George P. Schultz

I don't understand how one person could possibly be the most-qualified individual at the time for all of the following jobs:

• President of Bechtel Corporation
• Secretary of Labor
• Secretary of Treasury
• Secretary of State
• MIT Economics Professor
• Dean of Chicago Business School
• Member of the Council of Economic Advisers

My current theory is that this is prima facie evidence of the "old boy network", which perhaps isn't quite as strong as it used to be.  Alternatively, there is Steve Levitt's (and Laura Beth Nielsen's) view of the world:

My friend Laura Beth Nielsen at the American Bar Foundation has a theory that people who are good at one thing are good at everything. Since she shared it with me, I have thought often about whether it is true. I tend to believe it, with the important qualification that the right kind of practice is critical to being good at anything. It may well be that people who are good at one thing have learned how to do the right kind of practice, not just for that task, but more generally.

Comments

[Kriz]

In support of Levitt, I am reminded of a certain Clarke Medal winner who was a natural at Wii Tennis the first time he picked up the Wiimote.