 |
|
|
|||||
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. Last December, Modern CEO named the inaugural Modern CEO of the Year. The goal was to recognize a business leader who embodied the traits frequently covered in this newsletter: inclusion, accessibility, humility, and innovation amid unprecedented uncertainty. We looked for a person with vision and grit, someone who is growing a company sustainably. The methodology isnt scientific, but this year, one name stood out: Flexs Revathi Advaithi. Meet the Modern CEO of the Year Advaithi didnt set out to ride the artificial intelligence (AI) boom. After becoming CEO of Flex (formerly known as Flextronics) in 2019, she zeroed in on the contract manufacturing companys power-focused business, which makes components that manage, regulate, and distribute power for advanced semiconductors and systems. Advaithi understood that business segment well from her years working at Eaton, the power management company. She bet that technology companies would continue to need more power and computethe processing power and other resources needed to run applicationsplus systems to cool equipment to keep it from overheating. She quietly began to build a portfolio of products and services to design, manage, and deploy power, compute, and cooling infrastructure. Today, that business is growing 35% year-over-year, and Advaithi expects it to generate about $6.5 billion of Flexs fiscal 2026 annual revenue, projected to reach $26.7 billion to $27.3 billion. As Modern CEO went to press, Flex stock was up 65%, outperforming the broader market and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index. Either we were very smart, or we got lucky, Advaithi says. But when [generative] AI emerges and people start talking about power-hungry compute, the strategy we put together looks like its a winning strategy. Strategic leadership, personal adversity Advaithi is quick to point out that her remaking of the power portfolio was part of a strategic approach she applied to all parts of Flexs business, which includes supply-chain management and manufacturing of components for electronics and automobile makers and the healthcare industry. Indeed, Flex did more than simply capitalize on AI in 2025. This year, the company also helped its clients figure out strategies for dealing with new tariffs. And Advaithi led the company while undergoing treatment for breast cancer for part of the year. Shes currently in remission. Advaithi says her board of directors supported her decision to keep working after she was diagnosed with cancer in August 2024 even though intense chemotherapy would mean missing travel and interactions with employees and customers. But Advaithi says shes never been a 24/7 CEO and has always made time for family, friends, and activities, so she felt confident that the company could thrive without her being constantly on call. For Advaithi, the decision was affirming. Having that purpose, keeping myself grounded, having something to push myself out of bed, kept me going in a pretty significant way, she says. She also says she wanted to show the business world and other patients that those undergoing treatment, especially women, were capable of reliance and strength. I felt like I had a duty and obligation to show that it could be done, she says, acknowledging the support of her family and the ability to access high-quality care. A guide for uncertain times With manufacturing facilities in 30 countries, Flex this year found itself consulting with clients on how best to navigate the new tariffs announced by the Trump administration at the start of the year. Using sophisticated software that analyzed everything from labor costs to rare-earth mining risks, Flex offered customers different options to make and deliver goods as well as develop longer-term manufacturing and supply chain strategies. That dispassionate, disciplined approach is not unlike the way Advaithi is thinking about the AI growth opportunity, which many now feel is approaching bubble territory. Rather than building her business around speculation about investment needed to support AI hyper-scalers, Advaithi says shes focused on the power needs of data centers that have already been announced for 2026. The constant decision that CEOs have to make today is looking at growth, risk-taking, and discipline, she says. Ive only worked with industrial companies, so I feel like you have to [ask]: Where are you five years from now? Where are you 10 years from now? And have you built a business thats viable and sustainable? More Modern CEOs Who would have been your pick for Modern CEO of the Year, and why? Send your submissions to me at stephaniemehta@mansueto.com, and well highlight readers choices in an upcoming newsletter. Read more: top CEOs YouTubes Neal Mohan is Times CEO of the Year Barrons 2025 Top CEOs Inc.s 2025 Business Leaders of the Year
Category:
E-Commerce
Every December, millions of people pause to take stock of their lives before the new year. Some gather for vision-board parties, others sketch out New Years resolutions, and many quietly vow to finally get organized before the clock hits midnight. But this year feels different. Were closing out 2025 in an economic climate defined by weekly corporate layoffs, social media posts from people with excel trackers archiving hundreds of job applications, and sidelined workers hopelessly looking for jobs for over a year. Families are being pushed to the brink by rising prices, and a generational affordability crisisfueled by a shortage of three to four million homes nationwide, according to analysts by conservative estimateshas made it harder than ever to build stability. Across platforms, people describe the ground shaking beneath them: seasoned professionals struggling to get callbacks, families displaced by rent increases, and workers in every sector worried that technology is reshaping roles faster than organizations can adapt. Americans are questioning not just their career trajectory, but their worth and stability in an economy where the rules keep shifting. Yet history showsfrom the Industrial-boosted Gilded Age to the social mediadriven reality-show erathat moments when disruption and innovation collide also create unexpected openings. These periods force society, and individuals, to reconsider not just what they want from the world but what tools they already possess, or can rapidly develop, to navigate it with greater agency. Thats where a concept I call the Economy of Self becomes essentialand freeing. The Economy of Self isnt manifestation or hustle culture. Its the intentional practice of viewing yourself as an entity with specific value and designing a personal economic ecosystem that enables you to gain ground at best, or protect the ground beneath you at worst. Its the acknowledgment that while no one can control the macroeconomy, we can engineer our microeconomy in ways that produce clarity, resilience, and optionality. First, establish clarity The foundation of the Economy of Self is clarity. In an unpredictable job market, individuals need an honest inventory of what they know, what they can do, and what they can deliver in an instant, transactional mass environment. Too many people underestimate their expertise because their worth has long been defined by job titles and affiliation instead of outcomes. Thinking like an entity allows you to see your value from an outside perspective and helps you highlight what you individually have to leverage. Clarity is the first act of economic powerbecause you cannot price, position, or promote what you cannot articulate. Clarity creates the conditions for structure. Once you understand your value, you can package it. For some, that means turning expertise into discrete service offeringsproducts instead of retainersthat solve specific pain points for clients or employers. In a landscape where many workers are bridging employment gaps or supplementing income through project work, productization of personal expertise becomes a viable stabilizing tool. When you articulate your work as something a customer can buy, not just something an employer can assign, you reclaim the power to shape your own market. Next, supply chain development Finally, the Economy of Self requires supply-chain developmentintentionally strengthening the channels that connect your skills to real-world opportunities. That means engaging consistently rather than virally: showing up in your professional networks, posting subject matter ideas regularly, participating in events and conferences, and cultivating relationships that keep your name active in the rooms you want to be in. Supply chains arent built on sudden bursts of visibility; they are built through repetition, reliability, and presence. If this sounds like a lot, thats because it is. We are living through an economic and technological convergence that rewards intentional self-design more than ever. But the Economy of Self isnt about perfection or reinvention. Its about adapting strategically when the external environment becomes unpredictable. Its about reclaiming agency when traditional structures feel increasingly fragile. As we enter 2026with all its uncertainty and possibilitymany people wont have the luxury of waiting for stability to return. The future belongs to those willing to treat themselves not just as workers or job candidates, but as dynamic economic actors with assets, supply chains, and value propositions of their own. In a world where the ground keeps shifting, the most powerful thing you can build is an economy that starts with you.
Category:
E-Commerce
All the changes to the White House over the past year read like a reality TV drama. Clashes with architects. A lawsuit over the East Wing demolition. Paving over the beloved Rose Garden and turning it into an exclusive club. President Trumps promise (or was it a threat?) to make federal buildings beautiful again primarily played out at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. Now it has become the prime exemplar of Magatecture, whose aesthetic expression revolves around three key traits: Make it big, make it gold, and make it monetizable. [Photo: Roberto Schmidt/Getty Images] It is tradition for presidents to redecorate the White Housethe Oval Office and first familys private quarters typically get a refresh with each incoming administrationbut for the most part, they serve as stewards of a public building. The White House of modern memory is largely the result of Jackie Kennedys belief that it should be a living museum furnished with the finest American art, furniture, and decorative objects. In fact, the executive mansion hasnt seen such dramatic structural change since Harry Truman had it rebuilt in the 1940s when it was on the verge of collapse. [Photo: Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images] What separates the renovations happening today from the ones of the past is just how slapdash they are. Trump seems keen on making his mark with little regard for design integritytaping up a paper sign with Oval Office printed in gold Shelly Script, affixing gaudy gilded appliqués on just about any empty surface, and releasing error-laden digital renderings of the new ballroom with stairs leading to nowhere and misaligned windows. Ranking near the top of the downgrades is the refurbished Lincoln Bathroom, once a subtly art deco interior with seafoam green tile (courtesy of the Truman renovation) now sheathed in white statuary marble and accented with gold fixtures, like a three-star hotel powder room. President Donald Trump departs the White House on November 5, 2025. [Photo: Celal Gunes/Anadolu/Getty Images] Trump speaks the language of opulence, with little grasp of the vocabulary that makes rooms designed to this sensibility actually sing. Instead, Magatecture is most comfortable with superlatives, expressing itself through scale and the appearance of expense. To wit: Trump proudly installed two nearly 100-foot-tall flagpoles (the actual height is closer to 80 feet). [Photo: Al Drago/Bloomberg/Getty Images] The changes dont support the language within the Make Federal Architecture Beautiful Again executive order he issued in August, which proclaimed that all federal buildings ought to inspire the human spirit, ennoble the United States, and command respect from the general public. When those excessive gold embellishments are ridiculed as cheap Home Depot products (though Trump says he brought in his gold guy to fabricate them) its hard to argue that they represent distinguished design. Money talks, wealth whispers, and this spit shouts Temu Versailles. View this post on Instagram For a president who knew how to channel grandeur, look to Chester A. Arthur. In 1882, he hired Louis Comfort Tiffany to renovate the White House. One of his most indulgently furnished spaces was the Red Room, a parlor and sitting room occasionally used for small dinner parties. Tiffany painted the walls a rich Pompeiian red, blanketed the ceiling with copper and silver stars, installed a cherry-wood mantle adorned with glass tile, and commissioned a pink frieze. The furniture was equally lavish and included mirrors encrusted with gemstones, screens from East Asia, tall urns, and chairs upholstered in fringed damask. It was so lavish that Theodore Roosevelt had most of the decor stripped out during his administrations renovations, which the architecture firm McKim, Mead & White oversaw. Even more modest chapters in White House history reflect rigor. Michael S. Smith, President Barack Obamas decorator in chief, balanced the homes formal nature with more comfortable, approachable, and modern details, including an Oval Office done up in demure earth tones. While initially dismissed as an audacity of taupe, it was still thoughtfully composed and respected the architecture. White House historian William Seale told The New York Times that the calmed-down space felt welcoming, while interior designer Sheila Bridges noted that its understated look was appropriate considering the economic recession at the time. [Photo: Alex Wong/Getty Images] There isnt any sensitivity at play now. Amid a government shutdown, Trump ordered the demolition of the East Winga highly unusual command from the president, but a routine developer tacticwhich is now the subject of a lawsuit from preservationists who argue it violated numerous laws. What will take its place, if all goes according to Trumps wishes, is a ballroom of monstrous proportions; at an estimated 90,000 square feet, it would be roughly the same size as the West Wing and main house combined. To fund the Palladian-style building done up with Corinthian columns, Venetian windows, and crystal chandeliers, Trump has solicited an army of corporate donors to bankroll the $400 million bill. But the buck certainly does not stop here. Ever the businessman out for personal benefitsome estimates say Trump and his family have earned $3.4 billion from the presidencyhe converted a small room near the Oval Office into a MAGA merch display in which he proudly slings baseball caps to foreign leaders. President @realDonaldTrump showing President Zelenskyy and President Macron his 4 More Years hat pic.twitter.com/c7dhAkZMuF— Margo Martin (@MargoMartin47) August 19, 2025 If anything, pettiness seems to be the modus operandi. Hes talked about building a new ballroom since 2010, and even pitched the idea to the Obama administration. David Axelrod, Obamas chief adviser, said Trump called him with his credentials. He said, You know, I build ballrooms. I build the greatest ballrooms and you can come down to Florida to see them, Axelrod told NPR. Nothing came of the call. Trump brought up his proposal on the 2016 campaign trail, and afterward then-White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest told reporters that the idea was never seriously considered. Im not sure that it would be appropriate to have a shiny gold Trump sign . . . on any part of the White House, he said. None of the ballroom renderings so far have shown a Trump sign on them, but given how he had his name added to the Kennedy Center facade, its not a stretch to imagine the final building similarly branded. [Photo: Al Drago/Bloomberg/Getty Images] Then there are the changes to the West Wing colonnade. Trump hung portraits of previous commanders in chief (except for Joe Biden, who is depicted with an autopen signing his signature and labeled it The Presidential Walk of Fame inyou guessed itbig gold letters). Then came more gilded embellishments. And just last week, he installed plaques beneath each presidents portrait with his take on their legacy, written in the style of his Truth Social rants, often laden with misinformation. One year down, three more to go. If the renovations so far are any indication, expect to see a lot more gold.
Category:
E-Commerce
All news |
||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||