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Hello and welcome to Modern CEO! Im Stephanie Mehta, CEO and chief content officer of Mansueto Ventures. Each week this newsletter explores inclusive approaches to leadership drawn from conversations with executives and entrepreneurs, and from the pages of Inc. and Fast Company. If you received this newsletter from a friend, you can sign up to get it yourself every Monday morning. Last weeks Modern CEO made the case that boards and recruiters should stop focusing on CEO candidates résumés and start evaluating their potential for agility. That said, one aspect of work history can serve as a good proxy for the ability to manage uncertainty and change: international experience. Leaders who have global exposure tend to develop sharper instincts for adapting in different contexts, taking in information effectively, and making business decisions based on these different inputs, says Jeff Sanders, vice chair and co-managing partner of the global CEO & Board of Directors Practice for Heidrick & Struggles. New research from the executive search firm shows that one in five Fortune 500 companiesthe largest enterprises in the U.S. by revenueappointed CEOs with cross-border experience in 2025. More than a third of external candidates named to the top job last year worked internationally. Theyve already had to respond to complexity in real timeand that kind of experience becomes increasingly valuable as global conditions continue to evolve and shift, Sanders adds. Charting new territory Ariane Gorin, CEO of Expedia Group, credits her global experience with helping to shape her leadership style. Gorin spent 23 years in Europe: 13 years in Paris and 10 years in London, where she held several senior positions at Expedia before becoming CEO of the Seattle-based travel technology company in May 2024. The biggest thing is youre out of your comfort zone, she says of working abroad. Gorin, who is fluent in French, notes that speaking a language is different than doing business with others in that language. Youre just always a little bit uncomfortable, she says, adding: It also forces you to listen more. Working abroad also fosters empathy, another quality recruiters call out as a trait they seek in future CEOs: I spent my first 11 years at Expedia in Europe [working with colleagues in America], and I will never forget what it feels like to be the only one whos on the late-night calls, Gorin recalls. Perhaps not surprising for a CEO whose company facilitates travel, Gorin also believes in the importance of geographic diversity in her leadership team. The president of Expedia Group B2B is based in Madrid, and the chief commercial officer is in London. I think if your leadership team is all in the same place, it certainly makes it easier to get things done, but you can start to have a myopic view, she says. Expanding horizons As technological and geopolitical complexities become the norm in business, leaders with international experience often have real-world experience managing disruptions to supply chains, strategy, and talent, says Heidrick & Struggless Sanders. Gorins agility is getting put to the test as the travel industry is feeling the impact of the U.S.Israel attacks on Iran launched last month, and artificial intelligence continues to transform tech companies. During Gorins time as CEO, the company has expanded its use of artificial intelligence (AI) to assist travelers and featured partners like hotels, airlines, and car rental companies. (It was early to embed the Expedia app into OpenAIs ChatGPT chatbot.) The Expedia Group, whose flagship brands include Expedia, Vrbo, and Hotels.com, last year posted revenue of $14.7 billion, up 8% from 2024. Regardless of whether an executive secures an international posting, Gorin believes travel to other countries is critical to understanding global business. When she stepped into her previous role running Expedias business-to-business (B2B) unit, she embarked on a two-week trip around the world, meeting clients in Japan, Korea, Australia, and the U.S.a journey that helped her appreciate the business and cultural nuances of each market. Gorin also makes a case that travel can open the mind. She says: Getting out of your day-to-day into a new environment jogs a lot of creativity. Working a world away Are you an executive who has worked internationally, and if so, how did that experience shape the way you lead and think? Did it make you more agile? How? Send your stories to me at stephaniemehta@mansueto.com. Ill publish the best examples in a future newsletter. Read more: global business Honeywell CEOs leadership style is shaped by his time in the field The Most Innovative Companies in Asia-Pacific When Starwoods CEO moved his leadership team to China
Category:
E-Commerce
A new short film premiered at SXSW over the weekend, written and directed by Jeff Nichols (Mud, The Bikeriders) starring Oscar nominee Michael Shannon, Oscar-winning singer/songwriter Ryan Bingham, Hassie Harrison, and narrated by Oscar winner Sissy Spacek. Love Letter to Texas is a 12-minute story of personal reinvention, and a beautiful visual tribute to some of the Lone Star states most photogenic and iconic backdrops in film history. Its also Tecovas ad, bankrolled and produced by the Western apparel and cowboy boot brand. Founded in 2015, Tecovas is a new brand in a category steeped in heritage. It began as the Warby Parker of Boots but has since opened 56 stores around the U.S., including in New York City and Boston. In 2024 the company surpassed $250 million in revenue, and expected to pass the $300 million mark in 2025. Tecovas vice-president of brand marketing Samantha Fodrowski says Love Letter to Texas represents the brands ambition to show people it puts the same amount of care and attention to detail into its content as it does its cowboy boots. We want to be known as a brand that really is investing in craft, says Fodrowski. If that’s something that people start to recognize and associate with Tecovas, that’s a win for us. It has nothing to do with selling products. It’s about how we’re making that first introduction. If this film is any indication, itll be a helluva ride. Love Letter High profile brand entertainment has hit the mainstream, with projects like the unprecedented deal struck between AB InBev and Netflix, WhatsApp working with Modern Arts on a Netflix doc about the Mercedes F1 team, to Dicks Sporting Goods formally establishing an internal entertainment studio. But smaller brands, like Huckberry, are also making shrewd investments in longer form content. It really should come as no surprise that Tecovas is investing in longer form brand content, considering it brought on Scott Ballew as its vice-president of creative in 2024, after Ballew led Yetis film and content work for more than a decade. His first piece of work for Tecovas was True West, a brand manifesto of sorts, both visually and in its script. Directed by Ballew, narrator artist Terry Allen says, The true west has no fences. There’s an edge, but you got to find it. As artful shots of open spaces, horses, and running trains, which Ballew describes as a Texas fever dream, it ends with Allen saying, Now, we might not need more people in the West, but would it hurt to have a little more west in the people?” The spot ran in limited markets over 2025, but the brand then decided to put it on Peacock for the Super Bowl this year. Ballew says that the idea for Love Letter came about as a result of feeling they left some meat on the bone and had more to show and tell about how the brand feels about its home state. Jeff [Nichols] came up with the idea of taking some of these scenes, characters, storylines and locations, and take inspiration from this handful of films and make our own story out of it,” says Ballew. Scenes for the film were deliberately shot at locations featured in iconic Texas-shot movies like There Will Be Blood, Giant, No Country for Old Men, and Paris, Texas. While Ballews work at Yeti helped popularize brands creating character-driven documentary content, he sees an opportunity for Tecovas to zag. Now everyone has their own little documentary thing going, which makes none of them feel important or unique or original, says Ballew. So being able to cast and write a script and scout and be really specific with the style and the look and the pace, is a new way to find your own thumbprint.” Building the roots Too often an investment like this in longer form brand entertainment can be seen as self-indulgent for a brand. But CEO David Lafitte sees it as part of a much bigger picture. He says that the role of a cinematic project like Love Letter to Texas is to provide the essential “heavy lifting” of brand building that prevents a company from getting trapped in a cycle of purely transactional marketing. “If you dont do the heavy lifting of brand awareness and brand building, the lower funnel performance marketing conversion becomes a merry-go-round thats hard to get off of, says Lafitte. By focusing on what Lafitte says is a “North Star” of authentic storytelling, the brand is attracting a more engaged consumer. This ultimately boosts efficiency at the lower funnel because it builds an emotional connection that “qualified traffic” responds to more effectively than repetitive conversion ads. Fodrowski says projects like this become a shorthand for people to know who the brand is and its perspective. We’re coming into this space as a newer brand in a craft that’s been around for over a hundred years, she says. And so we have to have our own take on what that looks like. We talk a lot at Tecovas about the idea of honoring the West and crafting its future. This really speaks to that. Ballew is the first to say hes much more of a creative lens than a marketer. He knows that films like this arent for results next week, next quarter or even next year. He likens a brand to a growing tree. When a company grows quickly and starts developing a cult following, and there’s this need to grow and grow and sell and sell, the tree gets really top heavy and all these things like Instagram and TikTok ads are adding leaves, and making the tree fuller, he says. And I’ve always felt like my job is to build the roots deeper so that the tree lasts a long time. So these projects that I’m interested in are root builders to keep the foundation steady. The film will launch on Tecovas social and digital channels on April 7th, and the brand plans to hold screenings at its stores across the country. Giddyup.
Category:
E-Commerce
The route for the Freedom 250 Grand Prix, the first-ever street race on the National Mall planned for August, was drawn to pass as many tourist attractions as possible, in a part of town that’s dense with them. In renderings, the route looks like something out of a race car arcade game, with cars whizzing past unmistakable U.S. monuments and Smithsonian museums. It’s an unlikely sight for a city whose standard speed limit is 20 mph (NNT IndyCar Series cars can reach speeds exceeding 200 miles per hour). [Image: Freedom 250 Grand Prix] The 1.7-mile circuit opens with a front stretch along Pennsylvania Avenue by the U.S. Capitol and heads northwest past the National Gallery of Art and Canada’s U.S. Embassy where cars can get the most speed. The circuit then takes a sharp left turn after the National Archives and cuts south through the National Mall at 7th Street, giving viewers there backdrops of race featuring the Capitol or the Washington Monument. After passing between the Hirshhorn Museum and the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum, it then takes a left at Independence Avenue and heads back towards the Capitol. The pit lane is located on Pennsylvania Avenue. “The circuit is unlike any other street race we’ve seen,” back-to-back Indianapolis 500 winner Josef Newgarden said in a statement after touring it Monday. “Racing through the heart of American history, with those amazing landmarks lining the course, is going to be incredibly powerful.” [Image: Freedom 250 Grand Prix] The route was announced Monday by NNT IndyCar Series, the open-wheel car racing body that runs the Indianapolis 500. The race is being put on in partnership with Monumental Sports & Entertainment, which owns the region’s NBA, NHL, and WNBA teams, and will be aired nationally live on Fox. Open-wheel racing has found new audiences in the U.S. with the growing popularity of F1, while the Las Vegas Grand Prix, first held in 2023, showed the possibilities of street circuit in an iconic U.S. city with recognizable landmarks. Whereas the Las Vegas race was closed from public view, in D.C., the Freedom 250 Grand Prix will be open for anyone to watch, fitting for a race in which cars will zoom between Smithsonian museums famously known for their free admission. President Donald Trump established the race in January with an executive order, and it’s part of Freedom 250, the public-private initiative the Trump administration created to mark America’s semiquincentennial, independent of the bipartisan America250. [Image: Freedom 250 Grand Prix] Freedom 250’s plans predictably center the president in the festivities and offer him a chance to shape programming for the anniversary around his tastes and base, like with the MMA fight being planned for the White House lawn. An IndyCar race through Washington, D.C., also fits the bill. An official promotional video for the race showed animated video of Trump on Marine One before any race cars appear on screen. Still, the race has found at least some bipartisan appeal locally, even if it’s just for tourism’s sake. Washington’s Democratic Mayor Muriel Bowser welcomed visitors to “plan their trips to D.C. now” for the race and invited them to stay to enjoy the monuments and museums up close themselves.
Category:
E-Commerce
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