It seems that Kirstjen Nielsen is not very popular at the White House. Good for her.
Nielsen (pictured above) is the deputy to John Kelly, who is the Chief of Staff to the president. Kelly, if you recall, was recently brought in to restore order to what has been a very chaotic administration. A four-star Marine general and military commander, the 67-year-old Kelly recently ran the Department of Homeland Security and came to the White House with the reputation of being a tough, no-nonsense leader.
So far, he has demonstrated those capabilities by toning down the president’s behavior, better organizing his schedule, focusing him on more important issues and (thank goodness) restraining his Twitter activities. Of course, Kelly has a lot more to do and plenty of challenges dealing with the oftentimes unpredictable behavior of the president. But he’s certainly made progress.
Kelly could not have come this far without his own chief of staff, his deputy, his second in command. That’s Kirstjen Nielsen. Nielsen has worked for Kelly for years – most recently at the DHS and, like many smart executives, Kelly included her in his team when he transitioned to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. Now she handles his day-to-day operations so that he can handle the president’s. And she’s ruffling a few feathers.
Nielsen is not a popular person. She is the enforcer. She has been compared to Nurse Ratched from One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. I imagine she – and her boss – take that as a compliment.
According to some reports she has “allegedly annoyed Trump aides with her no-nonsense attitude and ‘lack of collegiality’.” Like her boss, her style is brusque and no-nonsense. She sends out emails announcing policy and planning meetings that threatens expulsion to any attendees who leak information. She excludes “unfit” aides from attending important meetings. In fact, she “routinely” cancels meetings even with senior members of the government if they’re late and oftentimes ignores calls and messages that are deemed unimportant to the task at hand. Nielsen is a control freak who pushes people to get to the point fast and not waste her boss’s time. Like her boss, Nielsen is motivated by “duty, honor and love of country.” She doesn’t suffer fools lightly. And she is willing to be hated.
I don’t hate her. I love her. Don’t you?
If you’re a senior executive or business owner, of course you do. You want to hire her. You want her to be your office manager, your chief administrator, your vice president of operations, your general manager. You want her to be your enforcer. Of course you want her to be professional and polite. You expect requests to be made courteously with pleases and thank-yous. You would not stand for tantrums or emotional outbursts. But then again, as a senior executive with important objectives to accomplish, you’ve got a higher level of tolerance for a deputy who, like Nielsen, sometimes comes off as too “mean” or needs to “be friendlier.” This is a business, not a playground.
Smart executives like John Kelly hire Kirstjen Nielsens to work for them. And they always have their backs. According to this New York Times report, Kelly has learned from his time in the military that it’s “hard to survive a successful attack on a top subordinate without being weakened.” So he goes to the mat for his deputy whenever he can and he makes it clear that she has his full authority to do what she’s go to do. Dealing with her is, in effect, like dealing with him.
Do you have a Kirstjen Nielsen? If so, then you’re lucky. If not then you need to find that person, pay well and never let go.
The opinions expressed here by Inc.com columnists are their own, not those of Inc.com.