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In her new book, “The Art of Power: My Story as America’s First Woman Speaker of the House” (to be published by Simon & Schuster August 6), Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi, who served in the position for a total of eight years between 2007 and 2023, writes about the demands and responsibilities of the office. She also tells the story of key events during her Speakership, from the bank failure-fueled economic collapse of 2008, to the Insurrection that attacked the Capitol on January 6, 2021.
Read an excerpt below, and don’t miss Lesley Stahl’s interview with Nancy Pelosi on “CBS Sunday Morning” August 4!
“The Art of Power” by Nancy Pelosi
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Being Speaker of the House is probably the most challenging position in government. You have to address the same vast array of issues as the president (but lack the advantage of making appointments across the executive branch and proposing judicial nominees). The Speaker has a much smaller staff, and does not have the benefit of the bully pulpit. As opposed to leading just your political party, you are also responsible for leading the entire House of Representatives, 435 voting members and 6 non-voting delegates. Being Speaker is obviously also very different from being a member of Congress. As members of Congress, we most often act deductively: we subject ideas to hearings, town hall meetings with constituents, and other forms of public comment. Members have time to decide on and refine or amend a proposal as it passes through the committee process and reaches the House floor.
The speakership is different. It is both a uniquely powerful and an executive position that requires a combination of a policy background, strategic knowhow, and, above all, intuition. A successful Speaker can’t ever be surprised by anything. You must know what all the possibilities are, all of the time. Those possibilities include how each member of your caucus will vote, what you are willing to concede in negotiations with the Senate or the White House and what you are not, and what resonates with the American people and why. Every challenge you face requires a decision, and you’re not always given much time to make that decision. Anticipation is the order of the day. You must immediately be able to articulate your answers to the questions why, what, and how. You must demonstrate a plan, and you must act without hesitation. The minute you hesitate, your options are diminished. The longer you wait, the more your options are diminished. Everyone with an agenda will chip away at your delayed decision.
While a Speaker’s actions must be both intuitive and quick to succeed, that alone is not enough. The thinking that informs and supports a Speaker’s intuition must be strategic and respected. That is why I believe it is absolutely vital to maintain a constant level of member contact—you need to know what members are thinking. This contact benefits everyone in two ways: not only are you learning from your members, but when members see your investment in them, it gives them confidence in your knowledge and judgment, which is essential. The advice to trust your gut only works if your gut is informed from both the head and the heart.
For twenty years, the word that dominated my approach to and my work with my colleagues is “respect.” Our job title and our job description are one and the same: “representative.” On the Democratic side, we have deeply shared values and highly respected diversity, in terms of ethnicity, geography, generation, gender, gender identity, and sometimes even philosophy, and thus sometimes we differ. As I always say to the members, “Our diversity is our strength, our unity is our power.”
Excerpted from “The Art of Power: My Story as America’s First Woman Speaker of the House” by Nancy Pelosi. Copyright © 2024 by Nancy Pelosi. Reprinted by permission of Simon & Schuster, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
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“The Art of Power” by Nancy Pelosi
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