Quiet people in occupation like directors (10)

I believe the answer is:

presidents

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'quiet people' is the definition.
'presidents' can be an answer for 'people' (president is a kind of person). I'm not sure about the 'quiet' bit.

'occupation like directors' is the wordplay.
'occupation' becomes 'President' (President is an example).
'like directors' becomes 's' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'president'+'s'='PRESIDENTS'

'in' is the link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for presidents that I've seen before include "eg Washington, Adams, Jefferson" , "leaders" .)

I've seen this clue in The Globe and Mail.

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