Good morning. And good-bye to summer, sort of. We will not publish a CEO Daily on Monday because it’s Labor Day in the U.S.—a last hurrah of barbecues and beaches and random shows on Broadway, if you happen to be here in New York. September is the month that reinforces this city’s role as a mecca for leaders around the world, coming in for Fashion Week, Climate Week, the UN General Assembly and more. We’re doing several events, and we welcome the chance to meet more global leaders as they come through town, so please let me know if you’ll be here. Really. My email is below.
The back-to-school learning mindset also carries over to business. I’m looking forward to interviewing Indeed CEO Chris Hyams and former American Tower CEO Tom Bartlett at Deloitte’s Next Generation CEO Program in Westlake, Texas, in a few weeks. (Deloitte sponsors CEO Daily. Separately, check out our Next to Lead newsletter by my colleagues Ruth Umoh and Natalie McCormick.)
I’m also thrilled to be speaking with FedEx CEO Raj Subramaniam at Dreamforce, Royal Bank of Canada CEO Dave McKay for the Canadian Club, and AI pioneer Yoshua Bengio at the ALL IN forum in Montreal. Let me know if you’ll be there, and I’ll be sure to share insights here on what they say. Feel free to suggest questions! My colleague Kristin Stoller and I are also co-hosting an intimate CEO dinner with entrepreneur and CEO Initiative member Sunny Gurpreet Singh in his Seattle home—the first of what I hope are many such gatherings to come.
Finally, for all the chief operating officers out there, let me extend an invitation to our inaugural Fortune COO Summit on Oct. 7 and 8 in Middleburg, Va. The two-day meeting will feature a mix of plenary sessions, small-group discussions, workshops, networking, and recreational activities. We will focus on how the COO role is transforming and get insights from leaders across the business landscape for personal and professional growth. Check out the agenda. You’ll meet a lot of us there and at our Impact Initiative in Atlanta later that week.
Such events foster opportunities to connect as human beings around topics of shared interest and learn from each other. That’s what fuels me every day. I welcome your feedback and look forward to continuing the conversation. Enjoy the weekend.
More news below.
Diane Brady
diane.brady@fortune.com
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TOP NEWS
Ford reverses on DEI initiatives
Ford is the latest company to abandon aspects of its DEI initiatives after it was targeted by threats of a boycott from conservative activist Robby Starbuck. Starbuck posted a memo from Ford CEO Jim Farley on X on Wednesday that said the company will no longer incorporate diversity quotas into its hiring processes or choice of suppliers, among other changes. Fortune
Tyson heir leaves CFO role
Tyson Foods CFO John Randal Tyson, who was suspended from the role in mid-June following an arrest for driving while intoxicated, will not return to the role, the family-owned company announced on Thursday. John Randal, the son of Tyson chairman John H. Tyson, was in line to become CEO of the chicken empire but will be replaced by interim CFO Curt Callaway. Fortune's Lila MacLellan dug into the junior Tyson's saga last month.
Zillow CEO is hopeful on houses
Zillow’s new CEO Jeremy Wacksman told Fortune in a new interview that he thinks “we should start to see balance come back” to a struggling housing market. The fully-remote chief executive said advice from the company’s co-founders—“If you solve a customer’s problem, everything else will take care of itself”—is how he stays optimistic in a downturn. Fortune
AROUND THE WATERCOOLER
Airbnb’s Brian Chesky had a major leadership gripe early on in his career: ‘There’s no appreciation for learning how to be a CEO’ by Natalie McCormick
Elon Musk’s X will shut down its SF headquarters in two weeks—on Friday the 13th by Kali Hays
How this Goldman Sachs sports boss helps the Yankees, FC Barcelona, and other famous clubs build their stadiums by Michael del Castillo
L’Oréal heiress has been dethroned as the world’s richest woman by the family dynasty that tops the Fortune 500 by Prarthana Prakash
Warby Parker’s founders were told their startup would never work. Here’s how they built it into a $1.8 billion business anyway by Jane Thier
Elon Musk threatens a top Brazil judge who moved to block X in the country by Marco Quiroz-Gutierrez
This edition of CEO Daily was curated by Joey Abrams.
