CEOs are joining the 'Great Resignation'

CEO turnover spiked in the first half of 2021, as companies tapped new talent to navigate the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic and stressed-out chief executives sought a career change, a study from recruiting firm Heidrick & Struggles found.

The findings illustrate how CEOs are not immune to the exhaustion that has swept hundreds of millions of workers worldwide since the onset of the pandemic and has pushed many to consider a new job or lifestyle in a wave dubbed "The Great Resignation." READ MORE

SEC Chair says he doesn’t support Bitcoin’s “off-the-grid” approach to finance

SEC Chair Gary Gensler finally reveals his stance on Bitcoin by saying he doesn’t support its “off-the-grid” approach to finance.

Given Gensler’s experience teaching blockchain technology at MIT, many billed him as the “right choice” to lead the securities regulator. But coming up to eight months since being sworn in, and it’s fair to say his tenure to date hasn’t advanced the cryptocurrency sector how many imagined. READ MORE

Why return-to-office headlines don't reflect the messy reality

Major tech and media companies have set their third attempt at returning to the office en masse in early 2022. But with no end to the pandemic in sight, and with the shadow of uncertainty cast by the Omicron variant, some of those plans might be changing. Google on Thursday told staffers that the company will not be fully returning to offices in early January, after all. It will wait until 2022 to assess when workers will head back to a "stable, long-term working environment." READ MORE

3 jobs trends to look out for next year

Three important trends are likely to dominate the US labor market in 2022: the ongoing economic recovery from the pandemic, the severe labor shortage, and the increasing adjustment to remote work. But there is one wildcard that could upend everything: A new Covid-19 surge, driven by Omicron or another variant. READ MORE

Super-App

Finally.

Two years ago I wrote a letter to the chairman of Twitter calling for Jack Dorsey to be replaced as CEO. Or, more to the point, for the board to appoint a full-time CEO. An executive who spends 90% of his time running another company and plans to spend half the year on a different continent looked like a recipe for poor shareholder returns. Spoiler alert: It was.

This past February, as there were now directors on the board acting as fiduciaries, I predicted Dorsey would be replaced by the end of the year. READ MORE

DAOs as the future? Hard pass, thanks

It seems like just yesterday that exchanges like Coinbase opened the eyes of the traditional economy to the benefits that cryptocurrencies offer as an asset class.

Cryptocurrencies and other decentralized technologies have created applications that promise to create real social value by offering an automated way to establish trust, but at a much lower cost than traditional intermediaries (banks and governments) that have monopolized trust as a service. READ MORE

Most CFOs think higher prices will last through 2022

A majority of U.S. businesses are hiking prices at a rapid clip as they seek to offset the pain of soaring inflation and a lack of available workers, according to a survey of American CFOs published on Thursday.

The CFO Survey, a collaboration of Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business and the Federal Reserve Banks of Richmond and Atlanta, shows that finance chiefs are increasingly worried about labor availability, inflationary pressures and supply chain disruptions.  READ MORE

Red Brands and Blue Brands: Is Hyper-Partisanship Coming for Corporate America?

The year is 2041, and Starbucks has real competition. Black Rifle Coffee Company, the java brand favored by conservatives, has opened thousands of locations around the country.

Starbucks, whose longtime chief executive Howard Schultz pioneered a new wave of liberal corporate activism in the early part of the century, still dominates the coffee scene in college towns and blue-state urban centers. But Black Rifle Coffee, now publicly traded with a $250 billion valuation, is flourishing in suburbs across the country and in cities large and small across the Deep South and Mountain West. READ MORE

A New Crisis Playbook for an Uncertain World

Today we stand at the precipice of not one but three converging and potentially catastrophic long-term trends: climate change, globalization, and growing inequality. On their own, each of these makes the occasional crisis worse: We might see a more destructive hurricane, a more widespread financial meltdown, or longer or more violent civil unrest. Together, though, these trends magnify challenges. The Covid-19 pandemic, for example, was not just a health crisis but an economic and political one as well. READ MORE

Labor shortage? Not at Target

A record number of Americans are quitting their jobs and businesses are desperately struggling to fill open positions. Target doesn't have either of those problems.

Target (TGT) said Wednesday that its turnover rate for hourly workers was lower this year compared with 2019, even after accounting for new hires. The retailer is also adding 100,000 new temporary employees to meet holiday shopping demand and offering its existing workforce five million additional hours of work during the busiest stretch of the year. READ MORE

4 Strategic Partnerships That Paired Wildly Different Companies

Strategic partnerships are always a smart way to grow your business faster and expand into new markets. Even smarter is to look beyond conventional or expected opportunities. To create entirely new products, keep employees happy, or achieve ambitious long-term goals, it pays to get creative about whom you team up with--and even to look far afield of your own industry. 

Here are four pairs of companies that recently reached outside of their sectors to build mutually beneficial partnerships. READ MORE