Good morning.
Donald Trump is heading back to the White House on January 20, alongside a Republican Senate and hotly contested House. I’ll let pundits wax on the relative impact of Israel, inflation, immigration, abortion, taxes, energy, race, religion, rural voters, RFK Jr., Jill Stein, jobs, men, women, cats, dogs, squirrels, age, hubris, and a firehose of political ads funded by an unprecedented $4.5 billion in outside spending. Having grown up in various parliamentary systems, I still marvel at the resilience of the electoral college, which the majority of Americans would vote to scrap.
Now come the debates on what we’re likely to see on the policy front in a second Trump administration. With a Republican sweep, the incoming president would probably not face much pushback on cabinet appointees or key legislation. Whether he will actually initiate mass deportation, end the Ukraine war on Day 1, create “freedom cities,” or impose tariffs of 60% on China remains to be seen. Americans will soon find out if Project 2025 is a blueprint or a pipe dream. The caliber of policymaking will depend on the caliber of his team; his leadership will be measured by his ability to bring prosperity to red states and blue states alike, to tackle wicked problems, and tap massive opportunities in ways that benefit the long-term health of the U.S. and the world.
But more on that later. In the immediate term, business leaders woke up this morning to the reality that a sizable percentage of their customers and employees are shell-shocked and deeply upset. That would have been true, no matter who won. For advice on what to do, I turned to Nik Deogun, who counsels leaders on a range of issues as CEO of the Americas for Brunswick Group. His thoughts:
“When I was in the TV news business, my old boss used to say: The more emotional the story is, the cooler you should be. The same is true for CEOs this week.
This week, the best CEOs will do two things: keep a sharp focus on employee wellbeing and continue to serve the clients and customers that depend on them. Critically, they will be patient, waiting for clear information before acting, and never losing sight of their core business mission. Amid sound and fury (on either side), play the long game.”
More to come, and more news below.
Diane Brady
diane.brady@fortune.com
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TOP NEWS
Palantir CEO gloats on earnings
Palantir CEO Alex Karp took aim at critics that called him “batshit crazy” after announcing impressive earnings for the data software company on Monday. Karp pointed to “unrelenting AI demand” as one of the reason’s Palantir saw a 30% increase in revenue over the past year. Fortune
Jen Psaki on Biden’s legacy
In a recent interview with Fortune, former Biden Administration press secretary Jen Psaki claimed Biden failed to market himself to the country because the president doesn’t “get credit for making things less bad.” Psaki tributes Biden with relieving a post-COVID economy from a “downward spiral.”
TGI Fridays frets about gift cards
TGI Fridays filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy last week and is now worried that customers will redeem nearly $50 million in outstanding gift card balances. Some of the gift cards, which don’t expire, were purchased as far back as 2003. Fortune
AROUND THE WATERCOOLER
Starbucks’ new CEO has a long to-do list—moving the HQ out of Seattle is not at the top by Jane Thier
No matter who wins the election, experts expect ‘a significant number’ of rich Americans to flee the country by Chloe Berger
Trump Media stock was halted three times on Election Day after its price dropped 15% in just 15 minutes by Paolo Confino
Perplexity bets big on AI search during the election while Google and OpenAI say they can’t help by Sharon Goldman
Polymarket users have wagered $3.2 billion on the outcome of the election—and the majority of bets are on Trump winning by Paolo Confino
Meta’s military push is as much about the battle for open-source AI as it is about actual battles by David Meyer
This edition of CEO Daily was curated by Joey Abrams.
