The Toughest Job I've Ever Had!

Several years ago Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta and Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert came to Elburn to award millions of Federal dollars to Metra for their UP West Line extension. Before the press conference I met Secretary Mineta in our Village Hall lunch room. He asked me if I was the Mayor of Elburn, and I replied "Well yes, I am." Then he asked me if I knew that he was a mayor once. I replied, "No, I didn't know that." Then he said something that has stuck with me for a long time. He said, "Being a mayor was the toughest job I've ever had!"

Now, this is coming from a man who served as Secretary of Commerce for President Clinton, and now serves as Secretary of Transportation under President Bush. This was also coming from a man who made a pivotal decision to ground all the commercial flights on September 11th, 2001. He definitely had my attention.

Then he told me that when he was a mayor his office was right next to the reception desk at City Hall. And from his office, he could hear the residents come in with their complaints. One time he said he heard a rather loud individual come to the counter and say, "I want to talk to the mayor. I want to talk to the mayor right now! I'm not talking to anybody "lower" than the mayor."

When he came out of his office, he told the person, "Ma'am, don't you know? There is nobody "lower" than a mayor."

This story has been one of my favorites to share with others since the day I spoke with Secretary Mineta. For one, it reconfirms something I felt for quite some time. That is, serving as a mayor, even in a small town, is a little more difficult than most people think. And second, it expresses a sentiment that several of the more enlightened mayors I've met have have also shared with me. Leading a community only from the "top-down" doesn't work that well. The best mayors learn to build consensus and to "lead from behind."

Secretary Mineta probably recalls little of his visit to Elburn. I doubt he even remembers the short conversation he had with me. But what he said in those few minutes of "small" talk was really pretty "BIG!" Thank you, Secretary Mineta for giving me a great story to tell again and again.