Blog, YouTube & Content Monetization

The battle of the burgers is on. But at the center, there’s no actual fast food. Instead, it features viral moments of the companies’ leaders. In case you missed it: Last weekend, an Instagram video of McDonald’s CEO and chairman Chris Kempczinski—looking rather uncomfortable as he sampled his own company’s newly launched Big Arch burger—was widely circulated and mocked across the internet. He took only one small bite and repeatedly called the food a “product.” “I love this product,” Kempczinski said. “It is so good.” The comments were ruthless. “From this video, it seems likely the CEO of McDonald’s has never eaten McDonald’s before,” one user wrote. “What a…

Economist Larry Summers will resign from his tenured job as a professor at Harvard University, the school announced on Feb. 25, 2026, following heightened scrutiny of his ties with the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Summers will leave at the end of the 2025-26 academic year, with a new title: president emeritus. It’s a soft landing for his fall from grace. In November 2025, Harvard launched an investigation of Summers, a former U.S. Treasury secretary who previously served as Harvard’s president. The probe looked into whether Summers and other members of Harvard’s faculty and administration had interactions with Epstein that violated its guidelin…

Authenticity is a critical leadership trait. Research shows that it facilitates more trusting relationships and a more positive working environment. Often, though, in my executive coaching practice, I hear senior leaders use ‘authenticity’ as a covert excuse to resist development. When clients say, “That doesn’t feel authentic,” it’s often a signal they’re avoiding growth. They’re fearfully or righteously attached to a static version of their leadership. This is a major liability. As leaders elevate in seniority, they must adapt their approach. They need to experiment with different ways of thinking, communicating, and engaging to navigate increased scope and complexi…

Since its invention in 1903, the classic Monopoly board game has spawned such a plethora of spin-offs that they nearly span the breadth of all possible human interests. From gardening and beer drinking to the FIFA World Cup, Star Wars, and the city of Edinburgh, Scotland, if you can think of it, there’s a fair chance it’s been turned into a Monopoly game. Now there’s yet another version out there. This one celebrates the life and legacy of artist Keith Haring in a design by WS Game Co., a licensee of Hasbro (Monopoly’s parent company) that specializes in deluxe versions of classic tabletop games. For the 40th anniversary of Haring’s iconic New York City store, Po…

On the northern outskirts of Beijing, massive holes in the earth bear the scars of what it’s taken to fuel the Chinese capital’s growth into a sprawling megacity that more than 22 million people call home. The site was a quarry that from 1990 to 2015 provided the raw material to help Beijing grow at hyperspeed, supplying everything from skyscrapers to roads to the main stadium built for the 2008 Summer Olympics. Last operated by Beijing Xingfa Cement Co., its closure left behind a negative space that is the inverse of the vertical urbanity of Beijing. Now, after nearly a decade of planning and design, the quarry’s rehabilitation into a striking and surreal 265-acre p…

Gap stock is plummeting this morning in early trading after the company reported its fourth-quarter results after the bell yesterday. As of this writing, shares of Gap Inc. (NYSE: GAP) are down more than 12%, and its recent temporary store closures are partly to blame for that. Here’s what you need to know. Gap’s Q4 2025 results The iconic retail chain turns 56 this year, and during its long life, it has seen its fair share of ups and downs. The company’s name-brand Gap stores were an iconic mall staple in the 80s and 90s, but in the early 21st century, the brand faced growing competition from online rivals and shifting brand loyalties among Gen Z—something the com…

After losing an hour of shut-eye, thanks to daylight savings time, sleep is one many people’s minds today. The day after we “spring forward,” people are significantly more tired—and cranky—due to that lost hour of sleep, which disrupts our natural circadian rhythm, increasing the risks of car accidents, strokes and even heart attacks, according to John Hopkins’s Bloomberg School of Health. In honor of Sleep Awareness Week—that elusive thing many Americans just don’t get enough of—we though we would introduce you to the Dutch method for getting a good night’s rest. In the U.S., “sleep hygiene” a popular way to clean up your sleep routine, is a hack that comes…

The parents of a girl critically wounded in a school shooting in Canada alleged in a civil lawsuit Monday that ChatGPT-maker OpenAI knew the shooter was planning a mass attack. OpenAI has said it considered but didn’t alert police about the activities of the person who months later committed one of Canada’s worst school shootings in Tumbler Ridge, British Columbia, on Feb. 10. OpenAI came forward to police after Jesse Van Roostselaar killed eight people and then herself last month, saying the attacker’s ChatGPT account had been closed but that she evaded the ban by having a second account. The legal claim filed in the British Columbia Supreme Court alleged that OpenAI …

Alex Cooper was driving a hot pink Jeep through the desert with former Saturday Night Live cast member Aidy Bryant and Italian actress Sabrina Impacciatore, of White Lotus fame. Suddenly, their cell service dropped to zero, just as Bryant was trying to send an important contract and Impacciatore was in a heated text exchange with her boyfriend, Jared. But Cooper had their backs. Thanks to the satellite service on Cooper’s phone, Bryant was able to send her document and close the deal. Impacciatore, meanwhile, got through the text-dot purgatory (“DOT DOT DOT WHAT?”) to find out that Jared wanted to move in together. “Time to move on,” Impacciatore declared, upon re…

During the final weeks of his battle with ALS, the late actor Eric Dane teamed up with ElevenLabs to restore his voice with the use of artificial intelligence technology—creating an emotional moment for his family, friends, and nurses when they heard how authentic it was. “The final version of Eric’s voice sounded exactly like him,” Rebecca Gayheart Dane, his widow, said during a recent discussion at the Fast Company Grill at SXSW. “If you are familiar with him at all, you know he had a very distinct voice and he had a distinct way of telling his stories—he was witty, acerbic, he just had a lot of personality—and this voice captured that so perfectly. It sounded so re…

Kalshi made headlines last month over allowing people to place wagers on the Iran war. Now the prediction market platform is being sued by the state of Arizona, the first state to file criminal charges against the controversial company. The platform, which allows users to place wagers on happenings, such as sports games or even current events, is being accused of operating an illegal gambling business that violates the state’s laws. In a 20-count document, prosecutors alleged that the platform is mischaracterizing itself to avoid being subject to gambling laws and allowing bets on political races. “Kalshi may brand itself as a ‘prediction market,’ but what it’s a…

There’s long been debate as to whether coffee is good for you. But this new study suggests that caffeinated coffee, as well as caffeinated tea, could lead to lower incidence of dementia. So if your morning routine involves making a bleary-eyed beeline to the coffee maker immediately upon waking—you may be doing something right. The study comes from researchers at Mass General Brigham and the Broad Institute of Harvard University and MIT, and was recently published in the Journal of the American Medical Association. The teams studied 131,821 individuals from two cohorts: one group of men and one group of women in the U.S., all of whom did not have diseases like dementi…

We’re excited to announce the judges of the 2026 Innovation by Design Awards. Innovation by Design honors the best projects and ideas across the design spectrum, as represented by our fantastic group of jurors, who come from some of the world’s most exciting design-led companies. You can read more about their expertise and backgrounds below. And remember to apply for the Innovation by Design Awards by April 11. Erik Carter, Designer Erik Carter is a designer, illustrator, art director, and writer whose work bridges commercial design and critical discourse. He has designed for Verso Books, The New York Times, MIT Technology Review, The New Yorker, and New D…

Your local Macy’s might not be closing its doors as soon as previously expected. On Wednesday, the department store chain confirmed a major change involving a previously announced plan to permanently shutter 150 stores. In an earnings call, CEO Tony Spring revealed that “several major milestones” had been hit last year, citing a return to “positive comparable sales for total Macy’s Inc. and Macy’s Nameplate.” The retail boss said Macy’s success marked “an important inflection point” for the chain, as the brand hit “better-than-expected” results in every quarter, and “delivered adjusted diluted EPS well above” the chain’s own guidance. On that same call, …

Spring is a glorious, warm season after the harsh cold of winter—filled with light and more sun-induced vitamin D. Friday, March 20, 2026 (at exactly 10:46 a.m. ET), marks both its triumphant return in the Northern Hemisphere and the spring equinox. So, get ready for longer days, warmer weather, and flower blooms that may cause sneezing. Let’s take a deeper look at the science behind seasons and what exactly an equinox is. What causes the seasons? The tilt of the Earth’s axis as it orbits around the sun is what causes seasons. Depending on that angle, different parts of the world receive different amounts of sunlight. In the Northern Hemisphere, we experie…

When Huckberry launched its newsletter 15 years ago, the retailer included a section that defied the advice of ecommerce experts by including links to stories and content that its employees thought might be of interest to its outdoors-minded community. “That is like rule No. 1: You do not link off of your site,” Ben O’Meara, Huckberry’s chief brand officer, said during a panel discussion at the Fast Company Grill at SXSW. The Austin-based company’s philosophy then, as it remains today, he said, is that there’s value in putting customers first and recognizing they’re not always in the mood to buy something. “We are providing a service to you outside of just the pr…

Is all hope lost for the future of the news media in the U.S.? There’s reason to be optimistic, two experts say, though new models for disseminating factual information are sorely needed and it’s worth paying attention to how younger Americans consume news. “We have to do something radically different,” said Chris Licht, founding partner and CEO of CLC Partners and a former executive at CNN and other TV networks, speaking at the Fast Company Grill at SXSW. “Millions of people get their news and information from people that are actually giving opinion.” “[We’ve] got to focus on, in this modern media world, separating those two things again,” he added. Whi…

A Planned Parenthood affiliate just settled an investigation by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission over claims of discrimination against white employees, in a notable example of the agency’s ongoing focus on DEI-related discrimination. The $500,000 settlement will put an end to an EEOC investigation against Planned Parenthood’s Illinois chapter, which was initiated by employee complaints that the organization allegedly “segregated employees by race, subjected white employees to harassment, and engaged in disparate treatment against white employees regarding terms, conditions, and privileges of employment,” according to the agency. The EEOC found that Pl…

Think about how we commonly seek to motivate human performance in our workplaces: Employees are treated as costs to be minimized rather than people to be invested in. Performance is managed through fear of consequences. Supervisors closely monitor daily tasks, requiring frequent check-ins or reports. Being available at all hours is treated as evidence of commitment. Directives flow one way—downward. Feedback is delivered as judgment rather than support. In practice, if not in intention, we still manage people more like machines than human beings. How did we get here—and, more importantly, why have we never left? Most of what we call “modern management” isn’t moder…

Polymarket is updating the rules of its platform to crack down on insider trading as the prediction market giant looks to curb scrutiny over market manipulation. Announced Monday, the updated rules outline three distinct categories of insider trading that will be prohibited on the platform: trading on stolen confidential information (based on confidential info that violates a preexisting obligation), trading on illegal tips (based on info that was passed down illegally), and trading by those who can influence the outcome. “Markets thrive on clarity,” Neal Kumar, chief legal officer of Polymarket, said in a press release. “These rule enhancements make our expectati…

Fashion resale company Poshmark just got its first app redesign in 15 years, and it’s taking a page out of Depop’s book of UI. The new look encompasses an updated algorithm, redesigned navigational tools, and a new, streamlined aesthetic. It comes as a pivotal moment for the second market, which, according to ThredUp’s 2025 Resale Report, is expected to reach $367 billion by 2029, growing 2.7 times faster than the overall global apparel market. The majority of this growth, the report notes, has been driven by young consumers—millennials, Gen Zers, and Gen Alpha shoppers who are familiar with buying products through apps or in-app features like TikTok Shop. And com…

As I walked into a Sunset Boulevard venue this past February, Luka Dončić’s face greeted me, flashing across a wall of old-school televisions. The TV screens flickered between a surreal reel of images: Dončić’s mug, a NTSC rainbow effect, a Valentine sweetheart candy image with the words “too small,” and a graphic with the words “Lil Luka’s Heartbreak Factory: Level 1.” For the uninitiated, this scene probably makes no sense. But for superfans of Dončić, star player of the Los Angeles Lakers, the messages are like a secret code to a new kind of fandom. Luka Dončić In February, Dončić celebrated the launch of his new direct-to-fans media company, 77X, by transfo…

At the Exceptional Women Alliance (EWA), we bring together senior executive women who mentor one another to achieve both professional success and personal fulfillment through trusted peer relationships. As founder, chair, and CEO of EWA, I have the privilege of highlighting the insights of women leaders shaping industries across the globe. This month, I introduce Dymeka Harrison, a commercialization and growth executive with more than two decades of experience leading commercial organizations across diagnostics, life sciences, and healthcare. She has worked with early-stage startups, growth-stage companies, and global enterprises, and regularly advises founders, board…

Bellwether trials are complicated but consequential. Pulled from a morass of claims, they’re designed to test how a jury responds to a broader legal theory. Often, they fall flat. Today in a California court, one did not. Kaley, a 20-year-old who alleged that social media harmed her childhood by addicting her and keeping her on platforms like Instagram for up to 16 hours a day, won $3 million in damages. A jury found Meta and Alphabet liable, assigning 70% of the damages to Meta and 30% to Alphabet. TikTok and Snapchat, also named as defendants, settled before trial without admitting fault. The amount—roughly 0.0015% of Meta’s 2025 revenue, and even less for …

In 2012, Google conducted research to identify the factors that determine effective teams. This research, now famously known as Project Aristotle, analyzed hundreds of teams and individual members to crack the code on what enables some to operate at high levels while others flounder. What their study revealed is something Harvard Business School professor Amy Edmondson had discovered almost two decades prior: the most important factor for high performing teams is psychological safety. That is to say, teams perform better when their members feel safe taking risks and being vulnerable with each other, without fear of punishment. Google’s watershed study brought light to Edm…