Muscle memory

Reminder #1: The 90-day tariff pause is scheduled to come to an end next week. Reminder #2: U.S. businesses are quite prepared to deal with what comes after. The upheavals of recent years have equipped executive teams with knowledge and skills to manage what’s ahead. Plus, as Grant Thornton’s Paul Melville said in the first story here: “There’s a more finite end game with this than with COVID.”

– Geert De Lombaerde

 
• CFOs grow cautious but still expect ’26 to be better

• Engineering firms’ optimism rebounds
 

Setting up for a long run

The trick to riding out today’s waves is to make sure you’re not sacrificing your ability to take on tomorrow’s. Automakers have been wrestling with the transition to electric vehicles for a while. The oil patch is in the middle of figuring out how long its long term really is.

• The Detroit 3 killed passenger cars. Big mistake

• Peak shale? Devon and EOG executives differ on the timeline
 

"It will never play out like you practiced but
I can assure you you'll be better off
having thought through it and planned."

Darrell Edwards of the University of Tennessee's
 Haslam College of Business on the value of
regular scenario planning around your supplier base

• Planning for the unplannable: What supply-chain
leaders should be doing now
 

Focus determines effectiveness

“In the process of work, we’re so fixated by the challenges of the problems in our face that we lose sight of the things we’re trying to accomplish in the first place.” If that line from author Dan Thurmon resonates, check out the piece here on thriving amid positive chaos. Thurmon’s principle of leaning into uncertainty and disruption can easily apply to investing in AI.

• Winning the data game: AI as a competitive advantage

• What leaders can learn with a 'positive chaos' approach
 

72%

The share of U.S. manufacturing employees who say old technology is hurting factor hiring efforts

You may have long grown tired of every consultant and expert saying you need to spend more on tech. But across industries, it's becoming increasingly important to attracting young talent.

• ‘Perception problem’ pours from new survey that says manufacturing remains outdated
 

What we'll be watching

Q2 earnings season will kick off in earnest the third week of this month. Before then, though, I’ll be paying extra attention to the GDP nowcasts from the Atlanta and New York branches of the Federal Reserve. They have both dropped by more than half a percentage point over the past couple of weeks, primarily because of weakening consumer indicators. More buyers pulling back? All the more reason for your team to be on top of its game.