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Fox News
12 minutes ago
- Fox News
From Washington: Texas Floods Test President Trump's Disaster Response
President Trump traveled to Kerrville, Texas, to meet with families and local officials impacted by the devastating July 4th flash floods. Former White House Press Secretary and FOX News Contributor Ari Fleischer discusses the importance of how Presidents respond to natural disasters and how federal agencies handle emergencies. Later, he reacts to the President's latest tariff policies, the NYC mayoral race, and the one-year anniversary of the attempted assassination of President Trump in Butler, PA. Later, Congressman Buddy Carter (R-GA) discusses how his family was impacted by the Texas floods. He emphasizes the need for unity while cautioning against finger-pointing in the wake of tragedy. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit
Fast Company
21 minutes ago
- Fast Company
How a C-Suite mom of three stays sane in the summer
As the school year winds down, many working parents face a seasonal challenge that's as predictable as it is taxing: how to stay productive at work while managing the logistics, emotions, and expectations that come with kids being home for the summer. For parents in leadership roles, the stakes can feel even higher. Over the past decade, as a mother of three and a leader in human resources and people operations, I've learned firsthand how parenthood profoundly shapes one's approach to work and life. But these challenges are not just personal, they're organizational. If employers don't address the summer wellness support gap, they risk employee burnout, decreased productivity, and long-term attrition. It's crucial that parents feel seen, supported, and empowered to thrive, both at home and in their professional lives. Why the Summer Crunch is Different and More Stressful Summer means parents suddenly take on the additional roles of full-time caregivers, activity planners, and sometimes even tutors, often while still carrying a full professional workload. With school out, daily routines dissolve, screen time goes up, childcare becomes patchworked, and workdays are punctuated by snack requests, playtime, and pleas for attention. For parents in high-pressure roles, this creates a relentless push-pull, fueling guilt, exhaustion, and a constant sense of falling short in both spheres. What's the solution? Boundaries, Flexibility, and Mental Health First Here is a take that some may find controversial: the concept of 'balance' is a myth. We often chase it only to feel more disappointed because it's an unattainable ideal. Instead, I focus on integration—weaving work, parenting, and self-care together throughout the day in a way that honors each of these priorities. Presence is key. This means truly being in the moment, whether on a leadership call or with my kids. And that's harder than ever in today's always-on world, where Zoom fatigue and Slack notifications fragment our attention. Being on all the time blurs boundaries and drains our energy. In my own professional and personal life, I've learned that rather than letting the summer months derail my rhythm, I encourage a handful of practices to stay aligned: Calendar Management and Sacred Personal Time Build intentional breaks into your day for mental rest. Don't overbook yourself and respect your own boundaries. When time becomes more limited, especially for working parents, calendars need to do more than just reflect your next meeting. They should actively support your energy and focus. That means intentionally scheduling short breaks throughout the day to reset and decompress. Even just 10 to 15 minutes between video calls can dramatically reduce fatigue. Without a set time for personal recovery, burnout becomes inevitable. Whether it's a morning workout, a midweek therapy session, or a summer Friday reset for rest and solitude, carving out nonnegotiable time for yourself is critical. This isn't about being selfish. It's about making sure you have the energy and clarity to show up fully for both work and family. Practice Presence Train Yourself to be fully engaged with whichever role you're in at the moment, whether a meeting or a family dinner. Reduce multitasking when possible. When everything happens under one roof, it's easy to blend work and home roles until neither gets your full attention. Practicing presence and focusing completely on the task or person in front of you can help reestablish meaningful boundaries and reduce guilt. If you're leading an all-hands or helping out with your daughter's next vocab test homework, being fully present strengthens trust, deepens relationships, and improves performance. But presence isn't automatic. It's a discipline that requires reducing distractions and intentionally shifting focus before you log off for the day. Open Communication Negotiate clearly with your employer and colleagues, and at home. Share what you need and listen to the needs of others to find win-win solutions. Work-life intention hinges on mutual understanding. Whether you're agreeing on what to make for dinner with your partner or negotiating hours with a manager, clear communication is key. For me, it took clear conversations to protect the time I needed to recharge. Every Saturday, my husband takes the kids out so I can have uninterrupted hours to myself. That understanding allows me to reset only because we've agreed on it and protect it. The same principle applies at work. I've carved out a few mornings a week for workouts, and that means my first meeting on those days doesn't begin until a bit later. That boundary is known and respected because I communicated it clearly, and I show up better because of it. Transparency and courage in these conversations foster trust and make it easier to adjust as circumstances evolve. Community Support Join or create employee resource groups to share advice and reduce stigma. Consider coaching or mentoring to gain tailored support on navigating parenting challenges in a work context. Connecting with other working parents can be a powerful antidote to isolation and burnout. Whether formalized through an employee resource group or informal lunch-hour chats, these communities, both big and small, offer space to share real-life challenges, swap ideas, and feel understood. Parent-focused groups, especially, help reduce stigma by normalizing common experiences, from managing day camp delays to navigating guilt over missed work milestones. These groups remind parents they're not alone and that shared understanding is a strength, not a vulnerability. Additionally, coaching offers personalized support that acknowledges the complex intersection of parenting and professional growth. A coach can help clarify values, improve time management, and provide a safe space to work through challenges like setting boundaries, managing burnout, or feeling pulled in multiple directions. For some, coaching also provides an accessible starting point for broader mental wellness work, making it easier to take proactive steps before stress becomes overwhelming. Mental Health Resources Take advantage of the mental health benefits available to you, and seek help early if you feel it's needed. Many mental health challenges escalate not because support isn't available, but because people wait too long to ask for it. Tapping into therapy resources or EAP services, even when you're curious, can help reduce stress before it snowballs into something more serious. It also sends a powerful message: mental well-being is just as important as physical health. Organizations that promote early access to resources and normalize their use create cultures where seeking help is seen as a strength, not a shortcoming. Lasting trust and engagement As leaders, we often talk about bringing our whole selves to work. For working parents, that includes showing up with the joys, stresses, and logistics of family life, especially in the summer. The good news is that with the right support in place, parents don't have to choose between professional success and family well-being. They can create workplaces where parents thrive professionally without sacrificing family connections. By prioritizing mental health, offering flexible solutions, and fostering a culture of compassion, employers can turn a seasonal challenge into an opportunity for lasting trust and engagement. As more leaders adopt this approach, the entire organization benefits from healthier, more engaged, and more loyal teams.
CNN
22 minutes ago
- CNN
Elizabeth Warren pushes back on plan to get private equity into 401(k)s
A typical 401(k) plan only offers stock and bond funds that invest in publicly traded companies. But private companies — traditionally the domain of institutional and high-net-worth investors — have become a significant part of the overall investing market. Do they belong as an option in workplace retirement plans, given that they are often more expensive and less transparent than publicly traded securities? It's a question that's been getting a lot of attention as the private investment industry and others seek to 'democratize' access to such investments. And it's an issue receiving pushback from some lawmakers and consumer advocates, including Sen. Elizabeth Warren, the top-ranking Democrat on the Senate Banking Committee. Most recently, Warren sent a letter and a series of questions to Empower, one of the largest workplace retirement plan recordkeepers, probing its recently announced decision to offer plan sponsors the choice of including private equity as an investment option for their employees. In its response to Warren earlier this week, Empower — which serves roughly 90,000 corporate, government and nonprofit employers — likened the desire to give people access to private markets to the creation of 401(k)s decades ago. 'The 401(k) democratized access to the public markets in unprecedented fashion and without it, many people would have no access to investing,' Empower CEO Ed Murphy wrote. 'Today, we are facing a similar moment.' Murphy, noting that there are far fewer publicly traded companies today than 30 years ago, cited the growth in capital going towards private companies and the estimated $13 trillion in assets in the global private equity market. 'This structural shift means fewer opportunities for everyday investors saving in defined contribution plans — especially those seeking exposure to innovative or fast-growing companies.' He also stressed that the new investment option it would offer would have guardrails. 'Private markets investing is not for everyone and Empower is not suggesting that it is. Empower is not advocating for unregulated or unmanaged access to complex asset classes. … It's a carefully monitored gateway.' Among the guardrails Murphy said would be in place: '(T)he investment manager advising to these investments in accordance with the participant's financial goals and risk tolerance, are selected by the plan sponsor and must be subject to ERISA's high standards and adhere to those standards.' More specifically, Empower told CNN in an email that only participants with managed accounts will have access. (A managed account is run by an investment professional who will, among other things, manage your investments within your workplace plan in keeping with your goals, risk tolerance and time horizon.) And, the company added, the private investments would only be a portion of a larger collective investment trust that a person could select. The other portions of the CIT would be in public securities. 'We believe that professionally managed solutions are the best way to offer private assets, as they offer an additional layer of analysis and fiduciary protection,' the company said. In her reply to Murphy's letter, released Saturday, Warren said she shares his stated goal of helping everyone, regardless of income or net worth, to ''build lasting financial security through well-designed, responsibly managed investment opportunities.'' But, she wrote, 'Your response did not meaningfully address how you would shield plan participants, and our financial system, from the structural risks inherent in private markets. Ultimately, you did not explain why providing retirees with the option to invest their hard-earned life-savings in risky, expensive private markets benefits anyone other than private funds.' Nor, Warren said, did the company offer 'details about your partnerships with private firms, your fees, and your incentive structures.' Warren ended her letter by asking Empower to address her specific questions by Friday, July 25, 2025. So … to be continued. In the meantime, the Office of the Investor Advocate at the Securities and Exchange Commission said that in fiscal year 2026 it plans to explore issues 'surrounding the inclusion of alternative investments, such as private equity and private credit, in retirement savings plans and their implications for retail investors.'
