The intelligent investor and leader

In 1953 US senators grilled General Motors CEO Charles “Engine Charlie” Wilson about his large GM shareholdings: Would they cloud his decision making if he became the US secretary of defense and the interests of General Motors and the United States diverged? Wilson said that he would always put US interests first but that he could not imagine such a divergence taking place because “for years I thought what was good for our country was good for General Motors and vice versa.” Although Wilson was confirmed his remarks raised eyebrows due to widespread skepticism about the alignment of corporate and societal interests.