Going inside The Business Council

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BILL RADKE: Some of the country’s top CEOs are heading to Chicago this morning. They’re meeting as part of what’s called The Business Council.

Chicago Public Radio’s Tony Arnold reports on what happens when you get 150 of the country’s top CEOs in the same room.

TONY ARNOLD: Think of The Business Council as sort of the Justice League of the business community — drawing big names from global companies, from Boeing to JPMorgan to John Deere.

HARRY KRAEMER: It gives you a fantastic ability to be able to put everything in context across the total economy as opposed to just focusing on your individual company.

Harry Kraemer was a member of The Business Council for eight years while he was CEO of Baxter Laboratories. He now teaches at Northwestern University. Kraemer says the central question for a meeting of private sector leaders is figuring out how each company is connected to other countries — and comparing notes on things like growth projections and interest rates.

KRAEMER: What could happen to inflation over time given the size of the deficits that many of these countries have around the world?

On tap are some panel discussions — including one about the globalization of job skills.

In Chicago, I’m Tony Arnold for Marketplace.