The reluctant rise of the diplomat CEO

jets descended on Riyadh this week, ferrying chief executives to the Future Investment Initiative, a talkfest nicknamed “Davos in the Desert”. A feud between the American and Saudi governments over an oil-production cut by the + cartel, a move which benefits fellow member Russia, was not enough to keep away the bosses of giant American banks like JPMorgan Chase and Goldman Sachs. Nor was the kingdom’s record of human-rights abuses. Like diplomats, chief executives often deal with unsavoury regimes. The two groups have other things in common. For one thing, both are invited to talk on panels with titles like “The New Global Order” (an example from this week’s junket). Both also spend lots of time jetting around the world. Some s even end up becoming statesmen. Rex Tillerson, the former boss of ExxonMobil, an oil giant, served as America’s secretary of state under Donald Trump. Others fancy themselves as latter-day Kissingers. Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, recently put forward a peace proposal for Ukraine and recommended that Taiwan become a “special administrative zone” of China. Jamie Dimon, boss of JPMorgan Chase, opined this week that America should stop pursuing an “everything our way” attitude towards Saudi Arabia.