What's on Your Mind?

There’s an ear-piercing war brewing at the mall. Claire’s, the biggest player in the market, has hit hard times, leaving room for upstarts to impinge on its territory. For 60 years, Claire’s has billed itself as a place for kids and teens to get their first piercings. The company says it has pierced more than 100 million ears since 1978. But after declaring bankruptcy in August (its second bankruptcy in seven years), Claire’s was acquired by the holding company Ames Watson for $140 million. These new owners have plans to turn the business around, including drastically shrinking its retail footprint which had ballooned to more than 1,000 stores. It recently annou…

After filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection for a second time this week, Rite Aid is already planning to wind down operations at underperforming locations in at least nine states, court documents show. The long-suffering drug store chain, which is scrambling to sell parts of its business less than one year after emerging from bankruptcy the first time, has identified 47 locations that it will initially close as is negotiates with potential buyers and moves through the Chapter 11 process yet again. Rite Aid has 1,277 pharmacies, three distribution centers, and more than 24,000 employees across 15 states, and it’s hoping to sell many of its locations to pres…

When Greg Giczi retired in February, his company threw him a party. Giczi had spent 12 years as president and general manager of WNIT-TV, a public television station based in South Bend, Indiana. Public broadcasting isn’t known for lavish budgets, so the party took place at the studio—a “big, open space with dramatic lighting,” Giczi describes. There were appetizers, wine, and beer, as well as heartfelt speeches. A huge snowstorm hit that night. But that didn’t stop a roomful family, coworkers, and others from coming out to celebrate Giczi; one person traveled over two-and-a-half hours. The board knew Giczi had been eyeing some electronics, so they gave him a “ni…

Amid polarization, AI disruption, and eroding trust in institutions, retired four-star General Stanley McChrystal argues that what leaders need now more than ever is character. Head of the business consulting firm McChrystal Group, he has written a new book on character, drawing from his decades of experience. From AI ethics and modern warfare to hot-button issues like Signalgate and transgender service in the military, McChrystal explains why character is the foundation of lasting leadership. This is an abridged transcript of an interview from Rapid Response, hosted by the former editor-in-chief of Fast Company Bob Safian. From the team behind the Masters of Scale p…

Behind the curtain of generative AI breakthroughs and GPU hype, a quieter transformation is taking place. Data center architecture and its prowess have become a fierce battleground as AI models expand in size and demand ever-greater compute power. Today, AI’s performance, scalability and cost are all tied to the choice of network fabric. Broadcom, once known for its dominance in networking and semiconductors, is back on the rise as one of the most consequential players in AI’s infrastructure revolution. “There’s a shift happening in the market. Today, real AI innovation isn’t just limited to models or the infrastructure—it’s in what connects them,” Ram Velaga, senior …

Here are two high-level truths essential to understanding the present and future of robotics. First, we want robots to work for us. Second, when it comes to work, humans have three historical blueprints for recruiting labor: animals, through the process of domestication; other humans, through employment, but also subjugation and outright enslavement; and machines, through the development of physical systems for performing actions. Why does this matter to understanding the present and future of robotics? While we’ve created an astonishing diversity of machines in the broadest sense, those first two blueprints for recruited labor—animals and other humans—have so far do…

In Texas, a Republican senator just introduced a bill that would require wastewater treatment facilities to do some extra testing—essentially making guidelines more stringent than those currently federally mandated. While that might sound like an uncharacteristically environmentally forward cause for a Texas Republican, what the senator wants to test for may give you even greater pause: It’s the abortion medication mifepristone. On Monday, Senator Bryan Hughes of Texas’s first district introduced bill SB1976, which would require testing for a number of “urinary metabolites in the form of gluconates,” including hormones like testosterone; ethinyl estradiol (which…

When Chinese automaker BYD announced plans to build a massive factory in the hardscrabble city of Camacari, in Brazil’s northeastern Bahia state, locals saw a new beginning. After years of economic stagnation following Ford’s exit from the region in 2021, there was hope that the global leader in electric vehicles would bring back well-paying jobs and a brighter future. The timing seemed right. Brazil, the world’s sixth-largest auto market, is seeing a surge in EV sales—and BYD is leading the charge. For Camacari, the deal promised to fill the economic vacuum left by the American company, which had once been the city’s largest employer. Then plans went off track. A D…

If you saw a group of millennials out on a Saturday in the mid-2010s, they were most likely wearing leggings—the uniform of that era. And there’s a good chance they were Lululemon’s Align leggings. Ten years ago today, Lululemon’s designers developed a new material called Nulu that was buttery soft, thin, and stretchy. It put them into a $98 pair of leggings called Align. The fabric proved so irresistible that women started wearing the pants right out of the yoga studio and into the rest of their lives. On the newly launched Instagram app, you would see twenty- and thirtysomethings wearing the pricey leggings out to brunch, or for school pickups, or on long flights. S…

White smoke at the Vatican can only signal one thing: A new pope has been elected. But online? A flurry of memes are roasting the traditions of the Pope’s midwestern roots. Just hours after the conclave concluded, electing Chicago-born Cardinal Robert Provost as pontiff (who will now go by the name Leo XIV), users all over social media are taking part in stereotype-laden antic, associating the Pope with deep pizza, sports, and, of course, Malört. The r/Chicago Reddit thread is flooding with papacy-related memes. In one post, an image of a Catholic priest holding the sacramental bread has been edited to turn the wafer into a Chicago-style deep dish pizza. Th…

California’s governor called upon the state’s cities and counties to ban homeless encampments this week, even providing blueprint legislation for dismantling the tents lining streets, parks and waterways throughout much of the state. Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, made homelessness a priority of his administration when he took office in 2019. It had previously been an issue primarily for mayors and other local officials, but Newsom pumped money into converting old motels into housing and launched other initiatives to tackle the issue. Still, he has repeatedly called out cities and counties to do their part, and on Monday, he unveiled draft language that can be adopte…

Yesterday was an eventful day for shareholders and employees of Intel Corp. The American chipmaker reported its Q1 2025 results while its new CEO, Lip-Bu Tan, confirmed earlier reports that Intel would be laying off employees. Here’s what you need to know about those layoffs and the latest movement in Intel’s stock price. New Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan confirms job cuts The most devastating news to come out of Intel yesterday was that earlier reports were correct and the company would be laying off employees. On Wednesday, Bloomberg reported that Intel was preparing to lay off up to 20% of its current workforce. Given that Intel reported having 108,900 employees at t…

The most dangerous people in a company are stressed leaders. I say that with full self-awareness. I’ve worked for a few and came uncomfortably close to becoming one myself. I’ve always had an impulsive temperament. On good days, it made me decisive. On bad days, reactive. Add long hours and the pressure of scaling a startup, and my emotional state began to spill onto the team. Focusing on mental health, rest, and mindfulness fundamentally changed how I build my company and how I see my role today. I’m still a CEO, but I’ve also become something else—the “chief energy officer.” What follows is everything I wish I’d known earlier about leading with emoti…