WATCH: IMF Head Christine Lagarde Tells 60 Minutes She Has “No Regrets, Ever”

When Christine Lagarde took over as head of the IMF this summer following Dominique Strauss-Kahn’s arrest and sex scandal, she had a huge role to fill. Not only was she stepping into a new job, but one in which she is tasked with fixing the world economy in the middle of a financial crisis. But she told 60 Minutes’ Lara Logan last night that she remains “desperately optimistic.”

Lagarde and Logan spend most of their time talking about Lagarde’s role as a economics powerhouse. Lagarde describes the IMF as a “fire brigade” of sorts and was agreed that her job is “not always a job where you make friends.” But she also adds that she remains “desperately optimistic” and has “no regrets, ever” about taking on the role.

Lagarde, who looms at almost 6 feet tall,  is hesitant to talk too much about herself and shuns those who are too egotistical. “When I sit in meetings and things are very tense and people take things extremely seriously, and they invest a lot of their ego, I think sometimes to myself, come on, there’s life and death, and there is love, and all of that ego business is nonsense compared to that,” she says.

When Logan asks Lagarde if it matters to her that she is a trailblazing woman in “boys club” of global economics, Lagarde simply responds, “What matters to me is that I’m not the last one.”

This kind of matter-of-fact talk is what has made Lagarde such a compelling and trustworthy figure.

“It’s become my brand…speaking the truth, even if it’s not politically correct.”

TAGS: christine lagarde | christine lagarde 60 minutes | christine lagarde imf | christine lagarde lara logan | lara logan

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