Most for-profit companies still confine nonprofit relationships to corporate philanthropy. Donations flow through foundations, annual reports highlight community contributions, and nonprofit engagement is framed as evidence of corporate responsibility.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth took the unprecedented step of designating a U.S. firm-Anthropic-as a supply chain risk. Anthropic's crime? It refused to violate industry-wide protocols against using AI for mass surveillance or autonomous weapons. Hegseth's designation, which has until now been reserved for foreign firms, bars U.S. military contractors from doing business with the company.
What most leaders label as a content problem is actually a presence problem. Leaders often assume credibility rises and falls based on wording alone. In reality, credibility is shaped by executive presence, which reflects the signals leaders send about confidence, clarity, and authority before their ideas are fully heard.
Research finds that relying on regulations to determine your policies and procedures can result in ethical blindspots, or situations where people might think if there is not a rule for something, that it's permissible. After years of shifting towards values and culture-based compliance, leadership might be heading the opposite direction.
People recognize polish, but they respond to purpose. What the industry is starting to learn is that value is in the principles those tools represent. Technology is initially and temporarily impressive, whereas values are unforgettable.
In the early 20th century, sociologist Max Weber noted that sweeping industrialization would transform how societies worked. As small, informal operations gave way to large, complex organizations with clearly defined roles and responsibilities, leaders would need to rely less on tradition and charisma, and more on organization and rationality. He also foresaw that jobs would need to be broken down into specialized tasks and governed by a system of hierarchy,
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If your partner in Munich mishandles customer data, or your reseller in Paris uses a "black box" AI tool to generate deceptive ads, it isn't just their reputation on the line. It's yours. With the EU AI Act now in full swing and GDPR entering its "mature enforcement" era, the distance between a partner's mistake and your company's $20 million fine has never been shorter.
When I tell fellow tech executives that every employee at sunday, from our engineers to our finance team, must complete a restaurant shift before they can fully onboard, I usually get confused looks. "You mean like, shadow someone?" they ask. No. I mean they tie on an apron, take orders, run food, and yes, deal with the 15-minute wait for the check that our product was literally built to eliminate.
The pace at which we're all working today doesn't naturally lend itself to being reflective. As a leader, you don't get enough quiet time. The thought leaders and business leaders I work with figure out how to make it part of their routine. For some, it's during a commute, a workout, a shower, or a walk. For others, it's a more involved practice where they shut down their devices and spend scheduled time reflecting.
Colleges and universities hold huge influence in their communities. They can mediate differences and foster healthy debate. Indeed, several institutions have established schools of civic life that would, presumably, raise the alarm when constitutional rights are being violated. Academic research influences policy and informs public conversations. Scholars can put this violence into context and help remind us that this is not OK.
I assume that it's intended to provide ammunition to go after disfavored faculty and/or to instill such a chill on campus that nobody would dare to say anything provocative in the first place. Whether those motivations are locally held or are meant to keep the university below the radar of certain culture warriors, I don't know. The effects are the same either way, and they're devastating to the mission of a university.
Imagine a world where everyone in your team feels valued, heard, and empowered to contribute. Imagine that world where people aren't afraid to challenge the status quo and great ideas emerge from unexpected places. Now imagine that world where toxic behaviors don't just go unchecked, they don't even have room to rise. Wouldn't that be a great world? What happens when leadership tolerates the wrong behaviors? What happens when decision-making is shaped by exclusion, fear, and insecurity?
Building security into the framework of an organization prevents security from being seen as a barrier to daily activities. If an employee feels as if a security measure is inhibiting them from completing their daily tasks, they're far more likely to find a way around that measure. This can range from propping open a door to using the same easy-to-remember password for every account.
Dear Transparency-Committed Reader, You're not alone. So many of us want decision-making to reflect our collective values (like transparency, care, and shared power), but it's hard to actually put those values into practice. That gap between what we believe and how we decide can be frustrating. And getting stuck in the process is a common concern I hear from groups. I am happy to share, though, that decision-making doesn't have to be a nightmare.
Often, people make financial decisions based on what they need for themselves in the future. However, those who think about their families beyond their own lifetimes have a better chance not only of leaving wealth behind but also of ensuring it grows. It's never too late, either. A good way to give loved ones a head start, whether they are taking on a business or just needing to pay for a funeral, is with a good life insurance policy.
In places where inclusion is part of the infrastructure of their economy-supply chains, procurement processes, capital access, or business ownership-people thrive. Inclusive economies create more resilience by expanding the base of potential business owners who can build, own, innovate, and hire. They allow more opportunities for homeownership and investing in the longevity of communities. As our economy becomes increasingly stratified and volatile, we need as much resiliency as we can get.
Artificial intelligence (AI) is no longer a future-state conversation. It is here, embedded across enterprise systems, cloud platforms, security tooling, analytics engines and decision-making frameworks. The pace of adoption has been extraordinary, and so is the scale and intensity of the infrastructure required to power it. Against this backdrop, Microsoft's recent call for a "community-first" approach to AI infrastructure is both timely and necessary.
However, instead of getting busy with your regular Monday work rituals, you learn about the team's volunteering at the local community center to help the homeless. Your day suddenly changes. It's no longer about the deadlines and meetings. Now you will be a part of something more meaningful and do your bit for society. This is what Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is about. It creates connections with the community and makes work personally meaningful.
Businesses are acting fast to adopt agentic AI- artificial intelligence systems that work without human guidance-but have been much slower to put governance in place to oversee them, a new survey shows. That mismatch is a major source of risk in AI adoption. In my view, it's also a business opportunity. I'm a professor of management information systems at Drexel University's LeBow College of Business,
The average CEO makes over 280 times what their company's line worker earns. This is more than 10 times the ratio observed in the 1970s. Looking just at the salaries and bonuses of Fortune 500 CEOs, financial executives, top university presidents, and even some directors of the larger non-profit organizations, you would think that these leaders are performing at high levels-at least levels high enough to justify their huge compensation. Unfortunately, that's not often the case.
Johnson said this is occurring, in part, because companies are needing to spend more money on information technology compliance and security. It comes down to larger companies being able to withstand the economic burdens of doing business. Ultimately he believes members benefit from mergers once they get accustomed to the changes in exchange for the tradeoffs such as more services, more hours that bank personnel are available and better technology.
