On Leadership: Two Views from Washington

By John H. Ostdick

Texas Congressmen Pete Sessions and Michael Burgess present their personal
beliefs and professional analyses


Leadership styles take many forms, but two area congressmen with UTD ties
say being an effective elected leader depends largely on maintaining
constituency trust, exhibiting consistency and communicating well.


Pete Sessions: "A basic sense of honesty"

"For me to be a leader, I have to stand for something," says Pete
Sessions, who won re-election in the fall in a newly created Texas 32nd
Congressional District. "People often say that a leader needs to have
character, integrity, be able to articulate a message, have creativity.
Most importantly, however, I think you have to have a basic sense of
honesty that then comes with integrity and ethical morality.

"I regard my faithfulness with people as a binding handshake," says the
four-term congressman.

Representative Sessions, who has lectured to School of Management (SOM)
Executive MBA classes, was first elected to represent the Fifth
Congressional District in 1996 and re-elected in 1998 and 2000. He is a
member of the powerful House Rules Committee, the House Republican
Cyber-Security Team, the Congressional Task Force on Alzheimer's Disease,
and is chairman of the Congressional Results Caucus.


Dr. Michael Burgess: "With a servant's heart"

Dr. Michael Burgess, an SOM alumnus and third-generation doctor from
Highland Village, earned a surprise victory in the 26th Congressional
District, which includes many growth areas - southern Denton County,
west-central Collin County, the northwest corner of Dallas County and the
northeast corner of Tarrant County.

The legislative novice feels a particular responsibility to his
constituency.

"Those who didn't know me through my practice got to know me in the
election process, and know that I am up here truly with a servant's heart
and not with an agenda to ascend a political ladder," he says from
Washington.

"When retired Army General H. Norman Schwarzkopf [military hero of the
1991 Persian Gulf War] was in Dallas giving a speech a couple of years
ago, he repeated such a clear definition of leadership. His statement was,
'If you are given command, take charge.' The corollary to that is, 'Always
do the right thing.' "

Congressman Burgess has two committee appointments, Transportation and
Infrastructure and Science. A longtime resident of Denton County, he
graduated from North Texas State University (now the University of North
Texas) with bachelor's and master's degrees in physiology and received his
M.D. from the University of Texas Medical School at Houston. In 2000, Dr.
Burgess earned his master's degree in medical management through the
Alliance for Medical Management Education, which is a joint program of The
UTD School of Management and U.T. Southwestern Medical School.

"As a doctor, I'm used to being presented with a problem, being able to
fix it over a finite period of time, and then go home at the end of the
day with the problem solved," he says. "I recognize with federal issues
such as transportation, that will not be the case. But also as a doctor,
I've had to deal with ambiguity, and I've been able to learn that
sometimes it's important to delay immediate gratification."


Sessions: "Our leaders need to be experts who make a difference."

Representative Sessions believes the biggest public service leadership
challenges today are time, money and communication management.

"People also need role models, people who are steadfast in standing for
things but flexible enough to accept implementation that doesn't always
happen how they want it," the Waco-born congressman says. "Our leaders
need to be prime examples of success, experts who make a difference,
instead of overall just a good person. . . . the crux is we need leaders
who go solve problems."

Congressman Sessions identifies his father, William S. Sessions, as one of
his primary role models. His father served as a federal district judge for
13 years and later as director of the FBI under Presidents Ronald Reagan
and George Bush. "My dad taught me what public service and sacrifice was
about," he says.

Another of his role models is former President Ronald Reagan. "He was not
a dreamer but a doer. I learned politics and public policy from Ronald
Reagan."


Burgess: "We need to address these situations upfront."

Congressman Burgess also credits his father and his mother as role models.

"My father...was not a charismatic leader," he says, "and neither am I. He
was the type of leader, however, that everyone felt they could go to in
times of crisis. He told me that when things seemed unsolvable, if you
keep working away at the problem, you would find a solution."

The first session of the 108th Congress is still dealing with ethics and
corporate malfeasance fallout from the high-profile corporate scandals of
last year.

"We need to address these situations upfront, but we can't legislate
ethics," Representative Burgess says. "We build better citizens by
building stronger families and raising better children. We need to foster
strong family support and institutions, whether they are public or private
schools, churches, synagogues or mosques. These are where the principles
are learned."


Improved education: The determinant of future success

Both men agree that improved education will determine the future success
of this country.

"Test beds or laboratories, which is what UTD is, are opportunities for
students to mature...in an academic setting before they accept the
challenges of the real world," Representative Sessions says. "Institutions
such as UTD supply practical experience and make sure students understand
performance or expectation levels before they graduate."

Representative Burgess says his own SOM experience "was enormously helpful
to me as a professional."

"UTD could take a group of medical professionals and teach them the
management skills they needed to survive in the 21st century," he says.
"For me, it was enormously important."