- In today’s CEO Daily: Diane Brady talks to Recruit Holdings CEO about current hiring and firing trends.
- The big leadership story: Hyatt Hotels CEO shares his “learner’s mindset.”
- The markets: Down in Europe; up everywhere else
- Plus: All the news and watercooler chat from Fortune.
Good morning. As CEO of Recruit Holdings, the $23 billion-a-year parent of Indeed and Glassdoor, among others, Hisayuki “Deko” Idekoba thinks a lot about global labor markets. I spoke with him in Davos last week about what he’s seeing in terms of hiring, firing and the risks for companies trying to leverage new technologies.
The headlines for me?
- Only a small fraction of layoffs are directly attributed to AI so far. Yet perceptions among workers (especially Gen Z) are far more pessimistic, feeding distrust and “AI anxiety.” “People are screaming that AI is replacing people. That’s totally not true. We’re not seeing that kind of data at all,” he told me. (U.S. employment data and my conversations with other leaders reinforce that conclusion.)
- Tech layoffs are highly visible but represent a small share of total employment; he believes they reflect post‑pandemic over‑hiring more than AI‑driven job destruction.
- Big changes are coming in terms of how leaders source and assess talent. AI is creating a host of new challenges for employers, from generating a tsunami of automated applications—often in the millions for Fortune 500 companies—to enabling applicants to hide deficits in writing, thinking and analysis because of LLMs. As a result, sites like Indeed are playing a bigger role in verifying qualified candidates to narrow the funnel, even doing basic background checks upfront and helping employers assess how the roles they’re hiring for are likely to evolve. “Your team is spending a crazy amount of time on this,” he said. “This year, I think CEOs will be a little more sophisticated about the ROI.”
And how is he preparing for this shift? For one thing, his teams are designing AI agents to reach out to job seekers on behalf of employers on his platforms, to screen and interact with applicants. Not only does that ease the workload and cut costs for HR teams, it creates better interactions with applicants and hopefully more affection for the employer’s brand, even if they don’t end up getting hired. For more insights, check out Indeed’s latest update on U.S. job trends for this year and Glassdoor’s 2026 “Worklife Trends” report.
Contact CEO Daily via Diane Brady at diane.brady@fortune.com
Top leadership news
Lessons of success from the CEO of Hyatt
Hyatt Hotels CEO Mark Hoplamazian took the company public and oversaw a successful pivot from owning hotels to owning hotel brands in the almost 20 years since he took over. He told Fortune that he entered the company in a “state of ignorance” but maintaining a “learner’s mindset” is a good practice for leaders.
The end of the keyboard is near, says SAP CEO
Christian Klein says voice-powered AI will soon replace typing in enterprise software, handling everything from data entry to analysis and workflows. Klein also tells Fortune that he remains cautious of growing geopolitical fragmentation and says businesses must adapt their strategies to the new global reality.
Tether CEO’s vision of the future
Stablecoin giant Tether generated $15 billion in profit last year, and investments it made in robotics, social media platforms, and satellites signal a growing ambition for the future. Fortune spoke with Paolo Ardoino, the CEO of the secretive firm, to discuss the company’s growth and his belief that Western society is nearing collapse.
The markets
S&P 500 futures are up 0.32% this morning. The last session closed up 0.41%. STOXX Europe 600 was down 0.47% in early trading. The U.K.’s FTSE 100 was down 0.39% in early trading. Japan’s Nikkei 225 was up 0.05%. China’s CSI 300 was up 0.26%. The South Korea KOSPI was up 1.69%. India’s NIFTY 50 was up 0.66%. Bitcoin was at $89K.
Around the watercooler
Inside the world of Rick Rieder, the $2.3 trillion insomniac who might soon run the Fed by Eva Roytburg
UnitedHealth is reeling from a nearly 20% stock rout after warning investors about its first revenue decline in decades by Nick Lichtenberg
New filings exposing Elon Musk’s financials for X in the U.K. show revenue plummeted 58% in 2024 by Lily Mae Lazarus
Amazon and JPMorgan led the Fortune 500 in returning to the office 5 days a week. Now they’re leading a coworking comeback by Jacqueline Munis
CEO Daily is compiled and edited by Joey Abrams, Claire Zillman and Lee Clifford.
