“For years after 9/11, every morning President Bush was in town, he met with the leaders of the counterterrorism agencies - which included the FBI and the Department of Justice....
This was my first meeting with the leader of the free world. As I sat there, I couldn’t get over how brightly lit the place was. There was a ring of lights in the recessed ceiling that lit the place like the noonday sun. I didn’t have to speak in this meeting unless called upon, so I let my eyes sweep over the faces that were familiar from TV - the president, Vice President Dick Cheney, FBI Director Bob Muller, National Security Adviser Condoleeza Rice, and Secretary of Homeland Security Tom Ridge.
In that moment, something hit me: It’s just us. I always thought that in this place there would be somebody better, but it’s just this group of people - including me - trying to figure stuff out. I didn’t mean that as an insult to any of the participants, who were talented people. But we were just people, ordinary people in extraordinary roles in challenging times. I’m not sure what I had expected when I met the top of the pyramid and it was just us, which was both comforting and a bit frightening. Suddenly Bob Dylan was in my head singing, “What looks large from a distance, close up ain’t never that big.”
That’s from James Comey’s book, “A Higher Loyalty: Truth, Lies and Leadership.”
At the time of this scene, Comey was the #2 at the Department of Justice.
Here he has ascended to the top, and when he gets there... it’s just us.
To finish reading this blog, click here:
https://www.chrisadamsofficial.com/post/it-s-just-us-ordinary-people-in-extraordinary-leadership-roles
