Nobody cares about your CEO's endorsement

Next week's U.S. presidential election has tested the reflexes of business leaders like none in my memory. Companies  have faced direct threats from former Republican President Donald Trump but worry about alienating stakeholders if they speak out, let alone endorse his Democratic rival, Vice President Kamala Harris.
    
Celebrity backers of both parties' candidates seem bolder than many top CEOs. Maybe that's because the celebrities are better known, according to a review by a market research firm. You can read up below.
    
I'm also including in this week's newsletter links to a story about strikes in Germany and to some news from a "hardware destruction company." 
      
Go ahead and connect with me on LinkedIn. Or you can email me at ross.kerber@thomsonreuters.com 

Few top business leaders have taken official stances on next week's U.S. elections, causing heartburn especially among Democrats who have hoped for more explicit backing.

On Monday, for instance, Amazon founder and Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos defended the decision of the newspaper not to endorse a presidential candidate, leading some 200,000 readers to cancel their subscriptions.
        
Explanations include that business leaders fear former President Donald Trump's direct threats against individual companies, or that they don't want to alienate their customers.
    
Here is an alternative idea: don't worry, nobody cares what your CEO thinks anyway. You can read the data in support of this view by clicking the button below for this week's column.

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