Valerie Jarrett, former Sr. Advisor to President Obama: “Compartmentalizing” is key

9 to 5ish with theSkimm

theSkimm

Entrepreneurship, Careers, Business

4.7 • 1.9K Ratings

🗓️ 5 June 2019

⏱️ 37 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Valerie Jarrett started her career as a corporate lawyer. But in the late 80s, she made a change and headed to work in the mayor’s office in her hometown of Chicago. That’s where Valerie hired a young Michelle Robinson. Who you might know now as former First Lady Michelle Obama. Fast forward a few years, and Valerie is now the longest-serving Senior Advisor to the President in history. And in 2016, she was the guest on our first-ever Facebook Live. Guess which one is higher on her resume. On the Couch, she talks to us about her new book (2:04), how to advocate for women at work (9:52), and what it’s like to challenge your boss … when he’s the president of the United States (30:45). PS: Our Skimm Reads this week is “Every Tool’s a Hammer” by Adam Savage aka the star of “Mythbusters.” The book is all about the metaphorical tools he’s put in his toolbox in his 40-plus years as a creative. Add it to your toolbox (shopping cart) here: https://skimmth.is/2HURiR0

Transcript

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0:00.0	It's funny when President Obama was first elected during his transition he suggested to me that I come and work in the White House and I kind of teasingly said,
0:10.0	you know, since I've known you, I've kind of been the boss of you too.
0:13.6	And now you're asking me to come and work for you.
0:16.1	And he said, yeah, but I will be the president of the United States of America.
0:20.1	And so doesn't that count for something? I'm Carly Zaken.
0:24.0	I'm Danielle Weisberg.
0:25.0	Welcome to Skim from the couch.
0:27.0	This podcast is where we go deep on career advice from women who have lived it.
0:31.0	From the good stuff like hiring and growing a team, to the rough stuff,
0:34.8	like negotiating your salary and giving or getting hard feedback.
0:39.0	We started the skim from a couch, so what better place to talk it all out than where it began on a couch.
0:51.0	So please welcome Valerie Jarrett to the couch. Valerie started her career as a corporate
0:55.3	lawyer but in the late 80s she started working in the Chicago Mayor's office.
0:59.5	While she was there Valerie hired a young Michelle Robinson and became fast friends with Michelle and her then
1:06.3	fiance, a guy named Barack Obama. So we know how that story goes.
1:10.8	Flash forward to now, you know Valerie as the longest serving senior
1:15.1	advisor to the president. Plus she's got a new book about how she found her
1:19.3	voice and used it in the White House and beyond, something that I think we are all struggling with. and very first Facebook live I'm sure she is so proud of that. We were very
1:36.3	thankful for her being game and Valerie we are so excited about this book it's's amazing. We loved it. Thank you so much for coming back and welcome to the couch.
1:47.0	I am delighted to be here. I'm so proud of you just looking at how much you have grown since that first Facebook live.
1:53.0	Oh my gosh, we re-watched it last week.
1:55.0	It was really embarrassing for us.
	...

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