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This guide on where to stay in Hat Yai lists interesting and best-rated hotels in the best area to stay for visitors. Hat Yai is the largest city in southern Thailand, near the Malaysian border. This inland city is overlooked by foreign visitors who visit the south for the islands, but it’s worth a stop if you are passing through. Most international visitors are from Malaysia who descend on the city en masse on the weekend and holiday periods, so you will have more competition for hotel rooms if you are visiting then. What I like about Hat Yai is that the train station is in the city centre, so you can walk from the station to your hotel. The station is known as Hat Yai Junction, and the city feels like a place that is built for travellers. The station is also used as a pickup point for minivans that go to the ports for ferries to the islands. If you are staying near the station then it’s easy to get your onward transport to the islands. No need to mess around with bus stations at the edge of the city. Hat Yai is famous for the dim sum restaurants, and Kai-Tod Decha serves Hat Yai-style fried chicken. It’s worth a pit stop here to eat your way around the city. [Stay in Hat Yai to wake up for dim sum breakfast.] This Where To Stay Guide lists the best area to stay in Hat Yai with some notable places to stay. Map of Hat Yai hotels Hotels mentioned in this article are pinned on this map. [View map of Hat Yai hotels.] Best area to stay in Hat Yai The best area to stay in Hat Yai is in the city centre between the railway line and the Toei River (Mae Nam Toei) to the east. Staying further east of Rajyindee Rd (the large North-South Road) puts you too far from the action for a short-term stay. A good aspect about the city area is that it has a gridded street layout, so it feels more like a city and is easy to explore. You can see on the map how there is more activity in the gridded area (the light orange background represents an “area of interest”). Beyond this area, the streets become unplanned and harder to walk around. Search for hotels in Hat Yai Hostels Lamoon Hostel is a 7-minute walk from the train station. Budget hotels Get GuestHouse 2 (Sangsri 4) is one of the top-rated guesthouses in the city. Indra Hotel Hatyai (2-star) is opposite the Odean Shopping Mall, which I would say is the most central intersection of the city. It’s an old hotel that remains popular for its location. Sakura Hotel (2-star) is a big hotel in the city area but away from the main market area. These budget hotels in Hat Yai are showing their age, but they are kept in good condition. Siam Mansion (2-star) is a stylish budget hotel that has dorm beds and private rooms. Mid-range hotels Hoshi Hotel Hatyai (3-star) is a Japanese-style hotel offering a ryokan-inspired experience. The hotel is on Pracharom Alley, which is showing signs of evolving into the hipster street of Hat Yai with cafes and bars. The Lantern Hatyai Hotel (3.5-star) is a boutique-style hotel. Sakol Hotel (3-star) is a small modern hotel close to the Odean intersection. Lee Gardens Plaza Hotel (3.5-star) is one of the big landmark hotels in the city centre near the night market. V.L. Hatyai Hotel (3.5-star). Centara Hotel Hat Yai (4-star) represents the only brand-name hotel in the city. Centara Hotels & Resorts is a hotel group that was founded in Thailand in 1983, and has since spread to other destinations in Asia. Urbanli Hatyai Hotel (4-star) opened in 2025, and its modern design is a refreshing addition to the collection of older buildings in the city. Note that Hat Yai is a provincial city, so there are no 5-star hotels or international hotel brands. The Holiday Inn Express Hat Yai is expected to open in 2027, which will make it the first international hotel in Hat Yai. Here are my notes on Hat Yai from a previous trip. Transport Hat Yai Airport has good domestic connections and limited international flights (such as AirAsia to KL). I have flown from Chiang Mai to Hat Yai (the longest domestic flight in Thailand) and then gone overland to Malaysia after staying in Hat Yai. There are overnight trains from Bangkok, and minivans to the coast are timed to meet the trains. Check Bangkok to Hat Yai trains. I have also taken the train from Hat Yai to Sungai Kolok on the border, and then crossed into Malaysia to get the Jungle Railway. There are some travel agents in front of the station that book onward travel to the islands. I visited Ko Lipe via Hat Yai, and I booked a van and boat combo ticket in advance. There is a hotel at the station (The Train Hotel Hatyai) but the city is so close that don’t need to stay here unless you specifically want to stay at a train station. Hat Yai is near the Padang Besar border crossing. Getting the train from Hat Yai to Penang is a much more enjoyable experience than getting a minivan. View the full article

Colleagues are a critical part of what makes your work experience enjoyable and meaningful. You interact with your colleagues and (in the best of cases) create a neighborhood of peers that you can rely on both to push the work forward and to share the joys and tribulations of the workday. That’s why annoying colleagues can be a particular thorn. When you have a peer at work that you don’t want to deal with, it disrupts the flow of your day and diminishes your intrinsic enjoyment of work. So, what can you do to deal with annoying coworkers? A lot of that depends on what is making them annoying. Here are a few possibilities. Missing social norms One thing that can make a colleague annoying is that they just don’t understand the social norms of the office. This is particularly likely to be true of people who are new to your organization and especially those who are new to working in general. Also, these social norms can be very hard to pick up when the company works remotely. You might want to help these colleagues get acclimated to the workplace. Talk to them about what colleagues expect in the organization. Offer to give them feedback on the interactions you witness in meetings or group gatherings. Give them a heads-up about upcoming situations. The idea here is that annoying colleagues are particularly annoying when you feel like there is nothing you can do to avoid them. By becoming a proactive part of the solution, you are giving yourself some agency that will make your colleague feel less like a rock in your shoe. Lack of trust Some colleagues are annoying, because you flat-out don’t trust them. You suspect that they are using any information they obtain to get ahead at the expense of others. Perhaps they have the ear of leadership and tend to badmouth members of the team. They might even try to take more credit for projects than they deserve. This is a hard one, because you have to be able to engage with your peers to get your work done. For one thing, if you witness a colleague doing something that undermines your trust in them, find a time to talk with them. It is possible that they are insecure and doing some of the things they do to feel successful. They may not even realize that others have picked up on what they’re doing. The aim is to try to convince your colleague that playing with the team is likely to help them to be more successful than undermining the team. If you do have this conversation, focus on the observable facts without implying a motive. Tell them what you saw them do and allow them to talk to you about why. Hopefully, the conversation will improve that colleague’s future behavior. Of course, if they deny having done anything wrong, it reinforces your lack of trust. If you do have a colleague who is truly untrustworthy, try to avoid engaging with them more than necessary. Hopefully, their supervisor will have some sense that this person isn’t trustworthy and will provide some feedback to correct their behavior. Machiavellian individuals in particular may treat their peers poorly, but suck up to leadership. Still, your best bet is to steer clear and focus your efforts on your trusted colleagues. Social awkwardness and neurodivergence Some people are just socially awkward. They mean well, but they don’t pick up on the social cues that others use to know that a social interaction isn’t going well or they should leave someone alone. Some (though not all) of these socially awkward individuals may be on the autism spectrum. There are two things to do here: First, give some grace. If you’re fortunate enough to be socially skilled, you may not realize how hard it is to be socially awkward. Everyone wants to feel some connection to their colleagues, and your socially atypical and neurodivergent colleagues have a particularly hard time sustaining those connections. Being a good colleague and friend is going to improve their work experience (and yours). As you befriend these colleagues, talk with them about whether they would appreciate you letting them know if they’re being a bother. Often, they will value getting more direct feedback about when an engagement has gone awry. That way, you can help them and also redirect interactions before they become annoying. AITA? If several colleagues are being annoying, it could be a run of bad luck, but there is also a significant chance that the problem is you. Reflect a bit on the way you engage with your colleagues. Are there things you’re doing that may rub them the wrong way? If you can’t figure it out, find a colleague you think you get along with well, and ask. If you do figure out (or are told) that you are driving your colleagues nuts, then sit down with your colleagues individually and apologize. Discuss the situation and assure them that you want to be a good colleague and are working to improve. Conversations like that can go a long way toward repairing your relationships with your peers. View the full article

Staying on top of project timelines is easier when you have the right tools, and that’s where construction scheduling templates come in. Whether you’re managing a small renovation or coordinating a large-scale build, a clear schedule helps keep tasks organized, teams aligned and deadlines realistic. In this guide, you’ll find free construction scheduling templates for Excel, Word and Google Sheets that you can download and customize to fit any project. Let’s simplify your planning process from start to finish. 1. Construction Schedule Template A construction schedule template helps teams coordinate the many moving parts of a building project, from site preparation to final inspection. It provides structure for sequencing tasks, managing subcontractors, and tracking deadlines, ensuring the work progresses smoothly across each phase of construction. /wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Gantt_Construction_Wide_Zoom-150.jpg Our interactive construction schedule template opens in ProjectManager and gives users a dynamic Gantt chart built for complex projects. It lets you map milestones, visualize the critical path and establish project baselines for accurate tracking. You can assign resources, monitor the percentage of completion, log cost details and adjust timelines with simple drag-and-drop controls. This flexibility enables clear communication across teams and ensures the entire build remains aligned and on schedule. 2. Gantt Chart Template Understanding how work fits together across time is much simpler with a Gantt chart. This type of chart displays each task as a bar on a horizontal timeline, making task duration, overlaps and sequencing immediately visible. For construction projects with many dependencies, it’s a powerful way to avoid bottlenecks and maintain flow. /wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Gantt-chart-template-for-Excel-600x264.png This free Excel Gantt chart template automatically creates a stacked bar chart from the details you enter. Add your tasks, define start and end dates and include estimated durations, and the chart updates itself instantly. As you revise activities or adjust timing, the visual timeline reshapes without any manual formatting. This real-time responsiveness helps construction scheduling teams plan alternatives, refine scheduling decisions and keep their project timelines accurate with minimal effort. While templates like the Gantt chart template are incredibly helpful, they pale in comparison to dynamic project management software. ProjectManager improves construction scheduling by providing real-time access to data across teams. It does the heavy lifting, making it easy to revise timing or activities, alert team members and adjust resources. Get started by taking this free 30-day trial. /wp-content/uploads/2022/07/Construction-Gantt-light-mode-task-info-general-CTA-BUTTON-1.jpgLearn more 3. Project Network Diagram Template When you need to understand how tasks connect and depend on one another, a project network diagram lays out that logic visually. Instead of reading a long list of activities, teams can follow the flow of nodes and arrows to see how work progresses and where delays might develop. /wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Project-network-diagram-template-600x187.png A project network diagram template for Excel gives you a fully editable starting point, complete with sample nodes, arrows and duration fields. You can study the structure to understand how sequencing is represented, then adapt the diagram by renaming tasks, adjusting dependencies or inserting new activities. The layout makes it easy to build a network diagram that mirrors your project’s unique workflow. 4. Critical Path Template Some projects hinge on a specific chain of activities, and the critical path diagram reveals exactly which tasks set the pace. By highlighting the longest sequence of dependent work, it becomes easier to predict the earliest possible completion date and protect the construction schedule from unnecessary delays. Another important reason why the critical path method is used in construction is that by identifying critical tasks, it also helps allocate resources. /wp-content/uploads/2024/05/critical-path-method-screenshot-600x205.png This Excel critical path template includes two sample task paths arranged with nodes and arrows, plus the underlying formulas used by the critical path method in construction scheduling. The visual layout helps users see how the algorithm determines total duration, while the editable fields allow you to replace sample tasks with your own. Once customized, the diagram shows the true critical path for your project and clarifies which activities must stay on track. 5. Project Timeline Template Sometimes the best way to understand a project is to see its major phases laid out in a simple visual sequence. A project timeline captures this high-level view by showing when tasks start, when they’re expected to finish and how key deliverables unfold across the duration of the project, which greatly facilitates the construction scheduling process. /wp-content/uploads/2024/11/Project-timeline-template-600x240.png Our Excel project timeline template automatically builds a stacked bar chart, similar to a lightweight Gantt chart, based on the construction scheduling details you enter. Add task names, start and end dates, estimated duration, priority level, percentage of completion or major deliverables, and the chart updates instantly. The layout is easy to customize, making it a practical tool for presenting schedules clearly to executives, clients or team members without heavy formatting work. 6. Work Breakdown Structure Template Breaking a project into smaller, more manageable pieces is often the first step toward organizing the work effectively and making a realistic construction schedule. A work breakdown structure (WBS) does exactly that by outlining the major deliverables, dividing them into components and showing how each element contributes to the project’s outcome. /wp-content/uploads/2021/04/WES-Screenshot-600x222.jpg A work breakdown structure template for Excel helps you identify project deliverables and map out the hierarchy that defines each WBS level. You can arrange work packages into a tree diagram, assign priority levels and establish a logical sequence for execution. The editable layout makes it easy to reorganize elements, refine the structure or adjust dependencies as the construction schedule evolves. It’s a practical tool for bringing order, clarity and structure to even the most complex construction projects. 7. Schedule of Values Template In construction, tracking how much work has been completed—and how much money has been earned—is essential for accurate billing. A schedule of values (SOV) breaks the construction schedule into billable components and assigns a dollar amount to each one, creating a clear roadmap for payments throughout the job.</ /wp-content/uploads/2023/12/Schedule-of-Values-Template-600x199.png Our Excel schedule of values template simplifies the entire billing process by helping you list completed work, record payments and calculate retainage with ease. It includes fields for balance to finish, percentage of completion and other key financial details. Each line item can be customized to match your contract structure, giving you a transparent, organized view of how costs progress as work moves forward. This makes payment applications smoother, more accurate and easier to verify. 8. Workload Analysis Template Balancing labor across a construction schedule requires a clear view of who is available, how many hours they can contribute and where potential overloads may occur. Workload analysis makes this possible by comparing capacity with assigned tasks so managers can adjust staffing before delays take shape. /wp-content/uploads/2024/06/Workload-analysis-template-600x273.png This Excel workload analysis template lets you list employees, note their total available hours for the month and allocate work hours based on project needs. It automatically calculates labor costs from each worker’s hourly rate, giving you a precise view of staffing expenses. As you plan your construction schedule, the template helps you avoid over-allocation, distribute work evenly and forecast labor requirements with greater accuracy. 9. Resource Plan Template Construction projects rely on more than just people—materials, machinery and specialized equipment all need to be coordinated on a tight timeline. Resource planning brings these elements together by showing what’s required, when it’s needed and how much each resource will cost throughout the project. /wp-content/uploads/2023/03/Resource-Plan-Screenshot-600x213.jpg Our Excel resource plan template allows you to list both human resources and physical assets, such as materials or equipment. You can allocate them across a timeline, assign costs and track availability as the schedule develops. The editable fields help you map usage patterns, highlight potential shortages and make informed decisions about procurement or staffing. It’s a practical way to keep every resource aligned with the project’s workflow. 10. Action Plan Template An action plan gives structure to the work that follows a construction schedule by outlining each task and the steps required to complete it. It clarifies responsibilities, timelines and resources so the team understands exactly how the project will progress from planning into execution. /wp-content/uploads/2022/11/action-plan-template-project-plan-2024-600x229.png This Excel action plan template helps you list tasks, define resource needs and estimate associated costs. You can also set timelines for each activity, making it easier to coordinate responsibilities and monitor progress. The editable structure allows you to refine priorities, adjust workloads and track the execution of work with greater precision. It’s a practical tool for transforming planning efforts into clear, actionable tasks that guide the team through each project phase. ProjectManager Is Better Than Construction Scheduling Templates Construction scheduling templates are helpful to a point. However, static spreadsheets can only do so much. Instead, upgrade to project management software like ProjectManager. Unlike templates, data in our software updates in real time, making it easy to stay in sync with your team regardless of your working location. With dynamic project views that appeal to every role on your team, it’s easy to stay aligned on your schedule to ensure your project is successful. Make and Adjust Schedules on the Gantt Chart ProjectManager’s Gantt chart is great for construction because it makes complex schedules easy to see and update. You can track task dependencies, manage crews and resources and adjust quickly when plans change. Everything updates in real time, so everyone—from contractors to owners—stays on the same page, making the whole project run more smoothly. /wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Gantt-chart-in-project-management-construction-project.png Leverage AI Project Insights Construction project managers need fast insights into what’s happening in the project. In one click, AI Project Insights automatically analyzes schedules, resources and progress data to flag risks, like tasks that may fall behind, overloaded crews or dependencies that could cause bottlenecks. It also highlights trends you might miss in a busy construction environment, such as repeated delays on certain phases or predictable weather-related impacts. /wp-content/uploads/2025/10/AI-Insights-Light-Mode-Dashboard-GPT5.png Related Construction Scheduling Content 20 Best Construction Scheduling Software of 2025 Why Use a Gantt Chart in Construction Project Management Critical Path Method (CPM) in Construction: A Quick Guide Line of Balance Scheduling in Construction Projects Fragnet Schedule in Construction: Use Cases and How-to Guide How to Make a Material Schedule for Construction ProjectManager is online project and portfolio management software that connects teams whether they’re in the office, on the job site or anywhere else. They can share files, comment at the task level and stay updated with email and in-app notifications. Get started with ProjectManager today for free. The post 10 Free Construction Scheduling Templates for Excel, Word & Google Sheets appeared first on ProjectManager. View the full article

Business leaders are scrambling to understand the fast-moving world of artificial intelligence. But if companies are struggling to keep up, can today’s business schools really prepare students for a new landscape that’s unfolding in real time out in the real world? Stanford University thinks it might have the answer. At its Graduate School of Business, a new student-led initiative aims to arm students for a future where AI is upending in ways that are still unfolding. The program, called AI@GSB, includes hands-on workshops with new AI tools and a speaker series with industry experts. The school also introduced new courses around AI—including one called “AI for Human Flourishing,” which aims to shift the focus from what AI can do, to what it should do. But Sarah Soule, a longtime organizational behavior professor who became dean of the business school this year, told Fast Company that preparing students for this brand-new work environment is easy to say, harder to do. Especially given how quickly AI is changing “every function of every organization,” she says. So the school hopes to lean on its network of well-connected alumni, as well as its location in Silicon Valley, the heart of the AI boom, to lead business schools not just into a future where AI knowledge will be necessary—but in the present, where it already is. “It would not be easy for me as the new dean to just come in and mandate that everybody begin teaching AI in whatever their subject matter is,” Soule said, explaining that that approach likely would fail. In a conversation with Fast Company, the dean shared more about what she hopes will work, and how she plans to train the next generation of leaders for an AI-powered world. This interview has been lightly edited for clarity. Many business schools are adding AI courses. But it sounds like you’re thinking of AI as less of an add-on, and more like a core part of the school’s DNA going forward. How do you make that distinction? I think it has to be [a core part]. Developing a very holistic leadership model, alongside all the offerings in AI, is going to allow us—I hope—to think about the questions of ethics and responsibility, and the importance of human beings and human connection, especially in an AI-powered organization. AI is going to change the future of work completely. So having those two parallel themes at the same time is going to be critical. What does ethical, responsible AI mean to you? HR comes to mind right away. I’m thinking about privacy concerns: What do we need to be worried about? If we’re outsourcing scans of résumés and so on to algorithms and agents, do we need to worry about privacy? I also think about: What does the world look like if a lot of entry-level jobs begin to disappear? How do we think responsibly about reskilling individuals for work that will enable AI? I don’t think we have the answers to these questions, but I’m really glad that we as a business school are going to be—and have been—asking these questions. The new AI initiative is student-led. But what is the school doing to train faculty to better understand how they can, or should, teach about AI—or use AI in their classes? Implementing this has been a mixed bag for a lot of universities. We have a teaching and learning hub here that has very talented staff [members] who are pedagogical experts and who are offering different kinds of sessions on AI. So that’s of course been helpful. But one of the most gratifying things to see is how faculty are talking to one another about their research—to see them really jazzed about how they’re using AI in the classroom, and sharing speakers that they’re going to bring in, and thinking about new case studies to write together. It’s really fun to see the buzz amongst the faculty as they navigate this. Many, if not most, of our faculty are using AI in their research. I think because they’re becoming so comfortable with AI, they’re genuinely excited about teaching AI now—either teaching content about AI, or bringing AI into the pedagogy. I’ll give you an example. In one particular class, the faculty member essentially created a GPT to search all of the management journals and to help answer common managerial questions and dilemmas. So it’s an evidence-based management tool that the students can use. They could say, “What’s the optimal way to set up a high-functioning team?” And it will search through the journals and give an evidence-based answer. One of Stanford GSB’s most popular courses is Interpersonal Dynamics, known as the “Touchy Feely” class. Do you think teaching skills like emotional intelligence as an aspect of leadership becomes even more important in an AI-dominated world? Absolutely. “Touchy Feely” is an iconic class. Even though it’s an elective, nearly every student takes it; it transforms people’s lives, and they love this course. 
 It focuses on an important facet of leadership: self-awareness. But that’s only one piece. We also have courses that get students to think about a second facet of leadership, which is perspective-taking: the ability to ask very good questions, and to listen really well to others to understand where they’re coming from. 
 So, self-awareness and perspective-taking are part of the leadership model. The third thing: We have a wonderful set of classes on communications, not just about executive presence and executive communications, but classes that focus on nonverbal communication and written communication. The last two facets of our leadership model are: critical and analytical decision making—having the judgment and wisdom to make the kinds of decisions that leaders always have to make—and contextual awareness to think about the system in which they’re embedded. Not just to understand it, but to navigate it, and to have the will to try to change it if it needs to be changed. All of those dimensions of leadership are going to be more and more important in the coming years with AI. So many of the rote tasks and analysis will be being done pretty well—maybe better than humans—by AI. But we are going to need people who can lead others—and lead them well, and lead them in a principled and purposeful fashion. View the full article

And the bitcoin meltdownView the full article

Eurotunnel said expected tripling of levy makes planned freight investments untenable View the full article

Asian markets climb as chipmaker shrugs off bubble concernsView the full article

It’s five answers to five questions. Here we go… 1. Employee keeps falling asleep in meetings I have an employee who joined the team about 10 months ago. He is a good contributor so far, but I’ve noticed he has a bad habit of drowsing off during afternoon meetings, especially ones that are within an hour after lunch. I brought it up to him once about 2-3 months after he joined the team, and told him frankly that it was unprofessional and not acceptable. He agreed and said that he would work on getting better. But in the past month I’ve noticed it happening again. He’s also a bit older (maybe early 60’s though I don’t know his exact age) — not that age changes anything, but maybe makes him more susceptible to post-lunch food coma? I’ll likely bring it up again in my next one-on-one with him next week, but I’m concerned about things possibly backsliding again. Any ideas on what to do if that happens? Just be direct! “We talked about this previously, but I’ve noticed it’s happening again. If there are things we can do on our end to help, I’m very open to them, but I do need you to get it under control permanently, not just temporarily.” But also think about whether there are tweaks you can make that would help. For example, it’s probably not realistic to avoid all afternoon meetings but since he otherwise does good work, is there any room for reshuffling things in a way that would minimize this without much inconvenience (like if there’s one meeting where it always happens and that meeting could easily be before lunch rather than after)? Are your meeting rooms too warm? Sufficiently stocked with caffeine? Can you encourage people to stand or move around during meetings if they need to? I’m not saying this is on you to solve — he’s an adult who has to figure out how to manage his own energy patterns (or needs to raise it if there’s a medical issue he needs accommodations for) — but there’s no harm in being thoughtful about small tweaks that could help. 2. My office party is in a bar with a photo of me in a bikini on the wall My director is taking out our team for a staff party and dinner at a local bar in a couple of weeks. The problem I have is that on the wall of that bar they have a bunch of pictures of the winners of their annual bikini contest. I won the contest in 2010 when I was in college and there’s a huge picture of me in my bikini on the wall and my name listed below on a gold colored plate. Should I consider not attending the event or perhaps begging HR to force them to move the event? Maybe I should just go and if the picture is noticed make a joke about it? Do you think anything bad would happen if my colleagues see a younger me in a bikini? Well … if you work in a male-dominated field or just a particularly sexist or conservative one, it’s not great; that’s a context where it’s risks being really unhelpful to have your coworkers see you in the sort of sexualized way bikini contest winners tend to be portrayed in photos that hang on bar walls. (In other words, it’s not just the bikini itself; it’s the social framing around the photo.) If you don’t work in a male-dominated, conservative, or sexist field, it might not be a big deal, particularly since it’s from 15 years ago. But if you do … any chance you could just ask the bar to take it down? A lot of people would be happy to oblige if you showed up and said, “My whole office is about to come here for a staff party in a week and I really don’t want them seeing a huge photo of me in a bikini; can you take it down for now?” 3. I was promised a monthly schedule, but it changes weekly I’m two months into a new job as a full-time AV technician at an events venue. I’ve been doing similar jobs for the past few years on a freelance basis. I’m well accustomed to the demands of irregular and unpredictable hours. Before this role, I was often booked for a job the night before or day-of. This work is not my passion but it’s related to my love for making music and performing. I see this as my priority and work as a means of facilitating my passion. I’m in my 20s, if you couldn’t tell! When I took this job, I was told by the COO in the interview that my working hours would be irregular from Monday to Sunday (anything from 7 am to 1 am) but by consolation I would be given my rota a month in advance. However, to my surprise, on my first day my manager said I would be given my rota weekly. That is, on a Saturday for the following week. Despite my familiarity with irregular hours, I’m struggling with not being able to plan my personal commitments. When I was self-employed, I had the freedom to refuse work. In spite of my great efforts, band rehearsals are falling to the wayside and I have not seen my friends the past two months. I can request days off but it does not look professional to do so frequently, nor would the requests be approved. (However, this is the best salary I have ever received and am determined to stick around and do well here.) I have constructively brought this up with my manager, even suggesting that I write my own rota two weeks in advance for his approval, as the calendar is about 90% certain at this point. However, I am simply ignored. I’m aware flexibility is a necessary condition for working in busy events operations, but I feel I was misled in this respect. Do you have any suggestions for how to advocate for myself tactfully or how to learn to cope in my own way? Yeah, this isn’t reasonable — you can’t make plans if you have to keep your schedule wide open until two days before each week starts and you can only infrequently request specific dates off. Have you told your boss that the COO explicitly promised you in the interview that you’d have your schedule a month in advance? If so, and he doesn’t care, are the internal politics there such that you could go back to the COO and say, “We talked about this explicitly in my interview, but it’s turned out that I’m only getting my schedule two days before the week starts. Since you’d mentioned when I was being hired that I’d have a lot more notice, I wanted to check back with you about it.” If that seems like a politically risky move, then I’d ask yourself: would you have taken the job if you’d had the correct info about the schedule from the start? If so, that’s one way to frame it for yourself — that this isn’t ideal and it particularly sucks that you were given bad info, but that it wouldn’t have stopped you from accepting regardless. Additionally, I wonder if it’s possible for you to negotiate one day a week that you’ll always have off (or even every other week) so that you have some ability to plan? 4. Should a CEO’s contract prevent them from being unfairly fired? The firing of the CEO of the Philadelphia Museum of Art has roiled my nonprofit world. It’s gossipy in and outside Philadelphia partly because so many unusually specific details of the firing were included in the news — for “just cause” almost never is actually part of the press release! — and also because she was under contract and it seems like contracts are supposed to prevent leaders from being fired quickly like this. Not withstanding the specifics of the situation, can you clarify how a contract does, or does not, protect employees from regular hiring and firing decisions? It varies widely depending on exactly what’s in the contract, but it would be typical for a contract for that type of position to spell out what would be cause for firing, which would generally include things like ethics violations and failure to perform (as opposed to leaving it wide open like at-will employment typically does) and what terms would govern a separation (how much severance, etc.). It’s also common for a contract at that level to include two different separation packages: one if the person is fired for cause, like fraud or gross negligence, and a higher package if the reason is something more like bad chemistry with the board or the organization making a strategic shift. In this case, it looks like the board is claiming they fired her at least in part for improper spending; depending on what that means in practice, the firing could definitely be allowed under such a contract (assuming there was real financial impropriety, not buying herself a fancy pen or something). Or it could be BS to cover up that they just didn’t like her and wanted her gone (which sounds like is at least partly the case). 5. Can I give one employee a larger bonus than the others? I have a newish employee, Jane, who is amazing. She’s been with the company for about six months. Jane inherited a messy situation from her predecessor, who was a poor fit for the role, and has not only cleaned that up, but also made significant improvements in our processes. She is trustworthy, reliable, hardworking, competent, and proactive. I feel really fortunate to have her on the team! I try to give all my staff flexibility and perks in whatever ways I can manage, but Jane’s role is one of the least flexible on the team. (For example, other people are able to work remote, hybrid, or flex schedules, but she can’t, due to the nature of the role. Other people travel around our area for work and have company cars, but Jane is based in the office so she takes the bus.) It’s also the most junior role and pays the least. We traditionally give bonuses at the end of the year, and I’d like to recognize Jane’s value and contributions to the company with a larger-than-normal bonus. I’m thinking $500-1,000 instead of $200-400. Is this a good idea even if I won’t be able to match it next year, the year after, etc.? Is it fair to my other staff, who are also wonderful and hardworking, but who get paid more and enjoy more perks year-round? I don’t want to create bad feelings with other staff if people decide to discuss their bonuses (which may happen), and I also don’t want to set an expectation that I can’t live up to in subsequent years. But I feel strongly that Jane deserves recognition for how much she’s contributed thus far, and money is the best way to do that. Note: We also give raises, and I fully expect to raise Jane’s salary, but she won’t be eligible until she completes her first year of employment. You absolutely can give Jane a larger than normal bonus in recognition of her good work; that’s a very common and normal thing to do. You’d want to be prepared to explain the discrepancy if anyone asks about it, but it sounds like you’d be able to do that easily (she’s done an phenomenal job and she has the least flexible and lowest-paying role on the team). To avoid setting Jane up to expect it every year, you can say something like, “Our year-end bonuses are typically less than this, but you’ve done such a fantastic job this year under difficult circumstances that I wanted you to get some special recognition for that.” The post employee falls asleep in meetings, office party is at a bar where there’s a bikini photo of me, and more appeared first on Ask a Manager. View the full article

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Just askingView the full article

“Work smarter, not harder” has always been one of my favorite phrases. But now that I’ve entered my working-mom-of-a-toddler era, it’s taken on a whole new meaning. I only have so many hours in a day, and if I want to have any semblance of free time, I need to make the most of them. Enter: these AI productivity tools, all of which help me streamline, automate, and optimize as much as possible. Some of them help me save hours of work, others a few minutes, while some just help me maintain my sanity — it all counts. Every second I save goes toward that glorious hour or two when my work is done, my daughter is snuggled up in bed, and I can cozy up with (read: pass out on) a good book. Of course, productivity tools are nothing new — but with the addition of artificial intelligence, they’ve become even more powerful. Not only can these nifty AI apps and tools help you boost productivity by organizing your time and tasks better, but they can also use machine learning to do some of those time-consuming or repetitive tasks for you. As a self-proclaimed tools nerd, I’ve tested out many of the ever-growing list of AI productivity tools on the market. These are the ones I keep coming back to. Jump to a section: Buffer ChatGPT Notion Otter.ai Todoist AI Assistant Reclaim AI Speechify Type 1. BufferUse AI to brainstorm, write, and repurpose social media posts. One of the best ways to ensure you grow your following on any social media platform is to post consistently (the algorithms love it). But when you’ve got a full-time job along with your social side projects (not to mention multiple channels to maintain), content creation can become really overwhelming, really fast — unless you’re leaning on Buffer’s AI Assistant. The AI tool can help brainstorm, generate, and repurpose social media posts, no matter what platform you’re using. The assistant is social media smart. In other words, it’s trained to understand the nuances of each platform — for example, that X/Twitter posts can’t exceed a certain number of characters, LinkedIn posts tend to be a little more professional, Instagram posts lighthearted, and so on — without you having to prompt it. When I’m stumped on what to post to help me build my personal brand on LinkedIn, I often turn to Buffer’s Create Space and click the ‘Generate Ideas’ button to start brainstorming. To get a better sense of what is going to resonate with your audience, the assistant will ask: What is your business about?Who is your target audience?From there, it will generate a stream of ideas for you to axe or approve, one at a time. It can help you workshop existing content, too, like taking a social media post that performed well on one platform and repurposing it for another (my personal favorite use case). Buffer pricing: Buffer (and AI Assistant) is free to use for up to three channels. Paid plans start at $6 per month per channel. ⚡Put AI Assistant to the test for free (no sign-up required!) with our Social Media Post Creator →2. ChatGPTUse AI to Take the admin jobs off your to-do list. While there are a host of super-powerful AI productivity tools in my tech toolbox right now, OpenAI’s ChatGPT is by far the most versatile. I treat ChatGPT like my AI virtual assistant (thank you, natural language processing) and ask it to take time-consuming tasks off my plate several times a week. I use it for things like finding target keywords for SEO, writing basic HTML to augment my blog posts (like the handy table of contents at the top of this list, for example), and summarizing long or complicated documents. What’s really handy about ChatGPT is that the chatbot functionality means you don’t have to start from scratch if what it generates isn’t what you’re looking for. You’re constantly building on your initial prompt. For example, I can ask it to summarize a complicated article into ten bullet points, and if that is still too difficult to digest quickly, I can just add, “Explain the above like I’m a 10-year-old.” (One of my favorite prompts.) ChatGPT pricing: Free for the basic version, with paid plans starting at $10 per month 3. NotionUse AI to generate documents and search all your documents for specific answers. Notion has long been one of my favorite project management tools — it’s also a big part of our workflow on Buffer’s Content team and Buffer’s company documentation system — so I was buzzing when they made the powerful product even better with AI. Notion AI can help generate text and autofill databases, create a handy summary of pages, and even assign action items based on specific documents – all handy time-savers. But my favorite Notion AI feature is the ability to ask the AI very specific questions about all the information you have stored there. As we’ve talked about on our Open Blog, we use Notion at Buffer to house most of our (very thorough) company documentation. As comprehensive as our documentation system is, it can take time to find an answer to an in-the-weeds question when you’re in a hurry. So, rather than scrolling through articles and databases, I can hit the search icon, then ‘Ask AI,’ and type in my question (say, “How do I categorize internet costs in my monthly expense report?” or “Which Buffer teammates are based in the US?”) From there, the AI will generate a response to my question and link to the pages it used to compile the answers. It’s worth noting that this feature is still in beta, but it’s always worked just fine for me. Notion pricing: AI features will cost $10 per workspace per month. (Notion is free to use for individuals, but plans start at $10 monthly — this excludes the cost of AI). 4. Otter.aiUse AI to automatically transcribe and summarize meetings. I’ve been using Otter.ai, an audio transcription tool, since my journalism days (you have no idea how much time audio transcriptions have saved me). Now, it’s still a go-to in my tool stack as a marketer. I still use it to transcribe interviews (for case studies, expert comments, and the like), as well as note-taking for regular meetings. When the meeting is over, I’ll drag and drop the audio recording of the call into Otter’s web app. Within minutes, I’ll have a full transcript and — more importantly — an AI summary of what was discussed in the call. Sure, many video call tools will do this for you (it’s worth checking out the Zoom AI Companion if you use Zoom exclusively). However, there are two reasons I prefer Otter.ai. For one thing, I want my transcription tool to be separate from my meeting platform of choice. I often find myself pulled into meetings in Zoom, Google Meet, and Riverside, depending on what my guest prefers to use. Another handy Otter.ai feature is the ability to click on a bullet point within the meeting summary and be automatically taken to that point in the recording. Here, you can play back that moment with Otter’s transcription playing alongside it like captions. Otter also integrates with Zoom, Google Meet, and Microsoft Teams, so you can transcribe in real-time, which streamlines your workflow. However, this does mean OtterPilot will join your call as if it were another guest (something most transcription tools will do), which I find jarring. Still, if you’re aiming for full optimization, this is the way to go. Otter.ai pricing: Free for up to 300 monthly transcription minutes. Paid plans start at $18 per month. 5. Todoist AI AssistantUse AI to better manage and break down your tasks. Todoist is one of my ultimate productivity tools — I live by the task manager and productivity app. Todoist’s AI Assistant, much like the app itself, is simple and helpful. It can help you do three things: Give tips to help you complete a taskMake the task more actionableBreak the task down into smaller onesI’m a big fan of the GTD (getting things done) productivity method, which starts with “capturing” your tasks — really just a brain dump of all the things you have to get done. The next step is to “clarify,” making the task actionable, breaking it down into sub-tasks, etc., which Todoist’s AI Assistant can help me do. (Read more about the GTD method in Francesco D'Alessio’s article on productivity apps for social media marketers.) Like many of the other tools on this list, the AI Assistant isn’t baked into Todoist — you’ll need to head over to integrations and activate it before the options you see in the screenshot above become available. Todoist pricing: While Todoist has a free plan, the AI Assistant is only available on their Pro plan and upwards, which costs 6. Reclaim AIUse AI to schedule your day while defending your focus and personal time. As the name suggests, Reclaim AI will help you claw time back from your jam-packed schedule. Rather than a calendar in and of itself, think of Reclaim as an AI-powered assistant for your calendar. (It syncs with Google Calendar right now). Based on your priorities and role, it will help you block flexible time out in your calendar for all the things that are important to you — like focused working time, working out, or a lunch break. I use Reclaim to block out time for all of these things, plus a bedtime routine blocker for my daughter. My focus time, lunch, and workout events shift around every day based on what other meetings I have on my calendar, but my daughter’s bedtime is non-negotiable and remains the same Monday through Friday. This is far from all Reclaim does, though: it also has a Calendly-like meeting scheduler, daily planner, smart scheduling for team members in different time zones, plus a ‘buffer’ feature that automatically schedules decompression time after every virtual meeting and travel time before and after every in-person event. Reclaim AI pricing: Reclaim has a solid free plan that will help you do most of the things above. Paid plans start at $10 per month. 7. SpeechifyUse AI to read any text aloud. Gwyneth Paltrow helped me edit this article — thanks to Speechify. Speechify is an AI tool that reads any text back to you. It has over 130 voices (including the likes of Gwyn, Snoop Dog, and Mr Beast) and over 30 languages. Thanks to AI, the readings sound pretty natural and not robotic. If you’re an auditory learner like me, Speechify will help you digest information faster than you thought possible. You can also speed up the reading pace to boost productivity further. There are so many use cases for this text-to-speech tool, which has a Chrome extension and even a mobile app, so you can listen while you’re on the go. You could have it read your emails while you wash the dishes, help you digest complicated documents, or turn any PDF into an audiobook. But my favorite use case is having it read my articles back to me before I hit publish. It’s a brilliant way for writers to spot typos, grammar mistakes, or areas where they could improve clarity. There are some neat features, too, like the ability to create your own AI Voice clone (I know) or translate and dub videos into other languages. Speechify pricing: Speechify offers a limited free plan. Premium plans start at $69 per month per user. 8. Type Use AI to draft content in your unique style. There are plenty of AI writing tools out there (Jasper, Copy.ai, and Writer are all great options), but Type is one of the few that comes without a learning curve). Type does exactly what it says on the tin: it uses generative AI to help you write more, better. Type’s simple document-processor interface is uncluttered and easy to understand. It also includes a host of templates for creating everything from blog posts to onboarding emails — really handy if you’re not great at coming up with AI prompts. You might be thinking, “Wait, didn’t you just tell me ChatGPT and Notion can do that?” and you’d be right! But what sets Type apart is that you can train it to write like you. With each prompt, you can upload, paste, or link to a format, tone, and style example, which the AI will mimic when it devises your draft for you. The results aren’t perfect — it’ll still require plenty of tweaking to make it sound more human than robot — but it’s notably better than some of the other AI writing assistants I’ve tried. Type pricing: 14 days free, then $29.00 per month. More AI productivity tools to try? While I’ve tested as many AI tools as I could get my hands on, I know there are a plethora out there that I've yet to explore. If there’s a tool out there that I have to put through its paces, I’d love to hear about it! Please comment below or tag @buffer or @bufferapp on all major social channels, and I’ll put your favorite tool to the test. View the full article

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As companies adopt AI, the conversation is shifting from the promise of productivity to concerns about AI’s impact on wellbeing. Business leaders can’t ignore the warning signs. The mental health crisis isn’t new, but AI is changing how we must address it. More than 1 billion people experience mental health conditions. Burnout is rising. And more people are turning to AI for support without the expertise of trained therapists. What starts as “empathy on demand” could accelerate loneliness. What’s more, Stanford research found that “these tools could introduce biases and failures that could result in dangerous consequences.” With the right leadership, AI can usher in a human renaissance: simplifying complex challenges, freeing up capacity, and sparking creativity. But optimism alone isn’t a strategy. That’s why responsible AI adoption is a business imperative, especially for companies building the technology. That work is not easy, but it’s necessary. UNCLEAR EXPECTATIONS We’ve seen what happens when powerful platforms are built without the right guardrails: Algorithms can fuel outrage, deepen disconnection, and undermine trust. If we deploy AI without grounding it in values, ethics, and governance—designing the future without prioritizing wellbeing—we risk losing the trust and energy of the very people who would lead the renaissance. I’ve seen this dynamic up close. In conversations with business and HR leaders, and through my work on the board of Project Healthy Minds, the signals are clear: People are struggling with unclear expectations around AI use, job insecurity, loneliness, uncertainty, and exhaustion. In a recent conversation with Phil Schermer, founder and CEO of Project Health Minds, he told me, “There’s a reason why professional sports teams and hedge funds alike are investing in mental health programs for their teams that enable them to operate at the highest level. Companies that invest in improving the mental health of their workforce see higher levels of productivity, innovation, and retention of high performers.” 5 WAYS TO BUILD AN AI-FIRST WORKPLACE THAT PROTECTS WELLBEING Wellbeing should be at the core of the AI enablement strategy. Here are five ways to incorporate it. 1. Set clear expectations Employees need to understand how to work with AI and that their leaders have their back. That means prioritizing governance and encouraging experimentation within safe, ethical guardrails. Good governance builds trust, and trust is the foundation of any successful transformation. Investing in learning and growth sends a powerful message to employees: You belong in the future we’re building if you’re willing to adapt. We prioritize skill building through ServiceNow University so every employee feels confident working with AI day-to-day. In a conversation with Open Machine CEO and AI advisor Allie K. Miller, she told me that we need to redefine success in jobs by an employee’s output, value, and quality as they work with AI agents. This means looking at things like business impact and creativity, not just processes or tasks completed. 2. Model healthy AI behavior AI implementation is a cultural shift. If we want employees to trust the technology, they need to see leaders and managers do the same. That modeling starts with curiosity. Employees don’t need to be AI experts from day one, but they need to show a willingness to learn. Set norms around when, why, and how often teams engage with AI tools. Ask questions, share experiments, and celebrate use cases where AI saved time or sparked creativity. AI shouldn’t be an “opt in” for teams—it should be part of how we work, learn, and grow. When leaders use AI thoughtfully, employees are more likely to follow suit. 3. Pulse-check employee sentiment consistently To design meaningful wellbeing programs, leaders must ground analysis in data, continuously improve, and build for scale. That starts by surveying employees to track sentiment, trust, and AI-related fatigue in real time. Then comes the harder part: acting on the data to show employees they’re seen and supported. Leaders should ask: Are we tailoring wellbeing strategies to the unique needs of teams, regions, and roles? Are we embedding empathy into our platforms, workflows, and automated tasks? Are our AI tools safe, unbiased, and aligned to our values? Are we making mental health a routine part of manager check-ins? According to Schermer, “The organizations making the biggest strides are the ones treating wellbeing data like commercial data: measured frequently, acted on quickly, and tied directly to outcomes.” 4. Focus on connection, keeping people at the center AI should not replace professional mental healthcare or real-world connections. We must resist the urge to “scale empathy” through bots alone. The unique human ability to notice distress, empathize, and escalate is largely irreplaceable. That’s why leaders should advocate for human-first escalation ladders and align their policies to the World Health Organization’s guidance on AI for health. Some researchers are exploring “traffic light” systems to flag when AI tools for mental health might cross ethical or personal boundaries. AI adoption is a human shift, so people leaders need to take responsibility for AI transformation. That’s why my chief people officer role at ServiceNow evolved to include chief AI enablement officer. Today’s leadership imperatives include reducing the stigma around mental health, building confidence in AI systems, creating space for open human connection, and encouraging dialogue about digital anxiety, loneliness, or job insecurity. 5. Champion cross-sector collaboration We need collaboration across industries and leadership roles—from tech to healthcare, from HR professionals to policymakers—to create systems of care alongside AI. The most effective strategies come from collective action. That’s why leaders should partner with coalitions to scale access to care, expand AI literacy, and advocate for mental health in the workforce. These partnerships can help us shape a better future for our people. THE BOTTOM LINE: AI MUST BE BUILT TO WORK FOR PEOPLE The future of work should be defined by trust, transparency, and humanity. This is our moment to lead with empathy, design with purpose, and build AI that works for people, not just productivity. Jacqui Canney is chief people and AI enablement officer at ServiceNow. View the full article

Most of the software that truly moves the world doesn’t demand our attention: It quietly removes friction and gets out of the way. You only notice it when it’s broken. That’s not a bug in the business model; it’s a feature. In fact, “unnoticed but indispensable” is the highest customer-satisfaction score you can get. Consider these categories that already figured this out. The log-in that isn’t a task anymore Password managers, once you build the habit, fade into the background. They fill the box before you even remember there was a box. Single sign-on (SSO) systems go a step further and make logging in to everything feel like one action instead of 17 small, annoying ones. And passkeys get rid of passwords entirely. The pattern is consistent: Tools that turn a chore into a non-event ultimately win. It’s tempting to treat authentication like a “moment”: a page, a button, a ritual. The better approach is to treat it like plumbing. You notice good plumbing by its absence. Otherwise, you just enjoy the hot shower. Invisible infrastructure already won the internet Some technologies graduate from “choice” to “ambient.” Transport layer security (TLS) and HTTPS used to be optional. Now they’re table stakes, largely thanks to Let’s Encrypt making it approachable. Your browser nudges everyone toward secure defaults and the ecosystem complies. We don’t “do” TLS; we benefit from it. This wasn’t always so seamless. In Windows’ early days, you literally had to install a Winsock stack just to speak TCP/IP. Today, the network stack is simply present, like oxygen. Progress in software often looks like this: The thing we once had to fiddle with becomes the thing we don’t think about anymore. AI’s next act: not a chat box Chatbots are neat, but they aren’t the end state of AI. They’re a first draft, like when we used to watch early web pages load images line by line. The real value emerges when intelligent assistance is in the room where work already happens, and it becomes part of the workflow. In a CRM, the note writes itself while you talk and is already tagged correctly when you hang up. In design tools, the spec is updated everywhere when you change a component once. In code review, a suggestion appears inline with a one-click fix, not in a separate AI tab that hijacks your focus. This is the same story as passwords, SSO, and HTTPS: The win comes from disappearing the steps, not adding a new surface area for attention. (The funny thing is, most of the work of making AI invisible is just plain old engineering. Yes, there’s lots of AI engineering to make the bots work at all. But plugging them into things in a way that works, that’s the part we’re really behind on.) BORING ON PURPOSE IS A STRATEGY At my company we talk about being boring in a specific way: Security and connectivity should feel like electricity. You flip the switch, the lights come on, and nobody argues about the generator or the continent-wide high-voltage distribution network. Being invisible is not the same as being trivial; it’s the reward for sweating details users never see. Here are five design principles for making software people won’t notice 1. Make the default the decision. Someone once told me the golden rule of user interface design: If there’s a popup with two options, imagine one of them is “work” and the other one is “don’t work.” Then make “work” the default and delete the popup. Most users will never visit settings. If the secure, performant, accessible path is the default, adoption happens for free. 2. Budget for latency like it’s a feature. Under ~100ms, interactions feel instantaneous. Over ~1s, they feel like work. Invisible software feels fast because it never gives the user time to switch contexts. Cache, prefetch, and defer like your product’s life depends on it. Because it does! 3. Automate the paperwork, keep the signatures. Autofill, SSO, and passkeys are all versions of the same idea: The system should carry the burden. Let humans make approvals and set intent; let machines do the form filling and compliance trail. 4. Progressive disclosure beats feature sprawl. Hide power tools until they’re needed. The user who needs advanced controls will find them; the one who doesn’t should never meet them. UIs that start simple and get deep on demand feel “light” and earn trust. 5. Fail quietly, recover loudly. When background systems hiccup, self-heal first. If you must involve the user, say exactly what to do in one step and show you’ve already done the other three. Invisible products don’t turn every exception into a ticket. THE BUSINESS CASE FOR BEING FORGETTABLE “Unobtrusive” can sound like “unmonetizable,” but it’s the opposite. Products that vanish into the workflow produce fewer support tickets, shorter onboarding, and more expansion inside organizations. They spread by word-of-mouth because they don’t create new habits; they remove old pain. You don’t need a big campaign to sell relief. The tricky part is cultural, not technical. Teams must be okay shipping value that isn’t screenshot-worthy. That means investing in the edges: reliability, identity, zero-touch setup, and instant rollback-so customers never have to learn those words. A SIMPLE TEST If turning your product off causes immediate, confused swearing from the people who didn’t even know they depended on it, congratulations: you’ve built something great. Now make it a little faster and a little quieter, and do that every quarter. Because the best compliment your software will ever get is silence. Avery Pennarun is CEO and cofounder at Tailscale. View the full article

The trajectory of our national economy is a central concern of every American. Our living costs rise as would-be hegemons battle over neocolonial control through tariff policies. And while social media creativity holds our attention, some part of us recalls older ways of storytelling, and we wonder, where do we belong? Most of us, even newcomers to this country—especially newcomers—were taught from an early age that anyone who works hard will eventually thrive. But we repeatedly see and know that this is merely a story told to us, not reality. The community in which you are born has a tremendous impact on your eventual life outcomes. If you are born into a poor community, you will likely remain poor. If you are born into a wealthy one, you are likely to remain wealthy. Author Isabel Wilkerson and socioeconomic researcher Raj Chetty both describe this grating reality. We want to believe in the American Dream, but our eyes see, our ears hear, and our cortisol levels reflect the stress we feel as we strive to reconcile reality with the conflicting narratives of America as a place where anyone can thrive through hard work. Instead, it is time for a new narrative. THE POWER OF NARRATIVE IN SHAPING ECONOMIC REALITY Narrative, more than facts alone, shapes perceptions about who deserves opportunity and resources. Media, pop culture, and policy discourse reinforce or challenge our status quo by elevating the stories of the bootstrapping successful entrepreneur while ignoring stories of the barriers still in place. After the murder of George Floyd, local TV and the culture turned its attention to topics of structural racism. What followed? Increased business attention on audiences, stakeholders, and customers who were concerned with undoing generations of discrimination. No one with any knowledge of history expected such attention and focus to be permanent. Like looking into the sun, we knew America would quickly avert its eyes. Yet we still hoped that this solar moment would have greater public resonance. Despite the very public backlash against all things “equity,” support for diversity, equity, and inclusion persists among many Americans who have experienced the richness and benefit of desegregated life. We now struggle to find the safest words and phrases to describe our internal sense of sharing humanity with others—even those beyond recently erected walls. This unlabeled value is the seed of a new national narrative. THE RIGHT TO THRIVE At Living Cities, we believe the conversation around opportunity must shift from scarcity and survival to abundance and flourishing. When we reframe narratives to center the right of every person to truly thrive, particularly those from marginalized communities, we unlock powerful new possibilities for individuals, families, and entire cities. This positive focus moves beyond merely surviving in systems that were not designed for everyone, toward actively building systems that empower all to grow, innovate, and lead. By emphasizing narratives of thriving, we foster hope, agency, and dignity. We see entrepreneurs of color not as risky bets but as vital engines of economic growth rooted in resilience and innovation. We recognize neighborhoods historically denied capital not as liabilities, but as sites brimming with untapped potential. This new storytelling affirms that systemic barriers can and must be dismantled, and that access to resources drives shared prosperity, stronger communities, and sustainable development. Living Cities’ experience with cross-sector coalitions in cities has shown that using positive narratives of abundance can help community leaders see all individuals as worthy of investment. This helps strengthen community trust, catalyze authentic partnerships, and accelerate economic opportunity. Thriving is more than an aspirational goal—it is a proven strategy for revitalizing cities and fundamental motivation for transforming lives. REFRAME THE CONVERSATION Living Cities supported city coalitions to use narrative change for direct results. For example, in Albuquerque and Memphis, positive use of narrative enabled loan underwriters to re-examine their assessment of risk related to Black and Latino entrepreneurs. To reframe the national conversation, organizations and companies can use these best practices in narrative and communications strategies: Cocreate stories with those affected: Community-led storytelling creates authenticity and greater impact. Blend hard data with lived experience: Combining human stories with local economic data persuades both hearts and minds. Invest in media literacy: Teaching audiences to identify and question stereotypes can reduce bias. Counter negative narratives with abundance, agency, and equity: Highlight systemic successes—such as new Black-owned businesses or increases in affordable homeownership—over deficit-based stories. INSPIRE A CULTURE OF ABUNDANCE AND EQUITY Reframing risk as a function of structural barriers, not personal failure, will give us the foundation we need for increased economic opportunity. Storytelling can shift public policy, local business investment, and economic outcomes. Anything is possible when we eliminate our outdated stereotypes and create a new foundation. Leaders, policymakers, businesses, and media must invest in narrative work as a core equity strategy, reframing the conversation to foster true abundance and agency in America’s communities. Joe Scantlebury is president and CEO of Living Cities. View the full article

Continued funding squeeze and volatile student enrolment will continue to hit finances, regulator warnsView the full article

I’ve spent much of my career in fintech, but some of the most inspiring innovations I’ve seen came from a town most people have never heard of. In early 2025, Ipava State Bank, a tiny community institution in western Illinois, embedded a small amount of life protection into every eligible checking and savings account. No app to install, no portals, no extra steps—coverage was calculated from balances and capped per account. Six months in, reported results included $3.45 million in protection delivered, 7% deposit growth, 4.8% higher average balances, and a 25% increase in customers reaching maximum coverage levels—at a time when many peers were losing deposits. The program, developed in partnership with Wysh, is part of a growing wave of fintech innovation that’s meeting people where they already are—at their local banks and credit unions. For The National Alliance for Financial Literacy and Inclusion (NAFLI), it’s exactly the kind of progress we champion: Technology designed not just for scale, but for inclusion. Let’s talk about why it worked—and how other banks could adapt the idea without copying the setting. We worked alongside partners on this effort; here are five observations we’ve made about the project’s design choices any institution can adopt. 1. Default-on beats opt-in. People don’t lack interest in protection; they lack bandwidth. Making the benefit automatic eliminated friction and avoided the shame tax of apply if you can navigate the process. In low-adoption markets, behavioral simplicity is a strategy, not a shortcut. 2. Lead with the institution’s trust, not the partner’s tech. The coverage showed up through the bank customers already relied on, which reframed the offer from a new product to learn to my bank is taking care of me. Community banks have a trust surplus—using it thoughtfully matters more than adding another feature tile. 3. Translate the benefit to local risks. In Ipava, protection wasn’t a perk; it mapped to single-income households, inherited farm debt, and small-business succession. Wherever you operate, write the value statement in the community’s language first, product language second. 4. Measure outcomes the customer can feel. Deposit growth is great; confidence is the point. Track balance stability, dormant-to-active reactivation, and share-of-wallet movements following benefit awareness—signals that the relationship’s getting stronger, not just more expensive to promote. 5. Make branches the on-ramp, not the afterthought. Frontline staff need a 10-second script. For example, “This account now includes a small layer of protection—automatically” and a two-minute FAQ guide. When the explanation is simple, you don’t need an app demo to earn adoption. WHAT THIS CHANGES ABOUT FINANCIAL WELLNESS Most wellness programs ask people to learn more and do more—download the app, change the habit, attend the webinar. The Ipava example flips that script: Make the institution do more so the customer doesn’t have to. When protection is embedded where money already lives, inclusion stops being an aspiration and becomes the default state of the relationship. That’s the shift Wysh is helping banks unlock—and the kind of design NAFLI believes can redefine what financial literacy looks like in practice. If your bank is ready to make this shift too: Don’t over-engineer choice. In high-emotion categories, asking users to select multiple options underperform simple and common defaults. If possible, offer clarity, not a catalog. Don’t outsource the story. Tech partners enable; the bank narrates. If customers don’t hear it from you, they won’t feel it from you. Don’t chase app adoption as the goal. Adoption of the benefit matters more than adoption of the interface. Design to be understood in a branch foyer, not just a home screen. THE BIGGER INVITATION If community institutions want to win back deposits and relevance, they don’t need shinier features—they need more visible care. The lesson from a small bank in western Illinois isn’t that every place is Ipava. It’s that trust-first, default-on design can work anywhere people still value a bank that shows up for their best days—and their worst. Maybe the bigger takeaway is simpler: innovation doesn’t always look like new technology. Sometimes it looks like a familiar bank doing something timeless—showing up for people when it matters most. And that’s why NAFLI is watching this movement closely—because when fintech starts working for the people who don’t download fintech, we’re finally getting somewhere. Edwin Endlich is the president and board chairman of The National Alliance For Financial Literacy and Inclusion. View the full article

All eyes were on Nvidia’s quarterly earnings announcement on Wednesday, as investors looked for signs of weakness indicating that the so-called “AI bubble” is about to deflate. In fact, Nvidia appears to be selling graphics processing unit (GPU) chips for data centers as fast as it can make them. On the call, Nvidia reported better-than-expected revenues of $57 billion for its October-ending quarter, a 62% increase over the same quarter last year. Revenues rose by $10 billion, or 22%, from the prior quarter. Perhaps most importantly, the company projected revenues of $65 billion in the current quarter. As a result, Nvidia shares rose 5% after the earnings were announced at market close on Wednesday. That bump created an additional $205 billion of market capitalization. “There’s been a lot of talk about an AI bubble,” Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said to open his comments during an earnings call with analysts Wednesday. “But from our vantage point we’re seeing something very different.” The “bubble” refers to the possibility that the stock prices and valuations of AI companies have become disconnected from their earning potential. Investors also fear that the massive investments that big tech and AI companies are sinking into infrastructure like data centers won’t be backed up by rapid AI adoption. “Let me remind you that Nvidia is unlike any other accelerator company — we address every phase of AI,” he said. Then, he set out to show Nvidia’s current business within the context of some broad technological transitions that he says are happening all at once. Huang explained that business software that has traditionally run on CPUs is increasingly starting to run on accelerators, specifically the GPUs that Nvidia sells. He says many traditional business tasks are being done by generative AI systems, replacing classical machine learning for things like content suggestion, ad placement, and content moderation. He also says autonomous AI (such as self-driving cars) and AI agents (such as coding assistants) mark the beginning of yet another big transition: “The transition to agentic AI is giving rise to new companies, new products, and new services.” “Our singular architecture enables all three of these transitions–across all industries and all phases of AI, from cloud to enterprise to robots,” Huang went on — announcing, in other words, that Nvidia is set to ride these big waves to big-time chip sales well into the future. Worrying about a bubble today, he seemed to suggest, may be a little short-sighted. CFO Colette Kress said earlier in the call that both hyperscalers like Meta and Google, and top AI labs like OpenAI and Anthropic, continue to spend big on Nvidia chips. “We are preparing for aggressive growth ahead and feel optimistic about our opportunity set,” she said. View the full article