- In today’s CEO Daily: Diane Brady on the state of moral leadership in business.
- The big story: Alphabet could double capex spending; investors aren’t enthused.
- The markets: Mostly down.
- Plus: All the news and watercooler chat from Fortune.
Good morning. Good morning. As someone who has covered CEOs for decades, I think a lot about what makes a good leader, especially in this environment. It comes down to behaviors and practices, not intent. Dov Seidman, founder and chairman of LRN and the HOW Institute for Society, has studied the metrics around behaviors in leaders for as long as I’ve been reporting on them. I got an exclusive look at the institute’s 2026 study of the state of moral leadership in business, which asked more than 2,500 U.S. workers to assess the presence of moral leadership practices in their organization, ranked managers and companies into five tiers, and correlated that with business outcomes.
Some findings: 78% of employees in top-tier companies felt they had satisfied customers, compared to 14% in the bottom tier; while 83% of those respondents said their company encouraged new ideas, compared with 4% at the bottom. Your boss matters, too, as 3% of those reporting to top-tier managers in the least-polarized workplaces want to leave their positions, compared to 18% reporting to bottom-tier bosses. So I asked Seidman for tips on what leaders can actually do to get into that top tier. Some advice:
· State the truth, even if doing so creates some personal risk.
· Make amends when you get things wrong—apologize, authentically.
· Explain decisions in the context of how they relate to the organization’s purpose.
· Help others develop the wisdom to make the right call.
· Enlist your team on a journey of moral leadership.
About 94% of employees in the study said the need for moral leadership is more urgent than ever but fewer than 10% of CEOs were judged to be leading effectively. “If you can get yourself into the top tier, the benefits are massive,” Seidman told me yesterday. “You build resilience, loyalty, and get better results.” You can read the full study here.
Contact CEO Daily via Diane Brady at diane.brady@fortune.com
Top leadership news
Alphabet plans to double capex spending to a possible $185 billion, and investors aren't so keen
On its Wednesday fourth quarter earnings call, Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai and chief financial officer Anat Ashkenazi revealed that the $4 trillion tech giant will spend between $175 billion to $185 billion in capex in 2026, possibly doubling the $91.4 billion it spent in 2025 and a far cry from the $52.5 billion spent as recently as 2024. In Q4 alone, Alphabet’s capex investment reached $27.9 billion. Investors flinched: The stock was down 1.96% at the close and lost a further 0.39% in overnight trading.
Why Oura is sticking with a subscription-based model
Despite consumers growing consistently more fatigued with subscription-based business models, smart ring maker recently announced that it is keeping its monthly fees. “Oura’s membership model is what powers ongoing innovation, and we see strong evidence that members continue to find meaningful value month over month with a better than best-in-class retention rate,” CEO Tom Hale told Fortune.
Why OpenAI could pull its IPO plans
In a recent episode of his podcast, NYU Stern marketing professor and tech analyst Scott Galloway suggested that a reported 2026 IPO for OpenAI might not happen as the AI market becomes more competitive. CEO Sam Altman’s “proximity” to President Donald Trump is also a liability, per Galloway.
Meta plans to make data center even bigger
Meta has purchased an additional 1,400 acres around its 2,250-acre data center in Louisiana, Fortune learned while visiting the project. The data center is already twice the size of Manhattan’s Central Park.
The markets
S&P 500 futures were flat this morning. The last session closed down 0.51%. STOXX Europe 600 was flat in early trading. The U.K.’s FTSE 100 was down 0.14% in early trading. Japan’s Nikkei 225 was down 0.88%. China’s CSI 300 was down 0.6%. The South Korea KOSPI was down 3.86%. India’s NIFTY 50 was down 0.57%. Bitcoin declined to $71.2K.
Around the watercooler
The tech stock free fall doesn’t make any sense, BofA says in rebuke to investors while doubling down on the sector’s longevity by Nick Lichtenberg
Ken Griffin is apparently done with ‘sucking up’ to the White House by Eleanor Pringle
Ray Dalio warns the world is ‘on the brink’ of a capital war of weaponizing money—and gold is the best way for people to protect themselves by Sasha Rogelberg
Pinterest cracks down on dissent, fires engineers for an internal layoff tool as AI shake-ups keep employees on edge and in line by Marco Quiroz-Gutierrez
CEO Daily is compiled and edited by Joey Abrams, Jim Edwards, and Lee Clifford.
