Aligning business and politics

When I worked at Boston Consulting Group, there was a large team that handled the presidential transition after the election. Around 2016 when Trump was elected for the first time, there was a lament from some partners that they couldn’t staff the transition team because many BCGers weren’t interested in contributing to that project. The refrain was that, regardless of your politics, you (Americans) should want the country to succeed, so you should try to help in case you’re able to make a positive impact.

I remember the CEO was asked to join Trump’s council of industry leaders, and he explained his decision to participate in an email titled “A seat at the table.” Again, the reasoning was that one can influence change from within, and it was his duty to represent what he saw as the spirit of business and his company - as well as the companies BCG works with.

Of course, that all crumbled. The CEO resigned from the council, along with many others, and Trump’s first term was a fiasco — though maybe not a ruin as people expected. Since then, he lost the 2020 election, failed to accept the results, fomented violence, refused to call off rioters while they breached the capital and killed police, and then pardoned every Jan 6 rioters. His resume for his second term is worse — but worse than worse, it’s dumber.

In 2016, I and many like me said that although we hadn’t voted for him, we hoped he would be a successful president and lead the country into a better future. I felt the same way about 2024, but I had much less hope. I appreciate the conviction of those who refused to work for the transition team, and I don’t know what I would have done if asked to join (they didn’t see any need for data scientists back then). I believe strongly in America’s ability to produce incredible opportunity and rise above many problems, societal and technological. But I also think we could have had all the gains from Trump with only a fraction of the losses.