What's on Your Mind?

The Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport (MSY) just got a new logo, and there’s more to it than meets the eye. The updated logo dropped just in time for the upcoming Super Bowl, when an influx of out-of-state fans will bustle through MSY on their way to the Caesars Superdome arena. MSY is taking advantage of the increased publicity, using it as an opportunity to scrap its old logo—a blobby, clunky take on the fleur-de-lis that’s more of an eyesore than an homage—for a sleeker, more intriguing graphic. From left: The new logo outshines its predecessor [Image: courtesy Louis Armstrong International Airport] Called the “Plane de Lis,” the new mark is …

Is LinkedIn the new TikTok? Short-form video is now the fastest-growing category on LinkedIn, growing at twice the rate of other post formats on the platform. According to LinkedIn, total video viewership surged 36% in the first quarter of 2025. Now, LinkedIn is doubling down on video with new features to boost discovery and engagement. The full-screen vertical video experience, first launched on mobile, is now coming to desktop. Users can tap a video, swipe through more, and explore a new video tab for TikTok-like scrolling. Videos are also getting front-and-center placement on the platform. Now, when you search a topic, relevant videos will appear in a swi…

In recent years, pay transparency has grown increasingly common as many states have passed legislation to help arm workers with more data as they enter into salary negotiations. Across 14 states and many more localities, employers are now required to either provide explicit salary ranges in job postings or share that information during the hiring process. That means some of the biggest employers in the country now have to disclose compensation data in states like California and New York. But according to a new report from compensation platform Beqom, despite all this progress, many workers still feel like pay transparency isn’t within reach and that they have little i…

Nine months ahead of this year’s annual U.N. climate summit, known as COP30, lodging prices in the Brazilian host city of Belem are turning heads—and may soon turn off would-be attendees from the first such meeting in the Amazon rainforest. With a shortage of housing and high interest, property owners and rental companies are feeling emboldened to charge five-digit rates, even for cramped rooms with shared bathrooms. On Booking.com, one of the last available hotel rooms listed, a flat apartment, is going $15,266 for one person, up from $158 for the same category currently—a 9,562% increase. A 15-day stay during the conference in November would total $228,992, enou…

For a decade, Dr. Bronner’s has been a certified B Corp, a designation issued by the nonprofit B Lab that confirms a company has met certain environmental, social, and governance standards. But now the soap company is dropping its B Corp certification without plans to renew. Dr. Bronner’s says B Lab’s standards are weak, and that some multinational corporations are now using its seal—an encircled B, which became a symbol that businesses can be “a force for good”—as a form of greenwashing. Dr. Bronner’s mainly takes issue with B Lab’s increasing certifications of multinational corporations like Unilever Australia, Nespresso, and Nestle Health Science—and the fact that …

Chris Rogers, Instacart’s current chief business officer, is taking over as the delivery giant’s next CEO, the company announced on Wednesday. Rogers, who has worked at Instacart since 2019, will take the helm from Fidji Simo on August 15. Simo, who ushered the company through a successful market debut (stock prices are up 53% since its 2023 IPO) after taking the top spot in 2021, will become CEO of applications at OpenAI. “We chose Chris because the company needs a leader who understands all our partners deeply, has immense operational experience, and can mobilize teams around our vision,” Simo wrote in a note to employees. “Chris knows this company. He helped sh…

A’ja Wilson has come to realize what is delayed is not always denied. The two-time WNBA champion and three-time league MVP proudly released her long-awaited Nike signature shoe and athletic apparel collection in her hometown of Columbia, South Carolina, where she helped lead the South Carolina Gamecocks to their first national championship in 2017 and had her college jersey retired on Sunday. The release of the predominantly pink shoe and apparel collection — which she said reflects her “girly, girly side” — has been 10 months in the making since she signed the lucrative six-year contract with Nike. It’s a deal Wilson says signals the continued growth and interest…

As remote work becomes the norm rather than the exception, more U.S. professionals are redefining what it means to live and work well. With soaring living costs, healthcare hurdles, and burnout increasingly baked into American life, many are choosing to build their careers abroad. This shift isn’t just about finding cheaper rent or a temporary escape. It’s about discovering countries that actively welcome remote workers through smart visa policies, strong infrastructure, and communities that foster sustainable, fulfilling lifestyles. From Asia’s tech hubs to Europe’s historic towns, these 10 destinations are leading the remote work revolution and offering a chance to…

In today’s high-stakes business environment, stress isn’t just an individual challenge—it’s a force that shapes careers and organizations. The U.S. Department of Labor finds that 83% of workers suffer from work-related stress, and 54% say that work stress affects their home lives. In my coaching work with hundreds of professionals annually, I’ve witnessed firsthand how impossible it is to separate stress from career trajectories; they are intertwined, each influencing and shaping the other. Stress can derail even the most carefully planned career paths, yet we often treat career decisions as purely rational, despite the fact that our psychological state profoundly inf…

Until recently, if you threw away an old mattress in Amsterdam, it would likely end up in an incinerator—the same way that most of the 15 million-plus mattresses thrown out in the U.S. each year end up in landfills. Now, however, around half of Dutch mattresses are recycled, and that number is growing. Some of the material is starting to be used in new mattresses, sofas, and other furniture by manufacturers like IKEA. [Photo: IKEA] In one facility near Amsterdam, a company called RetourMatras uses automated equipment to dismantle old beds, beginning with a machine called a peeler that cuts off the mattress cover so the fabric can be recycled. Then the core is s…

Perhaps you’re coming out of a wave of layoffs or a down year. Maybe you’re preparing for a run of performance reviews where you have to deliver tough feedback. If you have tense conversations on the horizon, there are ways to prepare for it. In many cases, the anticipation of a high-conflict conversation creates more stress than the actual experience. It’s normal to feel out of control in moments like this—to feel like your internal world is compromised and you must attempt to control your external world. Neural circuits responsible for conscious self-control are highly vulnerable to even the mildest of stressors. When those neural systems shut down, primal impulses …

At the moment, confidence in leadership is at an all time low, according to the 2024 Leadership Confidence Index. It’s natural to assume the cause is born of an individual failure—the leader lacks competence, their boss didn’t prepare or train them well, they don’t care about how others experience them. And many of these reasons certainly hold true. But in my experience working with senior executives as an executive coach and organization design consultant, bad leadership is often manufactured by an organization designed, albeit unintentionally, to produce bad leaders. In the intricate dance of organizations, design and leadership are the two central partners. The de…

My mom used to always say, “If you want something done, give it to a busy person.” She was a very busy person who seemed to have endless energy and a knack for outperforming others in her real estate firm. While the origin of the quote isn’t clear, the idea is that someone who juggles several projects effectively probably has systems in place for prioritization and efficiency. This makes sense. But there is a point when said “busy person” hits overload. Tossing them one more ball could cause the person to drop all of them. About two-thirds of workers feel empowered to decline extra work, according to a recent report from résumé builder Resume Now, yet 59% feel fr…

When Meta launched its “AI Studio” feature for over two billion Instagram users in July 2024, the company promised a tool that would give anyone the ability to create their own AI characters “to make you laugh, generate memes, give travel advice, and so much more.” The company claimed the feature, which was built with Meta’s Llama 3.1 large language model, would be subject to policies and protections to “help ensure AIs are used responsibly.” But a Fast Company review of the technology found that these new characters can very easily become hyper-sexual personas that sometimes appear to be minors. Many of the AI characters that appear featured on Instagram’s home…

Spirit Airlines has rejected a merger offer with Frontier as it prepares to exit bankruptcy. Wednesday, Frontier made its second offer to merge with the bankrupt Spirit Airlines, but Spirit rejected it on the grounds that it was financially insufficient. In 2022, Frontier offered to acquire Spirit for $2.9 billion, but the offer was ultimately rejected when Spirit chose to accept a higher offer from JetBlue (which was later blocked for antitrust concerns). Frontier Airlines put forward its current merger offer in hopes of creating a strong, low-fare airline together. “We have long believed a combination with Spirit would allow us to unlock additional v…

When Moath al-Alwi left Guantánamo Bay for resettlement in Oman, accompanying him on his journey was a cache of artwork he created during more than two decades of detention. Al-Alwi was detainee number “028”—an indication that he was one of the first to arrive at the U.S. military prison off Cuba after it opened in January 2002. His departure from the detention center on January 6, 2025, along with 10 fellow inmates, was part of an effort to reduce the prison’s population before the end of President Joe Biden’s term. For al-Alwi, it meant freedom not only for himself, but also for his artwork. While not all detainees shared his passion, creating art was not an unc…

Small dwelling units are booming as solutions for affordable housing, camping, and glamping. But of most interest, at present, is the opportunity this category provides as a source of transitional housing during times of climate crisis and regional disasters such as the L.A. fires. California already had increasingly positive regulation toward accessory dwelling units (ADUs) and tiny homes prior to the January 2025 Los Angeles fires. In the wake of the current disaster, L.A. Mayor Karen Bass issued an emergency executive order: Return and Rebuild. This new mandate eliminates the significant regulatory hurdles of rebuilding to organize efforts with a theme of “urgency,…

David Ko, CEO of Calm, speaks with Brendan Vaughan about the state of mental health solutions in the workplace. View the full article

The most important leadership strategies are often the ones you don’t see. The quiet, behind-the-scenes work that truly drives success might not make the headlines, but it makes all the difference. We spoke to 10 experienced leaders who opened up about the practical, everyday practices they use to transform team dynamics and boost business outcomes. From creating space for honest conversations to fine-tuning how work gets done, these insights show that small, thoughtful changes can have a big impact. Create space for vulnerability and open dialog One of the most impactful but often invisible aspects of leadership is creating space for vulnerability and open dialog …

Multiple earthquakes are rattling Santorini, a volcanic island in Greece, prompting authorities to dispatch rescuers with tents, a sniffer dog and drones, and to shut schools on four islands. Residents have been warned to avoid indoor gatherings, check escape routes, stay away from cliffs and to drain swimming pools to reduce potential structural damage to buildings in the event of a large earthquake. Greece lies in a highly seismically active part of the world, and earthquakes are frequent. The vast majority cause no injuries and little or no damage, but the country has also seen deadly quakes. Earthquakes can’t be predicted, but authorities are taking measures a…

“We want grandparents who want to have pizza nights with us, attend baseball and basketball games, have ice cream dates, take bike rides, just genuinely have fun with us and our boys,” reads one post on the Facebook group Surrogate Grandparents USA, a place where grandparent-seeking families can connect with surrogate grandparents. “One lonely grandma here. I would love to share affection and attention with a nearby family,” posted another. Created in 2015 by 68-year-old retired paralegal Donna Skora, Surrogate Grandparents USA now has more than 11,800 members. The page is described as “a place where grandparents who are missing having grandchildren in their lives &a…

Nintendo’s profits tumbled as sales of its Switch console lost momentum, prompting the Japanese video-game maker to lower its full-year forecasts. Kyoto-based Nintendo Co., which created the Super Mario franchise, reported Tuesday an April-December profit of 237 billion yen ($1.5 billion), down 42% from the same period the previous year. Nine-month sales dropped 31% to 956 billion yen ($6 billion), according to Nintendo, which did not break down quarterly results. The company now expects to rake in a 270-billion yen ($1.7 billion) profit for the fiscal year through March, down from the previous forecast for 300-billion yen ($1.9 billion). Sales of Nintendo machines fo…

Not long ago, much of the business world still ran on Rolodexes, fax machines and file cabinets. Today, most of those once indispensable tools have been rendered obsolete and replaced by modern technology that has redefined the way we work. This integration of technology into all facets of business operations is widely known as Digital Transformation (DX), and it’s happening across nearly every industry today. In fact, 74% of organizations now consider DX initiatives a top priority, with global spending projected to hit $3.9 trillion by 2027. While modern tech solutions offer significant benefits, the race to keep up with emerging trends can overwhelm decision-makers …

In the history of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), eighth-grade reading scores have never been this low. According to new data, 33% of eighth graders in the United States have “below basic” reading levels. That’s even below the sub-proficient level, “basic,” at which 37% of eighth graders score. The NAEP has been administering their reading assessment since 1992, when 31% of eighth graders were “below basic.” But then it went down; in 2013, that “below basic” figure reached a low of 22%. Now, it’s reached an all-time peak. When reading scores go down, blame is inevitably pointed at teachers. Twenty-four years ago, then-President George Bush…

Botox can be expensive. You know what isn’t? Bananas. A new beauty hack making the rounds online involves rubbing the inside of a banana peel all over your face for a few minutes to brighten and tighten skin. You’ve heard of chemical peels for your skin? Now it’s all about the banana peel. “This actually made my face feel so much tighter,” one TikToker said after giving the hack a go. “Me, after seeing a banana peel can help with hydration, brightening, hyperpigmentation & be preventative Botox,” wrote another over a video of them rubbing the peel on their skin. “POV: When you’re 37 years old & do banana peel scrubs instead of Botox,” a third creator pos…