What's on Your Mind?

What’s in your office starter pack? La Colombe cold brew and a New Yorker subscription? Bose headphones and Brooks Brothers? Thanks to the latest ChatGPT trend making the rounds, you can now find out. By uploading a few photos and using a specific prompt, OpenAI’s GPT-4o image generator will spit out a personalized action figure or Barbie box in your likeness—complete with miniature accessories and sealed in plastic. In the past week, the trend has started popping up across TikTok, X, and—where trends go to die—Facebook and LinkedIn. “The Strategic Data & AI Consultant Starter Pack – Now in limited-edition blister packaging,” one LinkedIn user wrote alongs…

Notre Dame’s Niele Ivey is doing it the way she learned how to coach, pacing the sideline in stylish attire in a time when most coaches favor far more casual attire. “When I first got into coaching, I learned under a Hall of Fame coach,” Ivey said. “Being coached under Coach (Muffet) McGraw, her whole staff dressed up. Coaching with her we dressed up. That’s kind of the fabric of Notre Dame, and what I’m used to style-wise.” As the NCAA Tournament heats up, the styles of Ivey, LSU’s Kim Mulkey, Alabama’s Nate Oats and South Carolina’s Dawn Staley stand out in a sea of coaches in team polo shirts and quarter-zip pullovers. There are a handful of coaches on the men’…

In 2017, the most consumed household food was coffee. In 2024, it was meat. That doesn’t just mean many Americans are eating more animal protein than ever. It means there are downstream effects in other products—including how our dish soap is formulated. Today, Dawn is introducing a new product called Dawn Powersuds. It has twice the suds of the old Dawn, with bubbles that promise to “stay white longer” and dishes that rinse more easily. The more interesting point is that the formulation is the direct response to cultural practices around diet that have become obsessed with protein. Back in 2017 when Dawn created most of its cleaning formulas used today, our top consu…

Cultivating a loyal fan base is every brand’s dream. So why not take a page out of the book of companies that have made fandom the foundation of their business? Earlier this month at the Fast Company Grill at SXSW, executives from Weverse, Crunchyroll, and Wattpad/Webtoon spoke about how their companies cultivate and serve their diehard fandoms—and how you can apply that approach to your customers. For Joon Choi, president of Weverse, a platform bridging fans to artists, fandom always starts with authenticity, particularly with the artists on the platform. He recognized that “special” and “happy” experience of being in a fandom. So if an artist isn’t authenticall…

Want more housing market stories from Lance Lambert’s ResiClub in your inbox? Subscribe to the ResiClub newsletter. National home prices have risen by 2.1% year-over-year from February 2024 to February 2025, according to the Zillow Home Value Index. That’s a deceleration from the 4.6% year-over-year rate last spring. However, not every housing market is seeing rising home prices. Among the 300 largest metro area housing markets, 42 markets are seeing falling home prices on a year-over-year basis. That’s up from last month when just 31 of the nation’s 300 largest metro area housing markets had falling year-over-year home prices. While home prices continue to r…

I founded my company nearly two decades ago. As a bootstrapper, it was initially just me, but soon enough we grew to a dozen people, then a few dozen, then a hundred, and so on. In the early days, I remember feeling confident in my hard skills, like product development and growth strategy. But soft skills were uncharted territory. So I did what you do: practiced the tough conversations and speeches in front of the mirror. It helped—preparation is half the battle—but sometimes I imagine how much faster my leadership skills would have developed if I had real-time feedback. That’s one of the features of AI-powered leadership platforms. For today’s businesses, …

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…

Paris’s youngest neighborhood was built over the last two decades atop a former rail yard and a new station on the Paris Metro Line 14. Clichy-Batignolles, in the 17th arrondissement, is roughly split into thirds, with two developed areas hugging the massive, resplendent Martin Luther King Park. The quarter’s quiet, mostly car-free streets are fronted by stores, cafes, and schools. These businesses and institutions occupy the ground floors of apartment and office buildings designed in an astonishing array of shapes, materials and textures. Some structures are gently curved, others are sharply angular; some are covered in stucco, others in bamboo. Each unique building…

UnitedHealth Group, America’s largest insurer, is facing yet another crisis. The company’s stock price (NYSE: UNH) plummeted in early trading this morning after a new report alleged that the private insurance provider is facing a probe from the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) over its Medicare billing practices, a claim UnitedHealth Group denies. Here’s what to know: UnitedHealth’s Medicare billing practices Shares in UnitedHealth Group fell this morning after the Wall Street Journal published a report stating that the $400 billion company was under investigation by the DOJ over its Medicare billing practices. The report states that the investigation is a civil fr…

The skies over London could soon get a lot more exciting. Joby Aviation, the California-based electric air taxi company, announced an exclusive partnership with Virgin Atlantic on Saturday that it says will pave the way to launching its vehicles across the United Kingdom. The partnership will see Joby’s services integrated into Virgin’s app and website, and connect passengers at Heathrow and Manchester airports. Passengers will be able to reserve a seat on a Joby air taxi using Virgin’s app, the companies say. The announcement did not say when service is expected to begin. “We are delighted to be partnering with Joby to bring short-haul, zero-emission flights…

Hours before a federal law was set to take effect in January mandating that Chinese tech giant ByteDance sell TikTok’s U.S. operations, the social media app shut down. Though service was restored the next day, thousands of TikTok content creators were faced with the prospect of their source of income disappearing in an instant. The incident laid bare a common problem creators face: As social media algorithms change and platforms fold and emerge, creators need to find a way to grow their following and take it with them to different sites. That’s where LTK comes in. The 14-year-old company allows influencers to connect with brands, get commissions from products they…

Warren Buffett is likely the best-known, most successful investor in the world today. The philanthropist and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway has an estimated net worth of $158 billion and is known as the Oracle of Omaha for his ability to pick long-term investments. He’s also dedicated to sharing his wisdom with everyday investors, including beginners. Here are Buffett’s top three tips: Principle No. 1: Invest Only in What You Understand Buffett has famously advised, “Never invest in a business you cannot understand.” In a letter to Berkshire Hathaway’s shareholders in 1996, Buffett explained the concept of a “circle of competence”: Basically, these are the field…

Over the course of its 40-year history, J.Crew has explored all kinds of design collaborations. Last year, for instance, it partnered with the designers Christopher John Rogers and Maryam Nassir Zadeh. But if you walk into a store, you might also come across slightly more unexpected collaborations. On a recent visit to J.Crew’s Columbus Circle store in New York, I found a collection of kids’ clothes emblazoned with the logo of the Fire Department of New York. In February, to celebrate The New Yorker magazine’s centennial anniversary, J.Crew created a special line of sweaters, rugby shirts, and baseball caps featuring the magazine’s logo. And last summer, it dropped wo…

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. A beautiful object, expertly designed, can bring you joy throughout your busy day, unless you are unable to use it because of a permanent, temporary, or situational disability. How does design fail or succeed in creating an inclusive experience for all? As CEO of Michael Graves Design, I am deeply committed to advancing the functionality and accessibility of everyday products, with a special…

When you pop a piece of gum in your mouth, you might be hoping to freshen your breath, relieve some stress, or just get a bit of flavor. But you could also be getting thousands of microplastics released with every piece you chew. That’s because most chewing gum itself is made of plastic; gum bases often use synthetic polymers like polyvinyl acetate, a plastic used in adhesives; or styrene-butadiene, a type of plastic rubber used in tires and shoe soles. Plastic is already everywhere: our bottled water, our soil, even our air. Microplastics can leach into our bodies through all those things, as well as through foods kept or heated up in plastic packaging. But with …

How’s work? If you feel like answering “meh,” you’re not alone. Gallup’s latest workplace survey found that employee engagement has slumped to a 10-year low. It might not be the work itself, though. You might want to take a closer look at your boss, says Dr. Katina Sawyer, coauthor of Leading for Wellness: How to Create a Team Culture Where Everyone Thrives. “The proximal experiences that you have in the day to day of your workplace are what predict your general overall sentiments about your work,” says Sawyer, who is an associate professor of management and organizations at the University of Arizona’s Eller College of Management. “That means that the people that you …

Restaurant diners can be a sticky-fingered bunch. Who hasn’t been tempted to slip a particularly nice cocktail glass or a tiny saltshaker into their bag after lunch? But as dining out gets more expensive, more people seem determined to get their money’s worth, swiping everything from cups and plates to steak knives and even cheese graters. And not only are they getting away with it, they’re proudly flaunting their loot online. ​​In a viral video with more than 900,000 views, one creator boldly holds up a stolen cheese grater and asks, “What’s the best thing you’ve ever stolen from a restaurant?” Rather than backlash, the comments section reads like a c…

After artificial intelligence made waves in content creation across Instagram Reels, YouTube Shorts, and digital advertising (such as Puma’s recent AI-powered campaign), the technology is now stepping into the world of animation. Traditionally a craft requiring meticulous storytelling, careful planning, frame-by-frame adjustments, and long rendering times, animation is now being streamlined by AI—dramatically reducing production time and costs. Vidu AI, a generative video platform developed by Chinese AI firm ShengShu Technology, recently announced a partnership with Los Angeles-based animation studio Aura Productions to produce a fully AI-generated sci-fi anime serie…

The 2025 NFL Draft is next week, and the front-runner for the No. 1 overall pick, University of Miami quarterback Cam Ward, is an anomaly. In any other year, the top prospect being a journeyman who attended three schools in five years and ended his career by losing the Pop Tarts Bowl would be nearly impossible. But now it may be the new reality of the college-to-pro transition. The impact of the transfer portal and name, image, and likeness (NIL) legislation means the traditional “stay or go pro” dilemma is no longer binary. There’s now a third path: Transfer strategically, build your brand, enhance your draft value, and collect NIL checks along the way—all while …

In my work, I frequently observe teams whose purpose is to provide top-level service fall into frustration with their inability to deliver. With stress coming from a lack of support from their workplace’s practices, communication, or training, I can empathize. Studies find that workplace burnout is at unprecedented levels, and with layoffs forcing workers to handle multiple roles, emotionally exhausted teams deserve support to carry on. With frustrated customers being redirected to apps, endless hold times, or inadequate self-service forums that can’t address complex problems, we need solid teams to help us with our customer-facing problems. When trapped in bure…

More than a year after her viral project was shut down, TikTok’s “Tunnel Girl” has officially been given the green light to resume digging a massive tunnel beneath her home. On her TikTok account @engineer.everything, the woman—who identifies herself only as Kala—has built a following of over 657,000 by documenting her ambitious, off-the-books tunnel project in Herndon, Virginia. Despite the handle, Kala has no formal engineering background; she began digging in 2022 as a hobby. While many viewers were fascinated by her underground progress, others questioned the legality of the endeavor. “Are we… are we allowed to build tunnels?” one commenter asked under Kala’s …

Shares of Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) rose over 8% in early morning trading on Monday on news that incoming CEO Lip-Bu Tan has big plans to turn around the ailing chipmaker, including restructuring the company’s approach to AI, resurrecting its manufacturing operations, and eyeing cuts to what Tan views as a “slow-moving and bloated middle management layer,” according to a Reuters report. Tan said he’ll need to make “tough decisions” when he takes Intel’s helm on Tuesday, after the company posted $19 billion in annual losses in 2024. Tan’s appointment comes three months after the company ousted former CEO Pat Gelsinger, as it struggled after missing out on the gen…

TJX Companies, parent company of TJ Maxx, Marshalls, and HomeGoods, among other retail brands, reported strong sales and operating results on Wednesday for the fourth quarter and fiscal year ended February 1. For Q4, TJX exceeded Wall Street’s revenue expectations, with sales of $16.35 billion. However, its revenue and earnings guidance for the coming fiscal year were below analyst expectations, according to a consensus estimate cited by CNBC. Key takeaways Here are the main points from the announcement: Q4 fiscal 2025 (13-week period): Net sales: $16.4 billion (flat compared to the prior year’s 14-week period). Consolidated comparable store sales: …

There were a lot of smiling faces at the Oscars but one had to stand out—Sean Baker saw his film Anora go home with the top film prize and he took four for himself. Its star Mikey Madison was crowned best actress. Twenty-two years after winning best actor for The Pianist, Adrien Brody won the same Oscar again for his performance as another Holocaust survivor in Brady Corbet’s The Brutalist. He somehow kept the playoff music at bay. On Sunday, firefighters who battled recent wildfires got applauded, Mick Jagger handed out the best original song Oscar, and John Lithgow was tasked with looking “slightly disappointed” when speeches ran long. One highlight was Timothée Chala…