Blog, YouTube & Content Monetization

After watching videos of a Delta Air Lines jet catch fire upon landing and flip over on a Toronto runway, it’s fair to wonder how anyone could have survived. But aviation experts said it was not surprising that all 76 passengers and four crew walked away from Monday’s disaster, with 21 people suffering minor injuries and only one still hospitalized on Wednesday. It’s a credit, they said, to advances in plane design as well as a crew that flawlessly executed an evacuation plan. “When I first saw (footage of) that aircraft upside down at the airport, I was like: ‘How can that happen? And how can anybody survive that?’” Michael McCormick, an assistant professor and p…

In “The Mindset of Making,” Oliver Jeffers shared a compelling invitation: “Simply make as an extension of being alive.” His wisdom ignited my imagination. Too often, we associate creativity with being an artist, when all of us are creators. What might the world look like if we tapped into our innate creativity? “The world is a result of all of us as creators and storytellers,” Jeffers shares. “All human beings are is a collection of stories: There are the stories that we’re told, the stories that are told about us, and then the stories that we tell.” “We’re all born with this sense of surviving and then making—that is the reason that civilization flourishe…

The Oscars are less than a month away, but before Hollywood’s biggest night, the folks across the pond have their turn to celebrate. The British Academy of Film and Television Arts Awards (BAFTAs) will take place on Sunday, February 16, at London’s Royal Festival Hall. Historically viewed as a strong predictor of the Oscars, the BAFTAs just might offer a sneak peak of what’s to come—especially in this unconventional year full of controversies, disasters, and shifting front-runners. Here’s everything you should know and how to tune in. What does Prince William have to do with it? As part of his royal duties, the prince of Wales is the president of BAFTA. He and…

If you’ve ever been to a Nashville honky-tonk, you’ve witnessed the chorus of cowboy boots, the thrumming acoustic guitars, the roadhouse neon, the Stetsons, the buoyant bourbon-and-barbecue-fueled energy. You probably wouldn’t describe this scene as simply “a bar.” And yet, if you’re blind or have low vision and happen to use a screen reader to read the alt text of a photo of a honky-tonk, that’s likely the description you would get: “This is an image of a bar.” “The current [state of alt text] is pretty abysmal, just to be quite candid. It’s almost a bit ‘out of sight, out of mind,’ literally and figuratively,” says Josh Loebner, creative marketing agency VML’s…

Gen Z came of age in an environment that previous generations couldn’t have imagined when we entered the workforce. They’ve never known the world without the internet or cellphones. Their education and early career paths were disrupted by a global pandemic that kept them at home, learning and working over a screen. They’ve been learning digital skills their entire lives. It’s no wonder that their perspective on work is different than ours—and it’s time for us to pay attention. With the aging U.S. workforce, we need to attract and retain Gen Z talent for our companies to thrive—and this means a focus on skills-first hiring. Gen Z wants employers to value the skills…

Harvard Business Publishing Corporate Learning recently surveyed leaders and L&D professionals about what they’re looking for in a leadership development program. At the top of the list? Scalability. One of my passions—and one of the reasons my company developed our own learning platform—is expanding access to leadership development, so it’s exciting to see companies recognizing how important scalability is. At the same time; however, I know that making scalability work at your organization can be a tall order. For a long time, scalability and quality have seemed at odds in leadership development. An organization could spend its budget on highly effective, b…

What do prison and business have in common? At first glance, nothing. One is a place where hope and trust are scarce, and every decision you make is a matter of survival. The other is a world built on innovation and collaboration, full of opportunities. But when you strip them both down to their core, you’ll find the same thing: leadership. And not the kind of leadership you read about in glossy books. I’m talking about real-life, earned leadership. My name is Andre Norman, and I was once sentenced to more than 100 years in prison. That kind of time breaks most men. But I worked day in and day out to earn my freedom and, after 14 years, I reentered the world as a comp…

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. For Generation Z, real estate is more than just settling down—it’s about staying connected, empowered, and mobile. Born between the mid-1990s and early 2010s, they are the first fully digital generation, raised on smartphones, cloud-based everything, and on-demand convenience. Gen Z’s influence on the housing market is rooted in their expectations. They bring a consumer mindset to renting …

In the second season of Severance, there’s an unexpected character: a child supervisor named Miss Huang, who matter-of-factly explains she’s a child “because of when I was born.” Miss Huang’s deadpan response is more than just a clever quip. Like so much in the Apple TV+ series, which has broken viewership records for the streaming service, I think it reveals a devastating truth about the role of work in the 21st century. As a scholar of childhood studies, I also see historical echoes: What constitutes a “child”—and whether one gets to claim childhood at all—has always depended on when and where a person is born. An age of innocence? Americans are deeply in…

Windstorms can seem like they come out of nowhere, hitting with a sudden blast. They might be hundreds of miles long, stretching over several states, or just in your neighborhood. But they all have one thing in common: a change in air pressure. Just like air rushing out of your car tire when the valve is open, air in the atmosphere is forced from areas of high pressure to areas of low pressure. The stronger the difference in pressure, the stronger the winds that will ultimately result. On this forecast for March 18, 2025, from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, L represents low-pressure systems. The shaded area over New Mexico and west Te…

“China has already won the materials war.” Andrew Barron, one of the top materials experts on the planet, didn’t mince words when I interviewed him for a documentary on the dangers of our civilization’s dependency on China’s quasi-monopoly of rare earth minerals. If the world does not stop depending on China’s supply of rare earths, he warned two years ago, we could face an economic collapse in just a few decades. It sounds like a dystopian sci-fi movie, but this potentially catastrophic scenario began this week for the United States, when Xi Jinping’s government issued an immediate suspension of rare earth mineral and magnet exports, retaliating against Presiden…

You may have noticed that the Google-owned video-sharing site’s infamous red play logo is now rendered in a softer, more pinkish hue. That’s because user research revealed that the company’s logo color rated as one of its top three most outdated design elements. Last updated in 2017, YouTube’s old brand color was a pure red that users perceived to be “too loud when implemented in key UI moments,” Robyn Lee, YouTube’s visual design lead, said in a Google Design blog post. From top: The old red vs. the new [Image: YouTube]The old red had other technical problems, too, like rendering orange on some screens and causing a burn-in effect on TVs—a major issue considering YouTube…

Companies are spending more than $65 billion globally on corporate wellness, offering everything from meditation rooms and resilience webinars to nap pods and self-help apps. Projections suggest this market will exceed $100 billion by 2032. And yet burnout is worse than ever. Post-pandemic, 77% of U.S. employees report experiencing workplace stress, according to the American Psychological Association, and 82% say they’re at risk of burnout. Experts blame collaboration overload, digital fatigue, and blurred work-life boundaries. Even artificial intelligence tools like ChatGPT, intended to streamline work, can amplify pressure by raising expectations for speed and o…

The discount retailer that plans to take over and operate hundreds of Big Lots stores is closer to deciding which locations it will save. Some 200 Big Lots leases have been designated to be transferred to Variety Wholesalers, the North Carolina-based owner of Roses and other discount chains, new court documents show. In a bankruptcy filing dated Monday, Big Lots said it will transfer the locations as part of its agreement with Gordon Brothers, the restructuring and investment firm that took control of the embattled retailer earlier this year. The list includes Big Lots locations across more than a dozen states, mostly in the South and Midwest regions. It’s un…

The AI industry is growing up fast. New model releases are now a regular event and premium AI features are quickly overtaken by free or freemium alternatives. Exhibit A: OpenAI unveiled its Deep Research tool, which can write reports on complex topics in minutes, as part of its $200-a-month Pro package, but rival Perplexity gives non-subscribers some access to its Deep Research assistant free of charge. (Yes, Google Gemini’s agentic research assistant is also called Deep Research.) With fewer fundamental breakthroughs, the likes of OpenAI, Anthropic, and xAI are slugging it out over incremental improvements in search and reasoning performance. As AI pricing falls …

Bestselling author Malcolm Gladwell and award-winning creator Kenya Barris sat down with Fast Company’s KC Ifeanyi at the FC Grill at SXSW. The trio discussed The Unusual Suspects, Gladwell and Barris’s latest podcast series, as well as their business partnership and creative process. Stay tuned for key takeaways from their conversation and why The Unusual Suspects is a must-listen. https://www.audible.com/pd/The-Unusual-Suspects-with-Kenya-Barris-and-Malcolm-Gladwell-Audiobook/B0DNLMFCX7 View the full article

When workers repaved part of Interstate 94 near Minneapolis last fall, it looked like they were pouring ordinary concrete. But instead the highway was the first to use a new, near-zero-emissions material. It’s one of a series of large projects to use material from C-Crete, a Bay Area-based startup. Shortly, the highway was repaved, and the company poured slabs and foundations at San Francisco International Airport. Earlier in the summer, it also poured a floor slab in a super-tall skyscraper under construction in Manhattan, the future headquarters of JPMorgan Chase. Other projects are underway now. [Photo: courtesy C-Crete Technologies] Producing cement, the gl…

The 2001 Tilda Swinton film The Deep End features a scene that has stuck with me for nearly 25 years, even though I’ve forgotten almost everything else about the movie. Swinton’s character is being blackmailed for $50,000 and is given 24 hours to come up with the cash. Although her character is shown to live a comfortable, upper-middle-class life, she spends a stressful day on the phone trying to find the money—and she misses the deadline. As a budding money nerd, I wondered what I would do in her situation. I had some go-to sources of cash for smaller financial emergencies, but there was a limit to how much I could gather quickly. The thing is, everyone has a lim…

You’re applying for a job and made it to the next step in the hiring process: the dreaded personality assessment. Few people like to take these tests—especially when a job offer hinges on it. And are these tests even legit? You want to showcase that you’re right for the job, and some of the questions seem like no-brainers. For example, if you’re asked to assess statements such as “I like to learn new skills” by choosing from “strongly agree,” “agree,” “neither agree nor disagree,” “disagree,” “strongly disagree,” you’ll likely choose “strongly agree.” Others are more nuanced, such as being asked to complete this sentence: “When I set goals at work, I choose …

Workers at an Amazon warehouse in North Carolina rejected a proposal to unionize, becoming the latest group of the company’s employees to side against union representation. About three-quarters of employees at an Amazon fulfillment center in Garner, a town located near Raleigh, voted against joining a grassroots labor organization called Carolina Amazonians United for Solidarity and Empowerment, the National Labor Relations Board announced Saturday. The federal labor agency said 2,447 workers cast ballots against union representation while 829 voted in favor of joining the independent union, which is made up of former and current Amazon workers. The NLRB had said …

Tj Power is the lead neuroscientist at the DOSE Lab and cofounder of Neurify, a trailblazing organization in the mental health sector. He is also a renowned international speaker, having captivated audiences worldwide and worked with major corporations and health services. What’s the big idea? Human brain chemistry is at odds with modern lifestyles. The activities and habits that naturally boost dopamine, oxytocin, serotonin, and endorphins have been largely replaced by routines that leave us feeling depleted. Uplift mood, tune focus, boost energy, and deepen relationships by fostering optimum conditions for your body’s favorite neurotransmitters. Below, Tj sha…

Home Depot broke a two-year slump in same store sales during the fourth quarter as customer demand improved in a housing market that has been buffeted by soaring mortgage rates and a scarcity of homes up for sale. Revenue for the Atlanta company climbed to $39.7 billion from $34.79 billion. Analysts polled by FactSet were calling for $39.15 billion. Home Depot Inc. said Tuesday that the extra week in the quarter added approximately $2.5 billion in sales for the period. Sales at stores open at least a year, a key indicator of a retailer’s health, edged up 0.8%. In the U.S., comparable store sales rose 1.3%. It is the first quarterly increase since January 2023 and much …

In the past five years, more satellites have been launched into Earth’s atmosphere than the preceding 60 years combined. And now, scientists believe that climate change is set to increase the number of old satellites that will turn into floating obstacles. That’s according to a study published last week in the Nature Sustainability journal by a team of aerospace engineers at MIT. The researchers examined how greenhouse gases are impacting Earth’s upper atmosphere and, in turn, the objects orbiting within it. They found that, as emissions increase, they’re actually altering the natural process that allows satellites to fall out of orbit and disintegrate, resulting in a…

Jennifer Moss is a journalist, internationally acclaimed keynote speaker, and co-founder of the Work Better Institute. Her book The Burnout Epidemic was among Thinkers50’s 10 Best New Management Books for 2022. What’s the big idea? Leaders don’t need to take a ton of time overhauling company culture to create workplaces where employees want to spend their time. Simple shifts and incremental changes can foster community, fuel purpose, boost productivity, and deliver meaning to every team member. Jobs that employees actually like are the ultimate capitalist business strategy. Below, Jennifer shares eight key insights from her new book, Why Are We Here?: Creating …

Just a couple of years ago, pundits were warning of streaming’s demise. From Netflix to Spotify, these companies were burning through cash. How could they keep operating? Now, almost all of the streamers have made it to positive profits. Netflix is the envy of the entertainment industry, while its underlings like Disney+ and Max have also turned around their losses. Last Tuesday, Spotify shares jumped 13% after the company announced its first full year of profitability. There are still stragglers, but on the whole, streaming has formed itself into a successful business model. There’s a lesson here: For emerging tech, there’s value in patience. It took streaming …