Thousands of CEOs admit AI had no impact on employment or productivity—and it has economists resurrecting a paradox from 40 years ago; Fortune, April 19, 2026

  

Sasha Rogelberg

, Fortune; Thousands of CEOs admit AI had no impact on employment or productivity—and it has economists resurrecting a paradox from 40 years ago

"In 1987, economist and Nobel laureate Robert Solow made a stark observation about the stalling evolution of the Information Age: Following the advent of transistors, microprocessors, integrated circuits, and memory chips of the 1960s, economists and companies expected these new technologies to disrupt workplaces and result in a surge of productivity. Instead, productivity growth slowed, dropping from 2.9% from 1948 to 1973, to 1.1% after 1973."

How do we lead moral lives in an age of bullies?; The Guardian, July 28, 2025

 Robert Reich, The Guardian; How do we lead moral lives in an age of bullies?

"We are living in an age of bullies. Those with power are less constrained today than they have been in my lifetime, since the end of the second world war.

The question is: how do we lead moral lives in this era?...

This isn’t a matter of “left” or “right”. It’s a matter of what’s right.

Living a moral life in an age of bullies requires collective action; it cannot be done alone. Each of us must organize and participate in a vast network of moral resistance.

This is what civilization demands. It’s what the struggle for social justice requires. It’s why that struggle is so critical today, and why we all must be part of it."

ESSAY: Home of the brave? Really? Who will stand up for democracy?; The Ink, February 18, 2025

 ANAND GIRIDHARADAS, The Ink ; ESSAY: Home of the brave? Really? Who will stand up for democracy?

"As I write this, there are scattered and inspiring examples of bravery all around us — prosecutors, judges, even the occasional lawmaker. But in the main, we are proving beyond a shadow of a doubt that we are not the home of the brave. We are a country full of people smilingly capitulating to a tyrant...

Collaborating. Exactly that. It is fashionable now. Bravery, less so.

It’s the media owners who are rejecting advertisements from the pro-democracy movement and letting go of cartoonists who challenge power and settling bogus lawsuits to protect their wider commercial interests, and trying to position themselves in the Dear Leader’s good graces. Why do they even own newspapers? Maybe they would be better off owning banks. Do they know what newspapers are for?...

Then there are the CEOs, who, five years ago, proudly positioned themselves as avatars of a new future of diversity, equity, and inclusion, and now purge those programs from their own companies. They have more power with the resources at their command than most people who have ever lived, but it is not enough to give them courage. They would sell out their own colleagues, make them feel less part of the team, in order to please a Dear Leader who would sell them out in a Wall Street second...

It is the university leaders who, instead of defending their faculty — one of the only bastions of protected thinkers who can actually tell the truth without fear because of tenure — are bending over backwards to please the wannabe autocrat. Campuses are now full of fear of a new McCarthyism. How does it feel to work for leaders who do not have your back?

Collaborating.

We are learning about ourselves as a country. We are learning who among us and around us is brave."

Norfolk Southern Fires C.E.O. After Ethics Investigation; The New York Times, September 11, 2024

 Peter Eavis and Danielle Kaye, The New York Times; Norfolk Southern Fires C.E.O. After Ethics Investigation

"Norfolk Southern, the beleaguered freight railroad giant, said on Wednesday that it had fired its chief executive, Alan H. Shaw, for having an affair with the company’s chief legal officer.

In a news release, Norfolk Southern said Mr. Shaw, who became chief executive in May 2022, had a consensual relationship with its top lawyer, Nabanita C. Nag, who was also fired.

Mark R. George, the company’s chief financial officer, was named president and chief executive officer, Norfolk Southern said.

“This change in leadership comes in connection with preliminary findings from an ongoing investigation that determined Shaw violated company policies” by engaging in a relationship with Ms. Nag, the company said. “Shaw’s departure is unrelated to the company’s performance, financial reporting and results of operations.”"

Why CEOs Should Model Vulnerability; Harvard Business Review (HBR), May

Jeffrey Cohn and 

U. Srinivasa Rangan

, Harvard Business Review (HBR); Why CEOs Should Model Vulnerability

"Set the Right Tone at the Top

Some CEOs still view vulnerability as a weakness. That’s too bad. Long gone are the days when CEOs can pretend to be omniscient. A crisis will quickly expose a leader’s weaknesses and blind spots. If he or she pretends to have all the answers and is reluctant to admit mistakes or ask for help, others in the leadership pipeline will almost assuredly adopt this same perspective. Because the leader casts a long shadow, this kind of obstinacy will inevitably create a downward spiral of succession failure, like it did at General Electric, Wells Fargo, and Boeing. On the other hand, CEOs willing to embrace vulnerability and transparency will create a uniquely fertile culture in which thinking deeply about one’s blind spots and development needs is not only tolerated, it’s encouraged and rewarded."

Five Ways To Boost Inclusivity Within Your Organization; Forbes, November 28, 2018

Jeff Thomson, Forbes; Five Ways To Boost Inclusivity Within Your Organization

"Let’s dispel a myth for a moment. Diversity and inclusion (D&I) are only about race and gender. Right?

Wrong. Diversity includes sexual orientation, religious affiliation, ethnicity, disability, socioeconomic status, age and personality traits.

There’s a similar misconception that these are all things your HR managers are exclusively responsible for. Wrong again. Yes, HR plays an important role, but D&I must be a standard that is set from the top down, and that means at the CEO level. There is a good reason for this: D&I initiatives, properly implemented, give organizations an edge. The research doesn’t lie; according to Deloitte’s “Global Human Capital Trends” survey, 78 percent of respondents now believe D&I is a competitive advantage.

And it is. From a business perspective, D&I can help increase a company’s bottom line, drive innovation and create more opportunities for growth – attracting more top-tier talent. As a CEO, I believe there’s unquestionable value in the D&I initiative within the professional membership association I lead. But I’ve also witnessed its impact firsthand on the finance and accounting industry. At IMA® (Institute of Management Accountants), we’ve committed ourselves to ensuring that our members and staff, and ultimately the businesses they serve, feel represented, heard and included.

Here’s how you can do the same.


How to Boost Inclusivity Within Your Organization"

More CEOs are getting forced out for ethics violations; Washington Post, May 15, 2017

Jena McGregor, Washington Post; More CEOs are getting forced out for ethics violations

"If it seems like more CEOs are getting cast aside amid ethical blunders or corporate scandals, they are. According to a new report on CEO succession from Strategy&, PwC’s strategy consulting business, the percentage of CEOs getting pushed out for questionable behavior — lapses including environmental disasters,  insider trading, résumé fraud, accounting scandals and sexual misconduct — is up over the past five years."