Good morning.
As the return to the office gains momentum, the Future Forum, started by Slack to provide insights on the future of work, has new data out today based on a survey of 10,000 knowledge workers. Brian Elliott, who heads the forum, previewed the research yesterday. The overriding theme: workers want flexibility and are willing to walk if they don’t get it. Some of the findings:
—76% of those surveyed want flexibility on where they work.
—93% want flexibility on when they work.
—56% are open to new job opportunities that may provide them more flexibility.
—21% are likely to jump ship in order to get that flexibility.
—Flexibility is second only to compensation in the factors leading people to change jobs.
—Black, Hispanic and Asian-American workers are more desirous of flexibility, and far more open to changing jobs to achieve it.
Separately, Fortune Brainstorm Tech, normally held in Aspen each summer, is demonstrating its own flexibility on the where and the when by moving this year to the Ritz-Carlton, Half-Moon Bay, California, Nov. 30—Dec.1. Guest co-chairs for the event will be Qualtrics Founder Ryan Smith and GV Partner Terri Burns. CEOs on hand will include Hans Vestberg of Verizon, Pat Gelsinger of Intel, Kevin Mandia of FireEye, Tekedra Mawakana of Waymo, Adi Tatarko of Houzz, Dave Baszucki of Roblox, and Anousheh Ansari of the X Prize Foundation. More information here.
And your must-read this morning is Rey Mashayekhi’s deep dive into why the Department of Justice effectively shut down Visa’s acquisition of buzzy fintech unicorn Plaid—and what Plaid plans to do next.
Alan Murray
@alansmurray
alan.murray@fortune.com
TOP NEWS
Aircraft truce
The U.S. and the EU reached an agreement on their long-running aircraft subsidies dispute yesterday, but it wasn’t the end of the matter. Instead, it was a ceasefire that will last five years, putting it in the inbox of whoever is occupying the White House next term. It's not an especially good sign for wider U.S.-EU trade disputes. Politico
FTC chair
President Biden has put Lina Khan in charge of the Federal Trade Commission. The Columbia Law School professor is very young—she's 32—and very aggressive when it comes to Big Tech. With her as FTC chair, expect a radical rethink of what competition rules mean in the digital age. Fortune
Women in finance
A report backed by major City of London financial institutions has found that some women are held back in the industry by "mediocre" male middle managers who give men more room to make mistakes or just be average performers, and who fake empathy when managing women. Financial Times
Biden and Putin
Presidents Biden and Putin will meet today in Geneva, after which we should all have a better idea of how the U.S.-Russia relationship will play out over the coming years. Don't expect any hugs. Fortune
AROUND THE WATER COOLER
Apple health
Apple's attempts at disrupting the health care sector have stalled, according to the Wall Street Journal, which reports the company has "shifted the focus of its health unit to something it knows well: Selling devices, specifically the Apple Watch." WSJ
Smokin' stimulus
California is going to give marijuana growers and sellers $100 million to keep them in business. The state legalized recreational weed a while back, but taxes, environmental regulation and local opposition has kept the number of licensed shops below what was anticipated. The cash will take the form of grants for cannabis businesses that are trying to convert provisional licenses to permanent ones. Fortune
CAPE signal
Robert Shiller's famous cyclically adjusted price/earnings (CAPE) ratio is signaling that "stocks are at their most richly valued as compared with any time in the past 150 years" apart from the dotcom boom, writes Fortune's Shawn Tully: "Starting at an ultrahigh CAPE ratio portends poor to mediocre performance five or 10 years hence." Fortune
Scott philanthropy
MacKenzie Scott has given away another $2.74 billion of her Amazon-derived fortune "to 286 high-impact organizations in categories and communities that have been historically underfunded and overlooked." Recipients include smaller arts and cultural institutions, higher education institutions targeting chronically underserved communities, and social-sector infrastructure organizations. Fortune
This edition of CEO Daily was edited by David Meyer.
