What's on Your Mind?

When people use hand gestures that visually represent what they’re saying, listeners see them as more clear, competent, and persuasive. That’s the key finding from my new research published in the Journal of Marketing Research, where I analyzed thousands of TED Talks and ran controlled experiments to examine how gestures shape communication. Talking with your hands Whether you’re giving a presentation, pitching an idea or leading a meeting, you probably spend most of your prep time thinking about what you’ll say. But what about the ways you’ll move your hands? I grew up in Italy, where gesturing is practically a second language. Now that I live in the United St…

A meeting drags on. People are talking, but no one is saying the thing that needs to be said. Direction is unclear, the energy dips, and everyone is waiting for someone to speak with authority. When you finally do speak, the words come out softer than you intended: – “Maybe we should consider . . .” – “I think it might be good if . . .” – “Sorry to interrupt, but . . .” One of the biggest challenges leaders face isn’t just what they decide, it’s how they communicate it. Clarity, confidence, and authority are what set the tone for the room. If you tend to soften your tone or worry about sounding pushy, being more direct can feel uncomfortable.…

It’s been an unprecedented and brutal week for the advertising industry. The finalization of Omnicom Group’s $13 billion acquisition of Interpublic Group (IPG) (the biggest takeover in advertising history) is affecting tens of thousands of workers—most immediately the 4,000 expected to be laid off by the end of the year. Both Omnicom and IPG own many different ad agency brands, all of which will be profoundly impacted by the merger. Omnicom is retaining only McCann from the IPG roster of agency networks, while folding FCB into BBDO, and both DDB and MullenLowe into TBWA, in order to achieve Omnicom Chairman and CEO John Wren’s goal of $750 million in synergies. Th…

Want more housing market stories from Lance Lambert’s ResiClub in your inbox? Subscribe to the ResiClub newsletter. Back in his 1996 letter to shareholders, Warren Buffett famously wrote: “If you aren’t willing to own a stock for 10 years, don’t even think about owning it for 10 minutes.” That statement only makes the recent homebuilder stock purchases and sales by Berkshire Hathaway—led by Buffett, who will step down as CEO at the end of 2025—even more eyebrow-raising. Here’s the timeline. August 2023: Berkshire Hathaway disclosed that in Q2 2023, the company made a bet on U.S. homebuilders and bought 5,969,714 shares of D.R. Horton, 152,572 shares of Le…

Ask friends what kind of tech gift you should get for your parent, grandparent, or another older person in your life, and chances are you’ll get the same generic suggestions, like a digital picture frame or a portable Bluetooth speaker. But these gifts will almost certainly remain little used throughout the year. (I mean, how many digital picture frames would you like?) Instead, this holiday season, why not get an older loved one a tech gift they’ll actually use (and that might put your mind at ease, too)? Here are five types of gifts that older people may truly find beneficial. Smartwatches with fall detection Talk to any older person about health concer…

While digital live shopping has been popular for years in Asia, the phenomenon has only recently begun to take off in the U.S., thanks in large part to the rise of retail disruptor Whatnot. The platform’s cofounder and CEO, Grant LaFontaine, shares how his team has managed to evoke the feel of in-person shopping inside an online experience, and how Whatnot’s breakthrough is influencing other retailers and brands. LaFontaine also digs into the startup’s response to deep-pocketed rivals like eBay, and why he believes the viral Labubu trend is here to stay. This is an abridged transcript of an interview from Rapid Response, hosted by former Fast Company editor-in-chief R…

Most entrepreneurs are familiar with diminishing returns: how, when other variables stay constant, at some point putting in additional time and effort results in increasingly smaller results. Since resources are always limited, figuring out where to spend your entrepreneurial time so it delivers the best bang per hour is critical. That same premise extends to health and fitness. If you’re like many entrepreneurs, you try to stay reasonably fit not just because it’s good for you, but because exercise helps you perform better under stress. Can elevate your mood for up to 12 hours. Can even make you a little smarter. Still: how healthy and fit . . . is healthy and fi…

For years, philosophers and psychologists have debated whether empathy helps or hinders the ways people decide how to help others. Critics of empathy argue that it makes people care too narrowly—focusing on individual stories rather than the broader needs of society—while careful reasoning enables more impartial, evidence-based choices. Our new research, forthcoming in the academic journal PNAS Nexus, a flagship peer-reviewed journal of the National Academy of Sciences, suggests this “heart versus head” argument is too simple. Empathy and reasoning aren’t rivals—they work together. Each one on its own predicts more generous, far-reaching acts of assistance. And when t…

Entrepreneurs face more stress, fear, and anxiety in a single day than most people experience in a year. When building something in a crowded market, motivation doesn’t just dip—it can disappear entirely. What is the difference between those who burn out and those who break through? They’ve mastered the three fundamentals: finding their real “why,” setting their own scorecard, and playing the long game. New competitors launch monthly in the vertical drama space where I work. At DramaShorts, we’ve maintained our position among the top 15 apps globally by refusing to play someone else’s game. While others chase viral trends, we focus on building sustainable engagement.…

Artificial intelligence is everywhere. It fuels boardroom debates, guides priorities, defines access to information, and nudges consumer experiences. But while AI promises sharper insights and faster action, it also accelerates blind spots leaders already struggle with. The paradox is this: AI can widen vision, but if used without the right insight, it narrows it. And when those blind spots meet the speed of AI adoption, the consequences multiply. I’ve seen this play out across industries—through my leadership roles at Google, Maersk, and Diageo, and in advising executives shaping some of the world’s largest organizations. The pattern is clear: technology does not…

When it comes to market segmentation, I don’t see truly well-documented cases often. At a more simplistic level, we think of classic matrices such as BCG or McKinsey’s. But the real exercise of segmentation is far more complex. In certain contexts, it comes close to the behavior of a tensor: multiple dimensions, cross-dependencies, distinct weights, temporality, and contextual factors that shift the meaning of data depending on the axis being analyzed. Thinking like a tensor is practicing Model Thinking, which remains, above all, an analog discipline. It requires a brain, not a machine. The challenge is necessarily multidisciplinary, and this is exactly where …

A powerful advisory group within the CDC voted Friday to overturn a longstanding precaution designed to protect newborn babies. If the change is approved by the acting director of the agency, the government will no longer universally recommend the hepatitis B vaccine at birth. The shot, which provides protection from the leading cause of liver cancer, has been standard practice for newborns since 1991. Friday’s 8-3 vote is a milestone for Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who quickly began reshaping the public health agency to reflect his personal views on vaccines after being sworn in early this year. Kennedy has long been a prominent vo…

It’s the first week of December. If you don’t already have the Christmas tunes blasting in the office, what are you waiting for? The debate over listening to music while at work, however, often divides offices. Some love to crank up the merry melodies while toiling away, and find silence to be deafening. Others can only listen to mood music or instrumental playlists like “coffeeshop jazz in the background” or “LoFi Girl,” featuring low-fidelity, calming beats. And still others insist on complete silence. As the countdown to the holidays begins, Google searches for “Christmas playlist 2025” have spiked this past week. But could listening to Mariah Carey or Michael…

A recent New York Times headline—“Did Women Ruin the Workplace?”—sparked a firestorm across social media. Alison Moore, CEO of Chief, the prestigious network for senior women executives, is pushing back on this notion with data and nuance. Drawing from an exclusive nationwide survey of women leaders, Moore unpacks how evolving career paths are being misread, the impact of market disruption, and why women-centered spaces remain vital. This is an abridged transcript of an interview from Rapid Response, hosted by the former editor-in-chief of Fast Company Bob Safian. From the team behind the Masters of Scalepodcast, Rapid Response features candid conversations with today…

Frank Gehry, who designed some of the most imaginative buildings ever constructed and achieved a level of worldwide acclaim seldom afforded any architect, has died. He was 96. Gehry died Friday in his home in Santa Monica, California, after a brief respiratory illness, said Meaghan Lloyd, chief of staff at Gehry Partners LLP. Gehry’s fascination with modern pop art led to the creation of some of the most striking buildings ever constructed and brought him a measure of worldwide acclaim seldom afforded any architect. Among his many masterpieces are the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain; the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles; and the DZ Bank Building in B…

Every year, open enrollment forces Americans to confront a familiar dilemma: Pay more for coverage that delivers less, or gamble on going without it. This year, that choice has become even starker. Employers are shifting more costs to workers, marketplace premiums are poised to rise, fewer prescription drugs are covered by insurance, and 3.8 million people could lose insurance annually if Affordable Care Act subsidies aren’t extended. Together, these developments represent a structural break in the U.S. healthcare system. It’s a perfect storm that will price many Americans out of health insurance altogether—many involuntarily, but some voluntarily. Fed up with s…

Being tired is practically a personality trait in corporate America — especially in 2025. Everybody is exhausted, it seems. Folks are doing fiftyleven jobs. You’re always juggling tasks, always late for the next meeting because the last one ran long. But when you’re one of the few Black employees at the gig, there’s a subconscious fear of looking like you’re in over your head, especially with the looming fear of layoffs. So you push through, even when you’re running on fumes. You go harder, telling yourself you’ll rest once you get through the busy patch. But that’s a lie. The job is a perpetual busy patch. For months, I kept telling myself I was just tired. Regular tire…

The year is quickly coming to an end, and that means tech platforms are tripping over themselves to roll out their year-end recaps—all hoping to capture the virality that Spotify’s Wrapped year-in-review recap commands each year. Already in December, we’ve seen Spotify Wrapped, Apple Music Replay, Amazon Music Delivered, and YouTube Recap, with more, like the popular Snapchat Recap, set to debut in the coming weeks. One of those debuts has occurred today, as well. Popular chat platform Discord has now released its personalized Wrapped-like recap: Discord Checkpoint. Here’s what to know about it and how to view yours. Discord announced Discord Checkpoint 2025 Di…

On November 19, Block Inc. held its first Investor Day in three years. Jack Dorsey, the company’s cofounder, chief executive, and “Block Head,” took to the stage and summarily posed what many investors and others in the industry were likely thinking. “Our business is complicated,” he said. “We want to make it much easier to understand going forward.” Dorsey—notably clean-shaven—proceeded to summarize the past few years at Block. The company is indeed much more complex now than when it was founded in 2009 as Square, named for the point-of-sale system that was the company’s first product. Four years ago, it changed its name to Block, a much more fitting monike…

So far, Nvidia has provided the vast majority of the processors used to train and operate large AI models like the ones that underpin ChatGPT. Tech companies and AI labs don’t like to rely too much on a single chip vendor, especially as their need for computing capacity increases, so they’re looking for ways to diversify. And so players like AMD and Huawei, as well as hyperscalers like Google and Amazon AWS, which just released its latest Trainium3 chip, are hurrying to improve their own flavors of AI accelerators, the processors designed to speed up specific types of computing tasks. Could the competition eventually reduce Nvidia, AI’s dominant player, to just anot…

The way consumers search is changing faster than the industry expected. This holiday season, many shoppers are looking for gifts inside AI platforms, rather than retailer sites or traditional search. They are asking natural questions like: “Find me a cruelty-free skincare gift for sensitive skin under $100.” “What are good gift ideas for a three-year-old that are safe and durable?” “What are the safest, nontoxic treats for my Golden Retriever?” This shift is already measurable. Adobe Digital Insights reports a 4,700% year-over-year increase in retail visits driven by AI assistants between July 2024 and July 2025. At the same time, click-through rates from SEO …

European Union regulators on Friday fined Elon Musk’s social media platform X 120 million euros ($140 million) for breaches of the bloc’s digital regulations that they said could leave users exposed to scams and manipulation. The European Commission issued its decision following an investigation it opened two years ago into X under the 27-nation bloc’s Digital Services Act, also known as the DSA. It’s the first time that the EU has issued a so-called non-compliance decision since rolling out the DSA. The sweeping rulebook requires platforms to take more responsibility for protecting European users and cleaning up harmful or illegal content and products on their sites, u…