SEC Commissioner Christopher Cox opened his speech yesterday at the Tax Council Policy Institute’s Annual Tax Policy and Practice Symposium (blogged here) with a great story from his days teaching tax at Harvard Business School:

Another thing I’d never miss is the opportunity to talk about taxes. You probably know I used to teach federal income tax at Harvard Business School. It was a course called “Tax Factors in Business Decisions.” I hope my students learned something from me, but I can tell you, I learned a lot from them.

I’ll never forget grading those final exams. The final was four hours long—two cases. And so the students filled up a half dozen blue books with their answers. It was a bear to grade.

But there was one student who used only one blue book—I can’t tell you how excited I was to open the cover and review this model of brevity and concision. And when I opened his test book I discovered he’d only used one page for his answer to both problems. Here’s what he wrote: “Dear Prof. Cox: What I have learned in your course is that federal income tax is extraordinarily complicated; and when I go into business I’ll be sure to hire someone who knows what he’s doing in this area.”

Sadly, I had to fail him. But after all that he did graduate from Harvard Business School, and undoubtedly with that kind of creativity and knack for delegation, he’s become a success in business. He’s probably one of your clients.

To view Chairman Cox’s speech, see here.  (Hat Tip:  Randall K.C. Kau.)