Q: Okay, but what about more specific lessons? What exactly did these big shots do when they were young people?

Sure, there were plenty of tactical lessons that leaders taught me, too. Some were predictable, like the tendency of successful people to work hard and to be socially adept. But other lessons weren't so intuitive.

For example, I was surprised to find that most leaders didn't have a consistent mentor throughout their careers. They didn't typically seek shelter under one person's wing and benefit from connections, job promotions, and the like. Instead, they were highly flexible, and found situational mentors at each stage of their careers. Hearing how they found those mentors was really interesting.

Also, leaders weren't as focused on their weaknesses as I would've imagined. Based on my own experience, young people these days are always coached to shore up their "weaknesses" and to become "better rounded". In many cases, I found these leaders were the opposite of well-rounded, and knew it! One of my chapters explores their tendency to play towards strengths, and away from weaknesses.

Finally, to take a third example of a surprising lesson, I would cite the role of confidence in leaders' success. I think I had a vague notion in starting my project that leaders developed confidence by achieving big things early in life. To the contrary, I found that many of them built their confidence by doing well in small things. By making sure they developed their expertise and built their skills in lower-level, lower-pressure situations, leaders seemed to prosper later. I call that chapter "Become the big fish by mastering the small pond."

I could go on and on, but the overall point is that there were some not-so-surprising elements of leaders' success, but also some familiar ideas recast in interesting ways. Seeing all those ideas played out, and of course hearing the specific details of leaders' personal stories, really was the heart of my project.

Q: Who was your favorite interviewee? How about least favorite?

Well, I'm going to stay mum about who I might not have gotten along with, but I can honestly say that the huge majority of my interviewees were impressively nice, friendly, funny people. My biggest surprise might have simply been that these so-called big shots were so approachable.

In terms of favorites, I honestly could cite a good number, but a few that stick out in my mind: Millard Fuller, the founder of Habitat for Humanity, for his uplifting spirit and fierce idealism. Mr. Fuller is significantly more religious than I am, but I found myself moved by his story of changing dramatically from a business to a non-profit career, in his late 20s. Ron Sargent, the CEO of Staples, was a super-nice, super-polished CEO. Paul Fireman, the founder of Reebok, made me laugh a number of times with his blunt, salt-of-the-earth personality. I can easily see why people trust him so easily. Jay Gellert of Health Net was very interesting in his philosophical outlooks and honesty. Jennifer Dunn, a former Congresswoman from Washington state, was sharp and witty. William Sharpe, the Nobel Prize-winning economist from Stanford, was someone whom I really admired professionally for his work on the Sharpe ratio (a key measure of investment volatility), but he turned out to be very approachable and down to earth. He and I ended up talking about Seattle, where he once lived as a young faculty member, and it turned out that we lived in adjoining neighborhoods! And finally, one last person: Tia Sillers, the Grammy-winning songwriter. She was a late addition to my interview list, but the way she had made a career for herself even after a modest start was inspiring. She was someone who was aware of the difficulties of "making it", yet kept going. She had a saying, "You become what you do," and I thought that was a terrific epigram.

Q: Did you enjoy writing this book?

Absolutely! It was a great experience. I highly recommend the overall process to others. Even if you don't end up writing a book, per se, just going through the steps of talking to others about their life experiences, and hearing what they valued and what they didn't, can be really helpful. I think a lot of times we get focused on the crush of our day-to-day responsibilities, and forget to step back and breathe deeply. Doing that was a great experience for me.

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