In Japan, there is a national public holiday called Keiro no Hi—Respect for our Elders Day—dedicated to honoring the wisdom of the generations that have come before us. In Hindu tradition, the third stage of life, Vanaprastha, frames later years as a period of spiritual depth and accumulated authority. It is hard to picture an analogue in a country that produced “OK, boomer.”

I used to be the executive leader who had it all. I achieved the extraordinary and was constantly delivering. I started chasing the next win the moment the last one landed. And I’d thought that relentless pace was just what I needed to do to perform at the top. So I kept going. Until my body stopped me.

In the highly competitive and profitable world of professional sports, stadium building has become an arms race. With lucrative sponsorships and naming deals on the table, and the potential jackpot of hosting an event like the Super Bowl, sports teams are scrambling for the biggest buildings, the largest screens, the flashiest private suites, and the most tech-forward fan experiences.

Generation Z has reshaped workplace expectations. Valuing transparency, authenticity, and purpose-driven leadership, in some senses they have mobilized management to up their game. It could probably be said that these aspirations should have been prioritized all along, however, work simply has not always been this intentional. 

In 2024, Boston Consulting Group surveyed more than 1,000 C-suite executives and found that just 4% of companies were generating substantial value from artificial intelligence. A year later, that figure had risen to 5%. It is tempting to read this 25% year-on-year increase as the beginning of liftoff, the start of a series of compounding increases that will eventually drive AI-powered efficiency gains in every corner of the economy. But we should be wary of this tale, and not just because of the well-known danger of extrapolating a trend from two data points.

As writer Ted Chiang has observed, “Most fears about A.I. are best understood as fears about capitalism.” When we imagine rogue AI systems optimizing the world to death, we’re actually describing what many corporations already do. If an organization’s ethos is misaligned, any technology platform it creates will amplify that misalignment.

Few companies are a stronger barometer of the American economy today than Uber, and few executives have a clearer view of what’s coming than its president and COO, Andrew Macdonald. He shares what Uber’s real-time data reveals about consumer behavior amid surging gas prices, and confronts the uncomfortable question at the heart of Uber’s autonomous vehicle push: What does the company actually owe its millions of drivers? 

Many entrepreneurs credit strategy, timing, or gut instinct for their success. For one billionaire, a cult novel about surrendering control to a dice roll was an unlikely early influence.

A deal appears to be emerging between the United States and Iran to end the war and open the Strait of Hormuz, and U.S. President Donald Trump over the weekend said it had been “largely negotiated.”

It is not clear when or how the deal might be finalized and when its various parts will take effect. Trump spoke after calls with allies in the Middle East, including a separate call with Israel. Details come from two regional officials and a U.S. official who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive negotiations.

Here’s what we know and don’t know.

Deep in a cavernous New York City warehouse, the artisans behind some of the world’s most beloved children’s characters have been fashioning costumes and puppets for years in relative anonymity.

Now Jim Henson’s Creature Shop, the workshop founded by the legendary creator of the Muppets, is drawing back the curtain.

A damaged chemical tank in Southern California cracked over the weekend, which authorities were hopeful would relieve pressure and reduce the risk of an explosion.

Some 50,000 residents in Garden Grove, a city of roughly 170,000 about 40 miles (60 kilometers) south of downtown Los Angeles, have been evacuated and are waiting for a resolution. The tank overheated Thursday and began venting vapors, leaving local and state officials scrambling to evade a worst possible scenario at the aerospace company site.

No injuries have been reported.

Fire officials planned to send in a team for “an all-night mission” to determine if the pressure has been relieved, which would reduce the worst-case scenario of an explosion, Orange County Fire Authority interim chief TJ McGovern said in a video posted late Sunday to the agency’s X account.

“We are not there yet,” McGovern said, urging residents to stay out of the evacuation zone while crews continued operations overnight.

In a follow-up update posted on X, the Orange County Fire Authority said there was one known crack on the tank, disputing reports circulating online of multiple cracks. Officials also said there was no active leak and that continuous atmospheric monitoring confirmed no chemicals were escaping from the tank.

Firefighters have repeatedly sprayed the tank with water in an attempt to cool the chemical inside, methyl methacrylate, which is used to make plastic parts. The tank’s interior reached 100 degrees (37.7 Celsius) Sunday, an increase of 10 degrees Fahrenheit (5.5 Celsius) since Saturday, according to Democratic state Sen. Tom Umberg.

Fire officials said a crack discovered in the tank over the weekend may have helped relieve pressure, reducing the risk of a catastrophic explosion.

Shoppers in local communities across several states may discover that they have fewer supermarkets to choose from this year.

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Hello and welcome to Modern CEO! I’m Stephanie Mehta, CEO and chief content officer of Mansueto Ventures. Each week this newsletter explores inclusive approaches to leadership drawn from conversations with executives and entrepreneurs, and from the pages of Inc. and Fast Company. If you received this newsletter from a friend, you can sign up to get it yourself every Monday morning. 

Calling all redheads to the front! Wendy’s is honoring its roots by holding a look-alike contest for its iconic logo in New York City on May 26, World Redhead Day.

Before most of America pours its first cup of coffee, millions of workers are already hours into their shifts, and they’re tired. Overnight warehouse workers are packing orders. Early-morning bus drivers are taking kids to school. ER nurses are handing off to the day team at 7 a.m. These workers aren’t just fatigued from long hours. Many are living with a real, diagnosable medical condition that goes unrecognized and untreated, sometimes for years. And the cost of that gap doesn’t stay invisible forever.

Memorial Day contains multitudes. Most importantly, the federal holiday honors those who lost their lives while fighting for the United States. It’s also the unofficial kickoff to summer, filled with barbecues, beaches, and swimming.

Jobseekers and recruiters are at a technological standoff. 

On a field in Frayser, Tennessee, a neighborhood on the north side of Memphis, designers from the regional firm Archimania sought a clever solution for the Girls Inc. Youth Farm, a nonprofit operating an agriculture center that served as a teaching center and a hub for youth development 

Burnout is getting all the attention right now—but it’s not where the problem starts.