Okay, Kate, let's get started. I'm Charlie Gibson. And I'm Kate Gibson. And today, our guest for what I think you'll find a very interesting conversation is somebody who knows politics and particularly presidential politics on the inside, probably as well as anybody in the country. David Gergen has written a new book

on leadership. It is called Hearts Touched with Fire. And it is about leadership. What's new to

say about leadership? Okay, I think he actually has some things to say that are new. Well, first, I think

it's worth examining his perspective for the simple

reason that he served in the White House under both conservative and democratic presidents.

And I think anybody who comes from that rare of a perspective these days, what they have to say

about leadership is worth reading and

worth hearing.

He served in the Nixon White House, the Ford White House, the Reagan White House, and

the Clinton White House.

Interesting that somebody on the Democratic side would invite someone into the White

House to serve as a senior advisor when he had served three presidents

from the other party. What he essentially says is it's time for new leadership. We have had old folks,

we've had seven presidents, I think he says, in a row who came out of World War II, starting with Kennedy,

and now we need younger people. He talks about leadership as the ability to persuade others,

to mobilize others to your cause. But that isn't happening today. And he describes himself as a

short-term pessimist, but a long-term optimist.

But he does have a perspective on leadership, a perspective on the White House that is pretty much unrivaled in today's political world.

So, David Gergen, our conversation.

David Gergan, it is a pleasure to have you in the bookcase.

It was a pleasure to work with you when I was in the news business, and it's a pleasure to see you now.

You've written this book on leadership, and I just this morning was Googling leadership books, and there are thousands of them.

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