How CEOs Can Drive Change And Still Come Out Ahead |
The ancient Greek philosopher Heraclitus of Ephesus is credited with saying the only constant in life is change, but he obviously had no idea how clearly those words would resound in 2026. Nowadays, geopolitical situations, technology, trade, taxes, national policies and the broader economy sometimes seem to change by the hour.
The key for business leaders is being able to intelligently adapt to change, which is harder than it sounds. As CEO of Tempo Software, a strategic portfolio management platform that integrates with several popular SaaS apps, Vic Chynoweth is no stranger to adaptation. He talks to the executives who use Tempo Software about how they’re managing change, and has taken change in stride as he leads a software company. He told me about how he sees adaptability, and an excerpt from our conversation is later in this newsletter.
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If you look at gas prices, inflation and consumer spending, it’s easy to see the economic impact of the Iran war. But if you look at the stock market, it’s almost as if there hasn’t been a war at all. Last week, major indexes closed at record-breaking highs for days: Analysts said last week’s markets showed the fastest turnaround in decades, and the Nasdaq ended Friday with its 13th consecutive day of growth—the longest streak since 2009. On Friday, a major part of the market rally was the Strait of Hormuz reopening to commercial ship traffic, but analysts cautioned that the reopening was tenuous and relied on the success of ongoing peace negotiations. The rally ended by Monday, after the U.S. seized an Iranian cargo ship that tried to make it through the U.S. blockade.
At the Semafor World Economy conference last week in Washington, D.C., two top officials who worked for past Democratic presidents—Bill Clinton’s Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin and Joe Biden’s Senior Advisor for Energy and Investment Amos Hochstein—talked about the gap between markets and reality. Rubin, who worked at Goldman Sachs before joining the Clinton administration, said there have been other periods during which Wall Street was out of sync with Main Street. For two years leading up to the 1987 stock market crash, Rubin said, the markets were climbing—up until October 19, when the S&P 500 saw its largest ever one-day crash, falling 22.6%.
Hochstein added that traders have the perpetual goal of improving stock valuations. Therefore, if the president says the war’s about to end—something President Donald Trump has said since the first days of the war—taking him at his word is good for valuations. The long-term risks of the war and its impact on companies are never fully considered.
But that could also change rather quickly, Hochstein and Rubin said. If airports in Asia and Europe run out of jet fuel and have to cancel flights, kinks in the supply chain make medical procedures like MRIs prohibitively expensive, or prices go up because manufacturers cannot make bathroom fixtures, the economic issues will come to Wall Street to roost.
But no matter what happens with the war, Rubin said that the current government isn’t using a coherent process in making decisions, and that could impact the U.S.’s credibility in the world economy for years to come. He said the U.S. has “an authoritarian figure who operates at extremes, way outside the range of anything we ever debate in this country.”
“I don’t think markets or participants in markets currently are factoring in what, at least to me, seems to be the tremendous potentially long-term damage we're doing in making the war judgments,” Rubin said.
The last several years have been a bumpy ride, but CEOs say they’ve risen to the challenge. According to a study PwC released last week, nine out of 10 executives say their company is in a stronger position today than two years ago. Two-thirds or more rank their company ahead of competitors.
But despite that confidence, almost all executives—98%—are reacting to new disruption with classic defensive moves—including preserving cash or safeguarding operations. Just over three quarters also select at least one offensive move—including accelerating innovation or pursuing new market opportunities, but most really aren’t sure how to do this effectively. A total of 68% struggle to translate uncertainty into business decisions, and 65% lack the geopolitical data and analysis to act confidently.
Michelle Horton, PwC Risk & Regulatory Health Industries Practice Leader, told me that she sees gaining that intelligence as “the opportunity and the challenge.” While every company has been diving into AI, increasing their tech budgets and adding platforms to bring the technology to their companies, they need to figure out how to use it to their advantage. This means breaking company siloes around different data and functions, realizing where the interrelated risks can be found, and mixing that information together to find more nuanced and researched advice.
“We all can recognize that the uncertainty is not going to end anytime soon, and so you have to find a way to work through it and navigate the areas that align with your strategy,” Horton said. “So don’t stray from the strategy, but use the information and the data and your team and your leaders to think about things differently.”
IBM paid just over $17 million to the federal government to settle accusations that the company’s diversity, equity and inclusion practices violated antidiscrimination laws. Forbes senior contributor Kim Elsesser writes that the Justice Department claims IBM took race and gender into account with its hiring practices by using “diverse slates” of candidates and “diverse sourcing” to select who to interview, among other claims of unfair practices.
IBM admitted no wrongdoing as part of the settlement, and told Elsesser by email that their workforce strategy is solely driven by “having the right people with the right skills that our clients depend on.”
Elsesser writes that the actions cited in the settlement agreement are generally used to expand opportunities, and had been commonplace at many companies before the Trump administration. Dozens of lawsuits and investigations into DEI practices have been launched against companies and universities—including an EEOC lawsuit against a Coca-Cola distributor for hosting a two-day networking event for women.
Adapting To Change At The Speed Of Technology
In today’s world, businesses are called to adapt to a variety of fast, far-reaching changes: new technology, geopolitical conflicts, tariffs, economic shifts, supply chain difficulties. Vic Chynoweth, CEO of portfolio management platform company Tempo Software, works with clients on managing changes, and uses different strategies to keep his company from getting behind as the world turns.
This interview has been edited for length, clarity and continuity.
What does it take for businesses to adapt to the constantly changing conditions of today?
Chynoweth: You have to look at what customers’ needs are. But for being adaptive today, you’ve got to question ways of working and go, ‘Hey, why do we do this?’ Because, ‘We’ve always done it this way’ cannot be the answer. It has to be what is the most modern way to do it.
Historically—and probably still the case with companies—product management spends a bunch of time writing requirements. They give that to engineering. Engineering gives you estimates. They do a bunch of work, iterate on it, come back. You’ll notice it’s a hand off: product management to engineering, engineering may hand it back to product, so on and so forth.
Most modern folks today, that’s not a handoff. They’re arm-in-arm now because it moves so fast. Product is not just writing recs, they are actually doing the initial mockups of software product, handing it to dev and devs are taking that and then moving it into actual production code. The old way of planning is not alive anymore. It’s just ongoing, continuous ability to adapt.
A CEO who is ready to do whatever it takes to adapt can inadvertently make bad decisions. What are some of the biggest pitfalls they need to avoid?
The perception that there’s a monopoly on ideas within a certain small group in a company. I absolutely do not have a monopoly on ideas. Nobody at my company has a monopoly on ideas. We need to take it from everyone. If you can get everyone thinking about this, you’re going to get the kind of collective inputs that you need.
The other piece is you’ve got to fail fast. Celebrate the fail. The worst thing you do is say, ‘Hey, I’m sticking to this thing. It was my idea,’ or put a bunch of money into it. You have to be willing to actually adapt. Adapt means the best idea wins. Validate it as quickly as possible. Move forward, recognizing you’re going to run into barriers. You’ve got to just move on to the next thing—and you need a constant generation of ideas as well.
How do you open up everybody at the company’s minds to thinking about what’s next? How do we change this? It used to be that change is constant in software and technology. Now you need to question things constantly, which is a mind shift.
What advice would you give to CEOs today who are trying to figure all this out?
Just be transparent. This is the reality of the world. I’m going to be transparent with everybody. We are all in it together. If the broad company doesn’t know this is the problem that we’re dealing with, how are they going to help with it?
If we share that with folks, most people want to be helpful. Most people want to be part of the solution. You just have to give people opportunity. It’s the starting point.
Materials science company Dow Chemical promoted Karen S. Carter to be its next chief executive officer, effective July 1. Carter has more than three decades of experience with the firm, most recently working as Dow’s chief operating officer. She will succeed Jim Fitterling, who is transitioning to the role of executive chair.
Agricultural technology firm Corteva appointed Luther “Luke” Kissam as the chief executive officer of its future standalone crop protection company, effective June 1. Kissam previously worked for the Albemarle Corporation where he was chairman, president and CEO, and also held leadership positions at the Merisant Company and Monsanto.
Insurance platform Keystone hired Mike Walsh as its chief executive officer, effective April 14. Walsh previously worked as the president of commercial property and casualty at NFP, and he succeeds Patrick Kinney, who is joining the company’s board of directors.
The world of work is changing, and tomorrow’s college graduates need to be prepared for it. Several Forbes C-suite newsletter readers responded to a survey for our third annual New Ivies list, naming 20 schools whose graduates do well in today’s entry-level jobs. One constant factor at these schools? An emphasis on AI:
60%: Percentage of executives who said AI will change their staffing needs
42%: Percentage of executives who are more likely to hire public university graduates today than five years ago
‘Prioritize intellectual rigor over inherited prestige’: A C-suite executive said of today’s successful institutions, as part of the survey
CEO succession is different at every company, and whether to select an internal or external candidate depends on the people involved, the state of your business, and what the board thinks the company needs. Here’s why Walmart chose its new CEO from inside its ranks, while Kroger looked elsewhere.
Plaid cofounder William Hockey travels the world looking for new business ideas. Here are three reasons your best innovations may be inspired by things happening across borders.
The cofounder, chairman and former CEO of which company announced last week that he would step away starting in June?
See if you got the answer right here.