Tony Blair urges leaders to ignore 'waves of populist opinion'

When Tony Blair first entered 10 Downing Street, he became Britain's youngest prime minister of the 20th century. He rode in with the Labour Party's landslide victory in 1997 and left a decade later as the party's longest-serving prime minister.

And now, Blair has written the kind of leadership guide he wishes he had on hand at the start of his government career. On Leadership: Lessons for the 21st Century — out Sept. 10 — urges leaders to ward off hubris and instead embrace maturity and humility. An entire chapter proclaims that "it's better to be respected than loved, feared or 'trusted.'" And he urges governments to better harness the use of technology, especially artificial intelligence, while he reserves some choice words for social media, which he says has "given birth to the era of the loudmouth."

"The first thing is, governing is difficult, right?" he told NPR's Steve Inskeep in an interview from London. "When you decide, you divide, and every decision you take, you will have people that oppose it."

Blair certainly lived that divisiveness during his time in government. He oversaw the Northern Ireland peace process and public-sector reform. He also led his country's response to the 9/11 attacks in the United States. His pro-American interventionism in Iraq made him increasingly unpopular.

In his interview with Morning Edition co-host Steve Inskeep, Blair spoke about his vision for leadership in the 21st century.

This interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity.

Interview highlights

Steve Inskeep: Why don't we just dive right in? Did you start this project with an idea that your party might have a new prime minister who needs advice by the time it came out?

Tony Blair: Frankly, I didn't. I mean, it