Created by Aaron Sorkin, The West Wing ran for eight seasons on NBC and focused on life at the White House.  It was known for it’s fantastic dialogue, great writing and high drama.  With lots of interaction between high-capacity leaders, the series provides insight on leadership for us today.

1. Choose your words carefully. Throughout the series, you see tremendous detail given to word choice.  Speechwriters haggle over language.  Staffers debate on the words to use in press briefings.  In one episode in Season 2, one of the main speechwriters hijacks a speech written for the President by Nasa Public affairs and corrects the bad writing.  Something can’t be very unique because unique means one of a kind.  You shouldn’t use the word live twice in the same sentence.  What if we gave that kind of attention to details to our letters and sermons?
2. Follow the chain of command. The staff doesn’t just walk into the Presidents office to float a new idea.  They prepare memos and reports and take it to the appropriate person.  If it’s a good idea, the Chief of Staff will get it. If he likes it, then would the President get involved.  Teamwork is one of our core values at Oak Leaf Church, but that doesn’t mean we should bring every idea to the table right away.
3. Good advisers are important. From the cabinet to the staff, smart people know that they have to surround themselves with other smart people.  And not just people that agree.  I love the scenes in the situation room when people provide radically different opinions.
4. Be prepared. Nobody in the White House comes to a meeting unprepared. These people prepare for everything, even the simplest or silliest of meetings.  Instead of just talking about a new initiative in a meeting, what if we took the time to write a report, documenting the costs, benefits, risks, challenges and questions in advance?