Below, Eric Becker shares five key insights from his new book, The Long Game: A Playbook of the Worlds Most Enduring Companies.
Eric is the founder and chairman at Cresset, an award-winning multi-family office with billions in assets under management. He also co-founded Sterling Partners, a value-added, growth private equity firm. With his long history of starting, backing, and nurturing companies, Eric advises founders, entrepreneurs, private equity partners, and ultra-high worth families.
Whats the big idea?
Companies that last not one generation, not two, but for a hundred years and beyond share certain things in common. It is no accident when a company ends up lasting, rather than being sold. What it takes is setting your business up intentionally for the long game.
Listen to the audio version of this Book Biteread by Eric himselfbelow, or in the Next Big Idea App.
1. Recognize a moment of truth
Businesses dont fail for a lack of vision. They usually fail because of a lack of great execution. Its knowing what to do and when to do it that makes all the difference. Thats a moment of truth.
Im fascinated with moments of truth. In a lifetime, how many moments of truth might there be? Its probably less than 20, or maybe less than a dozen. Theres just not that many of them. Learning to identify a moment of truth is an incredibly important skillwhether its deciding where to live, who to marry, choosing a career, or what kind of company to start.
Every leader faces critical moments of truth, but recognizing when you are faced with that decision is essential. The ability to not only see and accept that you must act but also recognize when you shouldnt. A moment of truth is what follows.
A Centurion has this special talent of recognizing moments of truth and making the necessary pivots. They learn who they can trust in these moments and make critical, tough decisions. If you make the right decision in a moment of truth, it can change everything.
2. Adopt a myth-busting mindset
Centuries-old businesses are often seen as dusty, bureaucratic, or slow and resistant to change. But Ive found its the complete opposite. Centurions are some of the most agile, adaptive, and forward-thinking organizations in the world. Theyve mastered the art of adaptation because their very existence depends on it. Companies today that will likely outlive the next century share the same qualities.
This is the idea of embracing resiliency, adaptability, and vision. Legacy organizations have a great sense of urgency. They dont tolerate poor performance, and they dont sit on their laurels. They have a sense of priority, importance, and timing.
Centurions are some of the most agile, adaptive, and forward-thinking organizations in the world.
Take a business like Ferragamo, or families like the Vanderbilts who have operated the historic 130-year-old Biltmore Estate since 1895, and even the famous Smuckers Family. On the surface, they might seem like echoes of the past, rooted in history and resistant to change. But dig a little deeper and youll see theyve survived through war, the Great Depression, the Great Recession, the Pandemic, natural disasters, competition, technologyyou name it, theyve seen it all. A myth-busting mindset helped them survive.
Think about what stereotype you are working against. How can you break the myth? How can you hone that survival instinct to do whatever it takes to change perception and move your company forward?
3. Be a super steward
Embracing stewardship supersedes any other mission-critical priority. Very few leaders or families truly understand what this means when we say it.
Stewardship is recognizing that the enterprise is greater than any one individual in the organization, including you. Every decision you make is made with the understanding that this move will protect and preserve the company for generations to come. Thats not how most entrepreneurs and even many family businesses operate. As a result, there is a crisis happening in America right now involving succession.
But when you consistently demonstrate that stewardship supersedes everything else within your organization, that ethos ripples into every facet of your organization and becomes ingrained within your business or family and onto the next generation. Its a big mindset shift, but stewardship has the power to become the protective shield for everything you love most. Thats how you start to build your legacy.
Ive seen it time and again: when employees understand and are included in their companys mission and principles, and believe in it themselves, theyre proven to be more committed. Youre essentially building a dedicated army of stewards, passionately carrying out the founders vision.
4. Have a succession plan
The best CEOs and leaders realize its not about them. Its about everyone else. They look at the organization or the family and realize that they are responsible for bringing this business into the future.
Only one-third of family-owned businesses make it to the second generation, and just 12 percent survive to the third.
I had grown up in a family business. My father started a company that lasted for 53 years, which was amazing. But he didnt have a succession plan. Ultimately, the company had to be sold. What had been missing? What had my dad needed to pass his business on?
Ethical succession is seen in these 100-year-plus businesses. Having a viable, thoughtful, and ethical long-term succession plan is a critical part of being a steward. Only one-third of family-owned businesses make it to the second generation, and just 12 percent survive to the third. There is nothing that matters more to me than my own family and business knowing and trusting that the value Ive placed on the plan ahead will carry them forward for generations. The family office has to evolve in order to survive.
5. Build centurion culture from day one
To break through and to get ahead, culture is critical. Centurions were the commanders that led 100 soldiers in the Roman army, and they didnt lead from behind. They led from up front. They were the strong leaders who set the culture for that group and took them forward into victory.
When Avy Stein and I started Cresset, we put culture first and told people to act like owners. Now, 65 percent of Cresset is actually employee-owned. Our 100-year horizon shapes every decision, from technology to talent.
From day one, we focused on questions like:
What kind of company will we become?
How will we treat each other?
How will we treat customers and clients?
We also told the first 10 team members tht we were on a 100-year journey together, which is what The Long Game is all about. When you build a company with that kind of long-term focus, you dont need an exit. Ironically, thats what makes it even more attractive, because its built to last, not to sell.
We developed what we now call the culture card. We took all the principles and practices around great culture and put them all together on one card. Having a culture card is something that almost no business seems to do. And yet, it is the most important tool that weve used in building an organization in less than eight years to over $70 billion in assets under management.
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This article originally appeared in Next Big Idea Club magazine and is reprinted with permission.
On October 27, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said that President Donald Trump has narrowed down his search to replace Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell, whose term does not end until May 2026.
Powell, who has butted heads with Trump over lowering interest rates amid the risk of increasing inflation, has said he will serve out the remainder of his term. After his term ends as chairman, his board term still extends until 2028.
Trump is expected to announce a Federal Reserve chair replacement as early as December, according to reports.
Were down to five,” Bessent told reporters as he was traveling with Trump on Air Force One, according to Yahoo Finance. “Were going to do a second round and we hope to present a good slate to the president right after Thanksgiving. . . . It will ultimately be his choice.
Bessent said those five picks are: Michelle Bowman and Christopher Waller, both members of the Federal Reserves board of governers; Kevin Hassett, director of the National Economic Council; Kevin Warsh, a former Fed governor; and Rick Rieder, chief investment officer of global fixed income at BlackRock, according to several media outlets per CNBC.
Trump’s choice must be confirmed by the Republican-controlled Senate. Like Powell, the new Fed chair will be charged with navigating inflation, the countrys weakening labor market, and stagnating growth. Fed members remain divided on whether the Trump administration’s economic policies, including high tariffs and a push for even lower interest rates, are helping or hurting the U.S. economy, CNN noted.
Powell first became Fed chair in February 2018 and was reappointed for a second four-year term in May 2022. His term as a member of the Fed’s board of governors ends on January 31, 2028.
Last month, he explained the Fed’s dilemma when it comes to cutting or raising interest rates: whether to use it to fight inflation or instead to help offset a struggling job market (while controlling prices and unemployment).
We only have one tool, which is monetary policyreally, interest ratesand [the situation] is calling for different answers,” Powell said. “It’s a very difficult policy environment when your two goals are telling you two different things, you’ve got to make a compromise.”
I once attended a slide presentation given by an executive in a telcom company.
The presentation was highly technical, but that was not the main problem. It was boring because the speaker was using back-to-back visuals and had zero connection to his audience. When the one-hour session came to an end, the entire audience filed out of the room but the executive kept talking. He was so focused on his visuals that he didnt even realize the audience had left the room.
This story illustrates the dangers of using slides. The speaker can easily lose touch with the audience, and the result is that the power you bring as a speaker gets lost. To retain your power when using visuals, follow these five fundamentals.
1. AVOID SLIDES WHENEVER POSSIBLE.
First, consider not using slides at all. Strong leaders have no interest in competing with busy PowerPoints. The purpose of a talk should be to persuade and inspire, not simply to convey information. Often you can do that best without any visual props. So avoid slides unless there is a strong argument for using them.
Still, there are times when you will need to use slides. It might be part of the corporate culture. Some visuals illustrate a new product or a new building. At times a chart drives home a point. If you are planning to use a deck, the next four guidelines suggest how to do so most effectively.
2. REALIZE THAT YOURE THE BEST VISUAL.
Think of yourself as the best visual. You have energy, enthusiasm, vocal reach, and body language that tell your audience you believe what youre saying and they should too. You can bring forward your points with more impact than inanimate slides can. This should encourage you to keep the presentation focused on you and your convictions. Instead of fading into the visuals and reacting to them, lead with powerful statements using your strong presence to bring the presentation to life.
Keep your visuals simple and uncluttered. The less time your audience spends reading the visuals the more time theyll spend looking at you and following you. Beware especially of cluttered word slides. Theyre distracting and often hard to understand. Theyll compete with you. Audience members will be reading all that text and tune you out.
3. MAKE SURE YOU HAVE ONE CLEAR, COMPELLING MESSAGE.
Your leadership presence depends on a clear, credible, and well-supported message. The danger of using slides or visuals is that the whole presentation can easily become an information dump. And thats how its usually delivered. Fact after fact after fact.
To save your presentation from the information junk heap, introduce a central message early on. For example, you might say: The message of this presentation is . . . and keep that message front and center throughout. Show that everything in your presentation supports this message. The argument on each slide should relate back to the message. At the end, come back to your message and show how it can be implemented.
Apple reinvents the phone was the message Steve Jobs wanted his audience to take away when he introduced the iPhone. Thats the reason Apple reinvents the phone was the only message on the slide. And he repeated it several times during the presentation to reinforce it.
4. PRESENT WITH GREAT CONVICTION.
Having slides doesnt lessen the need to show your commitment; rather, it doubles that need. Own each visual. Provide a narrative that shows youre in charge and that the deck is just a supporting character. As you walk through the presentation, state the message of each visual before showing it. Say, As youll see, this next slide argues that convincingly.
To inspire your audience, strengthen your voice and body language. Your voice should be forceful and varied, in keeping with the substance youre conveying. Emphasize your points by looking at the audience and using pauses, as if to say, Did you get that? Your body language is important. Excellent posture conveys conviction, as do appropriate gestures that reinforce your points.
5. END WITH A CALL TO ACTION.
Finally, end with a call to action. The call to action should echo the overall message that you began the presentation with. Explain to the audience what you want from them. Approval of the proposal? Buy-in? Or a full understanding of your argument and its implications for moving ahead. Your call to action might begin I trust you can now see how redoubling our focus on using AI will be the basis for strong growth next year. Whatever your message, show how it can be implemented. If you do this successfully, you will have led.
When AI systems started spitting out working code, many teams welcomed them as productivity boosters. Developers turned to AI to speed up routine tasks. Leaders celebrated productivity gains. But weeks later, companies faced security breaches traced back to that code. The question is: Who should be held responsible?
This isnt hypothetical. In a survey of 450 security leaders, engineers, and developers across the U.S. and Europe, 1 in 5 organizations said they had already suffered a serious cybersecurity incident tied to AI-generated code, and more than two-thirds (69%) had uncovered flaws created by AI.Mistakes made by a machine, rather than by a human, are directly linked to breaches that are already causing real financial, reputational, or operational damage. Yet artificial intelligence isnt going away. Most organizations feel pressure to adopt it quickly, both to stay competitive and because the promise is so powerful.And yet, the responsibility centers on humans.
A blame game with no rules
When asked who should be held responsible for an AI-related breach, theres no clear answer. Just over half (53%) said the security team should take the blame for missing the issues or not implementing specific guidelines to follow. Meanwhile, nearly as many (45%) pointed the finger at the individual who prompted the AI to generate the faulty code.
This divide highlights a growing accountability void. AI blurs the once-clear boundaries of responsibility. Developers can argue they were just using a tool to improve their output, while security teams can argue they cant be expected to catch every flaw AI introduces. Without clear rules, trust between teams can erode, and the culture of shared responsibility can begin to crack.
Some respondents went further, even blaming the colleagues who approved the code, or the external tools meant to check it. No one knows whom to hold accountable.
The human cost
In our survey, 92% of organizations said they worry about vulnerabilities from AI-generated code. That anxiety fits into a wider workplace trend: AI is meant to lighten the load, yet it often does the opposite. Fast Company has already explored the rise of worksloplow-value output that creates more oversight and cleanup work. Our research shows how this translates into security: Instead of removing pressure, AI can add to it, leaving employees stressed and uncertain about accountability.
In cybersecurity, specifically, burnout is already widespread, with nearly two-thirds of professionals reporting it and heavy workloads cited as a major factor. Together, these pressures create a culture of hesitation. Teams spend more time worrying about blame than experimenting, building, or improving. For organizations, the very technology brought in to accelerate progress may actually be slowing it down.
Why its so hard to assign responsibility
AI adds a layer of confusion to the workplace. Traditional coding errors could be traced back to a person, a decision, or a team. With AI, that chain of responsibility breaks. Was it the developers fault for relying on insecure code, or the AIs fault for creating it in the first place? Even if the AI is at fault, its creators wont be the ones carrying the consequences.
That uncertainty isnt just playing out inside companies. Regulators around the world are wrestling with the same question: If AI causes harm, who should carry the responsibility? The lack of clear answers at both levels leaves employees and leaders navigating the same accountability void.
Workplace policies and training are still behind the pace of AI adoption. There is little regulation or precedent to guide how responsibility should be divided. Some companies monitor how AI is used in their systems, but many do not, leaving leaders to piece together what happened after the fact, like a puzzle missing key parts.
What leaders can do to close the accountability gap
Leaders cannot afford to ignore the accountability question. But setting expectations doesnt have to slow things down. With the right steps, teams can move fast, innovate, and stay competitive, without losing trust or creating unnecessary risk.
Track AI use Make it standard to track AI usage and make this visible across teams.
Share accountability Avoid pitting teams against each other. Set up dual sign-off, the way HR and finance might both approve a new hire, so accountability doesnt fall on a single person.
Set expectations clearlyReduce stress by making sure employees know who reviews AI output, who approves it, and who owns the outcome. Build in a short AI checklist before work is signed off.
Use systems that provide visibility Leaders should look for practical ways to make AI use transparent and trackable, so teams spend less time arguing over blame and more time solving problems.
Use AI as an early safeguardAI isnt only a source of risk; it can also act as an extra set of eyes, flagging issues early and giving teams more confidence to move quickly.
Communication is key
Too often, organizations only change their approach after a serious security incident. That can be costly: The average breach is estimated at $4.4 million, not to mention the reputational damage. By communicating expectations clearly and putting the right processes in place, leaders can reduce stress, strengthen trust, and make sure accountability doesnt vanish when AI is involved.
AI can be a powerful enabler. Without clarity and visibility, it risks eroding confidence. But with the right guardrails, it can deliver both speed and safety. The companies that will thrive are those that create the conditions to use AI fearlessly: recognizing its vulnerabilities, building in accountability, and fostering the culture to review and improve at AI speed.
The State Department has enlisted Starlink, the satellite internet service run by the Elon Musk company SpaceX, to support its staff in Jamaica in the event that Hurricane Melissa, a category 5 storm that made landfall Tuesday, disrupts communications on the island nation, the agency says.
We have pre-provisioned Starlink in Jamaica and will use it for communications if necessary, a spokesperson for the agency said Tuesday night. If the damage is as bad as expected, the agency is likely to use the service for live service in Jamaica, another State Department official told Fast Company.On-location agency staff are likely to use Starshield — a version of the Starlink service tailored for national-security applications — at the embassy, the second official says. The consumer service Starlink might be used by smaller teams who may need to travel within the country, the person added.
The move shows how critical satellite-based internet has become in natural disasters, particularly when ground-based communications services go offline. And it also demonstrates just how much the U.S. government has come to rely on technology made by Elon Musk’s SpaceX’s technology, which now includes everything from rocket launch services to consumer satellite internet.
The State Department is one of a growing number of US government agencies, including the National Science Foundation and the Department of Homeland Security, now using Starlink for a variety of purposes as varied as videocalling, real-time data support, and research in Antarctica.
As SpaceX has ramped up sales of Starlink to the government, it has also built Starshield, a national-security-related service used within the Defense Department. The State Department has bought both services, deploying the SpaceX technology at several embassies.
(The relationship between the two services has been murky. A Starlink outage earlier this summer also took Starshield offline.)
Relatedly, SpaceX often offers free Starlink services during emergencies. When asked what the company was doing to prepare for Hurricane Melissa, the companys media team directed Fast Company to an announcement explaining that people in Jamaica and the Bahamas could receive free service until the end of November. Customers who had already set up accounts, even those that were paused or suspended, will automatically receive a free credit, while those hoping to sign up for the first time can create a support ticket, the company says.
While Starlink service can be a life-saving tool during an emergency, critics have raised concerns about the U.S. governments growing dependence on the technology — as well as on Musks influence on SpaceX. Earlier this year, for instance, Musk ordered that some Starlink terminals used by Ukrainian forces be taken offline amid their attempt to retake territory from Russia, Reuters reported.
NASA wants to reopen competition on its moon lander, a multi-billion-dollar contract for a new space vehicle that will help support one of Americas most ambitious missions yet: going back to the moon — and for good.
The space agencys decision to reopen the contract for the Artemis mission moon lander renews competition between SpaceX, which had previously won the award, and Blue Origin, Jeff Bezoss space startup. But it also sets off a competition between Texas and Washington, the two companies respective home states. Politicians long fought over American space spending, as Fast Company explained a while back. But its not clear where they stand, at least for now.
Several congressional offices that would be impacted by the space agency opening up the contract did not respond to a request for comment, including the office of Sens. Ted Cruz and John Cornyn (the Texas delegation), as well as the Republican and Democratic sides of the Commerce Committee, whose portfolio includes space issues.
A spokesperson for Rep. Vincente Gonzalez, the congressman who represents Starbase, Texas where SpaceX is testing its heavy launch vehicle Starship didnt respond to a request for comment. The office of Sen. Maria Cantwell, who represents Washington and frequently touts Blue Origin, also did not respond.
Congressional delegations have previously advocated for Artemis contracts to come to their states. Back when SpaceX first won the lunar lander contract, Cantwell pushed for NASA to give a second company a lunar contract, including through legislation. Even amid doubts with SpaceX, Cruz, who represents SpaceX homestate Texas, has said its too late for the U.S. to leave Starship behind.
The size of a small building, Starship is the platform that Elon Musk thinks will bring humanity to Mars. Its also the vehicle that, for several years, NASA has been planning to use for an earlier phase of the Artemis program. (The Artemis 3 mission that SpaceX is supposed to work on, currently scheduled for late 2027, will involve a weekslong stay on the lunar surface, though NASA has ambitions for returning to the moon in later years, including to build a lunar base camp).
The challenge is that Starship a key part of this plan has suffered failures during several recent test flights. And now, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy is complaining that SpaceX is behind schedule. A NASA panel said as much in September.
Blue Origin still has a lot catching up to do. The company has yet to build a similarly large low Earth orbit satellite network, or to send manned space missions into orbit. (The company has accomplished suborbital flights). But Blue Origin has also won lunar lander work from NASA for the Artemis V mission, a later phase of the new moon program.
In the past, NASA has expressed interest in maintaining at least two options in order to ensure a regular cadence of Moon landings, a NASA official said when the government announced an award for Blue Origins lunar platform, which the company calls Blue Moon.
Theres also Lockheed Martin, which might also put its hat in the ring.
Of course, its unclear what might be going on between policymakers privately, or whether the rift between Elon Musk and the Trump administration has settled. Another factor is growing concern that the U.S. is falling behind China on lunar ambitions.
Secretary Duffy has also said that Trump wants some kind of lunar accomplishment before he leaves office. In the meantime, much of NASA is closed because of the government shutdown.
After Zohran Mamdani’s campaign aired a commercial that used a Knicks-style campaign logo that wrote out “Zohran” over an image of a basketball, the NBA team asked them to take it down.
The Mamdani ad, which aired during the New York Knicks’s opening game last week, shows black-and-white footage of a pick-up basketball game in a park as the narrator says “New York, this is our year.” There’s shots of Mamdani campaigning interspersed with the pick-up game, and the narrator says “Things can be different. Hope is back,” before the Knicks-style logo flashes on the screen over the sound of drums.
[Images: New York Knicks, Zohran for NYC]
The Knicks, whose owner donated last year to Mayor Eric Adams, weren’t happy with the knock-off logo and sent a cease-and-desist letter to the Mamdani campaign asking them to knock it off, according to The New York Post, which first reported the letter. The campaign says it will comply and pulled the ads on Friday.
The Mamdani campaign said it was adjusting the ad, and “while the Knicks might not be able to publicly support our campaign, were proud to publicly support our NY Knicks,” campaign spokesperson Dora Pekec said in a statement.
But it’s not the first campaign to lean on the visual tropes of beloved brand to attempt to say something about hometown pride or a candidate’s values in a single image.
Before Mamdani’s Knicks logo, there’s been a history of branding knock-offs
In 2022, Tim Short, a Republican state legislative candidate used a logo designed to look like the Fox News logo, searchlights and all, but the searchlights were later taken off without explanation. That same year, Matt Jenkins, a Democrat and U.S. House candidate in New Jersey, was hit with a cease-and-desist letter from Wawa, after the convenience store chain noticed the similarities between the bird in his campaign’s logo and theirs.
Jenkins said in a social media post at the time that the design was intentional. “For a lot of people in our district, Wawa represents them. When we launched this race to replace Chris Smith, I wanted our logo to feel instantly familiar,” he wrote.
And that’s what these knock-off logos are meant to signal. By leaning on a familiar logo, they visually convey that a candidate is “one of us,” as if to say, this candidate is a Knicks/Fox News/Wawa/[enter brand name here] fan, just like you.
[Images: Cambell’s, Campbell for Congress]
Visual parody doesn’t equal a winning brand
Brands, though, are quick to distance themselves. After a U.S. House candidate in Michigan with the last name Campbell refused to comply with a cease-and-desist letter from the Campbell’s Company over the candidate’s logo designed like one of its soup cans, the company filed suit this month.
Claiming her actions “are not innocent parody but are designed to capitalize on Campbells iconic brand and associate one of the countrys most famous and enduring brands with her political campaign,” the company said her rip-off logo confused customers.
While campaigns can’t use knock-off logos without inviting potential legal action, that doesn’t mean some won’t try. By designing logos based on popular brands, campaigns hope some of that brand magic will rub off at the ballot box.
But would-be copycats, take note: While Mamdani, with his own distinctive campaign logo may well be an exception, other recent candidates who’ve used major brand logos haven’t fared well. In Georgia, Short’s short-lived Fox News logo didn’t help him win the Republican primary. Jenkins rebranded to a bird-less logo and lost. Sometimes it’s better to come up with your own idea.
Most climate reports are bleak. Temperatures are soaring. Sea levels are rising. Companies are missingor abandoningtheir emissions targets.
But a new report from the nonprofit Energy & Climate Intelligence Unit looks at the surprising amount of progress thats happened since the Paris climate agreement 10 years ago.
Renewable energy has grown faster than every major forecast predicted in 2015. Theres now four times as much solar power as the International Energy Agency expected 10 years ago. Last year alone, the world installed 553 gigawatts of solar powerroughly as much as 100 million U.S. homes usewhich is 1,500% more than the IEA had projected. Investors are now pouring twice as much into renewables as into fossil fuels.
One out of every five new cars sold is now an EV; a decade ago, that was one in 100. Even if growth flatlined now, the world is on track to reach 100 million EVs by 2028. Dozens of countries have net zero goals that are legally mandated, and comprehensive climate laws. Out of the worlds largest 2,000 companies, nearly 1,300 now have net zero goals in place. Ten years ago, the world was on track to hit a catastrophic 4 degrees of global warming by the end of the century. Now, projections have dropped to 2.6 degreesnot nearly enough, but a major step in the right direction.
Typical climate reports, like the U.N.s Emissions Gap Report, focus on how far off track the world is. They say the same thing every time, basically: that were not doing enough, says John Lang, net zero tracker lead at the Energy & Climate Intelligence Unit. Thats one side of the coin. The other side of the coin is that we have made unbelievable progress, and weve laid the foundations for structural, sustained emissions declines over the next few decades.
Ten years ago, projections about the growth of renewable energy were wrong in part because modelers underestimated how the scale of manufacturing in China could help drive costs down. Solar is now 66% cheaper than it was just a decade ago. In 2024, the cost of lithium-ion batteries fell by 20% in a single year. Globally, 91% of renewable energy projects are cheaper than fossil fuel alternatives.
There are obvious challenges now, particularly the Trump administrations anti-climate push and supply chain bottlenecks from increased protectionism. Still, the markets more powerful than a man, Lang says. Renewable energy will continue to grow. In China, emissions have been dropping since March of last year. China is also exporting clean energy technology to other countries. In the U.S., 19 states representing half of the countrys GDP still have net zero targets in place.
The story since 2015 is essentially around innovation, and through constraints, we’re going to see more innovation, he says. So despite the protectionism, I don’t see this unstoppable momentum slowing down.
The world still has a very long way to go. The planet has already heated up by 1.3 degrees Celsius, and were seeing the catastrophic impacts, from more severe hurricanes and wildfires to dying coral reefs. Theres little chance that we can avoid heating up more than 1.5 degrees Celsius, one of the goals of the Paris agreement. But every tenth of a degree of warming matters, and theres still time to change the trajectory.
This decade was always going to be about laying foundations, says Lang. It’s not as quick as the IPCC would like us to go. But the reality is that this is hard. I always think of Emmanuel Kants quote, From the crooked timber of humanity, nothing straight has ever been made. This is difficult stuff politically and culturally, and it is the biggest energy transition that humans may ever go through.
United Parcel Service posted third-quarter results that handily beat Wall Street’s expectations and gave details about its turnaround efforts, including approximately 48,000 job cuts.
Shares rose more than 7% in afternoon trading on Tuesday.
UPS earned $1.31 billion, or $1.55 per share, for the three months ended Sept. 30. The Atlanta-based company earned $1.99 billion, or $1.80 per share, a year earlier. Removing one-time costs, earnings were $1.74 per share.
That easily topped the $1.31 per share that analyst polled by Zacks Investment Research were calling for.
Revenue totaled $21.42 billion, surpassing Wall Street’s estimate of $20.84 billion.
UPS said in a regulatory filing that it has cut about 34,000 operational positions and closed daily operations at 93 leased and owned buildings during the first nine months of this year as part of its turnaround plan. The company also announced approximately 14,000 job cuts, mostly within management. It said that it is still looking to identify additional buildings to close.
In April, UPS announced that it was looking to slash about 20,000 jobs and close more than 70 facilities as it drastically reduces the number of Amazon shipments it handles. At the time, the company said that it anticipated closing 73 leased and owned buildings by the end of June. The company noted that it was still reviewing its network and might identify more buildings to be shuttered.
In January, UPS announced that it had reached a deal with Amazon, its biggest customer, to lower its volume by more than 50% by the second half of 2026.
During UPS fourth-quarter earnings conference call in January, CEO Carol Tomé said that the company had partnered with Amazon for almost 30 years and that when its contract came up this year, UPS decided to reassess the relationship.
UPS has realized cost savings of approximately $2.2 billion as of Sept. 30. It anticipates achieving $3.5 billion total year over year cost savings in 2025.
Michelle Chapman, AP business writer
ChatGPT wants to be your personal shopper.
PayPal announced Tuesday that its digital payment system will be integrated into ChatGPT, inviting anyone who uses it to shop directly from the chatbot. Starting next year, ChatGPT users will be able to check out with a click through a PayPal account and connect directly with the tens of millions of sellers who rely on PayPals payments system.
“By partnering with OpenAI and adopting the Agentic Commerce Protocol, PayPal will power payments and commerce experiences that help people go from chat to checkout in just a few taps for our joint customer bases, PayPal CEO Alex Chriss said in a press release. PayPals shares rose on the news, which was announced on the same day as the companys quarterly earnings report.
PayPal is all-in on an AI-focused future of online retail. Beyond the new ChatGPT plans, the company is collaborating to create new AI shopping experiences with Google and partnering on free premium trials with AI search engine Perplexity.
Chriss said on Tuesdays earnings call, adding that the company was better positioned than it was two years ago. With differentiated competitive advantages, clear strategic direction and building execution momentum, we believe we are exceptionally well-placed to win into the future.
OpenAIs shopping mall
PayPal is the latest partner to join OpenAIs e-commerce vision, but it isnt the first. In September, ChatGPTs parent company revealed that it would integrate Shopify and Etsy directly in what it described as first steps toward agentic commerce through an instant checkout platform built with Stripe. ChatGPT doesnt just help you find what to buy, it also helps you buy it, OpenAI wrote in a blog post on the announcement.
The Etsy integration is already live, surfacing U.S. Etsy sellers directly in response to prompts in chat, like Find me blue and white teacups under $50. The Shopify partnership will bring major retailers into the mix, with products from brands like Glossier, SKIMS and Vuori woven into the chat. Earlier this month, it struck a similar deal with Walmart.
For OpenAI, aggressively gobbling up the market with ChatGPT has been the name of the game, not monetization. The build first, profit later method a Silicon Valley special has gone swimmingly for the AI company so far and it boasts more than 700 million weekly active users. OpenAI shot out of the gate with a buzzy free product, collecting loyal customers and funneling power users toward tiered premium subscriptions, though it actually loses money on some of those paid plans.
For OpenAI, e-commerce is a logical next step for revenue. Its also a direction that opens the door wide for advertising, which the company was one staunchly against but seems to be gravitating toward with recent hiring and its new corporate structure which was finalized this week.
On the consumer side, the plunge into AI-powered shopping is poised to steer people away from Google as a first port of call and toward tailored results shaped by AI queries. That behavior shift is just one more way that AI continues to creep into every aspect of digital life, reshaping every interaction and transaction we make in the process.
