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Experience, complexity, and scarcity redefine the market By CPA Trendlines Go PRO for members-only access to more CPA Trendlines Research. View the full article

Experience, complexity, and scarcity redefine the market By CPA Trendlines Go PRO for members-only access to more CPA Trendlines Research. View the full article

US President Donald The President threatens Mexico and says Cuban regime will fall after capture of Venezuela’s Nicolás MaduroView the full article

Organizations are increasingly turning to “Culture Coaches” to address workplace challenges that traditional management approaches can’t solve. These specialized professionals bring outside perspective and emotional intelligence strategies to help teams build stronger communication patterns, employee engagement, and alignment. In this article, experts share insights on how culture coaching is reshaping the way companies approach employee growth, leadership development, and organizational success. Leaders Shape the Operating System of Business Companies are hiring Culture Coaches because many leaders are finally recognizing that culture is not a perk and not a mood. It is the operating system of the business. Most cultural breakdowns start in leadership behaviors: how decisions are made, how conflict is handled, how communication lands, and how trust is built or eroded in daily interactions. A Culture Coach gives leaders the mirror, structure, and practice to strengthen those patterns so teams can collaborate with clarity instead of confusion. When leaders shift their habits, the culture follows. The impact is tangible. Engagement rises when employees feel seen, heard, and supported. Alignment improves because leaders stop sending mixed signals. Collaboration improves because teams feel safer challenging ideas and offering better ones. And performance improves because clarity reduces rework and friction across the system. Companies with coaching-supported cultures consistently see stronger engagement, stronger retention, and better performance outcomes. A concrete example from my own experience: At a high-growth company I worked with, the leadership team was deeply capable but stretched thin. Decisions were made reactively, communication was inconsistent, and the team began losing trust in one another. A Culture Coach helped the executives slow their reaction cycle, name the patterns, rebuild communication agreements, and establish clear decision ownership. Within months, the shift was visible. Meetings became more honest, tension eased, and teams had clearer direction. Leaders modeled steadiness instead of urgency, and that stability cascaded into the organization. Culture did not shift because of a program. It shifted because the leaders did. Culture Coaches do not fix culture. They strengthen the leaders who shape it every day. And when leaders have more awareness, more clarity, and more skill, the culture becomes a competitive advantage instead of a liability. Lena McDearmid, Founder, Wryver Culture Lives in Daily Feelings at Work I am seeing more companies look for Culture Coaches because they are finally admitting something important. Culture does not live in a policy manual. It lives in how people feel day to day at work. I often step into an informal Culture Coach role for my clients. I sit with senior leaders and ask very direct questions. How does it really feel to work here? Who is thriving and who is quietly checking out? Where are your values visible, and where are they only marketing language? Those conversations are where the real culture work begins. A Culture Coach makes it safer to name what is not working. My role is to translate what I hear from employees into language leaders can act on. Sometimes that means rethinking how feedback is given. Sometimes it means changing who is in the room when decisions are made. Often it is about slowing down long enough to listen before launching the next big initiative. Inside my company, my team holds me accountable in the same way. We are a lean, mostly remote group, so I invite honest feedback on how our workload, communication style, and tools actually feel in practice. If something feels heavy, confusing, or unfair, I want to know. That input shapes how we set expectations, run meetings, and protect rest. The impact of a Culture Coach is not just a nicer atmosphere. It is clearer decisions, fewer unspoken tensions, and a workplace where people feel safe enough to tell the truth. When that happens, engagement and performance follow, but they grow from a real foundation, not from a slogan. Alysha M. Campbell, Founder and CEO, CultureShift HR Emotional Intelligence Builds Thriving Workplace Cultures Right now, company culture is one of the most critical prerequisites for multiple younger generations. They are no longer willing to work in a hostile environment controlled by micromanagers. Companies are losing their top talent due to leaders with low emotional intelligence. My work has involved working with companies for over two decades, teaching emotional intelligence and building thriving cultures. In the last year alone, there has been a sharp increase in the desire and need for outside expert support. Creating a thriving culture is not a quick fix; it requires courageous and dedicated leaders willing to address their own shortcomings. In one such company that hired me, turnover was constant! They were losing enormous resources with this one challenge alone; yet, the backbiting and lack of safety made it miserable even for employees who stayed. Now, employees love coming to work and remain loyal, even during tough economic times. During the process, leaders were incredulous at first, until results began to show. Workplace gossip plummeted; employees worked through their own conflicts; leaders’ transparency increased; employee drama decreased; and a foundation of trust and open communication rose dramatically. Leaders went from disbelief to “hmmm” to “wow,” then relaxed into “ahhh.” Nothing beats a workplace where people love coming to work! Jennifer Williams, Executive Coach & EQ Leadership Trainer, Heartmanity Adaptive Leadership Shifts Patterns Through Behavioral Experiments Companies are turning to Culture Coaches because they’re finally recognizing what many of us in adaptive leadership have known for years: you can’t delegate your way out of a culture problem. Culture is the lived patterns of behavior a system rewards, tolerates, or ignores. And those patterns don’t shift because a CEO announces a new initiative; they shift because someone is helping people see their system clearly, experiment with new behaviors, and stay in the discomfort long enough for real change to take root. A clear example stands out for me. An international institution brought us in to conduct listening sessions and map a plan to reengage critical staff and signal a more collaborative and accountable culture following a change in leadership and direction. Traditional consulting had handed them a tidy road map, which did not adequately incorporate staff input, nor did it account for the loss and frustration they had experienced. With groups of key staff, we facilitated a gap analysis of where the organization was and where they wanted to be. Small groups, each working on one theme, then identified behaviors to bridge that gap and plotted the impact of each idea as a function of their difficulty to implement. Six months later, staff reported feeling heard, retention stabilized, and the system could better focus on their core mission. That’s the tangible impact: a culture where people are not managed into compliance, but coached into capability. Kirsti Samuels, Founder, Women Igniting Leadership Lab Coaches Provide Safe Space for Employee Growth Companies that hire Culture Coaches are finding that their employees are increasingly happier, less overwhelmed, have tools to navigate growth and performance better, and create strategies to be more visible and relevant. This equates to better retention, work, and outcomes for overall company goals. Seldom in our adult lives do we have a space to talk openly about our fears, imposter syndrome, and what’s holding us back, and doing it with key relationships in the office can be terrifying because of optics and the stakes feel too high. Employees who have this type of coaching opportunity are supported in positive regard, free of bias, find strategies to overcome these fears, and champion more productive conversations with leadership or their direct reports while quietly and powerfully making a positive shift in culture through each and every conversation. If every employee is on autopilot on a never-ending hamster wheel working, there is no pause for reflection, to find ways to navigate friction, or the pieces of the work experience that don’t feel right. Being able to work with a coach can help address these in the most positive ways and keep an employee from being disconnected, resentful, or lost. It also might keep them from leaving and help them be more productive! As a coach that works for a Fortune 100 tech company, I’ve supported my clients in finding strategies to: Onboard more successfully by working on tools for mastering their line of business and building key relationships, so they more quickly become comfortable in their role as well as valued team players. Have conversations with leadership that are more productive and drive visibility and relevance for the employee. Ask for what they want. Everyone in the workplace is human, never mind leaders, and finding the language and the ask that feels best has elicited the best outcomes. One of my clients finally asked for a promotion, and his manager’s response was, “I had no idea you wanted more.” They are now working on what’s next collaboratively. Be more authentic with their team and leaders, leading to less overwhelm even though the amount of work didn’t change. There are dozens more examples, but all these moments have made my clients more hopeful, confident, and excited about their roles. Many have gone from, “I want to leave this place,” to, “I found tools to address my needs and I like it here; I want to stay.” The benefits are endless, and an amazing tool for organizations to harness. Shannon Bloom, Leadership & Transformation Career Coach & Founder, PCC, Radiant Firefly Outside Perspective Reveals Gaps Leaders Miss Daily Companies are turning to Culture Coaches because they’re finally realizing that culture isn’t a poster on the wall or a gorgeous website—it’s the day-to-day habits, decisions, and communication patterns that shape how people feel at work. Most leaders weren’t trained to spot culture issues early or to talk about them honestly, or they are so busy with the day-to-day that they are unable to diagnose culture cracks. Having someone who can name the gaps, coach leaders through them, and build simple systems for consistency makes a noticeable difference. A Culture Coach brings outside perspective without the baggage of internal politics, which helps teams move faster and with more clarity. This is especially true when an organization scales and the informal ways of working that once “just worked” start to break down. In my own work as a fractional people leader, I’ve stepped into this role many times. In one organization I supported, the team had expanded but the culture hadn’t kept pace (though in fairness, there hadn’t been intentional thought here). Staff and mid-level leaders (especially those who had recently joined) were reporting low levels of inclusion, while senior leadership—who were the same founders who built the organization—were both surprised and confused. What we uncovered was that the values were still deeply held by senior leaders, but they hadn’t been translated into clear, consistent practices consistently communicated as the organization grew. Without that structure, opportunities for growth started to feel subjective and political. Together, we mapped out key priorities and a road map to define organizational competencies and pathways for growth. We also communicated this to the organization as a whole so that everyone had visibility into the findings and the new direction. Lisa Friscia, President and Founder, Franca Consulting Intentional Culture Supports Ambitious Startup Goals Companies are increasingly hiring Culture Coaches for a few different reasons. 1. They have the resources and foresight to plan ahead, likely startups with funding trying to become a venture-scale business that recognize the importance of developing an intentional culture to achieve challenging goals. I have hired Culture Coaches for this purpose at past startups I have worked at, including Patreon and Clara. At both of these companies, the founders understood the importance of an intentional and aligned company culture from the beginning. They were aiming to grow rapidly and disrupt a traditional market. To do this, you need more than a basic business model; you need a team intrinsically motivated behind your mission and work. You need the company culture (i.e., actions and behaviors or DNA) to align with your ambitious goals. A Culture Coach in this setting comes in to help you refine vision, mission, and values and integrate those things into daily systems and practices. 2. The company has received feedback via engagement scores, performance reviews, or retention data and exit interviews that the culture is causing a problem, a “toxic” culture. This may be on a specific team or within the org as a whole. For this example, I have joined as the external “culture” coach. Here, you take a similar path, learning about the company’s goals and vision, and from there, develop the behaviors needed to be successful, and then, using listening tours and 360s, observe the culture and behaviors that exist today. You prioritize adjustments based on impact and begin intentional changes with feedback loops in a design thinking model to slowly adjust the culture over time. 3. The company may be preparing for rapid growth or another big change. In this example, the company may be aware, advised, or dealing with some early indicators of trouble with the culture. Regardless of the impetus, the company will pursue a “culture” coach, also a role I have taken, to support identifying the culture that exists today and the culture that will be needed throughout and after the change. This can be very helpful in undergoing a merger, international expansion, or dramatic shift in product/service offering and market. Chelsea Seid, CEO & Founder, Talent Praxis Regulate Nervous Systems to Transform Workplace Behavior Companies are bringing in Culture Coaches because they’re realizing something fundamental: you can’t create a healthier workplace by only teaching leadership skills. You have to teach leaders and teams how to be regulated humans first. A large portion of what’s labeled as “performance issues” is actually nervous system dysregulation showing up as reactivity, tension, poor communication, and burnout. A Culture Coach helps shift the internal state that drives external behavior, and that’s where culture genuinely starts to change. One of the clearest examples of this comes from my work with a construction company whose owner, Jac Ryan, later wrote about their experience. She shared that what immediately stood out was that my approach wasn’t the traditional top-down leadership training they were used to. Instead of piling on more skills or telling people how they should behave, we focused on helping their trainers and field teams understand their own nervous systems, how their state, presence, and energy were shaping every conversation on the job site. As Jac put it, the work was “refreshing, insightful, and deeply human.” Once their trainers understood how to center themselves, everything shifted: They communicated more constructively instead of reactively. They reframed tough conversations instead of escalating them. Their attitude set a steadier tone for the whole team. The entire field environment became more collaborative and less chaotic. What impressed leadership most was watching their team open up, make honest shifts, and actually want to show up differently—not because they were told to, but because they finally understood themselves. Jac described the shift as “noticeable and inspiring,” calling it a true top-down change that energized their entire company. That’s ultimately why Culture Coaches are becoming essential. They don’t just improve performance—they transform the internal capacity of a workforce. And when people feel regulated, safe, and centered, culture improves organically. Companies feel that immediately in engagement, communication, retention, and the overall human experience of work. Karen Canham, Entrepreneur/Board Certified Health and Wellness Coach, Karen Ann Wellness Clear Communication Norms Eliminate Expensive Business Obstacles A Culture Coach is someone who comes in and translates the values, practices, and desires of a business into what happens on a day-to-day basis, then moves pieces into alignment with that vision. When we think of culture in a global sense, we think about the physical spaces, language, customs, laws, foods, slang; we think of the lifestyle. A company has a culture as well. It can go badly when the culture is not tended or respected, it has evolved but not well, or it was not established clearly at the start. When I was a classroom teacher, my first few years were rough: I did not know how to create a classroom culture so everyone felt they belonged and knew what to expect. Once I got this down to a science, students excelled, even ones who struggled in other places. When you are part of a strong culture, it signals to your human brain that you belong there, you are part of something, and you are safe. From there, from that psychologically safe place, you are more likely to take risks, which leads to vulnerability, connection, innovation . . . these are things that eliminate expensive business obstacles, like disengagement and talent loss. I have a client that recently scaled from a four-person team to a 10-person team. They are in the business of social support, so everyone has a big heart, but you have, for example, legacy members who hate tech, newbies without experience, misunderstood neurodivergent staff, seasoned but overwhelmed leaders . . . and no one has established lanes of function, communication norms, or respectful discourse. No one has talked about why huddles and retrospectives matter. We started simply: list everything the company does and where everyone fits. Then we explored why overwhelm was predictable and how it shows up for different people. From there, we defined what requires permission, how communication should happen, and how to escalate something. They chose their norms and scheduled trainings on the tools (Slack, email, request forms, etc.). Everyone left with a communication chart and escalation map. In one month, the CEO’s time opened up dramatically. He could actually lead instead of putting out fires. Duplicate efforts disappeared. People understood each other better. Communication became clearer. They estimate a 600% ROI based on time gained, fewer bottlenecks, and the overall improvement in how it feels to come to work. That’s exactly why Culture Coaches are on the rise: when you fix the culture, everything else starts working again. Sandra Bean, Founder + Strategist, Global Girl Boss Mirrors Normalize Healthy Behaviors and Team Alignment Culture Coaches exist to ensure that the workplace is a good place to be, because if it isn’t, great employees quickly exit, and for those who do stay, their engagement and performance will decline. What does a good place to work look like? It looks like a space where healthy working relationships are expected, where work-life balance is the rule, not the exception, and where individuals treat each other with kindness, whether they are in the room or not. When I serve in the role of culture coach, I exist as the mirror. I model what it looks like to be a team player, a listener, an advocate, and a clear communicator. My role includes validating the great work that many staff are doing, and simultaneously motivating those who are not in alignment with our company culture to explore opportunities that are more aligned with their own core values. Sometimes, employees are asked to schedule a meeting with me. In this meeting, I get to wear my coach hat, which rotates between life coaching, career coaching, and leadership coaching. Some staff are elated to have an hour dedicated to their professional success. But not everyone welcomes having the support of a coach. Some staff have the complete opposite reaction and do everything in their power to avoid spending one-on-one time with a coach. This galvanizes an organization. Staff with a growth mindset get supported and increase their performance, and those with a fixed mindset realize somewhere else would be a better fit for them. Having the right culture coach in your organization is a huge win for your staff. They get supported, healthy behaviors get acknowledged, and a trusting, effective team gets built that can crush business goals together and celebrate each other’s wins in the process. Kate Vawter, Founder and CEO, Ascent Solutions Gen Z Demands Purpose Beyond Competitive Salaries It’s because leaders have finally figured out that employees need more than free coffee and monthly lunches to fix team culture. Especially with Gen Z entering the workforce, and how much they care about having a sense of purpose more than a competitive salary, you definitely need a professional who’s solely dedicated to making teams open up and work together honestly. That’s how you build trust between employees and give them a sense of belonging. Unlike HR, Culture Coaches are a lot more hands-on, and they work with everyone, both the employees and the managers. That’s the crucial part because if your employees are making an effort but your managers are still aloof or don’t know how to tackle things like burnout, then the whole exercise is redundant. I think they’re incredibly valuable, but even more so in tech startups, and I’ve seen how these coaches remove all sorts of blockages that get in the way of innovation. They’re really great at helping founders spot which old-school habits are killing creativity. Mario Hupfeld, CTO and Cofounder, NEMIS Technologies View the full article

Five years ago this month, Kia took what seemed at the time to be a sledgehammer to its brand in the form of an inscrutable new logo. Today, its U.S. sales have never been higher. Kia America announced a 7% sales increase in 2025 after selling a record 852,155 units in the U.S. last year. It’s the third consecutive annual sales record for the South Korean automaker’s U.S. division, and the feat was driven by strong sales growth for vehicles like its K4 sedan and its Sportage and Telluride SUVs. Kia’s U.S. market share has never been greater. North America CEO Sean Yoon said in a news release that the numbers indicate “the strength of the Kia brand and the competitiveness of our models.” It also goes to show that the knee-jerk reaction to a rebrand is no indicator of future success. In January 2021, Kia dropped its old logo, which spelled out its name clearly in all capital letters inside an oval badge, and replaced it with its current mark, which writes out Kia in sharply angled letters. At first, consumers found the new logo confusing. As vehicles with the new badge began hitting the roads that year, online searches for “KN car” spiked. Some motorists seemed to mistake the futuristic-looking cross-bar-free A in the new mark as part of as a backwards N, or they assumed it was a new brand. Even if people didn’t initially get it, Kia’s new logo at least succeeded at looking future-forward. And indeed, it was meant to represent change and innovation, the company said at the time. Kia’s rebrand came amid wider rebrand efforts across the auto industry during the late 2010s and early 2020s. With the rise of electric vehicles and competitors like Tesla and Rivian increasingly crowding the market, car companies over the past several years have rebranded with flat logos suitable for digital screens or have used fonts designed to look futuristic. “The automotive industry is experiencing a period of rapid transformation, and Kia is proactively shaping and adapting to these changes,” Kia CEO Ho Sung Song said in 2021 about the company’s rebrand. Among the auto rebrands of the early 2020s, the backlash to Jaguar’s dramatic logo rebrand in 2024 seemed like the canary in the coal mine after the luxury British automaker introduced a sans serif wordmark. Kia’s success, however, should be a lesson. Kia’s rebrand was dramatic, too, but its growing sales show the company has delivered for its customers. The brand ranks above average on the 2025 J.D. Power U.S. vehicle dependability study, and the company offers models for less than $25,000 at a time when that’s now the price floor for new cars. In a time of rising car costs, it’s a recipe for success. View the full article

On December 1, podcaster and venture capitalist Harry Stebbings posted on LinkedIn that candidates were 200 times more likely to get into Harvard University than they were to get a job at the $6.6 billion valuation AI startup ElevenLabs. According to his statistic, out of 180,000 applicants in the first half of the year, only 0.018% were hired by the AI voice agent platform. That figure—extrapolated from a July spike in applications—may have been hyperbole. But it still went viral. And out of tens of thousands of applications, just 132 candidates eventually got the job at ElevenLabs—indeed, much lower than Harvard’s 3% to 4% admission rates. “On average, we’re seeing more people apply every quarter,” says Victoria Weller, VP of operations at ElevenLabs. “I hope that the high number of applicants motivates people—it’s inspiring to work somewhere that’s hard to get in. It’s like Harvard: once you’re in, you know you’re surrounded by the best people in an inspiring environment.” In-demand companies are reinforcing their recruitment to cope with a volume of applications that often runs into the six figures. For example, ElevenLabs has tripled its recruitment team this year. Coinbase, which has a 0.1% hiring rate according to the company, has added AI tools to reach more candidates, surface stronger ones earlier, and support decision making. The crypto exchange, which has a market cap of approximately $70 billion and is in the process of expanding into a financial superapp, has been long renowned for its stringent hiring process: candidates can expect six stages over 60 days—if they make it that far. And that was before a 2025 surge and a 45% year-over-year rise in applications, totaling in the hundreds of thousands. “The size of the applicant pool doesn’t determine the quality of your hires—the rigor of your system does,” says Greg Garrison, VP, talent at Coinbase. “Our core process is largely the same, but the system has simply become more efficient and calibrated.” Amid greater competition for fewer roles, and applications made easier than ever thanks to LinkedIn and generative AI, vacancies can receive hundreds—even thousands—of résumés within hours of going live. While this makes recruiters’ jobs harder, it also works in companies’ favor: high demand and low hiring signals prestige to the labor market; only the top 0.1% make the cut. Beating the bots Nicholas Bloom, professor of economics at Stanford University, believes companies’ eye-popping application numbers are largely bot-driven. “I know a Stanford undergrad that wrote code to apply to every job advert on a job board, and told me his friends use it too,” he says. “The big issue is this actually crowds out serious applicants. If you actually are in the 1% that applies by hand you have little chance of making it through.” As a result of such intense demand, candidates can expect greater scrutiny—particularly at the earlier hiring stages. In many cases, candidates will have to impress AI first. With a deluge of résumés in the inbox, ElevenLabs uses data-driven applicant tracking software Ashby to help sift the best candidates. “We have website fields asking applicants why they want to work with us and how our mission excites them,” says Weller. “That means you can identify who’s autofilled their details, and clicked ‘submit’ versus those that took the time to answer thoughtfully.” It means quick-fire applications are unlikely to make it through to the next round: the screening call; the first round where candidates meet someone in the hiring position. So even when the acceptance rates are so tiny, ensuring to do the basics, like thoroughly answering questions—without the help of ChatGPT—could make a difference. Beyond assessing candidates’ experience, the onus is on testing cultural fit. “There are certain types of questions that map to our values,” says Weller. “For example, we look for candidates with low egos, so we ask for feedback they’ve recently received—their answer can indicate their personality.” It means that the bragging LinkedIn posts aren’t perhaps a fair reflection of what hiring managers actually want from applicants. While ElevenLabs has up to five assessment rounds in total, Coinbase candidates face the prospect of four interviews in a single stage—bookended by assessments and work trials before a potential offer is made. Experience—and persistence—separate the top 0.1% from the top 1%. “The best candidates tend to stand out,” says Garrison. “What separates them isn’t polish—it’s evidence. Their track record speaks louder than their résumé.” But given the glut of applications, some of the best may slip through. Others might not even be seen at all. Publicly posting near-zero acceptance rates is a marketing tactic, says Bloom. “Some companies love to flex on how hard it is to get a job with them. It’s a big show-off, just as colleges love tons of applications to flex on how low their yield rate is, so do some companies.” Standing out from the crowd Bots or not, with so many applications for the most coveted roles, it’s harder to get your résumé read by the right person. That’s why networking becomes essential, says Mathew Schulz, founder of procurement newsletter Pennywurth. His own LinkedIn post comparing hiring rates at Ramp, the fintech that hit a $32 billion valuation last November, with Harvard admission rates—with just 0.23% of engineers hired—also went viral this year. “It’s becoming even more difficult to submit your résumé and move along the process—a vacancy has hundreds of applicants within 24 hours of going live,” says Schulz. “So having a mutual connection, reaching out to contacts, and actively following up on LinkedIn becomes more important.” With more top talent to choose from, companies can often afford to be pickier. Hiring managers are increasingly looking for candidates who are comfortable beyond their niche. “More companies are looking for ‘builders’ and ‘creators’ who can do new things, are entrepreneurial-minded, and are highly skilled,” says Schulz. “There’s a lean towards being a generalist now versus a hyper-specialist.” In practice, that can mean increasing a skillset, taking courses, and becoming adept at new tools that vacancies demand. “It’s like what they say: looking for a job becomes a full-time job,” says Schulz. Getting through the door might be a bigger challenge than before. But once candidates are finally opposite a hiring manager, the fundamentals remain the same—no matter how low the acceptance rates. “Good recruitment is still finding out, ‘What drives this person? What are they good at? Are they a good fit for the company?’” says Weller. “That will always stay the same, regardless of what the process looks like.” View the full article

As a child growing up with his grandmother in Haiti, the artist Wyclef Jean developed an early appreciation for the idea that any worthy pursuit requires a blend of agency and preparation. On the day I spoke to him, Jean recalled a time when a missionary visited his village. “At five years old, a car pulls up and a man gets out and this was like my first time seeing a white person ever. I looked at my grandma and I said, ‘Do you know who this is?’ And my grandma was like, ‘This is Jesus Christ.’” Later, Jean came to understand this man was a missionary, bringing rice and beans to his village. “When he’s leaving, I look at my grandma, and I’m like, ‘Yo, how come Jesus didn’t leave us the seed?’” Even at that young age, Jean knew the visit may have meant a meal for one day, but without the seeds to build a farming practice, little could change for him and his community. Ever since, Jean has been looking for opportunities to leave the seeds, not just the rice and beans, as a way to cultivate creativity. Wyclef Jean While he’s best known as a founding member of the iconic hip hop group the Fugees, Jean has an extensive resume: He’s produced music for Shakira, Whitney Houston, and Santana; composed music for movies like Hotel Rwanda; won multiple Grammys; ran and lost a remittance business; launched a music publishing company in Africa; and even made a run for president of Haiti. Jean is boundlessly curious, and his career is a mashup of hustle and hunches. He isn’t afraid to name what he doesn’t know, or fumble in the process of sorting it out. Here, he shares how he frames his relationship to music, when he feels most inspired, and the value of nerding out. When I’m creating, I create in two spaces. Sometimes I like it super loud. I like people coming in and out while I’m vibing. Creation is like the pulse of the human. Humans don’t hear music. They just feel music. So that’s one part. The other part of me: When I’ve gotta nerd out, I want complete silence. My inner me, my engineer, is asking, “How can we take Shakira up? You know, what are we missing?” To do that, it has to be, like complete silence. It’s two parts of the madness, you know? I wake up and I’m a coffee head. I gotta have my Bustelo. If it’s really hot, I would go for a walk; if it’s kind of cold, I go downstairs. I like the treadmill. I just put the headphones on my ears for like an hour and a half, and literally just walk. I do very light weights, just to keep my gymnastics ability going. Then I take, like, 10 or 15 minutes to surf the net on world news. Two hundred days out of the year, I’m traveling, and I’m going to all parts of the world. and I always want to know the pulse. What’s the energy? What’s the culture? After that I hit my recording studio in the back. I’m recording, writing, looking at films, you know, building my ecosystem. I do it all at once. I could be making music, but then I have an idea for a place that I’m thinking about opening up in three years. And I’m like, what do I want that place to be like? So I could be doing the music, and then I stop. And then I start writing a little bit, put it on Chat GPT, and then get back to the music and keep on boom, boom, boom. So that’s sort of like what my days are usually like. I live in a space of creativity, day and night. My best input for output is when I travel. I’m a local head. My greatest input is the human; and not the human through any form of technology—the human touch. Last week I was in Brazil. The first thing we do, you know, we go to the local spot, and they’re doing capoeira. Then we go to another spot, you know, there’s like four or five different local liquors they’re having, and I’ve gotta taste it. We went shopping. I went to the place where Michael Jackson did “They don’t really care about us.” Now, I could have looked at that online, but physically being there is going to do something to my brain. I call it like cultural currency, but it’s the idea of the human. My whole connection, my juju and my magic is the human connection. I couldn’t imagine someone not listening to music. Anyone who tells me they don’t listen to music, I have to touch them to see if they have a heart. I always tell people, “Man, tell me whatever you want about America, it’s the greatest place in the world.” This is the only place I know where Wyclef could come from a hut. Snoop Dogg can come from where he comes from; 50 Cent could get shot nine times in Queens. Shakira could come from Colombia, and the next thing you know, we can appear in the forefront. And in the forefront, we get these tools, and once we get the tools, we become invincible. So whether it’s music tools, economical freedom tools, or culture currency, these tools work together and what they help us do is it helps us literally inspire and deliver an entire new generation. You get stuck because you need that pause time. You could be writing, writing, writing, writing, writing, and then all of a sudden, now you’re going into a state of forcing. So, whenever, like, I run out of it, I literally just chill. I don’t stress, I don’t be like, “Yo, when’s the next bar gonna come? When’s the next idea?” I feel as if it’s the universe that’s like, “Just calm the fuck down. Like, chill a little bit. You have to reboot.” It’s hard for people to understand that, and I’m telling you, we all have writer’s, block. It used to freak me out. So now if I have the block, I just chill, smoke a joint, relax, you know, play my piano, take time. View the full article

Google quietly published a research paper that shows how to improve recommender systems like Google Discover and YouTube. The post Google’s Recommender System Breakthrough Detects Semantic Intent appeared first on Search Engine Journal. View the full article

The founder of Slack once deemed email “the cockroach of the internet.” He wasn’t the first to lament the extreme survivability of our inbox. From text messages to social media to office messaging platforms, all sorts of communication technologies have teased the promise of killing email by connecting us to others in faster, richer ways. And yet, more than 50 years after its invention, ye olde email is more popular than ever. Some 1 billion people spend three hours a day in email—adding up to more than a trillion hours collectively per year, according to the email app Superhuman. And there’s no sign of this slowing down. “More people use Gmail every single month than ever before,” says Blake Barnes, head of Gmail product, who oversees the experience of more than 2.5 billion users on the world’s most popular email platform. To some, email is an endless guilt machine: The average person receives dozens of messages each day but takes action on fewer than five, according to Yahoo. And the range of emails we receive is wild to comprehend: personal notes. Newsletters. Amazon package updates. Dinner reservations. Jira tickets. LinkedIn invites. Passwords we’ve sent to ourselves. Strange conspiracy theory chain letters forwarded along by a second cousin once removed. Email has become the junk drawer for our digital lives. A catchall for intimate and automated messages, our inboxes contain too much information for most people to process. “Your last 100 emails are more unique than your fingerprint,” says Anant Vijay, product lead behind the encrypted-email platform Proton Mail. “Even if you’re using another app to do something, there’s an imprint left in your email.” And therein lies the opportunity. Not only is email refusing to go away, it’s becoming more important than ever in our new, data-hungry world. And startups and incumbent tech companies alike are vying to control it. A slew of email apps have launched in recent years—including Notion Mail, from emerging productivity giant Notion, and the organization-minded Shortwave—each with a different set of handy UX features for juggling your inbox. At the same time, giants like Yahoo and Google are racing to maintain their dominance. But nowhere is the value of email more evident than writing-assistance titan Grammarly’s acquisition of email startup Superhuman for an undisclosed amount over the summer. (Superhuman was last valued at $825 million, in 2021, according to PitchBook.) In October, Grammarly rebranded itself as Superhuman. Ultimately, these companies aren’t so much betting that email will be the future of communication but that its treasure trove of data contains all the information needed to create the personalized AI systems of tomorrow. By owning email, they plan to claim your whole life. The ‘Overwhelming’ inbox The promise behind most email platforms is sanity. The average person faces 400 unread emails at any given moment. And given that the subject and first few lines of any email tend to be generic, it can be hard for people to extract insights at a glance. “It’s just overwhelming,” says Kyle Miller, GM at Yahoo Mail, the world’s second-largest email platform, with hundreds of millions of users. “Some users don’t see [inbox zero] as a goal, and that’s okay. What we’re trying to do is help them get out this clutter so then they don’t miss the stuff that’s important.” To help users tackle the mess, Yahoo recently started gamifying the task with a daily Inbox Challenge that gives users trophies for triaging their messages. Other email platforms are supercharging the auto-sort function. Eleven-year-old Proton, which relaunched its security-focused email app earlier this year, not only compiles your newsletters into one stack, it also displays your average open rate for each, so you can decide if it’s time to unsubscribe. Notion Mail, launched in April, distinguishes itself by letting you sort email by any content criteria you can think of. For instance, you can ask Notion to label incoming job applications as “Job Candidates” or have your home renovation emails sorted to “Home Improvements.” Superhuman offers similar features, along with an auto-reply service that drafts responses tailored to recipients and in your own voice and tone. All you need to do is hit send. Modern AI makes these advanced features possible. When Superhuman founder Rahul Vohra was fundraising 11 years ago, an investor asked him how he planned to realize the magical interactions he’d teased in his investment deck. “Frankly, I don’t know,” Vohra said at the time, though he, like many, trusted that the technologies would eventually arrive. Today, Superhuman says that its users reply to 72% more emails per hour after signing up, thanks largely to a combination of auto-sorting and auto-writing tools. “[Email has] always had all this data, but up until large language models, there was no way for the computer to access that information,” says Andrew Lee, who launched the email client Shortwave in 2022 to pick up where Google left off when it folded its short-lived Inbox app (which bundled messages into categories and allowed you to snooze messages). “You can go through and read [your emails], but it’s a huge amount. We have people with 10 million emails in the system. And now the computer can just go and read 10 million emails!” Email apps are going beyond mere sorting to use LLMs to extract data and surface insights that allow users to make faster decisions. In the case of Yahoo Mail, that means emails now have action buttons placed right below the subject line. Those actions might be copying a security code or RSVP’ing for a birthday party or paying a bill, “so you don’t even have to open the email,” Miller says. Superhuman and Shortwave, meanwhile, let you manage the deluge by querying your mail directly. You can ask the AI straightforward questions (“Where is the Q1 off-site?” or “What time is my flight to Denver?”), and these services will analyze your email for the answers, much like Perplexity will hunt for information across the internet. Proton Mail, which encrypts email to offer a higher level of security, is the rare exception: The company sees cloud-based LLMs as an inherent security risk. But product team lead Anant Vijay believes that within a few years, high-quality AI models will be able to run on your phone or computer—allowing them to analyze your emails securely. A growing number of email users, however, seem willing to hand over their most precious data in the name of unlocking new efficiencies. To set up a new Shortwave account, for example, you first have to copy over your inbox for analysis on the company’s servers. Shortwave, which has enterprise plans for teams of 50 or more, explains the security risk to prospective clients. “I have calls with people at investment firms and Fortune 500 companies. I see the concern on their faces. And then they’re like, ‘Nah, but I want it!’” says Lee. “There’s a lot of pressure in these companies for security, but there’s even more pressure to figure out a [corporate] AI strategy.” Agentic for email While some of these email services can be used for free, all of them reserve their best features for people willing to pay for a subscription—up to $40 per month for a Superhuman business account. But those initial dollars aren’t the endgame. Modern email apps are positioning themselves at the top of the funnel to pull you in—and offer agentic services that go well beyond managing your correspondence. Yahoo’s first salvo will be connecting your inbox more directly to your calendar. The company is working on a product that could take information out of your email and offer it back to you as a list—and then pin the items to suggested dates on your calendar. Yahoo plans to further build this out, so its AI agent will eventually handle many of these to-dos for you. Google is thinking along similar lines. “In the future, you can imagine a world where [your] calendar understands you deeply,” says Google VP Barnes. “It knows when you’re eating dinner with your family. It knows when it’s best to meet a new prospective client, when you’re most fresh.” Vohra from Superhuman envisions a future where an AI agent is cc’d on emails, allowing it to take over tasks, like scheduling a meeting. “Our two AI agents can find time and book meetings for us despite neither of us actually having access to each other’s calendar,” he says. Indeed, AI is rapidly breaking email out of its inbox. Shortwave recently launched a spin-off platform, called Tasklet, that lets users program background agents that connect their email and calendar to more than 3,000 services via APIs. For heavy email users, these agents hold a lot of promise. Real estate agents could use plain language to program a daily search of new homes for a prospective client. Meanwhile, product developers could use agents to track updates from disparate apps and correlate them into a dashboard that tracks bug reports and patches. As for Gmail, Barnes says that not only will it get the power of the AI Overviews we’ve seen in Google Search, but Google Search will get the knowledge of your email to personalize its results: “What if Gemini could help you plan a vacation with all of the context Gmail has? Imagine that experience. We know what kind of places you like to go to. We know the budget you usually spend. We know how many people you’re traveling with.” Eventually, this could evolve into more than a shopping assistant. “It’s like having your own personal chief of staff,” he says. In a world ruled by AI, most tech strategists believe we’ll no longer be managing our lives by juggling individual apps or even platforms like Slack or Teams. All of this information and communication could sit largely out of sight, most of the time, while an AI with the most intimate and complete portrait of your life helps to make decisions on your behalf. That’s as exciting for a big data player like Google as it is for a newer startup like Superhuman—because the first challenge is being adept at wrestling that treasured email junk drawer into shape. “We actually feel really great about this,” says Vohra. “Primarily, because we have a massive head start.” View the full article

Michael Jordan is widely recognized as one of the best basketball players to ever live. In a recent interview, Jordan revealed one of the secrets to his success: His love of the game. Jordan says he loved the game so much that he made sure to have a special clause included in his contract when playing with the Chicago Bulls, one which he’s “positive” players today don’t have: the “love of the game” clause. “If I was driving with you down the street, and I see a basketball game on the side of the road, I can go play in that basketball game,” Jordan told NBC’s Mike Tirico. “And if I get hurt, my contract is still guaranteed.” Jordan went on to explain that constant practice, not just doing drills but playing real games, helped him and other NBA players like Larry Bird master their craft. It was playing in games that helped players develop their love of basketball, and helped them remain passionate about the game, rather than just viewing it as a job. “I love the game so much. I would never let someone take the opportunity for me to play the game away from me,” Jordan said. Jordan’s “love of the game” clause teaches us an important secret to finding career success, namely: To truly become the best at what you do, you have to love it. This secret is related to emotional intelligence, the ability to understand and manage emotions to reach a goal. How can you leverage emotional intelligence to master what you do? Let’s explore. (If you enjoy this article, consider signing up for my free emotional intelligence course.) Leveraging your “love of the game” To clarify, Jordan wasn’t speaking about becoming the best basketball player ever. Although countless fans and analysts alike have pegged Jordan as the GOAT (greatest of all time), Jordan typically steers away from that conversation, saying that title disrespects the basketball legends who’ve come before him, and the players who play today. Rather, Jordan was primarily interested in reaching his full potential—and his love of the game fueled that drive. “Basketball was that type of love for me,” Jordan said. “I had to find a way to make sure I was the best basketball player I could be.” Jordan’s success led to his becoming the wealthiest professional athlete in history. Most of his earnings didn’t come from his playing contracts, though. Rather, they resulted in multiple business ventures and branding deals, most notably the Jordan brand with Nike. But Jordan says that for him, the brand never affected what he was going to do on the basketball court. “I put the work first, and then the brand evolved based on the work,” Jordan said. “We would play this game for free. We did. And now we just happen to get paid for it.” So, how can you apply this to your own work? There are several reasons business owners run the businesses they do. You may have taken over a family business. Maybe you dabbled in the world of self-employment and discovered you enjoyed the freedom it offered. Other entrepreneurs become so out of necessity: Mark Cuban started his first business after getting fired. But regardless of how you got into the business you now run, the secret to mastering your craft is to develop a love for what you do. Ask yourself: What aspects of my work do I really love? The things I’d do for free? How can I practice those things as much as possible? How can I further leverage that love to master my craft? As you answer those questions, and as you put in the work, you’ll find yourself constantly improving, continually growing, and consistently becoming a better (work) version of yourself. Because if there’s one thing that Michael Jordan taught us, it’s that natural ability, talent, and skill will get you far, but love is what makes you the best. —Justin Bariso This article originally appeared on Fast Company’s sister publication, Inc. Inc. is the voice of the American entrepreneur. We inspire, inform, and document the most fascinating people in business: the risk-takers, the innovators, and the ultra-driven go-getters that represent the most dynamic force in the American economy. View the full article

McDonald’s limited-time McRib sandwich is a cultural icon. And like any item of its ilk, it’s divisive. On the one hand, the saucy, vaguely rib-esque boneless pork sandwich has a fan base so dedicated that it’s inspired its own Reddit megathread, merch, and a website called the McRib Locator. But on the other, the McRib has long been critiqued for its off-putting form factor and dubious ingredients. Now, a new class action lawsuit is asking the question that’s always plagued the sandwich: Is the McRib actually rib? The lawsuit, which was filed on December 23, 2025, in the Northern District of Illinois, alleges that McDonald’s has purposefully been misleading customers with the name and shape of the McRib. The four plaintiffs who jointly filed the suit claim that the sandwich is advertised to resemble a rack of pork ribs, which McDonald’s does “despite knowing that the sandwich in fact does not contain any meaningful quantity of actual pork rib meat—indeed, none at all.” Ultimately, this lawsuit is all about marketing—and how we define deceptive marketing practices. Does a rib-shaped “seasoned boneless pork patty,” as McDonald’s describes it, a rib make? Or is the McRib a mere imitation of a true rib sandwich, masquerading as the real thing to allow McDonald’s to jack up its prices? While most Americans probably have their own knee-jerk reaction to these questions, the official answer will be left up to the court. For now, here are the facts. “The name McRib is a deliberate sleight of hand” The crux of the new lawsuit rests on proving whether the McRib can definitionally be called “rib”—and, as it turns out, that’s easier said than done. According to the filing, McDonald’s has cultivated a scarcity mindset around the McRib by only releasing it for a brief time each year since its 1981 debut, using annual anticipation to drive sales. Its authors suggest that the term “rib” refers to a more “premium” cut of meat—generating an expectation of quality that allows McDonald’s to price the sandwich at up to $7.89 in some regions, making it “among the most expensive single-item options on the menu.” Further, they argue, McDonald’s purposefully misleads customers by calling the sandwich a “McRib” and shaping it to resemble “a rack of pork ribs.” This mislabeling rests at the core of their claim that the McRib’s status as a fleeting hero of McDonald’s menus nationwide rests on an inherently deceptive premise. “The name ‘McRib’ is a deliberate sleight of hand,” the suit reads. “By including the word ‘Rib’ in the name of the sandwich, McDonald’s knowingly markets the sandwich in a way that deceives reasonable consumers, who reasonably (but mistakenly) believe that a product named the ‘McRib’ will include at least some meaningful quantity of actual pork rib meat, which commands a premium price on the market.” Instead, it adds, they’re actually eating a “reconstructed meat product.” Yikes. To rib, or not to rib? To understand the difference between a pork rib and a “reconstructed meat product,” the filing dives into its definition of “actual pork rib meat.” It says pork rib meat refers either to spare ribs, a cut at the bottom of the rib cage, or baby back ribs, located at the top of the rib cage. Both cuts, it explains, are consistently priced higher than lower-quality cuts like “loin” or “butt.” Compare that definition to the McRib’s contents, and things get a little dicey. Per the filing, the McRib’s meat patty is constructed using ground-up portions of lower-grade pork products, such as “pork shoulder, heart, tripe, and scalded stomach.” In an email to Fast Company, McDonald’s wrote that the lawsuit “distorts the facts” with “meritless claims,” adding, “Our fan-favorite McRib sandwich is made with 100% pork sourced from farmers and suppliers across the U.S.—there are no hearts, tripe or scalded stomach used in the McRib patty as falsely alleged in this lawsuit. We’ve always been transparent about our ingredients so guests can make the right choice for them.” Already, an army of McRib fans are rising to defend the sandwich’s honor on Reddit. “Do people have nothing better to do or have no shame?” one commenter wrote. “Who really really thought the McRib was meat from ribs?” Another added, “Dumb. . . . Imagine all the ‘there was a bone in my McRib’ post if it was actually ribs.” Whether you believed McDonald’s nebulous meat slab was made of real ribs or not, it remains to be seen whether this case will impact the McRib’s future. Regardless, it’s a good day to be a vegetarian. View the full article

Yann LeCun, Meta’s outgoing chief AI scientist, says his employer tested its latest Llama model in a way that may have made the model look better than it really was. In a recent Financial Times interview, LeCun says Meta researchers “fudged a little bit” by using different versions of Llama 4 Maverick and Llama 4 Scout models on different benchmarks to improve test results. Normally researchers use a single version of a new model for all benchmarks, instead of choosing a variant that will score best on a given benchmark. Prior to the launch of the Llama 4 models, Meta had begun to fall behind rivals Anthropic, OpenAI, and Google in pushing the envelope. The company was under pressure to reassert Llama’s prowess, especially in an environment where stock prices can turn on the latest model benchmarks. After Meta released the Llama 4 models, third-party researchers and independent testers tried to verify the company’s benchmark claims by running their own evaluations. But many found that their results didn’t align with Meta’s. Some doubted that the models it used in the benchmark testing were the same as the models released to the public. Ahmad Al-Dahle, Meta’s vice president of generative AI, denied that charge, and attributed the discrepancies in model performance to differences in the models’ cloud implementations. The benchmark-fudging, LeCun said, contributed to internal frustration about the progress of the Llama models and led to a loss of confidence among Meta leadership, including CEO Mark Zuckerberg. In June, Zuckerberg announced an overhaul of Meta’s AI organization, which included the establishment of a division called Meta Superintelligence Labs (MSL). Meta also paid between $14.3 billion and $15 billion to buy 49% of AI training data company Scale AI, and tapped Scale’s CEO, Alexandr Wang, to lead MSL. On paper, at least, LeCun, who won the coveted Turing Award for his pioneering work on neural networks, reported to the 28-year-old Wang. LeCun told FT’s Melissa Heikkilä that while Wang is a quick learner and is aware of what he doesn’t know, he’s also young and inexperienced. “There’s no experience with research or how you practice research, how you do it. Or what would be attractive or repulsive to a researcher,” LeCun said. The division LeCun ran at Meta for a decade, FAIR (Fundamental Artificial Intelligence Research), was a pure research organization that picked its own areas of inquiry. An adjacent “applied AI” group worked closely with the lab to find ways to use the research in Meta’s own products. But the organizational changes weren’t the only reason LeCun wanted to leave Meta. He has long expressed doubts that the current thrust of Meta’s AI research—large language models—will lead to human-level intelligence because such models can’t learn fast and continuously. LLMs can learn a certain amount about the world through words and images, but the models of the future will also have an understanding of the real world through physics. And it’s those “world models” that LeCun hopes to invent at his new company, Advanced Machine Intelligence. LeCun will act as executive chair, which will allow him to spend much of his time doing research. Alex LeBrun, CEO of French healthcare AI startup Nabla, will become CEO of AMI. “I’m a scientist, a visionary. . . . I can inspire people to work on interesting things,” LeCun told Heikkilä. “I’m pretty good at guessing what type of technology will work or not.” View the full article

Businessman found guilty of falsifying documents for executives at the German fintech company View the full article

When ChatGPT burst onto the scene, much of academia reacted not with curiosity but with fear. Not fear of what artificial intelligence might enable students to learn, but fear of losing control over how learning has traditionally been policed. Almost immediately, professors declared generative AI “poison,” warned that it would destroy critical thinking, and demanded outright bans across campuses, a reaction widely documented by Inside Higher Ed. Others rushed to revive oral exams and handwritten assessments, as if rewinding the clock might make the problem disappear. This was never really about pedagogy. It was about authority. The integrity narrative masks a control problem The response has been so chaotic that researchers have already documented the resulting mess: contradictory policies, vague guidelines, and enforcement mechanisms that even faculty struggle to understand, as outlined in a widely cited paper on institutional responses to ChatGPT. Universities talk endlessly about academic integrity while quietly admitting they have no shared definition of what integrity means in an AI-augmented world. Meanwhile, everything that actually matters for learning, from motivation to autonomy, pacing, and the ability to try or fail without public humiliation, barely enters the conversation. Instead of asking how AI could improve education, institutions have obsessed over how to preserve surveillance. The evidence points in the opposite direction And yet the evidence points in a very different direction. Intelligent tutoring systems are already capable of adapting content, generating contextualized practice, and providing immediate feedback in ways that large classrooms simply cannot, as summarized in recent educational research. That disconnect reveals something uncomfortable. AI doesn’t threaten the essence of education: it threatens the bureaucracy built around it. Students themselves are not rejecting AI: Surveys consistently show they view responsible AI use as a core professional skill and want guidance, not punishment, for using it well. The disconnect is glaring: Learners are moving forward, while academic institutions are digging in. What an ‘all-in’ approach actually looks like For more than 35 years, I’ve been teaching at IE University, an institution that has consistently taken the opposite stance. Long before generative AI entered the public conversation, IE was experimenting with online education, hybrid models, and technology-enhanced learning. When ChatGPT arrived, the university didn’t panic. Instead, it published a very clear Institutional Statement on Artificial Intelligence framing AI as a historic technological shift, comparable to the steam engine or the internet, and committing to integrating it ethically and intentionally across teaching, learning, and assessment. That “all-in” position wasn’t about novelty or branding. It was grounded in a simple idea: technology should adapt to the learner, not the other way around. AI should amplify human teaching, not replace it. Students should be able to learn at their own pace, receive feedback without constant judgment, and experiment without fear. Data should belong to the learner, not the institution. And educators should spend less time policing outputs and more time doing what only humans can do — guide, inspire, contextualize, and exercise judgment. IE’s decision to integrate OpenAI tools across its academic ecosystem reflects that philosophy in practice. Uniformity was never rigor This approach stands in sharp contrast to universities that treat AI primarily as a cheating problem. Those institutions are defending a model built on uniformity, anxiety, memorization, and evaluation, rather than understanding. AI exposes the limits of that model precisely because it makes a better one possible: adaptive, student-centered learning at scale, an idea supported by decades of educational research. But embracing that possibility is hard. It requires letting go of the comforting fiction that teaching the same content to everyone, at the same time, judged by the same exams, is the pinnacle of rigor. AI reveals that this system was never about learning efficiency, it was about administrative convenience. It’s not rigor . . . it’s rigor mortis. Alpha Schools and the illusion of disruption There are, of course, experiments that claim to point toward the future. Alpha Schools, a small network of AI-first private schools in the U.S., has drawn attention for radically restructuring the school day around AI tutors. Their pitch is appealing: Students complete core academics in a few hours with AI support, freeing the rest of the day for projects, collaboration, and social development. But Alpha Schools also illustrate how easy it is to get AI in education wrong: What they deploy today is not a sophisticated learning ecosystem, but a thin layer of AI-driven content delivery optimized for speed and test performance. The AI model, simplistic and weak, prioritizes acceleration over comprehension, efficiency over depth. Students may move faster through standardized material, but they do so along rigid, predefined paths with simplistic feedback loops. The result feels less like augmented learning, and more like automation masquerading as innovation. When AI becomes a conveyor belt This is the core risk facing AI in education: mistaking personalization for optimization, autonomy for isolation, and innovation for automation. When AI is treated as a conveyor belt rather than a companion, it reproduces the same structural flaws as traditional systems, just faster and cheaper. The limitation here isn’t technological: it’s conceptual. Real AI-driven education is not about replacing teachers with chatbots or compressing curricula into shorter time slots. It’s about creating environments where students can plan, manage, and reflect on complex learning processes; where effort and consistency become visible; where mistakes are safe; and where feedback is constant but respectful. AI should support experimentation, not enforce compliance. The real threat is not AI This is why the backlash against AI in universities is so misguided. By focusing on prohibition, institutions miss the opportunity to redefine learning around human growth rather than institutional control. They cling to exams because exams are easy to administer, not because they are effective. They fear AI because it makes obvious what students have long known: that much of higher education measures outputs while neglecting understanding. The universities that will thrive are not the ones banning tools or resurrecting 19th-century assessment rituals. They will be the ones that treat AI as core educational infrastructure — something to be shaped, governed, and improved, not feared. They will recognize that the goal is not to automate teaching, but to reduce educational inequality, expand access to knowledge, and free time and attention for the deeply human aspects of learning. AI does not threaten education: it threatens the systems that forgot who education is for. If universities continue responding defensively, it won’t be because AI displaced them. It will be because, when faced with the first technology capable of enabling genuinely student-centered learning at scale, they chose to protect their rituals instead of their students. View the full article

It’s the first week of January, and you’re already drowning in Slack messages. You told yourself this year would be different, that you’d set boundaries and stop overcommitting. But here you are, saying yes to another meeting you don’t have time for, staying late to fix something that could wait, feeling that familiar knot in your stomach every Sunday night. Across corporate America, 90% of employees are experiencing some level of burnout. For decades, we’ve been focusing on optimizing our physical health, tracking our sleep cycles, heart rate variability, while the part of us that actually drives our decisions at work, and quality of life, namely our beliefs and emotional patterns, remains almost entirely unmeasured. We blame our schedules, download another meditation app, and tell ourselves we’ll feel better once we find the right morning routine. But as companies prepare to spend $94.6 billion on wellness programs in 2026, it might be worth asking ourselves: What if we started to treat our minds as if they had capacity to improve instead of a crisis to manage? To change the pattern of anxiety and overworking, we need systems that support us on an ongoing basis. The same kind of structure that gets us results in the gym. That means specific targets as opposed to vague intentions, with consistent practice and a way to measure whether anything’s actually shifting. Awareness isn’t the finish line Most resources available focus on self-awareness, particularly our ability to notice unhelpful thoughts and identify our triggers. This can help you spot the problem, but it doesn’t build the muscle to change it. When we’re under pressure, we are most likely to default to the identity we’ve rehearsed the most. If we want different outcomes, we need to do different reps. The ‘mental fitness’ framing Physical training has three basics: assess, train, track. The inner version looks similar: 1. Assess the pattern, not the person Swap “I’m bad at strategy” for “Under time pressure, I rush to solutions and skip framing.” That tiny pivot turns character judgments into coachable behaviors. 2. Train one thing at a time You wouldn’t walk into the gym and expect to have your desired physique by the end of the first session, so don’t try to reinvent yourself by Friday. Pick one thing that actually matters at work, whether it’s staying calm when nothing is clear or deploying deliverables when they’re 80% done instead of polishing until it’s perfect. Then do it for two to four weeks, just that one thing. 3. Track signals you can observe Pick leading indicators you can observe daily. Instead of asking “Am I better at communication?,” which measures the outcome, not the action, ask: “Did I pause for three seconds before responding in that tense Slack thread? Did I ask one clarifying question before jumping to solutions? Did I share context to help explain the reasoning behind my response? A simple four-week protocol any team can use In a culture obsessed with novelty, repetition can feel boring, but identity change is about repetition. The mind adapts through patterns, practicing a better version of yourself until it feels natural. Week 0: Baseline Write a short “trigger map” for the last two weeks at work. Note the situations that spark your worst habits (e.g., shifting scope, senior exec drop-ins, cross-team dependencies) Choose one thing to train, naming the opposite habit you’re replacing. Weeks 1–2: Reps Create a 90-second routine that cues your new identity, such as reading a one-line intention (“My opinion matters and I will speak up when needed”), breathing for four counts, or previewing one clarifying question you’ll ask. Come up with three metrics to measure your progress with the new routine after encountering a trigger. For example, after facing a situation that would typically make you angry, ask: Did I pause before responding? Did I ask a clarifying question? Is there something I could have done better? Week 3: Progressive overload Add “progressive overload.” If you practiced in low-stakes meetings, maybe it’s time to bring the same behavior to a higher-visibility setting. If you trained with peers, try it with an exec. Week 4: Review and lock in Look back at your checkboxes. Where did the behavior hold under stress? Where did it collapse? Decide whether you’d like to keep training this capacity for another block, or maintain it and choose a new one. What managers can do this quarter Leaders shouldn’t be expected to fill the role of a coach to build mentally stronger teams. But they can make personal growth operational. This can look like: Normalizing “capacity goals.” Alongside objectives and key results, ask reports to name one thing they’re training for the quarter and the two behaviors that prove it’s working. Review those behaviors in 1:1s like you would a KPI. The key is framing it as skill-building, not fixing what’s broken to avoid direct reports feeling judged. Designing meetings for rehearsal so that, if someone is training concise communication, updates are time-boxed to 90 seconds. If another person is training direct feedback, they could be assigned “devil’s advocate” as a rotating role. Praise the rep, such as: “You paused, reframed, and asked the right question,” rather than the persona (“You’re a natural”). Teams are more likely to repeat what gets recognized. What this looks like in real life A product lead I worked with had a familiar pattern. Whenever requirements changed late in a project cycle, someone from sales would promise a client a custom feature, or leadership would pivot strategy two weeks before launch, she’d panic. She’d call emergency meetings to “align everyone.” Then, to prove she had everything under control, she’d build massive 40-slide decks covering every possible scenario and spend 20 minutes walking through each one while her team’s eyes glazed over. The meetings would drag on for an hour. People would leave more confused than when they arrived. Decisions took forever because there was too much information and no clear ask. She picked one capacity goal: “Create clarity with fewer words,” and to implement it, she did two things: Ask one framing question at the start, and end meetings with a single-sentence summary. Three weeks in, her team was making decisions faster because she changed the shape of conversations, starting with “What decision are we trying to make today?” and ending with “So we’re moving forward with option B and revisiting the API integration next sprint.” Performance improved because she trained smarter. The quiet revolution In the 1970s, jogging was not a thing. Then exercise transitioned from medical advice into identity as people became runners, not because a brochure said so, but because practice made them that kind of person. Work is ready for a similar shift. We don’t need more slogans about resilience. We need visible, repeatable ways to become the colleague, the manager, the builder we say we are. Treat your inner game like your training plan: pick the capacity, run the block, count the reps. Your calendar won’t change for you. Your identity will, one powerful repetition at a time. View the full article

Those with Attention Deficient Hyperactivity Disorder, better known as ADHD, often experience challenges that neurotypical people do not, such as distractibility or low frustration tolerance. However, there is a growing body of evidence that suggests that ADHD also has an upside. And, according to a new study, being aware of these positives may create some mental health perks. The groundbreaking research, which was published in Psychological Medicine, comes from scientists at the University of Bath, King’s College London, and Radboud University Medical Center in the Netherlands. Researchers compared 200 adults with ADHD and 200 without in the first large-scale effort to measure psychological strengths associated with the disorder. People with ADHD were actually more likely to strongly identify with 10 strengths, including the ability to hyperfocus, a sense of humor, creativity, intuitiveness, and having broad interests. Overall, people with ADHD tested as having a lower quality of life than people without ADHD. However, the researchers also found that across both groups, people who understood their strengths and knew how to use them also had better mental health and well-being. From that lens, those with ADHD—at least those who understand their personal strengths well—could be primed for better mental health. While those with ADHD are often well-versed in their struggles, such as difficulty concentrating, forgetfulness, emotional regulation challenges, or even trouble maintaining relationships, the new research puts a spotlight on the upsides of ADHD as well as the power of comprehending those strengths fully. Luca Hargitai, lead researcher for the study and a postgraduate at the Department of Psychology at the University of Bath, says the research should help those with ADHD to understand their brains better. “It can be really empowering to recognize that, while ADHD is associated with various difficulties, it does have several positive aspects.” Likewise, Dr. Punit Shah, senior author and Associate Professor of Psychology at the University of Bath, says that the findings should be able to help researchers find real ways to improve the lives of people with ADHD. “The next step now is to investigate whether interventions that promote the recognition and use of personal strengths can offer tangible improvements in mental well-being for adults with ADHD.” View the full article

Regarding selecting the best customer rewards program software solutions, you need to evaluate various factors like customization, ease of use, and analytics capabilities. Each software offers unique features designed for different business needs, from startups to large enterprises. Whether you prioritize gamification, seamless integration, or advanced reporting tools, there’s a solution that fits your requirements. Let’s examine the top contenders and how they can improve your customer engagement strategies. Key Takeaways Open Loyalty offers a highly customizable solution with over 250 API endpoints for seamless omnichannel integration and real-time updates on loyalty points. Smile.io provides a user-friendly, plug-and-play solution ideal for small to medium-sized e-commerce businesses, enhancing customer lifetime value through simple integration. Talon.One features a flexible rule builder for creating intricate, hyper-personalized loyalty programs, appealing to businesses seeking customized reward mechanics. Cheetah Digital integrates marketing and loyalty efforts with strong reporting capabilities, allowing for effective customer relationship management and insightful analytics. Comarch Loyalty Management delivers highly personalized loyalty programs with advanced analytics and scalability, making it suitable for large enterprises with complex loyalty structures. Open Loyalty: A Flexible and Customizable Solution Open Loyalty stands out as a flexible and customizable loyalty solution that caters to a variety of business needs. As a leading loyalty SaaS, it offers over 250 API endpoints, ensuring seamless integration with your existing systems. This adaptability allows you to create personalized customer rewards program software that aligns with your unique business strategies. The platform supports omnichannel engagement, meaning your customers can earn and redeem rewards across web, mobile, and in-store interactions. With built-in gamification elements, such as achievements and leaderboards, it actively engages customers, encouraging participation in loyalty initiatives. Real-time processing capabilities handle transactions efficiently, providing immediate updates on loyalty points and rewards, which is essential for maintaining customer satisfaction. Open Loyalty’s customizable and scalable features make it an ideal choice for businesses looking to improve their loyalty strategies and maximize customer retention. Smile.io: Quick Setup for E-Commerce Businesses For small to medium-sized e-commerce businesses looking to implement a customer rewards program, Smile.io offers a plug-and-play solution that simplifies the process. This platform integrates seamlessly with popular e-commerce sites like Shopify and Wix, allowing you to quickly add loyalty features without needing extensive technical skills. Smile.io provides a standard points-based program, along with referral and VIP tiers, which are crucial for turning one-time buyers into loyal customers. Through an easy-to-use dashboard, you can customize the branding and user experience, even though options are limited on the free plan. Businesses that utilize Smile.io have reported impressive results, including a 48% increase in customer lifetime value and double the purchase frequency among loyalty program members. With its straightforward setup and effective tools, Smile.io makes it easier for you to engage customers and improve their shopping experience. Cheetah Digital: All-in-One Marketing and Loyalty Platform If you’re seeking an all-encompassing solution that integrates marketing and loyalty efforts, Cheetah Digital stands out as an all-in-one platform intended to improve customer engagement and relationship management. This platform offers loyalty add-ons, enabling you to manage customer relationships effectively as you enhance engagement. However, although it boasts strong reporting capabilities and personalization tools, allowing you to customize loyalty programs to individual preferences, some users have found the interface clunky, which can hinder navigation. Here’s a quick overview of Cheetah Digital’s features: Feature Benefits Considerations All-in-One Platform Unified marketing and loyalty May lack depth in loyalty Personalization Tools Customized customer experiences Clunky interface reported Strong Reporting Insightful analytics Learning curve for users Cheetah Digital is ideal for businesses looking for a thorough solution, though it may not suit those needing advanced loyalty functionalities. Talon.One: Highly Customizable Promotion and Loyalty Engine Talon.One offers a flexible rule builder that lets you create intricate loyalty programs without needing extensive technical skills. This user-friendly feature simplifies the design of promotions customized to your business needs. Nonetheless, you should additionally consider potential integration challenges with your existing tech stack, as this can affect how smoothly the platform operates within your overall system. Flexible Rule Builder When businesses seek to improve their customer engagement strategies, a flexible rule builder can be a crucial tool in creating effective promotions and loyalty programs. Talon.One’s customizable rule builder allows you to design complex promotions customized to specific customer behaviors and preferences. You can make real-time updates, ensuring your loyalty strategies adapt to changing customer needs and market conditions. The platform’s API-based architecture boosts flexibility, allowing seamless integration with various tech stacks. Talon.One supports hyper-personalized loyalty experiences by enabling unique reward mechanics like bundling, discounting, and tiered rewards. Its user-friendly interface simplifies the creation and management of loyalty rules, making it accessible for non-technical team members while still offering advanced capabilities for developers. Integration Challenges Ahead As businesses look to implement Talon.One’s highly customizable promotion and loyalty engine, they often encounter integration challenges that can complicate their strategies. The platform’s API-first architecture provides developers with control over integration, but this flexibility comes with a steep learning curve because of its extensive features. Although you can create complex discounting and loyalty mechanics customized to your needs, achieving seamless connectivity with different tech stacks may require dedicated development resources. Moreover, leveraging real-time updates and audience targeting improves hyper-personalized loyalty experiences, but it demands careful planning. For enterprises managing multiple brands and large SKU portfolios, Talon.One is an ideal solution, yet the associated costs for scaling should likewise be considered to guarantee a successful implementation. Antavo: No-Code Loyalty Editor for Diverse Reward Types Antavo provides a no-code loyalty editor that empowers businesses to design and manage their loyalty programs effortlessly, even without technical skills. The platform supports a diverse range of reward types, including points, tiers, and community rewards, which means you can tailor your offerings to fit your customer base. With features for in-store kiosks and card support, Antavo improves customer engagement across multiple channels. Here’s a quick overview of what Antavo offers: Feature Description Benefit No-Code Editor User-friendly interface for program creation Accessible for all users Diverse Reward Types Points, tiers, and community rewards Customizable loyalty options Multi-Channel Support In-store kiosks and card integration Engages customers effectively Antavo’s intuitive tools allow for easy customization and quick setups, making it an excellent choice for businesses looking to improve customer retention and satisfaction through innovative reward structures. Comarch Loyalty Management: Enterprise-Focused Loyalty Solutions Comarch Loyalty Management offers enterprise-focused features that cater to complex loyalty programs, making it a suitable choice for large organizations. During its customizable interface provides flexibility in tailoring strategies, users may face challenges maneuvering its complexity. This platform’s advanced analytics tools help you track customer engagement and program performance, but comprehending its full potential can require a significant investment of time and resources. Enterprise-Focused Features When you’re managing a large enterprise, having a robust customer rewards program can greatly improve customer loyalty and engagement. Comarch Loyalty Management offers features customized particularly for your needs, including gift card management and loyalty cards. With extensive customization options, you can create highly personalized loyalty programs that align with your brand. The platform likewise includes advanced analytics tools, allowing you to track customer engagement and program effectiveness in real-time. Furthermore, its scalability guarantees that as your enterprise grows, your rewards program can adapt seamlessly to increased demands. Integration with existing systems means a cohesive customer experience across various touchpoints, making it easier for you to manage and improve customer interactions effectively. Complex Interface Challenges Navigating through the intricacies of Comarch Loyalty Management can be challenging, especially for new users who may find the interface overwhelming. Its complexity often requires significant training, as the advanced features like gift and loyalty card management can be intimidating. Users typically report that the intricate layout demands dedicated personnel for effective management, which can increase operational costs. Nevertheless, this complexity also allows for customization and scalability, catering to large organizations’ specific needs. Challenge Description Impact on Users Complex Layout Extensive options can confuse new users Increased training time Learning Curve Steep because of numerous features Slower adoption of the platform Resource Requirements Necessitates dedicated personnel Higher operational costs Customization Potential Offers customized solutions for large businesses Greater flexibility in program design Annex Cloud: Comprehensive Loyalty and Engagement Platform As businesses seek innovative ways to boost customer loyalty and engagement, Annex Cloud stands out with its extensive suite of software solutions. The platform combines points programs, customer referrals, and user-generated content, creating a thorough approach to improve loyalty. Its API-first design allows for significant customization, catering to businesses with specific needs. Furthermore, Annex Cloud integrates seamlessly with popular enterprise systems like Salesforce, SAP, and Adobe, ensuring smooth operations across various tech stacks. Security is a priority, as the platform supports GDPR, CCPA, and SOC2 compliance, making it suitable for regulated sectors. Its modular user interface and strong reporting features enable you to track performance metrics effectively. By leveraging data-driven insights, you can optimize your loyalty strategies and better engage your customers. Oracle CrowdTwist Loyalty and Engagement: Robust Enterprise Solution Oracle CrowdTwist is a robust loyalty solution that leverages advanced analytics to improve customer engagement and retention. With coalition loyalty support, it allows businesses to partner with others, maximizing the benefits of customer loyalty across multiple brands. This enterprise-grade platform is designed to handle intricate loyalty structures, making it a solid choice for large organizations seeking to optimize their customer rewards programs. Advanced Analytics Capabilities Advanced analytics capabilities form the backbone of effective loyalty programs, enabling businesses to make informed decisions based on customer data. With Oracle CrowdTwist, you can leverage these advanced features to boost your loyalty initiatives markedly. Gain real-time insights through extensive reporting and analytics tools. Track customer engagement and loyalty program performance metrics effortlessly. Utilize sophisticated segmentation to analyze customer behavior. Tailor your loyalty programs to improve overall customer satisfaction. Benefit from robust data visualization tools for clear interpretation of complex datasets. These capabilities not only enhance your strategic decision-making but additionally allow you to measure the impact of cross-brand interactions, thereby improving customer loyalty and engagement. Coalition Loyalty Support In a competitive market where customer loyalty is paramount, coalition loyalty support can greatly improve a brand’s engagement strategy. Oracle CrowdTwist offers a robust enterprise solution that enables multiple brands to collaborate seamlessly, allowing customers to earn and redeem rewards across various businesses. This approach boosts customer value, encouraging repeat purchases and nurturing deeper brand connections. With advanced analytics and reporting capabilities, you can measure the effectiveness of your loyalty initiatives, optimizing your engagement strategies accordingly. While designed for large enterprises with a high-cost structure, the platform’s continuous updates guarantee you benefit from the latest features in loyalty management. Kognitiv by Aimia: Innovative Loyalty Technology Kognitiv by Aimia offers innovative loyalty technology that caters particularly to the needs of various sectors, including retail, consumer packaged goods (CPG), and travel. By leveraging advanced data analytics and machine learning, Kognitiv optimizes customer interactions, ensuring that loyalty programs are effective and engaging. Key features of Kognitiv include: Segment-focused solutions customized to specific industry demands. Personalized offers and promotions intended to improve customer retention. Flexible and scalable platform capabilities that adapt to changing market conditions. Comprehensive analytics that drive insights into customer behavior. Responsive customer support for timely assistance in managing loyalty efforts. With these features, Kognitiv empowers businesses to improve their loyalty strategies, increase customer lifetime value, and navigate the intricacies of modern consumer engagement efficiently. TrueLoyal: Streamlined Loyalty Management for Businesses TrueLoyal offers a streamlined loyalty management platform designed to simplify the implementation and management of customer loyalty programs for businesses. With a user-friendly interface, you can easily set up and customize your loyalty programs to align with your engagement strategies. The platform adapts based on client feedback, guaranteeing it continuously evolves to meet your needs. Moreover, TrueLoyal provides robust customer support, facilitating smooth onboarding for businesses of all sizes. You’ll likewise benefit from analytics tools that offer valuable insights into customer behavior, enabling you to optimize your loyalty initiatives for better retention and revenue growth. Feature Description User-Friendly Interface Simplifies program setup and management Customizable Programs Tailors rewards to your strategy Client Feedback Responsive Regular updates based on user input Robust Customer Support Guarantees smooth onboarding and assistance Analytics Tools Provides insights for optimization Frequently Asked Questions What Is the Most Successful Rewards Program? The most successful rewards programs focus on personalization and engagement. They leverage AI to tailor offers, increasing customer lifetime value markedly. Incorporating gamification elements, like achievements and leaderboards, improves customer interaction and purchase frequency. A flexible rewards structure accommodates various behaviors, boosting satisfaction and retention. In addition, integrating the program across multiple channels allows seamless earning and redeeming of rewards, as real-time analytics inform data-driven decisions to improve effectiveness and profitability. What Is the World’s Most Generous Rewards Program? The world’s most generous rewards program often highlights the Chase Ultimate Rewards program, offering up to 5x points on select categories with no expiration for eligible accounts. Hilton Honors likewise stands out, providing 14 points per dollar spent at hotels and versatile redemption options. Other notable programs include American Express Membership Rewards, which allows point transfers to numerous partners, and Marriott Bonvoy, offering up to 17 points per dollar and valuable member benefits. Who Has the Best Reward System? Determining who’s the best reward system depends on various factors, such as your business model and customer needs. Some programs excel in flexibility, offering customizable point structures and engagement features, while others focus on AI-driven personalization to improve customer interactions. Furthermore, thorough systems that integrate multiple loyalty features can adapt to different business requirements. In the end, evaluating these elements will help you identify the most effective reward system for your specific situation. What Is the Difference Between a CRM and a Loyalty Program? A CRM focuses on managing interactions with customers, aiming to improve relationships and drive sales growth. It collects and analyzes customer data to boost service and marketing. Conversely, a loyalty program particularly targets customer retention by offering rewards and incentives for repeat business. Although both utilize customer data, CRMs integrate with various business functions, whereas loyalty programs emphasize creating engaging reward systems to promote long-term customer loyalty and increase purchase frequency. Conclusion In summary, choosing the right customer rewards program software is essential for enhancing customer loyalty and engagement. Solutions like Open Loyalty and Talon.One offer customization and advanced features, whereas Smile.io and TrueLoyal cater to the needs of small businesses. For those seeking robust analytics, Cheetah Digital and Oracle CrowdTwist excel, and enterprise-level options like Comarch Loyalty Management provide scalability. By evaluating your specific requirements, you can select the software that best aligns with your business goals and customer needs. Image via Google Gemini This article, "10 Best Customer Rewards Program Software Solutions" was first published on Small Business Trends View the full article

Regarding selecting the best customer rewards program software solutions, you need to evaluate various factors like customization, ease of use, and analytics capabilities. Each software offers unique features designed for different business needs, from startups to large enterprises. Whether you prioritize gamification, seamless integration, or advanced reporting tools, there’s a solution that fits your requirements. Let’s examine the top contenders and how they can improve your customer engagement strategies. Key Takeaways Open Loyalty offers a highly customizable solution with over 250 API endpoints for seamless omnichannel integration and real-time updates on loyalty points. Smile.io provides a user-friendly, plug-and-play solution ideal for small to medium-sized e-commerce businesses, enhancing customer lifetime value through simple integration. Talon.One features a flexible rule builder for creating intricate, hyper-personalized loyalty programs, appealing to businesses seeking customized reward mechanics. Cheetah Digital integrates marketing and loyalty efforts with strong reporting capabilities, allowing for effective customer relationship management and insightful analytics. Comarch Loyalty Management delivers highly personalized loyalty programs with advanced analytics and scalability, making it suitable for large enterprises with complex loyalty structures. Open Loyalty: A Flexible and Customizable Solution Open Loyalty stands out as a flexible and customizable loyalty solution that caters to a variety of business needs. As a leading loyalty SaaS, it offers over 250 API endpoints, ensuring seamless integration with your existing systems. This adaptability allows you to create personalized customer rewards program software that aligns with your unique business strategies. The platform supports omnichannel engagement, meaning your customers can earn and redeem rewards across web, mobile, and in-store interactions. With built-in gamification elements, such as achievements and leaderboards, it actively engages customers, encouraging participation in loyalty initiatives. Real-time processing capabilities handle transactions efficiently, providing immediate updates on loyalty points and rewards, which is essential for maintaining customer satisfaction. Open Loyalty’s customizable and scalable features make it an ideal choice for businesses looking to improve their loyalty strategies and maximize customer retention. Smile.io: Quick Setup for E-Commerce Businesses For small to medium-sized e-commerce businesses looking to implement a customer rewards program, Smile.io offers a plug-and-play solution that simplifies the process. This platform integrates seamlessly with popular e-commerce sites like Shopify and Wix, allowing you to quickly add loyalty features without needing extensive technical skills. Smile.io provides a standard points-based program, along with referral and VIP tiers, which are crucial for turning one-time buyers into loyal customers. Through an easy-to-use dashboard, you can customize the branding and user experience, even though options are limited on the free plan. Businesses that utilize Smile.io have reported impressive results, including a 48% increase in customer lifetime value and double the purchase frequency among loyalty program members. With its straightforward setup and effective tools, Smile.io makes it easier for you to engage customers and improve their shopping experience. Cheetah Digital: All-in-One Marketing and Loyalty Platform If you’re seeking an all-encompassing solution that integrates marketing and loyalty efforts, Cheetah Digital stands out as an all-in-one platform intended to improve customer engagement and relationship management. This platform offers loyalty add-ons, enabling you to manage customer relationships effectively as you enhance engagement. However, although it boasts strong reporting capabilities and personalization tools, allowing you to customize loyalty programs to individual preferences, some users have found the interface clunky, which can hinder navigation. Here’s a quick overview of Cheetah Digital’s features: Feature Benefits Considerations All-in-One Platform Unified marketing and loyalty May lack depth in loyalty Personalization Tools Customized customer experiences Clunky interface reported Strong Reporting Insightful analytics Learning curve for users Cheetah Digital is ideal for businesses looking for a thorough solution, though it may not suit those needing advanced loyalty functionalities. Talon.One: Highly Customizable Promotion and Loyalty Engine Talon.One offers a flexible rule builder that lets you create intricate loyalty programs without needing extensive technical skills. This user-friendly feature simplifies the design of promotions customized to your business needs. Nonetheless, you should additionally consider potential integration challenges with your existing tech stack, as this can affect how smoothly the platform operates within your overall system. Flexible Rule Builder When businesses seek to improve their customer engagement strategies, a flexible rule builder can be a crucial tool in creating effective promotions and loyalty programs. Talon.One’s customizable rule builder allows you to design complex promotions customized to specific customer behaviors and preferences. You can make real-time updates, ensuring your loyalty strategies adapt to changing customer needs and market conditions. The platform’s API-based architecture boosts flexibility, allowing seamless integration with various tech stacks. Talon.One supports hyper-personalized loyalty experiences by enabling unique reward mechanics like bundling, discounting, and tiered rewards. Its user-friendly interface simplifies the creation and management of loyalty rules, making it accessible for non-technical team members while still offering advanced capabilities for developers. Integration Challenges Ahead As businesses look to implement Talon.One’s highly customizable promotion and loyalty engine, they often encounter integration challenges that can complicate their strategies. The platform’s API-first architecture provides developers with control over integration, but this flexibility comes with a steep learning curve because of its extensive features. Although you can create complex discounting and loyalty mechanics customized to your needs, achieving seamless connectivity with different tech stacks may require dedicated development resources. Moreover, leveraging real-time updates and audience targeting improves hyper-personalized loyalty experiences, but it demands careful planning. For enterprises managing multiple brands and large SKU portfolios, Talon.One is an ideal solution, yet the associated costs for scaling should likewise be considered to guarantee a successful implementation. Antavo: No-Code Loyalty Editor for Diverse Reward Types Antavo provides a no-code loyalty editor that empowers businesses to design and manage their loyalty programs effortlessly, even without technical skills. The platform supports a diverse range of reward types, including points, tiers, and community rewards, which means you can tailor your offerings to fit your customer base. With features for in-store kiosks and card support, Antavo improves customer engagement across multiple channels. Here’s a quick overview of what Antavo offers: Feature Description Benefit No-Code Editor User-friendly interface for program creation Accessible for all users Diverse Reward Types Points, tiers, and community rewards Customizable loyalty options Multi-Channel Support In-store kiosks and card integration Engages customers effectively Antavo’s intuitive tools allow for easy customization and quick setups, making it an excellent choice for businesses looking to improve customer retention and satisfaction through innovative reward structures. Comarch Loyalty Management: Enterprise-Focused Loyalty Solutions Comarch Loyalty Management offers enterprise-focused features that cater to complex loyalty programs, making it a suitable choice for large organizations. During its customizable interface provides flexibility in tailoring strategies, users may face challenges maneuvering its complexity. This platform’s advanced analytics tools help you track customer engagement and program performance, but comprehending its full potential can require a significant investment of time and resources. Enterprise-Focused Features When you’re managing a large enterprise, having a robust customer rewards program can greatly improve customer loyalty and engagement. Comarch Loyalty Management offers features customized particularly for your needs, including gift card management and loyalty cards. With extensive customization options, you can create highly personalized loyalty programs that align with your brand. The platform likewise includes advanced analytics tools, allowing you to track customer engagement and program effectiveness in real-time. Furthermore, its scalability guarantees that as your enterprise grows, your rewards program can adapt seamlessly to increased demands. Integration with existing systems means a cohesive customer experience across various touchpoints, making it easier for you to manage and improve customer interactions effectively. Complex Interface Challenges Navigating through the intricacies of Comarch Loyalty Management can be challenging, especially for new users who may find the interface overwhelming. Its complexity often requires significant training, as the advanced features like gift and loyalty card management can be intimidating. Users typically report that the intricate layout demands dedicated personnel for effective management, which can increase operational costs. Nevertheless, this complexity also allows for customization and scalability, catering to large organizations’ specific needs. Challenge Description Impact on Users Complex Layout Extensive options can confuse new users Increased training time Learning Curve Steep because of numerous features Slower adoption of the platform Resource Requirements Necessitates dedicated personnel Higher operational costs Customization Potential Offers customized solutions for large businesses Greater flexibility in program design Annex Cloud: Comprehensive Loyalty and Engagement Platform As businesses seek innovative ways to boost customer loyalty and engagement, Annex Cloud stands out with its extensive suite of software solutions. The platform combines points programs, customer referrals, and user-generated content, creating a thorough approach to improve loyalty. Its API-first design allows for significant customization, catering to businesses with specific needs. Furthermore, Annex Cloud integrates seamlessly with popular enterprise systems like Salesforce, SAP, and Adobe, ensuring smooth operations across various tech stacks. Security is a priority, as the platform supports GDPR, CCPA, and SOC2 compliance, making it suitable for regulated sectors. Its modular user interface and strong reporting features enable you to track performance metrics effectively. By leveraging data-driven insights, you can optimize your loyalty strategies and better engage your customers. Oracle CrowdTwist Loyalty and Engagement: Robust Enterprise Solution Oracle CrowdTwist is a robust loyalty solution that leverages advanced analytics to improve customer engagement and retention. With coalition loyalty support, it allows businesses to partner with others, maximizing the benefits of customer loyalty across multiple brands. This enterprise-grade platform is designed to handle intricate loyalty structures, making it a solid choice for large organizations seeking to optimize their customer rewards programs. Advanced Analytics Capabilities Advanced analytics capabilities form the backbone of effective loyalty programs, enabling businesses to make informed decisions based on customer data. With Oracle CrowdTwist, you can leverage these advanced features to boost your loyalty initiatives markedly. Gain real-time insights through extensive reporting and analytics tools. Track customer engagement and loyalty program performance metrics effortlessly. Utilize sophisticated segmentation to analyze customer behavior. Tailor your loyalty programs to improve overall customer satisfaction. Benefit from robust data visualization tools for clear interpretation of complex datasets. These capabilities not only enhance your strategic decision-making but additionally allow you to measure the impact of cross-brand interactions, thereby improving customer loyalty and engagement. Coalition Loyalty Support In a competitive market where customer loyalty is paramount, coalition loyalty support can greatly improve a brand’s engagement strategy. Oracle CrowdTwist offers a robust enterprise solution that enables multiple brands to collaborate seamlessly, allowing customers to earn and redeem rewards across various businesses. This approach boosts customer value, encouraging repeat purchases and nurturing deeper brand connections. With advanced analytics and reporting capabilities, you can measure the effectiveness of your loyalty initiatives, optimizing your engagement strategies accordingly. While designed for large enterprises with a high-cost structure, the platform’s continuous updates guarantee you benefit from the latest features in loyalty management. Kognitiv by Aimia: Innovative Loyalty Technology Kognitiv by Aimia offers innovative loyalty technology that caters particularly to the needs of various sectors, including retail, consumer packaged goods (CPG), and travel. By leveraging advanced data analytics and machine learning, Kognitiv optimizes customer interactions, ensuring that loyalty programs are effective and engaging. Key features of Kognitiv include: Segment-focused solutions customized to specific industry demands. Personalized offers and promotions intended to improve customer retention. Flexible and scalable platform capabilities that adapt to changing market conditions. Comprehensive analytics that drive insights into customer behavior. Responsive customer support for timely assistance in managing loyalty efforts. With these features, Kognitiv empowers businesses to improve their loyalty strategies, increase customer lifetime value, and navigate the intricacies of modern consumer engagement efficiently. TrueLoyal: Streamlined Loyalty Management for Businesses TrueLoyal offers a streamlined loyalty management platform designed to simplify the implementation and management of customer loyalty programs for businesses. With a user-friendly interface, you can easily set up and customize your loyalty programs to align with your engagement strategies. The platform adapts based on client feedback, guaranteeing it continuously evolves to meet your needs. Moreover, TrueLoyal provides robust customer support, facilitating smooth onboarding for businesses of all sizes. You’ll likewise benefit from analytics tools that offer valuable insights into customer behavior, enabling you to optimize your loyalty initiatives for better retention and revenue growth. Feature Description User-Friendly Interface Simplifies program setup and management Customizable Programs Tailors rewards to your strategy Client Feedback Responsive Regular updates based on user input Robust Customer Support Guarantees smooth onboarding and assistance Analytics Tools Provides insights for optimization Frequently Asked Questions What Is the Most Successful Rewards Program? The most successful rewards programs focus on personalization and engagement. They leverage AI to tailor offers, increasing customer lifetime value markedly. Incorporating gamification elements, like achievements and leaderboards, improves customer interaction and purchase frequency. A flexible rewards structure accommodates various behaviors, boosting satisfaction and retention. In addition, integrating the program across multiple channels allows seamless earning and redeeming of rewards, as real-time analytics inform data-driven decisions to improve effectiveness and profitability. What Is the World’s Most Generous Rewards Program? The world’s most generous rewards program often highlights the Chase Ultimate Rewards program, offering up to 5x points on select categories with no expiration for eligible accounts. Hilton Honors likewise stands out, providing 14 points per dollar spent at hotels and versatile redemption options. Other notable programs include American Express Membership Rewards, which allows point transfers to numerous partners, and Marriott Bonvoy, offering up to 17 points per dollar and valuable member benefits. Who Has the Best Reward System? Determining who’s the best reward system depends on various factors, such as your business model and customer needs. Some programs excel in flexibility, offering customizable point structures and engagement features, while others focus on AI-driven personalization to improve customer interactions. Furthermore, thorough systems that integrate multiple loyalty features can adapt to different business requirements. In the end, evaluating these elements will help you identify the most effective reward system for your specific situation. What Is the Difference Between a CRM and a Loyalty Program? A CRM focuses on managing interactions with customers, aiming to improve relationships and drive sales growth. It collects and analyzes customer data to boost service and marketing. Conversely, a loyalty program particularly targets customer retention by offering rewards and incentives for repeat business. Although both utilize customer data, CRMs integrate with various business functions, whereas loyalty programs emphasize creating engaging reward systems to promote long-term customer loyalty and increase purchase frequency. Conclusion In summary, choosing the right customer rewards program software is essential for enhancing customer loyalty and engagement. Solutions like Open Loyalty and Talon.One offer customization and advanced features, whereas Smile.io and TrueLoyal cater to the needs of small businesses. For those seeking robust analytics, Cheetah Digital and Oracle CrowdTwist excel, and enterprise-level options like Comarch Loyalty Management provide scalability. By evaluating your specific requirements, you can select the software that best aligns with your business goals and customer needs. Image via Google Gemini This article, "10 Best Customer Rewards Program Software Solutions" was first published on Small Business Trends View the full article

It’s five answers to five questions. Here we go… 1. Bringing alcohol to the home of a recovering alcoholic My coworker is a recovering alcoholic; he doesn’t discuss it but never drinks, occasionally refers to “when I was drinking,” and once was frightened when he learned there may have been alcohol in a dessert he’d eaten (there wasn’t). His wife has generously invited to office over for dinner. She told us that “we keep a dry house” but we’re welcome to bring alcohol if we want it with our meal. This has created a debate within the office. Two want to bring alcohol, arguing that she told us (without us asking, I should add) that we could. The rest of us feel it would be rude and we should respect the rules of her house and our coworker’s feelings. We’ve agreed we won’t bring alcohol. I’m wondering, though, what is your take? Yeah, don’t bring alcohol. It’s not like bringing along your own allergen-free food to ensure there will be something you can safely eat; you don’t need alcohol with the meal, and it’s more respectful to your coworker not to. And really, if someone feels like it will be an enormous inconvenience not to have alcohol with a single meal, I’d wonder what was up. It might be different if you were close friends and better positioned to judge how much it would actually bother them … and how much the “you’re welcome to bring your own” comment was sincerely meant versus something they say but still prefer people not do. (And yes, they shouldn’t say it if they don’t mean it, blah blah blah, but people being humans, it happens anyway.) But you’re colleagues and not as well positioned to dig into “how much would this really bother you?” as you’d be with a friend, so it’s better to err on the side of respecting their alcohol-free home. 2. Should I consider a candidate’s obnoxious Facebook commenting when hiring? I work in nonprofits. For anonymity’s sake, I’ll just broadly say I work in the arts. I am part of several arts-related groups on Facebook, including several specific to my niche and several region-specific groups. I’m not a huge Facebook person, so I mostly just join to keep up with local events and interesting initiatives in the field. But over the past year or so, I’ve noticed one woman, Hannah, who has joined every major arts group as well, plus all of the region-specific groups. She stands out as particularly difficult. She aggressive on almost every single post. She will get into heated arguments, and frequently tells other people that they don’t know what they’re talking about. The real kicker is that she is wrong about quite a bit. She gets extremely defensive when called out, despite admitting that she is relatively new to the field. To be clear, I’ve never actually tried to find her content, and I’ve never even engaged with her — this is just what I see every single time I open the group pages. It definitely sours the overall vibes of the group. At work, I’m on a hiring panel for a role that does not report directly to me, but works under my guidance on a few projects. The other day, HR mentioned that they’d be sending along a new resume, for a woman named Hannah. I didn’t think anything of it until I hopped on Facebook later in the day and, once again, saw Hannah getting into a heated debate in the comments of an otherwise positive, non-controversial post. Obviously, I have no idea if this is the same Hannah. She has a common first name but a very unique last name, so it will be easy to tell when I see the resume. I’m very doubtful this will happen, but mostly out of curiosity: what if it’s the same Hannah? Would I need to bring it up to the hiring panel ahead of time? I know people have been fired over social media posts, but from what I’ve seen, that is mostly in egregious cases. As far as I can tell, Hannah’s never said anything really terrible — she is just a constant, argumentative presence in groups, harshly criticizing others and often making statements that are plain wrong. Aside from her being a difficult coworker, my first thought is that a combative (and fairly visible) social media presence would be a liability to our organization. But what would be the ethical and professional guidelines here? Is it reasonable to consider personal social media encounters when making a hiring decision? It is reasonable to consider your own firsthand experience with a candidate, and it is reasonable to consider how a candidate presents themselves within industry-specific spaces. Both of those are in play here! In fact, I think it would be negligent not to fill the rest of the hiring team in on how you’ve seen Hannah operate in field-specific places. Not only is it data about what she’s likely to be like to work with, but it’s also relevant to how hiring her might be received by others in your field! 3. My roommate shaved my eyebrow just before a big interview I know by the time you get this it’s going to be too late but I’m freaking out. I’m probably going to tell them I’m sick because I look ridiculous and there’s no way to explain this to them. I have an interview for a really cool internship tomorrow. This would be my first time working in my field and I’ve low-key been panicking about it before this whole trainwreck. My roommate had some of our friends over, so I was hanging out with them tonight. I’m currently trying some medication that makes me sleepy, so I fell asleep on the couch. I woke up to my roommate shaving my eyebrows! She and everyone were super giggly and drunk. They kept trying to say it was fine but I ran to the bathroom and … my stomach is still dropping every time I see my face. She basically shaved off my entire left eyebrow. There’s some hair left, but it’s super obviously shaved and the razor cut me a little so I had to put on a bandaid. I look crazy. I don’t even know what to do. The firm I’m interviewing at is pretty formal and I’d be seeing clients, so this look is a total no-go. I feel like I can’t even explain what happened because their first impression would be I’m some high-drama party girl. And I can say I’m sick, but I can’t reschedule it anywhere near enough time for my eyebrow to grow back! This has ruined my chance at a job I was so excited for and I feel so stupid. Eyebrow pencil! You can draw it back on well enough to pass for having an eyebrow at an interview! 4. How early is too early for meetings with an international team? I’m young and in my first corporate job on an international team (U.S., UK, India) and we have a weekly stand-up at 7 am. As it’s only once a week, I’m alright starting my day earlier to keep my Indian colleagues from staying late but that made me wonder how far outside of work hours is too far for work meetings? 7 am seems unreasonable to me if it were a daily meeting but so does 7 pm for my colleagues in India (given we do 9-5). Yeah, this is pretty par for the course when you work on an international team. If you need a slot when people in time zones that far apart can all be available, it’s going to be an inconvenient time for someone. But ideally the inconvenience would be rotated so it’s not always the same team getting scheduled outside of normal hours every time. 5. How long should I wait after getting a promotion before job-searching? I work within a very small (and shrinking) but necessary team in my company. Recently our team’s core personnel was reduced to just me and the team lead, leaving a vacant position, and just today they significantly cut the team lead’s pay, leading him to walk. This leaves me as the only person with significant day-to-day operational knowledge in a technical position, as everyone else are mid- and high-level management who work with several teams and oversee much larger programs. I’m the senior most member of the team besides the lead and am very likely to get the vacant position. Given the recent state of the company, however, it’s clear that I should not count on any long-term plans with them. The raise is likely to be significant and the position would look good on a resume, but I’m certain they will overwork and underpay me. But I’m afraid, and with some precedent, that if I refuse, they will lump whatever of his work they can on me and divvy the remaining responsibilities among the upper levels as a “temporary” or “necessary” measure. But I also fear that taking this promotion could shackle me to this position for a while yet. If I take the promotion, how long should I wait before seeking new employment? I imagine recruiters would look at someone applying soon after a promotion rather negatively, particularly since this would be a jump into a leadership role and could lead to me being seen as either unreliable or unable to handle such a position. Is there any other way I could diplomatically present this within interviews besides “differences of opinion” and “not seeing eye-to-eye with [Employer]”? You don’t need to hold off on job-searching. Take the promotion and start a job search. It’s not going to look weird. If a recruiter asks why you’re looking so soon after being promoted, you can say, “I was happy to help out with the role when the company asked me to, but the company has also been making a lot of cuts and I’m looking for something more stable.” 6. Holiday book fair Just sharing this from a reader: I think this is coming too late for your holiday posts, but I need to share. I work at a library and every year, we get pretty nice gift bags at the holiday party. But like all gift bags, there are always things that don’t work for some people (particular treats, scented candles, blankets when you have 20-million blankets at home already). This year, we walked in to discover a BOOK FAIR. The local independent bookstore brought a bunch of hardback books of different genres, puzzles, games, reading lights, etc. Everyone got to pick out something and take it home. I’ve never seen 150 adults so happy about anything. I will be riding that book fair high for months. The post bringing alcohol to the home of a recovering alcoholic, a candidate’s obnoxious Facebook comments, and more appeared first on Ask a Manager. View the full article

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