Subtitles section Play video Print subtitles -Rana, you got to interview-for the first time-the new chairman of the Federal Reserve, Janet Yellen. And when you came back from the interview, I couldn't decide where I wanted to start it with you, of whether I really most cared about what kind of growth projection she sees for this year or whether I wanted you to talk about what it was like to interview her compared to other comparable-if there any comparable figures who are men as opposed to women. -Well, one of the obvious things to say is that the only comparable figures are men. You know, she's the first Fed chief in history that's a woman. She's one of the few really, really top-of-the-pyramid academic economists who's also had that level of a policy career. So she's pretty singular. That said, she's kind of a den mother to a whole group of slightly younger economist people like Laura Tyson, Christy Romer. There are a lot of people that look up to her. I actually look up not only to her as an academic and a seer-she's been the most accurate of the Fed governors in the last five years-but also as a person. And people particularly speak about her marriage to another- -So tell us about that- -Yeah. -that-I didn't know until I read a-read your piece-what an extraordinary partnership this is. -Totally extraordinary. Her husband, George Akerlof, is a Nobel Prize-winning economist. He won through his work on why markets are not as smart and efficient is as we thought. He shared that honor with Joe Stiglitz. And they have had these incredibly high-powered crews running in tandem in different cities, which as-you know-as we all know is a pretty hard thing to orchestrate. They've informed each other. She says that George encourages her to be more of an out-of-the-box thinker. -So one of the debates that we had as we were putting together this story was how we felt about calling her the most powerful woman in the world, and Radhika, you had a strong reaction to that. Can you talk about that? 'Cause everything that you said sort of surprised me but made me think differently about when and why and how we should put those labels on people. -Well, I guess I just didn't want to pigeon-hole her in a way. I mean, it sounds like-it's such a lofty thing to call someone, right, the most powerful woman in the world. But I didn't want it to seem like we were singling her out because of her sex. We're not writing about her because she's a woman. We're writing about her because she's a Fed chair and she's coming into this position at a really pivotal time for the US economy and she has really important and optimistic things to say about it. I guess I just didn't want that kind of line to distract from the very important message that she has for our readers and for us. You know, we assign those kinds of titles, the most powerful, most influential-often, it speaks as much to the institution as to the person and she is now a historic figure. I mean, whatever happens in her ten years, she is a historic figure. -The other interesting conversation which you got at a bit in talking about this-their remarkable marriage and partnership goes to the conversation that continues to be completely viral online and certainly, you know, in conversations I have with other women, which has to do with the choices women make, the tradeoffs that they make. This conversation just-we never seem to be tired of re-litigating the questions about leaning and then leaning back and standing up and- -Falling over. -Sometimes. -So, Callie, wonder-especially for younger women looking at this, does this give you hope that, oh, it is possible to be achieving at the highest level and have it all or, gee, watch this and just say, this is hopeless and I'm so tired of this conversation. It needs to go away. -I think it's absolutely inspirational, seeing that Janet Yellen said to Rana her husband contributed more than fifty percent of his fair share in the housework is something that I think women everywhere would just love to have. -Uh huh. -I think that Janet Yellen represents someone who is so different than Marissa Mayer and Sheryl Sandberg and the cookie-cutter, personal brand image we have of women with Twitter feeds who show us the inside of their lives. Janet Yellen is someone who we don't know much about, and we learned so much about her in Rana's story that I think women would be so heartened to hear. -And that I thought the most interesting anecdote in Rana's piece was that when Larry Summers was considered the frontrunner, she said to somebody, "Don't count me out." And I thought that was a very interesting and revealing take. She has full confidence in herself. She is someone who has high ambition, and yet fortunately, we are not seeing her being presented in the media as a cutthroat and conniving woman. And that's something that's great to see. -Well, I think there's no question that you don't get to be the Fed chief without having a lot of ambition. On the other hand, it's ambition for the right reasons. I have gotten the sense through all the reporting I've done-and I spoke to twenty different sources who have known her over the years-that she has what economists would call a revealed preference for being a central banker. I mean, she has been at the Fed for thirty-six years in different jobs. That said, her style is different than a lot of people you see in Washington. She's not-as Laura Tyson told me-"out there lauding her personal brand." She's not tweeting. She's not in the Op-Ed page of the-Op-Ed pages of the FT or the Wall Street Journal. But she's quietly shaping a lot of thinking, and she's gonna be shaping the future of the American economy.
A2 AU yellen janet rana woman ambition comparable Janet Yellen: World's Most Powerful Woman? 312 21 林佳昀 posted on 2014/10/01 More Share Save Report Video vocabulary