Mitt Romney on Leadership: Know Your Values
Stanford Graduate School of Business2015-04-24
mitt romney#leadership#values#work-life balance#election#business and society#business and government#career goals#career vision#leadership development#goals#view from the top#Campaigning#Poverty#Happiness
284K views|9 years ago
💫 Short Summary
The video features Mitt Romney discussing his journey balancing work and family, finding fulfillment in consulting and public service, and prioritizing relationships in business. Romney reflects on leadership values and lessons learned from his father, emphasizing the importance of diverse experiences and empowering individuals. He shares insights on running for political office, addressing income inequality, and advocating for conservative principles to lift people out of poverty. Romney expresses concerns about economic policies, the need for a clear political strategy, and the challenges of running for President. He underscores the value of belief in God, family relationships, and community service for a fulfilling life.
✨ Highlights
📊 Transcript
✦
Balancing Work and Personal Life
00:59The guest hosted a party for boy scouts while managing responsibilities at Bain Capital, a Senate campaign, and community involvement.
The guest achieved a balance between career, family, and community commitments.
The guest admits to periods of self-doubt but found balance by prioritizing different aspects of his life.
✦
Importance of Work-Life Balance in Career Success.
03:36Feeling pressured to constantly study and work led to a feeling of a black cloud hanging over the speaker.
Taking Sundays off to focus on family and personal time lifted the burden of constant studying.
Prioritizing family time and setting boundaries with work influenced the speaker's career choices.
Despite potential pushback, taking time off for himself made the speaker more productive and ultimately led to career success and promotions.
✦
Importance of faith and community in personal fulfillment.
06:59Success is not just about career promotions and money, but also about relationships with loved ones.
Speaker's personal journey from pursuing a career in an automobile company to finding fulfillment in management consulting.
Emphasis on following enjoyable paths in life rather than traditional measures of success.
✦
The speaker emphasizes the importance of following a career path based on enjoyment rather than income or advancement.
10:05The speaker's sense of obligation and upbringing influenced their decisions to enter troubled environments and make risky bets.
The speaker accepted a challenging role at Bain Consulting, leveraging their financial and leadership skills to turn the struggling firm around.
The speaker's diverse experiences, including involvement in the Olympics, were driven by a desire to contribute and make a positive impact.
✦
Motivations for public service and political career.
13:57Desire to prevent tarnishing his community and showcase positive qualities of human spirit.
Low approval rating of Republican Governor prompted him to run for governor and later for President.
Sense of obligation and love for country as driving forces for entering politics.
Influence of father's humble and uncompetitive life shaping values and aspirations.
✦
Mitt Romney reflects on his upbringing and leadership values.
17:20Romney emphasizes the importance of having a clear vision and knowing one's values for effective leadership.
He shares a story about different types of leadership and how his experiences shaped his approach.
Romney discusses how his values and vision helped him succeed in consulting, private equity, Olympics, and state government roles.
✦
Importance of Relationships in Business
21:53Valuing respect and mutual understanding over profit and promotion.
Management style focused on extensive participation and open debate.
Value of diverse perspectives in decision-making.
Shifting leadership approach from fixing weaknesses to leveraging strengths in individuals.
✦
Importance of recognizing weaknesses and leveraging diverse talents within a team.
22:44Emphasizing the value of complementary strengths and individual skills in a team setting.
Distinction between candidate and campaign managers in managing a presidential campaign.
Role of the candidate in connecting with voters and reflecting on past experiences working on political campaigns.
Speaker's position in the campaign hierarchy as a chairman, involved in key strategic decisions and delegating operational responsibilities.
✦
Challenges of winning the nomination and targeting minority voters.
25:45Emphasis on the difficulty and mistakes made during the nomination process.
Acknowledgment of overlooking the importance of targeting minority voters in primaries and caucuses.
Admission of focusing on independent voters over minorities as a critical error.
Missed opportunities to engage with minority communities through media and outreach efforts.
✦
Importance of Real-World Experience in Politics
28:39The speaker's father advised him to find a career before entering politics.
The speaker initially did not plan to go into politics but eventually did after starting his own business.
Financial independence is not necessary for running for office, but real-world experience is crucial.
The speaker advocates for individuals to gain experience in various fields before considering a political career, in line with the founders' intentions.
✦
Discussion on income inequality, private equity, and poverty in America.
32:00Emphasis on the need to help middle and lower classes achieve higher incomes and prosperity.
Advocacy for conservative and Republican principles as a solution to alleviate poverty and create opportunities for future generations.
Assertion that the rich will prosper regardless of political party, with a focus on the impact of politics on middle and lower-class individuals.
✦
Importance of Business Success for National Prosperity and Job Creation.
34:43Success in business leads to increased profits, more investments, growth, and job creation.
Rising wages are a result of high demand for labor.
The speaker expresses support for successful businesspeople and their contribution to the country's success.
The speaker discusses his motivation to work for individuals who will create more jobs, raise incomes, improve schools, foster innovation, and enhance foreign policy.
✦
Concerns about potential tech stock bubble and economic downturn.
38:32Current economic tools may not be sufficient to prevent stock market collapse and recession.
Positive factors like low energy costs are noted, but worries about adopting European policies of higher corporate taxes and regulations.
Concerns raised about schools prioritizing unions over students, leading to generational poverty and decline in innovation leadership.
✦
Importance of Strategy in Politics.
40:36The speaker compares the strategic approaches of Russia, China, and Jihadists to the lack of strategy in America.
Concern over America's direction is expressed and likened to Europe in various aspects.
Emphasis is placed on the need for a defined strategy in politics and criticism of the focus on attacks rather than authenticity in campaigns.
Highlighting the challenge of being defined by opposition and the necessity to respond strategically to attacks.
✦
Mitt Romney discusses the challenges of running for President and the importance of being well-defined in the public's mind.
44:20Romney talks about the difficulty of accurately portraying oneself and the role of opposition in shaping perceptions.
He emphasizes the positive aspects of the campaign experience, expressing passion for the country and optimism.
Romney encourages others to run for president but acknowledges the need for more visibility to elect suitable candidates.
A question is raised about his views on public assistance programs, prompting Romney to differentiate between situational and generational poverty.
✦
Challenges in social help programs for people in poverty.
47:23Criticism of programs from the War on Poverty for creating barriers to escaping poverty due to high marginal tax rates.
Emphasis on the importance of incentives for employment, safe schools, effective teachers, and government programs supporting marriage to combat generational poverty.
Frustration with the lack of effort in Washington to address these issues.
✦
Importance of Belief in God and Relationships with Family and Community.
51:39Speaker expresses love for their wife and children, finding joy in spending time with them.
Service to others and caring for those around are essential for a fulfilling life.
The currency of life is love and care received from others, emphasizing the significance of close relationships in shaping happiness.
Close relationships and friendships play a crucial role in overall well-being.
✦
Importance of engaging with people through campaigns, speeches, and charity work.
53:24Highlighting the rewards that come from connecting with others in friendship and love.
Gratitude towards the audience and well-wishes for their success and luck.
Ending the segment on a positive note.
00:00[MUSIC]
00:04[APPLAUSE]
00:08Thank you.
00:13Thank you.
Quite an introduction!
00:15Quite a class!
00:16Wow!
00:17It's great!
00:18>> Governor, welcome to the GSB.
00:20>> Thank you.
00:22>> Welcome to The View From the Top.
00:23We're excited to have you here because
you've managed to be at the top of,
00:26I think at last count, at least four
organizations.
00:29And so we wanna talk about your
professional success and,
00:32and management skills.
00:34But one thing the Dean mentioned, which I
think is particularly important is your
00:37committment to personal success, your
family, your community, your faith.
00:43And I want to start by an anecdote, which
is actually the first time we met.
00:48And I haven't told you this story,
00:49though you know I grew up in your hometown
for some time.
00:52And that's 21 years ago,
00:54you invited a bunch of boy scouts over to
your house when I was 9 years old.
00:59To have a-
>> Oh.
01:00>> Yeah.
01:01[LAUGH] No it's good.
01:03>> They're still cleaning up that mess.
01:04>> Yeah.
01:05[LAUGH] Yeah.
01:07So you, you invited a bunch of us over to
your house.
01:10I think it was about 30 boys and we were
there on a Saturday or
01:13Sunday and you spent the day with us all
day, grilling burgers.
01:17It was a pool party.
01:18And I'm struck by two things as I remember
that story.
01:21One is that there aren't very many parties
I remember from being nine years old.
01:25So you clearly know how to throw a very
good party.
01:28>> [LAUGH]
>> Serving beer to kids is always
01:30a [INAUDIBLE]
>> Yeah, right.
01:31>> [LAUGH]
>> Right.
01:35So thank you for that.
01:37[LAUGH] The second is that, you know, on
reflecting on the story,
01:41I realized that this was roughly around
the time you were running Bain Capital and
01:45about to embark on the Senate campaign,
and that really struck me.
01:49Where the press is filled with stories
when you were leading major organizations
01:54but still found time for these kind of
examples.
01:56And the word having it all gets thrown
around a lot but
02:00you have sort of managed to have it all.
02:02You have a great career, you have a great
family,
02:05you're committed to your community.
02:07I wanna know how you've managed to strike
that balance and have it all.
02:11>> I don't know that I've spent a lot of
time analyzing
02:16how you balance your life, at one point I
remember feeling that I
02:21wasn't dong as much as I should be doing
in my home with my kids.
02:26Also feeling I wasn't doing as much as I
should be doing at work, and
02:29also feeling I wasn't doing as much as I,
I should at church in my assignment there,
02:33and then realizing that not things were
pretty well in balance [LAUGH] and and,
02:38and there may be.
02:39It's humorous, perhaps, but there's some
truth to that.
02:41Which is if you're spending all of your
time in, in one aspect of your life and
02:45not devoting it to other things that are
important to you,
02:50then obviously things are out of whack.
02:51I, a couple of things I backed into.
02:54You're in the joint program.
02:55Business law program.
02:57I, I came from Brigham Young University to
Harvard.
02:59And was convinced I would flunk out.
03:02And cuz I looked around and
03:03I saw all these people who were obviously
smarter than me and and how was I possibly
03:08gonna make it in this environment except
by just studying like crazy.
03:11And so, I studied all the time.
03:13And if I was not studying, I felt like
there's this black cloud hanging over me.
03:18I should be studying.
03:19I've gotta be working because I'm gonna,
I'm gonna flunk out.
03:22And, and it was, it was omnipresent and at
some point I finally said you know what,
03:26I'm, I'm gonna do something which, which
goes back to biblical times,
03:30I'm gonna take Sunday off.
03:32I'm gonna decide I'm not gonna study at
all on Sunday, and
03:36I'm gonna devote that day to my family, to
worship and just personal time.
03:42And it was amazing what happened when I
made that decision because then,
03:46on that Sunday, I didn't feel the black
cloud there anymore.
03:50It's like, okay I, I, I can't study today,
I don't have to worry about it.
03:54And, and the same thing happened as, as I
went into my career,
03:57in the consulting industry.
04:00I said, you know what?
04:00I, I'm not just gonna work when I come at
the end of the day.
04:04It may be a late night.
04:05It may be I get home at 6:00 or 7:00
instead.
04:06But when I come home I'm gonna close my
brief, briefcase and not work.
04:11And I'm gonna devote the time I have at
home to my family.
04:15And it was wonderful.
04:16It was just, it was, it was freeing
because I could really focus on
04:21the things that I cared most about in life
which, which were my wife and my kids.
04:25And now of course if there was a big
presentation coming up why I'd, you know,
04:29I'd break that rule.
04:30But, in terms of a, a regular pattern of
life those were a couple of things I did.
04:36Sundays stayed, for me, a day of family.
04:39Coming home at the end of the day stayed a
family time.
04:41I traveled a good deal.
04:42Of course, if I was, was on the road I
worked like crazy late into the night.
04:47But a few of those decisions early on
shaped how I spent my time and probably
04:52helped me balance my life to, towards
those things that mattered most to me.
04:57>> So how did you get away with that?
04:59>> [LAUGH]
>> I mean, there's a lot of people,
05:01I mean, all of us come from these, you
know, careers or are going into these
05:06careers where, if you say, I'm gonna go
home at 6 o'clock, I'm sorry.
05:10That, you know, that's not always met with
a lot of positive reception.
05:13>> Yeah, no.
I, I, and I may have misspoken there.
05:16Some nights, I might have been able to get
home at seven.
05:19>> Or take Sunday off.
05:19>> And, and, but, but I but I found if you
take a block of time off for
05:25yourself you may well be more productive
than if you don't.
05:29And and that may not be true depending on
the organization you go to.
05:32But I remember when I was talking to Bill
Bain about joining Bain and Company and
05:36I said look I, I have to take all day
Sunday off.
05:39So if there's like a company meeting, or
if you want to come in for
05:42a case team meetings on Sunday, I just
won't be there.
05:45And if that's something that,
05:46that the firm can't accept, then I'm
probably not the right guy for the firm.
05:50And, and I live by that.
05:52A, again, unless there was some kind of a,
an unusual experience, some,
05:55you know, terrible crisis happened.
05:57I was going to jump in with both feet like
everybody else.
05:59But that was the every day occurrence, and
I think it may be more effective and
06:03more productive.
06:03And I, I had good consulting assignments
and got promoted as time went on.
06:07So I don't think it hurts to have
something more
06:11in your life than just work.
06:14I think, I think having faith, or a
community that you care about,
06:18politics, and children.
06:20I think that makes you a more full human
being,
06:23more able to understand how the world
works, and how most people think, and
06:26may actually make you more effective.
06:28And by the way if it doesn't, and you
don't get promoted
06:31in the way you wanted to And you don't
make as much money as you wanted to.
06:35So what?
Life is not about getting promoted and
06:38money.
06:39If that's how you measure your life, I got
some bad news.
06:41There's serendipity in the world.
06:43Bad things happen in business and the
economy.
06:45You can't be guaranteed you're gonna get
promoted, and make a lot of money.
06:51But if you measure yourself by the things
that count most to you, your relationship
06:55with your spouse, your friendships, your
children, your family, those things
06:59you can succeed at whether or not the
world goes to hell in a handbasket.
07:03So you know, I think you lay out how you
want to live your life and, and you do
07:08that you can have success regardless of
what happens in the world around you.
07:12>> You mentioned your time at Harvard and
how this kind of came to you then.
07:16This, this need to create some sectors in
your life.
07:19One of the other decisions you made at
Harvard was,
07:20you're graduating with a JDMBA, you
decided to go into management consulting.
07:26I'm curious for all of us making these
kind of choices today if you Have similar
07:30interests, and were here where we are
today,
07:32would you make the same decision to go
into management consulting?
07:36And I ask that as a JDMBA going into
management consulting,
07:40so I hope the answer is yes.
07:43>> My condolences.
07:43>> Yeah, no, thank you.
07:44>> No, I mean, my path, was very different
than the success books suggested.
07:52I mean there are books out there that said
that you know you
07:56ought to have a clear goal in mind and
think about that goal and
07:59and I grew up in Detroit My dad was a car
company CEO.
08:03And I fully anticipated to go work for a
co, for an automobile company.
08:07That's what I wanted to do.
08:08And so after my first year in the JDMP
program,
08:12I went to work at Chrysler Corporation.
08:14And thinking that's where I was gonna go.
08:15And I hated it.
08:17I was so deep in the organization.
08:19And of course the people, I mean, my boss'
boss' boss had never met the CEO and
08:23never would.
08:24And and decisions being made that would
affect the success of that company,
08:27I'd never have any impact on unless I was
there 50 or some odd years.
08:32And I thought boy, this is just not at all
like I imagined it.
08:36And, and so I came back in the second
year, and, got a job.
08:40I think it was my second year, in the
program.
08:43I got a job with the Boston Consulting
Group, for a summer job.
08:47And it was fascinating, and it was
exciting.
08:51And I loved it.
08:52And, and so it was not a great analysis I
did to say,
08:55this is the right next step for my career.
08:57I just enjoyed it.
08:58My path in life has primarily been focused
on doing things I thought were fun and
09:01enjoyable, and so that was fun.
09:04My undergraduate major was English.
09:10Why would you go into English?
09:12There's no future, right, as an English
major?
09:18What are you going to do, all right?
09:20But I liked reading and I liked writing.
09:22So I went, I took English as my major, and
then coming out of business school,
09:25law school I went into consulting because
I enjoyed it,
09:29not because that's where I thought I'd
spend my life.
09:31I expected I'd be there for two or three
years, like most people do, and
09:35then get a job in a line corporation of
some kind and, and
09:39perhaps move up, more aggressively by
having started in consulting.
09:43I love consulting.
09:45Because I am, I am oriented towards
solving problems.
09:49I like analysis and data and problem
solving and writing and
09:52writing presentations.
09:54That's what I like to do.
09:54That's what took me there.
09:56And so, I would, I would go to those, I've
followed
10:00the career path that you enjoy most as
opposed to trying to follow a career path
10:05that you think will lead to the highest
income or the quickest promotion.
10:10Do what you enjoy and then your life will
be enjoyable and fulfilling.
10:16>> So, one other thing you're known for
10:19is parachuting into very troubled
environments.
10:22You went from being captain back to being
consulting to turn that around.
10:27You went from Bain Cap to the Olympics,
turned that around, and
10:30then you parachuted into my home state of
Massachusetts and
10:34helped turn that around as well.
10:37What, what led you to make those
decisions?
10:39What were you looking at to make to make
those kind of like pretty risky bets.
10:43>> Yeah I, I don't know that I have jumped
into troubled situations
10:48because I enjoy troubled situations.
10:50[LAUGH] I, I, but but it is a sense of
obligation.
10:56And maybe it's my upbringing or my faith.
11:00Or I say upbringing in my parents.
11:02My dad had this sense of obligation to the
country.
11:06And my dad was born in Mexico, of American
parents living there.
11:11There was a revolution at the time.
11:13Came back to the United States.
11:14Lived in public housing, got public
assistance, and and grew up poor,
11:19very poor.
11:20And had a, a, perhaps as a result of that,
11:23of bringing in the opportunity in this
life, th, that developed over his life,
11:27had a great sense of obligation to America
and to the community.
11:30And so, whenever he felt that there was a
need that wasn't being met,
11:35he volunteered and jumped in.
11:36And, and somehow, I felt the same way.
11:39So, in, the first step, you mentioned
going from Bain Capital, which was highly
11:44successful and growing like crazy, and
Bain Consulting was in trouble and
11:49it was in trouble because of financial
steps that had been taken by the founders.
11:53And it looked like it might disappear all
together.
11:56And I was asked by the partners of the
consulting firm if I would leave
11:59Bain Capital for a couple years, and come
back, and run the consulting firm.
12:05And I felt like how, how can I say no?
12:07There were a thousand people who were
working at Bain Consulting at that point,
12:11and I figured that there was a very high
risk it wouldn't make it.
12:14I had the particular skills that were most
needed at that point.
12:18Financial skills.
12:19Cuz they needed a financial re-engineering
as well as some leadership skills.
12:24And so I came back to the consulting firm.
12:26The Olympics?
12:27Why go to the Olympics?
12:28I mean, I I've pointed this out before.
12:30There was some irony that a person of such
limited athletic talent would be running,
12:35running the, I mean, I didn't even letter
in a sport in high school, and
12:38I'd be running the premier sporting event
in the world.
12:42But I, I and I was not a big fan of the
olympics.
12:45When I heard that Utah won the games, it's
like, yeah, so what,
12:49who cares whether and but then, when I got
asked to take a close look at it,
12:55when it was in trouble, a few things
weighed in my mind.
12:59One was that this was the community my
parents had been raised in and, and
13:03it was gonna be tarnished by a potential
scandal.
13:07Number two, I began to recognize that the
Olympics is one
13:12of the few remaining places In the world
where, where young people get to see,
13:18day in and day out, the great qualities of
the human spirit.
13:22From hard work and
13:24dedication to patriotism to teamwork,
passion to, to determination.
13:30I mean the, the list goes on and on.
13:31We watch the Olympics not because we're
Enthralled with bobsled, you know, or
13:36ski jumping.
13:38But instead because we see these young
people from around the world,
13:44in, in a crucible of stress rising above
it all.
13:48And great things are, are, are viewed.
13:50And so I thought it's important these
games go on.
13:53And I have the particular skillset that's
probably needed at a time like this to get
13:57the games back on track and the same thing
running for Governor.
14:02We had a Republican Governor at the time I
was considering coming back after
14:06the Olympics and running for governor.
14:08But the approval rating of our Republican
governor was 13% and, and a number of
14:14republican leaders said we really, would
really appreciate you coming back and
14:18applying what you've learned in your prior
experiences to help our state turn around.
14:22We've got this massive, massive deficit.
14:24And a lot of people are going to lose
jobs,
14:27we're going to lose our economic edge as a
state.
14:29Can you come back?
14:30And that's what, that's what drew me and
14:31that's part of the way Why end up running
for President?
14:34It was out of a sense of obligation and,
and love for the country.
14:37And a sense that I was in the right place
at the right time.
14:40And with one thing.
14:41You've heard the quote many times.
14:42My mother asked it, or said it all the
time.
14:45If not now, when?
14:46If not here, where?
14:48And if not me, who?
14:50And, and she said if, if you're the right
person at the right time,
14:53how can you possibly walk away?
14:56>> I am interested because clearly your
drive comes from this commitment to public
14:59service, but, you mentioned your father as
a great influence on you and
15:03you talk about him a lot.
15:04And one of the quotes from your, the
documentary on you,
15:07is you talking about him and saying, you
know, you always think about dad and
15:11how you stand on his shoulders.
15:12How could you go from his beginnings to I
can run for president?
15:17I started off where he ended up.
15:18And that's a very self-reflective
statement that I think is
15:21really interesting.
15:21And I'm wondering how much of his success
pushes you to strive higher,
15:25to aim higher, to push yourself more than
maybe you would have otherwise.
15:28>> You know, I think some people compete
with their dad or
15:33their mom because they have a sense that,
that will fulfill who they are or
15:39define them as a success because they beat
their dad or they beat their mom.
15:43I'm not in that category.
15:44I didn't feel in any way I needed to
compete with my dad.
15:49In part because he was uncompetitive, with
family or friends, or whatever.
15:54A guy entirely without guile.
15:57That said, what my dad and my mom taught
us in our home, and
16:02the way they they lived their life
affected the way I developed.
16:08And, and led me to have certain skills I
probably wouldn't have had without that
16:11upbringing, and gave me a perspective on
life I probably wouldn't have had without
16:15being raised in their home.
16:17I, I was young, lucky, lucky to be the
youngest in the family, and, and
16:22I was six years younger than my next
oldest sibling.
16:25And the result of that was that I was kind
of home with my parents for the last six
16:30years after my brother went up to school,
and so Dad could take me to work with him.
16:35And, and I would watch my dad,
16:36first when I was younger at American
Motors, interacting with executives there.
16:41Then I saw him as Governor, and would go
to meetings and watch him.
16:44My summer jobs were working at the
Governor's office, signing his name,
16:49by the way.
16:50[LAUGH] On, on, on notary certificates,
all right?
16:51It's very strange, that I authorized
people's signatures with my dad's false
16:55signature, but none the less.
16:57>> [LAUGH]
>> I, I got, I got to watch,
16:59I got to watch how my dad interacted with
people,
17:02not recognizing that I was really learning
from that experience.
17:06And so, yeah, my, my dad and, and, and to
a great extent also my mom,
17:11and the commitment they made to family and
church and
17:15community shaped what I felt was right
about how I should live my life.
17:20>> I wanna turn to leadership and
management, and
17:22talk about some of the success stories
you've had of which there are many.
17:26I'm curious, when you go, you, you've led
multiple different types of organizations,
17:31private sector, public sector, non-profit.
17:34When you go into any these situations, are
there any leadership or management
17:37principles you take with you no matter
where you go, that you found successful?
17:40>> You know, and, and I mentioned this to
you, Ryan before we came in here.
17:46And, that is I, I was one day sitting with
a the Chief Financial Officer of my state,
17:51who was someone I'd hired from Bain
Capital, and
17:53before that he'd worked at Bain and I had
Bain Consulting.
17:55So, I knew him well, Eric Kriss is his
name,
17:58and a nephew of Milton Friedman by the
way.
18:01But Eric said to me, Mitt, there are two
types of leaders.
18:04One is the kind of leader that knows a
particular techniques and
18:07skills they use in leading.
18:09And the other is someone who has no clue
why they're a leader.
18:11You're in the latter group [LAUGH].
18:14So, I'm not sure I'm, I'm gonna be able
to, to help you with this,
18:15with this question.
18:16But there are, there is no question in, in
my mind, but the things that,
18:21that allowed me to be effective in
consulting and
18:26then In helping form a private equity firm
and venture capital firm.
18:30And then in the Olympics and then in the
state.
18:33That, that those kinds of, of attributes
passed from one one sphere to the next.
18:39I, I don't know what they all are.
18:40One, one is, I believe, having a clear
vision of where you want to go and, and
18:45being able to articulate that to yourself.
18:48Perhaps writing it down.
18:49I tend to, I take out the, the notes
section of my iPad and, and will,
18:53will write down what it is I want to
accomplish and
18:57think about precisely what I hope to
accomplish with a particular assignment.
19:01So, I'll write that down.
19:02So, having a clear objective, I think, is
important.
19:05Number two I think it's important to know
what your values are.
19:09I didn't ever write that down.
19:10I just knew what they were.
19:11But, for me, people and, and associations
with other people and
19:15friendships with people were more
important than,
19:18than any other aspect of what an
enterprise might be doing.
19:22More important than profit, more important
than gaining market share,
19:25more important than promotion.
19:26What, what, were the feelings I had for
other people and they had for me.
19:30And so I have, I don't try and treat
people with respect,
19:35I do treat people with respect because I
respect people.
19:38It's not that I say to myself to be an
effective leader I have to
19:41be respectful of people.
19:42No, I mean, I am respectful of people,
19:46because I respect other human beings as
being sons and daughters of God.
19:51And, and equal in all respects to me.
19:54So, that, that is, I think that's just
part of, kind of, I mean,
19:57again I get that from my parents.
19:59That's just part of who you are, or who
you aren't, as the case may be.
20:02I don't think you can fake that.
20:03And, and I, I'll mention one other thing,
and then you, you can come back to it.
20:08I like a, or push me further if you'd
like.
20:11>> [LAUGH]
>> As a management style,
20:14I like extensive participation.
20:16I like a lot of give and take.
20:18I remember on one occasion
20:21the Chief of Staff while I was serving as
Governor came in.
20:24And she said look,
20:25we've had this tough decision to make
about whether to spend, I can't remember
20:28how many hundreds of million of dollars
putting in this new subway line.
20:32And and, and she said,
20:33I'm going to bring in the cabinet members,
we all agreed, that we should do it.
20:38All of us admit, we've gone through the
numbers, and, and the pros and cons, and
20:42we all agree we should do it.
20:43And they all sat there, and I said, does
anyone here disagree with this decision?
20:47And they said no that they were all on
board, and
20:48I said then I can't possibly go ahead.
20:50He said, what do you mean?
20:51I said, well, I have to have someone here
who disagrees.
20:54We've gotta have someone who can make an
argument for why it's a bad decision.
20:58Pl, please go back and find, if you have
to, someone on the other side of
21:01the aisle, in the Senate or the House, or
someone who really disagrees with this,
21:05and then let's take it apart once we can
have that kind of debate.
21:08I love that kind of exchange and debate.
21:11And, and, not because, you know,
21:15I think I'm the judge who can always pick
out the right, the right answer, but
21:18because I enjoy the give and take, and the
mental exchange.
21:21And I find when you have that kind of
exchange,
21:24often times I end up being wrong.
21:26Often times others are wrong, but we learn
from it.
21:29And I am entirely non-defensive about
whether my answer, the one,
21:34the preconceived notion I came in with was
right or not.
21:37I only care about getting to the right
answer.
21:38And if the group, if as a group we can
come up with a right answer,
21:41I don't care whose idea it was.
21:43It's like yeah, let's, let, you know, it's
the fun and the engagement of drawing on
21:48people and their experience that I, that I
find compelling.
21:51And I'll mention one more thing.
21:53And that is, I, I used to think I should
spend my time,
21:58as a leader, working with people to help
them overcome their weaknesses.
22:03And then I realized that's a waste of
time, because, by and large,
22:06people don't overcome their weaknesses.
22:08Instead, I found that my job was to help
people take advantage of their strengths.
22:13And if they had weaknesses, define ways to
ac, to accommodate that by bringing in
22:17other people who had the strengths where
they had weaknesses.
22:20Or where I had weaknesses.
22:22And I do, by the way.
22:23And by the way, I have tended to bring in
people who,
22:25who can complement my own weaknesses.
22:28And, and so it being capital, for
22:30instance, I, we are a, a very different
group of people.
22:34It's not th, th, th, the 18 partners that
were there when I left.
22:38Now there are over 100.
22:39But the 18 partners who were there had
very different personalities and skills.
22:44In part because I saw my job as not trying
to make them all the same, but
22:48instead taking advantage of the particular
skills people had and
22:51encouraging those things and filling in
th, the blank spots and the flat spots.
22:57Where where they may not have been, may
not have been quite as effective.
23:05>> Your most recent management challenge
was your presidential organization.
23:10And I'm curious.
23:11>> You may heard. I didn't win. [LAUGH]
>> Yes.
23:11>> [LAUGH]
23:12>> I did hear that.
23:12And and, and, and
23:13that's actually what I wanna ask about,
23:14is when you look back at managing that
organization.
23:17I know everyone can play Monday morning
quarterback in politics,
23:20but when you look back at managing that
organization,
23:23what was different about managing a
presidential campaign?
23:26And, and maybe what would you have done
differently if you,
23:28if you looked at it from a management
standpoint again?
23:32>> Well, a candidate is by and large not
the manager of the campaign.
23:37And, and and that has brought home to you
day in and
23:42day out by the people who are managing the
campaign.
23:44>> [LAUGH]
>> And, and and so I you know I,
23:47I have run for office before.
23:49I've worked on my mother's campaign for US
Senate.
23:52I worked on my father's campaigns.
23:54My father ran for governor three times and
was elected three times.
23:58He ran for president, was not elected.
24:00But I worked on my dad's campaigns, my
mother's campaign and
24:02the candidate is really out there
speaking.
24:04The candidate is out, is out doing the job
of connecting with people and,
24:09and and, and taking the message to the, to
the voting public.
24:14The people running the campaign you choose
like you would if you were the,
24:18the chairman of the board.
24:19And you choose someone to be the chief
executive officer,
24:22the chief operating officer.
24:23And you have both in a campaign.
24:24You have a CEO and a COO in a well run
campaign.
24:28And so I was not the CEO or the COO of my
campaign.
24:31I was probably more like the chairman of
the, of the campaign.
24:34And, and key strategic decisions, I
insisted on being a part of.
24:38And, and managed in the way that, that
I've just described.
24:42We would have probably the eight or
24:45ten top people in the campaign come
together and debate major issues.
24:50So if, in a presidential campaign.
24:52Was I gonna play in Iowa?
24:54This is in 2012, I played in 2008 and, and
24:58found Iowa to be, Iowa to be expensive and
a good start but not sufficient.
25:02Was I gonna play in Iowa or
25:03was it hopeless and should I just go
directly to New Hampshire?
25:07And we debated that at great length.
25:08And and talked about a strategy to go
forward, and, and, and
25:13selected a strategy which worked very
well.
25:15Winning the nomination, by the way, is not
easy.
25:18You know after it's over it all looks very
easy.
25:21Oh you were obviously gonna get the
nomination.
25:22Oh yeah, I mean, I was behind Rick
Santorum, in the last three states.
25:26I believe Iowa.
25:28I don't mean Iowa.
25:29Illinois.
25:30Wisconsin, Michigan, also, Ohio.
25:33I think I was be, behind five or ten
points,
25:35with only days to go before the the
primary.
25:39And so, it is tough to do that, and I
think we did pretty, pretty well, I think,
25:43in the general election.
25:45We faced some real challenges and made
some big mistakes.
25:48And, and, but as I looked back at the, at
the process that we pursued,
25:53I'm, I'm pleased with the process and
pleased with the people.
25:56We had a really good team of people.
25:58Very committed and one of the things I
liked about it,
25:59there was the not the kind of politics
inside the organization you sometimes see.
26:04People, you know, backstabbing and trying
to claim credit for good things.
26:09You know, people have strengths and
weaknesses.
26:12Each of our team members, had like myself,
had real weaknesses, but
26:16we worked well by and large and, and got a
lot of things right and some things wrong.
26:21You mentioned things wrong.
26:23One of the big challenges that a
Republican candidate has is that,
26:29that minority voters tend not to vote
extensively in Republican primaries,
26:35or participate in Republican caucuses.
26:36They tend to vote in democratic primaries
and democratic caucuses.
26:40So if you're Jeb Bush right now or Chris
Christie or Marco Rubio or
26:43Scott Walker and you want to get the
nomination,
26:46you're going to be going to the people who
vote in your primaries and
26:49in your caucuses which will, by and large,
not be minority voters.
26:54So for the next year you're gonna watch
the candidates on my side of
26:57the aisle spend all their time with the
white population and
27:01typically not at colleges either.
27:03And then when they get the nomination,
when somebody finally becomes the nominee,
27:06they run to the minority community and
27:07say give me your vote and they say where
have you been?
27:10All right?
27:11And that was a mistake I made.
27:12Which is, I was so anxious to get the
nomination,
27:15I didn't spend as much time as I should
have taking my message to minority voters,
27:20fighting on minority, or in this case,
Hispanic T, uh,TV and
27:24radio airwaves, getting my message across,
even though it wouldn't have helped me in
27:27the primary necessarily It certainly was
essential in the general.
27:31And, I think that was something we missed
in our strategy sessions.
27:35And, in part because we looked at what had
happened in the past.
27:38We said we had to target independent
voters so we went after independence.
27:42I won independent voters.
27:44Won them in, in, in Ohio among other
states.
27:47We said hey, if you got it, independent
vote in Ohio, you are gonna win.
27:50No they're not [LAUGH] we needed a much
better showing among minority voters and
27:54that's a place we really messed up and you
know, so
27:57I go back and say would I have changed the
team?
28:00I, I like the team, I, I was proud of the
team we had.
28:03And the way we work together.
28:04But do we make a mistake in strategy?
28:06Sure, that, that among others.
28:08>> Moving to the idea of running for
office.
28:11People in the room have come up to me and
said they want to pursue a career
28:14in business like you, and then run for
office, like you.
28:18I'm curious.
28:19If you were to give advice today to
someone like that,
28:21would you follow your father's advice,
which was, you know, find a career, find
28:26a reason not to run, and then run later on
when you don't have so much at stake?
28:30Or would it be something different in
today's age?
28:34>> I'm afraid I'm, I'm prisoner of my
dad's advice.
28:36>> [LAUGH]
>> And, and, and I'll tell you why.
28:39My dad's advice was, because my dad ran
for governor when he was 56 years old.
28:43He'd been head of a car company.
28:45He he felt that his state was circling the
drain, the state of Michigan.
28:50He saw that, that automobile jobs were
leaving, his state, going to other states,
28:54and, and other countries, and felt that he
had to try and turn things around.
29:00He felt that race relations in the state
were a word, awful and
29:03civil rights have not been advanced as
they should.
29:06That the schools and the city, Detroit,
were, were just a tragedy.
29:10And so, he got involved and ran for
governor.
29:13I got involved in his campaigns.
29:15I found politics very exciting, and he
said to me,
29:18as also to my sisters and brother.
29:21He said, you know, I wouldn't get involved
in politics until your kids are raised and
29:25if, and only if you're financially
independent.
29:28And it's like wow.
29:30That, that's never gonna happen.
29:31I thought I mean, I mean you know working
in, in consulting is great but
29:35it's not gonna make you financially
independent.
29:40And so I never imagined I'd get involved
in politics.
29:43And and what happened was starting Bain
Capital and
29:46then having the stock market take off and,
if you're leveraged, and
29:50the stock market goes from 1,000 to
10,000, it's a good thing, all right?
29:54And so.
>> [LAUGH]
29:55>> So suddenly I bec, I, those, those
29:59conditions became met. I, I. >> [LAUGH]
>> That's the euphemism of the day.
30:03>> I'll write that
30:03down, yeah.
>> Yeah.
30:04>> [LAUGH]
30:04>> But I, I personally, and
30:06I don't, I don't think you have to be
financially independent to run for office.
30:10I, I think you have to be able to,
30:12to meet your mortgage without having to
win the election,
30:15however.
And
30:15that was what my dad was concerned about.
I I think it really helps,
30:20if people who.
Who go to work in the statehouse or
30:24go to work in Washington actually have
experience in the real economy and
30:29in the real world and can take that
experience to government.
30:32Whether that's in teaching, or working in
the foreign service, or, or working,
30:38in a corporation, I think it really helps
yo go there with background and
30:43experience that you can share with others.
30:45I think that was the concept with the,
30:48that the founders had in mind in forming
our, our Republic.
30:51And that is that you had come from a, a
real, I mean look at John Adams.
30:55I mean, he was a, a farmer in
Massachusetts, went to serve,
30:58became President, went backed home and,
and went back home, became a farmer again.
31:02And, and I think that's a better model
then what we have right now.
31:06And so, you know, my advice would be.
31:08Yeah, work at a real job.
31:10Get some experience.
31:11And if the window opens, you see an
opportunity to serve, locally,
31:14state wide, nationally.
31:17Then jump in.
31:18Because good people are needed badly.
31:20You, another quote you, you said in your
documentary was that the other
31:24side often acts like they don't know what
it's like to own a business.
31:28They don't know what it's like to have
everything on the line.
31:32And I see that disconnect a lot today,
31:34especially with income inequality as a
burgeoning issue.
31:38In particular, private equity is something
that you were tremendously successful in,
31:41in the campaign talked about it in a
different way.
31:43And a lot of our classmates are going into
private equity or
31:47going into these business careers that are
seen as very prestigious here but
31:51maybe elsewhere are seen differently.
31:53I'm wondering what you think about that
disconnect and
31:56whether there's ways we can bridge that
divide or how you think about it now.
32:00Well a couple of things, one, my, my
concern about incomes
32:06in America is not so much focused on why
some people make so
32:10much, as opposed to why are so many people
making so little.
32:15And, and we have large cohorts of people
in this country
32:20who have not seen rising incomes, and and
have not seen it for a long time.
32:25And, and so my concern is how do we get
people out of generational poverty?
32:29How do we get people out of situational
poverty?
32:31And how do we get the whole middle class
in America, as well as lower income folks,
32:35to see rising incomes again?
32:37And that, that for me is the big, is the
big issue.
32:40I, I don't look at peop, at Steve Jobs and
say boy, he's a bad person for
32:44making all that money.
32:45I, I look and say thank heavens for Steve
Jobs, Bill Gates and, and
32:49Scott McNealy and, and Marc Andreessen,
more power to them.
32:53Do, be more and more successful.
32:55And, by the way, if you wanna give it all
away during life, that's fine too.
32:58Great.
32:59But, so I don't look and say okay those, I
don't think those people are the problem,
33:03I think the problem is how come we're not
able to lift more?
33:06How come we can't get more people to see
rising incomes and, and more prosperity?
33:11And there are a lot of reasons for, for
that, but, but I happen to believe very
33:15fundamentally and profoundly, that without
question, that the best principles for
33:20helping people get out of poverty and
seeing rising incomes is for, is for
33:25us to follow conservative and Republican
principles.
33:28Now, you might say oh well that's, that
doesn't make sense,
33:31you're just the party of the rich.
33:32Let me tell you friends, the rich will do
fine whether Democrats are in power,
33:37liberals are in power, conservatives or
Republicans.
33:39The rich do fine all over the world.
33:41The rich do just fine.
33:43The people whose lives are affected by
politics and
33:46leadership are the people in the middle
and the people at the bottom end.
33:51And the reason I'm a Republican is that I
believe the principles that,
33:55that my party stands for, or at least that
I stand for.
33:58That those principles are the best
designed to help people see rising incomes
34:03again and better jobs for their kids.
34:06And, and the best principles to get people
out of poverty.
34:09I, I mean I, don't, I mean I,
34:11and we could have this debate at great
length but I think evidence proves it.
34:16I think logic proves it.
34:17That's why I'm Republican.
34:18That's why I ran for office is I want to
help people in the middle and
34:21in the bottom see rising incomes and, and
34:23I believe that you're successful, then
you're enterprising.
34:26You're going into business.
34:28More power to you.
34:29Go out there, be successful.
34:31Build a business, work in a business
that's already there, make it better.
34:35The better an enterprise does, the more
profits it makes, the more you can invest.
34:39The more you invest, the more you can
grow.
34:41The more you grow, the more people you can
hire.
34:43The more people that are being hired, the
more wages will go up.
34:47Wages go up because there's demand for
labor that outstrips the supply of labor.
34:52That's how they go up, and so, I, I want
you to succeed.
34:56I mean, I look at you and when you're all
highly successful businesspeople as
35:00you hope you will be, I won't look at you
and say there's the enemy.
35:04I'll say they're my friends, I love you, I
appreciate what you're doing,
35:08I want to see you successful.
35:10And as you're successful, I want you to
recognize that your success is
35:15contributing to the success of our country
and
35:18to those people who rely on the jobs
you'll help create.
35:22>> We only have time for
35:23one more question before we're gonna move
to audience Q and A.
35:27And it's a simple question, maybe.
35:29It's just what does the future hold for
you?
35:31You're boxing Evander Holyfield.
35:33>> Yeah.
35:34Yeah.
>> In the near future.
35:34>> Yeah.
35:35>> Which
35:35>> Is a risky.
35:36I can say is a risky decision to me,
35:38but you know, I
>> [LAUGH] The term pulling his punches
35:41come to mind, yeah.
35:42>> Yeah, hopefully.
35:42Yeah.
>> [LAUGH] Yeah.
35:43Yeah.
35:44>> But I'm curious, you know, what, what
do you want to do next,
35:47given all you've accomplished?
35:49>> Well, you know, I, I would, I continue,
I continue to be motivated
35:54by the same things that got me into
presidential politics in the first place.
35:58And so I will work for
36:01individuals who I believe will get America
on the right track to once
36:06again create more jobs than we have supply
of labor, to see rising incomes again.
36:11That means better schools, that means
better innovation,
36:14that means making America the most
attractive place for entrepreneurs and
36:17innovators and businesses of all kinds.
36:20It also means an entirely different
foreign policy.
36:22I happen to think that the foreign policy
of the last six or
36:26seven years has been a disaster and the
globe is feeling it.
36:31So I wanna change direction for our
country in, in a way that I think would be
36:35more productive for the safety of the
world, and the well-being of the world,
36:38for the preservation of liberty, and for
rising prosperity for all Americans.
36:42So that how do I do that?
36:44By campaigning and raising money for
Senate and Congressional seats at the,
36:48at the national level.
36:49By helping Republican candidates for
President.
36:52I'd help the Democrat candidates, but
they, they're not asking for
36:55my advice at this point.
36:56>> [LAUGH].
>> And there's only one, really,
36:58at this stage.
36:59>> [LAUGH]
>> And, and but I, you know,
37:02I speak regularly with with people who are
running for office and offer my advice and
37:08will continue to do so and in, I mean I do
a lot of fundraisers and, and speeches.
37:13And, by the way the reason I'm here.
37:15During my campaign, I wasn't at college
campuses and
37:18business school and law schools.
37:20I was at Harvard law school last week and
37:21I was at Duke and, and, I'll be at
University of Chicago coming soon.
37:25The end of this week I'll be at, at, at,
in Jacksonville, Florida.
37:28I speak to college campuses cuz I want
people to understand.
37:32The people who are conservative,
37:33are conservative, because we believe the
principals of conservatism
37:37are best able to help the middle class and
the poor.
37:40We know how to end poverty.
37:42Generational poverty.
37:44But we're not doing it.
37:46Because there's not a political will for
it to happen.
37:48But, so, that, that's what I'm devoted to.
37:50Now at the same time I'm back in business,
37:52because I want to make sure that I can
provide for myself and
37:55my family without drawing down their
inheritance and and of course e,
37:59every politician who leaves office says
I'm gonna spend more time with the family.
38:04I actually am.
38:05I have 23 grandkids and I'm spending time
with the family and love it.
38:08Thank you Ryan.
38:09>> Great.
Well we're gonna move to some Q and A now.
38:12And there'll be mics on the left and the
right side.
38:16So raise your hand high if you're
interested in asking a question.
38:20For those at the top please continue to
Tweet your questions.
38:23And we're gonna start with a question from
Twitter so
38:25I'll point to [UNKNOWN] over here.
38:27Yeah?
38:28>> What worries you most about the U.S.
economy?
38:32>> Well I'm, I'm concerned that we may be
seeing a bubble in,
38:37in in tech stocks and, and that we could
have the, a kind of
38:42disruptive event that could cause the, the
stock market to collapse.
38:48And I'm not, I'm not terrified about
people losing money in the stock market.
38:51I'm terrified about, about going into a
recession again.
38:54That would put a lot of people out of
work.
38:56Obviously the Fed has used every tool it
has to get this economy going.
39:01And if we went into a recession at this
point, there are not a lot of tools.
39:05I mean we're already at zero, effectively
zero interest rates.
39:07So there are not a lot of tools.
39:08We've, we're spending massively more than
we take in.
39:11So we're, we're pursuing a highly
stimulative monetary policy and
39:14a highly stimulative fiscal policy both,
so
39:16if we went into recession at this point
that'd be pretty tough.
39:20I hope that doesn't happen.
39:21I think there's some positive, elements on
the, on the horizon that, one of course,
39:26is very low cost of energy which is
stimulative.
39:29Gives people more money to spend and those
things are encouraging.
39:32I don't think we're gonna see something of
an immediate nature that
39:35causes us to fall into recession again.
39:37I sure hope not, but the rest of the world
is a little iffy and
39:40it can have an impact in America.
39:41Longer term though is my, is my concern.
39:43Longer term, I see America as adopting of
the policies of Europe.
39:49Higher and higher corporate taxes,
although Europe is getting away from that.
39:53I'll say the traditional policies of
Europe.
39:55Higher and higher corporate taxes.
39:57Higher and higher levels of regulation.
39:59Higher and higher personal attacks.
40:02Burdens.
40:04Schools that are being run, more for
40:06the interest of the, the unions than they
are for the students.
40:10Permanent intractable poverty.
40:12Generational poverty is what I'm referring
to.
40:15These things give me a great deal of
concern.
40:18I, I'm concerned about America's
innovation lead.
40:21We, the, the political class doesn't
understand we're in competition.
40:26The political class thinks like the
American business world
40:30used to think back in the 1960s, which you
didn't.
40:36And then came along strategy.
40:37Which was the idea of not just how good I
am, but
40:39how good I am relative against everyone I
compete with.
40:43And right now we're competing and the
political class doesn't understand that
40:47we're competing with Russia, and with
China, and with the Jihadists.
40:51They have a strategy,
40:53Russia has a strategy China has a
strategy, and objectives.
40:57The jihadists do.
40:58What's America's strategy?
41:00What's our global strategy?
41:02Where are we headed?
41:03What are we trying to accomplish?
41:04What are we doing in Latin America, what's
our strategy for North Africa,
41:08the Middle East?
41:09Hilary Clinton said it right.
41:11Just deciding not to do dumb things is not
a strategy.
41:14And and so, I mean, that, that's what
concerns me most about America and
41:19about our economy is that we don't seem to
have a strategy about where we're heading.
41:23And we're becoming more and more like
Europe on a number of dimensions,
41:27education, poverty, taxation, regulation,
and foreign policy.
41:30And that, that gives me concern, and
that's why I'm as active as I am still,
41:34politically.
41:34Though I'm not running for office, thank
you very much
41:36>> [LAUGH] We have a question over here.
41:39Stand up then, just introduce yourself
please.
41:41>> Hi.
41:42>> Hi Governor Romney, my name is Alex
Pierce, and
41:44I'm a first year all select [UNKNOWN] I'm
from Massachusetts as well.
41:48One of the central themes of the GSB, and
the view from the top program is
41:53the power of Authenticity as a tool for
effective leadership.
41:58We see then a business but we see that, I
think, less so in political leadership.
42:02And so I wanted to see how you balanced
being the authentic Mitt Romney versus
42:07what you thought the audience or the kind
of Republican machine wanted you to
42:12be like, or what, what did you wanted to
say?
42:16>> Yeah, you know, one of the great
challenges in running for office,
42:21is that you will be defined by your
opposition.
42:24And at and it and, by the way, an attack
is,
42:27is very difficult to respond to without
spending all your time in response.
42:33I remember the first time I got attacked,
and
42:35this was when I was running against Ted
Kennedy.
42:37And, and, and my, you know I went to my
staff and
42:41I said you know we got to answer these
charges these attacks.
42:44And they said you know, if you are
explaining you are losing.
42:48The, that is a little catch phrase in
politics,
42:51if you are explaining you are losing.
42:53So you never explain, you never respond to
the attacks.
42:56You just attack back.
42:57And the only thing you can do is attack
back just harder.
43:00And, and so these campaigns are just
attack, attack, attack.
43:02And by and large,
43:03it's very difficult in a campaign to have
people get to know who you really are.
43:09I mean, in a campaign you spent more time
with me by far.
43:12And I mean TV time included.
43:15If you take all the time you saw during
the 2012 campaign, of b, and
43:18compare it with what we spent in this
room, we spent more time now, together,
43:22talking about things that we all care
about.
43:25We choose candidates based on very little
interaction with them, and
43:28typically the interaction is watching 30
second ads, which are packaged and
43:33very brief, and by and large are attacking
their opponent.
43:36And, and then debates.
43:38And that's about it.
43:40Some people have noted, you know, Mitt, if
you'd have just shown that,
43:43that documentary that was done on you,
why, the,
43:45the people would've had a different
perspective.
43:47It's, like, yeah.
But who would've watched a documentary?
43:49All right?
43:50Who's gonna sit down and watch a one and a
half hour movie on someone running for
43:54office?
43:55I mean, no one's gonna do that cuz you're
gonna figure, rightly,
43:58it was all, you know, entered in for the
campaign, by the campaign, and, and so I,
44:03I I don't know how we can do a better job
describing and showing who we are.
44:08And, and my own view was, look, I was, I
served as Governor for four years.
44:14The positions I had and the postures I
took on issues
44:17were the same as when I was governor as
when I was running for president.
44:20And hopefully people will get that
perspective based on my record.
44:24But it's, it's a real challenge and, and
in the upcoming election
44:28presuming Hilary Clinton is the nominee on
the democratic side.
44:31And she may not be, but it looks obviously
very good for here now.
44:35She's pretty well defined in people's
minds, pro and con.
44:39On the Republican side, people aren't as
well defined.
44:43And so they're going to have a challenge,
44:44whoever our nominee is, becoming better
known in the mind of the public.
44:48And the goal of the opposition will be to
define the Republican in a negative light,
44:52in a very negative light, and that's just,
that's part of the territory.
44:56You know, getting into a race.
44:57It's, it's, it, it, you, I was gonna say
it's not fun.
45:01The truth is it is fun.
45:03Running for President is really fun.
45:04It's like for sport for old guys.
45:06All right?
>> [LAUGH]
45:08>> It's, and
45:09you come away, passionate about a coun,
the country,
45:13more optimistic about the country, you
meet extraordinary people.
45:17It's a wonderful experience.
45:19If you get the chance to run for
president, do it for sure.
45:22But I love the experience.
45:24And, and, you know, I just wish in the
campaign, you had more time to be seen and
45:29known by more people and I think if people
did that,
45:32we'd have a better shot at electing people
we were happy with after the election.
45:36>> Yeah, thanks.
45:37>> Great, we have one question over here
in the back.
45:39>> Okay, yes sir.
45:40>> Hey, my name's Elliot Damachek, and I'm
a second-year MBA.
45:43Was at Bain Consulting beforehand and
going back afterwards, so thank you for
45:47helping to make that exist.
45:48>> [LAUGH]
>> [LAUGH] My question is around you
45:51mentioned that your father was helped by
public assistance programs a while back,
45:56and traditionally the view of the
Republican party is much less favorable
46:00towards those types of programs.
46:02So I was wondering how your view on that
has evolved and
46:06how it's shaped by your father's
experience.
46:08>> Yeah.
Thank you.
46:09A,a, actually, there are, I, I gotta talk
about two groups of, of People in poverty.
46:15One I'll call situational poverty.
46:17Someone loses a job, or, or has a life
changing illness of some kind.
46:22And the situation means, they're now in
poverty.
46:25Those people typically come out of poverty
relatively quicker.
46:29When I say relatively quick, they come out
of poverty eventually.
46:31And, and the programs to help them come
out of poverty are extraordinarily helpful
46:36and important.
46:37And it could be housing, food, training
programs, child care and so forth.
46:43And we have a good series of social help
programs for people in that setting.
46:50I'm sure they could get better.
46:51Unemployment insurance is another of
those.
46:53And they should be fine tuned and
46:55evaluated to see what makes them more
effective, but those work well.
46:59Where, where Republicans like myself have
some angst is in our solutions for
47:03generational property, and that's people
who obviously go from generation to
47:08generation in poverty and don't ever get
out.
47:11Back in the 1960s,
47:12when I was in high school, Lyndon Johnson
declared the War on Poverty.
47:18We today have record levels of poverty,
more than when Johnson was president.
47:23About 15% of Americans live in poverty.
47:25So, so, why didn't it work?
47:28And the answer is the programs that were
put into place,
47:30in many respects, made it more difficult
for many people to get out of poverty.
47:33I mean, the highest marginal tax rate in
America is not the marginal tax rate for
47:37people in my tax bracket or yours.
47:40The highest marginal tax rate is for the
poor.
47:42If you're on Medicaid, housing vouchers,
food stamps,
47:47and so forth and you start earning money.
47:50You're gonna lose all sorts of benefits.
47:53And the effective marginal tax rate if you
will, benefit tax rate, is huge!
47:57And so we lock people from in, in, into,
into staying, on,
48:01on, on government assistance because it
would be crazy for them to get off.
48:06We make it almost impossible to get
married.
48:09If, if he, for a, a poor person.
48:10If a young person is pregnant and, and she
decides to marry the father of the child,
48:16she's far less likely to qualify for
Medicaid, for housing vouchers, for
48:20food stamps, and other forms of
assistance.
48:22The, the only likely way that she'll be
able to really get the support she needs
48:27is if the father provides some of his
support that he has,
48:30doesn't get married and she gets Medicaid
and so forth, these other programs.
48:36And as a result, not surprisingly, huge
numbers of people follow that path.
48:42There, there was a study done by Brookings
Institution some years ago, and,
48:46and I've got the numbers here
directionally right.
48:48I'll have to go back and look at the
numbers, but they're close to these.
48:51They said, what, what happens in America
if someone graduates from high school,
48:55marries before they have their first child
and has ever held a job, and
49:01the answer is 3% of those people will fall
in poverty.
49:05What happens if someone doesn't do any of
those three things?
49:0870% of them will be in poverty.
49:11It's like aha, so
49:13if you want to make sure we eliminate
generational poverty in America,
49:16one you want to make sure there are huge
incentives to get people their first job.
49:21We don't do that.
49:22Two, you wanna make sure that schools are
safe and teachers are effective so
49:26we can get people through high school.
49:27We don't do that.
49:28And three, you wanna make sure that your
government programs encourage people to
49:32get married as opposed to create
disincentives for marriage, which ours do.
49:36We're doing exactly the wrong things if we
wanna get people out of poverty.
49:40And yet there doesn't seem to be any real
effort in Washington to change that.
49:47So Republicans are saying, by the way,
when I was Governor,
49:49I said look I want to spend more money on
childcare and have a greater work
49:55requirement to get people out of the home
and into, into the workplace.
49:57I am happy to spend more money on
assistance but
50:01I want it to help get people out of
poverty, not lock them into poverty.
50:05So support and, and government assistance
to end and
50:10alleviate poverty, Republicans are all in
favor of, but they want to find things
50:14that actually solve the problem as opposed
to cause people to live in poverty in a,
50:19in a human tragedy that goes on and on and
on, generation to generation.
50:23Thanks for the question.
50:25>> Unfortunately I, I'm gonna have to take
the last question here.
50:28>> Boy, I am wordy aren't I?
>> We're cutting you off, yeah.
50:29>> [LAUGH]
>> Be worried.
50:30No we we asked a,
50:30a question of all of you from the top
speakers, and
50:33its one that we have to answer when we
apply to the school.
50:38And there are obviously a lot of ways you
can answer this so I'm interested, but
50:43the question is what matters most to you
and why?
50:47>> It's not one thing.
50:50And.
So I'm going to give you a longer answer.
50:52One, another long answer.
50:53One, I believe in God.
50:55I know some people don't.
50:56Many people who don't, nonetheless,
believe in something
51:01greater than themselves.
51:06I, I believe that, that if you believe in
something greater than yourself, that,
51:10that your life will be more full and and
productive.
51:13So I, I believe in God.
51:14And by the way, in believing in God, I
believe therefore we are all his children.
51:18And I believe that God loves all of us and
51:21I believe he loves us as you would love
your children.
51:25Some are doing naughty things.
51:26Some are doing nice things.
51:27But you love them all.
51:29And and, and I believe that I will be
measured, and you will be measured,
51:33based upon what you have done for your
fellow, children of God.
51:39And and that means your spouse, your
children, and your community more broadly.
51:45So that's a big part of what's important
to me,
51:47which are the people around me that I care
for.
51:50The person I care for moot, most in life
is my wife.
51:53We met at a high school.
51:54I love her passionately.
51:55She is the most important person in my
life.
51:58If I could do anything, any day, it would
be to be with her.
52:02That's what I enjoy most in life.
52:04Close thereafter is to be with my kids.
52:06My, my boys and their wives, and now 23
grandkids.
52:10The, the greatest joy I have in life is
being with them.
52:14Sitting around in the back yard, or at a
beach just being with my grandkids and
52:17family, is the greatest source of
happiness and
52:19the most important thing to me.
52:21Coming beyond that, is a circle which
includes my church, my congregation,
52:25the people I know at church, and my sense
of service to them.
52:29Service in the broadest sense.
52:32Giving back in the sense of caring for
people around me is,
52:35is follows from that belief in something
bigger than myself.
52:40I, I happen to believe that the currency
in life is the people that you love and
52:43that care for you.
52:45The friends you have.
52:46Most of which you've learned here, you'll
forget.
52:48The people you met here, you'll remember
for the rest of your life and and
52:52will form a big part of your, of your
wealth.
52:54That's your balance sheet when life is
over, who loves you and you love, and
52:58who are your friends and, and and how
close are they to you.
53:01So what's the most important thing to me?
53:03My God, my, my wife, my kids and, and my
fellow human beings.
53:08And, and I participate and engage with,
with, with people large through campaigns,
53:13through speeches, through serving at
charities in all sorts of ways.
53:18And, and the rewards, the rewards that
come back are, are rewards in people.
53:24And in friendship and love, and that's
what makes the most impact in my life.
53:30Thanks, you guys.
Congratulations to you and best of luck.
53:31Good to be with you
>> Thank you very much.
53:33>> Thank you.
53:34Thank you.
53:34Thank you.
53:35Nicely done.
53:36Very nicely done.
53:37>> [MUSIC]
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