What do you consider your greatest achievement?

Originally asked

The Guardian, to a different person each week, The Q&A

Verbatim recurring item in The Guardian Q&A; two fully readable publisher-hosted respondent pages establish institutional recurrence.

You answer as yourself. Nobody on FLAPSS answers as anybody else.

Recorded Barack Obama said elsewhere, not written here
One of the things that Michelle and I are proud of is that we came through the White House with our souls intact. Everybody has heard: Power corrupts. I do think if you are placed in such an artificial situation, and your office has great importance, there is a tendency for people to want to please you. To not be as honest with you. We fought against that.

Ben Tiggelaar, Forward Thinking Leadership, Amsterdam, Ben Tiggelaar, 28 September 2018 source ↗

Others on this question

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Emma Barnett British broadcaster and journalist
Keeping a relationship with the love of my life, for 16 years.
Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 20 February 2021 source ↗
Johanna Konta British tennis player
Being happy. I think that transcends the results of my matches, the so-called successes or failures. How would you like to be remembered? As someone who dedicated their life to what they were doing at the time. Right now, it’s tennis, but I want to have the same dedication for whatever I do after, whether it be motherhood or another career.
Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 30 June 2018 source ↗
Sarah Millican English comedian
That I turned a broken heart into a career. That I hit rock bottom and bounced back up a lot higher.
Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 20 January 2018 source ↗

More from Barack Obama

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Question What are you most proud of? Identity & self
What makes me proudest about them is that they also don't get cynical about it. They have not assumed because their side didn't win, or because some of the values that they care about don't seem as if they were vindicated, that automatically America has somehow rejected them or rejected their values.
Recorded Christi Parsons, James S. Brady Press Briefing Room, the White House, The White House (Obama administration archive), 18 January 2017 source ↗
Question What is the hardest thing that has happened to you, and what did you carry out of it? Failure & regret
I was raised by a heroic single mom, wonderful grandparents -- made incredible sacrifices for me. … But I sure wish I had had a father who was not only present, but involved. Didn't know my dad. And so my whole life, I've tried to be for Michelle and my girls what my father was not for my mother and me. … I want to be a better father, a better husband, a better man.
Recorded Morehouse College, Atlanta, Georgia, The White House (Obama administration archive), 19 May 2013 source ↗
Question What are you unwilling to optimise? Values & belief
There are some things about being president that I still have difficulty doing. … For example, faking emotion. Because I feel it is an insult to the people I'm dealing with. For me to feign outrage, for example, feels to me like I'm not taking the American people seriously. I'm absolutely positive that I'm serving the American people better if I'm maintaining my authenticity. And that's an overused word. And these days people practice being authentic. But I'm at my best when I believe what I am saying.
Recorded Michael Lewis, Vanity Fair, October 2012 issue, 11 September 2012 source ↗
Question What would you like to be remembered for? Death & what remains
When I am on my deathbed, and I am thinking back on my life, I am absolutely certain that the thing I will be thinking about is holding my daughters' hands and taking them to the park. It will not be some speech I gave or some legislation that I passed. I am positive about that. And so if you keep that in mind, then you have to invest accordingly.
Recorded Ben Tiggelaar, Forward Thinking Leadership, Amsterdam, Ben Tiggelaar, 28 September 2018 source ↗
Question In the last five years, what new belief, behaviour, or habit has most improved your life? Daily life
You'll see I wear only gray or blue suits. … I'm trying to pare down decisions. I don't want to make decisions about what I'm eating or wearing. Because I have too many other decisions to make. … You need to focus your decision-making energy. You need to routinize yourself. You can't be going through the day distracted by trivia.
Recorded Michael Lewis, Vanity Fair, October 2012 issue, 11 September 2012 source ↗

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