George H.W. Bush Interview (page: 2 / 4) 41st President of the United States	Print Interview

How does vision affect performance, particularly in public service work?

Get the Flash Player to see this video. George H.W. Bush: Vision is an interesting word. I'm the President that the national press corps felt had no vision, and yet I worked for a more peaceful world. And we did something to say to a totalitarian dictator in Iraq, you're not going to take over your neighboring country. There's a vision there, which was peace. So, I'm a little defensive in the use of the word. Because I think the pundits had it down that I had no vision, but I did. You need a vision, you need a central core. You need to say, "Here's what I'm going to try to do to make life better for others."

[ Key to Success ] Vision

It doesn't have to be proclaimed in the fanciest prose. It doesn't have to be done with the most rhetorical flourish. It has to be your inner self. It's got to drive you. It can be a personal thing. It can be your set of values. Your vision can be, "I want to live to this code of behavior." It can be so many different things for one person or another. But I think you need it. I think you need to have an idea of where you want to be the next day, and ten years from now.

I've got a vision now. I've been President of the United States, and my vision is being the best grandfather in the entire world. It's a good vision. You let all these kids talk about all these marvelous books they're going to write, Nobel Prizes they're going to win, political mountains they're going to climb, but I can tell them, having been there, it's family that's important. My vision is to stay the hell out of the press and to be a good father and a good grandfather. That's a good vision, because there are families under great stress these days.

How do you see the importance of preparation for high achievement?

Get the Flash Player to see this video. George H.W. Bush: Know what you're talking about. Get out there and do enough homework, have enough background, understand enough history so that you're prepared for what you face today, and prepared to achieve your objectives. So, preparation is important. And it could be erudition, studying, so that you're bright. It could be being schooled in values, so you can be kind and gentle, it could be a lot things. But preparation - particularly for the younger people who haven't really experienced the real business of living -- it means work and it means broadening yourself so that you can better perform, better achieve objectives.

[ Key to Success ] Preparation

What role do you think courage plays?

George H.W. Bush: Courage is a terribly important value. It means you don't run away when things are tough. It means you don't turn away from a friend when he or she is in trouble. It means standing up against the majority opinion. In a fundamental sense it means: are you willing to give your life so somebody else can save his or hers? Courage is terribly important. There's a lot of people who won't wear it on their sleeve, or display it through some heroic act. But courage is having the strength to do what's honorable and decent.

How do you define integrity?

George H.W. Bush: The word integrity to me means being honest. It means that your word is good for something. I was in business years ago out in west Texas in the late '40s, and early '50s. You didn't need escrow agreements and 25 lawyers. Your word was your bond. You shook hands with a person and the deal was kept, it was made. Nobody would run away from a handshake. Integrity is having your word of honor so sacrosanct that others trust you.

Is there integrity in world politics today?

George H.W. Bush: Much more than you'd believe from the current wisdom: that everybody in politics is selfish, everybody is in there to glorify himself, or herself, that all politicians are corrupt.

Get the Flash Player to see this video. I'm disturbed by the attack on political figures. The assumption that everyone is guilty until proven innocent, is just 180 degrees different than the justice systems ought to be. And I don't know what it takes to change that. I think the attacks that hurt me the most were not those that differed with me on abortion, or guns, or prayer in school, or on balanced budgets, or on taxes. The ones that hurt the most were those that challenged my character. Didn't trust my word. And I think there's an adversarial feeling in the press that "All politicians are going to lie to me, and therefore it's my obligation to get to the truth." It's a very unhealthy view. And some political people do lie all the time, and step over their friend to achieve the objective themselves. But I'm one who believes that one's word of honor is about one of the most fundamentally important things there is.

[ Key to Success ] Integrity

How about perseverance?

George H.W. Bush: To achieve, you're going to have to persevere. And by that I mean that you can't let a roadblock turn you around. You can't expect life's path to be totally smooth. You're going to have to overcome adversity.

Perseverance means having the strength to prevail, to achieve your objective. I think if I were a high-achieving high school kid, privileged to attend meetings like the one I'm attending now in Williamsburg, Virginia, I would say, "You've come a long way. You're better than your peers, but you're just beginning."

If you really want to make a difference, whether it's in helping other people, or whether it's in fighting for your country, or whether it's in the political arena, or journalism, or physics, you've got to persevere. You've got to understand that there are going to be some enormous bumps in the road. They can be personal. You can get hurt badly. You can lose a friend, or a child, or a wife, or a husband. But you've got to persevere, you've got to be guided by certain principles and stay the course. If you quit, if you run away when the going gets tough, you won't really understand what a full life is all about.

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