What's on Your Mind?

I don’t know the last time I flew somewhere to visit a mall. But I’m here in King of Prussia, Pennsylvaina—a Philadelphia suburb—walking around a vast shopping complex that’s seemingly frozen in the ‘90s. Despite it being 11 a.m. on a Friday, cars whizz by to fill the endless parking lots, perhaps to peruse the Nordstrom or grab lunch at The Cheesecake Factory. A few years ago, I’d be looking up at a two-story Lord & Taylor. But instead, that big box retailer has been transformed into the next big bet in the experience economy: the inaugural Netflix House. Netflix has been experimenting with expanding its digital footprint into IRL since 2020—welcoming mil…

Wall Street pointed toward strong gains before markets opened Monday as a bipartisan deal to end the federal government shutdown gained traction in the Senate, though it lacked any clear resolution to expiring health care subsidies that Democrats have been fighting for. Rising hopes for an end to the longest federal government shutdown in U.S. history pushed futures for the S&P 500 0.9% higher, while Dow Jones futures gained 0.4%. Nasdaq futures climbed 1.5% on the strength of the technology sector. Health insurers were among the losers early Monday as lack of clarity on health care subsidies clouded their futures. Sunday’s test vote began a series of procedural ma…

The Senate took the first step to end the government shutdown on Sunday after a group of moderate Democrats agreed to proceed without a guaranteed extension of health care subsidies, angering many in their caucus who say Americans want them to continue the fight. In a test vote that is the first in a series of required procedural maneuvers, the Senate voted 60-40 to move toward passing compromise legislation to fund the government and hold a later vote on extending Affordable Care Act tax credits that expire Jan. 1. Final passage could be several days away if Democrats object and delay the process. The agreement does not guarantee the health care subsidies will be exten…

This weekend, U.S. travelers began to feel the initial impact of flight reductions mandated by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), a plan designed to help compensate for the understaffing of air traffic controllers due to the ongoing government shutdown. On Sunday, more than 13,000 U.S. flights were canceled or delayed, and things are only going to get worse this week as the total percentage of flights reduced each day is mandated to reach 10% of all U.S. air traffic by Friday. But the pain might not end there. Now, the U.S. transportation secretary has warned that air traffic could slow to a trickle ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday. Here’s what you…

Brands matter now more than ever. You don’t have to say it, I know what you’re thinking: the CEO of a brand agency arguing for brands? How surprising. But this isn’t for me. This is for every CMO looking to secure their seat at the table and fighting to keep brand investment alive. This is for every CEO and CFO balancing the pull of GenAI and the flood of new tools that promise optimization, automation, personalization, and agentic transformation. And yes, dare I say it, this is for my competitors, who I know are on their own crusade to prove that brand still matters. Because brands are quietly under attack, through budget cuts, short-termism, and the …

If you’ve seen a bird’s-eye view of Earth over the past decade, chances are it came from Colorado-based Maxar Intelligence. From some 280 miles up, its powerful imaging satellites have created an atlas of modern problems: the impacts of extreme weather, the build-up of Russian tanks near the Ukrainian border, the ruination of Khartoum and the decimation of Gaza, even the not-so-total destruction of Iranian nuclear facilities by U.S. bombers. What you may not have noticed: Last month, the Maxar brand was itself wiped out, after its private equity owner replaced it with a new moniker: Vantor. The new name reflects how the company that sees everything on Earth now s…

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. Before becoming CEO and president of C.H. Robinson in 2023, Dave Bozeman worked at four of the world’s most iconic companies: Harley-Davidson Motor Company, Caterpillar, Amazon, and Ford Motor Company. During each stop, he gleaned valuable lessons: Harley-Davidson (16 years): The m…

At its best, work can be energizing, creative, and meaningful. It can also be emotionally exhausting and stressful. Even in healthy organizations, we all deal with interpersonal tension, stinging feedback, impossible deadlines, and the constant pressure to perform. Add in the rapid pace of change and a steady diet of uncertainty, and it’s no wonder many of us feel perpetually on edge. Stress isn’t just a sign that something’s wrong—it’s a signal that something matters. Emotions like frustration, anxiety, and excitement all contain useful data about what’s important to us, what we value, and what we need. Yet in most workplaces, we’re trained to treat emotions as distr…

President Barack Obama famously chided Donald The President in April 2011 during the annual White House correspondents’ dinner. The reality show star had repeatedly and falsely claimed that Obama had not been born in the United States and was therefore ineligible to be president. The President’s demands that Obama release his birth certificate had, in part, made The President a front-runner among Republican hopefuls for their party’s nomination in the following year’s presidential election. Obama referred to The President’s presidential ambitions by joking that, if elected, The President would bring some changes to the White House. Obama then called attent…

Company culture doesn’t affect performance. That’s not a hot take, that’s what a 2022 meta analysis from the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development found when they compared more than 500 research papers on the topic. From the report: The findings are very clear: there is little evidence consistently linking organizational culture to performance, but if such a link should exist, it is very weak and too small to be practically meaningful. As such, organizations and practitioners should be careful spending time and money on company-wide culture change programs as they are not likely to increase performance. And yet, when asked, 92% of executives believe t…

It became clear in the late 2010s that Amherst College’s science center had aged far past its prime. As the concrete building fell into disrepair, school leaders suspected a demolition was in order. Old, poorly insulated, and inadequate for the technical demands of today’s research, it seemed like too steep a challenge to repurpose, says Tom Davies, the school’s Executive Director of Planning, Design, and Construction. Especially after a new science center opened on campus in 2020. “It was a stranded asset with essentially no value,” he says. “But what our consultants were able to show is that it does have quite a bit of value.” In the course of explorin…

Executives like to say they are “integrating AI.” But most still treat artificial intelligence as a feature, not a foundation: they add a chatbot here, an automated report there, and call it transformation. That’s the same mistake companies made in the early days of the web: building websites as brochures instead of re-thinking their business models around digital interaction. AI is not a feature. It’s an architectural layer that will reshape every workflow, decision, and product. Those who treat it as decoration will fade, those who treat it as structure will lead. From automation to agency As product strategist Connor Davis noted, “every great company will …

A lifelong Manchester City fan stands in front of a 3D virtual avatar of the team’s star player, Erling Haaland, at an EA Sports FC prelaunch event. Towering and lifelike, the avatar’s every grin, gesture, and movement is perfectly synced to Haaland himself. The fan plays, interacts, and even shares a laugh during a spontaneous dance battle with the digital Haaland in real time. For a few electrifying moments, it’s as if their football hero has come to life in front of their eyes, blurring the line between reality, fandom, and technology. This isn’t a far-off sci-fi scenario; it already happened. 3D digital avatars are starting to transform how humans connect in v…

OpenAI is going house hunting. The world-leading AI company is reportedly looking for a massive corporate campus of at least 500,000 square feet to house its ever-growing workforce of insanely well paid engineers and support staff. What’s more important than OpenAI’s desire to expand, though, is the company’s choice of where to do it. OpenAI is looking not in the trendy, vibrant heart of San Francisco, but deep in the dull, gray corporate expanses of Silicon Valley. That bucks a major trend in the AI space—and signals a broad and impactful change to the industry. Corporate hermit crabs For generations, America’s most successful tech companies …

If you are reading this from outside the U.S., you may have already seen the videos. Clouds rolling over the Grand Canyon. Kids screaming down roller coasters. Snowboarders gliding through white forests. America’s latest tourism campaign, “America the Beautiful,” is out, and it is selling the American dream. But will tourists buy it? According to a May 2025 report from the World Travel and Tourism Council, international visitor spending to the U.S. is projected to fall to just under $169 billion in 2025, down from $181 billion in 2024. Even in 2024, 90% of all tourism spending came from domestic travel, while international travel dipped from many of the country’s …

Most people recognize that when you’re answering email while walking your dog and listening in on a meeting, you’re bound to lose effectiveness. Whether it’s that awkward silence when your boss asks for your input and you didn’t hear it—or you stepping in something not so pleasant because you didn’t realize your dog had done his business right in front of you. The limitations of multitasking present themselves in an obvious fashion. But as a time management coach, I’ve seen that it’s not just trying to do too many small things at once that can trip you up. I also see people dramatically reduce their effectiveness when they try to do too many large things at once—a…

A business owner I know tends to only hire people in their twenties, under the assumption they bring new life into his business: new ideas, new innovations, new skills. And he’s sometimes right, especially in the specific. But in general? Science says his hiring approach is probably wrong. In a review of studies published by the National Bureau of Economic Research, researchers found that the age at which scientists and inventors reach their moment of “genius” is increasing: while the average age used to be younger, the majority now make their biggest contributions to their field after the age of 40. As the researchers write: This research consiste…

“It ain’t what you don’t know that gets you into trouble. It’s what you know for sure that just ain’t so,” is a quote, often attributed to Mark Twain, that people like to repeat because it so captures our everyday experience. You can learn things that you don’t know, but it’s incredibly difficult to unlearn something you believe to be true. There’s real science behind this. Things we experience are packed away in our brain as the connections called synapses, which form and evolve over time. These connections strengthen as we use them and degrade when we do not. Or, as neuroscientists who study these things like to put it, the neurons that fire together, wire together.…

Below, Ranjay Gulati shares five key insights from his new book, How to Be Bold: The Surprising Science of Everyday Courage. Gulati is a professor of business administration at Harvard Business School. He is a leading expert on purpose-driven leadership and helps organizations unlock growth and meaning. What’s the big idea? Courage is essential in the uncertain world we live in. It allows us to expand our horizons, grow in unexpected ways, and reach our fullest potential by taking bold action. How to Be Bold provides a road map for understanding what courage really is, explains why it’s important in our personal and professional lives, and offers a set of pract…

Every professional faces cycles consisting of booms, busts, restructurings, and reinventions. The difference between those who endure and those who fade isn’t luck or timing; it’s adaptability. In volatile economies, careers built on curiosity and agility thrive long after others stall. No market cycle lasts forever. Careers, like economies, move through expansions and contractions. It’s vital to continue upskilling, remain flexible, and adapt to market cycles. They are not always predictable, but the leaders who adapt, always learn, network, reflect, and rebalance will outperform the cycles. Adaptability Is the New Alpha In finance and beyond, resilience has …

The job market is rough right now. Mass layoffs have people desperately clinging to their current positions. The Great Flattening has more and more workers competing for a dwindling number of roles as entry-level roles dry up and AI potentially rendering entire career paths obsolete. Long-term unemployment is at a post-pandemic high, with more than one in four workers without jobs unemployed for at least half a year. Which makes it a nerve-wracking time to be moving through any sort of career upheaval. If you do find yourself unmoored in the current market, whether or not by choice, it could be a good time to recalibrate and get clear on your next steps. Th…

What if I told you the single most important tool for growing your business is free? It doesn’t require fancy business cards, a corner office, or the latest app that tracks every data point in real time. It’s networking. Networking fuels growth, builds relationships, and keeps your business thriving. We live in a world moving at the speed of AI, where everything is changing all at once. As we streamline every aspect of life to be faster and more efficient, it only makes sense to modernize how we network. Before you overhaul your networking style, it’s important to remember the fundamentals, then build on them with new skills. Networking is everywhere, all th…

Neither government shutdown nor IT outage can stop the merger of Alaska Airlines and Hawaiian Airlines. On Oct. 15, Seattle-based Alaska achieved one of the first major tech milestones of the combination. All new bookings made after that day for travel on either airline took place on Alaska’s reservations system, or “passenger service system” (PSS) in airline parlance. And all existing bookings at Hawaiian after April 22, 2026 were moved over to the platform. This is what Charu Jain, senior vice president of merchandising and innovation at Alaska who is overseeing the guest-facing technology integration of Hawaiian, calls the “selling cutover.” The idea is th…

To create Apple TV’s new branding, a team from the global agency TBWA\Media Arts Lab (MAL) gathered in a studio with a blacked-out stage, a giant glass version of the Apple TV logo, and a bevy of colorful studio lights. Using just practical effects, they created a new animated logo for the brand that will roll out at the beginning of Apple TV’s shows and films, on its app, and in marketing campaigns over the coming months. Apple TV+ becomes Apple TV Apple TV’s updated branding, which includes a fresh static logo and two animated mnemonics, comes less than a month after the company announced that it would be changing its name from “Apple TV+” to just “Apple TV.…

Countries around the world have been discussing the need to rein in climate change for three decades, yet global greenhouse gas emissions—and global temperatures with them—keep rising. When it seems like we’re getting nowhere, it’s useful to step back and examine the progress that has been made. Let’s take a look at the United States, historically the world’s largest greenhouse gas emitter. Over those three decades, the U.S. population soared by 28% and the economy, as measured by gross domestic product adjusted for inflation, more than doubled. Yet U.S. emissions from many of the activities that produce greenhouse gases—transportation, industry, agriculture, …