What's on Your Mind?

Somewhere between 25% and 35% of working Americans are gig workers–either as a supplement to their primary income or as their full-time job. And for many gig economy workers, cash apps and marketplaces offer a simple and convenient way to receive payments. Enter the IRS form 1099-K. Third-party payment apps have to issue a 1099-K form to taxpayers who make more than a certain earnings threshold—a threshold which the IRS significantly lowered for the 2024 tax year. The IRS anticipates that millions of Americans will receive a 1099-K form for the first time this year because of that reduced earnings threshold. If you’ve been wondering why you received a 1099-K form …

National Leadership Day, which takes place every Feb. 20, offers a chance to reflect on what truly defines leadership – not just strategy or decision-making, but the ability to build trust. In an era of rapid change, when teams look to leaders for stability and direction, trust is the invisible currency that fuels organizational success. As an economist, I know there’s a lot of research proving this point. I’ve conducted some myself, including work on how trust is essential for leaders in cross-cultural business environments. In an expansive study of China’s fast-paced restaurant industry, my colleagues and I found that leaders who cultivate trust can significantly re…

Memorable experiences guide us to value the present moment before it becomes only a memory. As the context around us continuously evolves at a rapid pace, the formation of memories comes to life through spatial awareness of the physical environment. The importance of human interaction and shared engagement in the design of immersive entertainment and sports venues, workplaces, and even homes is fundamental to making memories of a lifetime. Georges Duhamel’s 1919 French philosophical essay, The Heart’s Domain, touches on the essence of human experience and the pursuit of meaning in a rapidly changing world. He emphasizes the importance of human connection. Duhamel was …

If you look at a map of lightning near the Port of Singapore, you’ll notice an odd streak of intense lightning activity right over the busiest shipping lane in the world. As it turns out, the lightning really is responding to the ships, or rather the tiny particles they emit. Using data from a global lightning detection network, my colleagues and I have been studying how exhaust plumes from ships are associated with an increase in the frequency of lightning. For decades, ship emissions steadily rose as increasing global trade drove higher ship traffic. Then, in 2020, new international regulations cut ships’ sulfur emissions by 77%. Our newly published research sho…

Ambition is one of the most defining forces in human affairs—a psychological engine that propels individuals beyond the realm of survival into the arena of creation, disruption, and transformation, and significantly predicts educational attainment, career success, job performance, and income. At its core, ambition is the refusal to accept the status quo, the internal pressure to stretch personal limits and societal boundaries. In a way, the best way to understand ambition is as the inability to be satisfied with one’s accomplishments. Ambition fuels leadership by pushing individuals to take responsibility, imagine alternatives, and mobilize others toward a vision. Amb…

What if extreme heat not only leaves you feeling exhausted but actually makes you age faster? Scientists already know that extreme heat increases the risk of heat stroke, cardiovascular disease, kidney dysfunction and even death. I see these effects often in my work as a researcher studying how environmental stressors influence the aging process. But until now, little research has explored how heat affects biological aging: the gradual deterioration of cells and tissues that increases the risk of age-related diseases. New research my team and I published in the journal Science Advances suggests that long-term exposure to extreme heat may speed up biological aging …

Pretty much everyone will sometimes struggle with anger at work. People fear the wrath of abusive supervisors, suppress anger to maintain a facade of professionalism, or vent anger toward coworkers who are, fairly or not, targets. Reactions to anger in the workplace can be strong, but they’re not always effective. As scholars who also fall prey to the pitfalls of anger ourselves, we are fascinated by anger. We have studied the causes, underlying processes, and consequences of anger from the perspectives of management, psychology, marketing, and negotiations. We recently reviewed more than 400 research articles across psychology, business, and related fields on top…

Those of us living in the harsher climates can all commiserate about what felt like a really long winter. It was cold! And windy! Perfect weather for staying inside, inert, and keeping warm with dense carbs and saturated fats. Well, the party’s over. As the chill of winter melts away and spring begins to bloom, it’s time to shed those extra layers—both figuratively and literally. So whether you’re counting calories, trying new workouts, or simply trying to move a little more, these free tools are here to help you reach your goals. MyFitnessPal MyFitnessPal (iOS, Android) is a do-it-all weight loss tool that helps you monitor your daily food intake, exer…

Job interviews are the fortune cookies of hiring—vague and often misleading. But companies keep using them, despite research suggesting that typical job interviews are mostly unreliable predictors of future job performance, because they give hiring managers the illusion of insight, and a convenient way to validate gut instinct with zero data. It’s not that all interviews are useless; some formats, like structured behavioral interviews with scoring rubrics, including AI-based scoring algorithms that match responses to actual outcomes and future performance, can be moderately predictive. But the typical unstructured interview? Oftentimes, it conveys the illusion of pred…

(Reuters) – Elon Musk said on Friday that his xAI has acquired X, the social media app formerly known as Twitter, in an all-stock transaction for $45 billion, including $12 billion debt. “xAI and X’s futures are intertwined. Today, we officially take the step to combine the data, models, compute, distribution and talent,” Musk said in a post on X, adding that the combined company would be valued at $80 billion. Neither X nor xAI immediately responded to a request for comment. The billionaire’s AI startup, which was launched in 2023, recently raised $6 billion from investors in a funding round that valued the company at $40 billion, sources told Reuters earlier…

There’s a reason Haliey Welch seemingly vanished from the internet overnight: she’s the focus of an upcoming documentary exploring her meteoric rise—and dramatic fall—from viral fame. The 22-year-old influencer will be the subject of an upcoming documentary from Emmy-winning production company Bungalow Media + Entertainment, according to Deadline. “The documentary will chronicle how Welch, a young woman from a small-town with no active social media presence, unknowingly created a viral moment that gave way into a global phenomenon,” per a press release shared with the outlet. The documentary will focus on Welch’s “unexpected rise to fame, the scrutiny that followe…

AI is poised to reshape businesses, but too many executives are oversimplifying its potential, focusing on automation rather than collaboration. As someone who’s spent my career studying the future of work, I’m excited about AI’s breakthrough potential—but cautious of the narratives being rushed into the spotlight. Recently, I reviewed Anthropic’s study, Which Economic Tasks Are Performed with AI? Evidence from Millions of Claude Conversations, and found that AI’s real impact isn’t as clear-cut as many believe. While AI is transforming business, leaders are overlooking key realities about AI’s impact and its real-world applications. Here’s what many are still getting…

You’ve signed up to attend a conference or industry event, and when the day finally arrives, you probably experience some regret. Thoughts run through your head, such as “Why do I have to go?” “I have too much work to do.” “I won’t know anyone.” “I can make connections online.” Sound familiar? Entering a room full of strangers or, worse yet, people in your field that you admire can make you feel like you’re a kid again, walking into your first day of kindergarten. It’s intimidating, but worth it because nothing replaces live connections, says Rebecca Grinnals, cofounder of the luxury wedding and event business conference Engage! Summits. “You can’t put a price o…

A few years ago, I was in the middle of an important client meeting when my phone started vibrating. Buzz. Buzz. Not wanting to be impolite, I kept my focus on my client. Buzz. Buzz. Buzz. Finally, I excused myself, peeked at my screen, and saw a string of texts from my son, increasing in urgency. The last few read simply: MOM. MOM. MOM. As the mother of three teenage boys, I had gotten texts like these before. There was no way to know how badly my son needed me: Was he just locked out of the house? Or was this a true, red-alarm emergency? In the end, he was fine—no blood or broken bones, no panic attacks or thoughts of self-harm. But as a parent and caregivers, t…

Tyler, the CEO of an early-stage technology company, reached out for executive coaching support at the recommendation of a college friend: “Give it a try,” she encouraged. He was skeptical about anything “touchy-feely” and wondered if coaching could offer his leadership an “edge.” After we reviewed his 360 results together, Tyler’s skepticism took center stage. His feedback consisted of descriptors like controlling, arrogant, and dismissive. Tyler was unmoved. He asked, “Why should I care about what people think of me if we’re getting great results?” Tyler’s not an anomaly. There are leaders everywhere who behave badly interpersonally but exceed sales goals, secu…

Do artists and scientists see the same thing in the shape of trees? As a scientist who studies branching patterns in living things, I’m starting to think so. Piet Mondrian was an early 20th-century abstract artist and art theorist obsessed with simplicity and essence of form. Even people who have never heard of Mondrian will likely recognize his iconic irregular grids of rectangles. Tableau I by Piet Mondrian, 1921. [Image: Kunstmuseum Den Haag] When I saw Mondrian’s 1911 “Gray Tree,” I immediately recognized something about trees that I had struggled to describe. By removing all but the most essential elements in an abstract painting, Mondrian demonstrated som…

In summer 2022, when artificial intelligence-based text-to-image generation tools hit the mainstream, architects were cautiously excited. The ease of generating real-ish images of design concepts and buildings with just a few simple sentences was irresistible, and many architects began experimenting with ways of letting AI quickly do some of the sketching and ideating they’d gotten used to spending hours or days laboring over. “It’s almost like you’re speaking a building into existence,” one architect said. But now, with AI maturing and getting integrated into tools and industries far and wide, a surprisingly low number of architects are actually using AI in thei…

Every few months, there’s a new story or study or think piece on the exact dollar amount needed to afford retirement. The most recent is Northwestern Mutual’s 2025 Planning & Progress Study, which found that Americans believe they need $1.26 million to retire comfortably. Unfortunately, many people give up on the very idea of saving for retirement when they hear $1.26 million is the price tag for a comfortable (not lavish) retirement. Aiming for a seven-figure nest egg can feel out of reach for many of us—which may explain why Northwestern Mutual also found that 51% of Americans expect to outlive their money. But the reality of retirement is far more nuanced t…

Drew Barrymore just got her own Pantone color—and as you might expect for a woman who famously once responded to a rainstorm by dancing in the downpour and encouraging others to do the same, it’s a shade of yellow, the cheeriest primary color. To mark the talk-show host’s 50th birthday, Pantone surprised her last week with the unveiling of “Drew Barrymore Yellow,” a soft, buttery shade Pantone says was chosen “to embody her infectious optimism, creative spirit, and uplifting presence—a hue as warm and vibrant as the woman herself.” [Image: Pantone]Pantone has released colors in partnership with other celebrities before, like “Team Coco Orange” for comedian Conan O’Brien i…

There’s one scarce resource that nearly everyone wishes they had more of: time. It always seems like there are more things to do than hours in the day. Many ways to squeeze more productivity out of your workday may leave you feeling burned out. But there are ways to trim the time spent on many aspects of life that will leave you with at least a little more wiggle room. Here are a few strategies: Create a guide to reduce interruptions If you often lose hours responding to emails and Slack messages asking different versions of the same questions, create an FAQ document with the answers all in one place. If you want to take it one step further, you can follow the …

Two new data centers in Silicon Valley have been built but can’t begin processing information: The equipment that would supply them with electricity isn’t available. It’s just one example of a crisis facing the U.S. power grid that can’t be solved simply by building more power lines, approving new power generation, or changing out grid software. The equipment needed to keep the grid running—transformers that regulate voltage, circuit breakers that protect against faults, high-voltage cables that carry power across regions, and steel poles that hold the network together—is hard to make, and materials are limited. Supply-chain bottlenecks are taking years to clear, dela…

TikTok just updated its desktop viewing experience to offer a smoother UX, expanded features, and more ways to watch. I wish it would go back to how it was before. It’s no secret that TikTok has a mobile-first design. Its beloved hyper-specific algorithm and For You page, as well as its wholehearted embrace of short-form video, has inspired copycats the likes of which include everyone from Instagram to LinkedIn and Substack. TikTok has even changed the fabric of culture itself, shortening attention spans and shaping the music industry as we know it. While TikTok shines on mobile, its desktop experience has historically been significantly less intuitive. The new de…