My philosophy of leadership is to surround myself with good people who have ability, judgment and knowledge, but above all, a passion for service.

Our hearts just go out to these people,

To get at their real concerns, there is simply no substitute for talking one-on-one with the people who sent you here.

You see, I believe most people want just a few basic things from government. They want safe neighborhoods, good schools, good roads and the opportunity for good jobs to support their families. They want a safety net in place for the hard times.Beyond that, they just want government to leave them alone.

I surround myself with positive, productive people of good will and decency.

I think overall, from a deputy, from an undersecretary standpoint, the goal of a good leader is to get diversity across there. Geographical diversity is important. Industry diversity is important: you can't have all corn growers... Not only that, you've got gender diversity, you've got racial diversity.