, 8 tweets, 2 min read Read on Twitter
I wanted to riff on why business people like Howard Shultz usually make terrible political leaders. Put aside Howard's policy positions on economics which are straight up trickle down economics.
I have spent my entire life both building businesses AND doing policy and politics. Today, I run a team entirely devoted to policy and politics. What I can tell you is that the tow domains are completely different, and require profoundly different skills.
The biggest difference is that in business, everyone who surrounds you WORKS FOR YOU. You can fire them, at any time. As a business leader, you define the goals, the culture, the terms of service, everything. If people do not comply, you fire them or they leave.
This circumstance creates a temperament and skill set that is completely unmatched to the requirements of running something where literally no one has to do what you say, and where many people actively are trying to subvert you.
People who are accustomed to other people snapping to attention when they walk into a room, and scurrying around trying to implement their commands and vision, are usually paralyzed and or enraged in circumstances where people openly disagree and where power is diffuse.
There is a particular type of personality and ego type that ends up being a charismatic business leader. These people are usually the last people who you would want to put in charge of a democratic process.
This is why when people (many of my peers) say "We need to run the country like a business" it makes me want to throw up. The country is not a business. Saying we should run the country like a business is like saying we should fly the airplane like a unicycle. You will crash.
Running businesses well is super hard. The people who do it well are often extremely talented. But good ballet dancers are also extremely talented. We do not often recruit them to run large businesses. Be highly suspect of business leaders as political leaders.
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