announcer: from our studios in new york city, this is "charlie rose." al: vernon jordan is an eminent investment banker and longer. -- lawyer. he was a pioneer in the momentous civil rights struggles in the 1960's and 1970's. he escorted charlene hunter through jeering mob to integrate the university of georgia in 1961, was then field director for the georgia naacp, was executive director of the united negro college fund, and from 1971-1981 was president of the national urban league. as america celebrates the 50th anniversary of the selma alabama march and bloody sunday, which led to the voting rights act, it's a pleasure to have vernon jordan here. and you for joining us. -- thank you for joining us. vernon: and you for having me. al: how important was selma to the civil rights struggle? vernon: selma was a crucial struggle. it was a moment where it took us that giant step, because selma led to the voter rights act of 1965. there is a historic notion that the voting rights act of 1965 was passed by the congress here in washington dc. the fact of the matter is, the voting rights act of 1965 was written on the road from selma to montgomery. and all washington did was to formalize our information the to -- informality to put the wherefores and the therefores, the periods and semi-colons. but the actual law was written by those marches from selma to montgomery. it is an affirmation of the notion that government is, by its very nature, a reacting entity, not an initiative entity. government when lyndon johnson was before the government was responding to the marches from selma to montgomery. but the law was written on that 40 mile route. al: that march took place two weeks after bloody sunday and was led by dr. martin luther king. today a lot of americans know dr. king was a great orator. they have hurt the speeches. -- heard the speeches. what kind of leader was he? vernon: well, he was strategic. he was courageous. he understood that we could not do it alone. he wanted blacks, whites, he wanted the entire community doing it, but he also knew that confrontation was necessary. and that is what selma was. al: who was e.d. nixon, and what is his significance? vernon: he was one of the unsung heroes of the civil rights movement. when rosa parks was arrested she did not call martin luther king. she called nixon, who was the president of the local branch of the naacp. that is who rosa parks called. and the lawyer that e.d. nixon called was clifford, a white lawyer, he was the first lawyer to see after rosa parks. and then after she sat down, got arrested, and the movement begin to go, it was e.d. nixon who understood that this circumstance was beyond his capabilities, and it was e.d. nixon who called the new pastor at dexter avenue church and said reverend king, this is e.d. net -- nixon, president of the local branch of the naacp, and we need a leader who is colleged. al: ed nixon was not colleged. >> he was not. he understood that the circumstance that they were confronting was beyond what he thought his capabilities were, and so he called martin. so martin said to him, brother nixon, i would have to think about what you are asking me to do. and nixon responded, you best have thought about it by 8:00, because the meeting is in dexter avenue church. the point being that e.d. nixon's power at the local level in montgomery was strong enough that he could convene a meeting at dexter avenue church without having to discuss it with the pastor, because his relationship was with the chairman of the deacon board. al: an essential venue to the movement really was the churches. wasn't it? vernon: everything in the black community, if you think about it, started in the church. morehouse college was founded in a baptist church in augusta, georgia. all of the traditionally black colleges have a relationship with the african-american episcopal church, baptist church, the episcopal church. so the church has been the grounding place for our community. it was the gathering place. it was the one place, even in slavery, that you felt free. and it was the one place, i learned a long time ago, where when you got to church, you were somebody. you may have been a yard man all week, but when you got to st. paul ame church, in my case, in atlanta, you were somebody. whether you are a chauffeur or doorman or whatever. so the church has always been the key to our success in the black community. al: vernon, you later became the head of the voter education project. you covered the whole south. were alabama and mississippi the worst, or was it the same everywhere? vernon: they were the worst, but that does not say that georgia and south carolina were good. they were all bad. and they were all resistant. nobody gave in. al: as we have this 50th anniversary of that historic march and historic day, one of the contexts in the movie selma, you and some of your associates and friends had bought copies of that movie and distributed it. vernon: i was recruited by bill lewis, my partner at lazard, the chairman of american express and a group of friends, decided that young people, high school kids, should see "selma." i agree. they called me and said, send a check. my daughter right here in washington called and said send your check, so i supported new york and washington. and every one of my nine grandchildren has either seen it or will see it, and we will discuss it, because it is a watershed moment in black history and the civil rights movement, and they ought to understand it. it's not a perfect movie. it's not the ultimate documentation of the challenges of the civil rights movement but the message primarily is -- in my judgment -- that there are many edmund pettus bridges yet to be crossed. so we ought to understand the first one. al: but you knew personally two of the central figures in that martin luther king and lyndon baines johnson. did it look like the king that you knew? vernon: the johnson that was per -- portrayed was not the johnson that i knew. al: but it was king? vernon: yes. out: --al: no movie is perfect. the only point about the johnson thing, it depicted him as a reluctant supporter of the voting rights act. vernon: i do not believe that. al: that he became a total convert. vernon: he understood what he was doing. he called richard russell and said we are going to past this bill. and democrats are going to lose the south as a result. look at the senate, the house, and johnson was right. but he did not back down. al: the other thing that has occurred in recent years, and we are talking about the 1965 voting rights act, it was captured brilliantly in the movie when the woman played by oprah winfrey went in to the judge or whoever was there and said read the preamble to the constitution. how many county judges are there in alabama? and then he said, name them. that is the kind of test they had to go through. but the voting rights act made a huge difference. today we look at legislatures texas, north carolina, where they are coming back. brennan: -- vernon: may i tell you a story? wilcox county, alabama. it's the first day in wilcox county that the voting rights act is being implemented. 2000 black people are in line at 7:00 in the morning. in that line is a 90-year-old black man, dressed in his sunday best. at about noon time he gets up to the registrar, and the registrar says, you are 90 years old. the old man said yes. well, if you are 90 years old, what took you so long to get here? and the old man said, what took me so long to get here is my he, -- my philosophy, all my life to never get in the way of trouble coming. and the registrar said, if that is your philosophy, why are you here today? and the old man said, i'm here today because trouble ain't a-coming like it used to be. you know what trouble coming meant to him. you could get shot, you could lose your job. many other things could happen to you. but trouble was not coming because of the voter rights act. now the problem is today, if you look at the alabama case and what the supreme court did to the voting provision, the trouble is coming again, like it used to did. voter identification laws in the north and in the south. al: do you think there is a racial motive in some of that? vernon: absolutely. and some of these republicans have actually said that. in michigan -- not michigan, but pennsylvania, and in florida. they have admitted it. al: and in these momentous days of march, 50 years ago, when you're reflecting at home or wherever you are these days, what do you think about? your mind must go back. vernon: i am thinking that that was terrific. and then i listen to what they are doing now in voter registration and citizenship education, and i see what is happening in staten island, in ferguson, missouri, and i'm saying, trouble is coming like it used to did, and we have come a long way, but there is still a journey to go. al: one of the reasons we've come a long ways because of people like vernon jordan. thank you for being with us. we will be back in just a moment. ♪ >> felicity huffman is here. you know her from her image -- any award-winning role in "desperate housewives." and her oscar-winning performance in "transamerica." her latest project takes her back to tv, and those of us who watch it are very happy about that. she plays a woman seeking justice after the murder of her son. it is called a transcendent exploration of race, and gender , class, and addiction. in my only imitation of charlie rose today, i will say i'm , pleased to have felicity huffman at this table. welcome. i'm so glad to talk to you. felicity: i'm so happy to be here. gayle: i intended to watch maybe half of one episode to get a sense of it. before i knew it, i had watched all four of them that were sent to me. i was blown away. i'm just such a tv junkie, but i was so excited about what i saw on the screen. i've never seen anything like it. john ridley wrote it. it is so far from your character on "desperate housewives." were you attracted to this rule because it was so different from her? felicity: i was so excited about what i saw on the screen. i had never seen anything like -- felicity: i had to think is this like lynette? i wanted to make sure the legacy of lynette didn't get in the way of john ridley's storytelling. you don't want to say, there is lynette as a police officer. and there she is as a nurse. gayle: i totally forgot all about lynette, and i followed "desperate housewives" from beginning to end. number one, she is a mom who is seeking justice for her son. so i felt her pain. her son is murdered. there is a part of her that is so unlikable. i was tussling back-and-forth with that. talk about the character. felicity: the way i had to get into the character, as an actor you always want to find something you can endorse. you have to fall in love with her character. gayle: do you have to fall in love with the character before you can play it? felicity: for me, i do. otherwise you have a distance between -- you cannot judge her character. you have to be your character. she is a mother and she is seeking justice for her son. that is a noble motivation. the way it manifests in the world is offputting. but i wanted to make sure that you at least understood her, so maybe you could have empathy for her, so you could see her as a full human being. this is why people are uncomfortable with her, because she is harsh. like i said you can have , understanding for her, but you might not want to have dinner with her. anytime you can put a person in a box, you can label them. you are a republican, a lesbian, a racist. you are whatever. it stops us from seeing them as a human being. it is a relief, because you are "other." john really has made sure that none of these characters you can put in a box. you have to experience them as human beings, and that might bring up some discomfort. in your case, you don't know if you like her, you struggle. gayle: this is the thing, race makes people uncomfortable. that's why a this is so great, because it tackles race from many different layers. here is part, --barb her son is murdered, and she portrays him as a perfect, all american married to the perfect all-american wife. we later learn there are some chinks in that marriage. that become a shock to everybody as it plays out. and then the suspect is a hispanic male. barb's first line out of her mouth is, "is he illegal?" and her ex-husband says, stop it. that was the first time that you thought she instantly went , there. felicity: and she says "those people" a lot. there are a lot of things that john and the writers wrote, that i went really ? first i had to find out if those people actually existed, and indeed, they do. she does say that, but if you ask barb, are you a racist? she would say no, i am a realist, and i am a pragmatist. that is what possibly the new face of racial prejudice is. it's not so overt anymore that you go, those people are below par, those people are stupid. for these people are better. it is subtle. it is people going, well, what percentage of illegals do crimes like this in modesto? i am a realist. gayle: i am a patriot, she says at one point. she also makes the point, she says this is a hate crime. which i also thought was an interesting twist. why isn't someone looking at this for my son, this is a hate crime. that was a different tactic that i thought was interesting. felicity: it was a different tactic, and to tell you the truth, i think she might have a point. in the same way that in the pilot, there's a twist at the end, of suddenly my son, who is murdered, who i hold up as a military hero and a patriot, suddenly they go, he might have been not so good. so everyone goes over, well, he was a bad guy and that's why he got murdered. that's bigotry in and of itself. because he might have been a bad guy, it's ok that he got murdered? gayle: there is going to be a beginning, middle, and end on this particular storyline. felicity: there are 11 episodes. it is an anthology, a closed story. so you won't see it again. but i'm glad you felt like you had to watch all of them. i felt that way as well. gayle: at the end of the anthology, will it continue in another form, or is this it for you in this particular "american crime"? felicity: god willing, if it does well, and abc went out on a limb for this. network television has never done anything like this. and abc did not get its toes wet, it went full -- skinny-dipping in the pond. if it does well, i think they will ask john to do another year, but a totally different story with different characters, and maybe some of the same actors. gayle: talk about working with him. we know john ridley from "12 years of slave," and he also wrote for "the fresh prince of bel air." he has done a lot of very important writing. what was it like working with him and executing his vision? what did he say he wanted to happen on the screen? felicity: he has a very clear vision. when i kept coming to him and saying, is barb a racist? is she a bigot? how come she says these things? he would never answer these things. she is there to get justice for her son. her son was just killed. she said the wrong thing, ok let's keep moving forward. it was his voice, his vision. at the same time, he was very collaborative. he was willing to listen. he was willing to say, how do you want to do it? i have strong feelings about how barb would look, and he was fine with that. gayle: i thought she was very -- is "mousy" the word? is that the word? felicity: i think she has been so eat up by life, she is very protected. internally, she is parched. emotionally. i felt like, everywhere she came in she just wanted to come in , under the radar. she doesn't want you to notice her hands, her hair. just kind of under the radar, so she can come in and get her job done. and he was fine with that. gayle: let me just say, you look very glamorous tonight. barb looks nothing like that on the show. can i take you back to "desperate housewives." how does it sit with you after a little distance from the show? is it a fun place for you? felicity: i loved it. i loved every season of it. i felt really grateful for that job. every week i felt like, here is a scene that challenges me. every week i would go, wow, i really blew that scene, but maybe i can do it better next week. i loved the feeling of community. you go to the same job and you see the same people and you have a family. i love being at home and working. it was just a godsend. we were paid really well. it just doesn't get any better than that. i could have had nicer clothes but that was it. gayle: but she was always the sane one. she was very stable, but she had kind of a crazy side that would manifest itself from time to time. when i look back on that -- i saw you on "frasier" back in the day, and then " transamerica" back in 2005, when you were nominated for an oscar. you took that on before that was something people were even talking about. felicity: i have to give kudos to duncan, who wrote the script. i certainly got the script and went, who are these people? as i started working on the script in getting coached by these wonderful women who were transgendered, they were my heroes. he was sort of before the waves. i remember going to "desperate housewives" and saying, we need a transgendered character. it is wonderful, i think we should. i knew wonderful actresses. but it just was not on their radar. gayle: " desperate housewives," came on in 2004 and then the movie was 2005. nobody was talking about that. back then, it would have seemed very on and strange. now i think people are at least open to hearing about it and wanting to know, what is it exactly? felicity: it is wonderful. the less things that divide us the better. gayle: i'm curious about william h macy. are you familiar with his work? [laughter] he is her husband. what does the h stand for? felicity: hall. gayle: we saw you at one of the awards shows. you were described as the adorable couple. they clearly care about each other, they are still hot for each other. i thought, what a nice thing to say, after so many years of marriage. you got married in 1997. i thought that was a good thing. when he said, flicka, i'm looking forward to going home and sleeping with you. felicity: no, he said -- my sister called and said, that was really inappropriate. he said, i love going to bed with you as well. gayle: i thought it was a nice thing. who called you to say it was inappropriate? felicity: a couple of my sisters were like, what was that about? gayle: then you tweeted later, "looking forward to sleeping with you, to, william h macy." i thought that was just great. felicity: i have to say i love getting into bed at night and there he is. i get to sleep with him all night and then wake up with him. i know you need an insulin shot after i say that, and i apologize. gayle: i think people need to see more of that. i sit here as a divorced person and think, i like how they do that. but you did not accept his first or second proposal. why? felicity: if you apply the statistics of marriage to any other institution, when something like 60% of first marriages fail, you would say, we have to revamp the postal system. but marriage everyone goes, good luck. i also feel like women often disappear in marriage. i didn't want to disappear. so that's why i said no. gayle: but he was persistent. five years later he came back, and you said yes. even though i'm divorced, i still believe in the institution of marriage. i know that good marriages exist. i know that it is possible. whenever i hear one that is very special i think it is so good to , talk about it when there is one that is special. felicity: why do you believe in the institution of marriage? gayle: because i think the family unit matters. i hear a lot of people saying that it doesn't matter or it is outdated. i think that fame and fortune even if you don't have fame and fortune, there's going to come a point, where you are a trivia question. and i'm not talking about you specifically, what about that guy -- or the worst question of all, are they still alive? if you do it right, you will never be a trivia question. with your family. i think the root always starts with your family. whatever your family looks like, i just think having a strong family foundation is a very important. felicity: do you have to be married? gayle: i don't feel like you have to be married, but that is my preference. felicity because you are legally : required to be there after you get married. gayle: yes. as i have gotten older, i have relaxed a little bit on that. now i just think you have to be in a loving, kind, responsible relationship. that's why when i hear what you and will you make macy do and how you operate, i just think it is a beautiful thing. felicity: i don't want to hold up our relationship as -- i mean the best thing i ever did was , married bill macy. it's not like we have an answer on how to be married. gayle: do you all have a rule about, you don't talk about work in the bedroom? felicity: we grew up in the theater together. we are part of the atlantic theater company here on 20th street. when you're doing a play, and before you have kids, it is all encompassing. it's all you think about. bill would direct me or we would act in a play together. we decided once we get into bed, you cannot talk about acting. there has to be a place where you are not talking about acting. we would have to get up and talk about it. now that we are so old, we actually talk about it. gayle: the atlantic theater company is celebrating 30 years. what does it mean to you? felicity: it is in our bones. we have the same core people that started it. of course it has broadened and we have a huge group of actors and playwrights and designers and stage managers. it is a place where -- it's like a clubhouse with really cool people that do great work. it supports the bravest, most dedicated artists. gayle: do you preferred the theater to film and movies? felicity: i used to think it was the theater, and then i did a play right after the show. i thought, friends don't let friends do theater. i got so used to people judging me from the comfort of their very own couch. in the theater they are right here. gayle: you can feel everything. you can feel them. felicity: right now i'm doing a play in l.a. that goes up in april. so we will see. gayle: you have called this the golden age of television. what do you mean? felicity: a bunch of years ago when independent movies first hit, it was this an answer of -- bonanza of people could get their stories told in they could get wonderful actors. it would go and see them. there were all these venues and film festivals. although all of that still exists now there is a glut on , the market and it is hard to get your indie movie made an even harder to get people to see it, because there is so much out there. television used to play second fiddle, but it doesn't anymore. gayle: you feel that it is no longer this second cousin? felicity: i don't. gayle: i see really great things on television. felicity: people don't go just one place to watch. they go where the content is. whether it's netflix or amazon or hbo or abc. and i think that is why abc is courageous enough to go, we are going to do something new we have never done before, because people are hungry for holiday on -- quality on tv. they are ready for things that push the envelope. gayle: thank you, felicity. ♪ charlie: tony robbins is here. the new york times has called in the high priest of human potential. he has helped people develop strategies to enhance the personal and professional eyes -- lives for more than 30 years. he has advised everyone am serena williams to bill clinton. his new book text on a new subject money. , and to have tony robbins back at this table. welcome. why did you choose to do money? tony: my wife and i have been -- my whole life, i have been obsessed with finding answers to increase the quality of people's lives as quickly as possible. there is your relationship, your career, your body and energy and there is money. i worked on it for many years but when 2008 happened and people were losing their homes right and left. i had a unique privilege. my privilege was that i worked for 21 years coaching in one of the top 10 financial traders in the world. he has not lost money in 21 straight years. i've been there every day. i had access. i thought, i want to be a solution. he writes to me what has happened. every three months i see him in person for a session. after 21 years of that, i have gotten exposed to a lot. i watched him make money in 2008 when the markets were down. i thought if i could take everything of learned from him and interview 50 of the smartest financial minds in the world and simplify their system where i could teach a millennial coming out of college or a baby boomer how they could still retire, so it took four years and i'm really pleased. i'm really grateful. charlie: who did you talk to? and what did you learn from them? 10: i've talked to the best of the best. a large hedge fund might be $50 billion. he had a $5 billion network 10 years ago. i asked him and others, carl icahn, i asked each of them. the average interview was three hours. if you could not give any of your money to your family are kids, what would be your strategy? what would be the portfolio, what would be the approach you would use? the result is the fundamental steps that anyone can take. charlie: go through the seven steps. tony: the first is getting into the game. most people are looking for some day when they had this big hit and they never tap the power of compounding that we all know about. if you look at people that won the lottery or athletes who made a fortune so many of them end up broke later in life. if you look at a driver for ups, his name is theodore johnson he , literally started, never made more than $14,000 a year, but by the time he retired he had $70 million. he did not inherent that. he gave away $35 million while he was alive. how did he do that? you got to invest, you got to do the first step, you've got to become an owner instead of a consumer. he said, i have no money. his friend said to him, if the government tax to another 20%, you would scream and yell and have to pay it. i will make you a wealthy man. he took 20% of his $14,000, put it in an investment count, didn't touch it, and by retirement it compounded at $70 million. that is the first step. you have to understand how to become an insider. that is the second step. most people don't understand that what you don't know will hurt you. as a quick example, insiders know you're not going to beat the market. there are a few unicorns like warren buffett, but the average person can't. 96% of all mutual funds do not match the market over 10 years. they fail. only 4% make it. if we went to go play blackjack in vegas, you get to face cards. year in your idiot says hit me. you have an 80% chance of getting an ace. people don't understand the power of these --fees. this has become a soliloquy, but it's so important. do you know what you pay in fees on your investments, your financial funds? the majority of folks will not be able to tell you. the difference between 1% and 3% is something that president obama is trying to do something about it. if you had 1% versus 3%, you put aside when compounded hundred thousand dollars, over 30 years at 7%, it's almost $600,000. the person with 3% fees will have 300,000 more. -- $324,000. you have to become an insider. if i go onto the seven steps this will go on all day. charlie: i do want to go through it because i think it is important, and people are interested. what is next? tony: you have to make the game winnable. most people don't start because it is overwhelming. maybe read the paper and think you have to have 10 times your income for financial freedom. where are you going to get a 10% return in the world you are in today? so people are misled. or they will say, i will never get there. i tell people, think of it this way. what if you could have these five things covered for the rest of your life without working. your home is covered, utilities, all the food for your family all transportation. basic insurance. if you still work for other things, but those five things are paid for, that would be incredible. financial freedom is not not working. it's not having to work. statistics show that if you retire at 55, you have an 89% greater chance of dying in the first 10 years after retirement then if you retired at 65. most successful people i know are never going to retire. they want to not have to work, but then they work because they love it. charlie: number four. tony: you have to put yourself in a position where you make the most important investment decision of your life. that is not buying apple stock or a piece of real estate. everyone will be wrong at times. what all the top investors agree on is asset allocation is everything. i asked david swenson, chief investment officer at yale. yield took 300 years to get to a billion dollars in their endowment. he raised that to $24 billion in 24 years. he said there's only three buttons or dials, security selection, what you pick timing, and asset allocation. you are always going to be wrong at times. asset allocation is how you protect yourself. that really means, some of the money has to be at a lower level of risk and less return, but it is protected. they all gave me their formulas for doing that. that is what i have in the book. none of this was my ideas. sixth --5th is you have to create an income for life. if you ask most people, what are they investing for? they cannot tell you. but it is income. the only thing that can change quality-of-life long-term is income. assets can drop in a short time. so you need income. six is invest like the .001%. i put 12 of the interviews in the book to show you the different ways people invest and what they have in common. finally, it's just do it, enjoy it, and share it. showing people that money will not make you happier, but how you spend it will. ironically if you spend it on , things, you don't get a lot of joy. experiences last. that is where you are able to make an investment. when it touches you the most, it is giving to other people. those you love, and even people you don't know. that's one of the reasons i wrote the book. i saw congress passing a budget that cut food stamps by billions of dollars. my family was going to have thanksgiving as nothing. they give us food, but what they really gave me was strangers care. when i was 17, i had to families. when i was writing the book i thought, what if i could feed as many people as i have done in my whole life? i reached out to feeding america and said if i give you all the profits of this book, how many could you feed? at least 10 million. and i added to that. i'm feeding 50 million people this year personally. charlie: how does it feed them? tony feeding america delivers : food. directly. over the course of a year and a half. charlie: so you feed these people in terms of everything they will eat over a year. tony: 49 million people a day go to bed hungry. i was one of those families, saw one to get back on a large scale. i'm also doing matching funds. right now we are at 71 million people this year. my target is to feed 100 million people. charlie: how has your life changed in the last 10 years? tony: you interviewed me when i was 40, and i just turned 55 a few days ago. i was thinking about how incredible -- the privilege of being able to reach more leaders in 100 countries around the world. it has increased in scope. in the depth of my relationships which is what i value most, has , increased geometrically as well. i love love. i'm driven to see people light up, take control of their lives. i hate to see suffering. and then just the friendships and family that i have are everything. charlie: there was a fortune magazine issue, how tony robbins went from infomercial pitch man to c-suite coach. meaning ceo. how do you explain that? what happened? how did you get to become the person that a lot of very powerful people with great talent turn to to help them understand how to maximize their life? tony: if you do anything every day with total passion and your focus is to do more for others than anyone else is possibly doing and hold yourself to that standard, you're going to get insights and strategies. when i get the phone call and serena williams is burning down and i can turn her around literally in one session. when the president of the united states calls and says i will bnp just in the morning, and i say, would you call me sooner. i don't share those conversations. the point of the matter is, when you're able to talk to folks of that caliber, the word spreads. i am a driven hungry guy who is , always looking to find better answers. i'm never satisfied. i usually have cutting-edge tools. charlie: is it primarily about a specific issue at their life at that time, such as impeachment? or playing in a tournament and i can bring it together something , that's driving me crazy? or is it a larger sense of a life plan and a sense of a life with purpose? tony: some people have outrun their vision. they have achieved everything they ever dreamed of times 10, and they are depressed. because we all need something to move towards. we all need a compelling future. without that, we drop off. that's why it doesn't matter how much money you make, how many people love us, how many oscars you have. if you don't have a current -- compelling future to go for i , always tell people, happiness comes with one word, progress. if you are not making progress you are not happy. i usually get a phone call because people are hungry, because that is who they are. they are looking for the answers. or they have had an event and they are not performing. they are not producing the result they want. they have had a significant challenge in their sports or their business or their life and they need to change it right now. i get the call because i can produce that result right now. charlie: is there only one tony robbins in the world? in other else, who else -- in other words, who else is in the world that you are in? tony: there are tons of people who coach people. i didn't because i was not a motivator or arabist. i look at it as being a business or life strategist. coaching -- i was on larry king 20 years ago. i was about to give up coaching. larry was, you are not a coach you are not a sports coach. it became a term of art. what i did is based on results. today, you can go anywhere and go to class and they will give you a certificate and you can go out and coach people. if you can market yourself. i look at how you produce results. there are many people who do it but what is diverse about what i do i can take the athlete or politician and turn them around. i can take the athlete multibillionaire, or the at-home mom and turn them around. charlie: are there essential principles that you know that apply to these situations? tony: yes, there are. first is why we do what we do even when people do things that , we think are crazy, like trying to commit suicide. charlie: whenever people do extreme things. tony i always tell people, the : biggest problem in life is not drugs, alcohol, cocaine. it is the need for problems. human beings have these needs. we need to feel uncertain, we need to feel variety. we need to feel significant, unique, and special. we need to feel connected and loved we need to feel like we contribute. of those six needs though, everybody specializes in a couple. if your top need is certainty and people change the game, you get really stressed out. if your number one thing is significance, you are always measuring whether or not you are number one. if you are love-driven, you will be connecting all the time. i try to find out what is the most driving force, and what is keeping them from fulfilling that. it may be something in their family or environment. charlie: can you help them redefine what ought to be there driving force? tony: i can bring it to their awareness so they can make that change. if you have two people who are significance driven -- take a look. the firemen who went into 9/11 who were willing to give their lives, probably knew they were going to give their lives. that is a pretty heady experience. what makes a human being do that? love, significance. to feel like i died a worthy death, i lived a life that saved other people. the people that flew the planes into the buildings also were driven by significance. if i do this, i go to heaven and i am a martyr and my family is honored. people have the same needs. underneath what are the rules , for meeting those needs? you can be significant by being a nice person. you can be significant by being the most intense, mean individual humanly possible. people find different ways to meet their needs. i help them figure out what those are and how to close the gap to where they want to be what they want to be. charlie: what kind of things would make you say, i want to change or do better -- not just improving on your talent, not just being able to score more if you are an athlete, even though victories are the point. what would it be? tony: i went from dirt poor, not knowing what to do, not being a businessman, to running literally some billion-dollar businesses. charlie: but that is not my point. i got that, we have talked about that many times. i'm talking about today. tony: what i'm saying is, in those situations, i have people that i want to learn from. continuously. charlie: so you tapped into their success? tony: marc benioff has built a company to 16 billion. peter guber bought the dodgers. amazing brilliant people. but 15 years ago, when i was trying to decide, do i go through divorce, do i really want to initiate this? i went to people to say, how do i do this? charlie: do you find most people at high success level one to have these conversations? it's the kind of stuff that people like to talk about, the idea of, how do you maximize your life potential? the idea of, how do i find the perfect balance in my life? how do i fulfill a life? david brooks is writing about meaning. are these subjects that people are at ease talking about rather than looking at balance sheets and understanding competitive advantage in the world. tony: they are more comfortable with the competitive advantage. the people i'm dealing with clients, friends of mine, have been my clients and friends for decades. i learn constantly. when you have somebody that is 15 or 20 years ahead of you, they have that cycle of living and going through what aging does for you. you look at life with different perspectives and different levels of impact. the people i'm dealing with at this stage of life are very much interested in what is most valuable. they have entered that stage in their 70's and 80's where they have looked back to see what life was about for them. those are the people i like to spend time with, because they go deep. i'm not a surface guy. charlie: it's great to have you here. the book is called "money master the game, seven steps to financial freedom or co---." secrets from the world's greatest financial minds. they have shown by success and by the quality of their lives that they represent that. thank you, tony. tony: thanks for having me. ♪ cory: live from pier three in san francisco, welcome to "bloomberg west." where we cover innovation, technology, and the teacher of business. i'm cory johnson. hillary clinton says it was a mistake not to use government e-mail during her time as secretary of state, but she said it was legal. hillary clinton: the laws in regulations, in effect when i was secretary of state allowed me to use my e-mail for work. that is undisputed. cory: clinton met the media for the first time on the subjects