How did a Black janitor, a widower living with his kids in a rough neighborhood, raise a world class concert pianist and a Fortune 500 CEO? Kenneth C. Frazier, the highly respected Chairman and CEO of pharmaceutical giant Merck, joins us for our final episode of Season 3 to share his powerful story of being raised by a fiercely determined single dad.

Ken’s father Otis Frazier firmly believed in the power of tough love. He saw his children as capable of anything, so he consistently set the bar high and expected them to clear it.  He had little use for sentimentality.  As Ken recalls, his father had no interest in being his children’s friend, saying “I want to be respected and feared [by my children], but not necessarily in that order.” We hear from Ken how tough love worked for him,  and together we explore the limits of and alternatives to this approach.  In this fascinating episode Ken shares plenty of his father's words of wisdom, and offers up some gems of his own.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.