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It took decades, but Rachael Kelly broke the insidious cycle of abuse she’d been stuck in since childhood. At the time, she was leading human resources at a restaurant group in 2020. “I’m new in this job, and my toxic marriage start[ed] to peak,” she says. Meanwhile, she was trying to help the employees at her restaurant who were suffering through the trauma and joblessness of the COVID-19 pandemic. Ending her marriage to an abusive husband while helping those workers establish safety nets made her think: “How do we package [what I’m doing here] and model it forward?” Kelly ended up doing just that by first launching her nonprofit HiveStrong, which helps survivors of …

As always, many of this year’s best apps are ones you’ve probably never heard of. Sure, there are some big names on this list, particularly in the buzzy field of artificial intelligence, but the real standouts of 2025 innovated on a smaller scale. They give you better ways to take notes or remember things, write with just your voice, have fun snapping photos, or even indulge in some gaming classics. For this list, “apps” include desktop and mobile software, along with browser extensions and web tools. Some apps are entirely new, while others received transformative updates that make them worthy of a fresh look. Hopefully, you’ll discover something that quickly bec…

Welcome to Pressing Questions, Fast Company’s work-life advice column. Every week, deputy editor Kathleen Davis, host of The New Way We Work podcast, will answer the biggest and most pressing workplace questions. Q: How should I respond to rude comments at work? A: If I were to make a pie chart of most people’s complaints about work, the actual work would be one of the smallest slices. Bad bosses and annoying coworkers would take up the biggest slices, for sure. There are a few factors to consider if someone in your office is making rude comments. Is it a one-off or part of a pattern? If someone who is usually pleasant to work with says something rude out of …

According to the latest Gallup State of the Workplace report, employees are seeking new jobs at the highest level since 2015. This trend has been coined “The Great Detachment.” A key reason for this is increasing employee dissatisfaction with management. For instance, Gallup’s research shows that those who work in companies with bad management practices are nearly 60% more likely to be stressed, and stress is the second most-cited factor influencing employees’ decisions to quit. People’s values have also changed post-COVID-19. Employees prioritize well-being. They expect their contribution to be recognized, and if they aren’t valued or supported, they aren’t prepa…

Most of us know the general (albeit simplified) story: Russian physiologist Ivan Pavlov used a stimulus—like a metronome—around the dogs he was studying, and soon, the hounds would start to salivate. They had learned that the sound meant food was coming. The phenomenon, now known as classical conditioning, became one of modern psychology’s foundational discoveries. It’s an unconscious process where a neutral stimulus becomes associated with a naturally occurring stimulus, eventually leading to a connection between the two. The dogs, seeing the researcher who often brings them food or hearing the noise of the cart on its way, would immediately know they were about to h…

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…

Celebrity assistants have a demanding job. The role requires being on call outside of normal working hours, working proactively to anticipate the needs of their boss, and protecting their boss’s schedule and privacy. It takes someone who is engaged, professional, and a team player—and searching for the right person to fill the role takes skill. “I might as well be a scientist instead of a recruiter, because I’m putting people under a microscope,” says Susan Levine, founder and CEO of Career Group Companies, which has placed assistants with celebrities including Kevin Costner, Maria Shriver, and the Kardashian-Jenners. “I need to be a very good listener with the clien…

When it comes to wealth, most of us think about money. You measure your financial wealth by looking at your assets and your debts. But there are other areas in your life where you can be wealthy, including time. Would you consider yourself time-affluent or are you living the life of a time pauper? “Time wealth is all about freedom to choose how you spend your time, who you spend it with, where you spend it, and when you trade it for other things,” says Sahil Bloom, author of The 5 Types of Wealth: A Transformative Guide to Design Your Dream Life. Building time wealth is about awareness and action, says Bloom. Be aware that time is your most precious asset and the…

Across the U.S., dozens of proposed solar, wind, and battery projects—encompassing thousands of gigawatts of potential power—are backlogged as they wait to be allowed to plug into the power grid. And, even in areas where renewable energy projects are already online, their output is often heavily curtailed. This clean energy bottleneck stems from the fact that, as demand for renewable energy rises, the U.S. isn’t building new transmission lines fast enough to transport large amounts of clean energy from point A to point B. Now, there’s a company looking to address that problem with a simple yet radical solution: Putting renewable energy into giant batteries and trans…

In Uganda’s Mbale district, famous for its production of arabica coffee, a plague of plastic bags locally known as buveera is creeping beyond the city. It’s a problem that has long littered the landscape in Kampala, the capital, where buveera are woven into the fabric of daily life. They show up in layers of excavated dirt roads and clog waterways. But now, they can be found in remote areas of farmland, too. Some of the debris includes the thick plastic bags used for planting coffee seeds in nurseries. Some farmers are complaining, said Wilson Watira, head of a cultural board for the coffee-growing Bamasaba people. “They are concerned—those farmers who know the effects …

A startup marketing to Gen Z on college campuses filed a lawsuit this week alleging that Instacart engaged in federal trademark infringement and unfair competition by naming its new group ordering app “Fizz.” The plaintiffs, Fizz Social Corp., claim they have been operating their event planning platform under the “FIZZ” trademark and have become a well-known social platform used on more than 400 college campuses. The app, which requires users to sign up with a college email, features anonymous text posts, polls, photos, and the ability to send direct messages. The company has raised at least $41.5 million as of last summer, TechCrunch reported in 2024. “This new F…

Restaurant operators have been automating customer service processes for years. Implementing kiosks, self-checkout, and mobile ordering has helped margins and cut labor costs. But now there’s a problem. Friendliness scores dropped 12 points in just one year. Thirty-three percent of customers actively avoid restaurants that feel too automated. And AI is about to flood the market. Here’s the choice operators face: double down on customer-facing automation and watch friendliness scores keep falling or use AI differently. It’s time to stop automating what customers value and instead start automating what they don’t see. Smart operators recognize that having AI take or…

If you watch any economic news, you’ve probably seen economists biting their nails while raising the alarm about the dreaded “R-word”: recession. These financial experts are so terrified of a potential recession that they refer to it obliquely, in the same superstitious way your Great-Aunt Esther used to whisper the word “cancer.” But refusing to call a recession by its name does not reduce financial panic, improve the stock market, or even make julienne fries: It just makes a recession seem like an unstoppable force coming to ruin our lives, which is simply not true. While there isn’t much that an individual can do to avert a recession, there’s plenty you can do …

StubHub’s 2024 revenue surged 29.5%, it reported on Friday in its U.S. initial public offering paperwork, as the online ticketing marketplace moves ahead with its long-sought New York flotation. A handful of companies are moving ahead with stock market listings despite volatility arising from uncertainty around U.S. trade policy. Nvidia-backed startup CoreWeave and Swedish fintech Klarna are among the companies gearing up to go public in New York. StubHub, one of the biggest secondary ticketing marketplaces for live events, will sell new shares in the proposed offering, it said. Its revenue jumped to $1.77 billion in 2024, compared with $1.37 billion a yea…

Every year, American cars hit a staggering 1 million large animals like deer and elk. In California—a roadkill hot spot—vehicle collisions with animals cost more than $200 million every year. To address the problem, experts have long advocated for wildlife crossings that either span over high-speed freeways or burrow under them to help animals cross over safely. (The world’s largest wildlife crossing is set to open in 2026 in California, where it will help reconnect habitats bisected by the 10-lane 101 Freeway.) Other strategies involve reducing traffic or closing roads altogether at peak animal crossing times. Now, a new solution might be on the horizon, and it is mounte…

Architecture is, at its core, about problem-solving: balancing aesthetics, functional needs, and technical constraints to create effective buildings and environments. The most innovative firms in the industry expand this notion, solving pressing issues in new ways that build on or scale up existing techniques and technologies. Los Angeles-based Lorcan O’Herlihy Architects, for instance, has advanced the concept of shipping container architecture, ushering it into the realm of sustainable neighborhood development. The firm’s Isla Intersections project in South Los Angeles closed a nearby street (a rarity in car-focused L.A.) to create an active “paseo,” which hosts local f…

Leaders typically spend January prepping for the year ahead. But that’s difficult when you’re eight months pregnant, and your baby has zero concern for your deadlines. I’ve lost count of how many times people have asked how long I’ll be away, whether I’ll be checking my emails, or what support I’ll need when I return. People often expect leaders to have all the answers, but the truth is: I don’t know yet. Lucky for me, that uncertainty worked to my advantage. It forced me to change my approach from setting goals to building flexibility. This has resulted in a team that is autonomous and adaptable, whether I’m in the room or away on leave. You don’t have to hav…

Getting an idea of how much a dental visit is going to cost can be difficult, even if it’s staring you straight in the mouth. One company hopes to change that, using artificial intelligence to give patients and dentists real-time cost estimates—all while the drills are still buzzing and fluoride is flowing. Overjet, a dental AI platform, just launched the Dental Clarity Network, a collaboration of dentists and health insurance providers that aims to give more clarity into dental billing. The first initiative of the Network is the deployment of ReviewPass, a program that helps deliver real-time cost estimates and insurance coverage information related to tons of dental…

In artificial intelligence, 2025 marked a decisive shift. Systems once confined to research labs and prototypes began to appear as everyday tools. At the center of this transition was the rise of AI agents – AI systems that can use other software tools and act on their own. While researchers have studied AI for more than 60 years, and the term “agent” has long been part of the field’s vocabulary, 2025 was the year the concept became concrete for developers and consumers alike. AI agents moved from theory to infrastructure, reshaping how people interact with large language models, the systems that power chatbots like ChatGPT. In 2025, the definition of AI agent…

Want more housing market stories from Lance Lambert’s ResiClub in your inbox? Subscribe to the ResiClub newsletter. Here’s the annual U.S. household income needed to finance the purchase of the typical valued U.S. home: January 2020: $51,646 January 2021: $51,740 January 2022: $62,669 January 2023: $86,184 January 2024: $92,006 January 2025: $92,538 That’s a +79% shift in just 5 years. Methodology: This Zillow calculation is conservative and assumes a 20% down payment and the homebuyer spends less than 30.0% of their monthly income on the total monthly payment. This is a financed purchase, of course. For typical home value, Zillow economist…

AI is fundamentally re-engineering how work is done, who does it, and why. From AI-assisted nursing tools enabling healthcare providers to serve more patients to robotics improving retail fulfillment efficiency, the change is monumental. Organizations must establish a common language around work to navigate this transformation effectively. This raises a critical question: Who bears the responsibility for preparing the workforce for the AI age? Industry expert Josh Bersin notes that thriving in this era requires redesigning work, jobs, and organizational models—deconstructing tasks, evaluating AI solutions, and defining the human role alongside automation. This imp…

Every company is racing to modernize. There’s a sense that if you aren’t adopting new technology fast enough, you’re already behind. From AI and automation to digital platforms, the list keeps growing. Leaders make big investments, employees sit through onboarding sessions, and for a few weeks, excitement fills the air. Then the momentum fades. Dashboards sit idle. Pilots stall. The return on investment never arrives. We see it all the time. On the factory floor, operators are juggling a dozen tools that don’t talk to each other. Managers chase data that doesn’t reflect what’s really happening. Teams try to keep up with systems meant to help them but instead end u…

Jason Momoa is a tough act to follow. Especially if you’re a Guinness marketer. Last year, the brand partnered with Momoa to direct and star in a U.S. spot for his favorite beer that ended up getting 13 billion impressions. So this year, Guinness decided to celebrate an even more valuable partner—its actual customers and fans. For the newest iteration of the long-running “Lovely Day for a Guinness” tagline—first rolled out in a 1935 ad campaign—the brand collected stories from customers across all 50 states. Among the stories is the Treme Brass Brand in New Orleans, who share pints of Guinness before taking the stage. The Chicago Plumbers Union are in ther…

Shares of Costco (COST) fell over 7% in midday trading on Friday after the wholesale retailer reported mixed second-quarter earnings results, missing profit estimates but beating on revenue, as the company braces for the impact of tariffs and inflation on consumer spending. “The tariffs are very fluid right now, so it’s hard to give any predictions about what we can do, but our people are well equipped to deal with anything coming our way and we have great partnerships with our suppliers,” CEO Ron Vachris said during the company’s earnings call. “Our people are nimble and ready to go.” Costco’s Q2 revenue came in at $63.72 billion, slightly beating analyst estimat…

A software application called Interview Coder promises to help software developers succeed at technical job interviews—by surreptitiously feeding them answers to programming questions via AI. Interview Coder’s 21-year-old cofounder and CEO Roy Lee says he and Neel Shanmugam, the company’s cofounder and COO, created the tool partly as a protest against longstanding industry practices that require job candidates to solve programming puzzles during interviews. Lee, who until recently was a sophomore at Columbia University, says he spent hundreds of hours practicing such problems—time that could have been spent on actual coding projects. “This kind of killed a lot of …