Episode 144: Dan Bartlett Part 2
Dan Bartlett Part 2
KELLY
Dan Bartlett found himself in many incredible situations throughout his life.
DB Most of the people in the room with me could be my parents, parents of no older and I'm like what the heck am I doing? And, and so there was, you know, but the old adage of fake it till you make it, there was probably some of that going on.
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The accounts shared on this Podcast, including this Episode, reflect the guests’ thoughtful recollections and opinions of experiences perceived and occurring over many years, including childhood memories, which may be fallible and limited by perspective and trauma. Persons may have different memories regarding certain events.
What were Dan Bartlett's experiences and emotions while on Air Force One during September 11
Welcome back to Dan Bartlett’s story on Qavah….
what did it feel like to be on Air Force One on September 11?
Oh, gosh.
It's hard to describe the range of emotions because none of this happened very early in President versus runners. So our familiarity with eating in the office itself was still relatively new. We're just getting used to the confines of which we're working in and where to park where, where's the bathroom? Where's this travel? And I was spot filling for my boss at the time, Karen Hughes. Was my boss. She was a stripper and I was deputy communications director at the time. But she had an event come up in DC and she's like, and we oftentimes would alternate travel. And this was a an event in Florida to talk about education and President Bush was trying to push through some education reform for forms and Congress and we're down there to talk about that. And obviously the world changed that morning like it did for everyone. I think probably.
What was the most surreal part of it was the fact inability or this challenge of separating the personal from the professional, and always like, there's a reason why the military holies all those trains so much, because when an emergency happens, or a crisis happens, it becomes just automatic, right? Like, and we're on the plane and you know, the plane is operated by the United States Air Force, the military personnel around him.
Secret Service, all these people have been trained, maybe not for this specific moment is an unprecedented moment, but they're trained and to see the contrast of the quote unquote civilians like myself who were kind of running around like chickens with their heads cut off compared to the professionalism of the Secret Service and others was was something that always sticks out to me. And you know, it was hard for us not to be distracted by it, and my wife was back in Washington DC, the plane hit the Pentagon. So your mind is distracted by those things and what's gonna happen to us? You know, at the same time when, as you know, we're in an aircraft there's a lot of confusion. There's a lot of what is often called the fog of war a lot. of misinformation. At one point, there was a fear that that Air Force One itself was a target. I do remember vividly.
Pilot, Colonel talent. Tillman. There is a colonel in the Air Force informing the President that there was a 747 about a mile and a half off the back of our plane that is not communicating with us. And he said we're going to be don't know if it's hostile sir. And we ended up taking the plane out over the Gulf to see if it was falling. So there's, you know, 6090 seconds of just eerie quietness on the plane. Well, we don't know if whether we're about to be engaged. And they came back and say, No, it turned out, you know, turned out not to be the case, but you don't know that there was moments and for the rest of the day, we had 16 wingtips following us just fascinating it like said, it's almost like looking back on it, like I'm remembering a movie that I that I watch for, versus a movie that I was in.
How did President George W. Bush's leadership style and communication during the 9/11 crisis impact the unity and resilience of the American people?
Well, it's kind of traumatic. I mean, you know, like, we our world changed that. Day. And so you're involved in that and so like, your memories and emotions and all of that. It's it's based on kind of trauma and going what in the world is going on?
Nothing we experienced. Yeah. And then it went on for us for a while too, because, you know, in, you know, there was still palpable sense of fear and question about whether this was only a one off event or whether there was going to be additional tags, and there were several times in the White House, where a plane would violate the airspace in Washington DC, and we did a meeting the Secret Service come flying in there and grab the President a few of us and take us to the bunker underneath the White House. And so it was like, you know, those days right after, you know, it was like on pins and needles and that she would have asked human elements so that stress and those things you don't appreciate it until much later. As you try to unpack all of it.
Yeah, traumas probably the right word and but at the same time, what a what an extraordinary privilege to be involved in that and to be able to see firsthand the bravery of our first responders.
KA I would like to commend you because I do think that the, you know, language creates culture. And I think the language that was used from that administration created such culture in our in our country of unity and just like let's get it the you know, let's do this. i It was so beautiful and I know that you were a part of that and so thank you for helping make us unified in in not so afraid. It was it was a wonderful thing.
DB Yeah, it was I literally saw the transformation of a young president into what I think, you know, history has been maybe a little harsh on him during his tenure, but I think history will continue to be much kinder to President Bush considering the circumstances he met himself and the clarity he attempted to bring to what we faced I think, did help clarify that we have to be unafraid and calling evil he right and we have to marshal all of us, not just parts of the country into a fight like that. And at the time, the idea that the country would not be attacked again was naive, people thought it was gonna be inevitable. And President Bush was very much of the mindset.
You know, we're gonna play offense and we're going to this country is going to play offense and we're going to be confident in our approach and, and knowing that we're still vulnerable, but at the same time, and try at the same time to to draw on our better angels. And I know as we sit here today and look at our politics of today we could probably use a bit of that
KA I would agree with you. And I think you know, one of the reasons why I do this is because I believe that when you lean in and listen to someone it's really hard to hate. them.
And I have no political aspirations into doing this. I just want people to be able to know one another, and to hear one another, and maybe not hate each other so much. It makes me sad that we've gotten to where we are these days, so it's a different time. It's a different time.
So um, you eventually your White House role ended. I'm assuming that's getting I know I did. So what happened after that?
What lessons can be learned from Dan Bartlett's career, his time in the White House, and his transition to a role at Walmart in managing reputation and crises?
So yeah, I stayed. You know, I was, I believe the longest continuous serving staffer to the President. I went to work for him and lonely right out of school October 1993. All the way up to July of 2007. Wow. And yeah, the average save for staffer in the West Wing of the White House is just over two years. And I stayed for seven we had three kids during that timeframe.
KA Wow.
DB My wife was finally like, we got to get out of here. We got you know, you told me two years, two or three years and obviously with obviously with 911 and then we went straight in relation and these things they you know, you there's reasons why you say and, but I did.
KELLY
As Dan moved forward in his career, he also moved his family back to Texas for a time.
I did leave in the summer of 2007, just before his term was up and ended up moving back to Texas and getting into a lot of the things that I did and learned was, was crisis management, dealing with high stakes, political and public policy and communications issues. And so that dovetailed into advising fortune 500 companies on how they can do the same and so I was running a consulting agency that had offices around the country, but I was doing it from Austin. Whereas where I met my wife and where we both gone to school there and and so I was doing that for and I was CEO of that company, it was called Public Strategies, merged into a bigger company called kilonova strategies, and I was the CEO of the US operation. And so I was helping a lot of well, brand name companies in a lot of different sectors, financial services, energy banking, manage their reputation and helping them deal with certain crises.
KELLY
During his time at the White House, Dan developed impressive problem-solving abilities that later proved invaluable in his business endeavors. He also possessed a keen knack for identifying opportunities, and it wasn't long before a significant one presented itself.
And that about Gosh, about eight and a half years now almost cower. Yeah, like eight and a half years ago. This little company called Walmart reached out and and they were really anxious to talk to me about coming in house to help them manage their reputation among other things, and I had no real desire you know, I had gone through Arkansas for work and politics but I've never spent time there but I couldn't imagine having a conversation my wife saying after moving her back to Texas that I was now gonna move to Arkansas but But I came up here and I met the people and and even though it's the largest company in the world, it's it's an incredibly humbling founding roots. Principles in which Sam Walton founded this company are still prevalent in the leadership and I found it to be a really interesting opportunity as the world's largest company operating in 28 countries around the world, the largest private sector workforce, the only larger workforce in the world is the Chinese and US Army's. We have 2.3 million employees. Close to 600 billion. In revenue, and we're a fabric of society. I tell people often if there's something going on in the country, there's a good chance it's happening at a Walmart or Walmart parking lot. While at the same time, retail is being transformed a company out there called Amazon I think. And so Walmart's had to change itself and transform and to be on the leadership team and to help steer this company through that plus we have a lot of kind of, you know, divisive turmoil going on in our country socially, economically and otherwise. It's been a fascinating ride and I've enjoyed every minute of it and actually have really grown fond Arkansas. It actually reminds me a lot of kind of Austin back 30 years ago. There's a lot of employment. There's a lot of transplants, there's a lot of kids. The University of Arkansas is chock full of Texans these days.
KA Little Rock Wall that's what people call because a lot of them are for Little Rock and a lot of their for rock wall so it's so weird how that happened early years
DB well yeah, it's there's a lot but the mega so hard to get into the universities in Texas these days, so I'm gonna try and I'm a Longhorn. By heart and always will be but yeah, so it's, you will make our way ultimately back to Texas. It's it's been a fascinating particularly during the pandemic, obviously one of the big rolling here vaccinations and testing and all those different things.
What role did faith, family, and friends play in Dan Bartlett's life, and how did these values contribute to his success in both the political and corporate world?
KELLY
Today, Dan lives out the values his mentor, President George W. Bush modeled for him: the 3 F’s, faith, family, and friends.
KA So um, you're married and you have twins. I know that. How many children do you have?
DB I have four boys. So I've been married. almost 21 years are no Miss 22 years old. My wife doesn't listen. We got married in 2000. During a presidential election, I don't recommend that. And we have four boys. I said I have twins that are seniors in high school. I have a ninth grader. All boys, and I have a fourth grader just turned 10 So I've got to 1851 Who's 14 about to turn 15 Next week, or two weeks, and a 10 year old so not a dull moment for the Bartlett family.
nons a dull moment in your wife is this only girl. Does she have a girl dog or something? Sorry, boy dogs. Get away from it. Oh my goodness. Oh, that's not bless her. She's She's a Texan. She's
from Houston, Texas. We didn't go to school together. She she went. We met in Austin. She went to University of Texas. Well,
that's awesome.
KA So what gave you hope to continue on in order to have success? What's something that gave you hope?
DB You know, I was you know, I'm one of those i There are people who are glass half full and glass half empty, right? I'm gonna be honest. I'm more on the the half empty side of the ledger I look at I'm one who goes to the bad side of it and gets and I probably get motivated more out of fear of failure than success. I'm blessed to have a wife who is more half full and in her perspective and and also I've been you know, I've also been, you know to have a boss and mentor, as I had in George W. Bush. The fan I don't have to tell you about the fan. The family is an extraordinary family. And I was really privileged to get to know his father very well, and many of his siblings, but I you know, he was really guided into this day as guided by what I would always call the three F's in his life, his faith, his family and his friends. And you know, you get that if you get that ecosystem, right, that orbit in your life, right. Everything else kind of takes care of itself. And so if you have that balance and and I you know through my life of having grown up, where my parents didn't stay together redoubled my efforts to be a good father and a good husband. I want my kids to, to, you know, be with both and I know that's not always the case, but it's been something that is you know, motivated me and driven me to, like I said, why I've had a career that's been extraordinary. But it all is in supplement to trying to be just a good dad and a good and a good husband. And so I've that's where my balance comes from, and but I do I probably would say is that fear of failure that probably drove me more than anything else in this notion of like, I really believe I mean, for the better part of the of the first part of my career. I really thought somebody was ultimately going to come up and tapped me on the shoulder and go we figured it out. You're not supposed to be here.
That imposter syndrome. Yeah, exactly. And so
that that probably that that probably drove me more than anything else.
KA That's awesome. So what would you like people to take away from your story?
I think it is that while I, you know, and I push my children and others to excel and everything they do wrong that you don't have to be first in class. You don't have to be have everything figured out at every minute your life and that your moments kind of come and like I said, you know, being kind of a late bloomer that I kind of describe myself as is not a knock and it's everybody has their own path. Just be ready to seize it when it comes and, and don't you know, probably I didn't do enough of this but expect that you're those opportunities those doors are supposed to open for you. And and when they do, kick them kick through them. And that's one thing that I've I've kind of tried to, to stay positive The other thing I would say is that it's extraordinary how small the world is. And one of the things that struck me more than anything else was when I did get a chance to rise to the highest level and in politics and work at the highest levels in government. And when I left government and when I left this and it was kind of like looking at all of my my contacts and as I was trying to develop what my business was going to be and all that and I had a lot of these really extraordinary, you know, people who I knew and contacts, but when I found out later was the people who became more meaningful and creating opportunities for me later were people that I had very casual occurrences where people who I met maybe once was in government, and they would say to me, like, I really appreciate the way you dealt with me you didn't speak down and then you didn't do these and it just always reminded me is that people are always you know, the littlest things can go the longest ways and how you treat people regardless of where they are. matters and because the world it is a world and you'll be shocked how many times these things circle back and it's happened to be on if it had just happened once or twice. I just chalked it up to being coincidence. It's happened to me dozens of times. And it's just a lesson to learn is that you know, how you how you conduct yourself with everyone, not just the important people really does have a lasting impact on in ways that you can't appreciate.
So it's like your integrity.
Absolutely.
Wow. No doubt about it. Wow. That's awesome. Well, thank you so much for your time. I know you're a very busy, very important, man. I think you were about that.
But as I say probably beyond imposter pot status, but it's great to talk so he's great to talk to somebody from from rock wall and really I really enjoyed it.
Thank you thank you so much.
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