What's on Your Mind?

Not long ago, one of our coaching clients called us in a panic. His team was floundering, his peers were keeping their distance, and the feedback from HR was . . . not glowing. He was baffled. “I’m hitting the numbers,” he said. “What else do they want from me?” We’ve had this conversation more times than we can count, and this is what we’ve learned: Leaders rarely fall short because they lack intelligence, but because they lack emotional intelligence. The emotional gaps are what bruise egos, stall progress, and erode trust until there’s nothing left to stand on. Research supports this: High emotional intelligence in leaders is linked to stronger team communicatio…

While most teams have managers and team leads, many also have something less official, but just as recognizable: the “workplace parent.” They’re the go-to for advice . . . even for things that may not even be related to work. They remember birthdays, organize celebrations, and somehow have everything you might need. Paper clip? No problem. Jumper cables? Of course. The phone number for the receptionist you’re too scared to call—don’t worry, they did it for you. But what does it really mean to be the caretaker of your workplace? And can that caring nature sometimes hold you back professionally? Here are four signs that you’re the workplace parent, plus the r…

The structural DNA of the newest statement lamp from Ikea is hidden inside its glowing, basket-like construction, but it will be familiar to almost anyone who’s ever assembled a piece of Ikea furniture. Named Ödleblad, the spherical lamp is made up of 60 snap-together pieces that were inspired by the shape of the Allen key wrench, the most essential tool in the Ikea pantheon. But in a twist, the Allen key that inspired the lamp’s design isn’t even needed to put it together. Instead, the Allen key shaped components are flat pieces of birch veneer that use precisely placed notches to slot together, forming pentagon-shaped rings that patch together like an oversize socce…

This drone is so small that it can sneak anywhere. Flying with the stability and agility of a normal quadcopter, its design is unlike anything you’ve seen before. The tiny aircraft, which could fly comfortably through a Pringles can, also has a built-in camera. Imagine the Death Star’s trench-run-like possibilities. “I wanted to build the world’s smallest FPV drone,” declares its creator in his how-to video. While there are other commercial drones that are almost as small, I couldn’t find a true first-person-view drone—a remote-controlled aircraft you can maneuver with VR glasses on—that could approach the diminutive size of this thingamajig. To create the dro…

When AI wearable company Friend blanketed New York City with ads last month, there was significant backlash. Many of the company’s ads (which included rage-baiting copy like, “I’ll never bail on our dinner plans”) ended up defaced with graffiti that called the product “AI trash,” “surveillance capitalism,” and a tool to “profit off of loneliness.” Despite the campaign running in New York, it struck a national nerve as it became a lightening rod for people’s feelings around AI. It was only a matter of time before the brands got in on the debate. A couple weeks after the campaign’s debut, beer giant Heineken joined the chat, posting on Instagram: “The best way to ma…

As tech companies shell out millions for top AI talent—even reportedly billions—regular rank-and-file employees are left wondering how to get in on the action and land a job in artificial intelligence. One report found that job postings that mention needing at least one AI skill had salaries 28% higher than other jobs, which translates to $18,000 more. Jobs that required two AI skills had a 43% salary jump. To begin with, it’s worth considering where the AI jobs are and how this intersects with your interests and existing skills. Many jobs in AI can roughly be divided into five different categories: researchers engineers business strategists doma…

Many news outlets have reported an increase—or surge—in attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD, diagnoses in both children and adults. At the same time, health care providers, teachers, and school systems have reported an uptick in requests for ADHD assessments. These reports have led some experts and parents to wonder whether ADHD is being overdiagnosed and overtreated. As researchers who have spent our careers studying neurodevelopmental disorders like ADHD, we are concerned that fears about widespread overdiagnosis are misplaced, perhaps based on a fundamental misunderstanding of the condition. Understanding ADHD as one end of a spectrum Discu…

When someone opens the door and enters a hospital room, wearing a stethoscope is a telltale sign that they’re a clinician. This medical device has been around for over 200 years and remains a staple in the clinic despite significant advances in medical diagnostics and technologies. The stethoscope is a medical instrument used to listen to and amplify the internal sounds produced by the body. Physicians still use the sounds they hear through stethoscopes as initial indicators of heart or lung diseases. For example, a heart murmur or crackling lungs often signify an issue is present. Although there have been significant advances in imaging and monitoring technologies, t…

When Accenture announced plans to lay off 11,000 workers who it deemed could not be reskilled for AI, the tech consulting giant framed the decision as a training issue: some people simply cannot learn what they need to learn to thrive in the world of AI. But this narrative fundamentally misunderstands—and significantly underplays—the deeper challenge. Doug McMillon, the CEO of Walmart, pointed to this bigger challenge recently when he said, “AI is going to change literally every job.” Now, if this turns out to be true, every role will have to be reimagined. And when every role changes, this is more than a change in each job or even a specific field. It implies a profo…

So long, nine-to-five. There’s a new work schedule that’s taking over. The grueling “996” schedule—which stands for 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., six days a week—is gaining momentum across the U.S., especially in certain industries. If a 72-hour work week sounds all-consuming, that’s precisely the point. The 996 schedule—which became popularized in China, eventually leading to protests and even claims that it led to a handful of worker deaths—is meant to foster a eat-sleep-work lifestyle. Keith Spencer, a career expert at FlexJobs, told Fast Company that the trend is most commonly being seen across AI startups that “are embracing this approach to accelerate growth and remain comp…

AI is often sold as the ultimate productivity hack. Just imagine: the report you dreaded writing, drafted in seconds. The spreadsheet you didn’t want to touch, analyzed instantly. The code that once took you days, generated before lunch. For professionals who already struggle with overwhelm and the daily battle to manage their time, AI feels like salvation. At Lifehack Method, where we help clients master time management and build systems for living fulfilling, balanced lives, we see this every day. People are desperate for tools that promise to take the weight off their shoulders. AI seems like the next logical step in that search. There’s no denying the dopamine hit…

E-commerce continues to eat up ever-increasing share of the U.S. retail market: Americans bought more than $3.3 billion of items online every day in the second quarter of last year, according to U.S. Census Bureau data. Online retail’s share of spending is increasing with every year that passes. Traditionally, that’s meant typing a term or phrase into a search bar and clicking through to a shopping basket. But the AI revolution is poised to swamp online retail, too, with agentic AI set to shop on behalf of customers. The e-commerce sector is rapidly preparing for what’s about to come—an influx of non-human customers acting on behalf of humans. “We avoid hype aroun…

The Federal Reserve’s influence on the economy is immense, and often misunderstood. President of the San Francisco Fed Mary Daly gives an exclusive, firsthand look into the central bank’s daily decision-making, explaining how the Fed’s policies, at both the regional and national level, ripple through society. From housing prices to immigration’s impact on labor, Daly weighs the major factors shaping the U.S. economy. As political and market pressures mount, she reflects on what it means to lead with discipline and data, and what every business leader can learn from the Fed’s balancing act. This is an abridged transcript of an interview from Rapid Response, hosted by t…

Stocks are climbing on Wall Street Monday and pulling near their records following last week’s roller-coaster ride. The S&P 500 rose 1% and got back within 0.4% of its all-time high set earlier this month. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 358 points, or 0.8%, and the Nasdaq composite was 1.4% higher just before noon Eastern time. Cleveland-Cliffs helped lead the way with a jump of 24% after the steel company’s CEO, Lourenco Goncalves, said it would provide details soon about a potential deal with a major global steel producer that could mean bigger profits. He also said Cleveland-Cliffs has potentially found rare earths at sites in Michigan and Minnesot…

Hannah Alsark says that Adobe’s top clients—the owners of some of the most protected, most valuable brands and IP in the world—had a stark message for the company regarding Firefly, its generative AI engine: They wanted more, and they wanted better. “They told us they actually needed models that understood all their products, all their brands, their creative direction,” says Alsark, Adobe’s VP of GenAI New Business Ventures. “They have characters, they have particular motion styles, and they needed us to train on that.” Firefly—which uses prompts to create assets across all Adobe’s vector, bitmap, and motion apps—couldn’t do this because it doesn’t understand bra…

With no end in sight for the political standoff that shuttered the federal government, funding for some key programs is drying up. More than 40 million Americans may not see their food stamps issued next month, as the government shutdown extends into its third full week. Some states have begun warning their residents of the looming threat to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, better known as SNAP. “Because Republicans in Washington D.C., failed to pass a federal budget, causing the federal government shutdown, November 2025 SNAP benefits cannot be paid,” a notification on Pennsylvania’s SNAP info page reads. New York Governor Kathy Hochul demanded …

President Donald The President and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese signed a critical-minerals deal at the White House on Monday as the U.S. eyes the continent’s rich rare-earth resources when China is imposing tougher rules on exporting its own critical minerals abroad. The two leaders described the agreement as an $8.5 billion deal between the allies. The President said it had been negotiated over several months. “Today’s agreement on critical minerals and rare earths, is just taking” the U.S. and Australia’s relationship “to the next level,” Albanese added. This month, Beijing announced that it will require foreign companies to get approval from t…

Get ready to hurry up and wait. As delays and cancellations continue to pile up at the nation’s busiest airports during the weeks-long government shutdown, some travelers who have been anticipating extra headaches are hedging their bets with extra insurance protections. According to data shared with Fast Company from the price comparison service InsureMyTrip, 10% of travel insurance policies purchased in September and into October have included “cancel for any reason” (CFAR) coverage. That’s the highest percentage of the year so far and above the average of 8% seen from January through August, InsureMyTrip says. The additional protection, which can incr…

President Donald The President responded to this weekend’s massive ‘No Kings’ protests with an AI-generated video of him in a fighter jet, dropping what appears to be sewage (or poop) on American protesters, and told reporters on Sunday that the nearly 7 million people who attended the nationwide rallies “are not representative of the people of our country.” “The regime can’t decide if this was a violent insurrection or if it was such a bust that it never happened, but regardless, The President is clearly pissed,” Ezra Levin, co-executive director of the protest’s organizing group, Indivisible, said in a statement emailed to Fast Company. In that 19-second video, …

Apple stock just soared to an all-time high, and it might be thanks to the new iPhone 17. On October 20, Apple shares (NASDAQ: AAPL) surged to more than $264 apiece, topping out their last peak at $258.10 in December 2024. As of this writing, the company is trading up 8% since the start of the year and more than 11% year-over-year. The spike appears to be a reaction to a study published today by the technology market research firm Counterpoint. According to the report, the iPhone 17 series has outsold the iPhone 16 series by 14% in its first 10 days of availability in the U.S. and China. While the numbers are not yet official (Apple is expected to share more d…

In a stunt that’s surely destined for Netflix adaptation, this weekend a group of thieves broke into the Louvre in broad daylight and stole nine pieces of priceless jewelry in less than seven minutes. Prediction markets are already betting on whether the robbers will be caught. Prediction markets, including popular sites like Polymarket and Kalshi, are platforms dedicated to betting on current events including elections, sports events, and even cultural moments. In the past, they’ve been used to gamble on the next pope, the incoming editor of Vogue, and even whether the “Coldplaygate” couple would each get a divorce. Now, as French police desperately search for th…

On September 30, OpenAI launched its new Sora social network, powered by its Sora 2 video generation model. To call Sora’s launch successful is a gross understatement. Despite “invite only” access and restrictions outside North America, Sora exploded to over 1 million users in only five days. That’s faster than ChatGPT’s user base grew after its own record-setting launch. Sora is a vertical video app, aping the interface and user experience (short clips, vertical swiping to select a new video, Likes and Shares) of every other app in its category. Except with Sora, there’s a key difference–every video on the app is explicitly and joyfully fake. I resorted …

How do modernist transportation planners recommend handling congestion? By recommending new vehicle lanes. What happens when you build new vehicle lanes to handle traffic congestion? The vehicle lanes fill up with more traffic congestion. As they themselves have said for decades, you cannot build your way out of congestion. But every week you can do a quick internet search to see a bunch of new attempts. ‘Induced demand’ I’ve been hearing planners and engineers say “we can’t build our way out of congestion” since the 1990s, when I began my career. The wonky term that describes why adding more lanes doesn’t eliminate congestion is “induced demand.” Transportation p…

China likes to condemn the United States for extending its arm too far outside of its borders to make demands on non-American companies. But when it sought to hit back at the U.S. interests this month, Beijing did exactly the same. In expanding export rules on rare earths, Beijing for the first time announced it will require foreign firms to obtain approval from the Chinese government to export magnets containing even tiny amounts of China-originated rare earth materials or produced with Chinese technology. That means a South Korean smartphone maker must ask for Beijing’s permission to sell the devices to Australia if the phones contain China-originated rare earth mater…

China’s economy expanded at the slowest annual pace in a year in July-September, growing 4.8%, weighed down by trade tensions with the United States and slack domestic demand. The July-September data was the weakest pace of growth since the third quarter of 2024, and compares with a 5.2% pace of growth in the previous quarter, the government said in a report Monday. In January-September, the world’s second largest economy grew at a 5.2% annual pace. Despite U.S. President Donald The President’s higher tariffs on imports from China, its exports have remained relatively strong as companies expanded sales to other world markets. China’s exports to the United States fell 2…