Not just any CEO or any Lawyer for President

I often have discussions with people about how much importance is given to presidential candidates having CEO experience and a law degree. Here is my position that is a tweak from what I wrote in How to Select an American President by James A. George and James A. Rodger (c) 2017 Archway Publishing.

First, on being a chief executive.

There are different ways to obtain chief executive experience having to do with the type of organization over which a candidate may have presided as the top executive.

There are heated debates among some in legal circles about the notion of the federal government and states being corporations. They all operate under the rule of law and for my purpose they and their organizations, systems, and enabling infrastructure of people and technology are enterprises.

A corporation is a company or group of people authorized to act as a single entity (legally a person) and recognized as such in law.

1. Government enterprise
2. Private enterprise
3. Public enterprise
4. Nonprofit enterprise
5. Small business enterprise

A presidential candidate who has managed a large state or a large city that is representative of the U.S. population, meaning being diverse, then that experience should be highly valued because it is directly transferable. It is important that a president has an affinity with all of the citizens.

A presidential candidate who has managed a private enterprise, business or industry that is run by independent companies or private individuals rather than by the state may or may not have alignment.

Being the chief executive of a Fortune 500 company, meaning the largest in the nation, is more relevant and transferable to managing the federal government than being a CEO of a small or a mid-size company. Not all large companies are sufficiently complex as to be compared with that of managing the federal government. That means that candidate resumes should reflect the experience that is most transferable about being the chief executive.

A public enterprise is a company whose shares are available and traded on the stock market or another over-the-counter market. Subject to more regulation than a privately owned company, a public enterprise has greater access to financing. Shareholders own a percentage of the company based on the amount of stock they own. 

Read more: http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/public-enterprise.html

A nonprofit organization (NPO) (also known as a non-business entity is an organization whose purpose is something other than making a profit. A nonprofit organization is often dedicated to furthering a particular social cause or advocating for a particular point of view.

There are some very large nonprofit companies for which being the CEO may represent transferable experience.

For timely consideration, The Trump Organization is an American privately owned international conglomerate based in Trump Tower in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. The $3.9 billion business is a global enterprise. However, the nature of its businesses are not directly transferable to the federal government with few exceptions.

"Donald Trump has dabbled in an array of businesses from bottled water to luxury hotels. The President-elect's personal financial-disclosure report is extensive and lists Trump as a trustee, president, chairman, or member for more than 530 entities. Almost half of these companies listed have Trump's name as part of the company name. Trump's brash brand has earned him lucrative licensing deals; however, not all of his businesses have been successful, and several of his enterprises have been hit by his controversial comments." 

http://www.investopedia.com/updates/donald-trump-companies/

Being a lawyer and having deep knowledge about the Constitutional law is most relevant to being a US Representative or a Senator, for instance. It may be relevant to being a state Governor too. The job of President is law-intensive, and that is a problem for the present incumbent.

Unfit and unqualified