At Board Meetings, the CEO Should Get Lost

Directors need to candidly discuss company leadership. They can't do that if the top manager is also the board chair.

Think Liberally and Deliberately

Why do I devote four weeks a year to reading and thinking? So I can supercharge all the other days.

The Burn of Slow Churn

Re/Max co-founder and chairman Dave Liniger saw his retention rate as a badge of honor. Truth is, it was hurting his reputation.

THE CRUSADING KOMBUCHA CEO AND 200 YEARS OF STARTUP-DESTROYING LEGAL DOCTRINE

Michael Peter wants to dismantle a longstanding legal precedent that can prevent entrepreneurs from getting their day in court. His not-so-secret weapon: A small-business superhero named Reverend Justice.

THE GUY WHO PUTS COPS IN THE SKY

BLAKE RESNICK, A 24-YEAR-OLD WITH FUNDING FROM SAM ALTMAN AND SAM BANKMAN-FRIED, IS ON A WILD RIDE TO REINVENT THE FUTURE OF EMERGENCY RESPONSE.

Screen Play

Joe Thomas and his co-founders were two weeks away from running out of money for their software startup when, in 2016, they launched a new product and went all in on prerecorded videos as a workplace communication tool.

AI Gets to Work

It's leading-edge, it's downright scary and it's here. Following AI's breakout year, we take a look under the hood at how entrepreneurs are applying the tech and what you need to know to stay competitive.

MEET THE WILDEST CHARCTER IN THE WORLD'S MOST INFLUENTIAL MUSIC SCENE

Right now, to be the most important new voice in Afrobeats means you might just be the most important new voice in global music, period. That title currently belongs to Asake, a Nigerian singer with bonkers style and a penchant for making speaker-melting hits.

QUEEN of the YOUTH

Hunter Schafer has built a career by saying yes: to activism, to modeling, and then to acting, where Euphoria made her a star. Now, with a budding movie career and big plans in just about every field you can imagine, the Gen Z icon is figuring out exactly what sort of creative life she'd like to lead.

Shelley Zalis

On that elusive work-life balance, her own version of perfection, and pivoting with positivity.

ONLY THE STRONG SURVIVE FEMALE FOUNERS 250

SUCCESS often breeds success-but triumphs also arise out of necessity. Consider that Airbnb, Uber, and Rent the Runway started during the Great Recession. In many ways, the past year was defined by similar tumult. While the U.S. never technically entered a recession, the retrenchment in investment and ad spending paired with the psychological-if not direct-toll of tech layoffs yielded tough times indeed. But female founders are nothing if not resilient, and their achievements defied the conditions they faced, giving us cause to expand our list to 250 of them. They're not ranked, but they are organized around themes. In the pages that follow, you'll find snapshots of courage from women who've overcome trials-such as keeping the internet running in war zones, coping with the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank, or facing personal crises. You'll also learn how this year's top female founders grew their collective 2023 revenue to more than $8.86 billion, raised $6.2 billion in funding to date, and kept it together not just to survive, but to thrive.

INSIDE BANNY MCBRIDE'S LOWCOUNTRY COMEDY COMMUNE

After taking big screens and HBO by storm with his macho-lampooning humor, comedy hero Danny McBride uprooted his life in Hollywood to build his dream production studio in Charleston, South Carolina-away from the stifling industry, and alongside his closest friends and collaborators. That's where he's been unlocking a blistering new creative gear-and plotting his best work yet.

MARNI'S FRANCESCO RISSO WILL NEVER GROWUP

The eccentric Italian designer is proving that the very serious business of fashion doesn't have to be very serious at all.

Beauty Filter

Countless companies have elevated everyday items to iconic: Apple upgraded the nerdy MP3 player, Nest turned thermostats into real estate selling points, and Aesop made hand soap a status symbol.

The New Gold Standard in Tasteful Watches

Piaget's Polo 79 once again marks the end of the steel sports watch's reign-and the start of something much more fun.

WELCOME TO LAUREN HALSEY'S NEIGHBORHOOD

The red-hot 36-year-old artist has achieved global success with a very local approach: applying imaginative, laserlike focus to a few square blocks of her hometown. In doing so, she renders and reflects what it's actually like to live and work in-and never, ever leave-South Central Los Angeles.

DARK KINGDOM

Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross-best friends and Nine Inch Nails bandmates-found unlikely creative fulfillment (and a couple of Oscars) by reassessing what they had to offer as musicians. Now they're thinking even bigger, and imagining an artistic empire of their own making.

LEWIS HAMILTON IS CHANGING LANES

The seven-time F1 champ says he still has a world title in him-maybe this year, his final one at Mercedes; maybe next year when he joins Ferrari, a shocking move he tells us he manifested. But it's his passionate work outside of racing-in fashion, in film, in music-that's setting him up to keep making moves after the checkered flag drops on his racing career.

Steve Young Shares Lessons From the Private Equity Playbook With a First-Time Founder

The athlete-turned-investor helps Tessa Barton prepare to scale her bootstrapped photo-editing startup, Tezza.

AI in HR Tech: A New Era in Human Resources Technology

The next generation of HR software is here, powered by artificial intelligence (AI). Now, your business can harness the transformative power of AI in HR tech.

Get Curious About the World Around You

Curiosity isn't a luxury of philosophers. It's a business and leadership essential.

Family Office

Grace Na learned the ins and outs of the denim industry from her in-laws. Now, they're two of her top team members for her own brand, Pistola.

Profiles – Mr. Vengeance

The director of "Oldboy” and "The Handmaiden” brings his gift for spectacle to American television.

A Reporter at Large – The Assault

One of Ukraine's most skilled fighting units battles beneath a canopy of drones.

Our Local Correspondents – Trash, Trash Revolution

What would it take to really clean up New York City?

AI Isn't Coming for Your Job At Least Not Yet

So far, the technology has replaced only a small number of workers. But the future risks many more.

WILD THINGS

In movies as in life, never assume. One of the joys of being a film critic is encountering surprising work from filmmakers whose habits seemed all too ingrained.

SCARED STRAIGHT

The posture wars, past and present.

ON AND OFF THE MENU BALABUSTA

At home with Joan Nathan, the grande dame of Jewish cooking.

THE CRITICS BOOKS CANDYLAND

A new biography assembles the story of the trans actress and gender revolutionary Candy Darling.