Blog, YouTube & Content Monetization

Career disruption is accelerating across the economy—and few people have navigated it more boldly than Maryam Banikarim. The former CMO of Univision, Gannett, and Hyatt, and host of The Messy Parts podcast, Banikarim shares hard-won wisdom about C-suite politics, and what it means to ultimately bet on yourself. Growing up in Iran during the time of revolution, Banikarim offers a unique perspective on the current Middle East conflict—and her determined search for hope amid the chaos. This is an abridged transcript of an interview from Rapid Response, hosted by the former editor-in-chief of Fast Company Bob Safian. From the team behind the Masters of Scale podcast, Rapid R…

For decades, in the name of workplace equality we’ve encouraged women to enter male-dominated professions because those jobs are better paid, more prestigious, and more powerful. Women engineers. Women in tech. Women in leadership. That agenda still matters but it is not enough. One of the great blind spots of our time is that we rarely ask the opposite question with equal seriousness: why are we doing so little to bring men into professions dominated by women? We do need many more men in care professions—nursing, teaching, social work, child care, elder care, and support services. The gender gap we should be talking about is not only women missing from AI jobs. I…

Most organizations genuinely want to support their people. We invest in wellness apps, coaching programs, and leadership development, all with good intentions. Yet burnout rates keep climbing. Aflac’s WorkForces Report from November 2024 referenced that burnout affected nearly 3 in 5 American workers with employees experiencing high levels of stress rising to 38% in 2024, up from 33% in 2023. The issue isn’t effort or resources. It may simply be that we’re solving for the wrong problem. I recently sat down with Natallia Miranchuk, founder of SOULA, an AI-powered emotional support platform that combines neuroscience, health expertise, and artificial intelligence to addres…

It’s a tough time out there for creatives. Whether you’re a writer, director, actor, or artist of any kind, the world is short on opportunities—particuarly the kind that pay. But even Academy Award winners like screenwriter and director Barry Jenkins didn’t have a linear path to success, as he shared in a recent panel about how to sustain a career as a filmmaker. Jenkins, the writer-director behind Moonlight and If Beale Street Could Talk, was a panelist at “Behind the Chair: Representation and the Business of Filmmaking,” a seminar on the film industry hosted by the Directors Guild of America. In a one-on-one discussion with fellow director Anu Valia (We Stranger…

Welcome to AI Decoded, Fast Company’s weekly newsletter that breaks down the most important news in the world of AI. You can sign up to receive this newsletter every week via email here. The cost of AI will surely rise, along with our dependence on it Developing AI models and serving AI apps is a notoriously expensive undertaking. AI labs use massive amounts of computing power, training data, and high-priced talent to create and serve AI models, and the costs are not nearly covered by the chatbot subscription and API fees they bring in. Neither OpenAI nor Anthropic, for example, are profitable, and won’t be for some time. The difference, for now, is made up by investmen…

Fifteen years after his passing, Steve Jobs’s thoughts on innovation, entrepreneurship, design, and leadership still make a meaningful impact. Since there’s a Jobs quote for many situations, winnowing it down to five isn’t an easy task. Still: Here’s my attempt. Here’s Steve Jobs on starting your own business, perseverance, leadership and responsibility, intelligence, and money. Jobs’s thoughts on starting a business Maybe you don’t want to start your own company, much less build a thriving business. Even so, Jobs felt everyone should dip a toe in the entrepreneurial water, even if it’s just a side hustle. Why? As Jobs said: I think that without owning…

Not long ago, fractional executives were an edge case—temporary operators invited to fill a short-term gap at the leadership table. But what started as a cost-savvy strategy for cash-conscious startups is now a mainstream, strategic move for companies and executives alike. Fractional leaders are self-employed individuals who are focused on solving specific challenges. They offer domain expertise and the ability to move quickly inside of shorter decision-making cycles. They’re perfect for businesses that need senior-level strategic thinking—but not necessarily for forty-plus hours a week. (It’s also worth distinguishing between interim and fractional leadership. I…

When we talk about travel apps, we typically talk about the types of tools that help you organize your itineraries, find worthwhile stops along your way, or maybe even just find flights (and/or fuel!) in the first place. Those types of tools are important—but there’s another travel resource I recently ran into that might be even more invaluable. It’s a free website that gives you unprecedented insight into exactly how much turbulence you can expect on any given flight, before you take off—as well as what the wind and overall weather conditions may mean for your odds of an on-time (or, if you’re lucky, maybe even early) arrival. Trust me: This is one you’ll abs…

Managers are rushing to deploy AI for efficiency gains. Employees have to figure out how to make it work—and that’s sometimes harder than it seems. Half of organizations piloted general-purpose AI tools last year, according to MIT research. But adoption and readiness aren’t the same thing. According to Rumman Chowdhury, former U.S. Science Envoy for AI and CEO and cofounder of Humane Intelligence, the burden is likely to fall on workers. “There’s a lot of FOMO among C-suites and high-level execs on pressure to build AI, and then they’re also incentivized to pretend like it works really well,” she says. “If and when it doesn’t, the responsibility is on the emp…

At first, he appeared in the top corner of a multi-slide TikTok post. Then he was spotted demurely relaxing in a lawn chair on a livestream. Finally, on March 30, Apple’s new mascot, nicknamed “Finder Guy,” made his debut—and the internet has instantly become enamored with him. Finder Guy appeared as part of the rollout for Apple’s MacBook Neo, a colorful, affordable laptop marketed to younger consumers. For the Neo campaign, Apple introduced an entirely new TikTok brand persona on March 4, clearly making a play to capture Gen Z and Gen Alpha viewers by combining trending aesthetics with Apple’s high-design point of view. Popular videos have included a brain-ting…

Raising Cane’s CEO Todd Graves could go without veggies in his to-go box. More specifically, his go-to Cane’s order includes the box combo, extra toast and extra sauce—and no slaw, he said in a TikTok last month. The fast food executive admitted he’s not a fan of coleslaw, adding “that’s why you can trade it out,” in Joe Bonham’s “Financial Flex” social media series. His reasoning for including the shredded salad: “I wanted a vegetable component to the meal, and coleslaw is a Southern thing.” As the post went viral, one user asked the exec to swap the coleslaw for mac and cheese. Others pleaded to keep the coleslaw on the menu. Customers who order the Box Co…

For decades, cars dictated urban planning in the United States. Few could have predicted that they would one day also double as nodes for surveillance. In thousands of towns and cities across the U.S., automatic license plate readers have been installed at major intersections, bridges and highway off-ramps. These camera-based systems capture the license plate data of passing vehicles, along with images of the vehicle and time stamps. More recently, these systems are using artificial intelligence to create a vast, searchable database that can be integrated with other law enforcement data repositories. As a scholar of technology policy and data governance, I…

These days, tech bros keep talking about “taste”— the ability to exercise human judgment and determine unique responses while guiding a machine. It’s a rare skillset, as some AI-made media automates content in the form of generic slop. And now tech professionals are the very people worried that technology will rob society of any real taste. The New Yorker’s Kyle Chayka, who broke down tech bros’ obsession with taste last month, coined the term “taste-washing” as the act of giving “anti-humanist technologies a veneer of liberal humanism.” In other words: giving AI properties human-like qualities and letting them run with it. When machines do all the creating, what are …

With the world struggling to get oil supplies moving from the Middle East, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich raised eyebrows with a social media post highlighting a radical idea: Use nuclear bombs to cut a new channel along a route that would avoid Iranian threats in the Strait of Hormuz. Gingrich’s March 15, 2026, post linked to an article that labeled itself as satire. Gingrich has not clarified whether his endorsement was serious. But he is old enough to remember when ideas like this were not only taken seriously but actually pursued by the U.S. and Soviet governments. As I discuss in my book, Deep Cut: Science, Power, and the Unbuilt Interoceanic Canal, the U…

AI is moving fast. But are we really keeping humans at the center? AI scientist, founder of Affectiva, investor at Blue Tulip, and host of Pioneers of AI, Rana el Kaliouby makes the case that human-centric AI isn’t just a safety guardrail; it’s the key to thriving socially, economically, and emotionally. She also cuts through the noise on the buzziest AI myths, including whether we’re in an AI bubble. This is an abridged transcript of an interview from Rapid Response recorded live at SXSW, hosted by former Fast Company editor-in-chief Robert Safian. From the team behind the Masters of Scale podcast, Rapid Response features candid conversations with today’s top business …

For billions of Christians around the world, Easter celebrates the resurrection of Jesus Christ. While this is not an official federal holiday, federal offices are already closed because it always falls on a Sunday. Many private businesses and retail chains also choose to close their doors on this day, so even if you don’t celebrate, you may be impacted by the festivities. Here’s a look at what is open and closed on Easter Sunday, which is today, April 5, 2026: Mail, schools, and the stock market There will be no mail delivery from the U.S. Postal Service (USPS), because it is not typically delivered on Sundays. The only exception is Priority Mail Express…

For the record, this is not a sponsored post. I’m just frugal, and I like to travel as lightly as possible. Every piece of tech in my tightly packed bag needs to earn its keep by doing at least two jobs. As such, I’m a sucker for anything that can serve more than one purpose and does so on the cheap. Anker happens to make a lot of that type of stuff. If you’ve bought an aftermarket charger or power bank in the last decade, you’ve probably seen the name. I’ve found their gear to be equal parts reliable and budget-friendly in an age where buying off-brand tech accessories is a total crapshoot. So, if you’re ready to ditch the dead weight, here are three inexpens…

This article is republished with permission from Wonder Tools, a newsletter that helps you discover the most useful sites and apps. I can’t keep up with all the news that interests me. So I’m exploring new ways to get concise, curated updates. Today I’m sharing three new tools I like. Huxe: Personalized audio shows drawn from your interests, calendar, and email. Google CC: A morning summary of your email inbox. Yutori Scouts: AI agents that monitor your fave topics and deliver reports. Read on for examples of how each works, and how to make the most of them. Huxe: Personalized Audio Updates Huxe is a personalized audio app. Whenever I open it, I …

As the threat of drone attacks grows, the federal government is turning this summer into a proving ground for U.S. efforts to shore up aerial defenses at events like the World Cup. It may also serve as a launchpad for defense tech firms hoping to sell systems designed to intercept unmanned aerial vehicles. “Out of the World Cup, you’ll see the baseline for what law enforcement and critical infrastructure sites will then buy at scale,” says Jon Gruen, CEO of Fortem Technologies, which signed a multimillion-dollar deal to provide artificial intelligence systems, radar, and drone interdiction technology to U.S. cities hosting the tournament. “You’re going to see how it work…

For too long, design has been too focused on how things look. That makes sense when products are competing for attention. Form becomes a way to stand out, a signal of taste, a shortcut to desire. But it’s fleeting. A shopper may feel good at checkout, then realize later that the product doesn’t actually enhance her life. That’s a failure. Most products don’t fail because they look bad. They fail because they don’t hold up in real life. They’re hard to open, awkward to carry, confusing to use, fine in ideal conditions but frustrating everywhere else. As a society, we’ve been designing for the moment of purchase, not the reality of use, and not for the long term. Re…

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. Jim Collins, coauthor of Built to Last and author of Good to Great, didn’t set out to write another management book. His new work, What to Make of a Life: Cliffs, Fog, Fire and the Self-Knowledge Imperative, is a deeply researched meditation on how individuals navigate life’s transitio…

Today, April 6, 2026, is Easter Monday. It’s the final part of the long Easter Weekend, which runs from Good Friday through today. In several countries around the world, including Canada and Australia, Easter Monday is a public holiday. But what about here in America, and what stores and institutions are closed for the day? Here’s what you need to know. Is Easter Monday a national holiday? No. Although Easter Monday is observed as a national holiday in dozens of countries worldwide, it is not a national holiday in the United States. This means that federal agencies—at least those not affected by the ongoing partial government shutdown—will operate as usua…

For years companies have been operating as though working parents with young children are the center of the work-life balance issue. Taking care of little kids is intense, to be sure. But the truth is the real work-life crisis isn’t at that point in their lives. It’s coming in five, ten, or fifteen years. This is the Caregiving Cliff, the time when the highest paid, most tenured, or most worthy of promotion start cracking under the pressure of taking care of kids, aging parents, and their own health needs. The moment when peak earning meets peak caregiving Recently, I spoke with a 47-year-old who had just turned down a promotion. She loved her job and wanted the pr…