What CIOs Need To Know About The Election | Keeping Your Company Culture Intact | The Downfall Of Bangle Billionaire Caroline Rafaelian

Plus: Meet America’s Best PR Agencies 2021

Good morning,

Election Day in the United States is upon us, and the one thing most agree on is that tomorrow will be a very, very long day of watching, waiting, speculating and anticipating as votes are counted. It’s the moment we’ve all been waiting for, when we will learn if the next four years will be a second Trump administration, or a first Biden one. CIO Network Senior Editor Martin Giles, in a post referencing a discussion at the first in a series of Forbes CIO Next virtual events, broke down how the U.S. election could impact automation, cybersecurity, data privacy and other key issues CIOs care about. If you haven’t had a chance to read it, I encourage you to do so; it’s a revealing rundown informed by the expertise of Darrell West, an expert on technology policy at the Brookings Institution.

Elsewhere in our CxO universe, in which we cover the issues and moments and trends that matter to and affect all C-suite executives, we have and will continue to have additional content focused on the election and effects of the outcome. Leadership Strategy Contributor Adrian Gostick has an interesting piece on how to keep election-week politics from blowing up your team’s culture, while Forbes Reporter Jonathan Ponciano has kept tabs on the Dow—markets sank again on Friday, he wrote, leading stocks to post their worst week—and month—since the coronavirus crashed markets in March, just as the potential of heightened volatility as a result of unclear election results ramps up.

And don’t miss Forbes Staff Writer Kristin Stoller’s deep dive into the rise and fall of Alex and Ani founder Carolyn Rafaelian. It’s a fascinating inside tale of hypergrowth, executive turnover, legal turmoil and the whims of fashion at America’s charm bracelet foundry.

This digest of Forbes content is your weekly touchpoint as you negotiate internal, external and cultural factors. We hope you find it useful, and let us know what else you’d
like to see here.

Have a good week.

Comings & Goings

With demand for its cleaning products booming, Colgate-Palmolive has appointed Stanley Sutula as its new CFO. Sutula previously served as the finance chief at postage equipment-turned-ecommerce company Pitney Bowes.

Leadership & Strategy

The upcoming election isn’t just a referendum on leadership in government—it’s a bellwether of the type of leadership that Americans are looking for in all organizations. Forbes Contributor Beau Rivers spoke with Steve Pemberton, the head of human resources at performance-management platform Workhuman, about how business leaders can adapt with the changing times.

In the short-term, however, the presidential election could be a recipe for workplace disaster. With emotions running high, here’s how leaders can ensure their workplaces remain (relatively) harmonious.

During World War II, the Allied intelligence agencies released guidelines for how civilians could help sabotage their workplaces. From forming unnecessary committees to haggling over the wording of memos, some of their techniques may hit close to home.

By The Numbers

6%

The percentage the S&P 500 fell last week.

Last week was the worst for the stock market since the coronavirus pandemic began in March. Will the market downturn be a last-minute boon for the Biden campaign?

Innovation and Transformation

CIOs in particular should be paying close attention to the election. From skilled talent to artificial intelligence and competition with China, the outcome will have a major effect on the U.S. tech sector. Here’s a breakdown of what to expect.

DevOps teams, which operate at the intersection of product development and information technology, have been at the forefront of finding digital solutions to the problems posed by the pandemic. Unfortunately, 86% of enterprise IT leaders say their teams need to be more responsive.

Sensing blood in the water after the Department of Justice revealed antitrust charges against Google on October 20, tech heavyweights are angling to get in on the search-engine action. In the U.S. Apple has been developing an alternative search engine for iOS devices, while across the Pacific Huawei may have an international counterpart in the works.

The CxO Profile

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