Last week The Economist took an interesting look at the types of professions that world leaders had before getting into politics.
The leading profession is law (e.g. President Obama), and that is especially true in the United States. But Hu Jintao, president of China, was trained as a hydraulic engineer. Those two very different paths to power might explain a lot about how each president executes his duties.
The chart from the article (included here) depicts several surprising professions that make up the world’s politicians. I had no idea there were so many journalists who became politicians!
Interesting factoid from the article: Herbert Hoover was the last American president trained as an engineer.
