Caleb and Adriele discuss several news stories from the week, including BlackRock adding Saudi Aramco to its board, the Stein lawsuits, innovative ways cities are approaching the housing crisis, and men returning to the office faster than women. Plus, they check in on the state of Threads and Twitter (read Caleb’s op-ed in Crain’s here) and react to new research that says treatment of workers is the ESG issue that matters most to people. Then, Adriele goes deep on companies ignoring middle managers, despite strong middle managers leading to better retention and financial outcomes. And Caleb wonders, with AI rising, what is the role of creativity? All that, plus the Biden/EPA $20B clean tech fund and the FDA approves the first over the counter birth control.

Hosts: Caleb Gardner and Adriele Parker

Producer: Dave Sandell

Articles discussed this week:

Caleb’s op-ed in Crains: Meta Twitter rival Threads will reshape social media: Opinion | Crain's Chicago Business

Research: The ESG Issues That Matter Most to People

Data Revolts Break Out Against A.I. - The New York Times

Companies Are Ignoring Their Most Important People: Middle Managers | Built In

Investing in middle managers pays off—literally | McKinsey

Author Talks: What does it mean to be a good middle manager? | McKinsey

Employees Are Losing Sleep Over Rookie Managers, Data Shows | Bloomberg