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096 SEPTEMBER 2019 MEN’S JOURNAL
What is your guiltiest pleasure?
I actually have a couple of songs by
the Partridge Family on my iTunes. It
doesn’t get more guilty than that.
Is it ever OK for a person to lie?
You’re asking a journalist, so the off i-
cial on-the-record answer is no. Having
said that, I think we all have confronted
situations where the truth could be
hurtful to people we care about, and
so I suppose that there are moments
where you would be probably less than
candid for the sake of others.
How do you want to be remembered when
you’re gone?
As somebody who treated everyone
with equal respect. Somebody who
laughed and loved and never took
himself too seriously. That’s a lot for
one epitaph, isn’t it? I’ll put a little note
in my will, just to make sure.
— INTERVIEW BY LARRY K ANTER
How should a person handle regret?
I tend to be very forward-looking.
There are things that have happened
t hat I regret or w ish hadn’t happened,
but there’s not a damn thing I can do
about them today. What I can do is
learn, hopefully improve, and make
better choices.
What adventure most changed your life?
My 1992 trip to Somalia to cover the
famine was a life-changing moment.
To witness starvation on that level—it
just kind of opened my eyes.
What advice would you give your younger
self?
Keep a journal.
What’s the best cure for heartache?
Music and wine. I haven’t had a lot of
heartache in my life, but with disap-
pointments, sometimes a little solitude
is the most important thing.
What’s the best advice you ever received?
Be prepared when doors open. Oppor-
tunities can present themselves when
you least expect it. The door f lings
open, and there’s the opportunity, and
you’re either ready to walk through it
or you’re not.
Who were your heroes growing up?
My oldest brother was a huge inf luence
in my life. He didn’t wait for things; he
never had a sense that someone could
tell him “no.”
How should a man handle getting older?
You have to accept the process. But you
shouldn’t surrender to the stereotype
of being old. It’s life and it’s a journey,
but I don’t think you throw in the towel.
How should a man handle criticism?
There are times when you know you
deserve it. You know that it’s based on
something where you didn’t perform
to your best. My feeling is, if it’s real,
you deal with it, you confront it. You
make the adjustments as necessary,
but you have to let the other stuff roll
off your back.
What is the secret to a happy marriage?
Laughter.
What role should vanity play in a man’s
life?
I believe in the adage that to look good
is to feel good. I’m not speaking of a
huge, massive ego. But I think a fair
amount of vanity makes us feel good
about ourselves, and when we feel good
about ourselves, we perform better.
What human quality do you most admire?
The capacity to forgive.
What human quality do you most deplore?
The need to dominate. It’s an ugly trait.
The NBC Nightly News anchor and
presidential debate referee on laughing
with his wife, loving the Partridge Family,
and the upside of melancholy.
Lester Holt