What's on Your Mind?

With enrollment on the rise, the California Polytechnic State University in seaside San Luis Obispo has found itself staring down a familiar California problem: a severe housing shortage. “Cal Poly’s located in this beautiful town of San Luis Obispo. That is one of our competitive advantages, but it also means that everybody else wants to live here, too,” says Mike McCormick, vice president of facilities management and development at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo This desirability poses a problem for the university, which has seen enrollment grow in recent years, with trendlines suggesting an additional 4,000 students by the end of the decade. “It’s really hard for us…

Imposter syndrome, perfectionism and people pleasing are just some of the pervasive norms we’ve come to accept—and even expect—from high-achievers. And when we hear advice about how we can mitigate this internal strife, we hear phrases like ‘fake it to you make it’. All too often, the self-criticism, insecurity, and harsh self-judgement remains. Take for example Sara, a high-achieving marketing director who recently had a major campaign launch falter. When reality fell significantly short of projected targets, she immediately blamed herself. “I spiraled into harsh self-criticism, working excessive hours, and neglecting my wellbeing to try and make up for what we’d los…

Susan Kare, designer of the original Apple icons, is back with a new 32-icon collection, one that you can buy in the form of silver or gold vermeil mechanical keys and pendants. Called Esc Keys, the new icons perfectly capture the everlasting magic of her 1-bit legendary past work, always mesmerizing in their extreme minimalism and at the same time as satisfying as triple-chocolate cake. Kare obviously had lots of fun creating them. Her new designs—from an alien head to a light bulb to love birds to puppies, plus a ‘Panic!’ key that we all really need right now—inspire the same joy she was gleaming with when I spoke to her from New York—where she was visiting for the …

If your company is losing Gen Z talent, chances are, the problem isn’t them—it’s you. The phrase “quiet quitting” has become a catch-all for blaming Gen Z workers for workplace disengagement. Older generations stereotype them as unmotivated, unwilling to go the extra mile, and too demanding. But here’s the reality: Gen Z isn’t disengaged—they’re just done tolerating bad leadership. My research, including surveys, interviews, and case studies across industries, shows that what many have labelled “quitting” is actually a rational response to workplaces that lack fairness, structure, and alignment with employee values. Instead of writing off an entire generation, le…

As cities continue to expand and infrastructure projects grow more ambitious, the construction sector is facing a crippling problem: There aren’t enough workers. The U.S. alone will need to attract around half a million construction workers in 2025 to meet anticipated demand for construction services, according to the trade association Associated Builders and Contractors. In fact, the construction industry in the United States has faced a significant shortage since the Great Recession of 2008 when it lost 30% of its workforce. In response, several states have launched apprenticeships and beefed up community college programs to attract people to skilled trade occupations. …

Lore isn’t just for games like The Elder Scrolls or films like The Lord of the Rings—online, it has evolved into something entirely new. The Old English word made the shortlist for Oxford University Presss’ 2024 Word of the Year (though it ultimately lost to brain rot). Oxford defines lore as “a body of (supposed) facts, background information, and anecdotes relating to someone or something, regarded as knowledge or required for full understanding or informed discussion of the subject in question.” Historically, the term has been tied to teaching and knowledge-sharing, with roots stretching back nearly a thousand years. Today, however, lore has evolved into intern…

As the Los Angeles area stares down the long recovery process from recent wildfires that burned thousands of homes, one architecture firm is trying to help by giving away one of its residential designs. New York-based Bonetti/Kozerski Architecture is donating all the architectural plans, sections, and 3D models of a fire-resistant home, potentially saving homeowners tens of thousands of dollars in design fees. “We were archiving unbuilt projects around the time of the Los Angeles fires, and we came across this idea that we had for a house on a coastal area,” says Enrico Bonetti, the firm’s cofounder. “We loved the floor plans and then we realized that the design, the …

Ben Sweeny, the salesman-turned-comedian behind that online persona Corporate Sween, says that bosses should waterboard their employees. “Some companies drown their employees with boring surveys and useless questionnaires,” he proclaims in a satirical video posted to LinkedIn a few months ago. “I drown my employees with two to three gallons of water, an incline table, and a hand towel.” Though the clip may seem racy for LinkedIn, a social network that’s earned a reputation as a reliable if buttoned-up venue for job networking, it has to date earned over 5,000 views and has reached over 7,000 unique members. And for Sweeny, its success is no surprise: Why shouldn…

One of the most effective factors in containing the spread of HIV has been the widespread availability of preexposure prophylaxis (PrEP). A PrEP regimen—which has grown to include daily pills or injections every few months—can decrease the chances of HIV infection by up to 99%. To build on those gains, in 2021, the federal government, under the Affordable Care Act, mandated that health insurers fully cover PrEP, as well as clinical visits and the labs required every three months. But an upcoming hearing before the Supreme Court could upend that mandate. The case—brought by six individuals and two companies—is focused on whether mandating coverage of PrEP violates the …

When it comes to how optimistic we are as a country, the glass is more than half full. According to a recent Marist Institute for Public Opinion poll, 56% of Americans feel optimistic about 2025, while 43% are pessimistic. You may feel like optimism and pessimism is an inborn personality trait, but which side you fall on is actually a choice. While it sounds surprising, Sumit Paul-Choudhury, author of The Bright Side: How Optimists Change the World and How You Can Be One, consciously decided to be an optimist after the death of his first wife. “It was initially black humor,” he explains. “I was saying, ‘Things are really grim right now, but I’ve decided that they’re g…

This article is republished with permission from Wonder Tools, a newsletter that helps you discover the most useful sites and apps. Subscribe here. Books offer a compelling, slower alternative to the onslaught of negative news. With terrific new free tools, it’s increasingly easy to access print, digital, and audio books. Read on for my favorite book sites and apps. The heavy-hitters Libby lends out free e-books and audiobooks through libraries in 78 countries. It works for 90% of U.S. libraries. You can search for and check out nearly anything, instantly, for free, on any device. Audiobooks: Check out and listen to audiobooks at any speed. You may not need t…

Middle managers have had a hard go of it over the past five years. There was the upheaval of the pandemic, followed by ongoing changes in the workplace as companies adjusted to remote work and then, in many cases, eventually brought employees back into the office. Amid all these fluctuations, managers have been tasked with mitigating low morale, parrying employee discontent, and juggling their mounting responsibilities, especially as recurring layoffs thin their ranks. It doesn’t seem like the challenges middle managers are facing will disappear anytime soon, which could lead to high rates of turnover in the very near future. And it’s also not clear whether a new gene…

Longevity with freelancing is entirely possible if you’re intentional, adaptable, and development-oriented. Freelancers should think of themselves as a business of one as opposed to an outsourced employee for other companies. And it’s import to always be improving that business. As E-Myth Revisited author Michael Gerber once wrote, “Most entrepreneurs fail because they are working in their business rather than on their business.” There’s always going to be more competition, new technology, shifting market conditions, and stuff happening in your life that will impact your career as a freelancer. After nearly 12 years of freelancing, here are my recommendations on how t…

It’s almost time for the most heartfelt accolades of Hollywood’s award season. The Screen Actors Guild Awards, hosted by the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA), is set to take place tonight (Sunday, February 23) at 8 p.m. ET. This tribute to actors gets its emotion from the fact that it is put on by actors. For the nominees, there’s something extra moving about being honored by a group of your peers who have been in the same foxholes as you. So grab the tissues—especially for those “I am an actor” opening monologues—and keep reading so you know how to tune in and go into the ceremony prepared. Who are the SAG Awards…

Your insurance needs change over time. The policies that work for a single, 20-something professional renting an apartment with three roommates may be completely wrong for the same person after marriage, babies, and a cozy mortgage in a good school district. If you’re struggling to determine how your coverage should change over time, the following guidelines can help. Auto insurance: Follow the bell curve Basic car insurance offers liability coverage, in case you cause an accident that injures a third party or damages their property. This is the kind of insurance that nearly every state in the nation requires drivers to carry. While liability coverage protects …

Want more housing market stories from Lance Lambert’s ResiClub in your inbox? Subscribe to the ResiClub newsletter. Economic forecasting has never been an easy task, and it becomes even more challenging when confronted with unprecedented economic events like COVID-19 lockdowns and unparalleled levels of government intervention, followed by a rapid cycle of interest rate hikes. Look no further than recent mortgage rate forecasts. Last year marked the third year in a row that mortgage rates ended the year higher than forecasters expected. Will they finally get it right this year? ResiClub’s latest roundup of quarterly mortgage rate forecasts shows that most …

Police in Munich are investigating a mystery: More than 1,000 stickers were put on gravestones and wooden crosses at three cemeteries in the German city, without any indication of where they came from or why. The 5×3.5-centimeter (1.95×1.2-inch) stickers are printed with a QR code, that, when scanned, shows the name of the person buried in the grave and its location in the cemetery — but nothing else. “We haven’t found any pattern behind this yet. The stickers were put both on decades-old gravestones and very new graves that so far only have a wooden cross,” police spokesperson Christian Drexler told The Associated Press on Wednesday. “People who have witnesse…

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…

Andrew Brodsky is a management professor at McCombs School of Business at the University of Texas at Austin. He is also CEO of Ping Group and has received numerous awards, including being chosen by Poets & Quants as one of the Best 40-Under-40 MBA Professors of 2023. What’s the big idea? Instant messaging, email, video calls, and other digital tools have largely replaced in-person communication for most workplaces. We have all become virtual communicators, and with this comes a new set of rules for interpersonal success. The PING framework distills best practices for optimal outcomes when relying on technology to communicate. Below, Andrew shares five key i…

It might sound a little silly that there’s an entire subgenre of influencers who offer investment advice around Pokémon trading cards. Probably because it is a little silly. The idea of some YouTube Jim Cramer breathlessly warning viewers that “Surging Sparks is setting a fire under collectors and investors” is the stuff Saturday Night Live sketches are made of. Yet, there’s nothing silly about the amount of money changing hands in the Pokémon card space these days. Especially right now. If it weren’t clear from all the viral videos of brawls at various Costcos, the soaring popularity of Pokémon cards has lately reached stratospheric new heights. (Costco ultimatel…

Want more housing market stories from Lance Lambert’s ResiClub in your inbox? Subscribe to the ResiClub newsletter. This week, Zillow economists announced that they expect U.S. home prices, as measured by the Zillow Home Value Index, to rise 1.1% between January 2025 and January 2026. That’s a downward revision from their previous 12-month forecast, which had projected a 2.9% increase in U.S. home prices. “Zillow’s latest forecast anticipates home value growth in 2025 to be weaker than previously expected,” wrote Zillow economists on Wednesday. “New listings were higher than expected out of the gate this year, and inventory expectations that were revised higher ha…

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 …