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Every morning, after Richard J. Davidson meditates, he opens his calendar and sets an intention for each meeting. He brings each person into his mind and heart, expresses gratitude for their work in the world, and considers how he can best support them. I was inspired to try this practice. I reflected on the people that I planned to see that day and chose one thing that I’d like to thank them for. I was surprised that a simple “thank you” caused them to visibly light up. Davidson was right: It not only transformed our conversation, but the entire nature of my day. This is an example of microdosing well-being and its impact on ourselves and others. It’s also the heart of Davidson’s mission: Well-being doesn’t need to be left up to chance. It is a skill that we can train. Richard Davidson in the lab, 1990 [Photo: David Nevala] “When humans first evolved, none of us were brushing our teeth,” he shares. “Now, pretty much everyone on the planet brushes their teeth. It’s not part of our genome. We’ve learned to do this because we consider it important for our physical hygiene.” “If we spend even as short of time as we do brushing our teeth nourishing our mind, our findings and the findings of other scientists show that this world would be a different place,” he adds. “Most people would consider their mind more important than their teeth. Yet, we don’t treat our mind with the same respect.” As a world renowned neuroscientist, Davidson has devoted five decades to studying human flourishing. He is the founder and director of The Center for Healthy Minds at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he conducts groundbreaking research on emotions and the brain, as well as meditation and contemplative practices. Through the Center’s nonprofit, Healthy Minds Innovations, they translate their findings into evidence-based practices for individuals and organizations to cultivate well-being. In our conversation, he explains why our relationship to ourselves, each other, and the world are the product of the stories that we tell ourselves. He explains how to change your relationship to your thoughts, manage the activation of your stress response, and create structural changes in the wiring of your brain in as little as 20 hours. David Richardson [Photo: David Nevala] This interview has been edited for length and clarity. You shared that: “our brains are constantly being shaped, wittingly or unwittingly. Most of the time, we are unaware of the forces around us that are shaping our brains and have very little control of those forces. The one thing that we do have control over is our own mind.” Explain that last line, because we often don’t think that we have control over our minds. Every human being is born with the capacity to control her or his mind. The fact that many people feel that they don’t have control over their mind is simply a symptom of the degradation in well-being that we are seeing in the world today. But, we know with absolute scientific certainty that we can harness our innate capacity and control our mind. What’s amazing is that it doesn’t take that much to get a taste of this capacity. You don’t have to sit in any special posture or travel to the Himalayas. You can do this anywhere, anytime. It’s not just my opinion. It’s the results of years of scientific research. When it comes to neuroplasticity, what is the neurological impact when we commit to well-being practices? What we know from existing scientific research is that when we commit to well-being practices, the brain changes in at least two basic ways: One is what we call functional changes, which are changes in the patterns of activation of different networks in the brain. The second is structural changes, where there’s literally changes in the wiring of the brain. We can see functional changes in the brain after just a few hours of practice. We can see structural changes after as little as 20 hours of practice. When you think about learning a new sport, language, or instrument, those complex skills require quite a bit of practice. It doesn’t take much with well-being, because humans are born to flourish. We have all these capabilities within us. You highlighted research findings that “clearly suggest that people who are willing to question their own beliefs, and understand that their beliefs are not fixed, are less likely to be diagnosed with mental health disorders and more likely to respond positively to treatment.” Explain this and how we can practice it. This is one of the core dimensions of our framework for understanding well-being. We call it Insight. It’s the idea that every human being has a narrative that they tell about themselves. What’s really important for well-being is not so much to change the narrative, but to change our relationship to this narrative. So, being able to see the narrative as a constellation of beliefs, thoughts, and expectations that is not permanent. These thoughts can change. They’re not all of who we are. Take pain as an example. We might say: I’m in pain. Does that mean all of me is in pain? Is there any part of me that’s not in pain? Who is the “I” when we say: “I am in pain?” Another strategy is, for a difficult situation at work or at home, we can ask ourselves: What might it be like for someone who has a different set of beliefs and expectations to be in the same situation? How might they perceive it? These are simple strategies to loosen the grip that the narrative that we carry may have and to help us appreciate that we are not our thoughts. On the Healthy Minds Program app, an instructor explained that he shifted from using meditation to try to destroy his anxiety to learning to accept and befriend his inner demons. How can we learn to befriend ourselves? This is part of our DNA in terms of how we introduce these practices. We’ve found, through the science we’ve done, that it is much more effective not to fight with your mind. There are some people who think: I’m going to meditate and get relaxed. I’m going to try to stop my distracting thoughts. It further increases their stress and agitation. Instead of having that approach, it’s much simpler to acknowledge that we’re human. We do have these distracting, sometimes upsetting, thoughts. So, rather than pushing them away, simply acknowledging them. We often use the analogy of the weather and the sky. You can have foreboding clouds. They will eventually go away. It doesn’t change the nature of the sky. The same is true with our thoughts and emotions. From the perspective that we are suggesting, our minds are pure in the same way that the sky is. But, there are all these clouds that come in. If we are able to look at them, as clouds in this way—they arise, change, and go away eventually—it helps us to loosen the grip that they have. Another analogy is that instead of being in this turbulent river, we can step onto the shore, and watch the river go by; And, even appreciate its beauty, even if it’s turbulent. In The Dalai Lama’s Guide to Happiness, Roshi Joan Halifax said that self-criticism “only strengthens the self-hatred and self directed aggression. The thing that is going to transform it is not meanness, it’s love.” What does self-compassion look like in action? Self-compassion is a way to think about love. It’s accepting who we are with all of our imperfections, not pushing against it. To give a personal example, I’ve been meditating daily for 50 years. There are times when my morning practice will still be filled with distraction. I don’t get up from my meditation having a lot of self criticism about it. One of my teachers has this line that I love: The road to Lhasa goes up and down. What he meant is: The bad meditations are just as good as the good meditations. There are times when we can learn a lot from the distracting periods. Making friends with our mind or our anxiety is the most effective strategy in transforming them. Expectations are a common source of distress. How can we practice acceptance in situations where we hoped for a different outcome? Expectation is another kind of thought. We’ve done work in the laboratory where we’ve shown that we can create an expectation that a person will get a painful stimulus. In people that haven’t trained their mind, just the expectation that they’re about to get zapped with painful heat is enough to activate the pain circuits in the brain, even though there’s no painful stimulus. They’ve just heard a tone, which denotes that they’re going to get this painful stimulus. It turns out, in people who’ve done certain kinds of meditation practices, when we give them this expectation cue, nothing happens in the pain circuits in the brain. We can learn to let go of these expectations. Certain expectations are important for navigating everyday life. But, when we have an expectation, and it doesn’t come to fruition, we are less activated by the failure of that expectation to come to reality. It’s a learnable skill. Stress is toxic because it causes your brain to tell your body to prepare for immediate action. How can we decrease the propensity of activating our fight or flight response? This is a huge and important issue. To give context, we have this chunk of real estate in the front of our brain called the prefrontal cortex. It affords us the opportunity to do something that other species can’t do very much, which is what we call mental time travel. We can anticipate the future and reflect on the past; That confers a lot of advantage to humans. But, it also gets us into trouble, because we can imagine future threats. They’re simply imagined, but they hijack the machinery of our threat response and activate our biological systems as if they were a real threat. But, all that’s happened is we’ve had a thought or an emotion. The invitation, if you will, is: How can we harness the capacity of the prefrontal cortex and use it to our advantage? We can learn to harness this gift and control our mind in a way that would decrease the likelihood of us triggering these threat responses in contexts where they’re not necessary. We may feel calm after coming out of meditation. Still, it requires practice to maintain that calmness throughout the day. You’ve shared that your next frontier of work is around microdosing. What are a few practices we can try? We’ve talked about the microdosing of well-being. Research shows that one of the easiest ways to do this is if we pair these micro-practices or micro-supports around activities that we do every day. One of the things that most humans do every day is eat. If we spend even 30 seconds before we eat intentionally reflecting on all of the people that it took for us to have a meal and feeling the appreciation in our mind and heart, that’s an example of a micro-practice. You could do this a few times a day. It takes virtually no extra time. Some of us travel a fair amount. Walking through airports, for me, has transformed from something that many people consider stressful to this wonderful opportunity where you can look at people and just in your mind, you can wish people: May you be happy. That makes you happy, too. When you think about this, even for people who are living in objectively challenging circumstances, there are always going to be opportunities for this kind of microdosing. We just need to find what resonates with us and makes sense for our lives. Then, stick to it and really try to do it on a daily basis. Your team shares an invitation to improve our relationships: When we change the stories that we tell about people, our relationships with those people change. How do the stories we tell about others influence the quality of our relationships? What are a few ways we can shift them? This is part of our natural tendency to deploy narratives in how we operate, about ourselves as well as other people. I find myself having this issue all the time. There are often people who I’m scheduled to meet and I construct this image in my mind of who they are. We all do that. Most of us have had the experience, at least occasionally, of being surprised when we meet a person that we learn things about them that are inconsistent with the story that we’ve told about who they might be. It’s not that we should try to suppress the narrative, because that’s not going to work. But, having an appreciation that this is a story that we’re telling, it may not be accurate. There may be other stories that are more veridical. We use dreams as an important analogy. All of us dream every night. If we remember our dreams, we know that we have emotions in response to the dream events. But, we recognize that it’s a dream. It’s all constructed in our mind. It turns out that the way that we see the world is no different than the way that the mind processes dreams; Neuroscience teaches us that. We don’t actually see the world. When we interact with the world, what we’re seeing is our construction of the world. When we’re interacting with another person, we’re interacting with our construction of the other person. It’s not to say that there’s not someone there. But, we’re responding not to the physical elements that are there, but to our conceptual construction that we’ve made of who they are. When we recognize that, it helps to diffuse the grip that these narratives have and allows for much more spaciousness. You often express that there is an important distinction between happiness and wellbeing. Why is that distinction essential? If we lose a loved one, we’re sad; The sadness is real and healthy. It would be weird and kind of pathological to be happy in response to loss. It’s not about being happy all the time. Yet, if we have a loss and we’re sad, if we have high levels of well-being, we have this sense that everything is going to be fundamentally okay. There’s a kind of fundamental okay-ness. That’s what well-being is about. It’s not about being happy. It’s about knowing that it’s okay. For example, I’ve seen the Dalai Lama with this huge range of emotion. After someone described Tibetans in a Chinese prison being tortured, he was visibly crying. But, the next moment, he noticed something funny and started laughing. There’s this emotional fluidity. If a tragedy happens and you are sad, it’s having the ability to bounce back. You don’t stay stuck in the sadness for long periods of time. You have an appropriate response. But, at some point, it is no longer appropriate and you can have other emotions. Fluidity is one of the key markers of a person who is flourishing. What is your hope for the world today? The world is experiencing the devastating consequences of the failure to cultivate well-being; Many of the difficulties we’re having in the world—including the devastating consequences of polarization and greed—all of these problems are, at least in part, stemming from the same fundamental cause. My aspiration for the world today is that we can embrace the possibility that well-being can be learned, and that it’s not difficult. I feel like my role on the planet is to harness my platform as a scientist to help promote this idea and provide tools that can enable a large swath of the population to get engaged in this way. I think the very future of humanity depends on it. View the full article

English-language keywords are becoming more competitive daily, making it harder to rank for popular terms – even with an unlimited budget. To maximize your efforts, consider alternatives like multilingual or international SEO. Before we dive in, let’s clarify the difference: Multilingual SEO involves multiple languages, regardless of the target country. For example, adapting a U.S. website into Spanish or Traditional Chinese for U.S. residents is multilingual but not international. International SEO targets different countries. A U.S. company expanding to Canada, the U.K., or Australia would be engaging in international SEO but not multilingual. This article covers both. Expanding beyond your current audience comes with challenges. With over five years in international SEO, I’ve seen many brands make common mistakes. Here’s how to avoid them. 1. No market research Sometimes, businesses notice traffic and sales from a specific country and assume they can simply AI-translate their content to rank. Since they perform well in their home country, they believe their authority and links will carry over. Wrong! Every country has its own industry landscape, which may not align with what you’re used to. Regulations on products, content, and marketing can also vary. Most importantly, your ideal customer may have different preferences or priorities in another country. A U.S. affiliate site for online casinos launched an international content effort but didn’t get the expected traffic. They targeted Germany, China, and Japan. Here’s what they overlooked: Online gambling is illegal in two of those markets and heavily regulated in the third. While people still play in unauthorized casinos, legal restrictions affect how businesses enter the market. The risk is lower as an affiliate, but companies selling products or subscriptions must confirm whether they can sell and whether their sales model is allowed. The market had strong local manufacturers and distributors that weren’t active elsewhere. Creating content around these brands boosted traffic. A social media influencer was trending in Germany for online slot play. Content focused on this trend ranked well and attracted visitors. Without market research, you’ll miss major opportunities to stand out – and you might even run into legal trouble, depending on your product and sales model. Dig deeper: How to use SEO to enhance your visibility within a specific geographic area 2. Poorly prepared base version If your primary language site is poorly built or optimized, those issues will carry over when you add another language. I’ve seen multilingual sites with no H1s, custom child themes that make content updates difficult, and internal structures that don’t scale well. Even a font choice can cause problems. A clear, consistent structure also helps translation software function properly. Most translation tools scan for text strings, but improperly tagged elements – like buttons, callout boxes, and other design features – may be missed. In the image below, the gray text appears on mouseover but wasn’t translated from the original German to English. Ensure your designers and developers create a framework that supports multiple languages, currencies, tax rates, and shipping options. When adapting from English to another language, allow extra space for text expansion. English tends to be more concise than other Western languages – and significantly shorter than Chinese or Japanese. This is especially crucial for navigation menus and buttons. A translation can break your design simply because there are too many words or one long word that doesn’t fit. Website navigation in English Website navigation in English You can’t predict every challenge, but a clean, well-structured site will make expanding to new markets much easier. Dig deeper: How to craft an international SEO approach that balances tech, translation and trust 3. No keyword research Many companies translate first and think about SEO later, resulting in multilingual content with no keyword focus. Conducting keyword research before translation helps your team incorporate key terms from the start. It also helps determine whether a term should be translated at all. Some languages, like German, often retain English terms, while French is less likely to do so. A quick check with a keyword research tool can show whether to translate, keep the original term, or use both. Keyword research can also reveal potential conflicts. For example, a company wanted to rank for “MDR” in German, referring to “managed detection and response.” However, MDR is also the name of a major German public TV and radio station – making ranking for the term impossible. Beyond choosing keywords, research helps identify local content clusters and plan accordingly. Poor keyword implementation Writing with keywords in mind is challenging in any language, and it becomes even trickier in a foreign one. Translators prioritize accuracy, not SEO. Where you see keyword variations, a translator sees inconsistency, which can lead to over-optimization. Working with a native writer instead of a translator allows for better flexibility and keyword integration. Dig deeper: 15 SEO localization dos and don’ts: Navigating cultural sensitivity Get the newsletter search marketers rely on. Business email address Sign me up! Processing... See terms. 4. Internal linking Too many websites overlook internal linking in their international content. Both navigational and in-content links must be fully localized to maximize their value. Many sites either link back to English pages or only to the target language homepage, missing key opportunities. This is primarily a user experience issue. When users land on unexpected content, it can be frustrating and lead to high bounce rates. You want visitors to take action, and you’ve invested in content – so it needs to perform. Users who can’t easily find relevant information are less likely to convert. From an SEO perspective, internal linking is one of the few factors you can fully control. With so many ranking elements out of your hands, taking advantage of what you can is crucial. As you develop your keyword list, create an internal linking strategy alongside it. Keep local preferences in mind. Your best-selling product in one country may not be the same in another, so adjusting your internal links accordingly can improve efficiency. Also, share your linking strategy with your translation team. Translators and transcreators can help create natural, localized links, but most translation software won’t automatically adjust links to point to the correct language version. A native-speaking editor is your best option for ensuring strong anchor text and proper link placement. Dig deeper: International SEO: How to avoid common translation and localization pitfalls 5. Only thinking about text Images and videos are powerful content tools, but if they’re not relevant or accessible to your audience, they lose their impact. The images you choose can shape how visitors perceive your brand. That’s why it’s important to have a local review them. Sometimes, it’s as simple as ensuring the people in your images reflect the local population. Other times, it’s more complex. Allegorical images, for example, may not translate culturally. Images localized for German, Czech, and Arabic-speaking customers. If you keep the same images, update your alt tags to reflect the local language and, if possible, include relevant keywords. For videos, narration can be highly engaging – unless the viewer doesn’t understand the language. In that case, it becomes alienating. Some companies opt for instrumental music and subtitles, allowing users to select their preferred language. If your videos are already produced, the easiest and most cost-effective way to internationalize them is by adding localized closed captions. Fully localizing or dubbing them is more expensive but provides a better user experience. These assets can also be repurposed for other targeted campaigns. However, if you’re hosting them on platforms like YouTube or Vimeo, you must organize them properly to ensure seamless access. Dig deeper: 6 SEO considerations for a successful international expansion Going global successfully with smarter SEO Internationalization can feel overwhelming, especially for small and medium-sized businesses. Taking the time to prepare – particularly with market and keyword research – can reveal significant opportunities and reinforce commitment to the project. With that foundation in place, it’s time to move forward with localization. View the full article

Google sent out emails to Local Service Ads advertisers notifying them that their Google Business Profile accounts are not affiliated to your Local Service Ads account. That means your reviews will only be accepted through your Google Business Profile link and not the Local Service Ads link.View the full article

Google Ads has updated its interface for when you select when you want your ads running in specific regions/locations. Now, it has a button to "add locations in bulk," which should help you add locations faster.View the full article

Google may be bringing channel reporting to the Google Ads Performance Max campaigns. I spotted this via Kirk Williams who posted a photo of a slide from Google Think event in Amsterdam where Arjan Schoorl attended. The slide says "Channel Reporting" will be coming to PMax and Demand Gen for increased transparency and controls.View the full article

Google has shut down, turned off, and disabled, its new page annotations feature. The feature where Google hijacked your content, placed links in your content, links you didn't add yourself, and directed your content to Google Search. It is no longer, Google shut it down. View the full article

Google has this new "Know before you go" section in the search results. I mean, it is new for search, not new for Google Maps and not new for local. But I've never seen a Know before you go box in the search results before.View the full article

Microsoft is now showing why it selects or chooses to show a specific ad directly in the Bing search results. When you click on the arrow down by the URL of the search ad snippet, you will get window dialog that may explain why the ad was shown.View the full article

Spotify just opened up a new stream of revenue for podcasters. That is, if they’re uploading video. What was once an audio-first medium, podcasting is now increasingly filmed and produced. That started on YouTube, which is now racking up one billion podcast viewers a month. While Spotify has hosted podcasts for a decade now, the company is suddenly racing to stay competitive, rolling out new features and monetization tools. That includes their Partner Program, which allows podcasters to earn money directly from the streams of premium subscribers, so long as they’re using a video aspect. “We decided to focus on video because that’s where we see a lot of audiences and creators trending,” says Jordan Newman, Spotify’s senior director of content partnerships. “We felt like it was something that we really wanted to encourage and incentivize our platform.” To find out how podcasters feel about the app’s video push, Fast Company spoke with creators on both sides of the aisle—those who have embraced video, and those who have stayed audio-only. The cost-benefit analysis of video podcasting For many podcasters, the shift to video is a financial and logistical leap. Producing a high-quality video podcast requires more than just a microphone—it demands cameras, lighting, editing software, and often a dedicated set. That investment pays off for some, but for others, it adds a new layer of complexity to an already time-consuming medium. Chris Williamson knows this trade-off well. As the host of Modern Wisdom, one of Spotify’s most popular self-improvement podcasts, he’s built a reputation not just for insightful conversations with guests like Andrew Huberman and Steven Bartlett but also for stunning visual production. Yet Modern Wisdom wasn’t always a cinematic experience. In its early days, the show was audio-only, with a basic equalizer graphic on YouTube. Fifty episodes in, Williamson started recording his Skype interviews. A hundred episodes later, he upgraded to professional-quality video. Now, he rents what he estimates is “a quarter of a million dollars”-worth of camera equipment for each shoot. So far, it’s paid off handsomely. Thanks to his polished, production-heavy style, advertisers flock to Modern Wisdom, and Spotify’s expansion into video has further boosted his revenue. Once his full back catalog is uploaded, Williamson expects to earn as much—if not more—from Spotify as he does from YouTube. “I think we’ve kind of gained a reputation in the world of cinematography and production and making a very beautiful podcast, and that makes me feel good,” Williamson says. “It’s not just something that is legitimate in terms of its content, but also in terms of its delivery and its packaging.” While most podcasters don’t operate on Williamson’s scale, video remains for all a big investment. Among the seven podcasters interviewed for this piece, nearly all cited increased costs—both financial and labor-related—as a major consideration. For independent creators, these costs fall directly on their shoulders. For those backed by major podcast networks, the burden is often shared. Diallo Riddle and Blake “LUXXURY” Robin, co-hosts of the music podcast One Song, were caught off guard when their network, Hartbeat, insisted on a video format. (Riddle jokes that, if he had known, he would have demanded they “pay for hair and makeup.”) But they have come to see the move as a fortuitous one. “By now, recording both has become the default,” Robin says. “Part of what podcasting is as a medium, I’ve only learned as we’ve done it, is that parasocial relationship. Getting to know the people, I think it helps when you see them.” The audio/video balancing act The biggest challenge? Making a show work seamlessly for both audiences. Some podcasts are visually stunning but incoherent in audio form; others treat video as an afterthought. The result is a growing divide in audience experiences. The hosts of Petty Crimes, which is also produced by Hartbeat, have been thinking about this drop-off in experience. Griff Stark-Ennis films in Los Angeles, where he’s surrounded by cameras, making it easy to “play into the visual aspect and sometimes forget the audio.” Ceara Jane O’Sullivan, who records simultaneously in New York, positions herself as a check on that impulse. “When we are reviewing episodes back, I always listen to the transcript audio-only,” O’Sullivan says. “You have to present your audio episode and present your video episode as if that is the assumed and correct audience. You never want anyone to feel like they’re being shorted or ignored in either medium.” No matter the issues—scaling costs, getting camera-ready, or remembering the audio listener—all of these podcasters were happy with their video ventures. They’ve all seen the audience widening that video has allowed them, something that Spotify’s Newman emphasized. “Shows with video are growing faster than audio shows right now,” he says. What becomes of the audio-only podcasters? Podcasting started as an audio-only medium—and many creators are sticking to that. In 2023, 32% of podcasters said they had “no plans” to record video, per the IndiePod Census. These creators are barred from that premium revenue stream on Spotify, though they still can earn money from ads. But video isn’t the be all end all; after all, only 30% of audiences are actively watching their podcasts, per Cumulus Media. And some podcasters have other priorities. “Video adds a layer of technical complication,” says Perry Romanowski, co-host of The Beauty Brains. “When I want to do a show, my partner and I hop on a zoom call and we record locally on both of our machines. Neither of us has to take showers and get gussied up. It’s just a lot easier.” Others film some video, but don’t upload it to Spotify. Gibson Johns films the interviews for his show Gabbing With Gib and uploads them to YouTube. But, to fashion these interviews into a podcast form, he records audio-only introductions and uploads the audio alone to Spotify. “I’m solid for now,” he says. “As far as I’m aware, there’s not a way on Spotify to upload a portion of your episode as a video.” Still, Johns is happy with Spotify’s creator experience; he earns the bulk of his money through their advertising. While Romanowski earns his money through Patreon, he’s content with Spotify, too. Neither haven’t felt the encroachment of video hurting their business. Podcasters now are at an inflection point. They must choose: To film or not to film. That choice isn’t just about preference—it’s about costs, and adapting to an industry radically reformed by video. View the full article

This week in branding news, Volvo released its first-ever entirely AI-generated ad, fashion brand Pretty Little Thing attempted to overhaul its brand image, and Crystal Light made a late bid on the canned cocktail craze. Here’s everything you need to know. Volvo veers into the uncanny valley The news: Volvo just released a new AI-generated ad, and it doesn’t include a single car. That was probably a mistake. Big picture: The ad, which aired in Saudi Arabia, is Volvo’s first spot made entirely with AI. Created by the agency Lion, the minute-long video used Midjourney for visuals, Runway editing software for touch-ups, and ChatGPT for narration. It’s essentially a slideshow of clips, including models gazing into the camera, kids smiling up at the sky, and, for some reason, sports fans gathering in a stadium. At no point does a Volvo vehicle appear in the work. Why it matters: The issue with Volvo’s new ad is not necessarily that it relies on AI tools (most advertising professionals will tell you that AI tech is bound to reshape the entire industry, whether we like it or not), but more so that said AI was used so clumsily. To start, the spot has no discernible plot, instead appearing to skip nonsensically between brief AI prompts with little apparent attempt to edit the shots together. The clips themselves display a clear disregard for the current state of AI-generated video by relying mainly on human bodies and expressions, two of the visuals that AI has yet to reliably recreate—resulting in plasticky, overly-airbrushed models that veer straight into the uncanny valley. Volvo’s choices in this ad are even more head-scratching given that we have evidence of an actually good AI-generated Volvo ad—one that was made nine months ago, in less than 24 hours, by a random guy. The speculative ad, created by colorist László Gaál, follows a Volvo vehicle as it speeds through a deserted city, bringing the crumbling architecture back to life by leaving a flood of greenery in its wake. Despite a comparatively tiny budget and time investment, the ad went viral for convincing many viewers, and even some marketing professionals, that it was authentic. The chances of a similar phenomenon occurring with Volvo’s official new ad are close to zero. Pretty Little Thing tries to glow up The news: The fast fashion site Pretty Little Thing (PLT) just rebranded to a new look that mimics luxury brands, and the internet is calling it the end of “the BBL aesthetic.” Big picture: PLT has swapped its former branding—a millennial pink-based design with a basic, sans-serif logo—for a chic new rebrand that uses a darker color palette, calligraphic wordmark, and monogram logo. It’s a full 180 shift that’s clearly taken its inspiration from high fashion brands like Louis Vuitton and Vivienne Westwood. The move is an attempt to reposition PLT away from its reputation for cheap fast fashion and toward a new era as a slightly pricier site to find dupes for the “quiet luxury” and “clean girl” aesthetics. [Image: Pretty Little Thing] “[PLT has] removed the bbl fashion and it’s more clean girl aesthetic now,” one tweet with 67,000 likes reads. “Wow the bbl aesthetic is really out.” Why it matters: PLT’s transparent bid to distance itself from the visual trappings of fast fashion should not distract from the fact that there’s no evidence that its business model has actually changed. In 2023, the company received a meager 23% on Fashion Revolution’s Fashion Transparency Index for poor labor standards, a lack of sustainability efforts, and little discernible effort to minimize animal suffering. “As it stands, the rebrand doesn’t entirely place PLT in the ‘affordable luxury’ sector,” Vicky Bullen, CEO at design agency Coley Porter Bell, told Creative Bloq. “While its refreshed design draws on some of the cues of luxury brands to create a somewhat more ‘sophisticated’ feel for the company, a brand is much more than just its logo and visuals.” Crystal Light goes boozy The news: Your mom’s favorite lemonade brand in the ‘90s, Crystal Light, is going after Gen Z. Big picture: In a bid to cash in on both its nostalgia-inducing branding and a growing interest in ready-made cocktails, Crystal Light is set to release an alcoholic take on its lemonade packets. The brand just announced a line of canned vodka refreshers, which, like the OG lemonade, will be low calorie and made with artificial sweetener. [Image: Kraft-Heinz] Why it matters: As household brands continue to vie for a piece of White Claw’s success, the RTD space is becoming increasingly oversaturated. Over the past few years, we’ve borne witness to Sunny D vodka, spiked AriZona Iced Tea, Fresca Mixed, and alcoholic Dunkin’ drinks—and, honestly, Crystal Light’s late bid on the space feels a tad bit desperate. “The bladder isn’t big enough to handle them all,” Gary Stibel, CEO of New England Consulting Group, told AdAge. “A few will succeed, but the ones that succeed will be based upon good marketing, not just good product.” View the full article

Every year, Employee Appreciation Day comes and goes, prompting organizations to rush into gratitude mode—offering lunches, shoutouts, and small gifts. But if March 7 is the only time leaders express appreciation to their teams, they’re missing the mark. It’s like only telling your partner “I love you” on your anniversary. If appreciation is absent the rest of the year, the sentiment feels hollow. In fact, a once-a-year show of recognition can do more harm than good, as employees may perceive these actions as insincere. Whether in relationships or the workplace, real appreciation is built through consistent, meaningful recognition. Recognition is even more critical as companies across industries are rolling back their DEI initiatives—a shift that could impact efforts to create more inclusive workplaces. Some organizations are quietly deprioritizing diversity programs, while others, like Meta, have made highly visible cuts to their DEI teams. As DEI initiatives shrink, rebrand, or disappear entirely, it’s more important than ever to reinforce inclusion through everyday practices. Recognition is one of the simplest and most effective ways to do this. When employees feel seen and valued for their contributions, inclusion becomes embedded in workplace culture—not just a corporate talking point. 4 ways to foster a culture of inclusive recognition Employees at organizations with highly integrated recognition—where recognition is frequent, meaningful, and embedded in the culture—are 10 times more likely to trust their organization and nine times more likely to believe their organization cares about them. Yet, many organizations still treat recognition as an afterthought rather than an everyday practice. Consider these four ways to make recognition a consistent and impactful part of your culture: 1. Make recognition a daily habit Think about the last time you thanked a colleague for their contributions. Was it last week? Last month? If you can’t remember, it’s time to make recognition a habit. Start by incorporating recognition into existing routines. Take a few minutes at the beginning or end of team meetings to acknowledge recent contributions. When providing feedback—whether in one-on-one conversations, emails, or project updates—call out specific actions that made a difference. Use digital tools like Slack or Microsoft Teams to create a space for company-wide appreciation. Recognition doesn’t have to come from leadership alone. You should also encourage peer-to-peer appreciation so employees feel valued by their colleagues, as well. The more ingrained recognition becomes in daily interactions, the more it fosters a culture where everyone feels seen and included. 2. Recognize behaviors, not just outcomes If you’re only recognizing employees for hitting goals—like exceeding sales targets or completing big projects—you’re missing a big part of what makes teams successful. How employees work is just as important as what they achieve. Think about the employees who mentor others, uplift their teammates, or create an environment where all voices are heard. These behaviors drive long-term success, but they often go unnoticed. If you want to build an inclusive culture, make a point to acknowledge the ways employees support and collaborate with each other, not just their individual accomplishments. For example, instead of only celebrating the top performer in a department, recognize the team member who made sure everyone was set up for success. Call out those who took the time to share knowledge, advocate for a colleague’s ideas, or create a positive team environment. By shifting the focus beyond just results, you ensure that a wider range of contributions are valued. 3. Ensure recognition is visible and equitable It’s easy to default to recognizing the employees who are the most vocal or who work on high-visibility projects. But what about the ones who contribute just as much behind the scenes? Unconscious bias can lead to some employees receiving less recognition than their peers. Take a step back and assess who is getting recognized in your organization. Are the same names coming up repeatedly while others are overlooked? If so, make a conscious effort to expand recognition across teams, levels, and roles. Ensure that recognition is public and visible, whether it’s through a company-wide newsletter, town hall meeting, or a shared appreciation board. When recognition is equitable, employees across all levels feel like their work matters. 4. Use Employee Appreciation Day as a reflection point When recognition happens consistently, Employee Appreciation Day becomes a meaningful reflection of the past year’s achievements rather than a last-minute attempt to show gratitude. Instead of using it as the only time to celebrate employees, think of it as an opportunity to reinforce and amplify your year-round recognition efforts. Use it to tell meaningful stories of teamwork, highlight moments when employees went above and beyond, and showcase the contributions that have shaped your organization’s success. Framing the day as a reflection rather than a one-off event helps strengthen your culture of appreciation. This is also a great moment to gather feedback from employees. Ask them how they prefer to be recognized. Some might appreciate public shoutouts, while others prefer personal acknowledgments from leadership. Use this input to refine your approach and make recognition even more impactful. The goal is to ensure that employees feel valued all the time, not just when it’s expected. The bottom line: Inclusion is built daily If employees only hear expressions of praise and recognition once a year on Employee Appreciation Day, you’re missing out on the opportunity to build a more engaged, connected workforce. A culture of recognition helps strengthen workplace relationships, increase motivation, and create an environment where people want to do their best work. It’s also important to remember that recognition alone isn’t enough. Without a living wage, reasonable hours, and supportive management, praise won’t drive true engagement or job satisfaction. Recognition must be paired with a fair and respectful work environment. By making recognition a daily habit, celebrating behaviors as well as outcomes, and ensuring appreciation is visible and equitable, you can create a workplace where your employees feel valued every single day. View the full article

Starting today, thousands of changemakers and leaders will descend upon Austin for one of the biggest festivals and conferences of the year: South by Southwest (SXSW). It’s the “level playing field” event where startups and Fortune 500 companies share the same stage to discuss the hottest topics and trends in film, tech, sustainability and travel, social good, and health and wellness. It’s where brands unveil new products, relationships are formed, and celebrities premiere their films. However, despite its popularity as a must-attend event, you won’t find SXSW in your Google Calendar app. You also won’t find two other cultural events in March: Women’s History Month or International Women’s Day (March 8), which ironically the start of SXSW often falls on or around. This omission isn’t due to a tech issue, either. It’s part of the Big Tech company’s attempt to get distance from what is now considered a dirty acronym: DEI. Last month, Google Calendar users noticed that cultural events and observances like Black History Month, Pride Month, and Jewish Heritage were no longer displayed on the app. And while the company claims that the changes were made in 2024, the recent response from users comes at a time when any and all changes—quiet or loud—tied to DEI are heavily scrutinized. In 2025, we have officially entered a DEI paradox where everyone—from consumers to employees to global brands—are navigating major backlash and uncertainty of how exactly we can and should use words like diversity, equity, and inclusion. In 2020, hundreds of brands were proud to share their commitments and promises to do better. In 2025, many of the same brands not only removed these promises from their websites but some have even gone so far as to completely distance themselves from any mention of DEI. What a difference five years makes. Google’s decision to remove cultural events like Black History Month and Women’s History Month from its calendar app is just the latest example a major company failing to understand the true value of DEI. As we kick off SXSW, let’s look back at where we’ve been but more importantly, where we still need to go. A Revolving Door of Diversity Officers and Changing Language In 2020, Google made the following commitments: improve representation of underrepresented groups in leadership by 30% and more than double the number of Black workers at non-senior levels by 2025. The next year, Google released its year-over-year hiring data with the following statement: “we’re expanding access to hiring opportunities for underrepresented groups in many parts of the world by centering racial equity across every part of our hiring process—for leaders, hiring managers, and all Googlers.” The Big Tech company didn’t even make it to 2023 before it cut dedicated staff and downsized its DEI programs. Easy promises to make, easy promises to break. And Google is not alone. Just look at the “revolving door” of diversity officers that have clocked in and out of major businesses since 2020: Pinterest, Apple, Zoom, Airbnb, Netflix, and Disney. All of these companies hired dedicated leaders attached to big announcements and pledges and all these companies saw high rates of turnover and DEI departures. Now in 2025, it’s become even easier to dismantle the work and efforts. Google recently announced its plans to end hiring goals for representation and its former Chief Diversity Officer, Melonie Parker, is now VP, Googler Engagement. Google’s Belonging website now includes phrases like “innovative hiring” and “reflecting our users.” The shift in language is reflective of a greater issue that has surfaced in recent months: the “urgent” need to comply with federal policies and executive orders that have reversed previous efforts from the past 50 years to address discrimination and increase diversity and inclusion. This has set a dangerous tone and precedent for 2025 that the great work and efforts from the past 50 years should be seen as a setback instead of a success. This is untrue and unacceptable. What we need from DEI in 2025 According to the World Economic Forum, at the current rate of progress, it will take until 2158 to reach full gender parity. This year’s theme for International Women’s Day is “accelerate action,” which is a call for urgency, inclusion, and transformative change. Imagine a world where instead of shining a spotlight on the critics, we shine a spotlight on the efforts and achievements that uplift and inspire women to strive for success without the restrictions of bias and discrimination. For companies, brands and leaders who are still committed to the work, here is how we accelerate action in 2025: Less Flash, More Substance: The foundation of DEI initiatives and programs goes beyond flashy titles, heritage months, and impressive speeches. Companies need to scale back and focus on important components like standardized hiring practices, recruitment from a wider talent pool, and regular pay-gap reviews for all employees. Learn from Mistakes, Don’t Dwell On Them: Women are underrepresented at every level in technology according to data from recruitment company Anderson Frank. Women still only make up 25% of the tech workforce. DEI plays a big role here. Companies need to provide and prioritize inclusive training opportunities, address gender diversity policies, and bring in more female leaders to act as mentors. Make Room for a New DEI Framework: It’s clear that an acronym has become too problematic. Lily Zheng, author, strategist, and outspoken advocate for DEI, recently shared that they hold DEI programs to the “highest standard of effectiveness” using a framework called FAIR, which stands for fairness, access, inclusion, and representation. Companies should consider this new framework as an opportunity for real change and progress. How can companies move beyond performative gestures to make a genuine impact? First let’s answer the question and then let’s get to work. View the full article

When I was 35, a ruptured brain aneurysm nearly killed me. My husband and I had just moved to a new city, bought our first house, adopted a dog, and I had recently started my own business. Life was running at 100 miles an hour and I thought this is what hustling was supposed to feel like. Living my best life, right? Until I collapsed, unconscious, on my bathroom floor. I miraculously survived. Recovery wasn’t always easy due to my new cognitive deficits. However, the experience taught me about the power of empathy to heal and how clarity and decisive action — especially when the stakes are high — can be the most compassionate things someone can do to alleviate stress, confusion, and anxiety. From staff supporting my husband in those crucial first hours to my care team treating me as a person—calling me by name and letting me choose my meals for six weeks—I felt seen, heard, and valued. Their kindness eased my stress and made a difficult time less isolating. According to a 2024 Businessolver State of Workplace Empathy Study, 37% of CEOs still believe empathy has no place in the workplace. This same study shows a marked increase in perceptions of workplaces being toxic. Clearly, we have a workplace conundrum that needs addressing. Engagement is down and mental health issues are up. Experts now cite loneliness as a health epidemic. It begs the question: Should empathy ever be put aside at work, or should we be doubling down on it? When we define empathy too narrowly, we overlook its power to build resilient, high-performing teams and boost engagement, collaboration, and innovation. Empathy means seeing, understanding, and, when appropriate, feeling another’s perspective—then using that insight to act with compassion. It’s a way to gather information, understand context, and take the next right step together. With this definition, it is safe to say that unless you are being physically or psychologically hurt, there are almost no circumstances where we should be putting empathy aside at work. Empathy at work includes practicing clarity, transparency, and decisiveness. Going back to my story — Above all, I credit my surgeon and care team for practicing the often overlooked aspects of empathy: decisiveness, transparency, and clarity. Can you imagine if my surgeon stalled on a decision to give my family a chance to research, analyze, or familiarize themselves with what was going on? He shared the information, clearly explained the risks and upsides, and patiently answered their questions, but he made a firm decision to move forward because he kept his eye on the ultimate goal: Saving my life. This kind of decisive action was exactly what my disoriented and overwhelmed husband needed at that moment. It was truly empathetic. Harvard Business School professor highlights the importance of decisive action when he writes, “A comprehensive study of compassion in the Clinical Psychology Review defines it as recognizing suffering, understanding it, and feeling empathy for the sufferer—but also tolerating the uncomfortable feelings they and the suffering person are experiencing, and, crucially, acting to alleviate the suffering.” Here are some ways that empathetic leaders can show up with greater decisiveness. Revisit your goal and purpose — often Leaders can often get caught up in the drama surrounding important decisions and lose sight of the goal. Create a way to clearly kick yourself in the pants as you make a decision: make your goal physically visible using a sticky note or by including it at the top of every discussion agenda. Read the mission out loud when you kick off meetings to reorient everyone to true north. Here are some tactics to try: Bake in goal-review processes: You can add goal statements to tracking paperwork, insist on reviewing the purpose at every major goalpost, or ask stakeholders to consider the overall goal any time they request a change or addition. Make goal-centricity a group endeavor: Ask your team members or colleagues to be accountability partners in remaining goal-focused. They can remind you, “Which option aligns with the larger purpose?” whenever they see you waffling. Practice transparency There’s no need to make all decisions in a secretive way and unveil them only when they are fully baked. Learn to be clearer quicker, and if possible, talk openly about the choices you’re making and have made. Don’t be afraid to say, “I don’t know, but let’s find out together.” A study published in the Journal of Communication Management reveals how transparent communication significantly influences employees’ trust in their organizations. Here are some tactics to try: Share your failures: Being human with your teams means they’ll feel comfortable doing the same, which builds empathy in both directions. It also will slowly erode any anxiety you have about making “bad” or “wrong” decisions. Process with trusted colleagues: By allowing yourself to process with team members or other leaders verbally, you can reveal your thought processes and limiting factors. Solicit and synthesize input Practice soliciting input from others, but be clear that once a decision is made, naysayers will be asked to disagree but commit. At a certain point, we’ve all got to move forward together and still be committed to the mission. Focus on impact: While general feedback is important, if you want to be decisive by implementing input quickly, you need specifics. You can practice asking the feedback-giver to recommend one thing you could do that would make a difference to them Express enthusiasm for feedback: Ideally, soliciting input should be constant, not sporadic. Verbally reward and encourage feedback regularly. Start small: You can try a low-risk experiment, like asking everyone to vote for the location of the next off-site, department lunch. Leverage all that input to quickly make a call yourself, and practice communicating your decision back. Set a deadline In an article for Fast Company, psychotherapist Amy Morin recommends getting in the habit of setting deadlines for decisions that trip you up. If it’s a small decision—say, picking a spot for a business lunch—give yourself a few hours. If it’s weightier—a big investment or strategic pivot—think more in terms of days or weeks. Here are some tactics to try: Leverage tech: It may sound simple, but just putting a reminder in your phone or calendar can help you stay on track to make decisions in a timely manner. Schedule a decision review block each day: Consider setting aside thirty minutes or so each day to review and mull upcoming choices. This is also a good forcing mechanism for leaders who are overwhelmed by choices. Empathy isn’t just about listening and understanding—it’s about acting decisively, transparently, and with clarity when it matters most so no one is left anxious and scared in the dark. Leaders who embrace these qualities foster trust, reduce anxiety, and inspire collaboration, even during challenging times. View the full article

The true causes of growth are one of the great mysteries of economic thoughtView the full article

Tyler, the CEO of an early-stage technology company, reached out for executive coaching support at the recommendation of a college friend: “Give it a try,” she encouraged. He was skeptical about anything “touchy-feely” and wondered if coaching could offer his leadership an “edge.” After we reviewed his 360 results together, Tyler’s skepticism took center stage. His feedback consisted of descriptors like controlling, arrogant, and dismissive. Tyler was unmoved. He asked, “Why should I care about what people think of me if we’re getting great results?” Tyler’s not an anomaly. There are leaders everywhere who behave badly interpersonally but exceed sales goals, secure investor funding, or get a product to market in record time. As executive coaches who have supported hundreds of senior leaders, we believe this one-dimensional focus on results is seductive, but eventually self-sabotaging and shortsighted. Today’s leaders need to focus on results and interpersonal relationships for long-term success. Here are some reasons why: Competitive and collaborative leaders get the strongest results Tyler has been successful to-date, and he believes that will continue even if he keeps deprioritizing relationships. Of course, research says that’s unlikely. A study of sales organizations that the National Bureau Of Economic Research conducted found that there is a cost to promoting stars who haven’t built skills in collaborating with or developing people. Their teams will make, on average, 30% fewer sales than sales teams with collaborative managers. Bad behavior reduces long-term effectiveness Tyler, as a start-up CEO, can “get away” with bad behavior now given his results. However, over time toxic leaders contribute to reduced productivity, decreased employee performance, increased turnover, and increased legal fees, according to a study in Health Psychology Research. These consequences are a drain on resources and tenured employees. Bottom line, bad behavior catches up with leaders. Tending to relationships and results secures more longevity in senior roles. Caring is a worthwhile investment Tyler’s strategy might be working now, but leadership strategies need to be resilient to professional and personal change. One senior leader, Alexandra, who routinely delivered impressive results, did so at the cost of her team’s morale (For example, she didn’t take their complaints to HR seriously). Then, Alexandra’s aging parents’ health concerns required her to routinely fly cross country to manage their care. When Alexandra’s capacity shifted, her team resisted stepping-up to assist her. Alexandra’s nonexistent social capital with her team ended up costing the company floundering results. The company demanded intensive leadership coaching for Alexandra and a commitment to change. She eventually shifted her leadership style in accordance with research—where cultivating an environment that prioritizes people and relationships is good for business. How to course correct: There’s no one-size-fits-all solution to move from challenged to successful people leader. However, here are three steps to begin excelling at both financial and people development metrics. 1. Focus on self: shift intimidating behaviors First, identify the specific behaviors that inhibit the people you work alongside. Pay attention to feedback like, “She dominates the conversation with her opinions,” or “When I ask clarifying questions, he gets exasperated.” Years of research on psychological safety illuminates the downsides of leading through fear. Ultimately, this contributes to lower levels of effectiveness and engagement. Once you’re clear on your unproductive behaviors, pick small new behaviors that invite learning and new perspectives versus fear. One effective way to form stronger connections with colleagues is to ask curious questions. Some examples include, “What else do you want me to understand?” or “Can you tell me more about how you see the challenge?” or “What’s your perspective?” 2. Focus on others: invest in developing your people Taking time to engage with your employees and have meaningful career development conversations builds loyalty. People want to perform well for leaders who support their long-term career development. Set the stage by letting your people know you’ll find time twice a year to explore their career aspirations. Send questions like these in advance to prime the pump for a meaningful conversation. Where do you hope to see yourself 10 years from now? What other roles do you see in the company that interest you? If you could design your next role at the company, what would you want it to look like and why? What is one skill (technical or soft) that if you were to develop, would benefit you greatly for the next five years? Start the conversation by stating your intention: to help your employee develop in ways that are meaningful to them. Then, discuss your employee’s answers to the questions and layer on your own thoughts. You might say, “I also see you as Marketing Director in the next few years and could see you overseeing Sales too given your creative mind and focus on data.” It’s affirming to have your manager share what they envision for you along with validating any strengths. Finally, discuss ways to get more on-the-job experience in their areas of interest over the coming months. Your employee should leave with a plan of action for how to make progress on their career goals and an understanding of how you’ll support their efforts. 3. Focus on team: build interdependency Often team leaders with a high need for control rely on a hub-and-spoke model of management where every problem goes through them. This is inefficient and loses the benefits that interdependent teams can give their organizations, the chance to outperform competitors and increase profitability. No leader will perfectly tend to results and people. But understanding the importance of both often leads to organizational success. When Tyler agreed to explore this, he found himself inspired in new ways. He dove into the challenge of defining how to demonstrate care for his people while simultaneously holding them to a high bar. It’s not easy. But as the leaders we’ve worked with have found, it’s much more fulfilling to drive results together with their team, rather than at their expense and well-being. View the full article

Have you seen the new Volvo ad made with generative artificial intelligence? Go ahead. Watch it. . . . I’ll wait. If you think it looks awful, you’re not alone. The physics are all wrong, with hair, sand, and objects going in the wrong direction at the wrong time. The humans look like they’re made of plastic. Their emotions are forced, their expressions deformed, their smiles anything but warm. Instead, they likely fill you with an uncanny Grand Canyon of dread. The lighting is artificial, too—no film, digital camera, or grading would produce that unnatural palette. Some people are saying that Volvo made a mistake by not putting a car in the ad, obviously not realizing that currently there’s no video generator that can reliably re-create objects. Had the ad’s creators tried to produce a Volvo, they’d have ended up with a car with morphing proportions and features that change from shot to shot. The ad was made with Midjourney, which is pretty bad, but Sora, Kling, or Luma would have screwed it up too. And while apparently it is fine to create uncanny humans for promotional purposes, I’m pretty sure that the Swedish car company wouldn’t have accepted a Frankenvolvo. [Image: Volvo Cars KSA]According to Adweek, who spoke to Lion, the Dubai-based creative agency behind the spot, the ad is an effort to reintroduce Volvo to Saudi Arabia after years of pulling back on business in the region. Lion’s founder and executive creative director, Osama Saddiq, told the publication: “The ad is a mélange of ‘technically accurate and culturally resonant renders for Saudi Arabia. AI today is rarely humanized—most executions are tactical, with little focus on brand storytelling. Our approach was different. We started by crafting a narrative that strategically aligned with Volvo’s comeback in the region.” The issue, of course, is that nothing in the ad feels human, mammalian, or even protozoan. [Image: Volvo Cars KSA]According to Lion, using AI reduced production timelines from “months to weeks.” That might be enough to sell a business on the technology. And sure, there’s a place for AI in current production, but generating entire ads is not it—at least not yet. We’ve seen this exact issue time and time again with brands that use technology for technology’s sake. From Coca-Cola to Toys “R” Us, brands that use emerging technology as a shorthand for creative innovation usually come to regret it. [Image: Volvo Cars KSA]I’m sure some people will protest this ad for its ethical considerations; because they don’t like the idea of AI putting people in the creative and film industries out of a job. That’s a real concern. But the reason this ad shouldn’t exist is simpler than that: It just looks bad. So here’s a piece of advice for ad creators out there: It’s time to forget about AI for a few years. Come back to it when it’s ready, and when you have a good idea for how to actually use it. View the full article

Stanley Druckenmiller has spent years quietly running his family office. Now one protégé is Treasury secretary and another is vying for Fed chairView the full article

Gen Z isn’t “quiet quitting”—they’re rejecting outdated leadership. That’s the conversation my recent Fast Company article sparked, and the response has been overwhelming. Leaders, managers, and employees from across industries have reached out, confirming what many of us have seen firsthand. Workplace culture is changing fast, and leadership needs to evolve with it. But as the dust settles on this conversation, I’ve been thinking about a different question: If leadership needs to evolve, what role does Gen Z play in shaping the change they want? It’s easy to say leadership is broken—and in many cases, it is. But just as bad leadership creates disengaged employees, disengaged employees can reinforce bad leadership. And while Gen Z is demanding more fairness, structure, and transparency from their workplaces, the truth is: building better leadership isn’t just a job for managers. Gen Z is in a unique position in the workforce. They’re the first generation that’ll work alongside more generations than any before them, whether that’s boomers delaying retirement, or Gen X, millennials, and even the generation coming up behind them. This isn’t just a leadership shift—it’s a multigenerational workplace shift. That means creating better workplaces will require something more than just rejecting old models—it will require bravery, self-advocacy, and a willingness to collaborate across generations. Past generations have valuable knowledge, hard-earned experience, and different perspectives that can help Gen Z navigate the workforce—if they engage with them. If Gen Z wants a different kind of workplace, they also have to play an active role in creating it. Here’s how. 1. Know the difference between bad leadership and imperfect leadership There’s a big difference between a truly toxic work environment and a flawed or frustrating one. Not every manager is a bad leader—many are undertrained, overwhelmed, or trying to adapt to the same changing workplace dynamics as everyone else. Instead of assuming leadership is the enemy, Gen Z employees can look for opportunities to bridge the gap. If they’re not sure about what the company expects, they should ask their manager. If they get inconsistent feedback, perhaps it’s worth requesting regular check-ins. When they wait for leadership to be “perfect” before engaging with it, it sets everyone up for failure. Ask yourself: Am I giving leadership the same patience I want them to give me? 2. Find common ground across generations Many credit Gen Z with bringing work-life balance back into the conversation. That’s a good thing. But sometimes, the conversation confuses balance with disengagement. Healthy boundaries mean knowing your limits and advocating for yourself. But they don’t mean withdrawing from conversations that can actually improve workplace culture. If you’re frustrated by leadership, speak up constructively and respectfully. If you see a manager is struggling, offer feedback or solutions. Employees that cocreate workplaces result in better cultures than companies that try to dictate their culture in a top-down manner. At the same time, finding common ground with older generations can make workplace relationships stronger. It’s easy to assume boomers and Gen Z have nothing in common, but that’s not always the case. Remember, bridging the gap doesn’t mean ignoring generational differences—it means looking for shared values and experiences. Ask yourself: Am I setting boundaries—or just checking out? Am I looking for ways to build connections across generations, or assuming those gaps are too big to close? 3. Be part of the solution, not just the critique A lot of companies don’t get Gen Z—there’s no denying that. But change doesn’t happen just by pointing out what’s wrong. The best way to shape workplace culture is to lead by example. Want more transparency? Be transparent in your own work. Want stronger communication? Initiate conversations and share ideas. Want a culture of fairness? Look for ways to support your colleagues, not just yourself. This is especially true in a multigenerational workplace. Each generation brings something to the table—and bridging that gap will require curiosity, mutual respect, and a willingness to learn from those who came before. The future of leadership is collaborative Yes, leadership needs to evolve. But Gen Z isn’t just the future of the workforce—they’re the future of leadership. And leadership isn’t something that just happens at the top. It happens every time someone takes initiative, creates clarity, or builds trust in the workplace. Leaders will not be the only ones building the workplace of the future. Teams, employees and managers need to work together if they want to create something better. That’s the real challenge—and the real opportunity. Is Gen Z ready to lead the change they want to see? View the full article

How are the world’s most creative people using AI to drive their work forward? This was the question at the heart of an in-depth survey Fast Company recently conducted in partnership with Whalar, a leading social agency focused on content creators. We found that, for most, AI has become a routine part of the creative process—and a return to an AI-free working life has become almost unfathomable. Yet the survey also found the world’s creative elite are grappling with a technology that gets more powerful and useful every day but remains unwieldy, error-prone, and not entirely trustworthy. “I want people to understand how well it can augment and enhance the thinking process—not just the creative and generative thinking process, but the thinking process itself,” said one respondent. “If AI is used responsibly, it’s a wonderful collaborative partner and needn’t be feared.” We sent the detailed (anonymous) survey to a diverse cohort of people who have been honored in Fast Company’s “Most Creative People in Business” list over the years, plus a selection of independent content creators, and got 100 responses. The result offers a close look at how the world’s leading creatives are using this revolutionary technology to shape the future of their industries and the wider world. “The internet first revolutionized the playing field by democratizing publishing and audience access,” says Neil Waller, co-CEO of the Whalar Group. “Now, AI is creating the next massive rebalancing, this time in creative production capability. What excites me most is watching creators, who are inherently nimble and unburdened by legacy systems, adopt AI tools with remarkable speed. ” EARLY AND ENTHUSIASTIC ADOPTERS First, here are some key stats on the respondents: Forty-seven percent of those who responded were founders, partners, or principals of their companies, and 65% were 10 C-suite or higher. The top industries were tech (22%), design (16%), and entertainment (14%), and substantial numbers came from healthcare, science and research, and the nonprofit sector. The size of their organizations ranged from global behemoths to solo creators. Twenty-two percent of respondents booked more than $1 billion in revenue in 2024. Twenty percent did less than $1 million. Unsurprisingly, these folks are not new to AI, for the most part. More than a third (39%) have been aware of AI usage in their industry for more than five years, and 19% began using it themselves that long ago. Another third (30%) began using the technology two to three years ago, a timeframe that aligns with the arrival of ChatGPT in November 2022. “Eighty-three percent have incorporated AI into their creative process, and nearly half (48%) rely on it for most or all of their projects. “I absolutely use it every single day—probably five times a day or more,” says Joel Bervell, a med-school student and popular influencer known on TikTok and Instagram as the Medical Mythbuster. Text-based software still dominates usage. Three quarters (74%) of the respondents use AI primarily to generate or manipulate words, with only 26% saying they mainly use it for still images or video. “Whenever I use AI for writing, I make sure to make it my own,” says Amy Merrill, an artist, musician, web designer, and founder of Plan C Pills, a nonprofit dedicated to preserving abortion access nationwide. “But sometimes my tired and overstretched brain needs help synthesizing, and I’m grateful for the tool to be able to take a heady, complex question or issue and compress it into a more or less understandable response that I can adapt, correct, personalize, and use. Sometimes it feels like it saves me time in the clumsy human part, while allowing me to preserve the thought leadership part.” WHICH TOOLS ARE MOST POPULAR? OpenAI’s ChatGPT continues to dominate the LLM market, with 69% citing it as their go-to app, followed by Google’s Gemini (28%), Anthropic’s Claude (19%), and Microsoft’s Copilot (18%). Google leads in AI search, but it’s far less dominant than in traditional search. While well over half of respondents (57%) say they primarily use Google’s AI summaries, 14% cited Perplexity and 7% Microsoft’s Bing. Twenty-eight percent said they don’t use AI search at all. (For those tallying up the numbers, respondents could select more than one answer.) On the image side, Midjourney came out on top at 28%, followed by Adobe Firefly at 19% and OpenAI’s DALL-E at 16%. “We use Midjourney to create posters for our shows,” says Plan C Pills’ Merrill. “We love the experience of prompting and feeding in inspiration, and in return getting something we never would’ve thought of.” Fashion designer Arturo Obegero recently collaborated with an artist to create an ad campaign featuring real models against an AI-generated backdrop. “We never would have been able to afford that shoot [IRL],” he says. In that vein, notes Waller of Whalar, “a creator with passion, vision, and an AI tool kit can now produce content that previously required a 20-person team and a seven-figure budget.” Although AI generally saves time and money, it’s not always smooth sailing. “While the AI tools helped generate images quickly, it can be a real struggle to get results that meet our standards,” said one respondent, articulating a theme that came up repeatedly in the anonymous responses. “We have spent many hours sifting through hundreds of generated images that more or less looked similar. It’s [often not] until we manually create more specific visual inputs such as sketches or quick 3D models/ screenshots that we’re able to direct the images to be more specific and distinctive and reflect our aesthetics and design principles.” Despite AI’s growing role in image creation, video tools have yet to see widespread adoption outside industries that rely on them, with 76% of respondents saying they don’t use them at all. Of those who do, Adobe Premiere Pro was the most popular application (15%), followed by Runway (5%), and Synthesia (3%). Among respondents who use AI to help write code, ChatGPT was most popular at 25%, Github Coplit was second at 10%, and Claude third at 8%. WHERE AI IS HELPING THE MOST (AND THE LEAST) We asked respondents how AI is affecting their creative work and overall business. A plurality of respondents praised production speed (44% “very positive”) and idea generation (35%), with marketing/promotion (25%) and revenue generation (25%) tying for third. Production speed and idea generation go hand in hand. Many respondents noted that AI allows them to focus on creative ideation by automating tedious tasks and enabling rapid iteration without the need for physical prototypes. “This dual transformation—amplifying creative potential while streamlining business operations—is why AI represents such a profound accelerator for the creator economy,” says Waller. “When harnessed the right way, it’s not replacing the creator’s voice. It’s supercharging it, and unlocking the next chapter of growth.” On the flip side, there were grave and consistent concerns about consumer trust. “My greatest fear is not about creativity,” said one respondent. “My greatest fear is that we are entering a dystopian era when people will lose trust in what they see and hear.” “I now doubt every video I see on the internet,” said another. “Everything is no longer a ‘wow’ video since it could possibly be AI.” We also asked for respondents’ views on how AI will affect the job market in their industries. Surprisingly, 39% said it would have neither a positive or a negative impact on job creation, and 34% said it would have a “somewhat positive” or “very positive” impact. Only 28% predicted the impact would be “somewhat negative” or “very negative” impact. But when asked to predict how many jobs in their industry would be replaced by AI, 42% replied that about a fifth of all jobs would be lost to machines. THE PARADOX OF AI That apparent contradiction reflects a macro theme that infused the survey results in a variety of ways: a sense that we are living through a technological shift that is existentially game-changing but ultimately still nascent. Think of it like a young and immensely talented athlete: The potential is indisputable and crystal clear, but the coordination and mastery just aren’t there yet. “It fails all the time in code, but I just test and ask for revisions,” said one respondent. “I used it to help prep me for a business meeting,” said another. “The client company had just emerged from Chapter 11, and ChatGPT didn’t think to mention that little fact.” Overall, though, most respondents took the rise of AI as an inevitable and ultimately positive thing that nevertheless requires human will to control. “Are you gonna let AI take over you,” asks Joel Bervell, the Medical Mythbuster, “or are you gonna let it enhance your work?” In that spirit of optimism, we’ll close with the most utopian anonymous comment in the entire survey: “I truly believe we are unlocking new insights into information, understanding, creativity and human potential, including our growing ability to understand the ecosystem we live in and the vast potential to coexist with each other and everything else in it. Let’s do this!!” View the full article

Management at the Bay Area transportation startup Glydways wants you to be clear about what the company is not: It may plan to move people in futuristic autonomous pods, but it’s not hyperloop-grade vaporware. And its funding by big-name Silicon Valley investors does not make it a ride for the 1%. “Public transit for everyone, everywhere,” says founder Mark Seeger. But Glydways is starting smaller than that. Its first green-lit project (after a temporary test track now under construction next to an abandoned mall in Richmond, Calif.) and others under consideration by local governments will have Glydways’s four-seat electric vehicles plying short on-demand routes between existing business and transportation hubs. [Image: Glydways]That debut pilot effort—a half-mile route linking a convention center and arena to the last stop on a people mover outside Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport—is on a small enough scale to evoke the Vegas Loop that Elon Musk’s Boring Company opened as a shortcut between three of the halls of the Las Vegas Convention Center. “We want to see how well the system operates with various fluctuations of riders showing its ability to scale and that it is indeed a viable transit option,” says Krystal Harris, program director for ATL Airport Community Improvement Districts. After two years of free-fare service, that agency and the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority will assess how things worked and if the technology merits expansion. Putting a cap on capexThe $18 million in construction and operational costs that Harris cited may seem steep for such a short distance, but not in the context of U.S. transit construction expenses that have made the country exceptional in the wrong way. For example, the $3 billion Silver Line extension that Washington’s Metro system opened to Washington Dulles International Airport and beyond in late 2022 cost $263 million a mile, including a large rail yard built by the airport. That, however, looks like an outright steal next to other U.S. rail projects, topped by the Long Island Rail Road’s East Side Access project in New York and its $3.5 billion a mile expense. Glydways, meanwhile, touts a design for simple, narrow guideways that require neither rails nor electric power via overhead wires or third rails that it says will cost 90% less than traditional transit. [Image: Glydways]“We can do it for tens of millions,” Glydways CEO Gokul Hemmady says, adding that at-grade costs could run still lower at just $2 to $3 million per mile while elevated paths needed to avoid grade crossings could run $15 million a mile. “The moment you’re in pedestrian-class infrastructure, your costs plummet,” he says. “The world knows how to build this.” Construction costs of some recent U.S. cyclist and pedestrian infrastructure fall roughly into that minor-league ballpark. A trail being built along the SMART commuter-rail line in Sonoma and Marin counties in California has run about $4 million a mile. Two bridges on the Washington & Old Dominion Trail constructed over wide roads in Arlington and Fairfax counties in Virginia had project costs around $30 million a mile. But a veteran transit consultant who has led projects in North America, Europe, and Australia and New Zealand warned against expense extrapolation. Writes Jarrett Walker: “They will have to build out a demo project before we know.” No human operators, some operating costsThe operational part of the Glydways pitch involves leveraging autonomous-vehicle advances to provide high-frequency, on-demand service around the clock at fares not that far above traditional transit—with the ability to transport 10,000 people an hour. “We offer ride-hailing-like experience at a fraction of the cost,” says Hemmady. Pressed for an example, he cites the Oakland Airport Connector, an automated, elevated train that runs between that airport and Bay Area Rapid Transit’s Oakland Coliseum station for a one-way fare of $7.45. But while those fares covered 96% of the connector’s operating costs pre-pandemic, Hemmady says Glydways’s lower costs—30% of other modes of transit, the company says—will let it clear a profit: “We are the only mass transit system that is revenue positive.” A Glydways vehicle shown off at CES 2025 was all shiny modernity, with a streamlined exterior hiding camera, lidar and radar sensors, and large doors that slid open to reveal a clean plastic interior with tap-to-pay terminals by those doors. The closest visual parallel: the pod-like Zoox robotaxis now rolling around Vegas in test drives. The lack of human operators or attendants has led some critics to raise safety concerns, but Glydways emphasizes that short waits at stations and the limited number of passengers per vehicle will keep it safe. [Animation: Glydways]Older, almost as small-scale “personal rapid transit” systems built on older autonomous technology—such as one that runs between campuses of West Virginia University in Morgantown, W. Va.—have operated without incident for decades. Larger automated-train systems rely on a combination of surveillance and patrolling. For example, Vancouver’s SkyTrain equips its driverless trains with emergency intercom systems and contact systems while having attendants and transit police at stations. Next stopsAfter the Atlanta pilot, Glydways has advanced to final stages of consideration in a San Jose project to link that city’s Caltrain and Amtrak train station with San José Mineta International Airport—a 3.4 mile route that Google Maps estimates as a seven-minute drive but a 40-plus-minute transit adventure. Glydways says it can build that mostly elevated route, with its vehicles taking eight minutes between the station and the airport, for under the city’s $500 million cost cap but isn’t specifying a cost estimate. The city council should be voting on its proposal, which allows for possible extensions to such nearby traffic generators as Apple’s headquarters, in the coming weeks. [Image: Glydways]This company has a comparable plan not far north of San Jose in Contra Costa County, where it’s pitched its technology as an automated transit network to provide transportation from train stations to nearby destinations. And in the Los Angeles suburb of Ontario, Glydways has advanced a proposal to use its vehicles in a tunnel to connect Ontario International Airport with the closest Metrolink commuter-rail station. The Boring Company had earlier offered a version of the Vegas Loop concept but abandoned that bid in 2022. Glydways’s proposition of robotic transportation has the advantage of not having to coexist with human-driven traffic like robotaxis like Waymo. And the company has the advantage of funding from such deep-pocketed investors as the VC firm Khosla Ventures and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. But in the realm of transit, self-driving technology isn’t something Glydways invented, and many transit agencies outside the U.S. already employ it on higher-capacity subway and light-rail lines. And as autonomous mobility continues to advance on public roads, Walker suggests that established transit operators will be able to make better use of it than any startup that has to pour new concrete—even if the technology goes into something as unfancy as buses. Says Walker: “If driverless technology becomes available, debugged, and socially accepted, there will be all kinds of applications, including much bigger-vehicle services that will be a better use of scarce space in dense cities.” View the full article

As artificial intelligence begins to “devour the world,” job seekers must adapt their strategy to stand out in the hiring process. Hiring managers have begun to populate their interviews with questions about how prospective employees use AI in their work. According to industry experts, these types of questions will become more common as time goes on and AI continues to advance. In fact, 88% of C-suite leaders say speeding up AI adoption is important over the next year, according to LinkedIn’s 2025 Work Change Report. This can be daunting for people who don’t work in technology. You certainly don’t want to tell a hiring manager that you use ChatGPT to write and ideate everything for you, but you also don’t want to seem behind. We asked three hiring experts in different industries how non-techies can best navigate questions about AI in a job interview. Tip 1: Show curiosity Good news! Not being skilled in AI isn’t a deal-breaker. Even if you are far from an AI expert, you should highlight your curiosity about the technology in your interviewing process, notes Gillian Davis, chief people officer at strategic communications firm Mission North. She recommends that job applicants speak about a willingness to learn and adapt quickly. “It’s most important that you’re interested in AI, that you have a curiosity about it, and that you’re willing to look at it as a powerful complement to talent,” Davis says. AI is most powerful in the PR and communications space when it’s used as a way to tackle the mundane tasks, she says. Davis suggests showing off your understanding of what AI’s capabilities are, how you can apply it to real-world scenarios, and your willingness to continue learning about and adapting to the new technology. For example, you could talk about ways you’ve used AI to be more productive and to free yourself up to perform the highest-value parts of your work. Davis says when she speaks with potential hires who are wary of integrating AI into their work, she sees it as a “red flag” for Mission North. “That’s just not the world we live in anymore,” she says. Tip 2: Know who you’re dealing with Most of the largest organizations in the world are adopting AI and looking for creative ways to use the technology, according to Siobhan Savage, CEO of workplace intelligence platform Reejig. To best understand any company’s outlook on AI, Savage recommends combing through its most recent earnings report, noting that CEOs are often “very vocal” about their companies’ AI attitudes. Savage suggests providing specific examples about how you use AI to optimize your work if you’re interviewing for a company that’s embracing the technology. If instead the company hasn’t spoken much about AI adoption, she suggests highlighting the fact that you’re keeping up to date with all the latest developments. For example, you could share that you’ve used AI to automate the more mundane parts of your job, or discuss how you’ve heard other people use it in your industry. “Whether you’re in tech or PR, it doesn’t matter,” Savage says. “Everyone in a company cares about productivity.” Tip 3: Even if there’s no right opinion, have one When interviewing potential hires for his PR firm, Shore Fire president Mark Satlof likes to use questions about AI as small talk. But he treats applicants’ answers like a Rorschach test where he learns a lot about their work ethic and values, he says. “You can answer it a million different ways and I don’t know if there’s a right or wrong answer,” Satlof says. He notes, however, that he would not be interested in hiring someone who says they will never use AI. He wants prospective employees to “have a stance” and “show engagement” with technological developments. It’s okay if someone is skeptical of AI or, alternatively, completely gung ho about the technology. Satlof just wants your opinion to be grounded in research and knowledge. He recommends that job applicants do their research before any interview about the various areas and capabilities of AI. For example, he says applicants should understand the difference between the broad catchall of AI versus the specifics of what a large language model is. (If you’re wondering: AI refers to everything a computer does that simulates complex tasks, and LLMs are a type of AI that interprets and generates human language.) Applying for jobs can be a stressful experience, and it can be hard to know the right thing to say at all times. But by researching the company, brushing up on the basics of AI, and expressing a willingness to learn, you can present yourself as a good fit for any job. View the full article

All services from Paris Gare du Nord have been cancelled while French police work to remove explosive deviceView the full article

Mortgage lender says short supply and strong demand will push prices higher this yearView the full article

And the vibes ahead of today’s jobs reportView the full article

This post was written by Alison Green and published on Ask a Manager. It’s four answers to four questions. Here we go… 1. CEO is making two finalist candidates have dinner with him at the same time Wondering if you can tell me if this situation is as crazy as I think it is. My company is hiring for an executive level role for an office we are standing up in a new state. This role will report to our CEO and it’s important we get the right person in place. We’ve narrowed it down to two final candidates, they have interviewed with other C-suite employees, and the feedback is similar on both candidates (both would likely be great in the role). Our CEO wants to take them both to dinner … at same time, together. After I pushed back on this idea, the CEO brought it up in a larger team meeting, and every person agreed this wasn’t a good idea. But our CEO is convinced this is the way to go. His reasoning is a little competition would be good for them and help him make the final decision. Beyond being unprofessional, I think this would make the candidates question our culture and if they even want the role. I feel like this is a disaster in the making. Is there a scenario when taking two candidates to the same business dinner would be a good idea? No, this is a terrible idea! Any decent candidate is going to wonder if your management culture pits people against each other in dysfunctional ways, and it’s going to be an awkward position for both of them.. Hiring isn’t about candidates going head to head with each other at the same dinner table; it’s about the employer assessing candidates against their own set of metrics and deciding who’s the strongest match. A lot of excellent candidates would be turned off by this and decline. That said, if they’d be taking a job with a CEO who thinks “a little competition is good for them,” it’s probably better that they find that out now. 2. My manager eavesdrops on conversations My manager has a habit of eavesdropping: she will lurk around a corner listening to a conversation for a couple of minutes then appear, having taken a side. I find this really creepy. Recently she took it to a whole new level. A supervisor and I were having a somewhat heated discussion about something in a room where it’s quite hard to eavesdrop (thick doors). My manager came into the room and walked over to a computer and started using it. Our discussion paused and I said something like, “Uh, do you want to be involved in this conversation, Mary-Jane?” and she said no, she was just there because someone had left a computer logged in, which is a security issue. We stood there awkwardly as she fiddled with the computer (logging out takes two seconds), just the three of us in the room. Eventually the conversation continued and she continued to pretend she wasn’t listening. Later on I got written up for being disrespectful to the supervisor in that conversation. There isn’t really a question here, but, your thoughts? Well, your manager is an eavesdropper. I don’t know that it’s creepy, per se, but it’s weird — she’s your boss so she has the authority to just involve herself if she wants to, rather than pretending that she’s not listening until she’s suddenly responding. There might be some circumstances where you can sort of call it out, by saying, “Mary-Jane, you look like you’re paying attention — do you want to give input?” In some situations, if you have a ton of capital (and I mean a really significant amount) and want to use some of it, then after she’s popped up having clearly been lurking around the corner, you could say, “It always throws me off to realize someone has been listening where we can’t see them! I would rather you just join us straight away in the future.” (But you need to be deeply valued and your job rock solid, for that to even approach being a good idea, and even then it’s probably not worth it unless you’re about to lose your mind over this.) Beyond that, all you can really do is be aware that she does this, so if you ever don’t want her to pop up in a conversation or opine on it later, pick your locations carefully. But I’m curious what else she’s like as a manager, because my guess is that this isn’t the only way she’s weird about how she exercises authority. To be clear, there are times as a manager where it’s useful and legitimate to listen into conversations that you’re not an active part of — like paying attention to how an employee talks to coworkers or explains a project on a client call. But it shouldn’t be a covert thing, where people assume they have privacy and really don’t, or where it makes people feel scrutinized or micromanaged or like they don’t have any autonomy. More here: I can hear everything my staff says — should I pretend I don’t? 3. I’m panicking in my new job I’m a marketer with 13+ years experience in my field. Throughout my career, I’ve established a reputation for having a strong work ethic, being an expert in my role, and being a smart, dependable teammate. I was at my most recent role for four years, and in the beginning it was great. I even received a departmental award for my work. About midway through my tenure there, I got a new boss who, after a few months, made my working environment really toxic. (She constantly switched up expectations and goals, had me constantly reexplain very basic parts of the job more than a year in, and would accuse me of doing things I never did.) Fast forward to just before Christmas this past year, I got fired for a situation that was largely out of my control. I threw myself into the job search and was lucky enough to start a new role after two months of unemployment. It’s a fully remote job in the same field (marketing) but in a wildly different industry. It’s been 2.5 weeks and I feel completely overwhelmed. Everyone has been nice and said it’ll take a while to catch up and to reach out with any questions but I can’t get a read on my boss. She’s clearly very good at her job, but is also very busy, so there hasn’t been a ton of onboarding. I’m terrified of not meeting expectations or catching up quickly enough and being fired again. Is this a normal feeling for any new job, or is this a reflection of my fit with this company? Also, is it bad if, at the six-month mark, I start job searching again if I still feel the same way I do today? It’s a very normal feeling. If you’re still feeling this way in six months — or better yet, eight — then sure, start looking around, but two and a half weeks is nothing and it’s really common to be feeling this way, even for a job you will master in time. It might help to think about specifically what’s making you feel unmoored. Can you make a list of questions that you’d feel more settled/secure if you knew the answers to? Are there people with similar roles who you can ask to coffee, say you’re feeling overwhelmed, and ask for help setting in? Also, if she hasn’t already covered this, try asking your boss what she’d like to see you accomplish in one month, three months, and six months, since knowing that might help you get your bearings. Last, is there one project you can pick to dive into, asking questions of colleagues as you go? Picking just one project when you’re overwhelmed in a new position can sometimes be a good way into the job and to learn as you go. 4. Questions to ask when interviewing for my own job I have been doing my role on a temporary basis for 2.5 years. Soon I have to interview for it on a permanent basis. What kind of question can I ask which won’t sound like I don’t understand the role or the organization? You can ask about what goals they have for the role over the next year (or next few years) and if there’s anything they want to see the person in the job approach differently than has been historically done. If there are known challenges or changes on the horizon (or ongoing), you can ask about how those will affect the job. Plus, think about anything else that might be on your mind — are there things you wish you knew about their vision for the role/strategy/etc.? If so, think about whether you can shape those into useful questions. Related: how to prepare for an internal interview View the full article