I recently had the pleasure of interviewing Will.i.am for the September issue of Success. He was very different from most interview subjects–he was very relaxed, very confident, seemingly without any canned responses. He was quick to respond to my questions, but every answer was fluid and detailed. I was particularly drawn to one of his answers, where he said “I never wanted to be a leader of a group. I always wanted to be the ideas man, the one who said, ‘Hey guys, let’s try this!’” And from little up he played that role. It shows tremendous self-awareness, and a precocious grasp of group dynamics, to discern that role, and consciously pursue it. I thought this immediately identified him as an unusual intellect. It was a great pleasure to talk to him about his many interests and wide circle of fiends and associates. To read the entire article, click here.