Fade to Black

When publishing executive Cathie Black was named New York City’s school chancellor, Mayor Michael Bloomberg made clear that he wasn’t worried about her lack of education experience, citing her management chops. The state education commissioner, David Steiner, agreed. Black’s “exceptional record of successfully leading complex organizations and achievement of excellence in her endeavors” more than make up for her “lack of direct experience in education,” he said.

Ooops. That didn’t work out so well, as Black repeatedly “tripped over basic facts and figures,” as the New York Times put it, before being ousted earlier this week after just 95 days on the job.

It makes you wonder whether things would have been different had Bloomberg and Steiner watched our animated video on the importance of possessing “domain knowledge”: