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Max Planck, Mark Burnett, & Faking It

Tim O'Reilly is attending a directors' program at Stanford Law School where Charlie Munger of Berkshire Hathaway fame apparently delivered this very nice (apocryphal) story:

After winning the Nobel prize, Max Planck went around Germany giving talks. His chauffeur heard the talk so many times that he had it by heart, and so one time, he asked Max Planck if he could give the address. Planck agreed, they changed places, and the lecture came off famously. But then came the Q&A, with the very first question being one that the chauffeur had no hope of answering. The chauffeur replied: "I'm surprised to hear such an elementary question on high energy physics here in Munich. It's so simple, I'll let my chauffeur answer it."

This sort of story takes many forms, from cargo cult tales, to stories I've heard that U2's roadies do a mean U2 concert in rehearsals -- but they all go to the same point: People can be remarkably proficient at giving the appearance of proficience.

I've mentioned something like this before in a post about Mark Burnett and how he found it difficult to interview candidates for The Apprentice. Why? Because they may have been quacks, but they sure knew how to give good interview.

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