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Raymond Ward wants to see solar panels draped over every balcony in the United States and doesn’t understand why that isn’t happening. The technology couldn’t be easier to use—simply hang one or two panels over a railing and plug them into an outlet. The devices provide up to 800 watts, enough to charge a laptop or power a small fridge. They’re popular in Germany, where everyone from renters to climate activists to gadget enthusiasts hail them as a cheap and easy way to generate electricity. Germans had registered more than 780,000 of the devices with the country’s utility regulator as of December. They’ve installed millions more without telling the government. He…

Last month I posted a job description on our blog for a chief of staff role at my venture capital firm, Graham & Walker. Turns out, that job description really hit a nerve. Within an hour, more than a hundred candidates had put their hat in the ring and filled out the long Google form that served as our only form of application. Quickly overwhelmed by the interest, I asked everyone I knew for tips on how to review all those applications most efficiently. They recommended several tools, from LLMs to custom built. I was deep in research when something happened that made me change my mind. Our Google form included an optional field for “anything else you’d like t…

If you’ve ever been personally victimized by one too many bad jokes from a boss around the water cooler, you’re not the only one—and now, there’s research to show that a boss who’s trying too hard to be funny might actually reduce job satisfaction. The finding comes from a new study published in the Academy of Management Journal and conducted by a team of researchers at the University of Pennsylvania and the London School of Economics and Political Science. Over the course of several different sessions, the researchers found that leaders who went overboard on puns and jokes drained their employees’ emotional energy, leading to reduced job satisfaction. The results…

Last weekend, hundreds of thousands of worshippers lined the streets of Rome and Vatican City as Pope Francis was laid to rest. As a pope, he will be remembered for modernizing Catholicism with a viewpoint of empathy, from his calls to include trans people in sacraments of the church to his final address that called for a ceasefire in Gaza. It’s a legacy that deserves a more considered resting place, as many on the internet have pointed out an unfortunate reality: The kerning on Pope Francis’s tomb in the Basilica of St. Mary Major is objectively awful. Pope Francis’s tomb is simple by design. Francis—a modest man who opted to live in humble quarters alongside hi…

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. Most of us have heard the phrase “supply chain disruption” a few times too many in recent years. An extreme weather event or material shortage in one corner of the earth can ripple through thousands of global businesses, causing major delays. As the CEO of a company that builds data centers for some of the biggest technology providers in the world, it’s a concept I’m all too familiar with. It’s …

If you have any vegetable products in your kitchen, you’ll want to be aware of the latest recall posted on the website of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The recall involves numerous vegetable products and fears that they could be a breeding ground for Clostridium botulinum bacterium, which can produce the deadly botulinum toxin. Here’s what you need to know. What’s happened? On March 3, the FDA posted the notice of a voluntary recall from AKT Trading Inc. of Torrance, California. The recall was initiated after the company discovered that some of the prepared vegetable products manufactured by Choshiya Honten Co., Ltd had the potential to harbor the Cl…

It was a busy week for Colossal Biosciences: On Tuesday, it introduced the world to the first-ever woolly mice; by Wednesday, those mice were going viral; and on Saturday, they were the topic of a bit on Saturday Night Live’s Weekend Update. The success of genetically engineering these little creatures represented a huge leap toward a bigger goal: bringing back the woolly mammoth. After spending 2.5 years editing mammoth genes, the team applied their work to mice rather than trying to create a creature that has been extinct for thousands of years. “The genetic engineering of the mouse, while it’s a mouse, it’s a marvel of science in terms of where we are from an i…

Growing up, dinner table conversations at our house weren’t just about what we learned at school that day. My mom, Jill, was a CEO for my entire life, leading a nonprofit that made meaningful community impact while she simultaneously raised a family. Our dinner conversations included recaps of board meetings, talk of juggling multiple personal and professional roles, and advice for her kid (me!) on how to do right by others. My mother’s daily examples of leadership showed me that career success and personal fulfillment don’t compete with each other—they’re complementary. Now, as I help lead Guild’s efforts, partnering with companies to invest in employee career deve…

Burnout is a pervasive issue that can be damaging to individuals and costly to organizations. As Fast Company has reported previously, 82% of workers feel at risk for burnout and could be costing companies an average of $21,000 per year in lost productivity. And while there’s no shortage of advice about how to prevent burnout, prevention isn’t always a level playing field. Here are some situations that may leave you more prone to burnout than others: 1. If you’re in the wrong work environment Kandi Wiens, senior fellow at the University of Pennsylvania and director of the university’s master’s in medical education program, says that some people may be more at r…

When I first met Krea co-founders Victor Perez and Diego Rodriguez in 2023, the industry was scrambling to understand the a-bomb of generative AI. But inside their work-live condo in Hayes Valley, San Francisco—decorated with an Eiffel Tower built from La Croix cans—the duo painted a confident vision of the future: One where they could build a platform not just about “generating” AI media, but a toolset to offer an artisan level manipulation of this new technology. They wanted to consolidate the world of AI models, then blur the bounds of media as we understand it, erasing the divisions between images, video, and sound in a new era powered by computational intelligen…

California is staring down a $12 billion budget deficit, Gov. Gavin Newsom said Wednesday. The Democratic governor shared the number as he laid out his nearly $322 billion state spending plan for the upcoming fiscal year. He says the deficit is partly due to broad economic uncertainty, including ever-changing federal tariff policies and a volatile stock market. California relies heavily on revenue from a tax on capital gains. The shortfall is also due to a swelling Medicaid budget, and Newsom has proposed freezing enrollment in a state-funded health care program for immigrants in the country illegally starting in 2026 to cut down on costs. The shortfall will r…

These days, our tech experiences are all about speed—and our expectations for instant action are actually kinda insane. Think about it: Not so long ago, phones, computers, and especially the internet were all painfully slow (at least, by today’s sonic-speed standards). Things have come a long way in a short time. And for most of us now, if something doesn’t load within a fraction of second, we grow impatient and maybe give up entirely—like when a webpage has the audacity to take a handful of seconds to show up and we click away in an indignant huff. Hey, we’ve all been there. What’s especially wild, though, is that while the standards for speed have skyrocketed fo…

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. Disruption has become our new workplace reality. For managers, navigating change is an everyday responsibility, not an occasional responsibility. Gallup reports that 72% of employees recently experienced workplace disruptions, and nearly a third of leaders experienced extensive disruptions. Today, no disruption is as prevalent as the rise of artificial intelligence. Yes, as sophisticated a…

A random tree in Toronto—yes, a tree—has become an unlikely online sensation, racking up dozens of glowing five-star reviews on Google. Known affectionately as “Rodney the Tree,” the landmark recently gained viral attention after a screengrab of its Google Maps listing was shared on the subreddit r/MadeMeSmile. The post’s caption: “Someone marked a random tree in Toronto as a tourist attraction – and the reviews are genuinely taking me out,” alongside a handful of screengrabs of the 180 online reviews. One visitor claimed to have traveled all the way from the UK just to see Rodney, who stands proudly on a patch of grass near King Street and Strachan Avenue.…

Is technology a hero or a villain? That question keeps coming back to me. Especially now, as the world watches the ripple effects of the USAID funding freeze and the relentless wave of climate disasters. Tech companies sit right at the heart of these crises—not as bystanders, but as some of the most powerful players in how they unfold. And yet, tech’s public image has never been more conflicted. On one hand, technology has enabled incredible breakthroughs in humanitarian response. AI can predict floods before they hit. Blockchain helps track aid deliveries in fragile contexts. Real-time data platforms put lifesaving information directly into the hands of frontline…

The technology industry is in the midst of a skills shortage—one that shows no signs of slowing. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics projects that tech jobs will grow at twice the rate of America’s overall workforce, creating hiring shortfalls as organizations struggle to fill critical positions in IT, cybersecurity, and other vital areas. The emergence of AI has only exacerbated the issue, as organizations in nearly every industry are seeking employees who can help them better understand the technology and get the most out of their solutions. Even as AI becomes a part of everyday life, most organizations are still determining how best to utilize it—and how to limit the r…

As one of the world’s leading charity auctioneers and a seasoned keynote speaker for companies like Goldman Sachs and Google, I have spent 80 to 100 nights on stage every year for over two decades. Since I am typically one of the last people to take the stage at a fundraising event, I have watched countless people in various stages of panic just moments before they go on stage. After they find out my role, I usually receive a predictable set of rapid-fire questions from upcoming speakers in the hopes that some last-minute tips from a pro can help them do more than keep from passing out when they hit the stage. Here are five things I tell people in the final moments b…

When Nicholas Bloom, the William Eberle Professor of Economics at Stanford University in California, started studying working from home in 2004, “it was hard to get anyone engaged,” he says. Even in 2018, “no one had any interest whatsoever.” In 2025, that’s hard to fathom. Between the pandemic and technological advancements, WFH has become a norm among white collar workers. Not only has it normalized; it’s also destigmatized. The act that used to generate memes of Homer Simpson on the couch, prodding a distant computer with a stick has gained “positive connotations,” says Bloom. Working from home is seen as a privilege. It’s also here to stay. For their latest study,…

Barclays Center in Brooklyn is abuzz as the Brooklyn Nets’s Jalen Wilson catches the ball, readies himself, and releases a contested three. The ball arcs high above the Knicks defender’s outstretched arms and swishes through the net. As the stadium erupts, Bryan Velazquez throws a fist in the air. Even though he is blind, he knows that his team just scored. He felt it on his fingertips. Velazquez, who works as an outreach coordinator at Omnium Circus, is using a new kind of haptic device that translates live game action into vibrations. Developed by Seattle-based startup OneCourt, the laptop-size device consists of a silicone relief map displaying a basketball court with …