Blog, YouTube & Content Monetization

For the 150th episode of my award-winning podcast series, FUTURE OF XYZ, I sat down with Nick Foster, former head of design at Google X and leading futures designer. We quickly found common ground in our strong belief that society doesn’t think about the future in the right way. ​​Too often, the future is reduced to flashy visions, both in media headlines and through messages from leading corporations. The future feels like a sci-fi movie that still seems far away. Nick and I both believe the future isn’t some distant fantasy, but rather a tomorrow already unfolding before us. To prepare, we must pay closer attention to what we know now and how people are acting today. Wh…

Featuring Tarana Burke, Author, Activist, Founder of the “Me Too” Movement. Moderated by Yasmin Gagne, Staff Editor. Just eight years ago, the Me Too movement inspired a viral hashtag, sparked a global conversation, and championed the voices of survivors. But it didn’t take long for opposing forces to mobilize. In the past few years, we’ve seen the overturning of Roe v. Wade, the platforming of influencers who proudly self-identify as incels, and sitting politicians perpetuating sexual abuse. Join Tarana Burke, founder of the Me Too movement and chief visionary officer of Me Too International, for a one-on-one conversation exploring what it means to plan for the move…

What’s one thing most Americans likely don’t know? Demand for donor sperm is increasing. Initially established in the 1970s to help men undergoing vasectomies and facing cancer treatments, sperm banks today support people facing a wide range of challenges on their path to pregnancy. Alongside heterosexual couples dealing with infertility issues like azoospermia and young men facing cancer diagnosis, single mothers by choice, and same-sex couples are frequently turning to sperm banks in hopes of building their family. With approximately 1,500 sperm donors serving the entire United States, a new sperm bank, Premier Sperm Bank, is venturing to address modern family build…

The U.S. workforce is facing a pivotal challenge: A widening skills gap that threatens economic growth and innovation. While demographic trends—like declining birth rates and a shrinking pipeline of young workers—are real, the more actionable issue is the growing mismatch between the skills employers need and those available in the labor market. According to Pearson’s recent “Lost in Transition” research, nearly 90% of U.S. employers report difficulty finding candidates with the right skills, and more than half of workers feel unprepared for the demands of the future workplace. This problem is decades in the making, and its consequences will be global. Without …

Companies today are facing a paradox they can’t seem to solve: Roles are going unfilled while millions of capable workers remain overlooked. Work has changed. That much is undeniable. Artificial intelligence, automation, demographic shifts, and economic pressure are reshaping how companies operate and who they need to hire. The future of work isn’t on the horizon; it has already arrived. Yet the way most organizations approach hiring and workforce development remains rooted in the past. The consequences are increasingly visible. Job growth has slowed from its post-pandemic peak. Layoffs are rising across sectors. And still, critical roles in healthcare, cybers…

The Fast Company Impact Council is an invitation-only membership community of leaders, experts, executives, and entrepreneurs who share their insights with our audience. Members pay annual dues for access to peer learning, thought leadership opportunities, events and more. The way we work is changing. Artificial intelligence is rapidly transforming the workplace, automating tasks, creating new efficiencies, and helping us accomplish more across virtually all industries. In this environment, new hiring strategies based on evaluating a candidate’s full skillset—including their ability to problem-solve, think creatively, and adapt rather than solely relying on…

There’s no shortage of apocalyptic headlines about the future of work in the era of artificial intelligence. For workers, the technology has inflicted anxiety and uncertainty, provoking questions of when, how many, and which kinds of workers will be replaced. Companies have been propelled into a FOMO fury to integrate AI expediently or miss out on efficiency, cost savings, and competitive advantage. The disruption is inevitable, but from where I sit at the nexus of employee mental health and technology, we’re asking the wrong questions. Enhancing, not replacing, humans As CEO of Calm, I have spent the past year visiting with executives and their teams across the co…

Unless you spend your time in boardrooms and C-suites, there’s a decent chance you’ve never heard of the Future Today Strategy Group (FTSG). There’s also a better than decent chance you’ve encountered its influence. Every year the consulting firm publishes a massive tech trends report that maps emerging threats, white spaces, and opportunities early enough for companies to act on them. Past editions have flagged shifts around synthetic media, digital humans, and generative AI before they entered the mainstream conversation. And some major institutions are clearly paying attention: FTSG’s client list includes Mastercard, Ford, and NASA. Which makes what’s happening ons…

Below, Tim Elmore shares five key insights from his new book, The Future Begins with Z: Nine Strategies to Lead Generation Z as They Disrupt the Workplace. Elmore is the founder and CEO of Growing Leaders, a nonprofit dedicated to developing emerging leaders. As a speaker and coach, he has helped organizations from universities to Fortune 500 companies connect more effectively across generations. What’s the big idea? Many leaders are scratching their heads over Gen Z. The old playbook doesn’t work anymore—but figuring out how to engage and collaborate with this generation is what turns good leaders into great ones. Listen to the audio version of this Book B…

Gen Z is aging into the life moments that define entire industries. As this generation moves through milestones like marriage, homeownership, and family planning, they’re quickly becoming a core target market not just for weddings, but for a wide range of service-based businesses. What matters for these small businesses is how Gen Z’s arrival, set against today’s economic backdrop, is reshaping expectations for how they serve their customers. While about one in three couples on The Knot in the U.S. are Gen Z, the majority are still a few years away from the peak marrying age of 33. We do know, however, that they are interested in doing so, with 69% of unmarried adults ag…

Despite ongoing efforts to address increased costs, out-of-pocket spending on healthcare continues to rise. Higher insurance copays and deductibles, increased medication costs, and rising inflation rates are just a few of the factors contributing to this trend. As a result, millions of Americans find themselves racking up medical debt, deferring critical medical treatment, or neglecting chronic health conditions. But the cost burden isn’t equal by gender. Many people have heard of the “pink tax,” the pattern of women’s goods and services—from razors to dry cleaning—costing more than the men’s equivalent. But few realize how far this extends beyond store shelves. Acros…

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…

From changing the daily workflow to the way we order food at a kiosk, AI is showing up in just about everything we do. But according to a new report, the way people use AI differs based on generation. And some of those ways are downright weird. The new insights come from a survey by AI-powered study aid Edubrain of 3,000 Americans ages 18 to 60. (Boomers weren’t included in the survey, but according to other recent research, they’re the least likely to use AI). It found that when it comes to who is using AI the most regularly, it’s not the youngest tech-savvy group. It’s actually millennials: 37% of the group uses it daily, while only 25% of Gen Zers, and 19% of …

The J. Paul Getty Trust has a flexible new logo that ties its extensive art collections and various programs into a single yet versatile identity. The trust, founded in 1953, today runs the Getty Center and Getty Villa art museums in Los Angeles, as well as a foundation, conservation institute, and research institute. The new logo brings all the entities together as a unified brand. “We needed a visual identity that was uniquely Getty and distinct enough to unify how we show up globally,” Yasmine Vatere, assistant director of brand management and marketing, said in a statement. Famed designer Saul Bass created the outgoing logo for the opening of the G…

Weight loss culture in America is nothing new: Our collective obsession with being thin is more than a societal ideal—it’s practically a religion. But in a country where self-improvement through hard work is lauded, the quick-fix GLP-1 weight loss revolution—without the “no-pain, no-gain” labor—might just rub people the wrong way. That’s the suggestion of a new Rice University study published last month in the International Journal of Obesity. According to the study, despite the popularity of GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic, Wegovy, and Zepbound and their impressive effectiveness, and despite that many people praise the dramatic results, your friends and neighbors may still …

Sales of graphic novels have doubled over the past five years, to some parents’ dismay. But data shows these books can have a positive lifelong impact on young readers. View the full article

During the week of March 23, a truck carrying Nestlé’s new Formula One-themed KitKat bars was making its way from picturesque central Italy to its intended destination of Poland. Somewhere along the way, the truck was intercepted and approximately 12 tons of the bars—or more than 413,793 KitKats—were stolen. The whereabouts of both the bars and the truck are still unknown. Despite all odds, this is shaping up to be a huge win for Nestlé. The Swiss food giant confirmed the chocolate heist to The Athletic on March 28, explaining that the bars in the truck were part of KitKat’s first season as F1’s official chocolate partner. No one was hurt in the process,…

If you hear your organization talking about the Great ShakeOut, it has nothing to do with Taylor Swift or Florence and the Machine. Instead, this international event promotes earthquake preparedness. Having a plan greatly improves outcomes and saves lives. On October 16 at 10:16 a.m. local time, millions will be practicing how to properly drop, cover, and hold on. Let’s take a look at the science behind earthquakes, the regions they impact, and how to participate in the Great ShakeOut. What actually causes an earthquake? The Earth’s outer layer is made up of seven major tectonic plates. Think of these as patches of a quilt that isn’t stitched together per…