> Maybe you mix academic career with a business one. I talk about an academic career, that means that the folks never put there nose out of the university. ::)
>
>Hardly...
>
>In many areas of academia, people "venture out" from the university ...
>
>- Professors in the hard sciences do consulting work for engineering firms
>- Professors at medical universities are still involved in practicing medicine
>- Computer science teachers, like math and physics teachers, are often involved in different contract/consulting engagements
>- My wife, who was a French teacher, told me about many instances where foreign language teachers make some pretty decent money as translators

Exactly. You got the point. A professor involved in consulting etc. is normaly focused on this work. (For boring point of interest and $.$ ) The teaching is done by subordinates because the prof. is out of reach (and dealing with all those numb is such a waste of time). If all those involvment is over (aka "End of career") the remnant iiiis: teaching!