“Congratulations and condolences.” This is a real message a peer sent when I became CEO of BarkleyOKRP in May 2025. And he wasn’t alone in his sentiment. It seems many regarded this career-defining achievement as the corporate equivalent of buying a boat: Enjoy that first day; the rest will be rough. My future was to be filled with bigger decisions, harder calls, and problems aplenty. And now I was a team of one. My office was an island, miles from help. As they say, it’s lonely at the top. Those at the apex agreed. Tim Cook of Apple called being…
Author: Staff Writer
Below, Michelle Gielan shares five key insights from her new book, Resilient Optimism: The Science of Sustaining a Positive Mindset in Tough Times. Michelle is a positive psychology researcher and former national CBS News anchor. She was the executive producer of The Happiness Advantage on PBS and a featured professor on Oprah Winfrey’s Happiness course. What’s the Big Idea? It’s easy to be optimistic at the beginning. At the start of a new job, a new relationship, or a new project, we’re energized, hopeful, and ready to go. But what happens when the first plan fails? When the challenge lasts longer than expected,…
Media critic Ben Bagdikian warned in 2004 that five corporations had accumulated “more communications power than was exercised by any despot or dictatorship in history.” More than 20 years later, a major media merger is bringing his warning back into focus. Paramount’s acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery in October 2026 created a new company, Skydance Corporation. It now owns CNN and CBS News, Warner Bros. and Paramount Pictures, HBO and Paramount+, along with a sprawling collection of cable networks, live sports and entertainment franchises. The deal is valued at about US$110 billion including debt, and Skydance expects to cut at…
Despite the wealth of critical personal data our iPhones hold, many people don’t back up their devices regularly. Usually, this is because the amount of data they’d need to back up in iCloud would vastly exceed their available iCloud storage space—and they don’t want to pay extra each month for an iCloud Plus subscription. Other times, people assume their iPhone data doesn’t change that much day to day, so they don’t need to back up their iPhone that often. But not backing up your iPhone regularly can leave you in a world of hurt (i.e., data you can never get…
Reading is great. Finding something to read is annoying. We all know the saying “don’t judge a book by its cover,” but what else are you supposed to judge a book by? Whether you’re walking through a bookstore or library or scrolling through a collection on your favorite reading device, the cover is inevitably going to be the first thing you notice. Maybe the art will stand out, or maybe you’ll see a name you recognize. But it’s hard to know what, exactly, you’re going to like without actually reading some of the words inside. Today’s tool is a clever…
America is in the middle of a cost of living crisis. The median sale price for a home in 2026 is $410,700, according to the Federal Reserve. Even if you’ve already bought a house, Zillow estimates that the median monthly cost of homeownership is approximately $3,558—with the average American paying around $2,226 in mortgage payments, $912 in maintenance costs, $167 in homeowners insurance, and $253 in property taxes each month. Unfortunately, renting isn’t more affordable, either. According to Apartments.com, the current median monthly rent is $1,667, with an average apartment size of 695 square feet. In 2026, the U.S. Department of…
Artificial intelligence has moved quickly from a novelty on the job to a common workplace tool. Gallup found that 52% of U.S. employees and 68% of professional services workers were using AI by February 2026. Thomson Reuters similarly found in spring 2026 that 74% of professionals use AI several times a week for work. This widespread use shouldn’t surprise anyone. For accountants, attorneys, consultants, and other professionals, AI can accelerate research, summarize complex information, and assist with writing and other forms of communication. But its rapid adoption has a big downside—AI can produce information that sounds authoritative and looks polished…
Arsenal’s new gothic font is a modern take on black letter. It’s part of a larger multi-font branding strategy for the 140-year-old English football club. The team unveiled its new font, Rocastle, at a pop-up exhibition this month at the Design Museum, in London. It’s named for the beloved late Arsenal player David Rocastle (1967–2001), also known as Rocky, and was created by David Rudnick, founder of the research and design studio terrain, with Léa Bruneau. [Type Design: terrain. studio/David Rudnick with Léa Bruneau] Rudnick—an Arsenal fan who says “I would only ever have worked with one club” —is also…
Key Takeaways This week, Amazon unveiled two new Bee AI devices in direct competition with startups like Pocket and Plaud. Users can wear the $75 Bee Frontier on their wrist or clip it to clothing. Meanwhile, the $100 Bee Eclipse attaches magnetically to the back of a smartphone. Amazon is moving deeper into the AI hardware market with new Bee AI devices that listen to your conversations. Amazon announced plans to buy Bee, a San Francisco startup making AI-powered wristbands, in July 2025. The retail giant and the startup did not disclose the deal’s financial terms. Bee’s original $50 device…
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own. Key Takeaways Track how every dollar of revenue is allocated against target percentages for labor, inventory and facilities, so you can spot problems before they become a cash crisis. Focus your resources on the opportunities where you have the strongest advantage, and judge success by whether the business is becoming a more valuable asset, not just by how much revenue it brings in. You never forget your first big win in business. Mine came in the form of my first victory over my older brother in Monopoly. The game turned 90 last…