Customer Reviews

The Nerve Center: Lessons in Governing from the White House Chiefs of Staff (Joseph V. Hughes Jr. and Holly O. Hughes Series on the Presidency and Leadership)

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This book is based on discussions among former White House chiefs of staff at the Washington forum on the role of the White House chief of staff. It resulted in a non-partisan effort to establish best practice and facilitate the transition for new administrations. I am not an American but I see the parallels to any large bureaucracy. The insights (managing access to the president, avoiding 'by the way' decisions, balancing the need to be present in all important meetings of the president with the responsibilities of the chief of staff himself) are true elsewhere and merit to be considered. Apart from this managerial aspect the candid recollections of the former chiefs of staff provide interesting insight into the workings of American politics - and who would have known that the first G. W. Bush administration performed particularly well in the transition phase?