Wall Street’s Pivot to Prose

Plus: ScarJo’s voice and Giuliani’s coffee beans

Banner Image: Rebecca Greenfield/Fortune

Happy Monday! For this week’s edition of Out of Scope, we explore Wall Street’s pivot from profits to prose. But first, stories from last week with some staying power...

📡ON OUR RADAR

• “Her” is here. Scarlett Johansson is pursuing legal action against OpenAI for their (supposed/apparent/likely) choice to mimic the actress’ voice for one of their ChatGPT models.

• The Wall Street Journal analyzed hundreds of entry-level job listings to see how employers are enticing college grads. Job listings are advertising pay transparency, clear career progression, mental health benefits, DEI commitments, and clear mission statements.  

• One person's (weight) loss is another's gain: As medications like Wegovy and Ozempic gain popularity, concerns over food company profit decline have spiked. Yet, brands like Nestlé have responded by launching products like 'Vital Pursuit' to address nutritional gaps, providing crucial nutrients such as protein for their core audience—GLP-1 medication users risk losing lean muscle mass due to weight loss and decreased appetite.

💡ON OUR MINDS: Wall Street Wants Word Nerds

Source: Rebecca Greenfield/Fortune

• At Fortune’s Future of Finance: Technology and Transformation earlier this month, Blackrock COO Robert Goldstein announced a shift in the company’s hiring strategy to include more graduates with liberal arts degrees, including English and history majors.

• While Goldstein cited the innovative value of diverse thinking and creativity as his reasoning, other leaders on a similar path—surprisingly—point to the rise of AI.

• Matt Candy, Global Managing Partner at IBM Consulting, believes that as AI becomes more prevalent, skills like coding will become less relevant, while “questioning” and “creativity skills” needed for prompt writing rise in value.

• Big Finance and Tech seeking the literarily minded is an interesting turn of events, especially amid the writer strikes and newsroom layoffs that have plagued the past 12 months.

• As an organization that knows the value of a good liberal arts degree (hello, wayward English and political science majors), we’ll be watching to see how many of our fellow word nerds jump ship, and the subsequent impact on fields like journalism, show business, and—of course—communications.

🥊QUICK HITS:

In case you missed these reads:

• Middle school boys are turning to Valentino and Tom Ford to pass the smell test.

• Would you rather buy coffee from Patrick Mahomes or Rudy Giuliani?

• The WNBA Goes Global: The league's newest team, based in Toronto, Canada, will debut as its first international franchise for the 2026 season.