Mills is an opinion maker.

Question: What do you do?

D. Quinn Mills: I suppose I am an opinion maker. I publish a lot. I give a lot of speeches, I try to analyze things, provide leadership. I don’t do it with in an organization the university has been a a base for me to do it to the outside. I spend a lot of time abroad. I think it is very important for Americans to do that now, because our role in the world is so confused at this point time. So, I think by writing and teaching I’m an opinion maker.

Question: What interests you about leadership and strategy?

D. Quinn Mills: I think they are very important, I am a generalist in a world that is full of specialist, I am a generalist. I have taught  in a number of different disciplines, I know a great deal about a lot of subjects, I have tried to focus on big questions in the subject. I have tried intensely to be a journalist, to be a generalist, and that’s unusual in the modern world. A lot of people are very suspicious of that, but I think it is very important for somebody to try to figure out how the whole thing fits together, and I think the lack of that is the real problem that we have. So, I think the most important thing I’ve done is to try to be a generalist and  provide some leadership and some perspective in that regard.

Recorded on: 9/27/07