Alumna Lisa Ellman Offers Lessons Learned to 2009 Graduates
Lisa Ellman, MPP/JD'05, spoke to graduating students at the Harris School's 2009 hooding ceremony about the lessons learned since her graduation. In that short time, she has moved from a Washington law firm to the Obama presidential campaign to the White House.
Ellman serves as the White House legal director in the Executive Office of the President, Office of Presidential Personnel, managing the nominations and appointments process for legal and regulatory positions. She worked on the Obama presidential campaign in a variety of policy roles and served on the Obama-Biden Transition Team. Before joining the Obama campaign Ellman practiced law at Mayer, Brown, Rowe, & Maw LLP in Washington, D.C.
Read the text of Ellman's remarks.
Read the text of Dean Susan Mayer's remarks.
View photo slideshow.
Hooding Ceremony Remarks
Lisa Ellman, Legal Director, Office of Presidential Personnel,
The White House
Lessons for Our Generation
Thank you to Dean Mayer for that kind introduction, and to Dean Cohen for the invitation to speak here today.
To the graduating Class of 2009, congratulations! To the parents and family members with us today, you too deserve a congratulations and a thank you. I know I couldn't have made it through my years here without the support of my family.
It is an honor and a privilege to be here with you, just a few short years after finishing the same exams, papers, and problem sets that I know you all just completed. Oh, the joys of late night calculus, p-values, and microeconomics -- I remember all of it like it was yesterday (and, it practically was).
Five and a half years ago, I was a student here at the University of Chicago, working in my spare time to plan a Young Professionals Event for President Bill Clinton's Foundation. One day, I saw a professor of mine walking in the hallway, and we chatted for a bit. He requested to be a part of the event - he wanted to introduce President Clinton, or otherwise be a part of the speaking program.
I responded, very nicely of course -- thanks, but no thanks ... we were all set with the speaking program, and did not need anyone else's participation. In fact, I told him later, he should pay to attend the event, as other local officials were paying. Since I knew him, I could even possibly offer him a discount!
Fast forward the next five and a half years... and you may have heard of that professor, whom I told could not speak at my event, and would have to pay to attend. I am certainly glad I at least studied for his class, because Barack Obama is now the President of the United States.
It's been an amazing journey, for him and for those around him - and one that defies easy definition. As Dean Mayer said, I graduated from the University of Chicago Law and Public Policy School in December of 2005. Three and a half years later I am working at the White House, as the Legal Director in the White House Office of Presidential Personnel, managing President Obama's legal nominations and appointments.
These past few years have been thrilling, they've been challenging, they've been uplifting, and they've been incredibly difficult at times. On my journey from the Harris School to the White House, I have learned plenty of important lessons, and today, on your Harris School graduation day, I'd like to share a few of them with you. They are simple truths for our generation - the foundation for the journey that we are taking together, right now.
1. BE THE PERSON YOU'D LIKE TO BECOME
The first, and most important, lesson, is to be the person you'd like to become -- not tomorrow, not next week, and not some time in the next year. It sounds like a cliche, and you may think it's obvious. But, as you will soon experience in the workplace, it is often surprisingly easy to go in a different direction. The money is too good to pass up. The personalities are too strong to challenge. The best path seems impossible to achieve.
You must resist the urge to choose a path that does not define you.
Don't lose the application essay you wrote to get into this school - refer to it and use it as a guide. Because as we all know, you did not attend the Harris School because you wanted to make money. You would have gone to business school for that.
You came here for the same reasons I did, because you want to be agents of social change. You may want to help figure out how to provide health care for the uninsured. You may want to help our country reduce its dependence on foreign oil. You may want to eradicate poverty, or stabilize the financial markets.
You now have a fantastic foundation of knowledge. Here at the Harris School, you've learned about efficiency of markets but also why markets may fail. You've learned about rational decision-making, but also its limits. You've learned about U.S. national security policy, and the challenges we face around the world.
Little did I know when sitting in Professor Jack Bierig's health law and policy course, that I would soon use what I learned in his class to help develop a future president's health care policy; or that I would use what I learned in Professor Diane Schazenbach's education policy class to help shape Obama's priorities for education in our country.
You have the educational background. You also have a moral compass. Remember it, and use it. Forces in your life, and in the workplace, can push you, over time, to become a person you won't recognize. Good people may let the stress of the workplace shape them in harmful ways. They may feel threatened by others' success and thus try to impede it; or use others' work and take credit for it as their own. They know these things are wrong, yet they believe they need to act this way to get ahead. Besides being unethical, these tactics simply do not work in the long run.
So while it's simple to take the wrong route because it's easier or feels necessary at the time, you will not fail - you will never fail - if you remain true to yourself. Be the person you would like to become - follow your heart and your intuition, and you won't go wrong.
2. TAKE RISKS
The second lesson I've learned is the benefit of taking risks. I started working on the Obama campaign in March of 2007. My family and friends thought I was crazy at the time. Why would I leave my well-paying law firm job for a low-wage policy position on a start-up presidential campaign that, as every Harris School statistician will appreciate, had a very low probability of success?
I definitely had my pangs of doubt at the time - I knew there was a good chance that I might have left my friends, and suspended my life, all for a losing campaign.
But with risks, come rewards and the opportunity to learn. The rewards may not be immediately apparent, but they will reveal themselves as time progresses. Be willing to commit yourself to a cause - whether in your community or on a national scale - that may very well not succeed, but that you believe in and feel passionately about.
The first presidential campaign I worked on was Kerry-Edwards. I served as an elected delegate here in Illinois for John Kerry, and took a leave of absence from school to serve as Deputy Policy Director on Mrs. Edwards' staff. Yes, we lost. And it was not fun.
Those memories haunted me when the Obama campaign opportunity presented itself. Did I really want to go through such an ordeal again? The answer was yes - I believed in what Senator Obama stood for, and so I was willing to risk the same outcome in the process. But lessons I learned during that first presidential campaign experience gave me strength and a helpful perspective for the second time around.
Now, taking risks means more than just betting on a presidential campaign. Several of our Harris School alums are role models in this regard.
Allison Slade, a 2002 graduate, recently cofounded Namaste Charter School, a Chicago public school that emphasizes nutrition, health, and fitness - and the school has succeeded, against the odds.
Megan Mok, class of 1989, was inspired by her mother's experience battling cancer to launch a company that compiles patients' personal medical records, all in one place.
And Mike Quigley, class of 1985, recently beat a field of 12 candidates to win the Democratic nomination and then the special election in Illinois' 5th congressional district to take Rahm Emanuel's seat in Congress.
So, when people think you are crazy for trying, prove them wrong.
3. NOTHING WILL COME EASY
In following your heart and taking risks, you also have to recognize that no part of any journey worth taking will be easy. This is the third lesson. You have to work hard. But you also have to be flexible, because nothing will happen the way you predict it will.
The last two years have been incredibly rewarding, and they have been life-changing; I wouldn't trade the experience for anything. But I would also not hesitate to call them the hardest two years of my life.
At one point during the campaign, I slept in my Chicago apartment a total of four nights over a nine month span. I lived in seven states and slept in strangers' homes, on farms and in cities and towns from New Hampshire to Ohio to South Dakota.
I met amazing people everywhere I went, but didn't have much time to get to know them. My friendships and relationships were put on hold.
I was 29 years old, and had taken a dramatic pay cut to lead a nomadic life that seemed like it would never end.
I was lonely. I was tired. I felt removed from friends and family.
The job was also professionally challenging. It's easy to forget, but victory for the Obama campaign was never guaranteed. I remember one time in particular when things looked bleak. I'd been working on the campaign for several months when the fall of 2007 rolled around - but the poll numbers still weren't moving. We felt we were doing everything right, but we were still down by 22 points nationally. We were also down considerably in Iowa and New Hampshire, where it mattered.
That was a hard time at campaign headquarters - morale was low. Even then-Senator Obama was feeling discouraged; he called a large staff meeting, which was extremely rare, and to all of us, said, "we may very well lose, and this will have been my fault, not yours."
That's why you need to love what you do. Because, no matter how great it is, work is called work for a reason. There were countless moments on the campaign trail where I was this close to calling it quits. And in those moments, it was all about perspective.
A few weeks ago at work in the White House, on a particularly tough day, a colleague told me a story.
The story goes that a man, walking along, came across a construction site, where he observed three laborers toiling in the blistering heat. This man approached the first laborer, and asked, "What are you doing?" This first laborer responded, "I am digging a trench."
The man walked a few paces down to where the second laborer was digging, doing very similar work as the first, and also sweating under the hot sun. The man asked this second laborer, "What are you doing?" This second laborer responded, "I am building a wall."
The man finally came across the third laborer, working under the same extreme conditions, in the same hot sun, but this time with a look of satisfaction on his face. The man asked the third laborer, "And what are you doing?" And the third laborer said, proudly, "I am building a cathedral, and I am honored to be a part of this."
Only by keeping track of the bigger picture - thinking of the cathedral, in this case the difference it would make to our country to have a President Barack Obama - was I able to survive a grueling twenty months on the campaign. And only by doing the same will you be able to muster the strength and the courage and the determination to build your own cathedral, whatever that may be for you.
4. TAKE TIME FOR YOURSELF
Finally, and this is the last lesson. Some of the best advice I received on the campaign trail was from a friend who had worked on the Clinton 1992 campaign, and then in the White House for 8 years. He urged me to take time for myself. Nobody else will do this for you - you need to set your own boundaries.
With technology these days, we're always in touch. With Facebook and Twitter, blackberries and cell phones, text messages, work email and personal email - we are reachable all the time. At any given moment I have three electronic devices with me, and three blinking red lights that tell me I have important messages that need my attention.
Turn the devices off once in awhile. Escape the distractions. During the campaign then-Senator Obama made time for his wife, now our First Lady, and the girls, and everyone knew that those commitments were non-negotiable. You - and you alone - have to draw lines for yourselves when it comes to your commitments. Take time for yourself - travel, spend time with family, read books and continue to challenge yourself outside of the workplace. You'll be a better colleague because of it.
CONCLUSION
Now, it goes without saying that you are entering the workforce in particularly difficult times. Our generation is stressed out in a different way than generations before it, and we face new challenges. The bubble has burst and jobs we thought we could get may now seem out of reach. The banks we thought we could count on won't lend us money to buy a home. We are strapped by student debt. We live in a global economy and are competing against the workforce in China and India just as much as we're competing against our neighbors.
But, with these challenges come opportunities. If you follow your heart, take risks, recognize challenges and commit yourself to a cause bigger than yourself, you too will play a significant role in helping our nation, and our world, meet the challenges we face today.
You have an excellent education, and wonderful family and friends that helped you get where you are today.
It's now up to you. As Henry Wadsworth Longfellow wrote, "Not in the clamour of the crowded street, Not in the shouts and plaudits of the throng, But in ourselves are triumph and defeat."
Success is within you, you have the tools and the knowledge gained here at the Harris School, and if you muster the courage and fortitude every day to follow your dreams, to keep thinking about the big picture, to stay true to yourself, and to the values that brought you to the Harris School, then I promise you success in your heart, in your soul, and in your life.
Congratulations Harris School graduates, and good luck. Thank you for allowing me to share in this special day.
2009 Harris School Hooding Ceremony
Susan Mayer, Dean
Ladies and gentlemen please join me in congratulating the University of Chicago's Harris School class of 2009.
I call your attention to your program and in particular to recipients of awards conferred by the Public Policy Student Association. On behalf of the School I thank PPSA for its efforts on behalf of Harris School students and congratulation the award recipients.
Today we celebrate accomplishment and new adventures. We also celebrate the great potential that we have before us for improving the world in which we live.
These graduates have completed a very challenging and intense program of study is at the Harris School. I doubt if there is anyone among you who would say that your time here has been easy.
Our curriculum is tough because the problems of this world - poverty, genocide, hunger, war and terrorism, pollution, disease and lack of health care, crime, and ignorance - are tough. They require leadership through knowledge. We need to know what works and why it works and we need to implement the things that work efficiently.
There is an old unattributed adage that says, we have two ends - one to sit on and one to think with. Success depends on which one you use. Head you win, tail you lose. It is our hope that the Harris School training will help make you winners because it is in the interest of all of us to have the best trained policy professionals designing, implementing, and evaluating these policies.
All governments make public policies and all citizens must abide by public policies. If you pay taxes, drive a car, run a business, or breathe air, -- if you go to school or grow old public policies have consequences for you. You will be the great beneficiaries of the hard work of these students as they leave here prepared to take on the most important challenges of our world.
So whether you believe in little government or big, and whether you live in the United States or on the other side of the globe, we need the most skilled individuals working on behalf of the best public policies.
While I hope that all of you who are graduating today agree that the skills that you have learned at the Harris School are important, even more I hope that the long hours of classroom work did not crowd out the aspirations and goals that made you choose a policy school in the first place.
The measure of the skills you have learned here is not the problem sets, papers, or exams that you took during these two years. Instead the worth of these skills will be measured by how much they help you to make a positive difference in the world regardless of what path you take as you leave here today.
We at the Harris School join your family and friends in being proud of you, congratulating you, and placing a bit of our future in your hands.
* * * *
Academic Dress in the United States of America
Today we symbolize the degrees that have been conferred by "hooding." the graduates. Let me say a word about the symbolism of the hood.
The academic dress that you see today has its origins at least as far back as the 12th century.
In general the dress consists of the gown, the hat - mortar board for degrees below the Ph.D. and the hood.
Hoods are the most distinctive part of the academic dress because they identify the university, the degree and the field of study.
• The color of the lining identifies the university.
• The edging or boarder identifies the field of study - peacock green for public policy.
• The size and shape identify the degree - the hood for the Ph.D. is somewhat longer than the hood for master's degrees and that is in turn somewhat longer than the hood for the bachelors.
So now we "hood" the class of 2009.
Thank you and one more time congratulations.
On a personal note, this is my last convocation as dean. I want to thank the faculty and staff of the school, the students and all the alums for your patience when my learning curve was not quite as steep as it could have been; for your forgiveness when I errored; for you indulgence when you did not agree with my decisions; and for your gratitude when I occasionally got it right. It has been an honor to serve you and an experience I will not forget.
Contact Information
Eleanor Cartelli
Associate Director of Publications
Phone: 773-834-4752
Email: cartelli@uchicago.edu
