Blog, YouTube & Content Monetization

Kathy Hochul, the governor of New York, has proposed a delay to the state’s landmark 2019 climate law, saying its goals would be too costly and could worsen already-expensive utility bills. But a coalition of climate, labor, and community groups counters that there are serious costs to not meeting the law’s climate goals—like more expensive energy bills, lost jobs, and health impacts caused by pollution. Delaying the law would cost New Yorkers nearly $9,000 on their energy bills per household over five years, due to the loss of billions of dollars in energy credits or rebates, according to an analysis from NY Renews. The proposed rollbacks would mean roughly 1…

If you only skim the headlines lately, you’d believe “conscious consumerism” is in full retreat, backpedaling to obscurity. ESG has become a political flashpoint. Corporate purpose feels diluted. DEI has been rebranded, softened, or even shelved altogether. Brands, wary of backlash, are pulling back from impact language. And yet, consumers didn’t get the memo. According to our own 2026 Conscious Consumer Report, conducted with our partners Ipsos and Engage for Good, 40% of North American purchases are now influenced by social and environmental considerations, which is up from 38% in last year’s report. That growth struck even during inflation, heightened price sen…

Compliance comes for every industry. Healthcare has HIPAA. Retail had the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard. Now it’s defense industrial base (DIB). With the rollout of the Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC), the Department of War (DOW)—and Katie Arrington’s advocacy through her former role as DOW chief information officer—are forcing a generational shift in how the defense supply chain protects sensitive data. CMMC isn’t mere guidance. It’s a contractual line in the sand that won’t stop with mega defense contractors. CMMC covers the small and midsize businesses across the U.S. that keep the nation’s economy moving and its security intact…

Top performers don’t leave things to chance. In business, they rely on advisors to help them make better decisions and get results faster. The same idea works for fitness, too. Many executives already have the discipline to show up at the gym. What often separates consistent progress from plateaus is strategy, not effort. Personal training provides structure, accountability, and expert insight that help turn hard work into measurable outcomes. If you’re used to improving performance at work, this approach should sound familiar. It’s about using expertise to get better results, more efficiently. THE POWER OF A PERSONAL PLAN There’s no shortage of workout pla…

Austria’s governing coalition on Friday announced plans to ban social media use for children under 14, joining a string of other countries in drawing up restrictions for young people. Alexander Pröll, the official in Chancellor Christian Stocker’s office responsible for digitization, said that draft legislation will be drawn up by the end of June. He said that “technically modern methods” of age verification will be used that allow users to verify their age while respecting their privacy. It wasn’t immediately clear when the plan to introduce a minimum age, which will need parliamentary approval, might take effect. Australia in 2024 took the lead, becoming the first co…

It’s no secret that children and adolescents have a lot more eyes on them these days thanks to everything from social media to cameras in everyone’s pockets. This experience (along with encouragement from brands such as Disney) has created space for young people to mimic adults, embracing cosmetics and anti-aging creams. Now, Italy’s consumer protection regulator says it is looking into the marketing strategies of some of the main contributors to this phenomenon: beauty companies. The country’s Competition Authority (AGCM) has launched two investigations into Sephora and Benefit Cosmetics for allegedly failing to clearly indicate that their products are not…

Jeopardy! may have been born on cable television, but it’s determined not to live and die there. The trivia game show’s first iteration premiered on daytime television more than 60 years ago in 1964. Its modern syndicated version launched in 1984, and 41 seasons later, it’s still going strong, garnering 7.5 million viewers for its latest season premiere and maintaining its title as the most-watched syndication series on television. Though Jeopardy! made it through the cultural transition to streaming largely unscathed, its producers are still finding ways to innovate on its format and bring the show to new platforms. That includes the newly announced Jeopardy! You…

Fast Company is extending its application deadline for Best Workplaces for Innovators 2026 to Friday, April 3 at 11:59 p.m. Pacific Time. This marks the eighth year Fast Company will be recognizing companies and organizations from around the world that most effectively empower employees at all levels to improve processes, create new products, or invent whole new ways of doing business. In addition to ranking the world’s Best Workplaces for Innovators, we will also recognize companies in 19 different categories. What differentiates Best Workplaces for Innovators from existing best-places-to-work lists is that it goes beyond benefits, competitive compensation, a…

The promise of AI was always that it would handle certain kinds of work so we could focus on others. It was going to free our time, reduce friction, and let us concentrate on what requires human judgment and creativity. That promise assumed we would divide the labor wisely. That we would hand off the operational drag—the scheduling, formatting, and summarizing that eats the day before we’ve had a chance to think. We would keep the cognitive friction—the hard work of wrestling with ambiguity, forming a point of view, and figuring out the right approach. The work where your value is actually made. Instead we handed over the thinking first. Because cognitive friction…

The gas station convenience chain Buc-ee’s is known for selling a slew of logo-ed merch to its devoted brand fans. And increasingly, it’s also known for aggressive trademark enforcement, suing competitors, apparel brands, and small businesses over logos, mascots, and even names it argues are too close to its signature smiling beaver. Most recently, Buc-ee’s, which has locations across the South, has gone after Ohio chain Mickey’s for its mascot logo, a cartoon moose, a move greeted with some skepticism. After all, as one skeptical commentator noted: “A beaver is not a moose.” Fair enough. But as the Texas-based chain grows, such lawsuits—often focused on cartoon anima…

In a 1944 issue of Arts & Architecture magazine, the architect and designer Charles Eames sounded an alarm. “It has been estimated that one million five hundred thousand houses each year for a period of 10 years will be needed to relieve the urgent housing problem of this country,” he wrote. “The enormity of such a need cannot even be partially satisfied by building techniques as we have known and used them in the past. Large scale industry would seem to be the only logical means by which we can achieve an enterprise of such proportion.” Throughout their careers, Charles and Ray Eames explored how industrial production could impact home building, most famously th…

For 60 years, people have read Warren Buffett’s annual Berkshire Hathaway shareholder letters to gain insights into his investment philosophies. Every year, thousands convened at Berkshire Hathaway’s annual meeting to gain insights from Buffett and his partner, the late Charlie Munger. Buffett has also done countless interviews over the years. Winnowing all that advice down to four items isn’t an easy task, but this is my attempt. Here’s Buffett on leadership, focus, the best investment you can make, and the true meaning of success. Buffett on leadership What model does Buffett use for managing people? A baseball batboy. As Buffett wrote in his 2002 sha…

Toxic bosses are not only a “people issue.” They are a balance-sheet issue, a culture issue, and a reputational issue. And if you are a CEO, founder, or a leader trying to build something lasting, you cannot afford to treat them as background noise. Here’s the truth: a single toxic boss can kill psychological safety, drain creativity, spike turnover, and teach your next generation of leaders that fear is an acceptable management tool. I’ve spent 25 years in organizational psychology, watching this pattern repeat across industries, including tech and other high-growth environments. I’ve also conducted interviews and surveys across North America to dig deep into the…

Hello and welcome to Modern CEO! I’m Stephanie Mehta, CEO and chief content officer of Mansueto Ventures. Each week this newsletter explores inclusive approaches to leadership drawn from conversations with executives and entrepreneurs, and from the pages of Inc. and Fast Company. If you received this newsletter from a friend, you can sign up to get it yourself every Monday morning. If you want a glimpse of the future of business, I recommend spending a few hours with Steven Bartlett, entrepreneur, investor, and host of the The Diary of a CEO podcast. I did just that earlier this month, when I interviewed Bartlett alongside PwC partners at a series of Daily D…

There’s a pigeon pitcher on the dining table. A large burl wood button mounted on the wall as art. A doormat in the shape of an apple. Emma Chamberlain, one of Gen Z’s most influential tastemakers, has designed a 100-piece collection for West Elm that spans furniture, textiles, and decor. It’s full of elegant pieces including a velvet sofa, a round wooden dining table, and cabinets wrapped in cream lacquer. But woven into this lush aesthetic are kitschy little details meant to feel like thrift shop finds. It’s a collaboration that offers a glimpse into what today’s twenty-somethings are looking for as they outfit their first homes. Three years ago, when Chamberlain was 21…

Making the move to management is not for every employee, yet many think it’s the only option for climbing the ladder. There’s an art to coaching individual contributors who either want to take that step, or offering a promotion to someone you think is ready. It’s important to approach this not just as an opportunity, but a teachable moment. We asked our Fast Company Impact Council members how they coach team members to make this move and got much wise counsel in return. Their ideas might improve how you approach this with your employees. 1. TRUST YOUR PEOPLE I tell them I am trusting them, and in turn, they need to trust their people. Trust is giving someone an ass…

At last, after seven months of public beta testing, Turntable is available today in the latest release of Adobe Illustrator. Presented at the 2024 edition of the Adobe Max conference as a sneak preview, the tool uses generative AI to transform any 2D vector illustration into a 3D object that you can turn around its vertical axis, as if it were on a clay modeling turntable. When it came out, its magicks left every Illustrator user cheering. If you have ever used Illustrator to craft a vector illustration—from a logo design to an animation character—it’s understandable why people were so excited. “The idea for Turntable originated from a consistent theme we heard direct…

Back in 1972, only 54 years ago, it was way harder for women and girls to play sports. Resources were scarce, there weren’t the same legal protections as today, it was socially discouraged—and coaches even often found themselves transporting entire teams themselves in their own cars, mopping courts and floors after a match, and funding the purchasing of uniforms and sweats. Before Title IX—the landmark legislation that ended sex-based discrimination in sports passed in 1972—girls and young women who wanted to go to college for athletics sometimes found they simply couldn’t. Maybe the admission requirements (which were different than they were for men) were too st…

Want more housing market stories from Lance Lambert’s ResiClub in your inbox? Subscribe to the ResiClub newsletter. Florida’s particularly intense overheating during the Pandemic Housing Boom is the key reason for its downside pricing vulnerability. While U.S. home prices rose +41% between March 2020 and June 2022, Florida home prices surged +51% over the same period—leaving some parts of the state significantly overvalued. Only, it takes a large enough shift in the supply-demand equilibrium for that vulnerability to manifest into falling prices. Of course, over the past three years, 5 factors have come together to create a supply-demand equilibrium shift large en…

Gen Z founders may not have spent as much time in the workplace when they started their companies as some older founders. But in some ways, that gives them unique insight that can be valuable for leaders. For Katie Diasti and Anam Lakhani, a disconnect from the work they were doing as interns has helped to shape their leadership style. Specifically, those experiences inspired them to ensure that all of their team members feel a sense of both ownership and impact for the work they’re doing. “I remember interning and creating a whole deck and making a whole presentation, but never being allowed to be in the room that the presentation was in,” recalled Diasti, found…

A pair of landmark court cases found Meta and YouTube guilty last week of harming young users by designing algorithms that were addictive and led to mental health distress. The damages assessed against the companies amounted to a fraction of a percent of their annual earnings. The long-term implications, however, could be far more significant. The rulings found that programmed algorithms are not protected by Section 230, the federal law that shields social media companies from liability for user-posted content. That represents a crack in a legal defense these companies have relied on for years. And thousands of similar cases are already pending. Section 230 has be…

The silhouette could not change. This was the main parameter guiding the designers and engineers at KitchenAid as they set out to upgrade one of the brand’s hero product, the stand mixer. Used by amateur and professional bakers for more than 70 years, the classic stand mixer is a staple of the kitchen appliance world, and much of its staying power has to do with the consistency of the product, which has changed remarkably little in all that time. Most notably, the mixer’s bowl-hugging form factor has defined it since the start. So when the company decided to integrate some new features and functions into an updated version of the mixer—the Artisan Plus Stand Mixer…