
Which Tech CEO Would Make the Best President? - the_watcher
https://www.survata.com/blog/which-tech-ceo-would-make-the-best-president/
======
viame
Elon, no question.

Just for fun:

Larry is too quiet, not enough publicity. I barely see his face.

Tim is just Tim .. too calm.

Jeff Bezos - He should just stick to Amazon. I feel like he wants to be
everywhere, just because he can.

Mark - who would even suggest that.

Satya ... Don't have anything on him so no.

Marissa ... Same thing.

------
6stringmerc
Heh, kind of interesting the winner of the survey is "I don't know" by a
definitive margin.

Idealistically speaking, Evan Spiegel of Snapchat would be the most preferable
due to understanding the fiat currency system is unsustainably dangerous, and
especially in the tech sector (as noted in recent interviews / past letters).

Rationally speaking, Travis Kalanick of Uber seems like the best fit because
he appears an unscrupulous, vindictive and egotistical person based on his
company's actions and penchant for trying to cover up any bad PR.

Still laughing that "I don't know" got such a wide margin of victory.

------
flashman
It will take nothing less than a few years of technocratic rule so its
supporters can see that politics makes politicians the way they are, not vice
versa.

A tech CEO as president is a lovely fantasy about somebody smart, from outside
traditional political structures, with a pragmatic bi- or non-partisan
approach. It is just Messiah-seeking, or the idea that "I could do better"
projected onto a personal hero.

Politics assimilates everyone and everything. Within that framework, it hardly
matters which tech CEO is president.

------
Enzolangellotti
Brin/Page, Ellison, Bezos, Cook, Weiner, Mollenkopf. Realistically: Ellison,
Cook and Mollenkopf would be top contenders.

~~~
the_watcher
Thanks for the feedback! Ellison would certainly have been included were he
still CEO of Oracle (He stepped down a year ago and is now Executive Chairman
and CTO). We considered Weiner and Mollenkopf (as well as some others such as
Marc Benioff and current Oracle co-CEO Mark Hurd), but decided to limit the
number of options presented to respondents, as too many choices can sometimes
hurt response rate.

~~~
Enzolangellotti
Yeah, I figured out that since it was a survey, limiting the options to the
most famous names was more of a necessity. IMHO I suggest you run a future
survey asking about the most important qualities that a candidate should
possess, just to cross validate the answers.

~~~
the_watcher
That's a great suggestion, we'll keep it in mind for followups!

------
jtchang
Of course it would be Elon Musk. Who doesn't want to colonize mars?

~~~
rezistik
He wasn't born in the US. He is ineligible.

~~~
the_watcher
That's true. Neither was Satya Nadella. We did this intentionally, as we were
interested in who Americans felt would do the best job as president,
regardless of eligibility, and when listing technology CEO's who might make a
good president, it's impossible to ignore Musk.

~~~
rezistik
Don't get me wrong, Musk would be my first choice as well. He might
legitimately be the best man for the job, not just among tech CEOs

------
mildbow
I wonder how the results would change if the CEO names were removed from the
questions?

Side note: Id probably pick bezos(logistics) or musk(sustainable
energy+space).

~~~
the_watcher
Glad you mentioned this, we should have clarified a bit more clearly. We
didn't show respondents an image of the CEO, just the {Company_Name} CEO
{CEO_Name}.

~~~
mildbow
Sure, but demographics can be gleaned from name pretty easily too. Which is
why I specifically asked about the case _without_ the name :)

It just jumped out at me because the "non-stereotypical" CEOs are the lowest
rated.

My gut says it would probably increase the "I don't know" count.

~~~
the_watcher
Thanks for clarifying. Just to be clear, you'd be interested to see the change
in responses if the options were simply CEO of {Company Name}? And your theory
is that the "I don't know" rate would rise? If so, I agree. Another
potentially interesting change would be to list Elon Musk as SpaceX CEO as
opposed to Tesla CEO.

~~~
mildbow
Exactly.

And further, I don't think that Satya and Marissa would lag as much with the
CEO of {Company Name} scheme.

------
the_watcher
Author here. Happy to answer any questions.

~~~
thejrk
Who has the best sweet potato fries?

~~~
the_watcher
My favorite of San Francisco (so far) are actually from Pacific Catch, but
Roam Burger has pretty good ones. The Counter has great sweet potato fries as
well, but there isn't one in the city.

