I was saddened to hear of the passing of my friend, the last leader of the Soviet Union Mikhail Gorbachev. Many years ago, I had the privilege of sharing a jet ride with Mr. Gorbachev. We had four hours in the air together and I took the opportunity to ask him: What really ended the Cold War? Of course, the big things were obvious – the collapse of the Soviet Union, the fall of the Berlin Wall, and so on. But I had the belief that the driving force behind the biggest changes we see are really the little things that, once in motion, become a catalyst for total transformation. I told the story of that flight to my friend, the late, Larry King, which you can watch here. In his day, Mr. Gorbachev was celebrated as a hero of the end of the Cold War for which he was awarded a Nobel Peace Prize and named “Man of the Decade” by Time magazine. Mr. Gorbachev’s leadership set a course of action that led to the dissolving of the Soviet Union and paved the way for greater freedoms for m...