I’m a former student of Janet Yellen. Here’s what makes her approach to economics so brilliant

One of the most unusual experiences of my academic years was sitting in a large lecture room at the London School of Economics with roughly 100 students from all over the world and listening to weekly lectures on macroeconomics from a pair of newlyweds: future Nobel laureate George Akerlof and his bride, Janet Yellen. Akerlof’s morning lectures were always—at least I assumed—brilliant, but often baffling. Yellen would arrive in the afternoon and soothe our hurting brains with lectures that made the most convoluted theories of Akerlof and other economists comprehensible.

What I never imagined in those days was that Yellen would become the first woman to chair the Federal Reserve and then go on to be the first woman to serve as Treasury Secretary. But in retrospect, it makes perfect sense. Her brilliance was the ability to explain the most complicated economic subjects in a way that slow-witted students—as well as politicians and policymakers—could grasp. 

Yellen’s story is captured in a new book out this week from my former colleague Jon Hilsenrath. I recommend it, not just as a treatise on economic policy, but as the portrait of an extraordinary woman and an extraordinary relationship. Yellen never again “team taught” with Akerlof. But in Hilsenrath’s telling, the two have had a lifelong creative cross-fertilization of ideas—a tight intellectual circle that later expanded to include their son, Robert—that ultimately provided enormous benefits to the country and the world. As Hilsenrath puts it:

“Yellen was motivated, more than anything, by an almost obsessive desire to examine questions fully and get as close as she could to answers that stood up to thorough and honest analysis. She adapted as circumstances changed and updated her beliefs when they fell apart under serious scrutiny…Yellen saw in her work a duty to contribute to some larger purpose, like a lighthouse keeper watching the shoreline. She didn’t set out to break gender barriers or win top jobs. When she leaned into debates, it wasn’t to be heard over anyone. It was usually because she thought her arguments were right, and she had the conviction and the knowledge to defend them.”

Yellen’s story remains unfinished. The policies she championed certainly helped boost the economy, but they also fed inflation. The costs of combating that inflation will have to be factored into her legacy. In any event, her role in the making of modern economic policy has been hugely consequential.

A final note: One of the interesting revelations in Hilsenrath’s book is that Yellen has maintained a continuous and productive dialogue with her rival for the Fed job—and her sometime critic—Larry Summers (who will be speaking tomorrow at the Fortune CEO Initiative). If more in Washington could embrace the virtues of civil dialogue despite personal and policy disagreements, the nation would be better off.

More news below. And check out the interview Ellen McGirt and I did with Progressive CEO Tricia Griffith on our Leadership Next podcast, available on Apple or Spotify.

Alan Murray
@alansmurray
alan.murray@fortune.com

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This edition of CEO Daily was edited by David Meyer.