A Wider View Into the ‘Corner Office'

New York Times

04-05-2025

How do you become a chief executive? And what does it take to succeed once you get there?
In 2009, the New York Times reporter Adam Bryant began Corner Office, a column that features interviews with business leaders, to answer such questions. In eight years, Mr. Bryant spoke with 525 executives for the column. David Gelles, who took over Corner Office in 2018, spoke with about 100 more before moving to The Times's Climate desk in 2022.
The Corner Office had been vacant — until this spring, when a new writer, Jordyn Holman, stepped in. Before Ms. Holman joined The Times in 2022 to cover consumerism and the retail industry, she worked at Bloomberg News, where she also wrote for Businessweek, and made frequent appearances on Bloomberg TV, interviewing business leaders all along the way.
Now, as new policies from the Trump administration cause economic turbulence, Ms. Holman is asking top executives how they're navigating a changing business landscape.
'There's a phrase that people say every year: 'It's never been more complicated to be a C.E.O.,'' Ms. Holman said in an interview. 'My thesis on this is that, in 2025, it really is the most complicated time.'
Ms. Holman discussed the social role of businesses, the new perspective she brings to the column and what she hopes readers take away from her conversations. These are edited excerpts.
What about this assignment appealed to you?
I have always talked to C.E.O.s within my business reporting, but this gives me the opportunity to go deeper to really explain who these people are. I think, in 2025, a lot of people have questions about who's running the brands, who's behind the companies that they give their money to, or that they give their loyalty to in some form. This column gives me the opportunity to go to these companies and leaders and ask those questions that others have.
What about the column's previous writers' approaches do you want to maintain? And is there anything new that you'd like to bring?
In the past, the column began with the executive's life story and then you move into the business. For my iteration of the column, we're focusing initially on the most topical parts of the business and then backing into people's life story. We went with that route because I want the column to feel like it's entering a conversation that people are already having. But then we look back at this person and how they got to this point.
Your previous reporting has often touched on the ways business intersects with race, gender and class. Chief executives of large American companies have historically skewed white, male and upper-class. Are these topics going to be reflected in your approach to the column?
Absolutely. That has always been the lens I use with business reporting. When I was at Bloomberg, I was on their Equality team and was covering race, class and gender in corporate America. I think this Corner Office beat will now allow me to put that hat back on. I know that I'm going to ask different types of questions. I've lived all across the country. I grew up in Chicago, went to school in L.A., lived in the South for a bit, and I live in New York now. I want to make sure we're being geographically diverse, racially diverse, gender diverse. I will be bringing my past experiences, my worldview, into these conversations.
Your latest interview — your second since taking the reins — is with Jonathan Neman, the chief executive of Sweetgreen. How did you choose him?
Sweetgreen is known for having better-for-you ingredients, and now we're having a national conversation, spearheaded by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., about better-for-you ingredients. Companies always want to stay out of politics, but what does it mean when your company's core values kind of hit up against a political conversation? I think that's inherently interesting.
What are your hopes for the column as a whole?
I hope it captures this moment of leadership. Right now, it feels like there are so many things to address. There's what's happening with tariffs that could cause more inflation. Could there be a recession? How do we talk about D.E.I.? A lot of people are afraid to speak out, or don't quite know what to say. I hope this column features people who are able to move through it and can explain how they do what they do in a very intense business, political and social environment.
Do you think there are lessons or wisdom to be gained from these business leaders that people can use in other areas of their lives?
Yes, we all have to make decisions. We all have our own stories, and I think what you see from these columns — the past ones, and what I hope to bring in this iteration — is that your upbringing, your experiences, your first internship, your first job, does add up to something. Everyone's story matters and can resonate with people.