Stephanie Coontz: Imagine you are the ceo of a research based non-profit that's focused on education, especially for kids who don't have all the advantages in the world. What are the first three questions you want to ask this person? i can tell you the three priorities for this human being. One, thinker. Two, doer, three, magnet. I hope this isn't some hackneyed clesha thing. She says she is temperamentally an optimist, but has pessimistic movements.