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Tuesday, November 30, 2010

W on Facebook: Leadership, China and Wikileaks

For anyone who missed the Facebook live interview with George W. Bush, here is the video. Bush was in rare form in the interview and shared a few of his thoughts with Facebook creator and CEO Mark Zuckerberg. Bush made frequent jokes about being there to sell his book,  reminding Zuckerberg and another questioner to get back to selling the book. At one point when discussing Condi Rice Bush quips, "If you're listening Condi, why aren't you in the audience? Have you bought the book?"

 Bush referred to Facebook's success throughout. At one point he compliments Zuckerberg for giving back to the country through his education initiatives. He often drew comparisons between he and Zuckerberg when discussing criticism and leadership. At one point Bush is asked how do you stay the course, he responds, "By not whining. By setting an example..." He then goes into a rather long and interesting discussion on managing and leadership. If you can't watch the whole interview the 10 minutes after the 20 minute mark are interesting.

Bush shares his thoughts on working with Bono and relates a story of Jacques Chiraq lecturing Bush on unilateralism. Bush let Chiraq have it which evidently impressed Bono. From there the discussion moves to China. Bush relates an anecdote where he asks Hu Jintau what keeps him up at night, Jintau answers "creating 25 million new jobs a year. Bush thought this was very reflective of China and the Chinese people. Again this is a really interesting segment that comes after the 40 minute mark.

Lastly Bush discusses Wikileaks, quite reluctantly. He was very emphatic when he ultimately declares these leaks dangerous and says that the leakers must be prosecuted. He related this to a similar episode he shares in the book. He goes on to say that there may be difficulty establishing trust when working with foreign leaders as a result of the leaks. The balance of the interview is fairly light hearted but in my estimation this was Bush at his absolute best. This is worth a watch if you have the time:



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