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Labor Day has arrived, and with it, the start of meteorological fall. Both are on September 1 this year, and it’s the day many consider to be the beginning of autumn. Astronomical fall, the day when locations on the equator have virtually equal daylight and darkness, begins three weeks later on Monday, September 22. With both starts to fall now within range, and the summer quickly receding, many are looking forward to the cooler weather and explosion of natural colors that come with the season. However, depending on your location, you may see the changing leaves earlier or later than others in the country. But when? These two interactive maps show when the autumn leaves are expected to change color in your area in 2025. Use these maps to reveal when the leaves will change Two excellent interactive map tools can help reveal when the leaves are likely to change in your area. However, it should be noted that no tool is entirely accurate when predicting fall colors, and several factors, including local temperatures and rainfall, can affect when the leaves will change. Still, as September progresses into October and October into November, the leaves will continue to change through their cascade of seasonal colors, progressing from north to south. This means that states in the northern U.S., including Washington, Montana, Wisconsin, and Vermont, will see the leaves change before those in the southern U.S., such as Texas, Louisiana, and Florida. Smoky Mountains Fall Foliage Prediction Map The first map comes to us from SmokeyMountains.com. The interactive tool displays the continental U.S., and you can drag the date slider beneath it to see a swath of colors gradually spread across America. These colors represent the level of coloring of the trees: Green: No Change Yellow: Minimal Peach: Patchy Orange: Partial Red: Near Peak Maroon: Peak Brown: Past Peak Explore Falls Fall Foliage Map 2025 The second map is from ExploreFall.com, and it offers more granular controls. You can use the slider below the map to watch falls colors spread south. However, you can also enter the name of a city or a ZIP code to view a locations current color conditions and the estimated peak date for the area, when colors will be at their most brilliant. The color code for this map is: Green: Little to No Color Yellow: Low Color Orange: Moderate Color Copper: High Color Maroon: Peak Color Black: Past Peak Color When will fall colors be at their peak in 2025? Several factors can affect when the fall colors will reach their peak, including local temperature conditions, rainfall, and other climate events. Location also plays a significant role, with northern states experiencing the leaves changing first and southern states seeing foliage turn later. Northern states, including Montana, North Dakota, and Maine, are expected to reach their peak as early as the first week of October. And southern states, including Louisiana, Alabama, Georgia, and Florida, won’t be seeing their peak until late November. However, for most of America, peak colors will occur sometime within the last ten days of October.
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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. CEOs appear to love artificial intelligence (AI). Nearly 95% of chief executives and founders running Inc. 5000 companiesthe fastest-growing privately held businesses in the U.S.say they are optimistic about AIs potential to run their operations. Thats up from 91% who held that same opinion in 2024. Nearly two-thirds of CEOs surveyed by IBM say they currently are adopting AI agentssoftware that autonomously performs tasks. CEOs still on the AI fence But many CEOspresent company includedare lagging when it comes to adopting AI in their personal and professional routines. When I recently sought responses from global CEOs on how they use generative AI to do their jobs, the only leaders who responded were entrepreneurs and tech executives. The New York Times recently published a piece highlighting the deficiencies of AI usage in corner offices. AI is weird and off-putting, Ethan Mollick, an AI expert and professor at the University of Pennsylvanias Wharton School, told The Times. Theres a lot of psychological resistance to using the systems even for people who know they should be doing it. So, I was pleased when Jim OLeary, Weber Shandwicks North America CEO and global president, agreed to talk about his AI journey. Weber Shandwick is a 4,000-person communications consultancy, and OLeary advises CEOs on navigating business issues, including AI adoption and usage. Turning the office of the CEO into an experimentation test bed enhances Weber Shandwicks credibility with clients. If Im going to advise clients, I need to be able to master for myself what Im advising them on, he says. Having done it for ourselves, it puts us in a position to be able to show versus just tell. Leadership’s lab experiment OLeary says he started the process about six months ago by assembling his executive administrator, his chief of staff, Weber Shandwicks chief innovation officer, and a technologist to discuss what they ultimately wanted AI to enable. They decided that they wanted a tool that could summarize meetings securely; a system that could gather and prioritize information such as news and research; and a repository for all that knowledge but also Weber Shandwicks library of press releases, presentations, CEO memos, and more. They also wanted AI agents that could automatically generate specific projects and a way for all the software to work together. Maintaining privacy, confidentiality, and security protocols was table stakes. Building this AI innovation ecosystem has involved considerable up-front work and some customization, but the end result, OLeary says, is a system that automatically processes, summarizes, and prioritizes the information he needs to do his job. And while his administrative assistant and chief of staff still review much of what the system creates for him, OLeary says the output keeps getting better. Scaling the CEO OLeary says this AI-powered approach has also allowed him to essentially scale himself. Knowledge doesnt just live in my head or inbox, he says. It exists in a widely accessible way that informs our work and systems. For an all-hands email, for example, OLearys writing agentwhich is accessible to everyone in the CEO officeis capable of producing a high-quality draft tapping the central repository for relevant meeting notes, timely articles hes saved via a news curation platform, and his library of memos (to get his writing style and tone right). I asked OLeary if hes contemplated creating a chatbot that employees could query instead of coming to him for answers. (Nearly half of CEOs surveyed in 2023 by online learning company edX said most or all their work could be replaced by AI.) He says he hasnt turned himself into a bot, but Weber Shandwick employees do have access to a proprietary platform called Halo, whose AI agents leverage the consultancys intellectual property to produce client-specific press releases, proposals, and more. OLeary says his offices embrace of AI has, in turn, stoked employee usage of AI software. I think its empowering the team, he says. These tools are also giving the CEO the most valuable return: time. OLeary estimates hes saving one to two hours per day, which he can reinvest in higher-value activities. He says he now has more time for blue-sky thinking, more time for leadership development of my team on AI. Perhaps above all, maybe I get to spend a little more time with my kids. How do you use AI? As a CEO, are you leading by example on AI? What are some of the ways youve deployed AI, and what are you doing with the time youre getting back? Send your examples to me at stephaniemehta@mansueto.com. Ill feature some of the most compelling case studies in a future newsletter. Read more: CEOs using AI 25 AI hacks high-growth founders swear by How 7 startups are deploying AI now Will your next CEO be AI?
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Every human being, leaders included, has blind spots. These arent flaws in character or failures of competence, theyre simply the unseen gaps between intention and impact. Most of us dont realize these blind spots are there until something goes wrong: a team misfires, communication breaks down, or feedback loops fall silent. But what if you could learn to detect, and even predict, those blind spots before they undermine your leadership? The key lies in understanding your leadership style, particularly through the lens of personality diversity. The Hidden Costs of Blind Spots Blind spots can take many forms: an overemphasis on results at the expense of relationships, an aversion to conflict that stifles honest feedback, or a tendency to micromanage when stressed. Often, these patterns emerge because were wired a certain way, with our habits of perception, communication, and decision-making shaped by our personality tendencies. When left unchecked, these tendencies become predictable pitfalls. And in the complex dynamics of todays hybrid, fast-moving workplaces, the cost of not seeing yourself clearly can be high: lost engagement, missed innovation, and eroded trust. Leadership Style Isn’t Just a Buzzword Understanding your leadership style isnt about fitting into a box, its about recognizing how you naturally lead, and where you might unintentionally lead others astray. One powerful approach comes from personality diversity frameworks like the E-Colors, which segment human behavior into four primary tendencies: Red (action oriented), Green (analytical), Yellow (social and optimistic), and Blue (empathetic and caring). Most people exhibit a combination of two dominant E-Colors, which shapes how they communicate, make decisions, handle pressure, and relate to others. For example: A leader with Red/Yellow tendencies may be dynamic and persuasive, but risk steamrolling quieter team members. A leader with Blue/Green tendencies, meanwhile, may be thoughtful and supportive, but struggle with quick decision-making under pressure. Recognizing these patterns is all about awareness. Once you understand your natural style, you begin to see not just what you bring to the table, but what you might be missing. Three steps to spot and manage your blind spots 1. Know Thyself (Really) Most leaders assume theyre self-aware. But research from Tasha Eurich and her team has shown that while 95% of people think theyre self-aware, only about 10% to 15% actually are. Personality assessments, when well-designed and behaviour-based, can act as a mirror that reflects back not just your strengths, but also your triggers and tendencies under stress. Ask yourself: What kind of situations bring out the best in me? When things go sideways, how do I typically react? What do others frequently thank me, or warn me, about? A Red/Green leader, for instance, may pride themselves on logic and decisiveness. But under pressure, that same logic can turn into coldness, and decisiveness into dismissiveness. Recognizing that pattern is the first step toward managing it. Leadership blind spots by personality style E-ColourCore StrengthsPotential Blind SpotsWhen Under Pressure Red (action oriented)Decisive, driven, results-focused, quick to actCan appear bossy or impatient, may override others’ input, struggles to listen deeplyMay become controlling, aggressive, or dismissive of emotions Green (analytical & logical)Detailed, logical, process-driven, focused on accuracyMay overanalyze, resist change, delay decisions, lacks emotional expressionCan withdraw, become overly critical, or shut down communication Yellow (social & optimistic)Enthusiastic, inspiring, people-centered, creativeMay talk over others, avoid structure, dismiss detail, or fail to follow throughMay become disorganized, reactive, or emotionally erratic Blue (caring & empathetic)Supportive, patient, dependable, relationship-focusedCan avoid conflict, resist fast decisions, fail to speak up, and over-accommodateMay become passive, disengaged, or overwhelmed by others’ needs 2. Invite honest feedback, then listen deeply Blind spots are, by definition, hard to see. Thats why intentional leaders proactively seek feedback, not just once a year, but as an ongoing dialog. The trick is not just asking for feedback but making it safe for others to give it. This is especially important when your leadership style may unintentionally discourage openness. For example, a Yellow/Red leader might radiate enthusiasm but dominate conversations, making it hard for others to express disagreement. By understanding this, they can slow down, ask more open-ended questions, and truly listen, creating space for perspectives they might otherwise miss. Try this: At your next team meeting, ask, Whats one thing I could do more of or less of to support your work better? And then say thank you. No justifications, no explanations, just listen. 3. Use Personality Diversity to Build Balanced Teams Diversity isnt just about backgrounds, its also about brains. A Yellow/Blue leader might be great at building a nurturing, collaborative culture but benefit from having a Red/Green colleague to inject structure and drive results. High-performing teams arent made up of people who all think alike, theyre made of people who understand how they think differently and can adapt accordingly. When team members know each others personality styles, theyre better equipped to resolve conflict, leverage strengths, and avoid collective blind spots. 4. Bridging Awareness and Action with Personal Intervention While recognizing your leadership blind spots is one thing, responding to them in the moment is another. Thats where Personal intervention becomes invaluable. While the lens of personality diversity allows you to identify your natural behaviors and preferences, Personal intervention is the actionable skill that allows you to pause, reflect, and choose your response, especially in those critical moments when your default tendencies might otherwise take over. At its core, Personal intervention is a simple but powerful self-regulation tool that empowers leaders to break free from autopilot reactions. Whether its choosing not to interrupt (if you’re naturally dominant), taking a stand (if you tend to avoid conflict), or slowing down your decision-making (if you’re overly action-oriented), personal intervention creates the space for intentional leadership. In high-pressure, emotional, or high-stakes situations, the very environments where blind spots often surface, this practice can be the difference between a reactive misstep and a response that aligns with your values, your vision, and the needs of your team. Developing this muscle of choice transforms awareness into action and helps leaders show up in ways that inspire trust, adaptability, and effectiveness. From Awareness to Action Spotting your blind spots is a practice built and refined over a lifetime. It means choosing response over reaction. It means embracing vulnerability and being willing to grow in public. It means moving from autopilot to intentional leadership. Understanding your leadership style is merely the first step to a more connected, more resilient, and more effective way to leadan evermore essential skill in a world that demands more humanity from our leadership than ever before.
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