Modern CEO from the publisher of Fast Company and Inc.

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.

The country is divided. Does your brand have to pick a side? 

April 3, 2023

You don’t need to be a pollster to know the country is divided on political and cultural issues. Fifty-two percent of Americans surveyed approve of the Republican Party, and 49% approve of the Democratic Party, according to a March study by Harris Insights and Analytics and Harvard’s Center for American Political Studies. Some 47% of Americans think the federal government should apologize for the nation’s history of slavery; 52% say it should not, according to Gallup. And a different Gallup survey found 53% of Americans view “big business” negatively, while 46% view corporations positively.

UNITY WITHIN THE DIVIDE

How does a major marketer connect with large groups of consumers in this fractured environment? To find out, I asked Mark Penn, chairman and CEO of Stagwell, who happens to be a marketer and a pollster. “I say brands and candidates often use similar playbooks,” says Penn, who was a pollster and political strategist in the Clinton White House and whose company is a global marketing services network. “Mass market brands will use the same narrative tactics politicians use when their bases are divided: finding common emotions like nostalgia, joy, family protectiveness, etc. to galvanize consumers,” he says.

Executives increasingly find themselves taking stands on all sorts of societal issues, but those positions—often in response to news events—usually don’t make their way into advertising or branding, which can take months and sometimes years to execute.

Indeed, Penn stresses that being a mass brand doesn’t mean being all things to all people. “Don’t rush to talk about cultural issues if your consumers don’t want that,” he says. “Ford principally sells F-150s. If they do a Patagonia ad, they’ll just be sending a whole lot of sales over to Toyota or GMC.” Patagonia, the outdoor clothing and gear company, is unabashed in its support of environmental causes, and has used its advertising to critique government policy.

READ THE ROOM

I asked Penn if Ford would need a different, perhaps “greener” approach to marketing its electric F-150 Lightning models. He was emphatic that Ford should focus on the performance benefits that come from an electric vehicle—the acceleration, the extra room, the design—not necessarily the sustainability elements. “You don’t have to take a radical approach to your customers, but [over time] your customers will be moved,” he adds.

I found myself reflecting on Penn’s observations while reading Fast Company’s coverage of Pepsi’s new logo—the soda giant’s first major rebrand in 15 years. By placing the “Pepsi” wordmark back into its iconic red, white, and blue globe, Pepsi is embracing Penn’s “narrative tactic” of nostalgia and joy. But the design is also a nod to changing consumer tastes. Mark Wilson, Fast Company’s global design editor, notes that the logo’s use of the color black, commonly associated with Pepsi Zero Sugar, is a visual acknowledgement of the parent company’s move to better-for-you beverages and snacks.

Winning—and keeping—consumers is never easy. Ford and Pepsi have huge budgets dedicated to creating brand awareness and building market share. But leaders of scrappier companies needn’t completely despair. According to Gallup, nearly all U.S. adults (97%) have a positive view of small business. That may be one of the few things Americans can agree on in these divided times.

BRAND NEW MARKETS

Has your company undergone a rebrand or tried to market your product to a new group of consumers? What has worked, and what failed? Please send your stories to stephaniemehta@mansueto.com, and we may feature the best advice in an upcoming newsletter.

Read, listen, and watch: effective branding

  • 5 Super Bowl hits (and one miss). Read more
  • 3 innovative ways to win fierce fans for your brand. Read more
  • Meet the design team behind the electric F-150. Watch here
  • What do customers want in 2023? Read more
  • Does your company excel at demonstrating brand purpose? Apply now to be one of Fast Company‘s Brands That Matter.

Help wanted: no degree required

March 27, 2023

I didn’t need a college degree to work as a real estate reporter for The Virginian-Pilot newspaper—my first full-time journalism gig. I learned the skills I needed (looking up public records, asking pointed questions in interviews, writing news stories, etc.) from internships and on-the-job training.

Indeed, for much of its history, journalism was a career that required little in the way of formal education. American newspapers were filled with writers and editors who worked their way up from clerical jobs. But the media business, like many industries, became fixated on credentials. College grads brought sophistication and class to a once-grubby profession—after all, the term “ink-stained wretch” is not exactly a compliment. Undergraduate and master’s programs provided newsrooms with a steady pipeline of eager and young scribes who would work for little or no pay. By 2003, 90% of working journalists had a college degree, up from about 60% in the 1970s, writes Christopher Zara in his forthcoming book, Uneducated.

A RENEWED FOCUS ON SKILLS

Corporate America and small businesses alike are filled with entry-level jobs—trainee positions in tech, marketing, and sales, for example—that have become known as “knowledge work,” requiring college degrees even though higher education isn’t necessary to do the work. But as companies have struggled to fill jobs and income inequality grows, businesses are starting to relax degree requirements, stressing skills-based hiring instead. Accenture, IBM, and Bank of America are just some of the companies that have launched apprenticeship programs or have loosened degree requirements for entry-level jobs. “Even just a few years ago, it seemed almost impossible to find any kind of office job or technical job or managerial role that didn’t list a bachelor’s degree as a required qualification,” Zara says. “I’ve been very gratified by this shift.”

Zara has firsthand knowledge of this topic. Uneducated is a memoir of his life as a high-school dropout (he eventually got his GED) navigating the white-collar world without a college diploma. Currently a senior editor at Fast Company, he used freelance writing samples to secure an unpaid internship and later a full-time post at Show Business Weekly, a trade publication for actors. Zara, who joined Mansueto Ventures in 2016, is as accomplished at his work as anyone who works at our company, but in his book he confesses to feeling constantly like he doesn’t belong. “I look around our newsroom each day, and I’m reminded of my outlier status by endless discrepancies, subtle and not-so-subtle differences between my educated colleagues and myself,” he writes.

REMOVING INVISIBLE BARRIERS

Zara’s experience is a reminder that companies bringing in skills-based employees need to provide support to these recruits. Ginni Rometty, the former IBM CEO who helped the tech giant adopt skills-based hiring, recently told me that non-degreed hires “took more time to get up to speed” in their first year. But ultimately, they were just as productive as peers with degrees, more invested in learning, and more loyal. To ensure the success of what she calls “new collar” workers, Rometty recommends creating apprenticeships that allow new hires to “earn while they learn.” Onboarding skills-based workers en masse would help normalize the practice in the company and help these new employees feel more at home.

Rometty says leadership buy-in is crucial. “One of the most important things you can do as a CEO is ensure these workers are integrated into the company as full-fledged members of the team,” she writes in a LinkedIn post.

For Zara, skills-based hiring isn’t merely a tool for filling jobs or closing the inequality gap. It’s good for business. He tells me: “Opening up your candidate pool doesn’t just make the recruitment process fairer; it gives you access to workers from different backgrounds who will bring different perspectives—different ways of looking at the world—which will ultimately make your company better.” Zara has definitely done that—and more—for our company.

ALL ABOUT THE SKILLS

Does your company require a college degree for entry-level roles? What do you think are the benefits and challenges of moving to skills-based hiring? Send me your thoughts at stephaniemehta@mansueto.com.

Modern reading on the jobs of the future

  • Why employers need to look beyond degrees. Read more
  • McKenzie Scott wants more women in tech. Now. Read more
  • Why entrepreneurs don’t need college degrees. Read more
  • Uneducated: A Memoir of Flunking Out, Falling Apart, and Finding My Worth. Pre-order here

SVB failure: another example of venture groupthink?

March 20, 2023

Of all the hot takes issued in the wake of the failure of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB), perhaps the most perplexing—and frankly, wrongheaded—was Wall Street Journal opinion columnist Andy Kessler’s suggestion that board diversity was a factor in the institution’s demise. In a March 12 piece titled “Who Killed Silicon Valley Bank,” he writes: “In its proxy statement, SVB notes that besides 91% of their board being independent and 45% women, they also have ‘1 Black,’ ‘1 LGBTQ+’ and ‘2 Veterans.’ I’m not saying 12 white men would have avoided this mess, but the company may have been distracted by diversity demands” [sic].

THE OPPOSITE OF GROUPTHINK

Putting aside Kessler’s unartful attempt to make the bank a victim of “woke capitalism,” I’d argue that the whole SVB debacle was fueled by a lack of diverse thinking. Why did so many startups hold more than $250,000 at SVB, knowing that deposit insurance is capped at $250,000? Why did the venture capitalist customers of SVB fail to interrogate the way the bank was investing its customer deposits?  (SVB had 75% of its assets in long-dated bonds at the end of 2022, The New York Times reported, while most other banks had 6% of assets in the category.)

“They failed to do due diligence because, well, it never occurred to them that bankers who seemed so solid, so sympatico with the whole venture capital ethos, actually had no idea what to do with the money placed in their care,” writes Paul Krugman in a Times opinion column.

STOP, THINK, AND ASK

This is the same ethos that embraces “pattern matching” or pattern recognition to back ideas and people that are familiar to investors, a philosophy that has led to companies founded solely by women garnering just 2% of venture capital. Black and brown entrepreneurs are dramatically underrepresented, too.

Silicon Valley prides itself on its out-of-the-box thinking, and to be sure, many companies have emerged because of this impulse to innovate. But the rise and fall of SVB exposes the groupthink that has taken hold in many corners of the startup world. For CEOs and other leaders, this is a powerful reminder to ask hard questions and not follow the herd.

SHARE YOUR OWN STORY

Was there a time you decided something based on the “wisdom” of the crowd and regretted it? Or maybe there was a time when you resisted groupthink and were validated? Send me your stories at stephaniemehta@mansueto.com. Your anecdotes may become the basis for a future newsletter.

Read, listen, and watch: SVB Bank

No robots were harmed in the making of this newsletter

March 13, 2023

Many journalists covering the potential and shortcomings of generative artificial intelligence (AI) have experimented with OpenAI’s powerful ChatGPT chatbot and Microsoft’s AI-powered Bing search engine to research and even write portions of their articles. The results have ranged from the underwhelming to the unnerving.

CHATBOTS RAISE NEW QUESTIONS

I didn’t use ChatGPT to assist me today. It’s not because I’m unwilling to experiment with new technologies. I was a tech reporter and editor for 15 years, and I love productivity tools. Nor am I such a facile writer that I wouldn’t benefit from a little help. (That’s why I have an editor. Thanks, Gwen!) I simply feel that if people are going to do me the kindness of spending three or four minutes reading this newsletter, the least I can do is write it myself.

There is a lot of justifiable hand-wringing in the media business about the way generative AI will be used to produce—and manipulate—content, how news organizations will get compensated for “training” bots such as ChatGPT, and what this technology will do to upend employment and business models.

But perhaps what worries me most is the absence of U.S. regulatory frameworks for the responsible deployment of AI across all industries and parts of society, including education and healthcare. Indeed, American lawmakers are still trying to figure out what AI is. “You’d be surprised how much time I spend explaining to my colleagues that the chief dangers of AI will not come from evil robots with red lasers coming out of their eyes,” Rep. Jay Obernolte, a California Republican with a master’s degree in computer science, told The New York Times. The article notes, not surprisingly, that lawmakers in the U.S. have yet to introduce any substantial legislation to protect consumers or businesses from AI.

REGULATING THE BOTS

Interestingly, the creators of this technology actually are asking for regulatory oversight. At a conference in early March, Mira Murati, chief technology officer of OpenAI, told me that the world can’t rely on the private sector alone for the responsible use of AI. “There is a combination of elements that come into play, [including] tight collaboration between private companies, governments, and regulators, as well as civil society,” she said. Even Elon Musk has called on lawmakers to regulate AI.

Government leaders in the U.S. needn’t start crafting policy from whole cloth. The European Union last year proposed a regulatory framework for AI. Officials could adopt parts of that document, or better yet, collaborate with counterparts around the world to come up with a single manifesto for the ethical use of this transformative technology. There are many paths open to lawmakers for drafting rules to regulate AI. I just hope they don’t ask ChatGPT to write the policies for them.

IS AI IN YOUR BUSINESS?

How is artificial intelligence transforming your business, and what would you want the government to regulate? Send me a note at stephaniemehta@mansueto.com. I may use your insights in a future newsletter.

Read, listen, and watch: artificial intelligence

  • Mira Murati helps lead the No. 1 Most Innovative Company. Read more
  • OpenAI’s chief technology officer discusses ChatGPT and how AI can solve hard problems. Watch here
  • Plagiarism fears lead schools to ban chatbots. Read more
  • How Notion, every CEO’s favorite productivity tool, uses AI. Read more
  • John Oliver explains why AI tools are the “George Santos of technology.” Watch here
  • Four reasons why AI adoption at work will be hard. Read more

Lesson from the direct-to-consumer reckoning: fundamentals matter

March 6, 2023

When direct-to-consumer (DTC) companies first burst onto the scene a decade ago, their founders proclaimed that they were disrupting retail. Their business model allowed consumers to bypass High Street and big-box stores (and the markups those distributors charge) in favor of websites that would deliver goods directly to homes. By emphasizing their e-commerce chops, these eyeglasses, cosmetics, and mattress makers attracted financing from venture investors, who historically favored traditional tech businesses such as computer software.

But the times, they are changing. As my Fast Company colleague Elizabeth Segran reports, the era of DTC brands is now over. For years, these companies focused on customer acquisition and brand-building without regard to costs; now that economic conditions and consumer demands are changing, they’ve been forced to retrench, downsize, and lay off staff.

THE DTC COURSE CORRECTION

It might be easy to fault DTC companies for their spendthrift ways, but Beatrice Dixon, founder of The Honey Pot Company, a vaginal wellness brand, is sympathetic: “Their investors were encouraging that kind of growth,” she says. “It would be different if the investors were saying, ‘You need to be lean and watch your margins.’ In many cases, their business partners were saying the opposite.” (Full disclosure: Dixon is an Inc. contributor.)

Dixon, who started her business with a $21,000 loan from her brother (Honey Pot didn’t attract venture funding until the company was more than five years old), says her company didn’t have the money to pursue a pure DTC model, nor did she think she could build a global brand without a wholesale strategy. Indeed, she says Honey Pot benefits from the visibility and distribution that comes from having products in places like Target and Walmart. Today, her sales come from a mix of retail and e-commerce, with DTC making up about 10% of Honey Pot’s sales. “We want to be wherever our humans are,” she says.

FOLLOWING THE LEADERS

DTC darlings are now following suit. Warby Parker has had its own stores for years, and other DTC companies are partnering with department stores. And Fast Company’s Segran offers an in-depth look at beauty brand Glossier’s strategy to do both: Its products are now available in Sephora stores, and the company recently opened a new flagship location in Manhattan. Glossier CEO Kyle Leahy says she’s focused on expanding core business and notes: “We’ve made significant strides on profitability.”

We’re seeing a similar dynamic play out in other industries and at other businesses, with Facebook declaring 2023 a “year of efficiency.” A new wave of news media publishers such as The Information and Puck—well aware of the struggles at formerly flashy companies such as Vice—are building their businesses on premium content and subscriptions with a focus on profitability. For leaders at organizations of all sizes and growth stages, the reckoning we’re seeing among disruptors is a stark reminder that fundamentals matter.

A CHANGING LANDSCAPE

Are you changing the way your company does business in response to market factors? Or perhaps you’re doing some organizational belt-tightening of your own? I’d like to hear about these changes. Drop an email to me at stephaniemehta@mansueto.com. I may use your insights in a future newsletter.

Read, listen, and watch: the end of the DTC era

  • Meet the Wharton professor behind the DTC boom. Read more
  • When Warby Parker was crowned the World’s Most Innovative Company. Read more
  • What DTC startups can learn from legacy brands. Read more
  • Newfound efficiency has a human cost. Read more

Connecting with Black customers by appreciating, not appropriating

February 27, 2023

When it comes to serving Black America, business is blowing it.

Some 47 million Americans identify as Black, up from 42 million in 2010, and their buying power tops $1.6 trillion annually. Yet studies show Black consumers are routinely underserved. Residents of majority-Black communities have less access to healthcare, supermarkets, banking, and broadband than their white counterparts, for example. A 2021 McKinsey study estimated that companies are leaving $300 million on the table by failing to meet the needs and preferences of the Black community.

Companies are also missing an opportunity to connect with Black consumers, who favor brands that have a clear social mission and have built credibility with the community. Scott Mills, president and CEO of BET Media Group, tells me the key to earning that trust is to acknowledge the role Black culture has played in shaping society and media. “The community takes pride in the significant role [it] plays with respect to influencing broader culture,” he says.

APPROPRIATION VS. APPRECIATION

Mills went on to note there’s a difference between appropriation—taking aspects of Black culture without attribution to the source—and appreciation. “Organizations, institutions, and companies that really want to engage Black consumers need to approach the community with a more sophisticated appreciation of the extraordinary diversity and value of our culture,” he says.

But companies struggle with appreciation, perhaps because it has never been part of the corporate playbook. Entrepreneur Porter Braswell, a Fast Company contributor, notes that appropriation “is deeply intertwined with systemic and institutionalized racism rooted in capitalism.” And indeed, examples of “borrowing” from other cultures for profit abound, most notably in fashion, where labels routinely incorporate patterns and dress from around the world in their collections.

MAKING APPRECIATION A WAY OF LIFE

Appreciation takes effort. Braswell offers up the case study of Oskar Metsavaht, sportwear designer whose 2016 spring ready-to-wear collection drew inspiration from the Asháninka tribe in South America. Metsavaht spent considerable time with the community, paid for the use of its motifs, and helped shine a light on the environmental issues plaguing their home forests.

For companies seeking to engage deeply with Black consumers, appreciation needs to become a way of life; they can’t just dip in with an inspirational message during Black History Month. In 2021, Spotify launched Frequency, an initiative to celebrate Black art. The music streamer has stressed that the program is a “year-round” commitment, and this year it expanded Frequency with a social media series featuring Black artists.

WALKING THE TALK

At our company last year, Inc. launched All the Hats, a destination for Black female entrepreneurs, cofounded and curated by Teneshia Carr, a creative director and founder of Blanc Media. The site seeks to inform and inspire Black women entrepreneurs, who represent the fastest-growing group of founders, yet struggle to gain access to resources and capital. All the Hats is one way we try to acknowledge the contributions of Black founders—even as they face disproportionate challenges—to the broader business culture.

How is your business seeking to serve Black consumers? If you have found a way to effectively serve this audience, I’d like to hear about it. Send an email to stephaniemehta@mansueto.com. I may include your ideas in an upcoming newsletter.

Read, listen, and watch: today’s Black consumer

  • Products made by Black entrepreneurs aren’t just for Black customers. Watch here
  • Here’s what Black customers want from your brand. Read more
  • On being the only Black person at work. Listen here
  • Clean beauty is booming. Where are the products for Black women? Read more

Our middle managers are struggling—and we’re not listening

February 20, 2023

“Twenty twenty-three is the year of the manager,” Workday co-CEO Carl Eschenbach declared at a private roundtable at the World Economic Forum annual meeting last month. Eschenbach, whose company sells human resources and financial management software, went on to highlight the importance of frontline and middle managers—who sit between employees and senior executives—for their role in strengthening company culture.

Indeed, a recent Workday study found that employees who feel a sense of belonging in the workplace are nine times more likely to have a supportive manager. And nearly 80% of workers who feel their manager understands them say they have no plans to leave.

Primary managers are often maligned in popular culture: they are “the butt of the joke in so many office comedies for their outsize ambition, assumed mediocrity, or embrace of the status quo,” Julia Herbst, Fast Company Work Life senior editor writes.

MANAGERS IN THE MIDDLE

Instead of inspiring mockery, our managers deserve some empathy. They’re burned out and anxious. In many cases, they find themselves caught between the CEO’s operational and productivity mandates and employees’ demands for more flexibility, better working conditions, or both. Worse, they may find themselves having to answer for a corporate strategy or vision that they had no role in crafting and which they may not actually support.

“There needs to be a strong mission and the right strategy from the top,” says entrepreneur and consultant Keith Ferrazzi. “The real transformation occurs when frontline managers are invited to not only execute on the words of the top leaders but to co-create” changes.

THE POWERS THAT SEE

Ferrazzi notes that leaders should always listen to their frontline managers, especially when the economy is softening. These managers are closest to both employees and customers and may be the first to see changes in demand for products or services. And they’ll certainly have a better handle on employee sentiment than colleagues in the C-suite.

I hasten to confess none of these insights are especially new. Twenty-two years ago, consulting firm BCG published “Let Middle Managers Manage,” an article calling on leaders to give their middle managers more training, clearer guidance—and a voice. Maybe we make 2023 the year of the empowered manager.

MANAGING THE MANAGERS

How does your organization empower and solicit input from your primary managers? Send your approach to me at stephaniemehta@mansueto.com. I’d love to highlight the best ideas in an upcoming newsletter.

Read, listen, and watch: Frontline workers and their managers

  • Three ways to empower middle managers. Read more
  • Why frontline managers are failing, at a glance. Read more
  • Where to find low-cost leadership training. Read more
  • Is “traditional” management really dead? Read more
  • Innovation powerhouses empower their employees no matter what the market looks like—in fact, they lean into it. Apply to be named one of Fast Company’s Best Workplaces for Innovators. The deadline is nearing.
  • Each year the Inc. 5000 honors the fastest-growing private companies in America. Submit here if you think your business makes the cut.

 

A contrary take on organized labor 

February 13, 2023

Most CEOs disdain labor unions. I haven’t been able to find any formal research to bolster that assertion, but consider how the leaders of Starbucks, Amazon, and Apple have opposed unionization efforts at their companies. Nine of the top 10 “best states for business,” according to CEOs surveyed by Chief Executive, are so-called right-to-work states with laws that prohibit companies from requiring union membership as a condition of employment.

Executives’ anti-union stance puts them at odds with much of the public. A majority of Americans approve of organized labor, with one survey suggesting seven in 10 nonunion workers would consider joining a union if given the opportunity. And while overall union participation is at historic lows – just 11% of U.S. workers are represented by a union – the National Labor Relations Board saw a 53% rise in petitions for union representation in fiscal year 2022.

UNION CONTRIBUTIONS

Unlike some other CEOs, I value my company’s labor union. About 31%  of our employees are represented by the Writers Guild of America, East, but the impact of the union is felt across the business. For example, the 18-week parental leave policy negotiated by the bargaining unit is available to all full-time employees, including nonmembers. The union’s diversity committee conducted an audit of editorial content that prompted an important and larger conversation about the inclusiveness of our journalism. A different union committee offered candid and important concerns about employee health and safety when we returned to in-person conferences and events in 2022.

I’m not the only one who sees the value of a communicative union in strengthening organizations. Mike Draper, founder and owner of Raygun, a Des Moines-based printing company with eight retail stores, says he and an employee actually recruited United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America to unionize his 100-person company. “Our labor lawyer was like, ‘Wow, I’ve never heard of that happening,’” he says with a laugh.

HUMAN-CENTERED NEGOTIATIONS

Draper believes organized labor is far from perfect and acknowledges that unions may not be right for every company. But he says that negotiating a contract with the union gave him an opportunity to share the realities of his business with employees. For example, to offer the paid vacation and sick leave the union wanted, he explained that he’d need to staff up to cover for absent workers. Employees, in turn, understand that paid time off “does come with a cost that can be hard to compare across companies,” he says. It’s “not as easy as just comparing [listed] wages.” Says Draper: “When you have thoughtful humans on both sides who are willing to meet in the middle,” being a unionized shop “works just fine.”

STATE OF THE UNIONS

I expect many leaders will disagree with Draper and me – send your comments to stephaniemehta@mansueto.com – but at a time when hearing from employees is key to business success, unions can offer another outlet for worker feedback. And if your employees want to form unions, they’re clearly sending a message to management. It might be a good time to start listening.

Read, listen, and watch: Unions and leadership

  • Here’s how to respond to union organizing, says HBR. Read more
  • Can a labor union be an innovator? Read more
  • Meet the new American worker. Read more
  • Timeless leadership advice from Inc.: Talk less, listen more. Read more
  • Innovation powerhouses empower their employees no matter what the market looks like—in fact, they lean into it. Apply to be named one of Fast Company’s Best Workplaces for Innovators. The deadline is nearing.
  • Each year the Inc. 5000 honors the fastest-growing private companies in America. Submit here if you think your business makes the cut.

 

Business travel means road testing your company’s culture

February 6, 2023

It’s no secret that tourism and hospitality were hit hard by the pandemic. Late last year, I unwittingly participated in the travel comeback story. After a business trip to Los Angeles, I tacked on an extra night to stay with friends I hadn’t seen since late 2019. This blending of business and leisure travel—sometimes called “bleisure”—is becoming increasingly common, and it is helping fuel the hospitality industry’s recovery.

Business travel is rebounding, with small and midsize businesses (SMBs) fueling that growth, according to Chris Nassetta, president and CEO of Hilton, who recently met with Fast Company editor-in-chief Brendan Vaughan and me. The hotel company found that SMB employees like me make up about 85% of business travel today, up from about 80% of all business guests before the COVID pandemic.

WORK AND LIFE ON THE ROAD

In many ways, it isn’t surprising that the professional and private are merging in travel. Many of us have long used our laptops and mobile phones for both work and personal matters. And working from home—58% of Americans now work remotely at least one day a week—represents the ultimate blurring of work and home life.

The desire for flexibility and other expectations employees bring to work now apply equally to business travel. Employees may balk at taking unnecessary trips or attending work events that fail to deliver real value. In much the same way companies find they have to “earn employees’ commute” on in-person days, travel planners say offsite meetings increasingly need to foster human connection and community. They’re seeing companies add more networking and team-building time to their gatherings at hotels and resorts.

Nassetta says Hilton is responding to bleisure travelers in various ways, such as installing Peloton bikes in all fitness centers for those who want to maintain their home workout routines on the road.

LEADERSHIP IN A BLENDED REALITY

For leaders, these trends are a reminder that company culture isn’t contained in the office, virtual or otherwise. Travel policies and practices—picking eco-friendly hotels for meetings, say, or offering carbon offsets as a benefit—are another opportunity to improve employee engagement and underscore your organization’s values.

Allowing team members to tack on some extra time for leisure at the end of a business trip may also provide additional incentives for them to travel, while also boosting engagement. (I can tell you first-hand that having the opportunity to reconnect with friends while I was in L.A. was awesome.) When we take culture and values on the road with us, we can go farther than we imagined.

THE NEW TRAIN OF THOUGHT

How is your company keeping its culture consistent on the road? I’d love to hear your thoughts. And if a leadership issue is keeping you up at night or piquing your curiosity, let me know about it, and I may cover it in a future newsletter. Drop me a note at stephaniemehta@mansueto.com.

Modern CEO helps executives and entrepreneurs find fresh thinking and solutions by sharing insights from Fast Company, Inc., and other sources that explore modern leadership. Know someone who might benefit from the perspectives of an accidental CEO? Feel free to forward this email and invite them to subscribe.

Read, listen, and watch: Blending business and leisure travel

  • Marriott CEO Tony Capuano talks about building emotional connections with guests. Read more
  • How to do business travel, post-COVID. Read more
  • These founders are building companies they’d want to work for. Read more
  • Americans love remote work but struggle to achieve peak performance. Read more

 

Do businesses need more designers and writers in their executive ranks? The case for creatives in the C-suite

January 30, 2023

I am an accidental CEO. I spent 30 years as a reporter, writer, and editor before I stepped into corporate leadership. While I’d managed people and budgets for more than half my career, I always thought of myself as more “right brain” than “left brain,” more expressive than analytical. To be sure, there are quite a few journalists who’ve become CEOs, including my predecessor Eric Schurenberg, Fortune’s Alan Murray, and The Atlantic’s Nicholas Thompson. And it is typical for design firms and marketing agencies to be led by creatives.

But Brian Chesky—a graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design—is the rare artiste atop a publicly held company. And Chesky is unabashed in his embrace of creativity. In fact, he told an audience at the Fast Company Innovation Festival last year that Airbnb had grown too sprawling and conventional. Chesky redesigned Airbnb into a leaner, stronger, and more focused version of itself ahead of its December 2020 IPO. He says that once Airbnb became an “entirely creatively led company,” remarkable things began to happen. The company went from “breakeven to $3 billion of free cash flow,” Chesky said during his talk.

ELEVATING CREATIVE LEADERS

I asked Jana Rich, founder and CEO of executive recruiting firm Rich Talent Group, when she thought corporate America might start opening its doors to other creatives at the highest levels. “I think you’re probably at least a year or two out before this becomes more of a true movement,” she says, adding that the prospect of an economic slowdown would likely dampen any enthusiasm for unusual hiring.

That’s a shame because, as Chesky notes, companies can benefit from creativity in uncertain times. “Do you ever have those bad tradeoffs where there’s no good solution? That’s when creativity is really helpful,” he says.

A MODERN APPROACH TO LEADERSHIP

In this changing—and, yes, uncertain—business landscape, Modern CEO helps executives and entrepreneurs find fresh thinking and solutions by sharing insights from Fast Company, Inc., and other sources that explore modern leadership.

I want to hear your thoughts and suggestions about future topics. Please send feedback and recommendations to me at stephaniemehta@mansueto.com. Know someone who might benefit from the perspectives of an accidental CEO? Feel free to forward this email and invite them to subscribe.

Modern reading, listening, viewing on creativity

  • Airbnb’s Brian Chesky explains how he nurtures his curiosity and creativity. Listen here
  • Can creativity be taught? Yep, researchers tell Inc. Read more
  • Meet dozens of corporate types using creativity to help their companies. Read more
  • Pixar’s Ed Catmull shares his leadership lessons. An oldie but a goody. Read more
  • Strategy–yes, strategy–needs creativity. Read more