From what I understand, Khan was learning to manage a large team. She failed at it. Noticed. Corrected. And seems to have figured it out.

The early FTC was highly centralised. In its new iteration, staffers appear to be trusted to pursue probes on their own. This not only broadens their firepower, but brings to the table staffers’ decades of experience around what wins in court.

The exceptional people were there from the start. In the early days, their complaint was around being locked out of decision making. Khan and a small group ran the FTC like academics.

That failed both internally and in the courts. To her credit, she noticed the failure, regrouped and re-oriented. But the change wasn’t in star hiring but recognising the talent that was being ignored.