CSIS Releases “Lessons from a Life in Strategy” Video Series with Dr. Zbigniew Brzezinski
February 26, 2013
WASHINGTON -- The Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) today announced the release of “Lessons from a Life in Strategy,” a series of brief, videotaped conversations with former National Security Adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski. In the segments, Dr. Brzezinski reflects on his career and his advice for aspiring policymakers.
Dr. Jon Alterman, Brzezinski Chair in Global Security and Geostrategy at CSIS, interviewed Brzezinski in July and distilled the conversation into key insights. The resultant videos provide a unique window into how Brzezinski turned a successful academic background into a strong position influencing public policy.
“Every answer here is surprising in some way,” Alterman said. “Brzezinski is constantly challenging, relentlessly strategic, and consistently innovative. There is a lot of career advice out there, but I don’t think one can do better than following Brzezinski’s lead.”
In this series of six videos, Brzezinski offers insight into what drove him into the policy world from academia, and how he saw his role once there. Brzezinski also discusses his approaches toward leading teams of policymakers and effectively staffing a president.
“Lessons from a Life in Strategy” is a project of the Brzezinski Chair at CSIS, a position named in his honor that Alterman assumed in February 2012. Alterman undertook the project to highlight Brzezinski’s commitment to excellence in both public policy and academic pursuits.
Zbigniew Brzezinski has been an influential voice in Washington policy discussions for nearly half a century. He served as President Jimmy Carter’s national security adviser, and he continues to teach, write, and speak publically on issues of national security. He is a CSIS counselor and trustee and cochairs the CSIS Advisory Board. He is also the Robert E. Osgood Professor of American Foreign Policy at the School of Advanced International Studies, Johns Hopkins University, in Washington, D.C. Brzezinski received a B.A. and M.A. from McGill University and Ph.D. from Harvard University.
In addition to holding the Brzezinski Chair at CSIS, Jon Alterman concurrently directs the Middle East Program at CSIS, which he has done since 2002. A former member of the Secretary of State’s Policy Planning Staff and a Special Assistant to the Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs, he received his A.B. from Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs and his Ph.D. from Harvard.
The video series can be accessed in full here: http://cs.is/159vJ3q
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The Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) is a bipartisan, nonprofit organization that seeks to advance global security and prosperity by providing strategic insights and policy solutions to decisionmakers.
