Mary Daly, Interview: A Federal Reserve President Gets Real, Lessons on Leadership and the Economy

A conversation about careers and the Federal Reserve, no economic or monetary policy information was shared.

“So here’s how I approach making tough decisions. We have voracious curiosity. So that’s evidence, talking to people, models, data, history, put it all together, rigorous, rigorous evidence about how can we do our best work? Then we make the decision because we have to. Eight times a year we’re making a policy decision at the FOMC. And then right after we’ve made the decision, we start again humbly saying, “What could we have done better? What do we need to learn? What would give us better information? How will we continue to make progress?” So that kind of constant cycle of holding yourself to evidence, taking the decision and then being humble enough to say, “What else do I need to learn? How else could I get a better decision out of our process?” That cycle is how I make policy decisions.”