Creatives don’t burn out because they’re fragile.
They burn out because they’ve been holding organizations together without the structures to sustain it.

In this week’s BOARD BRIEFING, Jen Shaw shares what 50+ senior creative leaders told her in off-the-record conversations about identity loss, exhaustion, invisibility, and cultural toxicity.

This isn’t about resilience.
It’s about systems.

If you lead creative teams — or are one — this will hit close to home.

Ozempic isn’t just disrupting metabolism.
It’s disrupting culture.

In this week’s BOARD BRIEFING, Rebecca Bartlett and Erica Sakharet unpack what GLP-1s are really doing to the industry: rewiring beauty standards, polarizing identity, and forcing founders and marketers to choose sides.

Is this wellness?
A flex?
A shortcut?
A reckoning?

If your brand touches health, beauty, or body image—you can’t ignore this.

The most powerful AI tool in your company isn’t the tech.
It’s the associate who knows how to use it.

In this week’s BOARD BRIEFING, Dr. Yi Zhang breaks down how fashion and beauty brands can unlock massive upside by upskilling their customer-facing teams—turning AI into amplification, not chaos.

If you’re investing in AI but not in your workforce, you’re not transforming CX.
You’re just adding noise.

The conscious consumer of 2026 isn’t buying a product.
They’re buying alignment, experience, and belonging.

In this week’s BOARD BRIEFING, Elle Molchan, Fractional CMO, outlines what will define the next generation of brand success. From community-as-strategy to experience-as-differentiator, she lays it out clearly: if your brand doesn’t feel alive, it won’t last.

✨ Conscious consumers don’t want to be targeted.
✨ They want to be seen, invited, and connected.
✨ And they’re already voting with their wallets.

If you’re building for what’s next, this is your roadmap.

Your org chart is lying to you.
And it’s costing you performance.

In this week’s BOARD BRIEFING, executive coach Theresa Fuchs Santiago breaks down why the future of work won’t be mapped in boxes. It will be built in networks—across humans, fractional leaders, and AI.

If you’re still hiring for control, managing through titles, or chasing productivity theater, this is your cue to reset. The org chart ahead is built for flow, clarity, and impact—not power.

Read the full piece and rethink how your teams move.

The internet is exhausted.
So are the teams running it.

In this week’s BOARD BRIEFING, digital strategist Carla Hawkes recaps the year social media cracked—under the weight of outrage-bait, trend fatigue, and dopamine-fueled chaos. But this isn’t a takedown. It’s a reminder.

Joy still breaks through.
The feed can still feel human.
Your brand doesn’t have to be part of the noise.

If you’re a founder, creative lead, or CMO rethinking how to show up in 2026, this is the read you need.

“Work smarter” isn’t a strategy. It’s a system.

In this BOARD BRIEFING, organizational design expert Kristin Skinner unpacks what actually slows teams down—and how to fix it. From invisible rework loops and decision bottlenecks to AI tools that automate chaos, she lays out the real reason most orgs stall: they’ve scaled output without scaling inputs.

If your team feels busy but brittle, and your tools have multiplied without reducing friction, this is the one to read.

What did hundreds of CMOs, founders, and fractional leaders read, save, and act on in 2025?

This.

In this year-end BOARD BRIEFING, THE BOARD’s CEO April Uchitel distills the playbooks, POVs, and power moves that shaped the year—from the collapse of paid media to the rise of anti-fragile brands and AI-native orgs.

If you're leading in 2026, and you missed this thinking in 2025—you’re already catching up.

At THE BOARD we help brands figure out what to make, why it matters, and how it fits into people’s lives.

When product strategy leads without brand, the story gets lost.

When brand leads without product, the promise feels empty.

In this week’s BOARD BRIEFING, Allison Henry Aver and Katie Irving share what happens when teams operate in silos—and what changes when they don’t. If your identity system isn’t grounded in product truth, or your product roadmap keeps shifting with trends, it’s time to realign.

The strongest brands aren’t built in parts. They’re built in partnership.

Fractionals are finally being paid what they’re worth.
But that doesn’t mean they’re being paid in full.

In this week’s BOARD BRIEFING, Caroline Rothwell Gerstein shares why equity has become the real differentiator in the future of fractional work and what both founders and executives need to rethink about compensation, alignment, and upside.

If you’re a founder offering flat retainers, or a fractional taking them, this is the equity reset you need.

For most of history, medicine treated women as smaller men.
Shrink the dosage. Add pink. Call it a product.

In this BOARD BRIEFING, marketing exec and health tech advisor Cynthia Spitalny walks us through the quiet revolution of women no longer asking to be included—but rebuilding what never worked to begin with. From Frida and Respin Health to hormone mapping and tele-menopause platforms, this is what true innovation looks like when women lead.

If you’re a brand founder, operator, or health-tech leader building for women, this is for you.

“We plan for fires and floods—but not for birth, caregiving, or grief.”

In this week’s BOARD BRIEFING, Erin Erenberg and Elizabeth Coppola explain why real business risk isn’t just operational—it’s human. From turnover and burnout to lost institutional knowledge, unplanned leave has a real cost. But it’s not inevitable.

They lay out how fractional talent, coverage systems, and cultural preparedness can turn life events into moments of trust, not turmoil.

If you care about your team and your bottom line, this one’s for you.

“You don’t need more people. You need more leverage.”

In this week’s BOARD BRIEFING, Faheem Siddiqi breaks down why startup burnout isn’t about hustle—it’s about missing structure. From the revolving door problem to fractional flexibility, he maps out what real high-performance culture looks like and how to build it with fewer hires, more clarity, and better systems.

If your team feels like it’s doing everything and going nowhere, this is the reset you’ve been waiting for.

Paid is up. Performance is down. Audiences are tuning out.

In this week’s BOARD BRIEFING, Amy Kapolnek and Lacey Norton say what many marketers already feel: the Big 3 are broken. But connection isn’t dead—it’s evolving. From Reddit and Substack to TYB and OnlyFans, they map the new terrain of digital community, loyalty, and long-game storytelling.

If you're still pouring budget into broken channels, this one's your call to rethink and reallocate.

Tariffs were just the wake-up call. The real challenge? Thriving in a fashion industry where disruption never stops.

In Part Two of her BOARD BRIEFING series, Briana Swords outlines the new rules for fashion leaders—from managing micro-markets and dynamic pricing to building anti-fragile product portfolios. If you're still trying to plan 12 months out in a world that changes by the week, this is the reset you need.

The brands that will win next aren’t the biggest. They’re the ones bold enough to evolve.

Tariffs are hitting. Orders are being canceled. Customers are confused and fashion brands are in crisis.

In this week’s BOARD BRIEFING, Briana Swords shares what she’s seeing across showrooms, trade floors, and client conversations: a perfect storm of disruption. From Canada’s CUSMA fallout to SHEIN’s forced reinvention, she unpacks what’s happening behind the scenes and why fashion brands need sharp, specialized support now more than ever.

If you’re navigating uncertainty, this one’s not just a read—it’s a roadmap.

AI didn’t just make go-to-market strategy faster. It made it different.

In this week’s BOARD BRIEFING, Tina Eskridge outlines what the smartest teams are already doing to turn discovery, demand gen, and retention into an always-on growth loop. From Clearbit to HubSpot to Sephora, she shares what it means to GTM in an AI-first world—and why the winners won’t be the ones who shouted the loudest. They’ll be the ones who listened, learned, and closed the loop.

If your GTM still looks like a funnel, this is your wake-up call.

In uncertain markets, most brands cut their brand budgets. The best ones don’t.

In this week’s BOARD BRIEFING, fractional CMOs Anna Bleers and Erika Weiss break down why brand equity is your most resilient asset—and how to build it without blowing your budget. From Mike’s Hot Honey to Starbucks and Bobbie, they share what the best brands are doing right now to grow trust, pricing power, and long-term value.

If you're marketing through chaos, read this first.

Substack. Reddit. OnlyFans.
Not your typical media plan—but maybe they should be.

In this week’s BOARD BRIEFING, Amy Kaplonek unpacks how forward-thinking brands are using unexpected platforms to drive real connection and conversion. From Rare Beauty’s heartfelt Substack to Urban Decay’s headline-making OnlyFans collab, this is a wake-up call for marketers still relying on Instagram and email blasts alone.

If you want to reach people where they actually are—not just where it’s “safe”—this one’s for you.

In this BOARD BRIEFING, April Uchitel announces a new partnership between THE BOARD and cultural intelligence platform Winnin. Learn how THE BLACK BOOK identifies high-ROI tech and why Winnin is poised to lead the next wave of culturally driven brand growth.