It's Been a Wonderful Life | Admiral Mike Mullen

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• published: 30 Jun 2016
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Admiral Mike Mullen is the former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and co-director of the Program in History and the Practice of Diplomacy at Princeton. Q. If you could clone yourself and lead two separate lives, in what other field would you work? A. That’s hard. When you do something for 40-plus years it's awful hard to think…I mean it's been a great life. It wasn't expected. In fact, when I went to Annapolis - I grew up in the movie business in Hollywood - when I went there as a 17-year-old kid, my original plan was to leave after two years and go back to some school on the West Coast and to not be in the military at all. Again, which speaks to how much you know when you're 17 or when you're 22 or 23. Fortunately, between those who mentored me, as well as just great opportunities, I fell in love with the work that I was doing. Most of it was really tied to just great people. When you grow up in a small town in Los Angeles, in a small suburb, you don't get to see much of the world. When I showed up at the Naval Academy I met kids from all over the country. That was really exciting. There were things happening all over the country and subsequently things happening all over the world that really intrigued me and drew me to this career. I had no particular ambitions. I certainly never sought to get to very senior positions. What I did like more than anything else was command. I commanded at lots of levels, but if I had only commanded at the more junior level, three ships, it would have been a great life and I’d have moved on to something else. Also, I was supported by a wonderful woman that I've been married to for 45 years. We raised a family, two great boys, so there's a lot to be said for the life that we led. It was challenging, we saw the world, we wrote history, we made a difference, and it's something that we're all very proud of. Find Admiral Mullen's full interview here: https://careerservices.princeton.edu/node/2181 ----------------------------------------­------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- CAREER & LIFE VISION CONVERSATIONS is a video series by Princeton Career Services highlighting lessons learned by inspiring Princetonians. For the whole series visit: https://careerservices.princeton.edu/node/2191 ----------------------------------------­------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Produced by Lisa Einstein '13 Music by http://www.bensound.com/royalty-free-music ----------------------------------------­-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------