what the goal is on a day-to-day basis. Keep the discipline strong, intimidate when you need to – and let somebody cry on your shoulder when that’s appropriate.” – John Podesta (p. 212)
“If you look back over history, the people who got most presidents in trouble are their old pals from home,” he says. “Look at Carter: Ham Jordan and Bert Lance. Nixon: Haldeman and Ehrlichman. Lyndon Johnson: Bobby Baker. Those people were way above their depth. And all of a sudden they become experts. That’s just not good for the guy making the decisions. What you want are great people around you who are strong where you’re not.” – Erskine Bowles (p. 258)
“Podesta stressed the interaction of the chief and staff. ‘These are the people you are going to spend all day with,’ he said. ‘These are the people who are going to guide your strategy, who are going to tell you when you’re doing something right, tell you when you’re doing something wrong. And you’ve got to have someone who manages that team, who has your respect and their respect. It has to go up and down.’” – John Podesta (p. 258)

Rahm Emanuel - Barack Obama’s first chief of staff

“He’s so passionate and angry sometimes because he believes in all of the issues. And he’ll fight for the stuff – he’ll get angry because none of it’s bullshit to him.” – Erskine Bowles (p. 262)
“Emanuel was struck by the fact that both presidents he’d served, Clinton and Obama, demanded honesty. “Look, they had different temperaments.” – Rahm Emanuel (p. 262)
“‘The rewards are few,’ he says of being chief of staff. ‘The pains are magnified. You get all the blame and never any of the credit. You are in the cockpit seat. And when anybody gives you advice about, ‘Oh, you should do this. You should do that’ – unless they’ve sat in that cockpit seat and been strafed by friendly fire as well as enemy fire, they don’t know anything about the job.’” – Rahm Emanuel (p. 268/9)

William Daley - Barack Obama’s second chief of staff

“The key to success as chief of staff is being empowered by the president,” says Daley’s old friend Bowles. “When people saw that Bill Daley wasn’t empowered, he was dead.” – Erskine Bowles (p. 276)

Denis McDonough - Barack Obama’s fourth chief of staff

“Every day at five o’clock, Obama and his chief performed “The Wrap”, a walk around the South Lawn….” – Chris Whipple (pictures index before p. 243)
“‘The most important thing a chief can do, and I learned this from Jim Baker’s book,’ he says, ‘is establish clear lines of responsibility. As a result, you get clear accountability. There’s no accountability without clear responsibility.’” – Denis McDonough (p. 282)
“The role of the chief of staff has to be the flashing red light when you anticipate that the president may be doing the wrong thing, or that he’s not being well served. And you can’t just kind of turn your head and cross your fingers and hope that everything’s going to be okay.” – Leon Panetta (p. 287)
“As the president says, ‘Plan beats no plan.’” – Barack Obama (p. 289)
“McDonough’s obsession with process paid off. ‘Denis was very clear about holding and then firing,’ says Podesta. ‘Boom. Boom. Boom. Boom. He’s very good at that. He had lots of moving parts, lots of things getting f*cked up, alot of stuff could leak. It all held, it was tight, and then it rolled out.’” – John Podesta (p. 290/1)

Reince Priebus - Donald Trump’s first chief of staff

“Every one of these guys at different times told me something that pissed me off,” Obama said, flashing his familiar grin. “They weren’t always right; sometimes I was. But they were right to do that because they knew they had to tell me what I needed to hear rather than what I wanted to hear.” Obama looked at Priebus. “That’s the most important function of a chief of staff. Presidents need that.” – Barack Obama (p. 298)
“You have to be the son of a bitch who is honest with the president when mistakes are being made. You’ve got to have that relationship where you can speak the truth to the president and he can speak the truth to you.” – Leon Panetta (p. 311)
“As chief of staff, you don’t tell the president what to do. You don’t substitute your judgment for his. But if he’s behaving in ways that are detrimental to his presidency, it’s part of your job to step in and try to correct that.” – Bolten (p. 312)

Notes:

Actionable Takeaways

CoS being aware of all paper cuts in the entire org
CoS identifying threats and blindspots that other leaders can’t see that are on the horizon
CoS planning all meetings for CEO and important org-wide meeting: agendas for meetings, content for meetings, action items and delegation of such after meetings
CoS having a great relationship with leadership teams

Understanding where to best help leaders
Understanding what things to bring to the president (MAJOR) and what to not (MINOR)

CoS framing decisions for the CEO – then letting CEO make the final decision (doing this in the form of memos + reports is most optimal)

CoS keeping the CEO disciplined and focused (guardrails)
CoS being able to tell the CEO the truth – even if he may not want to hear it
CoS creating layers of defense against those external members of the org who strive to get access to the CEO
CoS being a keen listener
CoS being an intermediary between CEO and all others to properly help in reducing qualms
Similar to Op Excellences for the Kitchen Operations, make sure everyone is working in alignment with the CEO’s intent by delegating work and establish priorities for projects – and fill gaps where this isn’t the case or where this is missing

Strategic planning process:

Identify decision opportunities
Determine whose decision space it falls within
Tee-up process
Present process
When actionized, monitor execution

When it comes to stated/emergent priorities, the CoS spends more time supporting this (internal), whereas the CEO focuses more time on outward facing efforts (external)
CoS needs a great deal of access to the CEO and his information, in order to best serve him
CoS aggregates information (via memos) for the CEO for important interviews, discussions, live panels, etc.

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The Gatekeepers: How the White House Chiefs of Staff Define Every Presidency Notes

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