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The top five banks had a combined loan volume of more than $1 trillion held in portfolio at the end of Q4 2024. View the full article

Fighting for democracy can be a lonely and dangerous businessView the full article

Britain pushes for carve-out ahead of ‘liberation day’ on WednesdayView the full article

Even the president’s supporters are sceptical of new levies to be imposed on trading partners on April 2View the full article

BlackRock boss tells shareholders people are more anxious about the economy than at any time in recent memoryView the full article

A New York-based AI startup called Hebbia says it’s developed techniques that let AI answer questions about massive amounts of data without merely regurgitating what it’s read or, worse, making up information. To help generative AI tools answer questions beyond the information in their training data, AI companies have recently used a technique called retrieval-augmented generation, or RAG. When users ask a question, RAG-powered AI typically uses a search-engine-style system to locate relevant information it has access to, whether that’s on the web or in a private database. Then, that information is fed to the underlying AI model along with the user’s query and any other instructions, so it can use it to formulate a response. The problem, says Hebbia CEO George Sivulka, is that RAG can get too bogged down in keyword matches to focus on answering a user’s actual question. For instance, if an investor asks a RAG-powered system whether a particular company looks like a good investment, the search process might surface parts of the business’s financial filings using that kind of language, like favorable quotes from the CEO, rather than conducting an in-depth analysis based on criteria for picking a stock. “Traditional RAG is good at answering questions that are in the data, but it fails for questions that are about the data,” Sivulka says. It’s a problem that surfaces in general-purpose AI-powered search engines, which can confidently regurgitate satire, misinformation, or off-topic information that matches a query, as well as special-purpose tools. One recent test of a legal AI tool, where the system was asked to find notable opinions by a made-up judge, found it highlighted a case involving a party with a similar name. And, according to Hebbia, questions that require an analysis of a big data set that goes beyond finding relevant documents often can’t be answered by RAG alone. Hebbia, says Sivulka, has approached the problem with a technique the company calls iterative source decomposition. That method identifies relevant portions of a data set or collection of documents using an actual AI model rather than mere keyword or textual similarity matching, feeding what it finds into a nested network of AI models that can analyze portions of the data and intermediate results together. Then, the system can ultimately come up with a comprehensive answer to a question. “Technically, what it’s doing is running a LLM over every token that matters and then using that to feed that into another model, that feeds it into another model, and so it recurses all the way up to the top,” Sivulka says. Hebbia’s nested processing techniques also help overcome limitations with AI context windows, which limit the amount of information that can be provided to a language model in one query, he says. Hebbia announced a $130 million Series A funding round in July and claims clients like the U.S. Air Force, law firm Gunderson Dettmer, and private equity firms Charlesbank and Cinven. Sivulka says various clients harness the company’s technology to answer complex questions about financial data for potential investments or to search for valuable information buried deep in voluminous legal discovery data sets, among numerous other use cases. The tool can also be configured to notify users when new data enables it to draw new conclusions, such as when new financial filings by a particular company appear online, Sivulka says. Demand is high enough that Hebbia, which uses models from big providers like OpenAI and Anthopic, has developed its own software to maximize the number of queries it can send to different models. Its system even takes into account varying rate limits for, say, access to GPT offered by Microsoft and by OpenAI directly. And, says Sivulka, demand continues to increase, as customers use Hebbia’s software to consider larger data sets than previously would have been possible in making decisions. The company says it’s handled 250 million queries from users so far this year, compared to 100 million last year. “If you’re an investor and you’re building a case to invest or not to invest, you can look at—and corroborate your assumptions with—way more data,” Sivulka says. View the full article

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 work jackets and sweatshirts made in collaboration with the FX show The Bear, which was heading into its third season. Last week, J.Crew announced that it had launched a three-year partnership with the U.S. Ski and Snowboard association to create a lifestyle collection that will land in the lead-up to the 2026 Winter Olympics in Italy. The thread that ties all of these collaborations together is that they focus on beloved organizations with a loyal following, rather than designers. J.Crew is trying to make a comeback after it filed for bankruptcy in May 2020. In November of that year, the company named Libby Wadle, a 20-year veteran of the company, CEO. Through these collaborations, we’re getting a glimpse into Wadle’s vision for trying to make J.Crew relevant again. Wadle says that the U.S. Ski and Snowboard collab is likely to generate a lot of revenue. But some of the smaller, niche collabs aren’t necessarily about making a lot of money. Instead, they’re an effort to stretch our imagination about what J.Crew represents—and it’s about trying to ensure that the brand is part of the broader conversation. “We’re looking to partners who can help put us at the center of culture,” she says. “We do some partnerships that are not just about revenue. They just feel culturally relevant and feel great from a creative perspective.” Expanding What J.Crew Stands For When Wadle first stepped into the CEO position, her goal was to go back to the brand’s aesthetic roots, which are grounded in preppy, vintage Ivy League style. Brendon Babenzien and Olympia Gayot, the menswear and womenswear designers respectively, created updated versions of iconic J.Crew pieces, like its roll-neck sweater and barn jacket. She also brought back the print catalog, which was designed to serve as another storytelling device and a way to reintroduce the brand to consumers who may have lost interest. “It’s a way to get back in front of people who maybe don’t know us or who used to know us,” she says. With these collaborations, Wadle is trying to expand what J.Crew can be. For instance, most people think of it as a coastal New England brand, particularly when you think of all of the catalogs of the past featuring beachy scenes, with models in swimsuits and boat shoes. But Wadle points out that the brand is also connected to New York City. “Our headquarters are here, and New York means a lot to us,“ she says. Wadle has been eager to highlight this connection. Last fall, J.Crew hosted a dinner party at the New York Public Library to celebrate the relaunch of the catalog; the year before, it celebrated its 40th anniversary with a concert featuring The Strokes at New York Fashion Week. Its collabs with The New Yorker and FDNY were meant to deepen this connection with the city. But Wadle says that J.Crew designers also happened to be drawn to the branding around these organizations. “Brendon (the menswear creative director) loved the FDNY logo, and the old firehouses around the city,” Wadle says. “So he was passionate about bringing the collaboration to life.” The pieces from these New York–focused collaborations are fairly simple. The design team took J.Crew staples, like fleece sweatshirts, baseball caps, and vintage-washed T-shirts. They then incorporated the brand’s logos and mascots. The FDNY collection features the iconic spotty dog associated with New York firemen; The New Yorker collab included T-shirts with custom cartoons. The capsule collection for The Bear was also something the creative team was personally passionate about. Babenzien happened to have a relationship with Matty Matheson, who plays the handyman Neil Fak on the show, and also happens to have his own clothing line. So they decided to create a few key pieces, such as a work jacket and a trucker hat, with the character’s fictional company, “Matter of Fak Supply,” on it. Wadle says the brand doesn’t expect these niche collabs to be a cash grab; instead, they’re more of a marketing play, to get in front of fans of The Bear, or The New Yorker, or the FDNY. “It’s not always a big revenue-driving opportunity,” she says. “It’s about brand integrity and to create authentic, culturally relevant moments.” Sports Partnerships Wadle also wants J.Crew to be part of major sporting events. Last summer, the brand partnered with USA Swimming in advance of the Paris summer Olympics. The collaboration was unconventional because J.Crew wasn’t an official sponsor of the games, nor did it have the technical expertise to create swimsuits for Olympians. Instead, it created a collection of lifestyle pieces, from hoodies to shorts, that reflected J.Crew’s preppy aesthetic, but also featured the USA Swimming logo. The collection was a huge hit. Within the first day the products were released, 80% were snatched up. And Wadle says that the collaboration was responsible for a 10% spike in new customers in the first week of the release, compared to the year before. It quickly added a second collection to meet the demand. “The energy around swimming and the families participating by cheering on swimmers surprised us,” Wadle says. Now, Wadle wants to create similar magic with the collaboration with this new partnership with U.S. Ski and Snowboard. In this case it will create pieces that lean into the lifestyle around skiing, including après ski fashion. J.Crew will tap into U.S. Ski archives along with its own archive of winter catalogs to create vintage looks in line with its preppy heritage. Much like the New York–based collaborations, these sports partnership are a way to highlight different aspects of J.Crew’s brand that they might not be familiar with. Wadle points out that both swim and ski culture are part of J.Crew’s heritage. But now, these aspects will be at the forefront of consumers’ minds. “We believe this partnership will be big,” says Wadle. “We believe we have the ability to tap into a platform that is bigger than competitive athletes. It’s about tapping into a sport that many people love.” View the full article

Those of us living in the harsher climates can all commiserate about what felt like a really long winter. It was cold! And windy! Perfect weather for staying inside, inert, and keeping warm with dense carbs and saturated fats. Well, the party’s over. As the chill of winter melts away and spring begins to bloom, it’s time to shed those extra layers—both figuratively and literally. So whether you’re counting calories, trying new workouts, or simply trying to move a little more, these free tools are here to help you reach your goals. MyFitnessPal MyFitnessPal (iOS, Android) is a do-it-all weight loss tool that helps you monitor your daily food intake, exercise, and weight progress. With an extensive food database, barcode scanner, and macro-tracking features, this app is perfect for anyone looking to stay accountable with their diet. You can also connect with friends for some added motivation. The free version offers basic calorie and exercise tracking, while the paid version includes advanced features like meal plans, macronutrient goals by gram, and an ad-free experience. Nike Training Club No gym membership, no problem. The Nike Training Club app (iOS, Android) offers a variety of free workouts ranging from yoga to high-intensity interval training (HIIT). With expert coaching and curated plans tailored to your fitness level, it’s like having a personal trainer in your pocket—except this one doesn’t yell at you like a drill sergeant. While there used to be a premium version, Nike Training Club is now completely free, offering all previously premium content at no cost, including guided programs and wellness tips. Fitbit Even if you don’t own a Fitbit device, the Fitbit app (iOS, Android) is a solid, straightforward way to track your daily steps, activity, and sleep. Use it to set challenges for yourself or compete with friends if you need a little extra motivation. The free version tracks basic metrics like steps and sleep, while the paid version offers deeper insights, guided programs, and wellness reports. 7 Minute Workout If you’re short on time, the 7 Minute Workout app (iOS, Android) is a lifesaver. It provides short, efficient routines designed to get your heart rate up and your muscles working. These science-backed exercises are perfect for squeezing in a workout during a busy day. The free version includes the basic seven-minute workout, while the paid version unlocks additional workout variations and personalized plans. Darebee Darebee (Web, Android) is a unique fitness resource offering a positively enormous collection of workouts, challenges, and programs—all completely free. Designed to be accessible to everyone, Darebee provides visual guides for exercises that require little to no equipment, making it perfect for home workouts. Feel guilty about using this app without paying anything? Users can support the project via donations to keep the site up and running. View the full article

Fast Company is extending its application deadline for Best Workplaces for Innovators 2025 to Friday, April 4, at 11:59 p.m. Pacific Time. This marks the seventh year Fast Company will be recognizing companies and organizations from around the world that most effectively empower employees at all levels to improve processes, create new products, or invent whole new ways of doing business. In addition to honoring the world’s 100 Best Workplaces for Innovators, we will recognize companies in more than a dozen different categories. What differentiates Best Workplaces for Innovators from existing best-places-to-work lists is that it goes beyond benefits, competitive compensation, and collegiality (mere table stakes in today’s competitive talent marketplace) to identify which companies are actively creating and sustaining the kinds of innovative cultures that many top employees value even more than money. With Best Workplaces for Innovators, Fast Company aims to identify companies where employees can do the best work of their careers and improve the lives of hundreds, thousands, even millions of people around the world. For more than a decade, Fast Company has been recognizing outstanding achievement in business innovation with its annual awards programs. In addition to Best Workplaces for Innovators, Fast Company’s Most Innovative Companies, Innovation by Design, World Changing Ideas, Brands That Matter, and the Next Big Thing in Tech lists have celebrated thousands of organizations transforming industries and shaping society through paradigm-shifting products, insights, or services. For more information on applying, see the FAQs. The final deadline to apply is now April 4 at 11:59 p.m. PT. View the full article

Biggest US airlines have already reported a slowdown in domestic demandView the full article

Gerardo Valerio had been looking for a bathroom in Los Angeles’ Little Tokyo neighborhood for 20 minutes when he stumbled across a blue and white trailer with “FREE BATHROOM” at the top. At first, he was hesitant to enter the bathroom, which had been installed by the Washington, D.C.-based portable toilet startup Throne. To get in, he had to scan a QR code which pre-loaded a text onto his phone. After sending the text, the door would automatically slide open. “What do I text, ‘I need to pee’?” he jokes. All in all, he says, it was a positive experience: “It was pretty to look at but it definitely has a smell to it. It needs to be maintained a bit more. But overall, nice.” In Little Tokyo, there are almost no public restrooms—in most of the restaurants and shops, you have to buy something first. “There should be more,” Valerio says. After years of complaints from riders, LA Metro is rolling out more free public Throne bathrooms this year at transit stations across L.A. County. The portable, touchless trailers are self-contained, requiring no water or electric hookup. This allows the company to rapidly deploy restrooms wherever needed—like a busy train station. The new location at Little Tokyo station has been particularly popular, with 120 to 150 uses per day during the weekend. Thrones have also been deployed in the D.C. area, Ann Arbor, Michigan; Beverly Hills; and in the Bay area at two Caltrain stations. Built on accountability Throne says its “smart” bathrooms use accountability to solve the age-old problem of unwanted bathroom activity. Accessing a Throne requires a unique user ID, usually a cell phone number. For those without access to a phone, Throne also distributes key cards through local service providers. “[It’s] just behavioral science,” explains Throne cofounder and COO Jessica Heinzelman. “If somebody knows that they’ve used their phone to get into a bathroom, they’re treating it a little bit nicer, kind of the same mentality of if you have somebody in line behind you in a regular bathroom.” Every user is asked to rate the cleanliness of the Throne and can report any issues via text. Throne uses this feedback to optimize the cleaning schedule— which relies on gig labor—and rapidly respond to any issues. As of March 1, there have been 425,900 uses nationally, with 168,600 in L.A., and a rating of 4.07 out of five stars. The biggest issue facing public bathrooms in Metro stations has been preventing inappropriate behavior, says Stephen Tu, deputy executive officer of station experience at Metro. Throne bathrooms are cheaper to clean and maintain because problem users can be banned from the system. So far, only 375 people out of 37,144 unique users across the national Throne network have been access-restricted, according to Heinzelman. Last year, after a six-month pilot at four locations, Metro approved a $22 million four-year contract with Throne to provide up to 64 bathrooms. Currently, there are 14 Thrones in the Metro system, with four more set to roll out in April. Tapping the gig workforce Some Throne features might be high-tech, but the bathrooms are still cleaned the old-fashioned way: by people, specifically gig workers who sign up to clean specific locations at specific times through an app. “It allows us to respond really quickly, while also providing people flexible income opportunities,” says Heinzelman. “If we had a W-2 workforce, we would probably be able to accomplish a quarter of the cleans in twice the time.” Correna T., a public transportation advocate with the L.A. chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America, believes that the bathrooms should be staffed by unionized Metro employees, not gig workers. “We would much rather see those jobs go to union employees who have protections and benefits and are staffed publicly,” she says. In July of last year, DSA-LA successfully mobilized to push LA Metro to conduct a feasibility study on bringing cleaning staff in-house. Over seven months later, the report is still not out. Next City reached out to Metro for a status update on the report but did not receive a response. Throne declined to provide details about how much a member of the cleaning network is paid per clean, but according to Throne’s website, each clean is priced “dynamically.” “There are all sorts of variables to how we are setting clean tasks including when we have two Thrones co-located next to each other (no transit time or transit cost) [plus] the ability to get bonuses for rapid response,” says Heinzelman in an email. Workers can receive an extra $15 for “extra tough jobs” after submitting before-and-after photos that are then confirmed by the company. Throne’s top earners are making up to $1,800 per week, says Heinzelman. “Having bathrooms is an enormous social service support and health and safety strategy that we wholeheartedly support,” says Alfonso Directo, Jr., advocacy director for the Alliance for Community Transit, a coalition of transportation and housing organizations. But ACT-LA would rather see Metro provide stable employment for local residents. “Metro, as a public agency with public dollars, could be using those dollars to develop the infrastructure themselves,” he says. A temporary fix? Correna T. was initially excited about the Throne bathroom program, but thinks it doesn’t go far enough in providing a permanent solution. The bathrooms are portable, not permanent, she points out. Metro doesn’t own them—Throne does. The contract only extends to 2028—the year that L.A. is hosting the summer Olympic games. To DSA-LA, this shows that the Throne partnership is primarily meant to serve tourists during the Olympics. “If they don’t expand this program past the Olympics, Throne could literally just come in and take them away, and they would no longer be an amenity for the city,” she adds. Tu doesn’t see the restrooms as “necessarily temporary” and says the agency has the option to renew the contract at the end of four years. “The beauty of its portability allows us to scale very quickly, because to be able to do this with a more traditional approach would take many years to be able to get this at up to 64 locations,” he says. LA Metro riders have been requesting bathrooms for decades with little success. The system has only three stations with permanent bathrooms in a system with 107 rail stations and about 12,000 bus stops (the city of Los Angeles has four bathrooms at Metro stations that it maintains separately). Tu says that the challenge with building and maintaining public bathrooms has been not just the capital costs of adding new bathrooms, but also the amount of money needed to staff them and keep them clean. During the pilot, Metro saw a 50% reduction in public urination and defecation incidents at locations where Thrones were deployed. When Next City asked if Metro could use the money saved on maintenance to build permanent bathrooms, Tu repeated that the partnership with Throne allows the agency to roll out multiple bathrooms in a short period of time. He stresses the high rating that Throne has received from users as evidence of the program’s success, though he states that Metro is not opposed to exploring other options in the future. “The only solution we see in the market right now is the Throne solution,” he says. This story was originally published by Next City, a nonprofit news outlet covering solutions for equitable cities. Sign up for Next City’s newsletter for their latest articles and events. View the full article

Judges will rule later on Monday on whether to ban far-right leader from standing for officeView the full article

After making his mark in Silicon Valley, Icelandic designer and tech mogul Haraldur “Halli” Thorleifsson is now solving a far more analog problem: the inaccessibility of local storefronts. As a wheelchair user, Thorleifsson knows firsthand how exclusion can be built into a city. “If you don’t see anyone using a wheelchair,” he says, “it’s not because they don’t exist—it’s because they have nowhere to go.” Thorleifsson has experienced such access barriers to public spaces throughout his life, but the turning point came on a late-night walk with his family in downtown Reykjavík, when he couldn’t join his son in a corner store because of a single step at the entrance. “As I was sitting outside, I kept looking at that one step,” he recalls. “Over the years, steps like that had stopped me from being able to go cafés to meet friends, from going to the barber, or going Christmas shopping with my family. That one step was the main obstacle between me and fully participating in society. And, not just me; anyone who uses a mobility device to get around. I decided that this had to change and since nobody else seemed to be doing anything, I figured it was up to me.” So in 2021, Thorleifsson launched Ramp Up Reykjavík to fund the installation of 100 ramps in places with the most foot traffic across Iceland’s capital—cafés, restaurants, and shops. Four years later, the project has delivered far more ramps than initially promised and well beyond Reykjavík to additional Icelandic cities, garnering a fitting name change to Ramp Up Iceland. On March 14, Thorleifsson celebrated the completion of Ramp Up Iceland with a ribbon-cutting ceremony and the support of the mayor, prime minister, president, and other leaders of the municipal governments across Iceland. Now, the team plans to expand the initiative to Paris and Lviv, Ukraine. An age-old accessibility problem Creating accessibility in any urban environment is often met with logistical and bureaucratic challenges. But in cities with historic buildings that predate modern accessibility standards by decades or even centuries, those challenges are even further amplified. In downtown Reykjavík, most buildings date back to the 18th century with storefronts that sit slightly elevated above street level, making one or two steps a recurring access barrier across most of the city’s core business district. And this isn’t just an Icelandic issue. In a recent study, 70% of disabled people surveyed said they’ve shown up to a building only to realize they couldn’t get inside. More than half of them (60%) reported that they had to leave without completing their task because the building wasn’t accessible. This study was conducted in the United States, where we have the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), a law intended to protect the rights of disabled people and ensure accessible infrastructure. Yet, even with the ADA, there are still massive access inequities in our urban environments. Buildings, sidewalks, and transportation systems often remain out of compliance or are poorly maintained, and legal protections such as the ADA aren’t universal. In many older cities around the world, accessibility standards are inconsistent, and the push to retrofit historic areas is often delayed or deprioritized in favor of architectural preservation. Thorleifsson’s work is beginning to change this. The goal of Ramp Up Reykjavík was to install 100 ramps within a year; the project finished it in half the time and under budget. Following the success of the trial project, Thorleifsson expanded the initiative to cities across Iceland, with a new target goal of building 1,000 ramps in five years. They ended up building more than 1,700 ramps and again came in under budget. Building a better ramp Each ramp is built for the location, and is integrated into the environment with designers working with the city and municipalities to try and match existing materials when possible. In many cases, passersby wouldn’t even notice modifications to the historic buildings because the ramps are intentional design choices built into the urban environment. “The role of a designer is to make something simple and beautiful to use, for as many people as possible,” says Thorleifsson. “So when I look at how some things are made, I can’t help but wonder how easy it would have been, with small tweaks, to make it usable by more people without losing any of the beauty.” “The biggest challenge in the beginning was making people believe that this was possible,” Thorleifsson says. “These problems have been discussed for decades, often with very little progress. So the approach was really to give people no excuses. We fund, design, build, and get all the permits; it’s all free for the shop owner or the person who owns the building. Once people start seeing success, where before there was none, all the arguments go away and doors open.” Thorleifsson initially funded the project with dividends made through the sale of his digital design agency Ueno to Twitter in 2021. He joined the company as a senior director of product design but was abruptly terminated in 2022 along with some 200 others when Elon Musk took over Twitter—which led to a Twitter exchange with Musk that made international headlines. The sale of Thorleifsson’s company helped get the Ramp Up Reykjavík initiative off the ground, but the project has been a collaborative venture between Thorleifsson and local businesses, government agencies, and city officials. “I had some money, and I was able to quickly raise more. Once the snowball was rolling, everyone jumped on board very quickly,” he says. Now he is looking to make quick improvements at the international level. “Ukraine has a lot of people coming back from the war that need access. So the urgency is there,” Thorleifsson explains of where the initiative will head next. “I’m not a very patient person. I don’t think there is any excuse to move slowly on fixing a human rights issue. So I sometimes have to push hard for change to happen.” When asked what lessons he’s learned that other cities should consider when trying to improve accessibility, Thorleifsson says, “It’s easy. It’s cheap. There’s no excuse. Just do it. We can help. Call me.” View the full article

Celebrity assistants have a demanding job. The role requires being on call outside of normal working hours, working proactively to anticipate the needs of their boss, and protecting their boss’s schedule and privacy. It takes someone who is engaged, professional, and a team player—and searching for the right person to fill the role takes skill. “I might as well be a scientist instead of a recruiter, because I’m putting people under a microscope,” says Susan Levine, founder and CEO of Career Group Companies, which has placed assistants with celebrities including Kevin Costner, Maria Shriver, and the Kardashian-Jenners. “I need to be a very good listener with the client first and equally a good listener with the candidate. I make sure that everything that the candidate wants fits what the actor wants, and vice versa.” In any profession, there are overarching qualities that help you perform well in your job. The key to a long-lasting hire, however, is focusing on the person behind the skills, says Monique Helstrom, an executive assistant recruiter and former assistant to author and speaker Simon Sinek. “Ultimately the relationship is human,” she says. “Human connection is something you have to search for.” Bonnie Low-Kramen, author of Staff Matters: People-Focused Solutions for the Ultimate New Workplace, says a strong working relationship comes down to chemistry. “If an executive or a celebrity is choosing between two candidates, they’re going to choose who they feel they’ll be most compatible with,” she says. As a result, hiring can be an exercise in matchmaking. While not every manager is going to be a high-profile individual, hiring managers can learn some tips from celebrity assistant recruiters on how they go about finding the right candidates: Start with the Boss An important tool for finding the right person is a well-written job description, says Helstrom. “You need to be blunt,” she says. “I interview the executive quite thoroughly. I also interview people that they know and love. Some pieces will connect to their values, and some pieces will look for slightly opposite skills. I describe both sides thoroughly, so that I can attempt to weed out those that don’t fit the bill.” For example, the manager may value honesty and need someone who is not afraid to speak up. Or the manager may be a high-energy person. Finding someone who has a calmer demeanor could bring better balance to their relationship. Levine likes to find out what an executive’s Achilles’ heel is. “Like any relationship in life, in order for there to be compatibility and synergy, you need to know what makes someone tick,” she says. “If they didn’t care for the last assistant they had and are replacing them, what was it about that person that annoyed them?” Find Matching Values Having a good understanding of the person behind the management role can help guide the interview. Helstrom asks questions that reveal if their values are in alignment. She likes to ask “What do you value in a personal and professional experience? And give me some examples of the last time you lived one of those values.” If one of their values is living with integrity, for example, Helstrom wants to hear a story about a time when they didn’t drop the ball, even though there were things against them that could have stopped them from doing their job. “Did they take ownership of the project?” she asks. ““I want to see if the behavior is what the executive wants, but I also look at their body language. Does what they’re saying match how they’re acting?” Assess Their Engagement Some candidates want a job, and some want this job. To determine how important the role you need to fill is to the candidate, Low-Kramen, who was the personal assistant to actress Olympia Dukakis for 25 years, likes to check if they’ve done their homework. “Not just homework, but deep homework,” she says. “What do they know about the organization, and what do they know about the people involved, even the recruiter. You will be able to tell very quickly if they’ve done their homework or if they ask questions that could have easily been found on Google.” During the interview, Helstrom assesses engagement by making sure the person is prepared. “I’ve had people come to the interview and say, ‘What interview is this for?’ or ‘What job is this for?’” she says. “I ask them ‘Why do you want this job?’” Measure Professionalism Personality is what’s going to get you the job, but you need a high level of professionalism, says Levine. “[Your boss] is not going to be your friend over the years; you might develop a relationship, but it’s a job,” she says. Different roles will measure professionalism in different ways. For a celebrity assistant, confidentiality is an important value. Helstrom says one of her favorite ways to discern the candidate’s ability to maintain the employer’s privacy is asking them questions about their former executive. “I’ll say, ‘Tell me about your last executive,’ or ‘Tell me about the worst executive you’ve ever had,’” she says. “I want to see if they start getting personal. If they dish to me, they’re dishing to other people.” Another way to get insights on someone’s level of professionalism is by checking references. In addition to talking to previous employers, Low-Kramen looks at candidates’ social media platforms for clues. “[Posts are] evidence of discretion and what is appropriate to be putting out publicly,” she says. “I don’t think it’s a big reach that an executive or hiring manager might think, ‘If she or he is presenting themselves like this on social media, that may be what they’ll do with me.’ Your private life is your private life except when it impacts your professional life. It speaks to their professionalism and dedication to the career. I know of assistants who have not been offered jobs because of what’s on social media.” Finally, Low-Kramen looks for common courtesies that might indicate how someone behaves in a professional setting. For example, does the candidate stand when the interviewer enters the room? Do they look you in the eye? Did they silence their phone? If you meet them for a meal in a restaurant, how do they treat the waitstaff? “All of this shows respect and deference to the situation,” she explains. “They should make it intentional that the most important person they’re talking with right now is you.” View the full article

If you’re feeling anxious about AI right now, you’re not alone. It’s reasonable to wonder whether AI will soon be able to do a lot of what we used to think of as human work. As of now, this technology has already shown some degree of promise for all of the following very human psychological skills: diagnosing diseases, writing code, summarizing and teaching information, predicting markets, brainstorming, product design, project management, coaching, and much more. We probably all know some optimists who think AI will be merely an efficiency tool that gets you 80% there and humans will still be needed for the other 20%. But even in a scenario like that, some current jobs will surely be lost. I’m not going to try to predict the future and say what is right. I’m just pointing out that there are plenty of reasons why many of us are worried, anxious, or downright afraid of AI taking our jobs at some point. Psychology has something very valuable to offer here. What this is really about is living with uncertainty. One good way to live well—perhaps even happily—with uncertainty is to start by understanding what the worry, anxiety, and fear (WAF) are there for. As University of Michigan Professor Ethan Kross explains, emotions are useful sources of information. When it comes to WAF, very often the information is that there is something coming in the future that you can’t fully control and you want the outcome to turn out a certain way. In other words, WAF serves a function—to help us try to control the future. That can be adaptive at times, like when preparing for a major licensing exam. It’s a specific goal where you can control the outcome in some important ways. Worrying about whether certain topics will be covered on the exam can help you do some downside planning. Feeling a little anxious on the morning of the exam can help you stay energized and focused. Having some fear about what would happen if you failed to study enough and were embarrassed with the results can motivate you when your motivation lags. All of that helps you try to control the future. Trying to control the future is not so adaptive when it’s not meaningfully possible, such as when the future is as uncertain as it is with AI. In this context, downside planning can have no end, the anxiety can be chronic because there is no singular event—like the exam—coming up to apply it to, and the fear of failure can feel unending when any job you might have or prepare for might be taken away by AI. But the truth is that no one can know what capabilities and impact AI will have in the future. There’s a place for some guessing and downside (or upside) planning with AI, but that’s different from the ongoing and repeated fears many have of AI taking their jobs. WAF in this case often leads to a general sense of doom and hopelessness. It no longer serves an adaptive purpose. Instead it holds you back—and it’s unpleasant. However, the information in the WAF is still useful. The information is often that you seek a greater sense of control over your career success. What can you do to gain some sense of control and reduce WAF when the future is so uncertain? It all comes down to bringing your focus to what you can control. These three steps can be a great way to do so: Honor that goal of having a sense of control, and find a better way to get there. Focus on what you can control, which, in this case, is the present and your use of AI now. Answer this question: What do I want to do with AI now? For example, I need to engage in negotiations from time to time. On occasion, I find I am quite cynical about the chances that the other side will play fair or be open to listening. So one way I want to use AI right now is to get guidance from experts on cynicism. I might not have access to Jamil Zaki, author of Hope for Cynics. But I know that researchers have often found that your beliefs and attitudes make a big difference in how things turn out. So if I wanted to change my cynical attitude about my negotiation, I could ask AI to suggest a few pointers that Zaki would likely recommend to help me to approach a negotiation with hopeful skepticism rather than having already cynically written the other side off. When you focus on what you want to do with AI now, you do two things that should decrease the WAF feelings. One is that you increase your sense of control, which has been shown to reduce stress and anxiety. The other is that, rather than trying to avoid what you fear, you reorient toward approaching what you desire. So it’s more about desire and less about WAF. Shifting your focus to what you want that is within your control now, as pertains to AI, can help you live well with the uncertainty around how AI will affect your job. Often people try to gain control over a highly uncertain future by dwelling on what the future could hold. But this leads to avoidance and distracting negative WAF feelings. Paradoxically, shifting your focus to the present and to what you want that is within your control now, can be the best way to set your future self up for success. As you get to know the technology you can build a more constructive relationship with it. View the full article

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According to some studies, the average person touches their phone 2,617 times every day. And, on average, we now spend an average of 5 hours and 16 minutes per day on our phones. When I was young, our phones were just a tool for communication with others, but those days are long gone. They are now an almost essential device to get through our days. Even more, when you think about it, they have become the screen and lens through which we experience life. We scroll, text, shop, track, plan, capture, play, and navigate every day—all from a device we carry in our pocket. With a device that has become so powerful in our lives, it is important that we are intentional in how we structure it and use it. Not just in terms of the amount of time we spend on it (although that is incredibly important), but how we use it. Are we setting up our phones, and the apps we download for it, in a way that improves our life or detracts from it? Are the apps on your phone helping you live an intentional life focused on the things that matter most—or distracting you from it? Distraction is everywhere these days. But unlike many of life’s interruptions, the apps on our phone are entirely within our control. Every single one is something we chose to download, chose to keep—and chose where to place on our screen. Some apps are helpful, no doubt. They serve a clear purpose—whether it’s finding directions, tracking habits, locating information quickly, learning a new skill, focusing on a hobby, improving productivity, capturing family memories, or connecting with others. These tools can absolutely improve our lives and drive an intentional life. But not all apps serve us. Some only consume our time and attention. They distract us from people and relationships. They steal our focus and dash our productivity. They compel shopping and poor financial decisions. Some stir up stress in our lives. There are some apps on our phones that do not motivate us to live our best lives. They offer the illusion of a better life while simultaneously pulling us further from the people and purposes that matter most. I encourage you to look at the apps on your phone in a new way today. Ask yourself about each one, “Is this app helping me live the life I want and achieve the dream I have for my life?” Because if it’s not, it’s distracting you from it. And the power to decide how your phone is going to serve you is in our hands today—literally. How to Use Your Phone More Intentionally Here are five simple but helpful ways to make sure the apps on your phone are contributing to a more meaningful life rather than keeping you from it: 1. Take Inventory Begin by taking a look at how much time you spend on each app on your phone. Don’t just guess, but actually look. Here’s where to check on an Apple phone and here’s where to check on an Android phone. Decide, right then and there, whether each app (starting with the most used) is one that is helping you live a more intentional life or keeping you from it. 2. Remove One App That Doesn’t Align with Your Values It’s okay to start small. Just choose one app (the higher up your time-used list, the better) that consistently wastes time, distracts you, adds stress, or leads to unhealthy habits. Just one. Delete it—and pay attention to what happens next in your life. If you like who you are becoming after the change, consider finding another… and then another. 3. Make Your Home Screen an Encouraging Place Your home screen receives more of your brain’s attention than anywhere on the phone. It is the first thing you see when you turn on your phone and has the potential to immediately encourage intentionality or distraction. Build it strategically. Fill it with the apps that reflect your desires and values: a calendar, a reading app, a journal, a health app, a shortcut to Becoming Minimalist… And move time-wasting, distracting apps—like social media, games, or shopping platforms—to your second or third screen. 4. Do a Little Research on Apps that Support Your Goals Just like there are many time-wasting and distraction-filled apps on the market, there are also many, many wonderful apps and tools available for you to use to improve your life. I encourage you to not just delete time-wasting apps and leave a void, but fill your digital space with tools that help you in life. Whether you’re trying to exercise more, eat better, read more, write better, spend less, save more, focus more, grow in your faith, learn more, expand a hobby, build a habit, or declutter your home—there is likely an app that can help. Sometimes all it takes is thinking to yourself, “I wonder if there’s an app that will help me….” and then googling to see if any options pop up. If you find one that might help, put it on your home screen (see Step #3) to encourage your progress. 5. Review Your App Choices Regularly Apps seem to come and go pretty quickly in our affections and in our attentions. Removing one time-wasting app doesn’t mean we don’t default to another. Or trying out a habit-building app this week doesn’t mean we’ll still use it next week. Set a regular reminder to review your apps. Quarterly, at least. Maybe even more often at first. You can decide—just know creating a phone set-up that serves you isn’t a one-time decision. Take some time to ask questions like: What’s serving you well? What’s becoming a distraction? What’s no longer needed? There is no doubt our phones are powerful tools in our lives. In fact, most of you are reading this article on a phone right now. Let’s work hard to craft them into tools that help us live better, not more distracted. The post Are the Apps on Your Phone Helping You or Hurting You? appeared first on Becoming Minimalist. View the full article

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