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Hi there! My name is Marcus Collins, DBA, and I study culture and its influence and impact on human behavior at the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan. Each week, this column will explore the inner workings of organizational culture and the mechanisms that make it tick. Every entry will be accompanied by an episode from my podcast, From the Culture, that digs deeper into the culture of work from my conversations with the organizational leaders that make it all happen. If culture eats strategy for breakfast, then this is the most important conversation in business that you are not having. Sign up for the newsletter to make sure you don’t miss a beat. __…

Social media companies have revoked access to about 4.7 million accounts identified as belonging to children in Australia since the country banned use of the platforms by those under 16, officials said. “We stared down everybody who said it couldn’t be done, some of the most powerful and rich companies in the world and their supporters,” communications minister Anika Wells told reporters on Friday. “Now Australian parents can be confident that their kids can have their childhoods back.” The figures, reported to Australia’s government by 10 social media platforms, were the first to show the scale of the landmark ban since it was enacted in December over fears about…

More buildings are being converted into apartments in the U.S. than ever before, and it’s not just old offices that are finding new use. After the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted relocation patterns and work arrangements nationwide, suddenly vacant city office space seemed like prime real estate for housing. But it’s actually hotels more than any other building type that are driving the spike in conversions now: Hotels made up 37% of all apartment conversions in 2024, followed by offices at 24%, industrial at 19%, schools at 8%, and other at 12%. New sourcing to meet newfound growth This shift in sourcing comes at a time when a record number of converted apartments…

Starting today, McDonald’s U.S. customers will finally have access to the newest McValue platform, an updated menu that the burger chain has touted as offering more flexibility and better deals. Don’t be surprised if your next trip to the drive-thru isn’t meaningfully cheaper as a result. Announced earlier this month, the new menu offers an array of breakfast, lunch, and dinner items for under $3. While that’s an attractive price point to be sure, it’s not quite as attractive to some customers as what was on offer with the original McValue menu when it was introduced last year. That menu, you might recall, allowed customers to add various items for just $1 i…

A few days ago, I wrapped a coaching call with a senior executive navigating a complex restructuring—work that demands steadiness in ambiguity, patience when emotions rise, and the discipline to stay grounded while others are spinning. Minutes later, I walked into my kitchen and found my child in a mismatched Halloween costume, eating shredded cheese out of the bag, and crying because her Lego creation was “too wobbly to be art.” The contrast was sharp, but the underlying lesson was familiar. Parenting and leadership rarely feel similar in form, but they draw on the same internal architecture. Both require influence without force, emotional regulation under pressure, …

When Olympic skier Eileen Gu walked the steps of the Metropolitan Museum of Art at the Met Gala on May 4, she wore a short, shimmering gown that appeared to be made of thousands of iridescent soap bubbles caught mid-float, clustered across her body and trailing into the air behind her. Eileen Gu It was created by Iris van Herpen in collaboration with the Tokyo-London design studio A.A.Murakami. Assembled from 15,000 hand-formed glass bubbles, it took 2,550 hours to construct, and contained hidden microprocessors that released real bubbles into the air as Gu moved. It was also a glimpse into the show that opens at the Brooklyn Museum on May 16: Iris van Herpen: …

On a recent flight, I watched a woman try to sneak an oversize briefcase and suitcase onto the plane. When challenged, she waved her boarding pass at the gate agent and declared, “Do you see what that says?” pointing to her top-tier status. “That means I get to do what I want.” Her sense of entitlement was staggering, but familiar. Leaders of organizational transformation, such as major digital/data analytical capability overhauls, or launching a new set off offerings across the globe, often cling to equally delusional rationalizations. And just like that traveler, their self-justifications backfire. The odds of transformation success are already dismal: 70% to 80…

At one point in my life, I managed a team of seven. My days consisted of 1:1 calls, performance reviews, and running interference between the team, other departments, and customers. I thought that’s what I wanted: the perceived power and responsibility of being a manager. But in reality, it was very stressful. Today, I have been a solopreneur for three years. The assumption is that solo businesses are a starting point. You launch alone, build momentum, hire employees, and scale. That’s the entrepreneur’s playbook, right? But over 80% of small businesses in the U.S. have no employees, according to the U.S. Small Business Administration. For many of us, tha…

Ocean waves could be an enormous source of power for the grid: in the U.S., the motion of waves along coastlines could generate as much as 1.4 trillion kilowatt-hours a year, or around a third of the electricity that Americans currently use. But wave power lags far behind other renewable energy. While solar and wind dominate new power installations worldwide, wave energy remains confined to small pilot projects. This makes sense: It’s more expensive to build. And harsh ocean conditions make equipment vulnerable to damage in storms. But in Morocco, one startup is pioneering new technology that could make wave energy more viable, with projects now moving forward at a port…

For the past six years, Josh D’Amaro has overseen experiences, such as theme parks and cruises, at the Walt Disney Company. Starting March 18, he’ll add the rest of the company to his responsibilities. Disney has tapped D’Amaro as its new chief executive officer, taking the reins from Bob Iger and becoming just the ninth person to run the century-old entertainment giant. D’Amaro won a highly competitive race for the job, fending off Disney’s entertainment co-chairman, Dana Walden. Walden will remain with the company in the newly created position of president and chief creative officer. In becoming CEO, D’Amaro also becomes the public face of Disney, a role th…

December 15, 2025—the deadline for enrolling in a marketplace plan through the Affordable Care Act for 2026—came and went without an agreement on the federal subsidies that kept ACA plans more affordable for many Americans. Despite a last-ditch attempt in the House to extend ACA subsidies, with Congress adjourning for the year on December 19, it’s looking almost certain that Americans relying on ACA subsidies will face a steep increase in healthcare costs in 2026. As a gerontologist who studies the U.S. healthcare system, I’m aware that disagreements about healthcare in America have a long history. The main bone of contention is whether providing healthcare is the respon…

As the Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games unfold, something is unmistakable: Women are driving the moment. They’re leading highlight reels. Headlining broadcasts. Powering the storylines fans are sharing and following in real time. From figure skating to freestyle skiing to hockey, women athletes aren’t a side stage to the Games—they are the main event. And the data backs up what we’re all seeing. In new international research from Parity and SurveyMonkey surveying nearly 12,000 adults across the U.S., Canada, the UK/Ireland, and Australia, women’s events are as popular as—or more popular than—men’s events in the majority of Winter Olympic sports. High-profil…

The moment I rise in the morning, I check my phone. Bad habit, to be sure. But I know I’m not the only one. There is a message from an editor marked “urgent,” there is an email from the school reminding me it’s parent-visit morning, and a text from a fellow soccer mom making sure I remembered the time change for Sunday’s tournament. (I hadn’t). The day had barely started, and I already felt hopelessly behind. This is the reality for working parents everywhere. On any given day, we have many jobs: employee, caregiver, chauffeur, chef, boo-boo healer—and each has its own inbox. Once upon a time, we believed technology would make our lives easier. Instead, it taught us h…

As many families are preparing to gather for the holidays, influenza (flu) cases are spiking across the country. According to the latest data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), positive test results have reached the highest levels seen so far this season. ​The most frequently reported influenza virus this season is the influenza A H3N2 virus. Last week, Fast Company reported on a new mutated strain of influenza A H3N2, known as the subclade K flu variant, which emerged after multiple mutations. Here’s what you need to know. Recent data shows positive cases are spiking According to CDC data for the week ending December 13, 14.8% of …

Headwinds across the business world challenge any leader striving to make an impact beyond shareholder value. Few organizations know this struggle better than the B Team, born out of Richard Branson’s drive to elevate the role and responsibility of business in society. CEO Leah Seligmann shares why some leaders are pulling back, where others are pressing forward, and which actions can have the greatest impact—from climate change to diversity. This is an abridged transcript of an interview from Rapid Response, hosted by Robert Safian, former editor-in-chief of Fast Company. From the team behind the Masters of Scale podcast, Rapid Response features candid conversations wit…

I’ve been using ChatGPT and other AI tools recently for quite a few things. A few examples: Working on strategy and operations for my latest business venture, Life Story Magic. Planning how to get the most value out of the Epic ski pass I bought for the year, while balancing everything else. Putting together a stretching and DIY physical therapy plan to get my shoulders feeling better during gym workouts. Along the way, I’ve done what I think a lot of AI power users eventually wind up doing: I’ve gone into the personalization and settings and told the chatbot to be neutral, direct, and just-the-facts. I don’t want a chatbot that tells me “That is a bril…

China has become the first nation to outlaw the Tesla-style concealed door handle. Demanded by Elon Musk against the safety concerns of his own engineers, the handle and its electronic opening mechanism have been implicated in multiple fatal incidents where trapped passengers couldn’t open their doors from the inside, and emergency rescuers could not access from the outside. The Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology issued new safety rules, mandating all cars sold in the country must feature a mechanical release accessible from both the inside and outside. The new law—which takes effect on January 1, 2027—kills the flush, electronic handles that have in…

Your inbox is brimming with new emails, and you need to decide which to reply to quickly and which to ignore. You try to schedule something for next week, but your calendar is already packed with recurring meetings. So many employees have asked for a particular day off—or requested a particular shift schedule—that you can’t grant all their requests. You post a job listing for a single position and get 250 applications. These situations arise constantly in our work lives, and their analogues come up in our personal lives. But despite their frequency, we often struggle with how to handle them. We barrel through our inbox and move things around on our calendar. We follow (p…

Every four years, the men’s World Cup delivers some certainties. The pitch dimensions are tightly regulated, offside is signaled with a flag, and referees end the match with a blast of a whistle. But one key piece of equipment is changed on purpose: the ball. Adidas, which has supplied World Cup soccer balls since 1970, introduces a new match ball for every tournament, and with that comes fresh aerodynamic calculations for players. How will it fly through the air, weave and dip? For the past 20 years, my engineering colleagues in Japan and England and I have put the new balls through their paces, investigating soccer ball aerodynamics. Our work begins by putting b…

The AI data center building boom isn’t fueling just water shortage concerns and GPU-maker Nvidia’s coffers. It is now also firmly making memory chip makers and their investors significantly richer. Yesterday, two of the largest memory makers, Micron Technology and Sandisk, saw their stock prices soar more than 11% in a single trading session. And those gains are small potatoes compared to their five-day increases. But why is this happening? Here’s what you need to know. What’s happened? Yesterday, all four of the Nasdaq’s major memory chip makers saw their stock prices jump. Those four memory makers include: Micron Technology, Inc. (Nasdaq: MU) Sa…

On Friday, Moderna’s mCombriax—a combined vaccine for both the flu and COVID—was recommended for authorization by European regulators, which opens the door for the vaccine’s approval in the European Union. The European Medicines Agency, the regulator granting the recommendation (or adopting a “positive opinion” on recommending it for market authorization), said that the messenger RNA vaccine should help protect “people aged 50 years and older against COVID-19 and seasonal influenza (flu),” in a statement. The shot works like any other vaccine, effectively prepping the human body to defend itself against foreign infection, with the messenger RNA contained within …

AI coding agents have become one of the fastest-growing categories in enterprise software. In the span of just a few years, these development tools have evolved from simple autocomplete assistants into autonomous systems capable of taking over the complete software development cycle, all via natural language prompts. As vibe-coding takes off, tools from startups like Cursor and Anthropic’s Claude Code have quickly reached multibillion‑dollar revenue run rates. Cursor reportedly crossed $1 billion in annual recurring revenue (ARR) in 2025 and has since approached $2 billion in Q1 of 2026. Anthropic’s Claude Code has scaled even faster, reaching an estimated $2.5 billion …