I was at Fortune’s Global Forum this year in Riyadh, completely minding my own business, sitting in the back row, doing my emails and half listening. Then Dr. Alex Zhavoronkov, on a panel on life span and health span, said…
“The biggest impact on your health is your number answer to a question.”
Huh?
Antenna up. Can you guess the question? I didn’t!
“How long do you think you will live?”
Read it again, give it a think and give your answer out loud.
The longer you expect to live, the younger you’ll behave and the better you take care.
Dr. Zhavoronkov went on to say some people suggest that AI and Super AI are going to radically affect our life spans and health spans even in the next few years. They’ll accelerate research, find breakthroughs, cure cancer, touch reverse aging, etc.
But he said “Our projections are in the next 10 years, that is not going to happen.
But in the 10 years after that, it will.”
Then he looked around the audience and said “Many of you will make it to 130.” [You can watch the video of the Fortune interview here.]
OK, you got my attention, Doc, closing my laptop.
Stunned silence. We all reacted hearing that the way you are reacting reading it.
The paradigm just shifted.
But that’s the funny thing about paradigms, they happen to you, except for the times when you happen to them. Your answer to the question of how long you expect to live is affecting your health. If you think you may only make it to, say, 75 (when we lost my Dad, suddenly) you may be subconsciously making decisions that help it become true.
But if you thought there is even a chance that advancements might allow you to make it to 130 what changes would that make in your thinking? What changes would you want to make in your work, your career and your life?
Those of us in the audience discussed it after and I sat next to Alex at lunch. First, do we believe it? In whole, part or not at all? If it’s even, as my friend John Nugent says, “directionally correct” what changes?
Well, it sort of changes… everything. How you eat and sleep. How you think about your finances. Your work. Your family. Your legacy. The world. How you approach working out.
What does it change for you?
I’ve learned coaching CEOs that nobody makes it alone. To make it sustainable, make it social. My wife Maria and I have been doing HIIT classes 2-3 days a week for a couple years. The first few weeks it was all I could do to not throw up. Every time the coach turned the other way, I’d stop until they started turning back towards me! Inevitable misses and backsliding aside, we kept at it and both lost 15 lbs, put on muscle and feel 10 years younger. There are a couple morals in there for me, but most is the discipline of just keep going and make it not solitary, but social.
Whatever you want to sustain, make it social. I remember working with friends after college organizing volunteer programs at campuses nationwide and one of our philosophies was “half of social justice is social.” If volunteering is drudgery, yuck, who’s going to want to do that? But if there’s laughter, colors, food, fashion, music and fun then it’s enjoyable and that is key to sustainable. It’s the same with your “play span.”
Whether you like to dance, sports, hike or walk/jog/bike the biggest factor is finding your tribe, friends to do it with. Social = Sustainable. Never learned those activities? Oh, I’m sorry, if you have decades to go, what excuse is there that you don’t have time to learn something new? Hmm. I’m sure we could find some good excuses somewhere…
You might have a couple “10,000 hours” unspent. Whatever that thing is you never learned or did, just flip the switch on the paradigm. Lifelong learning flows from expectations. What expectations do you wish for your life? What’s undone? No matter what goals you have or may now set anew, the more you’ve a learning mindset, the more you will achieve.
Another big mindset shift from a longer life span is how we think about stress. If we have even just an extra decade or two to go we never planned on, then that big crisis we may be going through now (at work or home) takes on new perspective. Even a couple years from now, you may look back and say, “OK, that was tough but it was just something to face.”
No one knows one’s “time” for sure but what if you do have more time than you thought?
I was asked to do a call with the Chancellor of the California Education system. He called me the next day and said, “I was really skeptical of doing a call with a coach and I wanted to apologize. You asked me a question that I thought was just very cheesy and I gave you a flippant answer but then thought about it a lot last night. The answer I gave you is not the answer I want.” My cheesy question was if your career was a mountain, are you on your way up or on your way down?
Everything is changing. I can give you 130 reasons why you should change, too.
The announcement that Karl Mistry will become the next CEO of the luxury homebuilder Toll Brothers is more than a routine leadership change. It highlights a succession model at the Fortune 500 stalwart that’s built around continuity and internal development rather than episodic change.
Mistry joined the company in 2004 as an assistant project manager through its executive training program and advanced steadily through operational roles. His appointment makes him only the third CEO in the company’s nearly 60-year history, reflecting a deliberate preference for leaders shaped within the organization rather than recruited from outside.
At Toll Brothers, leadership development functions less as a human resources initiative than as an organizational risk management strategy. By progressing through the business from the project level upward, Mistry developed a working understanding of the company’s operations, culture, and decision-making norms that could take an external hire years to absorb—if at all.
The fact that Mistry is only the third CEO also underscores the company’s unusually long leadership cycles. Founder Robert Toll led the firm for roughly 43 years, followed by Douglas Yearley’s tenure of about 15 years. This stability allows the board to operate on longer strategic horizons and reduces the disruption that often accompanies leadership turnover in large organizations.
A related feature of the model is direct, high-level mentorship. Yearley has described how Toll personally spent years mentoring him on Monday nights, institutionalizing the transfer of knowledge across generations of leadership.
Of course, this is not to suggest that external leadership is inherently inferior or a failure of governance. In periods of strategic disruption, declining performance, or structural change, boards often turn to external leaders precisely because discontinuity is what they seek.
But in firms whose competitive advantage rests on execution, institutional memory, and long-cycle decision-making, leadership continuity becomes a strategic asset. The broader implication is that Toll Brothers treats succession as a long-term design problem, rather than a periodic crisis. Instead of relying on external searches when transitions arise, it has invested in talent early, tracked it over time, and created credible internal pathways to senior leadership.
Mandarin Oriental’s CEO on his lack of industry experience as a strength: “I don’t pretend to be a hotelier. I’m not a hotelier…Bringing some other perspectives, coming from other economic sectors, other brands, is very good.”
News to know
John Ternus, a senior Apple executive, is emerging as a leading internal candidate to succeed Tim Cook as CEO. NYT
Gwynne Shotwell is the operational and diplomatic force behind SpaceX’s success, and with a potential IPO approaching, her role is becoming even more visible. WSJ
Allegiant is acquiring Sun Country in a $1.5 billion deal that will create a combined airline offering more than 650 routes. Fortune
Jerome Powell warned that a DOJ probe tied to rate-cut demands represents a direct challenge to the Fed’s political independence. Fortune
Oil futures gained on concern that intensifying unrest and political instability in Iran could disrupt supply from one of the world’s largest producers. Fortune
What prominent economists and business leaders are saying about the DOJ’s investigation into the Federal Reserve. BI
Join us at the Fortune Workplace Innovation Summit May 19–20, 2026, in Atlanta. The next era of workplace innovation is here—and the old playbook is being rewritten. At this exclusive, high-energy event, the world’s most innovative leaders will convene to explore how AI, humanity, and strategy converge to redefine, again, the future of work. Register now.
Good morning. The U.S. economy closed out 2025 with a puzzling mix: sluggish job growth alongside accelerating productivity.
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported on Friday that nonfarm payrolls rose by a seasonally adjusted 50,000 in December 2025, missing the 73,000 Dow Jones estimate and slowing from November’s revised gain of 56,000. November payrolls were revised down by 8,000 jobs, while October’s loss deepened to 173,000 from 105,000. For 2025 as a whole, payrolls grew by an average of 49,000 jobs per month, down sharply from 168,000 in 2024.
Bank of America Global Research analysts wrote in a report on Friday that although payroll growth has slowed since June, the unemployment rate has risen by only about 11 basis points. The report noted, “We have been highlighting that tighter immigration restrictions are likely to play a bigger role in the slowdown in job growth this year.”
The unemployment rate is a key statistic for the Fed, and markets responded to Friday’s miss by pricing out a January rate cut, according to the analysts. Futures now imply less than half a cut priced in through April, which marks the end of Powell’s term.
The productivity factor
Despite weak job growth, forecasts still point to solid overall economic expansion. I asked Gregory Daco, EY chief economist, how the U.S. economy can continue to grow strongly while hiring softens.
“We’re seeing a clear decoupling between growth and hiring,” Daco said. Output is still expanding, but companies are generating that growth with fewer incremental workers and fewer hours.
“Productivity has rebounded meaningfully as businesses continue to streamline operations, automate processes, and extract more output from existing teams in a high-cost, high-interest-rate environment,” Daco explained. “This isn’t AI-led in a narrow sense yet—it’s the payoff from multi-year efficiency drives, tighter cost discipline, and delayed hiring.”
According to the BLS, nonfarm business sector labor productivity increased 4.9% in the third quarter of 2025, as output rose 5.4% while hours worked increased just 0.5%.
Areas of job growth
Where job growth has occurred, employment in food services and drinking places continued to trend higher in December, adding 27,000 jobs. The sector added an average of 12,000 jobs per month in 2025, roughly in line with the 11,000 average monthly gain in 2024.
Health care employment also continued its upward trend in December, rising by 21,000 jobs, including a gain of 16,000 in hospitals. Health care added an average of 34,000 jobs per month in 2025, down from an average monthly increase of 56,000 in 2024.
Monster’s newly released 2026 Job Market Outlook also reflects these pockets of strength. Based on full-year 2025 job posting and job seeker data, the report shows employer demand remaining firm in health care, essential services, infrastructure-related roles, and skill-based jobs, even as other parts of the labor market slow.
‘Hiring hasn’t stopped’
As private payroll growth weakened throughout 2025 and hiring appetites diminished, I asked Daco whether he expects that trend to continue amid ongoing geopolitical uncertainty and tariff-related risks
“Yes—barring a material improvement in policy clarity, I expect hiring restraint to persist,” he said. Private payroll growth has already slowed sharply as firms shift into cost-control mode, with geopolitical risks, tariff uncertainty, and elevated financing costs reinforcing that bias, he explained.
“Hiring hasn’t stopped, but it has become more selective and more conditional on clear demand visibility,” Daco added. “In this environment, CFOs are likely to continue favoring efficiency, automation, and capex discipline over broad-based workforce expansion.”
*Quick note: “The Data Imperative: Reinventing Finance with AI,” is the next Emerging CFO webinar which will take place Tuesday, Jan. 27 at 11 a.m. ET. Join Fortune, in partnership with Workday, for a timely discussion featuring Adobe’s CFO Dan Durn, and additional speakers to be announced, that will offer firsthand insights and practical strategies from leaders shaping AI-driven finance transformation. You can register for the event here. Email us at CFOCollaborative@Fortune.com with any questions.
Leaderboard
Young Kim was appointed CFO and chief operating officer at Bitmine Immersion Technologies, Inc. (NYSE: BMNR) effective immediately. Kim has more than 20 years of experience. From 2021 to 2025, he served as partner and senior portfolio manager at Axiom Investors, following a decade as senior portfolio manager at Columbia Threadneedle Investments from 2011 to 2021. Earlier in his career, Kim held roles across investment research, venture capital, business development, and software engineering.
Jimmi Sue Smith is retiring from her position as CFO of Koppers Holdings Inc. (NYSE: KOP) effective Jan. 5. Smith will continue to serve as treasurer, as well as in an advisory role, to assist with a transition through Feb. 28. Bradley Pearce, chief accounting officer, will serve as interim CFO and still perform his current role while an external search is conducted to identify a permanent successor.
Big Deal
The latest S&P Global Market Intelligence data shows that large U.S. corporate bankruptcies rose to one of the highest monthly totals in five years in December 2025, with filings increasing to 72 from 63 in November. This uptick extended the 15-year high for annual filings first set in November, bringing the total to 785 for the year—the highest since 2010. Rising interest rates have been a significant factor, as many companies struggled to refinance their debt, according to the report.
The data covers companies with public debt and at least $2 million in assets or liabilities, as well as private companies with at least $10 million in assets or liabilities at the time of filing.
Courtesy of S&P Global Market Intelligence
Going deeper
“Powell blasts DOJ criminal probe as attack on Fed independence. ‘Public service sometimes requires standing firm in the face of threats’” is a Fortune article by Jason Ma.
He writes: “Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said in a statement on Sunday that the Justice Department served the Fed with grand jury subpoenas, threatening a criminal indictment over his testimony before the Senate last June related to renovations on the headquarters, which has seen cost overruns. Powell, who is typically cautious in his public remarks, was clear that the probe was political in nature and had nothing to do with the Fed renovations or his testimony, dismissing them as ‘pretexts.'” Read the complete article here.
Overheard
“After more than two decades of declining well-being for most middle- and low-income households, it is clear that structural reforms are needed to bring costs back in line with wages.”
—Gene Ludwig, former U.S. Comptroller of the Currency, and chairman of the Ludwig Institute for Shared Economic Prosperity, and Shannon Meyer, a research analyst at the Ludwig Institute, write in a Fortune opinion piece titled, “Millions of Americans are grappling with years of declining economic wellbeing and affordability needs a rethink.”
Mattel Inc. is introducing an autistic Barbie on Monday as the newest member of its line intended to celebrate diversity, joining a collection that already includes Barbies with Down syndrome, a blind Barbie, a Barbie and a Ken with vitiligo, and other models the toymaker added to make its fashion dolls more inclusive.
Mattel said it developed the autistic doll over more than 18 months in partnership with the Autistic Self Advocacy Network, a nonprofit organization that advocates for the rights and better media representation of people with autism. The goal: to create a Barbie that reflected some of the ways autistic people may experience and process the world around them, according to a Mattel news release.
That was a challenge because autism encompasses a broad range of behaviors and difficulties that vary widely in degree, and many of the traits associated with the disorder are not immediately visible, according to Noor Pervez, who is the Autistic Self Advocacy Network’s community engagement manager and worked closely with Mattel on the Barbie prototype.
Like many disabilities, “autism doesn’t look any one way,” Pervez said. “But we can try and show some of the ways that autism expresses itself.”
For example, the eyes of the new Barbie shift slightly to the side to represent how some people with autism sometimes avoid direct eye contact, he said. The doll also was given articulated elbows and wrists to acknowledge stimming, hand flapping and other gestures that some autistic people use to process sensory information or to express excitement, according to Mattel.
The development team debated whether to dress the doll in a tight or a loose-fitting outfit, Pervez said. Some autistic people wear loose clothes because they are sensitive to the feel of fabric seams, while others wear figure-hugging garments to give them a sense of where their bodies are, he said.
The team ended up choosing an A-line dress with short sleeves and a flowy skirt that provides less fabric-to-skin contact. The doll also wears flat shoes to promote stability and ease of movement, according to Mattel.
Each doll comes with a pink finger clip fidget spinner, noise-canceling headphones and a pink tablet modeled after the devices some autistic people who struggle to speak use to communicate.
The addition of the autistic doll to the Barbie Fashionistas line also became an occasion for Mattel to create a doll with facial features inspired by the company’s employees in India and mood boards reflecting a range of women with Indian backgrounds. Pervez said it was important to have the doll represent a segment of the autistic community that is generally underrepresented.
Mattel introduced its first doll with Down syndrome in 2023 and brought out a Barbie representing a person with Type 1 diabetes last summer. The Fashionistas also include a Barbie and a Ken with a prosthetic leg, and a Barbie with hearing aids, but the line also encompasses tall, petite and curvy body types and numerous hair types and skin colors.
“Barbie has always strived to reflect the world kids see and the possibilities they imagine, and we’re proud to introduce our first autistic Barbie as part of that ongoing work,” Jamie Cygielman, Mattel’s global head of dolls, said in a statement.
The doll was expected to be available at Mattel’s online shop and at Target stores starting Monday for a suggested retail price of $11.87. Walmart stores are expected to start carrying the new Barbie in March, Mattel said.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported last year that the estimated prevalence of autism among 8-year-old children in the U.S. was 1 in 31. The estimate from the CDC’s Autism and Developmental Disabilities Monitoring Network said Black, Hispanic, Asian and Pacific Islander children in the U.S. were more likely than white children to have a diagnosis, and the prevalence more than three times higher among boys than girls.
Politics8 years ago