President’s Day was this past Monday and so this seemed like as good a time as any to make a brief list of some of the CEOs of companies in the Freedom Portfolio that I most admire. Why? I’ve long thought that we as a society spend too much time and energy admiring (or possibly hating) the President and oftentimes give them far too much credit for things like the economy and the stock market and even larger things like our standard of living. On the flip side, I think we don’t spend nearly enough time appreciating the entrepreneurs and business leaders who take risks and are constantly driving innovation forward.

Who has done more to improve the life of the average American? President Obama? Or Steve Jobs, without whom you might not have a tiny portable device that serves as a camera, GPS, handheld gaming system, phone, and also provides access to the entirety of humanity’s knowledge at your fingertips? President Bush? Or Jeff Bezos, who helped drive down prices, changed 2 day (and now 1 day) shipping from a luxury to something expected, and turned voice assistants from something out of Star Trek into reality? Who will do more to save the planet? President Trump? Or Elon Musk?

An argument can be made for both sides, but I personally skew a little more towards the CEOs. With that being said, here are five CEOs from companies in the Freedom Portfolio that stand out to me (alphabetical by last name):

The Five

Jeff Bezos: Founder and CEO of Amazon (AMZN) – Notwithstanding some questionable moves in his personal life, it’s hard to find a more impressive entrepreneur and innovator alive today than Jeff Bezos. He turned a tiny online seller of books into a $1 trillion company that now sells almost anything (and allows others to sell almost anything) and can deliver it all in just a few days. Oh, and they’re also the leader in cloud computing and the third largest online digital ad platform in the US. I love his “Day 1” philosophy and how he seems to be determined to never stop trying new things no matter how large Amazon gets. Truly an incredible leader.

Reed Hastings: Founder and CEO of Netflix (NFLX) – It takes a lot of guts and foresight to start a business as crazy sounding as sending DVDs through the mail and allowing people to keep them as long as they want (or on the flip side, churn through as many as they want). If that is where the story stopped, it would be impressive enough, but not only did Reed Hastings start a company which has revolutionized how we consume media, but he has also reinvented it multiple times in the process.

The first reinvention was having the guts to pivot the DVD-by-mail business into online streaming before it was obvious that it was the future. The second was having the foresight to start investing in original content so that the company wasn’t so reliant on content producers. The third is having the grand vision to not just be content with the US market, but to try to become the leader internationally as well.

Bonus points for being humble enough to be able to admit when you were wrong and to reverse course (*cough*qwikster*cough*).

Bob Iger: CEO of Disney (DIS) – I wish I had a clever pun to make involving Iger and King Midas, but it really feels like everything he touches turns to gold. Just look at the acquisitions made under his watch:

• Pixar
• Marvel
• LucasFilm
• 21st Century Fox

That’s an incredible amount of content that has achieved huge box office success, critical acclaim, or oftentimes both. While the jury is still out on the last one, I’m very excited about the future potential of Hotstar and there’s little doubt that acquisition helped strengthen the appeal of Disney+ and Hulu. And that brings us to what might best define Iger’s legacy at Disney: the bold entry into streaming with Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN+. Like I mentioned with Reed Hastings previously: it takes a lot of guts to move into streaming. While the creation of Disney+ didn’t require as much foresight since the path had already been charted with Netflix, it probably did take even more guts to disrupt an even more established company and move away from what had been a pretty lucrative arrangement. I think it’s clearly the right move, although only time will tell.

Glenn Kelman: CEO of Redfin (RDFN) – Earnings calls can sometimes be dull affairs, so it’s refreshing to hear a CEO drop phrases such as “It’s on like Donkey Kong”. Those are the kinds of small gems you often get from the self-described “goofy” CEO of Redfin. From the few interviews I’ve read, he also seems like a genuinely humble, honest, and down-to-earth guy. In a world where many CEOs are often described as abrasive or hard to work with or even jerks, that’s a nice change of pace.

But all that would be unimportant if he couldn’t also walk the walk. Luckily, I’ve also been impressed by how visionary and focused on the customer Glenn Kelman has been as CEO of Redfin. They’ve gone from simply a low fee brokerage paired with a well designed website to attempting to fundamentally disrupt the real estate market with things like Redfin Now, Redfin Direct, Redfin Mortgage, Redfin Concierge Service, and much more. There are so many different ways for Redfin to win and grow moving forward and I’m excited to see how it all plays out.

Tobias “Tobi” Lütke: Founder and CEO of Shopify (SHOP) – Obviously, the fact that his company has grown 10 fold while I have been a shareholder endears me to Tobi Lütke more than a little bit. I love his vision as CEO of Shopify of “arming the rebels” against the Empire that is Amazon (despite also being an Amazon shareholder) and also love the bold initiative of creating a fulfillment center network to compete with Amazon.

The admiration goes beyond that, though. Lütke is accessible in a way that many other CEOs of his stature aren’t. He is active on Twitter and has on more than on occasion even live-streamed himself playing Starcraft on Twitch. He even offered an internship to a professional Starcraft player based on their gaming achievements alone. As somebody who still plays Starcraft despite its waning popularity, I can’t help but love that. But even beyond that, he seems to have a pretty healthy idea of work/life balance and that 80 hour work weeks aren’t necessary for success. In a world where it seems like we sometimes over-deify those who put in long hours, it’s nice to see an example of the other side.

Honorable Mention

Elon Musk: CEO of Tesla (TSLA) – Musk is obviously an incredible entrepreneur and innovator and as Tesla shareholder I am extreme grateful for what he has managed to do. However, even I have to admit that his behavior sometimes leaves a lot to desire and flirts with the lines of legality and ethics. That’s why I couldn’t quite put him on this list.

Jack Dorsey: Found and CEO of Square (SQ) and Twitter (TWTR) – Look at that title. Not only did Dorsey help start two incredibly successful companies in Twitter and Square, but he’s currently serving as CEO of both. That’s very impressive. So why didn’t he make the list? For starters, he has a bunch of odd behaviors that I have trouble relating to, like only eating one meal a day (or fasting entirely on weekends) and taking ice baths. Some have even taken to calling them disorders. But the larger issue is that I still have a little doubt regarding his abilities as CEO. Twitter still lags badly behind Facebook in most metrics despite being a highly relevant platform and Square has seemingly floundered a bit since high regarded CFO Sarah Friar left. Maybe both companies would be better off without a part-time CEO?