Though we base our teaching on Sun Tzu's The Art of War, you don't gain skills in strategy (or any other valuable skill) from reading a book. Developing true skill requires experience, which is why our training focuses on exercises in decision-making. However, there is a BIG difference between ten years of experience and one year of experience repeated ten times. For example, take Gov. Palin's experience as governor. Is two years of experience enough? You all know from your own careers that it doesn't take four years to find out if someone can do a job. It takes at the most three months. If Palin wasn't up to the task of being governor, everyone would have known long ago. Being governor isn't like being a legislator. You can't hide on the back bench, term after term. Governors have to make decisions every day. Not only has she proven up to the task, but she has excelled at it. She is the most popular governor in the country and has done more to fix government in Alaska in that time than any governor in the lower 48 (with the possible exception of Bobby Jindal, but he had a bigger mess to clean up). When I was working in large corporations, I was promoted on the average of every eight months because that is about how long it took to I prove that I was capable of greater responsibilities. If you have to spend years proving yourself at a job, it is likely you aren't very good at doing it.