Directors should also put in more time: five or six days a year is not enough to master a labyrinthine balance-sheet.

ECONOMIST: How banks can improve their approach to risk management

One important trick that any popular historian must master is that of achieving a balance between rigour and readability.

ECONOMIST: Easter Island

With his backroom savvy, copious network and tidy bank balance, he is also a master of Thailand's old-style politicking.

CNN: 'I Have Time'