Fortune

Fortune conducts an exclusive first video interview with Nike’s Elliott Hill since taking the reins as the company’s new CEO. (fortune.com/videos) The Leadership Next podcast is back for a new season. Diane Brady and Kristin Stoller sat down with Deloitte US CEO Jason Girzadas to discuss what to expect from top CEOs in 2025. (fortune.com/topic/leadership-next) Stream the Fortune YouTube channel to hear from leaders across the Fortune 500 and get in-depth analysis of what’s going on in the world of business. (youtube.com/@fortune) FOR MORE INFO, GO TO FORTUNE.COM…

LAST YEAR, one thing became very clear: Most people are unhappy with today’s leaders. In a year that saw more than 60 national elections worldwide, incumbents either lost their seats or lost ground in nearly every race. (Welcome back, President Trump.) Trust in our institutions is down across the board. In the latest Edelman Trust Barometer, a well-respected global survey, disturbingly large numbers of people say there’s no one they trust anymore: not the media, corporations, governments, nor NGOs. And they certainly don’t trust CEOs. When there’s no trust, there’s no hope. And when there’s no hope, innovation and progress get stifled. So it’s no surprise that more people are looking to leaders who will shake things up. In Washington, Trump is empowering some of the most influential people in Silicon Valley to rethink…

CHASE GALLAGHER WAS 12 years old when he started mowing his neighbors’ lawns in Chester County, Pa., for $35 a pop in the summer of 2013. At first the Gen Zer had only two customers, but thanks to some aggressive leafleting, he had 10 clients by the following year. Today, Gallagher’s landscaping business employs 10 people and does “everything from stormwater management and drainage work to pavers and lighting,” he says. Last year, CMG Landscaping generated more than $1.5 million in revenue; meanwhile, many of his peers were still finishing their bachelor’s degrees. It’s rare, of course, for an old-school pocket-money job to become so lucrative. But Gallagher says it’s exactly what he’s been plotting since the age of 10. “No one would hire me, because in the state of Pennsylvania you…

SOME TIME AGO, top CEOs at an invitation-only seminar at Harvard Business School were asked to imagine the four crises they would likely confront during their tenure at the top: a health emergency, a geopolitical conflict, an economic downturn, and a trade war. For one participant in particular—Michel Doukeris, CEO of the world’s biggest brewer, Anheuser-Busch InBev—the list hit home. “So, according to your research, I’m ready to retire,” he recalls telling the Harvard professor. “Because I have seen all that in the first two years.” Doukeris had been promoted in July 2021 to lead AB InBev (as the brewing giant is known). It was a baptism by fire, beginning at the height of COVID, when millions of drinkers were under lockdown or avoiding crowded bars. Then came Russia’s invasion of Ukraine,…

ROSS SIMONINI carried his 3-month-old baby, his dog, and some clothes. He had some hard drives and his computer, but the charger never made it out of his house, which had stood in Altadena, Calif., for almost 100 years. Simonini fled the Eaton Fire with his family on the morning of Tuesday, Jan. 7. Eight hours later, his home would be gone, consumed by flames. A writer, sculptor, musician, and painter, Simonini’s art has been featured globally. He left a lifetime of work at home. “All my archives, 20 years of work, it’s all gone,” said Simonini. “I lost everything I’ve ever made. It’s hard to understand how to go forward when your past has been erased.” Simonini faces a fathomless question, one thousands across Los Angeles County are asking: What now? When…

APPLE FINISHED 2024 in record fashion, with a staggering $3.6 trillion market capitalization that not only topped every other company on the planet, but also eclipsed the economic value of all but a handful of the world’s countries. Even more incredible: It was a year likely to be remembered for Apple’s many disappointments and setbacks. In February 2024, the company killed its decadelong effort to create the car of the future. That same month, Apple released the Vision Pro virtual reality headset—its first new-category product since 2015’s Apple Watch—only to reportedly sharply reduce production of the device by year’s end. A late start to generative AI put Apple in the embarrassing position of shipping the newest iPhone without its marquee features available at launch. And European law is forcing Apple to open…