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Business secretary Jonathan Reynolds warns of ‘very serious and significant moment’ for economyView the full article

The psychological contract hasn’t just shifted around where we work. It has shifted, and continues to shift, around the entire relationship between organizations and employees. That shift in expectations feels most dramatic when we look at Gen Z, the latest entrants to the workforce. More than 40% of Gen Z employees have refused a work assignment because of ethical concerns. Nearly four in 10 have turned down a job with a company that doesn’t align with their values. In the workplace, they are driving the conversation around social justice, mental health, and work-life balance. More than 90% of workers say they’ve been influenced by Gen Z on issues of meaning at work, and more than six in 10 say Gen Z has made them more likely to speak up when they don’t approve of something at work. Career Stage vs. Generational Differences Some of the generational differences we’re experiencing are just career stage differences. While the Three C’s of meaningful work—community, contribution, and challenge—are important for everyone, different people will value different sources of meaning more highly. In particular, those newer to the workforce tend to want opportunities to learn and grow. Jennifer Deal, who has studied generational changes at work for many years, says, “When people talk about generations, what they do is they think about lumps of people cohorts that were born at a particular time, and that doesn’t really have as much of an effect in the workplace as does life stage, career stage, and level in the organization. Young people want to be challenged. While you should focus on all Three C’s for everybody, you might want to put more weight on challenge for people who are new to the workforce and weigh things differently for people who are middle or later career.” Other generational differences, however, represent a shift in employees’ expectations of organizations and their leaders. Arthur Brooks shares, “Every year I teach Harvard MBA students about happiness and its unique relationship to leadership. These students are almost all destined for tremendous success as measured in worldly terms: money, prestige, and power. To most people in our society, this seems like a dream come true and the secret to happiness. Yet each year, when I speak to my MBA students—both in class and in private office hours—many are concerned. Are they truly on the path to happiness because of their near-certain success? They talk to alumni who complain about workaholism, broken relationships, and trouble finding passion. This provokes a lot of anxiety about meaning.” What Gen Z can teach In our consulting work, we’re frequently called in to help leaders navigate the divide between younger and older employees. We commonly hear things like, “These kids just don’t want to work.” We find it more accurate to say, “These kids don’t want to work the way you did.” While younger employees of course have a lot to learn, we believe this generation also has some things to teach. As we move toward a new, better model of work, this rising cohort is challenging many long-held ideals and broken structures. They aren’t encumbered by the old system because they haven’t invested in it. Kahlil Shepard, a Gen Z worker, says, “I want to do things that matter. I want to feel like I’m constantly evolving. I want to work at a place where leaders are facilitating not just my growth broadly but also my ability to live out my values in the world.” Leaders can, and should, challenge this cohort to temper their ideals with practical realities. At the same time, leaders have an opportunity to take their aspirations of a better model and help bring it to life. This requires leaders to unlearn some of the meaning-killing behaviors that are a part of the old model and adopt better ways of working. The future holds the promise of better work for all of us. We all want meaningful work—work that builds community, that contributes to others, and that challenges us to grow. As a leader, you have far more influence than you think in creating this meaning for others. Small moments of meaning can create ripples that reach our families, friends, and neighbors. The impact of these moments can extend far into the future. We believe that now and into the future every job can, and should, be meaningful with the help of a great leader. We believe that leader is you. What if all jobs were meaningful? Imagine a world where every job is designed to be sustainable and fulfilling. Where jobs offer not just a paycheck but also a sense of contribution. Imagine work environments that prioritize relationships and connections over mere transactions. What if every employee was valued not as a temporary fix or a number on a balance sheet but as a crucial, long-term contributor to the organization’s success? Imagine a world where earning a living did not come at the cost of living a meaningful life. How would this shift in work impact our organizations, our society, and our personal well-being? Making work meaningful is not an item to check off your to-do list. It’s the critical lens through which you must view every decision, interaction, and task. Meaning is created—or destroyed—in daily moments. Every conversation in which you truly listen, every piece of positive feedback you give, and every project you assign that encourages learning and growth don’t just add up—they multiply. Excerpted from Meaningful Work: How to Ignite Passion and Performance in Every Employee. Copyright © 2025 by Wes Adams and Tamara Myles. Available from PublicAffairs, an imprint of Hachette Book Group, Inc. View the full article

Things are tough right now, with complexity and uncertainty in the world driving stress and worry. You’re probably trying to stay positive and muscle through. But there’s an important difference between keeping appropriately optimistic and acting with toxic positivity. If you’re faced with toxic positivity in yourself or others, it’s probably based on good intentions that have run amok. But it can actually create a negative spiral that can make things worse. Staying positive during trying times According to a survey from MyPerfectResume, people are reporting record levels of exhaustion, anxiety, and stress with 88% who said they were burned out. In addition, 32% of respondents reported they felt anxiety, including 30% who had headaches and 25% who had muscle pain related to their burnout, according to the data. Attempting to stay optimistic is a reasonable response, but toxic positivity is what happens when that goes too far. It involves ignoring reality, suppressing negative emotions, and trying to be overly positive in every situation, regardless of reality. Those with toxic positivity may also try to impose their attitudes on others—to the annoyance of those around them. Toxic positivity has multiple negative effects. First, when people demonstrate toxic positivity, it can result in denying reality, and undermining their ability to respond constructively to negative situations. Second, an unwillingness to express real emotions can result in feeling isolated from others and can cause mental health challenges for the person expressing toxic positivity. Third, when someone is acting with toxic positivity and denying other’s emotions, it creates barriers to forming a trusting relationship, because others may feel devalued. Fourth, when someone is perceived as inauthentic, others may question their honesty or integrity—again getting in the way of building relationships. So, how can you be positive without embracing toxic behavior? There are some strategies that work. Be aware and be realistic You can avoid toxic positivity by staying aware of what’s going on—including the bad news or challenges that emerge. Repressing or avoiding difficulties or uncomfortable facts is a classic characteristic of toxic positivity. Avoid burying your head in the sand. Instead, seek information, stay in the know, and be aware. You don’t have to overdo negative thinking or marinate in bad news, but you will want to keep your eyes open to real situations and circumstances. It’s also important to be realistic. You don’t need to overcorrect toxic positivity by catastrophizing or anticipating all the worst outcomes, but it’s constructive to be clear about what’s going on and face up to the need for solutions. Put energy into responding to problems instead of investing energy in sealing them out. As you’re working through disappointment or discouragement with yourself or others, also avoid using insincere positive statements or gimmicks. A study published in Psychological Science found that most people believe positive statements can help their mood and their self-esteem. But in the experiment, people who struggled with low self-esteem and who also repeated positive self-statements like, “I’m a loveable person,” felt worse than they did before using the self-statement. The bottom line: Sometimes inauthentic or superficial solutions like hollow self-talk are worse than an honest assessment of what’s difficult and an intention to deal with it. Encourage and empower yourself and others, but stop short of using superficial feel-good statements that get in the way of authenticity or action. Be empathetic At the same time you’re aware of situations and realities, you’ll also need to stay in tune with people and be empathic toward them. Consider what they’re going through, ask questions, and listen to their points of view. By validating what people are going through and by being present with them in tough times, you can both support them and empower them to work through difficulties. This is helpful to them and it also builds the relationship, which is good for both of you. Also avoid imposing your attitudes on others. If you’re naturally an optimistic person, that’s fine, but avoid attempting to change others. You’ll want to support them, but if you try to convince someone that everything is okay despite all they’re going through, you’ll just irritate them and drive a wedge in the relationship. It’s okay to be optimistic While you’re avoiding a toxic approach to positivity, you can be optimistic. Look to the future and be hopeful about it—and take action to find solutions for the issues that are important to you. Optimism can lead to positive outcomes. In a study of over 70,000 people researchers from Boston University surveyed respondents about their optimism and compared it to their health data, over a 10 to 30 year period. They found that those who were more optimistic boosted their longevity by 11% to 15% and increased their chances of living to age 85 by 50%. These effects on longevity were in spite of participants’ age, education, diseases, or depression—and regardless of habits related to alcohol use, exercise, or diet. Researchers believe that optimism is so powerful because it may help people bounce back from stress and regulate emotions. The difference between toxic positivity and healthy optimism is a matter of degree. If you deny reality, you may be tipping into toxic territory. But if you can be empathetic and avoid imposing your positivity on others, you reach a reasonable balance and connect more deeply with others. View the full article

In the past week, I had “conversations” with two leaders who talked too much. They were good people with interesting stories to share. But they went on for far too long while I just sat and listened. Characteristically, they asked few questions and, when they did, didn’t seem to be interested in my responses. These two leaders were engaged but seemingly not curious or fully present. These encounters crystallized something I’ve observed repeatedly in my decades of executive coaching: A damaging leadership blind spot is the simple inability to stop talking. I call this a “leadership trap” because it ensnares otherwise effective executives in a paradox: The same verbal fluency that may have helped them rise through organizational ranks becomes a liability once they arrive in positions of authority. What got them noticed now gets in their way. The drivers of excessive talking As I reflected on these two leaders, I realized they reflected a pattern I’ve seen many times. Contrary to what many might assume, their excessive talking wasn’t rooted in narcissism or self-absorption. Instead, it flowed from more complex motivations they likely didn’t even recognize. The first executive, a fast-moving consumer goods leader, seemed driven by an underlying insecurity. Despite his considerable achievements, his need to recount every detail of his company’s growth story suggested he was still seeking validation. His monologues were attempts to prove his worth—a verbal résumé delivered even when no one had questioned his credentials. The second leader, a newly promoted senior vice president in healthcare, displayed what I’ve come to recognize as “the silence phobia.” Whenever our conversation reached a natural pause, she would quickly fill the gap with another anecdote. This discomfort with silence is not uncommon among leaders, who often experience momentary quiet as a vacuum that must be filled. Why leaders often talk too much In my coaching practice, I’ve identified several other drivers that cause well-intentioned leaders to monopolize conversations: Some leaders talk excessively due to underdeveloped self-awareness. They genuinely don’t realize they’re dominating discussions. Without deliberate attention to their communication patterns, these leaders never notice the subtle signs of disengagement around them—the avoided eye contact, the phones checked under the table, the contributions that gradually diminish. Others feel intense pressure to appear intelligent and in control, especially those promoted based on technical prowess rather than leadership ability. They may dive into excessive detail, not realizing that their desire to impress often achieves the opposite effect, frustrating employees who prefer clear, concise direction. The organizational cost When leaders don’t create space for others’ voices, organizations pay a steep price—often without realizing the source of their struggles. Both leaders I met last week lead sizable teams. I couldn’t help wondering how their communication styles were affecting their organizations. Were team members experiencing the same one-sided conversations? Were valuable insights going unshared because there was simply no space to offer them? This pattern creates what I think of as “conversational quicksand.” The more leaders talk, the less others contribute. The less others contribute, the more leaders feel compelled to fill the silence. Each interaction reinforces the dynamic, gradually pulling teams deeper into passivity. The business consequences extend beyond frustrating meetings. When employee engagement diminishes, team members feel their input is neither valued nor necessary. Innovation suffers as people become less inclined to voice their opinions, knowing they’ll struggle to find space in the conversation. Perhaps most damaging, leaders who talk too much paradoxically undermine their own influence. When someone speaks at length, their key messages get lost in the verbal deluge —important signals drowning in noise. Team members start tuning out, missing crucial information as they struggle to maintain focus through lengthy monologues. In exit interviews, feeling “not listened to” consistently ranks among the top reasons talented people leave organizations. The efficiency of team operations also suffers, with long-winded explanations making meetings feel like endurance exercises rather than productive gatherings. Breaking the pattern One of the most difficult challenges in helping verbose leaders change their approach is that many don’t recognize the problem. The first step toward change is typically a wake-up call—objective feedback that makes the pattern impossible to ignore. A structured 360-degree feedback process often provides this necessary reality check. One leader I worked with was genuinely shocked when his feedback revealed that team members felt “steamrolled” in meetings. For leaders ready to address this challenge, I recommend a simple but powerful practice: the “talk time” journal. After each significant meeting, they estimate the percentage of time they spent talking. One executive I coached was stunned to discover he was talking 70–80% of the time in meetings explicitly called to get input from his team. The “WAIT principle”—asking oneself “Why Am I Talking?” before continuing to speak—offers another practical checkpoint. This simple internal question helps leaders assess whether their contribution adds value or merely takes up space. Today’s technology offers additional support. AI-driven meeting analytics tools can monitor speaking patterns, providing objective data on who speaks and for how long—a communication fitness tracker where numbers tell the truth when perception might not. Many leaders benefit from enlisting a “communication buddy”—someone they trust to provide honest feedback with subtle real-time cues during meetings when the leader begins to dominate. Perhaps the most powerful technique is practicing strategic silence. By consciously pausing after asking questions and resisting the urge to fill quiet moments, leaders create space for reflection and encourage more thoughtful contributions from others. An increase in influence After my encounters last week, I reflected on a leader I’d coached several years ago. He had initially displayed the same pattern of dominating conversations but had committed to changing his approach. After six months of deliberate practice, he had reduced his talking time from approximately 60% to 30% of team meetings. The results were transformative—not just more engaged employees but also better decisions, faster execution, and ultimately stronger business results. “I used to think leadership was about having all the answers,” he told me. “Now I understand it’s about asking the right questions.” This paradoxical result—increased influence through decreased talking—emerges consistently in my work with leaders. When they create space for others’ voices, they not only access more diverse thinking but also elevate the significance of their own contributions. The goal isn’t to make leaders talk less just for the sake of it. Instead, it’s about helping them become more effective communicators who create environments where every voice contributes to success. When leaders master this balance, their influence increases even as their word count decreases. As I left my meetings with those two leaders last week, I wished I could offer them this insight: Your greatest impact as a leader often comes not from what you say, but from what you enable others to say. Leadership communication isn’t about holding the floor—it’s about creating the conditions for collective intelligence to flourish. The next time you find yourself dominating a discussion, ask yourself: Am I talking because it’s necessary, or simply because I can? Your leadership effectiveness may depend on your answer. View the full article

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The City of Long Beach is now accepting applications for its Visual Improvement Program (VIP) Grant, a financial assistance initiative offering up to $1,500 to small businesses and nonprofits impacted by crime or vandalism occurring on or after October 1, 2022. The grant aims to help cover the cost of storefront repairs, boarding, insurance deductibles, and operating expenses. Applications are open on a rolling basis and will remain available until all funding is exhausted. Awards will be issued as funds become accessible, and applicants will be notified if additional information is required during the review process. The City states that a minimum of 50% of grant awards will be reserved for businesses owned by a person of color or located in low- to moderate-income areas. Outreach efforts are focused in these areas to ensure equitable distribution of funding in alignment with the Long Beach Recovery Act. Eligible businesses may submit one application per unique incident of vandalism and may receive up to $1,500 for each occurrence. However, only one award may be issued per business in a six-month period. To qualify, businesses must be operating within the Long Beach city limits and have a valid City of Long Beach business license. The business must be a private for-profit or a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, currently open or temporarily closed due to property damage. Applicants must provide proof of vandalism and other required documentation, including a photo ID, W-9, and business license. Additional eligibility requirements include: Independently owned and not publicly traded Fewer than 200 employees Less than $2 million in annual gross revenue Active status with the California Secretary of State (except for sole proprietors) A physical storefront in Long Beach Valid EIN, FEIN, or SSN Home-based businesses, permanently closed businesses, and those that have already received similar grant funding for the same incident are not eligible. Other ineligible applicants include government entities, landlords, financial institutions, and businesses engaged in illegal or predatory activities. The grant is part of Long Beach’s broader effort to support recovery and revitalization efforts for small businesses negatively affected by property crime. For assistance with the application, business owners can contact the BizCare Hotline at 562-570-4249 or email 4Biz@longbeach.gov. Technical help is available by calling 1-855-582-3973 or emailing support@forwardplatform.zendesk.com. The application is also accessible via the FORWARD platform. Applicants will receive an email confirmation upon successful submission of their application. While submissions cannot be edited after they are submitted, applicants needing to make corrections can contact visualimprovementprogram-support@livestories.zendesk.com. Additional support is available in multiple languages, although the application itself must be completed in English. Tutorial videos and further information about required documents and eligibility are available through the application portal. This article, "Long Beach Launches Visual Improvement Program Grant for Businesses Affected by Vandalism" was first published on Small Business Trends View the full article

The City of Long Beach is now accepting applications for its Visual Improvement Program (VIP) Grant, a financial assistance initiative offering up to $1,500 to small businesses and nonprofits impacted by crime or vandalism occurring on or after October 1, 2022. The grant aims to help cover the cost of storefront repairs, boarding, insurance deductibles, and operating expenses. Applications are open on a rolling basis and will remain available until all funding is exhausted. Awards will be issued as funds become accessible, and applicants will be notified if additional information is required during the review process. The City states that a minimum of 50% of grant awards will be reserved for businesses owned by a person of color or located in low- to moderate-income areas. Outreach efforts are focused in these areas to ensure equitable distribution of funding in alignment with the Long Beach Recovery Act. Eligible businesses may submit one application per unique incident of vandalism and may receive up to $1,500 for each occurrence. However, only one award may be issued per business in a six-month period. To qualify, businesses must be operating within the Long Beach city limits and have a valid City of Long Beach business license. The business must be a private for-profit or a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, currently open or temporarily closed due to property damage. Applicants must provide proof of vandalism and other required documentation, including a photo ID, W-9, and business license. Additional eligibility requirements include: Independently owned and not publicly traded Fewer than 200 employees Less than $2 million in annual gross revenue Active status with the California Secretary of State (except for sole proprietors) A physical storefront in Long Beach Valid EIN, FEIN, or SSN Home-based businesses, permanently closed businesses, and those that have already received similar grant funding for the same incident are not eligible. Other ineligible applicants include government entities, landlords, financial institutions, and businesses engaged in illegal or predatory activities. The grant is part of Long Beach’s broader effort to support recovery and revitalization efforts for small businesses negatively affected by property crime. For assistance with the application, business owners can contact the BizCare Hotline at 562-570-4249 or email 4Biz@longbeach.gov. Technical help is available by calling 1-855-582-3973 or emailing support@forwardplatform.zendesk.com. The application is also accessible via the FORWARD platform. Applicants will receive an email confirmation upon successful submission of their application. While submissions cannot be edited after they are submitted, applicants needing to make corrections can contact visualimprovementprogram-support@livestories.zendesk.com. Additional support is available in multiple languages, although the application itself must be completed in English. Tutorial videos and further information about required documents and eligibility are available through the application portal. This article, "Long Beach Launches Visual Improvement Program Grant for Businesses Affected by Vandalism" was first published on Small Business Trends View the full article

Newest financing comes as ChatGPT maker seeks to become conventional for-profit companyView the full article

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. Since ChatGPT’s launch in 2022, it feels like artificial intelligence is finally going mainstream. From Fortune 500 board rooms to dinner tables, everyone is talking about AI, its applications, and its promise. With more than $500 billion flowing into AI infrastructure investments, many investors predict the AI wave is just gaining momentum. Those investors are right, AI still has a long way to go before it is truly ubiquitous. But more importantly, we have to tread carefully when we talk about AI going mainstream. The reality is that while many reading this article are already using AI in our daily lives, there are billions of people around the world who are a long way away from feeling AI’s impacts and opportunities. So how do we truly change the world with AI? The opportunity isn’t just about reach, but about the underlying data and infrastructure that will be needed to make AI a truly global technology revolution. Lessons from mobile phone adoption We can learn a lot about the promises and pitfalls of technology revolutions by looking to the past. Today, 70.5% of the world’s population uses a cellphone. Yet, it’s taken nearly 50 years for cellphones to gain worldwide adoption since the first mobile phone call was made in 1973 by Martin Cooper, a Motorola executive, using a prototype mobile phone. While mobile phone technology has improved significantly, with phones getting smaller and smarter over the years, the real power of mobile phones took hold with the cellular network’s evolution. The 2G cellular network introduction in 2000 catapulted mobile phone usage forward and made it possible for companies like Apple to imagine the first iPhone, launched in 2007. Without significant investment and expansion in global cellular networks—the foundational infrastructure required to bring cell phone technology to every corner of the world—it’s possible that cell phones would never have gained popularity or market share. Biases and blind spots So, what hurdle does AI need to overcome to truly become a global technology? While many investors are looking towards power and chips—the critical GPUs that allow AI to perform—they are missing a much more important foundation: data. Large language models (LLMs)—the backbone of today’s AI—are only as good as the data they are trained on. Unfortunately, data often comes with built-in biases and blind spots. Consider for a moment that many of the most popular LLMs have been built by U.S. companies and are trained on large, publicly available datasets using online sources like literature, news, social media, and Wikipedia. While expansive, this data is inherently influenced by Western cultural norms, political ideologies, and historical viewpoints. This is a problem if the AI product is meant to be used globally. It’s a simple truth: Online data tends to reflect wealthier, tech-savvy populations that represent a very small percentage of the world population. As a result, the LLMs powering the most exciting AI are only relevant and working for English-speaking users with regular internet access, but are failing to account for the experiences and realities of the global majority. The path forward One solution is stronger AI governance—implementing policies and procedures that actively mitigate biases in AI models and the underlying data they depend on. This has become a growing focus for policymakers and industry leaders alike, aiming to make training data more inclusive and models more reflective of diverse perspectives. Auditing systems for algorithmic fairness is one way to address this. However, relying on a handful of AI companies to self-regulate has its limitations. Arriving at an industry standard consensus can be difficult, policy adoption can be slow, and enforcement is often inconsistent. We need a broader approach. Another way forward is for companies to take matters into their own hands by pairing the depth of their own proprietary datasets and domain expertise with the breadth and processing power of existing AI models. By making a commitment to their own data management, companies across industries and regions present a huge opportunity to help improve and expand available data sets. Leveraging new, alternative sources of customer data is core to my company Tala’s thesis on reaching true global scale—and has enabled Tala to efficiently implement AI in its financial infrastructure. A truly global revolution One thing is clear: AI is here to stay, and its pace of development will only accelerate. But if we do not address its biases and blind spots now, we risk leaving billions of people out of the equation. There is hope that the AI industry—from incumbents to disruptors—will recognize the global opportunity to implement AI. Companies must take proactive steps by adopting forward-thinking AI governance, while also leveraging proprietary data to fill in the gaps of the first generation of LLMs. The opportunity starts with global data and infrastructure. We are early enough in the lifecycle of AI to make sure we are building products to revolutionize the entire world, not just parts of it. Shivani Siroya is founder and CEO of Tala. View the full article

Companies including Accenture and Deloitte identify at least $15bn worth of potential cuts View the full article

Cash App has announced it is beginning the rollout of Afterpay’s pay over time offerings to eligible customers across the U.S., bringing the popular Pay-in-4 product to hundreds of thousands of merchant partners starting this week. The integration marks a major step in unifying the two leading fintech brands under a new identity: Cash App Afterpay. According to the announcement, customers shopping online at participating merchants can now select $Afterpay at checkout to split purchases into installments. Eligible Cash App customers new to Afterpay will be able to begin using the pay over time service immediately through merchant websites, while existing Afterpay users will continue to access their accounts with the same seamless experience and updated branding. “The scale of Cash App’s 57 million monthly actives means our merchant partners benefit from a larger network of customers, and eligible customers gain greater access to simple, fair, and accessible payment options outside of traditional systems,” said Nick Molnar, Global Head of Sales at Block and Co-founder of Afterpay. “We believe that Cash App Afterpay will not only be an accelerant to Cash App growth, but also an accelerant in the growing preference towards BNPL options in the United States.” Cash App customers will also be able to manage their Pay Over Time purchases through the Cash App applet, integrating transactions made with Afterpay directly into the app’s interface. The company expects to introduce the Pay Monthly offering in the coming months. The new Cash App Afterpay brand includes an updated checkout logo and reflects the growing synergy between the two platforms. According to the release, Cash App was recently ranked among the top five most authentic brands to Gen Z, a key demographic, while Afterpay was rated the most trusted buy now, pay later (BNPL) provider in comparison to competitors. As Afterpay’s Pay Over Time products become increasingly accessible within the Cash App ecosystem, merchants offering these services can now connect with Cash App’s 57 million monthly active users. This strategic move aims to expand BNPL access to a broader audience by leveraging the combined reach and reputation of the two brands, now united under the Cash App Afterpay name. This article, "Cash App Begins Rollout of Afterpay’s Pay Over Time Services to Millions of Users" was first published on Small Business Trends View the full article

Cash App has announced it is beginning the rollout of Afterpay’s pay over time offerings to eligible customers across the U.S., bringing the popular Pay-in-4 product to hundreds of thousands of merchant partners starting this week. The integration marks a major step in unifying the two leading fintech brands under a new identity: Cash App Afterpay. According to the announcement, customers shopping online at participating merchants can now select $Afterpay at checkout to split purchases into installments. Eligible Cash App customers new to Afterpay will be able to begin using the pay over time service immediately through merchant websites, while existing Afterpay users will continue to access their accounts with the same seamless experience and updated branding. “The scale of Cash App’s 57 million monthly actives means our merchant partners benefit from a larger network of customers, and eligible customers gain greater access to simple, fair, and accessible payment options outside of traditional systems,” said Nick Molnar, Global Head of Sales at Block and Co-founder of Afterpay. “We believe that Cash App Afterpay will not only be an accelerant to Cash App growth, but also an accelerant in the growing preference towards BNPL options in the United States.” Cash App customers will also be able to manage their Pay Over Time purchases through the Cash App applet, integrating transactions made with Afterpay directly into the app’s interface. The company expects to introduce the Pay Monthly offering in the coming months. The new Cash App Afterpay brand includes an updated checkout logo and reflects the growing synergy between the two platforms. According to the release, Cash App was recently ranked among the top five most authentic brands to Gen Z, a key demographic, while Afterpay was rated the most trusted buy now, pay later (BNPL) provider in comparison to competitors. As Afterpay’s Pay Over Time products become increasingly accessible within the Cash App ecosystem, merchants offering these services can now connect with Cash App’s 57 million monthly active users. This strategic move aims to expand BNPL access to a broader audience by leveraging the combined reach and reputation of the two brands, now united under the Cash App Afterpay name. This article, "Cash App Begins Rollout of Afterpay’s Pay Over Time Services to Millions of Users" was first published on Small Business Trends View the full article

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. If you’re a Mac user who just wants the classic Microsoft Office experience without the whole subscription situation, this $42.99 deal on Microsoft Office Home & Business 2019 for Mac might be worth your attention. Normally priced at $229, it’s a one-time purchase that gives you lifetime access to Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, OneNote, and Teams Classic on just one Mac. That’s it—no monthly fees, renewals, or ongoing charges. You’ll get an instant email with your redemption code and download link, so you can be up and running within minutes. This is Office 2019—not 365 or 2021. Microsoft has already ended support for Office 2019 on Mac, which means you won’t receive any more security updates or bug fixes. If you like staying fully up-to-date, this isn’t for you, but if your needs are simple—writing reports, sending email, managing budgets, making presentations—it still holds up just fine. It’s designed to work with macOS 13 through 15 and takes advantage of Mac features like Retina display support and full-screen mode. You’ll need at least 4GB of RAM and 10GB of hard disk space, so make sure your setup can handle it. Just one key step: once you install it, turn off auto-update. Otherwise, it might upgrade you to 2021, making this lifetime license pointless. There are no frills here—just full access to the essential Office suite for a one-time price. This is a solid deal if you’re a student, freelancer, or small business owner who doesn't need cloud syncing or the newest version every year. You won’t get ongoing support and can't use it on multiple devices simultaneously, though you can switch devices (the license is tied to your Microsoft account, not your Mac). But for everyday productivity on a single Mac, it’s a straightforward, affordable solution—especially if you’re tired of renting your software. View the full article

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. The economy is something of a rollercoaster and consumer behavior is shifting just as fast. From fluctuating costs to changing shopping habits, today’s market represents a real opportunity to support transformation for brands. As trusted marketing partners, our role isn’t to predict what’s next but to help clients confidently navigate the complexity, adapt with agility, and stay closely attuned to what their customers need right now. The evolving climate requires media and marketing professionals to develop a deeper understanding of how macroeconomic forces directly impact their clients’ decision-making processes. For example, when tariffs increase for say, a tequila producer targeting the U.S. market, the ripple effects are immediate. Those costs must be accounted for, either through increased pricing, which affects consumer purchasing patterns, or adjusting allocations elsewhere, including ad and marketing budgets. It is imperative to maintain client-centricity. So how can we, as agency leaders, support clients during unpredictable economic times and show up as more strategic business partners? Stay informed Every business is dealing with unprecedented shifts in how people shop, plus inconsistency in the market and supply chain. Everything is moving faster, and agencies need to move with agility, forecasting marketing plans for clients in real time. There’s HUGE opportunity out there, but also high risks. Clients consistently tell us they value partners who adapt quickly to changing circumstances and who not only keep pace with the changing tides, but anticipate the shifts. Earlier this year, one of our retail clients faced potential sales losses when a major publication was ending print circulation in a key market. We responded with a proposal to shift advertising based on data insights that could potentially exceed the lost sales. The ability to respond to shifts in real time can provide a competitive edge in client service. Instead of resisting this uncertainty, embrace it. Stay informed and stay current in the news—ready to adapt, innovate, and lead the conversation. While we can’t control market fluctuations, we can control our response. Focus on human, not just machine While businesses race towards AI adoption and automation, it’s easy to get swept up in the speed and scale of technology. It’s important to remember that while these tools offer insights and efficiency, they don’t provide the creativity, intuition, and strategic thinking that only human connection and emotional intelligence can provide. At Havas, we show up with a mindful understanding of what our clients are going through on a day-to-day basis. The heart of our approach is a commitment to people-centricity. Professionals are seeking environments where they feel genuinely valued, where personal and professional growth are nurtured, and contributions recognized in meaningful ways. Creating a culture where employees feel heard, supported, and empowered is essential in this market. This same value extends to client partnerships; our strategy emphasizes human expertise and technological capabilities working in harmony. Technology and automation are a means to an end (not the end itself!). Clients want more diagnostic data tools and increased media data optimization so their reporting can be more accessible and actionable. However, these tools enhance but don’t replace the creativity, intuition, and strategic thinking that forge meaningful connections. Our clients are real humans, looking at data points of real customers. This requires their agency partner to go beyond the numbers, partnering with real people at the helm to interpret customers’ needs with empathy and humility. As businesses face constant recalibration with every news alert, they need their partners to care about the things they care about. By gaining a deeper understanding of their unique challenges and daily nuances, we can offer better visualizations, data granularity, collaborative insights, and recommendations, ultimately turning numbers into stories, patterns into strategy, and clicks into brand affinity. Act in real time Speed is currency in today’s market. By staying informed and monitoring the market, you’ll be able to quickly recognize and respond to organic waves of market conversation. Success lies in agility. For one fashion client, this meant accelerating planning cycles from weeks to days to capitalize on a product’s viral moment, leading to increased budgets and stronger future campaigns. Because we spent the time building a trusted and collaborative partnership with this client, we understood their audiences, objectives, and goals. We established media and culture monitoring processes to better react in real time which allowed us to swiftly activate because of our shared understanding. Spot the trend and seize the momentum because in a world that moves fast, the brands that act in real time to consumers’ wants and needs gain consumer share. When wildfires hit Los Angeles earlier this year, the combination of global media attention, celebrity-driven social coverage, and AI-generated images of Hollywood in flames exacerbated the problem and led tourists to believe the city—and maybe even the state—was closed for business, sparking a wave of misinformation. For Visit California, a nonprofit 501(c) corporation with a mission to market the state as a premier travel destination, speed was essential to deliver a powerful message of hope, resilience, and community during the Oscars. We were able to produce a meaningful moment for our client in several weeks. Leveraging agency connections, the campaign coordinated a strategic integration with award season, providing an empowering message that California is open for business, rolling out the red carpet for visitors from around the world. Activating celebrity ambassadors, strategic media buys, and perfectly timed messaging helped negate misinformation and bolster the state’s tourism and the livelihoods of countless workers who depend on visitors. By staying informed about market conditions, not shying away from client pressures, demonstrating adaptability, and maintaining empathy, you can deliver better, stronger results for your clients. Tomorrow’s successful media agencies will embrace this and build meaningful partnerships that last longer than any economic turbulence. We only exist because our clients trust us. Understanding their business is our business and agile actions in times that are changing faster than ever before, is how we win together. Greg James is North America CEO of Havas Media Network. View the full article

When a couple decided to take their relationship further on the most recent season of “Love Is Blind,” the moment was soundtracked with a familiar song: Billie Eilish’s “Birds of a Feather.” It wasn’t a flash-in-the-pan musical surprise. The season was stacked with familiar needle drops — Miley Cyrus’ “Wrecking Ball,” Justin Bieber’s “Holy,” Ariana Grande’s “Into You,” Selena Gomez’s “Lose You to Love Me” — a gesture away from the little-known, sometimes generic pop songs that used to meet the show’s most emotional moments. Show creator and Kinetic Content CEO Chris Coelen attributed the pivot to the show’s anniversary. “We decided, in this Season 8, to coincide with our fifth anniversary, to really embrace popular music in a big way,” he said. “And so, we ended up using — throughout the entire season and in every episode — we used popular music cues.” “Love Is Blind” isn’t the only reality show that walks the line between what viewers have labeled “real songs” and unfamiliar music. Where does the unfamiliar music come from? It’s not artificial intelligence, where “nobody controls the copyright,” says “The Bachelor” music supervisor Jody Friedman. “There’s too much risk involved with using AI music in these projects.” Excluding big-time pop records, the music used on television comes from a number of sources. It can be custom, original music by the show’s composers. It can be licensed directly from artists, or from sync agents, production music libraries or a “one stop,” what supervisors call a company that has the rights to license both the master recording and the composition rights. Music supervisors might also turn to covers of well-known songs. On the most recent season of “The Bachelor,” Friedman used a cover of Phil Phillips’ “Sea of Love,” a classic ’50s tune. It’s more affordable to pay to license a cover than the original recording — “and creatively, it’s a modern take on an old song,” he says. “Love Island USA” music supervisor Sara Torres also uses covers. “That can bring in other listeners that may not necessarily be into pop, but if they hear the song in a different genre, it might pull them in, to go back and listen to the original version,” she says. Music libraries — companies that represent music catalogs for licensing purposes — are key, too, because if a song is too expensive to license, a supervisor can instead find a song that evokes the feeling of BTS’ “Butter” without having to pay for it. “The indie libraries, let’s say, for TV, could be anywhere from $1,000-1,500 per needle drop use,” says Friedman. Generally speaking, bigger commercial songs can range from $20,000 to upward of $100,000 depending on the use, he says. A history of using ‘real songs’ on dating competition shows The use of instantly recognizable pop music differs from program to program. “Love Is Blind” has used popular music in the past, but sparingly. Coelen points out the use of Lee Ann Womack’s “I Hope You Dance” in Bliss Poureetezadi and Zack Goytowski’s story in Season 4. But the frequency of Top 40 hits in the most recent season is new. He says the benefit of using these songs, creatively, is that it “elevates the experience,” for the viewer: “Emotions are so connected to certain pieces of music, and they can conjure up feelings that we relate to.” Kinetic Content declined The Associated Press’ request to speak with the show’s music supervisor, Jon Ernst. “Love Island USA” featured songs like Chappell Roan’s “Kaleidoscope” and Sabrina Carpenter’s “Please Please Please” in its most recent season. Executive producer James Barker points out that the original U.K. show has always used commercial music, and therefore the U.S. version has endeavored to do the same. “The show is meant to feel like you’re on vacation with your best friends. Of course, when you’re on vacation, you’re sharing music,” he says. “I think that translates into how we create the show.” Torres agrees. She adds that the show typically uses more commercial music in the beginning of the season, and then again in the finale — “you want that big impact.” Because the show has a quick turnaround time, with six episodes a week — “whatever happens in Fiji on Monday airs Tuesday in America,” as Barker describes it — the show team “pre-clears” over a thousand songs, just in case they work for a particular narrative moment. That means requests are sent out to publishers and labels ahead of time, but they’re not paid for until the tracks are selected. A show with more lead time, “The Bachelor” has long used commercial songs in its programming. This year’s season, the show’s 29th, had several memorable musical moments, including a Cardi B, Bad Bunny and J Balvin needle drop when “I Like It” played as the cast made their way to Madrid. “This is my first season with ‘The Bachelor,’ but historically they’ve used Colbie Caillat, Boyz II Men, Backstreet Boys,” lists Friedman. “They used Billie Eilish last season. This season we used a David Guetta track, Dropkick Murphys for the episode in Boston. There’s a Karol G track.” He adds “The Bachelor” does use a lot of recognizable pop songs, typically one or two per episode. “Each episode does have a budget. So, while they may splurge on a pop song, the rest of the budget” is spent on other music that comes at a lower cost, he says. So, will there be more ‘real song’ drops in the future? For “Love Is Blind,” Coelen says simply: “The answer is yes.” Barker from “Love Island USA” agrees. “Not only are you engaged with the characters, but the songs and artists that you care about listening to at home are being represented on television,” he adds. “It’s just a bridge between us all.” —Maria Sherman, AP music writer View the full article

OpenAI has launched its most advanced image generation technology to date, integrating the capability directly into GPT-4o, its natively multimodal model. The new feature is now rolling out to Plus, Pro, Team, and Free users in ChatGPT, with Enterprise and Edu access coming soon. Developers will also gain access via the API in the coming weeks. OpenAI stated, “At OpenAI, we have long believed image generation should be a primary capability of our language models. That’s why we’ve built our most advanced image generator yet into GPT-4o. The result—image generation that is not only beautiful, but useful.” Multimodal, Context-Aware Image Creation The image generation tool in GPT-4o is designed to produce photorealistic and highly detailed outputs with strong adherence to user prompts. Built on a training dataset comprising both images and text, the model can generate visuals that communicate information clearly, such as diagrams, infographics, or posters, while also supporting more creative and artistic outputs. GPT-4o is capable of generating complex imagery with up to 10–20 distinct objects, accurately binding objects to their traits and relationships. It supports in-context learning, allowing it to refine images across multiple turns in a conversation. For example, a user designing a video game character can iterate on their design while maintaining visual coherence throughout the process. Precision and Practicality in Visual Communication GPT-4o image generation excels at rendering text in images, enabling users to generate visual outputs that combine language and design with high precision. According to OpenAI, “From the first cave paintings to modern infographics, humans have used visual imagery to communicate, persuade, and analyze—not just to decorate.” In addition to its ability to render symbols and structured data, GPT-4o can incorporate uploaded images into its generation process, using them for visual inspiration or transformation. This allows users to build upon existing content or maintain stylistic consistency across projects. Limitations and Safety Protocols OpenAI acknowledges that GPT-4o image generation is not without limitations. These include occasional cropping issues, hallucinated content in low-context prompts, challenges with precise edits, and difficulty rendering dense information or multilingual text. The company is actively working to improve these areas. Safety remains a critical focus. OpenAI embeds C2PA metadata into generated images for provenance and uses internal tools to verify content origin. Requests that violate content policies, including those involving real people, nudity, or violence, are blocked by default. A reasoning LLM trained on safety specifications assists in moderating both input and output against policies. “As with any launch, safety is never finished and is rather an ongoing area of investment,” the company noted. User Access and Developer Integration GPT-4o’s image generation will be the default for ChatGPT users starting today, replacing previous options. For those who prefer DALL·E, it remains accessible via a dedicated GPT. Users can describe image specifications using natural language, including aspect ratios, hex color codes, and background transparency. Because the model produces more detailed outputs, images may take up to one minute to render. Image: OpenAI This article, "OpenAI Unveils Image Generation Capabilities in GPT-4o" was first published on Small Business Trends View the full article