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Cryptocurrency investors are waking up to a bloodbath this morning. As of the time of this writing, crypto markets are getting hammered as major coins including Bitcoin, Ethereum, and XRP, are down across the board. Popular meme coins like Dogecoin and $TRUMP have also collapsed. But why is crypto crashing? Heres what you need to know Trumps tariffs may launch a global trade war Over the weekend, President Donald Trump initiated tariffs against Americas two largest trading partners. Trump ordered that tariffs as high as 25% be levied on numerous Canadian and Mexican goods entering the country. Trump also announced an additional 10% tariff on certain Chinese goods, as well as threatened tariffs on goods imported from the EU. Tariffs are not paid for by the countries whose goods they are levied against. Tariffs are paid by the companies who are importing those goods into America. For example, if Walmart is importing goods from Mexico, Walmart must now pay those tariffs on the goods. Or if a U.S. energy supplier is importing gas from Canada, that U.S. energy supplier is on the hook for paying the tariffs. Those U.S. companies will not simply absorb the costs of the tariffs, as this would affect their margins and thus their bottom lines. Instead, those companies will pass the cost of the tariffs on to American consumers, raising the costs that Americans must pay for goods. Canada has already outlined its response to Trumps tariffs, placing a 25% tariff on numerous American goods entering the country. Mexico says it will follow suit with tariffs of its own on U.S. imported goods. It is likely that China will follow suit, and if Trump unleashes tariffs on the European Union, the EU will react in kind. In other words, Trumps tariffs could mean the world is on the cusp of a global trade war. Trade wars increase costs for businesses and consumers. Because of higher prices, consumers tend to spend less, hurting businesses’ bottom lines. The higher costs also lead to inflationary pressures. All this can dramatically increase economic uncertaintyand markets hate uncertainty, including cryptocurrency markets. The risk of a global trade war is sinking crypto markets Trumps tariffs and the resulting trade war they look to be kicking off are sending crypto markets tumbling. As of the time of this writing, major cryptocurrencies are tanking. Bitcoin is currenlty down almost 4%, to just above $95,000 a coin. But that drop looks minuscule compared to other cryptocurrencies. Ethereum and XRP have crashed over 16%, while Cardano is down over 19%. And it’s not just the more well-known coins that are tanking. Popular meme coins are also crashing. Dogecoin is currently down over 13%, while President Trumps meme coin, $TRUMP, is down nearly 14%. Of course, none of these coins are directly impacted by Trumps tariffs. However, when economic uncertainty arisesas is the case with trade warsinvestors tend to extract profits where they can while they can. Thats why one possible reason for cryptos collapse today may be profit-taking. Crypto markets have had a good run as of late, so its little surprise that many investors worried about the broader economic impacts of a global trade war may be seeking to lock in what profits they can now by selling their cryptocurrencies. Another possible reason for the crypto fall today is that cryptocurrency markets are historically volatileand if a global trade war does kick off, it could cause economic uncertainty worldwide. During uncertain economic times, many investors tend to stay away from more volatile assets, leading to decreased demand in some markets. Fear of possible reduced demand for crypto in the near future may also be impacting crypto prices today. Stock markets are in crisis, too Its important to note that Trumps tariffs arent just rattling crypto investors. Stock market investors are also panicking this morning. While U.S. markets arent open as of the time of this writing, futures are down across the board. In premarket trading, Dow Futures have dropped over 560 points, or 1.26%. S&P Futures are down 85 points, or 1.4%, and Nasdaq Futures are down 349 points, or about 1.62%. Theres no telling how long Trumps tariffs will stay in place, and it is yet unknown exactly how countries like Mexico and China will react, not to mention the European Union if Trump enacts tariffs against its goods, too. What does seem certain is that there will be significant uncertainty in both the cryptocurrency and stock markets for the near future.
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E-Commerce
AI has been used in the hiring process for many years. Anyone who has ever wrangled their résumé into an Applicant Tracking System has experienced the frustration of distilling your human-ness for a keyword-focused bot. But thats just scratching the surface. Already a quarter of employers use some form of AI in their hiring process and, according to some estimates, nearly 70% of companies will be using AI tools to hire by the end of this year. Its no surprise that AI in hiring is attractive to employers. It can make whats often an overwhelming and time-consuming process much more efficient. But for job seekers, this technology can make the already opaque hiring process more difficult to navigate. And now, as AI becomes more sophisticated and widespread, it wont stop there. Even the interview, often the most human part of the hiring process, is being outsourced to bots. So, how can job seekers prepare for these changes? What should companies and hiring managers consider before implementing new tech? On the latest episode of The New Way We Work, I spoke to Dr. Kerry McInerney, an AI ethicist and researcher at the University of Cambridge. She says that from a candidates perspective the job search process now has a lot of unknown unknowns. 4 ways AI is used in hiring McInerney says there are four main areas where you’ll see AI being used in hiring, some more visible than others: 1. The dissemination of ads:Companies might use AI to decide where job ads are surfaced and deliver it to specific people who the recruiter might think would be a good fit. This application could seem innocuous, but it has the potential to encourage the same profile of candidates if the parameters are too narrow. 2. Screening candidates:Here, AI is used to go through a large volume of résumés and create a short list. This is very common and also widely critiqued. Not only do these systems make it difficult for candidates to craft a résumé that will get past these screens, but its also ripe for unintentional bias. McInerney referenced a 2019 case study where Amazon tested a beta version of an AI résumé screening tool that was shown to systematically discriminate against female candidates. Beyond extreme red flags like that, résumé screening tools often miss things like transferable skills or nuance like career gaps. 3. Assessment of candidates:Another way AI tools are being used in hiring is to test candidates or to distinguish candidates from one another once a company has a short list. Most of this is pretty visible to candidates: things like gamified tests and skill assessments. Another is AI video interviews. McInerney pointed out that these tools had a boom during COVID-19, but that many of the metrics they measure (including facial recognition-based tools that read a candidate’s voice and expressions and do sentiment analysis on the words that they use to get a sense of a candidate’s personality) are viewed as pseudoscience by AI ethicists. It’s also not possible to discern someone’s personality from their face. Some AI interview tools have also shown to rank candidates higher for arbitrary and irrelevant factors, like having a bookcase in the background. 4. Administrative aspects of hiring:The most innocuous way AI is being used in hiring is tools that help companies schedule interviews, or via AI chatbots on a company’s website that answer questions about a job. These types of tools run a very low risk of introducing bias into the process and fulfill the basic promise of AI: to reduce tedious and time-consuming tasks. The importance of asking questions McInerney emphasized that the AI hiring tools are made with the best intentions but that, if they arent created with the expertise of hiring managers, they can end up out of step. Her bottom line for employers: Don’t be sucked in by AI hype that tells you a tool can do things that actually sound really impossible. There’s just a huge emphasis on AI literacy, which is very important,” she says. “Sometimes, the way that these tools get talked about in hyper-technical ways can make people feel like that they can’t ask those questions or they’re scared of looking silly or ignorant if they ask them. But, she says, It’s really important to ask those questions, because any tool that is worth its salt should have scientific backing and should be able to show it.In other words, the most important tool when using AI in hiring is the very human skill of critical thinking.Listen to the full episode for more on how AI is transforming hiring for both candidates and companies.
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E-Commerce
Hello and welcome to Modern CEO! Im Stephanie Mehta, CEO and chief content officer of Mansueto Ventures. Each week this newsletter explores inclusive approaches to leadership drawn from conversations with executives and entrepreneurs, and from the pages of Inc. and Fast Company. If you received this newsletter from a friend, you can sign up to get it yourself every Monday morning. When Geoff Martha, chairman and CEO of Medtronic, took over the medical device makers Restorative Therapies Group in 2015, the company faced a tough decision. The group at the time was underperforming, and the leadership team had to consider how to prioritize technology investments such as neuromodulationsending electric signals to the brain to treat disordersthat can take years to develop and bring to market or invest in other opportunities that might produce more immediate wins. Management decided to keep investing in brain therapies, and the bet appears to be paying off. Earlier this year, Medtronic received approval from European regulators for its adaptive deep brain simulation (aDBS) technology, which includes an implant that can dynamically adjust signals to help personalize therapy for people with Parkinsons disease. Our leadership team joined hands, Martha recalls. We said, this is what were going to do, and its going to be a long-term play. Playing the long game Long-term plays are nothing new for Medtronic, which was founded as a medical device repair business in 1949 by Earl Bakken and Palmer Hermundslie. The company introduced the first battery-operated pacemaker in 1957 and the first implanted pacemaker a year later. Despite its groundbreaking innovations, the company was on the verge of bankruptcy in the 1960s. The scare prompted Bakken to write a mission statement that highlighted the companys commitment to contributing to human welfare. At Medtronic, those contributions come to life through direct interaction with patients. Every year the company brings patients from around the world to its operational headquarters in Minnesota to hear about their lives before and after treatments and therapies with Medtronic technologies. They thank our employees, and theres not a dry eye in the place, including mine, Martha says. In addition to improving the human condition, Martha says Medtronic needs to be performance driven in order to attract new talent, develop best-in-class new products, increase profits, and reward shareholders. Marthas holistic approach to long-termism brought to mind a 2024 LinkedIn post by leadership expert and Harvard Business School executive fellow Bill George, who also served as Medtronic chair and CEO from 1989 to 2002. In a piece titled, Choosing long-term leadership in a short-term world, George urged executives to stay true to their companies missions and strengths. Creating sustainable value must start with the alignment of all stakeholders around a shared mission and values in service to an organizations customers, employees, shareholders, and all those who have a stake in its success, he wrote. Marrying mission and performance I asked Martha what it was like to sit in a chair once occupied by someone who has literally written the bookmake that bookson leadership, and he commended George and Omar Ishrak, his immediate predecessor, for their accessibility to Medtronics leadership team. We keep in touch because they understand the mission, he says. But they talk about how much harder it is to be a CEO today. And so, we take the best of what they did and emphasize what we think still works, but then weve got to put our own imprint on that. And one of Marthas imprints is the marriage of mission and performance. My job and our leadership teams job is to keep reminding our employees that weve got to be an and company: mission and performance, he says. We know we can do both. How does your company combine performance and purpose? Does your company combine mission and performanceand if so, how? Does one take priority over the other? Send your comments to me at stephaniemehta@mansueto.com. Id like to share some of your insights in a future newsletter. Read more: long-termism MassMutuals lessons in resilience CEO lessons from a 110-year-old family business Leadership mistakes to avoid for long-term success
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E-Commerce
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