Latest / In Search Of Excellence / Mircea Geoana: NATO Support for Young Leaders and Innovators | E62

Transcript

Mircea Geoana: NATO Support for Young Leaders and Innovators | E62 · In Search Of Excellence

• 0:00
  Mircea Geoana: I started in NATO, a young professionals program, we offer something like 20 positions, you know how many applications we got for 20 positions or 1000s houses and they do a great thing for three years they rotate. And once they are working with us in Brussels, then they go to America and then they go, I don't know where else, we decided to create two things. One, to have a sort of an ecosystem of test centres accelerators, where startups and young entrepreneurs can test their ideas for free. If that technology is promising NATO allies to put some money into the first ever multinational sovereign venture capital fund.
• 0:42
  Randall Kaplan: You're listening to part two of my awesome conversation with Neutrogena the Deputy General Secretary of NATO. If you haven't yet listened to part one, be sure to check that one out first.
• 0:50
  Randall Kaplan: Without further ado, here's part two with the amazing nitro Juwanna. Carlos typeclass have more positive things tell us about NATO's billion dollar entrepreneur fund. What's behind that and what's his purpose?
• 1:03
  Mircea Geoana: Listen, when I when the Secretary Stoltenberg recruited me for the job two PCs, number two, he gave me an interesting job said mutual does make, I want you to be the champion of innovation in it.
• 1:14
  Mircea Geoana: And for me, innovation is not only technology, innovation is a mindset you are innovating with this podcast with your great crew here. I try to innovate in in dealing with my kids and education.
• 1:28
  Randall Kaplan: I listen to hear you're the dad so they don't really listen. But they listen to someone else.
• 1:31
  Mircea Geoana: They listen, they listen to me. And that's why I'm trying to use my chips wisely, because they listen to me but not on everything I say. So I have to be very, very careful.
• 1:42
  Mircea Geoana: But I chaired the Innovation Board in NATO. And that's a formidable experience for me.
• 1:46
  Mircea Geoana: Because I look to every single technology, every single technology, AI and big data, biotech, quantum everything, space cyber, with the lenses of national security. And you see the same technology the same, the same basically, object can be used in a ubiquitous way for doing great good, great good fighting cancer and, you know, better education systems and many good things, supply chain everything else, when we decided to really nurture what we call the innovation ecosystem is 1 billion strong alliances. With so many great universities, with probably I think most of the Nobel Prize laureates coming from NATO countries, we decided to create two things, one, to have a sort of an ecosystem of test centres, accelerators, where startups and young entrepreneurs can test their ideas for free in something like 100 places all over the Alliance from Romanian Estonia all the way to Canada and America and everything in between. And if you have an idea for dual use technology, on anything, you can go and come to us and say listen, I would like Knock knock, doors open. We'd like to take this in, in what we call Diana, which is the Defense Innovation accelerator for North Atlantic, that's the acronym and you can go and test it in AI in Romania, or something in Texas, whatever. And if that technology is promising, then the innovation fund that we started, which is the first sovereign multinational venture capital fund, sounds quite quite attention in what I'm saying.
• 3:34
  Mircea Geoana: Yeah, it is attention. But we convinced NATO allies to put some money into the first ever multinational sovereign venture capital fund. So when we have a company testing an idea in Guyana, and then getting a little bit of seed money from the NATO Innovation Fund, and we just recruited, the the management of the fund will be done by professionals is not bureaucrats. We hire people from the venture capital industry, the best of the best. So that company with their idea tested in Guyana and maybe the seed money, they mature, the the innovation, the young ones have the equity in their pocket, not forced to sell it too soon,
• 4:15
  Randall Kaplan: and you keep some of the equity. We don't, okay. 100%
• 4:19
  Mircea Geoana: it's what we want. We want them to be successful. It's not for us making money. We are not where we are, it's that we are international organization, we don't make profit out of that.
• 4:27
  Mircea Geoana: So all these younger entrepreneurs, with an idea which is already consolidated a little bit of money to help them cross the you know, the Death Valley of the place between it and the marketplace, and then they can go to the real big venture capital or the big tech and the others and mature their business. And then and the benefit for us that we have smart technology from a young startups producing for us as dual use technology that can be used for the civilian purpose for the good positive sense, but also making sure that they can be used also in national security is good business. Yes, it is smart. Yes. And you also addressing an issue, because not every single nation in NATO are, as, you know, powerful economically or financially, or the depth of the venture capital system, or the wealth of the American universities. Some countries are smaller. So also the Albanians of the world, and you know, and Croatia and other countries, my country, Romania is a big country in the region that is not you know, the most affluent of the nations in the universe. So in a way, you also create less asymmetry of power between allies. And again, as I mentioned, from the Baltic Sea, to the Black Sea, and from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean, we have a huge ecosystem of innovation. And I'm very proud that what Yes, notable told me Bucha be the champion of innovation, I have a sense of, you know, mission accomplished in a way, because we have done things that are will be helping our, in the competition with China, because that's the most formidable challenge that we had in centuries, as the political West, maintaining our edge in technology, is the essence of this competition, is the essence of this competition. So it'd be a pity for us not to put work, fantastic talent coming from bigger or smaller nations in NATO. And as I said, Finland and Sweden, because joining will also add tremendous depth and sophistication to our technology ecosystem.
• 6:33
  Randall Kaplan: So in the VC world where I live, you're a venture firm, you get over 1000 business plans a year, some 5000. You have to sift through those, I imagine you're talking about a worldwide billion dollar fund, I imagine you're gonna get 10s of 1000s of submissions, how are you going to manage that and pick out the good ones and the bad ones? How much are you funding per company? And then who should they contact for all the people listening to this podcast and not sending you an email? But how do you go about it to have someone with your business plan?
• 7:05
  Mircea Geoana: So basically, on the Diana side, in Europe, we have European HQ for Diana, which is based at Imperial College in London. There's a we recruited the head of Diana deep Chana, who used to be a professor at Imperial and he's now running Diana, together with a professional team. And they issuing challenges. So we don't open the fund or Diana to everything we say, Okay, now we're more interested in quantum give an example. And we are waiting for applications for from startups, for Diana, and then innovation, fund it through challenges. So we don't get everything at the same time, because then will be very difficult to do this. I'll be speaking at the Milken conference tomorrow after we we have this podcast. And I'll be on the panel with the with the with the person we recruited to run our our innovation fund. So now we have two institutions that have a governance that is actually like in real life.
• 8:02
  Mircea Geoana: There's not NATO running those things. We have professionals hired to do this thing. So yeah, there'll be a cap of money, and a challenge on what kind of technologies and what kind of applications who are waiting, and then through a process, we can really manage any hope to be lots of requests for funding and lots of requests for testing ideas in in Diana. So and of course, this this is something which is a learning curve. We are not. We are not going to stop here probably will the funnel grow. I hope even bigger.
• 8:40
  Mircea Geoana: And also in Guyana is not a static process. So tomorrow, I could have another university. I don't know. Now we have in Rome.
• 8:49
  Mircea Geoana: We were waiting in American friends here in the studio. And by the way, the top military commander in NATO is Chris Kavali. Superb military leader.
• 8:56
  Mircea Geoana: He's also Italian American. So we have now in Turin, Italy. One of the more of the what Italy offers to Diana, next year could be some money from tourism or something from Milan, or in Bucharest, my alma mater the political University is offering a test center for AI next time could be something inclusion Transylvania offering something else. So there's also a sort of a competition inside the innovation ecosystem in in NATO to have more in Denmark. We have the Niels Bohr Research Institute doing on quantum is the best in Europe that we have.
• 9:38
  Mircea Geoana: We have Sweden and Finland offering new things to us and we come so yeah, there'll be a lot of dynamism. And this will be with the speed of private sector. We don't want to have a bureaucratic process impeding on the velocity or the capacity of the fund and Dianna to reach his potential.
• 9:59
  Randall Kaplan: Whatever The cheque sizes that you're writing, are going to write,
• 10:03
  Mircea Geoana: I'm not going to get into that when it comes about money. I'm not into that.
• 10:05
  Mircea Geoana: But as I mentioned, it's already on the on the websites of both the Innovation Fund in NATO and Diana, and I think anyone interested could could look it up. It would be a very transparent, professional process.
• 10:20
  Randall Kaplan: On our path to success. We all have mistakes, we overcome challenges. Can you talk about a few of yours on a personal basis, and NATO's and what you learned from them?
• 11:23
  Mircea Geoana: Listen, I mentioned one of the my my credo is in life, which is never be satisfied with yourself, there's always room to do more to do better. And unnecessarily in terms of, you know, having more money in your bank account, it only helps. But to be a more fulfilled human being, to be a better father, or a better husband, or a better friend, or a better citizen. So I always believed that there is a sort of a ongoing cycle of, of investing in yourself and doing doing something with your life. The other thing that happened when I was very young ambassador to America, I got an invitation totally by accident. Because I was a young guy scared to death, what what I'm doing here in this big country, so young and relatively inexperienced, and I got an invitation to the Aspen Institute for a leadership seminar. And they do this. Not coincidentally, also from 1949, the same year when NATO was founded, the Aspen Institute in Colorado was founded and they started basically, with a Gertie Bicentennial, big, big, big gathering. And the old mining city was dying. And they just came from all over the world with philosophers and business leaders in the music tent, which was assembled, you see the photo with the old Fords, you know, coming, coming to that place, and ever since they are doing these leadership programs, and I attended one of the leadership programs, which is not about skills, it's about values. It's about the moral compass, that and the ongoing conversation, a long history. Because from the Roman Empire days, and ancient Greece, to today's world and tomorrow's world, there is the same conversation between community and freedom between individual and collective rights. And this kind of leadership seminar that is basically helping you understand the ongoing conversation about who we are, and what's the meaning of a good society and a fulfilled life. And the combination between mind body and spirit we find also in church, but you also find it with philosophers. And for me, that was a sort of a tremendous wake up call for me, as a young guy. Understanding that being successful in life is not enough if you also do something more.
• 13:46
  Mircea Geoana: So when I returned to Romania, I saw the National Institute in Romania. And to give an example of a huge satisfaction I had over the 1000s of young ones that we've been educating and training leadership in my part of the world. And I was receiving Deputy Defense Minister of Ukraine in NATO HQ just last week. And he says, a young guy, big you know, these khaki squares are uniform that they're wearing to Mr. Johanna, I'd like to thank you, you changed my life. I attended the Aspen Institute, Romania leadership seminar, amazing.
• 14:23
  Mircea Geoana: And, and, and the Sunday before I go to the Romanian church in Paris, I was visiting Paris, and I go to the to the service. I'm a Christian Orthodox. And I go to the service at the end of the service, a young priests, young priests, you know, the Byzantine robes. Christian Orthodox comes to me, Mr. John, I'd like to thank you, you changed my life, I attended a leadership seminar as a young student, that business school of Bucharest, to the Aspen Institute, and now I turn to become a priest because my my call is with God and everything he wants to do. So I'm just saying that we I strongly believe in leadership and what we call value based leadership and values are not identical. You probably in your, in your, you know, philosophy of life, you're probably driven, you know, by results and things others are more, let's say more community oriented, some people will like to do, you know, to start a charity, others would like to start a big business, others will just like to be left alone, and just be able to live their lives. Some people would like to go, you know, to become a Buddhist and to have a sort of a life of, you know, of self improvement spiritually. I'm not saying is as one size fits all, but investing in young leaders and the values animated in them is the most rewarding thing in my life. And this is something that I'll continue to do and my dream when I really get old now i I'm still doing pretty well, is to become a moderator of aspen leadership seminars, and are preparing to take a course and to be able to have the same joy with many, many young generations to come. So that's my thing, investing in young people to have the best possible and most fulfilled lives that they can have.
• 16:11
  Randall Kaplan: So what are five ingredients it takes to be a great leader if she couldn't list them. 12345
• 16:18
  Mircea Geoana: Number one, my lesson there not such thing as a natural born leader, you can build yourself a leader, even if you're shy person, I was very shy when I was young.
• 16:31
  Randall Kaplan: That's hard to believe, by the way. Yeah,
• 16:32
  Mircea Geoana: I was very shy, very shy, and was probably communist education and my dad and all these things, I was shy.
• 16:38
  Mircea Geoana: And I changed gears. And he RM you know, if you if you wake me up really at night, and tell me you go to the fantastic, you know, Stadium in in, in Los Angeles, when because I'm still watching the the, you know, the Super Bowl, halftime show of last year with hip hop and, and, you know, with Dre and Snoop Dogg, if you put me speak in front of 100,000 people in the stadium, I go and shake, I have no problem doing this. And the same guy, 3040 years back, I was the shyest person in the universe. So the first lesson, you can really build yourself to being a leader. Thank you.
• 17:20
  Mircea Geoana: Secondly, there's not one type of leader. There are some leaders that are leading by example, there are leaders that are team leaders, others that are basically leading from behind. So and the third one is never be happy with the kind of success that you have in your in that moment of life, I can only give you no explicit leadership lessons, because God has made all of us unique. And I'm too humble, and also to experience in life to say that my recipe can be replicated by anyone else. The only thing we all have, is the capacity to learn to improve, to be better human beings. And basically, to try to make a difference in the world.
• 18:10
  Mircea Geoana: It could be a difference in making a great podcast, like I hope we were doing today. Or you can really be a president of a country. Or you can be a CEO of a great company. Or you just be a great a great civic leader, or somebody that you just educating as a single mom, your kids to be successful in life through sacrificing yourself. So there is no one type of leadership, definition of success is subjective. And thirdly, we always have something good in ourselves that we can, we can offer and we can do a little bit of good in our lives.
• 18:47
  Randall Kaplan: So sometimes we think about being a leader, not just with straight up the middle tangible things, but things like humor, you're known to be a funny guy. How important is it to be funny to be a team leader?
• 18:57
  Randall Kaplan: Does that help you become a team leader, I want people to think about in this podcast, ways to improve in ways that we don't normally think about to improve ourselves and our search for excellence.
• 19:12
  Mircea Geoana: Listen, as we grow more experience, there is a tendency for all of us to become a little bit, how should I put it rigid and dry from within?
• 19:21
  Mircea Geoana: And a little bit a little bit, a little bit arrogant? Because we know how to do things. And you know, I've done times, yeah.
• 19:34
  Mircea Geoana: Anyway, we have such great experience that we start believing that our experience is in itself. Enough, it is not. So what I'm trying to improve myself, used to be able to listen more, to build be more humble. I'm not an arrogant person. I'm a relatively modest kind of person. But sometimes I have so many things to share that are not listening to the other guy. I'm always trying to tell them what I believe is good for them. And in decent way street. Even the guy would not, you know, the the average Joe has something to tell you. Every guy young or old man or woman, whatever kind of nationality or whatever person they are. They have they have something to offer. When I was doing campaigning in my home country of Romania because i By the way, I won the elections and I were declared the victor of the presidential elections. So I went to bed as the president of Romania and I woke up with some suspicious ballots coming in and said no, no, no, no. And it was proven it was basically a rigged election. So I came. I overcame that thing. Look, I am I'm moving forward. So what I'm just saying Don't Don't Don't let yourself, especially for the more experienced and more seasoned leaders. Don't let that kind of wealth of knowledge and experience dominate you. There's always something to learn.
• 21:02
  Mircea Geoana: Listen to the others, even the most, let's say, you know, unspectacular human being can teach you something, a lesson of life, a story, listen more, and then try to give back as much as you possibly can.
• 21:23
  Randall Kaplan: You talk about success minute ago, what does it take to be successful? Can you give us three or five ingredients of success,
• 21:29
  Mircea Geoana: there's only one, never give up. Never give up.
• 21:34
  Mircea Geoana: Life is tough. You're up, you're down, I was up, I was down. You can one day be sick one day, have a problem one day, you have a problem with your girlfriend or whatever. And you know, things happen in life. Never give up. Never give up. We have one thing one life, and God has put us on this earth, to do the best with our lives never give up, there's always a second chance. There's always a third chance. As long as you you keep the faith that by doing the good things and the right things you can you can do things in life.
• 22:07
  Mircea Geoana: So never give up. That's the one lesson number one, never give up. Things Up, sometimes very successful, keep them rolling.
• 22:15
  Mircea Geoana: Sometimes they go, they go south. Don't Don't give up.
• 22:19
  Mircea Geoana: Always there is a chance to come back and do better things with yoga.
• 22:26
  Randall Kaplan: So one of the things that's led to by success is something that I call extreme preparation. That's our Preparing anybody else and anything that I do someone's preparing one hour for something, I may go 10 or 15 or 20 as extreme preparation been important to any of your accomplishments and successes.
• 22:42
  Randall Kaplan: And can you give us some very specific examples of that?
• 22:48
  Mircea Geoana: Listen, I'm coming from a culture which is not always very disciplined. I mentioned the fact that we are very close to Italians as Romanians. So we have a lot of creativity. Sometimes we know that we are talented people, really. And sometimes when you're have a sort of a natural talent for something, preparation seems to be less important.
• 23:16
  Randall Kaplan: You know, like Mr. People, people get lazy.
• 23:18
  Randall Kaplan: That's the problem.
• 23:19
  Mircea Geoana: And my lesson is that even if you're very gifted and talented, in sports, in music, in politics, in whatever profession, you have, always find time to prepare properly.
• 23:33
  Mircea Geoana: There is no notch, look, look at, you know, a tennis I love tennis and, and look, this young Spanish guy who is now dominating tennis, he's immensely gifted, but he's so hard working as well. I don't think that extreme preparation, as you mentioned, it would be something for me to be honest, because I don't think I have enough patience, to go hours and hours. But what I'm not also in NATO, and also a lot in America, and in my days in France when I was young, is that talent is not enough. You have to work for work, to put your talent into work. So in NATO, there is absolutely no single thing we do without what we call a prep meeting before there are people from a speech, I will give a commencement speech at Virginia Tech. In a week from now, I will be at Stanford, I will be in Washington, everywhere there is a preparation video. So yeah, you're right. I'm not a big fan of extreme preparation. But I'm, I'm a great fan of, of proper, serious preparation. Because that's the key to success.
• 24:40
  Randall Kaplan: How many times you're going to run through that speech before you get out there
• 24:45
  Mircea Geoana: a few times, a few times, I give you the recent speech I gave at Imperial College, we watch the annual lecture, it was something more solemn, you know, British tradition, a great school. And I think I prepared with my with my team a few times back and forth.
• 25:01
  Mircea Geoana: And in the end, also the last minute, I also made some corrections. And I also live with improvised on the margins during the speech. But there is always a back and forth process with my team. And I am I'm very, very fortunate to have a fantastic team of speech writers and NATO. There's always be I tried also to put something on me. You can have great speech writers, but there's always something from from your personality and your vision that has to be to be present in any any public appearance.
• 25:38
  Randall Kaplan: I think part of preparation, too, is preparing for the unexpected. And when your daughter was six months old, you were in President Clinton's office and she bent his hand and your son was too and took something off his desk.
• 25:50
  Randall Kaplan: So how you prepare for a very odd Are moments like that and keep your cool and not lose it
• 25:57
  Mircea Geoana: was it was such a Yeah. I remember it was as nowaday in Washington. And when they invite you to present the credentials to the White House to the president, they, they send you a big limo from the White House to pick you up. So very, no solemn think. And our residence in Washington was basically on a sort of a street, which was already steep. And of course, American car, especially in Washington, they don't have enough, you know, there's no four wheel drive. So all of us, you should see me and my team, and the drivers, you know, pushing the car because he couldn't leave the house. And then we had our kids with us.
• 26:36
  Mircea Geoana: But presentation was so so gracious, Sandy Berger, God bless his soul was there. So everybody was looking so amused that our son, they can get a big stick from Zaire very colorful from, from the resolute desk from President Clinton, and playing with this. So yeah, we have prepared for the unexpected, but also have humor.
• 26:58
  Mircea Geoana: Because if you take things too seriously, then you could have a problem. Because things, you have to treat them also, as they come, you cannot curate everything, you cannot prepare for everything. So leave a little bit of humor. And that's how all of us, we feed that moment in the Oval, which was just grateful for our kids. For us.
• 27:20
  Randall Kaplan: What do you think about the value of mentors? How important are they in our success?
• 27:25
  Mircea Geoana: I believe in in, I believe in mentorship. I mean, I've done this a few times. I also believe in the indirect mentorship kind of thing. So I have people that influenced my life. And they will not my mentors explicitly. There was so that their example was so powerful that they were basically mentoring me without them knowing they are my mentors. So I think the second version for me is more valuable.
• 27:55
  Mircea Geoana: And, and there were a few few people like this that really influenced my life. It's also a matter of timing, what kind of situation are you in and what kind of influence you can get in a in a moment like this. When you're very successful, sometimes you believe you know it all. And when you stake Yeah, when you're down, you're more open, for advice for wisdom, for compassion, for love, for faith.
• 28:23
  Mircea Geoana: So that's why I think that the most important mentors for me were not the ones influencing me they are when I was really a big shot, but more when I was more lonely and a little bit more sad, and a little bit more vulnerable. And I think that's the kind of mentorship that I would encourage people to try to have to end if you can, of course, if you can give time to younger ones, and accept to be their mentor and help them as much as you can. I started the mentorship program with Native men, I had a formidable German young lady. She came back from Afghanistan, by the way. And I was so happy to be able to work with her. I studied in NATO, a young professionals program. We offer something like 20 positions, you know how many applications we got for 20 positions for 1000s 1000s 1400s.
• 29:24
  Mircea Geoana: And I'm meeting those and another mentor. And they do a great thing for three years they rotate. And once they are working with us in Brussels, then they go to America. And then they go I don't know where else. And every six months I'm meeting the 20 young leaders of NATO, I say how are you guys doing? I'm not their mentor. I'm just a more seasoned guy. Try to see how they how they have they enjoy the experience with my organization. And then yeah, so giving back to the young ones.
• 29:59
  Mircea Geoana: It's very, very, very, very fulfilling and very rewarding.
• 30:05
  Randall Kaplan: I love mentoring young hungry people. You know, I have a summer intern program your daughter was in my program is phenomenal. I remember since we got 1000 applications now each summer has become a thing.
• 30:17
  Randall Kaplan: And there's nothing more enjoyable to me than it takes someone young and hungry and motivated and make a huge difference in somebody's life. I had dinner last night with one of my interns. 11 years ago, she worked at a consulting firm went to Wharton. She's working at a large car company and it's just incredible what she has been able to do and it's incredible for her to tell me I had a big influence on her career. It keeps me going and motivates me to keep doing it. And with the podcast as well.
• 30:49
  Mircea Geoana: Continue doing this. I really I remember when I was, I think, a few years back, I met through the Aspen Institute us, a guy who was working with General McChrystal on a program, which was, I think, called National Service.
• 31:16
  Mircea Geoana: And now, which I think is Service Year Alliance is a big program that was also adopted by the White House. So basically, and I think Cisco offered for free the digital platform, to have volunteer offer and volunteer needs, being matched with private sector, with government, with with citizens.
• 31:38
  Mircea Geoana: And it is my my dream, to bring it back to Romania. Because civic involvement, trying to do these kind of things on bigger or smaller scale is very, very important. So I'm gonna be meeting General McChrystal in Washington and try to seek his advice. And also talk to Chuck Robbins, the CEO of Cisco to say, if he would be able to do in a smaller replica in Romania.
• 32:06
  Mircea Geoana: And I'm dreaming of the day when we'll have people you know, doing, you know, not only the military service, but also the civic service, and trying to give something back to the community. So congratulations for the work you're doing with the young ones.
• 32:22
  Randall Kaplan: Thank you. I appreciate that. You've been very successful in your career, you've had jobs that take an enormous amount of time, day night morning, I'm sure you get woken up with crazy things from time to time. What's the secret to work life balance, and what's your advice to people at when they're 20 years old versus 30 years old, versus 40 years old?
• 32:42
  Randall Kaplan: Where's that line?
• 32:43
  Mircea Geoana: For me doing sports and listening to music, and, of course, family. But I would say that these are the two big things that you have to keep your emotional side and your brain, you know, in sync. And my life was not only always full of success, I had lots of difficult moments, I had lots of difficult moments. And when you're very successful, there is a adrenaline of success coming with you. You're pumped up, you do things your way, you will feel fulfilled. The art of living a meaningful life is to try to stay afloat at least when your love. And again, family sports, learning something new, and listening to lots of music, I love music, all sorts of music. I mentioned, the Superbowl halftime show, but also, you know, classical music, or whatever kind of music I just love. And I think that the combination between it's again, mind, body and spirit. And you can find a balance between the three, you'll be able to surf through life and have a meaningful life.
• 33:53
  Randall Kaplan: What keeps you up at night,
• 33:54
  Mircea Geoana: you know, when you work with things. So complex, like the ones I'm working with, if you're in NATO, sometimes I you also have a tendency to have a sort of a foresight for bad things to happen. I had in in Brussels, a new friend of ours that also worked on that intern for you also work for a great lady. And she came to speak to NATO and European Union about anti microbial disease. So we developed, we develop a sort of a immunity to antibiotics and things like this, and that's becoming a big issue. And the World Health Organization is saying this is one of the 10 dangerous things to come. I'm not saying I'm waking up at night because of these things.
• 34:49
  Mircea Geoana: But in the business of working with crises, I'm thinking which will be the next one to hit us.
• 34:59
  Mircea Geoana: And even more than that, which will be the combination of crises that will be hitting us at the same time. So in a way I'm I have a sort of a dooms you know, instinct in, in my in my radars. In a way this is bad, because it can wake you up all night. It's also good because you you are more resilient, and be expecting the unexpected. So for the young ones, I'd say buckle up because there'll be lots of unexpected things coming in your life. And the more complicated life is, the more you have to go to the simple things that keep us as human beings, who we are, which is love, compassion, giving something back to society and trying to improve yourself on all your life.
• 35:44
  Randall Kaplan: Your terms, Deputy Secretary General Daniels For years you've been asked to stay another year. What's next for you after you leave NATO you I
• 35:54
  Mircea Geoana: don't know, we have, you know, you know, I think we were lucky to have this big job at NATO because I learned lots of things, we have many options after we leave, we might go back to Romania and continue the work that we have started. We could do something different. Anyway, I'll do everything that we'll do with the same passion. And I hope I'll be invited again on your podcast.
• 36:17
  Randall Kaplan: I love you. I love for you to be on, especially if you're the president of Romania. And that would be super
• 36:22
  Mircea Geoana: cool to see. I'm time will tell us you again. I'm vaccinated with politics. So we'll see what what life brings us.
• 36:31
  Randall Kaplan: Before we finish that I want to go ahead and ask some more open ended questions.
• 36:33
  Randall Kaplan: I call this part of my podcast fill in the blank to excellence I ready to play? Sure. The biggest lesson I've learned in life
• 36:42
  Mircea Geoana: is, is never give up.
• 36:46
  Randall Kaplan: My number one professional goal is
• 36:49
  Mircea Geoana: to be the best in my profession of politics.
• 36:53
  Randall Kaplan: My number one
• 36:54
  Mircea Geoana: personal goal is to see my kids happy.
• 36:58
  Randall Kaplan: My biggest regret is
• 37:00
  Mircea Geoana: that that was not doing enough when I had the opportunity to change to change things in life.
• 37:06
  Randall Kaplan: The one thing I'm Jim now for a long time, but haven't done yet is
• 37:12
  Mircea Geoana: to go to Super Bowl final two again. I attended the Lakers game, and by the way, they I'm very happy that they made it on the way up. But I would like to really go to the Superbowl and to see the halftime show life. That's something I really want to do if I could, I don't know. Let's see next year will be where?
• 37:35
  Randall Kaplan: Okay, we'll find I'm not sure where it is next year, who's your favorite football team
• 37:40
  Mircea Geoana: in Romania is my you know, my family's theme, which is a small, smaller team.
• 37:43
  Mircea Geoana: Of course, all of us are looking to Premier League. We are big soccer fans in Europe. So I was watching the Arsenal, Manchester City competition and see who's going to win the Champions League. That's big. That's a big deal.
• 37:59
  Randall Kaplan: Do you have a favorite team are kind of football, American football?
• 38:03
  Mircea Geoana: No. I attended a few games. I played rugby football when I was young, also for two years. So I love American football because it reminds me of the original rugby football, which was the inspiration for American football. If
• 38:18
  Randall Kaplan: you could go back in time and give yourself one piece of advice to your 21 year old self, what would it be?
• 38:25
  Mircea Geoana: Take more time with your kids when they're young. The only regret I have because being so busy and so absorbed with everything I do and being so driven, that sometimes probably I didn't give my kids enough quality time as a father they should have. Thanks.
• 38:40
  Mircea Geoana: Thanks, God, my wife Behala compensated somehow and I hope the kids are not holding anything against.
• 38:49
  Randall Kaplan: If you could meet one person in the world, who would it be? Myself? What do you mean by that?
• 38:58
  Mircea Geoana: Just being the better, the better. Self that I know I can be i i think we should not dream of being someone else. I think we should dream to being the better version of oneself.
• 39:14
  Randall Kaplan: What's the one question you wish that I'd asked you?
• 39:18
  Mircea Geoana: I would have hoped you don't ask the question about returning to Romania and politics but because that's my team tells me never touch on that one.
• 39:28
  Randall Kaplan: HR, you've done amazing things in your career doing a great job at NATO. I'm so grateful for you to make time for coming in today. Thanks for being here on a search of excellence.
• 39:38
  Mircea Geoana: Thank you so much and I hope the younger ones who will be watching OSHA they're gonna love it.