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“Same soulless vibes. Fewer fossil fuels.” So says the website for Mumumelon, a new project that made exact dupes of Lululemon staples like hoodies and yoga pants—but with renewable energy and a detailed plan to cut emissions. Inside a fake pop-up store in London in late March, a fake employee gave customers the pitch: “We stole Lululemon’s designs and made them less terrible for the environment.” “We’ve been campaigning on Lululemon for a few years now to push them to invest in the renewable energy transition and phase out fossil fuels from their supply chain,” says Ruth MacGilp, a climate campaigner at the advocacy group Action Speaks Louder. “We wanted t…

Many tech observers initially believed the software engineers would become scarce in the face of AI. But that hasn’t turned out to be the case—in part due to the power of human ingenuity. “Software engineers are spending less time coding,” says Aneesh Raman, the chief economic opportunity officer at LinkedIn, who just published the book Open to Work: How to Get Ahead in the Age of AI. “But now they’re getting to build things in a way they couldn’t before. They’re going into conversations with clients and customers. Or they’re thinking about the ethical implications of what they build.” In their book, Raman and his co-author—LinkedIn CEO Ryan Roslansky—argue that …

Have you noticed that in the current discourse around artificial intelligence, the narrative often slips into one of two extremes? There is either a techno-utopian dream of total automation or a dystopian nightmare where human agency is erased. But there are other options! As we navigate this inflection point in civilization, I invite you to consider a third path: pragmatic optimism. And that’s because we are currently in the midst of a human revolution, not a tech revolution. The most successful organizations of 2026 and beyond will not be those that simply use AI to do more things faster. Instead, they will be the ones that use AI as a creativity accelerator, fr…

Open almost any newspaper, scroll through LinkedIn, or listen to the latest business podcast, and you will encounter a familiar theme: the return of the strong leader. From “wartime CEOs” to hard-charging founders and authoritarian coaching styles in elite sports, and the virtues of “hands on” leaders, there is a growing narrative that command-and-control leadership is not only back, but necessary. The appeal is intuitive. When the world feels volatile and uncertain, decisiveness offers comfort, and centralized authority promises clarity. But, is this resurgence real, or are we simply observing a handful of highly visible cases amplified by media and investor attentio…

If you’re planning to visit your local Social Security Administration (SSA) office in the near future, be aware that a number of locations across the United States are currently closed for in-person services. Here’s what you need to know. What’s happened? The Social Security Administration has offices across the United States and around the world in U.S. territories. Most of the time, those SSA offices are open to the public for those who need in-person services. Yet currently, a number of SSA offices are marked as closed for in-person services or just closed entirely, according to a current list of office closings and emergencies on the SSA website. …

Plug-in solar is on the way, and it could cut your electric bills. A growing number of states are poised to pass bills supporting the panels, which are designed for DIY installation: Hang one out a window or set it on a deck, plug it into a regular outlet, and power starts flowing back into your home. A new calculator helps you estimate how much you can save on power bills, using your zip code to estimate how much sunshine you get and how much you’re paying for electricity now. The tech could be especially useful in cities like New York, where renters have steep electric bills and don’t have roofs to install traditional solar panel systems. “A huge percent of…

As AI becomes more advanced in quality, leaders are increasingly invoking AI to justify unpopular decisions like layoffs. However, much of that story collapses under scrutiny, and workers know it. This gap between rhetoric and reality is eroding trust. This amplifies inequities and quietly sets organizations up for long-term cultural and performance damage. Author, speaker, and strategist Lily Zheng sees a clear pattern: executives are using AI to explain decisions that are in fact driven by past mistakes, investor pressure, or leadership preference. Companies that went on aggressive hiring sprees during the pandemic are now quietly “correcting” courses. They’re frami…

Staples is ready to party, just in time for graduation season. The office supply retailer is adding Party City shop-in-shops to 700-plus of its stores in 34 states across the U.S. Customers will be able to buy party supplies and decor, including balloons, gift bags, and favors; have helium balloons inflated; and order other celebration must-haves like personalized invitations, banners, and posters using Staples’ same-day print and marketing services. The companies announced their partnership in a joint news release on April 21. As part of the collaboration, Party City will also sell its products at Staples.com. Shoppers can use this store locator tool to find …

Taylor Swift recently filed a series of trademark applications designed to protect the star from AI-enabled impersonations. Swift already holds a wide array of trademarks, but these latest filings, at least one intellectual property firm suggests, serve a new purpose: protecting the timbre and character of her voice itself through what is known as a “sound mark.” In two recent filings, posted April 24 by Swift’s company, the celebrity applied to trademark two recordings. In one, she says, “Hey, it’s Taylor,” and in the other, “Hey, it’s Taylor Swift.” The recordings themselves are not particularly novel, but that is likely beside the point. “The concept of protect…

The boom in data center construction is taking up much of the supply of high-tech components, especially processor and memory chips. This demand is squeezing consumer device makers, which are having trouble acquiring enough chips. This is happening even though data center servers and smartphones use different types of chips. The key distinction between consumer electronics and data centers is what they need chips to be optimized for. Smartphones and PCs require low power use, thermal efficiency, and tight integration. Data centers that run AI systems such as large language models, or LLMs, require maximum compute power, memory bandwidth, and storage throughput. To…

As tech companies continue slashing jobs with impunity, workers are right to be fearful—and fed up. But it appears that overall layoffs may actually be slowing down, according to the latest report from outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas. In April, employers across the country announced 83,387 job cuts, an uptick of 38% from the 60,620 cuts during the month prior. That figure is, however, lower than it was in April 2025, when layoffs had reached 105,441. Overall layoffs for 2026 have also significantly dropped in comparison to last year: As of April, employers have disclosed plans for over 300,000 layoffs—half the number of layoffs that had been annou…

As concerns mount over artificial intelligence and its rapid integration into society, tech companies are increasingly turning to faith leaders for guidance on how to shape the technology — a surprising about-face on Silicon Valley’s longstanding skepticism of organized religion. Leaders from various religious groups met last week with representatives from companies including Anthropic and OpenAI for the inaugural “Faith-AI Covenant” roundtable in New York to discuss how best to infuse morality and ethics into the fast-developing technology. It was organized by the Geneva-based Interfaith Alliance for Safer Communities, which seeks to take on issues such as extremism, ra…

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. A year ago, amid a wave of DOGE cuts to federal agencies, Modern CEO highlighted the things government gets right, notably its ability to solve problems that businesses can’t or won’t because doing so isn’t necessarily profitable. Finding solutions to many of those challenges—including…

Finally, some good news. Amid widespread reports of retail closure after closure, a new report on retail market dynamics from the real estate services company JLL outlines the sectors that are leading openings so far in 2026. Restaurants and discount dollar stores lead the way, with Dollar Tree opening 400 new stores and Starbucks opening 175. The growth across these industries is promising, even as other areas are still facing closures in the first quarter of 2026. But the same thing happened last year, with early 2025 closures evening out by the end of the year. Even as store closures continue to create vacancies, other tenants are quick to move into th…

Yes, you read that right: Brain-eating amoeba have been found in two popular U.S. national parks, according to a recent study from the U.S. Geological Survey, and a number of other institutions, published in the American Chemical Society’s journal, ES&T Water. Here’s what to know. What happened? Researchers took 185 water samples from five popular U.S. national parks, looking at “40 thermally impacted recreational waters” at Yellowstone National Park, Grand Teton National Park, Lake Mead National Recreation Area, Olympic National Park, and Newberry National Volcanic Monument over an eight year period from 2016 to 2024. What they found revealed widespre…

Does the high price of gas have you considering a hybrid for your next vehicle? We don’t blame you, especially if you drive a lot. Fortunately, there are lots of hybrids to choose from, and many don’t cost much more than their non-hybrid counterparts. But to recoup the extra cost of a hybrid the quickest and start saving money, we don’t recommend purchasing just any hybrid. The car experts at Edmunds outline four tips that will give you the tools you need to find a hybrid that will maximize your savings. Aim for hybrids with the shortest payback periods New hybrids typically cost more than similar gas-only vehicles, so aim for a hybrid that doesn’t cost much more t…

On prediction markets, users can bet on anything and everything. But for those swinging big wins, is it just luck? Some users don’t seem to think so. In one recent event contract on Polymarket, users are wagering on the final storylines for the characters in the latest season of Euphoria, creator Sam Levinson’s HBO series about the messy lives of young people. The market, titled “Who will die in Euphoria: Season 3?,” ranks Nate Jacobs (played by Jacob Elordi) and Rue Bennett (the lead character, played by Zendaya) as the characters with the highest likelihood of dying this season, at 82% and 61%, respectively. Set to resolve by May 31, the same day as the seas…

Layoffs used to be something that made a company’s stock tank. But after Block announced layoffs recently, its stock went up. And they weren’t the only ones: Snap did the same thing a few months earlier, as did Meta and Amazon. The common thread? They all cited AI as their reason for cuts. For CEOs staring down investor pressure, the playbook has become clear: invoke AI, slash headcount, and watch the ticker go up. I’m a CEO, and I’ve been laid off before. I now advise HR and benefits leaders at Fortune 500 companies as they plan, execute, and move forward after making workforce cuts. Here’s why I’m cautioning fellow executives against jumping on the “AI” layoffs …

Starbucks Corporation has announced that it will lay off 300 corporate employees in the United States. The layoffs represent the third round of job cuts that the coffee chain has initiated in the last 15 months. They come as the company is in the midst of efficiency and cost-cutting measures under the leadership of CEO Brian Niccol, who assumed the role in 2024. Here’s what you need to know about the latest Starbucks layoffs. Starbucks to cut 300 corporate jobs in the U.S. On Friday, Starbucks confirmed that it was cutting 300 corporate jobs in the United States. The news was first reported by CNBC. The job cuts will not impact the majority of the comp…

Unlike some of his industry peers, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has been surprisingly skeptical of the notion that AI is displacing workers. In an interview a few months ago, he argued that AI was a convenient scapegoat for some companies, echoing what some economists and experts have expressed about the narrative that AI is driving layoffs across corporate America. “I don’t know what the exact percentage is, but there’s some AI washing where people are blaming AI for layoffs that they would otherwise do. And then there’s some real displacement by AI of different kinds of jobs,” Altman said at the time. In an interview this week, however, Altman made a bolder statement…