Here is my Shultz story, and it's an example of life's regrets and of why you should always answer the damn door when opportunity knocks.

Back in the late 80s I was invited to join the State Department's Planning and Economic Analysis staff. This was a group Shultz employed much like the Council of Economic Advisors. Economists and political scientists rotated into Foggy Bottom for one or two years to offer empirical skills and unvarnished analysis directly to the 7th floor of the State Department, bypassing the usual career employees. The group was loyal to the truth, not to the institution of the State Department. Shultz valued that.

I was a brand new assistant professor and recently married and I just wanted to get my academic career started before dealing with something like this. So I said no for now, hopefully leaving the door open for later. Well, later never happened. Administrations changed and that group lost much of its importance post-Shultz.

In retrospect, I was an idiot.

Wow.

Would the university have held your position?

If so I second the ‘idiot’ comment. lol

I don't know. I can't remember if I even asked. I suspect they would have ... idiot.

Not that you wouldn’t have been able to land a new role after experience like that. But given your wife’s profession I can see you not wanting to move.