Max Baucus served for more than 35 years in the United States Senate before becoming the United States Ambassador to China. The longest-serving U.S. Senator in Montana history, Senator Baucus was the Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee – one of the most powerful positions in Congress – and played a central role in shaping the Affordable Care Act. Senator Baucus joins Adam to share his journey and his best lessons and advice. Senator Baucus and Adam discuss leadership, career success, negotiations and dealmaking, decision making, trust, and much more.
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Read the full transcript of Adam’s conversation with Senator Baucus.
Episode Summary
Senator Max Baucus served Montana in the U.S. Senate for more than 35 years, chaired the Senate Finance Committee, and later served as U.S. Ambassador to China. He tells Adam how a boy who grew up in Helena and spent summers on his family’s cattle and sheep ranch about 20 miles north of town ended up shaping national health policy and serving as ambassador to China.
Senator Baucus describes a childhood shaped by hard work under his stepfather, John Baucus, and a path that took him from Carleton College to Stanford. He recounts hitchhiking around the world from August 1962 to August 1963, including an epiphany in the Congo, and says his grades improved to all A’s afterward. While working at the SEC, he decided at about age 28 to return to Montana and run for office, inspired by his mentor, Mike Mansfield, and despite telling his Republican family that he was a Democrat.
He explains how he ran with 100 percent focus, including walking into a Missoula TV studio to get himself on the air every week. He told his staff to take risks and make mistakes, because in his words, “Politics is motion.” He also recalls Governor Forrest Anderson’s advice to be a doer rather than a cause guy, and Mansfield’s counsel not to live in Helena, to rely on shoe leather and a little luck, and to ask questions.
He discusses the Affordable Care Act, which came out of the Senate Finance Committee that he calls “the best committee of the Congress by far.” Senator Baucus explains that the effort was built from the bottom up rather than top down, over about 15 months, under three rules: no politics, everything on the table, and bring a solution with every problem. A white paper followed in November 2008. He says the process became political at the end, and no Republican voted for the bill. He also stresses the value of confidentiality, and of not blabbing or gossiping.
Senator Baucus then discusses his toughest decision, not running for a seventh term after more than three decades in the Senate, which he compares to deciding to “jump out into the ocean, see if I can swim.” President Obama later asked him to serve as ambassador to China and announced his intent to nominate him in December 2013. As ambassador, he relied on what he calls the three P’s of being patient, positive, and persistent, and treated Chinese officials as equals. When no agreement is possible, he says, it is good to leave on an upbeat note, and mutual self-respect makes agreements sustainable. He closes with a simple message for listeners: try your best.
What You’ll Learn
- Make decisions and accept mistakes, Senator Baucus says, because politics is motion, and he told his staff to take risks since mistakes mean decisions are being made and lessons are being learned.
- Stepping out into the wider world can kindle a new drive: after a year hitchhiking around the world, including an epiphany in the Congo that people must work better together, Senator Baucus says he went from average grades to all A’s.
- Be a doer rather than a cause guy, Senator Baucus says, advice from Montana Governor Forrest Anderson, who told him cause guys rant and rave but don’t get anything done.
- To build consensus on a hard problem, set ground rules: Senator Baucus ran the Senate Finance Committee’s health care process from the bottom up under three rules: no politics, everything on the table, and bring a solution with every problem.
- Choose the risk that preserves your self-respect, Senator Baucus says: rather than run again for a seventh term he believed he would win, he decided to jump out into the ocean and see if he could swim.
- Be patient, positive, and persistent, Senator Baucus says, the three P’s that he found worked pretty well for him as ambassador to China.
About Senator Max Baucus
Max Baucus represented Montana in the U.S. Senate for more than 35 years, where he chaired the Senate Finance Committee and led its work on the Affordable Care Act. He grew up in Helena, spent summers on his family’s cattle and sheep ranch north of town, attended Carleton College and Stanford, and worked at the SEC before returning to Montana to run for office. He was mentored early on by Mike Mansfield. After leaving the Senate, he served as U.S. Ambassador to China.
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