Review: Power Forward: My Presidential Education
Power Forward: My Presidential Education by Reggie Love
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Many years ago I had a dream job of being the President of the United States of America’s (POTUS) body man. Essentially this is the role where you would be at the President’s side for the majority of the day (think at least 4 years here) handling many different situations such as logistics, people’s names, carrying luggage, appointments, liaising with the secret service, making sure POTUS has clothes and gets fed on the road etc. Although not the most visible and glamorous roles that one could do in the government, it would provide you with insight into one of the most powerful leaders in the world. Furthermore you would get exposure to people and places that the normal person would never experience. After seeing this book released by Reggie it went to the top of my reading list; especially considering he is a basketball fan and leveraged the sport as a theme for lessons in life.
Although not the most well written book it provides insight into his role as the body man for Barack Obama, both as a senator and as president. He has many anecdotes which are funny and real along with advice on the mistakes he has made along the way. If you’re a fan of Obama or basketball and want some more insight into the role of the body man then I would recommend you take a read of this!
Three key takeaways from the book
1. Reggie referred to his job description when in Iowa as: is a full-time personal assistant who is one step behind the candidate/president however has to think three steps ahead on a typical 18 hour day. I’d still do the job!
2. Success is where preparation meets opportunity.
3. Always own up for mistakes you make, the earlier the better. Learn from it and move on. Simple advice but always worthwhile heeding it.