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Shares in the preeminent graphics software company Adobe Inc. (Nasdaq: ADBE) are dropping significantly in premarket trading this morning following the companys Q1 2026 earnings results. Yet it’s not the earnings themselves that are driving ADBE stock lower. It’s an announcement from the companys CEO, Shantanu Narayen, who said he plans to exit the role he has held for over 18 years. Heres what you need to know: Whats happened? On Thursday, Adobe announced the results of its first quarter for fiscal 2026. And for all intents and purposes, the results were of the caliber that would normally make investors happy: Total revenue of $6.4 billion (up 12% year-over-year) Diluted earnings per share (EPS) of $6.06 adjusted Total annualized recurring revenue (ARR) of $26.06 billion As noted by CNBC, for the quarter, Adobes total revenue and EPS figures exceeded investor expectations. The LSEG analyst consensus was that Adobe would bring in total revenue of $6.28 billion and achieve an EPS of $5.87. But if Adobe beat expectations, why is the stock down significantly this morning? Longtime boss is saying goodbye The main reason Adobes shares are in the red this morning is that in addition to the companys earnings results yesterday, the Photoshop maker also announced that its long-running CEO, Shantanu Narayen, will be stepping down from the role. Without a doubt, the departure of Narayen is a loss for the company. As the departing CEO said in his resignation letter, Narayen has worked for Adobe for 28 years and led the company in the chief executive role for over 18 years. Narayen, who is 62, first became CEO in 2007. Adobe shares have grown more than 542% over that period, although they are down considerably since 2024. During Narayen’s 28-year tenure at Adobe, the companys workforce has grown tenfold, going from 3,000 to 30,000 employees. Its revenue has grown from less than a billion dollars annually to more than $25 billion. Perhaps most critically, under Narayens chief executive tenure, Adobe transitioned from a company that primarily sold one-time software licenses to one that is now primarily subscription-based. While that move was not always popular with Adobes customer base, it has built a foundation for the recurring annual revenue the company now relies on. Narayen has long been a respected figure at Adobe, and within the broader tech industry, so it’s no surprise that his announced departure is having a negative effect on Adobes stock price. Narayen says he will stay on as CEO until Adobes board appoints a new one, at which point he will remain as Chair of the Board at Adobe. Adobe investors cant shake AI anxieties Another element to Narayen’s departure that is likely causing investor jitters is that he is stepping down at a time when Adobe has never been more vulnerable. Narayen successfully navigated Adobe through the largely iPhone-driving death of its core Flash technology in the early years of his tenure as CEO. But now the company arguably faces an even more critical flashpoint. As AI tools become more advanced, investors are increasingly worried that they threaten the very foundations of Adobes business models. If an AI chatbot can generate a photo on demand, investors worry that customers will find less value in its stock photo service. And if AI can make edits and enhancements to photos and graphics simply by using natural language prompts, will fewer future creatives find less value in the companys Creative Cloud software? To be fair, the AI threat isnt a problem unique to Adobe. In the first part of this year, software companies of all stripes have been hit hard by investor worries that AI chatbots and their increasing capabilities will negatively impact enterprise and commercial software solutions. And while Adobe itself is of course embracing AI tools in its own products, the planned departure of the companys beloved CEO at this critical time in the industry is making a lot of investors nervous today, as is evident by the companys plunging stock price. Adobe shares crash on CEOs planned departure As of this writing, in premarket trading, ADBE shares are down over 7.5% to $249.31 after yesterdays announcement of Narayens upcoming exit. The companys shares ended yesterday down 1.43% to $269.78. But even before todays steep drop, Adobes shares have had a bad year. As of yesterdays close, ADBE shares had lost nearly 23% of their value since the year began. Looking back over Narayens tenure as CEO, Adobes share price has had a stellar run. In December 2007, when Narayen became chief executive, ADBE shares were trading around the $42 range. By 2021, the companys shares had peaked at nearly $700. But, particularly since 2024, the companys shares have declined significantly, as fears over AIs impact on legacy software companies have grown. Those fears are now something that Adobes next CEO, whoever that may be, will have to effectively manage.
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Being seen is a fundamental human need. We all can recall a moment when we truly felt “seen” by someone for who we are, and how good and empowering it made us feel. When this happens, it deepens our sense of belonging and makes us more connected to our work, and to others. And today, with so much of our attention being scattered and superficial, being truly seen is as surprising as it is refreshing. Research supports this: a sense of social belonging is one of the strongest predictors of engagement and performance at work. According to Deloittes Global Human Capital Trends report, 79% of organizations say that creating a sense of belonging is important or very important for their success. However, only a small percentage feel equipped to make it happen. This needs to change, now. Because when people feel seen, they feel validated, appreciated, and engaged. And thats where leadership truly begins. According to Nina Bressler, Global Head of Service Academy at Hitachi Energy, Every time we see someone fully, not just their role but in their humanity, we have the experience of learning and growing together. People lean in, share what they know, and risk showing what they dont. In that mutual recognition, performance becomes a natural outcome of belonging. A Personal Story: The Power of Sawabona In the Zulu language, theres a greeting I love that captures this sense of belonging. Its Sawabona. It means I see you, but it’s much deeper than that. Its not just an acknowledgment or a greeting; its an affirmation of someones existence and humanity. The response to Sawabona is just as powerful: Ngikhona, which means I am here. This exchange conveys mutual respect, and sets the tone for meaningful connection and authentic interaction. For years, I sat on a leadership advisory board within the intelligence community, made up of accomplished experts across a variety of fields. We always sat at the boardroom table, putting our heads together to urgently tackle the high-stakes issues that needed our input. The pressure to perform was always stressful, and the environment felt as intimidating as it was inspiring. But one day, the mood changed. The chairwoman of our board, Renee, began our meeting with Sawabona, she said. This was definitely different from the typical call to order and reading of the agenda, and people were seemingly caught off guard. We all then said the response: Ngikhona, I am here. And immediately, people smiled. Not just because it was a little awkward, but because it was so human. This exchange set the tone for the entire meeting. It was a kind acknowledgment of each persons presence, and importance. That single act of recognition created an atmosphere where we could show up genuinely and engage deeply, not just as experts but as humans with unique experiences, values, and stories. Why Sawabona Matters for Your Team At work, we forget the power of seeing each other fully. I know Im guilty of this, because I get, well, busy. We all focus on tasks, deadlines, and outcomes, but better outcomes happen when people feel seen as themselves. Research from BetterUp found that when employees experience a strong sense of belonging, organizations see: 75% fewer sick days 56% improved job performance 50% lower turnover risk These kinds of results are worth the risk of an awkward moment, in my opinion, no? Sawabona is rooted in the African philosophy of Ubuntu, which emphasizes both interconnectedness and mutual care. I am because we are speaks to the understanding that our individual worth is shaped by our connection to others. When we see each other, we strengthen the bonds that foster collaboration, innovation, and shared purpose. If you want your team to thrive, fostering a sense of Sawabona is key. Leaders who do this are recognizing people for who they are, not just what they produce. When you honor someones existence and humanity, you unlock their potential. How to Bring Sawabona to Work Incorporating Sawabona into your team culture isnt about using the phrase as a token gesture. Its about showing everyone mutual respect and authentic connection, even in small ways. Heres how to start: Show Up Fully Sawabona means showing up, not just physically, but emotionally and mentally. That means you dont just show up and sit in the room; be engaged. When people feel their presence is valued, theyre more likely to show up as their best selves. Practice Active Listening The foundation of Sawabona is truly listening. So, be attentive, ask thoughtful questions, and seem understanding. Celebrate Individuality Everyone on your team is unique. Their perspectives, experiences, and backgrounds shape what they bring to the table. Take time to acknowledge what makes each person special. Let that perspective add to new ideas and solutions. Create Space to Share People need to feel safe to express themselves. Create an environment where your team can give ideas, voice concerns, and add to the conversation without fear of judgment or rejection. The Radical Power of Being Seen The act of being seen is alarmingly radical in a world that frequently treats people as a means to an end. Sawabona rejects the transactional nature of work to focus on a deeper, more authentic human connection. Because people arent just cogs in a machine. Theyre individuals with worth, complexity, and unique contributions. As a leader, its your responsibility to create an environment of support, because your success depends on it. Sawabona is a practice that says, I see you for who you are, and I value your presence. Next time you gather your team, start by greeting them with Sawabona, and watch how it transforms the way you work, collaborate, and connect. SEO Tags: Sawabona, Ubuntu leadership, team engagement, mutual respect, leadership culture, active listening, team empowerment, empathy at work, authentic leadership.
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Hello again, and welcome back to Fast Companys Plugged In. On March 9, Jay Graber stepped down as CEO of Bluesky. She will become the social networking platforms chief innovation officer, while Toni Schneider, a venture capitalist and former CEO of WordPress parent company Automattic, joins Bluesky as interim CEO. (I may be the last person left who also associates Schneider with Oddpost, an impressive browser-based email client he co-created way back before Gmail existed.) Graber explained her decision as stemming in part from a desire to turn the CEO role over to someone who can help scale up the platform. From November 2024 to January 2025, as Elon Musks role in Donald Trumps reelection prompted many Twitter users (including me) to hatch exit strategies, Bluesky added 10 million users. That turned out to be the peak of the networks boom, at least so far; 10 million users is also how many its added in the past 12 months. Its still growing, but not at the torrid pace that will get it to hundreds of millions of people anytime soon. If I had invested in Blueskywhich Schneiders venture firm, True Ventures, hasId want to see it grow far larger. As an individual user, however, I find it quite pleasant at its current size. Maybe even cozy, in a way Twitter had stopped being long before Musk trashed it. (I also enjoy the even tinier Mastodon.) Should Bluesky ever get ginormous, I hope it manages to retain the intimacy that it kindles today. But Im less curious about the future of Bluesky the social network than I am about the technology behind it. Called AT Protocol, its responsible for organizing all those users and posts so that the right people see the right stuff at the right time. And unlike the comparable infrastructure in place at behemoths such as Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram, its open. Anyone can create their own social network based upon AT Protocol, or remix an existing one (such as Bluesky) by tweaking its algorithm or other attributes. Users can preserve their personal social graphs even if they use several otherwise distinct networks based on the protocol. When I first talked to Graber in December 2023, Bluesky wasnt yet fully open to the public, and had just 2.3 million members. She seemed as excited about AT Protocol as Bluesky itself, and told me she saw it as a potential antidote to social-media toxicity, moderation problems, and general user dissatisfaction with how the people who operate social networks do their jobs. If you didnt like Bluesky as Graber managed it, you could switch to a version of the service powered by a different algorithm, or a wholly independent social network running AT Protocol. You wouldnt even have to do so much as create a user account. From both a technological and cultural standpoint, thats a way more grandiose goal than simply building a social network thats bigger and better than Twitter. As someone who loved Twitter until I didnt, I found it immensely appealing. Who wouldnt want more control over their social presence? But a little over two years later, it remains a vision more than reality. Indeed, Bluesky has a festering reputation in some quarters as an obnoxious liberal bubble unwelcoming of other perspectives, which might not be a problem if people were remastering the network or creating new alternatives based on its technology. AT Protocol was hardly dead on arrival. There are hundreds of applications that use it, from Instagram and TikTok alternatives to a stock portfolio tracker to an app that puts Bluesky on your Apple Watch. Many are intriguing in their own right. But most are satellites revolving around Bluesky and its community, which was not the original idea. Even when I spoke to Graber in 2023, the possibility of an open social protocol changing everything was not exactly new. Mastodon, which turns 10 on March 16, is powered by ActivityPub, a standard with goals similar to AT Protocol. Meta incorporated a measure of ActivityPub support into Threads (kinda, sorta)and its not clear how invested the company is in going further. Even more to the point, Twitter cofounder and former CEO Jack Dorsey has long said that he regrets that Twitter ever became a company. Instead, he contends, it should have been an open protocol all along. Toward the end of his time there, he channeled that belief into incubating two such protocols. One became Bluesky; the other is the lesser-known Nostr, whose homepage cheerfully acknowledges the challenge it faces with the tagline An open social protocol with a chance of working. I wish the best for everyone behind AT Protocol, ActivityPub, and Nostr, but I cant help but wonder if the failure of the relatively small number of people interested in this stuff to coalesce around one protocol helps explain why progress has been so slow. (As computer scientist Andrew S. Tanenbaum waggishly put it in the 1980s, The nice thing about standards is that you have so many to choose from.) Its as if the companies that made browsers had never agreed on the shared technological underpinnings that let us use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or any of innumerable other options to explore the same World Wide Web. For now, I am attempting to stay active on Bluesky, Mastodon, and Threads, though its hardly a cakewalk. Openvibe, the app I used to post to all three, has become so unreliable lately that Ive mostly given up on it. Flipboard CEO Mike McCue tells me that he wants to add crossposting to Surfa wildly ambitious app, still in closed beta, that weaves ogether the entire internet into user-curated feedsbut is still figuring out how to do it well. The only long-term solution involves all of these networksplus Twitter, Facebook, and many others yet to be bornsettling on a protocol so universal that they all just work together, without 99.9% of us needing to stop and wonder why. Im realistic about the daunting odds of this happening, but I havent given up. And I hope that Bluesky wont eitherregardless of where it goes under new management. Youve been reading Plugged In, Fast Companys weekly tech newsletter from me, global technology editor Harry McCracken. If a friend or colleague forwarded this edition to youor if you’re reading it on fastcompany.comyou can check out previous issues and sign up to get it yourself every Friday morning. I love hearing from you: Ping me at hmccracken@fastcompany.com with your feedback and ideas for future newsletters. I’m also on Bluesky, Mastodon, and Threads, and you can follow Plugged In on Flipboard. More top tech stories from Fast Company MacBook Neo review: niceness on a budgetApple’s long-awaited laptop is even cheaper than the pundits expected, and still feels like a Mac. Read More Phoenix has lived with Waymos longer than any U.S. city. Here’s what its mayor learnedMayor Kate Gallego talks about working with Waymo, redesigning cities for autonomous vehicles, and why robotaxis may reshape everything from parking to public transit. Read More GoFundMe launches AI fundraising coach to help people raise more moneyThe new tool drafts campaign messages, suggests titles and photos, and guides users on how to share their fundraiser. Read More This new foldable phone may have upstaged Apple in the ‘zero-crease’ warOppo’s Find N6 isn’t fully creaseless, but it’s close. Read More OpenAI’s delayed ‘adult mode’ underscores the challenges of age-gating AIA lot is riding on OpenAI’s ability to separate older ChatGPT users from younger ones. Read More The uncomfortable valley: Microsoft Teams emoji faces have got to goThey don’t make the digital workplace more casual. They make it uncomfortably weird. Read More
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