The 2024 U.S. presidential election is going to be ugly. CEOs ‘can’t sit out’

At the same time, a New York appeals court denied Trump’s request to delay payment of the state’s $454 million verdict against him, which his lawyers said could force property sales.

Over in Alabama, state lawmakers were advancing bills to protect in vitro fertilization after the State Supreme Court ruled earlier this month that frozen embryos should be considered children. (Alabama is ranked as one of the 10 worst states for women, based on a WalletHub report that incorporates factors like health care legislation and wage growth.) Back in Washington, a Senate Republican blocked the speedy passage of a federal bill to protect IVF.

Meanwhile, Congress reached a deal to delay a partial government shutdown that would have cut funding to several key federal agencies on March 1. It’s a short-term fix after an earlier short-term fix in an ongoing game of chicken that’s nerve-wracking to people of all political stripes and potentially devastating to the U.S. economy. Against that backdrop, Sen. Mitch McConnell’s announcement that he plans to step down as Senate GOP leader in November is a reminder that, for good or for ill, the Kentucky senator knows how to navigate politics to get things done.

And that’s just a sample of what happened yesterday. There are likely to be a lot more days like that in the months to come, forcing leaders to decide when and how to speak up.

I posed that question last night to Alan Fleischmann. As founder, chairman and CEO of Laurel Strategies, Fleischmann brings a deep understanding of Washington when advising CEOs on how to navigate the current landscape. 

Fleischmann has long advocated for a statesman-like approach to leadership that rises above partisan politics but also takes a clear stance on the issues that matter to the stakeholders in their business. “There’s a long runway between now and November, and CEOs realize that they can’t sit out,” he says. “The CEO has to be able to articulate how he or she leads in this environment.”

The good news is that people increasingly trust business more than government. But that’s contingent on having an authentic, relevant, and consistent stance backed up by the facts. Fleischmann’s advice for tailoring that message across the red state/blue state divide? Forget it. “Step up and state the truth.”

Diane Brady
@dianebrady
diane.brady@fortune.com

TOP NEWS

EA layoffs

Video game publisher Electronic Arts will lay off 5% of its workforce, or about 670 employees, as the video game industry struggles to maintain its COVID-era highs. EA is the latest gaming company to slash costs, with Sony cutting 900 jobs from its PlayStation division earlier this week. Higher interest rates and spiraling development costs are forcing investors and developers to scale back their ambitions especially since gamers are no longer cooped up at home. CNBC 

Snowflake CEO exits

Shares in Snowflake, a cloud-based data analytics company that’s ranked No. 1 on Fortune’s Future 50 list, fell over 20% in extended trading after the sudden exit of CEO Frank Slootman. He will be replaced by current senior vice president for AI and former Google ad exec Sridhar Ramaswamy. Snowflake’s full year forecast came in below expectations as companies trim spending on services. Bloomberg

Salesforce’s CEO goes on a tirade

Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff went on a 30-minute long tangent on AI during the company’s earnings call, blasting current models for mishaps and use of stolen data while highlighting Salesforce’s own products. Shares were down 4.5% before Benioff started talking; they were up around 1% after. Salesforce forecast around 9% revenue growth for the year, slower than previous years. Fortune 

AROUND THE WATERCOOLER

The recent debacles at Boeing and Meta highlight the dangers of shrugging off employee concerns by Lila MacLellan 

As Apollo’s chief economist declares the Nvidia-inflated AI bubble ‘bigger than the 1990s tech bubble,’ here’s what happened to the 10 priciest stocks from that era by Shawn Tully

From KKR to Thoma Bravo: how 10 top private equity firms are performing as sky-high tech prices from 2021 fall back to earth by Luisa Beltran

Klarna froze hiring because of AI. Now it says its chatbot does the work of 700 full-time staff by Ryan Hogg

Top ex-Disney executive Kevin Mayer, tipped as a prime contender to succeed Bob Iger, spotlights 3 traits the next CEO must have by Massimo Marioni 

29-year-old self-made millionaire Lucy Guo follows up her unicorn Scale AI with a $40 million Series A for new creator economy venture, Passes by Rachyl Jones

This edition of CEO Daily was curated by Nicholas Gordon.