Emily Lampkin – entrepreneur, founder of the Women Leaders Series, and veteran of the Bush Administration – joins us this month to discuss her new book, Duct Tape and White Lies: A Woman’s Practical Guide to Real-Life Success, due to be published by Simon & Schuster on March 3. Lampkin served as Deputy Director of Public Affairs at the Department of Commerce from 2001–03 and as Deputy Chief of Staff at the Department of Education from 2003–06, following her work on the 2000 Bush‑Cheney campaign. She served during a period when President Bush elevated an extraordinary number of women leaders, from Dr. Condoleezza Rice to Lampkin’s boss at Education, Margaret Spellings, to Karen Hughes and so many others, creating an environment that championed women’s voices and leadership across the Administration. Her career has since spanned political strategy, global leadership training, and the creation of an international movement empowering thousands of women. Through the Lampkin Group, founded in 2011, and the Women Leaders Series, launched in 2023, Lampkin now equips women around the world with practical tools in leadership, messaging, and connection-building. Her new book distills those lessons into an energetic, honest guide for women navigating real-world success – whether in small towns, global capitals, or anywhere in between.
Q: Your new book, Duct Tape and White Lies, promises practical, real-life strategies for women who are tired of clichés. What inspired you to write this book now, and what gap did you feel needed to be filled? 
Through the Women Leaders Series I spend time with extraordinary women leading in so many ways—and they kept on asking for a book. I wrote it in 45 days last year in order to make it available for Women’s History Month and ahead of International Women’s Day.
There’s quite a bit of material out there for women, but what I found missing time-and-time again is how exactly to perfect the tools women already have. That’s what’s so special about the Women Leaders Series workshop.
Q: You’ve trained thousands of women through the Women Leaders Series. Which lessons or stories from that work most shaped the leadership strategies you share in the book?
For years I studied what made women successful, not just the big job with a fancy title, but thriving in their lives. It became clear these women excelled at three fundamentals: Selling You, Widening the Circle and Going Now. That’s the crux of the book.
I know this material is usable, doable and effective because women tell me their stories of how they’ve used it to change their lives. Many of these stories are included in the book. It was critical to me that women see themselves in these stories and in the pages of the book.
For example, I chose not to have my photo because I wanted women to see themselves in the book, not me. And it is available in paperback, so it’s more affordable.
Q: You served at Commerce and Education and worked on the 2000 campaign. What is one favorite story or moment from those years that still shapes how you lead today?
With any campaign and campaign-style work there is an intensity to the high expectations set. Women benefit from seeking advice and finding camaraderie with others. That guidance and support is threaded through the Women Leaders Series.
Q: Through the Lampkin Group, you’ve advised leaders across sectors for more than a decade. What trends are you seeing right now in how women are redefining leadership in both public and private arenas?
Women across the country and around the world have so much in common. More than 50% of the women globally are unsatisfied with their lives because they gave up on their dreams. My goal is to give those dreams back to them, by providing a step-by-step handbook on how they can have what they want, even while juggling an immense amount of professional and personal responsibility.
Q: The Women Leaders Series has grown into a global training platform. What excites you most about the women you’re working with today, and where do you see the greatest opportunities for impact in the years ahead?
I am humbled by the response to the Women Leaders Series workshop. It has a revival feel to it. Women cheer on themselves and each other when they realize they CAN have what they want. They leave with an individualized plan of action — and a newfound confidence in themselves.
In the last year alone, there’s been incredible growth in the Women Leaders Series movement — I now have women who come to hear me speak again because they got so much out of the workshop the first time.
