February 4; The Right People Do Not Have To Think About The Basics
MANAGEMENT BY THE BOOK:
365 Daily Bible Verse &
One-Minute Management Lessons For The Busy Faithful

4 February

He chose capable men from all Israel and made them leaders of the people,

officials over thousands, hundreds, fifties and tens.

Exodus 18:25

Personnel is Policy

The president’s spokesmen never knew quite what to say and took a long time not to say it.

Spokesmen from the opposing party always new exactly what to say and were quick to say it.

Bill Clinton was president and Newt Gingrich was Speaker of the House. Whenever there was a newsworthy event Newt’s people were first, beating Clinton’s prople to the network microphones. The Gringich Team was always able to get his reaction-message out first.

How did conservatives beat the smoothest political man and machine in recent memory to the mics?

Tony Blankley
Courtesy
The Washington Times

The late Tony Blankley was the press secretary for Newt Gingrich, the Speaker of the House in the 1990’s. He always knew exactly what to say in his compelling British accent. The conservative team immediately knew the response to any event.

The spokesmen were able to speak without a study session or note cards or advance wordsmith-ing. They knew what their boss’s would say. They needed no rehearsal only a green (red) (camera) light.

President Clinton and his liberal team were constantly re-adjusting and massaging their message attempting to work both sides of the political spectrum. They called this “triangulating.” While liberals were guessing their own minds, conservatives were speaking theirs.

Blankley served as a speechwriter for Ronald Reagan in the 1980’s. Reagan was insistent on finding key deputies who would know thoroughly conservative principles. Each appointee who served at the pleasure of the president–could speak for the president and those traditional values that got him elected.

Like Moses in Exodus 18:25 who, chose capable men from all Israel and made them leaders of the people, officials over thousands, hundreds, fifties and tens, Reagan and Gingrich chose capable men. Each man or woman hired was the president’s policy personified.

This is what the wise manager does in recruiting and training his direct reports. He grooms them to assume more responsibility so that if the manager goes on vacation or devotes attention to another project then a deputy, a second in command can step in ensuring the continued effectiveness of the business unit.

The deputy does what the boss would do if the boss had enough time (or talent!).

Toney Blankley died in 2012.

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