Leadership

Will the chief AI officer role survive?

Chief AI officer may be one of the most important executive hires companies make in this decade. It may also be one of the shortest-lived. Just a few years ago, most boards probably would’ve questioned whether they needed a dedicated leader for artificial intelligence. But when ChatGPT started to dominate public consciousness in late 2022 and early 2023, the conversation changed. The rush began to launch AI practices, assemble AI task forces and committees, and of course, appoint chief AI office

‘If you take your foot off the pedal at all, you will start to stall’: Women in C-suite roles have stagnated, and the reasons go beyond the pipeline

Women’s share of roles in both the C-suite and at the board level has stalled at about 30%, marking the first decline in women’s board representation in more than a decade.

The Silent Veto: AI Agents, Expertise, and the New Office Politics

When AI agents can do the research and the first draft, the hardest problem on a technical team is no longer the work. It is who gets to… Continue reading on Medium »

We See What We Want to See

Do we see things as they are, or as we want them to be? Continue reading on Medium »

LinkedIn is piloting a school to teach workers how to become their own bosses–no degree required

As AI reshapes work, LinkedIn is betting its “Academy of Economic Opportunity” will matter more than another diploma

This Free YouTube Course Could Teach You the Skills Behind $850K AI Jobs

Stanford put a graduate course on self-improving AI agents on YouTube. Continue reading on Write A Catalyst »

When AI runs the company, what exactly is leadership for?

For quite some time in the already long series of articles I’ve been writing on what is and what should be corporate AI, I have been discussing concepts such as agents, working with ontologies and world models that represent the company, connecting them with management tools such as ERPs or CRMs, and basically, learning to optimize a company to the limit. However, now that we are talking, as Mustafa Suleyman says, about AI wiping out most white collar jobs in the next 12 months, we should try to

Jeff Bezos says people have been ‘incorrectly’ taught that success is a villain: ‘You can be a billionaire if you started a hamburger stand,’ he slams

With $372 billion to his name, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos says Americans have been taught to view billionaire success in the wrong light.

How Inc. and Fast Company get inspiration from our archives

Hello and welcome to Modern CEO! I’m Stephanie Mehta, CEO and chief content officer of Mansueto Ventures. Each week this newsletter explores inclusive approaches to leadership drawn from conversations with executives and entrepreneurs, and from the pages of Inc. and Fast Company. If you received this newsletter from a friend, you can sign up to get it yourself every Monday morning.  Some of the most impactful and helpful journalism Inc. and Fast Company have published this year has its roots in

A Team of Geniuses… Still a Disaster?

Great people. Great ideas. But why is the team still struggling? Continue reading on Medium »

How to make sure your return to office policy works

Return-to-office reruns are all too common. In 2024, 38% of employees had been through multiple RTOs and 6% had endured more than five. Often, these reboots reflect failures of the initial policy; when attendance falls short, companies double down by mandating more in-office days. A large retail firm we work with did exactly this. First, it mandated three days for corporate employees, but got only two. Then it mandated four days in the office in the hopes of securing the desired three. The rebo

From a Farmer’s Son to a Grassroots Innovator: The Story of Jugaadu Kamlesh

How Kamlesh Ghumare turned a farming challenge into an agricultural innovation, and what aspiring entrepreneurs can learn from his journey. Continue reading on Medium »

YOUR CHANCE TO WIN $50,000!

Ready for an exciting sweepstakes opportunity? 👀 Continue reading on Medium »

MacKenzie Scott alone accounted for one-third of America’s $19.2 billion in megagifts last year

MacKenzie Scott donated $7 billion in 2025, bringing her five-year total to $26.2 billion, even as she stays out of the spotlight.

Twilio CEO interviews candidates for 45 minutes over dinner—and if you say ‘I’ too much or don’t ask any questions, you don’t get the job

EXCLUSIVE: Twilio CEO Khozema Shipchandler warns job seekers two common interview mistakes could cost them the job: skipping questions—or leaning too hard on “I.”

Meet Aurora: the invite-only, $10,000-a-year AI concierge that anticipates the ultra-wealthy’s every need

Backed by $12 million from VCs and family offices, Aurora pairs AI with human tastemakers to manage members’ health, travel, and dining.

Ancestry’s CEO says a billionaire boss taught him to eat lunch with employees in the break room—it gives him access to ‘unfiltered information’

Ancestry’s Howard Hochhauser says that CEOs get wrapped “in this bubble.” Apple and Duolingo execs are also breaking free by breaking bread with staffers.

Warren Buffett watches YouTube, David Solomon DJs, and this former NFL coach spent 12 years playing Minecraft

Mike Tomlin went viral for his 12-year Minecraft city—but like Warren Buffett and David Solomon, he shows how hobbies can help people recharge for success.

Why you shouldn’t treat career development like a guilty secret

Activities that keep you visible and connected benefit your career, such as keeping in touch with your professional network, posting about your work, speaking on panels, and mentoring. Yet in my work as an executive career coach and previously as a headhunter, it is rare I see senior leaders in corporate roles openly conducting these activities during the working day. Instead, they are scheduling them on their own time or keeping them under the radar, opting to plan them a day that their boss is

Lincoln e a Proclamação de Emancipação: a decisão que ficou um mês guardada na gaveta

Em agosto de 1862, o presidente dos Estados Unidos escreveu numa carta pública: “Se eu pudesse salvar a União sem libertar nenhum escravo… Continue reading on Medium »

JFK e a Crise dos Mísseis de Cuba: como uma humilhação pública salvou o mundo de uma guerra nuclear

Em outubro de 1962, catorze homens reunidos numa sala da Casa Branca passaram treze dias discutindo, na prática, se o mundo ia acabar. No… Continue reading on Medium »

Ex Goldman Sachs CEO got into Harvard University at 16 from public housing—and says higher education is the best way to break into the middle class

Lloyd Blankfein, the former CEO of financial giant Goldman Sachs, says education is the “real accelerator” of wealth and success—hitting back at anti-college leaders like Peter Thiel.

Palantir’s billionaire CEO says only two kinds of people will succeed in the AI era: trade workers—‘or you’re neurodivergent’

Billionaire Alex Karp tells Gen Z to skip elite college degrees, as one-fifth of Fortune 500 companies recruit more neurodivergent talent by 2027.

The economist behind the ‘China shock’ says AI is a paradoxical  ‘skill-disequalizer’ for Gen Z workers

“Young professionals need to beware of the illusion of competence,” MIT professor and Google Technology & Society visiting fellow David Autor told Fortune.

What to think about before making a big ask from your direct reports

As a supervisor, you have some ability to dictate what your direct reports work on. The requests you make should typically fit their job description, though most descriptions have a catchall “other duties as assigned” attached, which is likely to cover you. That said, the jobs you give someone generally have a particular expectation of the skills required, the hours to be worked, and the stress level associated with the tasks. If you’re going to ask someone to do something that far exceeds the n

‘I drive a Tesla’: After Elon Musk said he’d lose his job, Delta CEO Ed Bastian says there’s ‘no tit for tat’ as airline unveils earnings miss

Bastian says the Starlink snub was business, not personal, as a 62% fuel jump led to Delta’s first earnings miss in two years.

Skims cofounder Emma Grede: A good boss shouldn’t be your friend

Skims cofounder Emma Grede thinks many business leaders are too chummy with their workers.   “It is not my job to be your friend,” Grede said this week on the Boardroom podcast. “It is not my job to treat everybody as though this were a family.” “But that doesn’t mean that you miss empathy or that you treat people badly,” she added. Grede, who cofounded the $5 billion shapewear and clothing brand with her husband, Swedish entrepreneur Jens Grede, and Kim Kardashian, said an executive’s primary r

Entrepreneurship Begins with a Mindset, Not a Business Idea

Why the way we think matters more than the idea we start with. Continue reading on Medium »

‘A very leaky pipeline’: 1.7 million trade jobs will open each year through 2035—and experts are scrambling to figure out how to fill them

A new report finds a greying workforce and Gen Z retention problems are making it harder to fill ever-expanding skilled trade roles.

Jeff Bezos says a 3-day workweek and more single-income households are on the way thanks to AI: ‘It’s going to be difficult to hire people’

Even after Amazon cut 30,000 jobs, Jeff Bezos predicts AI will boost productivity so much that fewer people will need to work, creating a labor shortage.

Starbucks CEO Brian Niccol says the company is back. His turnaround comes down to 1 leadership principle

There’s an interesting leadership lesson unfolding at Starbucks that has very little to do with coffee. When Brian Niccol took over as CEO, he inherited a company that had drifted from some of what made Starbucks distinctive. Service had become inconsistent. Stores felt less inviting. Employees needed more support. And customers had fewer reasons to stick around. Niccol’s answer wasn’t some complicated management strategy. It was getting back to what made Starbucks Starbucks. Two years into his

Disney offered a 13-year-old $2 million to sing in ‘The Lion King.’ His mom took $100K plus royalties instead. He’s still getting paid 34 years later

Jason Weaver’s mom once backed Aretha Franklin. She bet on royalties over Disney’s cash—and it’s paid more than the $2 million he gave up.

The First to Ask

Wars end on paper. But first, someone has to decide to ask — and for a strong side, asking costs something it may never recover. Continue reading on Medium »

AI notetakers are ruining decision-making

Every generation of leaders has been judged on their decisions. Ours may be the first judged on every draft, discussion, hesitation, and deleted comment that preceded them. Leadership has always required making imperfect decisions with incomplete information. What has changed is that every aspect of the decision-making process is now recorded and stored indefinitely. All our collaboration tools such as emails, Slack posts, meeting notes, and AI Copilot logs preserve every detail of our deliberat

I Joined a New Company and Let an AI Coworker Named Genie Teach Me the Business

Four months ago, I joined Databricks to lead global demand generation and field marketing. Continue reading on Medium »

HubSpot founder’s LinkedIn post thanking laid-off employees sparks criticism

HubSpot founder and chief technology officer Dharmesh Shah is drawing backlash on social media for a 28-word LinkedIn post thanking the hundreds of employees the company laid off this week.  “My personal thanks to all of the people that HubSpot parted ways with today,” he wrote. “You helped make HubSpot the company it is. Best wishes with the next chapter.” The cloud-based software provider announced on Tuesday that it is cutting 7% of its workforce, or roughly 660 workers. CEO Yamini Rangan tol

Martha Stewart says Kmart once paid her $65 million a year in royalties—enough to bankroll her entire empire

Before "influencer" was a job title, Stewart turned a discount-store licensing deal into nearly $2 billion in annual sales. Then the ImClone scandal cost her about $1 billion.

Move over DINKs: SPLITs are the new financial power couple—they have two incomes, no kids yet and no joint bank account

DINKs out-earn parents by $42,000 a year. SPLITs get the same two-income benefits and, a financial planner says, skip a lot of money fights.

How leaders can rebuild their team’s confidence after a layoff

Microsoft announced over the summer that it was cutting global head count by 2.1%. That’s 4,800 former Microsoft employees who are navigating the emotional ups and downs of losing their job. These individuals are being supported “to take their next steps” according to the all-employee communication from Amy Coleman, executive VP and Chief People Officer; part of a promise that “we will do this thoughtfully.” More than a quarter of a million Microsoft employees remain with the company, many of wh

Who is Christos “Chris” Daskalakis?

The Entrepreneur Behind MFS Trade School and Commercial Kitchen Safety Continue reading on Medium »

Coming Soon

Graph Token Continue reading on Medium »

The Architecture of Dissent: Why Shielding Youth from Politics is Fracturing the Nation We live in…

Continue reading on Medium »

The AI gender gap is about more than women. It’s about a broken system

When I was designing the cover of my book, Ambitious Mother, I tried to get a little help from artificial intelligence. We had worked hard on the visuals with the design team, and after many drafts I just wanted to see what a different color font would look like, without asking them for more changes. I put the photo into AI and prompted it to show me the exact same cover, but with green text instead of red. Imagine my surprise when the image that came back was the same cover, in the new color, b

The Conversation That Almost Cost a Company Its Renewal

$5 meals, $6 combos and fewer visits: McDonald’s barrage of deals isn’t winning customers back

High inflation and poor execution are turning off many of the burger giant's customers.

All Art Is Born Out of Trauma, and AI Doesn’t Have Any

Ask a room of artists why they make things and you’ll hear the same answer in different clothes: because I had to. Not because it was fun… Continue reading on Medium »

Your Idea Isn’t a Business Until Somebody Pays You

Starting a business is wonderfully optimistic. Continue reading on Venture »

Your Idea Isn’t a Business Until Somebody Pays You

Starting a business is wonderfully optimistic. Continue reading on Medium »