What's on Your Mind?

When I was a kid, my favorite place in the world was hunched over a sewing machine. I’d cut up old jeans, hand-stitch fabric scraps into new outfits, and dream of someday seeing my clothes walk a runway. My notebooks were full of fashion drawings. Somewhere in my teens, that dream slipped quietly into the background. Life pulled me in a different direction. But this year, thanks to AI, I finally staged my first runway show at New York Fashion Week. Okay, not at the literal Fashion Week runways in Manhattan but on social media where people are scrolling for Fashion Week content. And the wild part? I pulled it together in one Friday night using my own AI-powered f…

The 2026 Milan-Cortino Winter Olympics is set to debut a new sport: ski mountaineering, also known as skimo. Over the course of two days at the Stelvio Ski Centre located in Bormio, Italy, 36 athletes will compete in three main events: men’s sprints, women’s sprints, and mixed relay. The race is part endurance and speed, as typical skimo competitions feature athletes racing against each other as they ascend uphill with support of climbing skins before skiing downhill. The Winter Olympics version, however, differs in format. This version compresses the competition into a roughly three-minute race. Each leg of a skimo race requires its own specialized equipment. …

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…

Every year, new productivity hacks promise to save us from burnout, inefficiency, and disconnection at work. We reorganize calendars, color-code to-do lists, and install apps that track keystrokes and hours. And yet, despite all the hacks, employees are exhausted, disengaged, and creatively stuck. What if the problem isn’t that we need more productivity tools—but that we need more play? That’s not a metaphor. I mean literal play. The kind that is open-ended, imaginative, and unconcerned with outcomes. In my decades as a play designer and educator, I’ve watched executives, engineers, and designers from companies like Google, Nike, and Lego light up when they are gi…

“Never skip leg day” sounds like something a swole gym bro with killer quads might harp on about. But doctors also sing the praises of lunges and split bench squats, and not for the reason you might think. In a recent article for Vogue, California-based physician Dr. Chris Renna said: “Stronger leg muscles are linked to better cognitive function in aging mainly through their effects on blood flow, metabolic health, brain structure, and physical/social activity patterns.” Muscle mass starts to decline at age 30. As the largest muscle group in the body, maintaining muscle strength in the thighs and glutes is especially important for healthy aging—and apparently, bra…

When Skype debuted in 2003, it was the first time I remember feeling that an individual app—and not just the broader internet—was radically disrupting communications. Thanks to its implementation of the voice over internet protocol (VOIP) and its simple interface, the app allowed users worldwide to call virtually any phone number directly from their PC with ease, in addition to calling other Skype users via its peer-to-peer (P2P) network. If you are too young to remember a time before smartphones, FaceTime, and WhatsApp, take it from me that Skype’s launch was truly revolutionary. It suddenly became simple to call home if you were traveling internationally. And if…

The year is 2014, and I’m stuck in Ukraine. I have a particularly antsy mother who wasn’t keen on me visiting the country just weeks into Russia’s attempted invasion, and she is expecting me back home. In Odessa—hundreds of miles away from the Maidan and the nascent conflict—the worst example of war I’d seen was a heated snowball battle between those who wanted to remain Ukrainian and those who wanted to be Russian. The reason I’m stuck has nothing to do with Russia: It’s bad fog grounding flights at the tin hut airport I’m due to fly out of. But with no reliable phone communication back home, I know my family will put two and two together and make five. The probl…

If you’re a Slack user, you’re probably familiar with Slackbot as a good-natured—if annoying—assistant that delivers notifications, reminders, and keyword-based automatic responses within the workplace chat app. But for organizations with paid Slack plans that have AI features enabled, Slackbot is receiving a bit of a brain transplant. The company has rebuilt the humble bot as an AI agent that can help bring you up to speed on workplace discussions and priorities, pull in data from other software your organization has integrated with Slack, help draft reports and Slack canvas documents, and even help schedule meetings with your colleagues. It’s part of a push by Sales…

Entrepreneurship has been synonymous with sleep deprivation for decades. Treating sleep as a weakness, CEOs and founders have worn the “founder’s grind” on their faces—showing off dark circles as badges of honor, and drawing a parallel between exhaustion and commitment. Sleep became optional in the name of business success. I’ve worn that badge and know that grind all too well. In my roles as a founder and entrepreneur, I treated sleep as a luxury, and it wasn’t until I lost the ability to get a good night’s rest that I realized just how critical it was to my performance. For a long stretch of my career, I woke up every morning at exactly 2:57 a.m. My eyes would o…

When we return to work after the holidays, we tend to bring renewed energy, a laundry list of annual goals, and a few aspirational New Year’s resolutions. This is the year you’re going to run the marathon. Though we arrive ready to hit the ground running, actual business momentum might tell a different story. I call it the Q1 paradox. We’re prepared for a flurry of activity, but in reality, we experience a slower cadence. With GDP growth typically slower in Q1, consumer and business spending may lag. Demands feel less urgent. Phones are quieter. As CEO of Jotform, I’ve found that the first quarter is the perfect time to lay the groundwork for the year’s success.…

Gen Z is never beating the “unemployable” allegations. For Gen Z, a growing confidence crisis means common workplace interactions are now a major source of anxiety. Working with unfamiliar colleagues, making small talk, using the phone, and waking up early were among the biggest anxieties for young workers, according to new research from Trinity College London.​ These fears have also been echoed online. “Can we talk about the fear of having to make a phone call in a dead silent office of cubicles,” one TikTok creator recently posted. “When you finally finish sending that email that’s been giving you anxiety and they respond with ‘are you free for a quick…

The ability to stay connected through technology plays a pivotal role in our everyday lives, but in some areas of our lives we are only beginning to realize the life-saving potential of smart technology. This is particularly true in the world of fire and carbon monoxide (CO) safety, where timing can be the difference between life and death. We know that having working smoke alarms in the home can double the likelihood of safely escaping a house fire. Due to modern synthetic materials and open floor plans, fires today are burning hotter and faster. In an emergency, every second counts. Smart technology that provides real-time notifications and remote monitoring cap…

It’s a little past 10 a.m. and the heat is already blazing on the outskirts of the Western Indian city of Ahmedabad. Sapnaben Chunara, a 30-year-old mother of three, has just finished her morning chores. She seeks respite from the heat in the shade of a neem tree, a species that can withstand high temperatures and drought. Chunara spends most of the day outdoors in Vanzara Vas, a low-income neighborhood of about 800 families, because her tin-roofed house is even hotter. Indoor temperatures can be even higher, especially when outside they climb above 40 degrees Celsius (104 F). That was once rare but now happens regularly. And this year, high heat started three…

Shares in Super Micro Computer, Inc. (Nasdaq: SMCI) are down around 4% in premarket trading this morning as of the time of this writing after surging over 17% yesterday on optimism about the company’s Q2 2025 earnings, which will be announced after the close of market today. But while investors are no doubt interested in learning how the storage and server solutions company performed in its most recent quarter, they are also eagerly awaiting news from the company on the filing status of its much-delayed Form 10-K with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Unless that form is filed within the next two weeks, Super Micro Computer (aka Supermicro) is at ris…

Shares of Super Micro Computer, Inc. (Nasdaq: SMCI) surged 12% Wednesday in early morning premarket trading after it forecast strong revenue gains for 2026 and updated investors on plans to remain on the Nasdaq exchange. SMCI was up over 3% in afternoon trading. On Tuesday, the AI server maker said it now “believes it will make” the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) February 25 deadline to submit its delayed 10-K filings, thereby avoiding delisting from the Nasdaq. It also expects to file its 10-Q quarterly report ending in September by that date. Super Micro president and CEO Charles Liang projected revenue of $40 billion for fiscal 2026, lowering e…

Another day, another announcement of restaurant closures in the casual-dining space. Earlier this week, FAT Brands filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. As part of that process, the restaurant company is seeking to reject leases for a number of shuttered company-owned restaurants, including locations for Johnny Rockets, Smokey Bones, and Yalla Mediterranean, court filings show. FAT Brands owns 18 restaurant chains in total, including Fatburger, Round Table Pizza, Great American Cookies, and more. Most of its more than 2,200 locations worldwide are franchised. FAT Brands said in its bankruptcy filing that owns roughly 150 locations directly. “Our dynamic…

Smokey Bones Bar & Fire Grill, the once-popular barbecue casual-dining restaurant chain, has reportedly abruptly closed all of its remaining locations. The closures suggest a bleak fate for the nearly 30-year-old BBQ brand and come just months after both its direct owner, Twin Hospitality Group, and that company’s parent, FAT Brands, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Here’s what you need to know. What’s happened? Numerous local media outlets across the country have reported that their Smokey Bones restaurants abruptly and permanently closed yesterday, April 28. Those reports include ones from Indiana’s WANE 15, Pennsylvania’s TribLive, and Rhode Island’…

The J.M. Smucker Co. says it doesn’t have a problem with other companies selling their own prepackaged, crustless sandwiches like its own popular Smucker’s Uncrustables. They just have to get their own design. Uncrustables is on its way to becoming a $1 billion brand, so of course there will be knockoffs, but according to Smucker, a recent Trader Joe’s version of Crustless Peanut Butter & Strawberry Jam Sandwiches is a bit too blatant. The company is using the design of the Trader Joe’s product and packaging to prove its point in a new lawsuit. Smucker accused the grocery store chain of “an obvious attempt to trade off of the fame and recognition” of Uncrustab…

Changes to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) begin today in Florida. Program recipients can no longer use their SNAP benefits to purchase soda, energy drinks, candy, and prepared desserts. This is part of a broader effort by the The President administration to give states more control over the public assistance program. Through a federal waiver process, states can now submit a waiver proposal to limit which foods and drinks qualify for SNAP purchases. Twenty-two states have already applied for waivers and received federal approval. Here’s what you need to know. Florida becomes the 10th state to implement such restrictions An estimated…

On Wednesday, April 15, Snap CEO Evan Spiegel announced in a letter to employees that the company would lay off about 1,000 people, including 16% of its full-time employees. “We believe that rapid advancements in artificial intelligence enable our teams to reduce repetitive work, increase velocity, and better support our community, partners, and advertisers,” Spiegel said in the letter. That message could have been pulled from a number of tech CEOs recent bold statements that AI will replace employees. Spiegel joins the ranks of CEOs like Block’s Jack Dorsey who have been unabashed in citing AI in their decisions to lay off their staff. In his February letter …

Bitmoji is going back to 2D. Snapchat announced Monday that a new Bitmoji style inspired by the classic 2D look will be an option for Snapchat+ subscribers in the coming days. The revamped style for the app’s popular avatars is called Comic Bitmoji. Bitmoji’s 3D redesign in 2023 allowed Snapchat to launch new body types and deliver faster on top fashion requests, from low-rise jeans to saris, says Swetha Dhamodharan, a senior product director at Snapchat. But there’s been growing calls to bring back the old 2D comic style. One online petition to bring back the style has racked up nearly 100,000 signatures. “I think that there’s just a little bit of nostal…