Temple Grandin describes herself as a professor of animal science at Colorado State University.

But she is more than that.

Grandin, who recently had a Hollywood movie made about her life, also happens to be the most well-known woman in the country with autism.

"Autism is a very important part of who I am, but it's not primary," she said.

What is primary is her mind, her imaging and visual way of solving problems, which helped her revolutionize the cattle industry.

But perhaps her biggest gift to society is revolutionizing how we approach autism.

You can watch The Interview with Raj Mathai at the top of this page.

He helped fund some of the most famous Bay Area companies. Now Tim Draper is putting his name on a new venture -- Draper University of Heroes.

Students from around the world are shelling out about $10,000 for an eight-week crash course at Draper University. Among other things, they learn from Draper how to become the next big thing. He should know. He's a third generation VC who helped launch Hotmail, Skype, and most recently Tesla.

Despite his success, what he preaches at Draper U is failure and how to learn from it. When asked about his biggest failures, he talks about companies he failed to fund. "We were outbid for Yahoo, we were in a bidding war for Facebook and we lost that," Draper said.

While he still funds companies, Draper is focusing on his university and explained how it's very different from a traditional four year ivy league school.

"We take a lot of chances with the students, but those students come out much stronger, much better for it. It's a great experience all the way around," Draper said.

"Is this just a fun little session that's not really doing much?" Raj Mathai asked. "People always told me that you can't train entrepreneurship and you can't teach entrepreneurship and whenever anybody says you can't I always think well how would you?

How you would create an entrepreneur from a ball of clay? And I thought, well there is a way," Draper answered.

You can watch the full interview at the top of this page.

Leading up to the most recent elections this past fall, a small-time Dublin prosecutor in his early 30s, named Eric Swalwell made national headlines as he waged an aggressive battle to unseat a once-beloved 20-term member of Congress, Pete Stark.

Come Nov. 6, 2012, Swalwell was successful - the young upstart beat the outspoken and aging liberal Stark, who had overseen the Fremont area for 40 years from the Hill.

Fast forward to today and Congressman Swalwell is now making his way as a freshman member of Congress.

He feels he has finally landed.

“Well, 11 years ago I was just an intern on Capitol Hill,” said Swalwell, as he described how the tables have turned.

“For me, I still go to the elevators that say ‘Members Only’ and I look at them and wonder, ‘Am I allowed to get on that?’ – You kind of slap yourself and say, ‘Yeah, you’re here now, you belong.’”

While Swalwell long dreamed that he was going to be a professional soccer player when he grew up, that ended after he sustained an injury in college.

As he explains in an interview with Raj Mathai at the top of this article, Swalwell then turned his attention to politics.

He interned in Congress a decade ago. Now, he is a member of Congress at the age of 32, representing East Bay communities like Dublin, Fremont and Hayward.

Billionaire Vivek Ranadive may not be a household name, but just about everyone is talking about one of his business ventures, the Golden State Warriors.

As the Warriors compete in the second round of the NBA playoffs, now may not seem like the best time to think about selling his stake, but that's what he's doing.

Why?

Ranadive wants to buy another California NBA team, the Sacramento Kings.

It's Ranadive's software that powers everything from e-tickets to FedEx shipments.

"Every now and then you get the opportunity to participate in something that's bigger than yourself," said Ranadive, CEO and founder of TIBCO in Palo Alto. "The state of California means everything to me and I felt that if I could be a part of keeping the Kings in Sacramento, that was something I needed to do."

As tough as it may be to sell his portion of the Warriors, it makes good business sense to Ranadive.

"I believe that the value has gone up dramatically," Ranadive said. "We sold more season tickets in the last few months than had ever been sold by anyone. I have no doubt there will be a lot of people wanting to buy that stake."

Last week the NBA voted against the Kings moving to Seattle. Later this month, the league is expected to approve the sale of the Kings to Ranadive and he will keep it in Sacramento.

It isn't a done deal yet though, a competing group of investors increased their bid for the King's to $625 million.

You can watch the full report at the video player on the top of this page.

Two years ago, before coming to the Bay Area as president of the Golden State Warriors, Rick Welts made one of the most difficult announcements of his career.

He came out as gay.

"One of the things that kept me from doing it as long as I did was I think that nobody in a position like mine had ever taken that step," Welts said. "As a result, I really couldn't see how that was going to turn out."

Welts' public disclosure about his homosexuality turned out to be one of the best experiences of his life.

"I can tell you at a personal level its been spectacular. I've really been able to communicate to literally thousands of people," Welts said.

Now he's determined to help resurrect the Warriors into a winning NBA team.

"It can't happen overnight, but I know that success is something that will happen and something fans can be really proud of," Welts said with a smile.

You can watch the full interview at the top of this article.

Washington, D.C., may be where former Defense Secretary Leon Panetta worked for the last 50 years, but if you ask him, that's not his home.

"This is where I was born and raised," Leon Panetta said referring to the Monterey Peninsula. "This has been home from the very beginning and it always has been and it's always nice to come home."

Now that he's back home,  Panetta is spending much more time at the Panetta Institute on the Cal State Monterey Campus. The walls at the Institute, which he founded with his wife, Sylvia, in 1997, give snapshot after snapshot of his illustrious career in public service. "That wall is all of my past history," Panetta said. "Now I have to put up the Obama certificates as well," Panetta said with a laugh while looking down at piles of frames propped up against another wall.

In a recent interview, Panetta, who is one of the most respected men in politics, talked about what kept him in the game for so long.

"You know in public service, you don't make much money, you don't get an awful lot of visibility at times, but if you can do something to help protect people, if you can do something to make people's lives a little better, that's the greatest reward you can get in this job," Panetta said.

That's not to say he didn't have more than his fair share of challenges, most recently as CIA Director and Defense Secretary.

When asked about the handling of the Benghazi attack, Panetta defended the military actions, but admitted he learned important lessons.

"The reality is that we did everything we could to deal with that situation," Panetta said. "From a military point of view there was no way based on where our troops were located there was simply not enough time to be able to get them there in time, and that is an important lesson we've learned. Today, there are things I ordered that we locate our special forces in key bases, but reduce their time for being able to get on a plane and get someplace."

Panetta also reflected on one of his biggest successes, the capturing and killing of Osama Bin Laden while he was CIA Director.

"It was a very tense situation, that whole operation because we never knew for sure that Bin Laden was located there, and yet I always felt in my gut that it was the right thing to do," Panetta recalled. "It was a tremendous risk and I give the President a lot of credit to make the decision in the end to go, but when we finally got the word Geronimo, that they had finally got Bin Laden, I have to tell you, it wasn't like we were throwing things in the air, it was like one big sigh of relief that the operation was successful in the mission that we were performing. I think it was probably one of the best sensations I've ever had with regards to an operation."

In one of the conference rooms at the Institute, Panetta showed off a photo that holds a special meaning. "This is the moment actually when the helicopters came back from Pakistan and landed in Afghanistan and we knew then that everyone was safe," Panetta said. The photo shows him arm in arm with an aide at  CIA headquarters in Langley. It's in essence his version of the now iconic photograph in the situation room at the White House.

One thing Panetta won't miss is how partisan Washington has become. "I've never seen Washington as mean and dysfunctional as it is today," Panetta said. "I think what really depresses me most is for whatever reason, people in Washington are willing to stand aside, not govern, not resolve these issues and do harm to innocent Americans who don't bear any blame for what's happened here, they just happen to be victims."

Now back home, Panetta plans to spend much more time on his walnut farm. "I owe it to my father, it's his legacy to keep it up, so I'll keep driving the tractor out there, keep working the orchard, but I've still got public service in my blood and I'll continue to do whatever I can do to improve our society."

He's one man who literally turned  the page on global literacy.

We're talking about John Wood, who lived the high life as a high-tech executive, but gave it all up to do something bigger.

He is on a personal mission to give every child access to books.

A big challenge, no doubt, but after founding the non-profit, Room to Read, he's well on his way to achieving that goal.

The facts are impressive:

• 15,000 libraries
• 1,600 schools built all over Africa and southeast Asia
• 12 million books distributed

Now, in The Interview with Raj, John Wood talks about why Room to Read is headquartered in San Francisco, how integral Silicon Valley has been to the success of his non-profit, and why he has no plans to ever jump back into the corporate world. His new book, Creating Room to Read, was released last month.

You can watch the interview at the top of this article.

We also have a web extra with Wood with his answer to a question that came from a Facebook fan.  You can see that below.

One of the Bay Area’s most successful entrepreneurs isn’t making apps and tablets in Silicon Valley, he’s frying chicken in San Francisco. 

And he’s built an empire around food, wine, design and publishing - and of course, fried chicken. 

You might have already guessed - we’re talking about Celebrity Chef Tyler Florence.

The Interview with Raj Mathai takes you inside Wayfare Tavern in San Francisco to speak with Tyler.

He reveals what his greatest fear was when he threw open the doors of his new restaurant.

And he talks about what it’s like cooking for President Obama and the role the secret service played in the operation. 

Tyler also divulges how he feels about people who don’t eat fried chicken.

Watch the video above.

Below is raw video of Tyler frying up some of his famous chicken. 

 

Bay Area author Po Bronson is used to having his works skyrocket to the top of best selling lists. Given the early buzz, his latest book, Top Dog, co-written with Ashley Merryman, could very well end up there, too.

Bronson recently sat down with NBC Bay Area's Raj Mathai to talk about what research says about the science of winning and losing. As a coach for his son's soccer team, Bronson saw firsthand the different ways kids handle the pressure of competition.

"We had put together all these really talented third graders and they started playing in fourth grade and a lot of them had been the best before and now they're playing the other best teams in Northern California and not all the kids handled it the same," Bronson said. "Some of the kids could really respond to that pressure, and other kids could not handle that sense of having to compete at all. I was curious why. What was going on in their psychology, how were they raised, their physiology? I wanted to try and understand these differences in performances in competitions."

Bronson categorized these types of people as "worriers" and "warriors" and DNA dictates whether you're one or the other. "There's a genetic element which affects how dopamine is cleared in the frontal cortex of your brain. If you have the worrier gene, when you're not stressed, in normal everyday life, just going about your life, getting your work done, you have a significant cognitive advantage," Bronson said. "It works out to about ten IQ points, as long as there's no stress."

As we all know life can be stressful, and that's where warriors thrive. "You see the warriors' brains work optimally and the worriers brains don't work as well," Bronson said.

Now, take a look at your ring and index fingers. It may sound hard to believe, but researchers found that most successful entrepreneurs had ring fingers 10 to 20 percent longer than their index fingers. "It means you're more prone to risk taking, you respond to competition, you're comfortable being aggressive, and it also means you have spacial ability" Bronson said. "Now the question is why?"

It all comes down to science. Researchers say testosterone lengthens the fetal fingers while estrogen stops their growth and it's a marker of hormone response.  "When we are challenged, when we have to compete, we get a surge of hormones in our bodies." Bronson said. "So you have a permanent lifelong responsiveness to challenge." Knowing this no doubt will make you check people's fingers. Bronson does.

So, when Bronson meets a CEO, does he look at their hands?

"I saw Gavin Newsom, the former mayor of San Francisco and he's a friend, and I shook his hand, I handed him a copy of the my book, and I said let me see your hand,  and he said what are you doing?" Bronson recalled laughing.

"If you look at pictures of President Obama's hand, Mark Zuckerberg's hand, you can look for it yourself, it's amazing," Bronson said.

The book, Top Dog, goes on sale Tuesday.

Watch our full report in the video player at the top of this page.

Web Extras: Watch exclusive bonus clips below:

How Po Bronson got his name:

 Po Bronson on competition.

Follow @nbcbayarea

His early days in the Silicon Valley were fueled by cocaine and alcohol. Nowadays, it's a new set of problems. Police say John McAfee might be connected to a neighbor's murder in Belize.

He fled that small Central American country, leaving behind a trail of teenage girls and guns. He's now in Portland, Ore., thousands of miles away from Belize, and that's where NBC Bay Area's Raj Mathai caught up him.

"So what would you tell the Belizean Government if you had any role in his murder?" Raj asked McAfee. "Absolutely none," McAfee replied. "They know this, they know I'm not involved in the murder, they haven't questioned anybody else."

McAfee knows people question whether he's lost his mind, but insists it doesn't bother him. "Much of the press has been very negative. I'm a mad man. Perhaps I am, I don't think I am," McAfee told Raj adding: "People on the street all give me the high five sign. Keep going!"

McAfee's personal life, is one that sounds right out of Hollywood. In fact, he's already sold the rights to a movie. "I do have teenage girlfriends and many at a time," McAfee told Raj. "Nothing illegal, they're well beyond the age of consent. I see nothing wrong with it."

His life now is very different from decades ago when he started McAfee. He admits money changed him. "Suddenly you have all this power and all this money. You can buy whatever you want and I did," McAfee said.

"You know I bought stuff I didn't need. At one point I had houses in every part of the world. Yeah, that's being a jerk."

Watch our full report in the video player at the top of this page.

Web Extras: Watch exclusive bonus video clips below:

Web Extra: McAfee on Jobs, Gates and Zuckerberg

Web Extra: Viggo Mortensen as McAfee?

There's a good chance you've never seen or heard of Joel Hyatt.  Until now.

The unassuming multi-millionaire has pulled off a deal, along with his business partner, former Vice President Al Gore, that has shocked the media world.

Gone is San Francisco-based Current TV, a ground-breaking network that never really got off the ground. But Hyatt and Gore soared, selling Current TV for a reported $500 million to Al Jazeera, which will most likely keep a prescence in San Francisco. A TV Network that's financed by the oil rich country of Qatar.

“We studied very hard around the world to make sure we’d be comfortable with it,"  Hyatt said. "And you know Al Jazeera is carried on Israel’s satellite system, and if the Israeli public is comfortable with learning what can be learned from Al Jazeera then I think the American public is going to be able to as well.”


In his first interview since the controversial deal was announced, Hyatt is proud, reflective and a little agitated.

Here is a Q&A with Raj Mathai and Hyatt:

Hyatt: “We studied very hard around the world to make sure we’d be comfortable with it. And you know Al Jazeera is carried on Israel’s satellite system, and if the Israeli public is comfortable with learning what can be learned from Al Jazeera then I think the American public is going to be able to as well.”


Hyatt: "While some of the press in being negative I would say is highly hypocritical which has basically been Fox News and the Wall Street Journal both of which are owned by Newscorp, and Newscorp second largest owner is the Saudi Royal Family. So this idea that they’re criticizing what Al Gore and I would do business is really quite remarkable when they don’t even disclose that their company is owned by significant part by Arabs.”

Mathai: “Is it ironic for you or disingenuous as your critics would say for  you and your friend and partner Al Gore to sell to a company a broadcast network that is funded basically by oil?"

Hyatt: "Not at all. Look, again, I get that, this sort of easy shot."

Mathai: "But do you see where people are coming from?"

Hyatt: "Of course, but here’s what I know. Both Al and I…more Al, have had extensive conversations with Al Jazeera about the issue of climate change, and we believe Al Jazeera is going to be a very good job of covering it, in a way that US press does not."

Mathai: “And Joel, you’ve been around the block. You knew the public perception here in the United States about Al Jazeera is negative. Were you prepared for any criticism you guys would have taken?"

Hyatt: "I evaluated that very carefully, Raj, and at the end of the day what I believed was… it was clear those who know are very impressed with Al Jazeera and the high quality professional journalism they do. Those who don’t know have a biased based on their lack of knowledge. But think about that, ignorance breeds, biased breeds all kinds of problems in the world, and the whole point of journalism is to provide information to the people who don’t know so they become people who do, and Al and I didn’t want to base a decision  on those who don’t know and uniformed biases they may have.”

Mathai: "You had an all hands meeting with the current bosses at Current, at least a few of them. How did that go? Transitions can be difficult."

Hyatt: “I think it went very well, and frankly I think the new leadership is responsible for that. I gave a talk and turned the floor over but the fact is… the staff was really eager what the new leadership had to say, and they were very, very good.''

Mathai: "Any disappointments at Current?"

Hyatt: "Sure. You always have disappointments.  I have disappointments about things we would like to achieve but didn’t. We were never able to bring the large scale resources necessary to compete. This is real lesson to me, the media industry requires large scale resources.  We believe there’s a real problem on why it's so consolidated. It's extremely difficult to be an independent standalone cable network not able to spend the same resources. That’s a frustration, that’s a disappointment."

Mathai: "Will Al Jazeera be able to succeed?''
 
Hyatt: "Absolutely. they’re gonna be able to do the marketing we couldn’t afford to do. It will make a big difference.”
 

California Attorney General Kamala Harris is becoming more than just a household name in the Golden State. But while her star power may be rising on a national stage, the Bay Area native has a unique perspective on her future, and what keeps her feet on the ground.

We've seen the 48-year old Oakland native rewrite the history books as she climbed the ladder. Nationally, Washington insiders say it's only a matter of time before she heads to the capitol.
"Is it flattering to hear your name possibly to the Supreme Court?" Raj asked Harris. "The U.S. Attorney General? Is it flattering?"

"I am so superstitious," Harris answered with a laugh. "I am truly focused on what I am doing. So many people who are focused on that thing over there that they trip over the thing over here. It's not worth it."

"It seems like you have a dynamic relationship with President Obama," Raj said to Harris. "Tell me about your relationship."
"First and foremost it's a relationship built on profound mutual respect," Harris said. "You know there's a whole group of really I think dynamic elected leaders, who are finding each other and feeding off each other, and working with each other."
"Is it a friendship?" Raj asked. "It's a friendship, it's a friendship, it's a friendship," Harris answered.

"If there are critics, they say maybe you're overly ambitious. She's on Oprah, the Today Show, Fair criticism or unfair?" Raj asked Harris.
"I certainly do believe that life is short enough that you should get things done. I love my work. I love my work. I feel challenged by it," Harris said. "I feel it is important work. I have seen through the course of my professional life that if you focus on it in a certain way, you can get things done, you can make a huge impact on the lives of other people.  People you'll never meet by the way. People who will not necessarily ever know your name and that drives me. That certainly drives me."

She also knows how to drive the headlines, sometimes being accused of grandstanding. Earlier this year she targeted big banks, in the highly publicized $26 billion dollar settlement stemming from foreclosure abuses. And just last month she outlined her battle against human trafficking.
"I wanted to see the tunnels that connected California to Mexico and see the tunnels through which there has been an incredible amount of trafficking of guns, and drugs, and human beings," Harris said. "I heard stories of children as young as  5-years old being trafficked through those tunnels. It became clear obviously that it is about people making a great deal of money off of trafficking of human beings and they're doing it in a way that is trafficking for the purpose of sex work and forced labor."

Raj then changed topics to what she's like when not on the job. "Behind the scenes, without the cameras here, what's your ideal Saturday?"
"Oh I usually have events on Saturday. Ask me about a Sunday," Harris said. "OK," Raj said.  "Tell me about your ideal Sunday?
"It depends," Harris said. "I love to cook. I love to cook. That's my ideal day. Recently and I hope we get it in San Francisco,  have you ever tried soul cycle?"
"No tell me," Raj Said. "Oh it's fabulous!" Harris said. "It's this thing that came out of New York and it's in LA, and I did it when I was in LA for the meetings we were having there, and it's fabulous! It's like a bunch of stationary bikes in a room. I'm much too old to go to the club right?" Harris said laughing. "But it's like being in a club and it's kind of dark and they're playing this throbbing hip hop. and you just cycle. I did that recently at it was really fun."
 

Read Raj Mathai's full interview with Khan Academy founder Sal Khan. His book, "The One World School House," comes out next week.

Raj: "Has it snowballed or is it just slow snowball, the success and the exposure?"
Sal  “Back when it was just me operating in a closet in 2006, it was already beginning to snowball, you know the user traffic was growing 30 percent a month but it was going from 10 to 13 people, but you keep doing that and it goes from 10,000 to 13,000 or 100,000 to 130,000 now it’s at millions, but yeah it’s been crazy."

Raj  “Aside from the education part of it, aside from the politics, the praise, the controversy, whatever, are you surprised at the success that you’re having."
Sal  “Yes, I’m definitely surprised at the speed at which all this has happened. I think when a lot of people anyone when you’re working on a project, it takes awhile for traction to happen, even for me, when I was in my closet, I was like a lot of people seem to be getting value from this but the world hasn't’t really noticed, and then all of a sudden, it happened, and once it started to happen, it started to happen really really fast .  We’ve been shocked at just the number of users worldwide using it, the number of teachers worldwide that are using it, kind of our ability to at least be part of the conversation of even what a classroom should be."

Raj: “What did you want to be when you grew up as a kid?"
Sal:  “When I was a kid depending at what stage a kid I was, I wanted to be an animator at one point, an architect, and them um, and then later and I think for all students whenever you get a lot of positive feed back, I started thinking of maybe an engineer or physicist, and then computer science came into existence. I was always fascinated with making things."

Raj:  "Bill Gates I love this story in the book, the first meeting with Bill how was it? Describe it."
Sal  “Bill Gates is like an icon, especially for me, and so for the first time even his team invited me to come visit with him. Just the first time I caught wind that he was using the site was a surreal experience, because I joke those videos were for Nadia not for Bill Gates and so it just elevated what was going on, the whole world seemed to be connected in some way. Then when they asked if I could fly up, if I had some free time, you know my calendar was completely blank so I said sure I can come up for that. Meeting him was the kind of the memory in my life that will always be burned in my brain. I think for me it’s meeting an icon, meeting a hero, and then on top of that one of the most intelligent people on the planet.  When I was meeting him, 20 percent of my brain was engaged in the conversation and then the other 80 percent was saying you’re talking to Bill Gates right now. You realize that’s Bill Gates right across the table?  I kind of had to keep suppressing that part.”

Raj  “After you met with him, what was that first phone call or the email or the text  to say hey thumbs up we’re going to give you millions of dollars?"
Sal  “I first heard in the summer of 2010 that Bill Gates did this as a conference at the Aspen ideas festival. I had never had any idea, in front of everybody he just starts talking about how he uses Khan Academy himself, how he uses it with his kids, and the next two weeks were a bit awkward for me because I didn’t know what to do, do I call him up? What’s the protocol?  I suspected he wasn’t listed. Then they reached out shortly afterward, and this was the phone call where they asked if I’d like to fly up and talk to Bill about how we could work together. By the time I flew up, there was a strong indication that something was likely to happen. At the end of the meeting,  Bill and the rest of the team from the Foundation said well where do you see this going? I said, look, I want to keep doing this, I want to translate this into the world languages, I want to turn this into a true virtual school where you can have exercises, where you can have feedback, there’s software, and in that meeting, we talked about what that would take, and at the time I said a 5 person team and some office space. So there was some indication that something was going to happen. By October of 2010 we sort of had the green light, and we were up and running and that’s when we got this space.”

Raj  “You’re a non-profit, you could make a lot of money doing what you do, knowing what you know. Why not make it a for profit, like so many people around you in the Silicon Valley make a bunch of money?"
Sal  “There’s nothing wrong with a for-profit. I come from a very for-profit industry. But when I started with Khan Academy, I started it as a hobby, and I would get all these letters from people, and 'wow this really helped me' or 'this really helped my children,' or 'this helped me go to back to college,' or 'this helped me pass Algebra or stay in high school,' and I was getting all this psychic reward, emotional reward from all these letters, and so when it became clear that this was a real thing, and it could be a real entity of some kind, there was a lot temptation of some kind. I lived in the middle of Silicon Valley and some VC’s were talking to me about funding it and we can still give the content away for free, and figure out some way eventually to monetize it, there was an appeal to that. But then I started thinking about how many people it could reach, and not only how much it could reach right now but, how many people it could reach over time, maybe over the next 10, 50, 100 years, and when I thought about it that way, there were very few, in fact there were no for-profit  companies that kind of get that institutional status over that a large period of time can continue to deliver on their mission. The only entities that have done this is institutions like Stanford or Berkeley. They transcend any one owner. Their mission is always first, and for me the thought experiment was well and keep in mind I was literally operating out of a closet so it was delusional either way but if I were to be very successful as a for-profit, sure grow fast, get a lot of revenue, maybe we IPO, you know I can become fairly well off, buy some new clothing, and that would be nice. There’s nothing wrong with that. That’s great. But then the other option especially for this organization was well maybe we could reach a billion people  in my lifetime, and maybe after I’m gone if this organization keeps doing this mission, we can make education like clean drinking water electricity, something people just expect to have. We could reach tens of billions of people over the next 200, (I read a lot of science fiction) or 500 years. So for me when I thought I’m 80 years old or 90 years old and looking back on my life, the later is what I would want to do and so that’s why I set it up as not for profit.”

Raj:  “Do you consider yourself as someone who is revolutionizing education in a modern way?"
Sal: “I try and stay away from any hyperbole. I mean you see from well basically from looking at me, and where we are, that things are still in their humble beginnings. I’m excited about the potential. Raj "But you are changing things you do know that?" 

Sal:  "Yeah, I’m excited. The conversation has changed and I don’t know if we’re kind of growing at the right time, and kind of capturing people’s imagination, or maybe we are the catalyst. I don’t know the answer to that but the reality is there is a change in the conversation as to what is the role of technology, how can it be used to supercharge classrooms, should teachers be giving lectures anymore? Can we move to a model where students move at their own pace as opposed to you know one piece fits all? In that way hopefully we’ve already moved the dial, but I don’t think we’re no where near our potential. I stay up at night fearing that in two, three, four years, oh that Khan Academy thing was a good idea. Whatever happened, I don’t want that and I hope in 10 years we’re doing another interview and we look back at 2012 and we say oh that was just the beginning.

Raj:  “Are you surprised by the controversy that you’ve elicited in terms of you’re changing the way education is in a dangerous direction?"
Sal:  “Yeah you know the controversy I mean there’s different kinds of tacts on the controversy. I think most of the controversy comes from people misperceiving what we are. You know when people see any kind of online tool, they imagine it as it’s going to be Amazon vs. Barnes and Noble. It’s going to be virtual vs. physical. The one thing I’ve always been clear and everyone on our team has always been clear about, it’s not an either or proposition. We think it’s about both. We think it’s about using tools like the Khan Academy to supercharge a classroom, we think it’s about making classtime more active, more human. I have a 3 ½ year old and a 14 month old, and I want both of them to go to very interactive physical experiences. And I want them to have amazing teachers and amazing peers around them for most of the day and so in that reality we see khan academy as just supercharging the teacher and empowering them. I think viewed that way it addresses some of the fears out there.”

Raj: "You said you don’t really know what you’re going to say before a video. If you need to refresh you’ll Google for a couple of minutes. You said that but I think you insulted a lot of teachers by saying that. Do you regret it?"
Sal:   “I think I’m learning things can be interpreted in multiple ways. When I say I don’t script videos, when I say yeah, I’ve used Wikipedia, I’m not saying I look at Wikipedia for two seconds and then make a video. What I’m saying is yeah, that’s my starting point, and when I say I don’t script videos, I’m saying I think deeply about what I want to do, so I am prepared in that sense, but I don’t read a script. A lot of the great teachers I talk to say that’s their methodology too. They don’t read their lecture notes. They internalize the information, so it gives them more of a chance to be real time, but by no means is there the intent to offend anybody, or to make anything look easy or anything like that. The other thing I want to emphasize is I don’t view myself, I mean people can call me anything they want, whether it’s a virtual tutor or a web teacher or anything, but people should not equate me with the in the trenches kind of work real teachers have to do. You know it’s very easy for me to sit and record a lesson. I do prepare a lot for them, and I do a lot of research, but I still don’t have to you know. That’s only a small fraction of the work a teacher has to do. A teacher has to deal with the human element. What’s going on in the student’s mind? What’s going on in their life? How do we connect them?  What I’m hoping the tools at Khan Academy to do is taking that one piece you know here’s a small explanation, here’s some exercises you can do, it frees the teacher to focus on the higher value things."

Raj  "Are you learning now though that whatever you say because you’re such a high profile person is that whatever you do say teachers are listening and even little soundbites can be taken in the wrong way?"

Sal: "Oh yeah, oh yeah, I completely appreciate now and what I emphasize now is the intention was never to downplay the art of giving lessons or whatever else, it’s really a conversation human to human, that’s why I said some of that stuff.”

Raj : “At some point, do you need to have a virtual town hall with teachers? And just say hey this is what I’m all about because there’s probably a lot of misunderstanding out there."
Sal  “Yeah there is a lot of misunderstanding. That’s one of the things I hope this book helps solve. The book is all about empowering teachers. And the other thing is we and I don’t think there’s enough about this is that a lot of the work we’re doing is with teachers. You know we started famously in Los Altos. It was those teachers who spaced out a lot of what Khan Academy is and then we started working with all the teachers in the district, and now there’s 14,000, 15,000 teachers nationwide that are using Khan Academy. A lot of the places where I speak the audiences are teachers and I think the teachers who understand what we’re doing and understand our mission, they’re fully supportive especially the ones that have used us. I think it’s sometimes and you learn, upon coming out of the closet, you learn there’s this broader world out there and people will misinterpret or view things with a certain lens but I do agree we do have to get the message out better.”

Raj: “Your dream scenario, let’s talk locally here even though you act globally abut your dream scenario for a local situation is about a kid in a certain school district, tell me about it. The kid who isn’t getting the proper instruction and how can he get it?"
Sal:  “Any student here in the Bay Area has a free tutor. It’s Khan Academy, and they have exercises and get feedback, and they can use it tomorrow. That’s a minimum case. The next layer is ok, you’re in a classroom, um how do we make that classroom more interactive, and that’s where we’re seeing a lot of these pilots, all over the Bay Area where they’re saying let’s take a lecture out of class time, let’s do more interactive things, so it can be one-on-one time with the teacher, it can be peers teaching each other, and the next level I think that’s getting closer to your question, the dream is I imagine in the Bay Area and hopefully the rest of the world, schools of all sorts, public, private, charter, where students are allowed to work at their own pace, master concepts, before moving on. There’s no use having a C understanding of algebra, a C understanding of geometry, and the best you can do with calculus is get a D. We want you to get a very high level of mastery throughout. It will be all at your own pace, and then really pushing the envelope at what a classroom can be. There’s a school, Summit Prep, here in San Jose that is starting to experiment with some of these things, saying hey let’s break down these walls between classrooms, let’s have teachers teaching together, and let’s make it all interactive."

Raj:  “Ok, nuts and bolts, obviously your time is getting pulled in a lot of directions, and ways. How often are you in this office doing your videos?"
Sal:  “Depending on the week, but most days I’m here for essentially the entire morning, I’m here from 3 to 5 hours days making stuff."

Raj  "Garggle, tea, exercises, how do you keep your voice going?"

Sal: "You know I used to do more of that but now I don’t. I just come in, hot water. A lot of hot water." 

Raj:  "Will you ever make an on-camera appearance?"

Sal: “I’ve inadvertently made where we have these medal videos and stuff like that, but yeah most of the time I’m not there, and that’s good because I think my unibrow might be distracting. The form factor we use is you hear the voice and you see the writing, and that’s really good for a lot of the stuff we have right now, but there is a need I think for academic interviews. Let’s understand a neutron better, and maybe a face could be interesting there. I think there could be interesting things where we visit someplace but even there, even if I inadvertently show up, it’s all about focusing on the content. You might see faces, but our core idea is always be 100% focused on the content."

Raj: "You’re a kid at heart." Sal:  “I am a kid at heart, yes."

Raj: “You brought up it up. Where will we be in 10 years? I won’t be interviewing you, but where will you be?"

Sal: "Probably on our canes. You’re aging better than me. So In ten years, I hope the site is reaching hundreds of millions if not billions of people. The experience isn’t just videos. It isn’t just problem sets. It’s projects that work with the other 100 million or 200 million learners out there so you can learn from each other that you can teach each other. It’s ways to create portfolios to share creative work, it’s way to get credentials to show to employers all over the world, and they’ll take that seriously, and then on top of that, we hope it’s being used to supercharge what’s actually happening in the physical classroom. So in ten years I hope that we’ve somewhat reached a consensus that it makes no sense where one person gives a lecture to 30 people. It should be a time where we go deep with students, to form human connections, human bonds, for students to connect with each other. I kind of have to wear two hats, one I love making these videos. I love learning and teaching, and on the other side we have this organization where we’re growing, we’re raising money, we’re doing all these type of things, I hope in ten years some of the later stuff, is literally on auto-pilot but I feel like I can invest even more time on creating the content.”

Raj: "So you still love just doing the videos?"

Sal: “Oh yeah when I’m 60 years old, 70 years old, whenever, there’s a far more competent person than me that is doing, running the operations of Khan Academy, and there will be a whole team of people who are also making content, but I can just sort of sit on a hill someplace and make videos on quantum physics."

Raj:  “The most interesting or one of the most interesting calls you’ve received from some high profile people, out of the blue?"

Sal: "Out of the blue? Ah, we got a call from Lebron James that that... Raj: Do you play basketball? Can you help with his shot?" Sal: “Yeah despite my physic, you might be surprised that I don’t play basketball. Yeah he reached out because he’s a superstar, and this is pretty close to his exact words. He said, 'look, when I was a kid, if Michael Jordan told me to work more on my math, I’d work more on my math.' So now he’s in that same position, that same reach, and so he wanted to help us in some ways. So we’ve been doing some videos where he asks a question about why does sweat cool you down? or what muscles do I use when I use a jump shot and I answer them.”

Raj: "White house reach out to you?"

Sal: "We’ve had conversations with the dept. of ed, with we’ve had, I won’t go into all the depth, but yes, we’ve had interesting conversations." Raj "Maybe I should say, has the Oval Office reached out to you?"  Sal: "I Have not spoken to President Obama as of yet, but I wouldn’t mind. I’d pick up the phone if he were to call.”

Raj:  "Final question for our Bollywood fans. Who’s the most famous Salman Khan in the world?"

Sal: “The most famous Salman Khan um is not me."  Raj: Just like him you reach a lot of people.  Sal:  “I reach a lot of people. So ok, I take it back, amongst non south Asians, I might be edging him out. Amongst south Asians, as long as he's still playing 18 year olds who’s helplessly in love, as long as he’s in those roles, yes I think he’s got a leg up on me."

Suspended San Francisco Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi is trying to rebuild his life at home following a New Year's Eve argument with his wife which ended with him bruising her arm and jeopardizing his career.

Mirkarimi and his wife, Eliana Lopez, agreed to their first joint interview since he pleaded guilty to misdemeanor false imprisonment.

Here is Raj Mathai's full exclusive interview with Ross Mirkarimi and Eliana Lopez.

Raj Mathai:  Your son has been back with you for about a week now.

Ross Mirkarimi: Oh yeah. I just Savor every moment. Oh my god.

Raj: What have you missed?

Ross:  His birthday. The fact that he has gone from speaking English as a two year old to now speaking fluent Spanish. He’s a toddler. He’s my little big boy. He’s big for three. We’re incredibly close and it  was really hard for us to be apart.

Raj: You smile now, obviously you have your family in tact now but what was the most difficult part?

Ross:  Being apart, everything fell apart. My life, our lives felt destroyed. I used to take great pride in my ability to provide for my family and being able to look forward to a future together that all  disappeared. I try to find resolve and resilience, and I feel inspired by our ability to reunite, which is one of the reasons why I've hung in there, we’ve hung in there.

Raj: Where does the blame go? Is this a political witch hunt?

Ross: It’s not an easy question to answer. I take full responsibility for everything that has occurred and I have taken responsibility, which is why as early as I possibly could, based on unfolding  of this process in the courts and then in the civil arena, every step of the way I wanted people to know that  Ross Mirkarimi is a husband father, and elected public servant. I wanted to be in front to explain as best as I could, as best as I was advised to, which was a very unfamiliar process to me being on this side of the criminal justice system as to how we need to move forward. But I never expected this level of severity, the way it has been personalized the dehumanizing of Eliana and my family in order for the mayor and allies to further their gain in order to oust me from office. That is where it segways into politics.

Raj: Can the sheriff do this job with this on his record?

Ross: Absolutely and it’s important to not fall prey to very old or conventional ways of thinking in the criminal justice system, which in many ways is counter-intuitive to be scarred and disqualified. I think the right example is by showing one can turn their lives around and still be able to be that elected official. It does not disqualify from me being Sheriff. That’s why I took the plea, to put the matter behind us.. so I could regroup and reunite with my family, so I could regroup with the people of San Francisco. We talk a good game about restorative justice. We talk a good game about rehab. Never in my wildest dreams did I think I’d become an example of this in this respect. I think it’s time that there is leadership that shows and delivers on what rehabilitation means.

Raj: Is there a difference in degree than a bruise on the arm or something of greater significance or bigger injury that you would be on this side explaining it as you are?

Ross: It could be a difference of degree, but I think that ‘s something that needs to be processed and analyzed and I think the city really is on the verge of a  constitutional crisis in the way they would undermine the voter’s  will.

Raj: Is there a grudge against you in City Hall.

Ross: I don’t know if there’s a grudge. All I know is I’ve been a public servant for 17 years, 7 years as the board of supervisors. I was extremely outspoken. When I think government hasn't worked as well for the people I haven't been shy about speaking to that reality and I think that's offended people along the way.

Raj: By your own admission you’re not that guy that shakes hands, hey lets go to lunch and had all these allies. Has that hurt you at city all what you’re going through right now? 

Ross: It’s not been my style. I’ve never been a click, cliquish kind of guy and I probably could have learned from that. I believe in local government. If anything if I’ve learned in all this madness is sometimes I’ve put the job first before my family. I didn’t always have my family in mind the way I should have. I Will never make that mistake again.

Raj: Would you describe yourself as abrasive sometimes in terms of politically speaking?

Ross: I could be. I think I could be but I think if anything I’m a sharpshooter. I mean I went right to what should have happened, I tried to be as inclusive as I possibly could. I’m a grassroots kind of a guy. I’m not a machine guy. I’m not  that kind of dude.

Raj: Eliana, what's been the most hurtful part for you?

Eliana Lopez: To see your son miss his dad so much, that is painful for me and that was wrong.

Raj Eliana, you were talking or have talked about divorce before this whole thing. Has this whole episode brought you together or has it torn apart your family even more?

Eliana: When we said we wee talking about divorce, it’s not like we were contemplating let’s divorce. Never had that happened. When I said that I said I needed to know as an immigrant, where we are. We were never at that point oh yes let’s divorce, no that never happened. One of the gifts we are stronger. I have no absolute doubts that we are a family. I think that’s a strong feeling inside me, and inside Ross, and inside Theo. So we are a family, and that’s why we have to be together and that’s why we are facing everything. This is wrong.

Raj: Your neighbor is here. Have you talked to her? What would you like to tell her?

Eliana: I don’t want to tell her anything to her. I think the message is the people in San Francisco. We are not perfect. He is not perfect.I’m not either. I’m not either. They say he doesn’t take responsibility. What do they want? They want to cut his hand off. When is going to be enough? I just can’t understand all this hate, against us. For what? He never tried to really hurt me. He made a mistake. Fine. Let’s move on. He is a great public servant. We are a family that wants to be together. That is my message. You think this is helping me? Or helping Theo?

Raj: As a sheriff, you work with domestic abuse victims. Is there irony in all of this. Are you part of the problem in all of this?

Ross: I like to believe I’m part of the solution and forward thinking. We should not fall prey to old counter-intuitive thinking of the old criminal justice system.

Raj: Excuse me it sounds more like a political sound bite. Just me and you straight forward. Is there irony in what you’re doing.?

Ross: I think there is a level of empathy that  I’m also enhanced by that would make me even more of an effective sheriff.

Raj: How effective will you be if you can get your job back?

Ross Extremely effective. Everybody that knows me knows  how hard  working I am.

Eliana Why are they putting all this power, just without pay? He’s not paid. We are just a family fighting a case that is more than a million dollars against us is the full power over the family. Why?

Ross: By removing an independent politically elected Sheriff from office, the second largest department in the city, the net effect is you consolidate power in a way that I think would be a horrible precedent for this city or any city.

Raj Tell me about the conversation with Mayor Lee in his office. Ross:  It was not much  of a conversation at all Raj: What would he tell me? Ross: Well I think he tried to explain during the ethics commission but a bomb scare interrupted some of that. He would have made the conversation sound like there was not much of a conversation. There wasn’t much of one in his mind quite frankly, and in my mind the conversation would have ended literally within 20 to 30 seconds if I hadn’t continued to ask him questions.

Raj: Are they coming after you in your with domestic violence or a political vendetta?

Ross: No I think they’re using the vehicle of what I pleaded to as to why we would have saved five months. The whole reason I took the plea, took responsibility so our family could regroup and move forward as a city, as a family, and as a department. How they’ve all come at this is vicious and mean spirited. Even though people just like to equate this is just politics of San Francisco, it’s a whole new level.

Eliana: As an actress, in America people always recognize me, but now in this situation, and after me personally how I feel like they’re trying to destroy me and dismiss me no she has battery syndrome, she doesn’t know what she’s talking about.

Raj: In two months are you going to have your job back?

Ross: We’ll see. I think it’s unfortunate that this level of pressure gets put on former colleagues of mine on the board of supervisors.  They are going to politicize it to the point were they’re going to be put in a very, very difficult position. I’ve always been very sensitive to that.

Raj: If you don’t get your job back, will you work again in San Francisco?

Ross: Plan B or Plan C is for another interview. Eliana: But we are a family, We love each other we have a beautiful son.

Raj: Are you worried a Plan B is right around the corner.

Ross: Oh naturally. Every single day I’ve been thinking about what is the prospect of not having my job. I mean we have been without income, myself, it’s easier for Eliana in Venezuela to gain work, to live with the reality that I can’t provide for my family, to cope every day its been a coping session on savings that have been evaporated by all this.

Eliana: But we are confident that justice will prevail and I think all the support we receive in the street, I think the supervisors will receive the same message and democracy will prevail and justice will prevail Ross is going to be a fantastic Sheriff.
 

Raj Mathai: If the answer to this question is ‘no’ then we are in serious trouble (laughs), but is London ready for the Olympics?
Ambassador Peter Westmacott: London thinks it’s ready. We’ve done everything in good time. Everything’s built, everything’s finished. A little bit of landscaping here and there, some grass being cut. It is on budget and on time. We have done everything we possibly can to ensure that security, which is a big consideration, is also taken care of. So, fingers crossed, we are in great shape for the games.

Raj: Politically speaking is one thing, but just personally, how excited and proud are you to have the Olympics in London?

Ambassador Westmacott: I’m hugely proud that we have got the Olympics in London. I’m not going to say yet that I am proud about the Olympics being a huge success, because we have to wait and see how it’s going to be. But, there is every reason to believe that it’s going to be one of the greatest games ever. I am very excited that we have the Olympics for the third time, which is unheard of. London, being the country that invented the Paralympics back in 1948, has got the Paralympics up in lights alongside the main Olympics. What we have tried to do with this Olympics, in the UK, is ensure that it leaves a real legacy, that it’s sustainable, and that it’s going to be a worthwhile investment for the future. And we feel we’ve got that right. In other words, we’ve really used the money to regenerate parts of the east end of London that were in bad shape. 2 million tons of polluted earth have been recycled. There will be affordable housing for probably 12,000 people once the games are over from the facilities we have built. We have fantastic new infrastructure, transport, stadium, which are going to be used in the future, not standing there like rotting, white elephants. It’s a very sustainable approach, the way we’ve run it.  Those are the sorts of things we have tried to pay attention to, to ensure these are going to be good games, and really leave a lasting legacy.

Raj: You’ve talked about a lasting legacy, but critics are saying that London has spent billions of dollars, it’s far too much, and it’s not worth the price. What do you say to them?
Ambassador Westmacott: I would like to believe that the numbers will say that it is worth the price. Much of the money that is being spent is being spent on things that needed to be done anyway and are going to be of lasting value. So there is very little money, we hope, which will be going down the drain. We’d like to think that the Olympics itself will bring in a tremendous amount of other benefits. Perhaps the extra number of visitors who come to London, who wouldn’t have come otherwise; we’ve got to ensure that they have a wonderful experience. But, we’d like to think there will be knock-on effects to the economy, that the improved infrastructure we’ve created will have a lasting effect on the economy. And all of that is going to make it worthwhile. Plus, all of this is of continuing value for the British economy. It has created a lot of employment, and it’s going to be lasting employment. We believe it’s going to be money well spent, but we’ll have to see exactly how the games go, and what the returns are after the event.

Raj:  Let’s talk security, since you brought it up. There’s big money, a billion dollars in US money, involved, and British soldiers. It’s almost like it would be a warzone. It’s this something that is disheartening to you, or is this just the price of admission?
Ambassador Westmacott: It’s not just the price of admission for the Olympics; it’s the price of admission for any of these big events that you want to stage. Unfortunately, we have gotten to the stage where there are people who love the idea of taking a major, international event, and making it trouble. Sometimes it might be a hoax, sometimes it might be a real terrorist attack, sometimes it may be bad luck. We have no choice but to ensure that we’ve put in place all possible controls and checks, in case someone has the daft idea to fly an aircraft into the stadium, or into one of the other venues where the Olympics are taking place. It’s a pity to see those sorts of headlines in advance of the Olympics, but I hope anyone who has daft ideas will get the message that the Brits are serious about Olympic security, and will not try anything which would be so irresponsible and inhumane as disrupting the Olympic games with a terrorist event. But, I think we just have accept that’s what we are doing. There will probably be as many as 10,000 soldiers on duty, which will be available if things go wrong. But we obviously hope very much that they won’t be seen at all, and they won’t be needed. 

Raj: Are you confident that it will go off without a hitch?
Ambassador Westmacott: I don’t want to chance fortune, but I think we have done all we can in advance of the games to ensure that it will go off without a hitch. And that people who come and people who watch it around the world will have a wonderful experience. But, I will not be 100% confident until we have seen the evidence.

Raj: London is one of the most historical cities in the world. It needs no introduction to the world in terms of the Olympics. But what can the Olympics do for London in this day and age?
Ambassador Westmacott: I think that having the Olympics this year is a big boom for us. I feel lucky to have won the bid and to have them at this time. Despite the fact that London, the United Kingdom, and really the world economy is having a rough ride, the eyes of the world to some extent have been on the UK. We have been doing some of the things that we are good about; we are good at history, pageant, the monarchy, we had a royal wedding, the diamond jubilee, which not every country has a hugely respected and loved monarch on the throne for 60 years. And, there are other things this year that are happening besides the Olympics, such as the World Shakespeare festival, the 200th anniversary of Charles Dickens’ birth, and events that happen every summer, like Wimbledon. So, what we are also hoping is that all of these great events for 2012 that Britain is great place to learn, to study, to live and invest in. We are very much open to foreigners, visitors, foreign investment. We’ve always been a trading nation. We don’t really mind who is going to be the owner of the value, provided that they own their assets in a responsible fashion. I think the message is that Britain is more open for business than ever and is a business-friendly environment. Britain and the United States have the top 15 universities in the world, and we are delighted to welcome more and more foreign students. We welcome foreigners who want to live, work, settle, and study in our country. Plus, we would like to remind other countries that Britain still has contributions to make, whether it is national security, Parliament membership, the United Nations, our global reach, our global traditions. There are a lot of things we like to believe that the United Kingdom can do to make our world a safer and more prosperous place. And if 2012, the Olympics, and other events that are going on will help us convey that message, we will be thrilled.

Raj: You brought up the royal family. Prince William and Prince Harry really have increased their profile internationally. Obviously that is by design. How come?
Ambassador Westmacott: I think what the royal family has done, in a rather seamless way, is modernize itself. The reality is, the Queen herself was a great innovator, insisting that television cover her coronation, when the senior officials and administrators back in 1953 were saying that they weren’t sure if that was a good idea. The Queen herself has been at the forefront of this modernization and the adaptation of the monarchy to the needs of modern society.  There are 16 countries of which she is the head of state. So I think what you have been seeing is Her Majesty continuing her duty with so much professionalism, like she always has, but you’ve also seen the next generation being put to the fore. We saw the photographs of the Buckingham Palace balcony at the end of the Jubilee celebrations, I imagine it was no accident that you saw Her Majesty, you saw the next generation, the Prince of Wales and his wife, and the next generation after that, Prince William and the Duchess of Cambridge.  That’s the core business of the monarchy for the generations to come. I think that the emphasis there is on continuity, tradition, longevity, but also here is youth, here is the next generation, and here is what we can offer for the future. To me, it seems to be a message that the British people have taken to heart.

Raj: In terms of the Olympics now, what are you looking forward to? What is your favorite event? What are you excited to see?
Ambassador Westmacott: I always get a buzz out of the track events, particularly the 100, 200, and 400m. I love watching the hurdles. I can’t quite understand how people can do that. I think some of the swimming events are amazing, the diving, some of the synchronized swimming.  But the Brits are strong at Equestrian events, boating events, sailing. I hope to see some of the rowing events, as well. So, there is plenty there.

Raj: Did you see the sand that they are bringing in?
Ambassador Westmacott: Yes, there is sand on the royal horse guard’s parade. There is beach volleyball occurring on the premises, which he is particularly pleased about. We are taking advantage of the assets that London has got, where we can do so. We’ve got that great, wonderful space... next door to the cabinet office... next door to St. James’ Park, which we are going to be using. We are using what is good about London already, but building what’s new and what we need to, particularly in areas that were in desperate need of renovation.

Raj: First Lady Michelle Obama will be attending the Opening Ceremony, which is very exciting. Were there any conversations about having President Obama come, and is there any disappointment that he hasn’t announced a visit?
 Ambassador Westmacott: I think we have got more than 100 heads of government and heads of state coming into the Opening Ceremony. Of course, it was always made very clear that we would be delighted to have the President. But from a very early stage, it has been almost certainly clear that he would not be able to come. But, the First Lady was able to confirm back in March that she would be there on his behalf, so we are delighted that she is coming. I don’t think that there is any particular disappointment. We would have been delighted, of course, but we are thrilled that the First Lady is coming.

Raj: Maybe the most important question: When I go back to London, which pub should I visit? What is your favorite?
Ambassador Westmacott: (Laughs) Maybe you should go to the Two Chairmen. It’s in Whittol  where I used to work. But, there are a lot of wonderful pubs and restaurants downtown.

It's not uncommon that former Secretary of State Colin Powell is in the Bay Area. He usually slips in without any fanfare.

He's a consultant for the local venture capitol firm, Kleiner Perkins, but his most recent visit is different. General Powell is on his latest mission, to tell his side of the story in a controversial chapter in American History, the now infamous speech to the United Nations where he outlined the U.S. plan to attack Iraq.

His outline it turned was based on information that was wrong.

In his new book, "It Worked for Me: In Life and Leadership," General Powell faces his critics head-on. In a one-on-one interview with Raj Mathai, he talks about what he calls one of his most momentous failures.

"How does the Secretary of State talk to the United Nations and be misled?" Raj asked the General. "I don't like the word misled because we didn't think we were being misled," Powell answered Raj. "I still don't think we were misled. We had bad information and wrong analysis."

He went from the number one politician in San Francisco to number two in Sacramento, and now Lt. Governor Gavin Newsom is fired up, and isn't holding back. It's Gavin Newsom unfiltered in "The Interview with Raj."

The images are countless. In many ways, we've seen Gavin Newsom grow up right before our eyes. But perhaps his biggest growth has come away from the spotlight in the last year. Raj asked him, "Do you miss being relevant on a daily basis?"

"Partially and partially not," Lt. governor Newsom answered, and added, "People have an intense reaction to someone they see on T.V. especially someone who they pay their salary to." Raj then followed up by saying, "But knowing you, you thrive on that. I know you do," to which the Lt. Governor answered, "I do I enjoy that. I miss a bit of that, but at the same time I don't miss being booed when I walk into a movie theater and trust me there's plenty of that especially when you're with your kid and someone gives you the finger and you settle down, and now you have to worry about that."

This is Gavin Newsom 2.0, a little bit older, wiser, and not afraid to attack his boss, Governor Jerry Brown. "My great critique of this administration is its unprecedented cuts to higher education, and contrast that to Governor Schwarzenegger in 2010, a $19 billion dollar budget shortfall. Huge problems. He had every incentive to do the same. He added 750 million dollars to the UC and CSU system because he valued it, he prioritized it," Newsom Said.

Raj then asked, "When you tell Governor Brown what you just told me, what's his response?" Gavin answered, "You find me exactly where the money comes from. I used to say that as mayor. It's a quick response. With all due respect, I've been on the executive side. It's not good enough." Raj followed up by asking, "Where is Governor Brown putting this money in your opinion?" Lt. Governor Newsom answered, "Well he's trying to offset cuts in other places and good for him, and there's strong constituency. I'm just saying, my priority is this. I didn't just say this when I got here. I'm saying this 3, 4, 5, 10 years ago, I've been saying this for a number of years. I've been saying this when I was campaigning. this is my priority. If we lose our system of higher learning, we have truly lost the California dream."

"It sounds like you're setting yourself up to run for Governor in 2014. Would I be wrong to say that," Raj asked. "Yeah you would be," Lt. Governor Newsom answered. "Look, I ran for governor, momentarily against Jerry Brown and realized that I needed to pull back, so I think people know what my original intention was, that said I want to make real this job of Lt. Governor, and that’s why I’ve probably been a little more honest and forthright than a lot of other Lt. Governors while in office. I’m going to keep fighting I want to do more with this position.”

There's another side to Lt. Governor Newsom, that of father. "Tell me how fatherhood has changed you," Raj said to Newsom. "It’s the greatest. It’s the greatest. It’s beyond awesome. It’s beyond, it just knocks you on your feet, every single day," Compared to his days as mayor, as Lt. Governor, Newsom is home more on Saturdays, and that means it's all about family. "Saturdays in the morning, my daughter and I get bagels, and all she talks about  is bagel, bagel, bagel," Newsom said.

Newsom has as much admiration for his wife, Jennifer Siebel Newsom as he does for his children saying, "Why I'm the husband of Jen Siebel Newsom. She's got this film, 'Miss Representation' Oprah Winfrey just bought it, it was at Sundance. It just gets bigger and bigger. She's created a whole movement around this film and it's taking off."

With a wife and family, Lt. Governor Newsom is moving on from past scandals. "You survived a scandal in your own City Hall in 2007. It came out you had an affair with the wife of one of your staffers. What did you learn from that, and do you still apply those lessons today," Raj asked.

"Yeah, I mean everything that could be said has been said about that. you know I also learned that there's no reason to rehash it," Newsom answered. He went on to say, "Certain things you do in life you can never take back, you hurt people you care about and you learn from it because life is about learning from your mistakes and moving forward and I'm a much better person from learning from that experience."

Maybe the only thing harder than getting a reservation at his prized restaurant is getting behind-the-scenes access to his kitchen, but NBC Bay Area's Raj Mathai recently did just that with one of the most private and celebrated chefs in Bay Area History, Gary Danko.

A few things come with the territory, the cable cars, the beautiful bridge, and Gary Danko. "I'm a San Franciscan not by birth, but by choice, by love. It is my city," he told Raj.

Danko has been a celebrity chef before the term even existed and his restaurant has been rated number one in Zagat's Bay Area restaurant guide for most of the last decade.

"Does it register to you anymore?" Raj asked Danko.

"For my ego, I try to remain humble. I like to stay in the kitchen. I like to chop-chop behind the scenes," he answered.

And behind the scenes you do see the chaos, Danko style.

"It's called organized chaos basically," Danko admitted. "When it comes in it means automatically fire that first course. Bob coordinates it, sends it out, draws a line in it. Hangs it over in a neutral zone here."

"From an outsiders point of view, I have no idea of what you just said," Raj replied.

To be clear, it's not just food being created in Danko's kitchen. It's art, and that's what Danko believes keep customers coming back. "There's a huge gap between restaurants that really want to take care of you. Anyone can open a restaurant, but how long can you keep it there?"

Below the hustle bustle of the kitchen is one of the best wine cellars in Northern California. "Will you keep your personal wines here or at the house?" Raj asked Danko. "I have a ton of wine at the house," he answered with a laugh.

While Danko is known for his high-end gourmet cuisine, Raj asked him about some less than gourmet cuisine.

"Any guilty pleasures? Double Double?"

"I do the double-double, no cheese, of course the french fries. That's the guilty pleasure."

"Last meal?"

"Most people would say simple food, but I eat that everyday," Danko said. "If I went out, it would be caviar, signature buckwheat blini. And great wine of course."