As much as I hate them, I would wager that the majority of CEOs are more educated, smarter and have a better understanding of their business than Elon "Failed Upward" Musk.
CEOs are more educated, smarter and have a better understanding of their business
You haven't met that many of them, have you?
I have - the difference between the ones I met and the likes of Elon is that none of the ones I met had any interest in being celebrities. That's the only difference - their institutionalized incompetence was the exact same.
Yeah, they only want to be well-connected with other CEOs and big investors so they can jump between orgs.
That said, some CEOs are decent. We just got a new CEO, and they seem decent. They have industry experience, not just an MBA from a prestigious school, and they asked the right questions when visiting recently. We're not a huge org though (a few thousand people), but we are publicly traded (not in the US).