Come up Big: My Journey Through Vietnam, Harvard, the White House, the Department of State, and as CEO in Corporate America

Born extremely prematurely and weighing just two pounds, the doctor told my dear mother Elsa, "Don't even think you've had a child." Against those odds, I survived-and overcame many odds along the way.

In school, struggling with dyslexia, I was in constant academic turmoil. Later, I was asked to leave Hamilton College for academic reasons, only to be drafted because of the war in Vietnam.

I thrived in the Army and rose to the rank of First Lieutenant, admired by my peers and decorated for c...