What's on Your Mind?

If you listen to the CEOs of elite AI companies or take even a passing glance at the U.S. economy, it’s abundantly obvious that AI excitement is everywhere. America’s biggest tech companies have spent over $100 billion on AI so far this year, and Deutsche Bank reports that AI spending is the only thing keeping the United States out of a recession. Yet if you look at the average non-tech company, AI is nowhere to be found. Goldman Sachs reports that only 14% of large companies have deployed AI in a meaningful way. What gives? If AI is really such a big deal, why is there a multi-billion-dollar mismatch between excitement over AI and the tech’s actual boots…

Your inbox is brimming with new emails, and you need to decide which to reply to quickly and which to ignore. You try to schedule something for next week, but your calendar is already packed with recurring meetings. So many employees have asked for a particular day off—or requested a particular shift schedule—that you can’t grant all their requests. You post a job listing for a single position and get 250 applications. These situations arise constantly in our work lives, and their analogues come up in our personal lives. But despite their frequency, we often struggle with how to handle them. We barrel through our inbox and move things around on our calendar. We follow…

There’s a commercial break on the TV — why not scroll through a few TikToks to pass the time. Ten minutes early for an appointment? Catch up on Instagram Stories. Train delays? A quick doomscroll of the news while you wait. It’s a common reflex: Americans check their phones 144 times a day, on average, according to a survey from Reviews.org. It’s also a habit many are trying to break. “My biggest fear is that I’ll lie on my deathbed and regret how much time I spent on my phone,” TikTok creator Sierra Campbell said in a video posted in May. Her answer? An analog bag. Campbell carries with her a bag of analog activities at all times, including crossword puzz…

Ask friends what kind of tech gift you should get for your parent, grandparent, or another older person in your life, and chances are you’ll get the same generic suggestions, like a digital picture frame or a portable Bluetooth speaker. But these gifts will almost certainly remain little used throughout the year. (I mean, how many digital picture frames would you like?) Instead, this holiday season, why not get an older loved one a tech gift they’ll actually use (and that might put your mind at ease, too)? Here are five types of gifts that older people may truly find beneficial. Smartwatches with fall detection Talk to any older person about health concer…

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. Twenty twenty-six will be a year of financial corrections, AI-driven biological breakthroughs, and new thinking about cybersecurity and executive protection—at least according to the CEOs I recently asked to provide bold prognostications. Here’s how 12 of them responded. New threats, ne…

“Welcome to the future!” David Arena, head of global corporate real estate for JPMorganChase, is standing on a sweeping staircase in a soaring travertine-clad lobby addressing a crowd. He’s there to welcome visitors to the ribbon cutting of 270 Park Ave., the banking behemoth’s new global headquarters in Manhattan. Behind him, an American flag hitched to a fluted bronze mast flies vigorously (it’s propelled by an artificial breeze that required a remarkable amount of fine-tuning). Standing next to him are the people who helped design and build the $3 billion, 2.5 million-square-foot supertall: JPMC CEO Jamie Dimon, British architect Norman Foster, developer Rob …

I think these hiring managers are playing in my face. I’ve been on the hunt for a new gig for a large chunk of this year, and it feels like I’ve seen it all. I’ve watched some appealing job listings be pulled down within hours, while others sit stagnantly for months. I’ve heard tales of scammers trying to dupe job seekers; legit employers advertising phantom roles to collect talent data and present an illusion of company growth. These days, the job market is feeling like the wild wild west out here — and there’s no catchy Will Smith bop to dance along to. Navigating that treachery is hard enough. But I’ve managed on a few occasions to escape the black hole of app…

Fast-food companies, beware: Gas stations and convenience stores are coming for your customers. Fireside Market, a Wisconsin convenience store chain, announced a new store concept in Slinger, Wisconsin, designed to sell more burgers and less gas. It has a drive-through, curbside pickup area, and gourmet menu items—and it’s a model of the convenience store of the future. Fireside Market’s burger and sandwich menu is several steps up from the outdated idea of day-old taquitos spinning on a rotating food warmer at the local convenience store. Instead, its menu has items like a burger topped with bacon, pastrami, and balsamic-onion jam, and a grilled-salmon sandwich. …

When it comes to artificial intelligence, a handful of publicly traded companies tend to dominate the discussion. Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Meta Platforms, Microsoft, Nvidia, and Tesla get the lion’s share of the attention – and deservedly so. But dig a little deeper and you’ll find a host of other companies laying the groundwork for the next layer of AI disruption. Futurum Equities, a new division of the tech research company Futurum Group, has compiled a list of disruptors, who despite not being among Wall Street’s vaunted Magnificent 7, are making waves in the AI world. Rankings were derived using a proprietary algorithm that examines both the company’s current stat…

I have never had any interest in getting a hardware wallet like the new Ledger Nano Gen 5. But talking with Susan Kare—the designer of the original Apple Macintosh icons and an endless torrent wonderful pixel art—made me realize I need one. “The idea that an individual can really control their own assets without a government or anything political coming between you and your assets. I like that,” she tells me. The Ledger Nano is a 0.3-inch-thick credit card-sized block that keeps your digital assets secure by storing them offline. It has a frontal e-ink display that displays a grid of pixel art icons that look very much like the original Mac. For the Nano Gent 5, Kare …

Why do so many global projects falter? Often, it isn’t because executives misread market data or underestimate competitors; it’s because they misread each other. Cross‑cultural communication is less about translation and more about decoding invisible frameworks—values, norms, and assumptions—that shape how people work. Ignoring those frameworks turns diversity into a liability. Leaders who master cultural intelligence transform it into a strategic advantage. The hidden costs of miscommunication Consider a seemingly routine performance review. Erin Meyer recounts how a French manager, working for an American boss in London, left her evaluation buoyed by the comment,…

It’s that time of year. Fall is around the corner, but it still feels like summer on some days. In an age of global warming, this transitional season is likely to stretch out longer than it did before. Designers are aware they need to create jackets and coats appropriate for this in-between season. The market is now full of good options beyond the outdoorsy puffer or fleece that will keep you at the right temperature. Many are designed to be good for both work and life, allowing you to look put-together for the office, but also relaxed enough for weekends. We’ve scoured the market for five coats that offer an additional layer, along with some style and polish, th…

When samurai warriors went into battle in 16th century Japan, their swords included a piece of hidden art. Within the tsuba, the hand guard at the bottom of the blade, metal smiths carefully crafted beautiful and complex designs, including flowers, animals, and landscapes. The Museum of Fine Arts in Boston has one of the largest collections of Japanese art in the United States in its permanent collection, including hundreds of tsubas. It has just collaborated with the fine jewelry designer Monica Rich Kosann to create a collection of necklaces inspired by three tsuba designs—a crane, a turtle, and a butterfly—to introduce these ancient works of art back into the m…

People are fascinated with leadership, and rightly so. After all, most of the “big things” that happen in the world (both good and bad) can be directly traced to decisions, behaviors, or choices of those who are in charge: presidents, prime ministers, CEOs, executives, and anyone tasked with turning a group of people into a high-performing unit, coordinating human activity, and shaping the impact institutions have on society, all the way down to individuals. In line, scientific research shows that up to 40% of the variability in team and organizational performance can be accounted for by the leader—in other words, who we put in charge, or who emerges as leaders, drast…

Some companies see leadership and managerial training as an investment. Others, however, provide very few resources for the transition from individual contributor to leaders. For most of the latter companies, managerial training is a one-off event. Take a seminar or two, and off you go. Sometimes you get a company that offers executive coaching or mentorship to their C-suites. But for many first-time (and even some middle) managers, they’re often left to fend for themselves. This is the problem that leadership coaching startups are trying to solve. The answer, they believe? AI. While founders of these startups acknowledge the limitations, many are adamant tha…