CEOs in the age of anxiety

CORPORATE leaders don’t usually carve days out of their busy schedules to discuss the future of democracy. But these aren’t ordinary times. Last week, I attended a retreat with roughly 40 global business leaders and had a chance to take their pulse in a new age of anxiety. Below are my top three takeaways. 

Lesson one: politics is a top board-level concern these days. Previously at such conferences you’d hear much more talk about business itself, as well as technology and management. But this time, leader conversation revolved around the meaning of crucial 2024 election results, particularly in the United States and Europe.

There was no clear consensus around whether Joe Biden (assuming he remains the Democratic nominee) or Donald Trump was best for business, which reflects worries about the fiscal impact of Biden’s spending plans (although there was far less worry about the effects of any Trump tax cuts).