Intertitle: Which world leader should the next President host at the first state din­ner in 2017?

Anne-Marie Slaughter: My can­di­date for the first state din­ner would be President Muhammadu Buhari of Nigeria. That’s an unusu­al choice, but Nigeria is absolute­ly crit­i­cal coun­try in Africa. Critical on every­thing from eco­nom­ic growth, tech inno­va­tion, and coun­tert­er­ror­ism. And pres­i­dent Buhari is demo­c­ra­t­i­cal­ly elect­ed. He’s a Muslim pres­i­dent who suc­ceed­ed a Christian pres­i­dent. The sym­bol­ism is very impor­tant. The coun­try and the con­ti­nent are crit­i­cal­ly impor­tant, and that would be my pick.

Intertitle: What book should the next pres­i­dent read before tak­ing office?

Slaughter: Asking any author about a book the President should read imme­di­ate­ly makes me think, ​“Mine, of course.” But what I would actu­al­ly say is the next pres­i­dent should be Jamie Merisotis’ America Needs Talent. It is a short book that essen­tial­ly explains why tal­ent and the cul­ti­va­tion and recruit­ing and nur­tur­ing of tal­ent is essen­tial to the United States for just about every issue. 

Intertitle: Which non-politician should the next President call reg­u­lar­ly for outside-the-beltway perspective?

Slaughter: My advice for the next President would be to check in reg­u­lar­ly with Bryan Stevenson. Bryan Stevenson runs the Equal Justice Initiative, seek­ing equal jus­tice for all races and faiths. He has his fin­ger on the pulse of many of the most dis­ad­van­taged and discriminated-against Americans, and he will help pierce the belt­way bubble.