This is going to sound nuts, but I think CEOs like Altman have more in common with historical monarchs than modern Democratic leaders. In a Democracy, there's more transparency into the degree to which everything the President/PM does is actually delegated out. Joe Biden may be the Commander in Chief, but just watch a political military thriller and you'll see that culturally, we understand the role of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in having the actual depth of knowledge the President lacks.

But CEOs often practice a form of charismatic leadership whereby you have to project having more knowledge than you actually do. That is because their leadership is both less democratic and less secure than their counterparts. You've got to be constantly maneuvering against challenges to your legitimacy.

I think it has something to do with the Gemeinschaft–Gesellschaft dichotomy from German sociology. You might think that a tech company would be the quintessential form of Gesellschaft, but in reality, the community of tech CEOs and VCs is far more like a social club than it is like a rational, contractual relationship.