Speaker 1: Surprise, everybody, did you miss us, Well, here we are.
Speaker 1: We're back. We decided we were going to try something
Speaker 1: new and different. We invite so many fascinating people into
Speaker 1: our studio or we go into their kitchens, as was
Speaker 1: the case with Eina Garten, we thought we'd give you
Speaker 1: a little podcast extra if you will, yes, a little
Speaker 1: something extra, as they say in New Orleans said apparently
Speaker 1: some one of your favorite words exactly. But last week
Speaker 1: you might have heard our conversation with former New Jersey
Speaker 1: Governor Christie Todd Whitman. And because she's so successful in
Speaker 1: such a high achieving woman, we decided we would talk
Speaker 1: to her a little bit about her life professionally and
Speaker 1: personally and what she's learned. This is something we're going
Speaker 1: to try to do with many of our fascinating guests. So,
Speaker 1: dear listeners, here's the first edition of what I've learned.
Speaker 1: What was your first job? First job was, as all
Speaker 1: you want, paid job or volunteer job. The first job
Speaker 1: that I went to on a regular basis was a
Speaker 1: candy striper at the local hospital. And what was your
Speaker 1: first page job? First page job was working for Nelson
Speaker 1: Rockefeller for President. We know how that ended. Yeah, I know,
Speaker 1: So as a kid, what did you want to be
Speaker 1: when you grew up? A surgeon? I love cutting up worms? Seriously, Yeah,
Speaker 1: oh yeah, I thought I thought that'd be really neat.
Speaker 1: And again, you're helping people, but I was fascinated by
Speaker 1: I was very good at dissecting frogs and fetle pigs
Speaker 1: and things. I liked cutting up yellow jackets and pinning
Speaker 1: them to cardboard and saying like this is the thorax. Anyway, Okay,
Speaker 1: what role or job has brought you the most joy? Governor?
Speaker 1: Without question? Because you had New Jersey has the most
Speaker 1: powerful governor of the fifty states, which means that you
Speaker 1: have an enormous ability to do things because the entire
Speaker 1: cabinet is yours. You've appointed them, you point all the judges,
Speaker 1: all the prosecutors, but you really have the ability to
Speaker 1: focus on issues you want to deal with and it's
Speaker 1: everybody's on your team. They're not trying to undermine you
Speaker 1: because they want to run against you in the next cycle.
Speaker 1: And little known fact, maybe you have a fantastic governor's
Speaker 1: mansion called Drumthwackett. Drumthwackett. Yes, what was your big break
Speaker 1: being born into my family probably. I mean I had
Speaker 1: enormously supportive parents, and because of my age difference with
Speaker 1: my siblings, I was able to experience I traveled around
Speaker 1: with them a lot. They couldn't get rid of me.
Speaker 1: I think it was a real pain, and they couldn't
Speaker 1: get babysitters who would take me for long. Um, so
Speaker 1: I've got to experience a lot of things that I
Speaker 1: wouldn't have otherwise. You were born to a very prominent
Speaker 1: Republican family, and if you wanted to learn more about that,
Speaker 1: you can listen to the whole interview with Governor Whitman.
Speaker 1: But what did your parents teach you? Dad was very
Speaker 1: firm and Mom was to always leave a place better
Speaker 1: than the way you found it, and anything. You can
Speaker 1: achieve anything you want, but you gotta work for it
Speaker 1: and be willing to work. And that also of anything
Speaker 1: worth doing is worth doing well. Believe me, once you
Speaker 1: start a job, you better be doing it right and
Speaker 1: you better finish it. Um. That was very inculcated in
Speaker 1: me early on, and it's probably helped you a lot
Speaker 1: in your political career. What do you think was the
Speaker 1: most important lesson you learned professionally throughout your career, no
Speaker 1: matter what job you held at the time. Trust my instincts,
Speaker 1: trust my gut. The biggest mistakes that I made were
Speaker 1: ones where I didn't trust my instincts of telling me
Speaker 1: to don't do it this way or do it that way,
Speaker 1: and I listened to other council and maybe didn't And
Speaker 1: that was but they were they were not huge ones.
Speaker 1: They were more campaign type of issues. Uh. The other
Speaker 1: is to understand you don't have to know everything, and
Speaker 1: you never are going to know everything. It's fine. Respect
Speaker 1: the people who do know, be willing to listen and
Speaker 1: know what you don't know, and know what you don't know.
Speaker 1: And what do you think was your greatest mistake and
Speaker 1: what what did you learn from it? Well, probably the
Speaker 1: biggest mistake um taking E p A. No, that's not true,
Speaker 1: although it was in a way. I mean, it was
Speaker 1: just such a big bureaucracy and it was a regulatory
Speaker 1: agency without the kind of freedom. You were so constrained
Speaker 1: by the enabling legislation that created the agency that you
Speaker 1: really couldn't be terribly creative and solving problems. And that
Speaker 1: was that was a big frustration. What do you still
Speaker 1: want to learn? What do you still want to do
Speaker 1: in your career. Oh gosh, I want to learn everything.
Speaker 1: I don't know. I'd love to spend more time with
Speaker 1: international issues. Actually, what I want to do more spend
Speaker 1: more time with my grandsons and granddaughter. You know, it's
Speaker 1: nice to find that balance. And I'm pretty good place
Speaker 1: right now. You had a happy forty one year marriage
Speaker 1: to your husband John. I asked you what was the
Speaker 1: most important thing you learned professionally but personally, what do
Speaker 1: you think has been the most important life lesson? Treasure
Speaker 1: of the moment. I mean, you just never know what's
Speaker 1: going to happen in life, and you need to be
Speaker 1: aware of that. I like most people who are in
Speaker 1: full time kind of jobs, Um, there is no perfect balance,
Speaker 1: and but you have to find what works for you.
Speaker 1: And there'll be days when you at least there were
Speaker 1: nights when I was up all night saying, oh my gosh,
Speaker 1: I've I've short changed the kids, I'm a horrible mother,
Speaker 1: and others where I said, I'm not focusing on my
Speaker 1: job enough. I should have gone to you know, done
Speaker 1: something else. And it takes a while to find that
Speaker 1: balance that works for you, but you can, you know,
Speaker 1: you may be able to have it all, but maybe
Speaker 1: not all at once, all at the same time. So
Speaker 1: it's a It's life is a challenge, but it is
Speaker 1: for everybody. And piggyback nown what Katie said, what do
Speaker 1: you think you learned about how to have a successful marriage,
Speaker 1: since here seems to have been a very happy one.
Speaker 1: I think the most important thing was we always when
Speaker 1: I came home or when he came home, you're home
Speaker 1: and you try to put the office aside, and if
Speaker 1: you have to do something later on, great, But when
Speaker 1: you have kids, you got to be with the kids.
Speaker 1: And every year we would take a week where he
Speaker 1: and I and the kids would go somewhere we'd never
Speaker 1: been before, taking the kids with running a van and
Speaker 1: driving around national parks and learning how to whitewater kayak
Speaker 1: or to mountain bike. We had some really wild mountain
Speaker 1: biking trips and kayaking trips, but doing something so that
Speaker 1: we weren't distracted with our friends, and the kids weren't
Speaker 1: off doing things with their friends. We were experiencing something
Speaker 1: new and different together just for a week. But it
Speaker 1: made a difference, which is increasingly difficult to do given
Speaker 1: what I'm holding in my hand. My irophone. This little
Speaker 1: thing really gets in the way it does. I'm fascinated
Speaker 1: when I go into restaurants and I see couple sitting
Speaker 1: at the table and they're not neither wanted talking to
Speaker 1: the other, They're just looking at Really, I just I
Speaker 1: don't know. I don't get it. John and I used
Speaker 1: to love to have conversations, arguments or conversations how wherever
Speaker 1: you want to call them. And finally, if you had
Speaker 1: a twenty two year old young man or woman who
Speaker 1: came to you and said, I need some advice. Um,
Speaker 1: it can either be about life or I want to
Speaker 1: get into politics. Um, what would you tell them? I
Speaker 1: generally tell people find your passion. What is it you
Speaker 1: really care about? I mean, is it education? Is that
Speaker 1: the arts? Is that the environment? Find out what it is?
Speaker 1: And to the extent if you can make a career
Speaker 1: out of that, God bless you. If you can't, then
Speaker 1: find something that will allow you the time to pursue
Speaker 1: that as well. But try to find that passion, what
Speaker 1: really turns you on, what makes you excited to get
Speaker 1: up in the morning or to go out when you
Speaker 1: have the free time to do what you really just
Speaker 1: want to do? And it is. Aren't we lucky that
Speaker 1: your passion with public policy? Well, I'm not sure everybody
Speaker 1: would say that, but I'm lucky. I've enjoyed it. I've
Speaker 1: been very lucky, had a very good career. So that's
Speaker 1: it for our little experiment, the first edition of What
Speaker 1: I've Learned? What did you think? Please? Um tell us
Speaker 1: your thoughts at nine to two four four, six three seven,
Speaker 1: or as always, email us at comments at current podcast
Speaker 1: dot com. We'd love to know whether you liked it,
Speaker 1: and we'll talk to you soon. Hi,