McElroy or Mickelson? 
Interviewee: Mr. Larry Irving Jr.Director of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration/Vice president of Global Government Affairs Hewlett Packard
Interviewer: What were you doing when you were my age?
“When I was 22 I went straight from college directly to Law School and then to a Chicago firm, I had the idea in my mind though, that this would not be the totality of my life. I didn’t know that I would become involved with non-profit organizations at this stage of my life nor did I believe I was going to be drafted into politics. I went to Law school to get rid of the questions surrounding what I wanted to do with my career and also to gain some school and firm credentials at the same time”
Interviewer: How did you get to where you are today?
“Well, to answer it in one shot I got to where I am today by having really great mentors in my life. The first of which was a Congressman by the name of Mickey Leland, relatively unknown at the time. I went from being a new hire in the Congressman’s office to becoming Chief of Staff within the space of 4 months. From here I moved on to become the Legislative Director and Counsel to the Congressman. I really took an interest in the policy making branch of the affairs rather than the management side of the office. Rep. Leland at the time commanded a lot of votes due to his chairmanship of the Black Caucus and indeed his moves on the House Select Committee on Hunger and this allowed me to get very good training at a young age in politics and leadership. After this I worked as Senior Counsel to Congressman Ed Markey where I got the chance to grow and develop my skills even more under the man’s mentorship. From here I worked under the advice of Ron Brown the Secretary of Commerce where I gained more and more valuable experience. It is all three of these positions which have helped me reach the position I am at today, but more importantly it was how these people developed throughout my times working with them”
Interviewer: What do you value most in life?
“My wife, my parents, my sisters and brothers and all of my family included are the things I value most in life. Values, Family values allowed me to have a pretty good run, I mean, there is nothing statistically that allows anybody to have the chances they get in life nor is there anything that prevents someone of making something of themselves. You can be what you want to be. Traveling and talking to folks that really matter is very important. I believe that you can have a public face and a private face and you should try and live with each and value them incredibly.”
Interviewer: Who was the most influential person in your life and why?
“As I said before I had 3 mentors, I suppose I would have to mention all 3 of them in answering this question. I mean Mickey Leland showed me politics and leadership at a young age and this shaped my career hugely. After that Ed Markey gave me a lot of responsibility to try things out and make my own way while working for him, which developed my attributes more. Lastly I would say that Ron Brown was influential to me because he really showed me the world, he showed me that you could be doing great work and have a lot of fun. I got to meet an amazing array of smart, focused, and disciplined people. These people were great a real team of All-Stars at the time. These kinds of experiences taught me a lot of valuable lessons one of which is that the first decision is the hardest to make.”
Interviewer: What advice would you give to a young university graduate from Ireland or Northern Ireland?
“I would say go out there, find out what it is you love and follow it. For me it was politics, policy and technology but I mean what you have to do is look for a boss that’s gonna help you grow. You have to be unafraid to take a pay-cut, if it’s a job you want or something you love you cannot be afraid to take a pay-cut. Mickey and Ed convinced me to stay at the White House, you have to find these people and you can gain what is lucrative from your time with them. Invest in yourself and expand on your mature relationships. If your not learning from your boss then you should be getting ready to find an opportunity to get out. Do the best job possible now, tend to the garden now not when there is an apple tree at the end.”
Interviewer: As the digital revolution goes on, as things become more automated what dangers do you think there are for humans in the future?
“Well maybe as long as Robot’s like Hal (robot) don’t become to smart or that we don’t build’em to smart in the future…
But really, the things we can expect to be weary of or threatened by in the future are perhaps some different kinds of computer viruses or terrorist attacks on our technological grids. The truth is that we as, globalized nations really haven’t done enough to protect ourselves from the chances of terrorist attacks on our tech grid. Maybe another problem is the people to people element of life might diminish nations not building on these relationship could be damaging. The need for services to sustain the economy is a worry, since services in general are becoming more and more defective it’s hard to see how they may improve further down the line.”
Interviewer: Connecting with the masses through the use of language & powerfully written speeches has been an inspiration to many through the years… Is there a threat to the romance of language with an increase in digital communication across the globe?
“As we can see with the success of ‘the kindle’ (Amazon’s digital reading device) we can see there is still an audience for it. We have to note that a person who has the ability to communicate with his audience will still do very well this has always been that way and that won’t change. For example it is impossible to deny President Obama’s interpersonal skill sets. Technology can only enhance this dynamic nothing can change us; we are at the end of the day social beings. A great writer will always stand above the crown despite digital revelations. I always thought that when you can see someone’s library you can learn a lot about the kind of person they are, I mean this wont be done away with a great communicator will always be a great communicator High Definition television will only enhance this. And as for great writing… well, it will always be there.”
Interviewer: The use of government Twitter and Facebook has become increasingly apparent of late with staffers and senior staff publishing information in real-time. Do you feel this aids and abets the democratic model?
“Anything that breaks down the vagueness of government is a great thing”
“We can use these mediums to give someone access to their own government in much the same way a lobbyist may have access to the government but without paying 500$ or whatever the case may be. Anything that makes this possible is wonderful. There is no telling that we are definitely going to get better at it, to the point where they are going to have real facility with this… There will of course be constraints and upsides and downsides but the revolution of Web 2.0 we have seen it really beginning with Obama”
Interviewer: Since the telecommunications industry in developing countries is booming in most cases and free services like skype have the ability to cripple the said industry in developed countries, how do you see competition in both cases panning out in the future?
“Skype may prove to be disruptive and cell phones have shifted focus to being more a bout data, even though the economics have changed they are still going be great business models in the future. In saying this, business models will change or modify too. New cellular devices are now extraordinary tools and can be used in many different ways 15 people will find 15 different ways to incorporate the applications into their own daily lives. It is not really a question of where they are used anymore but perhaps how adaptable they can be in those regions. Perhaps we might use a phone to call someone for free or locate a dry cleaning service close to home, where a farmer in a developing country may use it to find a safe place to store his livestock, these devices are just functional tools.”
Interviewer: Is it wrong for such nations to be concerned with the newest iPhone when more help could be given by developing basic health services. Should developing nations focus resources more on Humanitarian aid than telecommunications in these regions?
“These devices have incredible human value, the mobile devices we have today encourage reforms at a much faster rate than what was previously possible. Aid reforms, health reforms all take place much quicker. In the case of there not being infrastructure, no road to travel on, the best way to get past this is to use rapid mobile communication to make contact. Obviously it is not a cure all situation, humans are social animals and we need to talk to every one… but in 10 years we have connected the world 3 to 4 billion more people have access they can make contact, not just basic telecommunications but sophisticated devices, smartphones, people in these regions now use them every day.”
Interviewer: What do you feel is our biggest challenge as global citizens?
“Firstly, keeping ourselves alive is going to be a big deal for us, threats from all around the world continue to grow, the Middle East, Pakistan, India and of course the things I mentioned earlier like cyber terrorism or bio-terrorism. These threats are among some of the things we must be very vigilant of in the future. The scariest thing is that these weapons are so devastating; it’s virtually unforeseeable to try and defend from. What is worse is that the visceral human reaction is to attack back and this is where things can get bad, it does nothing to make the situation better. In closing what we face as global citizens that is going to test us is, to find a way despite ourselves to not destroy this great planet.”
Interviewer: Thomas McMahon, WIP
