The Next In-Demand Job Title | Meet The Latest Black CEO Of A Major U.S. Company | The Cost Of Climate Change

Plus: Business is more trusted than government, study finds

Hello, and welcome to another edition of the CxO newsletter.

Before we dive into all that there is to discuss this morning, allow me to introduce myself. I’m the deputy editor of communities and leadership and will be taking over this weekly newsletter, which my colleague Diane Brady has deftly penned in recent months. Though my byline may be new to CxO, I’ve been working behind the scenes for quite some time and have covered leadership issues for even longer. I look forward to continuing to bring you the news and analysis you need to lead in our ever-changing world.

Where there’s a new priority, there’s a new position, or at least that’s been the case for the C-suite in recent years. As I reported at the close of 2020, corporate America saw an uptick in chief diversity officer appointments amid the national reckoning on racial injustice, and the emergence of chief medical officers in industries outside healthcare as the Covid-19 pandemic upended business. And now, as my colleague Jena McGregor, senior editor of careers, reports, companies are increasingly creating job titles focused on the future of work.

As remote and hybrid work arrangements have become the norm, the number of job titles related to the future of work and hybrid work (think “director of hybrid working” and “flexible workspace operations manager”) have increased by 60% and 304%, respectively, according to LinkedIn data provided to Forbes. “Organizations are finding that there’s a need to create roles that have a specific focus on these types of programs to really rethink and evolve their thinking about this new world of work,” Shannon Hardy, LinkedIn’s vice president of flex work, shares with Jena.

Another priority for CxOs is, of course, sustainability, and a report released today by Deloitte suggests that climate change could cost the U.S. economy $14.5 trillion and 900,000 jobs in the next 50 years. But if business leaders take action now, the professional services firm says the nation stands to gain as much as $3 trillion and 1 million jobs. Alicia Rose, deputy CEO of Deloitte U.S., tells me the key to achieving the latter outcome is “bold climate plays,” and as soon as possible. “So many organizations have set out very good ambitions. Now is the time to align those with real actions,” she says. “If we are able to really focus and do a rapid, early, sequenced transition to net zero, we could drive a new industrial revolution and jumpstart growth in the U.S.”

Thank you for reading, and feel free to share your ideas with me at vvalet@forbes.com. I’ll see you right back here next Tuesday.

What's Next

Just days after Peloton saw its stock sink on news that it was temporarily halting production of its bikes and treadmills, Blackwells Capital is reportedly calling on the at-home fitness company to consider a sale and oust its cofounder and CEO, John Foley. Senior Contributor Edward Segal, who has been following Peloton’s recent public relations crises—including a Billions cameo (spoiler alert) during which yet another fictitious character suffers a heart attack following a workout—spoke with a few communications experts about whether the pandemic-stock darling can salvage its brand. “While I wouldn’t say Peloton’s demise is a sure thing, barring an imaginative new approach and some significant new branding, my call is that Peloton will continue to contract, rather than grow,” reputation management expert Baruch Labunski tells Segal. “And that’s only sustainable for so long.”

Starbucks has reversed its vaccination requirement for employees, making it one of the first big businesses to do so following the Supreme Court’s ruling against the Biden administration’s vaccine mandate. But the results of a recent Morning Consult poll suggest Americans are in favor of such policies, with 56% of the 2,200 U.S. adults surveyed approving of vaccination requirements (33% opposed). Companies that have said they’ll continue mandating vaccines for employees include Goldman Sachs, Citigroup and Carhartt, which has garnered both support and backlash over its stance. Meanwhile, the CDC has said it will not update its definition of “fully vaccinated” to include booster shots, though people will need them to be considered “up to date” with their vaccinations.

The past couple of years have challenged executives in new and unimaginable ways. Marketing chiefs, for example, have found themselves at the forefront of diversity, equity and inclusion efforts and sustainability commitments, while hybrid work and automation initiatives have made the role of chief information officer more demanding and impactful than ever before. It’s against this backdrop that Forbes has opened up nominations for its annual CMO Next and CIO Next lists. They highlight top leaders—in marketing and tech, respectively—who are reshaping and reinventing their roles. To nominate a CMO, click here, and to nominate a CIO, click here.   

By The Numbers

3,724

The number of U.S. companies that filed for bankruptcy during President Joe Biden’s first year in office, down from an eight-year high of 7,129 in 2020 as the Covid-19 pandemic upended the economy.

The CxO Profile

Recommendations
From Beyond The Newsroom