George W. Bush Tells New Pal Mark Zuckerberg Not To Use His Brain

Why was George W. Bush at Facebook today? A lot of people work there and have disposable income on which to purchase a memoir? Bush was wondering if his Farmville animals lived there and if he could visit them? Anyway, Bush "liked" his book on Facebook's stage and told those assembled stories about Vladmir Putin and his dog. He said he was "very impressed" when he met the Facebook people and thought they were all great leaders, like himself. Mark Zuckerberg let Bush know he looks up to him for his leadership skills. Bush advised Zuckerberg that he should never get "intellectually hung up" in what he does. You should be removing your profile from that site if you haven't already.

As the conversation wound on, the two superstars on the Facebook stage continued to playfully applaud one another, the elder statesman in the tan sports jacket and the jean-clad Internet wunderkind, the one old enough to be the other one's grandpa. Talking about the importance of corporate or political leaders not getting too intellectually hung up in what they do, Bush turned to Zuckerberg and acknowledged how "running Facebook requires common-sense decisions. You can't lead unless you know where you're going and you've done a marvelous job of setting a direction." Then the president added, "this really sounds like I'm pandering.''

To which the panderee eagerly replied, "You can keep it coming."

After eight years as president, the best leadership advice this man can give to (his successor?) Mark Zuckerberg is to never use his brain. Sounds about right. That guy has really been reflecting hard on his past. [ Mercury News ]