Blog, YouTube & Content Monetization

In 2017, Uber’s executive team reached a critical turning point. The world saw headlines about leadership changes, valuation drops, and cultural upheavals. Beneath the noise, however, lay a deeper issue. It wasn’t rogue culture or aggressive expansion. It was misalignment at the very top. An all-too-familiar scenario had taken root: Executives were operating in silos. They weren’t facing challenges to key decisions, and they overlooked red flags. The result? A $20 billion valuation adjustment and a leadership overhaul that forced Uber to rethink how alignment works at the highest levels. And that’s where the real story begins. Instead of crumbling, Uber recali…

As a kid of the 1970s, I was fascinated by a short-lived art movement known as photorealism. The painters who practiced it created works that weren’t merely realistic. They were borderline indistinguishable from photographs—an extraordinary feat to pull off with oil on canvas. If the genre hadn’t involved so much painstaking effort, it might have gained more momentum. Thanks to generative AI tools such as DALL-E and Midjourney, which can turn a written prompt into a photo-like image in seconds, we now live in an era of point-and-click photorealism. The results often don’t amount to anything more than internet chum. I certainly didn’t consider any of it to be art—until…

After years of working in PR and branding for luxury beauty, Jaimee Lupton decided to break away and disrupt the space by making beauty products that are accessible. With her business partner and real-life partner Nick Mowbray, she launched Monday haircare in 2020. Lupton saw a gap in the market for a brand that was targeted toward a younger demographic. There were few haircare brands that addressed the needs of younger customers, and even fewer who knew how to speak to those customers through their branding, messaging, and packaging. Lupton knew the power of a personalized message, and she created Monday with that in mind. The haircare company has received its …

The last year has seen a global reckoning with the effects of social media on kids. Australia banned children younger than 16 from using social media platform. Jonathan Haidt’s The Anxious Generation became one of the most purchased books of 2024. And former U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy called for these platforms to create warning labels akin to those on tobacco products. Despite wide acceptance that social media can contribute negatively to children’s social and emotional well-being, families, schools, and governments have no interest in pretending these platforms will eventually fade into obsoletion. Instead, many of these entities are interested in reevaluati…

Want more housing market stories from Lance Lambert’s ResiClub in your inbox? Subscribe to the ResiClub newsletter. When economic analysts talk about a cyclical change, they’re talking about short-term fluctuations driven by the business cycle. When those same analysts talk about a secular change, they’re talking about long-term, structural shifts in the economy. Sometimes a trend can be a little of both. One example: First-time homebuyers keep getting older. In 1991, the median age of first-time homebuyers in the U.S. was 28 years old. In 2024, it was 38 years old. In other words, the median first-time U.S. homebuyer in 2024 (age 38) has been out of high scho…

When I was 35, a ruptured brain aneurysm nearly killed me. My husband and I had just moved to a new city, bought our first house, adopted a dog, and I had recently started my own business. Life was running at 100 miles an hour and I thought this is what hustling was supposed to feel like. Living my best life, right? Until I collapsed, unconscious, on my bathroom floor. I miraculously survived. Recovery wasn’t always easy due to my new cognitive deficits. However, the experience taught me about the power of empathy to heal and how clarity and decisive action — especially when the stakes are high — can be the most compassionate things someone can do to alleviate str…

Patrón says all the tequila it has ever made since 1989 has been free of additives. The brand is now ready to get loud and talk about it. This week, Patrón is debuting a new additive-free marketing campaign that will run across digital, print, and out-of-home advertising in key markets including New York City and Los Angeles. The additive-free copy features lines like “Our secret ingredient is that we have no secret ingredients” and “When tequila is this good, additives don’t add anything.” Since Patrón’s inception, the brand says it has only made tequila with three ingredients: 100% weber blue agave, water, and yeast. The few exceptions are for the brand’s liqueu…

If you’re in charge of selecting a leadership development solution for your organization, your budget might feel dwarfed by the goals and needs the program must address. And while the money you have to spend is limited, the options you have to choose from—coaching, learning platforms, content libraries and more—are not.  All of those factors can make it difficult to identify the option that will deliver the best ROI. An “affordable” subscription to a vast digital library of leadership videos and courses is no bargain if it doesn’t deliver the results you need. On the other hand, premium coaching for a few key executives might feel extravagant at first but ultimat…

Earlier this month, Nike dropped the “Flagstaff” colorway of its Book 1 sneaker, the signature model of Phoenix Suns star Devin Booker. Its dark green shade reflects Flagstaff, Arizona’s situation in the world’s largest ponderosa pine forest—it’s not all cactuses and sand in the Grand Canyon State—and the shoe plays off Booker’s status as one of the many second-home owners in the area. “When Book needs to escape the desert heat,” the Nike copy explains, “he heads to Flagstaff, where he can walk the mountain paths worry-free.” Nike’s use of local color seems to be part of a larger branding trend that emphasizes small-scale authenticity over brute-force bigness. As a lo…

With over 900 million users worldwide, LinkedIn often feels like the ultimate goldmine for professional networking and career growth. But figuring out the right blend of authentic expertise, personal flair, and audience engagement can feel more daunting than it’s worth. Yes, it’s crucial to know how to boost engagement, but it’s just as important to understand which kinds of posts can hurt your reputation and sabotage your efforts to be seen as an expert. Here are three types of posts you’re better off avoiding. Algorithm-chasing posts LinkedIn’s algorithm is constantly changing, influencing the likes, views, and social interactions your posts receive from potenti…

At the Exceptional Women Alliance (EWA), we empower high-level women to mentor one another, encouraging personal and professional fulfillment through meaningful connections. This month, I am delighted to introduce Malika Begin, CEO and founder of Begin Development, a consulting firm based in Malibu, California. Malika shares her insights on the transformative power of generous leadership—an approach rooted in empathy and purpose—especially during crises like the devastating wildfires in Los Angeles. Q: In moments of crisis, what leadership styles or qualities have the greatest impact on nurturing trust, resilience, and forward momentum within a team? Malika Begin: …

Dallas is prepared to spend big to protect its logo. In fact, the Dallas City Council voted last week to spend up to $200,000 as part of a federal lawsuit to cancel the trademark of Triple D Gear, a Dallas apparel company that the city argues uses a logo so similar to its own that it causes confusion. One sign of a good civic mark, whether it’s a logo or a flag, is whether it becomes a symbol of popular expression. People get tattoos of the Chicago flag, for example, but not the flag of Illinois (hence the state’s efforts to redesign it). The Dallas logo, then, has done its job. Maybe too well. The city’s logo, which has been in use since 1972, features concentric…

Nowadays, when you hear someone talk about faxing, there’s a decent chance it’s the punchline to a groan-inducing dad joke. (Not that I would ever be guilty of such silliness, of course. I stick strictly to the fax.) And yet, here in the futuristic-feeling time of 2025, we all find ourselves facing the very occasional and impossibly baffling need to send something somewhere specifically by fax. Try as you might, sometimes, you just can’t avoid it. (One might even say those are just the fax of life!) Faxing is antiquated technology through and through, but for whatever reason, we as a society don’t quite seem ready to shed it entirely—despite the fact that we’ve go…

In the span of three plays in the second quarter of the most-watched event on television, Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes was sacked multiple times before launching the football soaring through midair—only for it to be intercepted and returned for a touchdown by his opponent, the Philadelphia Eagles. And as that series of unfortunate events unfolded for the Chiefs at Super Bowl LIX, it seemed America rejoiced. As one X user wrote before the big game: “The amount of people I know who will be rooting for the Eagles simply because they don’t want the Chiefs to win is a beautiful thing. Hate conquers all.” Hate conquering all certainly seemed to be the …

Getting a preschool-age child, let alone dozens of them, to wash their hands can be an exhausting chore. At Family Connections preschool in the Portola neighborhood of San Francisco, that used to be a constant challenge and frustration for educators. Without an outdoor sink, students’ outdoor activities were interrupted anytime a hand got dirty, as the whole group had to take a trip back inside, says executive director Yensing Sihapanya, noting how that would eat up precious minutes that could have been spent playing and learning. But in 2021, the Low Income Investment Fund (LIIF), a community development financial institution (CDFI), poured grant money into San Francisc…

Recently, the IRS realized that it owes $2.4 billion total in COVID stimulus payments to about one million taxpayers, with a maximum payment of $1,400. If you’re eligible for a stimulus check, you don’t have to do anything to receive it: The IRS is sending out honest-to-goodness windfalls to a million Americans. Unlike your tax refund—which is a portion of your salary being returned to you—no one is likely to wag a finger at you for getting a stimulus check. But that doesn’t necessarily make it easy to figure out what to spend your stimulus money on. If you’re looking for good uses for your stimulus money, here are several strategies that can help you make the mos…

Peavey Industries LP, Canada’s largest farm and ranch retailer, has announced the shuttering of all its locations across the country following its filing for creditor protection under the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act (CCAA), granted by the Court of King’s Bench Alberta. The closures will impact 90 Peavey Mart stores and six MainStreet Hardware locations, with liquidation sales starting immediately, marking the end of nearly six decades of operations for the Alberta-based company, which has long been a key player in Canada’s rural and suburban retail landscape. ‘A profoundly difficult decision’ The news comes as Canada’s retail industry faces unpreceden…

The Brannock device—that sliding metal gadget used in shoe stores to measure the dimensions of your feet—was invented 100 years ago this year. But footwear fitting hasn’t really gotten more advanced since, says Dan Cataldi, founder and CEO of custom insole maker Groov. For most people, it still comes down to finding shoes by style and size, taking a few steps in them, and hoping for the best. And when it comes to insoles, the part of the shoe that you actually walk on, people with medical issues and professional athletes might get custom orthotic inserts fitted by a doctor, while most people make do with what comes in their shoes or, in a pinch, a cushioning insert from …

The iconic Louvre in Paris is no stranger to crowds. Since first opening in 1793, the museum has played host to millions of guests and undergone dozens of expansions and renovations to accommodate them. Today, though, overtourism has brought the historic site to a breaking point. In a typical year, the Louvre is prepared to accommodate 4 million visitors. But in 2024, almost 9 million people—70% of them originating from outside of France—passed through its doors. “Visiting the Louvre is a physical ordeal,” museum director Laurence des Cars wrote in a widely publicized leaked memo. Now the Louvre will now undergo a massive renovation to address overcrowding and ex…

Recruitment is a big part of what HR teams do, but it’s no secret that it can be both challenging and expensive. According to the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), replacing an employee can cost a company anywhere from six to nine months of their salary. For highly trained positions, research shows that number can climb to as much as 213% of their salary! No matter your company’s size or industry, that’s a serious expense. The good news? A brand-savvy HR team can help bring these costs down. By addressing the key concerns of potential employees and attracting top-tier candidates who are a great fit, they can save valuable time and money in the recruitment …

Slightly under 10 years ago, when I reviewed a new Apple MacBook, I devoted a surprising percentage of my wordage to its port. Yes, port—it had only one. The sleek, minimalist laptop was one of the first devices in the world to sport USB-C, a new type of wired connectivity that carried both power and data over a cable with a slim, reversible connector. USB-C held the potential to replace pretty much all the other ports then in use on phones, tablets, laptops, cameras, headphones, and other gadgets. At the time, they included USB in its familiar, full-size form (officially known as USB-A), multiple variants of Micro-USB and Mini-USB, myriad proprietary power jacks, and…

Apple is launching its first major holistic health study in five years to determine how Apple products, including iPhones, Apple Watches, and AirPods, can “play a role in advancing and improving physical health, mental health, and overall well-being.” It may be Apple’s most ambitious study yet. Starting Tuesday, Apple customers in the United States can opt in to participate in the Apple Health Study by downloading Apple’s Research app, version 6.0 (more on that below). The sweeping study, a collaboration with Brigham and Women’s Hospital—a preeminent research hospital in Boston, affiliated with Harvard Medical School—takes a complete approach to understanding how…

Last Energy, a nuclear upstart backed by an Elon Musk-linked venture capital fund, says it plans to construct 30 microreactors on a site in Texas to supply electricity to data centers across the state. The initiative, which it says could provide about 600 megawatts of electricity, would be the company’s largest project to date and help it develop a commercial pipeline in the U.S. Set on a 200-acre site Last Energy has obtained in Haskell County, in northwest Texas, the project still faces likely years of regulatory and public scrutiny. The Washington, D.C.-based company hasn’t yet disclosed customers or the details of its financing, or announced a timeline for the ef…