That first responsibility as a school board member - meals for latch-key children - was absolutely critical in my understanding of the extraordinary problems of poverty.

The United States cannot feed every person, lift every person out of poverty, cure every disease, or stop every conflict. But our power and status have conferred upon us a tremendous responsibility to humanity.

Grandchildren have taught me how important the future is. I try to look through their eyes and envision what's in their imagination. What's the world going to look like when they're my age? That really does take a huge imagination.

Secretary Perry became the 19th secretary of defense and the first enlisted man to serve in that role. He had time in the highest ranks of the Pentagon and was instrumental in the dismantlement of the nuclear warheads in the United States and Russia. Throughout his career, he has devoted himself to protecting the interests of the nation.

Success is the result of perfection, hard work, learning from failure, loyalty, and persistence.

The focus on just thinking about standardized test scores as being synonymous with achievement for teenagers is ridiculous, right? There are so many things that kids care about, where they excel, where they try hard, where they learn important life lessons, that are not picked up by test scores.

There are a lot of things that go into creating success. I don't like to do just the things I like to do. I like to do things that cause the company to succeed. I don't spend a lot of time doing my favorite activities.

The real metric of success isn't the size of your bank account. It's the number of lives in whom you might be able to make a positive difference.