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☆ Moms for Liberty emerge as a force in the 2024 race
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-30 | by ( James Oliphant | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

The Republican candidates' courting of the group's members signifies its arrival as a major conservative player in national politics. Volunteers sporting shirts with the group’s logo could be seen working recently at DeSantis’ presidential campaign events in Iowa. COURTING MOMSOther Republican candidates also are cozying up to Moms for Liberty, which now claims 120,000 members in 44 states. Advocacy groups such as People For the American Way, ACT UP, Defense of Democracy and a Facebook-based effort called STOP Moms for Liberty organized protests in Philadelphia ahead of the Moms for Liberty conference. She said Moms for Liberty remains largely concerned with learning loss connected to school closures from the pandemic and that its opposition is driven by politics.

Persons: Robin Steenman, Judith, Brett Craig, Read, Donald Trump, Ron DeSantis, “, ”, Tina Descovich, Tim Scott, Mike Pence, Nikki Haley, Descovich, DeSantis, Jazmyn Henderson, ” Bryan Griffin, Griffin, Nathan Layne, Colleen Jenkins, Alistair Bell Organizations: Liberty, Republican, Heritage Foundation, Leadership Institute, Trump, Iowa, Former South Carolina, Southern Poverty Law Center, Reuters, Way, ACT UP, Defense of Democracy, Twitter, Thomson Locations: Philadelphia, Florida, Iowa, U.S, South Carolina

☆ One of the 'godfathers' of AI says concerns the technology could pose a threat to humanity are 'preposterously ridiculous'
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-15 | by ( Grace Dean | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Yann LeCun says concerns that AI could pose a threat to humanity are "preposterously ridiculous." He was part of a team that won the Turing Award in 2018 for breakthroughs in machine learning. An AI expert has said concerns that the technology could pose a threat to humanity are "preposterously ridiculous." Marc Andreessen warned against "full-blown moral panic about AI" and said that people have a "moral obligation" to encourage its development. He added that concerns about AI were overstated and if people realized the technology wasn't safe they shouldn't build it, per BBC News.

Persons: Yann LeCun, Yoshua Bengio, Geoffrey Hinton, LeCun, Bing, DALL, Bengio, Elon Musk, Steve Wozniak, Bill Gates, Marc Andreessen Organizations: BBC News, BBC, Apple, Center, AI Safety, Yale's, Leadership Institute, CNN Locations: Paris

☆ Bad news for the Fed: American workers are becoming less productive
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-14 | by ( Nicole Goodkind | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

But what does the Fed mean when it talks about labor markets and their impact on inflation? What’s happening: At its most basic level, labor productivity is a measure of the value of the goods and services produced by a company compared with the amount of labor used to produce that output. Labor productivity decreased 2.1% in the first quarter of 2023, the US Bureau of Labor Statistics reported earlier this month. The silver lining: The good news is technological innovations typically drive upturns in productivity and AI could be such an innovation. Absolutely not,” Yellen said, echoing the joint statement leaders from the Group of Seven made at last month’s summit in Japan.

Persons: Lisa Shalett, ”, Lisa Cook, Joseph Brusuelas, Sundar Pichai, aren’t, Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, Richard Blumenthal, “, Doug McMillon, Roger McNamee, Steven Spielberg, Vito Corleone, Janet Yellen, ” Yellen, Elisabeth Buchwald, Yellen, Biden Organizations: CNN Business, Bell, New York CNN — Federal Reserve, Morgan Stanley Wealth Management, Fed, Labor, US Bureau of Labor Statistics, BLS, McKinsey Global Institute, Federal, RSM US, of America, Google, Yale School, Management’s, Leadership Institute, Walmart, Technology, Financial, International Monetary Fund, Inter, American Development Bank group’s, African Development Fund, IMF Locations: New York, United States, Michigan, Connecticut, China, Japan

☆ 42% of CEOs say AI could destroy humanity in five to ten years
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-14 | by ( Matt Egan | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

New York CNN Business —Many top business leaders are seriously worried that artificial intelligence could pose an existential threat to humanity in the not-too-distant future. Forty-two percent of CEOs surveyed at the Yale CEO Summit this week say AI has the potential to destroy humanity five to ten years from now, according to survey results shared exclusively with CNN. The business leaders displayed a sharp divide over just how dangerous AI is to civilization. While 34% of CEOs said AI could potentially destroy humanity in ten years and 8% said that could happen in five years, 58% said that could never happen and they are “not worried.”In a separate question, Yale found that 42% of the CEOs surveyed say the potential catastrophe of AI is overstated, while 58% say it is not overstated. The CEOs indicated AI will have the most transformative impact in three key industries: healthcare (48%), professional services/IT (35%) and media/digital (11%).

Persons: “, ”, Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, Sonnenfeld, Doug McMillion, James Quincy, Yale, Sam Altman, Geoffrey Hinton, Hinton, “ I’m, ” Hinton, Jake Tapper, Robert Oppenheimer, ” Sonnenfeld Organizations: New York CNN Business, Yale, Summit, CNN, Sonnenfeld’s, Leadership Institute, Walmart, Xerox, Google, Microsoft

☆ Premarket stocks: CEOs are tired of being held responsible for gun regulation
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-03 | by ( Nicole Goodkind | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

Dick’s Sporting Goods stopped selling semi-automatic, assault-style rifles at stores and Citigroup put new restrictions on gun sales by business customers after the mass shooting at a high school in Parkland, Florida, in 2018. But Yale professor Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, a vocal advocate of corporate social responsibility who has a direct line to major CEOs around the globe, said that top executives are forlorn. Before the Bell: CEOs have been quiet about gun reform since the latest mass school shooting in Nashville, have you heard anything about plans to speak out? Enough already on saying ‘what are the CEOs doing?’ Social capital is as valuable as financial capital. But don’t these CEOs hold the purse strings in terms of donating to powerful politicians?

☆ 'Shark Tank' star Kevin O'Leary is blaming Silicon Valley Bank's implosion on a 'negligent board of directors' with 'idiot management'
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-14 | by ( Cheryl Teh | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Kevin O'Leary has blamed Silicon Valley Bank's management for the bank's implosion. Silicon Valley Bank collapsed after a bank run, and there are differing opinions on why that happened. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation took control of Silicon Valley Bank on Friday after a catastrophic bank run. There has been mud-slinging in all directions over the factors that may have contributed to Silicon Valley Bank's failure. Representatives for Silicon Valley Bank did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment outside regular business hours.

☆ ‘Absolutely idiotic’. SVB insider says employees are angry with CEO
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-13 | by ( Matt Egan | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

“That was absolutely idiotic,” the employee, who works on the asset management side of Silicon Valley Bank, told CNN in an interview. By the close of business that day, Silicon Valley Bank had a negative cash balance of about $958 million. “People are just shocked at how stupid the CEO is,” the Silicon Valley Bank insider said. “There should be no mistaking that Silicon Valley Bank’s collapse was a direct result of the Fed’s persistent and excessive interest rate hikes,” they wrote. Of course, Silicon Valley Bank had more than a year to prepare for both of those issues.

☆ Russia says its economy did better than expected, one year into the Ukraine war. But experts say there's a red flag behind the announcement.
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-23 | by ( Huileng Tan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

According to Russia's federal statistics service, the country's GDP contracted by 2.1% in 2022. However, Russia stopped publishing some key economic data last year, throwing up a red flag. While this contraction reversed a 5.6% GDP growth in 2021, it did far better than an 8.8% to 12.4% contraction that Russia's economy ministry projected in April 2022. The war in Ukraine triggered heightened concerns over issues related to energy security, particularly about natural gas exports — which Europe was reliant on. The EU's ban on Russian oil imports from December sent countries rushing to load up before the embargo kicked in, which helped prop up Russia's energy coffers.

☆ Businesses, not governments, will need to lead the transition to clean energy, executives say
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-27 | by ( Josée Rose | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

The transition to clean energy isn't a choice, executives told Insider. Sign up for our newsletter to get the latest on the culture & business of sustainability — delivered weekly to your inbox. Motsinger said the move to sustainable business practices, infrastructure, supply chains, and products couldn't wait for the government to mandate such moves. Fitzgerald added that it's key to develop trust among all sides so that businesses could roll out new technology. Once we have safe, reliable, and affordable options in those areas, Fitzgerald said attention might turn to areas considered harder to decarbonize — processes like steelmaking, cement production, and construction.

☆ A CEO's apology is a make-or-break moment. Here's how to do it right.
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-04 | by ( Josée Rose | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

When a CEO or company messes up and trust is broken, the apology must be done right. Trust is the everyday currency of business, PwC's Wes Bricker says. CEOs must be aware that the way they apologize is just as important as the words "I'm sorry." In recent years, a corporation's or CEO's apology has taken on greater significance because customers and employees are often quick to demand that leaders take ownership and show transparency around their actions. Sucher said CEOs were receptive to a framework on how to apologize because "everyone messes up at times."

☆ Trust is the currency that CEOs need to be using to build their businesses, PwC exec says
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-03 | by ( Josée Rose | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Leaders can't expect to inspire transformation and change without trust, a PwC exec says. CEOs and leaders should be using trust daily to build teams and business strategies, as well as to connect with clients, Bricker said. In PwC's survey, 87% of business executives said they thought consumers had a high level of trust in their business, but only 30% of consumers said they did. Leaders can't expect to inspire transformation and change without it. "Trust comes first, and it's what gives us all as business leaders the right to solve important problems," he said.

☆ A Fast-Growing Network of Conservative Groups Is Fueling a Surge in Book Bans
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-12 | by ( Elizabeth A. Harris | Alexandra Alter | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

The alliance has a network of more than 250,000 people it can mobilize to flood politicians with letters. Referred to by Mr. Flaugh as “the back office,” this network sprang into action this year to support a bill that requires Florida districts to report all book objections to the state. Some librarians and parents are concerned it will have a chilling effect. The summit also drew other prominent political figures from the right, including Senator Rick Scott of Florida and the Trump administration cabinet members Ben Carson and Betsy DeVos. In her remarks, Ms. DeVos called for dismantling the Department of Education, which she used to run.

☆ Texas-based oil giant accused of failing to help its Russian workers avoid being conscripted by Putin, report says
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-15 | by ( Ryan Hogg | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Schlumberger is passing draft notices on to some of its 9,000 Russian employees, Reuters reported. Some workers have begun receiving draft notices ordering them to join the Russian army, according to a report by the news agency. The BHRRC told Reuters that Roche and Novo Nordisk, two other non-Russian companies, had requested military exemptions for their employees. "The local leadership team is managing an incredibly complex and difficult situation," a Schlumberger spokesperson told Reuters in an emailed statement. The US-based spokesperson added that managers were obliged "to comply with local laws and regulations, especially when failure to do so could create additional risk for our local employees."

They strategized on what they want to do next: elect their own candidates to school boards, pass state legislation and diminish the influence of teachers unions. “It’s been said we’re some political powerhouse,” said Tiffany Justice, who co-founded Moms for Liberty in January 2021 with Tina Descovich. Moms for Liberty founders Tiffany Justice, left, and Tina Descovich present the Liberty Sword to Gov. “When I’m going up there by myself, the school board overlooks you,” said Ken Davenport, a father from a chapter in Orange County, Florida, who is running for state representative. Ron DeSantis, is joined by her 5-year-old daughter, Madison, after a question and answer session at the Moms for Liberty Summit.

☆ People: Employees' well-being, diversity, and equity are key components of sustainability
▼ + stars: | 2022-03-03 | by ( Sharon Goldman | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Sustainable goals include improving people's well-being, health, and equity. This article is part of the "Financing a Sustainable Future" series exploring how companies take steps to set and fund sustainable goals. That includes investing in everything from fair wages to reskilling and upskilling; health and safety; diversity, equity, and inclusion; gender equality; and fair hiring practices. For Horizon Therapeutics, a biopharmaceutical company with 1,800 employees worldwide, a key priority around diversity, equity, and inclusion is pay equity. "We have 100% pay equity at Horizon,'' said Irina Konstantinovsky, Horizon's executive vice president, chief human-resources officer, and chief diversity officer.

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