What's on Your Mind?

The temperatures are heating up and school’s almost out for the summer. Before we fully dive into the warmer months and vacations, we get a mini-break in the form of Memorial Day weekend—a preview of coming attractions—but it requires some planning ahead because today (Monday May 26, 2025) is a federal holiday. Let’s take a look at a brief history of the day and what business and services will be closed to observe it. A brief history of Memorial Day Memorial Day has its roots in the aftermath of the Civil War. On May 30, 1868, John A. Logan, commander in chief of the Grand Army of the Republic, declared the first national observance of Declaration Day, Memoria…

Keyboard shortcuts are efficiency’s greatest secret weapon. Yes, they can take a bit to learn and yes, sometimes you’ve got to—gasp!—take your hand off your mouse to reach all the keys. But man, oh man, once you’ve mastered the best ones, you’ll wonder how you ever lived without them. If you want to navigate Windows 11 faster, work smarter, and minimize unnecessary clicks, these are the 10 shortcuts worth memorizing. Alt + Tab: Switch Between Open Apps As far as most shortcut experts are concerned, this is the Windows shortcut to rule all shortcuts. This venerable classic lets you cycle through open applications with ease. Hold Alt and tap Tab to ju…

A new study paints a promising picture for the ways that digital technology use affects the aging brain. Published in Nature Human Behavior last month, neuroscientists at Baylor University and the University of Texas at Austin conducted a meta-analysis drawing on 57 different studies and data from more than 400,000 participants over the age of 50. A digital brain boost The new study found that across the board, the use of everyday digital technology like computers, smartphones, and the internet is associated with lower measures of cognitive decline in middle-aged and older adults. The strength of that positive association was comparable to established protect…

It’s time to celebrate your favorite singers and musical acts by tuning into the American Music Awards tonight (Monday, May 26, 2025) at 8 p.m. ET / 5 p.m. PT. Unlike the Grammy Awards, the AMAs put the power in the hands of the fans. As explained on the AMA website, nominations are based on “key fan interactions” such as record sales, number of streams, and tour revenue, while the winners are voted on by the public at large. While most of the polls are closed, there is still time to cast your vote for the Collaboration of the Year and Social Song of the Year. Let’s get up to speed so you can enjoy all the music. Have the AMAs always been on Memorial Day? …

The temperatures are heating up and school’s almost out for the summer. Before we fully dive into the warmer months and vacations, we get a mini-break in the form of Memorial Day weekend—a preview of coming attractions—but it requires some planning ahead because today (Monday May 26, 2025) is a federal holiday. Let’s take a look at a brief history of the day and what business and services will be closed to observe it. A brief history of Memorial Day Memorial Day has its roots in the aftermath of the Civil War. On May 30, 1868, John A. Logan, commander in chief of the Grand Army of the Republic, declared the first national observance of Declaration Day, Memoria…

No Mow May encourages homeowners to stash the lawn mower each spring and let flowers and grass grow for pollinators and water retention. And if your neighbor’s lawn already looks like a wildflower field most of the time, it could be more intentional than passersby might assume. The movement has expanded to “Let It Bloom June” and the fall version: “Leave the leaves.” Conservation and horticulture groups say year-round low-mowing while selectively leaving native plants to grow can save huge amounts of drinking water and lead to lasting and impactful ecological changes. When Amanda Beltramini Healan moved into her Nashville ranch house in 2016, the yard had been manicured…

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. Summer officially starts in a few weeks, but I’ve already ordered and preordered the books that will keep me company on airplanes and trips to the beach. The first Modern CEO reading list was heavy on buzzworthy titles. Last year’s edition was a bit more dutiful, highlighting three works th…

A few years ago, a sales executive I worked with found himself in a difficult position. His company was under review for a potential buyout, and his director asked him to present a version of the company’s story that, while technically true, left out critical details. The omission would make the company look healthier than it was, protecting its valuation and the leadership team’s positions post-acquisition. He knew this wasn’t an outright lie, but it didn’t feel honest either. Was this just strategic messaging or something more ethically concerning? And how could he navigate this without jeopardizing his reputation or future at the company? A third path He cho…

The Coca-Cola Co. just announced its newest limited-time soda, and it’s a combination of Sprite and tea that was initially floated by a team of interns six years ago. Sprite + Tea just hit shelves earlier across the U.S. and Canada, and is expected to remain on the market through October. The soda is available in both regular and zero-sugar varieties, and, according to a press release, it “blends the crisp, lemon-lime refreshment of Sprite with the classically refreshing flavor of tea.” The new product arrives just a month after Coca-Cola announced better-than-anticipated first-quarter 2025 financial results, logging a 2% year-over-year revenue decline but maintaining…

Conferences can be great for creating energy and fueling motivation. I recently attended a creative living workshop led by Elizabeth Gilbert at Canyon Ranch in Tucson, Arizona. I left feeling ready to take on the world. Unfortunately, that feeling can fade when you log off the computer, step off the plane, or simply reenter normal life. For me, my feeling of confidence towards more creative projects started to dwindle and imposter syndrome reentered my internal dialogue. “Inspirational environments trigger a dopamine response that temporarily alters our baseline state, creating what neuroscientists call a peak state,” says Andrew Hogue, co-CEO of the nervous syst…

Visit just about any downtown on a weekend and you will likely happen upon a farmers market. Or, you might grab lunch from a food truck outside a local brewpub or winery. Very likely, there is a community-shared kitchen or food entrepreneur incubator initiative behind the scenes to support this growing foodie ecosystem. As rural America gains younger residents, and grows more diverse and increasingly digitally connected, these dynamics are driving a renaissance in craft foods. One food entrepreneur incubator, Hope & Main Kitchen, operates out of a school that sat vacant for over 10 years in the small Rhode Island town of Warren. Its business incubation pro…

Polaroid’s new collaboration with the Metropolitan Museum of Art (MoMA) is designed to make your retro photos look like colorful works of pop art—and it feels like a flashback to 2014. The partnership includes two exclusive items: an $130 Polaroid camera and a separate $22 set of eight custom film frames. The camera itself is an analog instant camera—specifically, Polaroid’s Now Generation 3 model—rendered in a bright blue housing, complete with the “MoMA” wordmark in a lighter blue across the front. Included with the device are three neon, MoMA branded wrist straps to customize the look. Where the collaboration really shines is with its custom Polaroid film …

What if there were a battery that could release energy while trapping carbon dioxide? This isn’t science fiction; it’s the promise of lithium-carbon dioxide (Li-CO₂) batteries, which are currently a hot research topic. Li-CO₂ batteries could be a two-in-one solution to the current problems of storing renewable energy and taking carbon emissions out of the air. They absorb carbon dioxide and convert it into a white powder called lithium carbonate while discharging energy. These batteries could have profound implications for cutting emissions from vehicles and industry—and might even enable long-duration missions on Mars, where the atmosphere is 95% CO₂. To make…

These days, our tech experiences are all about speed—and our expectations for instant action are actually kinda insane. Think about it: Not so long ago, phones, computers, and especially the internet were all painfully slow (at least, by today’s sonic-speed standards). Things have come a long way in a short time. And for most of us now, if something doesn’t load within a fraction of second, we grow impatient and maybe give up entirely—like when a webpage has the audacity to take a handful of seconds to show up and we click away in an indignant huff. Hey, we’ve all been there. What’s especially wild, though, is that while the standards for speed have skyrocketed fo…

David Brickley is something of a social marketing pioneer. In 2011, he founded STN Digital, a leading social-first digital marketing company in sports and entertainment. STN now has more than 50 employees and creates hundreds of pieces of content daily for partners like ESPN, Warner Bros., NBC Sports, Under Armour, the Philadelphia Phillies, and NBA star Jayson Tatum, among dozens of others. The company helped Elton John launch his TikTok. In 2023, digital sports viewership surpassed traditional television viewers for the first time. Forty-three percent of young adult sports fans follow their favorite league on social media, 54% follow their favorite athlete, and 32% …

Jennifer Meyer always knew she wanted to work in fashion. It probably comes, she says, from the hours she spent in her grandmother’s Santa Monica, California, apartment, playing with art supplies, and the small kiln her grandmother kept on the kitchen counter. “She did a lot of enameling,” says Meyer, an LA-based jewelry designer. “She had all of these colors and plaques to put things on; wiring. I would design things with her for fun; I have this love of design from her.” Still, as the daughter of an entertainment executive, Meyer didn’t really have a road map for a career in design. She completed her education on the East Coast, studying child and family psychology…

A year ago, I started reading again. I say “again” because, like the countless friends and colleagues I’ve spoken to who have also found themselves swept up in the reading renaissance that’s currently reshaping the book industry—the U.S. market is projected to grow from $40.5 billion in 2024 to $51.5 billion by 2030, with audiobooks and ebooks seeing explosive growth—I’d lost the habit somewhere between the demands of a growing career and the chaos of early parenthood. For too long, reading was relegated to vacations—and even then, I’d be lucky to get through a full book. But last year, something shifted. Twelve months later, I’ve read over 100 books and li…

When you describe it in words, the Indianapolis 500 might seem like a boring watch: Cars go round and round an oval track 200 times, totaling 500 miles over the course of a few hours. But if you were a driver, you’d be having a hell of a different experience. Think screaming speeds of 230 miles per hour, pulling 4 Gs on corners, with one’s reflexes and split-second decisions drawing a thin line between victory and tragedy . . . over the course of a few hours. It’s a level of intensity that TV networks have been trying to bring viewers into for years with in-car cameras and things like driver radio communiques. It has been working. Last year, NBC—which covered the spec…