What's on Your Mind?

A few days ago, I wrapped a coaching call with a senior executive navigating a complex restructuring—work that demands steadiness in ambiguity, patience when emotions rise, and the discipline to stay grounded while others are spinning. Minutes later, I walked into my kitchen and found my child in a mismatched Halloween costume, eating shredded cheese out of the bag, and crying because her Lego creation was “too wobbly to be art.” The contrast was sharp, but the underlying lesson was familiar. Parenting and leadership rarely feel similar in form, but they draw on the same internal architecture. Both require influence without force, emotional regulation under pressure, …

The past year saw unprecedented change and turmoil in the labor market, from pandemic-era layoffs to AI fundamentally and tangibly turning the workforce on its head. But it’s in these times of uncertainty and transition that leadership becomes of paramount importance. In 2025, the very nature of leadership itself morphed along with the times, and specific themes resonated with readers in specific ways. And they’re bound to remain very much in the game heading into 2026. Here are some of Fast Company’s most popular leadership stories from the last year. Managing underperformers We live in a world of quiet quitting and more workers rejecting hustle culture and th…

In early March, New York City subway riders noticed a new development at the West 4th Street station, near Manhattan’s Washington Square Park. Construction workers for New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority were photographed removing a bench on the station’s platform and replacing it with a curving metal structure. Looking a bit like an oversized shaving razor with two handles, the metal object is known as a leaning rail or a leaning rail. Its horizontal face, slightly tilted and about three feet off the ground, is intended as a place for subway riders to lean their backsides while they wait for a train. Comment byu/thrilsika from discussion innycrail G…

West Virginia’s attorney general filed a lawsuit against Apple on Thursday accusing the iPhone maker of knowingly allowing its software to be used for storing and sharing child sexual abuse material. John B. McCuskey, a Republican, accused Apple of protecting the privacy of sexual predators who use iOS, which can sync images to remote cloud servers through iCloud. McCuskey called the company’s decisions “absolutely inexcusable” and accused Apple of running afoul of West Virginia state law. “Since Apple has so far refused to police themselves and do the morally right thing, I am filing this lawsuit to demand Apple follow the law, report these images, and stop re-v…

In Abbey Road’s Studio One, even a lick of paint could ruin everything. Famous for hosting Adele, Harry Styles, and U2, it’s where the scores of Star Wars, Harry Potter, and Wicked were recorded, as well as the soundtracks of blockbuster games like Call of Duty, Halo, and Final Fantasy. It’s also where Ryan Gosling delivered his memorable “I’m Just Ken” for Barbie. Nearly a century after its opening, Studio One underwent a six-month, multimillion-pound refurbishment, with the main priority being the preservation of one very important thing: the sound. “What we don’t want to do is change the acoustics, so every minute detail in the room has been conserved and p…

Greece is moving forward with a ban on under-15s using social media, becoming the latest country to restrict young teens from using the online platforms. On Wednesday, April 8, Greece Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis announced plans to restrict social media use by age starting on January 1, 2027, Reuters reports. In a video announcement directed to Greece’s young people, the prime minister cited concerns such as problems sleeping, increasing anxiety, and social media platforms’ addictive designs. In the video, Mitsotakis also pointed to factors such as children not allowing their minds to rest, feeling constant comparisons, and spending long hours scrollin…

You don’t wait for the sidewalk. You don’t check an app to see if it’s working. You don’t wonder if it’s meant for someone else. Sidewalks are just there—always available, always on. And when they’re well designed, you barely notice them. They quietly support everything: commerce, mobility, safety, health, and freedom of movement. Sidewalks don’t require instructions. They’re intuitive. Step on, move forward. That’s the framing we need for local bus service. A well-run bus system is an express sidewalk—a piece of infrastructure that dramatically expands the number of destinations within walking distance. Unfortunately, buses aren’t thought of that way. In most Ame…

The home of the “Mona Lisa” is getting a new boss. Art historian Christophe Leribault, a veteran museum director, is taking over at the Louvre, shouldering the challenge of getting the world’s largest museum out of crisis after the brazen heist in October of the French crown jewels. French government spokeswoman Maud Bregeon announced Wednesday that Leribault is taking over from outgoing Louvre director Laurence des Cars, who resigned Tuesday. The difficulties he inherits are formidable. The daylight robbery — among the highest-profile museum thefts in living memory — exposed alarming security holes at the Paris landmark. The former royal palace has also s…

The Louvre in Paris reopened on Wednesday, three days after thieves made off with historic jewellery worth an estimated 88 million euros ($102 million) in a spectacular heist that has raised urgent questions over security lapses at the museum. Visitors queued to enter through the Louvre’s glass pyramid for the first time since Sunday’s brazen robbery, in which hooded assailants broke through a second-floor window using a stolen movers’ lift before making off with jewels from the royal collection. Later on Wednesday the museum’s director will appear before the French Senate to answer lawmakers’ questions. The Galerie d’Apollon, the ornate gilded hall that was r…

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 Lyrid meteor shower is one of the most well-known stellar displays, occurring once a year in April. It’s also one of the oldest meteor showers that we know of, with records dating back to 687 BCE from Chinese astronomers. Unlike many meteor showers, the Lyrids are relatively short: In 2025, the event runs a little more than a week, from April 17 to April 26. It will peak in the nighttime hours of April 21 to 22. Typically, you can expect to see 10 to 20 meteors per hour at the peak, though the Lyrids have been known to outperform and deliver up to 100 meteors per hour. If you’d like to catch the show this year, here’s what to know about the 2025 Lyrids met…

If I had a nickel for every time over the past two decades that I’ve heard someone say, “Apple is many things, but affordable isn’t one of them,” I’d probably have enough to buy the latest 16-inch M5 MacBook Pro, introduced this week at an eye-watering $2,699. And if I had another nickel for every time someone shot back, “What do you expect? Apple is a luxury brand—like Ferrari, after all,” I could probably pick up the $3,299 Studio Display XDR the company unveiled this week, too. The thing is, despite the high prices of the devices I’ve mentioned, these arguments were never entirely accurate. That became especially true after this week, when, along with those pricey …

Apple’s new 13-inch laptop, the MacBook Neo, is a cheap MacBook in the era of expensive PCs, when AI’s endless appetite for memory has caused the price of computers to skyrocket. Its $599 starting price isn’t much more than what a couple of sticks of DDR5 will cost these days. The secret to the low price? The Neo isn’t driven by your typical laptop chipset, but the same architecture inside your iPhone. It’s an iPhone with a 12.9-inch screen and keyboard. But the Neo design is largely based on nostalgia. Its colorful anodized aluminum computer body—a callback to the classic iPod minis and nanos so coveted by gen Z and Alpha—is more a retro-release than something n…

There are 365 teams in Division I men’s college basketball; 363 in women’s college basketball. Only 68 qualify for the NCAA Tournament on each side, and many of those 68 teams in each bracket have already conquered the madness of March. America is enthralled by the NCAA Tournament each year, picking brackets, slacking off during work hours to watch the games, wrapped up in the high-stakes, single-elimination basketball where every loss means the end of seasons and careers, and every win is a magical tale to be told for years to come. There’s more where that came from. Having begun on March 2 and running all the way up to the Selection Show on the 15th, there i…

Organizational leaders are witnessing a steep and unprecedented rise in employee healthcare costs that is eroding bottom-line profitability. According to data from the Business Group on Health, these costs are projected to rise by 9% this year, representing a 62% increase since 2017. To put it in perspective, this represents an incremental hit of nearly $1 million to the bottom line for a midsize organization of 500 people. What CFOs are now confronting is a tipping point where the average total cost to insure an employee is nearing $20,000 annually. Notably, it is specifically mental health claims that are driving the spike. PwC’s 2026 Medical Trend report shows that…

A few of the neatest gadgets at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2026 weren’t anywhere near the Las Vegas Convention Center trade show venue. Instead, they were sitting on a table at The Venetian Resort’s food court, at least on Monday when Core Devices founder Eric Migicovsky was holding press meetings. He had a couple of quirky Pebble smartwatches to show off, with lo-fi e-paper screens in round and rectangular forms, and he was wearing an early version of the Pebble Index, a smart ring whose main job is capturing voice notes. (He moved to a booth in the bowels of the Venetian expo when CES officially got underway.) Unlike a lot of exhibitors, Migicovsky isn’…

The dangerous heat wave shattering March records all over the U.S. Southwest is more than just another extreme weather blip. It’s the latest next-level weather wildness that is occurring ever more frequently as Earth’s warming builds. Experts said unprecedented and deadly weather extremes that sometimes strike at abnormal times and in unusual places are putting more people in danger. For example, the Southwest is used to coping with deadly heat, but not months ahead of schedule, including a 110-degree Fahrenheit (43.3 Celsius) reading in the Arizona desert on Thursday that smashed the highest March temperature recorded in the U.S. On Thursday, sites in Arizona and south…

Attending the Masters for the first time was a new experience for Thomas Abraham, and it wasn’t just about the golf. The 16-year-old from Houston had the rare opportunity to use a public telephone for the first time. “It was kind of cool,” said Abraham, who phoned a friend while attending the Masters Par 3 competition on Wednesday with his father, Sid. “I’ve never used one before. I figured it out. If I had to use one of those (rotary) phones I probably would’ve had to ask my dad.” Augusta National requires its patrons to leave their cellphones and other electronic devices behind. In place of those security blankets, there are several public telephone banks of…

Severance is a set design wonderland. From a massive mirrored corporate monolith in New Jersey to a classical train station in upstate New York, the show’s distinctive visual language—which has captivated audiences and critics alike—relies on actual places that have been carefully chosen to mess with your head. These aren’t just random pretty buildings. They’re psychological weapons that connect the dots in the same way the writers weave the tapestry of the tale. Severance follows a group of humans that go through a procedure to separate their (outie) real lives from their (innie) corporate bees working for a mysterious industrial conglomerate call Lumon, effectively…

OpenAI unleashed Sora 2 last month, the final boss of slop machines (at least for now). The social app draws entirely from artificial intelligence: Instead of sharing photos and videos of themselves, users can opt in for “cameos” and create fake clips that depict themselves or their friends in any scenario imaginable. It’s mostly being used to make viral meme content and the type of short-form videos you’d scroll past on TikTok, albeit with deepfakes. Sora doesn’t allow you to make videos of other living people (dead celebrities and SpongeBob SquarePants characters are fair game) unless given express permission. As one user put it: “Digital Taxidermy is the…

Pity the middle manager. Even before the emergence of AI, these jobs had increasingly become a one-way ticket to burnout and misery. Since 2013, the average number of direct reports has increased by almost 50% to twelve employees, according to Gallup. The same poll revealed that less than one-third of managers are engaged at work, while over a quarter are planning to leave their jobs. Enter AI: The ever-changing chimera, swathed in hype, is now making life more complicated for managers. Executives are bewitched by AI’s promise of productivity. Rank-and-file employees oscillate between fear that AI will take their jobs and overusing it. Those sandwiched in between, the…

Being a middle manager often feels like living in two worlds at once. On one side, executives cascade big goals and sweeping strategies. On the other, teams look to you for clarity, advocacy, and daily guidance. You’re constantly reconciling top-down demands with bottom-up realities, often with too little time and too few resources to satisfy either side. The paradox of the role is stark: Middle managers carry enormous responsibility for execution but don’t always have the authority to make critical decisions. You’re expected to deliver results on budgets you don’t control, within structures you didn’t design, and through policies you didn’t write. This tension is one…

In a video uploaded to X, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced that military members would no longer be required to get the flu vaccine in order to serve. “We’re seizing this moment to discard any absurd, overreaching mandates that only weaken our war-fighting capabilities,” Hegseth declared. “In this case, this includes the universal flu vaccine and the mandate behind it.” In a memo accompanying the video announcement, the decision to seek the flu vaccine is described as “voluntary” for all active and reserve service members and for civilian personnel serving in the Department of Defense. “Our new policy is simple: If you are an American Warrior entrust…

Microsoft PowerToys feels like something that shouldn’t exist in Windows today. What started in 2019 as a couple of utilities for things like window and shortcut management has gradually expanded to nearly 30 useful tools, including a keyboard shortcut creator, an image-to-text extractor, and a better search bar than the one that’s built into Windows proper. PowerToys has become wildly popular among Windows power users, with more than 70 million downloads to date, but it’s also completely free, with no ads, Office upsells, or ham-fisted Copilot integrations. Instead of directly monetizing PowerToys, Microsoft sees it as a way to build goodwill among software devel…