00:12My name is Paul McGonagher. My current position, quote-unquote, is retired. I have a career in the United States
00:19Foreign Service, in international banking, and international credit insurance. And I began my career in 69 and ended it in
00:27a few years ago.
00:32My first paying job was as a caddy at South Shore Country Club in Hingham, Massachusetts, which is a town
00:39about 30 miles or so south of Boston. I was also a lifeguard at the country club pool. I worked
00:45for three summers in a salvage yard south of Boston. In fact, as I approached the end of my undergraduate
00:52career, I said to my father, Dad, I can't wait to get a job or take a shower before work
00:58instead of after I get home.
01:00So I've had a lot of hands-on experience as well as professional experience.
01:08There are some people who are, let's say, culturally off-center or have personalities who are difficult to manage. Some
01:15people are very quick to anger. Some people are very defensive.
01:18And maybe the best way for me to answer this is with a specific example. One of my colleagues and
01:24I had a common boss at the bank. He had a very volatile personality. One evening, my colleague called me
01:31at home and he said,
01:32How do you manage to get along with this guy? And my answer was, if he's looking for a fight,
01:38don't give it to him. You can tell when he's looking for a fight.
01:41Unfortunately, this individual did not follow my advice and six months later he got fired. But anyway, any arts corporation
01:47is going to have a spectrum of personalities.
01:50Now you can feel your way through it. I can't lecture you through it. You can feel your way through
01:54it.
01:54And you can tell when you're getting it right and you can tell when you're getting it wrong.
02:02Always do what you say you're going to do. And do it when you said you were going to do
02:07it. You need to be reliable. People need to take your word seriously.
02:12And that's probably the most important attribute to have to succeed in multiple kinds of bureaucracies. And I've been through
02:21very different kinds of bureaucracies. And I know that works.
02:28Gary and I go, Myers and I go back a very, very long way. And we've always had a great
02:35relationship. And so when he invited me to join the group, I said, Yes. Now, that was some years ago,
02:41too.
02:41I continue to do it because it's a group of very smart people and very humble people. And you always,
02:50always learn something.
02:51Every time I get on the call, I hang up and I say, geez, I hadn't thought of that. I
02:55think of something somebody said during the meeting.
02:57That should happen to you a lot because it keeps you shocked and it keeps you interested. And so I
03:03find the continued participation in the group to be quite valuable.
03:07I study pretty hard the issues in news and particularly finance and foreign policy. And I like to have an
03:13outlet for my views.
03:15I also like to be told when I'm full of baloney, which is what everybody needs.
03:19When I was in large corporations, I always tried to hire people that were smarter than I was.
03:23And I tried to make them comfortable walking into my office and telling me I was full of baloney. That's
03:28important.
