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This month, American shopping malls received another nail in the coffin. Francesca’s, the women’s fashion and accessories chain, has reportedly quietly begun shutting down all its stores. Here’s what you need to know. What’s happened? The women’s fashion and accessories chain Francesca’s has reportedly begun the process of going out of business, which will involve shutting down all of its stores. The news of the closures was first reported by Women’s Wear Daily. Per that report, a customer service representative confirmed it is currently closing all its stores, with liquidation sales underway. However, the chain has not broadly announced the news. Fast Co…

The CEO job description has remained remarkably stable for decades—but the times they are a’changin’. That stability persisted through wave after wave of technological change. The internet, mobile, cloud computing—each transformed business operations, but none fundamentally altered the CEO’s core responsibilities. Strategy, culture, resource allocation, organizational design—the essential functions remained constant even as the tools improved. AI is different. It isn’t just a tool that executes; it is also a system that makes choices. It makes judgments about customers, employees, and strategy. And this means that when you deploy AI, you’re not just installing sof…

For years, leaders have been told that ”being true to themselves” and “ignoring what others think” represent the gold standard of effective leadership, a kind of moral and emotional north star. But in practice, this type of advice often gets leaders into trouble. For a vivid illustration, consider how two famous fictional (yet hyper-realistic) characters, namely Don Draper (Madmen) and Michael Scott (The Office) embody these two mantras. Draper clings to a rigid, unchanging identity, using “this is who I am” as armor to avoid confronting his insecurities, while Scott approaches management with unfiltered candor, oversharing, and acting on impulse. Both believe they ar…

Balancing gut feelings with hard data isn’t a soft skill. It’s a strategic advantage. In an era where AI, automation, and ubiquitous dashboards flood us with metrics, it’s tempting to believe that better spreadsheets alone will yield better decisions. But our most consequential choices rarely emerge from a cell in column D. They arise from an ongoing negotiation between intuition and rational analysis. The paradox is this: as technology becomes more sophisticated at processing information, the human capacity to notice what matters—the intangible signals of opportunity or risk—becomes more valuable. Yet most organizations force a false choice. We either roman…

Curving walls of clay brick and the dappled light of a forest canopy make up the design of the 2026 Serpentine Pavilion, the annual architectural installation that has become one of the field’s most prestigious commissions. This year’s pavilion is being designed by Isabel Abascal and Alessandro Arienzo of LANZA atelier, a Mexico City-based architecture studio. An annual installation outside the Serpentine art gallery in London’s Kensington Park that is freely open to the public from June through October, the Serpentine Pavilion is high-brow design that’s unusually accessible. Isabel AbascalAlessandro Arienzo Hitting the premise on the nose, LANZA atelier’s desi…