Month: March 2024

Former Press Secretary Dee Dee Myers on her experience in the White House, the influential women from her childhood, and what it means to her to be a woman in leadership 

When Dee Dee Myers entered the White House in 1993, she was a trailblazer – the first woman and the second-youngest person to ever serve as press secretary to a president. 

The role came naturally in some ways because Myers grew up in a family of trailblazers: Her grandmother, widowed at 35, raised five children alone and put them through college. Her mother didn’t finish college, but returned when Myers was in high school to get her degrees. Neither woman allowed others’ perceptions of them to affect them. 

“Those two role models of women both encouraging me and living their own [lives], and not necessarily conforming to what the social norms at the point in time were, were very influential for me, and I think one of the things I learned was that, you know, leadership comes from life experience,” she told the 2024 class of Presidential Leadership Scholars last month in Little Rock, Arkansas.  

There’s not just one path to leadership, she noted in a conversation with Clinton Foundation Executive Director Stephanie Streett during Module Two of the program. 

“I’ve always been surprised by where I am and how I got there,” she said. “Be a little flexible and a little open. I think you’ll find that it’s not going to go the way you thought it would, probably, but it’s what you make it.”

Myers also spoke about the internal and external pressures she felt working as a young woman in a primarily male environment.  

Initially, she didn’t think she was afforded the same authority her male predecessors would have been when addressing reporters in the briefing room. She found her way through it on her own, but now acknowledges that she should have asked for help. 

“One of my regrets is that I didn’t reach out more to women that would’ve helped me,” she said. “Because I felt like I was already starting from behind, I thought that would be perceived as a sign that I didn’t know what I was doing – and that was a mistake on my part. I really encourage you to always try to find people who will help you. It’s a strength to go to people who might know more than you or might see things differently than you and who are willing to be helpful to you.” 

Things have improved for women in many ways over the past decades, but the country is still having conversations about how to help women penetrate leadership models. 

But “when Jen Psaki became President Biden’s first press secretary, no one batted an eye,” she said. “There were no stories about a girl press secretary. So that to me is big, and I felt this incredible satisfaction that we’d gotten to that point and that there have now been many female press secretaries at the White House.” 

Her top tips for the Scholars were to cultivate strong relationships and embrace flexibility on their leadership journeys.  

“Keep adding to relationships and bringing a little humility and grace to others, particularly in this tumultuous time,” she said. “Everybody’s got a lot going on, and so if we could just show a little bit of grace, I think that can help not just us get through it, but help other people get through it. And together we can move further. Might take us a little longer, but together we can go further.” 

Presidential Leadership Scholars Module Two recap 

The PLS Class of 2024 met for the second time last month at the Clinton Presidential Center in Little Rock, Arkansas. Over the course of three days, Scholars had the opportunity to dive into the module theme of “Vision and Communication” and learn valuable lessons on leadership from President Bill Clinton, as well as guest speakers Secretary Henry Cisneros, Secretary Rodney Slater, former White House press secretary Dee Dee Myers, and Congressman French Hill. 

Thursday began with a warm welcome from Stephanie Streett, Executive Director of the Clinton Foundation, and the opportunity for Scholars to explore the Clinton Presidential Library and Museum, which showcase the legacy of President Clinton’s life and administration.  

That evening, Scholars had the privilege of hearing from President Clinton himself, who took part in a Q&A moderated by PLS Co-Director Mike Hemphill. During the hourlong conversation, he gave the Scholars insight into what galvanized his interest in public service, how to connect with people who don’t agree with you, and how to maintain optimism in moments of defeat. 

Friday kicked off with an early start at the Clinton Center, where Scholars had a classroom session with Hemphill. They learned strategies to effectively frame the core statements of their personal leadership projects.   

A conversation with Cisneros followed. Cisneros, who served as Secretary of Housing and Urban Development in the Clinton Administration, shared insight on how he got involved with public service, his transition from Mayor of San Antonio to Secretary, and how his time in the Clinton Administration impacted his approach to leadership. 

Scholars also heard from Myers, who was the first woman and the second-youngest person to hold the position. She spoke to the Scholars about her journey to the White House, how she dealt with being a young woman in a predominantly male workplace, and what leadership means to her. 

“Leadership has to be authentic to who you are and where you come from,” Myers said. “There are many, many paths to leadership. The idea that there’s one path and that leaders are a certain type of person – which for so long was a male and preferably White – that has changed dramatically.” 

Slater, who served as Secretary of Transportation in the Clinton Administration, told Scholars about his experience working with President Clinton since he was the Governor of Arkansas. He also discussed how he leveraged his experience and leadership as Secretary to bring equity into transportation for communities across the country. 

As his conversation – and Module Two – came to a close, Slater shared a simple yet profound insight on what it means for Scholars to embark on their own leadership journeys. 

“I think, at the essence, that’s what our country is all about: It’s about believing that tomorrow can be better than today. It’s about believing that we, through our individual efforts, can be a part of creating that more perfect union. It’s about our founders starting out with the words, `We the People’ in crafting the government that now governs us. And it’s about all of us believing that we are part of these people.”