[legostormtroopr]

> CEO's don't have to build consensus

Yes they do. Becoming CEO of a company like Disney is just as political as becoming President.

> They can, and do, purge their ranks of dissidents.

So do Presidents. Every 4 (or 8) years a new President is elected and they replace the entire cabinet. This is probably more disruptive than a new CEO coming in and replacing a handful of disliked executives.

[bsder]

> Every 4 (or 8) years a new President is elected and they replace the entire cabinet.

I'm talking about the voters. You can't fire the chunk of voters that didn't vote for you.

I guarantee a lot of blue states would like to fire the red states who consume their tax money disproportionately.

However, we don't allow that because we are the United States of America and not the United States of People Who Agree With You.

[schnable]

CEOs can't fire their shareholders, though.

I don't think being a Fortune 50 CEO is necessarily the best preparation for president, but there is definitely a lot of overlapping skills. This is very different than the businessman as politician fetish the country often has; running a small/family business doesn't require the same skillset.

[wisty]

I believe there have been Presidents who decided to ignore the wishes of a bunch of voters who they don't agree with.