Good morning.
In this quarter’s CEO survey from good fortune and Deloitte, CEOs reported growing optimism, with 27% of chief executives optimistic about the future of the global economy, up from 7% last October. earlier this week, good fortune Hosted a virtual conversation with Fortune CEO Initiative members to hear their thoughts.
While improving inflation, interest rates and employment trends have boosted the mood, Deloitte US CEO Jason Garzadas noted that a major driver of CEO optimism is AI’s potential to change the game: “They Focusing on change.” (Deloitte sponsors this newsletter.)
With this comes the acceptance of uncertainty. As NYSE Group President Lynn Martin said, “Most CEOs we talk to are focused on being nimble because they just don’t know what the next curve is.”
Here are insights from other CEOs:
“Labor problems are not as bad as they were… the whole world is an available resource.”
Stanley Bergman, Chairman and CEO, Henry Schein
“We’re calling it the year of the operator and going back to basics.”
– Chrissy Taylor, President and CEO, Enterprise Mobility
“We see the customer looking more for value… When the economy goes down, they’re the first to get hit and the last to recover.”
Mark Rosen, CEO, J.C. Penney
“Every conversation starts with, ‘So what does the political landscape in America mean for my family and my portfolio?’ We say, ‘Don’t play politics with your portfolio.’
-Penny Pennington, Managing Partner, Edward Jones
“In Florida, many small employers have allowed their benefit plans to become part of the Affordable Care Act … outside of the health care obligation.”
– Pat Geraghty, President and CEO, Guidewell
“We synthesize and test most of our chemistry in China. The geopolitical games have intensified with bipartisan support for anti-China measures. That’s my biggest fear.”
—Alex Zhavoronkov, Founder and CEO, Inselico Medicines
“The opportunity for AI and healthcare is transformative… the level of change that CEOs and leadership teams need to manage is far greater.”
Kristen Peck, CEO, Zoets
“Health care costs are going up dramatically for an aging population… I worry about how the bottom 40% of boomers will handle the next 15 or 20 years.”
– Tom McInerney, President and CEO, Janworth Financial
“With AI, there’s a kind of FOMO and JOMO: fear of missing out or joy of missing out… either spend like crazy without necessarily having a big argument or ignore it entirely. Try to sit in the middle — don’t ignore it and don’t overhype it.”
– Barak Elam, CEO, Nice
“One of the things we’re looking forward to, obviously, is a return to organic growth… Syndicated and leveraged capital has been difficult and extremely expensive to come by. But we’ll close our first acquisition in two years later this month. Will do.
-BJ Shaknowski, CEO, Sampler
“What are we going to do in the next four to five years, not just to prepare the workforce, but to prepare our future leaders?”
– Rob Lake, Co-Founder and CEO, Boulevard
“Before all these things were cool and fancy, we became hybrids, and we lost our creativity… Now, we show up in person to break down barriers, to be creative, to make it fun, and to solve complex problems. are.”
Kunal Patwari, CEO, Gemini Corporation
More news below.
Diane Brady
@dianebrady
diane.brady@fortune.com
Important news
Deep pockets.
Saudi Arabia’s ambitious plan to wean its economy off fossil fuels depends on the continued success of its oil giant, Saudi Aramco. The Middle Eastern country is leveraging Aramco’s huge profits — thanks to how cheap it is to extract Arab oil — to invest in futuristic cities, clean energy, sports and more. But it’s still not enough: Saudi government debt has grown 20-fold since 2014. good fortune
Is there a ‘good place to work’ for Gen Z?
Gen Xers entering the post-Covid workforce are trying to balance two different goals: flexibility and autonomy as well as stability. Gen Z graduates and workers doubt that the “dream job” exists – and want to define better work-life boundaries. “Gen Xers don’t live to work. They work to live,” says one college senior.. good fortune
Yellen warns of Chinese ‘overcapacity’
US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen began her four-day visit to China in the southern city of Guangzhou. He warned again about “China’s industrial capacity,” bolstering a new argument by the Biden administration that Beijing More investment In industries like solar panels and EVs – and dumping products in overseas markets like the U.S. when she traveled to China, Yellen Refused Rejecting additional protections for US industries. Bloomberg
Around the water cooler
$2.8 billion startup raised by Navy SEAL to buy Australian firm helping upgrade its drones: ‘We’re building the world’s best AI pilot’ By Luisa Beltran
Elon Musk says he’s raising the salaries of Tesla engineers as Sam Altman’s OpenAI keeps trying to recruit them. By Christian Heitzner
Gen Z are increasingly choosing trade schools over college to become welders and carpenters because ‘it’s a direct path to a six-figure job.’ By Oriana Rosa Royal
The New Retirement Is Not Retirement: Baby Boomers are holding on to jobs well into their sixties and seventies because they ‘like to go to work’. By Alicia Adamczyk
Tesla bears say it’s poised to ‘go bust’ because it’s so vertically integrated, which is a ‘great model when you’re growing’ but not when you’ve had your worst quarter in years. be By Paolo Confino
Welcome to the Age of Ultra Nepo Babies: Every Billionaire Under 30 Inherited Their Fortune, New Report By Eleanor Pringle
TTheir edition of CEO Daily was produced by Nicholas Gordon.
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