Anxiety and ambition often go hand in handbut we rarely talk about that openly, especially in the context of leadership. Morra Aarons-Mele, author of The Anxious Achiever and host of the award-winning podcast of the same name, has built a career helping high performers understand and reframe the role anxiety plays in their lives. In our conversation, which has been lightly edited for length and clarity, she shares why anxiety doesnt have to be a weakness, how anxious achievers can set boundaries without losing drive, and why learning to work with our inner criticrather than against itcan be a powerful force for growth.
JW: What does the term anxious achiever mean to you and how can we begin to reframe anxiety not as a weakness but as a potential source of strength?
MAM: An anxious achiever is someone who channels anxiety into ambition, work ethic, productivity, and leadership. Along the way, theyve learned that performance equals value. Many people tell me, When I achieved, I was loved. I learned thats what I should doand the fear of losing keeps me moving forward. Others say, I grew up poor, with a single mom who struggled and a dad who didnt pay the bills. Ill never be that vulnerable again. For them, the anxiety of scarcity drives their determination.
Anxiety is really a misunderstood emotion. We have a lot of social stigma against what anxiety represents in our culture, especially in leadership. And therefore we pretend we don’t have it, which is crazy because everyone experiences anxiety. We need to have anxietyits what has kept us alive as a species. It’s our body’s way of preparing us for action. So, we shouldnt want to rid ourselves of our anxiety, but we may need healthier ways to manage it.
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JW: What are your go-to strategies for managing anxious thoughts in the middle of a workday?
MAM: I’m a big believer in understanding the physical roots of anxiety. I have found that I need to calm my body before I can go into any cognitive reframing (the process of reframing our thoughts to try to change our mind or compartmentalize). So I have props on my deska pen, a water bottle, this egg shaped rock that I love and I use these visceral tools to ground myself. So if I’m feeling my anxiety rise and I’m on a Zoom call, I might grab my water bottle or my rock and just really tune into it, feel it.
With practice, Ive trained my body to downregulate a bit. Then I use breathing to bring my brain back online and reengage. Anxiety can spiral in a meeting when your nervous system ramps upyou cant breathe, cant focus, and feel shaky. Thats why grounding practices are so important.
JW: How can anxious achievers set boundaries in workplaces that often reward constant availability and overachievement?
MAM: Yeah, it’s the rub, right? Anxious achievers often land in environments that both reward and exploit them. Too often, it takes burning out to realize they can set boundariesand thats where therapy can be transformative. I love ACT therapy because it helps people reconnect with their values and sense of self. Why does it feel so good when my boss calls me all day? Is that really what I want? Does this serve me?
When you clarify your values, you reclaim agency. Many of us repeat old patterns because they once workedwe were the perfect kid. But adulthood gives us the chance to ask, Why am I driving myself so hard? Do I want to keep doing this? Thats the deeper work of therapy. The practical side is learning to set limits. Boundaries are powerful, but without definition, theyre just amorphous.
So maybe run an experiment: For two nights a week, log off at six, not check email until morning, and see what happens. Can you try that for a month? Slowly, you realize the world doesnt fall apartand that you can build a life more in your control. But it starts with asking: Why do I do this? Is it just habit? What are my real values?
For years, I had terrible flying anxiety, especially when my kids were little. As a consultant, I flew weeklyit was stressful, every boundary crossed. On top of fearing the plane, I carried mom guilt: my kids were home with the nanny, I missed milestones, I felt like a terrible mother. But when I clarified my values, I saw that providing for my children and running a socially impactful business mattered deeply to me. Flying aligned with those values. That shift helped me move past the anxiety. It was hard, but powerfuland thats the kind of clarity values work can bring.
JW: The inner critic drives high achievers, and for many parents that critic is especially loudboth at work and at home. How do you recommend quieting that voice without losing motivation or drive?
MAM: One of my biggest aha momentsthanks to Judd Brewers workwas realizing that anxiety is a habit. Our inner critic, what I call the voice, is also a habit. Weve relied on it so long that it runs on autopilot. Same with our cognitive distortionsthey become familiar companions. As anxious achievers, we even use them as fuel. But breaking those habits is transformative.
Take Newton Chang, a Google executive and world champion powerlifter. During the pandemic, he faced a serious mental health crisis. He told me that for most of his life he woke up every morning hearing, Youre lazy. Not from his parents, but from this ingrained voice. Of course, he wasnt lazybut in the pandemic, when he felt responsible for solving the unsolvable, the habit broke him down. He finally saw that this old pattern wasnt serving him and had to let it go.
The work starts with noticing when the voice kicks in, naming it, maybe even giving it a character so it feels less like a part of you. The goal is to get to that place of choice: Do I listen to it because it motivates me, or do I tell it to shut up?
And its also okay to acknowledge that this is part of who you are. I love Dr. Basima Tewfiks research at MIT on imposter syndrome. Shes shown that people with imposter feelings often outperform peers and are rated as more interpersonally effectivebecause they try harder and are more attuned. In one study, doctors with imposter feelings had better bedside manner. So sometimes, reframing matters: maybe this anxious, inner-critic-driven part of me isnt all bad. Maybe its also whats helped me get here.
JW: If you could give one message to working mothers who feel like they’re holding everything together on the surface while managing intense anxiety underneath, what would it be?
MAM: This too shall pass. Anxiety feels urgent because your body believes its under threatits just trying to protect you. But the truth is, it will pass, and you will get through it. As a mom with kids heading into high school and one still in elementary, I look back and hink: it all went so fast, and I wasted too much time on guilt and anxiety.
It sounds cliché, but dont let anxiety cannibalize your time. Give yourself moments free of it. Remember: anxiety is an emotion, not the truthand like all emotions, it passes. If it doesnt, get help.
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Suddenly, as office buildings closed during the pandemic and millions of parents started working from home, many of us breathed a sigh of relief. Finally, no more commuting. More time with our kids. A once in a lifetime opportunity to concentrate on career and family with fewer hassles. Answer emails while cooking pasta sauce, join team Zoom in yoga pants, and always be there for bedtime. But five years into the remote-hybrid experiment, the arrangement is tougher than we expected. Yes, this flexibility has given us choices that did not exist before, but its also erased the lines so much that many working parents arent even sure if its freedom they are experiencing or just a different kind of trap.
Flexibility: Leash or a lifeline
This new way of working was liberating at first. Parents could make school pick up without getting the side-eye from coworkers. Doctors appointments for your child, no problem; just log back on after dinner. It was a way of easing the stress that we feel from the need to be perfect in the workplace and at home. The problem is that the work never actually stops. The laptop on the kitchen table is both a liberation and a ball and chain. Slack messages buzz through the entire swim meet, and the always on culture makes boundaries virtually disappear.
This flexibility, surprisingly, has made life more difficult for some parents. If you can work from wherever, you end up working all the time. The mental load (doctors appointments, playdates, meal planning) is now just part of the workday. And having it all now means you do it all at the same time.
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The messy reality of integration
In theory, hybrid work offers the best of both worlds: days at home for focus and days in the office for face time and collaboration. But in reality, it can feel like living in two worlds at once. Parents ping-pong between spreadsheets and science projects, quarterly reports and permission slips. Life has become a constant state of multitasking. The cost: more burnout and guilt than you had before. You are working and you are parenting. You are parenting, but your mind is on your inbox.
Lets face it: having it all was always a set up. It suggests that you can have a fulfilling career and blissful family life, and that you should. If you dont, youve failed. Unfortunately, remote and hybrid work didnt dismantle this myth. It repackaged it. We have gone from work-life balance to the fantasy of work-life integration. But integration does not mean harmony. Parents say they have longer days, shorter tempers, and a feeling they are failing at both work and life.
Getting real about what matters
The real question isnt whether parents can have it all. Its how we redefine what all even means. Does it mean being equally devoted to quarterly earnings and the bedtime routine? Or can we accept that sometimes a big presentation takes priority and sometimes its okay to step back for our family? We should give ourselves permission to choose what matters the most in different seasons of our lives. Employers must step up too by setting clearer norms about availability, respecting true off-hours, and offering flexibility that is functional, not suffocating.
The reality is nobody has it all. Not the CEO. Not the stay-at-home parent. And certainly not the hybrid worker. What we can have is a life that reflects what matters most to us. It might be messy, and it definitely wont be perfect, but at least it will be realistic.
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AIs promise was it would liberate us from busywork. Instead, its becoming a new dependency. Maybe its an email you didnt feel like writing. A brainstorm you didnt feel inspired to lead. Code that would take you hours to program. A bio or outline that felt just a bit too hard to begin.
You used to do these things on your own. But now AI makes it so easy to skip the effort that you barely notice youre outsourcing your thinking. I use AI to research companies for my venture fund, deep dive into new industries and technical topics, design presentations, and record my meetings. I am an advocate for AI use and literacy, but the more my work started to become intertwined with AI, the more I started to think about the looming digital addiction crisis.
So I wasnt surprised to see that some researchers have begun labeling compulsive overuse of generative AI as a potential behavioral addiction. They found that over time, excessive reliance on AI can impair cognitive flexibility, diminish problem-solving abilities and erode creative independence. In other words, AI can enhance human capability, but if used unchecked, it can also start to replace it.
In 2024, over $100 billion was invested into generative AI startups globally. But not enough money is being spent to understand or mitigate AIs psychological impact. At PsyMed Ventures, we want to change this by investing in a new generation of companies focused on digital wellness, cognitive resilience, and mental health in the AI era.
However, while investing in research is a long-term fix, in the short term leaders can combat AI addiction by helping their teams implement AI boundaries.
Signs You or Your Team Are Overusing AI
How do you know when your AI use is becoming harmful? One early sign: you cant start working without it. Maybe you once drafted memos or solved problems on your own, but now you wait until an AI tool gives you a prompt or plan.
That reliance can weaken your ability to think independently. A study from MIT used EEG to observe people using ChatGPT, Googles search engine, or nothing at all. Out of the 54 test subjects, ChatGPT users were found to have the worst brain engagement and consistently underperformed across neural, linguistic, and behavioral levels. This small study is the first step into the need for longitudinal studies to assess potential long-term effects on cognition, learning, and critical thinking.
Another clear sign youre overusing AI tools is when you find yourself zoning out in meetings because you know the tool will capture, summarize, highlight action items, or even give real-time responses for you to say live. A 2025 mixed methods study on cognitive offloading shows that, while delegating comprehension to external aids can boost short-term efficiency, it undermines recall and independent reasoning when the aid is unavailable. Over time, relying on these tools can dull your ability to follow complex discussions in real time and chip away at your confidence in making judgments without algorithmic backup.
Your decreased confidence can show when you hesitate to share an idea in a meeting until youve first run it through an AI for validation, even on topics where you have direct expertise. You might also notice yourself redoing projects or emails multiple times based on AI suggestions, even when the original version was solid.
From AI Literacy to AI Boundaries
In a rush to adopt generative AI across workplaces, most leaders are focusing on AI literacy, without thinking about the consequences of overreliance. However, AI literacy also requires focusing on AI boundaries. Similar to healthy screen time or smartphone use, guidance for ourselves and our employees on when to lean on AI and when to deliberately step back will help us use this tool in a way that benefits rather than harms us.
A good first step is treating AI as a collaborator, not a crutch. AI is immensely helpful for ideation, summarization, and drafting, but it shouldnt replace human reasoning or judgment. One practical shift is to use AI to support your thinking, not to start it. For example, if youre drafting a report, write your main argument or outline yourself before prompting a tool like ChatGPT to help you refine, expand, or stress-test what youve already written while you still do the core thinking, analysis, and structuring on your own.
Just as we schedule physical workouts, its worth building in analog workouts for the brain. These are AI-free moments of problem-solving, brainstorming, or creative writing without any digital help. This could mean gathering at a whiteboard to map out workflows without laptops, drafting meeting agendas or strategy notes by hand, solving a technical bug without a copilot, holding quick debates or design sprints without digital aids, or jotting down meeting takeaways from memory before checking notes. These small acts protect human creativity and maintain our ability to think deeply without an algorithms influence. Consider digital wellness check-ins or even AI detox periods, especially for younger employees who may be more prone to skill erosion.
Its also valuable for leaders to outline where not to use AI. Every team should establish task boundaries like AI can be used for general research or a second set of eyes, but never for a final output. Look for ways to limit its influence on high-stakes or irreversible decisions, like hiring, strategic pivots, policy changes, or investment selection. AI should serve as a research and analysis assistant not the ultimate decision-maker. This not only guards against overreliance on AIs outputs but also preserves accountability, ensuring that critical choices remain the product of deliberate human judgment rather than automated consensus.
Avoiding The Digital Addiction Crisis, Together
Some may argue that enforcing AI boundaries can slow progress or undermine the very operational or financial efficiency gains these tools promise. But ignoring these limits risks a hidden cost of eroding the skills, confidence, and independent thinking that keep a business resilient. Saving time today is meaningless if your team loses the ability to problem-solve tomorrow.
Other common objections include fears that boundaries will make the company less competitive, that employees will ignore them, or that skilled staff dont need them. In reality, boundaries are about using AI better, not less, by protecting teams from overreliance.
Leaders can frame boundaries not as top-down restrictions, but as a shared investment in long-term capability by inviting employees into the conversation about where AI should support and where human judgment must lead. This collaborative approach turns guardrails into a cultural norm, rather than a compliance burden, and reassures teams that the goal isnt to strip away autonomy but to protect it.
Yes, AI can make work faster and cheaper but the healthiest workplaces will bethose that treat efficiency as a means to strengthen people, not replace them.
The vast majority of people85%, to be exactadmit they lack confidence in the workplace: they avoid taking on leadership roles, they dont speak up in meetings, and they doubt themselves. For those who feel marginalized, the feelings of low confidence can be even more stark.
Imposter syndrome, self-doubt, and fear of failure can slow down our decisions and hold us back from sharing inventive ideas. But fear-based action rarely leads to promotions or breakthroughs. Left unchecked, imposter syndrome can slowly start to limit our ability to succeed. But with a resilience framework, anyone can learn strategies to silence self-doubt, reframe setbacks, and build confidence.
Lets rewind for a minute
At the age of 21, I wasnt sure Id be alive at 22. I awoke from an 11-hour cancer surgery at UCSF to find that the doctor had removed not only half of my nose but also half of my upper lip, muscle, and bone from my right cheek, the shelf of my right eye, six teeth, and part of my hard palate. I was attached to my chest with a delto-pectoral flap because so much tissue had been removed from my face.
My world was turned upside down. More cancer surgery. Reconstruction that didnt work. Two steps back for every step forward. I was spiraling quickly, and I began to struggle with my self-esteem. It took years for me to become content with who I was again. But my openness and awareness of what was transpiring around me allowed me time for reflection that would change the course of my life.
A survival kit and resilience framework
Over the course of many years, I developed a survival kit and a resilience framework that helped me rebuild who I was. Ive come to call this framework ReBAR: Reflect, Build, Act, Renew. This approach helped me rebuild self-belief and step into challenges with more confidence.
Here are seven strategies that can help anyone strengthen their resilience and overcome self-doubt.
1. Prepare with purpose
Preparation became a cornerstone for my self-belief. In the early years of my work life, post-cancer recovery, I felt like a fraud, and I overprepared for every meeting.
But then something interesting happened: I began to realize that over-preparation gave me increased self-confidence, because I was always trying to stay one step ahead, and anticipate objections I might encounter. My over-preparation was improving my knowledge base, and I became more confident in my business proposals and recommendations. I had data to support my suggestions, and people began to trust my ideas.
2. Set achievable goals
Confidence builds in increments, not leaps. Early on, I committed to one personal and one professional goal at a time. Reaching those milestones proved to me that progress was possibleand each success made the next challenge less intimidating.
Start small: finish a certification, commit to speaking up once in a meeting, or complete a project youve been postponing. Small wins create a ripple effect that builds real momentum.
3. Practice reflection and gratitude
Daily reflection was transformative. I asked myself: What did I learn today? What am I proud of? What can I improve tomorrow? Coupled with gratitude, reflection shifted my focus away from what was lacking to what was already working.
Gratitude is not just a feel-good exercise: it actually rewires your brain toward optimism, making it easier to recognize opportunities and solutions instead of obstacles.
4. Build your support system
Resilience doesnt mean you have to go it alone. In my case, I leaned on close friends, family, and even group therapy. Opening up about my insecurities was uncomfortable at first, but it turned out to be freeingI realized I wasnt the only one wrestling with self-doubt.
Confidence tends to grow when youre around people who encourage you, point out your strengths, and help you see opportunities you might have overlooked. On the flip side, protecting yourself from constant negativity saves energy and keeps you focused on what matters.
5. Take consistent action
Confidence doesnt show up by waiting until you feel ready. It comes from doing. I started asking myself, Whats one thing I can do today that will move me forward tomorrow? Sometimes it was as simple as raising a new idea in a meeting, volunteering for a project, or reaching out to someone I admired for advice.
Each small step added up. The more I acted, the more capable I felt. Action turns vague goals into real progress, and every bit of practice builds resilience.
6. Reframe setbacks with better self-talk
Everyone has that inner critic. The trick is to rewrite what it says. Instead of Im not ready, try Im still learning and growing. Instead of I failed, try That gave me experience I can use next time.
The way we talk to ourselves has power. Positive self-talk interrupts the negative loops that can keep us stuck. Each time you swap a destructive thought for a constructive one, you strengthen your ability to bounce back. But if you dwell too long on the negative, it slowly chips away at your confidence.
7. Celebrate progress and renew your commitment
A lot of people forget to do this, but celebrating winseven small onesis key. Take time to notice the effort, the creativity, and the persistence that helped you get there.
When you do, your brain starts linking hard work with reward, which makes it easier to keep pushing forward. And when setbacks come (because they always do), looking back at your past wins reminds you of what youre capable of. Then, reset, refocus, and move forward with a stronger sense of purpose.
The ReBAR FrameworkReflect, Build, Act, Renew
ReBARreflect, build, act, renewcan help you tie this together. Reflection helps you build a positive mindset and commit to taking risks with new ideas, building helps you develop a supportive environment to navigate lifes challenges with more positivity and optimism, action moves you closer to your goals, and renewal ensures you keep growing. With this approach, youre firmly in the drivers seat of your own life. Confidence isnt about perfection; its about practice, perspective, and persistence.
Follow these steps, and youll not only quiet self-doubtbut also strengthen the resilience you need to take on bigger challenges.
There’s more bad news for Tesla rival Lucid Motors.
On Tuesday, shares of the luxury electric vehicle company Lucid Group (Nasdaq: LCID) fell a whopping 10% as the EV maker began trading following its 1-for-10 reverse stock split, which went into effect after Friday’s market close.
In case you missed it, here’s what to know.
What is a reverse stock split?
In short, a reverse stock split is when a corporation consolidates the existing number of stock shares so that there are fewer, higher-priced shares, according to Investopedia.
To be clear, this is the opposite of a stock split, where investors gain multiple shares, often at a lower price.
In an effort to avoid being delisted on the Nasdaq stock exchange, which, like the New York Stock Exchange, requires companies to meet a minimum trading price of $1, Lucid consolidated every 10 existing shares into one, cutting outstanding shares from about 3.07 billion to roughly 307.3 million. That means investors got one share for every 10 they owned, reducing authorized shares from 15 billion to 1.5 billion.
The Nasdaq gives companies 180 days to raise their share price once shares fall below the $1 threshold for 30 consecutive trading days. The exchange publishes a running list of all the current and upcoming reverse and regular stock splits.
In addition to meeting the Nasdaq’s listing requirements, a reverse split has the potential to make a company more attractive to institutional investors.
However, in Lucid’s case, it hasn’t seemed to help the company win back investors, as stock continued to fall on Tuesday. The stock is currently down more than 30% year to date.
Lucid’s most recent earnings
Lucid reported a Q2 2025 revenue of $259 million, missing expectations, with a net loss of $855 million for the quarter, compared with $790 million for the same period last year.
For fall fanatics nationwide, the return of Starbucks’s Pumpkin Spice Latte was an August highlight. But its safe to say that no one was happier than Starbucks CEO Brian Niccol.
In a message sent to employees on September 1, Niccol shared that the coffeehouse’s fall menu launch on August 26 led to its strongest Tuesday sales day evermomentum that continued through the following days and ultimately notched a record-breaking sales week for the company. In response to Fast Company‘s request, Starbucks declined to share more specific numbers for the week’s sales.
Every coffeehouse I visited this week was buzzing with energy, Niccol wrote in the memo. And Ive heard fantastic feedback from customers and partners that they see and feel the difference. Your passion is showing up in every cup and every interaction.
Since exiting his post as the head of Chipotle last August to helm a beleaguered Starbucks, Niccol has been on a mission to turn the coffee chain around. So far, Starbuckss sales numbers have not entirely demonstrated that the chain is reboundingbut the fall launch might just be the data point Niccol needs to signal that an upward trajectory is finally incoming.
Starbucks says it’s “gaining momentum”
Niccols Back to Starbucks plan is pulling a few different levers at the company. To start, Starbucks is updating its in-store experience to align more closely with its early roots, bringing back more seating and personalized touches like handwritten notes on cups.
Its also pivoting away from a pandemic-induced focus on mobile ordering in an attempt to reframe the coffee shop as a desirable third space. And, recently, the company has begun introducing new menu innovations geared toward younger customers, like a protein cold foam and a TikTok-inspired secret menu.
Predictably, none of these moves has been a one-off fix to Starbuckss broader problems. On July 29, the company reported its sixth consecutive quarter of same-store sales declines (a metric that measures the revenue change of established locations over time). Revenue, however, was up 4%, to $9.6 billion. At the time, Niccol told investors in a video message: While our financial results dont yet reflect all the progress weve made, the signs are clearwere gaining momentum.
He added in a press release that, based on his experience in turnarounds, the company is ahead of schedule. In 2026, well unleash a wave of innovation that fuels growth, elevates customer service, and ensures everyone experiences the very best of Starbucks, Niccol wrote.
Right now, its too soon to tell how the fall menus early success will impact the companys fourth-quarter financials. But, given the undeniable fandom thats emerged around the PSL, it wouldnt exactly come as a surprise if the fall season helps nudge Niccols turnaround plan into high gear.
Anna Wintour ended weeks of fashion-world speculation Tuesday when she named Chloe Malle her successor as head of editorial content at Voguebut the most powerful person in the business isn’t going anywhere.
Wintour, 75, remains chief content officer for Condé Nast and global editorial director of American Vogue and the magazine’s 27 other editions. Malle, editor of Vogue.com, may be stepping into Wintour’s low-heeled slingbacks, but she’ll report to the original wearer while taking over day-to-day editorial and creative operations at the U.S. edition. And gone is the storied editor-in-chief title that Wintour held for nearly 40 years.
Malle, 39, is the daughter of actor Candice Bergen and the late French director Louis Malle. She joined Vogue as social editor in 2011, moved on to contributing editor in 2016, and has held her current position since 2023. She steered all digital content for Vogue. In June, Malle interviewed the then-Lauren Sánchez ahead of her wedding to Jeff Bezos.
Vogue has already shaped who I am. Now Im excited at the prospect of shaping Vogue, Malle said in the announcement.
Malle had emerged as a front-runner
Since late June, when Wintour told staff that she was giving up her title, a handful of names to succeed her were tossed around. Among them were Eva Chen, vice president of fashion partnerships at Meta; Nicole Phelps, global director of Vogue Runway and Vogue Business; and Sara Moonves, editor-in-chief of W magazine.
Other names that floated about soon after the job went up for grabs were Vogues fashion news director Mark Holgate, British Vogues head of editorial content Chioma Nnadi, and Vogue.coms digital style director Leah Faye Cooper. Malle and Nnadi co-host the Vogue podcast, The Run-Through with Vogue.
The news that Malle got the job comes ahead of the latest round of shows at New York Fashion Week, starting next week, and amid the Venice Film Festival, which includes a new documentary about her father. Her appointment is effective immediately. Malle’s mother, funnily enough, once played Vogue editor-in-chief Enid Frick on Sex and the City, with some very Wintour-like characteristics.
Malle, a Brown graduate and mother of two young kids, has been outspoken about her liberal-leaning politics, just as Wintour has.
I actually love working with Anna, because I love someone telling me exactly what needs to be done and exactly what she thinks about something, Malle said in a recent profile by The Independent. Theres no indecision. Theres no ambiguity.
Vogue’s past . . . and future
Vogue was founded as a society journal 134 years ago. After Condé Nast acquired it in 1909, it became a traditional industry mainstay with models on the cover, static close-up photography done in studios, and a focus on high fashion and heavy makeup.
Wintour, a risk-taker who took over the title in 1988, saw the mass appeal in a broader approach. She expanded international editions, elevated fashion’s connections to pop culture, and began putting celebrities, athletes, music stars, and politicians on the covers. Wintour went for a high-low approach to fashion and favored storytelling in photo shoots done outdoors.
She embraced then-emerging designers, including Marc Jacobs, John Galliano, and Alexander McQueen, through initiatives like the CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund. And she transformed the Met Gala from a small, private fundraiser to a global event and fashions most important night.
Considered the fashion bible, American Vogue has had several notable editors throughout its history. Preceding Wintour were Diana Vreeland (1963 to 1971) and Grace Mirabella (1971 to 1988), among others.
Chloe has proven often that she can find the balance between American Vogues long, singular history and its future on the front lines of the new, Wintour said in the statement on Malles appointment.
Under Malles leadership, direct traffic to Vogue.com doubled, with massive growth across all key metrics, according to the statement on her new job. Site traffic now consistently reaches 14.5 million unique visitors monthly.
The retirement of the editor-in-chief title brings Vogue in line with changes throughout the Condé Nast universe. When Radhika Jones stepped down as Vanity Fairs editor-in-chief earlier this year, her role was replaced by a global editorial director, found in Mark Guiducci. (Guiducci himself was tapped from Vogue, where he served most recently as creative editorial director.) American Vogue joins most every market where Condé Nast operates in the change to a head of editorial content, who reports to a global editorial director.
Though Vogue has editions spanning the world, from Britain and France to China and India, Malle’s focus will be on American Vogue.
Anna Wintour’s own future
As Condé Nast’s chief content officer, Wintour will continue to oversee every brand, including Vogue, Wired, Vanity Fair, GQ, AD, Condé Nast Traveler, Glamour, Bon Appétit, Tatler, World of Interiors, Allure, and more, with the exception of The New Yorker, where editor David Remnick retains control.
Wintour herself does have a boss. She reports to Roger Lynch, CEO of Condé Nast.
In effect, the addition of a new editorial lead for Vogue U.S. will allow Wintour greater time and flexibility to support the other global markets that Condé Nast serves, said a Vogue statement in June.
And it goes without saying, Wintour joked back then, that I plan to remain Vogues tennis and theater editor in perpetuity. She’s been a regular at this year’s U.S. Open, as in past years.
She’ll remain at the helm of the annual Met Gala, a major fundraiser for the fashion wing of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. And shell stay involved in Vogue World, a traveling fashion and cultural event the magazine began in 2022.
Wintour explained the editor-in-chief shift this way:
Anybody in a creative field knows how essential it is never to stop growing in ones work. When I became the editor of Vogue, I was eager to prove to all who might listen that there was a new, exciting way to imagine an American fashion magazine, she told staff.
Now, I find that my greatest pleasure is helping the next generation of impassioned editors storm the field with their own ideas, supprted by a new, exciting view of what a major media company can be, she said.
AP Leanne Italie, AP lifestyles writer
Artificial intelligence chatbot makers OpenAI and Meta say they are adjusting how their chatbots respond to teenagers asking questions about suicide or showing signs of mental and emotional distress.
OpenAI, maker of ChatGPT, said Tuesday it is preparing to roll out new controls enabling parents to link their accounts to their teens’ accounts.
Parents can choose which features to disable and receive notifications when the system detects their teen is in a moment of acute distress, according to a company blog post that says the changes will go into effect this fall.
Regardless of a user’s age, the company says its chatbots will attempt to redirect the most distressing conversations to more capable AI models that can provide a better response.
EDITORS NOTE This story includes discussion of suicide. If you or someone you know needs help, the national suicide and crisis lifeline in the U.S. is available by calling or texting 988.
The announcement comes a week after the parents of 16-year-old Adam Raine sued OpenAI and its CEO, Sam Altman, alleging that ChatGPT coached the California boy in planning and taking his own life earlier this year.
Jay Edelson, the family’s attorney, on Tuesday described the OpenAI announcement as vague promises to do better and nothing more than OpenAIs crisis management team trying to change the subject.
Altman “should either unequivocally say that he believes ChatGPT is safe or immediately pull it from the market, Edelson said.
Meta, the parent company of Instagram, Facebook, and WhatsApp, also said it is now blocking its chatbots from talking with teens about self-harm, suicide, disordered eating, and inappropriate romantic conversations, and instead will direct them to expert resources. Meta already offers parental controls on teen accounts.
A study published last week in the medical journal Psychiatric Services found inconsistencies in how three popular artificial intelligence chatbots responded to queries about suicide.
The study by researchers at the Rand Corporation found a need for further refinement in ChatGPT, Googles Gemini, and Anthropics Claude. The researchers did not study Meta’s chatbots.
The study’s lead author, Ryan McBain, said Tuesday that “its encouraging to see OpenAI and Meta introducing features like parental controls and routing sensitive conversations to more capable modelsbut these are incremental steps.
Without independent safety benchmarks, clinical testing, and enforceable standards, were still relying on companies to self-regulate in a space where the risks for teenagers are uniquely high, said McBain, a senior policy researcher at Rand and assistant professor at Harvard Universitys medical school.
By Matt O’ Brien, AP technology writer
Another weekend, another extraordinarily cringe CEO moment gone completely viral. In case you missed it, Piotr Szczerek, the CEO of Polish paving company Drogbruk, was caught on video doing something arguably worse than cheating at a Coldplay concert.
The footage, now viewed by millions, was captured at the U.S. Open in New York City before hitting social media. It shows tennis pro Kamil Majchrzak signing a hat, then handing it to a child. But what would’ve been an exciting moment for any kid was ruined, as Szczerek quickly snatched the hat away. The child, of course, looked stunned and upset. He can be heard asking the grown-man-child, “What are you doing?” and begging for him to give it back.
Still, while the kid was visibly upset, and rightfully so, the internet was, unsurprisingly, even more outraged. The almost-unbelievable video quickly made the rounds. It even caught the attention of Kamil Majchrzak, who hadn’t noticed that the hat had been snatched from the boy in real time. With the help of the internet, he found the boy and reached out to him and his family. He posted photos to his Instagram stories, which were captured by Today.com, of him with the child over the weekend. “Together with Brock,” he wrote. “We wish you a great day.”Brock has no doubt recovered from one CEO’s bad behavior, especially given he got some one-on-one time with the tennis pro in the end. However, it may be a while before the hat thief does because, well, the internet doesn’t like entitled CEOs doing sneaky, inappropriate or obscenely entitled things. Case in point: last month’s Coldplay cheating scandal resulted in Astronomer CEO Andy Byron resigning from his position after being ousted online.Already, it seems like Szczerek may have a similar fate. The CEO was quickly exposed, which resulted in a public apology. I would like to unequivocally apologize to the young boy, his family, all the fans, and the player himself, Szczerek said in a post on social media on Monday. I take full responsibility for my extremely poor judgment and hurtful actions.
Regardless, his company ratings on the site GoWork have tanked to 1.4 stars out of 5. At present, the CEO’s personal social media accounts have been deleted.
What’s with all the shady CEO behavior?The second recent incident involving a CEO doing something mega-cringe begs the question: what is up with CEOs acting up in public? While we know that the wealthy are getting wealthier, and with that, perhaps some higher-ups have a greater sense of entitlement. After all, some studies show that certain personality types tend to become CEOs more often. A 2021 Italian study found that even a slight increase in the presence of a certain personality trait led to a 29% increased chance of becoming a CEO. The personality trait? Narcissism.
But it’s hard to say whether CEOs are behaving badly more frequently, or cringe incidents are just being captured more often, as most of the population walks around with recording devices in their hands.
Social media expert and founder of OutThinkMedia Cindy Marie Jenkins tells Fast Company that it’s likely a combination. “Part of what we’re seeing are all the invisible perks that a higher-up experiences, including an assumed level of privacy based on their stature that is all but extinct,” Jenkins explains. “What were the chances that there wasnt a camera near the guy at the U.S. Open? Much lower than the chances there were.”
When it comes to using bad judgment, Jenkins says that CEOswho may have the expectation of privacymay want to take a page out of Gen Z’s book. The generation who has essentially grown up watching social media influencers film people (who may or may not be aware they’re being filmed), reaction videos, and more, know that everything is documented. Some studies have shown that this phenomenon has led to lower rates of teenage drinking, given teens don’t want to be the viral drunk kid.
Jenkins says that kids today carry the weight that “every text message today that could be an embarrassing shared screenshot around school tomorrow.” They also know that when it comes to school, their online activity couldn’t just embarrass them. It could impact their academic careers, too. “It’s known that some universities monitor social media of students, especially highly competitive areas like athletics.”
Mainly, the kids of today seem to understand something that these millionaire CEOs don’t. And, if the internet is judging (and, let’s be real, it is), it really doesn’t matter how much money you have. If you ruin a kid’s day at the U.S. Open, you’re gonna pay the price.
Here’s some good news coming off a long holiday weekend as we head into the fall: If you missed the northern lights (or aurora borealis) last night, you may get another chance to catch a glimpse tonight, Tuesday, September 2, and early Wednesday morning, September 3, in some 10 U.S. states.
That’s on account of a powerful “cannibal” solar storm that hit Earth’s magnetic field on Monday from 1 million miles away, lighting up skies across North America and Europe overnight.
The aurora borealis is the result of a geomagnetic storm that occurs when a coronal mass ejection (CME), an eruption of solar material, reaches Earth and causes swaths of purple, blue, and green in the night sky. This years increased solar activity (and thus, more frequent northern lights activity) is likely the result of an 11-year sun cycle peaking now through next month.
Where will the northern lights be visible?
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) forecasts the best viewing tonight in Alaska and northern Canada, with a high chance of some visibility in northern and midwestern parts of the U.S. The agency is predicting G1 geomagnetic storms (on a scale of G1 to G5), which are considered minor.
According to this map from NOAAs Space Weather Prediction Center, a total of 10 states are in the line of view for the auroras.
They are Alaska, Washington, Idaho, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, and Maine.
When is the best time to see the aurora borealis?
For the best viewing, the NOAA recommends facing north, in a spot away from light pollution, between 10 p.m. and 2 a.m. local time.
You can track the aurora on NOAAs page, where the agency is providing updates.
