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Senior Communications Manager Dewayne Washington

Dewayne looks off camera smiling with his arms crossed while wearing glasses, a silver watch, and a black collared shirt with the Mars Sample Return logo. He has a black mustache & salt & pepper short, curly hair. The NASA worm logo is in the background.
"If you tell an artist what to paint, they will paint it. But, if you tell them what you’re looking for, they’ll paint that – and there’s a difference. People appreciate that, the openness to be able to create." – Dewayne Washington, Mars Sample Return Senior Communications Manager, NASA Headquarters

“If you just invest a little time and a little effort in people, you will get so much more back. Not only will you feel good about it and get satisfaction above and beyond anything you can imagine, but the task or the mission you are trying to accomplish will also benefit tremendously. I’ve seen this happen many times when I have given someone an assignment. I am careful not to restrict their creativity. Often, they’re able to accomplish the task or mission better than I expected.

“My brother’s a professional artist, and I learned that from him. If you tell an artist what to paint, they will paint it. But, if you tell them what you’re looking for, they’ll paint that – and there’s a difference. People appreciate that, the openness to be able to create. Another big one is that there’s no such thing as a perfect person. So, the day you start thinking everything’s going to be perfect, you are in trouble.

“I remember when I went on my first visit to NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory to talk about the Mars Sample Return campaign. I sat down with the communications team and said, ‘Look, if you are thinking we are going to do this perfectly and everything’s going to go as smoothly as it can, I want to change that mindset right now. We are going to have our challenges. But it is our job to work through those challenges, that is how we succeed.

“I believe that whenever I am in a leadership position it is my call, my responsibility to create an environment in which all who work around me can be at their most efficient. I have been in situations before in which coworkers have said, ‘That could not have turned out any better.’ I believe you have to create the environment in which people can thrive and be their best. That’s a big deal to me and I want people to treat me that way too. I’ve always felt from before I was a teenager that if I do something good, it will go to the next person and the next person, and before you know it, it goes around the world and comes back to me. I have truly believed that all my life, and I still think that today.”

– Dewayne Washington, Mars Sample Return Senior Communications Manager, NASA Headquarters

Image Credit: NASA / Keegan Barber
Interviewer: NASA / Tahira Allen

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