How was your job different than you thought it would be?
The biggest lesson from my early jobs was the importance of getting along with lots of other people: It’s not just what you know or even what you can do, but how you do it in a workplace filled with other people.

What important lessons or skills did you learn in your first job that have been instrumental in your success?
I learned how important it is to appreciate what other people do and how my job might affect them.

Which of those lessons, and how, carried into subsequent jobs after your first?
The key to managing other people or advancing a point of view is appreciating how what you want accomplish can fit in with the duties and desires of others.

Is there a specific event in your first job that you learned something you still use today?
In my first full-time job, the main project I was working on – a book on the attenuation of civil liberties – was cancelled because the contributors all worked independently and could not bring their various contributions together to create a coherent whole.

At that point, did someone give you advice that you carried and/or later passed on to someone else?
I realized what had happened and understood that the organization was dysfunctional, so I left.

Do you currently work in the same (or related) field as you did in your first job?
Consulting is related to a think tank; but being in political office and management are not.

What obstacles that you faced had the greatest impact on your career path?
The political fortunes of the Democratic Party.

What people or outside factors affected your work ethic or motivated you the most to succeed?
The values of my parents, and the political turmoil of my adolescence (the 1960s).

What advice would you give to someone starting his or her first job?
Be patient, learn as much as you can from anyone you can, and do what you believe in.

What is the most valuable advice you have for young adults who want to pursue their own business plan?
Work at something you truly care about, find others who believes in you (and will invest resources in your success), develop a service or product that is distinctive, and be patient for success. Finally: be lucky!

What do you find most rewarding about your position today?
The intellectual stimulation of the work, and those occasional times when our work changes the way others think and operate.