Blog, YouTube & Content Monetization

Executives and managers are traditionally reluctant to express any tender inner feelings from their teams and peers. Yet leaders who are willing to tap into the power of vulnerability are seeing benefits to their ability to connect, motivate, and lead teams. The experience of vulnerability might feel weak to some, but researchers like Brené Brown have reframed the expression of vulnerability as an act of courage, a superpower that can boost psychological safety and foster a culture of innovation and creative risk-taking. Leaders and managers who share experiences of uncertainty can also create personal connections that can help motivate and inspire others. However…

Forever 21 is facing another bankruptcy. The company that operates the fast-fashion retail brand, called F21 OpCo, LLC, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in a Delaware court. And while it plans to close its U.S. stores and hold going-out-of-business sales, there is still a chance for a sale that could keep some operations running. For now, Forever 21 stores and its website will stay open as the company sells off inventory and looks for buyers. The move mirrors a similar one made recently by Joann, the beloved arts and fabric chain, which had initially hoped to keep its stores operating before ultimately deciding to liquidate and shut its doors for …

Over the past few years, experts have been sounding the alarm over how much time Americans spend alone. Statistics show that we’re choosing to be solitary for more of our waking hours than ever before, tucked away at home rather than mingling in public. Increasing numbers of us are dining alone and traveling solo, and rates of living alone have nearly doubled in the past 50 years. These trends coincided with the surgeon general’s 2023 declaration of a loneliness epidemic, leading to recent claims that the U.S. is living in an “anti-social century.” Loneliness and isolation are indeed social problems that warrant serious attention, especially since chronic stat…

Walton Goggins has had an incredible run recently. Last year, he anchored Amazon’s Fallout TV show and this year is starring in Season 3 of The White Lotus and the 4th and final season of The Righteous Gemstones. These roles are feathers in the cap of the character actor who’s had star turns in The Shield, Justified, and Vice Principals. But he’s not just an actor—he’s also a small business owner. As part of his partnership with GoDaddy, he’s teamed up with the company to use its suite of AI tools to design the website for and manage his new venture—Walton Goggins Goggle Glasses. He worked with GoDaddy to create the line of glasses that resemble ski goggles and retail…

State officials are warning Americans not to respond to a surge of scam road toll collection texts. The texts impersonating state road toll collection agencies attempt to get phone users to reveal financial information, such as credit or debit cards or bank accounts. They’re so-called smishing scams — a form of phishing that relies on SMS texts to trick people into sending money or share sensitive information. Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill said she received one purporting to be from the statewide GeauxPass toll system. “It is a SCAM,” Murrill posted on Facebook this week. “If you ever receive a text that looks suspicious, be sure to never click on it. You don…

Few self-help ideas are as prevalent and widely celebrated as the advice to “just be yourself.” Whether in job interviews, workplace interactions, or career choices, we are frequently encouraged to act “authentically”—without compromise or concern for external pressures. While this sounds comforting and empowering, authenticity as an interpersonal strategy is fundamentally flawed and at odds with hundreds of scientific studies on emotional intelligence, social skills, and career success. As I illustrate in my forthcoming book, Don’t Be Yourself: Why Authenticity Is Overrated and What To Do Instead, authenticity is not a helpful life hack, but rather a misguide…

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. Digital wallets have fast become part of daily life. By 2027, they’re expected to account for half of all retail sales—around $25 trillion worldwide. It’s easy to see why. Paying with a digital wallet is easy, secure, and requires nothing more than a phone. But there’s potential for wallets to do so much more, beyond payments. Digital wallets started as payment tools. Now, they’re becoming…

A new study shows that bird flu has silently spread from animals to some veterinarians. The study published Thursday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention echoes two smaller ones that detected evidence of infection in previously undiagnosed farmworkers. In those studies, several of the infected workers remembered having symptoms of H5N1 bird flu, while none of the veterinarians in the new paper recalled any such symptoms. The new study is more evidence that the official U.S. tally of confirmed human bird flu infections — 68 in the last year — is likely a significant undercount, said Dr. Gregory Gray, an infectious disease researcher at the University o…

The German antitrust authority has charged Apple with abusing its market power through its app tracking tool and giving itself preferential treatment in a move that could result in daily fines for the iPhone maker if it fails to change its business practices. The move follows a three-year investigation by the Federal Cartel Office into Apple’s App Tracking Transparency feature, which allows users to block advertisers from tracking them across different applications. The U.S. tech giant has said the feature allows users to control their privacy but has drawn criticism from Meta Platforms, app developers and startups whose business models rely on advertising trackin…

Ever get a feeling that something isn’t right? An internal voice that is trying to tell you something? It could be your intuition bubbling up. Or maybe it’s anxiety. Or both. Learning to tell the difference between anxiety and intuition can help you determine if that feeling is something you should listen to or address in another way, but it’s easy to confuse the two. “People have become disconnected from their emotions, beliefs, and self-confidence,” says intuitive life coach Tammy Adams. “They have so much doubt within themselves that they don’t listen to their own intuition. People veer off with fear and live more in anxiety than they do in confidence.” Your gu…

As you sift among the various options for your short-term investments, keep these key items on your dashboard: yield, guarantees, liquidity and your individual situation. The short-term investments that promise the highest yields often come with at least some risk and/or constraints on your daily access to funds. It may be that you’re just looking for the highest safe yield and don’t care that much about liquidity. Or maybe having ready access to your funds is the name of the game. Also think through whether you value an ironclad guarantee or are willing to go without in exchange for a potentially higher yield. Some cash instruments are fully FDIC-insured, while o…

Google released its new Gemini 2.5 Pro Experimental AI model late last month, and it’s quickly stacked up top marks on a number of coding, math, and reasoning benchmark tests—making it a contender for the world’s best model right now. becoming apparent that the new reasoning model may be the best model in the world, at least for now. Gemini 2.5 Pro is a “reasoning” model, meaning its answers derive from a mix of training data and real-time reasoning performed in response to the user prompt or question. Like other newer models, Gemini 2.5 Pro can consult the web, but it also contains a fairly recent snapshot of the world’s knowledge: Its training data cuts off at the e…

In this hectic modern world, it’s natural to feel like your ducks aren’t in a row, but every so often the planets seem to align. This week, Mercury is joining Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune for a seven-planet parade (although not all of them will be visible to the naked eye). Here’s what that all means and how best to see it. How exactly do planets align? According to NASA, the term planetary parade isn’t really a technical term in astronomy, but it’s cute and paints a fun picture. Additionally, planetary alignment has a few different meanings; it can refer to when the planets line up with each other or when they line up with the moon or stars. F…

DoorDash has a new delivery partner: Coco the robot. Starting this week, some customers in Los Angeles and Chicago have the option to select robot delivery from hundreds of participating merchants in the DoorDash app. The bots, which resemble small coolers on wheels, deliver goods from specific stores inside a tight radius. DoorDash piloted the tech for months ahead of this rollout, completing more than 100,000 deliveries. DoorDash isn’t the only delivery company taking advantage of this new, mostly autonomous tech. Others, including rival service Uber Eats, have partnered with multiple robotics companies, including for deliveries in certain locations. It’s not Do…

In today’s turbulent economic climate, there’s an intense pressure to perform. Organizations are exploring new business models and ways of working to accelerate growth and stay competitive. Boards and shareholders demand results, which pushes leadership teams to dial up their expectations. The term “accountability” has become a buzzword in discussions, but far too many misunderstand and misapply it. When leaders talk about creating a culture of accountability, they often rely on “shame and blame” tactics. This approach might seem effective in the short term, but it ultimately undermines the culture leaders seek to build. Instead of motivating individuals to do more, i…

It is hard to believe that in 2025, we are still dialing to schedule doctor appointments, get referrals, refill prescriptions, confirm office hours and addresses, and handle many other healthcare tasks. In fact, I created Zocdoc nearly 20 years ago to help patients avoid the dysfunctional phone experience and schedule appointments online. But I must confess that I have to pick up the phone sometimes, too—and I dread it. I am not alone. According to a recent survey my company conducted, most Americans say they dread calling their doctor about as much as they dread getting a shot. At best, it is an inconvenience. At worst, the phone is a barrier to care and a wildly ine…

For those tired of waiting in line to buy a new smartphone or anxiously refreshing a delivery tracking site to make sure a new phone arrives intact, Verizon’s Straight Talk Wireless brand is offering another option: phones from a vending machine. Straight Talk, a Verizon prepaid brand exclusively available at Walmart, has launched vending machines that dispense packaged iPhone and Android devices, similar to the tech vending machines often seen at airports. Customers can browse phones and plans via a touchscreen interface, then pick and pay for what they want, all without needing to wait for a salesperson. And when they take their new phone out of the box, it’s a…

You know the dream: electric vehicles that can drive straight from New York to Chicago without needing to top off the battery. Robotaxis at your beck and call. Amphibious cars. The promise of next-generation travel hasn’t fully materialized yet, but legions of companies around the world are focused on bringing the vision to life. This year’s list of the most innovative automotive companies recognizes both the upstarts and the incumbents advancing the next era in mobility. As the industry grapples with the larger questions of how to create viable solid-state batteries or commercialize robotaxi service, the companies listed here are focused on the incremental steps toward a…

What if everything you believe about leadership is holding you back? A 2024 study by Gartner found that 69% of HR leaders don’t think their leaders are fully equipped to lead. And according to Gallup, only 21% of employees strongly agree that their leaders actually inspire them to do their best. That’s a big gap between what leaders intend and what employees experience. The problem? A lot of leaders are following outdated advice. In the pursuit of excellence, they unknowingly buy into myths that hold them back, limit their teams, and stifle real innovation. Whether it’s the belief that speed always wins or that innovation is all about technology, these myths quiet…

It’s no secret that raising kids in the U.S. has become grossly expensive. The price of childcare alone has ballooned over the past decade, with many families reporting that it costs them at least a quarter of their annual income. Across many states, families need to earn an average of $180,000 to comfortably afford infant care; the high cost of living in states like California and New York can require an income exceeding $250,000. An increasing burden on families A new analysis by the online lending marketplace LendingTree captures why so many families are struggling to manage the enormous cost of having children. The study found that since 2023, the annual cost o…

Featuring Alexis Garcia, Cofounder, Brass Knuckle Films and Robert Rodriguez, Cofounder, Brass Knuckle Films. Moderated by Kc Ifeanyi, Executive Director of Editorial Programming, Fast Company. Robert Rodriguez, film director and founder of production company Troublemaker Studios, has certainly made an impact in Hollywood with films including El Mariachi, From Dusk Till Dawn, Spy Kids, Sin City, and many more. And now he’s looking to redirect that impact back to his home state. Rodriguez is part of a larger push to make Texas the film capital of the world—a bold proposition that’s not without its challenges. Find out how Rodriguez plans to make that goal a reality—and…

Ever miss the thrill of the 2016 Pokémon Go craze? A new anti-swiping dating app has come to fill that void, but instead of cute Pokémon you can catch yourself a hot date. These days, trying to find a partner IRL, whether at a bar or reluctantly joining a singles running club, is no easy task. Dating apps are still one of the most common places for people trying to meet The One, but . . . have you seen the apps? 2024 has been widely dissed as the year the dating apps died. Both Bumble and Match Group saw stock prices steadily decline since reaching all-time highs in 2021. Left Field, the latest dating app launched in New York City this week, has the goal to combat…

In the forests of eastern Australia, satin bowerbirds create structures known as “bowers.” The males gather twigs and place them upright, in two bundles, with a gap in the middle, resulting in what looks like a miniature archway. All around the bower the bird scatters small objects—shells, pieces of plastic, flower petals—which all possess the same property: the color blue. Studies suggest that the purpose of the bowers is to impress and attract females. But their beauty and intricacy has left some researchers wondering whether they shouldn’t be considered art. A male bower bird, left, stands by as two females inspect his work. [Photo: doug/Flickr] Of cours…