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SEO in 2026 is expanding, not changing. Traditional search still matters, but now SEO also includes AI-driven discovery, social platforms, and chatbots. The principles are the same, like clarity, structure, authority, and relevance, but the platforms are multiplying. We surveyed 59 SEOs to see how they’re handling these changes. Table of contents Download the PDF report now 1. SEO isn’t dying, but evolving 2. Keep the name Search Engine Optimization 3. Good SEO is LLM optimization 4. Rankings still matter, but not like they used to 5. Organic traffic is still king, but for how long? 6. Content saturation is a big threat 7. Most SEOs are ignoring a fast-growing search channel What Yoast’s experts really think Do you want to read the full story? Some have less than a year of experience. Others have been in the field for over a decade. Their answers show an industry figuring things out. A few are ahead of the curve, but most are still catching up. The best SEOs aren’t just reacting to AI. They’re using it to strengthen what already works: technical foundations, high-quality content, and real authority. Others are stuck debating whether SEO should even keep its name. Here’s what stood out, and where Yoast fits into the conversation of what SEO means in 2026. You can find the full results, with more questions and deeper insights from Yoast’s principal SEOs, Carolyn Shelby and Alex Moss, in a downloadable PDF. Sign up below! Download the PDF report now Enter your email address below. We’ll send you a download link to the full Yoast Perspective PDF report. Check your inbox, as it’ll arrive in minutes. Privacy policy 1. SEO isn’t dying, but evolving 51% of respondents consider SEO to be “evolving”. 33% say it’s “thriving”. Only 10% think it’s “declining”. This is an interesting divide, but it’s not random. In the results, those with 10+ years of experience say SEO is thriving, while newcomers say it is not. It might be that experts know the landscape better and see change as a constant. Alex Moss’s take: “SEO has always adapted to changes in the SERP, and now it’s adapting again. The traditional SERP is gone, but SEO isn’t.” Carolyn Shelby’s take: “SEO is evolving, but not because its fundamentals are breaking. The interfaces between users and information are changing. Search is no longer confined to ten blue links, but the need for structured, relevant, trustworthy content hasn’t diminished.” The Yoast Perspective: We think SEO isn’t going anywhere, but there are changes happening. Traditional search from Google and Bing still drives traffic, but AI-driven discovery from LLM-powered assistants shapes perception and discovery. Therefore, the best SEOs don’t choose sides in this fight; they are mastering both directions. 2. Keep the name Search Engine Optimization 39% say SEO should be relabeled “Search Everywhere Optimization”. Only 32% want to keep “Search Engine Optimization”. Big support for relabeling SEO, and even among veterans, 41% prefer Search Everywhere Optimization. Of course, this doesn’t mean that we should do this. Alex Moss’s take: “The term ‘SEO’ will stay. The role will widen to include AI and other disciplines, but the name doesn’t need to change.” Carolyn Shelby’s take: “The term ‘SEO’ still holds shared meaning, credibility, and market recognition. There’s no strong evidence that rebranding the discipline itself is necessary or beneficial. Responses favoring ‘Search Everywhere Optimization’ reflect where SEO outcomes now surface, not a fundamentally different practice.” The Yoast Perspective: We at Yoast don’t think the term SEO is broken. Yes, there is a lot of change happening, especially in search, with AI overviews, chatbots, and social media platforms, but what about the core SEO work? You still have to focus on technical foundations, content quality, brand building, and authority. ‘Search Everywhere Optimization’ might describe where SEO happens, but it doesn’t change what SEO is. The name ‘SEO’ still works, but we just need to explain how it applies to AI and social platforms. 3. Good SEO is LLM optimization 64% agree LLM optimization is essentially the same as traditional SEO. 59% aren’t even actively optimizing for LLMs. You might call this laziness, but you could also call it efficiency. It oftentimes comes down to the same thing. There’s also the 9% who strongly disagree with this statement. These respondents say LLMs prioritize synthesis over rankings, so focusing on structured data and brand mentions makes more sense for them. Of course, they are not wrong, but they don’t contradict what others have said. LLMs don’t require new tactics; they just reward the same SEO principles more strictly. Alex Moss’s take: “If you’re undertaking good SEO, you’re already optimizing well for LLMs. The tactics don’t change—just the audience.” Carolyn Shelby’s take: “The same practices that make content discoverable and trustworthy for search engines also make it usable for LLMs. The confusion arises when people treat LLMs as a completely separate system. In reality, LLM visibility rewards clarity, relevance, and authority—all long-standing SEO principles.” LLM optimization isn’t a separate discipline because it’s SEO for AI. The same principles apply: clarity, structure, and authority. The difference? AI systems are less forgiving of mediocre content, so the bar for quality is higher. 4. Rankings still matter, but not like they used to 52% say rankings are “equally important” as before. 30% say they’re “less important”. This is a sensible shift. Google’s AI overviews and other zero-click results mean visibility does not equal traffic. For AI systems, rankings are still an authority signal. Alex Moss’s take: “Traditional rankings are still important because agents still search the web to ingest information. If you aren’t visible there, it’s less likely an agent will identify and select you into their responses.” Carolyn Shelby’s take: “Rankings still matter, but they are no longer the end goal. They are a proxy for visibility, not a guarantee of impact.” The Yoast Perspective: We need to stop obsessing over ranking number one, so start tracking visibility and presence. Check whether you are cited in AI-driven answers, and try to be mentioned in industry discussions. AI visibility and citations are the new rankings. 5. Organic traffic is still king, but for how long? 55% say “organic traffic” is their top metric. Yet 49% cite “reducing organic clicks” as their biggest challenge. We see this as the great paradox of 2026. Traffic is down, but the value of that traffic could be up. You might get less traffic, but the clicks that do happen have a better intent. Carolyn Shelby’s take: “As AI reduces the need for some visits, success looks like being represented correctly rather than merely visited. Visibility in AI overviews doesn’t always drive clicks, but it builds legitimacy. Being included signals that you’re a credible source, even when users don’t click.” Our advice: Work on AI visibility, as this is the new SEO metric. Just as rankings show your visibility in traditional search, citations in AI overviews show your authority in AI-driven discovery. Track it alongside rankings and traffic Keep an eye on branded search volume to learn whether people are looking for you by name Monitor citations to see if others are referencing your content online 6. Content saturation is a big threat 39% say “competing with AI-generated content” is their top challenge. Only 4% cite a “talent gap.” We know AI can write bad content. But it’s a bigger challenge when AI writes good enough content at scale. This will flood the web with noise, making it hard to penetrate. Alex Moss’s take: “AI-generated content is artificial. Humans connect with stories, not regurgitated lists.” Carolyn Shelby’s take: “AI doesn’t change what good content is, but just raises the bar. Mediocrity doesn’t just rank lower; it disappears.” Our advice: Focus on building your EEAT, because AI can’t fake real-world expertise and authority Prioritize quality over quantity, as a single great piece of content can beat ten average ones Use AI, but be careful and always use it as a tool, not as a replacement 7. Most SEOs are ignoring a fast-growing search channel Traditional search (Google/Bing) is still #1. But TikTok search ranks #5, lower than Amazon. This might be something of a blind spot for many. Younger generations use TikTok and other video platforms for entertainment, recommendations, tutorials, and even B2B advice. Alex Moss’s take: “Social platforms influence how LLMs perceive freshness and authority. Ignoring them means missing out on signals that AI systems value.” Carolyn Shelby’s take: “You don’t need to rank on TikTok, but you do need to be discoverable there. LLMs scrape social platforms for real-world signals.” The Yoast Perspective: SEO now includes social platforms like TikTok. You don’t need to rank there, but you do need to be discoverable, because LLMs scrape these platforms for fresh, authoritative content. A great video channel can boost your authority in AI responses. Our advice: Repurpose content for video platforms like TikTok and YouTube Check brand mentions in these platforms Improve your video SEO in general What Yoast’s experts really think The data shows trends, but the real wisdom comes from Yoast’s SEO leaders, Carolyn Shelby and Alex Moss. Here is a small peek at the insights they share about the various debates: On “Search Everywhere Optimization”: Alex: “The term ‘SEO’ will stay. The role will widen, but the name doesn’t need to change.” Carolyn: “Rebranding risks fragmenting understanding. ‘SEO’ is already well-established outside the industry.” On the future of SEO metrics: Alex: “As we move from being seen to being selected, visits don’t hold the same value they used to. The business goal should be the most important metric.” Carolyn: “Visibility in AI overviews doesn’t always drive clicks, but it builds legitimacy. Being included signals that you’re a credible source.” On rankings vs. influence: Alex: “Rankings still matter because agents search the web to ingest information.” Carolyn: “Rankings are a proxy for visibility, not a guarantee of impact. Focus on presence.” On the role of SEOs in 2026: Alex: “100% all three: marketers, brand builders, and SEO specialists. Brand and marketing have become intertwined with SEO as our role expands.” Carolyn: “A blended mindset is essential. SEO can’t operate in isolation from brand, product, or communications.” Do you want to read the full story? These insights are just a small taster for you. In the full Yoast SEO report, you’ll find much more: Includes the full answers to all 25 questions In-depth commentary from Yoast’s SEO experts, Carolyn Shelby and Alex Moss Learn which metrics really matter in 2026 Why backlinks are losing ground to citations Sign up and download it right away! The post The Yoast Perspective 2026: 7 things we learned from the SEO industry appeared first on Yoast. View the full article

Sacked head of Foreign Office says there was ‘dismissive attitude’ to security vetting of former ambassadorView the full article

First Mortgage Co., a long-defunct lender led by convicted executive Ron McCord, blamed the advisory firm for his failure to accept a $20 million offer. View the full article

The annual Lyrid meteor shower is back, reaching its peak on Tuesday evening and at predawn on Wednesday. On average, 10 to 20 meteors are produced per hour during a Lyrid shower. But, in some rare occasions “outbursts” can occur, with up to 100 meteors produced in an hour. According to the American Meteor Society, Lyrids will be mostly visible in the Northern hemisphere at dawn, although limited availability will also be available to those in the Southern Hemisphere. The Lyrid shower is among the oldest recorded meteor showers, dating back as far as 2,700 years. The meteor shower is visible when Earth travels through the path of Comet Thatcher, rendering a trail of the comet’s remnants visible to skywatchers. The comet’s crumbs create a bright streak in the sky as they burn up on Earth’s atmosphere, becoming what most refer to as a shooting star. “When comets come around the sun, the dust they emit gradually spreads into a dusty trail around their orbits,” the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) says. “Every year the Earth passes through these debris trails, which allows the bits to collide with our atmosphere where they disintegrate to create fiery and colorful streaks in the sky. How to watch the Lyrid meteor shower Meteors will appear to be coming from Vega, one of the brightest starts in the Lyra constellation. According to experts, its best to look slightly away from the radiant point to spot some of the meteors with the longest tails. In order to identify the radiant point, stargazing apps can guide users towards Vega. According to NASA, stargazers should look towards the east starting April 21 at 10 pm onwards. While the shower runs through April 16 to 25, its peak visibility will arrive midweek, and does not require equipment to spot. In order to gain visibility, experts suggest moving away from areas with high brightness like city lights or even the moon. This year, the moon is not expected to interfere with visibility. Experts recommend spending at least an hour meteor watching, as eyes can take up to 20 minutes to fully adjust to the darkness—and longer viewing windows help account for natural lulls in activity. Stargazers should also dress warmly and bring hot drinks, as late-night temperatures can dip significantly depending on location. View the full article

Grocery stores waste around four million tons of food in the U.S. each year—mostly fresh food, since it’s hard for store managers to know exactly how many cartons of strawberries or pounds of beef to keep in stock to meet demand. Until fairly recently, most of that planning happened manually. But AI tools from the startup Afresh are helping stores cut waste by as much as 25%. The company announced $34 million in new funding today to expand, co-led by Just Climate and High Sage Ventures. A decade ago, when Afresh cofounders Matt Schwartz and Nathan Fenner were MBA students at Stanford and looked at the challenge of food waste, they started visiting grocery stores and saw produce managers using printed spreadsheets to estimate inventory and write orders. While some stores used software to track and order packaged food, fresh food still relied on basic methods and educated guesses. “It was ultimately a pen and paper process,” Schwartz says. Schwartz and Fenner started building a tool that could more accurately estimate how much food was in the store—a complicated challenge. Produce that’s sold by weight might literally be evaporating as it loses water. Customers in the self-checkout aisle might be paying for a non-organic apple when they’re actually buying organic. Food that goes bad on the shelf, from raspberries to salmon fillets, often isn’t accurately counted when it’s thrown away. The software uses data from each grocer—in some cases, hundreds of billions of transactions—and looks at pricing, promotions, where the food shipped from, and other factors to understand the perishability of each product. Deep learning models also forecast demand based on another range of factors, from the timing of food stamps to the weather. Then an optimization algorithm suggests how much of each product to order. Over time, the models continue to learn and improve. The company often begins with a test in 10 to 20 stores in a chain, and then compares that performance to a control group of stores during the same time period. “We typically see 20% to 25% reduction in shrink when we go live with our system,” says Schwartz. It’s now in use more than 12,500 grocery store departments nationally, including Safeway and Albertsons. Stores can use the data in other ways—in some stores, for example, Afresh has flagged that produce displays are too large so stores can resize them or use “dummy” displays to make piles look bigger with less actual fruit. Grocers can also use fruit and vegetables that are about to go bad in prepared products, such as repurposing avocados in guacamole. (Afresh also recently rolled out another tool to help grocers accurately forecast demand for prepared food in store delis.) By better predicting how much can sell in the store, it helps reduce waste in other parts of the supply chain. “When you clean up store ordering, it makes it easier for distribution centers to buy the right amount,” Schwartz says. “Then, ideally, if DCs are buying the right amount, that gives a cleaner demand signal to growers, who can better react and fulfill demand to the grocers.” As stores have the right amount of food at the right time, they can also get customers fresher food that lasts longer in the fridge. There’s a clear environmental win to reducing the waste; food waste from retail stores was responsible for around 16 million tons of CO2-equivalent emissions in 2024. But there’s also an obvious financial incentive for stores, who lost $26.9 billion in sales the same year. “If you can avoid a dollar of food waste, you’re creating a dollar profit for a grocer,” Schwartz says. “And for a 1-3% net margin business, that’s a profound impact on their bottom line.” View the full article

The last time I set foot in this historic Chicago mansion built in the heart of Michigan Avenue, I’d been served one less-than-generous slice of lukewarm prime rib. This is back when it was a Lawry’s steakhouse. I remember white tablecloths, silver serving trays, one decent staircase, and just the stodgiest of old rooms that felt less like I was in the Gilded Age than at a funeral parlor. Now, when I step inside the lobby, a large wooden door slides open in front of me. I enter a room with a ringing telephone. And when I pick it up, my journey begins . . . With the help of the architecture firm Rockwell Group and the design firm Pentagram, the McCormick mansion has been transformed into The Hand & The Eye, the largest magic venue in the world at 35,000 square feet. The overall vision—and $50 million investment behind it—comes from Glen Tullman, who is both a Chicago-based venture capitalist and a lifelong magic enthusiast. His bet is that locals and tourists will spend $225 for a three-hour, no-cameras-allowed experience (with $75 in credits for food and drink) as they bounce from intimate rooms to larger theaters—seeing more magic at every turn in a setting that’s as much of a spectacle as the illusions themselves. “We built this to be a 100-year venture from every little aspect of what we’ve done,” says Tullman, as he excitedly gives me a tour through the space. “We built it to be for the performers and for the guests. We didn’t build it to say, ‘Let’s maximize profits.’ [Though] sometimes when you do that, you actually maximize profits, because people say, ‘This is so special.’” What is The Hand & The Eye? The Hand & The Eye is a theater, club, school, and networking spot for the magic-inclined. But ultimately, it’s an ode to mid-century Chicago-style magic: point-blank, reality-shattering card tricks that filled the city’s taverns as magicians walked from table to table, casually blowing people’s minds with nothing more than 52 small pieces of waxed paper. The mansion is designed to transport you out of any particular place and time, with a mishmash of motifs pulled from the 1870s to 1930s, the golden age of magic. Rich wallpapers, marble bars, careful carpentry, custom brass plaques, and copious amounts of fringe and velvet serve as a baseline across a space where no two rooms are alike. And since the mansion has few windows, it feels like a permanent 10:30 p.m. inside. I can see how the environment could make time disappear. The careful ode to magic never feels like kitsch, largely due to the fact that, ironically, most of what you’re looking at is real. This isn’t an escape room or some Disneyland ride. A mix of antique and custom-built furniture fills the space, and a museum’s worth of art and ephemera are staged everywhere you look—ranging from one of Harry Houdini’s milk cans (he’d lock himself inside and escape from the roughly 36-by-26-inch steel churn) to Alexander Herrmann’s “Chinese rings” and decapitation cloth. Many are sourced right from Tullman’s own collection. Both the space and service are architected to create an unpredictable night. When you arrive, you’re given a schedule for a three-hour experience (and one you don’t need to follow to the minute—color-coded pins ensure that staff know to signal you when it’s time to move on, should you lose track of time). You may be ushered from communal bars and two large dining rooms into cozy spaces that squeeze in maybe a dozen people for close-up work, and then into one of four auditoriums for larger stage shows. I was particularly taken by a safe room lined with shining safety deposit boxes that belong to VIP members, who can bring their keys to unlock the occasional surprise. A séance room features one large table . . . but I’m told that when the lights go low, you never know what spirits might show up. The mansion contains too many rooms to fully enjoy in one night. So the club saves your journey, and it will never schedule you the same path through the space twice. I hear there are secret passages and rooms—none of which are revealed to me during my visit. In fact, even as a member of the media, I’m not allowed to photograph my tour. My phone’s camera, like everyone else’s who visits, is covered with a sticker upon arrival. “Today you go to a concert, and if you’re not in the front row, you mostly see it through the back of someone’s phone,” Tullman says. “Here, you’re in the moment and people walk out, and they’re, like, ‘That’s just the best evening I’ve had.’ Some of them don’t even think about why it was so good. And it’s because you were totally focused on enjoying it with people next to you.” Building the brand So much of the vibe—from the name and the logo to the signage and the merch—was developed alongside a 12-person team from Pentagram with support from Paper Tiger. The club was originally named “Metamorphosis,” after one of Houdini’s most famous tricks. Finding that a little too on-the-nose, the team went through a vast branding process to rename it. What they landed on—The Hand & The Eye—is stately, mysterious, and descriptive. “We wanted a name that wasn’t just a pun or had the word ‘magic’ in it,” Pentagram partner Emily Oberman says. “The hand is about how all the magicians perform their magic, and then the eye is how the audience experiences it.” Visually, the team wanted to avoid magical tropes—no rabbits or top hats, no wands, no lightning scars. For the logo, Pentagram went literal, drawing a slightly curled hand with a floating eyeball between the thumb and index finger. When the team first showed Tullman the idea for the logo over a Zoom call, he surprised the team by making a ball float between his fingers. Oberman calls the project “a love letter to Chicago.” It incorporates the city’s stars and brass signage found around town. The color system—a rich, rotating mix of seasonal colors—pulls in a soft blue that locals might not even realize is straight from the Chicago flag. Meanwhile, the filigree and patterns used across Pentagram’s brand design—and gosh, there is so much intricate work—were pulled from the facade of the mansion itself. I can’t help but feel that the brand is so rich and retro because it’s not overly scripted or matchy-matchy. “It’s kind of like a mix of styles; all the filigree is a little bit different, too, and unique to the piece that it’s on,” notes Mira Khandpur, associate partner at Pentagram and lead designer on the project. You’ll find all of that branding across the typical touchpoints you’d expect, but also across magic tricks and card decks the team designed to be sold at the venue’s store (which, yes, is staffed by a magician who will gladly teach you a thing or two). I imagine it will be impossible to visit without at least buying a deck of cards to bring home. For Chicago, the investment is a boon to revitalizing its Mag Mile, which has faced challenges with vacancy since COVID—and Tullman claims that since he bought the building, it’s attracted other business owners to the block. But for the wider world of magic, it’s something more: It’s a space where mind-bending tricks—honed over endless hours in solitary confinement—can be put on a pedestal and shared with the world. View the full article

Google announced new tools that further transforms Search to a tasked-based platform. The post Google Adds New Tasked-Based Search Features appeared first on Search Engine Journal. View the full article

Nearly two out of three American adults have used an AI-powered search tool in the past six months. But here’s the stat that should keep every product builder up at night: only 15% say they trust the results “a lot.” That gap between adoption and trust is the defining challenge for the next era of AI search. Consumers are showing up, but they are questioning the results. As product builders, we have to ask ourselves an uncomfortable question: Are we building experiences that earn and deserve consumer trust? The Walled Garden Problem Yelp partnered with Morning Consult to survey more than 2,200 U.S. adults on how they use and perceive AI-powered search. The findings point to a single, recurring problem: consumers feel trapped. More than half of respondents (51%) say AI results feel like a “walled garden” that makes it hard to verify what they’re reading. Sixty-three percent say they double-check AI search results against other trusted sources like news websites and review platforms. And 57% say they’re less likely to use AI-powered search specifically because it lacks trusted sources. The early days of AI search were defined by hallucination, with models confidently fabricating answers. Most leading platforms have largely solved that technical problem. But what lingers is a deeper skepticism: not just “Is this answer correct?” “How would I even know?” When platforms strip away sources, citations, and links to the real-world content that informed their answers, they’re building walls, not bridges. Consumers are telling us, loudly, that they want the links, the sources, the ability to verify for themselves. What It Takes to Open the Gates and Build Trust The research paints a remarkably consistent picture of what it would take to close the trust gap. Nearly three out of four respondents (72%) say AI platforms should always show where their information comes from. Two-thirds (66%) want more proof of trusted sources, like links to review platforms and news sites, alongside AI-generated answers, while more than half (52%) say visual evidence, like photos of a dish or before-and-after shots of a service, would increase their trust. Consumers aren’t anti-AI. They’re anti-black boxes. They want AI to do the heavy lifting of parsing massive amounts of information and then show the receipts. The average person isn’t using AI to vibe code or other technical use cases, they are using it for daily local searches. More than half of respondents (57%) use AI tools to find local businesses at least monthly. They want advice on where to take their family for a birthday dinner or choosing who to let into their home to fix a burst pipe, and a self-contained AI summary without reliable proof isn’t going to cut it. And when consumers turn to AI to help with these decisions, the expectations are unambiguous: 76% say seeing where the information comes from is important, 73% say ratings and reviews from real customers matter, and 76% say seeing multiple reliable sources is important. Local businesses are also inherently dynamic. Chefs leave, menus change, hours shift. Without authentic, regularly updated human content from trusted sources, AI risks serving up stale or unreliable information. If anyone assumed the digital natives of Gen Z would be more trusting, the data says otherwise. Gen Z has the highest adoption rate, with 84% having used an AI search platform in the past six months, but they’re also the most demanding. Seventy-two percent say AI platforms should provide more proof of trusted sources, compared to 63% of Millennials and 59% of Gen X. This is a generation saturated with AI slop, and they’ve developed sharper instincts for distinguishing authentic from synthetic. Platforms that keep them inside a walled garden risk losing the most AI-fluent generation first. The Counterargument, and Why It Falls Short Some will argue that adding citations, links, and source indicators creates friction, and that the entire promise of AI search is a seamless, self-contained answer. Why send users away from your platform? But this framing confuses walls with value. Consumers aren’t rejecting AI-generated summaries. They’re rejecting answers they can’t verify. The majority (69%) of consumers want the option to leave AI platforms and visit trusted sites to do their own research. And when we tested this in practice, showing consumers two versions of an AI search result, one with transparent sourcing and one without, 80% preferred the version that included authentic human content, trusted sources, and actionable links. Tearing down the walls doesn’t drive users away. It drives confidence. The AI industry is at a crossroads. The platforms that win won’t be the ones generating the most convincing synthetic answers. They’ll be the ones that seamlessly connect users to authentic, real-world experiences, using AI as a bridge to trusted human content. As the AI ecosystem matures, the platforms that strike the right balance between AI-generated summaries and transparent, authentic human-generated content won’t just close the trust gap. They’ll set the standard for what consumers expect. And, the good news is that more generous, transparent linking is a rising tide that lifts all boats: consumers get the ability to do their own research and decide with confidence, content creators and publishers receive the traffic that sustains a healthy content ecosystem, and AI platforms themselves benefit from stronger relationships with the quality sources that make their answers worth trusting in the first place. Transparency isn’t a trade-off. In the attention economy, it’s the moat. View the full article

I have been thinking about a question that nobody in enterprise software seems to want to sit with: why can the most advanced AI models in the world solve Olympiad-level mathematics but fail to reliably extract a total from an invoice? This is not an academic exercise for me. I have been building automation software for twenty years. My company has processed billions of documents for some of the largest enterprises in the world. Yes, I have a stake in this answer. But twenty years of watching models work on real enterprise data, not benchmarks, gives you a different view than turning a model in a lab. And when those real-world models cannot get the simple stuff right, I notice. The conventional answer to my question goes something like this: math is a reasoning problem and AI is good at reasoning now. Invoices are a perception problem—messy layouts, bad scans—and we just need better models. Give it another generation. I think this is wrong. The math Let me start with math, because I think people misunderstand what is actually happening when an LLM solves an olympiad problem. It looks like reasoning. But competitive mathematics has maybe a few hundred proof techniques that appear over and over. A “novel” problem is really a novel combination of familiar building blocks. The model has trained on tens of thousands of proofs. It has learned to remix those blocks very well. Call it composable pattern matching. Chess is the opposite. Every serious middlegame position is genuinely new in the way that matters. You can know every pattern, every tactical idea, and still be completely wrong about whether a particular sacrifice works. The only way to know is to calculate the concrete lines. Chess engines solved this—by building a system around the neural network, not by making the neural network bigger. That distinction matters more than people realize. Where the risk lives Most clerical work looks like the math problem, not the chess problem. Claims processing, compliance checks, loan document review. You are applying known rules to new instances. An LLM can handle 85 to 95% of the volume—and that is a real win. But the remaining 5 to 15% is where the risk lives. These are the cases where the pattern does not match. And the dangerous thing is that the model does not know it is stuck. It gives you a confident answer anyway. We have spent years testing AI models on document extraction. Not edge cases—invoices. The simplest version of the task: read a value, put it in the right field. No reasoning. No judgment. Just read the number. Even the best models cannot do it at 100% accuracy. A less experienced human will. I remember when we first saw this clearly. I assumed it was our pipeline. It was not. We tested multiple models. Same result. And it stuck with me, because you do not need to reach the hard part of the process, the judgment calls, the exceptions, to find the failure. The failure is in the reading. The human knows what an invoice “is.” They know a total should be bigger than the line items. They know that “Montant TTC” means the same thing as “Total incl. VAT.” The model is matching patterns from training data. When the layout shifts, the match breaks. Not because the task is hard. Because the model was never actually reading the invoice. A more powerful model that still does not understand what an invoice is becomes a more confident model, not a more reliable one. And here is what people miss: every generation of models makes the problem look more solved, which means you trust it more, which means you route more volume through it, which means the damage from the remaining failures gets bigger, not smaller. A wrong number on an invoice that feeds into a payment that feeds into a regulatory filing is a different kind of 2% error than a wrong number on a dashboard. A specific argument I am not making an argument against AI. I am making an argument against a specific idea: that a powerful enough model, deployed on its own, can be trusted with enterprise operations. The model is not the thing that matters. The system around it is—the part that knows when the model cannot be trusted. Validation rules. Cross-field checks. Confidence scoring. Escalation to a human when something does not look right. When you are pushing 90% of your volume through a system that can fail without telling you it failed, governance is not a nice-to-have. It is the product. Every enterprise AI vendor right now is selling you the composable pattern matching. That part is real. But the hard problem is knowing when pattern matching is not enough—knowing when you have hit a chess position, not a math problem, and you need to stop interpolating and start checking. The companies that figure that out will build something that lasts. The ones that pretend the problem does not exist will spend the next ten years explaining to customers why the AI got the invoice wrong. View the full article

A selection of the past week's most important Wi-Fi news - enjoy. The post Roundup: NETGEAR & Adtran exempted from FCC’s ban, Spectrum & Xfinity Mobile lead on speed, Hollywood Bowl upgrades to Wi-Fi 7 appeared first on Wi-Fi NOW Global. View the full article

Tim Cook’s replacement must lead iPhone-maker through industry shiftView the full article

When ChatGPT launched in November 2022, the reaction was immediate and visceral: this works. For the first time, millions of people experienced AI not as a distant promise, but as something useful, intuitive, and even with its flaws, astonishingly capable. That instinct was correct. The conclusion that followed was not. Because what works brilliantly for an individual at a keyboard has proven surprisingly ineffective inside an organization. Two years later, after billions in investment, countless pilots, and an endless stream of “copilots,” a different reality is emerging: generative AI is exceptional at producing language. But companies do not run on language: they run on memory, context, feedback, and constraints. That’s the gap. And that’s why so many enterprise AI initiatives are quietly failing. High adoption, low impact… and a growing sense of déjà vu This is not a story about a technology that failed to gain traction. It’s the opposite. A widely cited MIT-backed analysis found that around 95% of enterprise generative AI pilots fail to deliver meaningful results, with only about 5% making it to sustained production. Other coverage of the same findings points to the same pattern: massive experimentation, minimal transformation. And the explanation is telling: the problem isn’t enthusiasm, or even capability: it’s that the tools don’t translate into real, operational change. This is not an adoption problem. It’s an architecture problem. The uncomfortable paradox: everyone uses AI, but nothing changes Inside most companies today, two realities coexist: on one side, employees use tools like ChatGPT constantly. They draft, summarize, ideate, and accelerate their work in ways that feel natural and effective. On the other, official enterprise AI initiatives struggle to scale beyond carefully controlled pilots. The same MIT-related analysis describes a widening “learning gap”: individuals quickly find value, but organizations fail to integrate that value into workflows that matter. The result is something close to “shadow AI”: people use what works, while companies invest in what doesn’t. That’s not resistance to change. That’s a signal. The core mistake: treating a language model like an operating system Most explanations for this failure focus on execution: bad data, unclear use cases, lack of training. All true. All secondary. The real issue is simpler and far more fundamental: large language models are designed to predict text. That’s it. Everything else, from reasoning, to summarization, conversation, etc. is an emergent property of that capability. But companies do not operate as sequences of text. They operate as evolving systems with state, memory, dependencies, incentives, and constraints. This is the mismatch. As I’ve argued before, this is AI’s core architectural flaw: LLMs do not “see” the world. They do not maintain persistent state. They do not learn from real-world feedback unless explicitly engineered to do so. They generate convincing language about reality. They do not operate within it. You can’t run a company on predictions of words This leads to a pattern that should feel familiar. Ask an LLM to: “Increase my sales” “Design a go-to-market strategy” “Improve team performance” And you will get an answer. Often a very good one. A structured, articulate and persuasive answer. And almost entirely disconnected from the actual system it is supposed to influence. Because an LLM cannot track a pipeline, manage incentives, integrate CRM data, or adapt based on outcomes. It can describe a strategy. But it cannot execute one. The MIT findings reinforce this point: generative AI tools are effective for flexible, individual tasks, but break down in enterprise contexts where adaptation, learning, and integration are required. In other words: an LLM can write the memo. But it cannot run the company. Throwing more compute at the problem won’t fix it The industry’s response so far has been predictable: build bigger models, deploy more infrastructure, scale everything. But scale does not fix a design flaw. If a system lacks grounding in reality, more parameters will not give it grounding. If it lacks memory, more tokens will not give it memory. If it lacks feedback loops, more data centers will not create them. Scale amplifies what exists. It does not create what’s missing. And what’s missing here is not more language. It’s more world. The next layer won’t be about better answers The next phase of enterprise AI will not be defined by better chat interfaces or more powerful LLMs. It will be defined by something else entirely: systems that can maintain state, integrate into workflows, learn from outcomes, and operate under constraints. Systems that don’t just generate text, but act within real environments. This is why the future of AI in companies will not be built on LLMs alone, but on architectures that embed them within richer models of reality. Or, as I’ve argued in previous work, why world models are likely to become a foundational capability rather than a niche concept. Saying what many already know… but rarely say If this feels obvious, it’s because many people inside organizations already see it: they’ve run the pilots. They’ve seen the demos. They’ve experienced the gap. But saying it out loud is still uncomfortable. There is too much momentum, too much investment, and too much narrative built around the idea that scaling LLMs will eventually solve everything. It won’t. The emperor is not just underdressed. He is wearing the wrong clothes entirely. The real opportunity This is not the end of enterprise AI: it is the end of a misconception. Language models are not enterprise architecture: they are an interface layer. A powerful one, but insufficient on its own. The companies that understand this first will not just deploy AI better: they will build something fundamentally different. And when that happens, it will feel, once again, like magic. But this time, it won’t be an illusion. View the full article

Evidence from Sir Olly Robbins comes after PM blamed civil servant for keeping him in the dark over vetting failure View the full article

Figures come as energy shock sparked by conflict poses new challenge for Bank of EnglandView the full article

If you’re looking to learn bookkeeping, it’s vital to start with the fundamentals like balance sheets and income statements. Comprehending these concepts is critical for managing your finances effectively. Next, you’ll need to decide on a bookkeeping method that fits your specific needs. As you progress, organizing your financial documents and practicing with real transactions will improve your skills. There are additionally numerous resources available to support your learning process, so let’s explore them further to guarantee you have all the tools you need. Key Takeaways Grasp fundamental concepts like balance sheets and income statements through courses in accounting or bookkeeping. Choose the appropriate bookkeeping method, such as single-entry or double-entry, based on your business needs. Organize financial documents digitally, categorizing receipts and invoices for easy access and clarity. Practice real transactions using software like QuickBooks to enhance your practical bookkeeping skills. Utilize online resources, courses, and webinars to stay updated on bookkeeping practices and enhance your knowledge. Understand the Basics of Bookkeeping Grasping the basics of bookkeeping is fundamental for anyone looking to manage their finances effectively. To start, you need to comprehend key concepts like balance sheets, income statements, and cash flow statements. These terms are crucial for interpreting financial data and making informed decisions. You might consider enrolling in an accounting bookkeeping course or taking an introduction to accounting class to build your foundation. In addition, bookkeeping programs online offer flexible options to learn bookkeeping at your own pace. Familiarizing yourself with the chart of accounts, which categorizes transactions into assets, liabilities, equity, revenue, and expenses, is important. Knowing the difference between single-entry and double-entry methods will also improve your accuracy. Regularly reviewing financial records helps identify trends and prepare for tax obligations, so consider tax preparation courses or tax classes online to further your knowledge. Engaging in tax accounting courses online can solidify your grasp and readiness for financial responsibilities. Choose the Right Bookkeeping Method Choosing the right bookkeeping method is essential for effectively managing your business’s finances, especially since each approach offers distinct advantages depending on your specific needs. You can select from single-entry, double-entry, cash-based, or accrual-based methods. Method Best For Key Benefit Single-Entry Small businesses Easy tracking of income/expenses Double-Entry Growing businesses thorough financial view Cash-Based Service industries Real-time cash flow tracking Evaluate your business needs and resources when deciding on these methods. For example, if you’re looking to take a bookkeeping class online, consider the best bookkeeping courses or a certified bookkeeper course. Furthermore, if tax preparation is part of your focus, explore online tax preparation courses or tax accounting classes online to deepen your insight. Organize Your Financial Documents After selecting the right bookkeeping method, the next step involves organizing your financial documents. Start by collecting all your receipts, invoices, and bank statements to create a thorough record of your transactions. Use digital tools to categorize and label these documents, ensuring they’re organized by type, date, or project for easy retrieval. Implement a consistent naming convention for your digital files to maintain clarity and prevent confusion when searching for specific documents. It’s likewise crucial to regularly back up your organized financial documents on secure cloud storage to safeguard against data loss. In addition, create a dedicated physical or digital folder for tax-related documents to streamline preparation during tax season. This organization will make your life easier, especially if you decide to pursue a quickbooks certification near me or take online tax courses for beginners. Knowing how to get certified in bookkeeping can as well be beneficial when organizing your finances effectively. Practice Regularly With Real Transactions Regularly practicing with real transactions is essential for solidifying your bookkeeping skills and comprehension of core concepts like debits and credits. Engaging with actual financial data allows you to apply what you’ve learned and prepare for real-world situations. Here are some effective ways to practice: Use the QuickBooks Learning Center to record income and expenses, enhancing your accuracy. Participate in hands-on tax preparation training to create invoices and categorize expenses. Take tax prep classes online that offer practical simulations, including bank reconciliations with real statements. Enroll in a tax accounting course or income tax prep course that emphasizes cash flow management. Utilize Resources and Tools for Continuous Learning Utilizing resources and tools for continuous learning is crucial in developing and refining your bookkeeping skills. Start by enrolling in online tax filing courses or tax prep courses to build foundational bookkeeping knowledge at your own pace. Websites like Coursera and Udemy offer valuable tax preparation classes online that can improve your comprehension of taxation courses and income tax courses. Engaging with reliable blogs guarantees you stay updated on bookkeeping practices and industry trends. Furthermore, participating in webinars and workshops provides hands-on learning experiences, allowing you to ask questions directly to professionals. Practicing with user-friendly bookkeeping software like Wave or QuickBooks helps you gain familiarity with vital functions. Regularly assess your progress to confirm you’re effectively handling bookkeeping tasks. As your skills grow, consider pursuing tax prep certification online or moving to more advanced tools for continuous improvement. Frequently Asked Questions What Are Common Mistakes to Avoid When Starting Bookkeeping? When starting bookkeeping, avoid common mistakes that can hinder your progress. Make certain you don’t neglect to keep personal and business finances separate, as this can lead to confusion. Furthermore, don’t overlook the importance of accurate record-keeping; errors can cause significant issues down the line. In addition, be cautious about skipping reconciliations, as they help guarantee your records match bank statements. Finally, always stay updated on tax regulations to prevent costly penalties. How Can I Enhance My Bookkeeping Accuracy and Efficiency? To improve your bookkeeping accuracy and efficiency, start by organizing your financial documents systematically. Use accounting software to automate calculations and reduce errors. Regularly reconcile your accounts to catch discrepancies early. Establish a routine for data entry, ensuring it’s timely and consistent. Create checklists for common tasks to streamline your process. Finally, invest time in ongoing education, as staying updated on best practices will greatly enhance your skills and comprehension of bookkeeping. What Software Is Best for Beginners in Bookkeeping? For beginners in bookkeeping, user-friendly software options include QuickBooks, FreshBooks, and Wave. QuickBooks offers robust features like expense tracking and invoicing, whereas FreshBooks outshines in time tracking and client invoicing. Wave is a free option with crucial features for small businesses. Each software provides tutorials and customer support to help you get started. Choosing the right software depends on your specific needs, budget, and preferred functionalities, so consider trying a few before deciding. How Do I Handle Bookkeeping for Multiple Income Sources? To handle bookkeeping for multiple income sources, start by organizing each source separately. Create distinct accounts for each income stream, whether they’re freelance work, rental income, or investments. Use accounting software to track income and expenses, ensuring you categorize transactions accurately. Regularly reconcile these accounts to maintain accuracy. Don’t forget to keep detailed records for tax purposes, as different income sources may have varying tax implications. This method helps streamline your financial management. What Certifications Are Available for Aspiring Bookkeepers? If you’re looking to become a certified bookkeeper, several options are available. The American Institute of Professional Bookkeepers (AIPB) offers a certification that validates your skills. The National Association of Certified Public Bookkeepers (NACPB) likewise provides certification, focusing on compliance and ethics. Furthermore, many community colleges and online platforms offer bookkeeping courses that can lead to certification. Each certification improves your credibility, making you more attractive to potential employers or clients. Conclusion By following these five crucial steps, you can effectively learn bookkeeping and improve your financial management skills. Start with a solid comprehension of the basics, choose the right method for your needs, and keep your documents organized. Regular practice with real transactions will build your confidence, as using various resources guarantees you stay updated. With dedication and the right tools, you’ll be well-equipped to manage your finances accurately and efficiently. Image via Google Gemini This article, "5 Essential Steps to Learn Bookkeeping Today" was first published on Small Business Trends View the full article

If you’re looking to learn bookkeeping, it’s vital to start with the fundamentals like balance sheets and income statements. Comprehending these concepts is critical for managing your finances effectively. Next, you’ll need to decide on a bookkeeping method that fits your specific needs. As you progress, organizing your financial documents and practicing with real transactions will improve your skills. There are additionally numerous resources available to support your learning process, so let’s explore them further to guarantee you have all the tools you need. Key Takeaways Grasp fundamental concepts like balance sheets and income statements through courses in accounting or bookkeeping. Choose the appropriate bookkeeping method, such as single-entry or double-entry, based on your business needs. Organize financial documents digitally, categorizing receipts and invoices for easy access and clarity. Practice real transactions using software like QuickBooks to enhance your practical bookkeeping skills. Utilize online resources, courses, and webinars to stay updated on bookkeeping practices and enhance your knowledge. Understand the Basics of Bookkeeping Grasping the basics of bookkeeping is fundamental for anyone looking to manage their finances effectively. To start, you need to comprehend key concepts like balance sheets, income statements, and cash flow statements. These terms are crucial for interpreting financial data and making informed decisions. You might consider enrolling in an accounting bookkeeping course or taking an introduction to accounting class to build your foundation. In addition, bookkeeping programs online offer flexible options to learn bookkeeping at your own pace. Familiarizing yourself with the chart of accounts, which categorizes transactions into assets, liabilities, equity, revenue, and expenses, is important. Knowing the difference between single-entry and double-entry methods will also improve your accuracy. Regularly reviewing financial records helps identify trends and prepare for tax obligations, so consider tax preparation courses or tax classes online to further your knowledge. Engaging in tax accounting courses online can solidify your grasp and readiness for financial responsibilities. Choose the Right Bookkeeping Method Choosing the right bookkeeping method is essential for effectively managing your business’s finances, especially since each approach offers distinct advantages depending on your specific needs. You can select from single-entry, double-entry, cash-based, or accrual-based methods. Method Best For Key Benefit Single-Entry Small businesses Easy tracking of income/expenses Double-Entry Growing businesses thorough financial view Cash-Based Service industries Real-time cash flow tracking Evaluate your business needs and resources when deciding on these methods. For example, if you’re looking to take a bookkeeping class online, consider the best bookkeeping courses or a certified bookkeeper course. Furthermore, if tax preparation is part of your focus, explore online tax preparation courses or tax accounting classes online to deepen your insight. Organize Your Financial Documents After selecting the right bookkeeping method, the next step involves organizing your financial documents. Start by collecting all your receipts, invoices, and bank statements to create a thorough record of your transactions. Use digital tools to categorize and label these documents, ensuring they’re organized by type, date, or project for easy retrieval. Implement a consistent naming convention for your digital files to maintain clarity and prevent confusion when searching for specific documents. It’s likewise crucial to regularly back up your organized financial documents on secure cloud storage to safeguard against data loss. In addition, create a dedicated physical or digital folder for tax-related documents to streamline preparation during tax season. This organization will make your life easier, especially if you decide to pursue a quickbooks certification near me or take online tax courses for beginners. Knowing how to get certified in bookkeeping can as well be beneficial when organizing your finances effectively. Practice Regularly With Real Transactions Regularly practicing with real transactions is essential for solidifying your bookkeeping skills and comprehension of core concepts like debits and credits. Engaging with actual financial data allows you to apply what you’ve learned and prepare for real-world situations. Here are some effective ways to practice: Use the QuickBooks Learning Center to record income and expenses, enhancing your accuracy. Participate in hands-on tax preparation training to create invoices and categorize expenses. Take tax prep classes online that offer practical simulations, including bank reconciliations with real statements. Enroll in a tax accounting course or income tax prep course that emphasizes cash flow management. Utilize Resources and Tools for Continuous Learning Utilizing resources and tools for continuous learning is crucial in developing and refining your bookkeeping skills. Start by enrolling in online tax filing courses or tax prep courses to build foundational bookkeeping knowledge at your own pace. Websites like Coursera and Udemy offer valuable tax preparation classes online that can improve your comprehension of taxation courses and income tax courses. Engaging with reliable blogs guarantees you stay updated on bookkeeping practices and industry trends. Furthermore, participating in webinars and workshops provides hands-on learning experiences, allowing you to ask questions directly to professionals. Practicing with user-friendly bookkeeping software like Wave or QuickBooks helps you gain familiarity with vital functions. Regularly assess your progress to confirm you’re effectively handling bookkeeping tasks. As your skills grow, consider pursuing tax prep certification online or moving to more advanced tools for continuous improvement. Frequently Asked Questions What Are Common Mistakes to Avoid When Starting Bookkeeping? When starting bookkeeping, avoid common mistakes that can hinder your progress. Make certain you don’t neglect to keep personal and business finances separate, as this can lead to confusion. Furthermore, don’t overlook the importance of accurate record-keeping; errors can cause significant issues down the line. In addition, be cautious about skipping reconciliations, as they help guarantee your records match bank statements. Finally, always stay updated on tax regulations to prevent costly penalties. How Can I Enhance My Bookkeeping Accuracy and Efficiency? To improve your bookkeeping accuracy and efficiency, start by organizing your financial documents systematically. Use accounting software to automate calculations and reduce errors. Regularly reconcile your accounts to catch discrepancies early. Establish a routine for data entry, ensuring it’s timely and consistent. Create checklists for common tasks to streamline your process. Finally, invest time in ongoing education, as staying updated on best practices will greatly enhance your skills and comprehension of bookkeeping. What Software Is Best for Beginners in Bookkeeping? For beginners in bookkeeping, user-friendly software options include QuickBooks, FreshBooks, and Wave. QuickBooks offers robust features like expense tracking and invoicing, whereas FreshBooks outshines in time tracking and client invoicing. Wave is a free option with crucial features for small businesses. Each software provides tutorials and customer support to help you get started. Choosing the right software depends on your specific needs, budget, and preferred functionalities, so consider trying a few before deciding. How Do I Handle Bookkeeping for Multiple Income Sources? To handle bookkeeping for multiple income sources, start by organizing each source separately. Create distinct accounts for each income stream, whether they’re freelance work, rental income, or investments. Use accounting software to track income and expenses, ensuring you categorize transactions accurately. Regularly reconcile these accounts to maintain accuracy. Don’t forget to keep detailed records for tax purposes, as different income sources may have varying tax implications. This method helps streamline your financial management. What Certifications Are Available for Aspiring Bookkeepers? If you’re looking to become a certified bookkeeper, several options are available. The American Institute of Professional Bookkeepers (AIPB) offers a certification that validates your skills. The National Association of Certified Public Bookkeepers (NACPB) likewise provides certification, focusing on compliance and ethics. Furthermore, many community colleges and online platforms offer bookkeeping courses that can lead to certification. Each certification improves your credibility, making you more attractive to potential employers or clients. Conclusion By following these five crucial steps, you can effectively learn bookkeeping and improve your financial management skills. Start with a solid comprehension of the basics, choose the right method for your needs, and keep your documents organized. Regular practice with real transactions will build your confidence, as using various resources guarantees you stay updated. With dedication and the right tools, you’ll be well-equipped to manage your finances accurately and efficiently. Image via Google Gemini This article, "5 Essential Steps to Learn Bookkeeping Today" was first published on Small Business Trends View the full article

Employees are jostling to level up their AI skills, and, according to a new report, also using AI to help them learn more, whether it’s asking for extra help to clarify concepts and solve problems, or picking up new skills. The report uses results from a survey conducted by Fractl on behalf of the The American College of Education (ACE). The survey included more than 1,000 U.S. workers who use AI tools as part of their day to day. Somewhat unsurprisingly, a large percentage of workers are using AI to improve their skills. Sixty-three percent of workers said that they used AI to learn skills they didn’t get formal training on from their employer. However, 65% of workers say they worry about AI’s accuracy. Even so, 23% of workers still say AI is their first choice when they need to learn something new. Part of this might be because AI provides answers quickly: nearly one in two (46%) of workers said they used AI to seek out answers because it’s faster than asking for help. Perhaps even more desirable, using the technology also means workers don’t have to admit when they don’t know something. Almost a third (29%) said they use AI to learn new skills without advertising they didn’t know something. Managers are particularly susceptible: 32% admitting they are learning on the down-low. Overall, 69% of workers said that using AI improved their productivity and over 55% said it helped them feel more confident in their jobs. Still, while workers are clearly using AI to bridge a gap, they aren’t completely satisfied with its teaching abilities. Only 7% of workers said that they feel learning skills from AI is enough and 39% said they view the training they get from AI as a starting point for further learning. Almost half (48%) said that they enrolled in training after AI introduced them to certain topics that they wanted to explore further. Even more impressively, 80% of workers said that they continue learning in one way or another after first learning something with AI. While AI may not be able to entirely replace hands-on training, it’s currently a jumping off point for the majority of workers who are seeking to learn new skills. View the full article

Conflict, while uncomfortable, is a fact of life. However, few of us deal with it well–either we avoid it until it swells into resentment, or it explodes creating damage we often fail to repair. In her new book, Anchored, Aligned and Accountable: A Framework For Transcending B*llshit and Transforming Our Lives and Work, (foreword by Brené Brown) leadership coach Aiko Bethea lays out a framework for transforming conflict into personal growth. For Fast Company, Brené Brown sat down with Aiko Bethea to discuss the cornerstones of the framework and how applying it can change our lives. Brené Brown: Your Anchored, Aligned and Accountable Framework, has completely shifted how I lead and how I engage with my husband, kids, friends, and family. So I’ll start with saying thank you. In both of our experiences helping folks identify their core values, we’re often asked: “Do you want me to focus on my professional or personal values?” If the two of us are in a room together, we often share knowing glances and say, “Your core values drive all parts of your life. There is only one set of core values.” My questions: What do you think drives the reflexive response to compartmentalize this way? Aiko Bethea: We’ve been trained to bifurcate ourselves. I’m at home Aiko and at work Aiko. That argument with my parent or partner isn’t expected to (or allowed to) show up at work with me. Then there are the other ways we divide ourselves so that we can fit in, be successful, or not be targeted or perceived as a threat. I speak with a softer tone. I may even laugh when I don’t think the joke is funny. When you consider the ways we divide ourselves—it makes sense to assume these very different versions of ourselves would have different values. However, we are the same person at home and at work, despite the artificial shifts we make to feel safe, liked, and obtain success and safety. How does thinking about different values for different areas of our lives get in the way of the anchoring we need to do? Our values reflect what’s most important to us as a whole person. They inform our boundaries, decisions and intrinsic motivation. Values are your truth and like an anchor they hold weight under pressure. If values shift based on the room we’re in, you’re no longer anchored into your core truth. You’re unmoored and unstable. We look to external validation and judgment to inform us of who to be and who we’re becoming. This is the opposite of self-leadership. My biggest work is in the middle of your framework—aligning intention with impact. Here’s my toughest question for you: If my intention is reasonable and the impact that it has on someone is really tough, how do I get aligned without back-peddling or over-apologizing? For example, a colleague interrupts me three or four times in a meeting and I work with my coach to address this in a respectful and productive way while also setting an appropriate boundary. If this person gets really defensive or goes into a shame spiral because they’re uncomfortable with the accountability, I don’t feel like apologizing or taking care of them. What do you make of this? Do I need more coaching? Alignment isn’t about comfort—it’s about consistency between your values, your actions, and the impact you create. Too often, people equate alignment with keeping things smooth or avoiding discomfort. But alignment doesn’t guarantee that others will feel good, respond calmly, or avoid defensiveness. And it doesn’t mean softening the truth to the point that it loses clarity. Instead, alignment requires three things: your intention is grounded in your values, your delivery reflects those values, and you take responsibility for the impact you actually create. In this instance you can be aligned with your values and the impact is also what you desired: your co-worker no longer interrupts you. And, your co-worker may have resentment and be defensive. There’s an opportunity to grow with the co-worker who has an emotional response like a shame spiral. Ask them how they would have wanted you to provide this feedback. If they simply say they didn’t want you to give any feedback and for you to endure the interruptions, then there is simply a fundamental difference between the two of you. You asked for what you needed and they don’t want to support that. You have the choice to set a different boundary in this working relationship since you two may be extremely far apart on how to support one another and how to work together. What you do have is clarity, not finding yourself constantly apologizing, fawning, or even moving against someone. On the other hand, the colleague may say, I wish you didn’t elevate your voice and give this feedback in front of the whole team. In this case, you can hear them out and practice empathy and compassion. Thank them for the feedback and share that you’ll do your best to keep these preferences in mind and apologize for the impact. Last, let’s talk about accountability. I feel like repair plays a critical role in accountability and trust-building across all domains of our lives. What do we get wrong about repair and what are one or two things we can do better? Asking for a friend. Repair is about the relationship, about connection. It is a wholehearted sport. For repair, we look beyond words to the full context of a conversation, picking up on tone, energy, body language, and what remains unspoken in order to understand what’s really happening. There is no repair without tending to emotions. Also, repair can’t be outsourced. Here are two steps that are helpful: Anchor in your values: First, we go back to being anchored and grounded into our values. And we understand what that means in terms of how we show up with this other person. For me that can mean what do my values of loyalty and growth require me to do/not do in this situation? Align our actions and get curious: Get our actions and delivery aligned with those values. And when practicing curiosity we explore what impact we had on this person. Curiosity is care. When we suspend our inner chatter, put the stories we tell ourselves on pause, and invite the other party to share not only how they feel- but what could have been done differently, we are showing care. We are also learning. When I am asking someone what didn’t work for them, they must pause and actually think about where they’re coming from and communicate this. They must hear themselves. In just this part of the conversation a lot can shift. I am getting data and insight about this person….and they are also becoming more self-aware. Sometimes, they may simply hear themselves and falter, recognizing their hurt or activation wasn’t about you. It was about context, or a story they were living in. These conversations that only center on connection and repair are rare. When we have them, it’s like an amazing exhale, a gift. If readers take away just one shift or practice in how they show up at work or in relationships, what do you hope it is? The most important shift right now is practicing self-leadership. When everything feels fast-moving and uncertain, it’s easy to outsource your judgment—to trends, pressure, or external expectations. Instead, get clear on your values, align your behavior with what matters, and take ownership of your impact. That begins with self-awareness and extends to how you make decisions and show up day to day. Without it, people and organizations lose focus. With it, they operate with greater clarity, consistency, and accountability. View the full article

Walk into any office and you’ll hear it. “She’s so nurturing — she’d be great leading the wellness committee.” “Don’t worry, the guys will handle the heavy lifting on this pitch.” “You look amazing today!” These statements arrive warmly, often from people who genuinely mean well. That’s exactly what makes benevolent sexism one of the most insidious and under-addressed forces in modern workplaces. Unlike overt harassment, benevolent sexism doesn’t announce itself. It hides behind chivalry, compliments, and cultural tradition. It flatters women while quietly limiting them, wraps restriction in a ribbon and calls it care. And for that reason, it tends to go unchallenged far longer than it should. Now, a growing body of research is quantifying what many women have long felt in their bones. This isn’t just uncomfortable. It’s career-damaging. What the Research Actually Shows A 2025 study published in Behavioral Sciences examined how benevolent sexism shapes women’s professional trajectories, surveying 410 female employees over time. The results were striking. Benevolent sexism negatively influences career growth by reducing self-esteem and increasing emotional exhaustion. That’s a crucial finding. The damage isn’t delivered in a single incident. It’s cumulative. The study’s model showed that the relationship between benevolent sexism and diminished career growth is serially mediated. First, women’s self-esteem takes a hit; that eroded self-confidence then fuels emotional exhaustion, which in turn degrades work performance and professional advancement. The smile, the compliment, the well-meaning steering toward a “better fit” role, each chips away until a woman who was once confident in her abilities is second-guessing herself in meetings she used to run. What We’re Actually Talking About Benevolent sexism idealizes femininity in ways that seem positive on the surface. Women are nurturing, emotionally intelligent, naturally gifted with children. The problem isn’t the traits themselves, it’s when those traits become a professional cage. Think of the nursery rhyme most of us learned before we could read. Girls are “sugar and spice and everything nice,” while boys are “snips and snails and puppy dog tails.” From childhood, we encode the idea that women should be pleasant, palatable, and soft. Those early messages don’t disappear when someone gets a job title. In the workplace, benevolent sexism shows up when a woman is steered toward “people-focused” roles because she’s “so warm,” when she’s complimented on her appearance in a meeting where her male counterparts are recognized for their ideas, when she’s assumed to be the one who’ll take notes, plan the holiday party, or mentor the new hire, because women just “get” those things. Benevolent sexism thrives on the mental load, the invisible, unpaid labor of organizing and smoothing social dynamics, and assigns that burden to women without asking whether they want it. Importantly, this isn’t about criticizing personal choices. A woman who chooses to stay home, take on caregiving roles, or embrace traditionally feminine work is making a valid decision, as long as it’s genuinely hers to make. The harm comes when the choice is manufactured, pressured, or assumed on her behalf. Why It’s So Hard to Name The defining feature of benevolent sexism is that it feels good, at least initially. Being called nurturing isn’t an obvious insult. Being offered help isn’t obviously condescending. This makes it genuinely difficult to call out in the moment without feeling ungrateful or humorless. But the research is clear about the slow-burning cost. When women are repeatedly guided away from challenging roles, consistently praised for their warmth rather than their strategy, and quietly loaded with the team’s administrative and emotional labor, they begin to internalize a narrowed view of their own professional value. Self-esteem drops. Exhaustion builds. The ambition that was there at the start of a career gets rerouted into coping rather than advancing. What Employees Can Do If you’re on the receiving end of benevolent sexism, you have more options than absorbing it silently or snapping back in a way that invites backlash. Invest strategically in your professional development The research is direct on this point. Career development strategies mitigate the adverse effects of benevolent sexism, weakening the relationship between it and career growth. Pursue skill-building that places you visibly in strategic, results-oriented territory. This doesn’t mean the burden is yours alone; it means you’re building insulation while the bigger structural work happens. Redirect the framing When someone praises your warmth and steers you toward a caretaking role, broaden their picture of you. “I appreciate that. I’m deeply invested in the revenue strategy side of this project, so I’d love to take the lead on the financial modeling.” You don’t have to reject their perception; you just don’t have to be confined to it. Name the pattern, not the person If a colleague consistently defaults to you for organizational tasks outside your job description, address the dynamic rather than the individual. “I’ve noticed I’m often the one coordinating the team’s calendar. I’d love for us to rotate that responsibility.” This opens a conversation without triggering defensiveness. Build alliances One of the most effective tools against benevolent sexism is collective visibility. When colleagues, especially men, notice a pattern and intervene, it carries social weight that the affected person sometimes can’t safely apply alone. If you observe someone being sidelined, interrupted, or funneled into a soft role, say something. “She’s been leading on the analytics; she should present that section.” What Managers Can Do If you lead a team, benevolent sexism is a management problem, whether or not you’re personally engaging in it. Audit your assignments Look honestly at who you tap for which kinds of work. Who presents to leadership? Who handles logistics? Who gets stretch assignments versus support roles? If the split follows gender lines, that’s a structural issue worth correcting, now, not after the next performance review. Stop commenting on appearance in professional settings Even when well-intentioned, remarks about how someone looks introduce an irrelevant dimension into a context that shouldn’t require women to navigate it. This is a clean, actionable line to hold. Redistribute the mental load explicitly Don’t wait for women to push back on invisible labor. Assign coordination tasks, mentorship responsibilities, and administrative burdens deliberately and equitably. Create feedback channels that people will use If someone on your team signals that a compliment landed wrong or an assignment felt like a detour, receive that feedback without reassuring yourself that you meant well. Meaning well is the floor, not the ceiling. A Different Kind of Nice Benevolent sexism persists partly because it asks so little of us. We don’t have to intend harm. We just have to let the comfortable assumption stand. Let the patterns quietly compound until a woman who was once ambitious is exhausted, and the organization mistakes her exhaustion for her ceiling. Research has given us the mechanism now. We know how it works: self-esteem erodes, emotional exhaustion builds, career growth stalls. We also know what helps: intentional development, structural awareness, and organizations willing to treat this as the real professional obstacle it is. A workplace that genuinely respects women isn’t one that flatters them into roles they didn’t choose. It’s one that refuses to let “being nice” substitute for the recognition women deserve. View the full article

It’s four answers to four questions. Here we go… 1. I’m drowning at work because of a family situation — how do I talk about it? My father passed away this past summer from pancreatic cancer. The complications of his illness had slowly escalated throughout the year prior, and I needed to take increasing amounts of time off work to fly to my parents’ home across the country. I work for an extremely small nonprofit and am in a director role. My work is project-based and I report to the board. No one keeps track of how much I’m working and when; they only care if the projects are done on time and well. The summer is our “off” season, and it’s when I usually get the bulk of my project work done for the busy season. This allows me to take care of more urgent/time-sensitive tasks during the year, and gives me the time to plan for future years. Unfortunately, due to the time commitment and mental load of last summer, I was unable to complete my summer project work. This has resulted in a very stressful situation where I am still working on my summer project load throughout the year while simultaneously doing the day-to-day urgent tasks on top of planning for the following year. It has been a domino effect of work piling up to amounts that are untenable. I feel like I’m trying to stem the tide of an entire ocean with a bucket of water. Miraculously, despite missing most of my internal deadlines, I have managed to complete my previous projects on time and received satisfying feedback from the board. However, I am now approaching the final project and have missed three internal deadlines, and now I am missing external deadlines on deliverables, and people are noticing. It is affecting other people’s jobs because I’m unable to deliver what they need in an adequate time frame due to not having enough hours in the day. I think (hope) I’ll pull the project off in the end, but it is at risk. I have told a few people I trust that this is a result of what happened over the summer, but I don’t feel comfortable telling clients who I don’t know very well that I’m missing deadlines due to my father’s death nearly nine months ago, even though it’s the truth. And of course, there’s the part of me that feels like nine months should be enough time to get my shit together, and I shouldn’t be struggling this much. I think I need a reality check, and some solutions. I am the only person in my org who can do what I do, so there’s no staff to delegate to. But I think I need to start letting people know that I’m struggling. Is it valid to give the real reason? Is this even a good reason? How do I stem the tide? Yes, this is a good reason. You had a terminally ill parent who died. It’s completely reasonable to say, “I had a terminally ill parent last year and spent a lot of time dealing with that situation over the summer, when normally I would have been getting a lot of work done in preparation for our busy season. I’ve been trying to catch up ever since, but I’m at the point where I need to reassess what’s on my plate so that people aren’t counting on me for things that I literally have no time to deliver.” You’d say that to whoever on the board you work most closely with. Have that conversation first — because “just do it all in significantly less time than it actually takes and in significantly less time than you’ve been able to spend on it in the past” is not realistic or possible (as you’re seeing). Then from there, decide what the message needs to be to clients — presumably some version of the first part of that, but instead of “reassessing what’s on my plate,” you’d tell them what the results of that reassessment mean for them, which could be anything from, “I’ll be able to get you X, but not until June” to “Jane is going to be your contact on X for the rest of this year” to “We need to put the X project on hold this year.” But have the bigger picture conversation with your boss first, because the actionable pieces for everyone else will stem from that. And start that process now, because the longer you wait to make (and tell people about) these adjustments, the more inconvenient it will get for them. I’m sorry about your dad. 2. My boss is having memory issues, and I’m worried it could become malpractice I work in a very small law firm in a support role and have been here for six years. The founder of the firm is older and is demonstrating some concerning changes over the last year that make me worried there is some kind of cognitive decline. He is only in his mid 60s. At first, the signs were subtle: missing calendar invitations, falling behind on email, etc., which could be explained away by being overly busy. Then, it turned into forgetting how to use case management software we’ve been using for years, forgetting names of people with whom he has represented several times, and even once missing a court filing deadline. Sometimes, he will completely forget to update a client on their case, so they call me frantic for an update. I’ve also noticed a shift in patience. He seems much quicker to frustration than he used to be and is firmly rejecting new ideas. Everyone has noticed, but no one has said anything. We do not have HR. He’s the best boss I have ever had, but the trend is concerning and is starting to affect his clients, which could be considered malpractice. I don’t want to report him for malpractice because that would make the issues he’s experiencing very public (not to mention would jeopardize my career), but he is not fit to represent clients! Attorneys wield a lot of power, so I don’t think I can stay quiet longer, and I know this is an issue with aging attorneys nationwide. I’ve been working in the legal field for a good chunk of my career, and it’s my observation that attorneys are a lot more receptive to feedback from other attorneys, not legal assistants (like me). Anytime I’ve tried to bring it up with another coworker, they brush it off, so I’m not optimistic I could get support from colleagues to approach him as a group, which is often your advice. How would you proceed? What’s my obligation, if any? Are there other attorneys on staff or is it just him? If there are other attorneys on staff, can you have a discreet word with the one you most trust to navigate this? I asked employment lawyer Jon Hyman of Wickens Herzer Panza, who writes the Ohio Employer Law Blog and is the author of The Employer Bill of Rights: A Manager’s Guide to Workplace Law, what you can do if the firm doesn’t have other lawyers. He said, “Once missed deadlines, forgotten clients, and basic functional breakdowns occur, the issue stops being internal and becomes a client protection problem. As a non-lawyer, you don’t have a formal duty to report misconduct. But you’re not exactly free to ignore it either. Law firms rely on staff not to silently enable conduct that risks client harm, and when something goes wrong, everyone involved gets pulled into the fallout.” He agrees with you that this is a message your boss is far more likely to hear from another lawyer and suggests, “Identify a single attorney he respects and share concrete, client-focused concerns. That’s not ‘reporting’; it’s responsible escalation. At the same time, push for structural protections: redundant calendaring, standardized client updates, and pre-filing checks to reduce risk.” If nothing changes and clients remain at risk, “You can report concerns to a state disciplinary authority — anyone can — but that step is typically a last resort given its seriousness and potential consequences. It becomes more appropriate when there is ongoing harm and no internal response. Some jurisdictions also offer confidential lawyer assistance programs that may provide a less punitive path.” He also says, “Focus on observable patterns like missed deadlines, communication lapses, and confusion, not speculation about causes. If you raise concerns directly, frame them around client service and support, not decline. The goal is to assess awareness and openness to safeguards.” 3. My coworker watches videos without headphones In December, I started volunteering behind the bar at an arts venue. I enjoy the work and get along with most of the people there. Perhaps most importantly, I feel genuinely accepted, which is very different from most of my experiences as an autistic man in my part of the world. One of my fellow volunteers, a man I’ll call Fergus, who is my peer but has been here longer than I have, has a habit that really annoys me. Every break without fail he watches TikToks, YouTube videos, and the like without earphones in our shared de facto break room. In other circumstances, I would politely ask him to use headphones, but I’m concerned that my status as a relatively new volunteer may make this fraught. Additionally, I otherwise get on very well with Fergus and don’t want to jeopardize that by being too assertive. Additional context: * Fergus has been spoken to about this by at least two different volunteers in my presence, both of whom have been volunteering longer than me. He always complies with their requests. I wonder if the fact that I haven’t this far asked this of Fergus means he assumes I don’t object. * Fergus and I are both visibly neurodivergent men in our twenties. * I am white and Fergus is not. (Ideally this ought not to matter but I’m conscious that this could engender social dynamics that I may not be aware of.) * The content he listens to isn’t in and of itself problematic (religious, overtly political, NSFW, etc.). With all this in mind, how assertive is it appropriate for me to be? My gut feeling is that politely asking him to use headphones is probably the best route, but would it be worth waiting a few weeks to press the matter? Or do I just need to “suck it up” and suffer in silence? You’ve been there since December; you’re not so new that you can’t say anything! I agree it made sense to be more hesitant as a brand new volunteer the first time you shared a break room with him, but it’s been a few months. It’s completely reasonable to politely say, “Would you mind using headphones while you listen to that?” This would be fine even if you hadn’t seen others ask it of him, but the fact that you have should give you additional confidence that it’s an okay request to make and he won’t be shocked by it. Go ahead and reclaim your break room peace. 4. Should I send an unsolicited recommendation for an intern? Would it be okay for me to send a positive job reference without the applicant asking me? My workplace has a student worker who wants to pursue the same career as me and is applying for an internship I told her about in that field. I’m not her boss; her supervisor is in my department but with a different job, and that’s mainly the work the student has been doing. But I’ve been able to borrow her now and then to let her learn more about my work and to help me, and I can tell she’ll be good at it. Would be appropriate for me to email the internship place and put in a good word for her, even though I’m not her direct supervisor and she didn’t ask me to? I’m fond of her and proud of her and want her to succeed. I think this is the first time I’ve been senior enough in my career to be in the position of helping a junior. Do you have any contacts at the place where she’s applying for the internship? If you do, you absolutely should contact them on her behalf! If you don’t … well, you still can, and if it’s a particularly glowing note (not a generic one), there’s a decent chance it’ll get her application a closer look. Just don’t do this. 5. Should I not turn on call screening when I’m job searching? I recently applied for a job, mainly out of curiosity about the pay range I could potentially be offered as I am not really looking to leave my current job. I checked my application status on the online portal a couple of times and recently noticed it was changed from “under review” to “no longer under consideration.” I am wondering if the (relatively recent) call screening feature from Apple may have blocked a call or otherwise screened it out? Do employers have a process for getting around the call screening? Or is having it enabled considered unprofessional? If someone is job searching should they ensure that this feature is disabled? It’s possible that your phone blocked a call, but it’s more likely that they simply decided not to move your application forward. On the call screening feature — which asks unknown callers to record their name and purpose for the call, then shares that with you so you can decide whether to answer — employers calling you will generally just proceed through the prompt. It’s not considered unprofessional to have it on. (That said, I would not turn on “silence unknown callers” if you’re job searching; that’s much more likely to cause you to miss calls from employers and recruiters.) The post my boss is having memory issues, coworker watches videos without headphones, and more appeared first on Ask a Manager. View the full article

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