Even as the right to disconnect movement has picked up steam, true work-life balance is still hard to come by for many employees. Fielding emails and other work-related messages after hours continues to be the norm across workplaces, despite ample evidence that it can contribute to burnout and actually decrease productivity.

Part of the issue may be that the average workday is punctuated by a mounting number of drains on productivity. A new report from Microsoft, which compiled input from 31,000 workers across more than 30 countries, sheds light on the scale of interruptions and hurdles workers are currently facing on the job, as well as the degree to which the average workday has stretched beyond traditional business hours.

The price of near-constant interruptions

While 53% of leaders say they want to see a spike in productivity, the overwhelming majority of employees and managers alike—about 80% of workers globally—claim that they don’t have the time or energy to effectively do their jobs.

Employees say they are being interrupted near constantly during the workday, juggling emails, meetings, or real-time messages every two minutes. That can amount to 275 daily interruptions on the whole, when taking into account the additional time employees spend on the job beyond standard working hours.

In fact, the report also captures a marked increase in the number of pings that workers receive after hours: Chats outside of the 9-to-5 window increased by 15% year over year, yielding an average of 58 messages when tallied over the course of four weeks.

An expanding workday

Even meetings appear to be happening around the clock, according to the report, in part because so many companies now employ people who are working across time zones. Meetings that take place after 8 p.m. had increased by 16% year over year, and 30% of meetings involve employees in different time zones.

Part of this shift could also be driven by the fact that the majority of meetings—60%—are unscheduled and convened on an ad hoc basis. (Also of note: The number of PowerPoint edits jump by 122% in the 10 minutes leading up to a meeting, a stark contrast to PowerPoint activity in the hours prior.)

What could help reduce burnout

All this points to a broader disconnect between the business needs of many companies and what their workforce can reasonably accommodate, a strain that both employees and leaders seem to be feeling. According to Microsoft’s findings, 48% of employees and 52% of leaders claim their workload is “chaotic and fragmented.”

The report makes the case for why companies will need to use AI agents to bridge the gap, and almost half of all leaders have already said using “digital labor” to augment the existing capabilities of their workforce is a top priority for the next 18 months. But AI alone won’t alleviate the many pains of modern work for employees or managers—and it certainly won’t put a stop to superfluous meetings overnight.

We’ve all heard the familiar directive: “We’re going through another reorganization and will be cutting 20% of headcount, but priorities remain the same and, in fact, may expand.” Meanwhile, you’re being told to “just make it work” without offering additional resources, guidance, or support.

This conversation, unfortunately, isn’t unique. It represents the silent crisis engulfing middle management across America.

Middle managers—who oversee 90% of the U.S. workforce—are facing unprecedented challenges in 2025. Recent KPMG data reveals nearly one-third are actively disengaged, while 62% report unsustainable stress levels as they struggle with expanded responsibilities amid shrinking teams. At the same time, Gallup’s findings show employee dissatisfaction at 15-year highs.

The economic uncertainty plaguing the U.S. has created a perfect storm for middle management burnout. Organizations are seemingly undergoing constant reorgs and scrambling to eliminate redundancies, optimize productivity and reduce resources to do more with less. Middle managers find themselves caught between the demands from top leadership to cut costs and maintain output while keeping their teams productive and motivated at the same time.

“The concrete middle”

Middle managers are what I call “the concrete middle”—the foundation bearing pressure from both the top echelon of organizations and the functions and teams reporting to them. They understand the real flow of work, the network connections, and who the true “magic makers” are in the organization. They’re facing tightening budgets from above while trying to maintain an engaged, high-performing workforce below.

What makes this crisis particularly acute in 2025 is that the job market is reported as “healthy” but remains very tight. Employers may be in a wait-and-see mode, and struggling leaders may not see viable alternatives. This creates a dangerous apathy—what I’ve observed as “doing just enough to survive.”

But here’s the concern: When the pendulum swings the other way and market conditions improve, companies will feel real pain—because employees remember. They remember which organizations honored their values during difficult times and which simply treated people as disposable resources.

Break the cycle of disempowerment

One of the biggest challenges middle managers face is maintaining a sense of autonomy and growing their employees’ talent and potential. How do you keep top talent feeling they can contribute meaningfully and advance their careers amid constant change and disruption?

The truth is, during volatile periods, trust and empowerment often take a back seat to numbers. While financial responsibility is certainly necessary, organizations need a more nuanced approach—particularly for functions that drive growth.

During these unprecedented times, I’ve coached leaders to advocate and empower themselves by harnessing this moment as a chance to reinvent and reimagine how their work is being done. Because amid the volatile and unpredictable times lies opportunity—an opportunity to change and employ new strategies, tactics, and ways of working that may not have been supported during more stable, constant, and calm periods. Middle managers, with their unique vantage point, often see possibilities that senior leadership overlooks or never considers. We need to give them the tools, trust, and ability to reimagine their work in ways that might actually achieve growth in a down period while achieving cost savings by simply doing things differently and better.

This approach requires a fundamental shift in perspective—from viewing middle managers as mere implementers to recognizing them as the crucial bridge between strategy, execution, and market growth.

Move from platitudes to real development

Many middle managers have been told, “Nobody owns your development but you.” Translation: It’s up to you to grow yourself, learn, and improve.

Traditional leadership development approaches are not meeting the needs of today’s leaders. The solution isn’t another perfunctory annual performance-review exercise—it’s creating intentional support systems that address well-being, professional growth, trust, and empowerment.

Organizations must implement scenario planning into their talent management process. This means preparing leaders for all market conditions—growth, stable, uncertain, and competitive landscapes. Building this muscle prevents paralysis during challenging times and empowers managers to push for a strategic repositioning of their teams to restructure, realign, and optimize team performance.

The development of top talent isn’t just about surviving difficult periods—it’s about positioning them to deliver in different ways that might not have been possible before. In times of disruption, there’s often more support and openness for working differently, adopting new tactics, approaches, and novel ways of working than during periods when business as usual comes with a playbook of what to do and how to do it.

Cut the consensus culture

Perhaps the most insidious barrier to middle-management effectiveness is what I call “consensus culture”—the endless cycle of meetings and layers of review and approvals that exist primarily to stroke egos rather than drive decisions and unleash innovation and potential.

During my time leading organizational development initiatives, we introduced the philosophy of GEPO (Good Enough, Proceed On). This wasn’t about compromising the operational excellence of what you’re doing, but about streamlining how ideas are socialized. Do you really need three to five meetings with people at all levels to make a decision? Can you eliminate the pre-meetings prior to the decision meetings and the “I’m just being informed” meetings that clog calendars without adding value?

By streamlining decision-making and trusting and empowering the people who own and support the work, organizations can reduce the time-to-decision and allow experts to take true accountability. This approach isn’t just about efficiency—it’s about restoring purpose and autonomy to the manager’s role while empowering them to do their jobs effectively with minimal bureaucracy.

In the absence of this trust, we handicap our middle managers. They become dependent on groupthink and consensus-driven approaches, operating in a highly risk-averse fashion because they fear making independent decisions without extensive backup and group support. This is the opposite of innovation—and organizations simply cannot afford this handicap if they want to innovate, disrupt, and improve performance.

Embrace AI as ally, not threat

The AI revolution adds another layer of complexity and also an opportunity for middle managers in 2025. Too often, leaders view these technologies through a lens of fear rather than as an efficient resource that enables productivity and output.  

It’s a genuine fear of replacement. But I don’t believe AI will replace good managers. Instead, organizations must be transparent about AI’s business value while generating excitement about its possibilities. AI should be positioned as a complement to human talent—just like we would approach any new technology.

Leaders at the top need to create engagement and excitement around AI as a strategic lever that can help streamline processes and improve decision-making. This isn’t about replacing jobs but freeing up time and attention for the work that truly matters—the strategic thinking and human connection that AI can’t replace.

The path forward requires moving beyond traditional development approaches to build resilient leadership pipelines capable of sustaining organizations through continuous transformation. By elevating and empowering middle managers, companies can stabilize their operations while preparing for future challenges in an increasingly complex business environment.

The companies that will thrive in this era of disruption will be those that transform their middle management from a burnout risk into an innovation advantage through empowerment, trust, autonomy, and accountability for their work.

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Conflict management is one of the most critical leadership skills today, yet many leaders are struggling to get it right. Companies are implementing return-to-office mandates; shifting stances on diversity, equity, and inclusion; and dealing with climate change and an uncertain economy. All of these factors put pressure on businesses and the people who work for them. Over 80% of workers report escalated tensions in the workplace, and 90% of workers say they have witnessed political clashes between coworkers.

Employees are feeling uncomfortable because they are unsure how they fit into company goals, or don’t feel clear about where the company is headed. This tension leads to conflict, and it’s up to the leaders to manage the situation.

When we teach conflict management, there are several classic models and approaches. Some call for weighing goal achievement versus relationship orientation, while others look to balance assertion versus cooperation. In all scenarios, there is an underlying assumption: Leaders foster the climate that determines whether employees will engage in collegial discourse. In other words, people who disagree should be comfortable advocating for their position while listening to others’ points of view. While this notion works well in theory, the practical manager knows this is not always the case.  

In recent years, hybrid work has made free-flowing communication opportunities and seeing things eye-to-eye more challenging, literally. While it’s widely recommended that you should not accept what you read, having a conversation to ask for more clarity is not always natural (or even possible) in a hybrid setting.

So, what do you do when mixed-work modality team members are in conflict with one another, with the company, or even with you? As the leader, your job is to manage the situation. The challenge is determining how to approach conflict in a way that is both constructive and comfortable.

The Remote​​ Work Factor

There are many efficiencies afforded by flexible work arrangements, but a side effect of remote (and sometimes asynchronous) work is that conversations between coworkers are often limited to scheduled check-ins and meetings. Consequently, coworker interactions are relatively two-dimensional. Employees make inferences and judgments from emailed statements or Slack DMs that rarely, if ever, tell the full story of one’s perspective and context.

Compounding this issue is the fact that today’s multigenerational workforce has significantly different comfort levels using different modalities for collaboration. Gen Z and millennial employees have learned communication norms that entail a heavy reliance on direct messaging and video calls versus talking things through with one another. In fact, 46% of workers report they have engaged in full arguments over chat-based applications. Meanwhile, members of all generations have varying preferences for direct communication—whether in person, via phone, or video.

The shift toward remote and hybrid work has complicated communication particularly as it pertains to giving feedback. In traditional office settings, mentorship and sharing feedback often occur naturally through hallway conversations, post-meeting discussions, or informal manager check-ins. One of the drawbacks of remote work can be the elimination of these spontaneous opportunities.

Without casual in-person interactions, employees must deliberately schedule feedback conversations, which can make the process feel more formal and high-stakes than a quick chat in the office. As a consequence, performance itself can become a source of conflict since remote employees are 32% less likely to receive real-time feedback, including what has been working well, and what needs to change.

Navigating the Next Era of Workplace Conflict

When teams realize that what they are doing is not working, conflicts will happen. Due to not having the opportunity to bring issues up until they become undeniable, conflicts may have festered and therefore may be emotionally charged. We recommend three considerations for those ready to rise to the challenge of hybrid or remote conflict management.

1. Be honest about what you’re seeing—and why it’s a problem

A first crucial element to managing conflict is that leaders call out what they are seeing and then discuss observations with their team. For example, although sentiments are mixed when it comes to how politics should be brought into or left out of the workplace, there is no denying that stakeholders and stockholders alike have been impacted by various international events and executive orders. From the impact tariffs may have on a company’s ability to import materials, to the impact layoffs may have on staffing, what needs to be considered in our work today is different than it was a few weeks ago.

Leaders can’t ignore what is going on around them. One of the tenets of psychologist and author Daniel Goleman’s model of emotionally intelligent leadership posits that a leader’s primary responsibility is to be in sync with their followers. In order to be able to react in a way that resonates with one’s team, leaders should know whether something may cause apprehension, excitement, or concern among their reports. In fact, if managers are oblivious to or ignore any elements of the world that concern their employees, they will cause further frustration or be dismissed themselves.

One option is for leaders to start their weekly check-ins with a current events update. Share top headlines and explain how news may impact the organization in the coming week or months. If a company does change its policies due to shifts in federal or state sentiments, acknowledge these and explain how this shift will affect your team members directly or indirectly.

If you don’t know how to get discussions going, it’s likely that your company’s communication department has created talking points for managers to use. In smaller companies, ask the human resources department for some guidelines on how to explain changes to employees. You should not feel alone in what you say, but you should take responsibility for bringing changes up.

2. Get to know your team

If a leader doesn’t know what the team cares about in the first place, it will be impossible to connect their perceptions to conflicts that may erupt. Meanwhile, those employees who have not learned how to self-advocate may struggle finding the right time and place to raise their concerns (and voices) constructively. Leaders who bridge these two scenarios can mitigate conflicts or manage them when they arise.

As mentioned earlier, resonant leaders are those in sync with their followers emotionally. They understand that an employee who is seeking international relocation may see global affairs differently than one who has a domestic promotion agenda. If your company conducts business with countries involved in tariff discussions, some company leaders may worry about how financial reporting will be adversely impacted. Knowing what is important to your team enables you to proactively manage topics that may become conflicts.

Because of this, it’s important that leaders take the time to listen to their employees when they share what matters to them. Whether there is data from a formal performance review and goal-setting session, or you’ve gone to lunch with a member of your team, take inventory of what you know about each individual and what is important to them.

If you are not already in the habit of doing so, use your one-on-one meetings as opportunities to bring up what you know, and ask your team members to share how they are feeling about a related element of their job or development plan they had established. 

If employees don’t share topics of frustration or worry, ask open-ended questions that provide the opportunity to express their concerns or identify paths they wish to explore. And, if you’re not having in-person or virtual on-on-ones, now is a very good time to start.

3. Learn to communicate proactively and address conflict remotely

If you were walking down a hallway and heard someone complaining, you’d know they are unhappy. But if your interactions with your team members are limited to when they choose to turn their webcams and microphones on, you will not have the same windows of insight. Identifying potential conflicts and managing ones that have already come into focus require an adjustment of management techniques.

Similar to knowing and understanding what team members may value, it’s incumbent upon a manager to know some of their direct reports’ attitudinal tells. If an employee shakes their head a little more than usual in agreement or asks the same question more than once and does not seem to apply what they learn, these may be signs that remote workers are struggling to stay focused or engaged.

It has been said many times before, but when working with a remote workforce, you cannot overcommunicate. Leaders need to establish a cadence of regular meetings and also be sure to casually check in with informal conversations and temperature checks. Information that is verbally shared in a meeting should also be documented and distributed via written communiqués to avoid miscommunication or misunderstanding, which can also lead to conflict.

When remote employees are simply not performing according to expectations, leaders need to manage their performance in the same way they would for in-person employees. Letting issues go or looking the other way is not an option. 

On the flipside, it’s important to understand that sometimes what you—the leader—are doing is the cause of the conflict. One-third of employees have indicated that their bosses are too aggressive in text messages. Therefore, to avoid greater conflicts, leaders must address the situation directly and manage just as they would if the employee worked in the office.

To preempt any issues, leaders must become comfortable saying, “Hey, can you stay on the line for a minute?” Use this time after the regular meeting to acknowledge what you are seeing and ask for feedback on the initiative, the players, or the process being employed to address the work.

If the opportunity to talk right after another meeting is missed, it’s okay to email or send a Slack message to an employee to ask: “Do you have time later to hop on a quick Zoom? I want to go over X topic.” It’s important to be specific about the agenda so that there isn’t cause for alarm as to the subject of the conversation. That said, we also suggest doing this when you are able to jump on a call in the not-too-distant future, as requesting a meeting may still induce anxiety.

Bring People Together to Manage Conflict

When workers are not in the same physical space, facilitating conflict management is not easy. While it’s easy enough to ignore what may be distressing your team or assume that everyone interprets things the same way, managers should openly address differences, ask questions, and demonstrate flexibility when conflict arises.

By deliberately managing communication in a way that normalizes healthy conflict, leaders create an environment where everyone feels heard and understood.

If you’re feeling detached from work and lacking motivation lately, know that you are not alone.

Gallup’s most recent State of the Global Workplace report revealed that employee engagement fell to 21% in 2024, declining 2 points from the previous year. In the last 12 years, employee engagement has only fallen one other time, in 2020, due in part to COVID-19, the shift to working from home, and increased isolation.

The report “offers what may be our last snapshot of a workforce on the cusp of seismic change,” Gallup CEO Jon Clifton said in the report. “We are witnessing a pivotal moment in the global workplace—one where engagement is faltering at the exact time artificial intelligence is transforming every industry in its path.”

The most recent decline can be linked to disruptions in the workplace over the last five years, including layoffs, the introduction of AI across industries, ongoing friction around return-to-office (RTO) policies, and more.

Broken down by region, the U.S. and Canada tied with Latin America and the Caribbean for the region with the highest engaged employees—although the percentage was still low, with less than a third being engaged. The region also ranked at the top for employees experiencing daily stress.

Managers need help

The report found that the global decline in engagement centers around one particularly affected group: managers. Managers under 35 years old and female managers were the most affected, with engagement declining by 5 and 7 percentage points, respectively.

The findings suggest that a lack of engagement from the top is trickling down to employees, and resulted in a loss of $438 billion in productivity to the world economy.

Despite the declining rates, Gallup identified ways that employers can take action and lean toward a productivity boom:

• First, training managers on basic roles may boost engagement, with 44% of managers reporting a lack of training.
• Second, Gallup suggests teaching managers techniques for effective coaching, which could boost performance by up to 28%.
• Lastly, improving manager well-being should be prioritized, with manager development training and an encouraging peer working environment boosting well-being by up to 50%.

Welcome to Pressing Questions, Fast Company’s mini-advice column. Every week, deputy editor Kathleen Davis, host of The New Way We Work podcast, will answer the biggest and most pressing workplace questions.

Q: What should I do about a coworker who dresses inappropriately at work?

A: My first instinct is to advise you to keep it to yourself. Commenting on someone’s appearance is fraught and how someone dresses or styles their hair, etc. very often falls into the category of none of your business.

But, there are nuances and circumstances where something is actually inappropriate. Before you say anything, run though these checks:

Does your workplace have an official dress code policy?

Not all workplaces do, and many are unhelpfully vague. (After all, who actually knows what “business casual” means?) If there is a policy and it states a guideline that your coworker is very clearly violating, you can bring the issue to the person’s manager or HR to handle.

Consider what is truly ‘inappropriate’

Just because you think sweatpants are unprofessional doesn’t mean you need to police other’s clothing choices. Issues with appearance usually only rise to the level of intervention in a few scenarios.

For example, if someone is in a client- or customer-facing role and there is an expectation to dress formally when meeting a client, or to dress in a way that respects the culture in the place you are doing business. Or if there is a need to dress safely for workplace hazards (like closed-toe shoes on a construction site, for example). 

Among internal colleagues, the only reason to intervene is if their appearance is causing a legitimate issue in a workplace. Clothing with political messages or graphic images likely falls in the same bucket as displaying similar content at your desk—if it’s not allowed there, it’s not allowed on your body.

As for “inappropriate” in the context of “too revealing,” tread very lightly and ask yourself if it’s more of a “you” problem than a “them” problem. There’s a long sexist history of rules around women’s appearance at work—from requiring things like high heels and skirts to punishing women for dressing in a way that “distracts” men. If you truly think that someone’s appearance is holding them back from getting a promotion or being taken seriously, you can have a conversation with them where you don’t blame or shame them.

Want some more advice on dress codes at work? Here you go:

• This is why we need to end dress codes for work
• How to dress for every stage of your career
• Managers, this is how to encourage new employees to adopt a more formal dress code
• Do dress codes at the office work?

It takes a lot of chutzpah to walk up to television personality and Skinnygirl founder Bethenny Frankel, put a pair of sunglasses in her hands, and tell her, “These are for an oblong face.”

But that bold act paid off for Kari Dowiak, founder of sunglass brand Memorí  Eyewear, which specializes in sunglasses for petite and narrow faces. The result? Frankel posted a 47-second TikTok video recounting the exchange and showing off the sunnies, calling them “cute” and high quality. The video went viral, racking up more than 1.3 million views as of mid-April, and skyrocketing the company’s sales.

Of course, it wasn’t all happenstance. Dowiak had signed up for a networking event and noticed that Frankel was a late addition to the speaker lineup. The founder immediately went to work analyzing Frankel’s social media posts to find out more about her interests and figure out a strategy to get the sunglasses in front of her.

She refined and rehearsed her six-second pitch in advance—including noting that Frankel had called her face “oblong” in a post and adopting that language. Dowiak positioned herself at the location where speakers entered and exited the stage, ensuring she would have access to Frankel. It was a professional event, so approaching Frankel wasn’t “making it weird,” she says.

“You have to be aware of your environment. I would never have approached Bethenny if she was getting out of the Uber with her daughter,” Dowiak says. “But the situation was right.”

ASK to receive

Negotiation and leadership expert Linda Swindling says a research-based approach like Dowiak’s is essential if you want to turn a big introduction or chance meeting into an opportunity. She uses the acronym ASK to map out her action plan when sussing out the potential for a sale or collaboration.

First, comes awareness. You may be aware of the person or that they have a similar interest. Then, you seek greater understanding. That may require asking questions or doing research. Finally, the “know” phase is “know your next step,” once you’ve gathered your information, refined your pitch, and are ready to make the ask.

Natalie Dawson and her husband, Brandon, used a similar approach when they sought out entrepreneur and investor Grant Cardone to partner with him on a business opportunity. They purchased front-row tickets to a 35,000-person event at which Cardone was speaking. When they had the opportunity to meet him face-to-face, they came prepared, which Dawson says is a key step in turning intros into relationships and opportunities.

“We’d already done enough research to know what they were offering and what they weren’t offering, and we created a solution for an opportunity that they didn’t even know that they had,” she recalls. “We already had a track record. It wasn’t like we were asking him for a favor.”

Orchestrating networking introductions

With social media making many folks just a post away, some of these introductions don’t even need to be face-to-face. Tim Sharp found his next big opportunity on LinkedIn. He noticed Michael Browning, the founder and CEO of Unleashed Brands, pop up on his feed and was impressed by the entrepreneur’s energy and enthusiasm as well as the company’s Urban Air Adventure Parks, which are indoor adventure parks for children. He began interacting online, responding to some of Browning’s posts.

The engagement caught Browning’s attention, and he asked Sharp to get in touch with members of his management team. Sharp met with some of the company’s senior executives—and soon became one, being named vice president of operations in 2019. Within a few days, he was in Toronto, opening a new park. That year, the company opened 54 parks in 52 weeks. This year, Sharp was named brand president.  

Leveraging opportunity for the long-term

Natalie says asking Cardone to partner on business consultancy Cardone Ventures was just the first step. Their pitch made the business opportunity potentially lucrative for Cardone, offering a 50% partnership. In addition, she says, the couple “kept showing up.” In other words, they put in the time and effort consistently to make the business successful. Last year, the company’s gross revenue was $220 million. “But what’s more impressive is the thousands of business owners whose businesses have grown since working with us,” Natalie says. 

Sharp says that authenticity drove his relationship with Browning and his team from the start. “Sometimes, people get caught up in trying to sell themselves. The best way to find the right fit is—well, don’t sell yourself and listen to what the appeal is,” he says. “If it speaks to you, and you’re able to match that energy and that feeling, you’ll find that once-in-a-lifetime game changer on both sides.”

Playing the long game

And if you don’t? Swindling says that sometimes, an introduction or meeting is the first play in a long game. If you get a “no,” ask questions about why to get to the heart of that decision. It could be as simple as asking, “I heard you say no. Can you tell me about that?” You might find that getting to “yes” simply requires more information, adherence to a process, or some other “fixable” step. And, if not, it may be the start of a relationship where you build trust and interest and get to “yes” over time.

And while Dowiak doesn’t know what the future holds with Frankel, she is using the cash infusion from the sales uptick to invest in her business, negotiate better terms with her supplier, and even invest in some advertising, all of which will help make her business stronger.

“Before Bethenny, I never ran a single ad,” she says. “Now the kind of return on ad spend that we’re going to be able to get is so much higher because so many people have interacted.”

Every day, people are constantly learning and forming new memories. When you pick up a new hobby, try a recipe a friend recommended, or read the latest world news, your brain stores many of these memories for years or decades.

But how does your brain achieve this incredible feat?

In our newly published research in the journal Science, we have identified some of the “rules” the brain uses to learn.

Learning in the brain

The human brain is made up of billions of nerve cells. These neurons conduct electrical pulses that carry information, much like how computers use binary code to carry data.

These electrical pulses are communicated with other neurons through connections between them called synapses. Individual neurons have branching extensions known as dendrites that can receive thousands of electrical inputs from other cells. Dendrites transmit these inputs to the main body of the neuron, where it then integrates all these signals to generate its own electrical pulses.

It is the collective activity of these electrical pulses across specific groups of neurons that form the representations of different information and experiences within the brain.

For decades, neuroscientists have thought that the brain learns by changing how neurons are connected to one another. As new information and experiences alter how neurons communicate with each other and change their collective activity patterns, some synaptic connections are made stronger while others are made weaker. This process of synaptic plasticity is what produces representations of new information and experiences within your brain.

In order for your brain to produce the correct representations during learning, however, the right synaptic connections must undergo the right changes at the right time. The “rules” that your brain uses to select which synapses to change during learning—what neuroscientists call the credit assignment problem—have remained largely unclear.

Defining the rules

We decided to monitor the activity of individual synaptic connections within the brain during learning to see whether we could identify activity patterns that determine which connections would get stronger or weaker.

To do this, we genetically encoded biosensors in the neurons of mice that would light up in response to synaptic and neural activity. We monitored this activity in real time as the mice learned a task that involved pressing a lever to a certain position after a sound cue in order to receive water.

We were surprised to find that the synapses on a neuron don’t all follow the same rule. For example, scientists have often thought that neurons follow what are called Hebbian rules, where neurons that consistently fire together, wire together. Instead, we saw that synapses on different locations of dendrites of the same neuron followed different rules to determine whether connections got stronger or weaker. Some synapses adhered to the traditional Hebbian rule where neurons that consistently fire together strengthen their connections. Other synapses did something different and completely independent of the neuron’s activity.

Our findings suggest that neurons, by simultaneously using two different sets of rules for learning across different groups of synapses, rather than a single uniform rule, can more precisely tune the different types of inputs they receive to appropriately represent new information in the brain.

In other words, by following different rules in the process of learning, neurons can multitask and perform multiple functions in parallel.

Future applications

This discovery provides a clearer understanding of how the connections between neurons change during learning. Given that most brain disorders, including degenerative and psychiatric conditions, involve some form of malfunctioning synapses, this has potentially important implications for human health and society.

For example, depression may develop from an excessive weakening of the synaptic connections within certain areas of the brain that make it harder to experience pleasure. By understanding how synaptic plasticity normally operates, scientists may be able to better understand what goes wrong in depression and then develop therapies to more effectively treat it.

These findings may also have implications for artificial intelligence. The artificial neural networks underlying AI have largely been inspired by how the brain works. However, the learning rules researchers use to update the connections within the networks and train the models are usually uniform and also not biologically plausible. Our research may provide insights into how to develop more biologically realistic AI models that are more efficient, have better performance, or both.

There is still a long way to go before we can use this information to develop new therapies for human brain disorders. While we found that synaptic connections on different groups of dendrites use different learning rules, we don’t know exactly why or how. In addition, while the ability of neurons to simultaneously use multiple learning methods increases their capacity to encode information, what other properties this may give them isn’t yet clear.

Future research will hopefully answer these questions and further our understanding of how the brain learns.

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William Wright is a postdoctoral scholar in neurobiology at the University of California, San Diego.

Takaki Komiyama is a professor of neurobiology at the University of California, San Diego.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

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As the impact of President Trump’s tariffs comes into focus during the coming months, hundreds of thousands of workers could stand to lose their jobs. Economists have warned that the tariffs could drive up the unemployment rate, and many experts fear they could spark a recession.

This upheaval could place additional stress on the current unemployment insurance program, which already fails to adequately support laid-off employees and other Americans struggling to find work.

While unemployment benefits continue to be a key resource for workers—offering relief to one in six U.S. adults when unemployment surged during the pandemic—a new report from the National Employment Law Project (NELP) illustrates that they fall short of offering the level of support that workers say they need.

The limits of unemployment benefits

Of the nearly 1,500 workers surveyed, about one in five said they found that unemployment benefits were “not adequate to meet their financial needs,” though this figure varied by state. Since unemployment benefits vary from state to state, the average percentage of wage replacement could be anywhere from 29% in Alabama to 49% in Washington, according to NELP. In states where coverage was less generous, workers were more likely to express that their benefits were inadequate.

Barriers to accessing benefits

But the system also seems to be riddled with inefficiencies that make it difficult for people to receive the benefits to which they are entitled. Many respondents said they faced challenges when trying to navigate unemployment benefits, between tech issues and delayed payments.

This was exacerbated during the pandemic but continued afterward, per the NELP survey. While fewer applicants had issues with payments overall, they continued to experience underpayment and delays receiving checks, not to mention being denied benefits outright. (In fact, the share of applicants who were incorrectly denied benefits doubled from 9% to 18% in the aftermath of the pandemic.)

How employers can help

Employers, too, can play a significant role in how people navigate these benefits. Nearly a third of workers said their employer had a hand in how they approached unemployment benefits—and 19% claimed an employer actively discouraged them from applying for benefits.

On the other hand, employers were more likely to encourage highly paid and educated workers to seek out unemployment benefits. There was also some correlation with location, with workers receiving more assistance from employers in states like New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania.

The study indicates that Americans are in need of more generous unemployment benefits and expanded eligibility, in addition to basic improvements to how they access those benefits. At the same time, it reaffirms that any access to those benefits can be a crucial source of support for people facing unemployment, mitigating food insecurity and helping families manage the steep cost of medical bills and mortgage payments. With the looming threat of job losses, more workers may come to rely on those benefits to make ends meet.

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The Education Department will begin collection next month on student loans that are in default, including the garnishing of wages for potentially millions of borrowers, officials said Monday.

Currently, roughly 5.3 million borrowers are in default on their federal student loans.

The Trump administration’s announcement marks an end to a period of leniency that began during the COVID-19 pandemic. No federal student loans have been referred for collection since March 2020, including those in default. Under President Joe Biden, the Education Department tried multiple times to give broad forgiveness of student loans, only to be stopped by courts.

“American taxpayers will no longer be forced to serve as collateral for irresponsible student loan policies,” Education Secretary Linda McMahon said.

Beginning May 5, the department will begin involuntary collection through the Treasury Department’s offset program, which withholds government payments—including tax refunds, federal salaries and other benefits—from people with past-due debts to the government. After a 30-day notice, the department also will begin garnishing wages for borrowers in default.

The decision to send debt to collections drew criticism from advocates, who said borrowers had experienced whiplash and confusion with the changing student loan policies between the Biden and Trump administrations.

“This is cruel, unnecessary and will further fan the flames of economic chaos for working families across this country,” said Mike Pierce, executive director of the Student Borrower Protection Center.

Already, many borrowers have been bracing for obligations coming due.

In 2020, President Donald Trump paused federal student loan payments and interest accrual as a temporary relief measure for student borrowers. The pause in payments was extended multiple times by the Biden administration through 2023, and a final grace period for loan repayments ended in October 2024. That meant tens of millions of Americans had to start making payments again.

Borrowers who don’t make payments for nine months go into default, which is reported on their credit scores and can go to collections.

Along with the borrowers already in default, around another four million are 91 to 180 days late on their loan payments. Less than 40% of all borrowers are current on their student loans, department officials said.

Layoffs at the Federal Student Aid office at the Education Department have made it harder for students to get their questions answered, even if they wanted to pay their loans, said Kristin McGuire, executive director for Young Invincibles, a group that focuses on economic security for younger adults.

And questions are swirling about certain income-driven repayment programs after a February court ruling blocked some of the payment plans. Borrowers in the more lenient, Biden-era SAVE Plan were placed in forbearance, in which borrowers receive relief from payments but still accrue interest. The Education Department in February took down applications for income-driven repayment programs—which tie a monthly payment to a person’s income level—only to bring them back online a month later.

“Things are really difficult to understand right now. Things are changing every day,” McGuire said. “We can’t assume that people are in default because they don’t want to pay their loans. People are in default because they can’t pay their loans and because they don’t know how to pay their loans.”

For borrowers in default, one step to avoid wage garnishment is to get into loan rehabilitation, said Betsy Mayotte, president of The Institute for Student Loan Advisors.

Borrowers must ask their loan servicer to be placed into such a program. Typically, servicers ask for proof of income and expenses to calculate a payment amount. Once a borrower has paid on time for nine months in a row, they are taken out of default, Mayotte said. A loan rehabilitation can only be done once.

Biden oversaw the cancellation of student loans for more than 5 million borrowers. Despite the Supreme Court’s rejection of his signature proposal for broad relief, he waived more than $183.6 billion in student loans through expanded forgiveness programs.

In her statement Monday, McMahon said Biden had gone too far.

“Going forward, the Department of Education, in conjunction with the Department of Treasury, will shepherd the student loan program responsibly and according to the law, which means helping borrowers return to repayment—both for the sake of their own financial health and our nation’s economic outlook,” she said.

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Associated Press writer Adriana Morga in New York contributed to this report.

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The Associated Press’ education coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.

—Annie Ma AP, Education Writer

Last week, news broke that the Trump administration intends to propose zeroing out Head Start in the upcoming budget. While many people’s immediate concern is rightfully for the hundreds of thousands of children and families whose lives would be upended, attacks on programs that exclusively serve low-income Americans are a popular tactic because that population votes at low rates.

In this case, however, the administration has picked an atrocious target: even setting the immorality of causing so much harm aside, you benefit from Head Start programs whether or not you or anyone you know has ever stepped foot in one.

Head Start (and its companion program for children below the age of three, Early Head Start) has enjoyed bipartisan support for almost 60 years and serves multiple functions: sites provide important opportunities for child development, offer medical screenings for kids, connect families with local resources, and can serve as community hubs. They are also a critical source of free child care for over 700,000 families. 

Who are the 700,000 Head Start families? 

Who are Head Start families? They consist of many of the people we called “essential” just five years ago: grocery store stockers, home health care aides, hospital custodians, even staff in the child care programs that serve middle- and high-income families. They are rural families; in many rural counties, Head Start is literally the only child care program around. They are military families; there is even an on-base Head Start at Fort Carson in Colorado Springs. They are agricultural workers who pick the produce that appears in your supermarket; in fact, over 26,000 children of seasonal farm workers attend a Head Start.

Imagine for a moment that Congress goes along with the administration’s proposal. All of these families’ lives will be thrown into chaos; as anyone who has a child can tell you, there’s no abundance of alternative affordable child care options out there. Instead, families will do what they need to do, sacrificing their well-being along the way: cut back hours, work laddered shifts, find care of questionable quality that leaves them anxious and distracted, even drop out of the labor force altogether.

Crippling system already in crisis 

Indeed, it may be helpful to reframe the headline here as “Trump administration seeks to shutter over 3,000 child care programs,” and then to consider just how absurd such an action would be. After all, the United States’ child care shortage is already harming the stability of family life and the economy.

President Trump himself declared in 2019, “In more than 60% of American homes, both parents work. Yet many struggle to afford child care, which often costs more than $10,000 per year. And it’s devastating to families, frankly.” 

Fewer choices and longer waits

What’s more, the 700,000 families that will lose their child care if Head Start goes away will not simply disappear. Instead, they will be thrust into the failed market for private child care services, introducing yet more competition for scarce slots and scarce aid dollars.

All Head Start families qualify for, but generally do not utilize, child care subsidies available through a federal block grant program intended to serve both low- and moderate-income families (i.e. those making up to 85% of state median income — around $82,000 for a state like Michigan — or below, though states can and do set their limits lower). That subsidy program is already so underfunded it can only reach 1 in 6 eligible households. Take away Head Start, and existing waitlists and enrollment freezes will only get worse.

The administration’s ostensible logic for squashing Head Start requires entirely eliding the child care role Head Start plays. The budget document states that “This elimination is consistent with the Administration’s goal of returning education to the States and increasing parental choice. The Federal government should not be in the business of mandating curriculum, locations, and performance standards for any form of education.”

Ignoring for a moment the glaring factual inaccuracies (Head Start merely requires sites to adopt some form of reasonable curriculum, not a specific one, and local agencies or groups apply to get funding for locations where they wish to host Head Start classrooms), this is a feint. 

There is no commensurate increase of early care and education grants to states being proposed to offset Head Start elimination, so parents will simply have fewer choices. In this respect, the educational content of Head Start is immaterial, and getting drawn into a debate over Head Start’s effectiveness is a distraction.

Hypothetically, the administration could apply this exact same reasoning to shutting down the hundreds of Department of Defense-run schools and child development centers, all of which come with curricula and performance standards. But of course they won’t propose that, because while some military families are struggling due to administration policies, such a large-scale cut would leave tens of thousands of service members with no access to care. 

Head Start is not a perfect program. There is a worthwhile conversation to be had about how Head Start may need to evolve if and when the nation moves toward a more comprehensive family policy that includes universal child care and early learning alongside structural reforms that break down barriers keeping families in poverty.

But this is not, in the end, really about Head Start itself. If America is to be strong and prosperous in an uncertain era, the well-being of American families must be placed front and center. There is no American family — and therefore no American business — that would be untouched by the ripple effects of abruptly gutting Head Start, and doing so would set the country on course for a future marked by yet more scarcity. The administration must turn back.

I’ve always been a doer. I move fast, I love learning new things, and I don’t sit still for long. Productivity has been a faithful companion throughout my career, and I attribute much of my success to one key trait: the courage to take action—even when things seem uncertain or complex.

I trace this mentality back to a moment in my childhood. I was about 11 years old, growing up in the Netherlands, where a bicycle isn’t just a toy—it’s your main mode of transportation. One day, I had my first flat tire and it was raining (as it always is). I felt defeated and immobile. No bike meant no freedom, no way to get from A to B.

I walked home, and  my dad, calm as ever, looked at me and said, “No problem, let’s fix it.” Fix it? This was 1984. There was no YouTube tutorial. No step-by-step guide. Just a deflated tire, some tools, and a kid who had no idea what he was doing.

We sat together with a bucket of water to find the hole, sandpaper, and glue to patch it, and metal tools to remove and reinsert the tire. Step by step, we repaired it. He didn’t do it for me—we did it together.

That day changed my mindset. I realized that if I can fix this, I can fix anything. From that moment on, I’ve believed that most problems are solvable, most obstacles are temporary, and most fears are exaggerated.

How I honed my growth mindset

That mindset was tested often. I wasn’t the strongest student. I worked hard at a demanding public high school, but the grades didn’t come easy. Worse, many of my teachers seemed to doubt me—or at least, didn’t hide it well.

Except for one: Mr. Bosman, my physical education teacher. He had an infectious energy and a simple motto. Every time he introduced a new exercise, he’d explain, demonstrate, wait for confirmation, and then shout a single word—his command, his mantra: “Do!” (but in Dutch of course)

That word stuck with me. It was the only positive affirmation I got from a teacher in those years, and it became my philosophy. When in doubt? Do. When overwhelmed? Do. When uncertain? Still . . . do. Don’t sit still, action over inaction wins always.

Fast-forward to my corporate career at The Baan Corporation (a software company that is now part of Infor Global Solutions), I remember meeting Jan Baan—the company’s visionary founder. I was just 25, eager, and still finding my professional rhythm. I asked him how he managed to get so much done—and so well.

He told me, “Michel, I try to make 20 decisions in a day and still leave time to correct two of them. That’s better than making two perfect decisions and missing out on the other 18.” That’s when it clicked for me. Perfection is slow and paralyzing. If I want to move forward, I need to take action while being willing to learn and correct my mistakes in the process.

Why action-oriented leaders win

In my work as an executive coach, I meet many bright, capable, ambitious leaders who still hold onto the opposite mindset. They’re carrying around the weight of things people said to them years ago. Whether that’s “I’m not ready,” I’m not qualified enough, “ or “Someone else can do it better.”

But most of the messages have little merit, and I encourage people to focus on taking action instead. 

A recent study published in Current Psychology found that leaders who rely on internal trait-based resources—like resilience, self-discipline, and adaptability—are better equipped to manage stress and perform well in complex, high-stakes environments. It’s important to note that those qualities aren’t built by sitting still. Leaders need to sharpen them through movement, iteration, and learning by doing.

Another study in the International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal showed that self-leadership and mindfulness training measurably improve a leader’s confidence and decision-making. It’s not perfection that builds capability—it’s repetition, awareness, and the courage to act even when clarity is incomplete.

This mindset also aligns with modern neuroscience. The brain rewards progress—even small wins—with dopamine, which motivates us to keep going.

Final thought: action drives culture

When leaders adopt a bias for action, they don’t just transform themselves—they create a ripple effect. They inspire teams to take initiative. They build cultures where progress trumps perfection, where learning is constant, and where speed is a strategic advantage.

Momentum, after all, is contagious. Decisive leadership removes bottlenecks, boosts morale, and accelerates performance. But hesitation at the top leads to confusion, disengagement, and organizational drag. And once you lose momentum, it’s hard to rebuild.

Action creates clarity. Action builds confidence. Action fuels momentum. So don’t wait for perfection or permission. Just start doing.

I was strolling up the hill in Greater Boston to a French cooking class. The rich aroma of melting butter and fresh herbs greeted us as it wafted through the chilly fall air. My friend Sylvie and I were eager to learn the art of soufflé-making.

The French instructors asked for everyone’s background. When Sylvie said she was from France, they pressed her to be specific: Which part of France? When they learned she hailed from Strasbourg, the Parisiennes exchanged disapproving glances. Sylvie eyed their silent, snooty disdain.

It got worse. When Sylvie started asking about techniques, we received curt responses and pronounced sighs. We left feeling as deflated as a collapsed soufflé.

The French instructors may have mastered the art of French cooking but failed miserably in practicing humility toward Sylvie. They could have done so by celebrating Sylvie’s hometown as a region with its own culinary specialties. In snubbing Sylvie, the instructors missed an opportunity to demonstrate the rich diversity of soufflés across geographies and to toast the diversity of participants in the cooking class.

Humility is based on a common theme: Train your focus on others, not on yourself.

The importance of managing your ego

Early in my Silicon Valley career, I had the good fortune to work for Bart, a humble leader who left his ego at the door. Bart regularly sought out employees at all levels for their input on new products and improving the company. He collaborated with individuals and other stakeholders, so they could see what made sense for the business. He asked customers crucial questions and listened carefully to their answers. 

Bart never threw his weight around. Instead, he was a role model for how to be in a position of power while ensuring each employee felt heard, included, and invited to showcase their influence. Humility requires you to check your ego and ensure that you don’t let it dictate your actions.

Seek and embrace feedback

Later in my career while running my diagnostic equipment business, we hired a head of research and development. This professional came with an impressive pedigree—his PhD and postdoctoral research were from some of the top schools in the world.

With his vast knowledge, accomplishments, and experience he easily could have asserted himself. You know, that arrogant person who knows best, never admits he’s wrong, and isn’t open to suggestions. We’ve all met that individual.

But our new head of R&D was actively soliciting feedback on products from collaborators, customers, and salespeople across the globe with less education. In the end, he was able to integrate input from a broad mix of stakeholders into our products. He always showed his gratitude for ideas people gave him and considered many of them for possible future use.

Listen more than you speak

William is a strength and conditioning coach friend of mine who trains professional and amateur athletes. He says that one of the most common phrases he hears from his clients is “You really understand me.” He believes that this is because he allows his clients to do most of the talking. They feel heard and understood, he says, because he signals he’s listening intently.

According to him, the following practices are key to being a good listener:

• Practice active listening without planning your response. If you predict what the other person is about to say, your response could miss the mark. Respond only after the person you’re speaking with is done talking.
• Show genuine interest in others’ perspectives. Our natural tendency is to blurt out what we think. Resist the urge. Instead, draw the other person out through thoughtful questions.
• Don’t interrupt or dominate conversations. This is arguably the hardest to do because we want to be heard. Keep your lips together when you feel compelled to interject. Learn to sense when to yield the conversation to another person. You don’t want the reputation of being that person who doesn’t know when to stop talking.
• Ask thoughtful follow-up questions. Think through your follow-up question before you ask it. If you’ve been listening carefully, a question will come to mind with little effort.

Don’t underestimate the impact of curiosity

There’s a concept called epistemic humility, which refers to a trait where you seek to learn on a deep level while actively acknowledging how much you don’t know.

Approach each interaction with curiosity, an open mind, and an assumption you’ll learn something new. Ask thoughtful questions about other’s experiences, perspectives, and expertise. Then listen and show your genuine interest in their responses. Let them know what you just learned. By consistently being curious, you demonstrate you’re not above learning from others.

Juan, a successful entrepreneur in the healthy beverage space, approaches life and grows his business with intellectual humility. He’s a deeply curious professional who seeks feedback and perspectives from customers, employees, advisers, and investors.

Juan’s ongoing openness to learning led him to adapt faster to market changes in his beverage category: He quickly identifies shifting customer preferences as well as competitive threats, then rapidly tweaks his product offerings to keep competitors at bay. He has the humility to realize he doesn’t have all the answers and embraces listening to key voices that help make his business even more successful.

A final reflection

Being humble makes us more approachable and respected. With humility, we value others’ perspectives. The French soufflé instructors lost their class participants’ respect because far from practicing humility, they served up snobbery along with their lessons on creating the perfect soufflé.

Humility isn’t about diminishing oneself. It’s about having a balanced perspective about yourself while showing genuine respect and appreciation for others. And if you’re open to the journey, the growth and self-awareness will enrich your life and the lives of those around you.

Take a look at your to-do list. Does it seem never-ending? The thing about task lists is that they are filled with specific things you need to accomplish. Combine that with an ever-expanding inbox, and you have a recipe for busy work days.

While you may get many things done, you may not feel like they are adding up to a more significant contribution to the mission of your workplace or your own big-picture goals. To ensure that the specific things you’re doing lead to important outcomes, you need some time in your schedule to reflect on the big-picture goals you have and their relationship to the actions you’re taking day-to-day.

Here are a few things you can do to clear the mental space to make sure your days are not just busy, but productive.

The value of unstructured time

Ensuring that your daily activities lead up to something more substantial will not happen by magic. Instead, you need to regularly save some time that is not devoted to the particular tasks that are already on your task list.

There are several purposes for this time. You want to reflect on whether the things that take up most of your time are related to the most important goals both for you and the organization. Chances are, there are many things you have to do each day that do not contribute significantly to that mission.

Identify some of the activities that soak up your time that are not that productive. Are they necessary? Are there things you’re doing that you can put further down the list of priorities? Do you need to talk to your supervisor about some of the things that clutter your calendar?

Are there things you should be doing to make your contribution that are not happening? You also want to have a list of activities you’re not doing that you need to be doing. You’ll need to figure out how to add more of those into your daily and weekly schedule.

Finding a space to make space

One problem with trying to take a big-picture view of things is that you are likely to be surrounded by reminders to take care of the next task. You probably have documents on your desk and your computer desktop that need to be completed. You have an email inbox with a constant drip of new messages crying out to be answered. You have DMs from team members asking for information.

That can make it difficult to disconnect enough to create the mindset you need to think about strategic issues. It can be helpful to use physical distance from your most pressing tasks to think strategically.

Consider taking a walk or going to a conference room at your workplace that has a whiteboard. The distance has two benefits: First, it separates you from the specific reminders of the tasks at hand; second, psychology research suggests that physical distance can actually help you think more abstractly about your work. When you think more abstractly, you’re better able to ignore the specific tasks and focus on the primary accomplishments you’d like to achieve as well as the general barriers that may stand in the way of success.

Drawing your big-picture goals

When talking about strategic goals, we often use phrases like achieving a vision or seeing the future. Yet we also tend to lay out our goals in written documents. Sometimes, it can be helpful to take the language of envisioning more literally.

Sketches and diagrams may be helpful for changing the way you think about your desired contribution. So many of our workplace tools involve writing (like email, instant messages, and meeting agendas) that we get locked into needing the right words to describe what we want to bring about.

Grab a big sheet of paper or use a whiteboard. Leave the words behind at first and just sketch out processes, concepts, or prototypes. Don’t worry if you don’t think you’re good at capturing likenesses. The power of sketches and diagrams comes from being able to use space as an element of your thinking to engage the massive amount of brain real estate devoted to vision more deeply.

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Catherine Bracy is the Founder and CEO of TechEquity, an organization working at the intersection of tech and economic equity. The company advocates on behalf of policies that ensure people—not companies—control how technology shapes their economic futures. She was previously Code for America’s senior director of Partnerships and Ecosystem, and founded Code for All. During the 2012 election cycle, she was director of Obama for America’s Technology Field Office in San Francisco.

What’s the big idea?

Venture capital isn’t just funding innovation; it’s shaping what kind of innovation is possible. Right now, that system is failing us. It forces startups to sacrifice real problem-solving and innovation for the sake of chasing unsustainable growth. Our economy will be better off if we create and rely on a startup ecosystem that rewards real value rather than speculative hype.

Below, Catherine shares five key insights from her new book, World Eaters: How Venture Capital is Cannibalizing the Economy. Listen to the audio version—read by Catherine herself—in the Next Big Idea App.

1. Technology isn’t the problem. Venture capital is.

A few years ago, I was in a strategy session with labor advocates who were trying to get gig companies (Uber, DoorDash, and the like) to treat their workers better. It was a room full of smart, committed people with great ideas about how to create fairer wages, better protections, and a pathway for these workers to have more stability. As we talked, something clicked for me.

We were strategizing ways to convince these companies to change—but at what point in their growth cycle could they have made better choices? When they were tiny startups, just trying to survive, they had no time to think about worker protections. Then, seemingly overnight, they became billion-dollar global giants—except by then, their exploitative business models were too big and too profitable to unwind.

“Venture capital demands exponential growth fast.”

This struck me as different from how industries used to grow. Traditionally, companies had middle stages: periods of stability where they could adjust their practices, adapt to regulations, and build systems that worked for both employees and society.

But tech doesn’t work that way. Some of that has to do with software itself because it’s cheap to build, easy to scale, and can reach millions of users almost instantly. But most of it has to do with the economic incentives behind the companies—and that structure is venture capital.

Venture capital demands exponential growth fast. There’s no pause button. No moment where a company can afford to step back and say, How do we do this more responsibly? In the venture model, companies aren’t built to be stable. They’re built to scale or die.

As Charlie Munger said: “Show me the incentives, and I’ll show you the outcomes.” The economic outcomes we’re living with today—the erosion of worker protections, skyrocketing housing costs, and the growing concentration of wealth in fewer hands—aren’t accidents. They’re a direct result of the incentives baked into venture capital.

2. The Power Law is shaping the economy in ways you don’t see.

The Power Law is a statistical principle where a few extreme values dominate the dataset. Think earthquakes: most are tiny tremors, but a few are catastrophic.

Venture capital portfolios follow this same pattern. Investors spread their bets across dozens of startups, expecting just one or two to hit it big while the rest fail. These extreme successes are called unicorns in the parlance of Silicon Valley.

“Think earthquakes: most are tiny tremors, but a few are catastrophic.”

That might sound like a reasonable strategy since startups are risky. But here’s where it gets dangerous: As venture capital evolved, the Power Law went from being an observation of how venture capital funds look as a result of pursuing these risky companies to a guiding force for how investors should invest.

In other words, instead of pursuing breakthroughs and achieving Power Law distributions as a natural result, venture capital became about pursuing Power Law distributions without any regard to the kind of company that was creating it. It doesn’t matter whether a business is solving a real problem, whether it’s good for society, or even whether it’s profitable. What matters is scale. This is why we see:

• Monopolistic tech giants instead of diverse, competitive markets.
• Growth-obsessed startups that burn through billions with no clear path to profitability.
• Essential services—like housing—being financialized to fit a Silicon Valley growth narrative.

Venture capital started as a way to fund technological breakthroughs. But now, it’s become a system designed not to create value, but to chase billion-dollar valuations at any cost. That cost is one that the rest of us are asked to bear.

3. Venture capital destroys more value than it creates.

Because venture capitalists do not know which startups will be their unicorns, they force every company they invest in to chase billion-dollar growth—whether or not it makes sense. That means:

• Exploiting workers to cut costs.
• Shipping half-baked products just to scale faster.
• Skirting regulations to stay ahead of slower-moving competitors.
• Committing fraud—or at least getting very, very close.

The tragedy is that many of these companies could have been solid, sustainable businesses. But because they were forced to chase unrealistic growth, they collapsed. Great ideas get destroyed not because they weren’t good businesses, but because they weren’t venture capital businesses.

Take LocalData, a startup that helped cities manage property data to increase revenue and prevent blight. It was profitable and growing. But because venture capital investors didn’t see it as a billion-dollar opportunity, they pressured the founders to pivot to a different market. The pivot failed and the company shut down. This isn’t just one company’s story. It’s the story of an entire ecosystem that rewards financial engineering over real innovation.

4. The problem isn’t the companies that venture capital funds—it’s the ones it doesn’t.

If you are an entrepreneur with a great idea that doesn’t fit the venture model, you have two choices:

1) Take venture capital money and distort your business to chase growth you can’t sustain.
2) Get no funding at all.

This is especially dangerous in markets like housing and clean energy, areas where we desperately need innovation but where venture capital’s demand for hypergrowth doesn’t fit.

Venture capital doesn’t just fund bad businesses. It crowds out the good ones, siphoning capital away from sustainable solutions and into the next speculative bubble. If we want innovation that solves problems, we need new funding models that aren’t beholden to the Power Law.

5. It’s time for the Indie Era of Startups.

When I started writing World Eaters, I thought it would be mostly about how venture capital is harming society. But as I talked to entrepreneurs trying to build differently, I realized the story was bigger than just what’s broken.

There are founders who want to build companies that are profitable and sustainable—who reject the unicorn model in favor of something more resilient. There are investors experimenting with alternative funding models that reward long-term success rather than short-term hype.

“We can build a startup ecosystem that rewards real value, not just speculative hype.”

These are companies like Butcherbox, whose founder—who had soured on venture capital after venture capitalists killed a previous business of his—got his startup capital from a crowdfunding campaign. Butcherbox is now a $500 million per year business with the time and space to take on efforts to improve jobs in the meatpacking industry and support sustainable ranching.

Now is the perfect time to help businesses like this succeed. With higher interest rates, the market is shifting. Investors can’t throw unlimited cash at money-losing businesses anymore. Companies must prove traction earlier. That means we have a window (before the next bubble inflates) to show that another way is possible.

If we do it right, this could be the moment where the Indie Era of Startups begins. Entrepreneurs, investors, and policymakers don’t have to accept the Power Law as destiny. We can build a startup ecosystem that rewards real value, not just speculative hype. If we get it right, we won’t just fix tech—we’ll fix the economy.

This article originally appeared in Next Big Idea Club magazine and is reprinted with permission.

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In the past year, I’ve worked with job seekers, HR teams, and tech leaders, navigating everything from résumé optimization to the ethics of AI in hiring. And I’ve seen a clear pattern emerge: Candidates are using AI more than ever, and sometimes in ways that backfire.

The tools are smarter. The competition is fiercer. Used well, AI can be your most powerful copilot. Used poorly, it can quietly disqualify you before a human ever sees your name.

Here are five of the most common AI-related job search mistakes I see, along with one bonus pitfall you may not realize you’re making.

Mistake 1: Relying on AI to Write Your Entire Résumé or Cover Letter

AI résumé and cover letter generators promise to help you create professional documents quickly. But these tools often generate generic content based on keywords, which can make your application blend in with the rest. 

Yes, with a single ChatGPT prompt, you can have a résumé draft in 30 seconds. But if you stop there, you’re hurting your chances. Remember: AI-generated résumés read like they were written by a robot, because they were.

Why it’s a problem: AI can help you with structure and grammar, but it cannot capture the nuances of your personal brand or unique career story. Worse yet, you also risk having a nearly identical résumé as another applicant because you are all asking for the same keywords/skills.

Solution: Use AI to improve rather than replace your writing process—for example, to check for grammar errors, suggest keywords, or guide you to quantify your impact further. But make sure to personalize the content with specific examples from your own career. Your résumé should reflect your unique journey, not just a collection of skills and accomplishments with AI-generated words in between.

Mistake 2: Using AI to Apply for Jobs on Your Behalf Without Customizing Your Application

AI tools like job application bots can now apply for thousands of jobs on your behalf, filling out applications and submitting résumés for you. While this may save you time, it can also lead to oversaturation and missed opportunities.

Why it’s a problem: These AI tools are good at mass applications but are not great at tailoring your application to each job and company. Customization is key when it comes to standing out in this crowded job market. An AI application will often lack the personalized touch that hiring managers value, and it won’t allow you to highlight specific aspects of your experience that align with the company’s culture and needs.

Solution: Use AI to help identify relevant job openings, but take the time to customize your applications. Craft a personalized cover letter and tweak your résumé to reflect the most relevant skills and experiences for each job. Even a few tailored adjustments can make a huge difference in catching a hiring manager’s eye.

Mistake 3: Letting AI or Deepfakes Do the Interview for You

Yes, we’ve entered that chapter.

Some candidates are now using AI tools to generate real-time answers during live chat interviews and in extreme cases, deploying deepfakes to complete asynchronous video screenings.

Even if you make it through the first round or get hired, consider this: What will you do on the job?

Why it’s a problem: AI-driven interviews and deepfakes can make it easier for candidates to present themselves in an overly polished or dishonest way. While you might pass the screening, the real challenge comes once you’re on the job. Most companies now prohibit pasting confidential or company-specific info into public AI tools like ChatGPT. So even if you’re AI-savvy, the tools you used to land the role may not be available on the job. If you oversell your capabilities or rely on tools you won’t have access to later, you risk being fired or flagged early in onboarding.

Solution: While it might be tempting to rely on AI to enhance your interview performance, remember that authenticity is now paramount. Use AI to prep, not perform. Practice interview questions, refine your examples, and improve how you tell your story using AI, but never fake it. The risk isn’t just not getting the job. It’s losing your reputation.

Mistake 4: Overinflating Your Experience with AI Polish

AI tools can help you highlight your accomplishments and frame your experiences more effectively, but there’s a danger in overinflating your role or contributions. While it’s tempting to use AI to embellish your résumé or cover letter, it’s important to remember that overstatement will be quickly exposed, not only in interviews, but also through informal back-channel checks.

Why it’s a problem: Hiring managers often reach out to former colleagues, managers, or industry connections to gather informal insights about candidates. Even if they’re not conducting formal reference checks, these casual conversations can reveal discrepancies between your résumé and the reality of your work experience. If your claims don’t match the reality of how you were perceived in previous roles, it could harm your credibility and disqualify you immediately.

Solution: Focus on being authentic and accurate when detailing your experience. Use AI to help articulate or reframe your achievements but ensure that everything you list is something you can back up with real examples. Honesty and transparency go a long way in establishing trust with hiring managers.

Mistake 5: Underestimating the Power (and Liability) of Your Digital Presence

AI tools may help you land interviews, but they can also scan your LinkedIn profile or social media accounts as part of the screening process. It’s not enough to just have a résumé. Your online presence is increasingly scrutinized by employers.

Why it’s a problem: If your LinkedIn profile doesn’t match your résumé, at minimum, it can confuse hiring managers. AI won’t just look at your résumé. Now it’s scanning your digital presence on all platforms. If you have once posted something negative about your potential employer as a customer, it can be flagged and prevent you from landing an interview.

Solution: Ensure that your LinkedIn profile is up to date, fully aligned with your résumé, and clearly highlights your relevant skills and accomplishments. Create a compelling headline and summary that clearly state what you do and what you’re looking for. Share posts that demonstrate your expertise and thought leadership. Clean up any social media posts that might paint an inaccurate or outdated picture of the current “you.” Remember, your LinkedIn is an extension of your résumé and should reflect your personal brand authentically.

Bonus Mistake: Ignoring the Human Side of the Job Search

Here’s the reality: Many jobs aren’t filled through cold applications. Some jobs are never even listed on job boards. They’re filled through referrals and networking.

AI can’t replace genuine relationship building, and it shouldn’t.

You should use AI to help you research target companies, suggest outreach messages on LinkedIn, or prep for networking calls and coffee chats. Then, go out there and attend events. On LinkedIn, you can comment thoughtfully on industry conversations and start building relationships with those who might someday become the hiring manager of your dream job.

Remember, networking is expanding who you know and having a strong personal brand online expands who knows you. Both will enhance your chance of getting hired in this market.

Final Thoughts: Stay Human and Stay Authentic

My advice as an AI expert? Embrace AI as a tool to enhance your job search but always maintain authenticity and integrity. Let it help you shine brighter, not become a distorted version of yourself. 

Your skills, experience, and passion are what will ultimately land you the right job. Don’t let AI derail that by turning you into someone you’re not.

As remote work becomes the norm rather than the exception, more U.S. professionals are redefining what it means to live and work well. With soaring living costs, healthcare hurdles, and burnout increasingly baked into American life, many are choosing to build their careers abroad.

This shift isn’t just about finding cheaper rent or a temporary escape. It’s about discovering countries that actively welcome remote workers through smart visa policies, strong infrastructure, and communities that foster sustainable, fulfilling lifestyles.

From Asia’s tech hubs to Europe’s historic towns, these 10 destinations are leading the remote work revolution and offering a chance to truly engage, not just pass through. Here’s where to go and why these spots are setting the standard for the future of work.

1. Spain

Spain’s Digital Nomad Visa officially launched in 2023, quickly becoming one of the most attractive remote work programs in Europe. Available to non-EU nationals, including U.S. citizens, the visa allows remote workers to live and work in Spain for up to 12 months, with the option to renew for up to five years. Applicants must be employed by a non-Spanish company or freelance for international clients and demonstrate a minimum income of around €2,762.66. Visa holders are eligible for a 24% flat tax rate for the first four years, capped at €600,000/year, making it especially appealing for higher-earning nomads and entrepreneurs.

Shane Clark, President of EuroAmerican Financial Advisors, has been based in Spain for the past eight years advising Americans moving abroad. “We’ve noticed a huge uplift in inquiries since the election last year that hasn’t slowed. Election results always provide a catalyst for people who were considering moving anyway, but this time, it has been turbocharged. Spain offers a relaxed lifestyle, affordable living costs, and great digital infrastructure in the cities.

Many remote professionals are headed to cities like Valencia, Madrid, Barcelona, and the Balearic Islands, where they’re finding a lifestyle that blends Mediterranean ease with modern urban energy. Spain offers reliable internet, a growing number of coworking hubs, and strong communities of international creatives and founders. Beyond the vibrant cities, Spain’s regional diversity makes it easy to find your perfect balance, whether that’s vineyard views in La Rioja, surf breaks in the Canary Islands, or slow living in Andalusia. Affordable high-speed rail connects much of the country, and the cost of living remains lower than most Western European countries, especially outside of major metros. 

2. Portugal

Cities like Lisbon, Porto, and Braga have emerged as thriving hubs for remote workers, offering reliable high-speed internet, a lively creative and startup scene, and a warm, welcoming community of international professionals. Portugal’s Digital Nomad Visa is an ideal solution for remote workers, freelancers, and entrepreneurs looking to live and work legally in Portugal. The visa allows non-EU/EEA citizens to apply for either a short-term stay or a long-term residence permit.

To qualify, applicants must earn at least €3,480 per month from foreign income, provide proof of accommodation, obtain a Portuguese tax number, and typically open a Portuguese bank account. The D8 Visa also allows for family reunification, provides access to Portugal’s excellent public healthcare system, and offers a pathway to permanent residency or citizenship after five years—making it a top choice for global remote professionals.

“Portugal meanwhile has the advantage of being an hour nearer the U.S. in terms of its time zone,” finishes Clark. “Another driver for Americans moving to Portugal is that property is very affordable in southern Europe compared to in many parts of the U.S.. In particular we are seeing a lot of tech industry workers coming over from northern California to work remotely and experience a different lifestyle and culture in Europe.”

Portugal offers sun-drenched coastlines, charming cobblestone neighborhoods, and a relaxed pace that makes room for inspiration and balance. Add in easy Schengen access, strong safety rankings, and a national obsession with good food and great coffee, and it’s easy to see why Portugal is a place to stay and thrive.

3. Japan

In March 2024, Japan officially launched its Digital Nomad Visa under the “Designated Activities” residence category, opening the door for remote workers around the world to live and work in the country for up to six months. To qualify, applicants must earn at least 10 million JPY annually (approximately $67,000 USD), hold citizenship in a visa-exempt country with a tax treaty with Japan, and have valid private health insurance. Remote work must be for companies or clients based outside of Japan, and dependents, including spouses and children are permitted to join. 

Japan’s appeal to remote professionals goes far beyond its big cities. Locations like Hinohara Village, tucked in the mountains just 90 minutes from Tokyo, are building digital infrastructure with remote workers in mind—offering fiber-optic internet, free public Wi-Fi, and English-language support rolling out in April 2025. Over 93% forested, the area blends nature and connectivity for a peaceful but productive lifestyle. Hinohara is also launching dedicated accommodations for work stays in 2025, making it easier for nomads to explore long-term relocation options without committing upfront.

From Tokyo’s booming tech scene and unmatched internet speeds to rural regions investing in modern infrastructure, Japan is positioning itself as a compelling hub for international remote work. Add in low crime rates, reliable public transit, and a rich cultural landscape, and it’s easy to see why this new visa could be a game changer for digital nomads seeking stability and inspiration.

4. Estonia

Estonia was one of the first countries in the world to roll out a dedicated Digital Nomad Visa, positioning itself as a forward-thinking hub for remote professionals and startup founders. Introduced in 2020, the visa allows non-EU nationals to live in Estonia for up to 12 months while working remotely for a foreign employer or running their own location-independent business. Applicants need to demonstrate a minimum monthly income of €4,500 net income and meet basic documentation requirements—but the process is streamlined, with an application system that reflects Estonia’s digital-first mindset.

Known globally for its e-residency program, paperless government, and startup-friendly policies, Estonia has earned its reputation as a digital leader. Tallinn, the capital, combines cobblestone charm with tech-world efficiency, offering ultrafast Wi-Fi, an active community of international entrepreneurs, and coworking spaces tucked inside medieval buildings. 

5. Thailand

Thailand continues to be a go-to for digital nomads seeking a blend of affordability, connectivity, and tropical charm. With its welcoming visa policies and thriving expat scene, the country makes it easy to stay productive while living in paradise. While many nomads enter on a 60-day tourist visa (often extendable), Thailand also offers the Smart Visa, a long-term option for highly skilled professionals in fields like tech, health, and innovation. The Smart Visa allows remote workers, entrepreneurs, and investors to stay for up to four years, bypassing the usual work permit requirements and streamlining the path to longer-term living.

Top hubs like Chiang Mai and Bangkok offer everything a remote worker could ask for: high-speed internet, modern coworking spaces, great coffee scenes, and a lower cost of living. Chiang Mai, in particular, has earned a reputation for its laid-back vibe and strong sense of creative community. Bangkok brings a more metropolitan pace, complete with major airport access, and a growing number of international tech startups.

Beyond the cities, Thailand’s beaches and islands provide a slower, more scenic way to work remotely. Places like Phuket, Koh Lanta, and Koh Phangan are now home to coworking cafés and coliving villas that cater to digital professionals. 

6. Mexico

Mexico remains one of the most popular destinations for U.S. digital nomads, combining visa flexibility, strong infrastructure, and a lifestyle rich in culture, cuisine, and community. Through its Temporary Resident Visa, remote workers from most countries can stay in Mexico for up to 12 months initially, with the option to renew for a total of four years. 

Cities like Mexico City, Oaxaca, Playa del Carmen, and Mérida have quickly become global hotspots for remote workers. You’ll find reliable internet, vibrant coworking spaces, and tight-knit expat communities in nearly every major destination. Mexico City stands out for its dynamic creative and tech scene, world-class food, and endless energy, while beach towns along the Riviera Maya offer oceanfront living without sacrificing connectivity. 

7. South Korea

South Korea is rapidly becoming one of the most exciting destinations for remote workers, thanks to its brand-new Digital Nomad Visa—officially launched in early 2024. Known locally as the “Workation Visa,” this program allows foreign nationals employed by overseas companies to live and work in South Korea for up to one year, with the option to extend for another. To qualify, applicants must show proof of remote employment, an annual income of at least 85 million KRW (about $63,000 USD), and valid health insurance. The visa also supports accompanying family members, making it a strong choice for both solo professionals and digital nomad families.

At the center of the action is Seoul—a city built for high performance. With some of the fastest internet speeds in the world, an abundance of 24-hour cafés, cutting-edge infrastructure, and a thriving startup scene, it’s a digital haven that never sleeps. Yet beneath the tech-forward surface lies a culture rich in tradition, hospitality, and creativity. 

For those craving a more relaxed remote lifestyle, Jeju Island is an underrated gem. This volcanic island offers black-sand beaches, waterfalls, hiking trails, and a growing digital infrastructure geared toward remote work. The island is part of South Korea’s push to support “Workation Zones,” offering extended-stay housing, coworking facilities, and nature-infused productivity. With a cost of living approximately 30% lower than major U.S. cities, South Korea provides a dynamic, well-connected, and culturally rich environment for remote professionals ready to plug in and thrive.

8. Vietnam

From the buzz of Ho Chi Minh City to the coastal calm of Da Nang, this Southeast Asian gem offers an unbeatable blend of affordability and creative energy. Coworking spaces can be found for under $100/month, and you’ll find sleek, modern apartments starting around $300. Whether you’re deep into a product launch or writing your next screenplay, the low cost of living gives you a serious runway to build, breathe, and grow.

If you’re earning your income from abroad, Vietnam doesn’t tax it—making it an especially attractive spot for freelancers, founders, and remote teams. Most nomads come intending to stay a few months and end up recalibrating their entire life plan.

Tom Zachystal from International Asset Management has been advising Americans abroad on investing and retirement planning for over 20 years. “We’ve definitely seen some shifts in who’s moving abroad and the most popular countries Americans are moving to. There used to be more retirees and American firms sending employees abroad, whereas in the past few years the majority are now young entrepreneurs, digital nomads, and young families, with a sense of adventure and a desire to explore being major motivations. Do your planning and seek advice though—many people don’t realize for example that not all U.S. banks and brokerage firms can continue working with non-U.S. residents.”

9. Norway

Norway offers one of the most seamless and inspiring remote work environments in the world. With world-renowned rankings in safety, healthcare, infrastructure, and overall quality of life, it’s a destination where everything just works—efficiently, beautifully, and reliably. Whether you’re based in Oslo, Bergen, or a small village tucked between fjords, you’ll find high-speed internet, clean design, and a strong sense of balance between work and nature. Public services are excellent, and the overall standard of living makes Norway a standout for those who prioritize well-being and focus.

While Norway doesn’t currently offer a dedicated digital nomad visa, there are flexible pathways for remote professionals. The Self-Employed Person residence permit allows freelancers and entrepreneurs to live and work in Norway, provided they have a signed contract with a Norwegian client, a detailed business plan, and a projected annual income of at least €35,719 (approx. 439,521 NOK). Additionally, remote workers connected to startups, innovation hubs, or cross-border collaborations can explore alternative residence options through Norway’s Skilled Worker and Startup tracks. The application process is straightforward, with clear guidance and strong institutional support. Cities like Oslo blend modern culture with smart coworking spaces, while towns like Tromsø and Ålesund offer access to unfiltered nature without losing digital connectivity.

10. Georgia

Georgia has emerged as new hotspot digital nomads thanks to its forward-thinking “Remotely from Georgia” program, which allows citizens from 95+ countries to live and work in the country visa-free for up to one year. Launched in 2020 to support the rise of remote work, the initiative requires basic documentation—like proof of remote income (recommended at $2,000/month or more), health insurance, and a confirmed place to stay. With an easy online application process and a welcoming stance toward expats, it’s become one of the most accessible digital nomad programs in the world.

Tbilisi, the capital, is where most nomads set up base—drawn in by its cobblestone streets, vibrant café culture, and growing startup scene. You can live comfortably in the city for under $700/month, with coworking spaces, boutique Airbnbs, and lively expat meetups throughout the week. The country also offers major financial incentives: a 1% flat tax for registered entrepreneurs under Georgia’s Small Business Status (up to ~$155,000 annual turnover), making it especially attractive for freelancers, solo founders, and remote consultants looking to optimize their tax strategy.

If you’re thinking of making the leap abroad, it’s not just about picking the right destination—it’s also about staying compliant with U.S. tax laws and understanding what financial responsibilities follow you across borders.

Vincenzo Villamena, founder of Online Taxman, has been a digital nomad for over 15 years, living and working in different countries around the world. “Most Americans don’t realize that they have to keep filing U.S. taxes when they move abroad, and this is something that they should definitely factor in. Luckily, there are tax breaks such as the Foreign Earned Income Exclusion for Americans working abroad. Remote working became normalized in the pandemic, which also inspired a desire in many people to go out and explore the world. We now work with thousands of American international digital nomads, both entrepreneurs and those working remotely for US firms. In general, I would say, get informed about both U.S. taxes for expats and the local tax implications of different digital nomad visas, and seek advice if you need to.”

As more Americans rethink what success, freedom, and quality of life really mean, the global map is shifting. Whether you’re chasing sunlight, savings, community, or simply a change of pace, the world awaits.

Hello and welcome to Modern CEO! I’m Stephanie Mehta, CEO and chief content officer of Mansueto Ventures. Each week this newsletter explores inclusive approaches to leadership drawn from conversations with executives and entrepreneurs, and from the pages of Inc. and Fast Company. If you received this newsletter from a friend, you can sign up to get it yourself every Monday morning.

When I was a young professional in the 1990s, I didn’t aspire to be a CEO. (I was a business journalist focused on getting more challenging editorial assignments.) And even if I had wanted to run a company, I wouldn’t have known how to cobble together the necessary experiences to qualify for a CEO role.

Graham Weaver, CEO and founding partner of Alpine Investors, has streamlined that process for ambitious MBAs who, unlike me, know early in their careers that they want to be CEOs. Alpine, a private equity firm with $18 billion in assets under management, offers a CEO-in-Training (CIT) program that places wannabe chief executives in senior roles at its portfolio companies.

A crash course in being a CEO

During their time in the CIT program, trainees are immersed in all aspects of running a business. They have access to mentorship from board members and executives at other Alpine-backed companies, and they regularly gather as a cohort for networking and peer coaching summits. Weaver says the program, launched in 2015, allows aspiring executives to move into CEO roles—a journey that can take decades—in just months or a few short years.

“We created a system where aspiring leaders could come in and learn the basics of being a CEO with a kind of safety net underneath them, which gives them a very, very high probability of success,” says Weaver, who also teaches a class focused on leadership and entrepreneurship at Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business.

The CEO-in-Training program is highly selective. Alpine hired 14 CITs for its 2024 cohort, and this year it will recruit about 10 trainees in a process that is set to wrap up in early summer. The company says Stanford, Harvard Business School, Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management, and the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School all confirm that the Alpine CIT program is one of the most applied-to programs among MBAs seeking executive roles in private equity (PE)-backed companies.

What makes a successful CIT?

Weaver says the ideal candidates for the CIT program have a “will to win—that’s something we can’t teach,” but he also seeks candidates who can temper their competitiveness with self-awareness and emotional intelligence. “We used to not screen for that,” he says. “We would get these really hard-charging people, and they wouldn’t work out in our system, where it’s really team-based.”

Finally, he looks for people who can create “a followership,” adding, “this rarely is the charismatic person who stands up and gives the big rah-rah speech. It’s actually just someone people trust; they want to go where this person’s going.”

Alpine’s program has produced a diverse group of leaders: Since launching, the program has minted more than 65 full-time CEOs for its portfolio companies; nearly 40% are women, and nearly a quarter are women of color.

Weaver says his commitment to training a new generation of executives stems from his belief that Alpine’s talent strategy differentiates it from other private equity firms in terms of attracting investing professionals and portfolio company executives alike. He says rather than ceding talent development to human resources, he has sought to “operationalize” it through programs such as the CIT program and other initiatives. Weaver personally dedicates nearly 50% of his time to assessing and developing talent, he says, including evaluating potential hires to run Alpine portfolio companies, designing culture, and more.

The Gen Z difference

Weaver, who has taught and hired employees from different generations, is bullish on Gen Z, the newest cohort to enter the workforce. “I know a lot of people complain about this generation. The stereotype is that they’re going to quit their jobs more quickly or they have their own personal goals, and they’re difficult to manage,” Weaver says. “But underneath all that is that they want to make a difference.”

When I asked how a career in private equity, with its relentless pursuit of efficiency, margin improvement, and cash, can satisfy purpose-driven young people, Weaver noted that several Alpine portfolio companies provide software and services to nonprofits or support their communities through healthcare and education services. He says he takes pride in making sure the people who work at Alpine and its portfolio companies—about 38,000 people—have meaningful work and career opportunities.

And Weaver says he appreciates the values that Gen Z is bringing to Alpine. “They hold us to a higher standard,” he says. “If you can meet that standard, Gen Z’s amazing.”

How do you train the next generation of leaders?

Are you or your team focused on developing young leaders through mentorship, formal training programs, or in other ways? I’d love to hear about these efforts. Send me your thoughts at [email protected].

Read more: Gen Z

Fast Company’s 142-point guide to managing Gen Z

Meet the youngest founders on the Inc. 5000 list of America’s fastest-growing companies

Gen Z distrusts capitalism. Will they prevail in changing the system?

Music is everywhere—playing in coffee shops, on hold lines, in Ubers, behind YouTube ads, and of course, in your earbuds while you work. It’s so constant, we often treat it like harmless background noise. But the brain doesn’t.

Whether we realize it or not, music is processed across multiple brain regions tied to attention, memory, and emotion—meaning even passive listening can impact how we focus, feel, and make decisions. “Background music” is never truly in the background. It either supports or competes with your mental state. And that means we have a choice.

In today’s fast-paced work culture, where multitasking is the norm and focus is scarce, how we use music can either support or sabotage our goals. The good news? With just a little intention, your playlist can become one of the most powerful productivity tools you already have.

Think about how you’re listening to music

Music is one of the most overlooked productivity tools. The key isn’t whether you listen to music, it’s how. There’s a difference between active listening and what we call purposeful passive listening. Both are powerful, but for different reasons.

Active listening is fully engaging with the music—tuning into the melody, rhythm, harmony, or lyrics. It’s nearly impossible to multitask during this kind of listening, and that’s the point. Use active listening when you need to regulate stress, reset emotionally, or refocus. Breathing with a steady beat, or allowing a favorite instrumental piece to quiet your inner noise, can activate the brain’s attention and emotional regulation systems. Over time, practicing this kind of deep listening can even strengthen interpersonal relationships, as it helps reinforce our capacity to “tune in” to others.

Purposeful passive listening, on the other hand, involves choosing music to support a task or shift your mental state, without fully focusing on it. This is not about letting an algorithm autoplay. It’s about intentionally selecting tracks: maybe lo-fi beats while cleaning out your inbox, or ambient strings while brainstorming.

This kind of listening taps into the brain’s default mode network, the system that activates during daydreaming, introspection, and idea incubation. Engaging the default mode network can help you step back from focused work and allow space for insight, creativity, and big-picture thinking. Music, when used intentionally in the background, becomes a bridge between tasks and a subtle support system for imaginative work.

Turn music into a mental habit

Music also plays a surprising role in executive function—the cognitive control system that helps us switch between tasks, regulate impulses, and manage working memory. Background music can enhance learning outcomes by improving arousal and mood, which are closely linked to cognitive performance.

Listening to familiar, patterned music while working can help create structure for the brain, making transitions smoother and sustained attention more accessible. It’s why some people instinctively reach for a playlist before writing an email, prepping for a meeting, or transitioning into a different type of work block.

And it goes deeper. Have a go-to song that gives you a burst of energy? Don’t just save it for the gym. Drop it into the middle of your workday, right before a presentation, during an afternoon slump, or when motivation dips.

When you use the same song consistently with a particular task, your brain starts building an association. Over time, the music becomes a cue, like a mental shortcut into a focused or energized state. Maybe it’s “We Will Rock You” before a big pitch, or “River Flows in You” for concentration.

Music activates the brain’s reward system, releasing dopamine, the same neurotransmitter associated with motivation and pleasure. The more consistently we attach meaning to a song, the more powerful its effect becomes.

Use music enough, and your brain doesn’t just hear the notes, it knows what to do next.

Sound can be a strategy

Music isn’t just something we hear; it’s something that actively shapes our brain states. When used with intention, sound becomes a strategy: for focus, for recovery, for creativity, or for connection. In a world full of noise, it’s not about turning the music off. It’s about tuning in.

How to use music more intentionally at work

• Create a 3-track playlist: one for focus, one for a reset, one to energize.
• Pair a consistent song with a task you want to build into habit, like writing, prepping, or unwinding.
• Avoid music with lyrics when doing language-based tasks like writing or reading.
• Use instrumental or ambient music to transition between meetings or block your day.
• Try “bookending” your work day with music. Use the same track to start and end, and signal your brain into a productive rhythm.

With just a little intention, your daily soundtrack can become one of the most effective tools for doing better work—and feeling better while doing it.

Whether you’re familiar with the philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche or are a fan of singer Kelly Clarkson, you’ve probably heard the phrase, “What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.” While it sounds like a cheer for persistence during tough times, it’s also scientifically true, says Jeff Krasno, author of Good Stress: The Health Benefits of Doing Hard Things. 

“Stress, whether from physical challenges like ice baths or mental stressors like tough conversations, fosters resilience and long-term wellbeing,” he says. “The key is to differentiate between good stress and bad stress and use the former to your advantage.”

To understand the difference between good and bad stress, Krasno offers this example: “If you were hiking and ran across a rattlesnake on the path, you’d probably have a stress response that serves your biological imperative to survive,” he says. “The problem with modern stress for so many people is that the rattlesnake never leaves the path.”

Bad Stress Versus Good Stress

Many of us live in a state of chronic agitation that includes personal hardship, overwork, past trauma, and a 24-hour social media algorithm designed to keep people in a state of amygdala hijack. 

“We live in an attention economy where everyone is vying for your focus at every moment through increasing levels of sensationalism and scandal and fear and outrage,” says Krasno. “It keeps people in a state of chronic stress, and that’s really when stress is bad.”

Good stress, on the other hand, comes from the discomforts our ancestors endured. “We evolved for hundreds of thousands of years as Homo Sapiens with a relationship to Paleolithic stress, such as calorie scarcity, fluctuations in temperature, immersion in nature, communal living, and exposure to light,” says Krasno. “Adaptive mechanisms to those forms of stress formed physiological pathways in the body that promoted longevity and resilience.”

The problem is that we’ve denuded life of most Paleolithic stressors, says Krasno. For example, many of us we have an endless supply of calories at our disposal. We generally spend most of our time sedentary and inside temperature-regulated environments, removed from nature. And we rely on artificial light, which can impact sleep.

Removing good stress in favor of comfort has had consequences, and Krasno says the increasing prevalence of chronic disease results from chronic ease. “We’ve fooled ourselves into thinking that we can exist as separate individuals in our single-family homes, ordering up DoorDash all day,” says Krasno. “Since the industrial revolution, particularly accelerating in the last 50 years, we have engineered our lifestyle for comfort and convenience.” 

Introducing Good Stress 

Counterbalance bad stress by introducing good stress at the appropriate amount. Early 16th century Swiss physician Paracelsus said, “only the dose makes the poison.” The right dosage of self-imposed discomfort, such as strenuous activities, and temperature regulation, can make you stronger, says Krasno. But it’s important to start slowly.

“I would never advise anyone who has never ice plunged before to get into a 33-degree ice bath for the first time,” says Krasno. “Get into a 60-degree ice bath see what that feels like. Find the edge of your discomfort and lean into it and be curious about what’s on the other side of it, because it’s generally a very good thing.”

Krasno also advocates for leaning into social stress. “I call it diving into the ice bath of hard, stressful conversations, becoming just a little bit more comfortable with our discomfort, so we can unwind a lot of infirmities,” he says.

As the host of the Commune podcast, where he talks about health and wellness, Krasno regularly encounters people who don’t agree with his points of view, emailing or commenting on his posts. Instead of ignoring them or disagreeing publicly, he invites them to jump on a Zoom call. Most ghost him, but some accepted the call. He created a safe setting, acting polite, open, and curious. 

Leaning into discomfort

“We build our physiological immune system through low-grade exposure to pathogens and virus and bacteria,” says Krasno. “Through having these conversations, I built what I call my psychological immune system.” 

In addition to being an exercise in connection, active listening, and open-mindedness, Krasno says it provided an opportunity for personal growth. “It fortified my own opinions, because, for once, I had to consider the best part of an opposing opinion,” he explains. 

People get trapped in the story that they tell themselves about themselves, but Krasno says change is possible if you’re willing to lean into discomfort. 

“Once you actually grasp your own impermanence, you can take agency over the trajectory of your life,” he says. “Embracing discomfort will change the trajectory of your life. Humans are just a process, not a product. We move dynamically across this spectrum from wholeness to disease and disaster. You can move towards wholeness as a process, too. You have agency over the trajectory of that journey.” 

Exhaustion. Mental fatigue. Difficulty concentrating. Irritability. Dreading your next calendar appointment.

Nobody likes showing up to work with a hangover. But these days, you don’t need a long night of drinking to feel the effects.

Instead, you might be suffering from a meeting hangover—the lingering exhaustion, disengagement, and productivity drain that follow an unproductive meeting.

Studies show that 28% of workplace meetings leave employees feeling drained, with more than 90% of workers experiencing meeting hangovers at least occasionally. Nearly half (47%) report feeling less engaged with their work afterward, while more than half say these hangovers disrupt their workflow and productivity. 

Meetings are a double-edged sword. Despite their pitfalls, they remain the most common form of workplace communication. In fact, research suggests face-to-face meetings are more effective for idea generation and task absorption than video calls. In other words, meetings aren’t going anywhere.

But leaders can take charge—ensuring meetings are productive, efficient, and, most importantly, not hangover-inducing. Here are the strategies I use as CEO of Jotform.

Set a concise agenda

If you’ve ever walked into a grocery store for a few essentials and walked out with a cart full of snacks, you understand the power of having a clear list. The same principle applies to meetings.

At Jotform, meeting agendas are indispensable. We also believe in minimizing meetings. By preparing an agenda, you can determine if a meeting is really necessary.

If an asynchronous method—like an email, Slack message, or shared document—can achieve the same outcome faster, we opt for that instead. But when a real-time discussion is necessary, such as brainstorming solutions to an ongoing issue, a meeting is the right call.

An agenda also ensures that only the necessary people are in the room. If someone isn’t essential to the conversation, they can contribute asynchronously—perhaps by answering follow-up questions afterward.

As a result, we have fewer, more efficient meetings and fewer meeting hangovers.

Keep the conversation on track

“The Big Apple Circus in New York once featured a team of Chinese jugglers who could each spin eight plates at a time on the ends of long, slender sticks. Interviewing is a similar balancing act,” writes professor and journalist Helen Benedict.

The same is true for leading a meeting. You’re listening, observing, processing, and asking questions—all while ensuring the discussion stays focused. 

Benedict’s strategy for interviews is to arrive with a list of questions and stick to them religiously—even if it means cutting off tangents and redirecting the conversation. “It may not be smooth conversational technique,” she writes, “but it can save me hours of listening to off-the-track waffling.”

Running a meeting requires the same discipline. If a discussion starts veering off course, our meeting leaders are tasked with gently steering it back. If we’re stuck on a point with no resolution, we note it and ask participants to revisit it later rather than letting it derail the agenda.

This helps us conclude meetings on time—and sometimes early. If an hour-long meeting ends up taking 45 minutes, there’s no need to fill the space with white noise. 

Recap with clear deliverables 

Finally, we never leave a meeting without a clear recap of who’s responsible for what.

Outlining deliverables ensures that nothing falls through the cracks—tasks don’t get lost, and responsibilities don’t blur or overlap. This is where I’ve found AI agents make a huge difference. 

Combined with AI-powered note-taking apps, agents can generate concise summaries, highlight key takeaways tailored to each participant’s role, and compile a clear action-item list. This accountability creates a sense of shared leadership and boosts team effectiveness.

An AI agent can also streamline follow-ups by creating a separate document with action items and deadlines, time-stamping key moments so participants can revisit discussions without replaying the entire meeting, and even drafting follow-up emails—leaving nothing more to do than review and hit send.

With these tasks automated, meeting participants can stay focused on the actual substance of the meeting rather than getting bogged down in administrative details. This also cuts down the total time spent on meetings.

Despite technological advancements, the time that workers spend in unproductive meetings has doubled since 2019—to five hours per week. With automation and the above strategies, employees can spend less time on meetings, experience fewer “hangovers,” and feel energized to take on more meaningful work.