The answer is that a combination of schooling and apprenticeship has proved a reliable supplier and shaper of the sort of labour German businesses need to make goods of high quality, even as similar jobs have disappeared in other rich economies.

ECONOMIST: Education and skills

Ms. Thomson's solution: a shaper slip without the kind of elastic waistband that could cause bulges a dance partner might feel.

WSJ: Pull On the Right Shapewear

The second treasury secretary, John Snow, saw himself much more as a marketer of the President's policy than a shaper of those policies.

NPR: Senate Committee Holds Hearing on Treasury Nominee

And unlike midthigh briefs, a shaper slip isn't so cumbersome to peel off at the end of the evening.

WSJ: Pull On the Right Shapewear

The company's catalog proclaims: "Tame your tummy and create an hourglass silhouette with Super Higher Power, our new comfortable yet powerful high-waisted hosiery shaper.... Now, you've got the power!"

CNN: Do powerful women need to tame their unsightly bulges?

My friends who study advertising as both a reflection and shaper of cultural norms would not disagree with my impression: We talk about the death of command and control leadership, and praise the rise of a new, more collaborative, breed of leader.

FORBES: Why Command-and-Control Leadership Is Here to Stay