00:13My name is Harold John Dobb, Jr. I'm in my mid-80s, live in Omaha, Nebraska, married
00:18to a wonderful lady by the name of Mary. We have three kids and six grandkids. And during
00:24my 55 years of practicing law, I took a few diversionary trips to serve in Congress for
00:30eight years. And then there on the Ways and Means Committee, the Tax Writing Committee,
00:35on the Small Business Committee, on the Health Committees of Ways and Means and the Small
00:40Business Committee. I enjoyed thereafter a chance to run for the Senate, but got the bronze
00:47medal in that endeavor. I'm going to do some work for the American Healthcare Association
00:52as its national CEO and president on a turnaround project for a couple of years, back to my
00:58law firm, and then ran for mayor of Omaha and was successful in winning two elections to
01:03serve as mayor of our about 36th, 38th largest city in the country, and to be selected by
01:10George Bush, nominated by him, and confirmed by Democrat-controlled Senate to be a member
01:15of the National Congressionally Charged Social Security Advisory Board and serve as its chairman
01:20for five years. So I've had an interesting mix of private sector experience. I practiced law.
01:28I ran a company, a $20 million livestock feed company for 10 years and served in the Congress
01:35and various other public ways. But all in all, a really interesting life and one that I have
01:44enjoyed thoroughly and I'm glad to talk to you about it. I was a route paper boy for the Omaha
01:54Monopoly Print World Herald newspaper. That's a then and was at one time a Warren Buffett
02:02Berkshire Hathaway company. I made about $20 a month after all collections and bad debts.
02:10I enjoyed that my dad would take me on Saturday mornings to the small little bank in our small
02:17town of Benson, Nebraska, a little suburb of Omaha, and I would make my deposit. Also, I had some
02:24income from mowing and cutting grass and from doing chores around our little farmstead,
02:29and then went on to have a job all through high school racking hot bread at a Omaha bread
02:37manufacturing company. And a lot of other odd jobs, some of which produced enough money that I was
02:44able to go through college, buy my first car and go through college and graduate with no debt.
02:53Of all the jobs I've had in my career, I like being mayor of Omaha the best because under our
02:59Omaha
02:59charter, Gary, Omaha is called a home rule charter. So the state legislature gave our city almost
03:06identical powers as if we were a state within a state. So the mayor of Omaha under our charter
03:13is sort of a combination of the CEO, the CFO, the CIO. It's a strong mayor, a part-time city
03:20council.
03:21So if Gertrude called up the hotline and was having trouble getting her cat out of the tree,
03:27I could find a public works official or a firefighter who could go get the cat down out of the
03:34tree for
03:34Gertrude. It was that kind of job that was more hands-on. In Congress, I enjoyed the public policy
03:41world. But when you'd fix a problem on the one side, the problem was so immense that it hemorrhaged
03:47out of the bucket on the other side. Very difficult and frustrating. Even though I enjoyed being a member
03:53of Congress, I enjoyed being mayor much more because you had a much more direct impact on the outcome.
04:04I've run for both partisan and non-partisan elective offices and have been on many boards
04:10and commissions over my lifetime. And I had a lesson taught to me by Ronald Reagan. He and I were
04:19both
04:19inaugurated in 1980 at the same time. And after we had a sleepless night of partying in Washington,
04:26he invited the Republican class of 1980 to the White House for breakfast that next morning.
04:32And I mean, I had no idea, but I ended up being seated right next to him, took out the
04:38napkin and
04:38said, would you autograph this for my three kids? And I was tickled with all of that. But he made
04:43a
04:43speech. It's been written up in three books and I'll never forget it. And it's been a guidepost in my
04:48public life, be it volunteer or official. And he said to the 52 of us that assembled at that breakfast,
04:55I've never been a legislator or a lawmaker, but I was governor of California, as you know, and dealt with
05:01a pretty interesting group of lawmakers in the state of California. And here's my challenge to you.
05:07I will stand and fight for my principles and I exhort you to do the same. And then he did
05:12that famous
05:13B actor wink, tilted his head to the right and winked. And then he used his forefinger on his right
05:20hand
05:20and he circled in a pointing manner at his feet. And he said, I expect you to fight for your
05:27principles
05:27as I just told you, I will mind. But to get things done, we're probably going to have to compromise.
05:32And when we do, and when we must, all I ask of you is that we fall forward together. And
05:41I always
05:41remember that comment that he made to all of us, tried to use that as my guiding principle in the
05:47lawmaking process. And then in my service as mayor, my service as an elected member of our public
05:53university's board of regents in a number of appointed positions, always look, not necessarily for the
05:59middle ground, but see if you can find compromise. And to do so means you might have to accept some
06:05things that you wouldn't prefer, but maybe the other side has some points you can accept. And when
06:12you get together, the result normally is progress. And I've always felt that that was the way to
06:19conduct oneself in public life. I found it always effective as a lawyer in conducting myself that way
06:25with opposing counsel and my clients. I've always asked myself, how would I feel if the tables were
06:36turned and the shoe was on the other foot? And that's the answer. Just expect that you would want
06:44to be treated the way you would like the outcome to be and act accordingly. And in so doing, I
06:50think that
06:50makes compromise and conciliation a lot more potentially useful in moving whatever issue
06:57it might be to resolution.
07:03That they listen, but not in a condescending way, in a sincere way. When you listen to someone else in
07:11a sincere way and absorb and truly hear what someone else is saying, what their point of view is,
07:17what their issues are, and how they feel about them, then ask yourself what the foundational
07:24credibility of the factual objective point of view is that other party has. And if they are
07:30willing to smile at you and say, Hal, I disagree with you, but we still will get along just fine.
