Good morning.
As a summer intern at the Toronto Star, covering the G7 Summit in 1988 was a revelation. Adults elbowed each other to get a glimpse of Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher, barriers kept out protesters, the turnover of Italian prime ministers was so swift that souvenir makers left a blank space for Ciriaco De Mita, whose two predecessors lasted less than a year. (De Mita made it 15 months.) Among the priorities then were trade, debt, monetary policy and urgent action on the environment.
It's a different day at the G7 summit in Italy this week, hosted by Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, whose party has roots in fascism, and populated with attendees who seem unlikely to fight for a chance to see a bunch of politicians struggling to stay in office. Europe started the week with news that pro-Palestine protesters had vandalized 20 Barclays banks in the U.K., and voters had increased the ranks of far-right politicians in the European Parliament.
CEOs in the U.S. are dealing with crises of their own. The economy may be resilient as the Fed held steady on rates, but people aren’t that happy, either. While employers are hiring, many employees are checked out at work. Even supervisors are struggling with burnout, according to a new Gallup survey.
During Fortune’s CEO Initiative conversation on Monday with former Medtronic CEO Bill George, leaders shared their insights on how to boost engagement. Headspace CEO Russell Glass noted that, in his company’s sixth annual workplace mental health report, about three-quarters of employees said work was negatively affecting their mental health and causing them to gain weight. “It has ratcheted it up over the last six years,” said Glass, “and I think a lot of it gets down to political discourse, just how difficult the environment is.”
Alphonso David, CEO of the Global Black Economic Forum, also noted that “Black leaders are confronting an existential moment right now where the basic civil rights of our communities are being threatened and in some instances rolled back.” He represents the Fearless Fund, whose grants for Black women entrepreneurs were just ruled discriminatory by an appeals court. “How can Black leaders effectively focus on the bottom line or revenue generation or building internal culture when they're seeing regressive policies being implemented against their very communities, and, in fact, themselves?” David said.
As Americans head into the Juneteenth holiday that honors the emancipation of enslaved people, George argues that the answer is to hold to core values. “You're going to get slings and arrows from all different directions,” he says. “People want to hear from leaders and know where you stand.”
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Diane Brady
diane.brady@fortune.com
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