There are no former CEOs in the Obama Cabinet. And among the people who make up his daily inner circle, there is only a dollop or two of top-level private sector experience.

This is a notable absence, particularly for an administration whose domestic reputation will hinge on whether it can reverse one of the steepest economic downturns in decades. Most recent administrations—Democratic as well as Republican—have included several people who were bold-faced names in the corporate world before assuming influential jobs in Washington…

Still, some long-time White House observers find it noteworthy that when Obama convenes his best minds there will be few people who have answered to shareholders as well as voters—people who know by intuition how the business community is likely to react to any given day’s news.