Some people say Romney’s CEO experience seems to come out when he wants to get things done: he “can be crisp sometimes,” according to Herzfelder.

But for many experts on government, Romney’s business experience is exactly what makes him fit to be a good leader.

“It is important that we develop individuals who can move easily between the public and private sectors,” says IBM Professor of Business and Government Roger B. Porter, “That was certainly the case in the early years of our Republic.  The need for such individuals is as great today as it was then.”

Joseph L. Badaracco, Shad Professor of Business Ethics at HBS, says that there are three qualities essential to success in business.

“You need strategy success,” he says. “You’ve got to be able to look at the environment around you and see what your organization needs. You need real skills with people—because nothing happens just because you’ve given a command. And you need to be a realist, so that if something isn’t working you can recognize that and change.”

Badaracco says that such skills would be useful in politics or in business, adding, “I would be astonished if Governor Romney didn’t have all three.”

In the end, perhaps the most interesting point of view that Romney has to offer on public service is not that of a flawless leader, but that of what Carey calls, a “citizen public servant.”

“Seeing the governor means seeing that you can have a life as a private citizen in one phase and also be a public servant, and engage with society at another level,” she says.

Carey herself worked in the private sector for many years before she entered government, joining the cabinet of Governor Paul A. Cellucci in 1999.

She spent 10 years as a senior admissions officer at Harvard College, and then worked as a college counselor at a private high school.

“If you had said to me eight or even five years ago that I would be Secretary of Elder Affairs…after I’d had such a wonderful career in education, I would have said ‘No way!’” she says.

But working with Romney, Carey says she finds his experience reflects what she has enjoyed most about her own career.

“I hope as students are listening to the governor’s remarks, they’ll realize that it’s important to make that kind of engagement and commitment to society,” she says, “but also that it doesn’t have to be a lifelong commitment. You can always have a variety of experiences.”

—Staff writer Elizabeth S. Widdicombe can be reached at widdicom@fas.harvard.edu.