Scott Pelly began by talking about “The most impressive leader I have ever met: Vladimir Zelensky.” He detailed how the comedian was elected president of Ukraine, then found himself in a years-long war with a superpower. How on the night of the first attack, he grabbed his phone and addressed the nation: “I am staying. We are staying. And we will fight.”
The Russians were so sure he would flee, they brought only five days provisions.
“Leadership is about one thing and one thing only: values. What you value drives your actions.”
Here are some quotes I wrote down during the evening:
“Don’t ask the meaning of life. Life is asking: ‘What’s the meaning of you?'”
“Freedom of the press is not a carve-out for me and my colleagues. YOU have freedom of the press.”
“There is no democracy without journalism.”
“I grew up in a three-network universe. As God intended.”
“Never give up. If you have this profession as a song in your heart, and someone can’t hear that song, that’s their problem – not yours.”
“We have done a terrible job of informing people how much we care and how hard we work to get Journalism right. The endless re-writes, the fact-checking. After all that, I used to ask myself three questions about every story: ‘Is it right?’ ‘Is it fair?’ ‘Is it honest?'”
On journalistic burnout: “A police officer or fireman might go to a cataclysmic event once in their life. We go to all of them. Even worse; you need empathy to do this job.”
“The opposite of being empathetic is being a sociopath.”
“My favorite book is Steinbeck’s ‘Grapes of Wrath.’ It is so full of insight, and Steinbeck kept a diary while he wrote it. It was full of entries like ‘I will never be a writer! I can’t put a sentence together.”
“No, I’ve never considered running for office: I just can’t lie. It’s a thing with me.”
“Whether you are writing on stone tablets or glass tablets, the ethical requirements do not change.”
“How to make a difference? Have empathy for your neighbor. If you have empathy, you’re involved, and you want to help.”
And asked if he was an optimist: “There is too much good in the world to not wake up and be an optimist.”
He told stories about Steinbeck and Charlie Chaplin, about Joe Biden, about other leaders. And about how he got into journalism at the age of fifteen. I may add those tomorrow, so watch this space.
