Fortune

Ask Warren Buffett for investment advice, and you might expect the billionaire CEO to tout his long-held stakes in Coca-Cola or American Express. But according to Buffett, who turned 94 in August, his Berkshire Hathaway holdings are less impressive than the personal investments he’s made throughout the years. Among the best: the Omaha house he has famously lived in since 1958, when he and his late wife Susan bought it for $31,500, or around $336,700 in today’s dollars. Read more: https://lnkd.in/eYwmv8wD

What does it take to ascend to executive leadership roles at America’s largest corporations? The inaugural Fortune Next to Lead: The 25 Most Powerful Rising Executives in the Fortune 500 highlights high-performing trailblazers. Top leaders at Fortune 500 companies in roles such as CEO, CFO, COO, president, and executive vice president representing industries including tech, retail, health care, and energy have earned a spot on the list. Fortune evaluated candidates through in-depth reporting and insights from executive search firms, recruiters, management consulting firms, current and former CEOs, and board members. Here are the three finance chiefs at Fortune 500 companies who earned a spot on the list: https://lnkd.in/ezZdirgV

I agree with Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff about the importance of the 'beginner's mind' ... Thanks to Jane Thier for highlighting that part of my conversation with him for Fortune's Leadership Next Podcast. https://lnkd.in/eYZqrmjd

The holiday season can be full of joy, reflection, and quality time—and, for women, an even more overwhelming share of the mental load, the invisible work that goes into managing a household and family. Ana Catalano Weeks, a senior lecturer in comparative politics at the University of Bath who often studies gender and society, has two new research papers that study the impact of the mental load on women. The first, published with University of Melbourne sociology professor Leah Ruppanner in the Journal of Marriage and Family, follows parents in the U.S. and found that mothers carry, on average, 71% of the mental load. This includes the unseen work that precedes physical work: noticing that the faucet is leaking and must be repaired, remembering when to schedule a doctor’s appointment or cut the kids’ nails, or keeping track of who to give gifts to each holiday season. Catalano Weeks’ research is among the first to quantitatively, rather than qualitatively, study this labor. Read more from Fortune Most Powerful Women: https://lnkd.in/eRyvjqni

Super Micro Computer, which makes high-powered AI servers, wants to turn the page on a recent controversy related to its financial practices. The scandal will result in the company parting ways with its current CFO, David Weigand, as part of its “ambition for future growth.” The Fortune 500 company announced that an independent special committee formed by Super Micro’s board of directors has completed its review of financial practices. There was “no evidence of fraud or misconduct on the part of management or the board of directors,” according to the company. Read more: https://lnkd.in/eGGb9j7d

Khozema Shipchandler, CEO of the software company Twilio, moved from CFO to COO to president to chief executive in less than six years. Shipchandler joined Twilio as CFO in 2018, after a more than 20-year career at GE including serving in several CFO roles in GE Aviation. Shipchandler’s major takeaway for CFOs wanting to become CEOs: Get operational experience. Read more: https://lnkd.in/ejMkNp8z

Don’t let their bombshell Shark Tank appearance from 2014 fool you. Randy Goldberg and David Heath weren’t an overnight success. https://lnkd.in/eV8vM_4H The duo are the co-founders of Bombas, the brand best known for donating one pair of socks (or underwear, or slippers, or T-shirt) for each pair purchased. It’s the all-time best-selling product to appear before the panel of Sharks, and received an investment from Daymond John, the Shark with the strongest track record of apparel success. The pair says they prepared for Shark Tank by rehearsing 200 questions they imagined the sharks would ask. In an interview with Fortune, Goldberg and Heath detailed their winding road to the top—which began with layoffs and dead-end jobs, and ended with the conviction to address a universally pressing need. (Their idea to start the company came from learning that socks are the most requested clothing item in homeless shelters.) Read more here: https://lnkd.in/eV8vM_4H

One of Japan's largest employers is switching to a four-day workweek to combat low birthrates and labor fears. The Tokyo Metropolitan government will begin to allow staffers to work four days a week beginning in April of next year. That’s particularly significant in light of the fact that it’s one of the country’s biggest employers. The agency is also beefing up its childcare leave benefits, allowing some people to work fewer hours a day in order to better balance their household responsibilities. “We will continue to review work styles flexibly to ensure that women do not have to sacrifice their careers due to life events such as childbirth or child-rearing,” Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike said in a speech last week, the Japan Times reported. Read more: https://lnkd.in/e8Y4ZsnK

It’s an interesting moment in generative AI. There is cautious optimism about the potential of generative AI, but a sense of realism reigns: The companies that have gone all-in on generative AI now need to see results, and they are becoming more skeptical of hyped-up promises and predictions. Here are some of the key themes and issues that were covered at Fortune #BrainstormAI: https://lnkd.in/eg4pm--r

With New Year’s around the corner, plenty of people are looking to change up their diets. Whether the goal is to lose weight or just eat healthier, many will likely turn to two popular tips circulating social media: eat more protein and fewer carbs. Those ubiquitous tips define two of the trendiest diets: keto and paleo. Their popularity stems from the weight loss success that people often see when they first go on the diets, which experts say is because of their restrictive nature. When you restrict your caloric intake in any way—in this case, specifically by limiting carbs—you are likely to see weight loss, says Federica Amati, head nutritionist at the U.K.-based health science company, Zoe, known for its at-home blood sugar and gut health test kit. But is one better than the other? Here’s how keto and paleo compare, and what experts think is best for overall health. Read more from Fortune Well: https://lnkd.in/em7e54jh