Hence his keen interest in getting advice from real-life chief executives.

ECONOMIST: The new establishment

Barclaycard's chief executive, Gary Hoffman, defends his company's high interest rates in part because of the need to make good losses from fraud.

ECONOMIST: Fraud

In 1986, in one of his last crusades as cofounder and chief of the Center for Law in the Public Interest, he played a key role in pushing passage of the whistleblower law, which made it easier to prove wrongdoing and lifted informants' payoff to as much as 30% of the booty.

FORBES: The Enforcer

Comcast's president and chief executive officer, Brian Roberts, explained his decision by pointing to Disney's lack of interest in merging the two firms.

ECONOMIST: Eisner fights on