Transcripts For WETA Charlie Rose 20130204

The quality of life, its a way of life. We have our music, our food, our social structure, our architecture, our body of literature. We even have our own funerals. So we measure quality of life by way of life, if our way of iv is intact and our culture is intact, then thats fine. And we dont really, in a big part of our way of life is to be comfortable with our otherness. We really dont aspire. We love to go to new york. We love to go to las vegas, and we love to go to washington, or anywhere. Rose even paris. Paris who wouldnt, you have have to be who wouldnt, we love it but what we like is when we come back home we come back to a way of life. We little a little dichbly and are comfortable. Rose a place to raise your kids. That was the pivoting factor. Because they have had all kinds of exposure in washington, of course, but it r8, when you send your kid out here you know 12,000 and they know, more importantly, they know 12,000 moms have eyes on them. Mom also call you and say i saw your kid so that, we feel very safe about that. But theres, it really is a tight community and everybody is great values here. What we didnt expect and what i am really loving was, because we love politics, were never going to not love politics and policy, the rate with which and the speed but the beauty and the lack of acrimony in progressing as the mayor seven years ag ago Officials Say we are 15 feet underwater, now look where we are. We are brain gain, were not just a come to destination. Were not just a travel and leisure place. Were really making huge reforms that are going to be necessary if were to make progress across the country in the 21st century. We hope to be able to share them with other urban areas so we can reenvironment allize this country from the cities out. The wall street journal recently said young nerds with laptops. My favorite, my boyfriend. Im a cougar to the young nerds with laptops. Rose are moving to new orleanses from new york and san francisco. Yeah. Rose so these are smart people looking to have a good life, who know that in todays world where you can be anywhere, where distance and time are no longer as big a factor as it used to be you can do it all. Let me give you an example what this means. Music is huge, clint davis, he puts on gas ferx the super bowl. I said clint, what is the status of music right now. He said were in a golden era. We have street bands everywhere. There are 150 different bands that are playing this weekend in new orleans. And so but what is happened is if you think of a street band, the way this guys exist is by tips. And whether what do we carry that young people dont carry, cash, money. Okay. And so theyve developed an app, these silicon via guys that you can tip with your cell phone. So the guy puts it out there so the street musicians are playing, and you just, they have a thing, if you want to tip them five buck, you dont have five bucks you can tip with your cell phone, that is where Technology Technology makes culture. I was having a great time sort of commuting back and forth between here and new york and never really thinking about this as a place that i would build a permanent life. And one of the reasons that was, was because it wasnt a city where people were really taking responsible for themselves any more. There was no civic you know there was no sense that you do get the government you deserve. You need to fight to make things better. I mean i grew newspaper a small town in mississippi but there was more civic activism in a place like that, still, now, than there was in new orleans for a long time. People just had kind of given up. Oh, the School System will never be okay so were not going to do anything about it well just move out of the district. Or you know of course young people are being to leave because theres no jobs. I mean our jobs, talking about the super bowl, we always do big parties well. I dont know if you were at the Republican Convention in 88 was one of the greatest convention ever, wasnt it. I mean would you rather be here or rather be in detroit or wherever else. So that was a great convention. We always did that. But the whole damn economy was based on throwing parties. And now weve got a real economy with young people knowing that they have jobs. Rose and young people coming in because of the way of living and because the world is obviously as tom friedman said flat. So time and distance are shorter and all that. And why not live here. Yesterday, monday morning i flew to new york. My plane was late because it was raining, and snowing on the ground at laguardia. I left, it was just a gorgeous day like this i was almost crying in my driveway as i got to the car to go to new york, because it was such a Beautiful Day here, why leave. Rose we continue this evening with the mayor of new orleans, Mitch Landrieu. It was a tragic moment in that building just outside of our window that had 13,000 american citizens in it. It had the roof peeling off of it. And it was just a bad time. And since that time the people of new orleans did something that i think is pretty miraculous. They didnt accept the fact that the city was going to continue dying. In fact, katrina and rita didnt cause all of our problems. We had many of them before the storm started. But what happened was the people like james and mary, julia, other people came back and said you know what, that place is worth saving the. New orleans people themselves said were not leaving. Rose also the man doing the playbyplay for cbs sports jim nans. We made a stop in the mid 60s for almost four years and it coincided with the birth of the new orleans saints. So the first Football Game i ever saw was september 17th, 1967. They were playing the los angeles rams, first game in saints history, it happened to be the first game i ever witnessed in my dad got standing room only tickets. We sat in the aisle, two rows from the top, just in time to watch john gillium, famous down here in new orleans, return the opening kickoff, 94 yards for a touchdown. At that point i was hopelessly in love with the nfl. Had no idea that i would one day be calling the nfl or that i would am could be ba and have a chance to call a super bowl here in new orleans. Rose we conclude with an owners perspective on the nfl, robert kraft of the new england patriots. My philosophy in any of our business to get the best people we can get. That doesnt mean the person i might choose might not be right for you. But it is right for us. And i have to feel that i can build a relationship with key managers. And if i cant, then we usually dont do it. And they dont teach this stuff at Harvard Business school. I mean its just something you mel and you feel and its right or it isnt right. Rose a program note, more of my conversations about new orleanses with james carville, mary matalin and julia reed will be seen next week. Tonight, the city and the game when we continue. Funding for charlie rose was provided by the following captioning sponsored by Rose Communications from our studios in new york city, this is charlie rose. Rose Mitch Landrieu is here, the mayor of the city of new orleans. Since he took office in 2010 hes had to deal with a daunting area of challenges from government corruption to oil spills. He has tackled reform and regeneration with gusto. Newsweek named him one of the countrys five most innovative mayors. Im pleased to have him on this program. Welcome. Thank you, charlie. Great to see you. Rose we have listened here this program on this day, car ville and matalin, and mary matalin, love new orleans, talk about it with enthusiasm, the challenge, julia reed who loved the city and talks about all that it means for her as a writer. Tell me where the city is through the eyes of the man responsible for taking it to the next step. Well, first of all, you know how spectacular this place is. It has something about it that is just very, very unique. Its hard to explain but its a very deep, rich, comfortable feeling that people have when they come here. When katrina hit i think its fair to say that the nation really gasped for a moment at the possibility that we would lose not only a Great American city but this particular American City which is so very different from any other place, that really represents the soul of america through culture, art, music, historic preservation. You know our history, we are the only city in the nation that had the flag of france and spain it is just a very rich place. And the nation also got to witness really probably one of the worst days that was seen with so Many American citizens left behind it was a tragic moment in that building just outside of our window that had 13,000 american citizens in it. It had the roof peeling off of it. It was just a bad time. And since that time the people of new orleans did something that i think is pretty miraculous. They didnt accept the fact that the city was going to continue dying. In fact, katrina and rita didnt cause all of our problems. We had many of them before the storm started. But what happened was the people like james and mary, julia, other people came back and said you know what, the place is worth saving. The new orleans people themselves said were not leaving. They began slowly to stand back off, to kind of dry off to say to themselves, you know, this is a very bad thing that happened to us. We had 500,000 homes that were hurt, 250,000 that were destroyed, we lost 1800 people. But they decided they were going to build back and they werent just going to build back the way they were they were going to take this opportunity to really think about the way new orleans should have always been, to correct the mistakes of the past. And to think about building a new American Building would look like if you were able to maintain the deep and authentic history. This game is really just a symbol of that. The game is in the middle as you know of mardi gras. It is a symbol of new orleans going from a physical structure that was completely destroyed to now a building structure. That is a pretty good symbol of resurrection and redemption for a people that were really down for a long time. Did you in your own mind ever doubt that new orleans wouldnt survive and that what made it an unbelievably unique place would survive the culture, the sense of something that was deep in it. I never had any doubts. I really did not. Because i am from here. Im born and raised and i think that most people from new orleanses who love this place, love it in an unconditional. And they love it hard and they love it deep. I never had any doubt that the city of new orleans would survive. I did have questions about whether or not the city and its people could ever find their footing, and find the ability to build something that was new. To build something that was the way it always should have been. And the reality is, and because its not a at the time a come pli, it takes work every day. You really have to commit yourself to being blifern. And because new orleans is so old and authentic, we are not used easily to change. But its been an amazing run so in education reform we have done something very different. Healthcare reform, weve done very different. Government reorganization weve done differently. Weve managed in a very short period of time to really try to maintain that authentic culture but actually try to find a new way to do business going forward. As you know when hurricane hit here it hit the northward with huge force. And so many people suffered so much. And questions were raised about race and other issues. Where are you in rebuilding the northward . Where are you in trying to, whatever those scars were, get them to heal. Yes, well let me say this. The storm did not discriminate. This storm, and people have a hard time envisioning this, really put the entire city underwater, not just the 9th ward. The lake view, again tilly, black neighborhood, white neighborhoods, old neighborhood, newer nab hoods got completely wiped. Not every part of the city is back. And this is not a surprise. The best quote about it he said when it gets cold, the poor get korld and when if gets hot, the poor get hotter. And we have found that in the recovery as well. For people who had change in their pocket, who had insurance, generation, those neighborhoods both black and white have had an easier time coming back. The ninth ward is still struggling. They had 15,000 people in it before the storm, they have 2500 people now. The city on the other hand as a whole is, as a u. S. Census bureau noted briefly, that were growing faster than any other city in america. Now forbes is says were one of the best places to do business. And theres a lot of great stuff going on. But it going to take us time to rebuild the entire city. Will you have the same exact experience in the northeast as you try to rebuild the rockaways and will you see some neighborhoods that come back faster than others and frustrations with fema getting money to the ground. The essential component is for people not to build it back like it was. To really think about what it should have always been. So for example, in concrete terms, if a School Building got destroyed, instead of putting that Building Back and painting it like it was, build a new 21st century school. Build a sustainable school, build a School System that is going to teach to knowledgebased economy. That is what we have done in new orleans because we realize that the foundations that were in place were taking us someplace where we didnt want to go. And thats why we had to reconstruct our heal care Delivery System from a centralized system to, of 88 primary Health Care Clinics that provide preventive care, things like that, you see them now taking root in the city of new orleans. And its quite impressive. But like anything else, its hard work, you have to keep your shoulder to the wheel every day and you got to stay vigilant. Some people have suggested that everything was not good before the hurricane hit. There were a lot of things that needed improvement. It was not necessarily a great time in the life of new orleans but that the tragedy of this has caused new orleans, and given new orleans an opportunity to move beyond wherever it was before the hurricane came. Thats a very true and astute observation. Like Many American cities you see this with detroit. You see it with others, they have seen better days and new orleanses had seen better days. Remember after september 11th, the economy in new orleans went down to 0 because we are a huge tourist town so when people quit flying and people quit going to conventions because of the terrorist attack and the fear that engulfed the nation, it hurt us. The Tourism Industry that is responsible for this event now is a 5 billion industry, with 70,000 employees. So we suffered tremendously after that as soon as we got back katrina hit. Then rita hit. Then ike hit, then gustav hit. Then we had the National Recession and then we had the bp oil spill. So in the midst of all that, while the nation was in two wars and not fully capable of reaching down as much as they would have, you know, this thing happened to us. And it happened to us in a time when new orleans wasnt doing well. Our Education System wasnt forming well, our Healthcare System wasnt. And so the cathartic event that occurred is very common to most people in their personal terms. When you have a near death experience in your life from personal illness or somebody close to you dies or something happened, it clarifies your mind. When you think that you are on the verge of not being there any more. And you either choose to go forward or choose to quit. You choose to get better, you choose to stay stagnant. The people of new orleans chose not to quit and they chose for the first time in a very long time, maybe 50 years, not only to get better but really to reach out and to take not just the opportunity but we kind of call it the responsibility to get it right this time. And i think that there is a lot of evidence that were beginning to get it right. Now as i have said, i dont think our future is assured. Its just one of these things where you have to be vigilant and work at it every day. But there are some good signals. Some will also argue that new orleans has had a bad has had a hard time with corruption and government. Thats true. Thats absolutely true. There is no question about it. When you think back to, for example, 1960, the city of new orleans was bigger than atlanta or in 1960, we had 680,000 people here. And at the time both atlanta and houston were smaller than us. So over that very long period of time from 1960 to 2005 something happened, bad decisions politically, bad decisions from the business community, from the faith community, we just never got to where we needed to be. Corruption not only in new orleans but i dont need to tell you because you travel to washington, d. C. And the state houses, its endemic all over america and in our business counsels as well. Its good to recognize it exists and its good to say its not tolerable. And i think we have turned the course on that in the city of new orleans. And in the last couple of years have basically said look you have got to have an honest government. People need to know they work in confidence and they have a competent government work on top of that the other thing that is happening too, this is the ingredient that really has made this different. We dont have idea logical fights like they have in washington d. C. And we know that the only things that work here are those that have partnerships between the Public Sector and the private sector, with the Faithbased Community and the not for profit os involved, all heading in the same direction. When you have that kind of partnership, when you are able to find that, then we find that you are able to produce a successful result. And that is the model that has taken us to where we are today. If we keep doing that, and we do it every day and we do it over a long number of years, hopefully we will change the way that we have done business and become what i would consider to be a 21st century knowledgebased economy. What is exciting about that for you because you were a c. E. O. Of a city. Right. It is that urbanism is a broad, defining event of the 2 1s century. People want to move to cities. They want to be there because of culture, because of opportunity, because of education, a whole range of other things. Correct. It also is at the same time a laboratory to experiment. Correct. Because its hands on. Yeah. You know you can get in the car and go around and see all of your constituents. No question about that. No governor can do that, no president can do that. Its one of the mog wonderful things about the job. I have called new orleans and i believe this to be true. The nations most elite, immediate laboratory for innovation and change. I use the word immediate because when we conceptualize a way to solve a problem, we can see immediately whether or not it works. If something happens on the street, i drive by it every day. I see it and by the way your constituents can touch you and tell you. The reason i could say its a laboratory for innovation and change is because new or cleans has for the first time in history tried a bunch of new stuff. We didnt used to like people who were not from here coming to tell us what to do. Now we invite them in and say listen, what is the best practice, what are you doing mayor menino in boston, what are you doing in new york. Mayor what are you doing in los angeles or chicago. And Business Leaders are doing it as well. What models work and were inviting them into the city. Our Education Movement which as you know is the most aggressive Charter School Reform Movement in america, by far, is part of that new attitude to invite people in. And that has opened our eyes up to a new way of doing business. And that is a haley thing to do. That is a new way for people of new orleans. And its getting good results. How many people in your family have been in public life . Well, you know my family, i have eight brothers and sister, my mother and father had nine children in 11 years and most of us are not in politics. Nine in 11 years. How about that, huh, my mothers awesome. But mary loretta who my older sister, a United States senator. I have a sister named madeline who is younger who say judge on the Fourth Circuit court of appeal, a younger brother named maur is, a state court judge. A younger brother who helps run the Street Crimes Division for the u. S. Attorneys office. Those are the four in public life. My father of course who was the mayor and secretary of housing in urban developing and a judge on the court of appeals. Most of us were sane an stayed out of politics. Thanksgiving must be fun. It gun fun. We have a good timing to. A very close family. Thank you for coming. Great to be here. Thank you. Thank you. The mayor of new orleans, back in a moment. Stay with us. Jim nance here, a five Time National sportscaster of the year. From age 11 his dream was to work for cbs. 2013 parks his 24th year for the network. On sunday will call the action in the super bowl here in new orleans. More than 100 Million Viewers across the nation are expected to watch. The game kicks off the beginning of a 70 day journey in which he will announce the super bowl, ncaa final four and the masters. Im pleased to have my friend jim nance back on this program. Welcome. I love being on this program. I really do. There is nothing like t charlie. Rose oh, thank you so much. So here you are. Im more interested in how, what you do and what you are looking to do to get ready for something youve done before, but you have to meet the challenge each time of a different event. And its live and nobody knows what is going to happen. Did you say a hundred million people, no, im okay with that. I really dont i dont let the awe of the audience size. Rose its one person for you. Its not that im not, you know, excitable about it or feel a little bit of that great Anxious Energy that you feed off of. Its just, you know, been there enough times that this is my fifth super bowl n this case. You know, im in a stage of my career where i want to enjoy it, you know, i know i can do it, i want to really enjoy it and i think it makes you a better broadcaster. Because you know, i think the best sports commentators are the ones who have perspective like charlie rose. A Bigger Picture of the world. Like you can read all the media guides you want. But i mean i would rather read about all things, you know, that may have nothing to do with this game. I want to know about new orleans. I want to know about the culture, the cuisine, the people. And i think that breadth of knowledge gives you, i think, the kind of perspective you need at a network level. Rose everything weve done on this program today preceding you has been about that, the culture, the city, the place. What this means to them. Uhhuh. I get it here. I lived here. Ri have lived in a lot of different places as a kid. My mom and dad would take up, my dad would get promoted, working for a Company Called seeland until he got back to the new york area for the corporate office. But we made a stop here back in the mid 60s. I was here for almost four years and it coincided with the birth of the new orleans santas. So the first Football Game i ever saw was september 17th, 1967. They were playing the los angeles rams, first game in saints history. It happened to be the first game i ever wiltnessed. And my dad got standing room only tickets. We sat in the aisle, two rows from the top, just in time to watch john gillium, famous down here in new orleans, return the opening kickoff, 94 yards for a touchdown. And at that point i was hopelessly in love with the nfl. Had no idea i would one day be calling the nfl or that i would come back and have a chance to call a super bowl here in new orleans. Rose whats amazing. I talked to eli manning today. I said where are you going to watch the game. He said at home. Peyton will be there, my dad, my mother, my brother will be there. Cant you imagine how great it would be to sit among the mannings. Oh yeah. Rose in new orleans, and watch a super bowl. Well, when this game was first awarded to new orleans, and it was four years ago, i did the quick math on it we rotate with fox and nbc. So cbs gets it every three years just as they do. And i thought thank goodness its going to be on our watch. Wouldnt that be fabulous if the two brothers were there, ely and payton, everybody thought that that would be the brother bowl t would be the manning brothers coming home. And who knew that yet we would have that team, theme but the jim and John Harbaugh instead. Rose which i have never seen anybody have such Perfect Pitch about the experience as jack and i think its jackie harbaugh, mom and dad, because the little dinner you hosted they were there. And to see them. And how the much fun they are having but not taking this as sort of look how important i am. But how great it is to share my kids with people that are friends of them and the game they love. You know, i think you would have a better chance of winning the superlottery than having two sons who would be on opposite sidelines at a super bowl at head coaches. The odds are astronomical. But they are really grounded people, real midwestern values, the half becauses. Rose that is one of the great story lines but there are other story lines here. There are. Of course just the fact that it is the one game for the championship, for the lombardi trophy. You have ray lewiss final game, his retirement. Its been a big deal, its been a big part of the story, of course, with the runup to the super bowl every week was potentially his last game. The. Rose the guy in the locker room. I think by the way i think the fact that so many people have tried to go back and it almost convict him for, you know, for crimes that, you know, in the end he was not convicted of. It has strengthened the ravens. I think the players have rallied around him feeling as though, hey, well surround them. They call him mufasa, the wise lion from the lion king. I walked in the locker room after they beat patriots to present the trophy to them and all they were screaming the players was mufasa. The wise lion. You letter the lion king. And he is one truly one of the great leaders. Rose so that is the second story line. And the third story line is the 49ers and what they have done to get here. With the quarterback who on sunday will be starting his 10th game of his nfl career. Thats it and he plays a style with the ability to run and get to the outside edges and with an recall that if he was just a pure classical pocket passer its an arm that would be good enough to exist on that alone. Point is, it could be a transitionary game if Colin Kaepernick and the 49ers prevail it could dawn a new era of quarterback the way you approach it in the nfl. Rose hes strong too. Hes amazing. But so is joe flacco. I mean flacco for the ravens has had one of the best quarterback performances in the postseason in history, eight touchdowns, no picks. The of course the heave at the end of regulation in denver to knock out payton and the broncos in double overtime. It is a wonderful matchup at that position. Flacco, classic pocket passer. Young kid, kaepernick could revolutionize the way we look at the quarterback role. Rose there is a game day in which you go and spend time with the 49ers. Another day you spend time with the ravens. Is that, what is the purpose of that . Is it simply broadcast material or for you and phil and the cbs team to get a sense of where they are at the moment. They willingly share a lot of confidence information with you. You never compromise that information. If you do you are out of this business in the next day. So a game starts on sunday. We know what they are all thinking. You know the chess match they are about to play and you know they will respond to it they dont know that. One coach on one sideline doesnt know what the other coach is thinking and it goes both ways but we do. Its more than just a strategy. Its a chance to get fresh material. Look at all the media crush here in new orleans. Every player has been featured and pro filed. A chance for us to pain get some material we can drop in during the game that again tells a story. That is what we are there to do. We react to a game. Cant script it. I see something, i tell people what i see. If i have time i can personalize, humanize a little bit about those subjects. Thats what has interested me. The idea as you have done all of these sporting events, as i said the masters of final four. And the super bowl, how have you evolved in the way you see your role. Well, i started as a 26yearold and i was just a young kid trying to make sure i didnt, you know, try to overstep my bounds. And we had legends like, you know, pat sommeral, our lead playbyplay voice. You know Brent Mussberger was in the studio hosting the nfl today. I was in awe of them. And you know, i never wanted to ever try to draw any attention to me. I wanted it to be really about the game. And then thats something that i have really tried to honor my whole career because those voices of my youth like the two men i just mentioned and like Jack Whitaker or jim mackay or keith jackson, crist, these were heroes and they were never trying to overshadow the game. They had an el consequence and elegance in the way that they presented a broadcast. They had this little undercurrent of storytelling and knowledge they shared with you, and a warmth that made you feel like gosh, its nice to have them in our home, you know, they are a friend. And every great broadcast has had some time to get that connection wherepl peoe want you in their home. Youre the person that they want to consider as their guide and their eyes and their ears and their heart. Rose . And how do you do it. I think you just try to really be yourself. You have it, charlie. I dont want to embarrass you here but we had this wonderful night over at commanders palace, beautiful dinner the other evening. And we had a lot of people there including the harbaughs. And the biggest story in the room is when you walked in because everyone felt like they were with a friend. That they always, a friend that they had never met but was a member kind of the family that is a real gift. I aspire to have that. And you know im 28 years into it. And i definitely feel that maturity or even that connection with the viewer more now. Just with time and trust and experience. The ncaa, final four, where does that stand. Its huge. Ive got my 28 final four coming up here shortly. We were inside this dome just last year, kentucky won the championship over kansas and ive done now all these final fours, more than a half a lifetime. And you know, its one of the great events in america. You know and its backed up by the masters the very next week. Rose you said and i read this somewhere, that tom brady maybe the best that ever played the game at quarterback. Did i misread that or is that something you believe. No, i think, well, what i said was i dont think you could find many people whoever played it better than tom brady. Because i think theres a list there, upper echelon, some people call it the elite quarterbacks and how far out do you go with it. But you start looking at what tom has done, and obviously hasnt won a super bowl since the 04 season but he has numerous records acrosstheboard. His statistically its crazy. Its like arena league as we call it numbers. And i just hate comparing eras, you know, joe montana, boy hood hero of his, has four super bowl titles, tom has three. Tom has two. Tom has started to break some of montanas postseason records, a lot of the passing records. But i have him right there with three or four others at the most. What about bradshaw . Well, he has four super bowl lombardi trophies fearless leader, phenomenal leader im to the going to knock him down second place to anybody and there is unitsa. Who people always put on the list. The same way you talk to the best tennis players in the world they will always put rod labor there even though they think weather Roger Federer his record is extraordinary, or they look at people coming up, there is a certain something about labor in tense is, about williams in baseball, about unites in football. Absolutely to this day. Still quarterback awards out there, the Johnny Unitas award, the whole comparing era thing, its tough do do. But johnny was a phenomenal player. And first guy to tell you that is payton manning, another guy that doesnt need to be taking a second seated to anyone. Paytons career, i know the playoffs were a huge disappointment this year. But his regular season. Rose with just a comeback this year with the surgery, phenomenal comeback. Reigniting the broncos now. Im not selling him short to ever get back to this game. Rose great to have you here. Thanks, charlie. Loved being with you this week. Great to you have down in new orleans. Rose and everybody has been always touched by the story of your father and the book, in what you have done for alzheimer research. I mean you have brought more attention to that. And theres constant hope within the neurological community that they can make some serious progress. And the money that you have raised to make Research Even more focused makes a difference. And more to come. Were committing our lives to this, my wife and i and my family, my mother, my sister, weve all watched my father suffer with alzheimer and after i wrote the book about pie dad, always by my side, i knew because the reaction i had from the aldz alz and the care giving communities that i could do more. So in my fathers name we opened that Methodist Hospital in houston. The Nans National alzheimer center. And with the concussion stories that are now a big part around the nfl with these later life dements illnesses that are surfacing, we want to be right on the front lines, researching. And we are. We have some really big things happening in the next year, it is a tremendous place, where president bush 41,. Who is out of the hospital. Thankfully. And we went to see him a few days before he was released. He was looking great. And his powers of recovery are just off the charts. Im so happy to see that hes back and methodist heeled him, back home, he will be watching the game this weekend, no douchlt and i love him as a father figure in my life. I dont get enough time with him, get to see him usually in the summers but he has been very special to me. You have a good life my friend. Yeah, i do. Thank you for having me back for another little chat. Its good to have you here. Thank you. Jim nance will be calling the game on sunday. Super bowl xlvii. Well be right back. Stay with us. Robert kraft is here, the owner of the nfls new england patriots. When he bought the franchise in 1994 the team had won less than 20 games combined during the previous four seasons. The patriots have since become one of the leagues great dynasties lead by Quarterback Tom Brady and head coach Bill Belichick they have won three super bowls and five appearances over the last 12 years. I am pleased to have robert kraft on this program for the first time. Welcome. And its about time, sir. Well, its an honor to be here with you. Rose thank you very much. Youre one of the special guys in this business. Rose you were at the super bowl but your team is not. Oh, here, yeah. Well, i will tell you, i was thinking about it, coming over here today. In 1985 i came as a fan to watch the patriots play and get demolished by the bears. I got the land around the stadium right after. And then in 96 i had owned the team for three years. We played here and we lost to the packers. And the third one i came to in 2001, right after 9 11. That was the charm we were privileged to win that game. You know, our name was the patriots. We were red, white and blue. In a way i think we represented midamerica an helped in a way to bring the country together. We didnt have a lot of stars. Tom brady was unheralded. And there were just a lot of blue collar great guys. And it was one of the great moments. So i feel great being in the city. Its a great city for a super bowl. And of course, we had the privilege of hosting a championship game up at gillette in foxboro. And we were winning 136 at half time. And our quarterback is 62and0 when winning at half time. And baltimore just beat our pants off. Rose is he as goods a competitor as you have ever pet. Yes, hes an amazing guy. You know, hes as good a person as he is player. But i learned in the second or thirdie he was with us, i always play some golf matches with buddies. And i had our previous quarterback. And tommy in a match. And when tommy needs it, it could be a 20 foot putt, he makes it happen. And hes the nicest guy but hes driven. Hes competitive. Hes were so lucky to have him. Rose is it a thrill to own a sports franchise . Well, for me it is. Rose or a problem. No, for me it is. You know, i always knew, i think i have a little add or something. So i like deals. I like businesses. And were privileged to have a great group of companies. But i always wanted to own the patriots because i saw as i got older, i would never get bored. And also it would be a way to bond my family together. And my wife, her blessed memory. She was not in favor of me buying the team when i bought it. Excuse me. But i told her that if we did a good job managing the team, that we would have a greater impact on the community than if we gave a half a Million Dollars a week away in charity. And especially in the world were living in today, people dont know if they have jobs. They dont know if they have health care. They dont know if their family is going to last. Kids are doing drugs. All kinds of things are happening. But were the last Appointment Television product in the country. Rose just a note about your late wife. She became much beloved by the team, by the team and the community of fans for the team. Yeah. She she was a special lady. What happened is she passed away from ovarian cancer. And i think the guys, they knew what a great lady she was. But they knew how down i was. We had a great relationship. And they, you know, i had a patch put on. It was the first time, im proud to say, that an owners wife had been on a jersey. It was mhk. And the team sort of rallied around me. And our family. And her spirit of her memory. And they presented me a beautiful painting, oil painting when we clinched our division. And you think about Young Players making multiMillion Dollar contracts, to think to commission an oil painting, you know, it took a couple months to make. It was pretty cool. And i dont think a lot of the general public doesnt understand the game of football, its a true team sport. Its what we need in america. It brings people together of all backgrounds, all races, all you know, every economic and social class that you can imagine. You know. A guy like brady who is from just south of san francisco, to kids from the inner city, in the deep south, mississippi. Theyre all won. And theyre only as good as they are as a team. Rose with a shared miss pn. Yeah. And thats one of the things i love about football its great life lessons. You know, you get knocked down. You get up. Things dont go your way. You persevere. You need mental toughness but you need to rely on other people. And you need a motivate other people to come be part of the mission. As you know, new orleanses had some problems with the commissioner because of the county penalty. Do you think they put that behind them . The fans of new orleans. Yes. Im not sure they have. And i understand it because theyre passionate. And they want their team to win. But if they stand back and think about the commissioners responsibility, you know, hes really the protector of the shield of the nfl. And if, you know, the health and safety and welfare of our players is the number one thing all of us that care about the league is focused on. And perhaps i dont know the facts but it was suggested that thing approximates were going on where the priority might be different. And so roger made rulings. Rose you stand behind what the commissioner did. Oh, 100 . Ive had things go against us the same way. And what i want. Rose with cameras. Yeah, well, no, but hes looking out, we want him to remain at 40,000 feet and look out for the shield and whats good for the game. And i trust his judgement. Rose the nfl has been fortunate to have three very good commissioners. Yeah. Youre right. I mean i think and you know, each of them were the right people at the right time. Pete rossel is Public Public relations skills. I came into the league in 94 and paul tag lee would did an excellent job. He and there were a number of legal and intellectual issues he had to deal with. And he really did an outstanding job. And now taking this great base and structure that, you know, the American Public loves, and we really are americas game, roger is a tremendous operating person. And in my opinion, he runs the nfl like hes an owner operator. He shuts the lights out. He does the Little Things that count. And he always has the shield and the good of the game at heart. Rose and he spent his time learning the nfl and learning its owners and learning its players and learning its issues. He worked there with a job he always wanted. Yeah, and he worked, hes worked with rosel and with tagliabue and its such a complicated business. And his job is so difficult. Remember make believe you had 32 member the of your board of directors, all of whom think they have all the answers and know what they are doing. Rose are we now speaking of the owners. Yes, yes. Rose . Present company included. You know, and we all run our own businesses. We think we know what were doing. And we want things our way and he has great people skills. And also knows when to be firm. And you know, i think the American Public is the beneficiary. Then you have the president said and i think he reflected the views of lots of parents. Hes not sure if he had a son we would want him to play in the nfl. I heard him say that. I can just speak from for myself. I played, two of my four sons played. I have three grandsons now. One of whom is a in high school and he plays. You like all of them to play in the nfl. They could have been tom brady. Well, no, you about i think the lessons you learn playing football, i mean the hard work, you know, in our system you have to be intelligent to play. You cant slack off. If you want to win you have got to study tape. You have got to build that sense of camaraderie. Theres something that plays, comes out of playing this team sport that is unique that helps you with, whether you are doing philanthropy, business, whatever. The leadership skills and the integration of a team you know, in the end we want to win every year. And you can only do that if you build. The same thing that the military teaches you. Right. That is a good parallel. There is also the idea of building a franchise. I mean what you did, and you see franchises turn around if they have a Great Quarterback. And increasingly weve seen quarterbacks have great years, first year they are in the league. Look what happened to andrew look what happened to north carolina, to the carolina team. Look what happened to washington this year. Yeah. And san francisco. San francisco. With kaepernick. Seattle another example. And thats great and thats exciting. Look, we look at brady. I think all these football gurus when i came into the business, they are saying well, you might know business but this is different. And then were spending millions of dollars scouting. And then we wound up going six rounds where all these gurus are picking players. But not brady. We picked him 199th pick. And i remember bill, our coach, belichick in the fifth round in the draft room saying he was still there. Now we had just given our, we had a Great Quarterback before tom, drew bledsoe who we had just given a hundred Million Dollar contract to, and two other Great Quarterbacks. And belichick says that is too much value on the board. Thought about taking him the fifth round. No one took him. And were drafting low in the 6th round. And took him there. So what and it goes to your point with the rookie quarterbacks. You never know. Theres something about this game i mean i think luck is a good example where you could do the homework. You saw how he played at standford. His dad is a great guy, played in the nfl. He comes from a great family. Or like the manning brothers, you see, you know, but the real art and skill and uniqueness in this game, if you want to be good, is being able to and its true in any business, that to differentiate you have to be able to see things that other people cant see. And then be willing to act on it. Rose what, how do you define your role as the owner . Well, number one, i think im the custodian of the community. I see myself, i think the fans of your region really own the team. And i try to i have never put moneymaking as the priority in the business. Winning is our bottom line of the pnl. And if you do that, Everything Else will fall into place how we run businesses is, theres a my philosophy in any business is to get the best people we can get that doesnt mean the person i might choose might not be right for you, but its right for us. And i have to feel that i can build a relationship build a relationship with key managers and if we cant we dont do it. They dont teach this at Harvard Business school. Its something you feel and smell, and if it is right or it isnt right. My job is to collect as many good people, give them autonomy, be aggressive in questions and the better they dot more autonomy they get we try to make people in all of our businesses feel like owner operators. But you always, you cant walk away. You got to be there. You have to press the issue. You have got to ask the tough questions. And encourage people to be bold. And not afraid to fail. And if they do the wrong thing, but they are trying to do what they believe was in the best interests of the company or the team, then you encourage that. And because a lot of whats happening in Corporate America is people play between the 40 yard lines. They want to keep it safe. They are worried about turf control, this guy get that and they are dictated by quarterly reports. They are at 09 day, so we compete, you know, we have been able to startle the company in the early 70s at we built up and we are in 91 countries in the world. And were doing okay. And a lot of it is competing with Corporate America and Global Companies outside of america who really are public, not private companies. And you know, its just afforded us a great opportunity to be aggressive in our style. But its all about having good people. Well, its that and its also, i mean there is also a comparison not only between Corporate America and football in terms of leadership, but its also true with respect to the government. I mean unless you invest in the future, are you going to be in trouble, but if you simply have a focus on tomorrow, rather than next year, next year, next year, building institutions that will produce, things that are essential to the growth of the country, youre in trouble. Yeah. And you make a good point. I mean what happens in government, the next election, is so were fixated with shortterm thinking. Theres not strategic thinking. I wish maybe the president of the United States, you know, theyve got one six year term, something so they are not in there and running for reelection. And im very sad to see the partisanship that has developed in america today, where you know, and in is both sides. You know, i think jobs are most important thing we can do for this country. And i think were not talking together. Were not building enough bridges. You know, people who are liberal, only listen to liberal media. People are conservative are only doing that. Rose they only listen things that reinforce their own views. Right. And were not, and especially in this age of technology where there is less interpersonal relationships, which i think is sad, it is going to make it harder. And i hope, i hope we can do something that start its to encourage bridge building and respecting and listening to the other point of view. And being empathetic more. I think were all on our tweeting, texting, emailing and just doing quickies and not, you know, but thats the opportunity to compete for those who think longer term and try to build relationships. I probably have interviewed more people, more leaders than anybody in the world, i would say. And the central question, the central lesson they have learned is a, people matter. But b relationships matter. Yeah. And unless you serve both them, then you lose sight and you lose your advantage. Yeah. Well, its all about relationships, whether its marriage, running a business, international affairs, think about how wars started, really, because people didnt know each other, didnt understand each other. And misunderstood what the other person was trying to do. And what they would do something in reaction to what they assume the other person was doing when that might not have been the other persons intent. Yeah. And see life, you can have treaties or you can do business deals. But life to me is things you cant put in contracts o or because stuff happens that we cant plan. And you need to pick up the phone or go look eyetoeye. And discuss it out and feel that the person in the other seat when confronted with the issue is going to do the right thing. Thats one of my keys to life. Hang with people that are going to do the right thing under pressure. And that if you are wise enough to do that, it will cause you less stress and you dont have to look back cleaning up messes. You can keep looking forward. Great to you have here. Great to be here. Thank you for giving me this opportunity. Bob kraft, the owner of the new england patriots. One of the people who instrumental in deciding the future of the nfl as they all gather here for the super bowl. Thank you for joining us. See you next time. Mi captioning sponsored by Rose Communications captioned by Media Access Group at wgbh access. Wgbh. Org