Blog Entries in Profiles In Competence

This entry marks our first analysis of a fictional character but, as Don Draper is something of a leadership archetype, we think some insights can be gained from it.

**This article may contain spoilers. Be advised.**

Name: Don Draper (played by Jon Hamm)

Occupation: Central character of AMC's Mad Men. Former Creative Director of Sterling Cooper advertising firm; founding partner at Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce advertising firm

Career Highlights: After switching identities ... Read More

Name: Nicolas Paul Stéphane Sarközy de Nagy-Bocsa, aka Nicolas Sarközy.

Occupation: Current President of the French Republic and ex officio Co-Prince of Andorra.

Career Highlights: Grew up just outside Paris in a strongly Catholic family, which was the influence of his Gaullist grandfather (Nicolas rarely saw his actual father, who refused to help the family at all and was generally, if you'll pardon the colloquialism, a total butt-lord). The ... Read More

Name: Shawn Corey "Jay-Z" Carter.

Occupation: co-owner of the 40/40 Club; part-owner of the New Jersey Nets; creator of Rocawear clothing line. Former CEO of Def Jam Recordings; cofounder of Roc-A-Fella Records; founder of Roc Nation.

Career Highlights: Jay-Z grew up in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn and, at 12, shot his brother in the shoulder for stealing jewelry. He also dealt crack at one time, which he explores in some of his ... Read More

Name: Carly Fiorina

Occupation: Former executive vice president at AT&T; former CEO of Hewlett-Packard; current Senate candidate

Career Highlights: Fiorina got a B.A. in philosophy and medieval history from Stanford University, wisely employing the strategy of pursuing two majors so fundamentally useless that they came back around to being essential. Post-Stanford, her schooling was more traditionally business-oriented: an MBA in marketing from the University of Maryland: College Park, then a ... Read More

Now that the first wave of Snowpocalypse 2010 is over, here's a Profile in Competence of former presidential candidate/current media-pilloried cad John Edwards.

Name: John Edwards

Occupation: Former U.S. Senator (NC), two-time presidential candidate, director of the Center on Poverty, Work and Opportunity at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Career Highlights: The son of a mill worker, Edwards was the first person in his family to ... Read More

Name: Angela Merkel

Occupation: Chancellor of Germany; chairwoman of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU); Chairwoman of the CDU-CSU (Christian Social Union)/

Career Highlights: As a student, Merkel was a member of the Socialist-led youth movement Free German Youth, and was active during her time at the Academy of Sciences. She describes her youth movement years as "cultural work," which must sound completely insane to American readers who would be pilloried ... Read More

Name: Sergio Marchionne

Occupation: CEO, Fiat SpA; CEO, Chrysler Group; Chairman of ACEA

Career Highlights: Sergio was born in Chieti, a town in southern Italy, and his family emigrated to Toronto when he was 13, explaining his dual Canadian and Italian citizenship. He went to college at the University of Toronto, earned his Masters in Business Administration (MBA) from the University of Windsor, and his Bachelor of Laws (LLB) came ... Read More

Name: Jeff Bezos

Occupation: Founder, president, and CEO of Amazon.com.

Career Highlights: A scientist since his mamma put him in the crib. No, really; he tried dismantling his crib with a screwdriver when he was a toddler. How he managed to get his hands on one as a baby is a question best left to his parents. Bezos also rigged an electric alarm in his room to keep pesky siblings out, and ... Read More

Due to (a) reader demand, here's a profile of current Pennsylvania governor Ed Rendell.

Name: Ed Rendell

Occupation: former mayor of Philadelphia, current governor of Pennsylvania

Career Highlights: Villanova graduate and 2nd Lieutenant in the US Army Reserve. Served two terms as Philadelphia district attorney, initially campaigning as a political outsider who hadn't been around long enough to blacken his soul with corruption. Somehow received 28 delegate votes for Vice ... Read More

To mark the upcoming occasion of AFL-CIO Day (Dec. 5th), here's a write-up on the organization's first president, George Meany.

Name: George Meany

Occupation: First president of the AFL-CIO, from 1955-1979.

Career Highlights: A humble New York plumber who got into the labor movement instead of rescuing princesses named after fruit from weird spiky turtles. Assumed presidency of the New York State Federation of Labor and served until 1939. Also served ... Read More

Name: Michael Eisner

Occupation: former Disney CEO, founder of The Tornante Company (a private investment firm), holds stakes in Veoh Networks and Vuguru.

Career Highlights: Graduated from Denison University with a B.A. in English, thereby providing at least one credible answer to the opening song from Avenue Q. Bounced around the networks until ABC's Barry Diller hired him as an assistant to the National Programming Director. When Diller moved on to Paramount ... Read More

Name: Elon Musk. No, really.

Occupation: CEO of SpaceX and Tesla Motors; Chairman of SolarCity

Career Highlights: After wisely observing that oppressing black people as part of the South African military "just didn't seem like a really good way to spend time," Musk emigrated to Canada, enrolling at Queen's College, then studied at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School - he left with undergraduate degrees in economics and physics. It's ... Read More

Name: Susan "Suze" Orman

Occupation: Author, fundraiser, financial advisor, and host of CNBC's The Suze Orman Show.

Career Highlights: Went from living in a van for three months to waitressing at Berkeley, CA's Buttercup Bakery to training as an account executive at Merrill Lynch, who she later sued when her stockbroker turned out to be a crook. Worked at Merrill Lynch until 1983, then moved over to Prudential, then started her own ... Read More