| Mario Draghi | ||||||
Politics, business and academia are not short of committees. Standing committees, sitting committees, even audit committees. In some cases, notably the latter in the light of the Enron scandal, their functions are far from clear.
But Mario Draghi, 55-year-old economics professor and former director-general of the Italian treasury who has joined Goldman Sachs as a managing director, is joining a committee that may be novel even to someone with his extensive knowledge of them.
Besides being responsible for European strategy and global business development, Draghi will also serve on the "commitments committee". What on earth can such a body actually do, apart from making commitments?
The dictionary definition of a commitment is "something that takes up time or energy". So why add the committee bit? Talk about tautology.
But, if anyone can handle the role, it should be the professor.