ResidentialBusiness

Year-end giving can be a moment of reflection, but for businesses and philanthropy alike, it should also include looking forward and asking the question, what’s next? One throughline from this past year is uncertainty. Uncertainty has rewritten how we work, live, and lead. Yet, one thing that still holds true is we share a responsibility to keep systems strong so no one is left behind, especially children. I’ve seen firsthand how instability isn’t just economic, it’s deeply human. I’ve seen it in a mother whose baby’s survival depended on something as small as a packet of therapeutic food. In that moment, you understand that systems created as large scale solutions change lives. GO DEEPER ON PURPOSE Purpose has become one of the most overused words in business, but the leaders who will define what’s next are treating it differently. They’re going deeper. The smartest changemakers are cutting through tokenistic giving and refocusing on what’s core to their mission. They’re aligning personal and corporate philanthropy not around optics, but around outcomes that truly matter like health, equity, sustainability, and opportunity. STRENGTHEN WHAT’S STABLE, TO WITHSTAND WHAT’S NOT If recent years have taught us anything, it’s that the systems we depend on are only as strong as the most vulnerable people within them. Business leaders understand this intuitively. A 2024 survey showed that 45% of global CEOs expect significant business model disruption within three years. Social trust and resilience are key to future competitiveness. Trusted companies can be worth up to four times more than their competitors and 89% of business leaders identified resilience as a major priority in their organizational strategy. Put simply, future-proofing your business means building stronger systems that will support future generations. Your future workforce, customers, and investors are today’s children and adolescents. When children thrive, societies stabilize and markets follow. NOT JUST A NUMBER When global supply chains break down, it’s not just balance sheets that suffer; the livelihoods of entire communities feel the impact. Too often, those disruptions get reduced to numbers on a page like drops in GDP and productivity losses, but what’s really at stake is livelihoods. And sometimes the clearest illustration of why stability matters comes down to a single moment. When I was a new mom, I met a Sudanese mother in a refugee camp in Ethiopia near the Sudan border. The woman was holding her baby, who was severely underweight but just beginning to show signs of alertness. She was feeding her child a small packet of ready-to-use therapeutic food, a peanut-based paste that treats severe acute malnutrition. It’s a simple, scalable solution with life-changing impact. Malnutrition remains one of the most pressing yet solvable challenges in global health. Addressing it requires the kind of smart, forward-leaning, systems-level innovation UNICEF and its partners are scaling across the world. MAKE GENEROSITY A YEAR-ROUND STRATEGY Uncertainty shouldn’t stop you from leading or giving. Support from the private sector can be pivotal for nonprofits, but the greatest impact requires relationships, not just transactions. It requires companies that cocreate with nonprofits, sharing expertise, networks, and long-term commitment to help unlock lasting and innovative solutions. WHAT’S NEXT The future will be shaped by those who act now. Here’s how to do that. Invest in stability. Give toward systems that protect children and strengthen communities. These are the same systems your business relies on for a stable workforce, market, and future. Collaborate with intention. Align your business and your values. Strategic giving builds trust, reinforces brand purpose, and connects you with the partners and consumers who share it. Give forward. Treat generosity as leadership strategy. It’s how you future-proof impact for your company, your community, and the world your business depends on. As you take a moment of gratitude during this holiday season, give to what’s urgent now and what will define what’s next. Michele Walsh is executive vice president and chief philanthropy officer of UNICEF USA. View the full article

Decision eases concerns that central bankers aligned with the US president would block them remaining in their rolesView the full article

Government changes lay groundwork for contentious reforms expected next yearView the full article

OpenAI on Thursday released its answer to Google’s impressive Gemini 3 Pro model–GPT-5.2—and by the looks of some head-to-head benchmark test scores, it looks like a winner. The new model took the highest score on a number of benchmark tests covering coding, math, science, tool use, and vision. (Benchmarks should, of course, be combined with real-world use to tell the whole story. But still . . .) OpenAI says GPT-5.2, which is a reasoning model, achieved expert-level performance scores on its own GDPval benchmark, which evaluates performance on 44 real professional tasks including things like spreadsheet creation, document drafting, presentation building, and more. GPT-5.2 topped Gemini 3 Pro on the SWE-Bench Pro benchmark (software engineering tasks) with a score of 55.6% (versus Gemini 3 Pro’s 43.3%). It achieved an 86.2% on the ARC-AGI-1 abstract reasoning benchmark, compared to Gemini 3 Pro’s 75% score. It scored a 92.4% on the GPQA Diamond benchmark (science questions), compared with Gemini 3 Pro’s 91.9% score. The new model comes in three variants. GPT-5.2 Instant is good for seeking information and how-tos, skill-building and study, and career guidance. GPT-5.2 Thinking is good for harder professional tasks like spreadsheet formatting and slideshow creation. GPT-5.2 Pro, the company says, takes longer to generate answers but is its “smartest and most trustworthy” model for generating accurate answers in complex domains like programming. For the many developers that are now developing agents, OpenAI says GPT-5.2 with reasoning is its strongest offering yet, bringing “significant improvements across general intelligence, long-context understanding, agentic tool-calling, and vision.” OpenAI reportedly pushed to release GPT-5.2 before the end of the year so that it could counter the release of Google’s Gemini 3. The company released GPT-5 in August, heralding it as the next major leap forward in its AI research. GPT-5 was a “system” of models, using a “router” to direct the right queries to specialized models. It’s referring to GPT-5.2 as a “unified system that automatically chooses how to respond based on task complexity.” The GPT-5.2 model’s increased capacity for processing and reasoning about multi-modal input (audio, video, images, text, etc.) is significant, because Google Gemini 3 does this very well. For example, the new model was asked to analyze the features of an image of a circuit board and then identify and label all the small components. OpenAI says GPT-5.2 did this with far more detail and accuracy than its earlier GPT-5.1 model could. When reasoning is introduced, the model may be able to diagnose problems in mechanical systems by recognizing the visual signs. All three variants of GPT-5.2 are available in ChatGPT today, starting with paid subscribers and available to developers through the API. Microsoft, a major investor in OpenAI, says it’s bringing GPT-5.2 to Microsoft 365 Copilot and Copilot Studio users worldwide today. In related news, OpenAI also announced that it had struck a licensing deal with Disney that will allow Sora 2 users to use Disney characters in images they generate and share using the app. In addition, Disney will make a $1-billion equity investment in OpenAI, with an option to purchase more equity in the future. View the full article

ETHZilla partnered with Zippy to bring manufactured home chattel loans on-chain as tokenized real-world assets. View the full article

The pace of AI technology is so rapid, it's tough to keep up with everything. At Google I/O back in May, Google rolled out an AI-powered shopping feature that let you virtually try on clothes you find online. All you needed to do was upload a full-length photo of yourself, and Google's AI would be to dress you up in whatever article of clothing you liked. I still can't decide whether the feature sounds useful, creepy, or a little bit of both. Google's virtual try on feature only needs a selfie to workWhat I can say, however, is that the feature is getting a little creepier. On Thursday, Google announced an update to its virtual try on feature, that takes advantage of the company's new AI image model, Nano Banana. Now, you don't need a full-length photo of yourself: just a selfie. With solely a photo of your face, Nano Banana will generate a full-length avatar in your likeness, which you can use to virtually try on your clothes. I'm not exactly sure who this particular update is for: Maybe there are some of us out there who want to use this virtual try-on feature, but don't have a full-length photo of ourselves to share. Personally, I wouldn't really want to send Google my photo—selfie or otherwise—but I don't think I'd prefer to have Google infer what I look like from a photo of my face alone. I'd rather just send it the full photo, and give it something to actually work off of. Here's the other issue: While Google asks you to only upload images of yourself, it doesn't stop you if you upload an image of someone else. Talk about creepy: You can upload someone else's selfie and see how they look in various clothes. There is a system in place to stop you from uploading certain selfies, like celebrities, children, or otherwise "unsafe" items, but if the system fails, this feature could be used maliciously. I feel like Google could get around this by verifying the selfie against your Google Account, since you need to be signed in to use the feature anyway. How to upload a selfie to Google's virtual try on featureIf you are interested in trying the feature out—and, subsequently, trying on virtual clothes with your AI-generated avatar—you can head over to Google's try on feature, sign into your Google Account, and upload your selfie. When it processes, you choose one of four avatars, each dressed in a different fit, to proceed. Once through, you can virtually try on any clothes you see in the feed. Again, I see the potential usefulness of a feature that lets you see what you might look like in a certain piece of clothing before buying it. But, at the same time, I think I'd rather just order the item and try it on in the comfort (and privacy) of my own home. View the full article

It’s “where are you now?” month at Ask a Manager, and all December I’m running updates from people who had their letters here answered in the past. Here are four updates from past letter-writers. 1. My job wants me to hit up everyone I know for money and other help So it’s been a bit of a twisty path since I wrote in. I’ll start by thanking Alison and the commentariat for really helpful advice. The small group meetings with the explicit purpose of sharing our personal contacts and their locations kept being postponed. Casual discussions about the principles of the project continued during other meetings, and I began to lay the groundwork suggested in the advice and discussions along the lines of “of course” I’ll have a think about it, but it may not be appropriate. At one of these meetings when our CEO was speaking, I caught some side-eye from a few coworkers and spoke to them separately afterwards. It turns out they were especially opposed to the idea of going in pairs to social groups to proselytize, and the idea of mixing work/personal boundaries. Then it all got a bit mysterious because the consultant, who I never did manage to find anything shady about, vanished from the project and was never spoken of again by the CEO. There was quite a lot of speculation among our little band of rebels. So then the individual meetings got put back on the table but in a different way. Basically we all got together one day in small teams and mapped out local groups — crucially not our personal contacts but publicly available information around groups like community centers, faith groups, seniors’ meetups and so on. Stuff that’s easily findable on Facebook and so on. But then it all kind of fizzled out. I believe our management team reached out to some targeted groups and made a few useful connections, but we were never again asked to hit up our personal contacts, for which I was profoundly grateful! But a nice side note is that I now count two of those rebellious coworkers as personal friends — and in a note of irony, one of them comes along to my book club. (But we don’t talk about work there!) Thanks again, really appreciated Alison and everyone taking the time. 2. My boss says my salary research is wrong because our benefits are so great Thank you so much for publishing my question about my salary negotiation gone wrong! I love reading updates on your site, so here’s mine: about two months after the promotion, my manager called me into her office out of the blue and gave me a 5% raise! She also gave me a copy of my supposed “total compensation” in writing. It consisted of my new annual salary, plus the bonus I got last year, plus the total reimbursements I’ve received so far this year (which was wrong, by the way), plus the total employer match on my retirement contributions (which is not vested yet and I’ll forfeit when I leave). Ha! As one commenter mentioned, I think the company is trying to identify “total cash compensation,” but this doesn’t seem like an accurate way to achieve that. The reason for the delayed response? The position I was promoted into didn’t exist at this company before, and from what I can gather (the office is an open floor plan and we hear things), executive management has had some difficulty determining an appropriate salary band for me, because there was no one else in the company in a comparable role. Instead of telling me that they needed time to consider, though, I got an immediate “no,” followed up months later by “here’s part of what you asked for,” with no explanation of why. Unfortunately, I’ve found this to be a frustrating pattern of communication with my manager. Any time I try to voice concerns or dissenting opinions, she shuts me down in the moment, then comes back a day or two later and suddenly agrees with me. It’s also been really challenging trying to succeed in a job that’s new to the company (I know this work was being done by someone before me, but no one here seems to know anything about it, so I’m just making it up as I go). Like most of your letter writers, the issue I wrote in about is really just the tip of the iceberg. I took on the promotion because I saw an opportunity to step up and take on an important responsibility that had been dropped, and I wanted to take a more active role in addressing our team’s stressful workload. Instead I’m frustrated and demoralized trying to adapt to the new senior-level position without any guidance or support. I appreciate the small salary bump I got, but I’m planning to start job searching in a few months (when I can say that I have six months of experience in the new role). Fortunately this role is highly desired in my industry and I think I have a good chance of finding somewhere with better management and an established team where I won’t be trying to invent my own job description, which has been an exercise in futility since the day I started working here. 3. My coworkers won’t answer their phones, ever Thank you for your advice back in March on my colleagues not answering their phones, and thank you also to the commenters who provided additional ideas. I appreciated the reality check. Unfortunately I was unable to take a lot of the advice because it centered around asking my supervisor to intervene, and he is one of the main culprits. At the time I wrote, when things were quite bad, he was asking me to return most of his voicemails not obviously from the bank or a very high-ranked VIP. This led to things like me calling someone back to ask what they wanted, them explaining a problem I couldn’t possibly help with, and me explaining they would have to speak with my supervisor — which is obviously what they had tried to do. Very awkward. Things are a little better now, mainly because a new person was hired — who also doesn’t really use the phone, but who is taking over a lot of work that was overwhelming everyone else, so in turn, people are more on top of their email inboxes. A lot of the phone calls were really people frustrated by lack of email response, so we get less of that now. Another thing that happened is we simply alienated the customers who wanted constant contact by phone, which rightly or wrongly, was simply unrealistic for the team that we have. So we don’t work with those customers anymore, thus fewer calls. And finally, most staff got a tiny bit better about agreeing to set up phone meetings or otherwise speak on the phone — maybe 20% better? In total, I get far fewer calls that aren’t for me, without the problem having ever been fully solved. Like a few of the letter writers I have seen on your site, I tried to solve one small thing I thought I could solve but really, it’s a larger set of issues. Thanks again for your help, and for the site as a whole. I have learned a lot over the years, and appreciate the humor too. 4. I heard a rumor that an exec is harassing multiple women, but no one wants to make an official complaint (#3 at the link) I did pass along the report of harassment to both our HR and Legal departments, and they seemed to take it seriously from what I could tell. HR leadership let me know that they were going to conduct an investigation. I was later informed that it was complete. I was not told (nor should I have been) the findings, or whether there were consequences for anyone. All I know is that everyone has remained employed. I have not heard any further complaints, and so I hope nothing further has occurred. Thanks for your advice and for that of your readers. The post update: my boss says my salary research is wrong, coworkers won’t answer their phones, and more appeared first on Ask a Manager. View the full article

Approximately 70% of home purchasers do not get more than one quote in the mortgage process, doing so could reduce their rate by 50 basis points, Zillow said. View the full article

The Federal Reserve Board of Governors voted Wednesday to reappoint 11 sitting regional Fed presidents, without any dissents. The move precludes any effort the White House might have made to pressure the board to deny reappointments. View the full article

On Thursday, prosecutors unsuccessfully tried again to ask a grand jury in a different Virginia court to return an indictment. View the full article

A quiet shift is reshaping the trajectory of wealth in America, but it isn’t happening in the boardrooms of Wall Street or the halls of Silicon Valley. It’s unfolding in neighborhoods, driveways, and home offices across the country, powered by teachers, software engineers, nurses, military families, and small-business owners who never expected to become real estate investors at all. As the cofounder and CEO of a rental technology company that supports independent property owners (and as an investor myself), I see this transformation every day. What starts as an unexpected ownership moment often turns into a thoughtful plan for long-term financial stability. Many investors simply kept a first home when they moved for work. Some inherited a property from aging parents. Others bought a place for a college-age child and discovered the economics made surprising sense. While these beginnings may have been accidental, rental owners are discovering that, with support from intelligent technologies, they’re able to operate it with a level of clarity, confidence, and professionalism. They are becoming strategic wealth builders and redefining what “small-scale investing” looks like in America. And they’re doing it with intention: leaning on smart systems rather than putting in extra hours, to operate their investments with the kind of discipline, insight, and confidence historically attributed only to large institutional players. THE RISE OF THE MODERN, SMALL-SCALE INVESTOR Across the country, independent property owners are already operating with a sophistication level once limited to professional firms. They’re using technology to streamline operations, reduce friction, and gain clarity. What once required a stack of paperwork and late-night phone calls now lives inside simple, reliable systems that elevate the investor’s role from administrator to strategist. Smart investors are no longer scaling effort; they’re scaling insight, spending more time understanding the story the numbers tell—and less time performing the manual tasks that used to consume nights and weekends. This shift is happening every day, in homes someone once lived in, inherited, or never intended to treat as a business. These properties are becoming the foundation of long-term financial wellbeing because their owners are operating with intention, clarity, and professional-level structure. A NEW PATH TO FINANCIAL FREEDOM What stands out to me is how everyday investors are redefining the American dream itself. Financial freedom is no longer tied exclusively to stock options, venture bets, or legacy wealth. It’s being built one smart, well-run property at a time by people who value resilience over speculation. And because investors are managing their assets with data and systems—rather than instinct alone—they’re achieving a stability that once seemed to be reserved for much larger players. Small investors now own more than 90% of single-family rental housing in the United States—a sign of just how central they’ve become to the country’s housing infrastructure. This isn’t a fringe pocket of the market or a niche economic group. It’s one of the most significant forces shaping communities and stabilizing local economies. WHEN ACCIDENTAL INVESTORS BECOME INTENTIONAL OPERATORS When the operational burden lifts, strategy takes its place. That’s exactly what’s happening as more independent investors adopt smart systems. Accidental investors are building predictable experiences for their residents, strengthening the predictability of their own financial outcomes. Rent collection is a good example. Smart operators are using automated reminders and autopay to keep cash flow consistent, and the impact is striking. Our data shows that residents enrolled in autopay pay on time 99% of the time, compared with 88% for those not using it, giving investors far clearer monthly stability. Maintenance coordination is often the most dreaded part of owning a rental property, but smart investors are already turning it into one of the most manageable systems. Shared portals with in-app chats keep everything organized, and residents submit issues the moment they notice them (often with a photo or quick video) so investors understand what’s happening before a small problem becomes a big one. Work orders stay orderly, responses stay timely, and the entire process remains calm and predictable on both sides. This level of operational clarity matches the professionalism that accidental investors bring from their careers. Whether someone is balancing shift work, teaching classes, running a business, or logging into a late-night deployment, the systems supporting their properties keep everything moving smoothly so they can stay focused on the bigger picture. Accidental investors are discovering that thoughtful, system-supported management creates opportunities that simply weren’t available when everything depended on manual effort. They’re building stability in a way that fits into their lives. DEMOCRATIZE WEALTH CREATION What stands out most is how accessible this path has become. With the right tools, even one well-managed property can serve as the foundation for long-term financial wellbeing. And as these investors gain confidence, many expand their portfolios. This approach is democratizing real estate investing. It’s giving more Americans the chance to build multigenerational stability without needing to become full-time operators or navigate complex financial strategies. It’s turning ordinary life events into opportunities for resilience. THE NEXT ERA OF THE AMERICAN DREAM The next era of American wealth is being built quietly and steadily. It’s unfolding in spare bedrooms, inherited duplexes, starter homes, and small multifamily buildings. It’s being shaped by everyday investors who are thoughtful, organized, and forward-looking. These are people who might never describe themselves as “real estate people,” yet are operating their investments with impressive savvy. They are wealth builders who are transforming accidental beginnings into intentional, long-term advantage, creating financial stability that grows with them, supports their families, and strengthens their neighborhoods. The shift isn’t loud, but it’s powerful. And it’s redefining the American dream for new generations. Ryan Barone is cofounder and CEO of RentRedi. View the full article

Every company is racing to modernize. There’s a sense that if you aren’t adopting new technology fast enough, you’re already behind. From AI and automation to digital platforms, the list keeps growing. Leaders make big investments, employees sit through onboarding sessions, and for a few weeks, excitement fills the air. Then the momentum fades. Dashboards sit idle. Pilots stall. The return on investment never arrives. We see it all the time. On the factory floor, operators are juggling a dozen tools that don’t talk to each other. Managers chase data that doesn’t reflect what’s really happening. Teams try to keep up with systems meant to help them but instead end up slowing them down. In moments like that, it’s clear that transformation isn’t just about technology—it’s about people. TRANSFORMATION STARTS WITH CLARITY Real transformation begins with clarity. A tool must serve a defined purpose, be anchored to measurable outcomes, and be designed around the people who use it. True impact happens when it’s tied to measurable business goals and shaped around the people who actually use it. Together as the CEO and the customer strategy lead of Squint, a manufacturing AI startup, we spend our days in our customers’ factories, walking the floor with production managers, maintenance crews, and line operators. We see firsthand how new systems can either make work smoother or create new friction. Over time, we’ve noticed a pattern: Too many teams start with the tool instead of the goal. They adopt technology because it looks impressive, not because they’ve defined what success should look like. Implementation should always begin with two simple questions: What problem are we solving? How will we know when we’ve solved it? At one food and beverage manufacturer we worked with, the operations team made a single smart decision. They tied their rollout to a company-wide goal of reducing downtime. That clarity changed everything. Instead of running scattered pilots across departments, they focused on the process that mattered most: unplanned line stoppages in their packaging area. Within weeks, operators were using the new system to run machines more smoothly, and technicians were diagnosing problems faster. Downtime dropped noticeably. The transformation didn’t come from the tool itself, but from the focus and from the people. Once the team anchored implementation to a business priority, adoption took care of itself. People didn’t have to be convinced to use it; they saw its value immediately. On another visit, we met with a maintenance team that was struggling because they spent half their time walking between the floor and a back office just to check paper manuals. The tech couldn’t solve any real problems until what was getting in people’s way was defined. Once they could access that information digitally, troubleshooting time dropped dramatically. More importantly, the team wanted to use the new system because it solved a problem that actually mattered to them. If people don’t find value in a tool, no amount of training or policy will make it work. But when technology removes friction from their day, adoption becomes natural. That’s what good implementation does. It removes friction and gives people back the focus they need for the work that matters most. KNOWLEDGE TRANSFER IS CRITICAL TO IMPLEMENTATION The last piece of effective implementation is knowledge transfer. Every organization has experts whose know-how keeps things running, but much of that knowledge exists only in their heads. When those people retire or move on, it disappears. Implementation should include ways to capture and share what they know so the organization continues to learn. We’ve seen companies build training systems around their most experienced workers, turning decades of individual experience into company-wide capability. That’s when technology stops being a project and starts becoming a culture, one that learns, adapts, and grows as its people do. Across the board, it is clear that people-first, problem-centered implementation is the real differentiator. The organizations that win don’t just buy tools; they implement them strategically, tie them to measurable goals, and design them around their people. Because great technology doesn’t replace people; it amplifies them. And in the end, technology doesn’t transform companies. People do. Devin Bhushan is the CEO and founder of Squint and Carolina Lago Pena Maia is the customer strategy lead at Squint View the full article

Hanukkah (or "Chanukah," if you prefer; it’s a transliteration, so there is no “correct” spelling) is an annual eight-day Jewish religious festival that usually takes place in late November or early December. In 2025, Hanukkah begins on the evening of Sunday, December 14, and continues through Monday December 22. Why does Hanukkah fall on different dates each year?While Hanukkah falls on different dates every year on the Gregorian calendar you’re probably familiar with, it begins on the same day every year on the Hebrew calendar: 25th of Kislev. The Hebrew calendar is based on the moon, and Hanukkah falls on the 25th day after the new moon that marks the beginning of the month of Kislev. What is Hanukkah about, anyway? Hanukkah celebrates the anniversary of the beginning of the Maccabean revolt against the Seleucid Empire and the re-dedication of the Second Temple that happened in the 2nd century BCE. That’s the strict definition of the holiday. In practice, in present day America, Hanukkah is the “festival of lights,” a winter celebration usually marked by gift-giving, delicious foods, candle-lighting, and the boring game of dreidel (more on that below). Religiously, Hanukkah is a comparatively minor holiday, not nearly as significant as the Jewish High Holy Days of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, but it is a favorite among children, particularly American children. These days, the holiday is marked in Jewish communities all over the world, but Jewish kids in the U.S. are the undisputed Hanukkah kings and queens. The origins of Hanukkah: A Hebrew rebellion brought to you by Cincinnati rabbisThere are two ways to think about the origin of the Festival of Lights. You could say Hanukkah began around 200 BCE when Greek leaders prevented Jews from practicing their religion, leading the Maccabees to rise up in defiance. Or you could say Hanukkah began in Cincinnati. Before a couple hundred years ago, there’s no record of how anyone celebrated Hanukkah—maybe it was done, but it seems that no one made too big of a deal about it. That all changed in the mid-to-late 1800s, when a couple of Cincinnati rabbis, Isaac M. Wise and Max Lilienthal, put Hanukkah on the holiday map. They popularized, promoted, and Americanized the holiday, introducing celebrations of Hanukkah to their congregations and promoting it in national Jewish publications. Wise and Lilienthal were leaders of Reform Judaism, a more modern, less orthodox form of the religion, and to some extent, the holiday they popularized reflects that set of values. It was meant to help Jewish children in America honor their heritage by presenting an exciting, relatable historical event featuring Jewish heroes. it was also meant to be Christmas-like—a family holiday that’s fun. Lilienthal noted the rising popularity of Christmas celebrations in the U.S. in the 1800s, and was impressed with the way Christian churches used the secular aspects of the holiday to teach their faith, so he borrowed the gift-giving and lighthearted nature of non-religious Christmas celebrations and put a Jewish spin on ‘em. Thus modern Hanukkah was born. “We must do something, too, to enliven our children… [They] shall have a grand and glorious Chanukah festival nicer than any Christmas festival.” Lilienthal wrote in 1876. The traditions of Hanukkah: You’ve been wrong about the menorah your whole lifeThe main event of Hanukkah among most who celebrate is the lighting of candles before dinner, one more for each successive night of the festival. When the Maccabees rebuilt the temple back in the olden times, they re-lit the menorahs—candle holders for seven candles—but they only had enough oil for the candles to burn for one night (or so the story goes). Miraculously, the lights stayed on for eight nights. Technically, most people don’t light menorahs on Hanukkah. Menorahs have eight lights. Hanukkah candles are usually in a “hanukkiah” which holds nine: eight main candles and the helper candle that lights them all. Foodwise, you can eat whatever you like—this isn't a fasting holiday. Fried foods, particularly latkes (fried potato pancakes), are popular and delicious, especially if served with sour cream and/or apple sauce. Jelly doughnuts are another favorite. But like I said, you can eat whatever you like. Many Hanukkah-heads give gifts too—one for each night. Why aren’t there many classic Hanukkah songs like there are Christmas standards?Hanukkah carols have never really caught on because golden age Jewish songwriters were busy writing “Let it Snow,” “Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire,” “Silver Bells,” “White Christmas,” “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer,” and almost every other Christmas song that isn’t a hymn. But there's "I Have a Little Dreidel," a folksong with English lyrics attributed to Samuel E. Goldfarb, but that's not explicitly about the holiday. This all leaves Adam Sandler's "Hanukkah Song" as the most well-known tune commemorating the Festival of Lights. Speaking of dreidels, though... How do you play dreidel? Many households break out dreidels (spinning tops with Hebrew characters on them) and play with them for a few minutes after dinner. Dreidels are marked with Nun (נ), Gimel (ג), Hey (ה), and Shin (ש), which form an acronym for "Nes Gadol Hayah Sham" (A great miracle happened there). Here's how the game is traditionally played: Everyone starts with the same amount of something "valuable," usually chocolate coins. At the start of a round, everyone antes up, then they takes turns spinning the dreidel, following the directions of which character it lands on. נ (Nun) means “nisht” or “nothing.” Player does nothing if Nun comes up. ה (Hey) means “halb” or “half.” The player gets half of the pot. (If there is an odd number of pieces, the player gets the extra.) ש (Shin) means “shtel” or “put in.” The player adds a chocolate coin to the pot. ג (Gimel) means “gantz” or “everything.” The player gets everything in the pot. Jackpot! (It's not a very good game: all luck; no skill.) It’s widely believed that dreidel is the most popular Hanukkah game, but this is a lie. The most popular (and best) Hanukkah game is “guess which candle will be the last to go out,” a much more nuanced and exciting game played by everyone who has ever fired up a menorah (sorry, a hanukkiah) before dinner. Do darker candles burn faster than lighter ones? Does placement matter? How about wick length? All of this and more must be considered and discussed if you’re going to master this exciting game. Is it cool to celebrate Hanukkah if you’re not Jewish?You can celebrate any holiday you want; it's a free country. Hanukkah is generally seen as a “fun” holiday, without the deep religious significance of other Jewish holidays. While I don’t speak for anyone else, none of the Jews I know take offense if non-Jews want to light some candles and watch 8 Crazy Nights to capture some of that Hanukkah magic. Some of the traditions of the holiday were partly inspired by Christmas anyway, and much of Christmas was (maybe) appropriated from pagan solstice celebrations itself, so go nuts—it’s the holidays. View the full article

Early in my career, I learned a valuable lesson that has stayed front and center. I was working for a company struggling to meet its marks. We were doing fine, but not knocking it out of the park. I walked into a quarterly business review, confident in our marketing metrics. We were hitting or surpassing every KPI, and I presented our achievements with pride. My CEO made a statement that stopped me in my tracks: “Marketing success means nothing unless the company as a whole is winning.” That moment was a turning point. In our focus on metrics, it’s easy to overlook what really matters. It’s a lesson I was grateful to learn early and one I believe every leader should embrace. THE POWER OF MEASURING WHAT MATTERS MOST As business, and particularly marketing professionals, metrics are drilled into us. It’s what we were taught, so it would be predictable for me to operate like that. Don’t get me wrong, metrics still matter. But they aren’t the only thing that matters. The problem with a laser focus on your individual department’s goals is that it tends to be myopic, focused only on your stats. We track what’s measurable. We celebrate what’s improving. We report on what highlights our team’s productivity. However, it’s easy to optimize for your own scorecard without checking whether those scores are driving company growth. The harder work is asking whether we’re moving the needle on the larger business goals and aligning your metrics to that. Unfortunately, your department dashboard can show improvement while the company and customers need something different. Your team can hit targets while overall revenue needs a different kind of support. My CEO’s feedback helped me see this gap. Marketing wins that don’t translate to business wins are just activity, and this insight applies to all areas of the business. Fortunately for me, this CEO knew that I was early in my career and provided me with a teachable moment. MY APPROACH NOW Since that conversation, I’ve changed what my team measures and how we define success. Every initiative has to answer two questions: How does this support overall company growth and health? And how does this help our customers? Not just “how does this improve our brand score” or “how does this boost engagement?” Those might indicate progress, but they’re not the end goal. Business impact is the goal. This means: Throwing support behind products customers will actually buy Building brand equity that translates into customer preference and pricing power Improving customer experience in ways that drive retention and expansion Creating demand that converts to revenue 4 WAYS TO ALIGN METRICS WITH BUSINESS GOALS If you lead any function, here are four things to consider to better align your efforts with business outcomes. See if any of these resonate with you: Start with company goals. What three to five outcomes would make your CEO and board happy this year? Revenue growth? Customer retention? Market share? Margin improvement? Build your metrics from there. Connect your work to those outcomes. Draw clear lines between your initiatives and company business goals. If you can’t make that connection, you have an opportunity to refocus. Celebrate progress, not victory. Improving KPIs shows progress. That’s worth acknowledging. But it’s not the finish line. Make your metrics achievable, with room for growth. The best metrics show you where you’re creating value and where you have room to improve. They help you make better decisions about where to focus your efforts. WHY BUSINESS ALIGNMENT CREATES BETTER RESULTS When you tie your success to your company’s success, several things happen. You make better decisions about what to prioritize. You have clearer opportunities for collaboration with other departments, reducing silos. You create more customer value. You build stronger cases for resources because you’re speaking business impact language. HOW MY TEAM OPERATES TODAY When my team presents quarterly results now, we start with how the business is performing. Then we show how our work has contributed, or the opportunities for improvement. It connects our work to what matters. It helps us focus (or refocus) on creating real value rather than just checking boxes. The CEO was right. Marketing success means nothing unless the company as a whole is winning. But here’s the good news: When you align your metrics with business goals, everyone wins more often. Melissa Puls is chief marketing officer and SVP of customer success and renewals at Ivanti. View the full article

‘International Manager’ programme closed to new recruits as CEO Georges Elhedery reshapes Europe’s largest lenderView the full article

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. The latest AirPods Pro are a big step up from the first generation buds. The third (and newest) generation comes with OTA updates that the AirPods Pro 2 also got to enjoy—but considering the second and third generations are the same price right now, why not go with the newer version? If you want the latest Apple has to offer, this is a great time to do so. The AirPods Pro 3 are down to $199 (originally $249.99) for the first time since their September release—the lowest price yet, according to price tracking tools. Apple AirPods Pro 3 Noise Cancelling Heart Rate Wireless Earbuds $199.00 at Amazon $249.00 Save $50.00 Get Deal Get Deal $199.00 at Amazon $249.00 Save $50.00 Apple AirPods Pro 3 Noise Cancelling Heart Rate Wireless Earbuds $199.00 at Walmart $249.00 Save $50.00 Get Deal Get Deal $199.00 at Walmart $249.00 Save $50.00 SEE -1 MORE The AirPods Pro 3 improve on already great premium earbuds with new features (like a heart rate sensor) without increasing the list price. You'll get Personalized Spatial Audio (so you can hear sounds seemingly coming from different directions as you move your head) and the ability to use head gestures to tell Siri "yes" or "no" (this also works for answering or denying calls). Apple added a live translation feature to both the second- and third-generation AirPods Pro when iOS 26 rolled out earlier this year. You'll also get features like Conversation Awareness, which lowers your music volume when your AirPods detect that you're talking to someone; Transparency Mode, which lets you better hear your surroundings while your earbuds are in; and Adaptive Audio, which combines ANC and Transparency mode to adjust ANC levels based on the noise around you. Since these are in-ear earbuds (as supposed to regular earbuds like the AirPods 4) the ANC is much better since it naturally blocks out the noise with a tight seal, but the ANC technology itself has also improved—as has the sound quality, thanks to the new H3 chip, as PCMag detailed in its "exemplary" review. You can expect about eight hours of juice, depending on your usage, and another 24 hours from the charging case. View the full article

Search Engine Land turns 19 today. Nineteen years. Almost two decades of analyzing, explaining, questioning, challenging, obsessing over, and occasionally shaking our heads at whatever Google and the search industry throw our way. And this past year? The pace of change has made it one of the most transformative since we launched in 2006. Through all of it, our mission is the same as Day 1: help you make sense of search with clear news, smart analysis, and practical guidance. Before we look ahead, I want to say thank you — and take a moment to reflect on the past year at Search Engine Land. Thank you for reading Seriously, thank you. Every day, we start with you: what you need to know, what actually matters, and what changes could shape your work today or your strategy six months from now. We aim to: Focus on the stories that matter – not noise or filler. Deliver news quickly and clearly. Add essential context, expertise, and nuance. Be a reliable resource in an industry that seems to shift by the hour. Help you see where search is headed — even when the path isn’t obvious. If you haven’t yet, subscribe to our daily newsletter for a curated wrap-up of everything happening in search. It’s still the easiest way to stay informed without feeling overwhelmed. Thank you to the Search Engine Land team Search Engine Land has always punched above its weight for one reason: the people. A small team can do big, meaningful work when everyone is aligned, mission-driven, and a little obsessed with search. A huge thank-you to: Barry Schwartz. Barry has been covering search for 22 years and still writes with the speed, curiosity, and energy of someone newly in love with the beat. Search would be far less understandable without him. Anu Adegbola. Anu has become essential for helping readers navigate nonstop shifts in paid media, analytics, and platform changes. Her clarity and steadiness shine in every piece. Angel Niñofranco. Angel keeps our Subject Matter Expert program running. Editing, wrangling, scheduling, coaching, coordinating — if you’ve enjoyed our SME articles, you’ve seen Angel’s impact. Kathy Bushman. Kathy makes SMX happen. Her behind-the-scenes work is why our events run smoothly, deliver value, and earn rave reviews year after year. And to the entire Third Door Media team within Semrush — thank you. Whether or not your name appears here, your work matters and is appreciated. Top highlights from the past year In a year defined by uncertainty, it was encouraging to see so many people continue to rely on Search Engine Land as a trusted community resource. And Search Engine Land had a strong 2025. SMX Advanced returned in person for the first time in 6 years This was the standout moment of the year. Bringing SMX Advanced back in person after six years felt overdue and incredibly energizing. Attendance exceeded expectations, sessions were packed, and hallway conversations felt like a reunion of the search marketing community. You could feel how much people missed connecting face-to-face — debating AI’s impact on search, swapping tactics, comparing notes on Google’s latest changes, and simply enjoying each other’s company. It reaffirmed what we’ve always believed: great things happen when smart marketers share a room. We’re already looking forward to dping it again in Boston, June 3-5. Defining industry coverage of AI Overviews and the new era of search This past year brought one of the most dramatic shifts in search since Search Engine Land launched in 2006. Whatever we end up calling this emerging practice, we focused on giving the industry the clarity, context, and reporting it needed. Readers have told us again and again that Search Engine Land is their go-to source for cutting through the noise during a confusing and often chaotic time. We’re proud that our reporting, explainers, and expert analysis are helping shape the industry’s understanding of where search is headed next. Subject Matter Expert (SME) program growth This year brought a surge of new readers and renewed engagement from long-time practitioners. With so many shifts reshaping SEO and PPC – from AI to SERP experiments to advertiser updates – and the continued emergence of GEO, marketers turned to Search Engine Land in record numbers to stay informed. Our contributors played a significant role in our growth. A huge thank you to all of our excellent SMEs for all the great content and insights you shared in 2025. Looking ahead: What’s next for Search Engine Land As we enter our 19th year, our commitment remains unchanged: provide the most trusted, useful coverage of search anywhere. This year you can expect: A fresh new website design. Continued breaking news coverage across SEO, PPC, AI search, SERP features, and platform changes. Even stronger analysis, guides, and explainers about how search is evolving. SMX programming designed around the realities of AI search. More expert perspectives, data, and clarity in a year that promises even more disruption. Save the dates: SMX Advanced: June 3-5 SMX Next: Nov. 18-19 There’s much more to come – and as always, our goal is to give you the insight and intelligence you need to do your best work. A brief look back to where it all began On Dec. 11, 2006, Search Engine Land officially launched with a simple idea: search was becoming not just a tool, but a place. A world. A community. A discipline shaping how people find information and how businesses connect with customers. Nineteen years later, that world has grown in ways none of us could have imagined. But the core idea still holds: Search Engine Land is a place to stay informed, to learn, to connect, and to understand the engines driving the modern web. Thank you for 19 incredible years On behalf of everyone at Search Engine Land and Semrush, thank you for reading, for sharing our stories, for asking hard questions, for supporting our mission, and for caring so deeply about all things search. Here’s to the rest of 2025 – and to a successful, healthy, and insightful 2026. View the full article

IDEAS shared have the power to expand perspectives, change thinking, and move lives. Here are two ideas for the curious mind to engage with: I. Paul J. H. Schoemaker on the value of scenario planning: “The purpose of developing scenarios is not to pinpoint the future, but rather to experience it. Scenario planning is not really about planning but about changing people’s mindsets to allow faster learning and smarter actions. The process of developing scenarios is one of gaining experience in a simulated future. When You feel the future deep in your bones, you gain a set of instincts that allow you to respond quickly and effectively to new challenges they unfold. The process enlarges the repertoire of responses available to managers based on superior pattern recognition. In an uncertain and changing environment, faster learning is the only lasting source competitive advantage, and scenario planning is a powerful way to accomplish this elusive goal.” Source: Profiting from Uncertainty: Strategies for Succeeding No Matter What the Future Brings II. Max Bazerman and Michael Watkins on challenging the status quo: “Decision-makers, organizations, and nations often fail to prepare for predictable surprises because of the natural human tendency to maintain the status quo. Above and beyond concerns about the cost and time requirements of change, when a system still functions and there is no crisis to catalyze action, we will keep doing things the way we have always done them. Acting to avoid a predictable surprise requires a decision to act against this bias and to change the status quo. By contrast, most organizations change incrementally, preferring short-term fixes to long-term solutions. To avoid predictable surprises, leaders must make the case for change and eliminate the status quo as an option.” Source: Predictable Surprises: The Disasters You Should Have Seen Coming, and How to Prevent Them * * * Look for these ideas every Thursday on the Leading Blog. Find more ideas on the LeadingThoughts index. * * * Follow us on Instagram and X for additional leadership and personal development ideas. View the full article

OpenAI is having a hell of a day. First, the company announced a $1 billion equity investment from Disney, alongside a licensing deal that will let Sora users generate videos with characters like Mickey Mouse, Luke Skywalker, and Simba. Shortly after, OpenAI revealed its latest large language model: GPT-5.2. OpenAI says that this new GPT model is particularly useful for "professional knowledge work." The company advertises how GPT-5.2 is better than previous models at making spreadsheets, putting together presentations, writing code, analyzing pictures, and working through multi-step projects. For this model, the company also gathered insights from tech companies: Supposedly, Notion, Box Shopify, Harvey, and Zoom all find GPT-5.2 to have "state-of-the-art long-horizon reasoning," while Databricks, Hex, and Triple Whale believe GPT-5.2 to be "exceptional" with both agentic data science and document analysis tasks. But most of OpenAI's user base aren't professionals. Most of the users who will interact with GPT-5.2 are using ChatGPT, and many of those for free, at that. What can those users expect when OpenAI upgrades the free version of ChatGPT with these new models? How GPT-5.2 performs in ChatGPTOpenAI says that GPT-5.2 will improve ChatGPT's "day to day" functionality. The new model supposedly makes the chatbot more structured, reliable, and "enjoyable to talk to," though I've never found the last part to be necessarily true. GPT-5.2 will impact the ChatGPT experience differently depending on which of the three models you happen to be using. According to OpenAI, GPT-5.2 Instant is for "everyday work and learning." It's apparently better for questions seeking information about certain subjects, how-to questions and walkthroughs, technical writing, and translations—maybe ChatGPT will get you to give up your Duolingo obsession. GPT-5.2 Thinking, however, is supposedly made for "deeper work." OpenAI wants you using this model for coding, summarizing lengthy documents, answering queries about files you send to ChatGPT, solving math and logic problems, and decision making. Finally, there's GPT-5.2 Pro, OpenAI's "smartest and most trustworthy option" for the most complicated questions. The company says 5.2 Pro produces fewer errors and stronger performance compared to previous models. GPT-5.2's safety policyOpenAI says that this latest update improves how the models responds to distressing prompts, such as those showing signs of suicide, self-harm, or emotional dependence on the AI. As such, the company says this model has "fewer undesirable responses" in GPT-5.2 Instant and Thinking compared to GPT-5.1 Instant and Thinking. In addition, the company is working on an "age prediction model," which will automatically place content restrictions on users who the model think are under 18. These safety improvements are important—critical, even—as we start to understand the correlations between chatbots and mental health. The company has admitted its failure in "recognizing signs of delusion," as users turned to the tool for emotional support. In some cases, ChatGPT fed into delusional thinking, encouraging people's dangerous beliefs. Some families have even sued companies like OpenAI over claims that their chatbots helped or encouraged victims commit suicide. Actively acknowledging improvements to user safety is undoubtedly a good thing, but I think companies like OpenAI still have a lot to reckon with—and a long way to go. OpenAI says GPT-5.2 Instant, Thinking, and Pro will all roll out today, Thursday, Dec. 11, to paid plans. Developers can access the new models in the API today, as well. Disclosure: Lifehacker’s parent company, Ziff Davis, filed a lawsuit against OpenAI in April, alleging it infringed Ziff Davis copyrights in training and operating its AI systems. View the full article

It’s “where are you now?” month at Ask a Manager, and all December I’m running updates from people who had their letters here answered in the past. There will be more posts than usual this week, so keep checking back throughout the day. Remember the letter-writer wondering how to keep cat fur off all her work clothes (#5 at the link)? Here’s the update. You were kind enough to post my question and your readers responded with a wealth of information and advice. Since I’m retiring in a few weeks, and cat fur on office clothes will no longer be a problem, I thought an update might be in order. Plus, who doesn’t love update season?! The number one piece of advice I received was to change into work clothes immediately before leaving, and out of work clothes as soon as I got home. I had been doing that, but was a little salty about not being able to sit down in my own house for five minutes without changing clothes first. The fact that so many people gave that advice helped me reframe it from an annoyance to a more Mandalorian “this is the way … when you’re a cat stepmom.” We also bought some dark, overstuffed leatheresque bar stools for the kitchen counter. With a quick dust of the hand, I did have a relatively fur-free place to sit if I was only going to be home a short time before going back out. I tried several of the other products and suggestions the commenters recommended. I’m sure your mileage may vary depending on the type of fur you’re dealing with, but here’s what did and did not work for me: I already had a chomchom roller for large flat surfaces like the couch and bed and it’s still the best tool I’ve found for that application. The cats adore the spiky metal brushes, but the rubbery silicone brushes that readers recommended did a vastly better job of loosening and removing fur. Big thumbs up for those! Keeping work clothes in a separate laundry basket from other clothes and washing them separately helped with transference. Special thanks to the person who suggested the car might be an undiscovered transfer point — that upholstery is cat-colored and the amount of fur on the seats wasn’t as noticeable. The silicone hair removers for laundry did not seem to reduce the amount of cat fur, and untangling long human hair from them made them more of a pain than they were worth. The most impactful solution, though, turned out to be shaving “Zsa Zsa.” It went surprisingly well. Just kidding, it was every bit the shitshow you’d expect it to be. Even after spending months trying to slowly acclimate her to a special pet shaver, including loads of high-value treats, we finally had to force the indignity upon her. When we were done, she looked like she had been attacked by a rabid weed eater, and cat dad and I did not come out of it unscathed. However, it greatly reduced the amount of fur throughout the house and had the added bonus of eliminating most of her sister’s hairball issues. We do it every spring and summer now. Alison, even though I’m retiring, I can’t imagine not starting my weekdays reading your column. It’s been a wonderful resource, as well as entertaining, and I look forward to reading your blog for years to come! Cat tax attached. The post update: how do I keep cat fur off all my work clothes? appeared first on Ask a Manager. View the full article

The battle for Warner Brothers Discovery got hotter this week as Paramount launched a hostile bid of $108.4 billion for the company, topping Netflix’s agreement last week to pay nearly $83 billion for the company’s streaming and studio assets. It’s the largest M&A deal of 2025 and rightfully will receive tough scrutiny in the U.S. and Europe. The ultimate price for Warner Brothers Discovery will certainly factor heavily into who wins the fight, especially with investors, and there could be additional bidders and proposals. For sure, an acquisition by Netflix of one of the oldest Hollywood studios, Warner Brothers, and its HBO Max streaming service would have ripple effects across the industry, though not in the way critics contend. Sen. Elizabeth Warren called it an “anti-monopoly nightmare” that would harm consumers and American workers. Actress Jane Fonda, who’s appeared in successful Netflix shows and movies, called it “catastrophic.” Titanic Director James Cameron declared it a “disaster.” Roy Price, the former head of rival Amazon Studios, penned a New York Times editorial proclaiming “the end of Hollywood.” Such histrionics forget how Netflix already slowly yet systematically reordered the global entertainment industry over the last 25 years through a strategy of addition, not subtraction. By innovating from the margins, Netflix challenged outdated models, rewarded risk-takers, and gave consumers more control for better value. In doing so, it created countless opportunities for all stakeholders. Traditional antitrust reviews focus on market share and whether the resulting combination has the power to harm consumers and competitors alike. Key will be how narrowly or broadly antitrust authorities define the market. For example, will they evaluate the deal solely on streaming TV services, all TV including broadcast and cable, or all entertainment options including games, music, etc. But even in the narrowest of interpretations, a Netflix-HBO combination would still face steep competition from well-funded rivals such as Disney, Amazon, Comcast, Apple, and Paramount. And this merger review will have the added intrigue of President The President already making clear he’ll be directly involved in deciding which offer gets approved despite his son-in-law Jared Kushner partially funding Paramount’s bid. With all that said, Paramount has already mounted an aggressive roadshow for Warner Brothers Discovery investors to convince them to pledge their shares. That means Netflix too will need to woo investors, regulators, and politicians in what will undoubtedly be its biggest publicity tour ever. And the strongest argument it can make lies in its very own story. Full disclosure: I led Netflix corporate communications team from 2014 to 2017, know the company deeply, and remain a shareholder. I also led PR for other corporate mergers including Xerox’s hostile bid for HP until the effort was scrapped due to the pandemic. I served as lead antitrust reporter at Bloomberg News during the late 1990s. The Netflix Narrative Today many people look at Netflix and see an entertainment behemoth valued at more than $400 billion with a lot of market power. But it didn’t start out that way and its success certainly wasn’t assured. In its most fundamental sense, Netflix epitomizes the American Dream. Not because it became big, but because it began small and showed how ordinary people with a better idea and a lot of grit could up-end well-entrenched industries. Netflix demonstrated when you level the playing field and bet on people instead of institutions, you unleash possibility that couldn’t previously be imagined. Netflix has been underestimated at every turn, perhaps even this latest one. In the early days, banks turned it down for financing, Blockbuster Video executives laughed them out of the room and former Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes famously dismissed the company as the equivalent of “the Albanian army,” suggesting it was no threat at all. Netflix didn’t succeed by manipulating government loopholes or seeking regulatory protections to fend off competition. It identified a compelling need in the marketplace, analyzed how new technologies could solve it, and got to work building an alternative. It took risks, learned, pivoted, and kept moving, leaving no aspect of the entertainment experience untouched. Candidly, it would be hard to overstate the many ways Netflix’s very existence benefited consumers, the entire entertainment ecosystem as well as adjacent markets such as consumer electronics, telecom, tech, marketing, language translation, and more. From the start with mail-order DVDs and then as a streaming platform, Netflix put consumers and their pain points at the heart of its decision-making. For example, I recall numerous meetings where we discussed whether price increases should go into effect for inactive accounts. (Short answer: No. In fact, I believe Netflix is now cancelling inactive accounts rather than continuing to charge people.) It partnered wherever possible even with would-be competitors to simplify, expand, and enhance the entertainment experience. When Netflix launched original streaming content in 2012-2013, the company didn’t just usher in a new Golden Age of TV. They changed everything from how content was made, released and experienced within the broader ecosystem. How? Here are just a few ways: It broke the scarcity model of appointment TV and movie windows, exponentially increasing the number of stories told as well as the formats, frequency and topics. Its increasing content budgets forced rivals to do the same, putting billions more into the creative community than previously existed. This year alone, Netflix is expected to spend $18 billion on content for a global audience topping 300 million. Many of its hits including Stranger Things, Squid Games, and Orange is the New Black never would have found a home or as large an audience on traditional networks. By broadening the pool of creators and reducing risk, Netflix also has been able to save beloved shows including most recently Sesame Street as well as launching unknown talent and reigniting careers of others. (Looking at you, Jane Fonda.) By releasing all episodes of a TV show at once, Netflix didn’t just create binge-watching. It disintermediated traditional distribution methods that frustrated consumers and restructured the entire entertainment business. Cable bundles eroded, theaters needed to rethink exclusive agreements, studios launched their own streaming apps, and direct-to-consumer models stopped being where you dumped content that bombed at the box office. Consumers were able to decide on what schedule to watch shows and whether they’d prefer to see something in a theater or on the couch at home. And instead of having to pay for each movie or show separately, Netflix provided an enormous portfolio of content for a flat monthly fee. Beyond content, Netflix transformed the entire entertainment experience from end to end. By insisting on effortless viewing for consumers, Netflix accelerated entire industries, from Smart TVs and mobile devices to cloud computing and AI. In Los Gatos, labs tested and rated TVs, devices, and even internet service providers—calling out ISPs that throttled speeds to protect cable monopolies—and shared those ratings publicly so consumers could choose accordingly. Engineers built advanced compression technology to reduce mobile data overages and deliver high-quality streaming even on limited bandwidth. To build its OpenConnect Network, Netflix invested more than $1 billion to deploy some 17,000 servers in 158 countries that prepositioned popular titles close to viewers. This eliminated buffering (Who could forget that spinning circle from the early days?), reduced global internet congestion, and saved ISPs billions in transit costs. By aggressively distributing 4K and HDR content at scale, it sped adoption of Ultra HD, reshaping consumer demand and pushing the entire hardware industry toward higher-quality images. And while the company has been bringing the world’s stories to the world, it has invested heavily in the country where it got its start. As if knowing it would need to make this case at some point, Netflix posted a Made in America document on its website back in April of this year, highlighting the ways it benefits America. According to the document, it has contributed $125 billion to the US economy from 2020–2024, hired more than 140,000 cast and crew members, worked with over 550+ U.S. production companies, and filmed more than 900 titles across all 50 states. Netflix attracted more than 300 million subscribers by building the world’s most powerful global distribution platform and ensuring its content is easy to access and enjoyable to watch. It’s not in the company’s business interests to horde content made by Warner Brothers and nothing in its history would suggest such an approach. As for the theater owners expressing concern, their stiff-arming of Netflix led the company to buy its own theaters in L.A. and NYC to premiere movies so they could be awards eligible. This combination may finally force them to face society’s viewing evolution and up their game to attract more theatergoers. Chief Salesperson Both co-CEOs at Netflix—Ted Sarandos and Greg Peters—are impressive. But if Netflix’s corporate story is one of the American Dream, it’s the same for Ted’s personal one. I often thought Ted must wake up every day and say “pinch me.” Because nothing about his childhood would make anyone think he’d be in the lofty position he is today at the top of an industry he deeply and thoroughly loves. One of five children, he grew up in a working class, Greek-American family in Phoenix, where he often recalled watching videotaped soap operas and other shows with the whole family gathered round. He dropped out of college after two years and worked at the local video store near his home. It was after he began climbing the ranks at video rental companies that Netflix cofounder Reed Hastings reached out and sold him on the idea of joining Netflix. The rest, as they say, is history. As the chief content officer prior to co-CEO, Ted was the main driver behind the company’s move into original programming. Through a combination of passion, charm, and high intuition, he built the company’s credibility in a clubby industry that long looked askance at outsiders. Not only did his American Dream unfold alongside Netflix’s, he’s a highly skilled communicator, who connects with people in a very human way through personal storytelling and warmth. And with critics concerned about how Netflix’s tech pedigree might change old Hollywood, Ted’s love for all things and people Tinsel Town oozes from every pore. Netflix Everywhere When we launched Netflix globally in early 2016, we used #NetflixEverywhere to mark the moment. That edict has never been more appropriate and necessary in the battle for Warner Brothers Discovery. Netflix will need to actively tell its story to every audience on repeat for the next 12–18 months or, as we’ve already seen, risk having its many detractors push unflattering and perhaps even untrue counternarratives. Media interviews, major business and investor conferences, and congressional meetings all provide the opportunity to remind decision-makers and would-be critics that success itself isn’t a problem if it was obtained fairly and by serving customers better than others. It’s not like other companies didn’t have ample time to beat Netflix at their own game over the last 10–15 years. And no one loves a come-from-behind story better than the guy in the Oval Office. View the full article

The rent reporting platform says it's helped tenants raise their credit scores by double digits and unlocked $30 billion more in mortgage lending. View the full article

FT investigation sheds light on Wirecard fraudster’s activities in north Africa and shadow life as a Russian agent of influence View the full article

As we enter the 2025 home stretch, Bitcoin is once again down, and dipped below $90,000 on Thursday, following the Federal Reserve’s highly anticipated interest rate cut by 25 basis points on December 10. So why are the markets up, but crypto is taking a hit? Why Bitcoin is faltering One reason for Bitcoin’s drop after the rate cut is that traders had already fully priced in the cut ahead of the Fed’s announcement. “Unlike stocks, bitcoin is already in a bear market, where bad news gets accentuated and good news ignored,” Michael Terpin, author of Bitcoin Supercycle, told Fast Company. “Since the 25 basis point cut was already built in, bitcoin traders – particularly ETF investors experiencing their first bear market – were looking for more and pressed the sell button.” Some other reasons for the sell off: Trader took a long term look at the macro economic environment ahead and got spooked, plus fear of increased inflation in 2026, according to analysts who spoke to Decrypt. On midday Thursday, at the time of this writing, the digital cryptocurrency (BTC) was trading down over 2%. It’s part of an overall decline in the crypto market that also saw closely watched digital asset XRP (XRP-USD) fall about 3%, hovering around $2 per token on Thursday, while Ethereum (ETH-USD) was down over 5% and was trading at $3,223 at the time of this writing. Crypto, equities continue to decouple Meanwhile, the stock market continues to experience gains (the S&P 500 is up over 16% this year), decoupling from Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies which continue to struggle—marking the first time the crypto and stock markets have split since 2014, Bloomberg reported.) “For most of its history, Bitcoin has been decoupled from stocks. It’s only in recent years that it mimicked tech stocks during risk-on to risk-off swings,” Terpin explained. “Bitcoin follows a four-year cycle, while stock market cycles prior to the money printing bonanza of the pandemic have been ten year cycles ending in 1929, 1989. 1999-2000, and 2009.” View the full article

Regarding customer surveys, comprehending best practices can markedly influence the quality of your insights. By defining clear objectives, you can tailor your questions to gather specific information. Crafting concise and engaging questions is vital, as it encourages participation and improves the quality of responses. Choosing the right survey platform guarantees ease of use and efficient distribution. Nevertheless, the process doesn’t end there. It’s fundamental to analyze feedback effectively and continually refine your approach. What other strategies can improve your survey effectiveness? Key Takeaways Define clear objectives to ensure all questions align with desired insights and support actionable business decisions. Craft concise and engaging questions, mixing open and close-ended types to gather richer data. Choose a user-friendly survey platform that allows for real-time tracking and effective distribution methods. Analyze feedback using advanced analytics to identify trends and prioritize changes based on customer pain points. Continuously improve your survey process by regularly reviewing methodologies and adapting to participant expectations. Define Clear Objectives for Your Survey When you’re planning a customer survey, it’s crucial to define clear objectives first, as this sets the foundation for your entire project. Specific goals guide your design process, ensuring that each question aligns with the insights you want to gather. By writing down these objectives, you maintain clarity and direction, which improves the overall effectiveness of your survey. When thinking about what does a survey look like, keep in mind a focused approach eliminates unrelated questions that could confuse respondents. This focus minimizes the risk of vague or misleading items, ensuring the reliability of your data. Clear objectives additionally support actionable business decisions, allowing you to prioritize changes based on your findings. In the end, following these customer survey best practices will lead to more meaningful insights, making your survey efforts worthwhile. Craft Concise and Engaging Questions Clear objectives pave the way for effective survey questions that resonate with respondents. To guarantee clarity, keep your questions short and focused. Lengthy phrases can confuse participants and lead to inaccurate answers. Incorporate a mix of open-ended and close-ended questions to enrich your data, but limit the open-ended options to prevent overwhelming respondents. Avoid leading questions, as they can bias responses; each question should maintain a neutral tone, allowing for honest feedback. Use relatable, straightforward language, steering clear of internal jargon that might alienate some participants. Testing your survey questions with a small audience is essential; this helps identify potential confusion or biases before full deployment. Choose the Right Survey Platform How do you select the right survey platform for your needs? Start by evaluating the features each platform offers. For instance, SurveyMonkey provides an extensive library of pre-designed templates, which can save you time in survey creation, whereas Qualtrics focuses on thorough experience management solutions. If you need something quick and user-friendly, Google Forms integrates seamlessly with Google Workspace tools and allows real-time response tracking. Next, consider the platform’s distribution methods. Some tools offer varied options for reaching respondents effectively, which can improve your survey’s reach. A user-friendly interface is also crucial, as it enhances the survey creation and response experience, leading to higher response rates and better quality insights. Analyze Feedback for Actionable Insights Analyzing feedback is essential for uncovering trends and patterns that can drive improvements in your products and services. By effectively utilizing advanced analytics and sentiment analysis, you can proactively identify anomalies that highlight customer pain points. This allows you to adapt your offerings in response to customer needs. Engaging respondents in the analysis process can furthermore encourage collaboration across your teams, leading to more actionable insights. Prioritizing changes based on the impact of customer feedback guarantees that you focus on improvements that notably enhance the customer experience. In addition, regularly revisiting and updating your surveys based on previous feedback helps maintain their relevance and responsiveness to evolving customer expectations. This continuous loop of analysis and action not merely strengthens customer relationships but also positions your brand favorably in a competitive market. Finally, effective analysis of feedback is an essential step in implementing meaningful changes that resonate with your audience. Continuously Improve Your Survey Process As you endeavor to improve the effectiveness of your customer surveys, it’s vital to continually refine your survey process. Regularly review and update your methodologies based on feedback from previous surveys. This not just aligns you with best practices but likewise keeps your surveys relevant and engaging. Cultivate a culture of learning by sharing insights across teams to elevate decision-making and collaboration. It’s important to adapt your approach to meet changing participant expectations. Utilize pilot testing with a small audience to identify confusing elements in your survey design before wider distribution. Finally, set regular intervals for re-evaluating your survey processes to guarantee they meet the evolving needs of your customers. Best Practices Actions to Implement Review Methodologies Update based on feedback Cultivate Collaboration Share insights across teams Pilot Testing Test questions with a small group Frequently Asked Questions What Are the 3 C’s of Customer Satisfaction? The 3 C’s of customer satisfaction are Consistency, Communication, and Care. Consistency means you provide reliable service across all interactions, avoiding confusion. Communication involves actively listening to feedback and keeping customers informed, nurturing trust. Care emphasizes showing genuine concern for customers’ needs and preferences, which builds emotional connections. Which Are the Important Elements to Remember While Doing a Customer Survey? When conducting a customer survey, remember to clearly define your objectives. This helps in designing questions that align with your goals. Use a mix of open-ended and closed-ended questions for thorough data. Keep surveys concise, ideally under ten questions, to improve participation. Randomize the question order to reduce bias, and place sensitive questions later to build trust. Finally, test your survey for clarity to guarantee respondents understand and engage with the questions effectively. What Makes a Good Customer Survey? A good customer survey focuses on clear objectives that align with your business goals, guaranteeing you collect relevant data. Keep it concise with ten or fewer questions to boost response rates and minimize fatigue. Use a mix of open-ended and closed-ended questions for richer feedback. Ascertain the design is user-friendly, employing clear language and visual appeal. Finally, pilot test your questions to identify any biases or clarity issues before launching the survey. What Are the 7 Steps to Creating a Good Survey? To create a good survey, start by defining your objectives and identifying your target audience. Next, design clear and concise questions that avoid jargon. Use a mix of open-ended and closed-ended questions to gather diverse insights. Pilot the survey with a small group to catch any issues. After refining it, consider offering incentives to boost response rates. Finally, distribute the survey widely and explore the collected data for actionable insights. Conclusion By implementing these five best practices, you can improve the effectiveness of your customer surveys. Defining clear objectives guarantees your questions yield valuable insights, whereas crafting concise questions keeps participants engaged. Selecting the right platform simplifies distribution and collection. Analyzing feedback allows for actionable changes, and continuously improving your survey process guarantees ongoing benefits. By following these steps, you’ll not just gather useful information but likewise promote a better comprehension of your customers’ needs and preferences. Image via Google Gemini This article, "5 Essential Best Practices for Customer Surveys You Need to Know" was first published on Small Business Trends View the full article