Blog, YouTube & Content Monetization

A momentous week in the technology sector made it clear there is no sign the boom in building artificial intelligence infrastructure is slowing — despite the bubble talk. Nvidia, whose processors are the AI revolution’s backbone, became the first company to surpass $5 trillion in market value. Microsoft and OpenAI inked a deal enhancing the ChatGPT maker’s fundraising ability and OpenAI promptly started laying groundwork for an initial public offering that could value the company at $1 trillion. Amazon said it would cut 14,000 corporate jobs, just days before its cloud unit posted its strongest growth in nearly three years. These developments, along with numer…

Ted Bundy had courtroom groupies. Jeffrey Dahmer and Richard Ramirez were sent love letters in prison. Now, in the age of social media, thousands like, share, and thirst in the comments over stylized fan edits of serial killers. There’s a term for this psychological phenomenon: hybristophilia. A new study has found a connection between young women’s engagement with this type of TikTok content and their sexual attraction to criminals. Those who liked or repeatedly watched clips glorifying notorious serial killers such as Ted Bundy and Jeffrey Dahmer or fictional villains like Joe Goldberg from Netflix’s “You,” scored higher for hybristophilia, than those who scro…

Fans of the Outback Steakhouse chain will be disappointed to learn that its parent company, Bloomin’ Brands, has recently closed a number of locations. The closures are yet another sign that major restaurant chains are facing significant headwinds as costs increase and consumers grow increasingly cautious of how they spend their discretionary dollars. Here’s what you need to know. What’s happened? Recently, Bloomin’ Brands, owner of Outback Steakhouse, closed a handful of chain’s locations. Many of these closures were first reported on social media and by local news outlets. Outback Steakhouse is an Australian-themed casual dining chain that was first fou…

For decades now, we have been told that artificial intelligence systems will soon replace human workers. Sixty years ago, for example, Herbert Simon, who received a Nobel Prize in economics and a Turing Award in computing, predicted that “machines will be capable, within 20 years, of doing any work a man can do.” More recently, we have Daniel Susskind’s 2020 award-winning book with the title that says it all: A World Without Work. Are these bleak predictions finally coming true? ChatGPT turns 3 years old this month, and many think large language models will finally deliver on the promise of AI replacing human workers. LLMs can be used to write emails and reports, summari…

The headlines are clear: AI is disrupting entry-level jobs across industries, including consulting and professional services. There’s just one problem. Eliminating these roles overlooks a critical business need—your pipeline of next generation leaders. The rush from pyramid to diamond workforce models is short-sighted. In the pyramid model, you grow leaders from the ground up. In the diamond model, you cut the base and bet on later-stage talent to carry the weight. It may look efficient now, but it comes at the expense of long-term leadership development. If we don’t shift the trajectory, it’s likely to worsen the leadership gender gap. Despite women outpacing men…

Over the past 50 years in the shoe trade, I have had my fair share of failure. The biggest lesson I learned, at the start of my career, is not to devote time and energy to a business or project that has little chance of success. This might sound obvious, however sometimes you are so involved in the detail of the day to day running of the business that you don’t stand back and question the future viability of what you are doing. I was a women’s shoe manufacturer in London in the 1980s. If I had looked at the big picture I would have seen that the future of manufacturing in the U.K. for low technology, high labor content businesses like footwear manufacturing, was unsusta…

Last June, LinkedIn CEO Ryan Roslansky took on a second job. Microsoft, the social network for business professionals’ owner since 2016, expanded his responsibilities to include Microsoft 365—the suite still better known by its former name, Microsoft Office—and its Copilot AI assistant. The role charges him with making AI useful in a productivity context, a goal that’s still very much a work in progress. But Roslansky also remains in charge of LinkedIn, a place whose entire reason for being springs from the network effect of its billion-plus members. Their unique connections, learnings, and willingness to help other people can’t be fed into an LLM and reprocessed into the…

AI was supposed to make our lives easier: automating tedious tasks, streamlining communication, and freeing up time for creative thinking. But what if the very tool meant to increase efficiency is fueling cognitive decline and burnout instead? The Workflation Effect Since AI entered the workplace, managers expect teams to produce more work in less time. They see tasks completed in two hours instead of two weeks, without understanding the process behind it. Yet, AI still makes too many mistakes for high-quality output, forcing workers to adjust, edit, and review everything it produces—creating “workflation,” which adds more work to already overloaded plates. AI has …

Transitioning to a new industry often seems like a daunting prospect if you feel like you have to start from scratch, but that’s not necessarily the case. There are numerous strategies you can employ to navigate career changes, including translating existing achievements into relevant terms, finding unique opportunity gaps, and leveraging transferable skills in meaningful ways. Take it from professionals who have personally experienced this transition (or have helped others through it): you can build forward from experience rather than starting over. Build Forward From Experience, Not From Scratch When I was transitioning from more than 20 years in corporate roles to lau…

Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket successfully made its way to orbit for the second time on Nov. 13, 2025. Although the second launch is never as flashy as the first, this mission is still significant in several ways. For one, it launched a pair of NASA spacecraft named ESCAPADE, which are headed to Mars orbit to study that planet’s magnetic environment and atmosphere. The twin spacecraft will first travel to a Lagrange point, a place where the gravity between Earth, the Moon, and the Sun balances. The ESCAPADE spacecraft will remain there until Mars is in better alignment to travel to. And two, importantly for Blue Origin, New Glenn’s first stage booster successfull…

It’s not just executives or knowledge workers in offices who are using artificial intelligence. It’s being adopted in fields like healthcare, retail, hospitality, and food services, too. But frontline workers often aren’t prepared for AI adoption. In fact, many are completely unaware that it’s being implemented in their workplaces at all. Workplace management platform Deputy surveyed 1,500 frontline workers across the U.S., U.K., and Australia for its “2025 Better Together Survey: How AI and Human Connection Will Transform Frontline Work.” The survey found that nearly half of workplaces (48%) use AI. However, only 1 in 4 workers say they regularly interact with it. B…

The gap between the release of the movie musicals Wicked: Part I and Wicked: For Good feels like the longest intermission ever. Eager fans had to wait a year before seeing the story’s conclusion, which premieres November 21. The creative team behind Wicked claims to have tried to condense the plot down to just one film, but an overabundance of material led to the decision to split it into two. Financial considerations also likely came into play as two films will make more money than one. As fans celebrate Wicked: For Good’s release week, let’s get you up to speed on everything you need to know, including projected box-office figures. Who’s in the movie? Sin…

In a new legal filing, Meta is being accused of shutting down internal research that showed people who stopped using Facebook experienced less depression, anxiety, and loneliness. The allegations come as part of a lawsuit filed by several U.S. school districts against Meta, Snap, TikTok, and other social media companies. The brief, which was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California but is not yet public, reportedly claims the study, called Project Mercury, was initiated in 2019 and was meant to explore the impact of apps on polarization, news-consumption habits, “well-being, and daily social interactions.” Plaintiffs in the suit say…

Since the launch of ChatGPT three years ago, almost everyone has used Artificial Intelligence in some fashion to help with their work and the world collectively believes AI holds potential. I have written on AI subjects three times before in this series – on strategy & AI, on AI investment, and on AI’s impact on entry level hiring. The third was co-authored with friends Ahmad Zaidi, co-founder and CEO of AI start-up TransforML, and Gui Loureiro, Regional CEO Walmart Canada, Central America, Chile and Mexico and co-author of Reinventing the Leader. That team returns for this Playing to Win/Practitioner Insight piece on leadership and AI. And as always, you can find al…

The next big meeting on your calendar might not have any other attendees—it might just be you. A growing number of high-performing leaders, including managers at Google and other Fortune 100 companies, are carving out protected “focus blocks” and treating them like mission-critical meetings. With constant pings, shallow tasks, and back-to-back calls, this might be the only way to produce strategic, high-value work. Google and Microsoft have even rolled out Focus Time features that automatically block off calendars to protect deep work. Paige Donahue is a product marketing leader at Google who helps YouTube creators grow their communities and monetize their followings. S…

Nearly a quarter of American workers didn’t take any of their vacation days this year. That’s according to a report published in October from FlexJobs based on a survey of over 3,000 U.S. workers. Despite workers being more burnt out and disengaged than ever, many refuse to take time off. Could unlimited PTO be to blame? It’s been well-documented that unlimited PTO may not be the generous gift workers are led to believe. A recent skit from TikToker and comedian Jacob Capozzi assumes the role of “the guy who invented unlimited PTO” to highlight some of the reasons why. Capozzi poses as an executive who wants to incorporate “something more interesting to get p…

Layoffs have hit American workers hard in 2025, particularly in the government and tech sectors. Already this year, well over a million jobs have been lost due to layoffs—and unfortunately, it doesn’t look like a cessation of job cuts is on the horizon. Reports say that beverage and snack giant PepsiCo is the latest major American company getting ready to announce layoffs. Here’s what you need to know. What’s happened? On Monday, PepsiCo (Nasdaq: PEP) issued a memorandum about its intention to enhance shareholder value in 2026. In the memo, PepsiCo CEO Ramon Laguarta said that the planned initiatives were to accelerate “organic revenue growth, deliver recor…

As the festive season gets into full swing, young corporate employees are taking to social media to flex their high-budget company holiday parties. “My company just brought in a whole glam squad to do our hair and makeup in the office before our holiday party,” one TikTok creator posted. The video shows an office full of employees getting their hair curled and makeup touched up. “Sometimes I love corporate America,” she wrote in the caption. The comments were full of people desperate to know which company, and industry, she works in. “My company has an $11 per person food budget,” one wrote. “This is pre-covid tech company energy and I love it for you,” ano…

The Christmas holiday season is a time to step back from the busy pace of modern life and connect with our nearest and dearest instead of screens, apps and chatbots. Here are some suggestions on how to unplug from the online world for the next few weeks as you sit down for a festive meal, exchange gifts or take time out for some self-reflection. Do not disturb me Your phone already has built-in features that can help you stop getting distracted. To temporarily silence all those attention-seeking notifications, use the Focus setting on your iPhone or Android device. This mode is designed to stop interruptions when you want to concentrate. You can customize it by blockin…

The rapid growth of data centers during the AI boom has been a dominating narrative of 2025—and, in many instances, not a popular one. Across the country, communities have pushed back against data centers planned for their cities and states. Some have even turned to online petition sites to raise awareness and voice collective opposition to data center projects in their communities. One such site, the popular platform Change.org, says it has seen a significant spike data center-related petitions in recent months. Change.org saw at least 113 petitions that mentioned data centers in 2025, the platform shared with Fast Company, totaling around 50,000 signature…

There are two sorts of people in this world: Those who think it sounds like fun to brave the elements for hours on end to watch the ball drop at midnight in Times Square on New Year’s Eve, and then there’s the rest of us. It’s become a time-honored tradition for millions of people to crowd into a few blocks of New York to celebrate a new year, and some new features await revelers this year. A larger ball will be dropped in the annual countdown to midnight, weighing in at 12,000-plus pounds and adorned with 5,200 crystals and LED lights. And there’s some special red, white, and blue confetti among the nearly three tons to celebrate the country’s 250th anniversary. …

At this year’s Web Summit in Lisbon, Hayden Brown, president and CEO of Upwork, was asked which leadership skills are most in demand today. Her answer was immediate: The demand for soft skills is rising. As AI algorithms increasingly take over routine tasks, the qualities that can’t be automated—communication clarity, the ability to work effectively with people, and conflict-resolution skills—are becoming essential for career growth. This trend extends far beyond the tech sector. According to LinkedIn’s Work Change Report, 70% of skills used across most professions will change by 2030; AI will be the main catalyst. Against this backdrop, I’ve become convinced that sof…

Rumors have been circulating online that Microsoft is preparing to cut tens of thousands of jobs. TipRanks reported that the company is “considering massive layoffs” this month, potentially eliminating between 11,000 and 22,000 roles across the Azure Cloud, Xbox, and global sales teams. According to The Seattle Times, the claims appear to have originated on anonymous online forums like Reddit and Blind before rapidly spreading across Bluesky and X, drawing widespread attention and, in turn, swift denials from Microsoft executives. Microsoft’s chief communications officer, Frank X. Shaw, took to X to refute the rumors, calling them “100 percent made up/speculative…

Sitting on a coffee table in his Chelsea office in New York City and surrounded by framed wedding invitations on the walls, Justin McLeod is worrying about AI. Specifically, the cofounder and CEO of dating app Hinge is concerned that his users—many of whom have asked him to their weddings over the years—might fall in love with it instead of one another. McLeod has spent the greater part of the past 15 years studying the dynamics of human relationships, including what makes one person fall for another, and he sees that chatbots offer exactly what many people crave. “Why would I invest in these hard human relationships with people that are not always available …