Tiger Sisters - The Real Rules of Power in America (How to Use Them) with Rahm Emanuel

Episode Date: April 27, 2026

Thank you to OneSkin for sponsoring this video. Get 15% off OneSkin with the code TIGERSISTERS at https://www.oneskin.co/TIGERSISTERS #oneskinpodSign up for our newsletter here and be the first to access our upcoming LIVE EVENT: https://cherieluo.substack.com/subscribeWhat does it take to lead at the highest levels of power? Today, we’re sitting down with Rahm Emanuel, former White House Chief of Staff to President Obama, former Mayor of Chicago, U.S. Ambassador to Japan, and one of the most influential (and outspoken) figures in American politics. From negotiating billion-dollar deals in Washington to navigating global diplomacy, Rahm breaks down how power really works and gives several valuable reflections on life, love, and relationships. Tune in for more on: ✅ How Rahm would lead a divided America ✅ The biggest mistake people make in negotiations ✅ Why trust is the most valuable currency in leadership ✅ What working alongside Obama taught him about communication and charisma ✅ His honest take on American power, global influence, and what’s broken right now ✅ The importance of family as a pillar in American lifeThis is a true masterclass on money, power, leadership, and the realities of being “in the room where it happens.” Timestamps:00:56: Introducing Rahm Emanuel  01:50: Will Rahm be our next President? 02:20: How Rahm would lead a divided America 06:24: The ‘Hunger Games’ of American politics 08:16: How deals get done in Washington 10:50: What you should do before sitting down to negotiate 19:22: Is the US still the most dominant power in the world? 21:08: 4 elements in the toolbox for diplomacy 25:10: Rahm’s thoughts on the current administration’s social media use30:18: Cherie, Jean, and Rahm do presidential impressions 38:30: President Obama’s charisma and leadership style45:08: How Presidents meet people where they are in crisis 47:00: The most important role, aside from the President54:10: Leaving the world a better place (Tzedakah)55:00: Rahm’s love and dating advice 58:30: Rahm’s sibling dynamic (meet the Tiger Brothers) 1:05:31: Live improv debates1:10:13: Rahm on the importance of family 1:13:22: Closing thoughts🐯👯‍♀️ We’re the Tiger Sisters — your Wall Street & Silicon Valley big sisters Decoding Money • Power • Love✨ New episodes every Monday | Shorts all week ✨💌 Want to partner with us? Sponsorships: [e-mail] trust us?▫️ Cherie Brooke Luo — 100M+ views demystifying tech, finance & MBAs▫️ Jean Luo — ex-Goldman Sachs, ex-Snapchat exec, 50+ AI patents, startup investor▫️ Together: 4 Ivy League degrees • built billion-dollar products • two startups — decoded for youWhat you’ll get (and keep):▫️ 🚀 Ivy League cheat sheets — no $250K tuition▫️ Personal finance playbooks (salary, investing, negotiation)▫️ Networking scripts behind $100M+ deals & job offers▫️ Real conversations with CEOs, operators & investors▫️ Mindset resets — clarity without the pricey coach▫️ Systems for career, money, and long-term growth💛 LET’S CONNECT~ CHERIE ~Instagram — /cherie.brookeTikTok — /cherie.brookeSubstack — cherieluo.substack.comLinkedIn — /cherie-luo~ JEAN ~Instagram — /jeanluo_LinkedIn — /jeanluo👉 Hit Subscribe & tap the 🔔, then leave a ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ review on Spotify & Apple Podcasts. It takes 10 seconds and makes a massive difference in helping new people discover Tiger Sisters.🛍️ Items:🍵 Sisters Matcha — www.sistersmatcha.com🌀 Everything else — https://amzn.to/3z0dx5b

We heard you are on the Tiger Sisters podcast to announce your presidential run. Blink if this is true. I feel like one of the hostages in North Korea. Communicate with my eyes. I think people are yearning for a sense of threads that tie us together. They're exhausted from a division politics. There's no super glue to put it back together. There's no rubber band and chewing gum that's going to put this pottery back together.

I love the Tiger Sister. I've heard about it from Chile. seed from Hillary. And it's, I've been waiting all this time to be here. I was in China once. I've been to your neighborhood. I know your mom and dad. What keeps you up at night? And what gets you up in the morning? I'm Cherie. I'm Gene. And we're the Tiger Sisters. We are your Wall Street and Silicon Valley Big Sisters. And we're a top 10 business podcast bringing late night sister talk meets boardroom strategy. If you've ever watched the news, you know that some politicians have more power than others. Our episode today features one of the most influential figures in American

politics. He's famously intense, blunt, outspoken, and he's served multiple presidents. In today's episode of Tiger Sisters, we're sitting down with Rahm Emanuel. He's a former U.S. congressman, chief of staff to President Barack Obama, former mayor of Chicago, and most recently ambassador to Japan. He's a global statesman who's been on a bit of a world tour criticizing his own political party. Today we're discussing money, power, and love with a guy who has been in the room where it happens. If you know, you know.

Rahm Emanuel, welcome to the Tiger Sisters podcast. We heard you are on the Tiger Sisters podcast to announce your presidential run for 2028. Something I lost in the translation. Blink if this is true. Like a hostage. Blink twice if this is true. Blink twice. Like one of the hostages in North Korea.

communicate with my eyes. Okay, cool. All right, good. So, Ram, you're one of the first guests we share with the Megan Kelly show. Do you have range or do we have range? Which one is it? Maybe together we create our own range. True.

I like that. That's kind of, yeah, there. So to get started, I want to hit you with a few topical questions. The first one is, how would you lead a divided United States? How would I lead a divided United States? How would you lead a divided United States? No, actually, no. Well, given what's going on in the country, I'm joking it's not a staple.

Well, there's two things I think that are important. One, on the top level, I do think a president sets a tone and temper. Temperament, rather, not temper, although sometimes you need that. And how you act would be important. So, one, people you put in your cabinet and also throughout the administration should draw on the strengths of both parties. Second, making sure that one of the things I've said before, but I think needs to reiterate, as it comes to like social policy, don't send a piece of legislation unless it's bipartisan. Won't sign it.

If it's even to my own party, let me relate it as well an example. It was the first presidential to a potential candidate. I endorse the Dignity Act, which is a reform of both our illegal immigration or illegal immigration. and one of the reasons is it has 21 Republicans on it and 21 Democrats. We've got to get past this issue. It's true to being a nation of immigrants, and it's also true to being a nation of laws. So setting that is a miles, of a kind of a touchstone. And then third, let me get to something both in and else.

I was actually thinking about it as I was this morning looking at some things in the paper, and it reminds me of a bike trip I did. So when I was done being mayor, I biked around Lake Michigan, 984 miles, 13 days. And my joke was that I discovered in the process that the worst a cell phone service was, the nicer people were. But I actually think, one serious note, you look at the reaction to how the number one news item is the Artemis Space ship. People in America are all over this, you know, level that they've never seen. Also true, after years aside, the Olympic Games. Third is another kind of touchstone anecdote.

I saw something today. People are paying X dollars so they can be in a reading room together in a community with other people. I think people are yearning for a sense of threads that tie us together. They're exhausted from a division politics. And we've had division before. We'll have division again. when you have a country this diverse, there's always going to be divisions, gender, education, race, ethnicity, faith, sexual orientation.

But we've never had a president that exacerbates it. So a president, he's not the responsible for the divisions, but he is responsible for exacerbating them. And so I do think a president has a place. And I use this other example. Let me go backwards a little. And a reporter laughed at me. I think one of the fascinating things in music today is you have rap stars doing country music and country stars.

No, but you laugh. No, it's true. But you have two different music genres from way different, really different people and groups that listen here are different. But they've come together. Now, one, you can say that's just music, but I think it touches a chord. And so I think people are yearning for that. and the president has a moral component, or what Teddy Roosevelt would refer to as the bully pulpit.

So you can ignite that or you can continue to pour gasoline on the divisions. And so I think that's how I would do it. I think the music is a nice metaphor. And it kind of is saying something that in this day and age to be bipartisan is almost like a radical platform. Well, I don't, right. Well, bipartisan, but also, look, our politics has gotten into a version of hunger games and Braveheart.

And we do all of it. And I've been guilty of this. I mean, obviously, I mean, but one example I will say that contrary to that. So I'm responsible for helping the Democrats in 2005 and six to get the House back and get the majority make Nancy Pelosi speaker. while I'm beating the crap out of Republicans, you know, recruiting Democrats, President Bush and I work on the Great Lakes Restoration Act. I passed a landmark environmental bill restoring the ecological health to Lake Michigan, Lake Superior, Lake Huron, Lake Ontario, etc.

So you got to know how to work together and had every Republican in the Great Lakes States co-sponsored legislation. That was my first bill I introduced as a member of Congress. So you can do that, and bipartisanship is one thing, but it's just, and I've been, as you I were talking about earlier across the country, there's more consensus in America than there is in Washington. And don't lose sight of that kind of gravitational pull. It can get ugly, but it requires all of us working on empathy, and I will be honest, I need

to do that myself. played a game that's a bare-knuckle politics and sometimes no doubt have crossed the line. So all of us have to work on it. You two have to work on it. We all have to work on it, not just listen to other people, but try to hear them both what they're saying and the intent they mean to communicate, even when we disagree. And I'm not sure I do a good job of it. I definitely know I have a spouse that thinks I suck at it, okay?

Well, so as you're talking about bipartisanship in Washington and also the White House, We want to go back to negotiation and the topic of negotiation. So when you're a chief of staff in the Obama White House, your job involved negotiating between Congress, the president, and a bunch of competing interests. What is the most important thing people misunderstand about how major deals actually get done in Washington and what is the biggest mistake people make when it comes to dealmaking? I will tell you two anecdotes to tease out a lesson. Gene Spirling, Bruce Reed, and I are responsible in the final balanced budget

negotiations the final item the children's health insurance initiative president Clinton had introduced part of the balanced budget agreement kids health care it's called chips he had he being president Clinton pediatric care eye and dental by but it would expand to these kids within by expanding Medicaid Republicans under new gingrich counter with pediatric care no eye and dental but a separate program not Medicaid because they hated the entitlement, Medicaid. And my one other thing,

my dad was a pediatrician. He used to do rounds with them, so this is very personal to me and also my mother was a nurse. And in the end of the day, we negotiated, it would be the president's health care policy, pediatric plus eye and dental, but it would be the Republican's structure,

which is it wouldn't be part of Medicaid. It would be the program called CHIPS, Children's Health Insurance Program. Okay. 10 million kids, parents work full-time, make more money than Medicaid but have no private insurance. So they're caught in this gap.

Now, don't ever confuse means with ends. A lot of Democrats who said, oh, we wanted it in Medicaid. And I can tell you from being going around with my dad as a pediatrician. Parents don't care how they get paid as long as your kids get the pediatric care of the eye and dental.

So the president's health care was more important. And the Republicans, we gave them a win, which is it wouldn't be part of Medicaid. And don't confuse ends with means. The other means with ends, the ends are the goal. Health care. 100 Democrats vote against it because in the balanced budget agreement, other reasons they voted against the balanced budget. They voted against that. Ten years later, it's the second bill President Obama signs to get reauthorized and expanded.

led the negotiations on that. Second, something I practiced when I was mayor in negotiations. So let's say before you kick off formal negotiations, I used to bring in all the presidents of each of the individual union, and there are 70-some-odd separate agreements we had. And I said, I'm going to have five of my top priorities, four, pick your number. You bring your four. I want you to lay out why they're on the list.

I will lay out mine. We will meet a week later. You will respond to my fore and I'll respond to your four. So before you get sit down and you get your helmet on, your shoulder pads, you wear your jersey, we're gonna sit here and hear each other without, and I have to be respectful to the leader, they get elected.

So they have pressure points like I have pressure points. I have to respond to the taxpayers. They gotta respond to their members. No, some people say, you know, this is, I said, okay, I would usually say in the first meeting, I get these all four. Tell me which one's one, et cetera. Now, the second meeting was, I can live with one, but two and three ain't happening, not happening.

Yeah. On the fourth, here's what I'd like to change. Are you open to this? And we would hear each other. So when we got to the negotiations, and the whole goal of that was, can we create a context of a win-win? Sometimes I'm going to win and you're going to lose. but you don't start there.

It's better in a negotiation or striking a deal to work your way up rather than start at DefCon 5 and see if you can strike your way down. And part of that is hearing the other side. No. Okay, so if I can summarize. Why, is that too much?

No, that's like negotiation 101. Well, I would think so. I mean, I know you guys are the ones with the NBA. I'm not. I never took negotiations at HBS. She took negotiations at Stanford. But the second story about negotiating with the unions is basically what we learned in negotiations class in business school is that you're supposed to have all of the topics laid out there. You should have as much information as possible about what the other side wants because then you can, as you said, negotiate across all four issues.

There's sometimes. It doesn't have to be zero sum. Wait, I want to push back on this a little bit because I feel like. Why we were getting a long fine. Why do you have to play the spoil? Go ahead. Because I feel like this approach makes a lot of sense, but it's very cerebral, right? This is assuming that your negotiating partner is someone who wants to get into the weeds

and talk everything through and is equally like logical and goal oriented as you. What if you're negotiating with someone who's just not of that temperament? So let's go through. We all learn from mistakes. Yeah. Okay. I make a pledge when I'm mayor. I'm running for mayor.

Chicago kids in our public schools had the shortest school day and the shortest school year in the United States of America. There's 7,000 school districts. We were 7,000. Five hours and 15 minutes. Kids were out on the streets at 2 o'clock in the afternoon and parents were at work. It's a mess. No kindergarten, no pre-K. High school kids are walking the streets at 2.30.

When I make a pledge, I'm going to do this. So I get elected in sworn in May 2011, the contract that I inherits up 2012. Call it May. I could be wrong exact month, but somewhere in 2012 later. In between, I'm on the last year of Mayor Daly's last contract. Proceeding seven years, the teachers are getting a 4% compounded pay raise. no increase in time at all. Not that they deserve it.

The mayor has reserved the right in every one of those contracts going back 40 years, unilaterally to pull the pay if the school system's in financial distress. Never had happened. I, without consulting the president of the union who had a relationship, I took her to do a ballet together when I was mayor-elect. We went to dance. I took her to dinner and ballet to create a personal. relationship you go DefCon 5 I do yeah I go deafclineally pull it so what I've done

is I foster executive power I did something a no mayor done and B I pushed her back her back against the wall and her members either either you're going to stand up or you're going to pitch you there was no I put her in a fork in the road which was unnecessary so fast forward to the negotiation we end up with the first teacher strike in 30 years over two things, education that I wanted. One, the full school day. I got the kids an hour and 15 minutes and two additional weeks every year for their entire education. An hour and 15 minutes more.

So kids got seven plus hours of classroom time plus two more weeks. And I got kindergarten to be universal across the city. So 40,000 more kids were getting full day versus kids basically. kids basically only on the north side. But you lost the teacher's union. Not only lost it. I made the rest of my first term miserable. Yeah, living health.

I get reelected. My first phone call is, despite yourself. Despite everything I did to try to stop it. I call, the first call I make is that night, I can tell you exactly the room in the Plummers Hall. I call Karen Lewis, the president of the teacher's union. I said, Karen, you and I say, You and I can keep doing this for four more years.

You're my first phone call on my reelect. I'm going to, I'd like to hit the reset button to two of us. I owe you that. I owe the people of the city of Chicago. If you would like to, I'm ready. So my hands extended. Fast forward, when the contract I negotiate comes up the first year of my second term, they work a year without a contract because Karen and I had built trust and respect.

And it was over our attempts, to try to get stabilized the teacher's pension, et cetera. But I made, and I've said this publicly, so it's not the first term, but that mistake colored the entire first term, and it's on me. There's no doubt about it. So hearing people, that's why,

tell me what your wins are, you're not going to get them all, and then prioritize your wins. And when you say it, you're telling me, well, here's my number, one, then that's number one. That means you're going to be open to compromising on two and three. Yeah. I mean, I'm also hearing from you, you can rebuild a relationship. You can't.

It depends where it is. I mean, I think one of the problems, like not to blow it up into what we're having news today, do you actually believe when President Trump says X? Nobody believes him. So here we're about to go into negotiations. We're going to liberate your civilization. Every day Within a single day, he has four opinions on the same topic. Nobody believes them. So the trust in America has been degraded to the point that is nobody trust the word. Famous anecdote in the middle of Cuban Missile Crisis. Ally Stevenson is a UN ambassador, goes to see Charles de Gaulle about the Cuban missile.

Stevenson is going into his briefcase to bring the photos to show from the flightovers about the Russian nukes. Charles de Gaulle, the president of France says, put those away. I have the word of the president of the United States. Now, do you think today, Macron, Sturmer, Mertz, anybody, Secretary of State shows up, you think any of them say, well, the president said it, so obviously I believe it. Not a chance. Now, that's going to take you a generation to fix that.

Quick pause, Tiger fam. If you're listening to this, it is so important to subscribe to the Tiger Sisters podcast. Yeah, subscribing is one of the most important things you can do to support Tiger Sisters, and it's totally free. When you subscribe to Tiger Sisters, you get notified whenever a new episode drops. And we are also starting a newsletter, so it is very important that you sign up for the newsletter now. The link is in the description. It literally takes three seconds to do, and we're available on Spotify, YouTube, and Apple Podcasts. Now back to the show.

So, Ram, on the topic of soft power, I want to talk about American hegemony. So American hegemony refers to the United States dominant position in the global political, economic, military, and cultural order. Do you think we still hold this position in the world, especially in the light of nuclear proliferation and the rise of major global powers? And is it important to maintain? I mean, when you have the largest economy in the world, the largest military in the world, and you still are a dominant cultural attraction. what is Professor Nye refers to as soft power. Yes, we are a leader. Has the credibility and capacity of the United States

been degraded? 100%. So I wrote this piece about a month ago in the Wall Street Journal, rethinking of the world. There's no reset button on the Resolute Desk. So you just don't go in and go, the rule of law.

No, well, like, okay, you did that before, but you broke it, so you don't, you know. So, and I don't. think Democrats and Republicans, mainly Democrats, fully comprehend what Prime Minister Carney said from Canada when he said, this is a rupture. There's no super clue to put it back together. There's no rubber band and chewing gum that's going to put this pottery back together. Yeah, Mark's pissed. And he has every right to be pissed. But he's also speaking for a world that says, this is a rupture. This is broken, not to be reassembled. And I think Democrats that rhetorically talk about

restoring the rule, don't understand that for us to do that means the other side has to accept it and they don't accept us anymore. Now, do we have power? One, what's the toolbox? In the toolbox, there's many things, but there are four big things. Military power, economic statecraft, political persuasion, and cultural attraction. That is your toolbox in the national security. Now, every part of the world is different. So like with Europe, just by memory, I called for what I call modernization reform. Meaning, one, whatever troops are west of the Rhine River in Germany, if they're not nailed down and not necessary, move them east, move them to Poland, move them to Romania, and tell the country's there, you're going to move that too. And I would clean up NATO headquarters.

I'd go through there and say, we're making a 10% cut. and everybody in this building, 10% are we're going to move as an active deterrence. Second, take what are called gray zone attacks like what UK just experienced with Russian subs in and around their waters, looking at the cables and pipes, etc. You do this, it's a NATO response. So Putin understands that these things blowing up logistic centers, creating fires, et cetera, here's when you cross the line and this is what's going to come at you. And then third, economically, I would create in negotiations right now with Europe around an economic agreement around supply chains and new technologies fusion, AI, quantum computing, life sciences, et cetera.

So we have an economic modernization and a NATO modernization, and we're working together again as allies. Now, in Asia, there's a different. I kind of call it isolate the isolator. China's trying to dominate the region. we got to reinforce we're a permanent Pacific power and presence. There are three things I would do different there. One is on the economic front, one is on the security front, to reassure our allies, we're not going anywhere. This part of the world between North and South America, I would have an economic agreement that puts America's economy at the center,

which is how we push China out of our backyard. But there's all different ways you assemble the tools and instruments based on the priorities in Africa, show up early and often, four-corner strategy, South Africa, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Kenya. Build it around those four countries. That's how you build an economic region where Africa knows. We're not conceding this to the Russians and Chinese. We're here.

We're staying. Let's work. So it has that kind of analysis, and that's what I would do from a national security point. But you've got to understand what are the tools, what is the deficit the United States is, and then have a regional security strategy, security including economic, political, and cultural. Like, I'll give you an example in Africa. One of the great economic opportunities

between the United States and Africa, no doubt is minerals, no doubt is resources. It's the fastest growing part of the world, so it's markets that are there for American products. But when you think about the sports engagement between the United States, just take NBA and parts of it. Yeah.

Well, that is an essential piece of your economic and cultural. Yeah, that's our soft power. I mean, I've said before. But we have atrophied it. Yeah. Well, okay, that's part of our soft power, but who's nurturing it? Who's taking care of it? Who's investing in it and realizing we have a president of the United States right now.

Yeah, I mean, it's private markets only. Three of the powers to sideline them and reduce them, all the tariffs out of the American brand. And he thinks that the only thing we have is military power. Yeah. That's a real problem. Well, it's interesting, I think, on the soft power and also like cultural influence, something that we've seen, I guess, over the last few presidencies,

is more of a social media leaning. And declarative statements on social media. on X and Twitter. And so do you see this transparency between the president and the American people as a good thing? Or is it something, I mean, that you've said,

erodes trust, given the tweets over the last few weeks. To get back to my efforts thing. Yeah. At one level, he has, every president, let me back up, every president tries to figure out how to get past the D.C. security guards

called the institutional media. Some people done in town halls, some people, different formats, podcasts, this president is using media posts. But in service of what? And do I think it's transparent? I don't think it's transparent with the president that's not believed. So not trusted. When he talks about, think about it, in the last 48, 96 hours,

we had a president of the United States called that we were going to obliterate a civilization and a vice president in Hungary saying we're going to restore a civilization. And then we have a Secretary of Defense simultaneously calling for a Christian crusade. And everybody thinks, starting with the Pope, what are you talking about obliterating a civilization? So he did it on a social media. I don't think it enhances transparency, although I think collectively the world concluded we have a president of the United States. It's more than just out of control that there's something wrong. As I jokingly say, but I mean it with seriousness.

There was a movie called Dumb and Dumber, probably pre-year-A. So if they do a sequel, there's a lot of competition in this administration for who gets to play the lead of dumb and dumber. Yeah. More communication does not always equal good communication. So I get everybody, oh, it's social media, it's TikTok, it's Instagram, etc., of which I want to ban for all 16-year-olds and younger because I think it's destroying those kids. And I don't believe in an algorithm should raise them. I think adults should. But the medium doesn't tell you about transparency. Transparency means that. you're honest and forthcoming. And this is a president who is situational with the truth.

And I think that's a gentle way of saying what I'd like to say. But I'm cleaning it up so we don't get you guys banned by the FCC. Say it how you want to say it. No. You know, can I say something funny? I want to egg you on. I know what I'm known for my foul mom. Yeah.

We haven't seen it yet. You can't go already. Two things I'll say. One, senior advisor to the president, Clinton, member of Congress, chief of staff to President Obama, mayor of city of Chicago, Ambassador of Japan, you'll never find me. Go back through all 35 years. Never.

We'll say it publicly. Now, you get me in a private room and we're negotiating or something or whatever. I'll let it go, but nope. Now, jokingly, so my wife's from a small town in Ohio, Republican family. and on Sunday shows during the Clinton, she goes, she would always call something, oh, Rahm did well. I said, and I said to my mother,

Mary, you don't think I did well. You were just holding your breath for 12 minutes seeing if I could get through without letting go an F bomb or something like that. But I don't ever do it publicly. Now all of a sudden, there's all these stories of Democrats, oh, they're like, eh, it's passe now.

Now I'm going to move on. I'm not going to do it ever again. But I, President Obama, jokingly once said that when I lost my middle finger, I was left mute for a year. I couldn't say anything. But I don't ever say it publicly.

Yeah. It's not appropriate. It's disrespectful. Private, you turn it off these cameras and the microphones? Give me a topic on Trump and I'll let it go. Okay, so one thing we don't talk about enough is how much research goes into every episode of Tiger Sisters. And every episode is chock full of research, facts, and stats. And that's why One Skin really stands out to us as a skincare company.

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please support our show and say that the tiger sister sent you. And now back to the show. Yeah, okay, since you mentioned Obama, let's do some impressions. Do you guys just like an inside joke the way you're laughing? Well, we want to do an impression of President Obama. And since you've been with him in the room, very close. Can I do a President Clinton impression instead? Yes.

And we'll rate it one through ten, but we want you to rate our impressions. Yeah. Oh, so you want to go first? You want to compete against each other. You want to go first or you want me to go. You go first. I need to hear this. You go first.

I love the tiger sister. I love being on this podcast. It's like I've heard about it from Chelsea and from Hillary, and I've been waiting all this time to be here. Have I told you I was in China once? I've been to your neighborhood. I know your mom and dad. They're fine people.

I think they, I got a big China, Chinese community in Little Rock, but also up in Greensboro, they're great people there too. Big Chinese community, Chipp. Okay, that's got to be a 10. That's got to be a 10. You get yelled at for seven straight years, and you kind of pick up on the yell. I can't do. Okay, I want to see your Obamas.

Okay, you go. This is my Obama impression. Okay. America, we have been more divided than ever. What we need to do is come together as a nation under one. Keep that in mind, and then Gene will go, and then you can see you get better. Should I say the same thing? Sure.

I'm not. She's taking improv classes at Stanford. I don't know why, but you can also use an improv class of Stanford. It was a dance improv. Not an impersonation improv. Well, there you go. You can use your hands too. He's like a very, all right. I'm well aware what he is. All right. Ram, I want you to research this. Where is a southern draw from? I mean, I'm southern. Where did you guys? I don't got it. I don't got it. He lives in Kenwood in Chicago, which is on the south side, but it's not a southern. City. I didn't do Southern, right? You did it slightly. I think you're both influenced by my Arkansas. Maybe. I think that was you should have gone first. Okay. Rom, I want you to take this seriously. All right, so I won. I win by default. Hers is two seven, right? Wait, you do it. You do it. Okay. I'm, I'm, I can't do Obama. Why not? I can't. I just,

I'm not good at it. I'm sure it's better than mine. Well, that's without a doubt, okay. you know one of the things Obama would do not accent-wise so if you were sitting here he did this to men not to women he would a comment on your attire if he thought it was wrong or something like that like I like like fashion police style totally totally we do uh like was it to help you out no because you can't change your outfit in the moment or I guess it's just like you know Hey man, what are you wearing? I mean, he would go like something like this. I think that your shoes need to get buffed.

Something like that. It was like he would say it is a suggestion, a healthy one, but it was a criticism. It was masquerading as, you know, maybe you want to get buffed, but it was, don't show up in my office. Yeah, he was. It was a respect thing. I think you're cleaning it up. I think he wanted to take you down a notch or two in front. Well, he's like, show up, right?

or don't show up at all. Yeah, yeah. He said come correct to the Oval Office. I had a picture in the mayor's office side by side of Clinton and Obama at their deaths. Yeah. Or their deaths. Just done from the door shooting in. And President Clinton's desk had, it looked like just total chaos,

slightly reflection of the personality, which is he was doing multiple things multiple times at different multiple. But there was actually. the cabinet stuff, the books he was reading, the coins he was given by military people, pens as gifts, he loved really fine points. There was order if you knew his personality. I have a picture, first day with President Obama,

first meeting in President of the United States at 9 a.m. that first day. Nothing. I come as mayor three years later. I remember the meeting. And you look at there, there's a shot over our shoulder to the desk. Nothing. tight or very you know chaos versus cleanliness that was it and you could tell everything about their personalities and how they function oh my desk is a total mess so mine is clean gets crazy during the

day I clean it up at the end of the day and so when I walk in in the morning it's clean are you a zero inbox type of person like you need to get your inbox down so I have a so president of and I share this. So every week I have a business card I carry. It has my to-do list that I make on Saturday and Sunday for the week. When I was mayor, you have that every week and you get things off. Second is you have one for each year that you do at the end of the year and then you have one for each term. Now, there's this great photo that the President Obama gives me as my departure gift. It's the to-do list we had for 20. 10 with a little note on his left-hand signature.

Not bad for a day's worth. And it's a photo because at the end of every day, we would take a walk around the south, a couple times around the south lawn, around the driveway. And he's rolled up as the to-do list and rolled up in my hand. And Michelle used to have, oh, the boys are going for the waft.

And we were to-do list people. And we would have our to-do list. list for the week, for the year, for the term. And I kept that, I've always had that tradition, but I kept it as mayor and I kept it as chief of staff and I keep it now. It sounds like you guys were very aligned in your operations. Yeah, yeah. Yeah.

We had different views on things, but yes, very aligned on the sense of order, keeping people on task, don't get distracted, make sure the goal is set so we know what we've accomplished. And did you write your to-do list on the back of a, business card because it forces you to be concise? Not a business card. It was a kind of like a little small book. Kind of like a two by four.

It was a, and I have a, the kids joke because they framed each of the business, you know, the chief staff card, the ambassador card, the mayor card, the Congress card. And I have, yeah, there's little cards made. And I keep them and I rewrite them each week, Saturday and Sunday, going over the weekly reports from the week before by each of the captain members. You do a version of that. Yeah, I'm very big on to-do list too. Me, you, Obama, we're all the same.

Why are you laughing? Why are you laughing, Ralph? Because of us, only one went to business school, the other went to law school, and the other one went to classical rhetorical school. Yeah, I'm sure that that's exactly. You went to which business school? Stanford Business School. Harvard. Oh, wow.

Did you guys like it? Yeah. I loved it. Okay. I mean, it was the experience of a lifetime. is now at the unit she's going to drive she's going to be angry that I'm doing this but she's a Navy reservist but she's going to the University of Chicago and she's getting a joint law and business degree oh wow yeah overachiever you know all everybody else in the family says this is going to be

the worst three years of our lives with a lot because come finals and papers oh my god none of us I told I said everybody let's change her phone number so she can't come and yell at us for because of this. She handles stress by yelling at the ones she love. Well, also after, nobody can tell her nothing because she's going to have a law degree and a business degree. Well, don't worry. She doesn't need those to tell her. Okay. I'm not sure. That's just certifying what she already does. Yeah, that's funny. I do have another question about Obama. Okay. President Obama. Yeah, President Obama, because you have spent so much time with him. And I think he's famously known to be very charismatic. So like what do you think it is about him that creates that like persona and

is there something that I feel like you've learned from him or like drawn from being around him for so long? First of all he has a unbelievable winning smile. It's very warm. It's very enduring. It's very it's kind of like a Stanford business school smile right? Yeah like this. And or yeah exactly and an improv class just like that right. And I do think he, I think both presidents that I've worked for, different mannerisms, different, but they had an ability to make a connection that was consistent with their character.

And I think that was, I think that's what I would say. Now, they did it differently. I mean, I used to tease President Obama that, you know, not everybody had a university of Chicago or Harvard law degree, okay? So we just can't go to the head. We have, you know, I don't know if you know this, but in politics there's this thing called the heart and the soul.

And you got to get, and President Clinton had a different kind of way he dialed into people. Like folksiness? Not folksiness. I just think he understood people emotionally in a different way than, I'm contrasting two different presidents, two different styles. But in the end of the day, they had a wide reach. Let me say this.

I used to, in my analysis of, both loving reading history of presidents, but also working for two. You know, president has to be, I'm saying this metaphorically, has to be bilingual. You got to be conversant, not only in the board room,

but the break room as well. And not every person could do it. I mean, just straight up. They can't kind of navigate the two, I'm using two different rooms. I happen to sink the White House, in the Oval, you have to be conversing in the family room, the classroom, the break room, the board room, and the situation room. My concern with Democrats has spent four years in the bathroom

and they haven't gotten themselves out of it yet. There's, you got to really, but you've got to be not multilingual, rather than bilingual. You've got to be able to converse in a level comfortable with each of those rooms. and both presidents, while they had their own style that was natural to who they were capable of that, that's what makes them successful. Roosevelt was like that. Okay, when you think about it, Teddy Roosevelt was like that. The successful presidents, there's a dimension of communication to a wider public.

It's the only national office we have. And so you've got to be able to speak to people where they are. And both of them did it successfully, in my view. And it was tested during their presidencies. each time in a way. I love this topic because a lot of our audience for Tiger Sisters, I feel like our, you know, early or middle in their career and they want to build like a long-lived career and, you know, being powerful is a part of it.

And I feel like this is like a component of power that isn't really talked about a lot. It's about having this ability to connect. You don't think so? I don't think so. Maybe I'm, maybe I should share my reading list with you guys in it. I think, no, that's true. Look, one is you can't, let's me get back to this other point where we're using about the F bomb and stuff.

People are saying, oh, did Democrats should use that? I said, well, that's performative then. It's either natural or not. And I think the power of both President Clinton and President Obama, remember, it wasn't exactly a linear line and they were perfect. It gets tested at different moments and different stress levels in the presidency and different type of challenges. But their communication,

and the sense of what people thought was in their heart, not just their head, is what sustains them when that presidency hits a valley. And, I mean, that was true using President Obama. I mean, in the low points of health care. And trust me, it's low. We're in a dark valley. People forget this while we're trying to negotiate the health care bill in the Senate. the president makes a simultaneously a decision to expand a surge for Afghanistan.

And I said this jokingly, but it's true. Those who were for our health care policy and wanted to see it pass were against the president's Afghan policy. And those who supported him on Afghanistan were opposed to his health care. And my, as you say, our job, Mr. President, is to make sure these two don't trump the tracks and converge and hit each other. So his communication ability and people to in the end of the day while they may disagree with him trust him and trust his motivation and that communication to go from the family room to the classroom to the boardroom to the bake room to the situation was important. It was a piece of capital that you draw even in the low moments.

Not even. Most importantly. Especially in love. Okay. So being able to communicate in all. all different instances with all different people and have them receive it as authentic to your character. Yeah, I mean, there's different more.

Let me give one out of president, Clinton. So he's at a very, very low point, loses the House and Senate in 1994, the midterms of his first term. People are openly talking about he shouldn't run or somebody's going to challenge him in the Democratic primary. Oklahoma happens, meaning the bottom.

in Oklahoma City, President Clinton goes three days later, and there's the first time we've had a Domestic Terrorism Act like that, not going all the way back to the Palmer bombings, that happened at the turn of the century. And he gives his speech in Oklahoma City drawing on his own depth and knowledge of the Bible. And he, in a church, and he talks about being with you as many tomorrow's as it takes until Oklahoma city is back. Now, pause. Back in 1994, nobody said, or 1995, when this happens, that he was going to a red state and a red city, etc. We didn't think of the world that way. But he didn't win Oklahoma, but he goes there and he talks in a way that a former governor from Arkansas grew up, that people in Oklahoma

understood that he understood, knows how they lived their life, didn't talk down to him, talked at a level that they could hear the voice of their president in their moment of anguish, as well as the country's moment of anguish. President Obama at Emmanuel Baptist Church in South Carolina with this horrible shooting and very memorably leads a congregation in a singing event.

I think it was Amazing Grace if I'm remembering it. Right. I remember that. Well, you remember it. So see, it scored. So both points in a low point for the country in a horrific event, the presidents found what Teddy Roosevelt called the bully pulpit of the presidency.

I mean this seriously, but it's the criticism of our current president. He's all bully with no pulpit. He could never go to a church. And both of them in different venues, while they normally speak from the podium, were conversant at the pulpit. and they're different places. And you've got to know the difference between the podium and the pulpit. Meeting people where they are.

But yes, and being conversant with a spiritual sense, not just a legal or moral, but something that was that at that moment, when America was torn through terrorism and a shooting at a church, found the spiritual connectivity that people were yearning for and reading that right and then communicating. in and lifting people out of their despair.

So, Ram, on the topic of power, what is the most powerful role aside from the president of the United States? You've seen Washington at all levels. Is it the chief of staff role? Is it Secretary of State? No. Yeah, what do you think?

Parent. Yeah, I think a parent is the most powerful role because they shape the next generation. I really mean, I know you wanted me to take a title position. If you want that, Yeah, give us both. Oh, no, okay.

I'll come back to parenting. Okay. Because I take that seriously, and it's the most, it's the longest serving institution we've had in human history, family. And it's the only way you learn how to do what's next is from two people in your life. So in the, I've been fortunate in my life.

Not only has been elected by the people of the city of Chicago, either on the north side as congressman or as mayor. The mayor of Chicago is the most powerful mayor position, both historically as well as constitutionally in the United States of America. So no mayor has, prior to what they did afterwards, which was you had schools, community colleges, parks, libraries, transportation, and housing, all reports to the mayor. You appoint the boards and the person.

you had the two the biggest airports or here are the biggest airports and you also had midway you had police fire all sanitation streets and sand everybody reports to the mayor

you're also as mayor president of the city council so you're the speaker of the house so you are literally it is an incredible both historically as well as constitutionally the most powerful

now I take this is why I ran so 40,000 kids today have pre-K that never had it before. Their parents know their children are going to have a full day of education. And another 40,000 plus have full-day kindergarten that they never had. Were the first city ever, others have followed. I made a policy that if you got to be average in high school, community college was free.

Tuition, books, and transportation. And 20,000 kids have made themselves not only a business. available, but their parents didn't have to pay for it, didn't have to go in the poorhouse, didn't have to make the choice between another job and which child gets to go to school. And also, if you kept the B average in community college, we had every college and university throughout the state of Illinois would give you 25 to 50% off of the next two years. So kids were graduating college with no debt. I love it.

And you can do those type of things now. So another piece of legacy that I'm proud of is Chicago's original city plan. It was a two waterfront city, the lake, which is stunningly beautiful, et cetera. That was open. The only city on the Great Lakes has no industrialization. And then I created a riverwalk on a river and four boat houses for canoeing and kayaking. And the river, which had been industrialized in the city, was never really part of the city. and I threw the Riverwalk, which was written up as one of the great public investments,

created a space that had never existed. And so the mayor has a capacity. And so when I walk in, about a decade earlier, Secretary William Bennett of education and called it the single worst public school system in America. When I walk out, Sean Reardon and Stanford, the leading demographer on education, called as the single best of the top 100 public school systems in America. Now, it took everything in my soul. Yeah.

So when you say what is the most powerful, and I wrote a book about this, which is called Nation City. Mayors are where people, or city local government, where people live, work, and play. It's the government that's closest to how you live your life. Is there a stop sign on the street? What are the library's hours?

Is there a charter school, neighborhood school? what are the schools that people will go to in the area? What's the type of public safety you have in this area? I've always said for a neighborhood or a community, there's five public investments that will determine the success of that neighborhood. Public library, public parks, public transportation, public schools, and public safety. And if you do those five, a neighborhood could both residentially and retail-wise succeed. So the mayor or local government has a power that is different.

At the national level. At the national level, the chief of staff of what I've done. Yeah. The chief of staff to a new president. When you look at the results, I mean, there's millions of people that have health care today that had pre-existing conditions that never would have had it before. There's communities with new community health care clinics that never had it before that we put a $20 billion into.

The community health care that's best preventive health care in America is community. So there's things you can do that materially, you know, know if a parent has a child with pre-existing conditions and you can't get health care, that's a, that's a something that's going to, you know, as I say, there are two things that will happen in your life. What keeps you up at night and what gets you up in the morning? And a child or a loved one with a pre-existing condition and the rest of the family suffers because they can't get health care, that will keep you up at night. And we check, and the president and the chief of staff for him at the time,

change that for millions of Americans. And if you're gonna be here on Earth, the goal is to leave the world a better place. Yeah, we talk about for Tiger Sisters, our mission is to improve the lives of a billion people. A billion. We're talking trace, trace comas. Through this podcast?

Yes, through our media. Our media and content. Yeah, this is just the beginning. We just started a year and a half ago. Okay, what number are we at on that billion? I wanna see this. Oh, we're already at hundreds of millions. You know, there's a Jewish term.

Oh, we know them all. We grew up on Long Island. Okay. Sadaka. That one I don't know. Okay, well, Sadaka is come, no, it comes out of the Torah, a moral teaching. And it's, the premise is that if you save one soul or one individual, you saved humanity. you saved humanity. And the charitable is sadaka, but that's not a financial, but, you know, I think this,

I think back to my parents and I think about what they taught us in the sense of the moral teachings of life in your life. Well, you can say a lot of things about what I've done right and wrong. Trust me when I call my middle one, I'll know what I did wrong. But 40,000 kids have pre-K today that never had it. I think I left the world a better place. I know 20,000 kids went to college whose parents didn't go to college, and they did it without having to go to the poor house.

So did you leave the world better? That's our goal, Sadaka. So in case you guys meet a nice Jewish boy in your life, I want you to say, well, where are you on Sadaka? If he doesn't know, get him out of here. Well, since you bring that up. Okay. So we do talk about money, power, and love.

That's kind of our three pillars. Okay. So we covered money in love? Or just probably? Well, we're just getting into love now. Okay. So I'm single. Oh. And, you know, you bring up, oh, if you meet a nice Jewish guy. So I guess, like, I don't know, do you have any advice for? You be who you are, and that's going to happen.

That's my view, number one. Number two, given probably you should be asking my kids, but obviously different activities and stuff like that that you do. you meet more people. You guys say you live together, you work together, you drive here together. He's just like, get out of the house. Maybe you don't spend so much time together.

Maybe go for a walk without her. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah. No, but that, you know, I'm not the person to ask on this, although I met Amy on a blind date. Yeah. Okay. And you've been together like 30 plus years, right?

So I'll tell you a joke, 31, to be exact. I know for Amy it feels like 65. I used to joke. My dad passed away at the funeral. I said my parents were married for 64 years, and they argued for all 67 of them. And you guys met later, you were both in your 30s. Yeah, we met later in our life.

Later in our life. But jokingly, so we meet on a blind date, Amy's conclusion was we should have known it right then. One is I showed up 15 minutes early and she goes, he's waiting downstairs, except. Our whole life, I'm early, she's late. We barely compromise on top of her. You were 20 minutes early to this, to this. This used to be my big beef with President Clinton. You can't be two hours late.

It's disrespectful. So I am early. That is a constant. Okay. And she'll always, Amy said, if we ever had a fourth child, she would name it patience as a daily reminder.

And I said, patience is a waste of time. Now, get out and meet people. Have friends help you. Yeah. Yeah, but don't rush it. Okay.

Yeah. Until, when you know you, who you are. So I don't think I could have done a family if I hadn't made one of the milestones of my career, which was working for a president. Once I kind of clicked on that, I felt like I could open up and do other things. So you'll, you got it.

You have all the confidence. If not, the Emanuel Boys will take you under our wing and make sure we guide you. Yeah, see, now you're my friends. You're going to be helping me. It's very important in life to find the right partner. It's the most important decision. Here's what we're going to do.

Ari, Ram, and Zik will take you under the wing and we'll guide you. Okay. Okay. All right. Wait, so you're going to set Gene up on a blind date? Well, I know what I'm going to do. First of all, I want to, I'm going to zoom with any guy you meet.

He has to go through me first. Or on the back. Wait, this is more barriers. I need less barriers. I need more top of funnel. Well, you just say, look, we'll go on this date, but I want you to talk to a friend of mine Rom afterwards. And we'll see if you can leverage that a little, okay?

That might scare them off. Is this helpful? I feel like this is. Well, we'll see. If the guy's not up to it, we already know he's not like. Forget about it. True. Put them on the sidelines of the, you know, Highway 66.

I have enough requirements already. Yeah. So, well, my view is live together, work together. Maybe how you get here slightly separate and go a little solo, fly solo for a second, okay? Okay, yeah. Get out there more. Yeah, yeah. 100%.

Maybe some blind dates. 100%. Okay. Yeah. I did blind dates. Amy wasn't my first blind day. I know you find it weird, but I thought she was cold and she thought I was arrogant. And Amy said, well, we're both right.

And the rest was history. Yeah, yeah, three kids later. Well, I love this discussion about family. And we want to transition into the relationship that you have with your brothers. Because you are a powerhouse family. Like you, of course, have a legacy in Washington. Washington and in policy in Chicago, one of your brothers helped shape health care policy for the nation. And another one is a media mogul CEO. And you guys are very much like the tiger brothers

of our tiger sisters. We look at you in that way. And so I'm so curious what that dynamic was like growing up in terms of competition. And nowadays, when you guys debate, who wins? So here's how we grow up. We are very, we're also very close in. age. So when you told me you guys are seven years apart, we were, I think, see, Ari is 16 months to the day younger than me. Okay. He's the youngest. And we shared a room growing up. And while I'm very cleanly and meticulous, when we were growing up, my father's joke was that our room was so messy that we would wake up in the morning look for ourselves. It was so messy. Zique, because he was the old else in a Jewish fan. He got his own room. Now the other truth is mom and dad wanted a room

because we had at different points in our life. Our grandparents lived with us. We had a foster brother live with us. So there was always a room for whoever was showing up. I mean, we literally always had a seat at our kitchen table. It was like whoever, you know, somebody, you would halfway through dinner you would say, how long you stay in? Because people were just showing cousins, friends of children of my dad's patients. Lived with them. us for months and so there was a room available for that foster person many times it was the first eight years I was my six years in my life was my grandmother on my dad's side and then when I was 11 and 12 and 13 part of 13 grandma and grandpa my mom's side lived with us and then a lot of other

people we had that too yeah so family is very important now to the brothers we are incredibly intensely competitive but you criticize one of us the three of us will kill you so

I will tear Zika and I will so I was at Ari's house last night for he's got his birthday coming up and I had dinner with him and his wife

Sarah Zeke happened to finish his book thing so I drove over to have so he went to eat alone so a Korean restaurant great one here

but I went and had dinner with him so he you know now in both places says I was told how stupid I was. Okay. And I returned the favor by telling them how stupid they are. Okay.

But we're, now we are also, Ari Zeke and I, my three kids, Ari's four kids, Zeke's three kids. Zeke's three kids are married, so they're spouses. Ashley, one of Ari's kids is also married. Everybody is on a, and everybody's on a group chat. Oh, wow. And so like there's articles changed. I've read this, you know, like this.

Zique is married to a woman Tiesel who does the history at Smithsonian on NASA and Apollo projects. So she has been giving family updates in the group chat on Artemis. And telling us, you know, like, I don't know, a couple days ago, she was pre the last 24 hours, that the reentry was going to be the biggest challenge and saying why, etc. And so, but, you know, I've sent this morning already two articles into the group. group and Zique will do that and some of the cousins will do that or somebody's a refer, you know, so there's a group chat. And then there's all the manual dynamics happen out on the curve chat too.

All the kids tell the three brothers how stupid we are. So a lot of feedback, very close family. It's a lot of interaction. The kids are working on a self-improven for the three of us. That's funny. Yeah. It continues to the next generation. No, but, well, the kids, the cousins are very close.

And both the three siblings plus our respective spouses are all close. It takes a lot to get voted into the family group chat, but we're like the mob. You can't get out, but once you get in, you're in. Why did both you go to business school and nobody decided to go to humanities or law or something? What was the drive behind business school? I mean, I've always been interested in business. I wanted to found my own company. That's actually why I went to business school.

I had this whole plan where I wanted to start my own company. I was like, okay, I'm going to go to HBS, but like not really pay attention in class. I'm going to really just, no, seriously. I was like, I'm just going to work in the, it's called the I Lab, the Harvard Innovation Lab. So I was just working there all the time. And I was like, I'm going to graduate. I'm going to raise money while I'm at school. I'm going to graduate and then, you know, off to the races.

So that was my whole plan. That was why I went to business school. I almost didn't go because I came from Silicon Valley and everyone was anti-business school. So everyone was telling me why you're going to waste your time in business school when you're already a product manager. You should just stay. You're going to lose cachet in your career if you take two years off. So I was actually very anti-establishment by going to business school. How contrarian.

And you? I saw Gene have a fabulous time at Harvard. And since I have a luxury of having an older sibling carve the paper. path for me and pioneer the way. I said, why not do it on the opposite side of the country? But I guess the real answer is, Jean had like such an amazing experience that it's something she'll look back on when she's 80 years old and be like two years, you know, going to classes, being a student again. I was pretty burnt out because I was coming right out of the pandemic. I hadn't met anyone new for the last like two or three years. And I felt very like flatlined in my

career. I didn't feel like I was like learning as much as I had. So both you were working before business school, meaning undergrad? Okay, that's very important. I had five years of experience working in the tech world. I'm big about that. Yes, which I think is actually fundamental to Tiger Sisters podcast where we give career advice, corporate advice, how to behave in a professional environment. I'm 100% do not go from undergrad and undergrad. You need life and work experience to speak on. Well, also, you'll appreciate the education more. Yes. And having not had that experience. So this last section is called the live improv debate. So we're going to help you do some impromptu presidential debate prep.

We're going to give you a topic and see if you can speak on it on the spot. And we've heard that politicians can debate or defend any angle. So we're going to hit you with a few statements and would love for you to take a stance and be extremely convincing on it. Okay. Not just half convincing? No. Extremely. Yes.

Win us over. We'll see. All right. New York versus Chicago. pizza. Which one actually deserves the crown? Chicago, not even close. But if I go into a witness protection plan, I'll tell you the real one. Tokyo, Japan. Oh, I love Jeff. They figured it out.

First of all, Chicago pizza is a meal. New York pizza is an appetizer, okay? What? Not Long Island pizza. Not Long Island pizza. But I'm going to tell you one thing. Why don't I get so fired up? Because you've got your backup, et cetera. We're going to work on that for that blind date. We're going to talk before you go on it. Okay, number two, Tokyo has, there's a, Gallery 37, something 37, it's on 37th floor at Tehranaman Towers,

was rated number two best pizza in the world. Now, they will go, the chef will go to Sicily, study dough, tomato, the type of cheese for years and years until they think they have perfected. They'll never do it. I, you know, I said this, but I already came in it.

I said, I'm going to take you for a pizza. He goes, I want a sushi. I want that. I said, Temporo. I said, all right? We're from Chicago. We're going for pizza. And I'm telling you,

so I'm for Chicago v. New York, Chicago. Yeah. Chicago versus the world. Then you're making me pick between head, heart, and stomach. Yeah. I mean, it was the culinary experience of Japan off the chart. Okay. So Chicago.

Okay, this is why he's a global statesman. I mean, not in quotes. It was persuasive. But I just learned something in how you answered. I said, I gave you a binary and you took it off the binary. Yeah, that's why he's a global statesman. That's why he's a politician. I'm going to give you the answer to life.

Ready? Okay. So Henry Kissinger quote, does anybody have questions for my answers? So number two, let's see how I do. Come on, let's go. Now I'm competitive. Go, go, go, go. So this one isn't a this or that, but this is just your take on airplane clapping.

Is it acceptable civic gratitude or embarrassing behavior when the plane lands and people, you know, are clapping? Well, given what Trump has done to the FAA, I'm for clapping. Okay. Okay. Like if you're a 20-year, this sucker lands without either crashing on something or up there and knocking into something. I'm for clapping. Yeah. Okay.

So under Trump's FAA, clap all you want, man. All right. Next one. LinkedIn post Humble Brags. Are they networking strategy or a public diary that's embarrassing? Without knowing the person, I would say they're networking, but I don't believe that that's really what they're doing, all of them. And the other way, again, getting back to our first question, I actually think it's an attempt to create community. a little self-centered, but to be part of something that's bigger than yourself. Shri's an incredible LinkedIn postwriter. She's the best out there. Well, I worked at LinkedIn for five years before going to business school.

And it is definitely a place where people are creating community, are creating their personal brand. I'm a pro-linkton. Well, I'm not so much pro-linked. But I'm pro-the-people in different ways. I'm not negative. It's just I think the bigger topic isn't LinkedIn, getting back to our, what I think people are in desperate search for a community and for some connectivity that's not, is both unfiltered and authentic.

So go ahead. Voice notes. Is it an effective communication strategy or is it a hostage situation on your phone? Hey, y'all. It's Kelly Clarkson with Wayfair. Ever order furniture online and wonder what if? Like, what if it doesn't hold up? That sofa was four days old.

You should have ordered from Wayfair. With Wayfair, there's a lot. no what if just style you love and quality you can trust visit wayfair.ca wayfair every style every home hostage well you know gen z does a ton of voice notes that's how they communicate i'm just you ask me but do your kids leave you voice notes no no no they do they know you're not going to listen to it not not to me no they will not do that to me they will call we'll talk so we're not a voice note family. Is that why you didn't respond to my voice note? I didn't get one from you. When I get one from you, I know my first first. Yeah. He will ignore it. No, knowing my technical skills,

I'll probably delete it before I'm able to hear it. So are you close to your mom? Yeah. It's the three of us ladies in our family. Oh my God. Yes. So we're very tight net. Oh, you know, I, well, we didn't get there. So we'll just, I really am strong, you know, it's a topic. You know, you can sit here and say, okay, Indo-Pacific or you can say, education. The topic people least talk about is the, or one of the least talked about, is family, because people don't want to feel like they're judgmental. And I think, you know, when you think of everything that's important in nurturing a child or nurturing is a sense of a family. And you only got the examples that were set. And, you know, my dad used to always always always

always say, not that he practiced this. He was a pediatrician. He never met a child that was spoiled because they were told too many times a day they were loved. And I try to do that every day. My dad would call all three of us schmucks, but we never got to love, but his patients did. The other thing is I'm really big, and I bet you guys grew up like this about meal times, having family that we did, aiming at throughout our career, my career, which was obviously you're not in control your own schedule. A lot of people are not, but we made time four nights a week for family dinner. But we don't talk about it, because God forbid, you know, and there's a lot of single parents doing heroic efforts,

heroic efforts, your mom being an example. But the family and nurturing it, strengthening it, is going to be the most important thing we can do as a society. And we don't want to, we don't talk about the most important thing. I mean, and this has been my philosophy, my whole life, it got strengthened when I was mayor, that the three doors a child walks through that will determine their life are the front door of the home,

front door of the school, and the front door of the place of worship. And if one of those doors are closed, it will change the trajectory of a child. But did you guys go open to spiritually grounded? We drove up to church. Church? Yes.

Yeah, I think it's very, very important for the um we have one of the four meals was our sabbath dinner every friday night so that the kids understood who they were what their moral teachings are so yeah i'm looking forward to creating my own family and like having all those traditions and i think it'll be fun it'll be a new part of life everything that you said you wouldn't do and you're you looked at your mother and said i will never you'll find yourself doing it We're already doing things like that. I'm already doing that. I'm like I am my mother. I am basically my mother.

Is that true? Oh, yeah. I'm doing things. Who had a closer relationship to your mother between the two of you? My sister. She's the baby of the family. So everyone loves the baby. I mean, except, you know, when you're the middle child, everyone loves the middle child. I used to say, you the joke in our house, I used to say to my mother, you love Ezekiel more than you love me.

And she said, that's not true. I hate you all. That's a grand. answer. That's where you learned your politics from. The other thing I used to always, you know, being the middle child, I wasn't the baby, I wasn't the eldest. She goes, that's true, but you're the bologna in the sandwich. And everybody likes me. So she was a born diplomat, my mom. I can see that.

Thank you so much, Rom, for joining us on the Tiger Sisters podcast. For everyone who's watching this episode, where can they find your socials or more about you? We'll post that on there, but you can find it on the, our old social media site that I'm building also. Okay. Okay, cool. We'll include more information in the description. I'll do it on my LinkedIn.

Okay, great. Thanks for coming.