Corporate chaos warning

[phkrause]

Illustration: Shoshana Gordon/Axios

Chief executives think global economic chaos is the new normal, Cisco chair and CEO Chuck Robbins — the new chair and CEO of the influential Business Roundtable — tells Axios' Courtenay Brown and Mike Allen. Why it matters: Robbins, who lives in Atlanta, is now corporate America's ambassador in Washington. He's already gaming out the agenda for either another term of President Biden or a return of former President Trump. Robbins, 58, has led the technology giant for nine years, a role that often puts him before top Washington policymakers. Now he'll represent a much broader set of interests in those meetings. "You have a group of CEOs that actually expect the next crisis will happen and we just deal with it. We don't overreact too much either way," Robbins said. "There's a generation of CEOs, with everything going on, that probably would have said: 'We're just going to pause everything until things get back to normal.'" But now, "we think this is normal." Robbins — a numbers guy who has a math degree with a computer science concentration — said most lawmakers "realize that strong, innovative companies do great things for this country, and they want to help." 🗳️ The intrigue: The BRT's top priorities will shift depending on which administration is in the White House. A second-term Biden administration might mean more focus on industry investment, reminiscent of legislation like the CHIPS Act. For a hypothetical second Trump administration: restoring Trump-era business tax breaks for research and development, and more favorable regulations. Comfort with uncertainty may help keep the economy humming, Robbins said: "Most CEOs know that if they pause investment for an extended length of time, with the rapid evolution of some of these technologies, they can be completely left behind in no time." 💡 Asked about his leadership style, Robbins said: "I am super-transparent, a super-simple communicator. ... I don't overcomplicate things. I'm not smart enough." His next fun thing: Fly-fishing for bonefish in the Bahamas.