VisionPost
From Washington, DC
March 16, 2007

Outside, a wet, blustery day in Washington, DC convinced everyone that winter was not yet over. Umbrellas reversed direction. Rain pelted pedestrians from above, from the side and even seemingly from below. Then it started to hail and snow.

But this blog entry is not about the weather. It is about leadership in hard circumstances -- when the wind blows in your face and not at your back. Somehow the inclement backdrop to a meeting at the State Department with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice describes what the Secretary must face every day. The gusts of change swirl about our world. The winds of war continue to blow. The threats, the complexities, the adversities all keep their intensity, just like a persistent March storm bearing down on the northeast.

But inside the State Department, and especially inside the Secretary's wing, all was calm. There, where historic sketches and portraits hung over us in quiet and watchful dignity, Secretary Rice swooped into the conference room and circled the table shaking hands with the dozen or so of us that had gathered. She smiled and conversed with each of us, although I forgot to tell Secretary Rice how my 14-year-old daughter is in awe of her. As she worked the room, she even spoke about Stanford University's basketball program. She was the picture of ease, laughter and grace. And though we quickly turned to business, her upbeat demeanor continued. Soon we were engaged in a fabulous discussion about the importance of encouraging justly and well-governed democratic nations.

She talked openly about some of the barriers standing in the way of a better world and a more effective foreign assistance process. The reason for the Secretary meeting with the HELP Commission (www.HELPCommission.gov), on which I serve, was to advise us on those themes. How do we build a more effective foreign assistance program in the face of a world that behaves much like an intemperate winter day? We dealt with the topic head-on.

Interestingly, the Secretary is not coy about sports analogies. A self-confessed lover of football and other athletics, she said, "There's a lot of blocking and tackling we need to do." It was a summation of the need to focus on doing basic things really well before we endeavor to take on more than we are capable of doing.

"Blocking and tackling." The words were calmly stated by a Madame Secretary whose small frame is the furthest thing from a football lineman that one can imagine. I came away from the meeting very grateful for how clear the Secretary's reasoning was and how blessed our nation is to have such an elegant and intellectually gifted leader of our foreign policy. The Secretary clearly understands the challenges. She has felt the cold, hard wind. But she is unfazed. She is ready to block and tackle in any season.

Walking with leaders,