"Condi"

Our company has been doing a lecture series for its anniversary, featuring talks and interviews with various leaders.  I haven’t given much attention to previous talks, which I think featured a couple of CEOs at companies I don’t know and don’t care much about.  But today was different.  The talk today was with former National Security Advisor and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.  Someone I had actually heard of before.  I think this was a big deal for our company – with standing room only in the auditorium where it was held in California, and apparently a load of extra security checks!  I watched via video feed.  And it was weird.  There is not much overlap between science/the biotech industry and politics – which is obviously her area of expertise – and so although the interview was nominally interesting relating to her background and experience (though not nearly enough discussion on some of her more controversial policies and topics – particularly relating to the Iraq War and 9/11), it had practically no relevance to our industry, our company and what we do.  So I don’t really understand the point and the expense of bringing in someone like this to interview (and I bet it wasn’t cheap).  I guess since our company has massively elevated the core value of inclusion recently, talking to a female African-American who has been in such a position of power is something.  She is clearly intelligent, and also clearly very academic – but whether she was particularly impactful or achieved much under Bush is questionable, particularly in those delicate and controversial post-9/11 times.  Still, she was, and is, substantially more qualified than any of the morons in the current administration.