Insights from A Conversation with Susan Sher

“I realized early on that I’m not a scholar. I like to solve problems.” Spoken like a true communications professional! That was Susan Sher’s response to how she went from pursuing a degree in art history to becoming a lawyer and eventually becoming chief of staff to First Lady Michelle Obama.

Sher wasn’t looking for career advancement when she took the position with the First Lady. She just wanted to be helpful she says. Her plan was to take the job for one year and then return to her hometown of Chicago. Instead she stayed for two.

Like many communications professionals, Sher is dependent on her smart phones (she has two!). While working at the White House, she says she would look at her blackberry the minute she woke up and found it hard to put it down long enough to take a shower and get dressed in the morning. (Sound familiar anyone?) Once she made it to work, her morning routine consisted of reading clips and meeting with colleagues promptly at 8:30 a.m. After that, her day was less about attending scheduled meetings and more about problem solving.

Because of the fast-paced nature of her job, Sher says she had to remind herself of where she was, frequently stopping to “smell the roses” in the Rose Garden. She also had to be on guard in both professional and social settings. “You are always on the record. No issue is too small to end up in a gossip column or tweet.”

While she enjoyed her brief stint in Washington, Sher says Chicago is her home and she’s enjoying her current role of executive vice president for corporate strategy and public affairs at the University of Chicago Medical Center. Her plan for the future is to keep her day job and work on some cool projects.

The self-proclaimed obsessive reader of newspapers has four papers delivered to her door daily and admits she doesn’t have a favorite book on leadership. Instead, she tells young people to not sweat the small stuff and to find a mentor who feels a joint responsibility for your career.

Great adv ice from a woman who has held many high profile roles in her career! 

To learn more about Susan, visit the University of Chicago Medical Center's website. To see photos from tonight's event, visit our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/scprsa. 

Special thanks to Chip Felkel for moderating tonight's event and to our event sponsor, Greenville Hospital System. 

Author: Karen Potter, public relations coordinator at Greenville Hospital System.