Wall Street to Capitol Hill

In 1984, Whitehead stepped down from his position at Goldman Sachs, but he remained active. He began running Goldman’s corporate foundation, and became more heavily involved in the governing boards of several organizations.

But his retirement was short-lived.

Soon after completing his first chapter on a book about the social responsibilities of businesses, he received a call from President Ronald Reagan’s Secretary of State George Schultz asking him to come to Capitol Hill to become Deputy Secretary of State.

Whitehead’s only previous experience in government had been serving on the town council of his hometown in New Jersey.

But he was no stranger to politics, regularly holding large fundraisers for the Republican party.

“I was an active Republican in the moderate branch of the party, “ Whitehead says. “I was always interested in politics.”

As Deputy Secretary of State, he was assigned to Eastern Europe with the goal of trying to draw away the satelite countries from complete dependence on the Soviet Union.

“We were trying our darndest to bring the Cold War to to an end,” Whitehead says.

But Whitehead did not just use his Soviet contacts for diplomatic means. As co-owner of the New Jersey Devils until 2000, he lobbied the Russian leadership to allow the hockey star Viacheslav Detisov to play in the NHL.

“Fetisov was the first Soviet to have unlimited entry into the United States,” says Lour Lamoriello, current CEO of the Devils. “[Whitehead] really opened the door to allow Soviet players to come play professional hockey in the U.S.”

Rebuilding the Future

Whitehead says the key to his success in such varied arenas as sports teams, politics and investment banking is his ability to adjust to the new challenges he faces.

“I don’t believe I have a management style,” Whitehead says. “One style may work for one time in one place, but it won’t work every time in every place.”

“Sometimes you need to be dictatorial an autocratic like General MacArthur,” Whitehead says. “Other times you need to be quiet and thoughtful like Eisenhower.”