24

"I've successfully run the department here for three years," she says. "That record speaks for itself."

"And you don't find it difficult managing people who are older than you, and more experienced?" you ask.

"The people who work here are professional. I do my job, they do theirs. We don't have to be best friends and confidants to one another." She considers her answer a few seconds, then says, "In truth, yes, I think I probably miss some nuances, some interpersonal subtleties, that a more experienced manager would pick up on. Does that adversely affect my work, or the work of my staff? I don't think so."

"Challenges? I haven't really had any," she says. "Everything has always come very easily to me. I suppose…well, if you count my education as part of my career, I guess that being set apart from my contemporaries has always been a challenge. Without meaning to sound arrogant, I am more intelligent than my contemporaries, and from the vast majority of the population in general. I mean intelligent from a purely academic, IQ-test-type perspective; I know that in terms of general common sense I'm no smarter than the next person. But yes, it can sometimes be a challenge to relate to others on any kind of social level." She thinks a few moments, then says, "It was tough to leave home and go study when I was so young. That was a challenge."

"And have you managed to overcome that challenge?" you ask.

"I'm getting there," she says. "I have a few friends here in Seattle, now. Work prevents me from seeing them very often. But yeah, I'm getting there."