KPMG U.S. Chair and CEO Timothy Walsh has spent his entire career with the audit and advisory firm.

“My last non-KPMG job was at the Olive Garden waiting tables,” he told me with a laugh.

In the 34 years he’s been at the firm, he told me he’s had many roles: Making copies for more senior employees, working all over the world, auditing, running the venture capital business, directing the audit business, and since last July, CEO.

“It kept me constantly learning about business and challenging me with different businesses, different experiences, different executive experiences, and then ultimately the ability as a partner at the firm to be in so many different boardrooms around the world,” he said. “It’s hard not to find that journey compelling.”

Walsh is at a stage in the journey in which he leads KPMG’s internal employees and works with partner CEOs—both in finance and modern leadership. I talked with Walsh about how CEOs are coping with the volatility that’s everywhere in the business world today. An excerpt from our conversation is later in this newsletter.

This is the published version of Forbes’ CEO newsletter, which offers the latest news for today’s and tomorrow’s business leaders and decision makers. Click here to get it delivered to your inbox every week.

The Federal Reserve held interest rates steady last week, though the decision to do so was not unanimous. While the official statement from Federal Reserve Chairman Kevin Warsh was very similar to that from the June meeting—at which the decision to keep interest rates unchanged was unanimous—the three governors who voted last week against holding rates steady and one other have talked about the need for tighter monetary policy.

After the Fed’s decision was announced, the markets reacted poorly. The Dow Jones Industrial Average tumbled more than 2% to its worst day of 2026.

Other reports last week didn’t paint a much better economic picture. June’s core inflation—excluding food and fuel—cooled a bit, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis, dropping to 3.3% from 3.4% in May. But the economy as a whole is slowing. In the second quarter, GDP growth was at 1.5%, the BEA separately reported—quite a bit below the 2.1% growth rate projected and seen in the first three months of the year. The slower GDP growth was not the result of changes in consumer spending, which surged 3.2%—government spending, exports and investment were all down.

Big Tech buoyed the stock market, helping it largely erase any losses by the end of the week. Amazon’s stock saw one of its best days in a decade on Thursday, after a blockbuster earnings report showed net sales up 20% year-over-year........

© Forbes