What's on Your Mind?

In the past several years, the trend of “going direct” in public relations has gotten trendy. Broadly, the idea is that certain companies—mainly tech startups—stand a better chance of advancing their own narratives by sidestepping traditional PR and media altogether. Instead, the company founder, fellow executives, and partners would post content to the internet and social media to directly communicate with their customers. There’s naturally been a lot of consternation in the media and PR industries about how effective this kind of approach is, the real value of traditional PR, and whether a company can really chart their own path without some kind of third-party vali…

May is Mental Health Awareness Month. That means campaigns about anxiety, burnout, depression, and trauma will pop up in schools, offices, billboards, and magazines across the country. But few of those campaigns will mention a force that fuels all of those conditions—a force so normalized, it hides in plain sight. That force is Car Brain. Car Brain is an affliction that causes people to justify or ignore antisocial behavior that involves an automobile. It’s when someone who respects others in nearly every context suddenly becomes selfish, reckless, or even hostile just because a car has become part of the interaction. Once you start looking, you’ll see it everywhere, …

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

A new TikTok trend, set to a snippet of Charli XCX’s “I Think About It All the Time” featuring Bon Iver, sees users, particularly Gen Z women, sharing lists of “propaganda” they’re not falling for in 2025. One list, shared by TikTok creator Lxyzfbxx, includes the “clean girl look,” “the normalization of OF [OnlyFans],” and “preventative Botox,” among other things. Another user listed “organic deodorant,” “Teslas,” and “mouth tape” among the modern-day propaganda. A third user included “push-up bras,” “being anti-sunscreen,” and “branded sweatshirts.” A fourth took aim at “working,” “a 9-5,” and “employment.” From social media trends to beauty standard…

“APPstinence,” which as you may have guessed, refers to abstaining from using your apps, is a movement encouraging people to get off social media and become less attached to their smartphones. It was founded by Harvard graduate student Gabriela Nguyen. The 24-year-old, who grew up in the center of Big Tech in Silicon Valley, realized she was addicted to both social media and her phone, probably from an early age, so she decided to something about it and started a club at the Ivy League school for her fellow students, along with the website APPstinence. Aimed at her Gen Z and Gen Alpha peers — although it applies to everyone who feels they have an unhealthy relationshi…

Epic Universe is massive. Spanning over 110 acres, the new Florida theme park from Universal Studios, which opens today, has created four different themed lands that captivate the imagination and offer a wide array of thrills for park enthusiasts: The Wizarding World of Harry Potter Ministry of Magic, Super Nintendo World, How to Train Your Dragon Isle of Berk, and Dark Universe. That count jumps to five if you count Celestial Park, the hub of Epic Universe, with several restaurants and two big rides of its own. The park is massive financially as well. Universal spent an estimated $6 to $7 billion to create the theme park. Dr. Sean Snaith, director of the University o…

In an interview with podcaster Joe Rogan, billionaire and The President megadonor Elon Musk offered his thoughts about what motivates political progressives to support immigration. In his view, the culprit was empathy, which he called “the fundamental weakness of Western civilization.” As shocking as Musk’s views are, however, they are far from unique. On the one hand, there is the familiar and widespread conservative critique of “bleeding heart” liberals as naive or overly emotional. But there is also a broader philosophical critique that raises worries about empathy on quite different and less political grounds, including findings in social science. Empathy can …

On May 20, 2025, the Food and Drug Administration announced a new stance on who should receive the COVID-19 vaccine. The agency said it would approve new versions of the vaccine only for adults 65 years of age and older as well as for people with one or more risk factors for severe COVID-19 outcomes. These risk factors include medical conditions such as asthma, cancer, chronic kidney disease, heart disease and diabetes. However, healthy younger adults and children who fall outside of these groups may not be eligible to receive the COVID-19 shot this fall. Vaccine manufacturers will have to conduct clinical trials to demonstrate that the vaccine benefits low-risk g…

Early this morning, the House voted 215–214 to pass a sweeping budget reconciliation bill with provisions that include a cancellation or phaseout for just about everything that was in the Inflation Reduction Act. The measure, which now heads to the Senate, is being described by clean energy and environmental groups as a monumental betrayal of the country that will cost jobs and increase electricity bills. But during the floor debate overnight, the energy parts of the bill were an afterthought to higher priority issues for members of both parties, such as tax cuts, revisions to Medicaid, and a desire to support or oppose the agenda of President Donald The President…

Welcome to AI Decoded, Fast Company’s weekly newsletter that breaks down the most important news in the world of AI. You can sign up to receive this newsletter every week here. OpenAI will acquire the AI device startup co-founded by Apple veteran Jony Ive and Sam Altman, called “io,” for nearly $6.5 billion, Bloomberg reported Wednesday. This almost certainly will put OpenAI in the consumer hardware business, and it seems like it will soon release a dedicated personal AI device. Ive is a pedigreed design guru with a track record of creating iconic tech products like the iPhone and the Apple Watch. Ive, a close friend of Steve Jobs, left Apple in 2019. “I hav…

Amazon and Grubhub are entering the second year of a five-year commercial agreement that gives Amazon Prime members access to the food delivery platform’s subscription program at no extra cost. As part of the deal, Grubhub’s ordering tab was integrated directly into the Amazon app and website, allowing users to order burritos while shopping for face wash or streaming a show. That seamless experience appears to be paying off, say company executives. “Amazon Prime customers are a very engaged customer cohort,” says Jamil Ghani, Amazon’s worldwide vice president of Prime. More than nine out of 10 orders on Amazon.com or in the app are coming from Prime members retur…

Hinge Health Inc, the digital physical therapy health startup that is expected to make its market debut on Thursday, in a closely watched initial public offering (IPO) that will test the market’s interest for a new digital health offering, after what has been a challenging few years for the sector. Recently, there have been fewer tech IPOs, but they could be making a comeback, according to CNBC. The San Francisco-based company priced shares at $32 on Wednesday, the higher end of its expected range, in an offering led by Morgan Stanley, Barclays, and BofA Securities. The stock will list on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) under the “HNGE” ticker symbol. Bas…

The LA Art Book Fair returned this weekend with a new venue and a renewed sense of intention. Now in its eighth edition, the fair took over ArtCenter College of Design’s South Campus in Pasadena, California, transforming classrooms, courtyards, and even the rooftop of a Subaru Outback into vibrant hubs of independent publishing. Produced remotely by Printed Matter’s New York team, the fair was made possible through deep collaboration with LA’s creative community. Still reeling from January’s wildfires, the city’s small press scene showed up with resilience and purpose, supported by mutual aid efforts and fee waivers for affected publishers. At a time when book bans, c…

Chinese automaker BYD sold more electric vehicles in Europe than Tesla for the first time, according to a report by JATO Dynamics, as an aging model lineup and CEO Elon Musk’s politics hurt demand for the U.S. EV maker’s cars. BYD, which also makes plug-in hybrid vehicles, registered 7,231 battery-powered electric vehicles (BEV) in Europe in April, while Tesla registered 7,165 units, the market research firm said. “This is a watershed moment for Europe’s car market, particularly when you consider that Tesla has led the European BEV market for years, while BYD only officially began operations beyond Norway and the Netherlands in late 2022,” JATO Dynamics’ global an…

Update Thursday, 2:13 p.m.: MNTN Inc, the advertising technology company that counts Hollywood actor Ryan Reynolds as its chief creative officer, made its market debut on Thursday, in a closely watched initial public offering (IPO) that is testing investor appetite for the rapidly growing segment of ad-supported streaming television. Shares in the Austin-based company were up more than 14% in midday trading to over $24, after opening at $21. On Wednesday, the stock was priced at $16 a share, the higher end of the company’s expected range, in an offering led by Morgan Stanley, Citigroup, and Evercore ISI. The stock listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) under…

MNTN Inc, the advertising technology company that counts Hollywood actor Ryan Reynolds as its chief creative officer, is expected to make its market debut on Thursday, in a closely watched initial public offering (IPO) that will test investor appetite for the rapidly growing segment of ad-supported streaming television. The Austin-based company priced shares at $16 on Wednesday, the higher end of its expected range, in an offering led by Morgan Stanley, Citigroup, and Evercore ISI. The stock will list on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) under the “MNTN” ticker symbol. Based on its IPO share price, MNTN—it’s pronounced Mountain—has an approximate valuation of $…

As my husband was growing his finance career, the year-end bonus became a pivotal moment: to see how much his hard work translated into cash. And rather than rushing to tell me the news, he and his close peers would gather at a local bar on bonus day to share their numbers. They wanted to know who got paid how much. “You share your bonus number with your colleagues?” I asked in disbelief. “Why would you do that?” “We want to know the range of bonuses given out,” he shared. “This also helps us understand how we can get paid more next time around and do better.” When I started my career, I remember a mentor once telling me, “Don’t talk about religion, sex, or po…