Clarence P. Randall, special assistant to President Eisenhower, last night urged students considering a business career to undertake "an all-purpose education" to avoid "locking one's life too early within the barriers of a specialty."

In the second of a series of three lectures on "A Businessman Looks at the Liberal Arts," delivered last night in Sanders Theatre, Randall attacked the growing notion among students that specialization is fundamental to success.

The former Chairman of the Board of Inland Steel Co. stressed the need for a "broad cultivation of the mind" of the potential executive. "Industry does not employ a young man for what he knows, but rather for his proven capacity to learn," he said. This capacity, he added, would be developed regardless of the specific nature of the student's studies.

But Randall felt that the equally essential qualities of versatility and adaptability would be lacking in the technically trained individual. An acquaintance with a wide variety of subjects, he thought, is necessary for the full development of these traits.

He cited government, economics, and foreign languages as of special usefulness to the businessman.

Randall concludes his series of lectures tonight at 8:30 in Sanders Theatre.

A former Overseer and President of the Alumni Association, Randall is a special assistant to President Eisenhower in the field of foreign economic policy.