Today's Management Pulse
Founder risk drives steep valuation discounts in owner‑led services firms
Dr. Dave Heath explains that founder‑dependency in owner‑led services firms mirrors the manager‑risk LPs assess in private‑equity funds. Buyers, banks and investors price this key‑person risk with 30‑50% valuation discounts or higher loan spreads. The risk stems from undefined decision authority, undocumented founder judgment, and missing exception handling.
Abu Dhabi Enacts Merit‑Based HR Law to Build AI‑Ready Public Workforce
Abu Dhabi’s government rolled out a modernised HR law on Jan 1 2026, mandating merit‑based recruitment, performance‑linked promotions and AI‑aligned learning for every public‑sector employee. The legislation also introduces flexible work options and enhanced leave, aiming to create a high‑performance workforce for the emirate’s goal of becoming the world’s first AI‑native government by 2027.
Celonis and Deloitte Deploy AI‑Powered App to Cut SOX Compliance Costs by 10%
Celonis and Deloitte have introduced the Celonis SOX and Internal Controls Manager, an AI‑driven application that replaces manual Sarbanes‑Oxley testing with continuous data monitoring. A pilot at a global pharmaceutical firm automated more than 100 controls, lowered control costs by...
SPX Capital Closes London Office, Overhauls Macro Unit After Losses
Brazilian hedge fund SPX Capital announced the shutdown of its London office and a comprehensive overhaul of its macro investment unit after a stretch of losses. The move follows the departure of senior partners Marcelo Castro and Marcella Libardoni, underscoring...
Xbox CEO Asha Sharma Rallies Staff with Four‑point Plan and AI Pullback
Xbox chief Asha Sharma addressed hundreds of employees in a Thursday all‑hands, unveiling a four‑point action plan, committing to biweekly console updates, and announcing the winding down of Microsoft Copilot on consoles and mobile. The rally also marked a rebranding...
Take‑Two CEO Says GTA 6 Delay Aims to Prevent Crunch, Stresses Sustainable Development
Take‑Two Interactive chief Strauss Zelnick told Business Insider the upcoming Grand Theft Auto VI has been delayed to avoid crunch, likening development to doing homework rather than pulling all‑nighters. The comment offers rare executive insight into labor practices at a studio...
Affordable American Insurance Hires Eddie Floyd as President of Retail Agency Division
Affordable American Insurance (AAI) announced Eddie Floyd, CIC, as President of its Retail Agency Division. Floyd brings 25+ years of insurance leadership to help scale AAI’s agency platform across 40 states, underscoring the firm’s push to deepen its insurtech footprint.
Cloudflare Lays Off 1,100 Workers, Blames AI‑Driven Automation
Cloudflare announced it will eliminate 1,100 positions, roughly 20% of its workforce, attributing the cuts to a surge in AI‑powered tool usage. The layoffs come as the company reports a 34% revenue jump but a net loss of $22.9 million and...
14 BPM & Six Sigma Courses You Can Take to Become a Systems Expert
Process Street compiled a curated list of free and paid courses covering business process management, Lean Six Sigma, operations management, and startup operations. The guide highlights open offerings from institutions like University of Tartu, MIT, and Stanford, as well as...
How Fast-Growing Companies Can Make Better Decisions
Fast‑growing firms hit decision‑making fault lines as headcount climbs past 50, 80 and the 150‑person Dunbar limit. Over‑decentralized models, exemplified by CrossFit, create brand dilution and uneven profitability, while top‑down centralization, as seen at China Lodging Group, suppresses frontline innovation....
Redesigning Your Marketing Organization for the Agentic Age
AI is reshaping product development cycles, delivering continuous releases that double the volume and speed of launches marketers must support. Existing marketing operating models, built on sequential, siloed processes, cannot keep pace, creating bottlenecks for CMOs. Leading firms such as...
26 Leaders Discuss the Shifting Attitude Toward AI
Fast Company surveyed 26 Impact Council leaders about how attitudes toward artificial intelligence are evolving. Executives now view AI as an expected, operational part of daily workflows rather than a speculative experiment, with boards demanding tangible impact and speed. Governance...
The Hottest Job in Sports: A WNBA Front Office Role
The WNBA’s 30th season arrives amid record fan interest, lucrative media rights and a historic collective bargaining agreement, prompting rapid expansion of team front offices. League‑wide staff numbers have surged, with the New York Liberty growing from 12 to 30...
The 5 Best Team Chat Apps for Business in 2026
The updated 2026 roundup identifies Slack, Microsoft Teams, Google Chat, Discord, and Element as the top five team chat apps for businesses. Slack leads as the all‑round solution with extensive features and AI tools, while Teams excels for Microsoft‑centric enterprises...
7 Steps to Success for Facilities Executives
Facilities executives today juggle building operations, capital planning, staff supervision, and stakeholder communication, a reality exemplified by Brandon McCullough and Dr. Alicia Hart. Their careers show that success hinges on disciplined prioritization, treating every task as a project, and leveraging...
When Peers Strongly Disagree About a Decision
The post advises peers to surface genuine objections by asking, “Can’t you live with it?” before finalizing decisions that affect multiple teams. This simple question separates mere dislike from a deal‑breaker, allowing decision‑makers to gauge the true stakes for colleagues....
SEC Proposes Optional Semi‑annual Reporting, Prompting Wealth‑advisor Workflow Shift
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission announced a rule change that would let listed companies replace quarterly Form 10‑Q filings with optional semi‑annual Form 10‑S reports. Wealth‑management firms and advisors are weighing the operational impact, with some seeing little risk...
McDonald's CEO Warns K‑shaped Economy Deepens as Consumer Sentiment Sours
McDonald's chief executive Chris Kempczinski told investors the U.S. economy remains split, with affluent consumers still spending while lower‑income shoppers cut back. The fast‑food giant posted a 3.8% rise in global same‑store sales and $6.52 billion in revenue, but its stock...
AtkinsRéalis to Acquire Coras Solutions, Expanding Australian Defense Footprint
AtkinsRéalis Group Inc. confirmed it will acquire Coras Solutions Pty Ltd., an Australian defense and national‑security consultancy. The deal, announced on May 7, 2026, is intended to broaden AtkinsRéalis' footprint in Australia and accelerate growth in key end markets. No...
Tapestry's Coach Targets Gen Z with ‘Expressive Luxury’ Strategy, Drives 23% Revenue Surge
Tapestry reported a record third quarter, crediting Coach’s new “expressive luxury” positioning aimed at Gen Z. The strategy helped lift pro forma revenue 23% year‑over‑year, added 2 million new customers and set a full‑year revenue target of $7.95 billion.
Daedong Group Sets $2.6 Billion AI‑Agriculture Target in 2030 Value‑Up Plan
Daedong Group and its listed affiliates unveiled a long‑term plan to reshape farm machinery around AI, robotics and platform revenue, targeting 3.59 trillion won ($2.6 billion) in sales and a 20% return on equity by 2030. The strategy includes expanding a dealer...
Lightspeed Appoints Bhawna Singh as CTO to Accelerate AI, Payments and Wholesale Tools
Lightspeed Commerce announced Bhawna Singh as its new chief technology officer, pairing the hire with a suite of AI‑driven product upgrades for retail and hospitality merchants. Singh, a former CTO of Okta and Glassdoor, will steer the platform’s next phase...
Akin Deploys NetDocuments ndMAX AI Suite Firmwide in $700K Rollout
Akin, the Am Law 100 firm, has rolled out NetDocuments' ndMAX generative‑AI suite firmwide, spending a high‑six‑figure sum. The deployment follows a 100‑lawyer pilot that began in January 2025 and reflects the firm’s strategy to embed AI inside its long‑used...
Wacker Chemie Reaches Agreement to Cut Around 10% of Workforce
Wacker Chemie has reached a deal with employee representatives to eliminate roughly 1,600 positions in Germany, including 1,300 jobs at its Burghausen plant, by the end of 2027. The cuts are part of an efficiency program launched in October 2025...
Univar Solutions Shifts CEO David Jukes to Executive Chair in Leadership Revamp
Univar Solutions announced that President and CEO David Jukes will become Executive Chair on July 1, 2026, as the company reorganizes into three customer‑centric segments. The move is presented as the culmination of a succession plan and a step toward...
Citi CEO Jane Fraser Accelerates Cultural Overhaul with New Executive Team
Citi chief executive Jane Fraser announced a near‑complete cultural overhaul, deploying a new executive team to embed a "relentless" mindset across its 200,000‑plus workforce. The bank aims for a 14‑15% return on tangible common equity by 2029, with transformation milestones...
KCB Disburses About Sh1.5 Bn ($11 M) in Digital Loans Daily Using Data Analytics
Kenya Commercial Bank (KCB) is using data analytics to approve and fund roughly Sh1.5 bn ($11 m) in digital loans every day. The high‑volume rollout highlights the bank’s push toward faster, algorithm‑based credit decisions in Kenya’s fast‑growing fintech market.
Cloudflare Cuts 1,100 Jobs, Citing AI Efficiency as It Trims 20% of Workforce
Cloudflare said it will lay off 1,100 employees – about 20% of its staff – after a three‑month surge in AI usage. The move, announced alongside Q1 results, is expected to cost $140‑$150 million in severance and comes as the firm’s...
Corrugated Box Choices Can Make or Break Margins for Fast‑Growing E‑commerce Stores
A new analysis highlights how improper corrugated packaging—oversized boxes, wrong wall strength or mismatched material—can wipe out profit on a single order for Amazon, Etsy, eBay and Shopify sellers. The report urges fast‑growing stores to treat box selection as an...
Advertising Week’s Tech Editorials Spotlight Agency Debt, Martech Overload and Quantum Marketing
Advertising Week’s tech editorial series this week highlighted five key themes: cultural roots of agency tech debt, the paradox of 15,000 martech tools, mid‑market programmatic complexity, collaborative data as a competitive edge, and a quantum‑marketing mindset. The pieces, authored by...
Coinbase Cuts 14% of Staff as AI Push Meets Crypto Market Slowdown
Coinbase announced a 14% workforce reduction—about 700 employees—framed as an AI‑driven efficiency overhaul. The move comes as crypto prices hover near $81,000, overall market cap slips 1%, and trading volumes contract, echoing a wider fintech trend of cost‑cutting amid slower...
1 Leadership Communication Skill that Creates Ownership and Improves Conflict Resolution
The latest episode of the Let’s Grow Leaders podcast reveals a single, three‑part question that transforms vague discussions into concrete ownership, boosting accountability and smoothing conflict resolution. By asking, “Who will do what, by when, and how will we know?”...
How to Connect Social KPIs to Larger Business Objectives
Patrick Pho, head of the content studio at Volkswagen of America, stresses that social media must be tied to clear business objectives to avoid wasted effort. He outlines a three‑step process: define a specific objective (exposure, consumption, or engagement), set...
AI Sprawl: Why Your Productivity Trap Is About to Get Expensive
The article warns that AI adoption is outpacing governance in insurers, creating an "AI sprawl" of isolated models and agents. Rapid, low‑cost tools let claims, underwriting and customer‑service teams launch independent solutions without shared data or oversight. This fragmentation drives...
Paid Trial Days Boost Hiring Fit and Retention
It’s hard to be mad at @artman or @linear for this :) Also, Linear has a very unique hiring process: it includes doing the work as paid trial days. Lots of time invested on both sides, but in return...
Wendy's System Upgrade Costs $15‑20M, Aims Long‑Term Gains
System optimization is a "net headwind of $15 million to $20 million" to Wendy's revenue, but company believes it's better for the long-term health of the system. $WEN
Guest Post: Amazon’s Next Act–Supply Chain as a Service
Amazon has launched Amazon Supply Chain Services (ASCS), a “supply chain as a service” platform that opens its global logistics network to businesses of any size, including competitors’ sellers. In 2025, Amazon’s logistics revenue hit roughly $172 billion, far outpacing traditional...
Wendy's Nears Completion of Footprint Optimization, Trims Breakfast Hours
Wendy's has completed more than half of its "footprint optimization" and is on track to finish by the end of 2Q. Company is also working with operators to "optimize hours," re: cut back on breakfast. Most stores still have breakfast. $WEN
Hidden Traps Steal Hours Even when You Work Faster
My newsletter used to take 8 hours. Now it takes 90 minutes. That’s 6.5 hours back every week. So why was I working more than ever? The answer was three traps I didn’t see coming: https://t.co/JReXSvsFjc
Why Nonprofits and Schools Struggle with Fundraising Campaigns and How to Fix It
Private schools and nonprofits are juggling multiple fundraising campaigns using fragmented spreadsheets and siloed processes, leading to inefficiencies and inconsistent donor communication. The article argues that centralizing campaign planning, tracking, and donor data into a single system resolves these gaps....
College NIL Adopts Pro Sports Salary‑cap Tactics
College programs are borrowing ideas from how professional teams manage payrolls. How are pro sports salary cap strategies influencing college programs? This is covered in my book NIL 101: The House Settlement Now 40% off https://t.co/yBVisUkFCL https://t.co/T5opoELrIZ
AI-Driven Restructurings Trigger Massive Job Cuts at Fidelity, Cloudflare
Fidelity Cuts 800-1,000 Jobs Cloudflare to cut 1,100 jobs amid shift to agentic AI-first operating model
Why Your A/B Test Winners Are Noise And What That Costs with Andrea Bronzini #240
In this episode, host Akhil Jabbar talks with systems engineer Andrea Bronzini about why most A/B test winners are actually noise rather than true lifts. Bronzini explains that conversion rates are stochastic, leading to large measurement variability that can dramatically...
Vendor Timelines Usually Miss Critical Testing Delays
Vendor timelines are rarely realistic. Assumptions often fall through, and critical steps like business testing, UAT, and end-user training can add months to a project. Don't trust the boilerplate. #ProjectManagement #VendorTips https://t.co/gsLRSJqtur
Benefits of AI Are Hard to See at a Macro Level: Gallup Report
Gallup’s 2026 State of the Global Workplace report finds that AI lifts individual productivity but fails to generate measurable macro‑level gains for most firms. Employees who report strong manager support are far more likely to say AI has transformed how...
Atlassian Team '26 - Cisco's Jason Andrews on What "Transform, Don't Migrate" Actually Looks Like
Cisco’s VP of Engineering Operations, Jason Andrews, described a shift from simple cloud migration to a full‑scale transformation that consolidated 75 tools onto a single platform, slashing software spend by 54% and saving $5.3 million annually. The effort delivered a modest...
Can We Talk About Whether Ad Agencies Waste Time?
Campaign’s latest commentary argues that advertising agencies still waste significant time on manual processes, even as AI and sophisticated timesheet tools become available. The piece highlights that up to 30% of agency hours are spent on non‑billable tasks such as...
Strategic Change and SAP SuccessFactors: Why Senior HR Leaders Choose Max Success Plans
Senior HR leaders are tasked with driving continuous organisational change while maintaining operational stability. They must modernise HR processes, harmonise data, and embed AI responsibly. SAP SuccessFactors’ Max Success Plans promise a unified, adaptable platform that supports these demands. The...
ERP Success Requires Customer and Employee Experience Focus
Executives may see ERP implementation as a necessity, but justification needs more. Focus on improving customer and employee experience with detailed future-state operating and organizational models. #ERP #BusinessTransformation https://t.co/fjPFiG70fH
Cloudflare to Lay Off over 1,100 Employees in AI Shift
Cloudflare announced it will lay off more than 1,100 employees, roughly 20% of its global staff, as it reorganizes around an "AI‑first" operating model. The cuts come despite a strong first‑quarter 2026 performance, with revenue near $640 million surpassing forecasts. Management...
302. What Every CEO Can Learn From Private Equity
In this episode, McKinsey partners Sasha Guy and Marla Kaposi unpack why private‑equity‑backed CEOs face a brutal turnover rate—60% are replaced within two years—and reveal six practices that top‑performing CEOs use to drive outsized value. They highlight the shift from...