Zohran Mamdani has not, it turns out, attempted to seize the means of production. At least not yet.

During his mayoral campaign, you couldn’t throw a stone without hitting a CEO worried about the effect he’d have on the city’s economy. After his first year in office, business is proceeding as usual, which—New Yorkers being New Yorkers—means that everyone is feeling angsty.

“I was very concerned when he was elected,” says Neil Blumenthal, cofounder and co-CEO of the nearly $3 billion eyewear company Warby Parker, headquartered in New York. Now Blumenthal is waiting to see what the most senior member of the Democratic Socialists of America in the city, if not the country, will do.

“The DSA’s official policies . . . include things like government takeover of private companies, increasing income taxes, and abolishing the police. Publicly, he’s said some things to moderate those positions,” Blumenthal says. “[But] at times he’s advocating for some of those policies, which are deeply unpopular and aren’t going to lead to growth and prosperity.”

Still, 15 chief executives have kept open enough minds to join the mayor’s Business Advisory Council. The group represents more than 100,000 employees in industries spanning real estate, film, sports, and healthcare.

It includes Hamdi Ulukaya, the billionaire CEO of Chobani, who advocates for immigrants and once played street soccer with the mayor . It also includes numerous doubters and former naysayers. There’s the real estate CEO who gave $250,000 to Mamdani’s mayoral opponent, Andrew Cuomo .

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