What's on Your Mind?

We’ve all heard it: For decades, it’s been a crux of career advice. Keep every door open. Stay on good terms. Never fully walk away. Don’t burn that bridge. But that advice was followed during a different time and for workplaces that were designed to keep you in line, not further your career. In today’s fast-moving workforce, clinging to outdated relationships, toxic workplaces, or unfair structures isn’t loyalty. It’s self-sabotaging. It’s time to rethink what was once considered the norm. Sometimes burning a bridge isn’t reckless. It’s strategic. It’s the first step toward building something better in your career. Why “Don’t Burn Bridges” No Longer Works …

It’s 2 p.m. on a Monday, and the Starbucks on 23rd Street and Park Avenue in New York City’s Flatiron neighborhood is packed. Not that it would take much. The small shop—roughly 265 square feet of front-of-house space—is big enough for a short line to form before it would bust through the door and out onto the sidewalk. This location is the company’s very first “espresso bar” format store—a new, small-store design that will serve as the cornerstone of Starbucks’s future expansion plans. It’s also a symbol of a Starbucks in flux. Until recently, the store was for mobile orders and pickup-only; then in September, it reopened after a speedy “uplift” (Starbucks s…

Discontent has surged across U.S. society, largely defined the last three presidential elections, and now appears set to challenge business owners in the workplace. The rising sense of grievance expressed across all demographic groups has reached new highs, according to a new survey, with both companies and their CEOs suffering some of the biggest drops in trust among respondents. The rising tide of acrimony and accusation recorded in the 25th Annual Edelman Trust Barometer shouldn’t be too surprising for anyone who followed the November election campaigns—or who just listens to conversations in the office and shop floor. Whether it was Democrats warning of a “fascist…

After Viagra came to market in 1998, women began clamoring for a drug of their own. But it has taken decades for the medical community to take women’s sexual health seriously—and even longer to develop and approve a drug that improves women’s libido. A new documentary called The Pink Pill: Sex, Drugs, and Who Has Control, premiering at the DOC NYC film festival, explores the fight to launch Addyi, a drug known as “the female Viagra.” Directed by Aisling Chin-Yee, the film follows Cindy Eckert, the founder of Sprout Pharmaceuticals, who worked for five years to bring Addyi to market, which she managed to do in 2015. But just as fascinating, the film explores society’s …

The public disclosure of more than 20,000 pages of newly released documents related to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein has been the subject of much online discourse this week. While the emails themselves are full of damning revelations, particularly regarding Epstein’s relationship with President Donald The President, the internet’s attention has been caught on another detail. “BREAKING: Newly released emails reveal Jeffrey Epstein struggled to compose sentences in English,” journalist Tom Elliott posted on X. “Why can none of these very rich and powerful men type or spell,” journalist Jill Filipovic asked. In case you haven’t seen it, one such email read…

The MrBeast burger. MrBeast toys. Rumors of a MrBeast phone company. Could a MrBeast bank next? The world’s most-subscribed-to YouTuber, with 446 million subscribers, has filed an application with the U.S. Trademark and Patent Office for a service called MrBeast Financial. The recent trademark application for the latest venture from MrBeast — whose real name is Jimmy Donaldson — lists plans for a “mobile app and online services for a range of banking, financial advisory, crypto exchange, and other services.” The venture has not yet been approved and the full details remain unclear. However, the trademark application, which was filed on Oct. 13, aligns with …

When the camera was invented in 1826, many people thought painting would die. But it didn’t. Instead, painters found new ways to express themselves. Painters reinvented expressionism, impressionism, and abstract art. Monet, Munch, and later Picasso, all thrived after the camera arrived. When personal computers became common in the 1980s, there was fear that creative thinking would become less valuable. But computers opened the door to digital design, animation, and new forms of storytelling. Studios like Pixar, founded in 1986, showed how technology could help artists create worlds that were impossible before. When Photoshop launched in 1988, photographers worri…

Amazon is pushing deeper into the grocery aisle with the launch of Amazon Grocery, a food brand that keeps most prices under $5. The idea of buying much of anything for $5 seems like a distant memory for most shoppers these days, as The President’s tariffs and persistent inflation keep the price of everyday consumer goods high with little relief in sight. Keenly aware of that, Amazon is looking to undercut the competition’s prices with its own newly unified private label brand for everything from eggs and pre-made salads to ground beef and olive oil. The company plans to expand its offerings to more grocery staples like frozen pasta, granola and cakes in the coming mo…

Matt outworked his peers and risen a rung too high on the career ladder—at least, too high for the good of anything but his insecure ego. Constantly fearing his bluff would be blown, he overcompensated by striving to impress upward while leading from fear. His anxiety seeped through his management team, then filtered into the ranks beneath, chipping away at everyone’s courage. He micromanaged, filtered feedback, and pushed out anyone who challenged him—the best, brightest, and boldest. When crisis hit, his “play not to lose” mentality magnified while competitors gained ground Chances are you’ve met someone like Matt. They’re crushing every deadline, exceeding ever…

When I looked ahead to 2026, one issue jumped out in every conversation I had with business leaders: Resilience is buckling under pressure. The pace of change is no longer just fast—it is accelerating beyond the reach of traditional playbooks. We are entering an era of complexity risk, where the greatest threats stem not only from malicious actors, but from the sheer entanglement of our own systems. Below are the four shifts business leaders must prepare for to navigate 2026. 1. Recovery will become the most important metric For years, companies have focused their investments on prevention. But AI changed the economics of cyber risk. Offensive AI makes it fast …

Prior to becoming the CEO of Lyft, David Risher didn’t post much on social media. That began to change just before his first day on the job, when Risher decided to sign up on the ride sharing platform as a driver. “I had no plan,” he says. “I just wanted to get in the car and see what it feels like to drive for Lyft and hear the rider’s story, but also experience it from a driver’s perspective.” At the end of that first outing, Risher revealed to the passenger who he was, and requested a selfie. He posted it on his personal LinkedIn account. “I drove for a couple more hours — and I didn’t tell anyone at Lyft I was doing this.” Since then, Risher has made a re…

Robinhood is betting that its customers want to trade on absolutely everything. On Tuesday, the popular stock-trading app unveiled a slate of updates to its prediction markets business, aggressively expanding into sports. Now, Robinhood users can trade contracts tied to specific professional football players’ performances, as well as pre-packaged combos for individual games. Early next year, customers will be able to combine up to ten outcomes — such as winners, spreads, and totals — into a single, custom-built contract. Robinhood’s news site, Sherwood, is also launching a new sports newsletter, Scoreboard. Eventually, Robinhood plans to launch contracts that sp…

AI assistants are incredibly efficient, but they can be a little predictable. Sometimes it takes an unexpected prompt to solicit a useful response. From disaster-movie logic to unusual cross-pollination, here are five techniques you can use to get better answers from your AI chatbot. View the full article

In a world where trust in institutions is at an all-time low and the pace of change is relentless, the most effective leaders are not those who hide behind polished press releases or corporate jargon. They are the ones who step forward with authentic stories—stories that reveal not just their vision, but their humility, values, and the messy realities of leading in uncertain times. Welcome to the era of the storytelling CEO, where transparency isn’t just a buzzword, it’s the new leadership currency. Why Stories Matter More Than Ever For millennia, stories have been the glue that binds communities, shapes cultures, and helps us make sense of the world. Today, as org…

From July 14 to November 9, 2023, the American actors’ union SAG-AFTRA, representing 160,000 people, went on strike over a labor dispute with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers. Eventually, both sides agreed to terms that theoretically would put limits on how actor’s images and output could be used. Strike over, everybody went back to work and the entertainment industrial complex started humming again. But they apparently never took heed of the lessons offered by a somewhat obscure 2013 movie, The Congress, which eerily anticipated the crisis Hollywood is now facing. Caught by surprise? Really? Fast-forward to September of 2025. Dutch actor an…

When companies undergo a major change, such as a CEO transition, reorganization, merger, or acquisition, most leaders default to one well-worn instinct: control the message. Lock down talking points. Tighten the language. Make it polished and official. In working with executive teams across industries, from tech to retail, we’ve seen time and again that simply trying to control the message isn’t enough. In fact, it often has the opposite effect, creating more confusion and mistrust than clarity. Because in every high-stakes moment, your audience—employees, customers, investors—is asking the same unspoken question: “What’s in it for me?” And if you’re not answe…

Want more housing market stories from Lance Lambert’s ResiClub in your inbox? Subscribe to the ResiClub newsletter. While national active inventory for sale is still rising year-over-year, the pace of growth has slowed in recent months—something we’ve been closely documenting for several months for our ResiClub members. The side-by-side maps below help you to see that decelerated rate of inventory growth: Left map: Year-over-year change in metro level active inventory between November 2023 and November 2024 Right map: Year-over-year change in metro level active inventory between November 2024 and November 2025 Click to expand Between November 2023 a…

When someone takes a shower at a new apartment complex in Washington, D.C., the water is heated in part by a brewery downstairs. The mixed-use development—part of a larger new neighborhood called the Bridge District—is designed to be as sustainable as possible. That includes using waste heat from commercial tenants like the brewery to save energy in the apartments. Atlas Brew Works, a solar-powered brewery that serves craft beers, moved into the building in November. At most breweries, the heat that’s generated from the brewing process would be vented outside. But in the new building, any hot water that the brewery doesn’t reuse is sent into a heat exchanger, …

The news that Microsoft is making 9,000 workers redundant this year, with a focus on jettisoning managers, has sent ripples through the business world. Andy Jassey, Amazon’s CEO, explicitly said this summer that AI advances will lead to job cuts. So it’s no wonder that workers all over the world, including one in five Gen Z workers, are “very concerned” that AI will take their job in the next two years (with Americans being more concerned than Europeans), and 32% of U.S. workers believe that AI will lead to fewer job opportunities. AI has advanced to encompass a vast range of skills, not only data-driven ones such as coding and debugging, but also more managerial task…

Federal Reserve Bank of New York President John Williams said Friday that unpredictable change is inevitable and central banks need to be aware of that and have strategies to operate in those environments. Williams’ comments, which came in prepared remarks for an event in Amsterdam, did not address the outlook for U.S. monetary policy. Williams serves as vice chair of the rate-setting Federal Open Market Committee, which cut interest rates last month as officials sought to offset rising risks to the job market. “Unpredictable change and uncertainty will certainly continue to be with us for the foreseeable future,” Williams said, flagging issues like “the effects o…

Uber’s U.S. drivers and couriers have a new way to earn extra money. The ride-hail app announced on Thursday a new pilot program that will offer gig workers the opportunity to train artificial intelligence (AI) through so-called “digital tasks.” They include simple, quick tasks for workers such as uploading photos, recording themselves speaking in their native language, and submitting documents written in different languages—which are then fed into AI models. Uber already offers this for gig workers in India. “A lot of these tasks are digital, meaning you can do them from your phone . . . from anywhere, and at the same time create earnings opportunities,” Sac…