Many Americans continue to believe that the CEOs of the nation’s largest companies are largely Donald Trump supporters—but nothing could be further from the truth. Some of the confusion may arise from the simple fact that sitting CEOs generally cannot speak out publicly as they fear alienating their employees and customers and provoking a Trump retaliation. These negatives clearly outweigh the small upside that any one voice might provide, so current CEOs remain silent publicly while expressing great concern in private. But their inability to speak out publicly should not be confused with support or even lack of preference.
As recent CEOs ourselves, mostly of large, publicly traded companies, we have more discretion to speak out. Each of us stays engaged with active CEOs on a regular basis, so we are confident we are capturing the sentiment of the majority of our peers in the business community.
