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More Klarna customers are having trouble repaying their “buy now, pay later” loans, the short-term lender said this week. The disclosure corresponded with reports by lending platforms Bankrate and LendingTree, which cited an increasing share of all “buy now, pay later” users saying they had fallen behind on payments. The late or missed installments are a sign of faltering financial health among a segment of the US population, some analysts say, as the nation’s total consumer debt rises to a record $18.2 trillion and the The President administration moves to collect on federal student loans. Shoppers who opt to finance purchases through BNPL services tend to be younger t…

Natural disasters—from tornadoes across the South and Midwest, to the fires in Los Angeles to Hurricane Helene’s devastation in North Carolina—have upended communities, with small businesses among the hardest hit. As extreme weather events become more frequent, these businesses have emerged as vital anchors of community recovery. While urban enterprises navigate complex rebuilding amid dense infrastructure, rural businesses face distinct challenges in disaster response. Yet across geographies, small businesses play a critical role in stabilizing and revitalizing their communities after catastrophe. Rural small businesses, in particular, serve a dual role: They’re not …

The beginning of a new year ushers in an ominous day in the NFL: Black Monday, the day when coaches are (typically) most at risk of losing their jobs. Black Monday happens the day after the regular season ends, a time when an especially harsh backward review is cast over the wins, losses, and total misses. The casualty list includes Raheem Morris, who lost his job with the Atlanta Falcons on January 4; Kevin Stefanski, Pete Carroll, and Jonathan Gannon (Arizona Cardinals), who were each fired on Black Friday by the Cleveland Browns, Las Vegas Raiders, and Arizona Cardinals, respectively; John Harbaugh, who was fired by the Baltimore Ravens on January 6; and Mike McDa…

In today’s workplace, layoffs are no longer rare—they’re a reality many employees have seen up close or have experienced themselves. On LinkedIn, the posts seem endless, each one paired with the now-familiar “Open to Work” banner. Or even more jarring: a coworker’s Slack avatar is green one minute and grayed out the next—before disappearing altogether. When a teammate is suddenly let go, the instinct is often to comfort them, respond thoughtfully—say the right thing, offer support, and help them feel less alone. But in the emotional blur that follows a layoff, even well-intentioned comments can land poorly, and certain reactions can unintentionally make the momen…

Elon Musk is a visionary genius to some, unpredictable and dangerous to others. Love him or loathe him, Musk’s personality looms as large as his net worth. This is consistent with decades of scientific research highlighting a strong connection between personality and entrepreneurial talent. There is a range of character traits and dispositions that make entrepreneurs different from others, especially when they succeed in their ventures. Psychologists often describe personality in terms of the Big Five traits (Openness, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness, Neuroticism) and also warn about the “Dark Triad” of darker traits (Narcissism, Machiavellianism, …

Henry Ford famously noted, “Whether you think you can do it or not, you are usually right.” His point was that beliefs, especially about our talents, performance, and even luck, can be self-fulfilling. Irrespective of whether they are right or wrong, they will become true by influencing objective success outcomes. Ford was hardly alone. Along the same lines, decades of psychological research show that beliefs matter, often profoundly so. Perhaps the most influential work comes from Albert Bandura’s theory of self-efficacy, defined as people’s beliefs in their capability to organize and execute the actions required to manage prospective situations. Across hundreds of s…

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. In most companies, generative AI is full of contradictions. On one hand, 67% of business leaders predict that GenAI will transform their organization in 2025, according to a KPMG survey. On the other, just 36% of executives say their company has a well-defined vision for AI. The core issue: Nearly 2.5 years after ChatGPT’s introduction, most companies are still stuck in what I call “prot…

Welcome to Pressing Questions, Fast Company’s mini-advice column. Every week, deputy editor Kathleen Davis, host of The New Way We Work podcast, will answer the biggest and most pressing workplace questions. Q: What should I do about a coworker who dresses inappropriately at work? A: My first instinct is to advise you to keep it to yourself. Commenting on someone’s appearance is fraught and how someone dresses or styles their hair, etc. very often falls into the category of none of your business. But, there are nuances and circumstances where something is actually inappropriate. Before you say anything, run though these checks: Does your workplace have an offic…

Welcome to Pressing Questions, Fast Company’s workplace advice column. Every week, deputy editor Kathleen Davis, host of The New Way We Work podcast, will answer your biggest and most pressing workplace questions. Q: What should I do if I think my coworkers are gossiping about me? A: In past columns I’ve said that much of office life can feel like high school, and this is the ultimate example. This is a situation that feels awful but that you have little control over. So while you can’t control other people, you can control your own actions and reactions. Here are a few things you can do: Don’t engage in negative gossip yourself “Gossip is an important pa…

Welcome to Pressing Questions, Fast Company’s work-life advice column. Every week, deputy editor Kathleen Davis, host of The New Way We Work podcast, will answer the biggest and most pressing workplace questions. Q: What should I do if I feel like my company is failing? A: This is a bleak question, and unfortunately not uncommon right now. I’ll address it from two different angles: 1.) If you feel the failure of the company is unfixable or that you aren’t in a position to help; and 2.) If you have hope that you might be able to turn things around. When the failure of your company is certain (or unfixable) First, here are some of the signs that things are goi…

Welcome to Pressing Questions, Fast Company’s workplace advice column. Every week, deputy editor Kathleen Davis, host of The New Way We Work podcast, will answer your biggest and most pressing workplace questions. Q: What should I do if my coworker is using AI unethically? A: This is a question that feels new but is actually just an evolution of a classic workplace issue. You can slot any number of issues in the place of “AI” and the problem is essentially the same: What’s the best way to handle misconduct at work? The answer for all situations, including this one, comes down to a few factors: 1. Do you know (or just suspect) your coworker is doing something they s…

Being a freelance designer has its perks, but pay transparency is not one of them. Designers are constantly forced to second-guess themselves: Should you charge a day rate or a project fee? Are you earning as much as your peers? Is AI taking work/jobs away from you? Today we’re launching a new, data-driven effort in partnership with the American Institute of Graphic Arts to help you answer those questions and more with confidence. It’s called the Design Pricing Transparency Project, and it’s dedicated to helping freelance designers understand how much they should be charging for their work. We’re asking designers across the industry—graphic design…

Being the children of Francis Ford Coppola had a profound impact on the filmmaking sensibilities of Sofia and Roman Coppola, but their mother, Eleanor Coppola, may have played a larger role in nurturing their creative pursuits. “She taught me how to be in charge without being loud, and the importance of being real,” Sofia writes in her introduction to Two of Me: Notes on Living and Leaving, Eleanor Coppola’s posthumous memoir, published by A24 on November 11. Sofia and Roman convened in New York City last week for a conversation about the book and their mother, who died in April 2024 at the age of 87. One of Eleanor’s last wishes was to have Two of Me, which…

Business leaders love to talk about innovation. But for all the energy poured into frameworks and strategy decks, most teams rarely experience what innovation actually feels like. Real innovation is uncertain, emotional, iterative, and profoundly human. That’s why Cliff has spent the past several years guiding organizations through songwriting experiences—yes, literal songwriting—to unlock the emotional and relational capacities that innovation demands. And as someone who works at the intersection of story, leadership, and transformational design, Tony sees this as more than a clever workshop: it’s a reorientation. The same skills it takes to write a compelling song—…

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. A company’s corporate brand name should be its hardest working marketing asset. Nothing will be used more often or for longer than the company’s name. And in a world where competitors can copy almost everything else, they can’t duplicate your name. However, sometimes the original name, chosen long ago, no longer fits and it’s time to rebrand. Rebranding a company is not just a superficial exerci…

The holiday season is merry, bright, and hectic. It’s hard to cram every moment of cheer into just four weeks and keep your sanity. If you find yourself behind and needing to grab last-minute presents, run errands, or pick up a stick of butter on Christmas Eve, know that you are only human. After taking a couple of deep breaths, read on to see which stores are open and closed on the night before the big night. Are banks open on Christmas Eve? Christmas Eve is not a federal holiday, so most banks are open. Some may choose to have reduced hours, so it is a good practice to check with your local branch ahead of time to save you the potential headache. I…

When the confetti settles and the ball has dropped, many Americans will wake up on New Year’s Day—Thursday, January 1, 2026—with errands to run, groceries to buy, or just the urge to grab coffee. But because New Year’s Day is a federal holiday, the holiday clock affects a wide range of services differently: Some go dormant for the day, others hum along with normal or modified hours, and a few offer the convenience you might need as you kick off the new year. Here’s what to expect if you’re planning to be out and about—or just need to know whether that store you’re counting on is open. Will I get mail on New Year’s Day? Thursday is a full federal holiday, w…

Thanksgiving is a beautiful day filled with family, loved ones, and good food. All that merriment takes copious amounts of labor and planning ahead. It is almost inevitable that something will fall between the cracks and a last-minute store run will be necessary. But is that even possible? Here’s a quick breakdown of what is open and closed on Thanksgiving 2025 to help you out in a pinch should you have a missing cranberry sauce crisis. But first let’s take a look at everyday services: Is Thanksgiving a federal holiday? Yes, Thanksgiving is a federal holiday celebrated annually in the United States on the fourth Thursday in November. This makes Novem…

As our attention spans and cognitive abilities are increasingly damaged by digital overuse and AI-mediated shortcuts, the ability to focus deeply and learn something in depth is quickly becoming a critical skill. Never have we had such broad access to information. And never have so many people felt unable to concentrate long enough to truly master anything. Learning is everywhere, yet depth feels elusive. In a world where artificial intelligence can retrieve, summarize, and recombine information faster than any human, what remains valuable is the capacity to incorporate it. And for that to be possible, you need to stay with a subject long enough for it to transf…

The narrative that women entrepreneurs receive less than 2% of venture capital (VC) funding has been widely circulated. It stems from data provided by Pitchbook, a respected research firm that delivers insights on global capital markets. However, a closer examination of their data reveals a more nuanced perspective. Pitchbook only studies investments funded by VC firms, which is a big part of the market but does not include the very substantial investments made by angel investors. Significant progress has been made in these early stages of the venture market. Twenty years ago, a mere 3% of angel-funded startups were led by women. Fast-forward to today, and women now a…