U.S. Senate Republicans pushed President Donald Trump’s sweeping tax cut and spending bill forward on Sunday in a marathon weekend session even as a nonpartisan forecaster said it would add an estimated $3.3 trillion to the nation’s debt over a decade.
The estimate by the Congressional Budget Office of the bill’s hit to the $36.2 trillion federal debt is about $800 billion more than the version passed last month in the House of Representatives.
Senators are scheduled to start voting on a potentially long list of amendments to the bill beginning at 9 a.m. EDT (1400 GMT) Monday.
Republicans, who have long voiced concern about growing U.S. deficits and debt, have rejected the CBO’s longstanding methodology to calculate the cost of legislation.
Democrats, meanwhile, hope the latest, eye-widening figure could stoke enough anxiety among fiscally minded conservatives to get them to buck their party, which controls both chambers of Congress.
Republicans are doing something the Senate has never, never done before, deploying fake math and accounting gimmicks to hide the true cost of the bill,” Democratic Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said as debate opened on Sunday. “Republicans are about to pass the single most expensive bill in U.S. history, to give tax breaks to billionaires while taking away Medicaid, SNAP benefits and good paying jobs for millions of people.”
The Senate only narrowly advanced the tax-cut, immigration, border and military spending bill in a procedural vote late on Saturday, voting 5149 to open debate on the 940-page megabill.
Senator Thom Tillis of North Carolina, one of two Republicans who voted to block the bill, explained his position in a speech to the Senate, saying White House aides had failed to give Trump proper advice about the legislation’s Medicaid cuts.
“What do I tell 663,00 people in two years, three years, when President Trump breaks his promise by pushing them off of Medicaid because the funding’s not there anymore,” Tillis said, referring to his constituents.
Trump on social media hailed Saturday’s vote as a “great victory” for his “great, big, beautiful bill.” In a separate post on Sunday, he said: “We will make it all up, times 10, with GROWTH, more than ever before.”
In an illustration of the depths of the divide within the Republican Party over the bill, Tillis said he would not seek re-election next year, after Trump threatened to back a primary challenger in retribution for Tillis’ Saturday night vote against the bill.
On Sunday, Trump celebrated Tillis’ announcement as “Great News!” on Truth Social and issued a warning to fellow Republicans who have concerns over the bill. “REMEMBER, you still have to get reelected. Dont go too crazy!” Trump wrote in a post.
Tillis’ North Carolina seat is one of the few Republican Senate seats seen as vulnerable in next year’s midterm elections.
Trump wants the bill passed before the July 4 Independence Day holiday. While that deadline is one of choice, lawmakers will face a far more serious deadline later this summer when they must raise the nation’s self-imposed debt ceiling or risk a devastating default on $36.2 trillion in debt.
HITS TO BENEFITS
Senator Mark Warner, a Democrat from Virginia, said this legislation would come to haunt Republicans if it gets approved, predicting 16 million Americans would lose their health insurance.
“Many of my Republican friends know . . . they’re walking the plank on this and we’ll see if those who’ve expressed quiet consternation will actually have the courage of their convictions,” Warner told CBS News’ “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan.”
The legislation has been the sole focus of a marathon weekend congressional session marked by political drama, division and lengthy delays as Democrats seek to slow the legislation’s path to passage.
Schumer called for the entire text of the bill to be read on the Senate floor, a process that began before midnight Saturday and ran well into Sunday afternoon. Following up to 20 hours of debate on the legislation, the Senate will enter an amendment session, known as a “vote-a-rama,” before voting on passage. Lawmakers said they hoped to complete work on the bill on Monday.
Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky, the other Republican “no” vote, opposed the legislation because it would raise the federal borrowing limit by an additional $5 trillion.
The megabill would extend the 2017 tax cuts that were Trump’s main legislative achievement during his first term as president, cut other taxes and boost spending on the military and border security.
Senate Republicans, who reject the CBO’s estimates on the cost of the legislation, are set on using an alternative calculation method that does not factor in costs from extending the 2017 tax cuts. Outside tax experts, like Andrew Lautz from the nonpartisan think tank Bipartisan Policy Center, call it a “magic trick.”
Using this calculation method, the Senate Republicans budget bill appears to cost substantially less and seems to save $500 billion, according to the BPC analysis.
If the Senate passes the bill, it will then return to the House of Representatives for final passage before Trump can sign it into law. The House passed its version of the bill last month.
Bo Erickson and Phil Stewart, Reuters
Republican lawmakers on Capitol Hill are working to pass President Trumps controversial One Big Beautiful Bill Act. A marathon session of voting in the U.S. Senate, known in Washington as a “vote-o-rama,” is expected to begin on Monday, according to CNN. But just what is in the bill, when will it become law, and how do Americans feel about it? Heres what you need to know.
Whats in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act?
This isnt an easy one to answer simply because the One Big Beautiful Bill Act is so large. In its current form, it spans around 940 pages and is packed with everything from tax breaks for the rich to changes to Medicare to defense spending.
Few people have actually read the entire One Big Beautiful Bill Actincluding many of the Senators who are expected to vote on it this week. And thats a bad thing, because when new laws are this sprawling and the changes so sweeping, they often result in unforeseen negative impacts.
There are at least hundreds of changes to U.S. law in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, but some of the most dramatic changes revolve around tax cuts for the rich, largely paid for by cuts to Medicaid, the health insurance program designed to provide healthcare to Americas most poor and needy.
Citing estimates from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), PBS has a good rundown of some of the major elements of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. Some of those elements are:
$3.8 trillion in tax cuts, with the wealthy and corporations benefiting the most.
$350 billion for border and national security spending.
Medicaid and other government healthcare and social services cuts would result in 10.9 million Americans losing their health insurance coverage, and 3 million Americans losing their access to food stamps.
The elimination of a $200 tax on gun silencers.
A provision that would deter individual U.S. states from regulating artificial intelligence.
$40 million in funding to establish a National Garden of American Heroes.
When will the One Big Beautiful Bill Act become law?
There are several remaining steps that the bill needs to go through to become law. Earlier this month, the House passed its version of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. However, Senate Republicans disagreed with many elements of the House version of the bill and have been making revisions to it in their chamber. Those revisions are ongoing.
Meanwhile, President Trump has also set an arbitrary timeline for when he desired the One Big Beautiful Bill Act to be passed. The deadline Trump stated is Friday, July 4.
Yet it is precisely this artificial deadline that has many worrying that lawmakers will not take the time they need to fully examine the bill’s elements and consider the long-term consequences it may have on Americans.
Republicans, of course, may still not agree on a new version of the bill, which could mean that Trumps July 4 deadline could come and go. For now, here’s what you may be able to expect as far as a timeline this week, per CNN:
Republicans need to get their party holdouts to support the One Big Beautiful Bill Act as it currently stands, or make changes to it that will satisfy the holdouts. This process may be completed on Monday, or it could stretch for several days.
Meanwhile, Democrats, who all universally oppose the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, will have their clerks read out the bill in Congress; this is estimated to take 10 to 15 hours due to the length of the bill and is being used as a stalling tactic. If any Republican Senators stick around for the bills reading, it may be the first time some of them have actually heard what is in the entire 940-page bill.
A debate on the bill will follow the Democrats’ reading of the bill.
A vote-a-rama will then take place on the bill. This is where Senators vote on amendments to it. A lot of this vote-a-rama will involve political theater, and as CNN notes, Democrats will likely use Republican Senators’ votes during this process in campaign attack ads during the midterm elections next year.
Finally, there will be a vote on passing the final One Big Beautiful Bill Act into law. No Democrats are expected to support the bill, and there may even be a few Republican holdouts, but it is believed that Republicans will still have enough votes in the Senate to pass it.
However, just because the Senate passes the One Big Beautiful Bill Act doesnt mean it becomes law. The bill would then need to return to the House for a vote. If it passes the House, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act would then become law with the president’s signature.
As for whether all this can be accomplished by July 4, that remains to be seen.
What do Americans think of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act
Most Americans dont like the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, including many Republicans and even self-identified MAGA supporters.
The nonpartisan nonprofit Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) released the results of its comprehensive polling on the One Big Beautiful Bill Act on June 17. Those results showed that an overwhelming majority of Americans viewed the bill unfavorably.
When KFF asked Americans if they had a favorable or unfavorable opinion of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, the results were clear:
64% of Americans have an unfavorable view of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act
That unfavorability number jumps to 85% of Americans who identify as Democrats
Among Independent voters, 71% of Americans view the bill unfavorably
But whats really interesting is the view of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act from Americans who identify themselves as Republicans:
While KFF found that just 36% of Republicans view the One Big Beautiful Bill Act unfavorably, that number is massively different depending on whether the Republican identifies themselves as a MAGA supporter or a non-MAGA supporter.
Yet even among MAGA supporters, more than a quarter of them27%view the One Big Beautiful Bill Act unfavorably.
And when it comes to non-MAGA Republicans, the numbers are much worse. A full 66% of non-MAGA Republicans view the One Big Beautiful Bill Act unfavorably.
If so many American voters across parties view the One Big Beautiful Bill Act unfavorably, why are Republicans rushing to pass the bill? Thats a question theyll have to answer to their Republican voters during next years Midterm elections.
As organizations embed artificial intelligence into business operations, the demands on leaders are changing. Todays teams arent made up of people alonetheyre increasingly hybrid, with humans and AI working side by side. This shift has profound implications on how decisions are made, how roles are defined, and how trust is built.
Simply put, as the world changes, leaders need to change, tooand fast. To succeed, leaders must adapt their approachrethinking how they structure teams, develop talent, communicate change, and build cultures of continuous learning. Those who do will unlock new levels of agility and innovation. And those who dont will pay a steep price.
Unsure where to start? Here are five essential leadership shifts to make now in order to lead effectively in an era when yesterdays playbook no longer applies.
1. STRUCTURE FOR SHARED INTELLIGENCE, NOT JUST SHARED TASKS
Leadership today isnt about controlits about enabling collaboration between people and intelligent systems. As AI agents become more capable and autonomous, leaders must influence human behavior and how AI operates within the team.
That means defining when AI leads and when people intervene, ensuring AI decisions are understandable, and creating clear escalation paths. The goal isnt to micromanage AIits to design environments where humans and machines both contribute.
By investing in the core operating processes and relational dynamics of team performance, youll turn your AI players into an all-star team.
Ask yourself: How can I lead effectively when Im not the onlyor even the smartestagent in the room?
2. RECALIBRATE HOW YOU LEAD WHEN AI JOINS THE TEAM
If you want people to engage with AI, you need to treat it as an active tool, not a passive teammate. Start by understanding where agents can add value. Assign AI agents clear roles and embed them into workflows where their strengthsspeed, scale, and pattern recognitionamplify human capability.
The real challenge isnt humanizing technologyits humanizing the experience of those working alongside it. That requires that people feel trusted and includednot sidelined or replaced. It means involving them in shaping AI deployment, providing hands-on, practical training, and recognizing their uniquely human strengthslike empathy and creativityas vital to success.
AI raises the bar for human critical thinking, decision-making, and accountabilityand thats where true value emerges. Done right, AI becomes a catalyst for confidence, collaboration, and culture.
Ask yourself: Am I fully leveraging the complementary strengths of humans and machineswhile keeping the human experience at the center of it all?
3. BUILD YOUR LEADERSHIP MUSCLE
The roles and responsibilities of leaders that made their organization successful in the past are different than whats required going forward. Leaders must demonstrate the courage to author an ambition that is less about protecting the past and more about creating the new.
With generative AI expected to impact over 40% of working hours, leaders must unleash the confidence of their employees while enabling their accountability, connection, and judgment. Develop employees with self-awareness and relevant experiences to grow into the future leaders you need.
Ask yourself: Am I embracing the nature of change as a moment to accelerate my ambition, foster greater connection, and ensure that my people fluency matches my tech fluency?
4. LEAD WITH LISTENING, NOT ASSUMPTIONS
AI adoption isnt being held back by fearbut rather by misaligned perceptions between leaders and employees.
Accenture research shows that 94% of employees believe they can learn the skills needed to work with AI, yet only 5% of organizations are reskilling their workforce at scale. At the same time, C-suite executives say lack of skills is a large barrier to scaling AI. This isnt just a resourcing gapits a disconnect in how each group perceives the problem.
To close the gap, leaders must start with active listening. Explain why AI matters. Offer training thats practical and ongoing. And create space for experimentation, feedback, and learningespecially when it doesnt go perfectly the first time.
Ask yourself: Are you investing the time truly required to shape AI strategy through listening and conversation with the people expected to drive it?
5. BECOME AN ARCHITECT OF CONTINUOUS CHANGE
AI is accelerating. Your culture needs to evolve just as quickly. Yet, Accenture research shows only 25% of leaders believe their teams are prepared to embrace change. Just 42% of employees feel confident in their ability to keep up.
This is not a workforce gapits a leadership opportunity. Start with a narrative that excites others about the possibilities while acknowledging the uncertainties. Embed co-learning into daily work. Encourage safe experimentation. And model the behavior you want to see: When leaders are curious, open to feedback, and transparent about their own journeys, others follow.
Ask yourself: Am I creating the right conditions for, and to work with, emergent and iterative transformation?
LEAD THE FUTURE BEFORE IT LEADS YOU
Leadership in the age of AI isnt about having all the answers. Its about showing up differentlylistening harder, adapting faster, and being brave enough to rewire the workplace. The tools are changing. The core principles are not.
Empathy. Trust. Vision. These are still the anchors of great leadership. Whats different now is whereand with whomyou practice them.
The future of impactful leadership isnt human or AI. Its human and AIworking better together.
Hello and welcome to Modern CEO! Im 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.
In the summer of 2000, moviegoers flocked to see Gladiator and Mission: Impossible II, Finlands Nokia was the leading maker of cellphones, and American telephone companies Bell Atlantic and GTE completed their $52 billion merger. They changed the entitys name to Verizon Communications.
Im not big on writing about company anniversariesto me they seem like the corporate equivalent of Hallmark holidays. However, as a business journalist in the late 1990s and early 2000s, a big part of my job was to chronicle the regulatory and technological changes that led to the formation of Verizon 25 years ago. Ive interviewed all of Verizons chief executives, going back to its original co-CEOs, Chuck Lee and Ivan Seidenberg. And I wanted to speak to current CEO Hans Vestberg about the state of telecom today and how hes positioning the company for its next 25 years.
Making a big request
For Vestberg, who became CEO in 2018 and led the companys launch of its fast, low-latency 5G wireless technology, that means future-proofing the business by investing in its network. In 2021, Verizon pledged more than $52 billion to acquire wireless airwaves auctioned by the U.S. government. (For context, Verizons annual operating revenue last year was about $135 billion.) Vestberg says the purchase sets the company up to deliver products and services well into the next decades. I promise you, 25 years from now, we are going to be the leading telecom company in this country, he says. To do that, he says, you need spectrum, or radio frequencies for wireless communications.
Vestberg says the board of directors supported his massive spending request. Our board is committed to think long-term, he says. Investors have been less enthusiastic. The companys stock price is about $42 a share, roughly where it was trading in early 2021, when it agreed to buy the spectrumand the company underperformed the broader market in that time frame.
An investment in the future
Vestberg notes that today, phone calls and text messagesthe main applications for wireless phones when Verizon was born 25 years agorepresent about 3% of the networks total usage. Nearly half of the usage is for streaming movies, games, and other digital fare. He says he believes the capacity and design of Verizons network will allow the company to accommodate new technologies that will flow over its airwaves and fiber. Im here to manage the legacy of my predecessors and see that this company continues to be the number one in everything were doing in this market, he says.
Future-proofing your business
How are you future-proofing your company for the next 25 years, and how do you get your board, investors, employees, and others to support your plans? Send me examples of your strategiesId love to share your stories in a future newsletter.
Read more: birthday bashes
LinkedIn turns 20: An oral history of an unlikely champion
50 stories celebrating the 50th anniversary of the moon landing
4 pitfalls to avoid when navigating corporate anniversaries
On a recent flight home to Cincinnati, I found myself in a Wi-Fi pickle.
Delta was offering free in-flight Wi-Fi for all SkyMiles members, but only after logging in through a web page. That created an obstacle for connecting my recently-acquired retro gaming handhelds, which dont have web browsers onboard. With no access to Deltas login site, I couldnt get them online to track my gaming progress.
Quite the first-world problem, but after a bit of searching, I found a solution: Using my Android phones personal hotspot feature, I could relay Deltas Wi-Fi to any nearby device without having to go through a login page. Even with my phone in airplane mode, I was able to set up the hotspot and get my gaming handhelds online.
It turns out that Windows PCs, MacBooks, and many Android phones can share a local Wi-Fi connection this way. I wish Id known about this earlier, because it can be useful in all kinds of scenarios:.
Youre paying for hotel, in-flight, or cruise ship Wi-Fi, but each device connection costs extra.
Youre using a guest Wi-Fi network that limits the total number of devices you can connect.
Youve brought a Fire TV Stick or other streaming device to use in a hotel room, but the guest Wi-Fi network has a login page that your device cant navigate.
In all of these situations, relaying the Wi-Fi connection from a phone or computer provides a workaround. To the network, it just looks like youre connecting one device, but in reality youre distributing it to your other devices as well.
This story first appeared in Advisorator, Jareds weekly tech advice newsletter. Sign up for free to get more tips every Tuesday.
A personal hotspot refresher
When you set up a personal hotspot on your phone, it effectively becomes a tiny wireless router, with its own network name and password. You can join this network from your other devices, and theyll use your phones internet connection to get online.
Typically, youd use a personal hotspot to extend your phones cellular connection to laptops, tablets, or other nearby devices when Wi-Fi is unavailable. If your wireless plan supports hotspot use, its a great alternative to device-specific data plans (like those pricey iPad plans the major carriers love to push on unsuspecting customers).
But with the in-flight Wi-Fi pickle I mentioned above, connecting to cellular wasnt an option. My phone was in airplane mode with cellular disabled, and theres no cell reception at 10,000 feet in the air anyway.
Instead, I used the same personal hotspot feature to share Deltas Wi-Fi connection with my gaming device. That allowed me to get online even though that device couldnt log into Deltas network on its own.
Side note: If youve never used your phones personal hotspot feature before, I suggest giving a try:
On iPhones: Head to Settings > Cellular > Personal Hotspot. From here you can turn on the hotspot and look up or change the networks password. (The Wi-Fi network name will be the same as your phones name, set under Settings > General About > Name.)
On Android: Instructions vary by phone, but look for Settings > Network & Internet (or Connections) > Hotspot & Tethering. You can set both the network name and password from this menu.
With personal hotspot turned on, your phone should appear in the Wi-Fi menu on other devices, so you can connect with whatever password you set up.
Just remember that hotspot mode puts a strain on your phones battery, so turn it back off when youre not using it.
Setting up the relay
Wi-Fi sharing is buried inside Samsungs hotspot menu
To relay a Wi-Fi connection, youll need a compatible Android phone, Windows laptop, or MacBook. (Sadly, the hotspot feature on iPhones only works with cellular data; it cant share local Wi-Fi connections.)
To see if your Android phone is compatible, try turning on your personal hotspot and Wi-Fi at the same time. If your phones top status bar shows both the hotspot and Wi-Fi symbols, any devices you connect to the personal hotspot should route through Wi-Fi instead of your cellular network. (You can also test this by turning on Airplane Mode before enabling the hotspot.)
On Samsung phones, you should also head to Settings > Connections > Mobile Hotspot and Tethering, tap on the words Mobile Hotspot, then tap the Password field. Hit the Advanced button at the bottom, then make sure Wi-Fi sharing is turned on.
If you cant use your phone to relay a Wi-Fi connection, try sharing from your laptop instead:
Windows 11: Head to Settings > Network & internet > Mobile hotspot. Set a password under the Properties heading before turning the hotspot on.
MacOS: Head to Apple Menu > System Settings > General > Sharing, then click the i next to Internet Sharing. Turn on the Wi-Fi toggle, set your network name and password, then turn Internet Sharing on.
Wi-Fi sharing in Windows 11
Wi-Fi sharing in MacOS
Just like the personal hotspot feature on phones, your laptop will create a small Wi-Fi network for connecting your devices, and theyll share whatever internet connection the laptop is using.
Keep this in mind next time you run into an overly restrictive guest Wi-Fi network, whether its on dry land or not.
This story first appeared in Advisorator, Jareds weekly tech advice newsletter. Sign up for free to get more tips every Tuesday.
CEOs have become more than just corporate leaderstheyre among the most valuable assets on the balance sheet. Great leadership can drive billions in market cap by shaping narratives and galvanizing stakeholders. But what happens when the communication tools they use to build credibility start to erode it?
Were entering a new era in CEO communications, one where human messages increasingly filter through the lens of AI. Analysts and investors have long leaned on AI-powered language models and sentiment analysis to dissect earnings calls, parsing executive tone, word choice, and delivery for signals on strategy, risk, or future performance. Now, CEOs and their teams are flipping the scriptcrafting messages with the help of generative AI to appeal to the very same systems analyzing them.
Its a feedback loop of machines talking to machines. And while the tech arms race might make earnings calls look polished and sentiment scores spike, it also risks creating a sentiment gap. In the end, credibility is still the most valuable currency in leadershipand AI cant replace that.
The CEO Premium Meets the AI Arms Race
Corporate valuation has always been about more than just numbers. Investors have baked intangibles like brand equity, leadership narratives, and cultural impact into their models. As NYU finance professor Aswath Damodaran puts it, valuation is as much about a companys story as it is about spreadsheets.
The CEOs job is to integrate those stories with their strategies. Jensen Huang didnt make Nvidia a trillion-dollar company because of flawless financial executionhe did it by selling a vision of AI as the engine of the future, powering everything from healthcare to climate solutions. Thats the CEO premium in action: the ability to turn a strategic story into market-moving value. But heres what no ones saying out loud: when that story is over-engineered with AI, something critical is lost.
Consider this: Bank of Americas S&P 500 corporate sentiment tracker, based on an analysis of thousands of earnings transcripts, hit an all-time high earlier this year, even as analysts lowered growth expectations for 2025. The disconnect is stark. While executives are optimizing their tone and language to look and sound bullish, its masking underlying realities.
Were looking at a sentiment bubble, where polished communications are designed to impress algorithms but are creating distance from actual performance. The result? A risk to long-term stakeholder confidence and broader market integrity.
The Credibility Gap is Realand Risky
AI-powered communications is an incredible asset. It can help executives sharpen their messages, anticipate audience reactions, and streamline delivery. But when it starts to obscure realityor worse, is used as a veilit risks blowing up the most important thing any CEO has: credibility.
Markets thrive on credibility. Investors place a premium on CEOs who communicate clearly and consistently, and are transparent about their strengths and challenges. When communication becomes engineered for algorithms rather than stakeholders, it creates a hollow effectpolished on the surface, but leaving questions below.
This is more than theoretical. A recent study published in Harvard Business Review found that employees rated CEO messages as less helpful if they thought the message was AI-generatedeven when it wasn’t. Perception alone was enough to damage trust. That finding underscores the growing credibility risk CEOs face when misusing or leaning too heavily on AI.
What CEOs Need to Do Now
So where does this leave us? The CEOs who win in this new reality wont be the ones with the most AI-polished messagingtheyll be the ones who balance technology with authenticity. Heres how:
Speak to Stakeholders, Not Just Algorithms: Say what you mean. Own the hard truths. AI should enhance a message, not sanitize it. AI-generated communications might score well with language models, but stakeholdersinvestors, employees, customersarent grading on polish. Theyre looking for clarity.
Anchor Narratives in Performance: Narratives drive valuation, but theyre meaningless without numbers. If the results are strong, show your math. If theyre weak, explain why. Dont let AI overinflate optimism. Instead, use it to sharpen transparency.
Ensure AI Augments, Not Replaces: AI is great for refining delivery and identifying blind spots, but it cant replace human judgment or instinct. Companies that over-rely on AI-driven clones or sentiment engineering risk losing the real connection that drives stakeholder engagement.
Anticipate the Credibility Pivot: As sentiment inflation continues, markets will inevitably adjust. Investors will begin looking for the next differentiator, pivoting from polished delivery to deeper signals of authenticity. CEOs who lean into direct, unvarnished communication will stand out.
Get Ahead of Whats Coming: The tools analyzing your every word are only getting more advanced. The only sustainable strategy? Consistency. Authenticity. Messages that hold up under scrutinyalgorithmic or human. If your leadership story cant survive deep analysis, it was never leadership to begin with.
The Way Forward: Still a Human Game
AI is reshaping the rules of executive communications, but the most successful leaders will recognize that technology is a supporting actnot the star of the show. At the end of the day, the algorithms dont close deals, inspire employees, or build relationships with customersCEOs do.
In this next chapter of leadership, The CEOs who win wont be the ones scoring highest on sentiment trackers. Theyll be the ones who use AI responsibly, stay grounded in performance, and lead with clarity and authenticity. Because when machines talk past each other, the whole system breaks down.
Credibility is still the most valuable asset a CEO has. And no algorithm can replace that.
For the Los Angeles area neighborhoods devastated by January’s wildfires, rebuilding is a question of how, not if. A new effort involving 40 architecture firms from L.A. and beyond aims to broaden the scope of what that rebuilding looks like.
Case Study 2.0 is a model home design program that is creating a catalog of preapproved and deeply discounted house plans for fire victims in the Pacific Palisades and Altadena neighborhoods. Combining the quality of custom design with the speed and affordability of mass production, the designs are intended to be easily permitted, quick to build, relatively affordable and, just as importantly, beautiful.
Xenia Projects [Image: courtesy Case Study 2.0]
This effort was launched in February by Crest Real Estate, a land-use-consulting and permit-expediting company that works with architects, developers, and municipalities to get development projects approved for construction. Third-generation Angeleno Steven Somers, who founded Crest with his brother, Jason, 13 years ago, says that once the fires broke, he knew the company was obligated to do something to help in the eventual recovery. “We’re in a position where we understand the next steps,” Somers says.
Emre Arolat Architecture [Image: courtesy Case Study 2.0]
To expedite the rebuilding process, Crest recruited 40 top architecture firms from L.A. and beyond to develop more than 50 fire-resilient home designs that can be quickly approved for construction permits. The homes range from Spanish Colonials and compact bungalows to minimalist ranch-style single-story homes and modernist spectacles with sculptural rooflines. Designed to meet the parameters of the eight most common lots in the fire-affected areas, these house plans are contemporary in design but intended to be built in multiples rather than as one-offs.
Tracy Stone [Image: courtesy Case Study 2.0]
The architects have agreed to make their plans available to fire victims for $25 per square foot, which, depending on the firm, is just 25% to 35% of what they’d usually charge for architectural services. And once each design goes through the initial approvals process with either the city or county, it will take less than half the usual amount of time to get any additional build of that design permitted.
“The question we were asking was how do you rebuild 100 years of character over the next five years?” Somers says. “People are really concerned that what gets built back feels like a tract development and doesn’t have the unique variation from lot to lot that made these communities entirely unique.”
Solkatt [Image: courtesy Case Study 2.0]
A historical precedent
This effort was inspired by the postwar-era Case Study House Program, which sought to meet the booming demand for housing in the 1940s and ’50s by commissioning architecture firms to design replicable modern homes for the L.A. region. The resulting houses are now regarded as icons of mid-century modern design, but they didn’t achieve their intended scale.
Stahl House: Case Study House #22 [Photo: kjmagnuson/Flickr]
“Today we have a similarly urgent need for thousands of units of housing to be built. We want that to be done beautifully, just like the first Case Study House Program, but it must be done economically,” Somers says. “That’s where we feel like we’re picking up the baton.”
Grant Kirkpatrick is founding principal of L.A.-based KAA Design, and he worked with Somers as Crest was developing the idea for the Case Study 2.0 program. “As someone who has worked in the hillsides of Los Angeles for over 35 yearsand has seen more than a dozen of our projects lost to fireI feel a deep responsibility to be part of the solution,” Kirkpatrick says. “We see this as an opportunity to help reimagine whats possible after lossnot only to restore homes, but to restore hope.”
Marmol Radziner [Image: courtesy Case Study 2.0]
Somers says the program cuts the cost of rebuilding in several ways. First is the discount on the designs offered by all the participating architects, including Morphosis, Marmol Radziner, and Tighe Architecture. Second is a range of 15% to 30% discounts offered by partner companies on building materials including doors, windows, roof tiles, and exterior cladding. There’s also the reduced overall cost that comes from having plans that are already preapproved.
Morphosis [Image: courtesy Case Study 2.0]
Once the first iteration of a design goes through that four-to-six month permitting process, Somers says each subsequent use of that design should be approved in just two months. And if the same contractor is used to build each iteration of a design, there are likely to be further cost and time savings. “They’re going to start to really create almost an assembly line process,” he says.
Solkatt [Image: courtesy Case Study 2.0]
All this combines to reduce the cost of building a nearly custom contemporary home by 20% to 35%, Somers says. In L.A., that could translate to hundreds of thousands of dollars.
The goal, Somers says, is for the houses to be built for between $600 and $800 per square foot. That translates to between $1.2 million and $1.8 million for a 2,000 square foot house, which is more than the $970,000 cost of the average home in the city of L.A., according to Zillow. For the affluent residents of the Pacific Palisades, the cost may be more manageable than for the middle class residents of Altadena.
The homes offered through this program are not the cheapest option on the market, nor are they intended to be. “The real goal here is giving homeowners an option to rebuild something beautiful and that they’re really excited about, but that can cost less than what a typical one-off custom home would cost to build,” Somers says.
The program is still in its early phases, and none of the designs in the catalog has gotten to the point of going up for official city or county approval. But Somers says multiple architects are currently working with clients to pursue rebuilding through the program. “I’m absolutely confident that some of these homes will be built,” he says. “Whether that’s 10 homes or 250 homes remains to be seen.”
Kings Hawaiianthe maker of the sweet, buttery rolls that were a staple in many American childhoodsjust got a fluffy rebrand.
The updated identity, which includes a new wordmark, logo, color palette, and packaging, was executed by the creative agency Mrs&Mr for Kings Hawaiians 75th anniversary. The brand crests this milestone at a tricky time for the grocery industry, as inflation and the rising cost of living continue to dampen consumer spending. Based on a report from the market research firm Circana, bread and rolls sales have declined by around 1% in the past yearbut, in an interview with CNN, Kings Hawaiian chief marketing officer Raouf Moussa shared that the brands sales have actually grown year-over-year despite this overall downturn.
According to Kate and Daniel Wadia, the duo behind Mrs&Mr, the goal of the new look included a careful balance of two priorities: modernizing the brand while also reconnecting its identity with the decades-long heritage thats turned it into an enduring source of nostalgia. To do that, they started by turning to the classic rolls themselves.
[Image: courtesy King’s Hawaiian]
75 years of Hawaiian rolls
Before it became a packaged goods company, Kings Hawaiian was a small local bakery in Hilo, Hawaii, in 1950. Its founder, Robert R. Taira, was the Hawaiian-born son of Japanese immigrants, who ultimately perfected a more shelf-stable version of the Portuguese sweet bread hed enjoyed in his childhoodan invention that would later become Kings Hawaiians iconic packaged Hawaiian rolls. Kings Hawaiians current CEO, Mark Taira, is Roberts grandson. He worked directly with Mrs&Mr to help transform King’s Hawaiian’s branding.
[Photo: courtesy King’s Hawaiian]
[Kings Hawaiian] saw themselves as this heritage brand that really needed to modernize, but also to stay true to its DNA and to its heritage, Daniel says. The impetus for the project was, How do we become relevant to new generations of Kings Hawaiian consumers, while building on our legacy as this iconic brand that’s been around since 1950?
[Photo: courtesy King’s Hawaiian]
To answer that question, Daniel and Kate parsed through archival materials from the brands early days, including original signage, vintage packaging, and old advertisements. And, because Daniel grew up in London and Kate in Australia, they also had to actually try the product for the first time.
Once we experienced the fluffiness, the squidginess, it reminded me of a French briochemy mother’s brioche has that squidginess, Daniel says. We really saw an opportunity for both the crown itself and also the wordmark to reflect the puffiness and the softness of the product. We wanted it to feel as if it had been bakedlike, literally, the logo just came out of the oven.
[Image: courtesy King’s Hawaiian]
Kings Hawaiians former logo, adopted in 2018, included a thin, uppercase serif font, encased in a pointed crown and surrounded by a bursting floral motif. Kate notes that the look had a messy quality, but, more significantly, it also had a very regal, formal feel.
It felt almost a little standoffish,” Kate says. “This product is a family recipe, there’s such love and warmth and humanity that goes into this product, that we wanted it to feel a little bit more approachable.”
[Image: courtesy King’s Hawaiian]
Baking the King’s Hawaiian brand
To give Kings Hawaiian a friendlier feel, Mrs&Mr started by metaphorically baking the brands core assets.
The crown logo, for example, has been given rounded edges and a chunkier feel. And, alongside lettering artist Alec Tear, Daniel and Kate developed a custom wordmark font that looks freshly risen. While the wordmarks font is still a serif, in keeping with the brands history, its now bubbly and weighty. The dots above each i, as well as the letters tails, are shaped to mimic a puffy Haiwaiian roll.
[Image: courtesy King’s Hawaiian]
Crucially, Daniel and Kate decided to keep the brands signature orange packaging, which has come to be strongly visually associated with the brand. To give the identity a brighter feel, though, they lightened the core hue a few shades and kicked up its vibrancy. They also expanded the brands usable color palette to include complementary colors like golden yellow and bright red. In place of the packagings former floral motif, Daniel and Kate opted to add in a more simplified pattern of illustrated hibiscus, monstera, and plumeria plants, all of which are native to Hawaii.
[Image: courtesy King’s Hawaiian]
The result is a versatile branding system thats now been applied across Kings Hawaiians entire portfolio of products, as well as on its website and social media.
It’s an iconic, beloved American brandand it’s something that people are very nostalgic about, Kate says. They sell Kings Hawaiian merch; people wear their T-shirts and hats and socks. So its really exciting, but there’s also a true responsibility when you rebrand these iconic brands that you dont give people design whiplash: it has to be familiar, yet updated.
Every entrepreneur faces challenges on their professional path. Many women, in particular, share experiences of doubt and difficulty in making their voices heard. But rest assured, there are tried-and-true ways to get you past these speed bumps and back onto the right track.
In my two-decade career at Christies auction house, I learned to navigate these dynamics. And when I eventually left to start my own talent agency, I had to use strategies I learned from my time in the male-dominated corporate world to get buy-in from new clients. My ability to speak up in rooms full of men, pitch ideas to them, and feel confident doing so proved to be critical.
The truth is, entrepreneurial life can have a higher barrier to entry for many women. But common obstacles dont need to stop you in your tracks. Here are five hidden roadblocks women should anticipateso you, too, can approach any business challenge confident in your ability to own it.
Decision-makers dont look like you
A common issue women face when they walk into a pitch meeting is a room full of people who dont look like them. As a result, when they start to pitch their product or idea, the people in the room cant relate and the deal falls apart quickly.
But knowing this will likely be the case gives you all the power. Do your research before you walk in the room so that you know exactly who you are going to be pitching tothat way, there are no surprises. Find out as much as possible about everyone who will be in the room so that you can find a natural point of synergy to connect you.
Since youve done the prework, you can ask leading questions that will steer the conversation in the way that you want. Dont hesitate to practice your pitch on friends who might be similar to the people you are about to pitch to, so they can punch holes in your presentation. The more prep work you do, the easier pitch day will be.
Juggling invisible labor
Are you drained at the end of the workday, only to walk in the door at home to find that you are in charge of everything there, too? The second shift is a common trap for working women. And it can stop today.
Have conversations with your partner early and often about dividing invisible work at home. The sooner you get into a rhythm where youre both aware of what it takes to keep a household moving, the less time you will spend arguing about it. Together, list out everything that has to get done around the house, and allocate it according to the things you are good at or like to dountil you get to the tasks neither of you want to do. Tackle those together. You cant do it alone, nor should you.
Limited access to funding
Women have access to less than 3% of venture capital money; its a shocking disparity that bears repeating. So be loud. This statistic will only improve the more we talk about it.
Tell anyone and everyone who needs to hear it that women need more access to capital. If youre a woman seeking VC money, get in touch with organizations like Female Founder Collective or Female Founders Fund, who help connect women with potential investors (and invest as well). Make the issue known, and align yourself with communities working to solve it.
Limited access to networks
My father always says network or diemeaning not that youll die if you dont network, but your network certainly will. Fewer women than men in positions of business leadership means that curating connections is essential. If you find that your network isnt growing, or your world seems small and you need a larger reach, its time to take matters into your own hands.
Organize a breakfast with a friend and ask her to invite six people you dont know. Do the same with your network. Make it meaningful, not just transactional. At the event, let each person talk about their work and life, then ask a question that everyone at the table has to answer.
Artificial timelines
The world of constant updates that we live in can make success seem easyas though if you arent killing it all the time, you arent successful.
If you find yourself scrolling on social media, concerned that everyone else is miles ahead of where you are supposed to be, say this to yourself as often as you need to: I am living life on the timeline I am supposed to be on. Things will happen when they are meant to happen and not before. I am exactly where I need to be. You will arriveroadblocks in your rearview mirror.
Van Nuys Airport in Los Angeles is one of the countrys busiest general aviation hubs, as residents nearby can attest. Those who live near the airport say they hear a relentless roar of planes overheadbut none of those flights are commercial. Instead, Van Nuys serves private air travel, and its where celebrities like Kim Kardashian and Elon Musk store their private jets.
Van Nuys is also the third most polluting private airport in the world, according to a new study from the International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT). Its also just one example of the way private jet use has been growing, particularly in the United States. Of the 20 largest airports for private jet use, 18 are located in the U.S., including Van Nuys, Palm Beach International Airport, and New Jersey’s Teterboro Airport, which is just 12 miles from midtown Manhattan. (The other two top airports for private jets were located in France.)
[Image: ICCT.org]
Private jets come with a huge carbon footprint. One typical private jet emits the same amount of greenhouse gasses per year as 177 cars. And the use of private jets has been increasing. ICCT estimates that private jets produced up to 19.5 million tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions in 2023, a 25% increase over the past decadeand equivalent to driving nearly 50 billion miles in an average gas car.
Aviation overall accounts for 2.5% of the worlds emissions. But how you fly can change your personal carbon footprint. On a commercial flight, those spacious business-class seats are responsible for up to five times as many CO2 emissions as seats in economy. That means people who take private jets, which typically have between six and 19 seats, are responsible for an even bigger share of emissions.
[Image: ICCT.org]
Private jet use accounts for about 2% of global aviation emissions. In 2023, global private jet flights collectively emitted more greenhouse gasses than all flights departing from Londons Heathrow Airport, which is the busiest airport in Europe.
Private jet flights also tend to be quick jaunts: less than 900 kilometers, and lasting fewer than two hours. (Short haul flights produce a disproportionate amount of emissions, accounting for about a third of aviations total carbon footprint.)
[Image: ICCT.org]
And most of the private jet flights happen, or at least start in, the U.S. Two-thirds of all private jet flights in the world departed from U.S. airports in 2023, accounting for 55% of all private jet emissions globally. Private jet use here has made headlines multiple times, as people have tracked Taylor Swifts personal plane journeys or the fact that Starbucks CEO Brian Niccols would be using a business jet (a type of private jet) to commute from his home in Newport Beach, California, to the companys headquarters in Seattle.
The U.S. is so flush with private jets that Florida and Texas together were the source of more private jet flights and greenhouse gas emissions than the entire European Union.
When it comes to curbing private jet use, some policymakers have floated the idea of taxing private jet emissions or fuels. In 2023, Congress introduced legislation to raise private jet fuel taxes from $0.22 to $1.95 per gallon, which would essentially be $200 per metric ton of a private jets CO2 emissions. While that proposal didn’t gain much traction, the tax proposal has recently been reintroduced.
Such a tax, the ICCT report estimated, could generate $3 billion annually for decarbonization efforts. Given the slow pace of technological progress, said Dan Rutherford, ICCTs Senior Director of Research, in a statement, its reasonable to charge ultrawealthy travelers more for their pollution.
