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Legoland Florida plans to lay off 234 workers, primarily performers, in an effort to be more competitive in central Florida’s thriving theme park market, company officials said. The theme park resort in Winter Haven, Florida, said in a notice to the state of Florida last Friday that the permanent layoffs would start at the end of March and last through the beginning of April. Three-quarters of the workers cited for layoffs were performers, and another fifth also was involved in the entertainment side of the theme park, according to the notice. The theme park resort, whose workers are nonunion, has about 1,500 employees. The theme park resort is owned by Me…

Design is in a time of transition. Whether it’s the influx of generative AI tools, Gen Z shaking off their post-COVID haze to drive new aesthetics, the practice of graphic design adding clarity to tight elections and challenging our meat consumption, or even the sudden viability of technologies ranging from environmentally friendly A/C to exoskeletons that are turning sci-fi dreams into practical realities, design is in a position to face an uncertain world of scarcity with an unprecedented abundance of innovation. Our honorees for the most innovative companies in design for 2025 span the gamut of product, architecture, and UX. But they are all united in pushing the consu…

Even tech giant Apple couldn’t prevent its artificial intelligence from making things up. Last month, the company suspended its AI-powered news alert feature after it falsely claimed a murder suspect had shot himself, one of several fabricated headlines that appeared under trusted news organizations’ logos. The embarrassing pullback came despite Apple’s vast resources and technical expertise. Most users probably weren’t fooled by the more obvious errors, but the incident highlights a growing challenge. Companies are racing to integrate AI into everything from medical advice to legal documents to financial services, often prioritizing speed over safety. Many of these a…

Apple on Thursday disclosed its iPhone sales dipped slightly during the holiday-season quarter, signaling a sluggish start to the trendsetting company’s effort to catch up to the rest of Big Tech in the race to bring artificial intelligence to the masses. The iPhone’s roughly 1% drop in revenue from the previous year’s October-December period wasn’t entirely unexpected, given the first software update enabling the device’s AI features didn’t arrive until just before Halloween, and the technology still isn’t available in many markets outside the U.S. The countries still awaiting Apple’s AI suite include China, a key market where the company continued to lose ground. Alth…

In Shift: Managing Your Emotions—So They Don’t Manage You, Ethan Kross shares a comeback story about tennis champion Novak Djokovic. It was the Wimbledon quarterfinal and Djokovic, who was the No. 1 seed, was down two sets (5-7, 2-6) against 20-year-old Jannik Sinner. After the second set, he requested a break. Then he awed the crowd by triumphantly winning the next three sets (6-3, 6-2, 6-2). What shifted? Djokovic shared that he gave himself a pep talk in the locker room. He looked himself in the eyes and said: “You can do it. Believe in yourself. Now is the time, forget everything that has happened. New match starts now. Let’s go, champ.” Djokovic utiliz…

A funny thing happened after I stopped using Clicks, the keyboard case that effectively turns an iPhone into an oversized Blackberry: The phone by itself suddenly seemed punier. I mean that in terms of both size and mightiness. Because while Clicks’ four rows of physical keys stretch an iPhone to comical length, they also add a bunch of powerful shortcuts for getting things done. My typing hasn’t gotten any faster with Clicks, but things like copying, pasting, and switching between apps has become more efficient. The first Clicks keyboard cases launched a year ago, with tech YouTuber Michael Fisher and Crackberry blog founder Kevin Michaluk co-founding the company…

The Doomsday Clock is perhaps the most sobering graphic symbol ever created: a quarter of a clock with four big dots to mark the countdown to midnight, an euphemism for the end of world You might think that the significance of a clock that counts down the moments until humanity’s annihilation can’t be understated, yet its physical form has always been lightweight compared to its intent. For 78 years, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists have presented a new tic-tock of doom in a press conference, informing the public of the latest doom countdown based on the events of the past year. Each year, they accompanied the news with a physical representation of the clock tha…

If the Kansas City Chiefs win the Super Bowl on Sunday, Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelce, and the rest of their teammates will have bragging rights as the National Football League (NFL)’s first three-peat winners. They’ll also bag a cool $171,000 for the game, each. Before Philadelphia fans accuse the Chiefs of getting special treatment, yes, Eagles players will earn the same amount if they win. And whichever team leaves New Orleans without the Lombardi Trophy will still get a decent consolation prize: A $96,000 paycheck per player. Super Bowl contenders are receiving a better pay raise than most Americans did this year; the game paycheck is about 4.3% higher for th…

Are you ready for it? February 9 is Super Bowl Sunday. The Kansas City Chiefs are looking for the first-ever “three-peat” in Super Bowl history, while the Philadelphia Eagles are looking for redemption after their last unsuccessful attempt for the Lombardi Trophy . . . against the Chiefs. Super Bowl LIX is a rematch of Super Bowl LVII, in 2023, which the Chiefs won 38-35, and was the start of their three-peat quest. (Fun fact: The term three-peat was actually trademarked by NBA legend Pat Riley back in the late 1980s when he was head coach of the L.A. Lakers. This past week, the NFL struck a deal with Riley to use it if the Chiefs win.) Here’s what you need to know ab…

We live in an era of rapid technological change, where the rise of AI presents both opportunities and risks. While AI can drive efficiency and innovation, it also increases the temptation for leaders to prioritize short-term gains—automating decisions for immediate profit, optimizing for productivity at the cost of employee well-being, and sidelining long-term sustainability. Organizations that focus solely on AI-driven efficiency risk creating burnt out workforces, extractive systems, and fragile organizations that cannot withstand economic, social, or environmental disruptions. To build resilient organizations that can weather the future, leaders must embrace regene…

Jane, a vice president of Human Resources at a growing tech company, often found herself overwhelmed by her team’s reliance on her. Because her job required her to manage a flat, decentralized organization with a mix of senior managers, rising leaders, and embedded HR personnel within the product business units, she was frequently the go-to person for problem-solving. One particularly hectic week, she skipped lunch for three days. Despite her exhaustion, she agreed to a last-minute meeting late in the day before heading out to her daughter’s soccer match. When her direct report, Jesse, presented a complex issue, Jane, feeling pressed for time, interrupted: “I do not h…

Israa Nasir is a psychotherapist and founder of WellGuide, a digital community for mental health awareness. Her work centers around helping people redefine their relationship with productivity and achievement to lead more mindful, purpose-driven lives. She has been featured in Vox, NBC, and Teen Vogue and invited to speak at Google, Meta, and Yale. What’s the big idea? Productivity isn’t always a good thing. It can be a way to fill the void of unmet emotional needs, perpetuate a constant state of busyness, and erode well-being. For productivity to be healthy rather than toxic—an activity, not an identity—it must come from a place of self-care, balance, and personal…

Since December, Luigi Mangione, the accused killer of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, has become an internet phenomenon. Both scorned and idolized, his notoriety has given rise to a number of online communities. Some have begun embracing violent rhetoric. A moderator from the long-standing subreddit r/popculture, where discussions about Mangione had been ongoing, was recently suspended for approving a large number of comments (by Reddit standards, that means at least 20) that contained direct calls for violence. “This sub has been placed in restricted mode, and the main mod was suspended for approving comments that mentioned ‘Luigi,” a post on r/popculture c…

Major changes are afoot behind-the-scenes at Walmart. The retailer is cutting hundreds of jobs and shuttering its North Carolina office. Employees from certain locations are also being asked to move to its newly opened headquarters in Bentonville, Arkansas, and other central hubs. News of the shake up was first reported by Fox Business after Walmart Chief People Officer Donna Morris sent a memo detailing the cuts and other changes to employees. “We are making these changes to put key capabilities together, encouraging speed and shared understanding,” the memo, viewed by Fox read. “Through this review process, we have eliminated some roles as we streamline how we work…

During the Great Resignation, employers offered signing bonuses at unprecedented rates and, while the labor market has since cooled, the cash incentive remains popular, especially among in-person roles. According to a recent study by Indeed’s Hiring Lab, the one-time bonus was included in less than 2% of job postings on the platform before the pandemic, and skyrocketed to a peak of 5.6% in September of 2022. Though the labor market is largely back to pre-pandemic norms, signing bonus offers remain nearly twice as common as they were in 2019, and are now attached to 3.7% of U.S. job postings. “In the last couple years, the trend line has actually diverged,” ex…

Hello and welcome to Modern CEO! I’m Stephanie Mehta, CEO and chief content officer of Mansueto Ventures. Each week this newsletter explores inclusive approaches to leadership drawn from conversations with executives and entrepreneurs, and from the pages of Inc. and Fast Company. If you received this newsletter from a friend, you can sign up to get it yourself every Monday morning. When Geoff Martha, chairman and CEO of Medtronic, took over the medical device maker’s Restorative Therapies Group in 2015, the company faced a tough decision. The group at the time was underperforming, and the leadership team had to consider how to prioritize technology investments suc…

Amid a month of skyrocketing stock prices and unprecedented social media buzz, Hims & Hers is expanding its territory into at-home blood testing and diagnostics. Hims has acquired at-home lab testing facility Trybe Labs, the telehealth company said Wednesday. Using at-home blood draws, Hims will now offer over 70 at-home diagnostics tests, ranging from heart health to certain cancer detection tests. All these can be arranged through the app, without a doctor’s visit. “At-home lab testing is one more exciting step towards elevating the personal, comprehensive care customers in this country should expect,” Dr. Patrick Carroll, Hims & Hers chief medical o…

The National Weather Service has issued a winter storm watch from Tuesday morning until Wednesday morning, as back-to-back winter storms are predicted to affect much of the nation this week. A total of three winter storms will bring snow, ice, and rain to more than 40 states, with 29 million Americans facing a winter alert in the Central Plains, the Midwest, the Ohio Valley, and the Mid-Atlantic regions. Winter Storm Harlow is expected to bring ice and snow Tuesday morning into Wednesday to the Ohio Valley, spreading east to the Mid-Atlantic, according to the Weather Channel. This first storm will start in the Central Plains and bring rain and ice to Oklahoma …

In the Northern Hemisphere, February is the middle of winter. According to NASA, this is why Native American tribes named this month’s full moon the Snow Moon. Historically, the shortest month of the year was also the coldest because of the heavy snowfall that occurred. Another name for this lunar display of grandeur is the Hunger Moon. That name also makes historical sense because of how the snowiest month made hunting and gathering more difficult. If you didn’t plan ahead properly, your stomach was bound to rumble. Let’s take a deeper look at the winter of it all, and when to best peep up at the night sky for optimal full moon viewing. When exactly is the mi…

In 2017, Nathan Cozzolino started Rose, a “farm to edibles” brand based in Los Angeles. Cozzolino and his team cultivated organic hemp and marijuana, produced its own low-dose gummies with natural organic ingredients, and sold the product to licensed dispensaries. This structure required overhead that cost upwards of $80,000 a month. Six years in, the brand wasn’t able to sell enough products to cover its expenses despite being sold in more than 100 retailers. That changed in July of 2023 when Rose switched the entirety of its production to hemp. “We did it because it was that or go out of business,” Cozzolino says. He let go of his cannabis licenses, downsized his f…

“We doubled our marketing team, and still fell behind.” That’s what one founder told me in January, frustrated after months of hiring, onboarding, and budgeting…only to lose ground anyway. In 2025, the old formula of “more people equals more results” just isn’t working. Let’s face it, traditional hiring is broken. It’s costly, time-intensive, and built for a world that no longer exists. Training takes months, and even the best employees can’t be experts in everything. And scaling up or down? That’s nearly impossible when your budget is tied to headcount. That said, full-time employees are still the heart of any great company. Their creativity, dedication, and dr…

Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) loans have become increasingly popular in recent years—originations grew tenfold between 2019 and 2021, for instance. Last year, roughly 20% of American consumers used one to make a purchase. Despite their increasing usage, BNPL loans are still not used to calculate credit scores—which may have effects for lenders, and could be costing some consumers with good credit habits some valuable points. FICO—the creator of the FICO Score which is used by 90% of U.S.-based lending institutions to make lending decisions—recently published an analysis in tandem with the BNPL company Affirm to get a sense of what the results would be if those loans were …

In an interview with Joe Rogan last month, Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg made a plea for companies to embrace more “masculine energy.” Zuckerberg went on to say, “A culture that celebrates the aggression a bit more has its own merits.” Never mind that Meta (then Facebook) became one of the world’s more profitable companies when COO Sheryl Sandberg ran its day-to-day operations. Or that Sandberg urged women to “lean in” by actively pursuing leadership roles and embracing opportunities in the workplace, sparking a global community dedicated to helping foster leadership, advancement and inclusion for women in the workplace. “When a very powerful CEO who has platforms …

Literate in tone, far-reaching in scope, and witty to its bones, The New Yorker brought a new – and much-needed – sophistication to American journalism when it launched 100 years ago this month. As I researched the history of U.S. journalism for my book “Covering America,” I became fascinated by the magazine’s origin story and the story of its founder, Harold Ross. In a business full of characters, Ross fit right in. He never graduated from high school. With a gap-toothed smile and bristle-brush hair, he was frequently divorced and plagued by ulcers. Ross devoted his adult life to one cause: The New Yorker magazine. For the literati, by the literati Bor…

It looks like brothers Jake and Logan Paul won’t be squaring off in the boxing ring anytime soon. Instead, they are launching a family reality series, Paul American, starting March 27 on HBO Max. Promotional social media posts on Tuesday teasing an “announcement” tricked fans into believing they could be going head-to-head in the ring on March 27. However, it was all a big ruse to create hype for their first foray into reality TV. “We’re the true American family,” Jake Paul says in the series trailer. What exactly that means, you’ll have to tune in to find out. “Everyone thinks they know Jake and Logan Paul—they’re the original superstars of influencer culture a…