No matter what the situation, winning takes care of a lot of stuff. Things are never perfect, even when you win. But it does make for a lot better environment, for sure.

How can you wonder what's going to happen when you don't know who's going to be the new guy in town?

We've gotten through a lot of tough times, and we're going to keep working to make them better. I wish the record was better.

You go through all the emotions when you're told to move on.

I do feel guilty. I do. Especially about my family, my children. I write about them, and I know that this will haunt them as well through their lives. Why did I do that to them?

I grew up in a Navy family, and like most service families, we traveled a lot and moved a lot. I grew up on both coasts and in the suburbs of Washington, D.C., in Rockville, Maryland, and have had a great time doing it.

We didn't really grow up in a gendered environment. We didn't have a hierarchy. My family is fearless. They truly believe that they have something to contribute to society and that it is an obligation as humans. I try to embed in my children that they have something to contribute. And that you give because you have to, not to be appreciated.

My brother and sister and I were latchkey kids, with a singer mother and no relationship with our father, and being in a firm is often about filling a void at home. For me, it was like having 50 big brothers.