Podcast
The Ezra Klein Show
The book was highlighted as the definitive guide on White House chiefs of staff, and Ron Klain said it taught him the importance of building a team and gathering diverse advice for the president.
The Gatekeepers by Chris Whipple is kind of the definitive book on White House chiefs of staff and what things are good advice and bad advice.
— Episode: The View From the White House
Episode: The View From the White House
The book was highlighted as the definitive guide on White House chiefs of staff, and Ron Klain said it taught him the importance of building a team and gathering diverse advice for the president.
The Gatekeepers by Chris Whipple is kind of the definitive book on White House chiefs of staff and what things are good advice and bad advice.
What I took from it is that it's very important to build a team.
I'm a very team-oriented chief of staff and very focused on the idea that I'm an advisor, but also my more important job is to kind of gather advice and present it to the president, even when that advice is advice I don't necessarily agree with.
I also really am very focused on making sure that he hears lots of different voices and that when I come in to see him, usually there are other people around or oftentimes other people come in to see him without me being around.
And that's, I think, the most important book in this field, as far as I'm concerned at least.