What's on Your Mind?

Around a decade ago, Chad Dale watched as some of his friends started to leave Seattle. “They wanted to stay in an urban environment, but the city was too expensive for them to have all the things that they wanted to have,” Dale says. His friends who were beginning to have kids wanted backyards and guest rooms for visiting in-laws; they looked for single-family houses in the suburbs. But Dale, a developer, wondered whether there could be a different solution. What if he and several friends joined together to build their own apartment building—and all lived in the same place? Some friends had already bought a vacation home together on nearby Whidbey Island, and…

In Central Texas, a bitter fight over a $1 billion water project offers a preview of the future for much of the state as decades of rapid growth push past the local limits of its most vital natural resource. On one side: Georgetown, the fastest growing city in America for three years straight, which in 2023 signed a contract with an investor-funded enterprise to quickly begin importing vast volumes of water from the Simsboro Formation of the Carrizo Wilcox Aquifer, 80 miles to the east. On the other side: the cities atop the Simsboro that rely on its water. Bryan, College Station, and the Texas A&M University System, a metro area with almost 300,000 people, …

For years, companies have assumed that their digital relationship with customers would happen in a place they controlled: their website, their app, their checkout flow, their interface, their carefully optimized funnel. That assumption shaped an enormous amount of corporate behavior. Brands invested fortunes in design systems, SEO, conversion optimization, customer journeys, and digital experiences because the screen was where persuasion happened and where transactions were completed. That assumption is starting to break. The next wave of AI is not just about answering questions better. It is about acting. OpenAI’s Operator is designed to go to the web and perfo…

Plenty of brands use AI to talk to consumers. In other words, they’re tapping AI to generate customer service responses, automate interactions, and speed up outreach. But what they’re not doing is investing in the listening side of AI or leveraging into its vast capabilities here—i.e., using AI to better understand customer friction, synthesize feedback, spot patterns, or act on what people are saying. And to me, this is a major miss. Whenever leadership looks out onto their world below—rather than from within the trenches—gaps can emerge. And while leaders routinely make business decisions with the aid of spreadsheets, dashboards, and second-hand summaries, you c…

Once upon a time, there were two guarantees when getting a new job: a 401(k) and a work wife/hubby or bestie. No one assigns you. There’s no official moment. One day, they are just there. The person who can help you translate your boss’s cryptic email, exchange eyerolls after annoying comments at the staff meeting, or share your emergency stash of M&M’s at 3 p.m. But then 2026 happened and many of us work with colleagues we’ve only seen from the shoulders up on Zoom. So, I must ask, are work besties even a thing anymore? Or are they an outdated artifact of the pre-video conference culture? Why You Need a Work BFF Science backs up the value of office b…

Below, coauthors Ulrik Juul Christensen and Tony Wagner share five key insights from their new book, Mastery: Why Deeper Learning Is Essential in an Age of Distraction. Ulrik is founder and CEO of Area9 Lyceum. Formerly a member of the McGraw Hill executive board, he is a frequent keynote speaker and regular contributor to Forbes. He also serves on several boards including the Technical University of Denmark. Tony is senior research fellow at the Learning Policy Institute and former codirector of Harvard Graduate School of Education’s Change Leadership Group. He is the bestselling author of Creative Innovators and The Global Achievement Gap. What’s the big ide…

As soon as ChatGPT launched, Odyssey Gohain saw the writing on the wall. The now 27-year-old was working as a marketer in Amsterdam at the time, looking to move into a more senior role when the powerful AI tool started replacing individual tasks, then team members—including an older colleague whose career Gohain idolized. “I thought maybe in three, four years, I’ll be in her place. And she got laid off,” says Gohain, who was let go soon after. After moving back home with her parents in 2023, Gohain started an independent marketing business as a solopreneur. Two years later, she is still earning less than at her previous role, but says the transition has offere…

For U.S. soldiers who find themselves at the front lines of a future conflict, it’s fast becoming gospel, due to the way warfare is rapidly evolving on the battlefields of Ukraine, that drones will be crucial to winning (or losing) the fight But the roughly 500 U.S. dronemakers can only build about 100,000 a year combined, according to Ryan Carver, communications manager for the Association for Uncrewed Vehicle Systems International. For comparison: One Chinese firm, DJI, can pump out millions of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) a year — 70% of the global supply. To ameliorate this challenge/problem, a number of startups believe 3D printing, specifically of drones,…

In the future, your roof could generate power not only from the sun but also from falling rain. In a recent study, scientists demonstrated a new way to capture renewable energy from rainwater. “There is a large amount of energy in rain,” says Siowling Soh, an engineering professor at the National University of Singapore and author of the study, which was published in ACS Central Science. “This large amount of energy is wasted every day. There is currently no commercial technology that tries to harvest it.” When water flows down a pipe, it can pick up and move tiny electric charges from the pipe’s surface. That creates a small electric current. It’s similar to the …

Reddit is now the fourth most visited social media platform in the U.K., overtaking TikTok. The online discussion platform has seen immense growth over the past two years, reaching 88% more internet users in the U.K., thanks to a combination of shifting search algorithms and social media habits. Three in five Brits now encounter the site while online, according to Ofcom, up from a third in 2023. The U.K. now has the second largest user base behind the U.S., according to company records shared with the Guardian. Reddit has also witnessed a drastic demographic change over the same period. More than half of the platform’s users in the U.K. are now women and one…

When Cadillac designed its new ultraluxury EV, the handcrafted Celestiq, the design team had to completely rethink its battery pack: a standard EV battery wouldn’t fit inside. “We had a challenge, because due to the low roof height and the expressive proportions, there wasn’t room for a typical battery in this vehicle,” says Tony Nausieda, chief engineer of electrical propulsion systems at GM. “It would have been probably pretty straightforward to do something like an internal combustion powertrain, but that was not at all what anybody wanted to do. This was conceived to be an electric vehicle.” They couldn’t compromise on the low lines of the car. It also had…

If the thought of being hunted by something that can see your every move makes your skin crawl, you might want to steer clear of Eyes Never Wake. This viral horror game takes immersion to the next level, using your webcam to let a lurking monster track your movements in real time. To survive, players must physically move to avoid detection—ducking under desks, leaning out of sight, and staying perfectly still as the creature stalks the room. The game doesn’t stop at just watching. It listens, too. The game listens, too. With your mic always on, the AI-driven entity reacts to sound, forcing players to stay silent to avoid being found. “Every corner you turn is a ch…

Visit just about any downtown on a weekend and you will likely happen upon a farmers market. Or, you might grab lunch from a food truck outside a local brewpub or winery. Very likely, there is a community-shared kitchen or food entrepreneur incubator initiative behind the scenes to support this growing foodie ecosystem. As rural America gains younger residents, and grows more diverse and increasingly digitally connected, these dynamics are driving a renaissance in craft foods. One food entrepreneur incubator, Hope & Main Kitchen, operates out of a school that sat vacant for over 10 years in the small Rhode Island town of Warren. Its business incubation pro…

For more than a century, a stretch of riverfront in Toronto was an industrial wasteland, with oil storage tanks, factories, and shipping infrastructure sitting on former wetlands. Now, part of the site is a sprawling new park, and next year, construction will begin on a new neighborhood inside it. “It’s incredibly transformed,” says Emily Mueller De Celis, a landscape architect at the firm Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates, which won a competition to “renaturalize” the area in 2007. “Rather than walking around in and amongst oil refineries and other industry, now you are immersed in nature, walking along the banks of a river with spectacular views back to the cit…

Fans of In-N-Out Burger have some good, or not-so-good, news to chew. The beloved chain’s closely-watched location tracker shows six new locations are on the way soon. But these locations won’t see the hamburger chain break ground in new states. While the Irvine, California-based company has been steadily expanding east in recent years, the locations marked as “opening soon” will only deepen its presence in six states: Colorado, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, Washington, and Tennessee. In-N-Out is opening a regional headquarters in Franklin, Tennessee and plans to relocate across the country from California by 2030. But it has yet to make it to the Atlantic Coast—and does…

If you’re order number 67 at In-N-Out, don’t expect to hear your number called. The fast food chain has reportedly removed the number from its system, after viral videos show teens responding with wild celebrations after waiting around just to hear the number called. “Imagine explaining this to someone in the future,” one commenter wrote. Employees confirmed the number hasn’t been used for orders for about a month, according to a report from People magazine. After order number 66, the next order jumps straight to number 68. The chain has also removed the number 69, for good measure. The two digits, pronounced “six, seven,” not “sixty-seven”, have also been …

Even as the costs and challenges of doing business continues rising, there is a growing political effort creating artificial barriers that undermine business growth. Legislation and political directives are tying business leaders’ hands and limiting their choices in an increasingly diverse economy. National political rhetoric and autocratic use of federal and state agency authority preempt business leaders from doing anything with a hint of diversity, equity, or inclusion. This ultimately interferes with smart business decisions, restricts markets, and limits communities from achieving inclusive growth and shared prosperity. Inclusive growth should be practical busin…

Most business leaders are laser-focused on the existential threat that AI poses, with many of them citing it as a reason for major layoffs. At an event this week, however, Indeed CEO Hisayuki “Deko” Idekoba suggested there was another force that would wreak havoc on the labor market—one that he argued was more pressing. “Actually, what is happening in all developed countries, including European countries and the U.S., what is happening is a big demographic change: an aging labor market,” Idekoba said at Semafor’s World Economy Summit on Wednesday, as Business Insider reported this week. He said the sheer number of workers aging out of the workforce and retiring would…

Independent bookstores are beacons of hope, offering intangible commodities such as connection, empathy, and knowledge, in addition to physical books. The convenience and discounts of Amazon have long threatened their very existence. Since 2015, Independent Bookstore Day has worked to combat this threat on the last Saturday of April. This year’s festivities fall on April 25. Fast Company sat down with Andy Hunter, founder and CEO of Bookshop.org, to talk not only about the holiday and his organization’s work to offer an Amazon alternative. A cultural awakening around independent bookstores Since the pandemic and continued high cost of living, we as a …

The state of Indiana is no stranger to underdog stories. Hoosiers and Rudy, two of the most iconic underdog sports films ever made, both take place in the state, and both are based on true stories. Hoosier nation now has a trilogy. Indiana University’s football team had been a Big Ten doormat for as long as the conference had existed. Then, athletic director Scott Dolson hired Curt Cignetti as head coach, and Cignetti embarked on the greatest turnaround story in modern college sports. In just his second season, he led the Hoosiers to their first-ever national championship, defeating the University of Miami Hurricanes, 27-21, on Monday night, and completing a perfe…

As the geographic center of Indianapolis, Monument Circle is in many ways the heart of the city. The 284-foot Soldiers and Sailors Monument towering in the middle is a beloved local landmark, and the plaza and fountain around its base has been a gathering place since it opened in 1902. But the way most people experience it is through the window of a car. Monument Circle is technically a traffic circle, which means the center of the city is little more than a place for cars to drive. The past couple of years, however, have shown another possibility. Since 2023, from June through November, part of the traffic circle has been closed to cars and converted into Spark on th…

The small American bookstore is back. Over the last five years, the number of independent bookstores in the U.S. jumped by 70%. In 2025 alone, 422 new bookstores opened, according to the American Booksellers Association. The industry’s success was far from inevitable. For a long time, indie bookstores were struggling. In 1995, when Amazon opened as the “Earth’s largest bookstore” and started undercutting the prices at brick-and-mortar stores, readers quickly started shopping online. Small stores, which were already facing competition from chains like Borders, started to close. By 2009, the number of independent bookstores across the country had dropped to an all-time …