9 strategies for hiring a CEO you can trust with your vision
Hiring the right CEO means finding someone who's not just capable but deeply aligned with what your company stands for. You're handing over the reins to someone who needs to lead, and lead like you would—with full conviction in the company's mission and the clarity to drive it forward. It's a high-stakes decision that can either strengthen or unravel your foundation.
To help you make the right call, nine Fast Company Executive Board members share how they've identified and retained CEOs who are mission-driven, reliable, and ready to take the reins. Below, they offer practical ways for finding a leader who can build on your vision while giving you the freedom to focus on what's next.
1. DEFINE WHAT THE ROLE TRULY REQUIRES.
Question your approach. Map the role to the candidate, not the other way around. Understand what the role specifically requires for success in terms of skills, acumen, behaviors, critical thinking, and decision-making. Understand what the role really needs before determining if you have the right person for it. – Jay Steven Levin, WinThinking
2. OFFER GROWTH POTENTIAL AND ROOM FOR INNOVATION.
I have two strategies to attract and retain a trustworthy CEO. First, show the candidate a clear and well-defined career advancement path. Second, provide an environment that allows full autonomy for technical innovation, which is especially important to the CEO of a technology company. – Chongwei Chen, DataNumen Inc.
3. FIND A PARTNER WHO CAN CARRY THE BATON.
Hire a CEO like you'd choose a relay race partner. You need someone who can run their leg with clarity, speed, and trust, not someone who just mirrors your stride. Share your toughest lessons alongside your vision. The right CEO carries the baton with conviction, even when the course changes. – Albert Lie, Forward Labs
4. CHOOSE A CEO WHO SHARES YOUR VISION AND CULTURE.
Ensure a clear understanding of your company's vision, mission, and long-term goals. The CEO should align with these objectives. Ensure the candidate fits within your company's culture and leadership style. The CEO must be genuinely passionate about driving the organization's mission forward and building on your company's success. – Britton Bloch, Navy Federal Credit Union
5. PRIORITIZE ALIGNMENT FROM THE START.
Attracting the right CEO starts with clarity. Define the mission, values, and expectations up front. Look for alignment in vision, not just on a resume. Retain them by offering autonomy, support, and shared purpose. Trust grows when there's transparency, mutual respect, and a culture of accountability from day one. – Stephen Nalley, Black Briar Advisors
6. LOOK TO EMERGING LEADERS WITHIN YOUR ORGANIZATION.
Nurture potential, budding, and current leaders of your organization. Leadership development programs will set you up for success, ensuring that a CEO candidate shares the company's strategic vision, mission, and level of commitment. Internal candidates will best match the founder's vision and culture. If looking externally, advisers who understand your mission will help find the best hire. – Mark Valentino, Citizens
7. WAIT UNTIL YOUR MISSION IS CRYSTAL CLEAR.
As a CEO recently hired into a legacy, founder-led company, be crystal clear on your mission before hiring—if it's still fuzzy, wait. Prioritize alignment over credentials; if they don't deeply believe in the mission, keep looking. To retain them, give them space to lead, shape the how, and support them with trust and clarity. – Sarah Buckler, Tangible
8. BUILD TRUST THROUGH VALUES AND OPEN DIALOGUE.
It begins with a candidate who fits the company's mission and has a matching set of values. Mutual trust is developed through the facilitation of open dialogue, clearly established expectations, and a dedication to commitment over impact. – Asad Khan, LambdaTest Inc.
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CNN
20 minutes ago
- CNN
‘Pawprints on my heart': How bonding with a pet becomes a religious experience
James Taylor is a prominent Canadian theologian who has written 15 books on faith and grief, taught religion at several colleges and been the recipient of an honorary Doctor of Divinity degree. But one of his greatest spiritual teachers was a companion who liked to chase ducks and steal Taylor's underwear — and whose most prestigious award was being honored by a local newspaper as its Pet of the Week. His friend was 'Brick,' a high-spirited, purebred Irish Setter that Taylor rescued with his wife, Joan. During Brick's first night in his new home, he managed to topple Taylor's border lamp, scatter his glasses and sweep his alarm clock off a nightstand. When Taylor awakened the next morning he discovered Brick slumbering, with one hind leg sticking up through a lampshade. Over time, though, Brick proved to be a rock. He stood by Taylor's side when he was ill and loved him no matter what. Taylor says the depth of feelings he gradually developed for Brick showed him that some of the most profound moments in life — falling hopelessly in love; feeling a newborn's baby's hand close around your finger; watching a daughter walk down a wedding aisle — could not be captured by sermons. 'My father was a minister, so I grew up in a world of words,' Taylor says. 'I thought wisdom came to me by the words that I read in the Bible or a book on theology. The thing that animals taught me is that God doesn't speak to us just in words but in our experiences. God reaches us through our experiences, and animals are a part of that experience.' Many books and studies in recent years have explored why so many people are leaving organized religion. But few scholars have explored another trend: The growing number of people who've found that bonding with their pets becomes a spiritual experience. We are in the middle of the Great Pet Awakening — a surge of people who say that owning a pet is a religious experience. In a post-pandemic era when many people still live in isolation, more pet owners are saying their furry friends are not mere companions. They are 'partners in a spiritual journey,' according to David Michie, an author and Buddhist commentator. This awakening is due in part to math. Pet ownership in the US has risen over the past 30 years. At least 66% of Americans say they own a pet, up from 56% in 1988. Virtually all people consider their pets members of the family. The other reason for this trend is more intangible. More people are publicly sharing how owning a pet led them to develop spiritual habits traditionally taught by religion. Pets, they say, teach them about forgiveness and the importance of fellowshipping with others. Pets also embody grace — they accept humans as they are. Pets also prompt many of their owners to confront a heavy theological question: Does Fido have a soul? It's common for pet owners to ask online forums what happens to their pets when they die. That curiosity has spawned a new literary genre: pet psychics who assure people that yes, 'some angels choose furs over feathers.' Books such as 'Yes, Pets Do Go to Heaven' and 'The Amazing Afterlife of Animals' assure people that their departed now frolic in celestial meadows. Some psychics offer pet owners even more consolation: a chance to hear personalized messages from their pets in the Great Beyond. Matt Fraser, a psychic medium and author of 'We Never Die: Secrets of the Afterlife,' says he offers a spiritual connection between people and pets. It turns out that pets have a lot to say. Fraser holds seances to help people connect with the spirits of their loved ones. He says it's not unusual for pets to break through his sessions with humans to communicate with their former owners. Fraser, who starred in a reality show called 'Meet the Frasers,' says he believes some pets in the afterlife find other ways to communicate with their former owners in the physical world. 'So next time you hear a faint bark, see a toy where it doesn't belong, or feel a warm, familiar presence by your side, take it as a sign—your spirit pet is saying hello,' Fraser wrote in one essay. Some people mourn more over the passing of their pets than their relatives, Fraser tells CNN. 'Nobody really understands how these animals really grow on you, how much you love them until it's too deep,' says Fraser, who owns three Bengal cats. 'When we lose them, people grieve and say, 'God, I never expected to grieve so hard.' ' It opens up a whole different side of your heart, just like children do.' If a pet psychic sounds like too much, consider this: Animals have been considered conduits to the spiritual world through much of human history. Ancient Egyptians treated cats as divine symbols and thought they provided companionship to their masters in the afterlife (many were buried with them in tombs). Many ancient religions believed animals functioned as 'spirit guides,' appearing to human beings in dreams and daily life to offer wisdom and guidance. Have you ever heard a person say they saw a red cardinal after someone close to them died? The cardinal is popularly viewed as a spirit guide. The connection between pets and spirituality is not limited to one religion. A Pew Research Center poll released last month revealed that a majority of adults in Muslim, Christian, Hindu and Jewish countries believe that animals can have spirits or spiritual energies. No less of a spiritual authority than the late Pope Francis said there's a place for pets in paradise. While comforting a boy whose dog died, Francis told him: 'One day, we will see our animals again in the eternity of Christ. Paradise is open to all creatures.' Another revered spiritual leader, Mahatma Gandhi, also believed that animals are sacred. 'To my mind, the life of a lamb is no less precious than that of a human being,' said the nonviolent activist who helped lead India to independence from England in 1947. 'I hold that the more helpless a creature, the more entitled it is to protection from the cruelty of man.' There are times, though, that pets owners feel helpless. That's when many of them say having a pet deepens their spirituality. The faith of Taylor, the author and minister, was tested by a cruel succession of personal losses. His son, Stephen, died at 21 from cystic fibrosis. He watched Non-Hodgkin lymphoma destroy his mother's body. He saw his then 93-year-old father — a minister with three honorary divinity degrees — struggle with pain in his final days. When Taylor asked his father which hymns and Scriptures he wanted read at his memorial service, his father said, 'I don't care. I won't be there.' At one point, Taylor was no longer sure he believed in life after death. Yet Brick had a way of sensing his mood and comforting him, Taylor says. He recalls what happened once when he fell ill. 'I went and sprawled on my couch, feeling sorry for myself,' Taylor tells CNN. 'And for the first time, Brick jumped on the couch and curled up against me. He recognized that I was in pain and suffering. It wasn't just enough to lick my face.' Companions like Brick provide what God also promises, Taylor wrote in 'The Spirituality of Pets,' a book that explores the link between pets and faith. 'Pets probably come as close to giving and receiving unconditional love as we can come in this flawed world,' he wrote. Pets also can provide healing, some owners say. This claim is backed up by science. Owning a pet can lower a person's blood pressure and the release of cortisol, a stress-related hormone. Among people who suffer strokes, pet owners live longer than those without animal companions. Service dogs can sense oncoming seizures in their owners, while some say cats can recognize the presence of cancer. Pets can heal psychological scars as well. Some prisons allow inmates to adopt pets. The experience of caring for another living creature has been found to soften inmates' anger, allowing some to experience warmth and affection for the first time in their lives. A growing number of churches now recognize the spiritual dimension to pet ownership. Many offer blessing ceremonies for pets and others have turned church grounds into dog parks to attract new members. Some Christians have created ministries such as Canines for Christ, which provides dogs to patients at children's hospitals, nursing homes and hospice facilities. Unlike people, pets don't judge. Taylor tells a story in his book about a service dog who was escorted into a hospital room, looked past the burn-scarred face of the patient and 'with the wag of its tail,' conveyed to the man, 'I love you.'' Pets also can help their owners confront the ultimate mystery of life that religion addresses: how to make peace with one's mortality. Pets don't tend to live as long as their owners. For some children, losing a pet is their first exposure to death. For some adults, watching a pet die illuminates their spiritual beliefs. That's what happened to Scott Dill. He and his wife, Tara, are longtime dog lovers. One of their favorites was 'Socks,' a black-and-white Shih Tzu rescue. They clicked with Socks right from the beginning. He had a placid temperament and immediately allowed their two daughters, Hyland and Lydia, to walk him by leash. He wasn't aggressive with other dogs. He liked people. 'He was super chill,' says Dill, director of spiritual growth at Crossroads Community Church in Cincinnati, Ohio. 'A squirrel could have walked over his head, and he wouldn't have paid attention.' After about a decade, Dill noticed a change in Socks. He lost weight, suffered panic attacks and would abruptly stop and stare into corners. Dill took him to the vet. The diagnosis was a brain tumor. Dill and his family reluctantly decided to euthanize Socks to prevent more suffering. The entire experience — Socks quietly sitting in Tara's lap as they rode to the vet; watching the vet administer a sedative to a calm Socks; touching Socks as he quietly took his last breath — became a religious epiphany for Dill. Christians preach that God loved humanity so much that he sacrificed his son to display that love. Dill knows the Scriptures that commemorate that sacrifice. But the emotional weight of giving up Socks made him feel those scriptures in a new way. Dill shared this experience in an essay entitled, 'We Put Our Dog Down and Saw God.' He wrote that his loss showed him how much God must have hurt when He gave up His Son. 'Through the pain of this loss, God has lovingly reminded me of the incalculable weight of his rescue,' Dill wrote. 'I got a clearer picture of that cost. The cost of love.' After Socks died, Dill says his family carried the dog's body home and buried him in their backyard. They said a short prayer over his grave, thanking God for Socks' life. They erected a gravestone that stands today as a reminder of their loss. 'Even though it was the right decision to put him down,' Dill tells CNN, 'there's just something surreal about being able to choose whether a creature should live or die.' Taylor had to face the same choice with Brick. When Brick was about eight, he started to decline. He struggled to get to his feet while getting out of bed. He stumbled going downstairs. When Taylor took him for walks, Brick's trot turned into a plod. 'I recognized all these symptoms because I have them myself,' Taylor wrote in his book about pets. Taylor took Brick to the vet. Surgery followed, but the operation revealed a litany of maladies that had damaged the dog's internal organs. His decline accelerated. Despite the pain Brick experienced as he hobbled around the house, he never forgot he was housebroken, never whimpered in self-pity or snapped in anger, Taylor says. Brick's condition eventually became irreversible. When he turned 11, old for a dog, his legs stopped working properly. Taylor and his wife decided to take Brick to a vet so he wouldn't suffer anymore. That same day, Taylor says, something remarkable happened. 'Here's this dog who can barely get onto his feet — but he raided our laundry basket,' Taylor tells CNN. 'He did what he loved to do, which was to pull my underwear from the basket and go hide it in the house. He wanted to play, to challenge us and wanted us to laugh in those hours and not go around weeping.' Does Taylor believe he will see Brick again in the afterlife? Taylor is no pet psychic, but he says he's starting to believe animals have souls. He recalls standing next to a friend's poodle who was being euthanized and 'feeling as something was leaving' the moment the dog died. Where that pet may have gone is a place that Taylor calls the 'Rainbow Bridge.' It's a widely circulated poem for pet owners from an anonymous author that depicts animals romping in a lush celestial meadow where they will eventually reunite with their owners. In one variation of the poem, a writer declares her dog's pawprints will 'be on my heart forever.' 'It's very moving because it acknowledges that heaven — whatever heaven is — is not just limited to people,' Taylor says. 'Anyone we love, including a turtle that has lived 90 years, has value that cannot be limited by its physical presence.' In death, Brick left Taylor one final lesson. 'I'm learning from him (Brick) that everything, in the end, boils down to relationships,' Taylor says. 'Brick had no possessions. He was never elected leader of the pack. But he had wonderful relationships. He died knowing he was deeply loved. 'I couldn't ask any more for myself.' John Blake is a CNN senior writer and author of the award-winning memoir, 'More Than I Imagined: What a Black Man Discovered About the White Mother He Never Knew.'
Yahoo
21 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Has no tax on tips passed? Here's where things stand
As a presidential candidate last year, Donald Trump called for no taxes on tips — an exemption from the federal income tax for all tipped income. So where does that promise stand now? There is a provision in the 'big, beautiful bill' passed by the House in May, which the Senate is now considering. The tax break is included in both the House and Senate versions of the bill, so it seems likely to make it into the final version sent to Trump's desk. Plus, the Senate already voted unanimously on a separate bill that would do the same thing. Here are answers to some common questions about the 'no tax on tips' proposal: Trump first proposed to end taxation on tipped income at a campaign rally on June 9, 2024, in Las Vegas, a direct appeal to the service workers in the swing state's tourism industry. 'So this is the first time I've said this, and for those hotel workers and people that get tips, you're going to be very happy, because when I get to office, we are going to not charge taxes on tips people [are] making,' Trump said. It was part of a broader set of proposals thrown out with little detail during the campaign, including a pledge to exempt overtime pay from income tax. It was one of Trump's more realistic promises, however, as the idea quickly gained bipartisan support, including from Kamala Harris' campaign and Democratic Sen. Jacky Rosen of Nevada plus Republicans such as Texas Sen. Ted Cruz. It was also one of a number of campaign pledges he promised would be fulfilled right away if he won a second term. The Big Beautiful Bill Act, which passed the House, includes an income tax exemption for tips. As with the proposed $1,000 baby bonus and the exemption for income tax on overtime pay in the bill, the tips tax break would expire at the end of 2028, days before Trump's term ends. That helps Republicans in Congress keep the apparent cost of the bill down while setting up another fight on the issue just as the next president takes office. Under the House proposal, workers making less than $160,000 per year would qualify for the exemption. Tips would still have to be reported to the IRS, and they would be subject to withholding — meaning money would be taken out of each paycheck but workers would get it back if they were owed tax refunds the next April. Social Security and Medicare taxes would still apply to tipped income. The exemption would not apply to automatic gratuities for large parties at a restaurant and other service charges. The Senate passed a standalone bill called the No Tax on Tips Act in a surprise vote in late May. Rosen brought up the bill as a "unanimous consent" request, an accelerated process typically reserved for more routine issues, such as renaming post offices. But no senator objected, and the bill was quickly passed. The bill would create an income tax exemption of up to $25,000 for workers in jobs that have traditionally received tips who make less than $160,000. The exact jobs covered by the exemption would be decided by the Trump administration within 90 days of the bill's signing. As with the House bill, the Senate version would expire just as Trump leaves office. If it expires, the total cost of the measure would be about $40 billion. The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget estimated that if the measure is extended over 10 years, it would cost more than $100 billion. The White House Council of Economic Advisers — which works for Trump — estimated that the measure would increase the average take-home pay for tipped workers by $1,675 per year. The Tax Policy Center, however, noted that the amount would vary greatly depending on the job. Half of all wait staff make $32,000 or less a year, which means they already pay little or no federal income tax. But the measure would give a much bigger break to the highest-paid tipped workers who make $60,000 or more a year. "A 20 percent tip on a $200 meal is vastly different than one for the $9.95 special at Mom's Diner," the nonprofit said in an analysis. As with the exemption on overtime pay, there's a wide range of possible outcomes. It's possible that the measure would simply end up reducing the annual tax bill for the top tipped workers and have no other effects. Or it could lead customers to give more — or possibly even less — in tips to wait staff, hairdressers and others once they know the money isn't taxed. Some economists think the exemption would undercut ongoing political efforts to increase the minimum wage for tipped workers, which is currently $2.13 per hour at the federal level. This article was originally published on
Yahoo
21 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Trump and Musk can both hurt each other in their feud. Here's how.
An explosive breakdown in the relationship between President Donald Trump and his biggest political donor turned part-time employee, Tesla CEO Elon Musk, has been foreshadowed since their alliance first took shape. When Trump brought Musk along for the ride as he moved back into the White House, the looming question was always how long the two could possibly stay in sync. After all, neither the most powerful person in the world nor the richest person on Earth is known for keeping his ego in check. The main thrust of the Trump-Musk feud boils down to who can assert dominance over the other. In the intense back-and-forth that had everyone glued to their screens Thursday, we saw bullies used to getting their way desperately trying to find leverage over each other. But unlike the flame wars of old, where internet trolls would hurl insults at each other across message board forums, Trump and Musk can do serious damage to each other in the real world — and to the rest of us in the process. Musk first gained access to Trump through his vast fortune; he donated almost $300 million during last year's election and hasn't been afraid to throw his money around in races this year. Though he said in May he would be 'spending a lot less' on funding political races, he has also been quick to threaten pumping money into the midterms should lawmakers back the massive budget bill currently working its way through the Senate. And Musk has made clear that he expects a return on his investments, having already snidely claimed on his X platform that Trump would have lost and Democrats would have taken Congress without his backing. Trump is reportedly more focused on the midterms than he was during his first term, worried that a new Democratic majority would lead to more investigations and/or a third impeachment. While he's already sitting on $600 million to help hold on to a GOP majority, Musk's money could throw a spanner in the works, especially if he follows through on his public musing about bankrolling a third party to 'represent the 80% of Americans in the middle.' Though Trump has his own social media platform, Truth Social, X remains a much louder microphone to amplify Musk's messaging to the right, including his supposed 'bombshell' about Trump's presence in the Jeffrey Epstein files. (Musk provided no evidence for the claim and Trump has previously denied any involvement with Epstein's criminal behavior.) Trump, in turn, has threatened Musk's lucrative government contracts, which would include billions of dollars funneled toward his SpaceX company, as well as the subsidies that Tesla receives for its electric car production. Musk responded by warning about cutting off access to SpaceX launches, which would potentially cripple NASA and the Defense Department's ability to deploy satellites. But that would prove a double-edged sword for Musk, given how large a revenue stream those contracts have become. By Thursday evening, Musk had already backed down from his saber-rattling about restricting access to the Dragon space capsule, but he could change his mind again. That he made the threat in the first place has raised major alarm bells among national security officials. The Washington Post reported Saturday that NASA and the Pentagon have begun "urging [Musk's competitors] to more quickly develop alternative rockets and spacecraft" to lessen his chokehold on the industry. Notably, Trump isn't alone in his fight against Musk, though as ever those wading into the brawl have their own motives. Former White House strategist Steve Bannon took the opportunity to launch a broadside against Musk. 'People including myself are recommending to the president that he pull every contract associated with Elon Musk,' Bannon told NBC News on Thursday night. Bannon requested that 'major investigations start immediately' into, among other things, Musk's 'immigration status, his security clearance and his history of drug abuse.' There are already several federal investigations of Musk's companies that have been underway for years, which critics had previously worried might be stonewalled due to his influence with Trump. While the extremely public breakup makes for high drama and more than a little schadenfreude, the pettiness masks a deeper issue. The battle Musk and Trump are waging is predicated on both wielding a horrifying amount of unchecked power. In a healthy system of government, their ability to inflict pain on each other wouldn't exist, or at least such an ability would be severely blunted. Musk being able to funnel nearly unlimited amounts of spending into dark money super PACs is an oligarchical nightmare. Trump using the power of the presidency to overturn contracts and launch investigations at a whim is blatant authoritarianism in action. In theory, there are still checks to rein each of them in before things escalate much further. Musk's shareholders have been unhappy with his rocky time in government, and the war of words with Trump sent Tesla's stock price tumbling once more. Trump needs to get his 'One Big Beautiful Bill Act' passed into law and — next year — ensure Congress doesn't fall into Democrats' hands. Trump and Musk have incentives, then, to stay in each other's good graces despite their wounded pride. Trump made clear to NBC News in an interview Saturday that he has no real interest in patching things up with Musk, warning that there will be "very serious consequences" if his one-time ally funds Democratic campaigns. Even if the two eventually reach a détente, it's unlikely to be a lasting peace, not so long as one feels his authority is challenged by the other. The zero-sum view of the world that Trump and Musk share, one where social Darwinism and superior genetics shape humanity, doesn't allow for long-term cooperative relationships. Instead, at best they will return to a purely transactional situationship, but one where the knives will gleefully come back out the second a new opening is given. Most importantly, there is no protagonist when it comes to the inciting incident in this duel, as a total victory won't benefit the American people writ large. Trump wants Congress to pass his bill to grant him more funding for deportations and to preserve his chances of staying in power. Musk wants a more painful bill that will slash the social safety net for millions. No matter what the outcome is as they battle for supremacy over each other, we're the ones who risk being trampled. 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