If we had to venture a guess, we’d say your CEO is under a lot of pressure right now.

Right now, CEOs are grappling with a volatile business environment, rapid technological change, heightened visibility, increased expectations from investors and other stakeholders, and other factors that have made their roles demanding. CEO turnover is increasing: In 2024, a record 43 CEOs exited within their first three years, the most since 2018, according to a CEO turnover study from Russell Reynolds Associates.

Compounding the problem is the fact that CEOs and boards often fail to trust one another. Only 37% of CEOs say the board has their back, according to a Spencer Stuart survey from April 2025.

But trust is all the more crucial in turbulent times, the National Association of Corporate Directors (NACD) wrote in its latest Blue Ribbon Commission Report. Based on the input of 25 directors and six CEOs, the report outlines ways CEOs and boards can strengthen their relationships with one another. The results are pertinent to other members of the C-suite as well, commission cochair Dona Young, former chair, president, and CEO of the Phoenix Companies, said during a press session at the NACD Summit.

Keep reading for more on building a bridge of trust.—CV

So you’re saying sluggish growth may lie ahead? CFOs have a plan for that!

In its latest World Economic Outlook report, the International Monetary Fund predicted global growth will slow from 3.3% last year to 3.2% this year and 3.1% in 2026. While the IMF still expects growth to decrease, the outlook improved from April when the group said to expect growth of only 2.8% this year and 3% in 2026. New trade deals lessened the sting of US tariffs, the IMF noted in its report, yet “the overall environment remains volatile.”

“CFOs have already priced this growth slowdown to some extent” because of the earlier prediction, Randeep Rathindran, distinguished VP in Gartner’s finance practice, told us. With macroeconomic factors in mind, many are still expecting growth but also plan to control expenses.

Lying awake mulling “multiple economic scenarios”? Keep reading.—AZ

On May 6, 2010, at 2:32pm, stocks and stomachs dropped.

An unexpected sell-order of 75,000 contracts (worth $4.1 billion, according to an SEC report filed a few months later) led to a chain reaction of buys, sells, buybacks, sellbacks, and panicked exits.

In the span of about 10 minutes, in what became known as the “flash crash,” the Dow Jones Industrial Average (which today includes companies like Microsoft, Amazon, and Apple) fell by about 9%.

Normally that kind of drastic downfall would mean a tough day for then-floor governor of the New York Stock Exchange Jay Woods. But he’d had the day off.

Read the whole wild story on IT Brew.—BH