Being in a new CEO role is akin to a politician making a public statement—every day. Nailing the first day memo is just one of many early interactions that you’ll need to get right. And as you may know by now, there’s little room for error. Everything you say and do as a CEO is heavily scrutinized; when you are the new CEO, unfairly so. Some describe it as feeling like you are constantly being filmed, with every action and word recorded. Taking a manager out for coffee, the inflection of your voice, things that you say you like or do not like all carry enormous weight. Especially early on. Peo ..read more

Consider all that manufacturing chiefs must contend with these days—continued labor shortages, rising worker demand for schedule flexibility, growing skill deficits, stubborn or new supply-chain snarls, proliferating regulations, the vagaries of an uncertain and challenging economy—and the most they should hope for in this environment is to operate their plants at about 80 percent of capacity. That was one of the significant takeaways from CEOs, subject-matter experts and industry officials who addressed the Chief Executive Manufacturing Leadership Summit in Detroit this week. Strive as they m ..read more

Artificial intelligence can truly enable DevOps teams “to do more with less.” And that’s just one of the ways it will improve organizations, says Sacha Labourey, cofounder and chief strategy officer of CloudBees, an enterprise software company based in San Jose, California. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t concerns as well. Labourey spoke with Chief Executive about how IT leaders and their DevOps teams can best leverage the ever-evolving world of AI. What impact are you seeing in the DevOps industry from AI? AI will make a significant and positive impact on DevOps and, by extension, on the b ..read more

Artificial intelligence has proved useful in helping humans to find patterns they could otherwise not connect. By shuffling through troves of data, AI can find the necessary information in a matter of seconds, taking action much faster than an actual person would. The problem is that AI relies on data provided by humans—and unlike humans, it cannot use empathy to determine when some details are wrong. This phenomenon is frequently referred to as “bias.” When the data pool or the algorithm is incomplete, it can produce false positives and negatives that affect results. With hackers becoming mor ..read more

Author and executive coach Kelli Thompson has spent two decades leading teams in primarily male-dominated industries, and one of the most consistent themes she’s encountered in her work is the pervasive issue of self-doubt. “Even top executives like Indra Nooyi struggle with this,” says Thompson. When she interviewed the former chairman and CEO of Pepsico and asked her if she’d ever been fearful taking on new positions in new industries, Nooyi told her, “Oh yeah. Every day. But you have to learn how to do these things while also feeling fearful.” Thompson, whose book Closing the Confidenc ..read more

Landing in a leadership role is a great accomplishment. Leadership gives you opportunities to advance both personally and professionally. On a personal level, you are able to influence those around you. On a professional level, you attain higher responsibilities for your department’s initiatives and become a motivational energy for the organization. As a leader, providing solutions to challenges based on your experience and expertise is a gift you can provide your team. Along the way of your leadership journey, it will be helpful to reflect on your actions and evaluate where your leadership ha ..read more

Editor’s note: Longtime Chief Executive columnist Jonathan Byrnes passed away on May 7 at age 75 after a long and valiant fight against cancer. The MIT professor, consultant and cofounder of Profit Isle was a brilliant mind, thoughtful businessperson—and kind man. We will miss him. This column is one of several that he submitted to us before his passing. *** Good decisions require both good information and clear logic. Surprisingly, when we make decisions, our minds incorporate a very broad and powerful set of assumptions that systematically prejudice our decision-making, causing costly but pr ..read more

Kentucky saw record economic growth during Gov. Andy Beshear’s first term, and that momentum shows no sign of slowing. During his first term, Gov. Beshear announced more than 940 private-sector new-location and expansion projects totaling over $28.5 billion in announced investments, creating more than 50,505 full-time jobs. This is the highest investment figure for any governor in state history.  “The past four years have held many challenges for the commonwealth, including a global health pandemic, the deadly tornadoes that hit Western Kentucky two years ago and last year’s historic floo ..read more

Level set: Jeff Jones had never done his own taxes. So when a recruiter called and told him about the position as CEO of H&R Block, his response was, “Are you sure you have the right Jeff Jones?”  But while Jones knew nothing about taxes, he knew a great deal about leadership, having provided it to such brands as Gap, Target and Uber before getting the curious call about H&R Block. His varied experiences allowed him to realize that the most important gift he has is the ability to ask the right questions. As Jones says on the podcast, he didn’t enter any job with a playbook—instea ..read more

It’s an adage for some: never mix business with friendship. But savvy entrepreneurs have discovered that there’s no one better to get into business with than friends. The same internal barometer you use to assess the quality of your friendships turns out to be great for sizing up investors, too. In a tight capital market like the one we’re in today, the pressure is even more intense on entrepreneurs to find the money to fund their projects. One solution for entrepreneurs with the right connections, of course, is to look toward institutional investors in the venture and PE worlds that can write ..read more