Welcome back to this pro ron, where we take just 10 minutes to get you smarter on the collision of tech, business, and politics.

So we're actually off until the new year, but wanted to share a few of our favorite segments from 2019.

And today's is from August and digs into how CEOs

have become America's new politicians. So in 1997, the Business Roundtable issued a mission

statement that said the paramount duty of company management is to its shareholders. Today, though,

the group, which is comprised of 188 of the country's top CEOs, came out

with a new mission statement.

Just 300 words long with the word shareholders, not mentioned until word 250.

Instead, this one talks about how companies have a commitment to all stakeholders,

including customers, suppliers, and employees.

It also says companies should foster diversity and inclusion, support local communities, and

protect the environment. It's a big shift, which reflects how America's CEOs have, in many

ways, become the country's newest class of politicians, trying to lead in areas where they

see elected leaders abdicating responsibility,

or at least efficacy. Now, corporations may or may not be people, but the CEOs are, and they're

driven, if not by personal politics, then by an understanding that they need every advantage

possible in a very tight labor market, and expressing social solidarity can help them attract

the best and brightest.

Moreover, they realize that their way of life and way of business is under a very powerful

microscope right now.

So to be sure, this new mission statement is controversial.

Axios's Jim Vanda High writes how many corporate general counsel tried to get their CEOs

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