George Bush

There was a strange synergy today between the youngest billionaire in the world and a former president.

In a first-ever Facebook Live interview with a former president, George W. Bush talked to Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg about his new memoir, "Decision Points," but also about being an unpopular leader, common sense, and the San Francisco Giants.

Almost 7,000 Facebook users around the world tuned in to the hour-long broadcast, which will soon be posted on Facebook Live.

Unlike recent book-promoting appearances on prime-time shows such as "The Tonight Show With Jay Leno" or "The Today Show," Bush was notably dressed down, from his clothes (khaki sports coat, tie-less) to his rhetoric (sassy). He took endless potshots at Zuckerberg's lack of a college degree and told his usual spate of self-depracating stories from childhood, but in between the two men held a candid discussion about the challenges of being an unpopular leader.

When asked how he dealt with all the criticism during his presidency, Bush said he was used to it after witnessing his father in office. "[Criticism] comes with the territory," he said. "When you're president or when you're a successful CEO, you get criticized. The fundamental question is, 'How do you deal with it?'"

"The worst thing you can do as a leader is to try to change who you are because there's critics," he said. "Obviously you listen to people's complaints, and there are people who are legitimately interested in your country then you listen."

"But if there are people who criticize out of jealousy or spite, psh," Bush piffed.

To which Zuckerberg quickly asked how to make such a distinction.

Bush said, "That's the difference between a successful leader and not. Everybody can distinguish when somebody's trying to be helpful and when somebody's trying to don't have to be a rocket scientist to figure that out—or a college graduate."

"What you're saying rings true to me," Zuckerberg said during a quiet moment. "It's one of the things I've admired about you. Whether or not people agreed with your decisions, you stuck to them. Obviously we haven't had the scale of criticism as in a presidency, but we've had some," he said, prompting audience laughter.

"You've obviously made some common sense decisions otherwise you wouldn't be where you are now," Bush comforted.

Zuckerberg also read aloud questions on behalf of his employees and "Facebook user" Bono, asking Bush to justify his decisions in Iraq, Afghanistan, and China. All of which, Bush gamely added, were detailed in his book.