What's on Your Mind?

The biggest brands pour creativity into being instantly recognizable. A logo you can spot at 20 paces. A color palette that becomes cultural shorthand (think Oreo blue or Coca-Cola red). That visual obsession runs through every corner of marketing. TV, social, out-of-home, retail, and packaging. Millions go into crafting imagery, with every frame revised until it perfectly reinforces the brand. So, of course visuals matter—they always will matter. But the best performing brands aren’t blinded by them. They understand that a cohesive sonic identity that spans campaigns and touchpoints ensures your brand is remembered long after someone closes their phone or wal…

Loneliness isn’t just a well-being risk, it is an acute business risk. The effects of loneliness don’t just permeate an individual’s personal life, it can negatively impact their professional life. When employees don’t feel a sense of camaraderie or belonging at work, their performance suffers. According to research from Gartner, employees who are satisfied with camaraderie in their organization show a high enterprise contribution of 23%. But employees who are dissatisfied with the camaraderie in their organization show a high enterprise contribution of only 13%. Organizations have taken early steps to mitigate loneliness by targeting interactions within the workp…

Hello and welcome to Modern CEO! I’m Stephanie Mehta, CEO and chief content officer of Mansueto Ventures. Each week this newsletter explores inclusive approaches to leadership drawn from conversations with executives and entrepreneurs, and from the pages of Inc. and Fast Company. If you received this newsletter from a friend, you can sign up to get it yourself every Monday morning. Leaders, are you listening to your frontline employees? Two billion people worldwide—that’s 80% of the global workforce—manufacture products, provide services, or work directly with customers. They’re often the first to see or hear about problems, and listening to their insights c…

Discontent has surged across U.S. society, largely defined the last three presidential elections, and now appears set to challenge business owners in the workplace. The rising sense of grievance expressed across all demographic groups has reached new highs, according to a new survey, with both companies and their CEOs suffering some of the biggest drops in trust among respondents. The rising tide of acrimony and accusation recorded in the 25th Annual Edelman Trust Barometer shouldn’t be too surprising for anyone who followed the November election campaigns—or who just listens to conversations in the office and shop floor. Whether it was Democrats warning of a “fascist…

Andrew Hoffman is a professor at the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business. He has been writing and teaching about business and environmental issues for almost 30 years, having published 18 books and over 100 articles. His work has been covered by the New York Times, Scientific American, Time, The Wall Street Journal, The Atlantic, and NPR. What’s the big idea? We need to rethink business education. If we keep producing business graduates who care only about making their wallets fatter and exploiting a broken system, then we’re doomed. It’s urgent that we reshape how we teach business in higher education so that we create a different kind of business lea…

Those AI tools are being trained on our trade secrets. We’ll lose all of our customers if they find out our teams use AI. Our employees will no longer be able to think critically because of the brain rot caused by overreliance on AI. These are not irrational fears. As AI continues to dominate the headlines, questions about data privacy and security, intellectual property, and work quality are legitimate and important. So, what do we do now? The temptation to just say “No” is strong. It feels straightforward and safe. However, this “safe” route is actually the riskiest of all. An outright ban on AI is a losing strategy that creates more problems than it solves. It fost…

“I’ve had more caviar since starting work on the Celestiq than I have during the entirety of my career at General Motors,” Erin Crossley, Cadillac’s design director for color and trim, says before tucking into a ramekin at Gucci Osteria on Rodeo Drive. The uptick in caviar consumption is a leading indicator that Cadillac is going upscale. As design director for the Cadillac Celestiq, the American luxury brand’s new, bespoke electric vehicle, Crossley sits with customers from all over the world and mines more than 350,000 permutations to deliver their perfect personalization. The low-slung EV with a 303 mile range starts at $340,000, pushing the American automa…

Beverly Hills’ hottest club is California Pizza Kitchen. At least, that’s what someone unfamiliar with the brand might have taken away from its new “rebrand,” which debuted on Monday. On its website, California Pizza Kitchen replaced its friendly yellow logo and wordmark with a silver chrome logo and the shortened name “CPK.” [Photo: courtesy California Pizza Kitchen] Meanwhile, on socials, the brand posted several videos of its “new identity” that looked more fit for promoting a rave than a family friendly pizza restaurant. Shots of flashing lights, serious models, and slogans like “DEVOUR THE DOUBTERS” and “Fresh. To. Death” were cut with clips of harshly-li…

I recently spoke to a donor who reviewed a batch of proposals from different groups—different names, different logos, but nearly the same projects. Teams had reinvented the same wheel in parallel. Individually, some of those projects might get funded. Collectively, the sector missed the chance to pool efforts and solve a larger piece of the problem. That felt wrong, not because anyone was bad, but because our systems make it easier to duplicate than to unite. Here’s what should terrify donors: Even as funding tightens, duplicated projects still get financed while collaborative funds report backing organizations that figured out how to work together, with $2–3 billion …

Last year, when Canva used a rap song to promote its new suite of products for businesses, the reaction online was about what you’d expect. “Call 911 I’m having a cringe overdose.” “This is Lin-Manuel Miranda’s fault.” The performance at Canva’s annual summit, Canva Create (Disclosure: Fast Company is a Create media partner), reminded many of corporate musical escapades of the past, like Bank of America’s adaptation of U2’s “One” back in 2006, or Randi Zuckerberg’s Twisted Sister-inspired ode to crypto in 2022. But for Canva, it drove attention and traffic to the brand. More than 50 million people saw the rap battle within 48 hours, which boosted social media…

Self-growth requires two things parents often lack: time and energy. Between cleaning messes, cooking meals, and managing extracurriculars, the average parent gets just two hours a week to focus on personal development. Growth doesn’t stop when you become a parent. Raising children offers lifelong learning. Yet, for parents used to measuring their success in qualifications and promotions, it often doesn’t feel like growth—especially when you’re sleep-deprived and energy-drained. To them, professional development and personal development are one and the same. It’s no wonder 50% are left feeling as if parenthood has hijacked or delayed their growth. As Headway’s pro…

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. The landscape of home automation has sparked numerous discussions about security and control. According to SonicWall’s comprehensive 2025 Annual Cyber Threat Report, smart home products experienced a staggering 124% increase in cyberattacks during 2024, with smart plugs emerging as particularly vulnerable targets. These vulnerabilities have ignited growing consumer concern about the safety of cl…

Picture a packed stadium of fans in extreme weather, all clad in their favorite jerseys, cheering and cursing at their favorite American football team or European soccer club. Or a crush of screaming fans, singing and dancing in unison at a Taylor Swift or K-pop concert. Or a sea of costumed Star Wars fans, lightsabers aloft, filling up movie theaters on opening night of a new movie. Plenty of people like to watch sports, attend concerts, and go to the movies. But what about those fans—the diehard ones, if you will—whose dedication goes even further? The fans whose daily lives are deeply intertwined with their interests? Diehard fans tend to have a detailed, intri…

Rain-parched Southern California finally received some much-needed precipitation recently, offering some relief from the Los Angeles wildfires which displaced more than 150,000 people from their homes—and either razed or damaged some 15,000 structures. Of course, not everyone jumped to help. But amid the widespread devastation came what seems like, in our socially and politically fraught times, an unlikely ray of hope: A convergence of communities, of neighbors helping each other in whatever way possible and even heading out to assist complete strangers. The goodwill and altruism born from this calamity has been a boon to exhausted and overwhelmed firefighters and p…

Many of us have heard of “boomerang employees”—someone who leaves a company and later returns—but there’s a newer version showing up in the workplace: the layoff boomerang. Maybe you’ve seen it yourself. A coworker disappears after a round of cuts, only to show up again a few months later. Same desk. Same job. Sometimes even a bigger paycheck. According to research done by Dr. Andrea Derler at workforce analytics firm Visier, 5.3% of laid-off employees now get rehired by the same organization after a layoff. But the most surprising part isn’t the number—it’s that it’s been happening for years. We just didn’t know. “What surprised me the most was that …

You know the feeling—your calendar is packed, your inbox is overflowing, and every decision, big or small, lands on your desk. Leadership today isn’t just about managing teams and making strategic calls; it’s about navigating an endless stream of meetings, emails, and expectations. While burnout is widely recognized, most solutions focus on time management rather than cognitive bandwidth management. The real issue isn’t just being overworked—it’s being oversaturated. Leaders are drowning in information, decisions, and interruptions, leaving little room for the deep thinking required for creativity, strategic foresight, and high-quality decision-making. A study fr…

Sustainability once sounded like the pinnacle of progress—a badge brands wore proudly to signal responsibility on climate, health, and the environment. But for today’s consumers, especially Gen Z, “sustainable” feels like standing still while the planet unravels. In the face of climate chaos, depleted soils, and vanishing biodiversity, maintaining the status quo is no longer enough. The call of our time is not just to sustain, but to restore—to repair what’s been broken and restore what’s been lost. I spoke with Gary Hirshberg, cofounder of Stonyfield Farm, about this new generation of consumers, the fundamental shift in product expectations, and the important role of…

Branded is a weekly column devoted to the intersection of marketing, business, design, and culture. Costco chair Hamilton “Tony” James caused a bit of a stir this week when, in an interview, he mentioned a retail category that’s done surprisingly well for the big-box chain: luxury goods. “Rolex watches, Dom Pérignon, 10-carat diamonds,” James offered as examples of high-end products and brands that have fit into a discount-club model more typically associated with buying staples in bulk. “Affluent people,” he explained, “love a good deal.” Courting that group may be particularly timely right now—and not just for Costco. According to a recent report from research f…

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. The creator economy has evolved from a marketing tactic to a C-suite priority, driven by a cultural shift that positions creators at the core of brand strategy. Over the past decade, it has transformed from a niche segment of digital culture into one of the most powerful forces shaping modern businesses. Today, creators sit at the epicenter of consumer attention, shaping purchasing decision…

We’ve grown strangely comfortable separating things that were never meant to be separated: leadership from management, vision from execution, and perhaps most damaging, culture from strategy. Inside companies, this split shows up everywhere. A CEO announces a bold future about democratizing access or building a place where people take smart risks. Then culture gets handed to HR as if it belongs on a separate track, while the business strategy unfolds on its own timeline. The result is predictable. Employees are asked to navigate the distance between what leaders say and how the organization actually works. That distance is not neutral. It creates avoidable frictio…

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. Customer experience is at a tipping point. Companies are struggling to see results from AI, digital transformation, and personalization. But let’s be real: Most companies aren’t connecting the dots. Consumers want seamless, human-like engagement, but too often they’re met with fragmented systems and half-baked AI solutions. The good news? The gap between what customers expec…