For CEOs and CEOs, building or simply strengthening direct relationships with the White House will become even more important in the next presidential term, as evidenced by the plethora of tech executives bending the knee to take over from President-elect Donald Trump.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, for example, visited Mar-a-Lago during Thanksgiving week in an attempt to mend his troubled relationship with the president-elect, who has long been critical of the technocrat’s social media platform.
He is not alone. CEOs like Google’s Sundar Pichai and Amazon’s Andy Jassy — and founder Jeff Bezos — have reached out to President-elect Trump to discuss business priorities, align strategies and establish an early commitment to ensure good results.
This approach mirrors Apple CEO Tim Cook’s playbook. Since Trump’s first term, Cook has maintained regular communication with the administration, attending White House meetings and advisory councils. He emphasized shared goals such as job creation and US manufacturing, highlighting Apple’s “America First” contributions. Trump, in turn, has publicly praised Cook as a reliable and effective advocate for business and economic growth, he said. The Wall Street Journal.
Other leaders, in and out of tech, are now adopting similar strategies, taking advantage of private meetings with the incoming administration to advocate for their companies, influence policy and win favor.
However, navigating Trump’s transactional leadership style comes with challenges. It often requires unwavering loyalty, making those commitments a calculated risk for those less adept at navigating the ruts of the president-elect. Leaders must carefully balance showing support for the administration while doing so could create potential consumer disruptions or perceived disloyalty from the Trump campaign.
Cook’s ability to diplomatically manage this dynamic—so far, anyway—is a skill in itself.
Ruth Umoh
ruth.umoh@fortune.com
Today’s newsletter is edited by Natalie McCormick.
Smarter in seconds
The sandwich hero. At 17, he bought a sandwich shop for $125,000; He named it Jersey Mike’s and sold it for $8 billion.
Driver’s seat Omead Afshar, a longtime Elon Musk loyalist, drives the Tesla
The podcast princess. Alex Cooper as part of a $125 million deal to grow his multimedia empire
A lesson in leadership
Booking Holdings CEO Glenn Flogel discussed it the importance of flexibility and change in light of its reorganization announcement.
“Change is difficult, and certainly if you’re involved in a restructuring that has a negative impact on your life, that’s a sad event… But not doing that is bad leadership.
Look at the companies that didn’t change, the ones that needed to change and weren’t ready for it. So I ask you, do you have it? Nokia phone? Well, where is Nokia’s phone business now? Have you ever owned a BlackBerry? where are they Have you ever rented a video from Blockbuster? Of course Where are they?”
News to know
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum expressed confidence that a tariff war with the US can be avoided after a phone call with President-elect Donald Trump. AP
The world’s richest people have added $585 billion to their fortunes, driven mainly by a stock market rally fueled by the AI boom. luck
Lei Zhang, the Chinese investor who made billions for Yale by backing companies like Tencent, is now revising his China strategy as US-China relations sour amid slowing growth and rising geopolitical tensions. WSJ
HSBC’s CEO is reshaping the bank’s leadership a main restructuring, including slimming the management board, consolidating regions and implementing competitive bids for senior positions in the newly combined divisions. Bloomberg
The CEO of Stellantis, which owns brands such as Jeep, Citroën and Ram, has resigned. An executive committee led by its chairman will be formed as the company searches for a successor. luck
