Toll Fellows

Meet the 2011 Tolls: Roger Picard

Roger Picard
Senator
Rhode Island

1. What do you think is the key to effective leadership?

Listening is the most important quality someone can have.

2. What is your favorite leadership quote?

I believe it was President Lincoln - and I paraphrase - "We need to bring people to where they ought to be, not where they want to be."

3. What is the best piece of advice you have ever received?

Keep my ears open and my mouth closed.

4. What do you hope to get out of your Toll Fellows experience?

Interaction with my peers where I can listen to the issues they face, the solutions they have put forth, and the general comradeship which usually takes place in such an atmosphere. 

Meet the 2011 Tolls: Tom Letson

Tom Letson
Representative
Ohio

1. What do you think is the key to effective leadership?

The key for me is to listen without trying to formulate a response or being critical of the speaker. Hearing requires more than listening in order to gain the message. Be active in ones listening.

2. What is your favorite leadership quote?

"Remember, the bend in the road is not the end of the road, unless you fail to make the turn."   -Unattributed

3. What is the best piece of advice you ever received?

 From my Father: "Leave it better than you found it."

4. What do you hope to get out of your Toll Fellows experience?

More. More information, more patience, more perspective, more atlernatives, more friends.

Meet the 2011 Tolls: Luis Rivera Marin

Luis Rivera Marin
Secretary of Consumer Affairs
Puerto Rico

1. What do you think is the key to effective leadership?

Effective leadership must result in the inspiration of people so they work more and dream more because they want to do it and not because you make them do it.

 2. What is your favorite leadership quote?

"Leadership is based on a spiritual quality; the power to inspire others to follow."   -Vincent Lombardi

3. What is the best piece of advice you have ever received?

The greatest mistake you can make in life is to continually fear you will make one.

4. What do you hope to get out of your Toll Fellows experience?

I am obsessed with striving for perfection and excellence, and, I recognize my limitations.  I am not aware of a program that can best suit my current needs of polishing my attributes, a program that can provide me with the tools to become a better public servant, which truly makes a difference. By developing my leadership skills, I will be able to better motivate and guide my troops in the right direction. By refocusing my views with the help of the most talented peers in the country, it will certainly allow me to row in the right direction.  By learning the right tools to manage crisis, the media and people, I will become a better manager and leader, which allows me to contribute in the future from a more prominent platform. My hopes are high to proudly become a member of such a prestigious group.

Meet the 2011 Tolls: Richard Devlin

Richard Devlin
Senator
Oregon

1. What do you think is the key to effective leadership?

Effective leadership listens, comprehends legitimate differences in people's perspectives and opinions, and works to find solutions that benefit the common good.

2. What is your favorite leadership quote?

"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, concerned citizens can change the world.  Indeed it is the only thing that ever has."   -Margaret Mead

3. What is the best piece of advice you have ever received?

 The best advice I have ever received as a legislator is to never let the perfect be the enemy of the good.

4. What do you hope to get out of your Toll Fellows experience?

My hope is that the Toll Fellows program will allow me to develop a deeper understanding of the leadership skills necessary to be a more effective legislator and leader.

Meet the 2011 Tolls: Cindy Evans

Cindy Evans
Representative
Hawaii

1. What do you think is the key to effective leadership?

Perseverance 

2. What is your favorite leadership quote?

"The art of getting someone else to do something you want done because he wants to do it."   -Dwight D. Eisenhower

3. What is the best piece of advice you have ever received?

The only thing to fear is fear itself.

What do you hope to get out of your Toll Fellows experience?

Development of my full potential to achieve higher levels of leadership.

Meet the 2011 Tolls: Shawn Womack

Shawn Womack
Circuit Judge
Arkansas

1. What do you think is the key to effective leadership?

The key to leadership is doing the right thing for the right reason in an effort to accomplish a task and in a way that those around you are inspired to follow you.

2. What is your favorite leadership quote?

"To be able to lead others, a man must be willing to go forward alone."   -Harry S. Truman

3. What is the best piece of advice you have ever received?

Just because you can do something doesn't mean you should do it.  Keep your powder dry early on, wait for your opportunity, and be prepared to embrace it when it arrives.

4. What do you hope to get out of your Toll Fellows experience?

I hope to interact with those in leadership positions from across the country and across the three branches of government to exchange information that makes us mutually more productive in our leadership efforts.  I spent ten years in the legislative branch of state government and I have seen the good that can come from interacting with leaders in other states and regions. Now that I am a Judge, I hope to encourage the judicial branch in my state to gain more acceptance and understanding of the benefits of interacting across the branches and across the states. 

Meet the 2011 Tolls: Arthur Orr

Arthur Orr
Senator
Alabama

1. What do you think is the key to effective leadership?

Listening, planning, then doing.

2. What is your favorite leadership quote?

"There is no limit to what one can achieve as long as he doesn't care who gets the credit."   -Unattributed

3. What is the best piece of advice you have ever received?

There is no substitute for hard work.

4. What do you hope to get out of your Toll Fellows experience?

Learn from my colleagues who are certainly facing the same challenges, primarily financial, in their states. 

Meet the 2011 Tolls: Jennifer Flanagan

Jennifer Flanagan
Senator
Massachusetts 

1. What do you think is the key to effective leadership?

Communication, building consensus and making the right choice, regardless of whether it is politically popular or not are keys to effective leadership. It is important that, as leaders, we take into consideration the minority view of issues and what is good in the long term, not simply satisfy the public's short term needs. This has been tested over the last couple of years as the Massachusetts Legislature has had to cut various programs and services to successfully balance the state budget. While at times it was very unpopular to make those cuts, it was necessary for the fiscal health of our Commonwealth. At times the public chose to attempt to portray the Legislators as uncaring or unresponsive to the needs of our constituents, when in reality we were faced with harsh decisions.

 2. What is your favorite leadership quote?

"Leadership and learning are indispensable to each other."   -John F. Kennedy

3. What is the best piece of advice you have ever received?

I was very fortunate to begin working at the Massachusetts State House when I was 19 years old and one of the first pieces of advice my boss gave me was "to always remember, this job is about the people, not politics."  As I was learning the political process I was in amazement of the political decisions made each day by our elected officials, but my boss always told me that it was the "people not the politics" which was important. Throughout my time as a State Representative and now as a State Senator I have held that very close and it has helped me through some very tough decisions.

4.  What do you hope to get out of your Toll Fellows experience?

I hope to learn from, and connect with other leaders from across the nation while attending the Toll Fellows Program. I believe it is important to learn how other leaders act in the face of adversity, which we have done at one time or another, and how it has impacted their prospective on public service.  Also I look forward to meeting with those leaders who are not legislators, but are from other components of state government.  It is important that we all work together for the constituents we serve so it will be interesting to hear experiences from those in other states.

Meet the 2011 Tolls: Robyn Gabel

Robyn Gabel
Representative
Illinois

1. What do you think is the key to effective leadership?

To be an effective leader one must have a vision, good team building skills and enjoy solving problems.

2. What is your favorite leadership quote?

"You must be the change you want to see in the world."   - Mahatma Gandhi

3. What is the best piece of advice you have ever received?

Learn from your mistakes is the best advice I've ever received.

4. What do you hope to get out of your Toll Fellows experience?

I hope to further improve my leadership skills and come to understand myself better from the Toll Fellowship experience. 

Meet the 2011 Tolls: Patricia Miller

Patricia Miller
Representative
Connecticut

1. What do you think is the key to effective leadership?

The key to effective leadership is training those under you to become leaders, leading through example, engagement and motivation.

2. What is your favorite leadership quote?

"The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy."   -Martin Luther King, Jr.

3. What is the bet piece of advice you have ever received?

To get an education because knowledge is the only thing that can not be taken away from you.

4. What do you hope to get out of your Toll Fellows experience?

Connecticut, like many states, is confronting challenging issues.  The most challenging one facing our state is trying to close our education achievement gap which has been identified as the largest in the country.  I believe that we can close the gap in the coming years through effective policy. My goal is to leave the program a more effective leader which will enable me to develop better policy reforming our education system.

I'm also looking forward to working with and learning from leaders from around the country as part of the Toll program so that I can bring new ideas and a fresh outlook home to Connecticut.