Dr. Rajiv Shah

Sure. Well, I'd left Gates to join the U.S. Department of Agriculture as their chief scientist and overseeing the research and economics enterprise. And we were working a lot on international food security issues in that role. And one morning I got to the office. I used to get there pretty early. Other people weren't there yet. Seven, seven thirty.

Sure. Well, I'd left Gates to join the U.S. Department of Agriculture as their chief scientist and overseeing the research and economics enterprise. And we were working a lot on international food security issues in that role. And one morning I got to the office. I used to get there pretty early. Other people weren't there yet. Seven, seven thirty.

And one morning we had BlackBerrys back then, my BlackBerry rang. So I picked it up. And on the other line, it was like, hi, Raj, this is Hillary Clinton. And I said, oh, hi, how are you? Not a phone call I usually get. And she said, you know, I was talking to the president and he and I would like you to run USAID, which...

And one morning we had BlackBerrys back then, my BlackBerry rang. So I picked it up. And on the other line, it was like, hi, Raj, this is Hillary Clinton. And I said, oh, hi, how are you? Not a phone call I usually get. And she said, you know, I was talking to the president and he and I would like you to run USAID, which...

Obviously, he's been in the news now a lot, but a passionate collection of 10,000 amazing human beings and civil servants and foreign service workers with the sole mission of really making our country safer and stronger by projecting the best of our values, often into very difficult circumstances and communities and often at great personal risk.

Obviously, he's been in the news now a lot, but a passionate collection of 10,000 amazing human beings and civil servants and foreign service workers with the sole mission of really making our country safer and stronger by projecting the best of our values, often into very difficult circumstances and communities and often at great personal risk.

And my first week on the job, I was very, very fresh. You mentioned I was 36. I was new to that agency. I had just finished touring our emergency operations center when I got a note from my front office that said, Raj, the president would like to speak to you, which also hadn't happened at that point.

And my first week on the job, I was very, very fresh. You mentioned I was 36. I was new to that agency. I had just finished touring our emergency operations center when I got a note from my front office that said, Raj, the president would like to speak to you, which also hadn't happened at that point.

And it was because there was a massive earthquake, 8.0, in Haiti that had led to 21 of 22 ministries collapsing. It had led to loss of communications and visuals on what was going on. Ultimately, 250,000 people would have perished in what was the largest humanitarian catastrophe we had ever experienced to that moment.

And it was because there was a massive earthquake, 8.0, in Haiti that had led to 21 of 22 ministries collapsing. It had led to loss of communications and visuals on what was going on. Ultimately, 250,000 people would have perished in what was the largest humanitarian catastrophe we had ever experienced to that moment.

And the president asked me to lead a global and whole-of-government civilian military response. And that was my, I think, sixth day on the job. So it was pretty intense. But it was also a chance to see America's values in practice being applied at a moment of real need to a neighbor that's two hours from our shores.

And the president asked me to lead a global and whole-of-government civilian military response. And that was my, I think, sixth day on the job. So it was pretty intense. But it was also a chance to see America's values in practice being applied at a moment of real need to a neighbor that's two hours from our shores.

I've listened to some of your other guess, also say something very similar, which is, look, a lot of this is luck. And in that moment, I consider myself just lucky. I think, practically speaking, there are lots of great candidates for a role like that. A lot of people wanted that role, and any of us could have been highly qualified to get it. So a lot of it in that setting was luck.

I've listened to some of your other guess, also say something very similar, which is, look, a lot of this is luck. And in that moment, I consider myself just lucky. I think, practically speaking, there are lots of great candidates for a role like that. A lot of people wanted that role, and any of us could have been highly qualified to get it. So a lot of it in that setting was luck.

I think part of it was we knew, again, interesting given current events, but we knew that for America to have a strong development and humanitarian enterprise, we'd have to take a tough, hard look at reforming USAID and making the enterprise much more results oriented, much more accountable and much more efficient. And I think I had built a reputation for being

I think part of it was we knew, again, interesting given current events, but we knew that for America to have a strong development and humanitarian enterprise, we'd have to take a tough, hard look at reforming USAID and making the enterprise much more results oriented, much more accountable and much more efficient. And I think I had built a reputation for being

very quantitative, very results-oriented, and very businesslike practices I learned from Bill Gates and others in pursuit of this mission. This is not about just doing good. This is about the strategic application of American power in a hyper-efficient, results-oriented manner. And no one ever gets all the way there, but we made huge strides against that. And I think that reputation helped also.

very quantitative, very results-oriented, and very businesslike practices I learned from Bill Gates and others in pursuit of this mission. This is not about just doing good. This is about the strategic application of American power in a hyper-efficient, results-oriented manner. And no one ever gets all the way there, but we made huge strides against that. And I think that reputation helped also.

The lesson I drew from that that I write about in the book is to just ask for help a lot. And I'll tell you, my instincts are always to be kind of quantitative and data-driven. And so we built a scorecard very quickly and we had a basic strategic construct for how one would have to step in and provide feedback

The lesson I drew from that that I write about in the book is to just ask for help a lot. And I'll tell you, my instincts are always to be kind of quantitative and data-driven. And so we built a scorecard very quickly and we had a basic strategic construct for how one would have to step in and provide feedback