Richard

While Meta poaches talent from Apple, OpenAI and Google, AI startup Anthropic is refusing to play the game by matching competing offers.

Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei explained his reasoning on an episode of the “Big Technology Podcast,” released earlier this week. Amodei said that he recently sent a Slack message to all Anthropic staff informing them that the company was not willing to “compromise our compensation principles” or its “principles of fairness” when individual employees receive outside offers.

He said that Meta’s efforts to poach staff were a “unifying moment” for the company, citing his decision not to match offers due to potential unfairness for other staff members.

Related: AI Is Dramatically Decreasing Entry-Level Hiring at Big Tech Companies, According to a New Analysis

Amodei also acknowledged on the podcast that fewer Anthropic employees had been captured by Meta’s compensation offers when compared to other companies, though “not for lack of trying.” Some Anthropic staff “wouldn’t even talk” to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, according to Amodei.

Meta is reportedly offering more than $200 million in compensation to one AI researcher on the superintelligence team who worked at Apple. The tech giant did manage to poach Anthropic software engineer Joel Pobar, as of a June 30 memo.

“If Mark Zuckerberg throws a dart at a dartboard and it hits your name, that doesn’t mean that you should be paid 10 times more than the guy next to you who’s just as skilled, just as talented,” Amodei said on the podcast.

^{Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei. Photo by Halil Sagirkaya/Anadolu via Getty Images}

Anthropic’s compensation is tied to a level-based system. Amodei explained on the podcast that when Anthropic staff join the company, they are classified into one of many different levels, which corresponds to their compensation.

“We don’t negotiate that level because we think it’s unfair,” Amodei said. “We want to have a systematic way.”

Related: How Much Does It Cost to Develop and Train AI? Here’s the Current Price, According to Anthropic’s CEO.

Amodei said that Anthropic’s mission of safely creating reliable, cutting-edge AI systems inspired many employees to stay, and asserted that Zuckerberg was “trying to buy something that can’t be bought,” which is alignment with a company’s mission.

Zuckerberg, meanwhile, recently outlined his mission with his superintelligence team, a group working on creating AI that surpasses human intelligence. In a blog post on Meta’s website, published on Wednesday, Zuckerberg said that Meta’s goal was to bring superintelligence to every individual and allow people to reap the creative, economic and personal benefits of the technology.

He contrasted the effort with the intentions of “others in the industry” who want to use AI to automate the workforce first before giving it to individuals. Meta’s mission is to empower individuals with AI, Zuckerberg wrote.

Related: Reddit Sues $61.5 Billion AI Startup Anthropic for Allegedly Using the Site for Training Data

Since its start in 2021, Anthropic has raised close to $20 billion from companies like Google and Amazon. According to a Bloomberg report from earlier this week, the startup is nearing a deal to raise funds at a $170 billion valuation.

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When I sat down with Scott Clawson, CEO of Culligan, there was no pomp, no buzzwords and certainly no ego. He’s not trying to sell you on anything. Culligan is a nearly 90-year-old water company based in suburban Chicago, and under Scott’s leadership, it’s grown from $400 million to over $3.3 billion in revenue, now serving more than 14 million households and two million businesses across 90 countries — and I had never heard of him! But Scott doesn’t come across like a typical “big company” CEO. He was grounded, thoughtful and deeply mission-driven.

We met at the United Center, where Culligan is the official hydration partner. It was fitting. Sports have played a big role in Scott’s life, and he credits much of his leadership style to lessons from his high school basketball team in small-town Indiana. There’s no star player mentality — just a group of people working together with clear roles and shared goals. That philosophy seems to underpin his entire approach to business: Build a strong team, stay focused on purpose, and lead with consistency over flash.

Related: 2 Tech CEOs Talk Cyber Threats, Space Flights and the Dark Side of AI — Here’s How They’re Preparing for the Future

Culligan’s purpose is straightforward: to provide healthy, safe, sustainable water to people around the world. It’s a mission that matters more than most people realize. More than two billion people lack access to safe drinking water. In the U.S., issues around outdated infrastructure and chemical contamination in regions like Michigan, Texas and parts of the Midwest are far more prevalent than many think. Scott and his team are trying to fix that — not just through better filtration, but by reducing reliance on single-use plastics and expanding access in underserved regions like Latin America and Southeast Asia.

What stood out most to me wasn’t just the mission, though. It was Scott’s clarity of thought and genuine sense of responsibility. He’s not trying to be a social media personality. He’s not chasing headlines. When you lead a company for 10+ years with that type of performance, he easily could be. But he’s building something with long-term impact, and that tone seems to permeate Culligan’s culture. It’s rare to hear a CEO say he wakes up every day and loves going to work — not because it’s easy, but because it’s meaningful.

Scott also made it clear that leadership doesn’t have to be short-sighted. He advocates for more business leaders to prioritize sustainability, long-term value and the human element of enterprise. In a time when CEO turnover is at an all-time high and employee disengagement continues to rise, leaders like Scott serve as a reminder that humility, consistency and purpose still win over the long haul.

Related: ‘The Most Important Traits Are Confidence and Humility’: Leadership Lessons From an Army Ranger Turned CEO

This is why I do The CEO Series. Not to promote companies or CEOs. Not to grill executives on quarterly performance. But to better understand the people behind the titles — and to highlight leadership that isn’t driven by ego or profit alone. Scott Clawson is one of those leaders, and I’m glad we got to tell a little bit of his story. Hope you enjoyed the video.

Apple is one of the most valuable companies in the world, with a market capitalization of $3.12 trillion at the time of writing — and now new data reveals how much Apple pays its workers, from AI machine learning researchers to data scientists.

According to new federal filings, obtained by Business Insider, Apple is paying software developers as much as $264,200, while software engineer managers make as much as $378,700. The filings, which featured several software engineering roles, reveal that Apple pays engineers focused on data up to $329,600 while engineers focused on applications earn more, up to $378,700. Human interface designers, meanwhile, can make substantially more, up to $468,500.

Related: Here’s How Much Money Amazon Employees — From Software Engineers to Product Managers — Make in a Year

Other big tech companies compensate their employees similarly for comparable roles. For example, Meta pays $120,000 to $480,000, Google pays $109,180 to $340,000, and Microsoft pays $82,971 to $284,000 for software engineering talent.

When it comes to AI researchers, Apple pays the role up to $312,000 in base salary — a far cry from Meta, which has recently awarded over $200 million in compensation for AI talent amid the ongoing AI talent wars. Meta has poached four AI researchers from Apple as of Monday, per Bloomberg.

The Apple data arrives from documents that the company filed with the U.S. Department of Labor in the second quarter of the year while hiring foreign workers. The data only applies to foreign hires and discloses base salary, not including stock options, signing bonuses, or other compensation.

Related: Psychologist Adam Grant Says Paying Employees ‘Extremely Generously’ Can Actually Benefit Employers, Too. Here’s Why.

Other roles are paid as follows, according to the filings:

• Data Scientist: $105,550 to $322,400
• Electronics Engineer: $108,160 to $264,200
• Hardware Developers: $124,942 to $293,800
• Machine Learning Engineer: $143,100 to $312,000
• Professional Services Consultant: $100,200 to $258,700
• Tools and Automation Engineer: $105,602 to $293,800

While these roles can pay well into the six figures, there’s one role at Apple that makes the most money of all: CEO.

According to Apple’s annual proxy statement, filed this year with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the tech giant’s CEO, Tim Cook, made $74.6 million in 2024, including base salary, bonuses, and stock options.

^{Apple CEO Tim Cook. Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images}

Cook explained in a 2023 interview with singer Dua Lipa that Apple looks for traits like curiosity and creativity from new hires and recruits workers from “all walks of life.”

Related: Here’s How Much 8 CEOs Made in 2024, From JPMorgan’s Jamie Dimon to Disney’s Bob Iger

“It’s an incredible feeling to work with people that bring out the best in you,” Cook stated in the interview.

Apple has 80,000 employees and claims to have created two million jobs across the country, including 1.53 million U.S. jobs due to the App Store ecosystem.

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Let’s start with the hard truth: most co-founders slow you down, most investors want control and a lot of people build companies just because it looks good on LinkedIn, not because they truly believe in their idea. That was never going to be me.

I chose to build my business solo, intentionally. No co-founder, no “advisors” whispering in my ear, no brainstorming sessions dragging on with endless opinions. I didn’t want validation — I wanted speed and clarity.

People often ask, “Isn’t it risky to go it alone?” And I get that. But what’s riskier is handing over your vision to someone else and hoping they protect it with the same fire you have. I had a clear idea of what I wanted to build: a face recognition AI product before the market even caught on, a delivery platform that could grow into a full ecosystem and a wallet that could quietly scale without the usual startup noise.

I wasn’t going to chase capital, wait for permission or explain my vision to people who didn’t get it yet. I wasn’t interested in startup therapy sessions. I wanted results, and I was ready to work for them.

Related: Solopreneurs Are Quietly Building 6 to 7 Figure Empires — Here’s How

The hidden cost of “help”

One of the biggest misconceptions about solo founders is that they have to do everything themselves — that being solo means being small and slow. That couldn’t be further from the truth. I didn’t build a team. I built systems that operated like a well-oiled team.

Every hour wasted costs double when you’re alone, in time and energy. I didn’t have the luxury to figure things out later or wait for others. Everything needed to be lean, fast and repeatable from day one.

For example, I stopped taking endless meetings. Instead, I use Notion to track my decisions, next steps and ideas. It’s like a virtual COO who never forgets. Zapier automates my workflows, connecting apps, notifications and documents without my constant input. Canva and ChatGPT handle design and content without the overhead of a creative team.

Stripe and Google Workspace take care of invoicing, legal paperwork and onboarding — without a single assistant. Calendly manages scheduling, filtering meetings to only what truly matters.

Everything that could be systemized, automated or eliminated was. The goal wasn’t to do every task, but to make sure every task got done without slowing me down. Being solo means being sharp and disciplined, not stretched thin.

Focus only on what moves the needle

The mental game of building alone is often underestimated. It’s not about grinding nonstop or wearing every hat yourself. It’s about ruthless prioritization and protecting your mental energy for decisions only you can make.

I don’t spend hours on technical builds. I delegate development to offshore teams who specialize in what I need and follow the architecture I define. Design is templated and systemized. Admin work is automated or simply cut out.

My job is to think clearly, focus on the strategic and avoid the noise. That means locking in my daily plan the night before, setting a clear delegation process and applying a simple rule: if something takes more than an hour, I either systemize it or hand it off.

The pressure doesn’t come from doing it alone. It comes from trying to be everywhere at once. My edge isn’t that I do everything — it’s that I know exactly what only I can do and make sure everything else moves without me.

Proof comes from action not hype

I didn’t wait for launch day or perfect pitches to validate my ideas. I built quietly in the background and tested where it truly counts — the market.

One early success was a hardware AI concept I developed out of personal passion, not investor pressure. I made a lightweight, plug-and-play face recognition demo, then shared it privately with a few key people who influence adoption and trends.

The result? One buyer signed immediately under an NDA, two more asked for pricing without a formal pitch and the feedback was practical and deep, not surface-level praise.

No press releases, no ad spend, no waiting lists. Just product, context and real customer signals. That was proof enough.

Why I’d still choose to build alone

That early deal wasn’t a one-off. After delivering the proof of concept, I fulfilled the entire solution — negotiating terms, securing deposits and managing production — all without partners or funding. I kept control over every decision and every dollar.

Many assume co-founders or VCs are necessary milestones. I proved they’re not. When you build with clarity, protect your IP and execute with discipline, you don’t need more voices in the room. You need more control.

Building alone gave me confidence, clarity and capital. It let me walk away from one project so I could double down on bigger ones. It’s not about isolation — it’s about focused leverage.

Related: 5 Things You Need to Stop Doing as a Solopreneur

Building a business alone isn’t about a lack of support. It’s about building on your terms. You don’t need to go viral or raise millions to succeed. You need to go all in — with focus, integrity and systems that work while you sleep.

If you’re debating the solo route, remember this: clarity beats consensus. Speed beats committee. Vision beats noise.

Build your way and build it strong.

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Let’s get one thing straight: AI is not your next CMO. It’s not your marketing strategist, creative director or content lead. At best? It’s an intern. Fast, capable, eager to please — but absolutely in need of guidance. The problem is, too many marketers are tossing vague prompts into ChatGPT, crossing their fingers, and hoping for brilliance. When the output reads like a warmed-over blog from 2017, they blame the tool.

AI isn’t the problem. Your expectations are.

If you want to stop wasting time on generic AI content and start using these tools to produce real results, this article will show you how to take control, give better direction and turn AI into a true force multiplier.

Related: AI for the Underdog — Here’s How Small Businesses Can Thrive With Artificial Intelligence

AI isn’t autopilot — it’s an amplifier

We’re drowning in AI hype. Tools like ChatGPT promise to reinvent marketing workflows — but too often, marketers approach them like vending machines. Insert a prompt, collect “strategy.” That’s not how this works.

Generative AI is an amplifier. It scales what you give it. Weak input? You get weak output. Ask it to build a Facebook campaign without audience insight, brand guidelines, or a goal, and it will gladly hand you the same template it served a health tech company five minutes earlier.

AI doesn’t think. It predicts. And that means it will always serve you the average — unless you guide it to something better.

Treat AI like the intern it is

If you hired a marketing intern and asked them to develop a six-month editorial strategy with zero context, you wouldn’t expect brilliance. You’d expect flailing. Confusion. Buzzword soup.

AI is the same. It doesn’t need less instruction — it needs more.

Start every prompt with precision:

• Who are you speaking to?
• What are you trying to achieve?
• What’s the tone, structure, and voice?
• What should it avoid?

“Write a blog post about dog nutrition” is a shrug. “Write a 700-word blog post for millennial pet parents who care about clean ingredients, backed by 2024 data, using an informative, science-forward tone” is a brief. The difference is night and day.

Feedback isn’t optional — it’s how you train the tool

AI doesn’t learn like we do. It doesn’t internalize your brand after one good result. You have to teach it repetitively and with intention.

When I’m using AI for content development, the first draft is never the final. I review it like I would a junior team member’s work: highlight weak phrasing, call out clichés, remove filler and refine tone. Then I adjust the prompt and rerun it.

The first draft might be 60% there. The second? Closer. By the third, it starts sounding like us.

This isn’t overkill. It’s the job. And the time it saves on the back end more than makes up for the up-front coaching.

Stack your tools like your tech

One tool won’t cut it. ChatGPT is great for drafting, but weak for real-time data sourcing. For stats or current events, I turn to Perplexity or Gemini. For creative visuals, I reach for Midjourney or Canva’s AI suite. Jasper helps when I need quick templates or structural support.

Think of it like your tech stack: you don’t use your CRM for email automation or your analytics platform for design. Each AI tool has its strengths. Learn them, stack them and stop expecting one tool to do the work of five.

AI won’t replace marketers — it exposes lazy ones

Here’s the hard truth: AI won’t eliminate marketers. It will reveal the ones who’ve been phoning it in.

If your strategy is “publish to publish,” if your content reads like a generic checklist, if you’re still clinging to SEO tricks from 2019, AI will beat you. Not because it’s brilliant, but because it’s fast and average, and average is all you’ve been delivering.

The marketers who thrive with AI are the ones who still lead. They think, challenge, shape and coach. AI is their accelerator, not their replacement.

Related: I Teach AI and Entrepreneurship. Here’s How Entrepreneurs Can Use AI to Better Understand Their Target Customers.

The real edge isn’t speed. It’s judgment

At my agency, we use AI daily to accelerate brainstorms, tighten positioning and scale content production. But every result still runs through human hands. Strategy, empathy, intuition — that’s still us.

Because AI doesn’t feel. It doesn’t understand cultural nuance or read between the lines of a buyer’s hesitation. It can’t see what’s not in the data. That’s your job.

So no, don’t hand your marketing strategy to AI. But do hire it as your hardest-working intern. Train it. Push it. Give it guardrails and goals. Because when used right, AI can supercharge what you do best. But only if you’re still in the driver’s seat.

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Nvidia became the first ever company to hit $4 trillion in market value (and just earlier this month), and now Microsoft is joining the AI chipmaker in the exclusive $4 trillion club.

Microsoft reported better-than-expected earnings on Wednesday, causing shares to jump 8%, and elevating the company’s market capitalization to around $4.1 trillion. As of the time of writing, Microsoft sustained the growth with a market value of $4.03 trillion, with shares up about 5% on Thursday morning.

Related: Microsoft Executive Says Using AI Has Saved $500 Million in Productivity Costs, as the Company Conducts Mass Layoffs

Both Microsoft and fellow AI giant Meta added a combined $440 billion in market value late Wednesday, with Meta’s earnings driving a 9% surge in its market capitalization in after-hours trading. Both companies surpassed analyst expectations with strong financial results on Wednesday, revealing that Big Tech’s AI investments are paying off.

Microsoft’s Chief Financial Officer Amy Hood told investors in an earnings call on Wednesday that the company planned to spend a record $30 billion for the current quarter on AI expenses like data centers, more than the $24.23 billion analysts expected.

Microsoft’s rally was due to the strength of its latest earnings report for the quarter ending June 30, which the tech giant disclosed on Wednesday after the bell. In the report, Microsoft revealed quarterly revenue of $76.4 billion, up 18% from the same period last year, marking the company’s fastest revenue growth in three years.

Related: Microsoft’s CEO Says the Company’s Mass Layoffs, Despite Financial Success, Are ‘Weighing Heavily on Me’ in an Internal Memo

^{Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella. Photo by Stephen Brashear/Getty Images}

Analysts were expecting $74.62 billion in Azure revenue, causing Microsoft’s report to exceed expectations.

The growth was largely driven by Microsoft’s Azure cloud computing division, which provides computing power and storage for AI. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella revealed Azure revenue for the first time in the report, noting that Azure “surpassed $75 billion in revenue, up 34%, driven by growth across all workloads.”

“Cloud and AI is the driving force of business transformation across every industry and sector,” Nadella stated in the report.

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Mark Zuckerberg outlined Meta’s vision for AI in a letter published on Wednesday on Meta’s website that says the company’s vision is to bring superintelligence, or AI that surpasses human intelligence in reasoning, memory, and knowledge, into every individual’s hands. The Meta CEO stated that superintelligence has the potential to kickstart “a new era of personal empowerment” where people will have “greater agency” to shape the world.

“I am extremely optimistic that superintelligence will help humanity accelerate our pace of progress,” Zuckerberg wrote in the letter.

Related: ‘The Market Is Hot’: Here’s How Much a Typical Meta Employee Makes in a Year

Meta has made notable investments in its superintelligence push, offering some new hires over $200 million in compensation to join the effort. Last month, Zuckerberg announced the creation of a new Meta Superintelligence Labs team, which featured researchers poached from leading AI companies like OpenAI, Google, and Anthropic.

In the letter, Zuckerberg wrote that at Meta, the target is not to automate or change the workforce, but “to bring personal intelligence to everyone” first, and give individuals the power to change their own lives with it. He wrote that “personal superintelligence” would be the most useful tool to help people create and connect, allowing them to achieve their personal goals.

This vision, he wrote, differs from “others in the industry” who suggest that superintelligence should first automate all work, and “then humanity will live on a dole of its output.”

For example, Tamay Besiroglu, the CEO of Mechanize, an AI startup backed by Google, told Business Insider earlier this month that the company aims to use AI to automate every job, starting with software engineering.

Meanwhile, other industry leaders have indicated that AI will impact the workforce, transforming the types of jobs that are required. Amazon CEO Andy Jassy told CNBC last month that AI would result in “fewer people doing some of the jobs that are being done today and more people doing other types of jobs.” Plus, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang predicted this month that AI would change “100% of everybody’s jobs.”

^{Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg. Photo by Steve Granitz/FilmMagic}

Zuckerberg also predicted in the letter that personal devices like AI glasses would become humanity’s “primary computing devices” because they can “see what we see, hear what we hear, and interact with us throughout the day.”

Related: Meta Takes on ChatGPT By Releasing a Standalone AI App: ‘A Long Journey’

Meta is a market leader in smart glasses, holding over 60% of the global market share last year. Since debuting in October 2023, the $299 Ray-Ban Meta glasses have sold more than two million pairs, with sales tripling in the first half of this year compared to last year.

The company is developing new products, too. Meta introduced its $499 Oakley Meta AI glasses last month, and high-fashion Prada AI glasses are planned for the future, per CNBC.

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Related: Meta Poaches the CEO of a $32 Billion AI Startup — After Trying to Buy the Company and Being Told No

Two of Nvidia’s senior leaders are now billionaires, joining co-founder and CEO Jensen Huang on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

Nvidia’s Chief Financial Officer, Colette Kress, and the company’s Executive Vice President of World Field Operations, Jay Puri, are now each worth more than one billion dollars due to their ownership of Nvidia stock, according to Bloomberg.

Related: How Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang Transformed a Graphics Card Company Into an AI Giant: ‘One of the Most Remarkable Business Pivots in History’

Kress, 57, owns nearly three million Nvidia shares and sold over 27,000 earlier this month for a cash amount of $4.7 million, according to a July 15 filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. She joined Nvidia in 2013, when the company’s market value was just over $9 billion, after nearly two decades at Cisco and Microsoft. The CFO graduated with an MBA in finance from Southern Methodist University, according to her LinkedIn profile.

Meanwhile, Puri, 70, joined Nvidia even earlier, in 2005, when the company’s market value was $6.25 billion. He oversees sales and marketing at Nvidia and was one of the first employees at Sun Microsystems, where he helped start its marketing department. An SEC filing from late June shows that he directly owns over 630,000 Nvidia shares worth more than $108 million, with indirect beneficial ownership of 20 million additional shares through various trusts.

With the new additions, the total number of billionaires working at Nvidia is at least six people, Bloomberg reports. The ranks include longtime directors Mark Stevens, Tench Coxe, and Harvey Jones in addition to Huang, Kress, and Puri.

^{Nvidia co-founder and CEO Jensen Huang. Photo by Johannes Neudecker/picture alliance via Getty Images}

Earlier this month, Nvidia achieved a milestone by becoming the first company in the world to hit a market value of $4 trillion, with the company’s stock growing 44% over the past six months. Two years ago, Nvidia’s market value was just $500 billion, highlighting its tremendous growth.

Related: Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang Will Make Nearly $1 Billion This Year Just from Selling Stock

Huang, who has served as Nvidia CEO since co-founding the company in 1993, said last week that he has “created more billionaires” on his management team than any other CEO in the world.

The 62-year-old CEO passed Berkshire Hathaway CEO Warren Buffett in net worth earlier this month and is currently the ninth-richest person in the world with a net worth of $153 billion.

Huang co-founded Nvidia with former Sun Microsystems engineers Chris Malachowsky and Curtis Priem. Forbes estimated last year that Priem, who left Nvidia in 2003 after serving as its chief technical officer for a decade, had a net worth of $30 million. Malachowsky, who still works at Nvidia as a senior technology executive, has an undisclosed net worth, according to Business Insider.

Related: Nvidia CEO Says ‘100% of Everybody’s Jobs Will Be Changed’ Due to AI

Nvidia’s stock growth has also minted millionaires — who still show up to work in the office. Employees who have been with Nvidia for five years are likely millionaires now, with a $77,700 stock grant received in 2019 worth more than $1.6 million today, according to Finlo’s investment calculator.

The rise in net worth has led to an increase in “semi-retired” employees who still work at Nvidia, but boast greater personal wealth. At a December 2023 meeting, Nvidia employees asked Huang how to address “semi-retired” employees, and the CEO responded by asking every employee to take responsibility for their work.

Nvidia’s stock is up over 1,580% over the past five years at the time of writing.

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The Federal Reserve held rates steady on Wednesday for the fifth-straight time at the Federal Open Market Committee meeting. The bank kept interest rates between 4.25% and 4.5%.

“Higher tariffs have begun to show through more clearly to prices of some goods, but their overall effects on economic activity and inflation remain to be seen,” said Chairman Jerome Powell at the meeting.

Related: U.S. Economy Grew More Than Expected, According to Federal Data: ‘Broadly Indicative of a Healthy Economy’

Two members of the Board of Governors appointed by President Donald Trump dissented and suggested lowering interest rates by one-quarter of a percentage point. Still, the decision was expected by most experts. Inflation is at 2.7%, as of press time, higher than the Fed’s preferred 2% number.

“Our obligation is to keep longer-term… inflation expectations well anchored and to prevent a one-time increase in the price level from becoming an ongoing inflation problem,” Powell said.

Elyse Ausenbaugh, head of investment strategy at J.P. Morgan Wealth Management, told Entrepreneur that the data didn’t justify a rate cut today.

“I don’t think there would have been much upside to Powell signaling that one was imminent,” Ausenbaugh wrote in an email. “The data, as it stands today, isn’t yet calling for one, and a lot could change between now and the FOMC’s next decision point in September.”

Although there was no clear signal about a September rate cut at the next Fed meeting, Ausenbaugh thinks it is a strong possibility.

Related: 3 Predictions for the U.S. Economy in 2025, According to a Chief Economist

“This is still a data-dependent Fed, and we expect the data to tell them to deliver a cut later this year as unemployment rises modestly and services inflation continues to cool,” Ausenbaugh wrote.

Powell, meanwhile, wasn’t as forthcoming, noting that the Fed will continue to examine the “evolving balance of risks before adjusting our policy stance.”

“We see our current policy stance as appropriate to guard against inflation risks,” Powell said.

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If you’ve built a business from the ground up, it may be difficult to imagine a day when you’re no longer leading it. But sooner or later, every founder must face a humbling truth: the time will come to step aside and turn it all over to someone else. Whether you’re passing it on to family, a trusted executive, or a new owner, the process of succession planning is not just important, it’s essential to your legacy.

I’ve made succession planning one of my top priorities for the last 30 years. I’ve learned that the only way you will have a good transfer is if there are trained people in place with a strong plan. It’s no surprise, as I have three sons and three nephews who have worked in our company for many years. They’re all earning their way at United Franchise Group. When I leave, I expect to have a peaceful transfer of power to them.

Here’s what I’ve learned about the succession process and how you can manage yours when the time comes.

Related: Considering franchise ownership? Get started now to find your personalized list of franchises that match your lifestyle, interests and budget.

Start with the right mindset

The first and perhaps hardest step is accepting that your successor will bring their own ideas to the table. That’s a good thing.

Yes, your ideas built the business. Your strategies and values laid the foundation. But the next leader will inevitably see things differently, and they should. It’s not about replacing your vision, but building on it. You must be okay with the mantra “New leader, new vision.” It doesn’t mean everything has to change overnight; it means you can’t run your company from the grave. You have to let go at some point.

Related: I Walked Away From a Corporate Career to Start My Own Small Business — Here’s Why You Should Do the Same

Identify your successor early

The sooner you can identify the person or team who will take over, the better. If your chosen successor is already part of your senior executive team, they should know that you’re preparing to pass them the baton.

In larger organizations, one individual might not be enough to shoulder the entire leadership load. In that case, consider splitting the top role into two, such as a president and a CEO. Dividing responsibilities can create a more manageable transition and allow successors to play to their strengths.

Above all, look for someone who listens more than they talk. A great leader is curious, asks thoughtful questions and listens to the answers. They should understand and respect the company’s history but also be capable of rallying the team around a new, compelling vision.

Related: 3 Lessons I Learned Selling My Billion-Dollar Company

Train them — and the team — right

Once you’ve identified your successor, the real work begins: training. Start early. Don’t wait until the last year or quarter of your career to begin preparing your replacement. Ideally, you’ll have at least six months to a year to bring them along, but more time is always better.

Training doesn’t stop with the new CEO. You must also invest in your senior executive team and anyone else with decision-making power. The goal isn’t to preserve the company as it is at handoff, but to ensure that the new leadership understands how and why things have worked. That knowledge gives them a strong starting point from which to innovate.

Show them the systems, values and the people who drive your business. Give them context for your decisions and invite them to challenge your assumptions. Think of it as preparing your company to thrive without you. And remember: Be patient. If more time is needed for a smooth transition, take it. A staggered transfer of responsibilities can reduce friction and give the team time to adjust.

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Prepare for the unexpected

Even the best-laid succession plans can hit unexpected bumps. Your chosen successor might leave the company due to a health issue, a change in personal circumstances, or simply a desire to do something different. Key team members may move on. Market conditions might change.

That’s why flexibility must be built into your succession plan. It should be a living document, not a rigid directive. Revisit it regularly. Be honest with yourself and your leadership team about what’s working and what isn’t. Contingency planning is critical for long-term success.

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Writing your next chapter

Once you pass the business to new leadership, there’s one last transition: yours, into retirement. Just as your business will continue without you, you will continue without your business.

This time in your life doesn’t have to follow the stereotype and be filled with golf. There are many other things that can make your next chapter rewarding: traveling, checking items off your bucket list, volunteering at your church, or favorite charity. Becoming a mentor to young executives can also keep you involved in the industry you love and enable you to give something back to it.

I haven’t retired yet, but when I do, I’ll know I’m leaving my company in capable hands — and I can’t wait to see where the new leaders take it.

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