Philanthropist. Also save the giant panda at the zoo and also bringing the magna carta to the archives. So how do you do it all . What about your leadership . I feel i was as good of a leader as the people i interviewed so i talk about what i try to do as a leader to recognize i went out to interview the most famous that i knew who were leaders in business or culture and the book is a summary of what they told me it takes to be a leader. You feel any particular qualities of leadership from these people . So tell me what you found to be the most important quality or the connected thread . Assistance is number one because nobody wakes up and can get anything done that they want nobody has ideas that are sold brilliant when jeff basil so i will sell books on the internet people laugh also communicate with other people and learn on teach them so they can work with you and also its important to be humble with the humility that gets further than arrogance but in the end those that are they want to do something useful with their life they think its useful and in many cases it is you are on the board of Johns Hopkins medication hospital so with that aspect. So let me ask you about gates. And then microsoft would have dominated the Software Market when he was first creating all that. Of course it is bill gates he dropped down because he thought he would miss the software was revolution as he later says he was wrong the Software Revolution waited a couple more years ahead he graduated it wouldnt make much of a difference but he didnt know that at the time. Imagined telling your father and mother im dropping out of college to start a company in software and nobody knew thats what it was Mark Zuckerberg did the same thing so sometimes College Dropouts am glad my children have completed their degrees. In the case of Richard Branson he said he was surrounding himself with great people but then you point out. There are people l. A. To surround themselves with famous people but they dont listen to them for being a leader you listen to other people and in the book i interview Oprah Winfrey and i said why are you such a good interviewer . She said because i listen to what they say. So how much of that is a calculated risk . When he was bumped from a commercial flight from puerto rico to the Virgin Islands and decided to charter a plane and then going to the business with the use 747 and then back in an age of pan and demand twa spirit for most leaders and then to say this is how you become a leader it was serendipitys of people had a lucky break in and something happened jim baker is asked to run a campaign for George Herbert walker bush and that wasnt something that was planned very often the greatest things in life are not planned. She tells you she tries to understand the impact whats the quality whether a liability . It has come about recently and the news and is called empathy you have to empathize and if they can sense that you empathize with them you connect with them so as i like to say in the book she does it so well she doesnt need a second name share or madonna the first name does at all. So in my interview i say run for president. You dont have to be a Government Official anymore but then she realized oprah is better than president. Per her trajectory also getting fired and losing a job and something even better if you havent failed in life you probably will not be successful in what you do you have to fail they all failed at something oprah was fired from one job and basically about to be fired from another when ultimately she went to chicago and became famous here she was a vanity director of the Largest Law Firm in the country educated partly in the us then she ends up in chicago running law firm and then the emergency chapter and now she is at the ecb so now she is in europe in a pandemic and now for her to practically leave the world . She would say she was always underestimated because she was the first woman to have the law firm in the finance minister and the first at imf and the central bank in europe now i said her real success as a youngster as a synchronized swimmer on the National Team that something we could all learn something from so she knows how to get along with people and to get them to follow her you have to get people to follow you you can be a leader of nobody follows you said shes very good at people to follow but that is a by a good communicator and not through work but writing that by showing by example so when George Washington was a valley forge he had to stay there with his troops he could have went down and played there while the troops are freezing but he didnt and thats what made them loyal to him. But then you talk to Ruth Bader Ginsburg and it is so apparent and then by the men who make these choices as they climb through the ranks. The amazing thing is we celebrate the 100th anniversary of womens right to vote and to go back and read about it many women were against the womens right to vote so it was a different world. They couldnt go to office or become Office Seekers and for example president kennedy who i admire greatly now appear president of the United States women in your cabinet and all the stuff i had laid out. First. And that was true was Sandra Day Oconnor as a junior on the court she couldnt get a job so she took a desk outside of the law firm even though she play so well first or second at stanfor stanford. Talk about Ruth Bader Ginsburg and that relationship was so special. Here the only one who is a rock star and the oldest, she wins them over with charm and stability with the relationship between her and Justice Scalia asking if it was awkward because she loved him for his sense of humor and and now she could and then to keep herself from laughing out loud but then a couple of times i have introduce her in the audience she gets a standing ovation. But although he was not disagreeable. They were and how does that feel but for that to be spectacular and would be for quite some time. But for what she has shown to deal with this and what she had to go through because the intellect is overwhelming. Think of a situation she faced and still couldnt get also with her fourth about with cancer weighing less than a hundred pounds with the grand the determination making a rock star nobody has been as much in the public as she has been. So to have a Creative Force like steve jobs and knowing you cannot replicate him and instead of trying taking in a completely different direction. Some would remember there is a great basketball coach at ucla winning ten championships succeeding a legend and isnt easy so tim cook thought he could last a short period as well but hes been there for quite a while and tripled the value of the company because he said i will not be steve jobs i will do the opposite i will get along and collaborate. Steve jobs is great for what he did but he recognizes he is not steve jobs. And with those other kinds of Creative Forces such as a politician or artist . Is there a quality that distinguishes them . Generally ceos tend to be more focused on the technology they dont spend as much time on the outside world so until recently they didnt want to deal with those washington issues but they are more drawn and i would say but people and politics or the culture world have to go out to a larger audience. Yoyo ma is the best cellist but his greatest strength is his personality he shows how passionate he is about art and how important those Technical Skills and i agree completely and you know better than i his passion is part of his artistry and enthusiasm and he shows that with whoever he is with hes gone to native americans or at the Kennedy Center or any other world stage. As a great cultural ambassador, the public personality that is the performance part those that bring in nancy pelosi they will say things off the record and not on the record but really the great so they are a good example. We are both in baltimore we have a special connection because of that. Think about in the 250 year history of our country no one has come close to the power she has had for a long period of time. Now she is 80 years old and in the prime of her power going from a housewife in San Francisco to and then she brought all the children. But then also coming back from defeat. They lost the election 2010 and then how much of that the because you will be beat up a matter what you do in life and you have to stand up to be resilient. If something bad happens to you and you dont come back you will not be an effective leader. So i think the defeats early on that divide into three parts of those who succeed in this second or first but failed in the first but they kept coming back. You have to be resilient to be an effective leader in my view. What about those born with wealth is a privilege as an asset or hindrance . The hardest thing to do successfully is raising children that are happy and healthy its very difficult if your child wealthy family. Many are spoiled and dont have the motivation. So i think if you are born to wealthy families have certain privileges but in the end if you accomplish nothing you have to accomplish because of the wealt wealth. I dont think the most successful and the people come from extremely wealthy families and it is very rare. You have to struggle to have drive with the family. So what advice do you have and then what condition, safe to reopen. What responsibilities do they have . They forgot the highest responsibilities to their employees that they can perform them in a healthy and safe manner. But he doesnt make sure the people that you work for you are empathetic and you dont worry about just profits. The way the world will weve always people change the way they live will probably be doing more things remotely and from home but also people are more worried about their health and ever. I am now 70 years old i use to view myself as an aging but one baby boomer im still active now i am looked at as a Senior Citizen because i go to whole foods they say here is the Senior Citizen line. You can come in earlier. So i realized to look at that differently but the most important thing is the fragility of life. We learn from covid is how quickly life can go away baby boomers thought okay is how quickly life can go away baby boomers thought okay. Your husband is 94 . At dinner the other night he knows exactly what is going on and was terrific. Many people think you can make it to 94 but with covid your life could be wiped out in two weeks without a chance to say goodbye so makes you realize how fragile life is and how important it is to be safe and healthy and not take risks that the people should learn from covid life is fragile. You are involved in so many institution so how optimistic argue we can get through this . In terms of a vaccine the fastest ever developed was months or years the average is about ten years so we are trying to telescope that into one year. Now we have so much money put at it in so many countries will get a vaccine but then to be as trying to get me there will be several but then to be distributed at the affordable cost. Do you worry American Leadership so now competing under very different political system. I do worry about it the Prime Minister of singapore was making the plea that america does not the remain in asia power because the world is better off if United States we plays the role to some extent leaving those wars aside but and then its even better than when i first saw it. Ive never known anyone white house chief of staff but then with the earlier campaigns will be the only one there on saturday or saturday night and picking up the phone if used. For those talkshows so very often when you get so i admire him more than i did. And the statement he got from his that prior and it is true and he is always prepared and it didnt hurt him along. Talk to me about Warren Buffett a huge influence but then with that figure. It is an interesting thing nobody makes it as an investor for himself as Warren Buffett he started with nothing now one of the richest people in the world hes giving away a book of his money to the bill and Melinda Gates foundation. But when you sit down with Warren Buffett he doesnt brag about how rich he is or smart he is, he doesnt do the selfdeprecating humor its great when you can meet people that they are humble and thats what i like them to show selfdeprecating humor not taking themselves too seriously. To have you not interviewed . Queen elizabeth it doesnt do interviews, the pope doesnt but i never interviewed Andrea Mitchell so maybe i could interview andrea. That would be a pleasure but those questions that come out of the blue what is one of the most unguarded questions you have ever asked . I like to ask them what makes them a leader so for example one time i interviewed the ceo of an