My contact with Singapore’s people and institutions also thrilled me. There was and still is no leader I admire more than Lee Kuan Yew, who transformed Singapore from a mosquito-infested backwater to a model economy. That says a lot, as I have gotten to know and admire several world leaders. One of my most thrilling moments was a dinner I had with him at my house in New York, shortly before his death in 2015. Lee requested the dinner to discuss the state of the world economy. I invited former Fed chairman Paul Volcker (another hero of mine), former Treasury secretary Bob Rubin (whose breadth of experiences gave great perspective), and Charlie Rose (one of the most curious and insightful people I know). Besides answering his questions, we probed Lee on world affairs and world leaders. Since he had personally known virtually all of the world’s leaders over the last fifty years, we asked Lee about the qualities that distinguished the great ones from the bad ones and what he thought of those who were leading at the time. He rated Angela Merkel as the best leader in the West and considered Vladimir Putin one of the best leaders worldwide. He explained that leaders must be judged within the context of the circumstances they encounter and then went on to share his view of how difficult it is to lead Russia and why he thought Putin was doing it well. He also reflected on his unique relationship with Deng Xiaoping, whom he regarded as the best leader of all.