President Trump met this morning with an 18-member strong group of CEOs of major U.S. companies to discuss tax code overhaul, regulation reduction, and women in the work force.
Dubbing the gathering "The Apprentice: CEO Edition," Bloomberg noted that President Trump "opened the meeting while the press corps was in attendance by flattering the CEOs, calling them 'the biggest and best minds in the country.'”
Flattery may be part of the art of the deal for all I know, but it's refreshing that Trump is seeking insights from business. No doubt, he'll get advice from other groups too, but it is ridiculous not to listen to corporations that hire millions of people.
We do have one small complaint. The two executives tasked with speaking about women in the workforce are Doug McMillon, chief executive of Wal-Mart Stores Inc., and Mark Weinberger, chief executive of EY. Worthies, to be sure, but it might have been nice to have at least one female CEO address this subject.
We don't believe in tokenism, but there are numerous outstanding, female CEOs who might have had interesting insights, gleaned from first-hand experience to share. (Cheryl Bachelder, CEO of Popeye's, and Karen Buchwald Wright, CEO of Ariel Corp., both recipients of IWF's Outstanding Women in Business award, spring to mind.)
Not that high-powered women weren't represented. Indra Nooyi, chief executive of PepsiCo Inc., spoke on tax and trade, while Mary Barra, chief executive of General Motors Co., spoke on regulation.