Mikhail Gorbachev met with eight of us on the executive management team at my Fortune 100 employer in 1998, accompanied by his interpreter. Over lunch, the President was reminiscing about his relationship with Aleksei Kosygin. I had just read a passage in his book Memoirs the night before on Gorbachev's relationship with the Stalin-era survivor who became Soviet Premier in the '60s and '70s. I mentioned this passage to the President who beamed with pride when he saw his book in my hand and, through his interpreter, asked me to read it to the group. So, there I was reading Gorbachev's memoirs to Gorbachev as he listened intently to his interpreter remind him of earlier days.