At CSA Search & Consulting, we believe great leadership starts with continuous learning. Each month, our team will highlight a book that has shaped how we think, lead, and serve our clients. From timeless leadership principles to modern insights, CSA Bookshelf is designed to share ideas that drive impact across collegiate athletics and higher education. This month we will hear from Chief of Staff for CSA, Amanda Gross.
Reviewer: Amanda Gross, Chief of Staff
Book: The Gatekeepers: How the White House Chiefs of Staff Define Every Presidency, by Chris Whipple
Why I Chose This Book
Having served in Chief of Staff roles in higher education, athletics, and now executive search and consulting, I’ve always been fascinated by how differently the role can function depending on the leader, organization, and moment.
Chris Whipple’s The Gatekeepers examines the relationships between U.S. presidents and their Chiefs of Staff. While the setting is unique, the leadership lessons translate well beyond Washington. At its core, the book is about trust, judgment, relationships, and the people leaders surround themselves with.
One of my biggest takeaways is simple: great leaders don’t lead alone.
The Team Around the Leader Matters
We spend a lot of time at CSA evaluating leadership. Experience and results matter, of course, but we also want to understand how someone leads people. How do they build teams? Do they develop and empower others? How do they communicate when things are difficult? Do people want to work with them and for them? Do they create an environment where talented people can do their best work?
The Gatekeepers reinforces just how important those questions are.
The strongest leaders aren’t threatened by talented people around them. They seek them out. They give them ownership, listen to different perspectives, invite honest feedback, and create opportunities for people to grow.
I’ve experienced that firsthand working with our President, Drew Turner. Drew is innovative, forward-thinking, caring, and incredibly driven. He is always looking for ways CSA can get better and thinking several steps ahead about where we can go next. But he also leads with people at the center. He trusts our team, welcomes new ideas, and gives people room to take ownership. For a Chief of Staff, that kind of leadership makes all the difference.
Trust Changes Everything
The Chief of Staff role often involves work that happens behind the scenes, connecting dots, anticipating what comes next, creating structure around big ideas, asking difficult questions, and keeping priorities moving forward. Doing that well requires trust in both directions. A leader has to trust the people around them enough to give them room to operate, and the people around the leader have to understand when to challenge, when to support, when to step forward, and when to step back.
That may be my biggest takeaway from The Gatekeepers, and it extends far beyond the Chief of Staff role. When we evaluate leaders at CSA, we aren’t just looking at what someone has accomplished. We want to understand how they achieved it and whether they made the people and organizations around them better along the way. Because ultimately, one of the best measures of a leader isn’t simply what they accomplish themselves. It’s what they enable others to accomplish, too.
Great leaders don’t just build successful organizations, they develop, empower, and create other great leaders.