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Reid Hoffman returns to Rapid Response to explore today’s AI landscape, and the future promised by a concept he calls “superagency.” Hoffman shares his vision for what an AI-infused workday will soon look like, how we should address society’s greatest fears about technology, and more. As we enter a daunting new era—politically, socially, and technologically—Hoffman urges listeners to choose curiosity over fear. This is an abridged transcript of an interview from Rapid Response, hosted by Robert Safian, former editor-in-chief of Fast Company. From the team behind the Masters of Scale podcast, Rapid Response features candid conversations with today’s top business leader…

Today’s fast-paced workplace requires us to change and adapt at increasing speeds, while managing complex interpersonal demands. Despite these challenges, we can utilize emotional intelligence to meet these continually increasing demands and excel in our new reality. The basis of emotional intelligence is the ability to recognize, understand, and manage our emotions—as well as know how they impact others. Beyond that, emotional intelligence gives us greater ability to understand the emotions of others, allowing for greater empathy. This in turn increases our ability to work effectively with others of different backgrounds and perspectives. Glenn Llopis, author of …

If you’ve ever felt frustrated by job listings that seem too good to be true or lead nowhere at all, you’re not alone. The truth is, the job market is full of fake postings and ghost jobs that can waste your time or even put you at risk. To help you navigate this confusing landscape, nine experienced experts have shared their advice on red flags to watch out for, so you can differentiate between legitimate opportunities and scams designed to exploit job seekers. Look for salary transparency In my experience, the biggest red flag has nothing to do with the job description or the company website. The real issue shows up when a listing has zero mention of salary—or wo…

Law school applications typically spike in times of financial and labor market distress, but a significant recent surge may be more driven by other factors. According to the Law School Admissions Council (LSAC)—which, among other things, administers the law school admissions test (LSAT)—application volume for the 2025 school year is up 20.5% compared to last year. “When we ask test takers and applicants ‘Why are you applying to law school?,’ the primary reason is ‘to make a difference,’” says LSAC’s interim president and CEO Susan Krinsky. As a result, she attributes the latest increase to “the world around us,” explaining “there have been a few very interesting…

Middle management can be exhausting—particularly at the beginning of a managerial career. On the one hand, these employees have to get down into the weeds and help members of their team do their jobs in the most effective ways. They may have some inexperienced reports who need help and development to work effectively and independently. On the other hand, their daily work is governed by layers of leadership above that restrict their autonomy and require them to convince others that new things they would like to try are worth the effort. This combination creates a situation in which middle managers can feel locked in. They are constantly solving problems from their dire…

Until recently, David Friedman and his friends braved New York City parks and playgrounds to get their pickleball fix. They brought their own nets and line tape, avoided the broken glass, and adjusted to the weird bounces the ball took on cracked concrete. “We were competing with kids on scooters,” he says. Pickleheads in other cities think nothing of setting up on tennis courts, but Friedman knew better than to try that in Brooklyn. “Tennis players here will murder you,” he says. For a time, his group got their dinks in at some newly constructed handball courts, until those got too crowded. This October, Friedman did what a handful of New York City entrepreneurs have…

Andrew Brodsky is a management professor at McCombs School of Business at the University of Texas at Austin. He is also CEO of Ping Group and has received numerous awards, including being chosen by Poets & Quants as one of the Best 40-Under-40 MBA Professors of 2023. What’s the big idea? Instant messaging, email, video calls, and other digital tools have largely replaced in-person communication for most workplaces. We have all become virtual communicators, and with this comes a new set of rules for interpersonal success. The PING framework distills best practices for optimal outcomes when relying on technology to communicate. Below, Andrew shares five key i…

Debate about whether artificial intelligence can replicate the intellectual labor of doctors, lawyers, or PhDs forgoes a deeper concern that’s looming: Entire companies—not just individual jobs—may be rendered obsolete by the accelerating pace of AI adoption. Reports suggesting OpenAI will charge $20,000 per month for agents trained at a PhD level spun up the ongoing debate about whose job is safe from AI and whose job is not. “I’ve not seen it be that impressive yet, but it’s likely not far off,” James Villarrubia, head of digital innovation and AI at NASA CAS, told me. Sean McGregor, the founder of Responsible AI Collaborative who earned a PhD in computer sc…

Apple just hit another snag in its effort to find a foothold in the headset market targeting everyday users. The tech giant has reportedly canceled its project to build augmented reality glasses that could be paired with its devices. The project, code-named N107, was supposed to produce glasses that look normal but have added displays and would require connection to a Mac, Bloomberg reported. Yet the company reportedly struggled to produce the right tech at an attractive price point. Apple initially tried to get the glasses to pair with an iPhone, but ran into problems with battery life, Bloomberg reported. But the switch to the Mac, which has a bigger battery a…

The category of unbuilt and fantastical design ideas known as “paper architecture” may have no better exemplar than the radical British architecture group Archigram. Founded in the early 1960s, its experimental architectural concepts envisioning everything from temporary cities to inflatable structures have never been built—but nonetheless have become staples of modern architecture canon. Archigram initially published its iconoclast ideas in the form of a self-published, self-titled magazine, which came out in 10 issues between 1961 to 1974. These days though, the magazines are rarely seen. Only a few complete sets exist in libraries. That is until now. [Pho…

A new app makes hiring security as simple as ordering an Uber. A viral TikTok with 11.2 million views reads, “POV we just ordered bodyguards to pick us up from the airport.” In the video, two influencers summon a pair of Protectors—private security in black SUVs—to Newark Airport after flying in from Los Angeles for New York Fashion Week. Another clip follows: “Everything we did with our bodyguards today.” They get picked up from their hotel, stop for matcha, attend a runway show, and shop—all accompanied by four bodyguards. The videos are savvy marketing for Protector, a soon-to-launch app promising on-demand personal security for the general public. “Th…

Nike is making a major play for female consumers and the athleisure market with its Skims partnership for a new women’s brand called NikeSkims. Set to debut this spring, the line will include apparel, footwear, and accessories. The two companies are marketing it as a blend of what each brand is best known for—Nike for its innovation, sports science, and athlete insights, and Skims for its style and body-inclusive design. “Over the past five years, Skims has redefined the intimates and casual apparel landscape, championing inclusivity and confidence,” Skims CEO and cofounder Jens Grede said in a statement. “Now, by partnering with Nike, the undisputed leader in ath…

There’s never a dull day in the world of weight-loss medication. This week brought new restrictions on compounded GLP-1 medication, the cheaper, copycat versions of brand-name drugs that telehealth companies like Hims & Hers and Noom had been offering. Other developments include news that GLP-1 pills are on the way, and that a bankruptcy filing by weight-loss giant WeightWatchers is imminent. Let’s dive in. The end of copycat weight-loss drugs When the Food and Drug Administration declared that GLP-1 drugs were in short supply in 2022, it opened the door for compounding pharmacies to legally fill the gap and make copies of brand-name medications by altering som…

Human skills fall into three major buckets: physical, intellectual, and emotional. Of these, the last two are critical differentiators of talent across all knowledge economy jobs. When it comes to intellectual skills, such as learning ability, a century of scientific evidence reveals that this trait is the most consistent predictor of job performance and career success across all occupations. Why? Because it predicts how fast and well you can learn, reason, and solve problems, which basically matters in every job. That said, intellectual skills are clearly not enough to do well in your job or career. In fact, most jobs will also require you to understand, influenc…

There’s no question that the face of America is changing. Those under 18 are the first majority minority generation: 53% are non-White; one in four are Hispanic, and one in five are the children of immigrants. But while evolving racial demographics are reshaping rising generations, we are no longer a young nation: by 2030, Americans older than 65 will outnumber those under 18, a major deviation from 2000 when 26% were under 18 and just 12% were over 65. Add to that a widening wealth gap: The gap between top one fifth incomes and bottom one fifth incomes has increased by 53% in the past decade. To better understand the impact of these changes on the mindset and needs o…

The iconic Louvre in Paris is no stranger to crowds. Since first opening in 1793, the museum has played host to millions of guests and undergone dozens of expansions and renovations to accommodate them. Today, though, overtourism has brought the historic site to a breaking point. In a typical year, the Louvre is prepared to accommodate 4 million visitors. But in 2024, almost 9 million people—70% of them originating from outside of France—passed through its doors. “Visiting the Louvre is a physical ordeal,” museum director Laurence des Cars wrote in a widely publicized leaked memo. Now the Louvre will now undergo a massive renovation to address overcrowding and ex…

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. There’s a seismic shift reshaping the labor market, with tremors across government and business. The latest signal of this transformation is the announcement of the Skills-First Workforce Initiative, a collaboration of top employers aimed at making the skills needed for jobs more transparent. It follows an announcement from California Governor Gavin Newsom, who on April 2nd unveiled his Ma…

The Fast Company Impact Council is a private membership community of influential leaders, experts, executives, and entrepreneurs who share their insights with our audience. Members pay annual membership dues for access to peer learning and thought leadership opportunities, events and more. As an amateur historian, I can say with certainty that technology has never embedded itself into society as rapidly as it has in the last decade. Today’s consumer relationship with technology is complicated and multifaceted—understanding that intersection is at the heart of everything we do as a company, and personally for me as Verizon’s Consumer CEO. Given our focus on the…

You’ve probably heard that people don’t leave their job, they leave their manager. It’s a popular saying because it’s often true. Having a toxic boss, however, is different than having one you simply don’t like. If your boss is toxic, you need to take steps to protect yourself. But if it’s simply a matter of personalities not jiving, slow your job-search roll, suggests Stephanie Chung, author of Ally Leadership, How to Lead People Who Are Not Like You. “There are people in your family you probably don’t like,” she says. “But if you like your company, you like your colleagues, you like how much money you’re making, you like your benefits, and the only thing you don’t l…

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. While virtual doctor visits were available prior to 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic kicked them into overdrive: From 2018-2022, the percentage of American hospitals offering telehealth jumped over 14% to 86.9%. In 2021, McKinsey reported that the use of virtual care had stabilized at 38 times higher than before the pandemic. That same year, 85% of doctors offered it and 37% of adults surveyed had us…

Gen Z workers have been branded as demanding, unmotivated, and even entitled—a word that was used not too long ago to describe millennials. In an Intelligent.com survey last fall, 60% of employers said they had fired Gen Z workers not long after hiring them, and one in six managers said they were hesitant to hire recent college graduates. It’s no surprise that Gen Z continues to be misunderstood, or that older employees might rely on lazy tropes as they try to make sense of a new generation. While it’s true that Gen Z employees may have higher expectations for the workplace, that isn’t necessarily a bad thing—in fact, it may just be a necessary corrective in the face …

As Fashion Week takes over New York, London, and Milan, designers aren’t just showcasing their collections on the runway—they’re taking over LinkedIn. The job-seeking platform reports a fivefold increase in live fashion show broadcasts over the past three years, with 85% of luxury brands turning to the professional social network to reach those with money to spend. LVMH and Louis Vuitton set the trend in 2019, making live fashion shows on LinkedIn the core of their engagement strategy. The move quickly paid off. After unveiling a new men’s collection in Shanghai, the brand drew nearly a million potential luxury buyers in just three days. Soon fashion powerhouses…

Search today sure ain’t what it used to be. On the one hand, you’ve got the escalating sense that Google’s once-reliable results are stuck in a downward spiral. It’s a perception we’ve been seeing take shape for some time now, even before Google Search started pushing accuracy-challenged AI answers into its search engine and steering people away from first-party sources. On the other hand, you’ve got AI-powered info engines ranging from ChatGPT and Perplexity to Google’s own Gemini chatbot now browsing the web for you and offering up immediate (if occasionally also inaccurate) answers. For the first time, that’s raising pressing questions about the long-term fate …