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<title>The Business Economic &#45; Business Economic Syndicated News</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/rss/author/Business-Economic</link>
<description>The Business Economic &#45; Business Economic Syndicated News</description>
<dc:language>en</dc:language>
<dc:rights>Copyright 2026. The Business Economic &#45; All Rights Reserved.</dc:rights>

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<title>UK business owners face fourth&#45;highest tax bill of 13 major economies</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/uk-business-owners-face-fourth-highest-tax-bill-of-13-major-economies</link>
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<description><![CDATA[ 
Study of 13 developed economies puts the UK business owner tax burden fourth highest once inheritance tax on a £1.2m estate is included in the total. ]]></description>
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<title>Nine in 10 UK manufacturers use automation to manage disruption</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/nine-in-10-uk-manufacturers-use-automation-to-manage-disruption</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/nine-in-10-uk-manufacturers-use-automation-to-manage-disruption</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ 
Barclays research finds 87 per cent of UK manufacturers use automation to manage disruption, while 72 per cent report more defence and security demand. ]]></description>
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<title>Three directors fined in first identity verification prosecutions</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/three-directors-fined-in-first-identity-verification-prosecutions</link>
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<description><![CDATA[ 
The Insolvency Service has secured its first convictions for identity verification offences, with three company directors fined at magistrates&#039; court. ]]></description>
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<item>
<title>Chemify secures £22m public backing for £89.9m Glasgow expansion</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/chemify-secures-22m-public-backing-for-899m-glasgow-expansion</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/chemify-secures-22m-public-backing-for-899m-glasgow-expansion</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ 
Chemify funding worth £22m from Scottish Enterprise and the UK Government supports the Glasgow company&#039;s £89.9m expansion, creating up to 300 jobs. ]]></description>
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<item>
<title>Liverpool leads UK cities with 6 per cent of old phone lines left</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/liverpool-leads-uk-cities-with-6-per-cent-of-old-phone-lines-left</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/liverpool-leads-uk-cities-with-6-per-cent-of-old-phone-lines-left</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ 
Liverpool has just six per cent of legacy lines left to migrate ahead of the PSTN switch-off in January 2027, according to new data from Openreach. ]]></description>
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<item>
<title>How Bain Capital Ventures plans to deploy its fresh $1.6B fund</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/how-bain-capital-ventures-plans-to-deploy-its-fresh-16b-fund</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/how-bain-capital-ventures-plans-to-deploy-its-fresh-16b-fund</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ BCV&#039;s latest fund targets early-stage founders harnessing AGI and building the infrastructure to run it efficiently. ]]></description>
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<title>Spotify expands its partner program for podcasts to 35 new countries</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/spotify-expands-its-partner-program-for-podcasts-to-35-new-countries</link>
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<description><![CDATA[ Spotify said since changing its video podcasts creator terms in January, its payouts have increased by more than a third. ]]></description>
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<title>Rival AI agents, Instinct and Meta’s Muse, both add the ability to make calls</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/rival-ai-agents-instinct-and-metas-muse-both-add-the-ability-to-make-calls</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/rival-ai-agents-instinct-and-metas-muse-both-add-the-ability-to-make-calls</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ People can use these assistants to make restaurant reservations and cancel subscriptions ]]></description>
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<title>Google, Nvidia and Anthropic want Emerald AI to find space on the grid for more data centers</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/google-nvidia-and-anthropic-want-emerald-ai-to-find-space-on-the-grid-for-more-data-centers</link>
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<description><![CDATA[ A new coalition that includes Google, Nvidia, Anthropic and Emerald AI wants to find 100 GW of grid capacity for new data centers. ]]></description>
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<title>Lucid Motors has a potential robotaxi partner for Europe</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/lucid-motors-has-a-potential-robotaxi-partner-for-europe</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/lucid-motors-has-a-potential-robotaxi-partner-for-europe</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ The company is partnering with mobility platform Bolt -- but no vehicle orders have been placed just yet. ]]></description>
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<title>Without saying a word, Warren Buffett successor Greg Abel just taught a powerful lesson in leadership</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/without-saying-a-word-warren-buffett-successor-greg-abel-just-taught-a-powerful-lesson-in-leadership</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/without-saying-a-word-warren-buffett-successor-greg-abel-just-taught-a-powerful-lesson-in-leadership</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ What’s the most powerful thing you can do to establish yourself when you’re the new CEO of a company? Not just any company, a trillion-dollar company that has existed for 187 years. The CEO you’re replacing is so beloved, his nickname is “the Oracle of Omaha.” And everyone, including the news media and the company’s shareholders, is watching you closely for any sign of failure. They’re all certain you can’t possibly live up to the genius of Warren Buffett.



There’s one very strong move you can make in that situation. Prove your own confidence by making very public bet on yourself. It’s gutsy. But it can be a very smart move if you’re facing skepticism in a new leadership position.



Berkshire Hathaway CEO Greg Abel just did that. Abel took over from Buffett in January, although Buffett said Abel had been making some of Berkshire’s investment decisions for years. Abel started his tenure as CEO with lots of money to spend, about $380 billion in cash and short-term Treasuries.



Buffett accumulated these funds over the past few years. He likens investing to being a batter at home plate who can wait out an unlimited number of pitches until the perfect one comes along. He famously doesn’t buy equities when he thinks the market is overpriced. So he finished out his role as Berkshire CEO by selling some shares, but not buying much.



Berkshire’s Q2 filing contains surprises.



The world just learned that in the past three months, Abel has charted a different course. A Q2 filing last week revealed that Abel spent a big chunk of the cash Buffett piled up. He added $10 billion to Berkshire’s stake in Alphabet, Google’s parent company. He acquired Taylor Morrison Home for $6.8 billion, although that deal closed in Q3 and was not part of this filing. Most significantly, he spent $4.5 billion to repurchase Berkshire Hathaway’s own shares.



That is one very powerful move. Abel made a simple one-time announcement shortly after he became CEO to notify the public that Berkshire would soon resume repurchasing shares. Beyond that, Abel hasn’t spoken publicly about any of his recent spending. But the company’s quarterly filing contains this passage in three different places: Berkshire’s common stock repurchase program currently permits Berkshire to repurchase shares any time that Berkshire’s Chief Executive Officer, after consultation with the Chairman of the Board [i.e. Buffett], believes that the repurchase price is below Berkshire’s intrinsic value, conservatively determined.



Berkshire’s share price reaches all-time high.



That’s a pretty bold statement to make even once, let alone three times. Berkshire’s Class B shares reached their all-time high at market close of just under $540 during those three months. And although they’ve come down off that peak a bit, they are up more than 4 percent in the past quarter. Yet Abel, with Buffett’s backing, is telling the world that Berkshire is worth even more than its current market value.



The company has never shared details about how it makes these calculations. It only reveals what it’s bought and sold when legally required to do so. Back in March, CNBC reporters asked Abel why he thought Berkshire shares were undervalued. He would only say it was based on the economic prospects of the companies Berkshire owns some or all of.



Most of those companies are doing well, the filing revealed. So that logic makes a lot of sense. But by buying back huge chunks of Berkshire stock, Abel is also saying something else. He’s saying that the company will continue to grow its profits and its value, because he knows how to make that happen.



If you don’t like it, we’ll buy it back.



It’s a silly comparison, but it reminds me of when I bought a garden hose a few weeks ago. The hose I was replacing was lightweight but proved to be flimsy. At my local hardware store, as I stood staring at a huge range of options, the clerk pointed to one and said it was the best. I hesitated, though. For one thing, it was pretty pricey for a hose. Worse, it was a blinding shade of chartreuse.



But then the clerk told me that Sharon, who runs the garden department and whose judgment I’ve come to trust, recommends that hose to all her customers. “I’ve heard her say that if they don’t like it, she will personally buy it back,” he added. That was good enough for me and I bought the hose.



We trust those who risk their own funds.



When people express confidence in their own abilities by putting their own money on the line–which Abel is also doing by taking his salary in stock–we tend to trust them. We believe they’re right. And that’s exactly what’s happening for Abel. Several analysts have switched their recommendation from “hold” to “buy” for Berkshire. And while you might have expected the share price to drop after Buffett stepped down, it’s up for the year so far.



Next time you’re facing a skeptical crowd, follow Abel’s example and put your own skin in the game. Your willingness to take that risk will show people that you’re confident and certain about the future. Do it right, and they’ll feel that way too.



There’s a growing audience of Inc.com readers who receive a daily text from me with a self-care or motivational micro-challenge or tip. Often, they text me back and we wind up in a conversation. (Want to know more? Here’s some information about the texts and a special invitation to a two-month free trial.) Most are entrepreneurs or business leaders who know how important it is to gain the confidence of those they lead, and of the marketplace. Putting your own money in the game is an effective way to make that happen.



—Minda Zetlin







This article originally appeared on Fast Company’s sister website, Inc.com. 



Inc. is the voice of the American entrepreneur. We inspire, inform, and document the most fascinating people in business: the risk-takers, the innovators, and the ultra-driven go-getters that represent the most dynamic force in the American economy. ]]></description>
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<item>
<title>Why Creators Are Hollywood’s Next Growth Engine</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/why-creators-are-hollywoods-next-growth-engine</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/why-creators-are-hollywoods-next-growth-engine</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Featuring Rob Wade, CEO, Fox Entertainment, Billy Parks, Head of Fox Creator Studios, Fox Entertainment and, Christina Richardson, Creator, Director, Writer, and Executive Producer of “Besties”; Founder, C. Rich Media.



The wall between Hollywood and the creator economy is coming down—and Fox wants to build what comes next. With Fox Creator Studios, the company is betting on a new model for discovering, developing, and scaling talent, bringing creators into an entertainment ecosystem where short-form hits can become long-form franchises. This conversation will unpack Fox’s big bet on creators, why traditional media companies are rethinking how entertainment gets made, and what this new model could mean for the future of content, talent, and the business of entertainment. ]]></description>
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<item>
<title>Apple’s iPhone 18 Pro puts the focus on authenticity</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/apples-iphone-18-pro-puts-the-focus-on-authenticity</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/apples-iphone-18-pro-puts-the-focus-on-authenticity</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ For many years now, Apple has been making the case that the iPhone is the most popular camera in the world. Part of the appeal, to hear the company tell it on stage, is how the camera leverages the iPhone’s considerable processing power to make capturing incredible images easier than ever before. 



Each year brings a new iPhone that finds new ways to convert visual information from a tiny sensor into memories. And with the iPhone 18 Pro, releasing later this week, Apple appears to be focusing on something new: authenticity. 





The case for imperfection



It is true that the breakthrough computational techniques pioneered by Apple and others have changed the way we all take photos. You no longer need to worry about shooting into the sun or blowing out a window from the inside; more often than not, your phone will figure out the scene and make sure everything is exposed and clear.



But this perfect, impossible flattening of the real world has led to a loss of character. The iPhone’s overly sharpened, HDR-heavy image processing is artless and shows little taste for the historical aesthetics of photography. It’s no wonder that Gen Z has embraced cheap point-and-shoot digicams they were too young to use the first time around—the imperfections in the image are what make the memory feel real.



Other phone companies have addressed this in various ways. Google added a feature called Camera Looks to this year’s Pixel phone, for example, offering different styles that are deeply integrated into the image processing pipeline; one of them specifically aims to emulate a digicam. Chinese tech giants Xiaomi and Oppo, meanwhile, have long partnered with traditional camera counterparts Leica and Hasselblad, with modes in their camera apps that are designed to evoke authentic photography.



More freedom



Apple looks to be responding to this by updating its Photographic Styles feature with controls for texture and grain, as well as the existing tone and color settings. The company says this will let you “soften skin details or achieve an artful film look.” In other words, Apple is giving you more freedom to disagree with its processing choices.



Grain is a revealing addition. The speckled quality associated with the chemicals used in film turns an apparent flaw into an aesthetic decision. It introduces irregularity into an image, which Apple has historically strived to remove. Texture, meanwhile, makes the treatment of detail part of the creative process.



We’ll have to wait for first-hand experience to see how effective the extra controls prove to be in practice. To Apple’s credit, though, they’re also coming to the iPhone 16 and 17 lineups, as well as the iPhone Air, as part of iOS 27 rather than being locked to new devices. This is a good move if Apple wants to change the conversation around iPhone photography.



The hardware changes in the iPhone 18 Pro are quite modest, led by a variable aperture system that I don’t expect to make a big difference to most people’s photos too often. But the physical mechanism has prompted Apple to give users more control in another way, redesigning the Camera app with options to manually adjust aperture, shutter speed and white balance, as well as a histogram to assess exposure in real time.



Third-party apps have offered similar controls for advanced users for a long time, of course. But Apple is overdue to including them in its own stock Camera app. As with the new Photographic Styles additions, the controls give photographers creative freedom to make different choices than Apple’s programmers in Cupertino. There’s no such thing as an objectively correct shutter speed for a given photo—the setting is the result of the photographer’s authorship.



Authenticity tools



And that’s related to another new feature: Apple Reference Image, which is designed to prove the authenticity and provenance of a photo. In an optional Reference mode, signed sensor data is cryptographically developed through Private Cloud Compute into an unalterable image. Users can compare that reference with the main photograph in Photos to inspect changes. Apple is also supporting the SynthID standard, which will add metadata to images so viewers can check how they were edited, including whether it was generated by AI. 



[Photo: Apple]



The new push for authenticity is welcome, not least because Apple has been experimenting with a lot of AI-powered features lately. The most ambitious is Reframe, a new tool in iOS 27 that allows you to alter the angle and composition of a photo after it has been taken—you can make it seem as if someone was looking at the camera when they weren’t, for example, or change where the photographer appeared to be standing. The ability to demonstrate that such tools weren’t used in the creation of an image could prove to be crucial.



Apple is right to claim that the iPhone is the world’s most popular camera. But that status comes with a degree of responsibility, and not just when it comes to ensuring that everyone’s photos are aesthetically pleasing. By adopting features that help to prove the authenticity of images, Apple may do more to help set standards and expectations than any other camera maker could. 





 ]]></description>
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<title>So Delicious Dairy Free frozen dessert gets recalled again over fears of ‘small stones’ and ‘other hard objects’</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/so-delicious-dairy-free-frozen-dessert-gets-recalled-again-over-fears-of-small-stones-and-other-hard-objects</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/so-delicious-dairy-free-frozen-dessert-gets-recalled-again-over-fears-of-small-stones-and-other-hard-objects</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ A dairy-free frozen dessert product is being recalled for the second time in less than a year. 



Danone USA is voluntarily recalling pints of So Delicious Dairy Free Salted Caramel Cluster Non-Dairy Frozen Dessert.



The recall is due to “the potential presence of foreign materials, such as small stones and other hard objects, within the cashew bits,” according to a notice issued Tuesday by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).  



This is word-for-word the same reason why this product was recalled just last December. 



On the So Delicious website, the brand boldly states, “We know this is not the quality you expect from us,” despite this now becoming a pattern.  



It goes on to nearly mimic its promises from last year: “So Delicious Dairy Free is working swiftly with retail partners to remove the impacted product from shelves. In the meantime, we have identified and corrected this issue and will soon be able to bring the product back to market safely.”



Whether that’s true remains to be seen but, for now, here’s what you need to know about the recalled Salted Caramel Cluster Non-Dairy Frozen Dessert pints.



What products are affected?



The only product Danone USA has recalled is the So Delicious Dairy Free Salted Caramel Cluster Non-Dairy Frozen Dessert pints. The recall is for a batch with the following information:




SKU: 136603



UPC: 744473476138



Best-by dates: Any date up to and including April 3, 2028. 




Where and when was the product sold? 



All Danone USA has said is that the dessert was distributed to retailers nationwide. According to the So Delicious website, its products are sold at major retailers.



What should I do if I have this product? 



Do not consume any recalled So Delicious Dairy Free Salted Caramel Cluster Non-Dairy Frozen Dessert pints. Instead, dispose of them immediately. You can contact So Delicious for a refund or replacement coupon at 1-833-367-8975 or through the webform.



 ]]></description>
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<title>Scrubs &amp;amp; Beyond stores are closing: Clothing retailer says all locations will shutter, offers no explanation</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/scrubs-beyond-stores-are-closing-clothing-retailer-says-all-locations-will-shutter-offers-no-explanation</link>
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<description><![CDATA[ The apparel industry is no stranger to store closures, and this week another retailer has joined the ranks of those shuttering stores. 



Healthcare clothing company Scrubs &amp; Beyond has announced that it will close all of its stores, which include more than 100 locations across 30 states. Here’s what you need to know about the store closures.



What is Scrubs &amp; Beyond?



Scrubs &amp; Beyond is a specialty clothing retailer that sells healthcare apparel for medical professionals—doctors and nurses who work in hospitals and healthcare offices across the country.



According to its website, Scrubs &amp; Beyond says it is the largest retail provider of healthcare apparel and accessories in America. It has been in operation for more than 20 years. In 2013, it acquired two other professional uniform companies, Uniform City and Life Uniform.



Private equity merger



In March 2022, private equity firm LKCM Headwater Investments merged Scrubs &amp; Beyond with three other uniform companies—Chefwear, Landau, and White Cross—to form Kindthread, an overarching parent company of the four uniform retailers.



In October of that year, Kindthread announced a completely revamped retail and online experience for Scrubs &amp; Beyond, which included “an elevated and modernized in-store experience,” according to a company press release.



“The scale of Scrubs &amp; Beyond, and its importance to our family of brands, enables us to bring about a positive change in the retail experience for an incredibly important group of people – healthcare professionals,” Kindthread CEO David Murphy said at the time.



But fast-forward less than four years later, and now Scrubs &amp; Beyond has abruptly announced it is closing all its retail stores.



Why is Scrubs &amp; Beyond closing its retail stores?



Neither Scrubs &amp; Beyond nor its parent company, Kindthread, has publicly stated why it chose to close all its retail stores.



The announcement of Scrubs &amp; Beyond’s store closures was made on the retailer’s website, which simply stated “All Retail Stores Closing” in a banner across the top of the site. 



The chain says it is offering 20% to 40% off all products in its retail stores nationwide.



Based on the language on the store’s website, it is unclear whether Scrubs &amp; Beyond’s online operations will also cease. It is also unclear how many employees will be affected by the nationwide store closures.



A customer service line for Scrubs &amp; Beyond was disconnected and no longer in service when called by Fast Company on Wednesday.



On the Scrubs &amp; Beyond Instagram account, a number of customers have complained recently that they ordered merchandise from the brand but never received it.



Fast Company has reached out to Kindthread for comment.



Which Scrubs &amp; Beyond retail stores are closing?



Scrubs &amp; Beyond’s website states that it currently has more than 115 stores in 30 states.



The company has not published a list of all its closing stores, but the retailer’s website lists the following store locations:



Alabama




Tuscaloosa




Arizona




Gilbert 



Glendale 



Mesa 



Phoenix 




Arkansas




Fort Smith 



Little Rock  — Perris Plaza Shopping Center



Little Rock  — N Little Rock




California




Bakersfield 



Chico 



Citrus Heights 



Concord 



Fresno 



Modesto 



Rialto 



Riverside 



Upland 




Colorado




Aurora 



Lakewood 




Florida




Altamonte Springs 



Clearwater 



Lauderhill 



North Miami Beach 



Orlando 



Pensacola 



Tampa 




Georgia




Augusta 



Dunwoody 



Lawrenceville 




Illinois




Niles 



Rockford 



Shiloh 




Indiana




Indianapolis  — Southport Commons



Indianapolis  — Racquet Square



Plainfield 




Kansas




Overland Park 



Wichita 




Kentucky




Florence 




Maryland




Landover Hills 



Rockville 




Michigan




Ann Arbor 



Flint 



Novi 



Portage 



Southgate 



Troy 



Utica 



Warren 



Westland 




Minnesota




Burnsville 



Coon Rapids 



Rochester 



Roseville 



Waite Park 




Missouri




Columbia 



Creve Coeur 



Kirkwood 



Saint Louis 



St. Peters 




Nebraska




Omaha




Nevada




Las Vegas  — Las Vegas



Las Vegas  — Cheyenne Commons



Las Vegas  — Silverado Ranch S/C




New Jersey




Elizabeth 



Paramus 



Totowa 



Woodbridge 




New Mexico




Albuquerque 




New York




Carle Place 



Rochester 



Selden 



Staten Island 



Tonawanda 




North Carolina




Charlotte 



Durham 




Ohio




Cincinnati 



Columbus 



Dayton 



Reynoldsburg 



West Chester 




Oklahoma




Oklahoma City




Oregon




Beaverton 



Happy Valley 



Salem 




Pennsylvania




Erie 



Lancaster 



Monroeville 



Pittsburgh 



West Reading 




South Carolina




Florence 



Myrtle Beach 




Tennessee




Cordova 



Memphis 




Texas




Austin 



Cypress 



Dallas 



Frisco 



Fort Worth 



Houston 



Hurst 



Lewisville 



Mesquite 



Oak Ridge North 



San Antonio  — Med Centre Point



San Antonio  — Alamo Ranch Shopping Center



Selma 



Sugar Land 



Temple 



Webster 




Virginia




Richmond 



Woodbridge 




Washington




Lynnwood 



Tacoma 



Tukwila 




Wisconsin




Brookfield 



Madison 




When are Scrubs &amp; Beyond retail stores closing?



The exact date Scrubs &amp; Beyond retail stores will close for good is unknown at this time. ]]></description>
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<title>Smaller startups deserve more venture funding</title>
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<description><![CDATA[ 
Smaller startups’ ability to move quickly makes them hotbeds of innovation and presents a strong case for more funding than current investment patterns suggest. ]]></description>
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</item>

<item>
<title>The Rise of Ethical Tech: Why UK Business Owners Are Rethinking Web Hosting</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/the-rise-of-ethical-tech-why-uk-business-owners-are-rethinking-web-hosting</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/the-rise-of-ethical-tech-why-uk-business-owners-are-rethinking-web-hosting</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ 
When British business owners review their supply chains, the conversation usually starts with physical goods, energy contracts and transport. Increasingly, though, the digital supply chain is coming under the same scrutiny. ]]></description>
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<item>
<title>UK risks missing AI boom without hardware push, Blair report says</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/uk-risks-missing-ai-boom-without-hardware-push-blair-report-says</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/uk-risks-missing-ai-boom-without-hardware-push-blair-report-says</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ 
Tony Blair Institute report says UK AI manufacturing capacity must grow, urging ministers to lift the sector to 10 per cent of gross value added by 2031. ]]></description>
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<item>
<title>TUC chief suggests Burnham could call early general election</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/tuc-chief-suggests-burnham-could-call-early-general-election</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/tuc-chief-suggests-burnham-could-call-early-general-election</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ 
TUC general secretary Paul Nowak has suggested Andy Burnham could call an early general election if Labour&#039;s manifesto leaves too little room for change. ]]></description>
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<item>
<title>Anthropic CEO outlines plan to slow AI development</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/anthropic-ceo-outlines-plan-to-slow-ai-development</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/anthropic-ceo-outlines-plan-to-slow-ai-development</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Anthropic&#039;s Dario Amodei and OpenAI&#039;s Sam Altman seem to agree that it&#039;s time to &quot;pace the frontier.&quot; What would that actually look like? ]]></description>
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</item>

<item>
<title>Tesla says it will finally unveil the second generation Roadster on October 1</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/tesla-says-it-will-finally-unveil-the-second-generation-roadster-on-october-1</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/tesla-says-it-will-finally-unveil-the-second-generation-roadster-on-october-1</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Tesla’s halo sports car was first announced in November 2017. ]]></description>
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<media:keywords>Tesla, says, will, finally, unveil, the, second, generation, Roadster, October</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>Fusion power startups find new partners in the defense world</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/fusion-power-startups-find-new-partners-in-the-defense-world</link>
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<description><![CDATA[ Fusion startups are inking defense-related deals, reigniting the relationship between fusion and national security that might have gone dormant, but never completely disappeared. ]]></description>
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<title>Automattic confirms Mullenweg has returned as CEO after attempted ouster by board</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/automattic-confirms-mullenweg-has-returned-as-ceo-after-attempted-ouster-by-board</link>
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<description><![CDATA[ Automattic says Mullenweg is back as &quot;chairman and CEO of Automattic, with full support of the board.&quot; ]]></description>
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<title>OpenAI’s Sam Altman says it would be ‘ill&#45;advised’ to go public in 2026</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/openais-sam-altman-says-it-would-be-ill-advised-to-go-public-in-2026</link>
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<description><![CDATA[ While OpenAI has filed confidentially for an IPO, the company will not be going public this year, according to CEO Sam Altman. ]]></description>
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<item>
<title>Why you procrastinate on things you actually want to do</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/why-you-procrastinate-on-things-you-actually-want-to-do</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/why-you-procrastinate-on-things-you-actually-want-to-do</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Below, Dr. Itamar Shatz shares five key insights from his new book, Solving Procrastination: The Science of Why We Put Things Off and How to (Finally!) Stop.



Itamar is an Affiliated Lecturer at Cambridge University. He helps people understand why they procrastinate and how to stop, using a practical system that he developed from more than 500 scientific studies.



What’s the Big Idea?



Procrastination isn’t a failure of time management or a sign that we don’t care. It’s a psychological tug-of-war between what we intend to do and what feels easier or better right now. To stop procrastinating, we need to understand what’s driving our particular pattern of delay and use strategies that address the real cause, rather than relying on willpower.



Listen to the audio version of this Book Bite—read by Shatz himself—in the Next Big Idea app, or buy the book.



1. Procrastinators care more, not less.



Procrastination involves an intention-action gap between the beneficial things we mean to do and the problematic things we actually do.



You’ve probably experienced this yourself if there was ever something you truly wanted and intended to do, but found yourself putting off, again and again, each time telling yourself that you’ll do it in “tomorrow,” or “soon,” or “in just five minutes,” even if deep down you want to shake yourself and yell “JUST DO IT ALREADY.”



The usual problem in cases like these isn’t that you don’t care about the things you should be doing, but that you have paralyzing perfectionism from caring too much.



That’s why procrastination is an issue not only when it comes to unpleasant tasks, like many people think, but also on activities we’re genuinely excited about. And it’s why we procrastinate not only on stuff that doesn’t matter, but also on activities that can have serious consequences.



To avoid this pitfall, it’s important to replace perfectionism with good enough, which can actually be quite good. Then, remind yourself that the right number of mistakes in your work isn’t zero, and focus on your own standards (rather than those set by others).



2. We procrastinate to pursue immediate pleasure and avoid immediate pain.



The misconception that procrastination is just about time management or motivation leads us to try solving it with the wrong tools, which guarantees we’ll fail.



Time-management is usually a symptom of procrastination, rather than its cause. We can have excellent time-management skills and still end up procrastinating because we’re not addressing the real cause. No matter how much planning we do or how many time-management apps we use, even the most meticulous schedule won’t work if we can’t actually bring ourselves to follow it when the chips are down.



If we want to stop procrastinating, we need to take back control of our mind and find ways to strengthen our drive to act, or weaken our drive to delay. Fortunately, several techniques can help, like ditching big goals in favor of attainable ones, taking extra breaks when we need to rest, and riding the waves of our productivity rhythms.



3. Our brain is great at tricking us into thinking that next time will be different.



The biggest issue is the self-control fallacy: our mistaken belief that if we just try harder, we’ll manage to do what we need to through sheer willpower, even though this exact approach has failed us many times before. It’s a tempting notion, because it offers a clear and straightforward solution that seems believable—until it’s time to act. This approach rarely helps us win our internal tug-of-war.



To see through this trick, use the reality rule, by asking yourself what you’re actually likely to do, based on what you did in similar situations before, rather than on how you wish you’ll act. That way, you can adjust accordingly and find new solutions that could actually help, instead of trying the same things and getting the same results.



4. Procrastination is more varied than people think.



There’s no single strategy that everyone should always use to overcome their procrastination. A college student who’s procrastinating because of distractions should use different strategies than an artist who’s procrastinating because of perfectionism, as should an executive who’s procrastinating because of burnout, and so on.



To overcome your procrastination, it’s important to figure out why you procrastinate. You’ll often need to dig through several layers before you get to the reasons you should focus on addressing; an example is when it seems you’re getting distracted by social media, but really you’re stuck because your self-confidence is low.



To help make sense of your procrastination, you can consider when, where, and how you do it, and what the difference is between cases where you procrastinate versus ones when you take action. You can also consider the different procrastinator archetypes—like the Worrier, Zigzagger, and Rebel—and see which ones resonate with you the most. This is great both for figuring out why you procrastinate, and for finding the best ways to stop.



5. Procrastination might be growing more common, but it has ancient roots.



To overcome procrastination, we need to address modern risks, like the increasing bombardment of digital distractions, steep rise in unstructured work, and climbing rates of anxiety.



But, although it’s tempting to think of procrastination as a purely modern problem, people have been battling it throughout history. That’s why we have warnings from almost three thousand years ago, saying that “a man who puts off work is always at hand-grips with ruin.”



The issue is that procrastination is rooted deep in our psychology, and specifically in an impulsive fight-or-flight response that we’re wired to engage in. Fortunately, we can seize control of this response by empathizing with our future self to make us care more about what will happen to us. And we can also shine a bright light on our fears (the real ones driving our behavior, rather than just those that lie on the surface) by asking what they are, how likely they are to happen, and how we can successfully move on if they do.



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



Enjoy our full library of Book Bites—read by the authors!—in the Next Big Idea app.
 ]]></description>
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<item>
<title>I bought a Birkin as an investment. It taught me a hard lesson about human judgment</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/i-bought-a-birkin-as-an-investment-it-taught-me-a-hard-lesson-about-human-judgment</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/i-bought-a-birkin-as-an-investment-it-taught-me-a-hard-lesson-about-human-judgment</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ In 2017, I bought my first Birkin.



Not because I wanted to impress anyone. Not because it was a status symbol. I bought it because I saw it as an investment. As an entrepreneur, I naturally look at assets differently. If something has the potential to hold or appreciate in value, I’m interested.



Ironically, after spending so much on the bag, I barely used it.



It stayed in my closet because I was afraid of scratching it, staining it, or hurting its resale value. One day I caught myself thinking, What’s the point of owning something you’re too afraid to use?



So I started carrying it. What happened next surprised me.



People opened doors faster. Staff greeted me differently. At luxury stores, the service felt noticeably warmer. While shopping for linens in France, I was offered sparkling water almost immediately and received a level of attention that stood out. At conferences and events, conversations seemed to begin more naturally.



The bag didn’t change. I didn’t change. People’s perception changed.



The psychology of fast judgment



That experience forced me to confront something we don’t like to admit: Humans make incredibly fast judgments.



We like to believe we evaluate people based purely on merit. In reality, our brains rely on shortcuts. Clothing, watches, handbags, titles, schools, confidence, and reputation all become signals that shape first impressions long before anyone has the chance to demonstrate competence.



The Birkin wasn’t creating value; it was signaling it.



That realization also reminded me of experiences on the opposite end. I’ve walked into stores after long workdays wearing simple clothes with messy hair and been followed by security guards. I’ve been overlooked despite having every intention, and every ability, to make a purchase.



Same person, different signals.



The uncomfortable truth is that perception often influences access.



This isn’t really about luxury goods. Most people don’t own a Birkin, and nobody needs one.



The lesson is much bigger.



Every one of us sends signals every day. It might be how we communicate, how we introduce ourselves, the quality of our work, the consistency of our personal brand, or simply the confidence we project. Those signals influence whether people trust us, remember us, or give us an opportunity.



Some people will argue that this shouldn’t matter.



I agree.



But there is a difference between how the world should work and how it actually works. Understanding human psychology doesn’t mean becoming fake. It means recognizing reality and deciding how you want to show up within it.



Today, I no longer see my Birkin as just an investment; I see it as an unexpected lesson in perception.



Perception may open a door, but character, competence, and results are what keep it open.



—Kate Hancock



The opinions expressed here by Inc.com columnists are their own, not those of Inc.com.



Get 1 Smart Business Story delivered straight to your inbox when you subscribe to Inc.’s free daily newsletter.







This article originally appeared on Fast Company’s sister website, Inc.com. 



Inc. is the voice of the American entrepreneur. We inspire, inform, and document the most fascinating people in business: the risk-takers, the innovators, and the ultra-driven go-getters that represent the most dynamic force in the American economy. ]]></description>
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<item>
<title>How Blockchain Technology Can Transform The Finance Industry?</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/how-blockchain-technology-can-transform-the-finance-industry</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/how-blockchain-technology-can-transform-the-finance-industry</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ A blockchain is a public ledger which holds all Bitcoin transactions which have ever taken place. This ledger is constantly growing as every day completed blocks are added to the blockchain. These blocks also come with a new set of recordings and are added to the blockchain in a linear and chronological order. Computers connected […]
The post How Blockchain Technology Can Transform The Finance Industry? appeared first on Fincyte. ]]></description>
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<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>How, Blockchain, Technology, Can, Transform, The, Finance, Industry</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>4 things you can do to protect yourself from the rising threat of AI</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/4-things-you-can-do-to-protect-yourself-from-the-rising-threat-of-ai</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/4-things-you-can-do-to-protect-yourself-from-the-rising-threat-of-ai</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ For more than 25 years, I’ve been the “Computer Guy” for friends, family, and colleagues who call when something digital goes sideways. Lately, those calls have changed. The questions used to be about slow computers and forgotten passwords. Now, almost every conversation circles back to the same two words: artificial intelligence.



The concern is understandable—and underscored by recent warnings from high-profile AI researchers about the threat of superintelligence. AI is in our home appliances, work products and even attends our meetings. It shapes the apps we use, the content we see, and the messages we receive. Voice assistants listen to our commands, shopping sites predict what we’ll buy next, and AI tools quietly learn from the data we create. Meanwhile, the traditional cybersecurity risks of stolen passwords, compromised accounts, and phishing emails haven’t gone anywhere. They’ve only gotten more sophisticated and harder to spot.



What frustrates me is that most of the “protection advice” floating around reminds me of Cold War–era guidance telling schoolchildren to hide under their desks during a nuclear attack: well-intentioned, but not exactly practical.



The good news is you don’t need a computer science degree to meaningfully reduce your risk. Four simple habits can help you protect your privacy, spot digital deception, and keep your accounts safer in an AI-driven world.



Two ways to limit AI’s reach into your world



Start by limiting your digital footprint. Every app permission you grant, online quiz you complete, voice command you speak, and prompt you enter can add to the data profile companies build about you.



Remove the apps you never use from your phone, then review app permissions on the ones you do use, opting out of unnecessary data collection where possible.



Always avoid sharing personal details with AI chatbots. Be especially cautious with free AI sites that use your prompts, conversations, or uploaded files to train their systems. Anything you share could be stored, analyzed, or reused in ways you did not intend. Privacy-focused options such as proton.com and duck.ai may be better choices because they are designed to reduce data collection.



You should also learn to recognize AI-generated content. AI can now create realistic fake images, videos, audio, and phishing messages that appear to come from people or organizations you trust. Verify unexpected messages, reverse-image search photos that seem unusually polished, and pause before reacting to content designed to make you angry, afraid, or excited.



Two basic cybersecurity protections to start



Even in the AI age, these are two things everyone should do to protect themselves online. It not only helps fight against human hackers but also, with AI-generated attacks.



First, use strong, unique passwords and store them in a dedicated password manager. Reusing the same password across multiple sites means one breach can expose your email, banking, shopping, and social media accounts at the same time. A password manager creates long, random passwords for each account and remembers them for you, so you only need to memorize one strong master password.



Second, enable multi-factor authentication, or MFA, on every account that offers it. MFA adds a second proof of identity, such as code from an authenticator app or a tap on a hardware security key. Even if someone steals your password, MFA makes it much harder for them to get into your account.



Some examples of how strong passwords and MFA can help include:



Deepfake Social Engineering — AI-generated voice clones or video deepfakes can impersonate trusted individuals, such as a CEO calling IT, your daughter, or your grandmother, making social engineering far more convincing. Even if an attacker successfully tricks someone into handing over their credentials, MFA ensures that stolen or socially engineered passwords alone aren’t sufficient to gain access.



AI-Optimized Password Spraying — AI can analyze publicly available data from social media and past breaches to build targeted password lists for a group of people. It then sprays the most likely passwords across many accounts while staying just below lockout thresholds to avoid detection. Strong, complex passwords are unlikely to appear on any spray list, and MFA blocks access even if a common password happens to be matched.



Four simple steps



These four habits — shrinking your data footprint, spotting AI-generated deception, using a password manager, and enabling MFA — give home users a practical first line of defense.



Cybersecurity is not something you finish once and forget. Threats evolve, and your habits should evolve with them. Start with one step today: review your app permissions, set up a password manager, or turn on MFA for your most important account. A few minutes now can prevent far bigger problems later.




Limit your digital footprint — review app permissions and opt out of data collection



Be careful with free AI tools — avoid entering sensitive personal, financial, medical, or work information unless you understand how the service uses your data



Use a password manager — generate strong, unique passwords for every account



Enable multi-factor authentication — use an authenticator app or hardware security key for your most important accounts




 ]]></description>
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<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
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<item>
<title>Manischewitz is betting that a dating show can attract Gen Z to the 138&#45;year&#45;old brand</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/manischewitz-is-betting-that-a-dating-show-can-attract-gen-z-to-the-138-year-old-brand</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/manischewitz-is-betting-that-a-dating-show-can-attract-gen-z-to-the-138-year-old-brand</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ For the next ten days, while everyone else is settling back into school and ushering in autumn with pumpkin spice lattes, Jewish Americans will be celebrating the “Days of Awe,” starting with Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, and ending with Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the Jewish calendar.



The Days of Awe start at sundown on Friday, September 11, followed by 10 days of somber reflection on the past year. Yom Kippur is a day of atonement and deep reflection for which Jews traditionally fast—it begins at sundown on Sunday, September 20 and finishes at the end of the next day on Monday, September 21.



And, for generations, Manischewitz has been a staple on many tables over the Jewish holidays—whether that’s their wine, crackers, or another product like macaroons. But looking ahead, the question is whether younger Jewish consumers, like Gen Zers—whose brand of Judaism is a far cry from that of their parents or grandparents—will continue that tradition.



“We’re not trying to convince Gen Z  and other younger generations to experience Manischewitz the way previous generations did,” Manischewitz senior vice president Mirit Shalvi tells Fast Company. We’re giving them opportunities to make Manischewitz their own, and develop a connection to a brand their grandparents also knew. Very few brands have the ability to bridge generations that way.”



Introducing Manischewitz to a broader generation of culturally curious consumers has been a very intentional strategy for the company, particularly since its recent brand refresh in 2024.



“What is important is that we haven’t approached this as simply changing the packaging or running a campaign aimed at Gen Z,” a Manischewitz spokesperson tells Fast Company. “We’ve been looking at how a 100+-year-old heritage brand can participate in contemporary culture while still being unmistakably Manischewitz.”



Manischewitz was born in 1888, some 138 years ago, from Jewish immigrants’ need, and desire, for special kosher wine and food products, to ensure they met the necessary dietary guidelines under Jewish law once they came to America.



Years later, following a 2024 refresh, Manischewitz has moved well beyond being perceived solely as a brand consumers encounter during major Jewish holidays. And it has created more opportunities for younger consumers to engage with the brand through an array of food products beyond staples like wine, matzoh, crackers and gefilte fish, to gluten-free, low-sodium, and sugar-free options.



Its appeal to the next generation of American Jews and those interested in kosher products is, perhaps, most evident in the design of its website and products. The brighter orange color, updated font, contemporary food photography, and funny Yiddish expressions retain the visual and cultural cues associated with Manischewitz, while also showing how the tradition of having Manischewitz on the table can “be fun, contemporary and culturally relevant.”



That’s also true for its new merch (check out this culinary chutzpah apron), and updated social media and entertainment content. Its dating show, Manischewitz Matchmakers, appeals to one thing all younger Jewish adults care about: dating. It also has a traveling food truck serving hot dogs, knishes, and matzo ball soup.



“Younger consumers don’t necessarily separate food, identity, entertainment, social media and culture—they experience all of those things together,” Talia Sabag, marketing manager for Manischewitz, tells Fast Company. “That’s why our evolution has gone far beyond packaging. From a dating show and a traveling deli to an art exhibition, college programs, athlete partnerships, merchandise and new products, we’re finding new ways for people to participate in the Manischewitz brand.”



And the strategy is working: Since 2024, the brand has grown more than 12%, with Manischewitz’s core products up over 40%—driven mainly by matzo product purchases by younger consumers.



And that’s not all: Manischewitz says it also saw double-digit growth in key markets such as Florida and California, along with continued expansion online, with sales tripling since 2024 in the “Fresh &amp; Frozen” category—reflecting strong demand from younger consumers for convenience. Those items include frozen Challah, frozen matzoh balls, and frozen rugelach—all of which are ready to go after heating. ]]></description>
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<item>
<title>4 ways to get your iPhone ready for iOS 27</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/4-ways-to-get-your-iphone-ready-for-ios-27</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/4-ways-to-get-your-iphone-ready-for-ios-27</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ This week Apple introduced its new iPhone lineup, including the iPhone 18 Pro series and the iPhone Duo. The devices feature the most advanced tech that Apple has ever stuffed into a smartphone. But if you’re not in the market for a new iPhone, there’s some good news: The company also announced a release date for the new iOS 27 operating system, which will run on any iPhone that can run iOS 26.



Apple says that iOS 27 will be released to the general public this Monday, September 14. Until then, there are some things you can do to help ease the upgrade and ensure that the latest software runs as smoothly as possible on your existing iPhone.



Update to iOS 26.6 or later



Apple included a new indexing optimization with the release of iOS 26.6, in preparation for iOS 27, that should save you lots of post-installation headaches. “Indexing” is the term for the process in which iOS goes through all the files on your iPhone and categorizes and tags them, so it can find the file you need quickly when you search for it later on. 



Whenever a new major version of iOS comes out, it generally reindexes your entire phone—but this process can take days and is compute-intensive. So while the indexing is going on, it can sap your iPhone’s processing power and battery life—which is why you see so many claims on social media that the new operating system “slows down” your older iPhone.



Because iOS 27 has a completely new Spotlight search architecture that helps power the new Siri AI, indexing may take even longer than usual. That’s why, as noted by 9to5Mac, Apple added a background feature in iOS 26.6 that lets your iPhone start reindexing before you even install iOS 27. This means that, provided you have been running iOS 26.6 or later for a few days, your upgrade to iOS 27 should go much more smoothly.



To make sure you’re running iOS 26.6 or later, go to Settings &gt; General &gt; Software Update.



Back up your data to iCloud



Right before installing iOS 27, you should make sure that your iPhone is backed up to iCloud. While it’s unlikely an iOS 27 install will brick your phone or erase critical data, accidents can happen. If your iPhone is backed up to iCloud, at least you always have a copy of your data to restore if the worst occurs.



Your iPhone should back up automatically to iCloud each night when you plug it in before bed. But you can also force an iCloud backup right before downloading iOS 27, too. 



To manually back up your iPhone to iCloud, go to Settings &gt; Apple Account &gt; iCloud&gt; iCloud Backup and tap “Back Up Now.” Just make sure you’re on a fast Wi-Fi connection so that the backup doesn’t take forever.



Free up storage space



Depending on your iPhone model, iOS 27 may require 25GB of free space or more to install. If you don’t have that free space, you can’t download iOS 27. That’s why you should take the time now to check whether you have enough storage space and, if not, free up some space so your iPhone has room to download iOS 27. 



Generally, the largest individual files on your iPhone are video games, which can be gigabytes in size, and 4K video, such as the kind you may have if you’ve downloaded any movies or series for offline viewing in streaming apps like Netflix and Disney+.



To see what data is taking up the most space on your iPhone, go to Settings &gt; General &gt; iPhone Storage. You can then determine which large files or apps you no longer need and delete them.



Update your apps



In preparation for any major new iOS release, most developers work diligently to update their apps so that they run as smoothly as possible on the new operating system. In many cases, developers ship these optimizations in their apps before the major iOS release, so users can have the best possible experience as soon as the new iOS update is installed.



In order to make sure your apps run without problems—and also take advantage of any newly supported iOS 27 features—it’s good practice to update your iPhone apps ahead of downloading iOS 27 (or at the very least, right after installing the new OS).



To make sure you’re using the latest version of all your apps before installing iOS 27, open the App Store app, then tap your Apple Account profile picture in the upper-right corner. Next, tap App Updates, and then update all available apps.



After prepping your iPhone for iOS 27, you should be all ready to install the new operating system as soon as Apple releases it.



 ]]></description>
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</item>

<item>
<title>Top 5 virtual landline providers for small businesses</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/top-5-virtual-landline-providers-for-small-businesses</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/top-5-virtual-landline-providers-for-small-businesses</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ By Anna Jordan on Small Business UK - Advice and Ideas for UK Small Businesses and SMEs
Be prepared for the end of traditional landlines in 2027
The post Top 5 virtual landline providers for small businesses appeared first on Small Business UK. ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Sat, 12 Sep 2026 14:00:05 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Top, virtual, landline, providers, for, small, businesses</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title> Anthropic did not submit Mythos 5.1 to UK AI Security Institute</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/anthropic-did-not-submit-mythos-51-to-uk-ai-security-institute</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/anthropic-did-not-submit-mythos-51-to-uk-ai-security-institute</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ 
Claude Mythos 5.1 went only to US vetting organisations, the first time Anthropic has bypassed the UK AI Security Institute before releasing a model. ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Wed, 09 Sep 2026 14:00:06 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords> Anthropic, did, not, submit, Mythos, 5.1, Security, Institute</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Burnham tells MPs VAT comes off electricity bills next month</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/burnham-tells-mps-vat-comes-off-electricity-bills-next-month</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/burnham-tells-mps-vat-comes-off-electricity-bills-next-month</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ 
The electricity VAT cut takes effect from 1 October, the prime minister told MPs, as the SNP warned of a looming winter cost-of-living emergency. ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Wed, 09 Sep 2026 14:00:06 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Burnham, tells, MPs, VAT, comes, off, electricity, bills, next, month</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Anthropic tops Fast Company’s Best Workplaces for Innovators 2026</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/anthropic-tops-fast-companys-best-workplaces-for-innovators-2026</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/anthropic-tops-fast-companys-best-workplaces-for-innovators-2026</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ 
Fast Company has named Anthropic No 1 on its Best Workplaces for Innovators 2026 list, citing Claude Code, Claude Cowork and a valuation approaching $1trn. ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Wed, 09 Sep 2026 14:00:06 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Anthropic, tops, Fast, Company’s, Best, Workplaces, for, Innovators, 2026</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Six weeks’ paid paternity leave would add £2.68bn a year, report finds</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/six-weeks-paid-paternity-leave-would-add-268bn-a-year-report-finds</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/six-weeks-paid-paternity-leave-would-add-268bn-a-year-report-finds</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ 
A King&#039;s and Equimundo review of 33 studies says six weeks&#039; well-paid paternity leave would lift maternal employment, add £2.68bn a year and cut break-ups. ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Wed, 09 Sep 2026 14:00:06 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Six, weeks’, paid, paternity, leave, would, add, £2.68bn, year, report, finds</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>British Business Bank launches £210m South East Investment Fund</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/british-business-bank-launches-210m-south-east-investment-fund</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/british-business-bank-launches-210m-south-east-investment-fund</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ 
The British Business Bank&#039;s £210m South East Investment Fund, launched on 9 September, offers loans and equity to smaller firms from Kent to Oxfordshire. ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Wed, 09 Sep 2026 14:00:06 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>British, Business, Bank, launches, £210m, South, East, Investment, Fund</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Sequoia doubles down on Cymphony as AI agents create new enterprise security risks</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/sequoia-doubles-down-on-cymphony-as-ai-agents-create-new-enterprise-security-risks</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/sequoia-doubles-down-on-cymphony-as-ai-agents-create-new-enterprise-security-risks</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Cymphony was valued at more than $100 million in a $25 million Series A co-led by Sequoia and SMBC Fin Atlas Beyond Fund. ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Wed, 09 Sep 2026 14:00:04 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Sequoia, doubles, down, Cymphony, agents, create, new, enterprise, security, risks</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Autonomy pivots to gas vehicles to keep the dream of car subscriptions alive</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/autonomy-pivots-to-gas-vehicles-to-keep-the-dream-of-car-subscriptions-alive</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/autonomy-pivots-to-gas-vehicles-to-keep-the-dream-of-car-subscriptions-alive</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Scott Painter, founder of TrueCar, is still trying to build a business around vehicle subscriptions, where you can cancel at any time. ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Wed, 09 Sep 2026 14:00:04 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Autonomy, pivots, gas, vehicles, keep, the, dream, car, subscriptions, alive</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Instacart launches an AI grocery shopping assistant called Clementine</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/instacart-launches-an-ai-grocery-shopping-assistant-called-clementine</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/instacart-launches-an-ai-grocery-shopping-assistant-called-clementine</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Instacart is the latest app to bake a conversational AI assistant into its platform. ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Wed, 09 Sep 2026 14:00:04 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Instacart, launches, grocery, shopping, assistant, called, Clementine</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Besxar is building an orbital semiconductor factory, one SpaceX rocket at a time</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/besxar-is-building-an-orbital-semiconductor-factory-one-spacex-rocket-at-a-time</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/besxar-is-building-an-orbital-semiconductor-factory-one-spacex-rocket-at-a-time</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ If you want to manufacture in space—and bring the products back again—there’s a limited set of options: Wait to go to the International Space Station, or partner with a handful of start-ups launching spacecraft that spend time in orbit before they return to Earth. But the vehicle that goes to space and comes back to […] ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Wed, 09 Sep 2026 14:00:04 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Besxar, building, orbital, semiconductor, factory, one, SpaceX, rocket, time</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Group of bipartisan lawmakers ask US government to ban several hack&#45;for&#45;hire firms</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/group-of-bipartisan-lawmakers-ask-us-government-to-ban-several-hack-for-hire-firms</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/group-of-bipartisan-lawmakers-ask-us-government-to-ban-several-hack-for-hire-firms</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ The three Indian companies are accused of using hackers to steal information used to sway litigation. ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Wed, 09 Sep 2026 14:00:03 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Group, bipartisan, lawmakers, ask, government, ban, several, hack-for-hire, firms</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>The 4 building blocks of brand authenticity</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/the-4-building-blocks-of-brand-authenticity</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/the-4-building-blocks-of-brand-authenticity</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ The word authenticity has become so ubiquitous in recent years, it could almost be ignored. And yet, authenticity is what makes identity matter. This is as true for cultures and companies as it is for individuals.



That same principle is at the heart of brand design. When people hear “brand design,” they often think of logos, typography, taglines, color palettes, and campaigns. Those elements are important, but only scratch the surface. Great brands are designed through every decision made, interaction fostered, and experience delivered. Organizations create brands authentically from the inside out.



Consumers are inundated with messaging and have unprecedented access to information; authenticity is one of a brand’s most valuable assets. People don’t simply believe what a company says about itself; they evaluate whether its actions reinforce that story. And as the lines between public and private influence blur, investors, partners, and other stakeholders increasingly shape how organizations operate. Brand authenticity is about ensuring identity remains a guidepost for growth.



I’m a strategy professional who has spent my career building brands. For 20 years, I’ve said that authentic brands are intentionally designed through four essential building blocks: storytelling, community, experience, and transparency. The fact that this is still news means it still matters.



1. STORYTELLING GIVES BRANDS MEANING



Every brand has a story. The strongest tell a story rooted in its history, purpose, and values, not one manufactured to fit the latest trend.



Storytelling gives products and services emotional significance, helping people connect with what a brand represents. That creates meaning competitors cannot easily replicate.



Luxury brands have long set the standard. One of my favorite examples is the Louis Vuitton Express, an immersive French train station and locomotive that debuted during 2012 Paris Fashion Week, before traveling to China for the brand’s Maison Shanghai opening. More than spectacle, it expressed Louis Vuitton’s French heritage and enduring connection to travel, bringing its story to life in a memorable, unmistakably Vuitton way.



But storytelling only works when a company’s actions reinforce it. When McDonald’s invested in Chipotle during its early years, Chipotle maintained its commitment to responsibly sourced ingredients and its “Food with Integrity” philosophy rather than allowing outside influence to reshape its identity. Authenticity means you must, in Chipotle’s words, “guac the walk.”



2. COMMUNITY CREATES CONNECTION



Brands are now built through participation. Community gives people a reason to engage beyond a product or service, turning shared experiences into lasting relationships.



Apple recognized this when it began opening stores. While some believed the strategy would undermine retail partners and become a costly mistake, Steve Jobs understood the value of community. Apple created spaces where customers could learn skills, ask questions, attend workshops, and connect with experts and one another. The stores became community hubs and retail destinations.



Sports offer another example. Team brands are built as much on community as athletic performance. They cultivate passionate fan bases around shared traditions and experiences. That sense of belonging can transform spectators into lifelong advocates.



Authentic brands similarly create opportunities for people to engage with the company and with each other. Community makes people feel part of something bigger than a transaction.



3. AUTHENTICITY IS TESTED IN EXPERIENCE



Every customer touchpoint is a design decision. The way someone navigates a website, interacts with customer service, unboxes a product, visits a physical space, or attends an activation communicates what a company values.



Today’s most successful brands recognize that consumers are investing in the emotions experiences create, in addition to buying products. Whether it’s a retail environment, immersive event, or digital interaction, every touchpoint should deepen the relationship between customer and brand. In some ways, this is even more important for B2B companies, where relationships form the business’s foundation.



Authenticity is never determined by a single campaign. It’s the cumulative result of thousands, and increasingly millions, of interactions over time as autonomous digital opportunities expand. Every experience should reflect the same values, personality, and promise a brand communicates through its messaging. When those moments align, trust deepens. When they don’t, it quickly erodes.



4. TRANSPARENCY BUILDS TRUST



Consumers increasingly want to know how products are made and where their materials come from. They want greater visibility into supply chains, the people behind the products, and how companies respond when challenges arise.



Brands willing to pull back the curtain can earn lasting trust. They communicate openly about their processes, acknowledge shortcomings, and share progress rather than pretending to be perfect. Transparency can take many forms, from explaining sourcing practices to addressing sustainability goals or difficult business decisions. Openness signals confidence and accountability.



This is particularly important for social and environmental impact. Consumers increasingly expect brands to move beyond broad sustainability claims, providing meaningful information about materials and emissions, plus how they are addressing circularity and measuring progress. As “greenhushing” replaces some of the past’s “greenwashing,” transparency can turn sustainability from marketing message to a source of trust.



Consumers don’t need perfection, but they want honesty. They appreciate brands that respect their trust and consistently work to deliver on the promises they’ve made across the value chain.



AUTHENTICITY BY DESIGN



Storytelling, community, experience, and transparency are powerful authenticity expressions, but only when grounded in a clear brand foundation.



That begins with a mission defining why an organization exists and a vision articulating where it’s headed. The values guide decision-making, while the personality shapes how it behaves. At the center is a promise that customers, employees, partners, and investors can rely on.



Those elements become the blueprint for every design decision a brand makes. They determine how a company looks, and how it communicates, behaves, and earns trust.



Brand design is more than aesthetics. At its best, it’s the intentional design of authenticity. With eroding consumer trust, growing climate risk, and political polarization, enduring brands will turn products into meaningful experiences and stay true to their purpose as they grow. Most importantly, they’ll consistently demonstrate through their actions who they say they are.



Lisa Gralnek is the U.S. managing director and global sustainability head of iF DESIGN. ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Tue, 08 Sep 2026 14:00:08 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>The, building, blocks, brand, authenticity</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Social media users in Australia are moving closer to controlling their feeds. Here’s how</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/social-media-users-in-australia-are-moving-closer-to-controlling-their-feeds-heres-how</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/social-media-users-in-australia-are-moving-closer-to-controlling-their-feeds-heres-how</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Australian social media users would be given a choice to opt out of algorithms under proposed laws announced by the government Tuesday that would let users have more control over what they see on their social media feeds.“We’ll require social media platforms to provide user empowerment tools that give people over the age of 16 genuine and enduring choice about what they see in their feeds,” Prime Minister Anthony Albanese told reporters in Canberra.The proposed legislation would also protect children from content that promotes eating disorders, hostile ideas about women, pornography, crime, dangerous stunts and that causes serious mental health distress.The move for more user control and to keep children safer online follows Australia introducing world-first laws in December last year that ban children younger than 16 from holding accounts on the world’s largest social media platforms including Instagram, Facebook and TikTok.“It gives users choice and it will hold the big tech companies responsible for inaction. If they don’t follow our laws, they will face significant penalties,” Albanese added. Penalties under the proposed Digital Duty of Care legislation could be as high as 109.2 million Australian dollars ($78.6 million).Social media platforms would be required to send a notification to new and existing users offering them a choice over their default feed, a government statement said.Users would be able to opt in to having their default feed include personalized content recommended by an algorithm. Alternatively, users could see the content of friends and creators they choose to follow.Digital services including online games, apps and artificial intelligence chatbots would also be required to protect children from design features that have negative behavioral impacts such as addictive features and those that have an effect on self-esteem, the statement said.In April, Australia’s online safety watchdog said it was considering court action against Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok and YouTube, alleging they are not doing enough to keep Australian children younger than 16 off their platforms.



—Associated Press ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://images.fastcompany.com/image/upload/w_1280,q_auto,f_auto,fl_lossy/f_webp,q_auto,c_fit/wp-cms-2/2026/09/AP26251328181339.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Tue, 08 Sep 2026 14:00:08 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Social, media, users, Australia, are, moving, closer, controlling, their, feeds., Here’s, how</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Pork recall hits 8 states: 1,500 pounds of product may be contaminated with potentially deadly bacteria</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/pork-recall-hits-8-states-1500-pounds-of-product-may-be-contaminated-with-potentially-deadly-bacteria</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/pork-recall-hits-8-states-1500-pounds-of-product-may-be-contaminated-with-potentially-deadly-bacteria</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ This week, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) alerted consumers to a food recall involving more than 1,500 pounds of pork product distributed to eight states. 



The recall is being initiated due to fears that the pork may be contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes, a potentially deadly bacterium. Here’s what you need to know.



What’s happened?



On September 6, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) published a recall notice for imported ready-to-eat (RTE) dry-cured pork jowl (“guanciale”) products produced in Italy.



The recall covers approximately 1,513 pounds of the pork products that were imported into the United States by two firms: Prime Line Distributors, Inc. of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and Ferrarini USA, Inc. of Hoboken, New Jersey.



The recall is being initiated because the recalled pork products may be contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes, a bacterium that can cause Listeriosis, an infection that can be potentially deadly.



What products are included in the recall?



There are numerous pork products included in this recall. All were produced in Italy in May, and imported into the United States in July. 



All products in the recall bear the establishment number “IT 1937 L CE” inside the Italian mark of inspection or on the label of the case the product was shipped in.



The FSIS says products distributed by Prime Line Distributors in this recall include:




Various weight cardboard cases containing two pieces of individually vacuum packed “PRIME LINE DISTRIBUTORS, INC. GUANCIALE PORK JOWL PRODUCT OF ITALY” with “LOT: 263311US” and “BEST IF USE BY DATE: 05.16.27” printed on the label.



Various weight individually vacuum packaged “GUANCIALE PORK JOWL PRODUCT OF ITALY” with “LOT: 263311US” and “BEST IF USE BY: 05.16.27” printed on the label. The product has an additional label with “DOK GUANCIALE” on the packaging.




Products distributed by Ferrarini USA in this recall include:




Various weight cardboard cases containing two pieces of individually vacuumed packed “GUANCIALE PORK JOWL PRODUCT OF ITALY” with “LOT: 263311US” and “BEST IF USE BY DATE: 05.16.27” printed on the label.



Various weight individually vacuumed packaged “FERRARINI GUANCIALE DRY-CURED PORK JOWL” with “LOT: 263311US” and “BEST IF USE BY DATE: 05.16.27” printed on the label. 




Images of the recalled products can be found here.



Where were the recalled products shipped?



The products included in this recall were distributed to various locations in eight states.



The Prime Line Distributors products being recalled were shipped to retail and food service locations in one state:




Florida




The Ferrarini USA products being recalled were shipped to food service locations and distributors in eight states:




California



Florida



Idaho



Illinois



Michigan



New Jersey



New York



Texas




What is Listeria monocytogenes?



Listeria monocytogenes is a bacterium that, when consumed, can cause a Listeriosis infection, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).



Listeria infections have high mortality rates. The CDC says that in the US, about 1,250 people are infected with Listeria each year. Approximately 172 of those—more than 10%—die due to the infection.



While anyone can become infected with Listeria, Listeriosis can be particularly harmful to those over 65, pregnant women, newborns, and individuals with weakened immune systems.



What are the symptoms of a Listeria infection?



The CDC notes that Listeria can cause two types of illnesses: Intestinal and Invasive. Each has a different collection of symptoms.



An intestinal Listeria infection is primarily limited to the intestines. Symptoms of an intestinal Listeria infection include:




Diarrhea



Vomiting




An invasive Listeria infection can be much more serious, as it has spread beyond the intestines, usually through the bloodstream, to other areas of the body. Symptoms of an invasive Listeria infection include:




Fever



Flu-like symptoms, such as muscle aches and fatigue



Headache



Stiff neck



Confusion



Loss of balance



Seizures




The CDC says women who are pregnant and who have an invasive Listeria infection may only experience flu-like symptoms, such as muscle aches, fatigue, and fever.



What should I do if I have the recalled products?



The FSIS says it is concerned that the recalled product may be in the refrigerators and freezers of food service and retail providers. The agency is urging these providers not to serve or sell the recalled pork.



Instead, those who have the recalled items in their possession should throw them away or return them to their place of purchase.



Full details of the pork recall are available on the FSIS website here.



 ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Tue, 08 Sep 2026 14:00:08 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Pork, recall, hits, states:, 1, 500, pounds, product, may, contaminated, with, potentially, deadly, bacteria</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>What to expect: Beauty tech’s next decade</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/what-to-expect-beauty-techs-next-decade</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/what-to-expect-beauty-techs-next-decade</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Returning to Paris for the 10th anniversary of VivaTech felt like looking through a time capsule of innovation.



Perfect Corp. has participated in VivaTech throughout its history. During that time, I watched the event grow alongside many of the technologies presented there. Ideas that once attracted crowds because they seemed futuristic are now becoming part of the infrastructure through which people work, communicate, and shop.



This year’s gathering made one shift especially clear to me: The next phase of innovation will be defined by how intelligently different technologies work together.



That lesson is particularly visible in beauty technology.



BEAUTY TECH GREW UP



When virtual try-on first emerged, its ability to place lipstick, eye shadow, or other products on a person’s face in real time felt almost magical. It created an immersive experience and showed consumers something conventional e-commerce could not: how a product might actually look on them.



At that stage, beauty technology was often viewed as a spectacle. It attracted attention and increased engagement, but many companies still considered it an optional enhancement rather than a core part of the shopping journey.



The next stage was utility.



Virtual try-on became more realistic and commercially useful. AI skin analysis helped consumers better understand concerns such as dryness, spots, wrinkles, and pores. Shade-matching technology addressed one of beauty e-commerce’s most persistent problems: finding the right foundation without testing the product in person. Technology now helps the customer make a more informed decision.



Today, beauty technology is entering a third phase: infrastructure.



Capabilities that once operated as standalone tools are becoming connected across product discovery, consultation, personalization, visualization, and purchase. Consumers simply expect a brand to understand their needs, recommend something relevant, and give them confidence before they buy.



This represents an important leadership lesson: A technology category reaches maturity when consumers stop noticing the technology and start expecting the outcome.



FROM ASSISTED COMMERCE TO AGENTIC COMMERCE



For the past decade, beauty technology has assisted customers in navigating online stores. The customer still does most of the work: opening different pages, applying filters, launching individual tools, comparing products, and determining which recommendation to trust.



Agentic commerce begins from a different premise. Instead of asking consumers to understand the retailer’s catalog and digital architecture, an AI agent starts by understanding their intent.



A shopper might say, “I need a foundation for my skin tone that will work in humid weather” or “Help me create a skincare routine for dryness and dark spots.” Fulfilling that request may require several capabilities: interpreting natural language, analyzing an image, assessing skin attributes, matching products, explaining the recommendations, and allowing the shopper to visualize the result.



An agent can coordinate functions on the consumer’s behalf. That is the fundamental change from assisted to agentic commerce. Search asks consumers to understand the catalog. Agentic commerce asks the system to understand the consumer.



THE SMARTEST AGENT WILL NOT WORK ALONE



There is an assumption that the future will belong to one universal AI assistant capable of answering every question and completing every task. I believe the more likely future is an ecosystem of agents with different areas of expertise.



Beauty is an unusually complex category. Accurately assessing skin concerns, identifying undertones, matching foundation shades, recommending compatible products, and creating a complete look require specialized models, data, and domain knowledge.



A retailer’s general shopping agent may recognize that a customer needs foundation, but not possess the specialized intelligence to evaluate her skin tone and recommend the right shade. Instead, it could connect with a beauty agent that performs the analysis and returns the appropriate recommendations.



Smart AI agents need to know which expert to ask.



This agent-to-agent model could become the connective tissue of digital commerce. Brands and retailers could have their agents call upon trusted domain agents whenever a customer’s request requires deeper expertise.



In beauty commerce, this could mean a specialized agent interpreting a consumer’s request, consulting the appropriate diagnostic, matching, and visualization capabilities, and returning a coherent recommendation. Real innovation is the orchestration of multiple forms of expertise around a single customer goal.



That distinction matters. For years, companies have added digital features one at a time. Even when each tool performs well, the overall experience can still feel fragmented because the consumer must understand when and how to use each one. Agentic commerce reverses that burden. The technology organizes itself around the customer’s objective.



DESIGN THE NEXT DECADE



As business leaders evaluate agentic commerce, the starting point should be asking what decision the customer is trying to make, and what expertise is required to help her make it.



Companies must also resist the temptation to build systems that appear to know everything but lack depth in the moments that matter. In specialized categories, trust will depend on domain intelligence, transparency, and the recommendation quality.



Ten years ago, we came to VivaTech to demonstrate what beauty technology could do. Since then, beauty tech has progressed from spectacle to utility and from utility to infrastructure.



The next decade will be about connection: technologies communicating with one another, specialized agents combining their expertise, and commerce experiences adapting dynamically to individual intent.



The future will belong to the AI agent that can assemble the right intelligence at the right moment and make the complexity behind that collaboration feel effortless to the customer.



Alice Chang is CEO and founder of Perfect Corp. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://images.fastcompany.com/image/upload/w_1280,q_auto,f_auto,fl_lossy/f_webp,q_auto,c_fit/wp-cms-2/2026/09/1-46.png" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Tue, 08 Sep 2026 14:00:08 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>What, expect:, Beauty, tech’s, next, decade</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Best Workplaces for Innovators 2026: Large category winners</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/best-workplaces-for-innovators-2026-large-category-winners</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/best-workplaces-for-innovators-2026-large-category-winners</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Six large companies (more than 1,000 employees) earned Best Workplaces for Innovators 2026 category winner status from Fast Company judges. 









Adobe, San Jose



Birdeye, Palo Alto



EPAM Systems, Newtown, PA



InterSystems, Boston



The RealReal, San Francisco



Scopely, Culver City, CA



 ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://images.fastcompany.com/image/upload/w_1280,q_auto,f_auto,fl_lossy/f_webp,q_auto,c_fit/wp-cms-2/2026/09/p-1-91590198-bwi-2026-large-companies.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Tue, 08 Sep 2026 14:00:08 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Best, Workplaces, for, Innovators, 2026:, Large, category, winners</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>The unfair dismissal changes you need to understand before January 2027</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/the-unfair-dismissal-changes-you-need-to-understand-before-january-2027</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/the-unfair-dismissal-changes-you-need-to-understand-before-january-2027</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ By Michaela Gartside on Small Business UK - Advice and Ideas for UK Small Businesses and SMEs
Learn more about the unfair dismissal rules that are being modified – and how you can avoid the employment tribunal
The post The unfair dismissal changes you need to understand before January 2027 appeared first on Small Business UK. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://smallbusiness-production-v2.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2026/09/729.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Tue, 08 Sep 2026 14:00:05 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>The, unfair, dismissal, changes, you, need, understand, before, January, 2027</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Jackdaw gas field approval expected in mid&#45;September, sources say</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/jackdaw-gas-field-approval-expected-in-mid-september-sources-say</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/jackdaw-gas-field-approval-expected-in-mid-september-sources-say</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ 
Ministers are expected to approve the Jackdaw gas field off Aberdeen in mid-September, according to government and industry sources. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://bmmagazine.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/jackdaw-768x432.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Sat, 05 Sep 2026 14:00:05 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Jackdaw, gas, field, approval, expected, mid-September, sources, say</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Nvidia to buy Hugging Face for $12.9bn in bet on open AI models</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/nvidia-to-buy-hugging-face-for-129bn-in-bet-on-open-ai-models</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/nvidia-to-buy-hugging-face-for-129bn-in-bet-on-open-ai-models</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ 
Nvidia Hugging Face deal: the chipmaker agrees to pay $12.93bn for the developer platform, with Jensen Huang pledging it will stay open to all AI models. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://bmmagazine.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/Jensen-Huang-768x432.jpeg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Sat, 05 Sep 2026 14:00:05 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Nvidia, buy, Hugging, Face, for, 12.9bn, bet, open, models</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>OpenAI releases Astra model and claims ‘new era’ of AGI has begun</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/openai-releases-astra-model-and-claims-new-era-of-agi-has-begun</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/openai-releases-astra-model-and-claims-new-era-of-agi-has-begun</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ 
OpenAI Astra launched on 3 September as president Greg Brockman said the world had entered the AGI era, days after Sam Altman called AGI a marketing term. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://bmmagazine.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/shutterstock_2690436653-768x433.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Sat, 05 Sep 2026 14:00:05 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>OpenAI, releases, Astra, model, and, claims, ‘new, era’, AGI, has, begun</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Uber launches London’s first self&#45;driving taxis with 15 Wayve cars</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/uber-launches-londons-first-self-driving-taxis-with-15-wayve-cars</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/uber-launches-londons-first-self-driving-taxis-with-15-wayve-cars</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ 
The first self-driving taxis London can hire are now on the Uber app, with 15 licensed Wayve cars and a human safety driver in each ready to take over. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://bmmagazine.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/Wayve-768x432.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Sat, 05 Sep 2026 14:00:05 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Uber, launches, London’s, first, self-driving, taxis, with, Wayve, cars</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>John Lewis launches YouTube chatshow to lift its AI search visibility</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/john-lewis-launches-youtube-chatshow-to-lift-its-ai-search-visibility</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/john-lewis-launches-youtube-chatshow-to-lift-its-ai-search-visibility</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ 
John Lewis is launching an Angela Scanlon-hosted YouTube chatshow and social studio to improve its AI search results as ChatGPT use among shoppers climbs. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://bmmagazine.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/Angela_Scanlan-768x432.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Sat, 05 Sep 2026 14:00:05 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>John, Lewis, launches, YouTube, chatshow, lift, its, search, visibility</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>AI compute provider Nscale is looking for $3.5B in pre&#45;IPO financing</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/ai-compute-provider-nscale-is-looking-for-35b-in-pre-ipo-financing</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/ai-compute-provider-nscale-is-looking-for-35b-in-pre-ipo-financing</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Nscale, which recently struck a $45 billion deal with Anthropic, is in talks to raise additional funds in anticipation of an upcoming IPO. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/GettyImages-2266843677.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Sat, 05 Sep 2026 14:00:03 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>compute, provider, Nscale, looking, for, 3.5B, pre-IPO, financing</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Judge blocks X rival from using Twitter name, but allows ‘Tweet’ for now</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/judge-blocks-x-rival-from-using-twitter-name-but-allows-tweet-for-now</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/judge-blocks-x-rival-from-using-twitter-name-but-allows-tweet-for-now</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ A federal judge temporarily barred an X rival from using the Twitter name, but found that X was likely to have abandoned the “Tweet” trademark and bird logo. The startup has since relaunched as Tweet.app. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/x-logo-impales-twitter-bird.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Sat, 05 Sep 2026 14:00:03 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Judge, blocks, rival, from, using, Twitter, name, but, allows, ‘Tweet’, for, now</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>What will Apple’s John Ternus era look like?</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/what-will-apples-john-ternus-era-look-like</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/what-will-apples-john-ternus-era-look-like</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ It’s officially the Ternus era at Apple.   Tim Cook stepped down as CEO this week, handing the company to former hardware chief John Ternus, whose first memo promised a “huge launch next week” — timing that puts Apple’s next iPhone event on his desk before he’s even settled in. Cook isn’t going far, though: he’s staying on as Executive Chairman, focused on the kind of policy […] ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/GettyImages-2287301688.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Sat, 05 Sep 2026 14:00:03 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>What, will, Apple’s, John, Ternus, era, look, like</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>XDOF, just three months out of stealth, is in talks for a Series B at a $1.2B valuation</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/xdof-just-three-months-out-of-stealth-is-in-talks-for-a-series-b-at-a-12b-valuation</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/xdof-just-three-months-out-of-stealth-is-in-talks-for-a-series-b-at-a-12b-valuation</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ The round is being raised just months after the robot data startup exited from stealth. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/DSC_2479.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Sat, 05 Sep 2026 14:00:02 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>XDOF, just, three, months, out, stealth, talks, for, Series, 1.2B, valuation</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>OpenAI’s rogue agents keep escaping, with no formal process to investigate them</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/openais-rogue-agents-keep-escaping-with-no-formal-process-to-investigate-them</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/openais-rogue-agents-keep-escaping-with-no-formal-process-to-investigate-them</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ OpenAI’s latest agent swarm incident adds urgency to calls for independent investigations as researchers and lawmakers question whether AI labs should control the scope of their own safety reviews. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/ai-agents-GettyImages-2229880232.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Sat, 05 Sep 2026 14:00:02 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>OpenAI’s, rogue, agents, keep, escaping, with, formal, process, investigate, them</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Your AI strategy has an employee problem</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/your-ai-strategy-has-an-employee-problem</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/your-ai-strategy-has-an-employee-problem</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Companies continue to invest billions in their AI transformations, while their workers struggle to use AI effectively. Gartner forecasts AI spending to grow to $2.59 trillion this year, an increase of 47% from 2025. As AI adoption increases, employees have grown more comfortable using the tools to take over their administrative responsibilities, so they have more time to do higher-impact work.



But even as AI is being used more, the actual business results are questionable. A recent study by Domino Data Lab found that the share of enterprises whose ROI fails to outpace their investment has held at 57% since 2025. While organizations understand the importance of equipping their workforces with AI tools, most still fail to manage and support their employees as they use them to generate real business outcomes like growing revenue, lowering operating costs, and enhancing their own productivity.



Employees’ AI confidence outpaces their business results



There’s a gap between employees’ confidence in using AI and an organization’s desired business outcome. WalkMe’s third installment of the AI at Work Pulse survey, which has tracked U.S. workers’ use of AI since 2024, found that while 90% of employees feel confident using AI, half said they’ve spent more time trying to get AI to do a task than the task itself would have taken manually.



The new expectations around work are largely driven by managers who expect AI to create more efficiency. More than half of employees surveyed reported that their manager expects more output in the same amount of time, and 33% say they have pretended to be more skilled at using AI than they are.



It’s not just that managers are pressuring employees to use AI to be more efficient; the entire job market is being driven by AI, which means those employees who have AI skills and can deliver on them will have better employment prospects.



Dice found that AI skills are now listed in 73% of tech job postings, and KPMG discovered that nearly half of companies are willing to pay a 11% to 15% salary premium for AI skills. Even more jaw-dropping is that a PwC survey of 1,000 financial services executives found that 86% believe AI skills training is more important than an MBA for many new hires. All this pressure to master AI has not only caused employees to make poor decisions around usage but also to suffer from burnout. 



Support employees to achieve desired business results



This AI confidence trap can be overcome by companies that put effort into building a digital adoption infrastructure, change management frameworks, or give contextual guidance to enable employees to effectively use AI. 



The WalkMe survey also found that more than half of employees feel their senior leaders are championing a company AI strategy that they don’t fully understand. Leaders are pushing AI onto their workforce without being proficient themselves, and that disconnect is only part of the problem. 



While managers might be tasked with the responsibility of supporting team AI use, they are caught in the same trap as their workers. The survey found that more than a quarter of managers have pretended to know how to use AI in a meeting or presentation.



Senior leaders reported having at least as much confidence as any other group surveyed, with 39% being guilty of championing, approving, or purchasing an AI tool they don’t even know how to use. These same leaders—more than 40% of them—have pretended to understand their company’s AI strategy while communicating to stakeholders such as employees, peers, and even board members.



If the people at the top of an organization don’t understand AI, how can they expect anyone else to? And they’re the ones making the purchasing decisions when it comes to what AI tool their workforce has to use daily.



So, instead of managers and executives taking the reins, the responsibility falls on IT and learning and development. They are both tasked with ensuring that AI is set up so it’s personalized for individual tasks and functions. Unfortunately, neither of those departments is resourced to solve this problem either. Nearly a quarter of employees have had no AI training at all, and 39% report getting conflicting messages about which tools they’re allowed to use. 



Instead of enrolling in more courses, employees desire guidance built into the tools, better integration with the software they’re already working in, and best practices on how someone in their role effectively uses AI. When AI was effective, the survey found that one-third said the reason was that there was guidance available on their screen while working.



While managers own the conversation about business outcomes, someone else has to own the conditions to make those outcomes possible. At most companies, no one has been assigned that responsibility yet.



Being fluent in AI is not enough



Just saying your employees have adopted AI in their workflow isn’t enough anymore. CIOs already have to defend their AI spend, but now they’ll have to explain the business impact of it with hard data. This is why companies need to start uncovering where AI slows down performance and build in support—whether guidance or automation—to empower employees to utilize AI capabilities in ways that drive business outcomes. There is no greater feedback from employees than their lived behavior. It’s not enough to ask people how they feel about the AI tools at their disposal.



Most organizations have deployed AI, but many have failed to link employee use to ROI. It’s not about having the most AI tools or the biggest investment, but rather the right strategy and support system in place. 



Start by measuring how AI is being used by individuals and teams to see where work breaks down or efficiencies are discovered. Then, build the guidance and context into the tools instead of relying on separate training programs. And finally, continue to solicit feedback from managers on how they are engaging with their workers on AI outcomes.



 ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Fri, 04 Sep 2026 14:00:05 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Your, strategy, has, employee, problem</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>Oura IPO: Smart ring maker is planning a Nasdaq stock listing. See what’s in the SEC filing</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/oura-ipo-smart-ring-maker-is-planning-a-nasdaq-stock-listing-see-whats-in-the-sec-filing</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/oura-ipo-smart-ring-maker-is-planning-a-nasdaq-stock-listing-see-whats-in-the-sec-filing</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ When it comes to tech IPOs, big names have dominated the headlines in 2026. First, it was Elon Musk’s SpaceX in June. Anthropic’s highly anticipated public offering is expected to occur this fall. And either late this year or early next, ChatGPT maker OpenAI is expected to make its market debut.



But now, a much smaller tech company has announced plans to go public. Oura, Inc, the maker behind the popular line of Oura smart rings, has filed registration papers with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for a proposed initial public offering. 



Here’s what you need to know about Oura’s IPO.



What is Oura?



Oura is a manufacturer of smart rings and arguably has the strongest brand recognition in that category of wearables. The company was founded in Finland in 2013. It is now headquartered in San Francisco.



The company’s primary product is the Oura smart ring, which it currently sells in two distinct models: the Oura Ring 5 and the Oura Ring 4. 



The rings feature optical sensors that measure biometric data about the user, including heart rate, sleep patterns, calorie burn, and more. The latest Ring 5 series currently starts at $399.



While the company’s primary product is hardware, its revenue stream also includes software subscription services. Owners of the Oura Ring can get more advanced information about their health by subscribing to the company’s Oura Membership, which costs $5.99 a month or $69.99 a year.



According to the company’s SEC filing, Oura now has 5 million paid subscribers. In the nine months ended June 30, 2026, it generated $240.5 million in membership revenue, on top of nearly $944 million from hardware sales. 



Is Oura profitable?



When comparing its first three quarters of 2026 with the first three of 2025, Oura says it has achieved 74% year-over-year revenue growth.



The company also says that it recently became profitable and had a net income of $60.8 million for the nine-month period through June 30. However, it notes that it has a “history of operating losses.”



Ring-style wearables are increasingly popular with health-conscious consumers who want a piece of tech that can track their biometrics but comes in a smaller form factor and offers longer battery life than current smartwatches.



When is Oura’s IPO?



Oura’s filing only revealed its intent to go public. It did not say when its IPO would actually be. However, it’s reasonable to expect that Oura’s public offering could take place by the end of the month.



What is Oura’s stock ticker?



Oura says it intends to trade its shares under the stock ticker “OURA.” It has applied to list its shares on the Nasdaq Global Select Market.



What is the IPO share price of OURA?



Oura’s IPO share price is unknown at this time. In a release announcing its intention to go public, Oura stated, “The number of shares to be offered and the price range for the proposed offering have not yet been determined.”



How much will Oura raise in its IPO?



Oura may be looking to raise as much as $3 billion in its IPO, according to Bloomberg. However, the ultimate amount raised will depend on the company’s IPO share price and the number of shares it decides to sell. Those will likely not be determined until after the company’s roadshow is completed.



How much is Oura worth?



Last October, the Wall Street Journal said Oura was worth $11 billion. Bloomberg says that after its IPO, the company could be worth as much as $16 billion. ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Fri, 04 Sep 2026 14:00:05 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Oura, IPO:, Smart, ring, maker, planning, Nasdaq, stock, listing., See, what’s, the, SEC, filing</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>Lululemon stock collapses: Soft sales in China reveal negative impact of viral drum controversy</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/lululemon-stock-collapses-soft-sales-in-china-reveal-negative-impact-of-viral-drum-controversy</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/lululemon-stock-collapses-soft-sales-in-china-reveal-negative-impact-of-viral-drum-controversy</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Shares of Lululemon Athletica (Nasdaq: LULU) are down more than 20% in premarket trading on Friday. 



The plunge follows a disappointing second quarter earnings report, released by the Canadian apparel company on Thursday. 



Lululemon’s revenue fell 4% year-over-year (YOY) to $2.4 billion. It failed to meet the company’s predicted 2% to 3% decline, “with the shortfall driven predominantly by China Mainland,” Lululemon interim CEO Meghan Frank said in a post-earnings call. 



China saw a 4% growth YOY—though a 2% decline when looking at constant dollars—but failed to meet the retailer’s expectations. Meanwhile, revenue fell 8% YOY in the U.S., though the figure was still better than the company’s prediction. 



Downbeat



As for China, all it takes is looking at quarter one’s growth to see how bad 4% is. Last quarter, Lululemon had a 30% jump YOY in China’s revenue, holding at 23% in constant dollars.



Then, less than a month after quarter two began, Lululemon made a very public fumble. 



On May 30, the company hosted a yoga festival on the Great Wall of China. The event’s 2,000 guests were welcomed to what was supposed to be a celebration of Chinese culture. That celebration featured a drum circle with Chinese actor Zhu Yilong. 



The only problem? The drums were actually Japanese taiko. 



The actor posted a photo of himself on Weibo—a popular Chinese social media platform. The drum and Lululemon’s logo were both visible. It didn’t take long until social media users noticed the mistake, with discussions reaching 50 million viewers. 



Lululemon scrubbed media from the festival and apologized: “We attach great importance to the feedback from the society,” the company posted to its Weibo account. “Due to lack of professional knowledge, we failed to fully identify potential disputes early and have fully recognized that we ought to have planned and reviewed the percussion performance with more caution and thoroughness.”



But, as Frank indicated on Thursday’s earnings call, the damage was done. 



“As we moved into quarter two, we faced negative commentary in the media and social channels, which impacted traffic, and softer-than-planned response to some new product launches, which contributed to a moderating sales trend,” Frank said on the call. 



Beginning a new chapter



Lululemon now expects $10.35 billion to $10.50 billion in revenue for 2026, a drop of 5% to 7% YOY. This is a significant change from last quarter’s prediction of $11.00 billion to $11.15 billion and a decline of only 1% to 0%. 



Notably, Lululemon starts a new chapter next week. 



On September 8, Heidi O’Neill will take over as CEO. O’Neill spent 26 years at Nike, supporting its growth from a $9 billion business to a $45 billion one. She was laid off from Nike last year when CEO Elliott Hill eliminated her role. 



Even before Thursday’s earnings report, Lululemon’s stock price was down more than 42% this year. When markets open on Friday, it is on track to hit a 52-week low of under $97 a share, less than half of what it was in January.



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<pubDate>Fri, 04 Sep 2026 14:00:05 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Lululemon, stock, collapses:, Soft, sales, China, reveal, negative, impact, viral, drum, controversy</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>Colleges are offering bachelor’s degrees in AI. Students are skeptical</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/colleges-are-offering-bachelors-degrees-in-ai-students-are-skeptical</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/colleges-are-offering-bachelors-degrees-in-ai-students-are-skeptical</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Landing an entry-level job is difficult enough. It becomes even harder when you’re competing against technology that can take on an ever-growing range of tasks—without ever drawing a paycheck.



For recent college graduates, the repercussions are already hitting. 



Tasks that once helped them get their foot in the door are increasingly being automated by tools such as ChatGPT. Even coding, long treated as a ticket into tech, no longer guarantees a way in.



According to data from the New York Federal Reserve, the unemployment rate for recent graduates has remained higher than the rate for the overall workforce: 5.7% in June versus 4.1%.



As a recent grad myself, I couldn’t help but notice yet another question creeping into job applications and interviews: “How do you integrate AI into your work?” 



It can feel like a double-edged sword. Use it too much and you risk seeming lazy; avoid it entirely and you risk seeming out of touch. It’s a toss-up what answer employers are hoping to hear. But one thing seems certain: AI is increasingly difficult to avoid in today’s job market.



And universities are responding.



Beginning in fall 2027, Syracuse University’s School of Information Studies (iSchool) will launch a bachelor’s degree in integrative artificial intelligence, joining a wave of schools that are adding AI-focused areas of study in an effort to prepare students for an increasingly technology-driven workforce.



As of June, Northeastern University’s Center for Inclusive Computing had identified at least 74 AI majors and 89 minors at American colleges, ranging from Ivy League institutions like Columbia and Cornell to regional public universities like North Dakota State.



Jeff Rubin, Syracuse University’s senior vice president and chief digital officer, says the initiative has taken on new urgency as AI raises expectations for workers. 



“The eight-hour workday is going to get reset,” he says. Students who graduate without knowing how to apply the technology in their field, Rubin argues, risk being “less valuable to an organization.”



Inside Syracuse’s New AI Degree



According to faculty members, the Syracuse program is meant to go beyond technical proficiency.



Julie Hasenwinkel, Syracuse University’s associate provost for academic programs, says the major focuses on “developing critical thinking skills around AI”—not only how to use it, but “why do you use it, where are its limitations, and where should we not use it?”



That distinction could become especially important as automation takes on more of the work traditionally assigned to junior employees. If some entry-level tasks disappear, Hasenwinkel argues, graduates may need to arrive prepared to operate at what was once the next rung of the ladder.



To bring value to employers, she says, graduates will need an understanding of “systems and technology and the intersection between the two.”



The degree is built around a larger idea: AI education shouldn’t be confined to a single discipline.



Jaime Banks, an iSchool professor who served on the committee that developed the program’s curriculum, describes it as a response both to growing student and faculty interest and to the university’s responsibility to equip students with relevant skills as society evolves.



“The degree really is a manifestation of SU’s commitment to a multidisciplinary approach,” she says, adding that technology “doesn’t exist in a vacuum” and “is not monolithic.” 



Instead, the program brings together faculty from different fields, with the expectation that these skills will translate across a wide range of industries and contexts.



That breadth is partly intentional. It also reflects a reality universities cannot easily plan for: a job market changing faster than they can predict. 



When Syracuse designed the program, Banks says, the goal was to prepare graduates for roles across a wide range of industries rather than train them for a single occupation. 



“[It’s] a four-year experiment in some ways to see who comes into this program and what kinds of jobs there are,” she says. Where graduates ultimately land will also depend on what they choose to pursue, Banks adds.



For universities betting heavily on this kind of education, that may be the central challenge: preparing students for a labor market that could look very different four years from now.



“I don’t think it’s up to [the university] to actually have a crystal ball to say, here are the demands,” says Bei Yu, a professor at iSchool and director of the integrative artificial intelligence program. “I think it’s being collectively invented by all of us.”



Can a 4-Year Degree Keep Up With AI?



A four-year AI curriculum risks aging faster than students can complete it. 



Yu sees that race against obsolescence in her own research. 



“We are all having this question in the back of our minds,” she says. A paper she publishes could be “outdated in six months or even sooner than that.”



Rubin, the Syracuse senior VP, points to a similar tension inside universities.



“Curriculum governance moves at a slower pace than perhaps corporate innovation,” he says, but argues that the degree was designed with “agility in mind.” Still, he argues that the fundamentals have a longer shelf life than the tools themselves, allowing the degree to adapt without being rebuilt from scratch.



The committee designing the degree wrestled with the same question. 



Banks says the issue came up “maybe on a weekly basis.” To account for that, the program will have an expert board regularly reviewing courses for their timeliness and appropriateness, with the expectation that the curriculum will continue changing alongside the technology.



“And so as the field shifts, we will be reviewing the program to ensure that the content stays up to date,” Banks says. 



The clock, however, moves quickly. New topics can emerge from one semester to the next, Yu adds.



Some Students Aren’t Entirely Convinced



Having recently graduated from Syracuse, I heard frustration over the new program ripple through conversations with friends and former classmates. 



To gauge whether those concerns extended to the broader student body, I conducted an informal survey of 33 current Syracuse students. Several respondents asked not to be identified, expressing discomfort with criticizing a program at their home university. They were granted anonymity to speak candidly. 



More than half said they were concerned or somewhat concerned about AI’s impact on their future careers. Not one said they would consider pursuing the university’s new degree.



The responses ranged from uneasy to openly hostile.



“I found it almost comical at first, then quickly felt that this was a negative indicator for my future,” one student wrote.



Another was more blunt: “Physically nauseous, consumed by dystopia. The normalization and encouragement of AI use is dumbing us down.”



That skepticism becomes more pointed when paired with frustration over programs students say have been cut or reduced elsewhere at the university, particularly in the humanities and fine arts, where majors including classics, ceramics, painting, and sculpture are being eliminated or folded into broader programs.



For some, the launch of the degree feels less like preparation for the future than a sign of what Syracuse is choosing to prioritize.



Some respondents questioned whether the skills taught in the program require a full undergraduate degree, arguing that much of the material could be learned independently online. One student went further as to describe the degree as something that could be replaced by “a quick YouTube search.” 



“I think it’s just furthering a problem rather than trying to solve it in a way that makes sense,” said Ken, a rising sophomore in the College of Visual and Performing Arts who asked that his last name not be used, referring to what he sees as an overreliance on artificial intelligence, with both environmental costs and creative implications. 



The New Degree Arrives Amid a Period of Upheaval



With the university facing enrollment dips and missed undergraduate targets, some students find the timing of the AI degree difficult to ignore.



To them, the overlap does not feel coincidental. They see Syracuse’s push into the field as an attempt to attract prospective students by leaning into a technology already dominating headlines, search results, and social feeds. 



One student called it an “obvious attempt to follow a trend and drum up attention.” Another reduced the criticism to two words: “Trend chaser.”



However, Syracuse officials describe the program as the result of a more deliberate process. Banks says the university was actually slower than many of its peers to introduce an AI-focused program.



“We didn’t want to react to the hype,” she says. Instead, she says, university leaders wanted to bring together faculty and administrators to build programs that would be “future proof” and useful beyond the current boom.



Broader concerns about artificial intelligence, Banks says, had already surfaced in student feedback gathered by the university.



“When we surveyed our students, a lot of them were concerned about the role of AI in society,” Banks says. Her hope is not necessarily to turn students into enthusiastic adopters, but to give them more agency over how the technology develops.



“How can they work to shape the integration of AI in society in a way that they feel is appropriate and ethical?” she asks. “They’re the ones who are going to have to live in the next generation of whatever this looks like.”



For some students, skepticism and resignation sit side by side.



Ken sees the shift as increasingly difficult to resist. While he feels uneasy about the technology becoming a standard job requirement, he is coming to see it as inevitable. “I don’t want that to happen,” he says. “But at the same time, I have this feeling that it’s going to.”



“I understand the appeal,” one student says. “I think AI is an emerging field that is worth a lot of money and it makes sense that Syracuse would jump on the bandwagon. It isn’t going anywhere, and if people can’t learn to embrace it they are going to eventually fall behind.”  



The debate extends far beyond Syracuse. As universities race to introduce AI degrees, some academics have questioned whether these new proposals represent meaningful investments in students or attempts to repackage existing courses around a more marketable name. 



The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, for instance, has chosen not to offer a stand-alone AI degree; its chancellor has questioned whether such programs reflect academic substance rather than a desire to remain competitive.



Administrators at the University of North Dakota say they wrestled with similar doubts before deciding that a curriculum focused on this technology could better prepare graduates for the workforce.



For universities, the trade-off is a hard one to weigh. Waiting could leave them trailing their competitors, while moving too quickly could mean investing in degrees whose long-term value to students remains uncertain.



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<pubDate>Fri, 04 Sep 2026 14:00:05 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Colleges, are, offering, bachelor’s, degrees, AI., Students, are, skeptical</media:keywords>
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<title>26 cultural values companies get wrong</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/26-cultural-values-companies-get-wrong</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/26-cultural-values-companies-get-wrong</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Organizational culture is often defined by its values, or lack thereof. Values are a key ingredient in “what’s it like to work here” that potential hires try to discover before signing on. It’s also what causes current employees, clients, or customers to stay or leave. 



Values often get defined in mission statements or corporate branding. But stating what they are doesn’t always make them so. We asked members of the Fast Company Impact Council what’s a cultural value they think most companies get wrong. Here’s what came to mind for 26 of those members.



1. ORIGINALITY



Most companies get originality wrong: They confuse relevance with resemblance, assuming brands and products should look, sound, or behave “a certain way.” In established categories, teams often, consciously or unconsciously, copy successful competitors until their own brand becomes interchangeable. In my experience, the antidote is thoughtful and disciplined questioning: “What can we credibly contribute that others cannot?” and “What non-consensus belief do we hold about this category?” Let those answers guide decisions and keep originality from being diluted by category conventions. — Erik Herrström, STUDIO HERRSTRÖM



2. EXCELLENCE AND EMPATHY



Too many organizations treat excellence and empathy as competing priorities. They aren’t. At the nonprofit I lead, we believe high performance is built on what we call “gracious professionalism.” It’s the idea that respect and kindness are not at odds with excellence. They make excellence possible. When people feel valued and empowered to share ideas, they become better problem-solvers and stronger collaborators. That culture doesn’t just produce better outcomes. It makes success more meaningful. We strive to instill these same values in the young people we serve so they carry gracious professionalism with them throughout their lives and careers. — Chris Moore, FIRST



3. COMMUNITY-ENGAGEMENT



Companies that treat community engagement as a one-way ask (e.g., give money, give time, lend expertise) tend to burn out the donors, volunteers, and partners they depend on. The stronger model runs both ways. If a company is asking a community to trust it with volunteers or funding, it should offer something durable back: training, mentorship, or a real seat in decision-making. Reciprocity builds partnership that a check alone cannot buy. Companies that only ask eventually run out of people willing to say yes. — Kellie Lauth, MindSpark



4. INNOVATION



I think a lot of companies get innovation wrong. They treat it as a department, a campaign, or a technology investment, when really it is a behavior. Innovation is not just about moving fast or adopting the latest tool. It is about creating a culture where people are allowed to question the old way, test new ideas, and learn without fear of looking unfinished. For me, the companies that get it right don’t just talk about innovation. They make space for curiosity, trust, and intelligent risk-taking. That is where meaningful creative work happens. — Virtyt Pula, TOML Collective



5. TRANSPARENCY



Most organizations say they value it. Few actually practice it. The difference becomes clear when being transparent is uncomfortable. Real transparency isn’t the well-crafted, all-hands update or the carefully worded memo. It’s what happens when the honest answer is harder than the polished one. That’s when most companies retreat into messaging. Organizations that get it right treat transparency as a cultural commitment, not a tool to be deployed selectively. When people trust that they’re getting the full picture, even when it’s hard, engagement goes up, trust compounds, and performance follows. — Meredith Rosenberg, NU Advisory Partners



6. A SENSE OF BELONGING



Here’s one way we’re tackling it: Our firm has always been dedicated to community outreach. We believed we were doing our part. But over time it became clear that our giving wasn’t reaching far enough into the communities where we live and work. Nor were we giving everyone at the firm a chance to participate. Our day of giving program invites our employees to step away from work and spend a (paid) day helping out our neighbors. These shared experiences build a sense of community and belonging, both inside and outside our organization. It makes us more engaged neighbors, more supportive teammates, and a better company. — Mitch Smith, MG2



7. STEWARDSHIP



Many organizations undervalue stewardship. They reward growth, disruption, and visible wins, but pay less attention to whether leaders leave the brand, institution, team, and trust stronger than they found them. Stewardship recognizes that leadership is temporary, consequences outlast tenure, and not every valuable outcome can be measured in the next quarter. The real test is not simply whether you won, but whether you improved what was entrusted to you. — R. Ethan Braden, Texas A&amp;M University



8. CULTURAL FIT IN HIRING



Companies hire for “cultural fit” when they should be hiring culture builders. “Fit” really means conformity. Hire people who add to your culture, challenge how you think, and bring different perspectives, including lived experience that may be missing from your team. If no one on your team shares your users’ experiences, you’re designing on assumptions. Proximity to the communities you’re serving changes what you build, the language you use, and the problems you notice. The best products are built “for us, by us.” — Nathan Friedman, Understood.org



9. LEARNING AND TRANSPARENCY



Most companies say they value learning but don’t give people room to experiment, fail, and improve. They over-index on immediate results at the expense of long-term capability. In the age of artificial intelligence, learning agility will be a critical driver of productivity and competitive advantage. Companies think transparency means sharing everything. Think of parenting: Good parents are open with their kids but don’t share every financial worry if it will create anxiety or paralysis. Organizations are the same. Share what helps people connect the dots and do their jobs better, not information that distracts them. — Tami Rosen, various organizations



10. ACCOUNTABILITY



Accountability is one that is easy to say and harder to live well. It often slips into finding fault, when really, it’s about creating a space where people feel comfortable owning their commitments and flagging concerns early. The teams I have seen thrive are the ones where raising a problem while it’s still small is welcomed rather than penalized. When people trust that honesty won’t count against them, they tend to speak up sooner, and that makes everyone stronger. — Denas Grybauskas, Oxylabs



11. PEOPLE FIRST



“People first” is a core value that many companies get wrong, not because they aren’t mindful of the people they serve, but because they are often prioritized in the wrong order. In healthcare when we say “people first,” we always start with our members, including their experience and health outcomes. Next come clients, the employers and health plans who pay for the care. Then our own employees, who deliver the care, followed by the communities our teams live in—giving back matters. Finally, investors. And I truly believe that if we take care of the first four audiences, the last one takes care of itself through the great returns we generate. — Glen Tullman, Transcarent



12. PURPOSE



Most companies don’t lack purpose. They lack a structured mechanism to live it. It shows up in the values deck and the sustainability report, but not in how day-to-day decisions are made, how capital is allocated, or which trade-offs get made under pressure. Purpose that only shows up in communications isn’t a cultural value—it’s a marketing line. Companies that get this right treat purpose as a filter for hard decisions, not a narrative for easy ones. That’s a harder discipline, and a rarer one. — Michele Walsh, UNICEF USA



13. MOVING FAST



Speed is a competitive advantage, but that doesn’t mean cutting corners. For us, moving fast demands more discipline, not less, because we’re solving problems with real-world consequences. A renter who qualifies for an affordable unit but can’t get an answer to their questions, or a resident hit with late fees because their card expired and nobody caught it in time, doesn’t have the luxury of waiting for a slow fix. Shipping fast only works if we’re just as disciplined about listening to feedback afterward, because that’s how we actually learn, improve, and provide value over time. — Minna Song, EliseAI



14. COLLABORATION



Nearly all organizations champion the idea of collaboration. Far fewer actually live it. To be a great culture, you must be collaborative. But many companies struggle to take it from something on a poster to a value they truly live each day. Collaboration doesn’t just come to life because leaders believe in it as an abstract concept, or because a lot of employees feel like collaborative people. It comes to life when organizations build structures, systems, and processes that institutionalize co-creation as a way of working and hold teams accountable for truly living the value. — Maril Gagen MacDonald, Gagen MacDonald



15. WORK HARD ALL DAY LONG



Myth: Everyone should be working hard all day long. First, it’s impossible. We aren’t machines. Second, it can be counterproductive. I prefer that everyone work when they’re feeling good, when they have a positive attitude about the work, and when they can find something to enjoy about the task at hand. We’re more successful and productive that way. Our orientation to the work is more important than our willingness to struggle. And if you can’t find a positive orientation to the work, it’s probably not the right work for you. — Lindsey Witmer Collins, WLCM App Studio



16. INNOVATION TALENT



Many companies say they value innovation, then organize themselves in ways that limit it— treating a program, a lab, or a team with “innovation” in the title as the only place it’s allowed to happen. Dedicated innovation talent is genuinely valuable, but its job should be raising the capability of the whole organization rather than containing it to one department. That takes more than permission. Agency without tools is just an invitation to be frustrated. Meanwhile, artificial intelligence is rapidly lowering the cost of testing an idea for the person closest to the problem. Innovation becomes cultural when it’s continuous rather than scheduled. — Patrick Frend, Delve



17. CURIOSITY



Too many companies say they value expertise when what they really reward is certainty. The best cultures make room for people to keep asking questions, challenge assumptions, and admit when the obvious answer may not be the whole answer. — Gail Zauder, AbleFly Inc



18. CREATIVITY



Everyone is creative. Yet sometimes, companies define “creativity” and its place in an organization’s culture too narrowly. In some firms, associates are sorted into teams of “creatives”—creative directors, designers, copywriters, and developers—and “non-creatives”—project managers, analysts, and salespeople. Whether done consciously or not, this filtering limits what individuals may feel comfortable contributing and, potentially, the overall creative ambition of a project. To truly unlock creativity, it cannot be treated as the domain of a select few. It must be actively nurtured across teams as a collaborative, shared capacity. — Maurice Twomey, Roto Group, LLC



19. PHILANTHROPY



I believe philanthropy and giving back are values that many companies don’t prioritize. Of course, it is commendable to give back to those less fortunate. However, many companies don’t grasp how building a culture of philanthropy helps with recruiting top talent, retaining customers, and capturing new lines of business. People want to work with companies that value humanity as much as their profit and loss statements. — Ed Mitzen, Business For Good Foundation



20. TEAM AS “A FAMILY”



One cultural value that companies get wrong is treating their team as “a family.” Have you met some people’s families? If you don’t think there’s anything wrong with it, I’m willing to bet there’s a Slack channel somewhere dedicated to your lack of self-awareness. We should think of our teams as an ecosystem—interconnected but with unique functions and strengths. When one element is missing, the ecosystem can be out of balance, and other elements may begin to over- or underperform. Company culture isn’t built on forced familial bonds. It’s built on mutual respect, interdependence, and shared purpose. — Edgar Villanueva, Decolonizing Wealth Project



21. THE POWER OF CULTURE



One of the biggest missed opportunities for many companies is failing to recognize the power of culture and its impact on the brand. Employees shape the brand every day through their interactions, decisions, and behaviors. When organizations fail to align culture with their values, they miss opportunities to strengthen customer relationships, stand out in the marketplace, and bring their brand promise to life. Companies that empower employees around a shared culture gain a competitive advantage through higher engagement, stronger customer loyalty, and a more authentic reputation. — Chris K Bailey, Bailey Brand Consulting



22. INCLUSION



The cultural value most companies get wrong is inclusion. Visible representation matters, but too often organizations stop at who is in the room—or expect everyone in it to think and behave the same way. In multidisciplinary work, the strongest outcomes come from differences in cognition, communication, lived experience, and problem-solving. Diversity creates value only when those perspectives are heard, tested, and allowed to influence the outcome. — Susan Watts, SPACECRAFT



23. MISSION



Most companies treat it as a marketing line printed on a wall. We treat it as a filter. When Trust &amp; Will became a public benefit corporation, we committed to weighing every product, hiring, and partnership decision against our stated purpose. If a value isn’t governing decisions no one sees, it’s just decoration. That’s the difference between a mission statement and a mission. — Cody Barbo, Trust &amp; Will



24. KINDNESS



We often confuse kind and nice. Being nice—agreeing, softening feedback, or avoiding conflict—preserves comfort. Being kind serves people and the mission: sharing hard truths respectfully, setting expectations clearly, and making hard decisions fairly. Niceness seeks approval now. Kindness builds trust over time and helps all grow. Be kind! — Hala Hanna, MIT Solve



25. HUSTLE CULTURE



You can still operate in a fast-moving, highly competitive market without treating burnout as the default. I compete in Ironman competitions, and a crucial lesson in endurance racing is pacing and how important rest is. All-in, full-out shouldn’t be the baseline. — Eric Simons, Bolt.new



26. SOCIAL IMPACT



For companies of any size, I believe they can engage their staff even more as sources of social impact and community good. Companies can implement a match program for employee donations, host a challenge where staff can collegially compete for the company to donate to their cause of choice, or provide dedicated paid time off for volunteer service. Empowering your employees as a collective force for good and enabling them to direct your company’s impact can be a massive boon to organizational culture. — Jaymes Black, The Trevor Project ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Fri, 04 Sep 2026 14:00:05 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>cultural, values, companies, get, wrong</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>Do I need freelancer insurance? A full guide</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/do-i-need-freelancer-insurance-a-full-guide</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/do-i-need-freelancer-insurance-a-full-guide</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ By Anna Jordan on Small Business UK - Advice and Ideas for UK Small Businesses and SMEs
Oh, where to start with freelancer insurance. We&#039;ve done our best to guide you through why you need it, what types you need, plus extra tips
The post Do I need freelancer insurance? A full guide appeared first on Small Business UK. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://smallbusiness-production-v2.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2025/08/GettyImages-875247422.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Fri, 04 Sep 2026 14:00:04 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>need, freelancer, insurance, full, guide</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>How Vacuum Seal Packaging Supports Safer Storage for Dry and Sensitive Products</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/how-vacuum-seal-packaging-supports-safer-storage-for-dry-and-sensitive-products</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/how-vacuum-seal-packaging-supports-safer-storage-for-dry-and-sensitive-products</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ 
How Vacuum Seal Packaging Supports Safer Storage for Dry and Sensitive Products ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://bmmagazine.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/shutterstock_2252230777-1-768x433.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Tue, 01 Sep 2026 14:00:06 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>How, Vacuum, Seal, Packaging, Supports, Safer, Storage, for, Dry, and, Sensitive, Products</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Octopus Energy buys Danish startup BD Energy to bolster automated power trading</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/octopus-energy-buys-danish-startup-bd-energy-to-bolster-automated-power-trading</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/octopus-energy-buys-danish-startup-bd-energy-to-bolster-automated-power-trading</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ 
The Octopus Energy acquisition of Danish startup BD Energy hands its power trading arm a 31-strong team whose algorithms execute around 99 per cent of trades across 15 countries. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://bmmagazine.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/shutterstock_2520190215-768x433.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Tue, 01 Sep 2026 14:00:06 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Octopus, Energy, buys, Danish, startup, Energy, bolster, automated, power, trading</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Aldi accused of desperation after attack on supermarket loyalty schemes</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/aldi-accused-of-desperation-after-attack-on-supermarket-loyalty-schemes</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/aldi-accused-of-desperation-after-attack-on-supermarket-loyalty-schemes</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ 
Aldi has been accused of desperation after its attack on supermarket loyalty schemes, with industry data showing the discounter&#039;s sales growth falling well behind Lidl, M&amp;S and the established chains. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://bmmagazine.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/shutterstock_2720284335-768x432.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Tue, 01 Sep 2026 14:00:06 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Aldi, accused, desperation, after, attack, supermarket, loyalty, schemes</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>Mike Lynch’s estate wins right to challenge £920m HP fraud ruling</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/mike-lynchs-estate-wins-right-to-challenge-920m-hp-fraud-ruling</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/mike-lynchs-estate-wins-right-to-challenge-920m-hp-fraud-ruling</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ 
The Mike Lynch appeal will go ahead after the Court of Appeal gave the late tech entrepreneur&#039;s estate permission to challenge the £920m fraud award to Hewlett Packard on four grounds, in a decision that could reduce a payment currently set to wipe out his estate. ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Tue, 01 Sep 2026 14:00:06 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Mike, Lynch’s, estate, wins, right, challenge, £920m, fraud, ruling</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Amazon accused of rigging ad auctions as FTC and 22 states allege $20bn overcharge</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/amazon-accused-of-rigging-ad-auctions-as-ftc-and-22-states-allege-20bn-overcharge</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/amazon-accused-of-rigging-ad-auctions-as-ftc-and-22-states-allege-20bn-overcharge</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ 
An Amazon advertising lawsuit filed by the FTC and 22 US states alleges the company manipulated its ad auctions to overcharge more than a million advertising customers by an estimated $20bn since 2019, claims Amazon dismisses as misguided. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://bmmagazine.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/shutterstock_2511763199-768x512.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Tue, 01 Sep 2026 14:00:06 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Amazon, accused, rigging, auctions, FTC, and, states, allege, 20bn, overcharge</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Magna increases bet on battery swapping in India with $35M for Yuma</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/magna-increases-bet-on-battery-swapping-in-india-with-35m-for-yuma</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/magna-increases-bet-on-battery-swapping-in-india-with-35m-for-yuma</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Magna&#039;s investment in Yuma Energy has reached $87 million as the Canadian auto supplier increases its majority stake in the Indian battery-swapping firm. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/yuma-energy.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Tue, 01 Sep 2026 14:00:04 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Magna, increases, bet, battery, swapping, India, with, 35M, for, Yuma</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Lachy Groom backs Indian startup aiming to keep aircraft aloft for a year</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/lachy-groom-backs-indian-startup-aiming-to-keep-aircraft-aloft-for-a-year</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/lachy-groom-backs-indian-startup-aiming-to-keep-aircraft-aloft-for-a-year</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Founded by a 20-year-old, Alteon is developing autonomous aircraft that hopes to harvest wind energy to stay aloft for several months. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/alteon-airplane.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Tue, 01 Sep 2026 14:00:04 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Lachy, Groom, backs, Indian, startup, aiming, keep, aircraft, aloft, for, year</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Apple shares ‘shocking evidence’ against former employee accused of stealing company data for OpenAI</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/apple-shares-shocking-evidence-against-former-employee-accused-of-stealing-company-data-for-openai</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/apple-shares-shocking-evidence-against-former-employee-accused-of-stealing-company-data-for-openai</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Apple says it has evidence that a former employee destroyed evidence of data theft after learning he was under investigation. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/GettyImages-2255009714.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Tue, 01 Sep 2026 14:00:04 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Apple, shares, ‘shocking, evidence’, against, former, employee, accused, stealing, company, data, for, OpenAI</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>India’s Unacademy sells to rival upGrad for $206M, about 94% less than its peak valuation</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/indias-unacademy-sells-to-rival-upgrad-for-206m-about-94-less-than-its-peak-valuation</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/indias-unacademy-sells-to-rival-upgrad-for-206m-about-94-less-than-its-peak-valuation</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ &quot;We raised at a peak, but sold at a fraction of that,&quot; Unacademy co-founder and CEO Gaurav Munjal wrote. &quot;I&#039;m not going to dress these facts up.&quot; ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Unacademy.jpeg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Tue, 01 Sep 2026 14:00:03 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>India’s, Unacademy, sells, rival, upGrad, for, 206M, about, 94, less, than, its, peak, valuation</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>If space data centers feel far&#45;fetched, why not interstellar travel?</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/if-space-data-centers-feel-far-fetched-why-not-interstellar-travel</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/if-space-data-centers-feel-far-fetched-why-not-interstellar-travel</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ The team behind Starcloud&#039;s orbital data centers has a new high-risk space project: Sending a probe to Alpha Centauri. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/Philip_AC_vertical-e1788214270919.jpeg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Tue, 01 Sep 2026 14:00:03 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>space, data, centers, feel, far-fetched, why, not, interstellar, travel</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Target courts millennial women with Delia’s collection—a blast from the era of 1990s catalogs</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/target-courts-millennial-women-with-delias-collectiona-blast-from-the-era-of-1990s-catalogs</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/target-courts-millennial-women-with-delias-collectiona-blast-from-the-era-of-1990s-catalogs</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Target Corporation is big time baiting millennial women with a new clothing drop. 



The latest brand to hit the chain’s rack is none other than the once-famous Delia’s, a 1990s and 2000s clothing company designed for teens and young women, which went out of business in 2014. 



Now that it seems to have resurrected itself at Target stores, the original Delia’s fan girls are filing in.



If you’re a millennial woman, then you are almost certainly familiar with the Delia’s brand. If not, it was a mega-popular clothing company that started in catalog form in 1993 before branching out to physical stores in 1999. 



If you didn’t live in an area that had a Delia’s, or you came of age before the stores popped up in shopping malls, then you likely ordered the old-fashioned way: from the catalog—like an OG.



Catalog dreams



Catalog ordering seems like an ancient and inefficient way to shop these days, but back in the 1900s, it was kind of a vibe. 



Teen girls of the era spent hours circling their favorite trendy checkered pants, butterfly hair clips, whimsical t-shirts, and babydoll dresses, then dutifully calling their friends on party lines (the original group chat) to make sure no one was getting the same garb. 



You’d place your order by mailing in a little slip with a check or your parent’s credit card information or calling it in directly. 



Sure, you’d have to wait an ungodly amount of time for your items in the mail by today’s standards. Still, there was no beating the excitement when your Delia’s package arrived in the mail. 



Delia’s was massively popular before its eventual decline, which happened mostly due to shifting styles and a failure to move toward online ordering. 



A social media win



At the height of Delia’s demand, the catalog showed up in the mailboxes of around 55 million teens across the country each year. 



And those faithful Delia’s girlies are watching Target’s latest drop closely. To make the experience even more nostalgic, some Target stores will even receive catalogs to give to shoppers, the retailer told NBC Chicago.



On Instagram and TikTok, women who grew up ordering from the catalog have been sharing their absolute astonishment and joy over seeing the brand on racks.In one popular video on TikTok that has over 105,900 likes at present, a user shared her jaw-dropping reaction to seeing the nostalgic clothing items. Commenters on the post echoed the same emotions over the good surprise. 



“Shut upppppppppppp. Is there a catalog so I can circle everything and make my mom mad when I hand it to her?” one popular comment reads. 



In another similar video, a wide-eyed TikTik user gives her followers a glimpse of the clothing items. The text overlay on the video reads, “My 90’s Delia’s dream closet just exploded into Target stores.” 



On social media, there is certainly no shortage of millennials posting about the new clothing drop. Still, some expressed skepticism toward Target’s ability to fully recapture the joy of Delia’s catalog ordering.



“Excuse me I had to order Delia’s from a catalog 20 years ago not go to Target,” one user playfully wrote. 



Either way, no one seems to actually be complaining about the brand showing up at Target. However, the clothing drop comes as the chain is still recovering from a recent fiasco. 



About a year after Target was hit with boycotts over dropping its diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives, the brand removed a Halloween costume that many felt closely resembled Jim Crow-era blackface minstrelsy. Target said it was “deeply sorry” about the incident. 



While many people are still rushing to Target regardless of the controversy, some have continued to double down on their boycott efforts.



Target shares are up 62% in 2026



Shares of Target Corporation (NYSE: TGT) are down since the costume controversy, but the stock has performed exceptionally well this year amid a broader turnaround plan, with Target reporting 5.3% growth in net sales for its most recent quarter, thanks in part to higher traffic.



As of Friday’s close, Target stock is up more than 62% in 2026 so far.



Regardless, it makes sense to court millennials, whose purchasing power is rapidly rising and whose total spending is expected to surpass that of their Gen X counterparts sometime in the early 2030s, according to a report from World Data Lab and NielsenIQ. 



Meanwhile, Target is not the only way to shop for Delia’s items, no matter what decade you were born in. A resurrected collection is listed on the website of retailer Dolls Kill. No, it’s not old school catalog ordering, but it’s 2026. We can’t have everything. ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Mon, 31 Aug 2026 14:00:06 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
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<item>
<title>Melissa Chiu, new director of the Guggenheim Museum, talks about the role of culture in a time of turmoil </title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/melissa-chiu-new-director-of-the-guggenheim-museum-talks-about-the-role-of-culture-in-a-time-of-turmoil</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/melissa-chiu-new-director-of-the-guggenheim-museum-talks-about-the-role-of-culture-in-a-time-of-turmoil</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Melissa Chiu, longtime director of the Smithsonian’s Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, announced in April that she would be leaving for a new role as director of New York’s Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum.



As Chiu concludes her successful tenure at the Hirshhorn, one of 19 Smithsonian museums, the Trump administration has continued to target the Smithsonian Institution in an effort to “remove improper ideology” from all aspects of the organization, accusing it of political bias. 



The federal government recently proposed cutting the institution’s funding by 11% to its lowest prospective funding level since 2020, as Artforum reported.



However, this climate for cultural organizations did not deter Chiu from advocating for the Hirshhorn, which she’s done since her start in 2014.



Under Chiu’s leadership, attendance tripled, fundraising increased, the museum’s permanent collections expanded, and the groundwork for the Sculpture Garden revitalization, reimagined by the architect and photographer Hiroshi Sugimoto, was laid. 



Fast Company recently spoke with Chiu about why working at the Guggenheim is her dream job, reflections on her decade-plus at the Hirshhorn, and the important role that museums play to the public. 



Chiu begins her new job at the Guggenheim on Tuesday, September 1.



This interview was edited for length and clarity.



In an interview with The New York Times, you said working as director at the Guggenheim is a “dream job” that you would have taken under any circumstances. Would you expand on why and what you look forward to most in this position?



It’s a museum with extraordinary architecture by Frank Lloyd Wright. I always think of museums and buildings as much as their collection and the art they show. When you have both of them together to speak to the moment that they were created, I think allows for a pretty unique experience of being in the museum and having that encounter with art. 



So I’m most excited about that. The Guggenheim has such an extraordinary record of just groundbreaking exhibitions, an amazing collection. We know a lot about the comprehensive [Wassily] Kandinsky collection, and I’m looking forward to discovering even more. 



I would love to hear your reflections on what you’re leaving. What part of the Sculpture Garden renovation have you been most excited for, and how does it feel to have that be one of the last major changes that you made before your departure? 



Looking back on it, it was a very important decision that we made to commission an artist in Hiroshi Sugimoto to reenvision what a twenty-first century sculpture garden could be. As an artist, he intuitively knows the kinds of spaces that artists would like to create work for.



[Sugimoto] just had both an attentiveness to creating spaces for that encounter with work while also thinking very carefully about the materials that he used. 



There’s a lot of stone from local quarries across America. A lot of attention was paid to the trees that are obviously more suited to the climate—and also provide a lot of shade and respite from the heat of D.C. when it’s at the height of summer.



I would love to hear more about your strategy or your approach to communicating with new artists. You’re coming from D.C. and you’ll be in New York City and communicating with artists who are in a new space and in a new environment.



One of the characteristics of being in D.C. is that it is really a place of national institutions. The Smithsonian is the largest museum complex in the world and the Hirshhorn is a part of that, as it faces the National Mall, where there are 35 million visitors from around the country and around the world every year.



So we sit within a museum ecology that often receives visitors who may well have never been to a modern art museum before, and so we tried to think carefully about that as we programmed—whether it was the talks that we did or the video guide that we created for them.



Now if I think to what it will mean to be in a New York institution, in some ways it’s a higher-density audience that is, interestingly enough, more local or more city based. It’s also an audience that, generally speaking, visits many modern contemporary art museums. It’s not their first encounter. 



So I think, with that, it allows you to think differently about the kinds of exhibitions that you do and possibly also the kinds of artists who you work with, knowing that there is a large population of artists living in New York City who you can draw on.



You were [at the Hirshhorn] for about 12 years. What are the highlights or what are you most proud of during your time there?



I think that probably the most visible change for the museum came when we did the [Yayoi] Kusama show, which was nearly 10 years ago. It’s hard to imagine, but it was nearly 10 years ago that we actually staged the first major exhibition, which was the appreciation of her infinity mirror rooms. [Note: Kusama passed away last week, after this interview took place.]



I think that really did trigger and give a great degree of momentum as we toured the exhibition nationally toward a better understanding of her practice. [The infinity mirror rooms] are now a whole phenomenon in and of themselves.



So I think that was a really important moment for the museum, because in some ways it was both—it was an art historical contribution, but it also allowed people to see that it became a phenomenon not just here in D.C. but everywhere that the show traveled. 



What are you looking forward to in the future as we see technology and the way people interact with art online and in person change? What are you anticipating? 



Well, I’m struck by one of the things that we often say about our education center. Our mantra there is, “Think like an artist.” So, what does that mean? What museums can bring is to develop a sense of what creativity is, how creativity is expressed, and how it can be a part of your life.



While we talk a lot about screen culture and AI, creativity is still that one thing that is a very human thing to do. While in a museum, you are experiencing a whole spectrum of creative acts through different media. 



We do think of museums as important convening spaces because of that, and if I think of a skillset in particular, yes, it’s creativity, but it’s also visual acuity. If you are able to develop the skills to be able to see things in different ways, it gives you the ability to attune different things around you in different ways.



Is there anything else that you would like to share with people about your next steps?



To make art is such an extraordinary act, and I think that museums become that place where people can see what is usually a private experience in an artist’s studio. It’s the public version of it. I really do feel strongly that museums are that convening place. ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Mon, 31 Aug 2026 14:00:06 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Melissa, Chiu, new, director, the, Guggenheim, Museum, talks, about, the, role, culture, time, turmoil </media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>These automated vending machines are moving into NYC’s subway newsstands</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/these-automated-vending-machines-are-moving-into-nycs-subway-newsstands</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/these-automated-vending-machines-are-moving-into-nycs-subway-newsstands</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ For most New York City subway riders, especially in the years since the COVID-19 pandemic, underground newsstands are often nothing more than a relic of history turned into prime real estate for graffiti and branded stickers.



Once a staple of the commuter experience, the underground retail stops began phasing out with the decline of print media. The nail in the coffin was slowing subway ridership during the pandemic. Only around 52 of the subway’s 195 retail storefronts (which include newsstands) were open in 2024.



It’s still valuable real estate, though. Slowly, these nooks and kiosks across the city’s underground system have started opening their gates to passersby once more, some as gathering spots for musicians and others as a canvas for art—all helping reinvent one of NYC’s most recognizable urban infrastructures into something more useful or delightful for people in the city today.



But riders still need the occasional water bottle on a hot summer day, or a pack of gum before a date, creating an opening for the subway’s latest additions: vending machines.



A candy and snack vendor on the 7th Avenue subway platform, 2025. [Photo: Lindsey Nicholson/UCG/Universal Images Group/Getty Images]



Rethinking the newsstand



Automated vending machines are moving into subway stations. The hope is these machines will provide New Yorkers with the convenience items they need through a more sustainable business model than conventional newsstands. A project by CC Vending II—a joint venture of CC Vending and Transit Tech NYC—in partnership with the MTA and Coca-Cola, they’re located in three stations so far: 2nd Avenue on the F line, 23rd Street on the R/W, and 116th Street on the Lexington line. They sell drinks, snacks, and even protein shakes. Over the next five years, CC Vending plans to install 60 more at 23 additional stops.



“I’ve ridden this system my whole life, and for years I walked past the same shuttered newsstands. Gates pulled down, sitting on platforms where tens of thousands of people stand every day,” Marc Saadia, president of CC Vending II, tells Fast Company.



The large machines fill an entire storefront, each wrapped in Coca-Cola-themed branding, and sit flush against the wall. (There’s no shaking or tilting them to try to score a freebie.) Aside from being cashless, they work like a usual vending machine: You type in a product code, pay, and collect the item.



The tap-to-pay method not only boosts efficiency for commuters in a rush, but also allows the machine to run 24-7, unlike newsstands people operate.



“More than a third of our sales happen between 7:00 p.m. and 6 a.m.—that’s the late night and overnight worker, the person heading home late, the rider with no other option,” Saadia says. “Everything is tap-and-go and takes under 10 seconds, because someone with a train coming isn’t willing to wait. It’s open when nothing else is.”



Staff routinely restocks machines every few days to keep up with demand. An automated diagnostics system will, presumably, help the machines run smoothly and alert the operators when they need to be fixed.



CC Vending first contacted the MTA with the idea back in 2019, but the pandemic slowed down the project.



“The request for proposals reopened, closed, and reopened again in 2022 and 2023. I’m not sure many others would have stuck with it, but here we are with machines up and running all those years later,” Saadia says.



The machines are already a hit among commuters. In its first day, the 23rd Street station quickly sold out of its products. In the future, CC Vending says it may add a wider range of goods, like the electronics or health and beauty products that airport vending machines offer.



[Photo: MTA]



A machine that can withstand New York



Designing a vending machine that can handle the subway’s heavy foot traffic was a challenge. The units also needed to meet the MTA’s stringent requirements for safety.



“Nothing about this is off the shelf. Every enclosure was designed and engineered specifically for the challenging conditions underground,” Saadia says. “The MTA’s real estate team has been outstanding to work with. Rigorous, thorough, and genuinely invested in getting this right for riders.”



The CC Vending team had to resort to industrial grade metal enclosure on the machines, protecting them from the city’s harsh weather as well as deterring bad actors from vandalizing the equipment. As of August 21, there had been no recorded vandalism of the machines.



In addition to durability, the machines needed to protect something else: customers’ time. Cashless transactions allow purchases to be made in just seven seconds.



[Photo: MTA]



A more livable city



Beyond selling refreshments, the vending machines are part of a broader initiative to make the city more hospitable to its residents.



A large steward in this trend has been the MTA’s Vacant Unit Activation Project, which has allowed various artists to take over abandoned spaces and transform them into their own artistic platforms.



[Photo: Megan Armas/MTA]



Rex’s Dino Store stand at the Grand Army Plaza station parodies an actual newsstand. A hand-crafted 7-foot tall papier-mâché orange dinosaur named Rex stands behind the counter, where he sells print issues of Dinopolitan Magazine and snacks like “Dinoritos.” Nothing is actually for sale; the installation is enclosed by glass.



At The Soundbooth, in the 81 Street/Museum of Natural History station, musicians play inside a former storefront for commuters waiting for their trains.



And in one of the city’s most transited stations, West 4th Street, a one-year lease allowed for a takeover of a kiosk by the free zine Public Transport Magazine. The structure is wrapped in a transit-themed cartoon mural. The kiosk will also feature a Photo Booth, puppet shows, and even giveaways.



As far as the vending machines go, the project reacts to the city’s diverse schedule. From artists to finance bros, and all the in-between—almost anyone will need to use the subway at some point, at any time of the day.



“The subway moves more than a billion trips a year, and those vacant spaces were screaming opportunity to me. A chance to serve the everyday New Yorker on their daily commute,” says Saadia of CC Vending. “This seems like a small thing, but these small things add up to how a system and a commute feels.”







 ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Mon, 31 Aug 2026 14:00:06 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>These, automated, vending, machines, are, moving, into, NYC’s, subway, newsstands</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Creators are your best PR</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/creators-are-your-best-pr</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/creators-are-your-best-pr</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ For decades, strategic communications operated in two distinct lanes: You pitched journalists for earned credibility or you bought media for controlled reach. That model rested on one assumption: Institutional newsrooms held a monopoly on audience trust.



Things have changed. While traditional media remains essential for reach and corporate validation, audiences increasingly rely on self-published experts to make sense of complex industries. These experts host technical podcasts, write deep-dive newsletters, publish how-tos on TikTok, and break down industry shifts on YouTube.



Yet most organizations don’t know how to work with them or where to put them. If your goal is a durable reputation, independent creators belong at the center of your earned media strategy.



THE ANTI-INFLUENCER SHIFT



The word “influencer” carries a lot of baggage. The early era of creator marketing was built on lifestyle endorsements: pay a celebrity, hand them a script, and get a sponsored post.



Today’s landscape, especially among B2B decision-makers and technical audiences, has waning patience for that. CreatorIQ puts enterprise creator spend at $5.6–$8.1 million annually, focused on subject-matter experts who’ve built followings around their expertise and editorial independence. Goldman Sachs projects the creator economy will reach $480 billion by 2027, powered by its direct-to-audience authority. These creators maintain relationships with their readers because their perspective is unbought, and audiences can tell the difference.



IN AN AI-SATURATED MARKET, HUMAN TRUST IS THE DIFFERENTIATOR



Generative AI has made content nearly free to produce, and feeds are now flooded with synthetic copy and automated summaries. Mission North’s 2026 Brand Expectations Index found that knowledge workers are comfortable with AI for internal efficiency or code generation, but draw a hard line at executive messaging: 73% of the general public and 67% of knowledge workers say that undisclosed AI communications erode their trust in a company.



That’s the opening for independent creators. When machine-generated content is everywhere, a real person with real judgment—someone who can be held accountable for what they say—becomes the premium.



TRADE CONTROL FOR CREDIBILITY



Bringing creators into earned media means giving up the thing PR has always optimized for: control of the message. Traditional media relations run on approved talking points and pre-cleared quotes. Independent experts won’t work that way; their value comes from autonomy. Ask them to repeat corporate messaging verbatim, and you’ve destroyed the exact thing you were trying to borrow.



The better model treats creators less like a media list and more like industry peers. This looks like technical access to the engineers and product leads doing the work, early hands-on time with products months before launch, and the kind of sustained editorial relationship traditionally reserved for beat reporters.



We saw this play out at a flagship developer conference. Rather than relying just on a firehose of news, our team started small with six trusted industry creators, who were given VIP access, product demos, and direct conversations with executives with no paid posting requirements attached. In one week, that group produced more than 70 pieces of organic content and reached over 1.6 million people.



The most significant return shows up when this becomes a standing program. We saw this with one client who needed a way to reach developers and technical audiences without sounding like brand messaging. We built an ongoing relationship with roughly 15 respected developers and technical creators each quarter to create a consistent set of voices who had access to the people and thinking behind the company’s work on AI, privacy, and the future of the web. Over six months, that program generated more than 7 million organic impressions and engagement rates 40% above benchmark.



That’s the pattern worth paying attention to: The event or single activation earns the first round of trust, but the compounding value comes from staying in the relationship long after the news cycle has passed.



THE EARNED TRUST ECOSYSTEM



Earned media has always been third-party validation. The job is to identify who already has credibility with your audience and build an authentic relationship with them.



Legacy outlets remain important for broad awareness, crisis navigation, and agenda-setting. Owned channels give you control of the narrative. But trust compounds in explanatory formats like long-form podcasts, technical newsletters, and deep-dive videos, where someone can walk through their actual reasoning in public, repeatedly, over time.



Modern communications leaders don’t have to choose between reporters and creators. The job now is to leverage the benefits of both and to recognize that the relationships you build with independent experts are the ones your audience already trusts more than anything you could pitch them.



Tyler Perry is the co-CEO of Mission North. ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Mon, 31 Aug 2026 14:00:06 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Creators, are, your, best</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>Stop trying to retain employees</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/stop-trying-to-retain-employees</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/stop-trying-to-retain-employees</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Every CEO I know is worried about employee retention. The questions are almost always the same. How do we reduce turnover? How do we keep our best people from leaving? How do we compete when another employer offers a dollar or two more an hour?



After spending much of my career designing and commissioning factories, I think we’re taking the wrong approach. We should focus on how building a company employees wouldn’t want to leave in the first place.



In manufacturing, turnover has become so common that many companies simply accept it as part of doing business. For some functions such as consumer electronics contracting, labor-intensive food processing, and temp heavy/light manufacturing and assembly, the lowest-paid positions turn over at more than 100% every year. In these cases, this means every one of those jobs is refilled annually—sometimes more than once.



Companies often measure turnover by the stack of applications they process and the number of drug tests they pay for. They budget for churn because they’ve come to expect it.



I don’t think we should accept this.



When our team walks into a factory to develop an automation strategy, you may be surprised that one of the first things we study has nothing to do with equipment.



It’s employee turnover. Turnover tells us something important because it shows us where the work is most broken.



Most companies begin an automation project by asking, “What can we automate?” Instead, we’ve learned to ask a better question: “What are the jobs people keep leaving?”



These are rarely the jobs where employees use judgment, solve problems, or develop new skills. They’re repetitive, physically demanding, and ergonomically difficult jobs. These are the roles where someone leaves after four months because they can’t imagine doing these same tasks for the coming four to 10 years.



THIS IS WHERE AUTOMATION BEGINS



Our approach to automation strives to eliminate the work people never wanted to do in the first place. This is where I think many leaders still misunderstand automation. Too often, their focus is on finding ways to reduce labor costs.



In my experience, the best automations are designed to achieve something much more valuable: increase the value of the people who remain.



When repetitive tasks disappear, employees rise to managerial roles where they work collaboratively with robots instead of repeating physical motions that wear their minds and bodies down and lead to injury. They learn software instead of simply loading parts. They become troubleshooters, trainers, and system experts instead of performing the same manual tasks thousands of times per week.



We often invite employees to volunteer for what our team jokingly calls robot university—months of training to help install, commission, troubleshoot, and eventually teach others how to operate new automation systems. Something remarkable happens every time.



The first employees to raise their hands almost always become the factory’s cultural leaders. Yes, they are learning new technology. But more importantly, they are also building careers. Before long, their coworkers are asking how they can join in. An automation project quickly becomes a leadership development program.



AUTOMATION IS MORE THAN A TECHNOLOGY INVESTMENT



I don’t think of automation as merely a technology investment. I believe it’s one of the most overlooked people investments a company can make, for the following reasons:




Employees stay where they grow.



They stay where they’re trusted with better tools.



They stay where they’re continually learning.



They stay where they can see a future.




For years we’ve tried to solve turnover with better recruiting, better perks, and better HR programs. Those all have their place.



But lasting loyalty is built much earlier. It’s built the moment an employee realizes, “This company is investing in me.”



I repeat this often: The companies that reduce turnover in the next decade will move quickly, and they’ll be the innovators who use technology to create safer work, more meaningful careers, and a culture where the best people stay because they choose to—not because they don’t have a choice.



For decades we’ve been focusing on employee retention. Now it’s time to work on becoming the kind of company people don’t want to leave.



Matthew Chang is a founder and primary engineer at Chang Robotics. ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Mon, 31 Aug 2026 14:00:06 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Stop, trying, retain, employees</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>How To Maintain The Best Practices For DAO Treasury Management</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/how-to-maintain-the-best-practices-for-dao-treasury-management</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/how-to-maintain-the-best-practices-for-dao-treasury-management</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Financial literacy is evolving, expanding and quickly becoming more complicated, especially in the world of crypto and decentralized finance (De-Fi). And the more popularity it continues to gather, the more important it becomes to form good habits around the security, continuity and legitimacy-building facilities of the treasuries, DAOs, communities and protocols. As you continue to […]
The post How To Maintain The Best Practices For DAO Treasury Management appeared first on Fincyte. ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Mon, 31 Aug 2026 14:00:06 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>How, Maintain, The, Best, Practices, For, DAO, Treasury, Management</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>Autumn Budget 2026 – what can small business owners expect?</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/autumn-budget-2026-what-can-small-business-owners-expect</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/autumn-budget-2026-what-can-small-business-owners-expect</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ By Anna Jordan on Small Business UK - Advice and Ideas for UK Small Businesses and SMEs
The Autumn Budget 2026 is set for 28 October, delivered by new Chancellor, John Healey. Here&#039;s what we know so far  
The post Autumn Budget 2026 – what can small business owners expect? appeared first on Small Business UK. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://smallbusiness-production-v2.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2026/08/55415071557_91aabc53b3_c.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Mon, 31 Aug 2026 14:00:05 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Autumn, Budget, 2026, –, what, can, small, business, owners, expect</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>Perini Navi, builder of Mike Lynch’s Bayesian, put up for sale</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/perini-navi-builder-of-mike-lynchs-bayesian-put-up-for-sale</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/perini-navi-builder-of-mike-lynchs-bayesian-put-up-for-sale</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ 
Perini Navi, the Italian builder of Mike Lynch&#039;s Bayesian superyacht, is up for sale as parent The Italian Sea Group calls for offers by 15 September. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://bmmagazine.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/Bayesian-in-Milazzo-Harbor-Sicily.-Image-courtesy-of-Sfische-via-Wikimedia-e1733410020427-1024x578-1-768x434.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Tue, 18 Aug 2026 14:00:06 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Perini, Navi, builder, Mike, Lynch’s, Bayesian, put, for, sale</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>Dragons’ Den firm Y1 Group buys Redbird Apparel in seven&#45;figure deal</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/dragons-den-firm-y1-group-buys-redbird-apparel-in-seven-figure-deal</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/dragons-den-firm-y1-group-buys-redbird-apparel-in-seven-figure-deal</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ 
Y1 Group has acquired Redbird Apparel in a seven-figure deal, creating a combined UK branded apparel business with more than £7.5m in annual revenue. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://bmmagazine.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/shutterstock_2754930531-768x432.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Tue, 18 Aug 2026 14:00:06 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Dragons’, Den, firm, Group, buys, Redbird, Apparel, seven-figure, deal</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>UK Space Agency backs 16 satellite projects with £13m funding</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/uk-space-agency-backs-16-satellite-projects-with-13m-funding</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/uk-space-agency-backs-16-satellite-projects-with-13m-funding</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ 
The UK Space Agency is funding 16 satellite communications projects with £13 million, from a ScotRail broadband trial to low-cost sensors for farmers. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://bmmagazine.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/shutterstock_2400593511-768x432.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Tue, 18 Aug 2026 14:00:06 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Space, Agency, backs, satellite, projects, with, £13m, funding</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Pub planning protections will not stop closures, industry warns</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/pub-planning-protections-will-not-stop-closures-industry-warns</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/pub-planning-protections-will-not-stop-closures-industry-warns</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ 
New pub planning protections announced by Angela Rayner will not stop closures, industry figures warn, with Camra reporting 1,836 pubs shut since 2025. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://bmmagazine.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Raynor_Reynolds-768x485.webp" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Tue, 18 Aug 2026 14:00:06 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Pub, planning, protections, will, not, stop, closures, industry, warns</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>South Yorkshire launches task force to boost women in tech</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/south-yorkshire-launches-task-force-to-boost-women-in-tech</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/south-yorkshire-launches-task-force-to-boost-women-in-tech</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ 
Women in tech task force launches in South Yorkshire as research shows women hold 18 per cent of the region&#039;s tech jobs, against 26 per cent nationally. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://bmmagazine.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/Yorkshire_Tech_week-768x431.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Tue, 18 Aug 2026 14:00:06 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>South, Yorkshire, launches, task, force, boost, women, tech</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Apple’s new macOS update reportedly contains a video of AirPods with a camera</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/apples-new-macos-update-reportedly-contains-a-video-of-airpods-with-a-camera</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/apples-new-macos-update-reportedly-contains-a-video-of-airpods-with-a-camera</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ A video in a MacOS Tahoe release candidate version shows a user wearing AirPods, looking at a book, and talking to Siri. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/PXL_20240909_184838058.PORTRAIT.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Tue, 18 Aug 2026 14:00:04 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Apple’s, new, macOS, update, reportedly, contains, video, AirPods, with, camera</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>Daniel Ek’s body&#45;scanning startup Neko Health opens first US office, in New York</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/daniel-eks-body-scanning-startup-neko-healthopens-first-us-office-in-new-york</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/daniel-eks-body-scanning-startup-neko-healthopens-first-us-office-in-new-york</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ The scanning and bloodwork health startup founded by Spotify&#039;s founder will officially launch in New York in about a month. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/tc-backlight-e1689786273147.png" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Tue, 18 Aug 2026 14:00:04 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Daniel, Ek’s, body-scanning, startup, Neko, Health opens, first, office, New, York</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Fairphone is launching its latest repairable phone in the US too</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/fairphone-is-launching-its-latest-repairable-phone-in-the-us-too</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/fairphone-is-launching-its-latest-repairable-phone-in-the-us-too</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ The Fairphone 6+ is priced at $649 and will be available on Amazon. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/image_1e5cf0.png" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Tue, 18 Aug 2026 14:00:04 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Fairphone, launching, its, latest, repairable, phone, the, too</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>OpenAI launches a safer ChatGPT for teens — years after teens started using it</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/openai-launches-a-safer-chatgpt-for-teens-years-after-teens-started-using-it</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/openai-launches-a-safer-chatgpt-for-teens-years-after-teens-started-using-it</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ ChatGPT for Teens adds age-appropriate safety measures, parental controls, and learning tools designed to steer teens away from harmful content — and from using AI to cheat on their homework. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/Still-04-HomeworkReminder__1_.webp" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Tue, 18 Aug 2026 14:00:03 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>OpenAI, launches, safer, ChatGPT, for, teens, —, years, after, teens, started, using</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>Perplexity’s free AI offer left it with millions more users in India</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/perplexitys-free-ai-offer-left-it-with-millions-more-users-in-india</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/perplexitys-free-ai-offer-left-it-with-millions-more-users-in-india</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Perplexity&#039;s India revenue rose about 60% after the Airtel offer ended for new users, even as downloads declined. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/perplexity-app.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Tue, 18 Aug 2026 14:00:03 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Perplexity’s, free, offer, left, with, millions, more, users, India</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>A popular ice cream brand sold at Walmart and Kroger files for bankruptcy after ‘trade dress’ lawsuit</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/a-popular-ice-cream-brand-sold-at-walmart-and-kroger-files-for-bankruptcy-after-trade-dress-lawsuit</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/a-popular-ice-cream-brand-sold-at-walmart-and-kroger-files-for-bankruptcy-after-trade-dress-lawsuit</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ A years-long lawsuit between two ice cream brands, Van Leeuwen Ice Cream and Rebel Creamery, has come to a possible end, with a federal judge ruling that Rebel infringed Van Leeuwen Ice Cream’s trade dress, and ordering that Rebel owes Van Leeuwen tens of millions of dollars.



But now, Rebel is seeking Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection while it appeals the judgment. Here’s what you need to know.



What’s happened?



Rebel Creamery, the keto-friendly ice cream brand sold at Walmart, Kroger, and other grocery stores across the country, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection roughly a month after U.S. District Judge Eric Komitee ruled that Rebel had infringed on competitor Van Leeuwen’s trade dress.



As a result, Komitee ruled that Rebel must pay Van Leeuwen $23.8 million and change its packaging, reports Yahoo News.



Of the two ice cream brands, Van Leeuwen’s is arguably the better-known, having been founded about 18 years ago. 



The company operates a chain of ice cream parlors in more than a dozen states and sells its ice cream to retailers across the country. Its pints, dressed in pastel colors with black script, can be found in grocery stores across the country.



Rebel is the newer of the two brands. It began its life on Kickstarter in late 2017 and focuses on making keto-friendly, zero-sugar ice cream.



However, Rebel’s packaging also contains pastel colors and black script, and that similar design led Van Leeuwen to sue the company for trade dress infringement in 2021. That case has now been concluded, with Rebel having been found to have infringed on Van Leeuwen’s trade dress.



What is a trade dress?



Most people know what a trademark is: a legally protected name and/or logo. Think “Coca-Cola” or the Nike swoosh. If a company owns a trademark, other companies can’t use it.



A trade dress is similar to a trademark, but instead of protecting a name or logo, a trade dress protects the overall look of a product, such as a product’s packaging.



As Yahoo News notes, Van Leeuwen’s trade dress—the sparse, pastel packaging with the company’s name in black lettering—has been in use since around 2016. When Rebel’s products went on sale a few years later, its packaging was also very similar: sparse, with pastel colors and the company’s name in black lettering.



Van Leeuwen sued, alleging that Rebel copied the look of its packaging and that resulted in customers and even grocery store workers confusing the two brands, which Van Leeuwen said cost it tens of millions in sales. Last month, the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York ruled in Van Leeuwen’s favor.



Why did the court rule against Rebel?



It’s entirely possible that two companies can independently develop the same aesthetic for their products without knowledge of each other’s look. But at trial, the presiding judge ruled that this was not likely what happened in Rebel’s case.



In short, Van Leeuwen was able to produce detailed records and files of the origins of its trade dress look from 2016, when the company hired a design firm to develop its packaging and aesthetic.



Rebel’s founders, on the other hand, said they designed Rebel’s packaging themselves without the help of a design firm. But as noted by Yahoo News, they said they no longer had files showing the evolution of their trade dress, only the final file. As a result, the judge ruled in Van Leeuwen’s favor.



Rebel Creamery files for bankruptcy



The judge ordered that Rebel must change its packaging and also pay Van Leeuwen nearly $23.8 million.



However, the ultimate outcome of this ice cream battle is far from certain. That’s because Rebel is now appealing the case and, in the meantime, the company has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, which prevents creditors from collecting money owed.



Rebel’s bankruptcy filing shows Van Leeuwen’s unsecured claim of $23,785,000 as the largest claim on its books. However, the filing lists this claim as “Disputed.”



The bankruptcy also allows Rebel to continue operating, meaning it can keep selling its ice cream as it reorganizes under Chapter 11. Ultimately, however, the main thing determining what kind of future Rebel will have is the outcome of its appeal.



Fast Company has reached out to Rebel Creamery and Van Leeuwen for comment. We will update this story if we hear back. 



 ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Mon, 17 Aug 2026 14:00:05 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
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<item>
<title>Are you invisible to AI? Here’s how to check</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/are-you-invisible-to-ai-heres-how-to-check</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/are-you-invisible-to-ai-heres-how-to-check</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Since the onset of the internet, brands have been fighting to optimize their spot in search engines, getting as close to the top of any given page of Google results as possible. But in the AI age, traditional search engines are falling by the wayside—and with them, more than one in four brands are becoming completely invisible, says a new report.



The 2026 AI Visibility Index, an inaugural report from the strategic communications firm Lucie Content, assessed how many businesses are being recommended by artificial intelligence chatbots. Showing up in AI responses has never been more important for brands; a 2026 report from BrightLocal found that 45% of consumers now turn to AI for business recommendations, a massive jump from just 6% in 2025.



How can you make sure you’re not the odd brand out when it comes to AI visibility? Beyond offering a glimpse into the current state of AI as a search engine, Lucie’s report comes with tips, and a tool, for assessing any company’s AI visibility.



What is AI visibility?



AI visibility is the measure of how often AI chatbots will cite or recommend a given business, along with how accurately it will be described. For its assessment, Lucie simulated realistic customer queries, then measured how often a business appeared in the AI model’s responses. It also tracked whether the AI model’s description of the business was accurate, whether it understood the business’s category, and what businesses it recommended instead.



Craig Lucie, founder and CEO of Lucie Content, explained the rationale for the company’s research in a press release.



“Search used to be a list of 10 links, and you decided where to click,” he said. “AI gives you one confident answer with only a few names in it. If your business isn’t one of those names, you’re not just losing to your competitors—you aren’t even in the running. And what we learned through our research is that most business owners don’t realize this is happening.”



Lucie’s results



Lucie Content ran 94 businesses through three different brand-blind scenarios in Gemini’s consistency mode. It ran each scenario three times, resulting in 894 queries that informed the report’s findings.



More than one in four businesses (26.6%) never appeared in any of the tested scenarios. But the report also found that there’s almost no middle ground when it comes to AI visibility: 84% of the companies in the sample scored either a zero or a 100 on retrieval, meaning a given company either consistently appeared in results or didn’t appear at all.



The report also saw almost zero correlation between being visible in traditional search engines and showing up in AI responses. Of the 90 companies in the study’s sample with a Google eligibility score of 70 or above, 24 still had zero AI visibility. Independent research confirmed that there’s only a 45% correlation between top performers in Google search results and in AI recommendations.



How to check your AI visibility



Lucie also launched a free tool with the release of its report, where brands can run an AI visibility scan for themselves on models including ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, and Claude. But the tool returns a brand’s score only on one of the six modules Lucie tested for—technical readiness. More info can be had through a “teaser report,” and the full assessment is available through a consultation with Lucie.



But the report’s experiment is also repeatable on a small scale by individual brands. Though Lucie’s full methodology is under wraps, its general strategy of simulating and repeating realistic customer queries can help brands get a sense of their own standing when it comes to being recommended by AI.



If a brand is getting passed over in AI responses, where should it look to improve? In its press release, Lucie Content identified “clear, consistent, and factually supported information, combined with strong video and imagery that helps both people and machines understand and verify the business” as key factors in AI visibility. Lucie, the CEO, says the firm applied these improvements to its own business model and saw results.



“The great news about what our research found is that the problem is fixable,” he said. “We tested this on our own company before we tested a single client—and measurably improved our own visibility.” ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Mon, 17 Aug 2026 14:00:05 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Are, you, invisible, AI, Here’s, how, check</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>Leadership lessons from America’s fastest&#45;growing private companies and news from the new Susan G. Komen CEO</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/leadership-lessons-from-americas-fastest-growing-private-companiesandnews-fromthe-new-susan-g-komen-ceo</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/leadership-lessons-from-americas-fastest-growing-private-companiesandnews-fromthe-new-susan-g-komen-ceo</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ 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. 







Every CEO is managing uncertainty and complexity. Now imagine layering on exponential revenue growth—like percentage growth in the triple or quadruple digits. That’s what CEOs of companies on the Inc. 5000—Inc.’s annual list of the 5,000 fastest-growing private companies in America—deal with every day. “I liken it to standing in the ‘ready position’ in sports,” says Anne Fulenwider, cofounder and co-CEO of Alloy Health. The company’s 4,503% three-year revenue growth rate earned it the No. 61 spot on the list. “You have to be knees bent, ready to move in any direction at any time,” she says.  



Fulenwider is one of several Inc. 5000 founders I spoke with about the special leadership issues fast-growth CEOs face, from retaining their company cultures as their businesses scale to figuring out how to fill a big order that outpaces their production capabilities. Their experiences are inspiring and instructive. After all, many of these founders defied skeptics, launching their ideas without the resources enjoyed by their larger counterparts, yet producing gains that are the envy of the business world. 



Together, Inc. 5000 honorees racked up $385 billion in 2025 revenue, employed nearly 1.5 million people, and posted a median three-year growth rate of 130%. The top 500 companies posted a median three-year growth rate of 1,338%. 



Ready, Set, Grow 



Donie Yamamoto, founder and CEO of Vital Pet Life, No. 3170, dealt with last year’s sweeping tariffs (struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court in February) and the disruptions they caused her international supply chain by “going back to the values of why we started a company and staying true to it,” she says. Yamamoto began the company, which sells natural health products for cats and dogs, in 2017 when she couldn’t find a clean product to help relieve her dog’s dry skin. She adds, “By just staying true to our mission, it got [us] through the challenges.” 



Ali Ansari, CEO of Micro1, says he has learned to embrace the chaos of being a fast-growth company. Micro1, No. 37, works with experts around the world to train artificial intelligence models. Despite the fast pace, Ansari says he is working to build a culture that is “hardcore in the way that we work, but we’re also very kind to each other.” The company distributes a quarterly form titled “Are You Happy?” inviting employees to answer questions about compensation, staff interactions, and other issues. Ansari reads every response himself, then routes feedback to the people who can act on it. 



Ultimately though, for Inc. 5000 companies, capitalizing on fast growth is their superpower. Matt McKinney, founder and CEO of the AI-powered logistics platform Loop, No. 10, tells Inc.: “If you can outcompete on speed, that’s a competitive advantage.”  



Bringing speed to the nonprofit world



Fast Company has had the opportunity to work with the advertising agency McCann on a few projects, and Modern CEO recently caught up with McCann New York’s CEO, Amber Guild, who just announced that she would become the next CEO of Susan G. Komen, a leading breast cancer organization. Guild, who was diagnosed with early-stage breast cancer in 2020, says her diagnosis made the nonprofit’s mission deeply personal and also made her acutely aware of how many women don’t get the access and care that she did. 



Like the Inc. 5000 CEOs I spoke with this week, Guild is thinking about speed as she steps into her new role on October 1. “My vision is to build a more modern, more connected Komen, one that uses everything technology and data now make possible to bring in more people, move faster, and have more impact,” she says. 



Is your company a fast-growth organization? If so, how do you keep your teams moving quickly? Send your answers to me at stephaniemehta@mansueto.com. We will publish the best insights in a future newsletter.  



Read more: inspiration from the Inc. 5000 




Oprah loved their charcuterie boards. Now the brand generates $85 million in sales a year 





A nurse practitioner’s hair care company is on track for $269 million 





Inside Replit’s $1 billion vibe-coding empire  




 ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Mon, 17 Aug 2026 14:00:05 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Leadership, lessons, from, America’s, fastest-growing, private, companies and news, from the, new, Susan, Komen, CEO</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>I measured my brain during one of the hardest business trips of my year. Here’s what I learned about performance</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/i-measured-my-brain-during-one-of-the-hardest-business-trips-of-my-year-heres-what-i-learned-about-performance</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/i-measured-my-brain-during-one-of-the-hardest-business-trips-of-my-year-heres-what-i-learned-about-performance</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Last month, I traveled through three countries and multiple time zones, packing investor meetings, customer dinners, panels, and leadership sessions into just 10 days.



Like many founders, I wore the schedule as a badge of honor. If I could keep up, I assumed I was performing at my best. 



Then I looked at my brain.



Throughout the trip, I’d been wearing Neurable’s EEG-powered headphones, giving me an objective view of how my brain responded to everything from travel and sleep to stress and recovery. Rather than relying only on how I felt, I could compare my subjective experience with objective measures of neural activity. 



I expected to see increased stress levels in my brain data during a work trip. What I didn’t expect was how often the data contradicted my intuition, and it made me wonder how often I was pushing through cognitive fatigue without even realizing it.



How we feel vs. what’s actually happening



As a neuroscientist, I’ve spent my career studying the gap between how our brains function and how we perceive them to function. This trip reminded me that we’re all prone to judging our cognitive performance by how we feel rather than what the brain is actually experiencing. 



It’s easy to see how so many business leaders can fall into this trap, particularly because today’s work culture makes this blind spot difficult to recognize. We’ve created a world that never switches off. Our offices live in our pockets, our days are filled with endless decisions, and true downtime has become a rarity.



We accept that pace as the cost of doing business, yet we rarely stop to ask how it’s affecting the quality of our thinking.



Instead, most of us judge our ability to perform in the workplace by a simple question: Do I feel ready to tackle my work today?



Feeling ready or being ready?



The first morning after arriving in Germany, I felt like many travelers do after a long international flight. Mentally, I was eager to get to work. Physically, I wanted to crawl back into bed.



I assumed it was ordinary jet lag, but my brain data suggested something more nuanced. My sleep debt had largely been repaid during the flight, but my circadian rhythm hadn’t caught up. My body was in Germany while my internal clock was still somewhere over the Atlantic. I expected the effects to linger much longer, but within about three days, my cognitive measurements had largely returned to baseline.



It was my first reminder that feeling ready and being cognitively ready aren’t always the same thing. As it turns out, my experience wasn’t unique. Research has consistently shown that after insufficient sleep, objective cognitive performance can continue to decline even after people’s subjective sense of impairment has plateaued.



Looking back, I wondered how many strategy meetings, business decisions, or difficult conversations I’d entered simply because I felt sharp, even when my brain data was telling a different story.



Recovery and performance



A few days later, I noticed something else unexpected. My brain had largely recovered from jet lag. I was surprised by how quickly it bounced back, which made me appreciate just how central recovery is to sustained performance.



Professional athletes understand this instinctively. They don’t train at maximum intensity every day because they know recovery is essential to peak performance. Business leaders often do the opposite. We celebrate pushing through and treat recovery as something we’ll get to later, if at all.



The biggest lesson from the trip, however, came from something entirely within my control.



Like many people, I assumed jet lag would be the biggest challenge. Instead, the greater cognitive cost came from a series of ordinary decisions.



Misdiagnosing performance



One evening in Vienna, I attended a networking dinner, enjoyed a couple of glasses of wine, and stayed up until nearly 2:30 a.m. taking work calls back to Boston. The next morning, my cognitive measurements looked remarkably similar to what I’d seen after crossing the Atlantic. The combination of wine, a late night, and about five and a half hours of sleep had produced a cognitive cost comparable to jet lag.



It made me realize how often we misdiagnose our own performance. We prepare meticulously for investor meetings, board presentations, and international travel, yet we rarely prepare for the cumulative impact of another drink at dinner, another hour spent answering emails, or another morning convincing ourselves that six hours of sleep is enough.



None of those choices seems consequential on its own, but together, they shape the quality of our judgment, the very thing we depend on most and measure the least. 



The irony is that modern companies already measure almost everything, from revenue and margins to customer acquisition costs and burn rates. On a personal level, many of us now also track our sleep, heart rate, and physical activity. Yet the organ responsible for every negotiation, hiring decision, strategic pivot, and creative breakthrough has remained largely invisible and rarely optimized for peak performance.



Before diving into yet another work task, I used to ask myself a simple question: Can I push through this?



Now, I ask a different one: Is this the version of my brain I want making this decision?



That question doesn’t always change my schedule. Sometimes the meeting still happens, and the flight still takes off. But it changes how I prepare, which decisions I tackle first, and when I remind myself that recovery isn’t a luxury, but rather a necessity. 



Every important business decision begins in the mind of the person making it. Every leader should spend a little less time asking whether they can push through their packed schedules and a little more time making sure they’re setting themselves up to think at their best. After all, every important business decision deserves the clearest thinking we can bring to it. ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Mon, 17 Aug 2026 14:00:05 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
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<item>
<title>AI fears are fueling the ‘handmade’ branding trend</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/ai-fears-are-fueling-the-handmade-branding-trend</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/ai-fears-are-fueling-the-handmade-branding-trend</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ By now you’ve probably already noticed it in some of the brands you use daily—“hand-drawn” typography or hastily scanned textures layered over otherwise unremarkable photos. Maybe your cleaning product brands use visual references from a time when “things were easier,” like hand-painted signage and retro illustrations. Or they’re using imperfect blobby type that’s supposed to help designs feel “organic.” Ever notice that your favorite new bakery’s identity seems purposely a little ugly?



The use of this kind of “handmade” aesthetic has been debated in the design community for a long time. But, I’d argue that it’s only recently that the trend has drifted into something that feels . . . forced. Panera Bread’s recent incorporation of highly polished swash typography to no doubt recall the hand-painted signage of your favorite local grocer feels at odds with its reputation for mass-produced “quality ingredients.” St. Regis has recently announced a collection of ultra-high-luxury hospitality brands, many of which use hand-drawn elements perhaps at odds with its highly polished luxury properties. Most telling is Claude’s branding, incorporating hand-drawn illustrations and details that attempt to tell the world, “Hey, we’re the more human AI.”



Blame technology. Designers have a tendency to lead with their passions, and with AI feeling both threatening and exploitative to many in the community, there’s a natural impulse to push away from anything digital. But, as with the skeuomorphism of the aughts or the grunge-ification of the ’90s before it, our industry has pushed too far, sparking a trendy style that reflects designers’ uneasy relationship with technology more than it serves a real need.



Hand-drawn, hand-crafted elements have a place in design, to be sure—for the right brand or the right concept. And true craftsmanship is never out of style. But when this hand-rendered patina is used over and over again, it begins to fall flat, and offer neither enough resonance nor substance for a brand to truly stand out. This is creating a real problem for brands in the age of AI, looking to express that their values, offering, or services are more human-centered.



Old problems, new solutions



This isn’t the first time a trend like this has taken hold. Skeuomorphic design follows a similar mindset in design thinking—if we need to push a trajectory in a specific direction, go literal. And it worked pretty well in the early days of the iPhone and Blackberry to help bridge the gap between the traditional office environment of the desk and this new glass brick you tap. But it also went too far, and seeped into other applications where it really didn’t make any sense.  Same with the “grunge” movement of design in the late 90s, with photocopied type samples and photoshop brushes that aimed to capture the energy and zeitgeist of the Zine movement—but under false pretenses.



This latest fake craft and hand-drawn era is more of the same. And it will take designers being especially mindful to avoid falling into traps. Here’s how:




Root your ideas in the contextWhenever you’re running to social media and trying to imitate patina or “style,” that’s when the trouble starts. Instead, if you can root your ideas in the context of the project itself, that’s when it really sings. For example, one of my favorite branding projects of last year was for a bakery called Rose by Super Studio, which took the bread itself and “printed” with it, creating a hand-expressed marble texture that was literally the product. They used hand-drawn textures with real meaning, making the designs an expression of the quality of the bread.



Ask yourself what it means to be “human”The rise of AI has challenged a lot of previous conventions about how we define “being human,” whether that’s making mistakes, being delightfully irrational, thinking nonlinearly, or using a variety of voices, tones, and outfits to define who we are in any given moment. If the end goal is to make an organization or message feel more human, then perhaps finding ways to make the identity system act human instead of just grabbing a pencil and making marks could lead to more authentically human expressions while simultaneously moving the art of design forward, too.



Collaborate with the machine . . . just like other designersThe biggest myth of working with AI agents is thinking they give you the right answer on the first prompt. That barely ever happens in practice. You need to go back and forth with it, iterating over content, code, and expressions, teaching it what you want and exploring mistakes and potential unexpected discoveries. The most meaningful work I’ve made with agents has been through dialogue with them, as if I’m directing them. The more specific you can be, and the more iterations you have, the more human and intentional the work becomes.



Embrace depth and variation in your brandsHuman beings are messy, dynamic, and constantly changing. Strong brand identities are considered rigid, rigorous, and standardized. One way bring more humanity into these identity systems is to introduce variation—different logos, different voices and tones for different scenarios, or color palettes that shift based on mood, seasonality, experience. When the one-size-fits-all approach is feeling too stiff and cold, adding depth and variation to a brand can make it feel more like us. Yes, that adds complexity, but I’d argue the demands on a brand identity are more complex than they were during Paul Rand’s or Saul Bass’s era. And our audiences are dramatically more sophisticated  at brand recognition than they were 50 years ago. Perhaps we need to rethink the shackles of the “brand police” as the only tool for enforcement, and begin to design flexibility into our design systems.




As with most trends, the fake “handmade” aesthetic has become about blending in rather than standing apart. And that’s not what design is being called to do. The task, especially in terms of brand, is to create distinction and separation in the marketplace. And AI isn’t the only force that’s leading to creative homogeneity. Sometimes, when we react reflexively without considering the consequences, we can do it to ourselves, too.



 ]]></description>
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<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
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<title>Employers’ liability insurance – what is it and do you need it? </title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/employers-liability-insurance-what-is-it-and-do-you-need-it</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/employers-liability-insurance-what-is-it-and-do-you-need-it</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ By Anna Jordan on Small Business UK - Advice and Ideas for UK Small Businesses and SMEs
Here, we answer all of your questions around employers&#039; liability insurance - how much will you pay and what happens if you don&#039;t have it?  
The post Employers’ liability insurance – what is it and do you need it?  appeared first on Small Business UK. ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Mon, 17 Aug 2026 14:00:03 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Employers’, liability, insurance, –, what, and, you, need, it </media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>Government opens review of EV sales targets ahead of 2030 phase&#45;out</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/government-opens-review-of-ev-sales-targets-ahead-of-2030-phase-out</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/government-opens-review-of-ev-sales-targets-ahead-of-2030-phase-out</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ 
ZEV Mandate review: the Government has opened a consultation on EV sales targets ahead of the 2030 petrol and diesel phase-out, running to 23 October. ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Fri, 14 Aug 2026 14:00:06 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Government, opens, review, sales, targets, ahead, 2030, phase-out</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>Terry de Havilland to launch in Macy’s, Bloomingdale’s and Nordstrom</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/terry-de-havilland-to-launch-in-macys-bloomingdales-and-nordstrom</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/terry-de-havilland-to-launch-in-macys-bloomingdales-and-nordstrom</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ 
Terry de Havilland US expansion moves into department stores, with the British footwear brand planning a launch with Macy&#039;s, Bloomingdale&#039;s and Nordstrom. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://bmmagazine.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/shutterstock_2551144003-768x432.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Fri, 14 Aug 2026 14:00:06 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Terry, Havilland, launch, Macy’s, Bloomingdale’s, and, Nordstrom</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Meta glasses banned from courts across England and Wales</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/meta-glasses-banned-from-courts-across-england-and-wales</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/meta-glasses-banned-from-courts-across-england-and-wales</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ 
Meta glasses are now prohibited in courts and tribunals across England and Wales, with security staff instructed to hold the devices at the entrance. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://bmmagazine.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/shutterstock_2631568877-768x432.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Fri, 14 Aug 2026 14:00:06 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Meta, glasses, banned, from, courts, across, England, and, Wales</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>China on course to export up to 10 million vehicles this year</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/china-on-course-to-export-up-to-10-million-vehicles-this-year</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/china-on-course-to-export-up-to-10-million-vehicles-this-year</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ 
Chinese car exports have driven charter rates for large car carriers to $70,000 a day, Clarksons data shows, with vessels booked years ahead. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://bmmagazine.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/shutterstock_2527411027-768x432.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Fri, 14 Aug 2026 14:00:06 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>China, course, export, million, vehicles, this, year</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Entain warns against lumping betting shops in with gaming arcades</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/entain-warns-against-lumping-betting-shops-in-with-gaming-arcades</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/entain-warns-against-lumping-betting-shops-in-with-gaming-arcades</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ 
Entain chief Stella David said betting shops should not be grouped with adult gaming centres under reforms to the Gambling Act&#039;s aim to permit rule ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://bmmagazine.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/shutterstock_2439639585-768x432.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Fri, 14 Aug 2026 14:00:06 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Entain, warns, against, lumping, betting, shops, with, gaming, arcades</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Flock says its new tool will help identify police abuse, but hasn’t explained how it works</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/flock-says-its-new-tool-will-help-identify-police-abuse-but-hasnt-explained-how-it-works</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/flock-says-its-new-tool-will-help-identify-police-abuse-but-hasnt-explained-how-it-works</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ The surveillance company announced it&#039;s making a tool called &quot;Audit Assistance&quot; mandatory for all customers, claiming it&#039;s already helped catch abuse. But the company has yet to explain how the tool works in detail, raising questions about its effectiveness. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/flock-camera-pole.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Fri, 14 Aug 2026 14:00:04 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Flock, says, its, new, tool, will, help, identify, police, abuse, but, hasn’t, explained, how, works</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>If Apple sends you a push notification alerting you to a spyware attack, take it seriously</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/if-apple-sends-you-a-push-notification-alerting-you-to-a-spyware-attack-take-it-seriously</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/if-apple-sends-you-a-push-notification-alerting-you-to-a-spyware-attack-take-it-seriously</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Apple now sends out push notifications to iPhone lock screens when the company identifies government spyware targeting someone&#039;s devices. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/ios-notification-threat-apple-hero.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Fri, 14 Aug 2026 14:00:04 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Apple, sends, you, push, notification, alerting, you, spyware, attack, take, seriously</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>US courts will start publishing how often the government uses spyware</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/us-courts-will-start-publishing-how-often-the-government-uses-spyware</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/us-courts-will-start-publishing-how-often-the-government-uses-spyware</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ The Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts told TechCrunch that it will start disclosing how many times judges authorized the use of spyware to wiretap suspected criminals. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/spyware-phone-leak.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Fri, 14 Aug 2026 14:00:03 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>courts, will, start, publishing, how, often, the, government, uses, spyware</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Uber and Pony.ai plan to bring 2,000 robotaxis to Europe</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/uber-and-ponyai-plan-to-bring-2000-robotaxis-to-europe</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/uber-and-ponyai-plan-to-bring-2000-robotaxis-to-europe</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ The partnership is expanding beyond the initial market of Zagreb, Croatia to four additional European cities. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/Verne-Uber-Pony-Partnership.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Fri, 14 Aug 2026 14:00:03 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Uber, and, Pony.ai, plan, bring, 2, 000, robotaxis, Europe</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Investors sue Selena Gomez alleging fraud tied to her mental health startup</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/investors-sue-selena-gomez-alleging-fraud-tied-to-her-mental-health-startup</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/investors-sue-selena-gomez-alleging-fraud-tied-to-her-mental-health-startup</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ The plaintiffs say they invested nearly $1.2 million in the company, and are accusing Gomez of failing to build and market the startup. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/GettyImages-2202517874.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Fri, 14 Aug 2026 14:00:03 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Investors, sue, Selena, Gomez, alleging, fraud, tied, her, mental, health, startup</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>How do Siri and Alexa sound so human? A computer engineer explains</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/how-do-siri-and-alexa-sound-so-human-a-computer-engineer-explains</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/how-do-siri-and-alexa-sound-so-human-a-computer-engineer-explains</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Curious Kids is a series for children of all ages. If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, send it to CuriousKidsUS@theconversation.com.








How is a text-to-speech voice made? – Sarah G٫ age 11٫ Seguin٫ Texas








When you talk to computerized assistants like Siri or Alexa, they reply in voices that sound very human. But how do computers, smartphones and apps actually talk like a person? They use a technology called text-to-speech.



When you speak, your lungs push air up your windpipe and through the vocal cords in your throat. That makes the vocal cords vibrate, which creates sound. Your brain tells your mouth, tongue and lips to shape that sound into words.



I’m a computer engineer who researches how computers create realistic experiences for people. A computer simulates this process of making spoken words. It sends electrical signals to a tiny speaker, which vibrates really fast. The vibrations push against the air surrounding the speaker, creating sound waves. Software in the computer controls those electrical signals in order to shape the sound waves to create speech.



If a computer wants to say “Hello, how are you?” it breaks each word into bits of sound called phonemes. Phonemes are the smallest building blocks of speech, such as the sounds “sh,” “short i” and “p” to say “ship.” The software creates the phonemes and groups them in the correct order to form words: “Heh” “lo” “how” “r” “u”? The human brain and mouth create and connect phonemes, too. 









People began trying to make machines speak like humans in the 1700s.



Robot speech



Way back in the 1700s, inventors tried to make machines work like your lungs and throat do. They used bellows—a big bag that a person could squeeze—to push air from inside the bag through pipes, whistles and leather tubes. The sounds that came out were squeaky, weird and creepy.



The first electronic speech machines, called synthesizers, were built in the 1930s. One famous machine was called Voder, which made its debut at the 1939 World’s Fair in New York City. Voder looked like an organ. A person had to press electronic buttons, keys and foot pedals to get it to gasp out basic phrases like “Good morning!”



Computers began speaking by putting together phonemes in the 1960s, creating stiff, robotic speech.



Pieces to a puzzle



Old computer voices often sounded robotic and choppy, like “He-llo-hu-man-I-am-a-com-pu-ter.” This happened because older software programs had to stitch together small sounds that had been mapped out from recorded voices. The maps, called spectrograms, look like graphs with peaks and valleys representing how strong each tone was at each instance when a sound happened.



The programs put the maps together like pieces in a puzzle and turned them back into sounds. That method worked, but it sounded very unnatural. 









Early computer-synthesized speech sounded stiff and robotic.



Today’s computers use machine learning, a kind of artificial intelligence, to sound like a person. Engineers and scientists train an AI program by giving it many hours of recordings of real people talking. The machine learning software analyzes patterns in the speech. That includes everything from how people breathe to when they laugh and to how their voices sound higher when they get excited.



The patterns allow the computer to shape phonemes into words and sentences in all the subtle ways people do.



This advanced technology even allows a sophisticated AI computer to listen to a recording of your voice for just a few seconds, learn your exact speech patterns and copy it. It can then say sentences you have never actually spoken, in a voice that sounds just like yours.



Helpful and harmful voices



Text-to-speech software helps millions of people every day. In cars, it gives directions so drivers can keep their eyes on the road. It can read news articles and websites for people who are blind, and it can give a voice to people who cannot speak.



Like some other powerful technologies, the software can also be misused. Advanced software can create highly realistic fake voices, sometimes called audio deepfakes. These synthetic voices can sound almost identical to a real person’s voice by learning from a short sample of their speech.



Scammers can use this technology to impersonate family members, co-workers or celebrities. They can make phone calls or leave voice messages that try to fool people into believing bad information. Scientists and engineers are working to make tools that can identify fake voices to help stop scammers.



So the next time you hear a phone, computer or video game speak with a human voice, you know how it was able to it without having lungs, vocal cords, lips or a tongue!







Hello, curious kids! Do you have a question you’d like an expert to answer? Ask an adult to send your question to CuriousKidsUS@theconversation.com. Please tell us your name, age and the city where you live.



And since curiosity has no age limit—adults, let us know what you’re wondering, too. We won’t be able to answer every question, but we will do our best.



Tam Nguyen is an associate professor of computer science at the University of Dayton.



This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article. ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Wed, 12 Aug 2026 14:00:05 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>How, Siri, and, Alexa, sound, human, computer, engineer, explains</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>American Express adds 350 luxury hotels to Platinum Card travel program as it doubles down on premium travel</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/american-express-adds-350-luxury-hotels-to-platinum-card-travel-program-as-it-doubles-down-on-premium-travel</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/american-express-adds-350-luxury-hotels-to-platinum-card-travel-program-as-it-doubles-down-on-premium-travel</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ American Express is expanding one of the Platinum Card’s most valuable perks, adding more than 350 curated premium hotels to its Fine Hotels + Resorts and The Hotel Collection programs as premium credit card issuers continue to compete for high-spending travelers.



The additions expand the combined portfolio to more than 3,400 properties across 116 countries, giving Platinum Card members hundreds of new places to book curated stays while taking advantage of benefits like complimentary breakfast, guaranteed late checkout, and on-property credits. 



The expansion also marks the 35th anniversary of Fine Hotels + Resorts, American Express’s luxury hotel program.



Building a bigger travel ecosystem



The move is the latest example of American Express (Amex) investing in a broader premium travel ecosystem rather than relying solely on traditional credit card rewards to keep cardholders happy. Over the past year, the company has introduced its new Sidecar by The Centurion Lounge concept for travelers with limited time before flights, expanded its airport lounge footprint, and rolled out new travel-focused benefits, even as issuers like Chase and Capital One aggressively court affluent cardholders.



Earlier this year, Audrey Hendley, president of American Express Travel, told Fast Company that the company is increasingly designing travel benefits around how cardmembers actually travel instead of simply adding more perks. That thinking helped inspire Sidecar, the company’s new 33-seat airport lounge concept in Las Vegas, after research found many Centurion Lounge visitors spend less than an hour before boarding.



Espacio Nagoya Castle in Nagoya, Japan [Photo: American Express]



“We’re seeing a significant segment of travelers who only spend 30 to 45 minutes in the lounge,” Hendley previously told Fast Company. “Sidecar is our way of honoring that time with the same level of care and service.”



She said Amex is “always looking for ways to understand better how customers travel and what they’re looking for in the experience,” an approach that’s evident in the company’s latest hotel expansion.



“For 35 years, Fine Hotels + Resorts has helped Platinum Card members turn hotel stays into more rewarding travel experiences,” Hendley said in Wednesday’s announcement. “This expansion gives card members more choice across the places they want to go now—from beach escapes and culinary capitals to culture-rich cities and adventure destinations—while continuing to deliver the elevated benefits they expect from American Express Travel.”



The strategy also reflects how American Express sees luxury travel evolving. Rather than simply booking a five-star hotel, travelers increasingly want properties that serve as a gateway to local food, culture, wellness, and outdoor experiences.



Casa Lucia, Meliá Collection, in Buenos Aires, Argentina [Photo: American Express]



American Express says its 2026 Global Travel Trends report found travelers continue prioritizing meaningful, authentic experiences when planning trips, and the newest additions were selected to reflect those evolving preferences.



Among the new properties is Selman Marrakech in Morocco, a luxury equestrian retreat that’s become a destination for milestone celebrations and once-in-a-lifetime getaways. In Japan, Espacio Nagoya Castle blends Japanese art, regional history, wellness, and access to one of the country’s most distinctive culinary cities. Travelers looking for outdoor adventure can book Roki Collection Queenstown in New Zealand, with access to helicopter tours, heli-skiing, hiking, boating, golf, and wineries. Meanwhile, Casa Lucia, Meliá Collection, in Buenos Aires joins The Hotel Collection, putting guests within easy reach of the city’s parrillas (grill restaurants), cafés, bakeries, and contemporary Argentine cuisine.



More ways to justify a premium annual fee



For Platinum Card members, the biggest impact is simple: more opportunities to use benefits that can help offset the card’s annual fee.



Bookings of two nights or more through The Hotel Collection include a $100 credit toward eligible on-property charges, which vary by hotel, along with noon check-in, late checkout, and room upgrades when available. Fine Hotels + Resorts reservations include daily breakfast for two, guaranteed 4 p.m. checkout, and access to select complimentary night offers at eligible properties.



Mont Cervin Palace in Zermatt, Switzerland [Photo: American Express]



Those benefits have become increasingly valuable as luxury hotel prices climb and premium credit cards compete on experiences rather than points alone.



Celebrating 35 years



The expansion also serves as a milestone for Fine Hotels + Resorts.



To mark the program’s 35th anniversary, American Express is highlighting several longtime favorites that have helped define the collection, including Mont Cervin Palace in Zermatt, Switzerland; Mandarin Oriental, Bangkok; Amandari in Bali; and The Carlyle, A Rosewood Hotel, in New York City.



When Fine Hotels + Resorts debuted in 1991, the program included just 120 hotels that fit inside a printed directory sent out to cardholders. Today, together with The Hotel Collection, the program spans more than 3,400 properties around the world. That evolution mirrors American Express’s broader strategy: expanding beyond rewards points to build an interconnected ecosystem of airport lounges, curated hotels, dining benefits, and premium travel experiences designed to keep cardmembers engaged long after they’ve booked a flight.



With Chase continuing to expand Sapphire Lounges and Capital One rapidly growing both its airport lounge network and premium travel offerings, American Express is betting that a broader ecosystem of exclusive experiences, not just rewards points, will keep the Platinum Card at the center of luxury travel.



 ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Wed, 12 Aug 2026 14:00:05 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>American, Express, adds, 350, luxury, hotels, Platinum, Card, travel, program, doubles, down, premium, travel</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Social Security changes: See the full list of 14 rare conditions just added to the fast track for disability benefits</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/social-security-changes-see-the-full-list-of-14-rare-conditions-just-added-to-the-fast-track-for-disability-benefits</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/social-security-changes-see-the-full-list-of-14-rare-conditions-just-added-to-the-fast-track-for-disability-benefits</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ The Social Security Administration (SSA) is allowing more people to fast track their access to disability benefits. 



On Tuesday, the agency added 14 more medical conditions to its Compassionate Allowances list (CAL). The newest conditions on the list include genetic disorders, cancer, and more. 



What are compassionate allowances? 



As noted by the National Council on Aging, the SSA first created the Compassionate Allowances program in 2008. 



According to Social Security, the allowances “are a way to quickly identify diseases and other medical conditions that, by definition, meet Social Security’s standards for disability benefits.”



This includes applications for Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) or Supplemental Security Income (SSI) programs. 



The Social Security Administration looks at a person’s medical records if they apply for any of these disability benefits. In many of the claims, the agency can use technology to see if the applicant has any of the Compassionate Allowance conditions.  



With the new additions, the list now includes 314 conditions, such as ALS/parkinsonism dementia complex, child lymphoma, and ovarian cancer. 



“Social Security is strengthening our disability programs and making the disability determination process better, faster, and higher-quality to serve the American public,” Social Security Administration commissioner Frank J. Bisignano said in the announcement. “The Compassionate Allowances initiative cuts through red tape and allows us to deliver support to individuals who experience life-changing diagnoses and need help fast.”



Which medical conditions were added?



The 14 new conditions added to Social Security’s Compassionate Allowances list are: 




Adenylosuccinate Lyase Deficiency – Neonatal Form and Type 1



Aicardi Syndrome



Baraitser-Winter Syndrome



Beare-Stevenson Cutis Gyrata Syndrome



Bohring-Opitz Syndrome



CASK-Related Gene Disorders



Hepatosplenic T-Cell Lymphoma



Lafora Disease



Malignant Migrating Partial Seizures of Infancy (MMPSI)



OPHN1 Syndrome



Primary Cardiac Sarcoma



Primary Intracranial Malignant Melanoma



Uveal Melanoma – with Metastases



Warburg Micro Syndrome




The full list of all 314 conditions, including the new ones marked in red, is available on the Social Security website. ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Wed, 12 Aug 2026 14:00:05 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Social, Security, changes:, See, the, full, list, rare, conditions, just, added, the, fast, track, for, disability, benefits</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Total solar eclipse live stream today: Here’s where you can see the 2026 eclipse in person and online</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/total-solar-eclipse-live-stream-today-heres-where-you-can-see-the-2026-eclipse-in-person-and-online</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/total-solar-eclipse-live-stream-today-heres-where-you-can-see-the-2026-eclipse-in-person-and-online</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Today around 15 million people will be able to view a total solar eclipse in its entirety, with hundreds of millions more able to view a partial eclipse. Here’s when the eclipse is set to occur and how and when you can watch it in person and online.



What’s happening?



A total solar eclipse will be visible today (Wednesday, August 12, 2026) in parts of North America and Europe, including Greenland, Iceland, Portugal, Russia, and Spain. 



Varying degrees of a partial eclipse will be visible over a much wider area, including in parts of Canada, the U.S., the U.K., France, Germany, Italy, Liberia, Tunisia, and more.



In total, more than 70 countries will experience the partial or total eclipse today, according to TimeandDate.com. Nearly 980 million people, or 12% of the Earth’s population, will be able to see part of today’s eclipse.



NASA has an animated map that shows the path of totality for the eclipse.



It is occurring, as all solar eclipses do, because the moon will briefly move between the Earth and the sun today, blocking the sun’s light from hitting the planet for a few moments. 



When to see the total eclipse in person



If you want to see the total eclipse in person, you’ll need to be in select areas of Greenland, Iceland, Portugal, Russia, or Spain today. 



If you are, you’ll be able to witness the moon nearly completely blocking the light of the sun for roughly two minutes, with a longer, partial eclipse visible on either side of the total eclipse.



The time the total eclipse occurs depends on which city and country you are in. According to TimeandDate.com, those times include:




Greenland: 13:07 ADT to 17:50 WGST



Iceland: 16:42 GMT to 18:49 GMT



Portugal: 17:30 AZOST to 20:42 WEST



Russia: 03:37 ANAT to 21:34 MSK



Spain: 19:30 CEST to 20:46 WEST




When to see the partial eclipse in person in the United States



Here in America, it won’t be possible to see the total solar eclipse. Depending on your location in the United States, you’ll be able to see the sun partially eclipsed by the moon to varying degrees. 



According to NASA, people in Alaska will be able to see the most eclipse coverage, at about 28%, while those in Washington, D.C., and Michigan will be able to see only 4% and 3% coverage, respectively.



NASA says the following times are when people in the following cities can expect to see the most eclipse coverage possible (all times local):




Anchorage, Alaska: 8:21 a.m.



Bangor, Maine: 1:53 p.m.



Boston: 1:55 p.m.



Detroit: 1:36 p.m.



Fairbanks, Alaska: 8:27 a.m.



Juneau, Alaska: 8:24 a.m.



New York: 1:54 p.m.



Philadelphia: 1:53 p.m.



Portland, Maine: 1:53 p.m.



Washington, D.C.: 1:53 p.m.




Eclipse viewing safety



If you do plan on viewing the total or partial eclipse in person, it’s important that you never look directly at the sun. Doing so can permanently damage your eyes and cause blindness.



NASA maintains an Eclipse Safety page here with instructions on how to protect your eyes and view an eclipse safely. 



TimeandDate.com also stresses that sunglasses will not protect your eyes during an eclipse. 



How to stream the total eclipse live



The safest way to view the total eclipse is to watch one of the live streams covering the event from the comfort of your own home.



Both TimeandDate and NASA are offering a live stream of the total eclipse beginning later today on their YouTube channels.




TimeandDate’s live stream will begin at 12 p.m. ET.



NASA’s live stream will begin at 1:15 p.m. ET.




Both are available on YouTube, and both are embedded below.











 ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Wed, 12 Aug 2026 14:00:05 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Total, solar, eclipse, live, stream, today:, Here’s, where, you, can, see, the, 2026, eclipse, person, and, online</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>The creative economy’s greatest competitive advantage</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/the-creative-economys-greatest-competitive-advantage</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/the-creative-economys-greatest-competitive-advantage</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Today, most of the conversations about the future of the creative industries have focused on what technology will make possible. The more important question is what the future will require from the next generation of talent.



Artificial intelligence is changing more than how creative work gets done. It is changing what employers expect from the people entering the workforce. According to PwC’s newly released 2026 Global AI Jobs Barometer, entry-level jobs most exposed to AI are now seven times more likely than others to require skills once reserved for senior roles, including leadership, strategic thinking, and judgment.



This finding represents a profound and exciting shift. For decades, graduates entered the workforce expecting to develop those skills over time. Today, employers increasingly expect them on day one.



AI does not have an imagination, so it will not replace creativity. More importantly, we need to consider how the next generation of creative professionals will develop the judgment, confidence, and cultural understanding that AI cannot provide.



The answer is in the classroom.



Creative education has always been about more than mastering a craft. It is where students learn to defend an idea, accept criticism, ask a great question, collaborate across disciplines, navigate ambiguity, and understand the cultural context and history behind their work. Those are becoming workplace expectations and one of the creative industries’ greatest competitive advantages.



THE VALUE OF RISK REHEARSAL IN THE CLASSROOM



I think of the classroom as the safest place to take creative risks. A designer can present an idea that does not work. A marketer can rethink a campaign. A filmmaker can abandon an entire concept and start over. Failure is often where the best learning begins.



The ability to experiment matters because judgment develops through repetition, critique, curiosity, and reflection. Failure and iteration until a product or process works is a fundamental part of creative education. Those experiences build instincts that have become increasingly valuable in an AI-powered workplace.



WHERE CAREERS REALLY BEGIN



The best creative education also brings the industry into the room. When students learn alongside the people already shaping their fields, they gain that exposure while they are still testing ideas and developing their instincts. They enter the workplace with a foundational understanding of how the industry operates and will be ready to contribute on a higher level from the start.



The classroom is where the industry and education come together. It is an extension of the industry itself, where ideas are challenged, relationships are built, and future collaborators, mentors, and employers are often found. That kind of proximity is the difference between studying a field and becoming part of it.



THE NEW VALUE OF CREATIVE THINKING



As AI changes how creative work gets made, employers are looking for more creativity, paired with the judgment to know what’s worth making.



Professionals with AI fluency are already commanding a 62% wage premium, according to PwC, and while traditional roles are growing more slowly, demand is rising for hybrid roles combining creativity with data, tech, and ethical practice. The World Economic Forum has pointed to creative thinking, leadership, and resilience as among the fastest-rising skills employers want. A creative education has long been designed to cultivate that exact combination.



Neither educators nor employers have fully solved this transition. We are learning alongside one another in real time. That is exactly why closer partnerships between classrooms and industry matter more than ever.



The institutions willing to evolve alongside industry, while remaining grounded in timeless creative principles, will produce graduates prepared not just for today’s jobs, but for careers that don’t yet exist.



GREAT IDEAS NEED CULTURAL CONTEXT



Instinct is not built only at a desk or in a critique. It is shaped by exposure to culture, history, and great work.



That is what exposure to a museum, a gallery, and a classroom can offer that no algorithm can replicate. In an AI era, philosophy, history, and art may be among the oldest subjects we teach, but they could also be the most urgent.



I recently spoke with a designer now leading one of fashion’s great houses. He described how essential it was to understand the cultural history and creative thinking that came before him. That knowledge, he said, is what helps a designer determine what should come next.



Technology can be a research partner, capable of tracing the history of a textile or a silhouette in seconds. It cannot replicate the instinct that comes from standing in a room with the work itself, or the judgment that comes from a classroom built to test ideas before the world does.



EDUCATION IS AN ECONOMIC STRATEGY



The best classrooms continue shaping students after graduation. Alumni return to teach, mentor, and hire the next generation, making creative education cyclical rather than linear. What students learn in their twenties can stay with them throughout their careers, eventually finding its way back into the same classrooms that first shaped them.



The strongest creative industries are defined by the companies they produce and by their ability to continuously develop talent. The future of the creative industries will be determined by who develops people with the judgment, curiosity, and imagination to use it well.



That work begins in the classroom.



Jason Schupbach is president of the Fashion Institute of Technology.



 ]]></description>
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<item>
<title>Sick leave – Making changes to company sickness policy</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/sick-leave-making-changes-to-company-sickness-policy</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/sick-leave-making-changes-to-company-sickness-policy</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ By Peter Done on Small Business UK - Advice and Ideas for UK Small Businesses and SMEs
Is it possible to make changes to our company sickness policy? Peter Done of HR consultancy Peninsula answers the question
The post Sick leave – Making changes to company sickness policy appeared first on Small Business UK. ]]></description>
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<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Sick, leave, –, Making, changes, company, sickness, policy</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>How Premium Product Presentation Helps Brands Build Stronger Customer Trust</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/how-premium-product-presentation-helps-brands-build-stronger-customer-trust</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/how-premium-product-presentation-helps-brands-build-stronger-customer-trust</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ 
Learn how premium product presentation, luxury packaging, and custom rigid packaging help brands build stronger trust and customer loyalty. ]]></description>
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<media:keywords>How, Premium, Product, Presentation, Helps, Brands, Build, Stronger, Customer, Trust</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>Met’s CCTV reporting platform quadruples shoplifting charge rate</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/mets-cctv-reporting-platform-quadruples-shoplifting-charge-rate</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/mets-cctv-reporting-platform-quadruples-shoplifting-charge-rate</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ 
The Metropolitan Police&#039;s CCTV shoplifting reporting platform raised charge and caution rates from 7.3% to 29.4% and now expands to eight more boroughs. ]]></description>
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<media:keywords>Met’s, CCTV, reporting, platform, quadruples, shoplifting, charge, rate</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Tina McKenzie named interim FSB chair as Martin McTague takes peerage</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/tina-mckenzie-named-interim-fsb-chair-as-martin-mctague-takes-peerage</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/tina-mckenzie-named-interim-fsb-chair-as-martin-mctague-takes-peerage</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ 
FSB interim national chair Tina McKenzie takes over as Martin McTague steps down to join the House of Lords, the small business organisation announced. ]]></description>
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<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Tina, McKenzie, named, interim, FSB, chair, Martin, McTague, takes, peerage</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>360 directors convicted of filing offences in three months, Companies House says</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/360-directors-convicted-of-filing-offences-in-three-months-companies-house-says</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/360-directors-convicted-of-filing-offences-in-three-months-companies-house-says</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ 
Companies House disqualified 23 directors for 70 years combined in the first half of 2026 and convicted 360 more of filing offences, new figures show. ]]></description>
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<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>360, directors, convicted, filing, offences, three, months, Companies, House, says</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>Raleigh owner Accell Group enters insolvency proceedings</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/raleigh-owner-accell-group-enters-insolvency-proceedings</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/raleigh-owner-accell-group-enters-insolvency-proceedings</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ 
Accell Group, the Dutch owner of Raleigh bikes, has entered insolvency proceedings, with its UK and Ireland arm moving to appoint administrators. ]]></description>
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<media:keywords>Raleigh, owner, Accell, Group, enters, insolvency, proceedings</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>OpenAI acquires presentation startup NextSlide</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/openai-acquires-presentation-startup-nextslide</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/openai-acquires-presentation-startup-nextslide</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ NextSlide says its team members are now working on ChatGPT. ]]></description>
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<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>OpenAI, acquires, presentation, startup, NextSlide</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>X replaces ‘misaligned’ revenue sharing program with Original Content Rewards</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/x-replaces-misaligned-revenue-sharing-program-with-original-content-rewards</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/x-replaces-misaligned-revenue-sharing-program-with-original-content-rewards</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ X is winding down its existing Revenue Sharing program. ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Sun, 09 Aug 2026 14:00:04 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>replaces, ‘misaligned’, revenue, sharing, program, with, Original, Content, Rewards</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>The Kindle Scribe Colorsoft is a lot of fun, but it’s not a must&#45;have</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/the-kindle-scribe-colorsoft-is-a-lot-of-fun-but-its-not-a-must-have</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/the-kindle-scribe-colorsoft-is-a-lot-of-fun-but-its-not-a-must-have</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ While the device is pretty and lightweight, it’s not something the everyday person needs due to its hefty price tag and size.  ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Sun, 09 Aug 2026 14:00:04 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>The, Kindle, Scribe, Colorsoft, lot, fun, but, it’s, not, must-have</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>This former notorious red&#45;light district is now one of the world’s top AI hubs</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/thisformernotorious-red-light-districtis-nowone-of-the-worlds-top-ai-hubs</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/thisformernotorious-red-light-districtis-nowone-of-the-worlds-top-ai-hubs</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ More than 20 years ago, King&#039;s Cross was one of the seediest area&#039;s in London. Now it&#039;s sprouting something new. ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Sun, 09 Aug 2026 14:00:03 +0000</pubDate>
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<media:keywords>This former notorious, red-light, district is, now one, the, world’s, top, hubs</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>Planned Amazon data center could become the biggest climate polluter in the U.S.</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/planned-amazon-data-center-could-become-the-biggest-climate-polluter-in-the-us</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/planned-amazon-data-center-could-become-the-biggest-climate-polluter-in-the-us</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ As part of a planned Texas data center, Amazon is investing in an on-site power plant that could reportedly become the largest source of climate pollution in the United States. ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Sun, 09 Aug 2026 14:00:03 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Planned, Amazon, data, center, could, become, the, biggest, climate, polluter, the, U.S.</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>Terafab could become the largest factory on the planet—or Elon Musk’s biggest failure</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/terafab-could-become-the-largest-factory-on-the-planetor-elon-musks-biggest-failure</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/terafab-could-become-the-largest-factory-on-the-planetor-elon-musks-biggest-failure</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ At last, we know how Elon Musk’s fabled Terafab will look. Tesla and SpaceX showed a video rendering of their jointly developed advanced chip factory on Thursday. It will occupy 100 million square feet in Grimes County, Texas, about 45 miles northwest of downtown Houston. The sci-fi-looking building is so vast that you could fit six of them in Manhattan. Musk, the CEO of both companies, took to X on Thursday to declare it “the largest and most valuable building on Earth by far.”



Except, you know, it doesn’t actually exist. As with so many of Musk’s grand projects, like the ones he used to sell his inflated SpaceX IPO, this is just a megacool gigafuturistic terarender.



Musk’s brand is the epic announcement, and the Terafab launch does not disappoint in that regard. The factory’s website labels itself as “the most epic chip-building effort ever.” It is a cosmic vision, sold as imminent, wrapped in renderings.



The question isn’t whether Terafab will ever be real; it’s whether it will be this Terafab, on this schedule, at this size. 




The foundations for an exciting future are being built in Texas. Next up: Terafab → https://t.co/jGg52Zhn5I pic.twitter.com/SNfSXNr2tb— SpaceX (@SpaceX) August 6, 2026




What is Terafab, exactly?



SpaceX says the facility will be “an advanced semiconductor fab that will bridge the divide between current global chip supply and the compute demand of the future.” A vertically integrated factory putting manufacturing, packaging, and testing of advanced logic and memory under one roof, the company claims “Terafab will be epic in both its mission and in its sheer size.”



The chips will be optimized for edge computing and inference, destined for Tesla’s Optimus robots and self-driving Cybercabs, while additional high-power chips will sustain SpaceX’s space-based data centers. Intel is participating, though Intel won’t say what its role is. SpaceX promises to employ at least 3,000 workers from Grimes and neighboring Brazos counties, and says it’s “committing to the use of” water from the local Gibbons Creek Reservoir rather than local groundwater. 



According to Bloomberg, the fab (semiconductor fabrication plant) will be powered by natural gas power plants that SpaceX will build itself. “We are bringing our own power,” Riley Trettel, SpaceX’s head of energy and data center development, told residents at a public meeting Wednesday—plus “very large battery arrays.” Solar power is nowhere in the plans, even though project partner Tesla is itself a solar manufacturer.



SpaceX, freshly public after raising $87.5 billion in its IPO, got a 100% tax abatement from Grimes County—contingent on spending at least $5 billion by 2030 and creating at least 1,800 full-time jobs by 2035—plus $30 million in state incentives. The news landed one day after hundreds of residents packed a county meeting Wednesday to protest those millions in tax breaks and what they saw as insufficient transparency.



The Texas Governor’s office put out a statement endorsing the deal from Dr. Sarah Borowicz, superintendent of the Anderson-Shiro Consolidated Independent School District, promising every opportunity would be managed “wisely, transparently, and always with students at the center of every decision.” 



Still, the price keeps shifting. Terafab was unveiled in March as a $25 billion factory, then slated at $55 billion in later filings, and is now budgeted at $16.8 billion for its first phase—with filings suggesting the total bill could reach $119 billion across a “multi-phase” construction plan. Same factory, third price tag. Terafab, it’s worth noting, did not come up on SpaceX’s first earnings call earlier this week.



[Rendering: SpaceX]



Size matters



Putting aside its fantastic ambitions and potential conflicts with the interests of Texas residents, one can only be amazed at Terafab’s theoretical final size. Apple Park, the “spaceship” complex in Cupertino, California, is roughly 2.8 million square feet. Tesla’s Gigafactory Texas facility, already one of the largest buildings in the world, is about 10 million square feet. At 100 million square feet, Terafab would be 10 Gigafactory Texases and 35 Apple Parks.



Back in March, Musk said Terafab was going to be as big as 15 Pentagons. Yesterday, Musk was posting that Terafab “will be 50 times the size of the Pentagon when complete.” Either way, it’s massive.



This otherworldly footprint mirrors Musk’s other supersize ambitions, which include launching 1 million AI servers into orbit and establishing a 100-gigawatt space data center, fed by a factory on the moon that would catapult the servers into Earth’s orbit using an electromagnetic mass driver. Back then, experts in physics, aerospace engineering, and chip design pointed out that Musk’s plan ignores basic thermodynamics. Of the lunar factory and its mass driver, Harvard astrophysicist Avi Loeb said: “The entire project sounds more like a speculative science fantasy than a believable technological project.”



Terafab feels like the terrestrial mirror of that space fantasy. Ironically, among its planned output are the high-power chips designed to run SpaceX’s space-based data centers.



Musk will keep selling the future in units of epic. Epic in mission and epic in sheer size. Maybe Grimes County gets its 3,000 jobs and its robot chip factory. Or maybe it gets a very large, very tax-exempt construction site and a hard lesson: The rendering is always the biggest version the building will ever be. ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Sat, 08 Aug 2026 14:00:05 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Terafab, could, become, the, largest, factory, the, planet—or, Elon, Musk’s, biggest, failure</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>‘If trust breaks, your business breaks’: How Alphonzo Terrell is building Spill to be a different kind of social platform</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/if-trust-breaks-your-business-breaks-how-alphonzo-terrell-is-building-spill-to-be-a-different-kind-of-social-platform</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/if-trust-breaks-your-business-breaks-how-alphonzo-terrell-is-building-spill-to-be-a-different-kind-of-social-platform</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Alphonzo Terrell was the global head of social and editorial at Twitter, until Elon Musk’s $44 billion acquisition that led to roughly 80% of the company’s workforce being laid off—Terrell included.



But he wasted no time in creating his own social media platform, Spill, with a very clear perspective.



After years of seeing firsthand how harmful and exploitative social media can be to Black and queer folks in particular, Terrell wanted to design a space to serve, safeguard, and give equity to those communities.



The app includes features such as Spades (a popular card game within the Black community) and subcommunities for users to find their specific tribes, e.g. Foodie Spill, Art Spill, Book Spill, etc. Operating in the background of all that is an AI moderation tool the company says has a 90% success rate. And the company held a community investment round last year that allowed users to become shareholders.



It’s no wonder why just three years in, Spill is on pace to more than double signups and revenue year over year, having crossed into positive cash flow earlier this summer due in large part to brand partnerships including Netflix, Paramount+, and Gilead.



[Screenshots: Spill]







Terrell pushes back against Spill being labeled as a standalone app for Black Twitter. “I think it minimizes the power of our communities,” said Terrell in an episode of Fast Company‘s podcast Creative Control. “We didn’t own Black Twitter. We didn’t actually have agency. And it was sort of this sadomasochistic relationship of like, here’s this platform that’s constantly harming you, but yet I have to keep using it because it’s the only way I can have a microphone.”



Terrell will join a main stage panel at Fast Company‘s 12th annual Innovation Festival September 14-17 in New York City to discuss what it means to put communities at the core of your business.



But in the meantime, check highlights of Terrell’s episode of Creative Control below and be sure to listen to the episode in full on the audio platform of your choice.



On defining what Spill really is . . .



“We’ve evolved and clarified our value prop today that’s actually fundamentally different [than being Black Twitter]. We really see Spill as an operating system for fandom—and more importantly, culture-forward fandom.



 When you find a place where you can be around other people that love the same thing that you love, it’s an immediate belonging. And many of us are not honest about how weird we are. And so these platforms and these tools became an incredible way to find people that were into superspecific niche things.”



On driving revenue through community . . .



“We have a really robust intelligence engine where we can tell you basically what our communities think about pretty much any topic under the sun, from Black maternal health to a new campaign about a new sauce. And that’s been really helpful for the brands. . . . A lot of these brands don’t want to make mistakes that can be costly or end up in situations where they’re getting boycotted and probably could have avoided that if they came and talked to platforms like us. We’re not a market research firm per se, but we have first party data and intelligence that nobody else has. And we want to use it so that people can make better decisions that benefit our communities.”



On maintaining trust while working brands . . .



“Anything that would hurt or harm the communities that we are built to serve and that we are every day working our asses off to build and maintain trust with is antithetical to our business model. It’s not even personal at that point or moral. It’s just, this would be bad for business. 



[It’s] really about calculating short-term gain versus long-term gain. If you want to take a deal from something questionable now, maybe. But then think about six months, 12 months down the line, 24 months—if that trust breaks, your business breaks. And was that worth the cost of one deal? Most often that’s actually not that hard of a calculus to make.”



Join thousands of business leaders, makers, and innovators at Fast Company’s 12th annual Innovation Festival in New York City this September 14-17. Purchase your festival pass today and save. Standard rates end Friday, August 21.



 ]]></description>
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<item>
<title>States with the least—and most—housing market inventory heading into the fall</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/states-with-the-leastand-mosthousing-market-inventory-heading-into-the-fall</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/states-with-the-leastand-mosthousing-market-inventory-heading-into-the-fall</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Want more housing market stories from Lance Lambert’s ResiClub in your inbox? Subscribe to the ResiClub newsletter.



Nationally aggregated inventory is up just 2.1% on a year-over-year basis from July 31, 2025, to July 31, 2026.



While that’s up a tad from the +1.9% year-over-year pace last month, it’s decelerated significantly since last year.



If you go back 12 months, that year-over-year national inventory growth rate was much higher (+24.7.%). After a period of a burst of softening in which leverage shifted more toward homebuyers, the supply-demand balance in the nationally aggregated housing market has been more stable over the past year, settling into what ResiClub considers a “soft” market. Note, however that there’s a lot of nuance regionally and locally.



Nationally, we’re still below pre-pandemic 2019 inventory levels (9.1% below July 2019), and some resale markets, in particular chunks of the Midwest and Northeast, still remain, relatively speaking, tight-ish.







July inventory/active listings total, according to Realtor.com:




July 2017 -&gt; 1,322,659



July 2018 -&gt; 1,261,916



July 2019 -&gt; 1,239,534



July 2020 -&gt; 822,834



July 2021 -&gt; 546,686 (pandemic housing boom overheating)



July 2022 -&gt; 691,652



July 2023 -&gt; 647,135



July 2024 -&gt; 884,273



July 2025 -&gt; 1,102,787



July 2026 -&gt; 1,126,252




From July 2024 to July 2025, U.S. active inventory across the country rose by 218,514 homes for sale.



From July 2025 to July 2026, U.S. active inventory across the country rose by 23,465 homes for sale.



Right now, we’re looking at state inventory data. ResiClub members (paid tiers) can get our monthly interactive deep-dive analysis looking at inventory shifts and signals for 800-plus metro areas, 3,000 counties, and 25,000 zip codes. ResiClub PRO details here.



Below is the year-over-year active inventory percentage change by state.



Click here to view an interactive version of the year-over-year map below.







While active housing inventory is rising in most markets on a year-over-year basis, the pace of growth continues to decelerate across much of the country (see the side-by-side maps below). In fact, Florida—home to many of the weakest regional housing markets over the past two years—is now seeing active inventory edge down a little year-over-year (-14%).



From left: Year-over-year active inventory shift from July 2024 to July 2025; year-over-year active inventory shift from July 2025 to July 2026







And while active housing inventory is rising in most markets on a year-over-year basis, some markets still remain tight-ish.



As ResiClub has been documenting, both active resale and new homes for sale remain the most limited across huge swaths of the Midwest and Northeast. That’s where home sellers in the summer are likely, relatively speaking, to have more power than their peers in many Southern markets.



In contrast, active housing inventory for sale has neared or surpassed pre-pandemic 2019 levels in many parts of the Sunbelt and Mountain West, including metro-area housing markets such as Punta Gorda, Florida, and Austin.



Many of these areas saw major price surges during the pandemic housing boom, with home prices getting stretched compared to local incomes. As pandemic-driven domestic migration slowed and mortgage rates rose, markets like Punta Gorda and Austin faced challenges, relying on local income levels to support frothy home prices.



This softening trend was accelerated further by an abundance of new-home supply in the Sunbelt. Builders are often willing to lower prices or offer affordability incentives (if they have the margins to do so) to maintain sales in a shifted market, which also has a cooling effect on the resale market: Some buyers who would have previously considered existing homes have opted for new homes with more favorable deals over the past couple of years—which then put additional upward pressure on resale inventory.



Click here to view an interactive version of the map below.







At the end of July 2026, 16 states were above pre-pandemic 2019 active inventory levels: Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Florida, Hawaii, Idaho, Nebraska, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, and Washington. (The District of Columbia is also back above pre-pandemic 2019 active inventory levels.)



Click here to view an interactive of the chart below (best done on desktop).







Big picture: Over the past year the post-boom softening hasn’t been as strong as it was in 2024 or 2025, and inventory growth has decelerated on a year-over-year basis. That said, the nationally aggregated housing market remains soft. While home prices are declining in some parts of the Sunbelt, large parts of Northeast and Midwest markets are still eking out small year-over-year gains. At the national level, home prices are essentially flat year over year.



Click here for an interactive version of the table below.







Below is another version of the table above—but this one includes every month since January 2017.







If you’d like to further examine the monthly state inventory figures, use the interactive below.



As ResiClub has been closely documenting, Florida—which has been the epicenter of housing market weakness over the past 2.5 years, particularly in Southwest Florida—is no longer seeing the same upward burst in inventory.



Indeed, the intensity of Florida’s housing market correction is easing across many pockets of the state. There are still pockets of weakness, particularly in Southwest Florida, but the burst of softening has let up. Some builders have also reported that their affordability adjustments have helped them better meet the market in the state. To really get a sense of the zip ode nuances, I recommend using the ResiClub Terminal.



Click here to view an interactive/searchable version of the chart below.






 ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Sat, 08 Aug 2026 14:00:05 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>States, with, the, least—and, most—housing, market, inventory, heading, into, the, fall</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Why can’t your email be as secure as your texts?</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/why-cant-your-email-be-as-secure-as-your-texts</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/why-cant-your-email-be-as-secure-as-your-texts</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Most people take for granted that the messages they send via popular messaging apps like Meta’s WhatsApp or Apple’s iMessage are end-to-end encrypted (E2EE), meaning that no one but the sender and receiver—not even WhatsApp or Apple—can read the contents. Unfortunately, this rock-solid privacy-preserving encryption doesn’t extend to the other major type of messages we send: emails. 



Not a one of the big four email providers—Google’s Gmail, Apple’s iCloud Mail, Microsoft’s Outlook, or Yahoo Mail—supports end-to-end encryption for personal accounts. Fortunately, if you do want E2EE protection for your emails similar to what you have for your texts, there are some email platforms that offer such robust privacy protections.



Why aren’t emails end-to-end encrypted?



If you have a personal email address ending in @gmail.com, @iCloud.com, @outlook.com, or @yahoo.com, the emails you send and receive are not end-to-end encrypted. However, it’s important to note that the email providers do use some encryption to protect your messages. 



They do this in two ways, primarily: by encrypting your messages in transit between the sender, their servers, and the receiver, and by encrypting your emails at rest on their servers. However, this encryption isn’t end-to-end because email providers hold the encryption keys, meaning they could read your emails if they wanted or turn them over to government agencies if presented with a lawful court order. In the worst case, if an attacker stole the email platform’s encryption keys, they could possibly access all your emails and their contents.



On the other hand, with end-to-end encryption like that used by the world’s most popular messaging apps, the service provider does not have access to the encryption keys that unscramble the message to make it readable—only the sender and receiver do. This restriction is why end-to-end encryption provides superior privacy and security versus regular encryption.



The question that arises then is, why wouldn’t these email platforms just end-to-end encrypt your emails as they do with the messages in the popular messaging apps you use? 



The answer is less conspiratorial than practical. Email is a decades-old technology, designed to work seamlessly across all services. If emails were encrypted end-to-end, email interoperability would break. It would be very hard, if not impossible, to send an email from, for example, a Gmail account to an iCloud account. End-to-end encrypted email would also have other drawbacks. Email services scan emails for signs of spam and phishing attempts. If those emails were end-to-end encrypted, the services wouldn’t be able to detect, quarantine, and block potential emails that are seeking to harm you. 



Other useful features we’re used to, like search, would also be severely hindered. Currently, most of your emails don’t actually reside on your devices. The older ones are stored on the service’s servers. Yet you can still search for them by keyword to find that old email you need precisely because the service’s servers can read the content of your emails. E2EE emails would break this server-side ability, meaning that if you wanted to search through your thousands of old emails, you’d need to download all of them to your smartphone or laptop first.



Of course, sometimes it’s prudent to sacrifice convenience for privacy, and if you want your emails end-to-end encrypted, you do have some good options.



Trade iCloud, Gmail, Yahoo, and Outlook for these platforms



Since the early 1990s, a technology called Pretty Good Privacy (PGP) has allowed people to end-to-end encrypt their emails. However, using PGP is pretty complicated for the average email user, as it involves the manual management of encryption keys.



Thankfully, if you want end-to-end email encryption, you don’t need to manually mess with PGP—provided you are willing to switch email providers. In recent years, a number of companies have sprung up offering ready-to-use end-to-end encrypted emails. Two of the most popular are Proton Mail and Tuta Mail.



Both services are essentially the Signal of the email world. By that I mean that any emails sent from one Proton address to another Proton address, or one Tuta address to another Tuta address, are end-to-end encrypted by default, without your having to do anything.



However, there are some important limitations to these end-to-end encrypted email services. If you use either to send an email to an email address other than one ending with the E2EE address you are using (for example, sending an email from your Proton email account to someone with a Gmail email address, or even from a Proton email address to a Tuta email address), you will lose the protection of end-to-end encryption, as its transmission will default to standard email protocols. If the E2EE email service didn’t ditch the encryption in these instances, the recipient with the other email service wouldn’t be able to read the content of the message.



To get around this limitation, both Proton and Tuta allow you to send end-to-end encrypted emails to non-Proton and Tuta email addresses, respectively, via a secure online platform. Instead of seeing text in the body of the email, the Gmail or Yahoo Mail user, for example, will get a secure link. Clicking it takes them to a website where they can enter the password you provided them to decrypt your end-to-end encrypted message.



Should you switch to E2EE email?



So, should you switch to an end-to-end encrypted email platform? Most people would likely find the inconveniences too burdensome.



But if you want the most protection possible for your emails, Gmail, iCloud, Outlook, and Yahoo aren’t the services to use. In that case, E2EE email providers like Proton and Tuta are worth checking out.



 ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Sat, 08 Aug 2026 14:00:05 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Why, can’t, your, email, secure, your, texts</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Turn your handwriting into a font for Android, Windows, or MacOS</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/turn-your-handwriting-into-a-font-for-android-windows-or-macos</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/turn-your-handwriting-into-a-font-for-android-windows-or-macos</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Handwriting has personality. Get to know someone well enough and their handwriting will remind you of them, because we all form letters just a bit differently.



Our devices, for the most part, lack that kind of personality. Sure, you can choose a font from a drop-down list in your word processor of choice—but it’s not the same.



So what if you could inject some of that unique-to-you personality into your digital discussions? It’s possible—with the right free tool at your fingertips.



This tip originally appeared in the free Cool Tools newsletter from The Intelligence. Get the next issue in your inbox and get ready to discover all sorts of awesome tech treasures!



Your handwriting, your font



​FontCrafter​ is a free web app that can turn your handwriting into a font.



➜ Just download a PDF, fill it in by hand, and the site will create a completely custom font exclusively for you based on your writing.



⌚ It takes around 15 minutes from start to finish—and then the custom font is yours forever to use on any device you want, without any additional setup.



For perspective, that’s nothing compared to the typical laborious process of creating an actual custom typeface. FontCrafter takes something that’d ordinarily be out of reach for most of us and makes it downright easy.



✅ As for the specifics, when you visit the website, you can download a PDF template to start. The idea is that you’ll print out the PDF and then fill it in by hand to show every letter and character in your natural writing.



The template gives you three lines. I filled out the first with uppercase letters and the next two with lowercase ones, but you can do all with uppercase letters if you prefer. Providing multiple versions of letters is meant to introduce a bit of variation, allowing the typed text from your font to look more natural.



FontCrafter starts by having you fill in each letter multiple times.



When you’re done filling out the form, you’ll need to scan it and upload it back to the website, making sure the crosshair symbols in the corners are included. This is going to work best with an actual physical scanner, because a certain amount of precision is needed—but you could always try using the built-in scanning function in Google Drive​ or another such app, if you want. 



⛔ If you don’t have a printer or a scanner handy, there are workarounds. I used my ReMarkable writing tablet, which made the process easy. You could do the same thing with an iPad or Android tablet or even just with a stylus or your finger on your phone, depending on what you have handy. Just note that having a stylus is going to result in more realistic-looking text than using your finger, for obvious reasons.



However you go about it, once you’ve got your template filled out, head back to the website and submit it. The web application will process it, right in your browser, then ask you if you want ligatures (a custom character shape created when two letters merge into a single joined form) or not. Just choose whatever option looks best to you.



You’ve got a couple options for how your custom handwriting font appears.



Last but not least, you’ll have your font ready to download in whatever format you prefer. Both TrueType and OpenType are available, and both will work with most devices and software that supports custom fonts in the first place. 



All that’s left is to install the font in your operating system—something that’s possible with Android​ as well as Windows​ and ​MacOS​—and use it in whatever applications you like. 



Once your font is finished, you can install it anywhere that accepts custom font uploads.



Is this practical? Possibly not. But is it cool to turn your handwriting into a font? Definitely. I’m enjoying it, even though my handwriting is awful. Just imagine how well it will work for you, a much cooler person with much better penmanship than me.




FontCrafter runs right in your regular web browser​—no downloads or installations needed.



It’s completely free to use, without any limitations (or even ads). You can opt to make a contribution to its creator if you want.



The service is a client-side web app, meaning it’s 100% private and everything happens locally on your own device. Your handwriting is never uploaded to a server, no accounts or sign-ins are required, and no one has any access to any of your data.




Treat yourself to all sorts of brain-boosting goodies like this with the free Cool Tools newsletter—starting with an instant introduction to an incredible audio app that’ll tune up your days in truly delightful ways. ]]></description>
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<item>
<title>Saudi&#45;led consortium completes $55bn EA takeover</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/saudi-led-consortium-completes-55bn-ea-takeover</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/saudi-led-consortium-completes-55bn-ea-takeover</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ 
The $55bn EA takeover by Saudi Arabia&#039;s Public Investment Fund, Silver Lake and Affinity Partners has closed, taking the games publisher off Nasdaq. ]]></description>
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<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Saudi-led, consortium, completes, 55bn, takeover</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>ASA bans Jaded London email ad for glamorising smoking</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/asa-bans-jaded-london-email-ad-for-glamorising-smoking</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/asa-bans-jaded-london-email-ad-for-glamorising-smoking</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ 
Jaded London has been told to drop an email ad after the ASA ruled that an image of a model holding a lit cigarette irresponsibly glamorised smoking. ]]></description>
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<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>ASA, bans, Jaded, London, email, for, glamorising, smoking</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Anthropic finds three hacks by its AI models after OpenAI disclosure</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/anthropic-finds-three-hacks-by-its-ai-models-after-openai-disclosure</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/anthropic-finds-three-hacks-by-its-ai-models-after-openai-disclosure</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ 
Anthropic says three of its AI models hacked outside organisations, days after OpenAI disclosed its models broke into the AI firm Hugging Face in July. ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Wed, 05 Aug 2026 14:00:06 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Anthropic, finds, three, hacks, its, models, after, OpenAI, disclosure</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Six&#45;month&#45;old Volta strikes $10bn deal with Anthropic</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/six-month-old-volta-strikes-10bn-deal-with-anthropic</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/six-month-old-volta-strikes-10bn-deal-with-anthropic</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ 
Volta Anthropic deal: the London start-up incorporated in January has agreed a $10bn data centre partnership and raised funding from Nvidia at $2.4bn. ]]></description>
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<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Six-month-old, Volta, strikes, 10bn, deal, with, Anthropic</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Bank of England staff worked nearly 13,000 days overseas, FOI data shows</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/bank-of-england-staff-worked-nearly-13000-days-overseas-foi-data-shows</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/bank-of-england-staff-worked-nearly-13000-days-overseas-foi-data-shows</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ 
More than 1,000 staff used the Bank of England working from abroad policy for 12,889 days in total, freedom of information data released this week shows. ]]></description>
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<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Bank, England, staff, worked, nearly, 13, 000, days, overseas, FOI, data, shows</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Robinhood to list a fund that lets anyone back Y Combinator startups</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/robinhood-to-list-a-fund-that-lets-anyone-back-y-combinator-startups</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/robinhood-to-list-a-fund-that-lets-anyone-back-y-combinator-startups</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Robinhood&#039;s latest financial instrument intends to let any retail investor feel like they, too, can make money by backing Y Combinator startups. ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Wed, 05 Aug 2026 14:00:04 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Robinhood, list, fund, that, lets, anyone, back, Combinator, startups</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Indian EV startup River raises $120M Series C to scale production, launch more models</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/indian-ev-startup-river-raises-120m-series-c-to-scale-production-launch-more-models</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/indian-ev-startup-river-raises-120m-series-c-to-scale-production-launch-more-models</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ River plans to build a new factory, launch additional models from 2027, and target profitability as it scales production. ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Wed, 05 Aug 2026 14:00:04 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Indian, startup, River, raises, 120M, Series, scale, production, launch, more, models</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>AI makes weather prediction better. Can WindBorne make it lucrative?</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/ai-makes-weather-prediction-better-can-windborne-make-it-lucrative</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/ai-makes-weather-prediction-better-can-windborne-make-it-lucrative</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ WindBorne Systems has raised $37 million Series B round to scale its weather balloons and AI forecasts. ]]></description>
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<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>makes, weather, prediction, better., Can, WindBorne, make, lucrative</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Disney+ looks to TikTok creators to bring fan content to its short&#45;form video feed</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/disney-looks-to-tiktok-creators-to-bring-fan-content-to-its-short-form-video-feed</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/disney-looks-to-tiktok-creators-to-bring-fan-content-to-its-short-form-video-feed</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ As streamers compete with social media giants for viewer attention, Disney+ is partnering with TikTok to bring creator content to its app. ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Wed, 05 Aug 2026 14:00:03 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Disney, looks, TikTok, creators, bring, fan, content, its, short-form, video, feed</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>MacPaw taps Liquid AI to offer on&#45;device inference to devs building for its app store</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/macpaw-taps-liquid-ai-to-offer-on-device-inference-to-devs-building-for-its-app-store</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/macpaw-taps-liquid-ai-to-offer-on-device-inference-to-devs-building-for-its-app-store</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ MacPaw is building a local version of its AI assistant Eney using Liquid AI&#039;s models. ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Wed, 05 Aug 2026 14:00:03 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>MacPaw, taps, Liquid, offer, on-device, inference, devs, building, for, its, app, store</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>From two friends to ten countries: Amazon Ads spotlights Rising Stars’ entrepreneurs</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/from-two-friends-to-ten-countries-amazon-ads-spotlights-rising-stars-entrepreneurs</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/from-two-friends-to-ten-countries-amazon-ads-spotlights-rising-stars-entrepreneurs</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ By Partner Content on Small Business UK - Advice and Ideas for UK Small Businesses and SMEs


The post From two friends to ten countries: Amazon Ads spotlights Rising Stars’ entrepreneurs appeared first on Small Business UK. ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Tue, 04 Aug 2026 14:00:07 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>From, two, friends, ten, countries:, Amazon, Ads, spotlights, Rising, Stars’, entrepreneurs</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>ChatGPT dominates Congress’s AI spending</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/chatgpt-dominates-congresss-ai-spending</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/chatgpt-dominates-congresss-ai-spending</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Anthropic may have topped OpenAI as the world’s most valuable AI startup a few months ago, but when it comes to power users, Sam Altman’s company still has the edge.



ChatGPT accounted for 88% of all known spending on AI tools by the U.S. House of Representatives between April 1, 2025 and March 31 of this year, according to a study of House disbursement records by CNBC.



The analysis only looks at paid usage, so free accounts are not factored into the equation, nor is any AI usage that’s bundled with larger software contracts. But of the $113,740 spent in named vendors during that period, $100,580 went to ChatGPT. Spending by Democrats was three times that of Republicans, the records show.



Spending on Anthropic’s Claude was a distant second, accounting for $13,160 across just 37 transactions.



The heavy usage by Congressional members and their staff could give OpenAI an edge over its rivals as the debate over AI regulation continues and the government awards contracts to AI giants for a variety of departments.



The totals gathered by CNBC are almost certainly far short of the actual spending by Congress on AI. The data did not include Senate usage (though it’s worth noting the Senate does not allow Claude for official use) and some House offices have individuals sign up for a subscription to an AI service, then reimburse that staffer, which would not be line-itemed in the disbursement records.



Big spending



In some cases, the use of OpenAI could be habitual. ChatGPT was the first major AI chatbot on the market and was the first form of the technology that many members of the House experimented with in 2023, when the legislative body formed an AI working group.



OpenAI and Altman have also been significant donors to many Congressional races and have spent significantly on lobbying in recent years.



In the second quarter of this year, OpenAI spent $1.2 million on lobbying, an increase of nearly 18% from the first quarter and a new record for the firm. It’s also nearly double what it spent in the second quarter last year. (Anthropic, meanwhile, spent $1.97 million from April through June.)



Last year, OpenAI spent nearly $3 million in federal lobbying, and Altman has personally donated more than $126,000 to individual candidates and political parties since the launch of ChatGPT. The vast majority of those donations were to Democrats. Previous donations include six-figure contributions supporting Joe Biden’s 2020 presidential run and $250,000 to the Democratic super PAC American Bridge 21st Century in 2020.



Altman did, however, also personally donate $1 million to Donald Trump’s inauguration fund in 2024. (He’s said he doesn’t plan to make any political donations in the 2026 midterm elections. “I would love to see money out of politics in general,” he said last month.)



Meanwhile, OpenAI co-founder and president Greg Brockman, along with his wife Anna, have committed $50 million to the pro-AI super PAC Leading the Future super PAC, which says it plans to support AI-friendly candidates from both parties during the midterm elections. (Other donors to Leading the Future include private equity giant Andreessen Horowitz and Palantir cofounder Joe Lonsdale.) The Brockmans also gave $25 million to Trump’s MAGA Inc. super PAC in September of 2025.



The heavy House usage of ChatGPT and the political spending of AI companies is increasingly important as momentum grows for government regulation of the industry. Leaders of the top AI companies, including Altman, are expected to gather at the White House Tuesday to discuss a new framework that would allow the government to review frontier AI models before they launch. This comes after models from OpenAI and Anthropic both went rogue and hacked into other companies recently. ]]></description>
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</item>

<item>
<title>How Byron Allen plans to turn BuzzFeed into a YouTube rival</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/how-byron-allen-plans-to-turn-buzzfeed-into-a-youtube-rival</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/how-byron-allen-plans-to-turn-buzzfeed-into-a-youtube-rival</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ When the media mogul Byron Allen took a controlling stake in BuzzFeed in May—becoming its CEO and chairman—it was his latest bold bet in a volatile media landscape. The Allen Media Group founder explains his strategy for BuzzFeed, why YouTube and Netflix aren’t untouchable in the streaming wars, and why race matters in media ownership. (Editor’s note: This interview was recorded before BuzzFeed announced layoffs for 35% of its staff on July 27, 2026.)



This is an abridged transcript of an interview from Rapid Response, hosted by the former editor-in-chief of Fast Company Bob Safian. From the team behind the Masters of Scale podcast, Rapid Response features candid conversations with today’s top business leaders navigating real-time challenges. Subscribe to Rapid Response wherever you get your podcasts to ensure you never miss an episode.







You started out as a performer, and you personally host the TV show Comics Unleashed, which is in Colbert’s old spot, but you’re also very much a businessperson. How do we know when you’re joking and when you’re serious? You do make some audacious moves: trying to buy BET or ABC, suing McDonald’s, threatening GM.



I have made it very clear that, unfortunately, Black-owned media—not to be confused with Black-targeted media—virtually does not exist, and that’s unfortunate. You have to remember, I started the company from my dining room table, where I’m sitting now. I started the company from my dining room table in ’93. And Coretta Scott King was a friend of mine, Martin Luther King’s widow, and I think she’s the true queen of America. Bob, she taught me a lot. She said to me, “Byron, as Black people in America, we had four major challenges. Number one, end slavery. Number two, end Jim Crow. Number three, achieve civil rights.” Then she choked up and said, “Number four, the real reason they killed my Martin: achieve economic inclusion.”She said, “You know, Byron, they didn’t kill my Martin”—that’s how she referred to him—”over the ‘I have a dream’ speech. They killed him over the speech he gave in February of ’68 at Stanford University called ‘The other America.&#039;” In that speech, he said, “There are two Americas. One America has access to opportunity and economic inclusion and education, and the other America doesn’t. Two Americas will not survive. We must achieve one America or the whole system will implode.” And I said to her, “OK, you’ve done more than enough. It’s for our generation to deal with the fourth and final chapter.” All I said to corporate America is this simple thought, Bob: The greatest trade deficit in America is the trade deficit between white corporate America and Black America. Until we close that trade deficit, we can’t have one America. It starts with economic inclusion for all Americans, especially Black Americans, the furthest left behind. That’s the reason I filed the lawsuits, Bob.



You created a distinction between Black-owned media and Black-targeted media. And I know those lawsuits were about devoting more of their media budgets to Black-owned outlets.



That’s right.



But you bought the Black News Channel out of bankruptcy and merged it into TheGrio. Is there a business opportunity in talking to and engaging with Black audiences differently? Is that where there are undervalued properties and audiences, or are these things completely separate?



You should not have a world where we don’t have Black-owned media. We need to control our images. We need to control how we’re produced. We need to control how we’re depicted. Are you OK, Bob, if I control all of media and I control how your white children grow up and see themselves? Will you trust me with that? Can I tell your white children how to think about themselves, how to see themselves, who they are in this society? Are you OK with me having that power and that control over your children’s psychology and self-worth?



Let me ask you about BuzzFeed. You’ve built a lot of your media business by buying distressed, overlooked assets—the Weather Channel, regional sports networks—and taking advantage of these opportunities. You bought a majority stake in BuzzFeed for $120 million. It’s a business that has struggled for several years. Why? What do you see in BuzzFeed that others don’t value?



Look, really simple. BuzzFeed is phenomenal. BuzzFeed is one of the great original brands, right? And it’s not only BuzzFeed. It’s HuffPost. It’s Tasty. Tasty has 174 million social media followers, Bob. Unbelievable, OK? They announced that they were about to run out of money. I’m a firm believer in business as a contact sport, and speed wins championships. So I quickly called them and I said, “Hey, I understand you have some issues here. I’m here to help you get it done. Let’s work on it, and let’s get it done now.” So we cut a deal. No analysis paralysis. Let’s get to it. When I bought into the company, the stock was trading at about 60 to 70 cents a share. Once it got announced, it immediately moved to a buck 40, buck 50. And BuzzFeed is now going to chase YouTube.When you think about BuzzFeed and the first 20 years of BuzzFeed, it was text. It was written. Advertisers are only paying about a buck 25 CPM [cost per thousand impressions] for written content, articles, a buck 25. Who cares? It’s a waste of time. We’ll do it. We will definitely do it. I love the written word, but I’m saying it’s a waste of time to invest huge resources when the advertisers are not supporting it.



Which is what Jonah [Jonah Peretti, cofounder and former CEO of BuzzFeed] figured out when he closed BuzzFeed News, right? It was just costing too much money.



And I love having those articles. I want that. I’m going to build on that. I’m going to make it even stronger. I love HuffPost. I love BuzzFeed. We’re going to do some amazing things with Tasty. But we have to get into the video business. A buck 25 for text, video is approximately $30. So I’m here, and I’m able to put BuzzFeed immediately into the video business and chase YouTube. YouTube is . . .



Because you’ve already got video from your other properties.



That’s exactly right. YouTube is the biggest streamer on the planet. Why? Two words: free and streaming. The world loves free and streaming. Bob, the two easiest things you will ever sell in your life: free and streaming. So it’s hard to fall off the floor. I like to buy businesses in the lobby and take them to the penthouse. I have no interest in buying a business in the penthouse and taking it to the lobby. BuzzFeed was on the floor. I picked it up. It’s on the elevator. We are going to be a serious competitor for free streaming video, and I’m taking it to the penthouse. And when I get to the penthouse, they’re going to have to add a lot more floors, because I’m going to go beyond the penthouse where it currently sits.People must remember that the video sitting at YouTube, 99.9% of it, is noninclusive. Hey, YouTube creators, if your content is sitting at YouTube and you like getting one check, take your content, put it at BuzzFeed, and get two checks. Not a hard pitch, Bob. Not a hard pitch. Day one, I’m going to put over 30,000 movies, TV shows, and documentaries on BuzzFeed. Over 750 FAST [free ad-supported streaming TV] channels: People Magazine, Kevin Hart, Johnny Carson, Architectural Digest, and over 400 ABC, NBC, CBS, and Fox affiliates. Super-hyperlocal news, weather, sports, and traffic, geofenced to the user’s ZIP code. I already have that technology with Local Now. I’ve been building it and investing in Local Now since I bought the Weather Channel in 2018.I have won best streamer [from various media outlets] three times with Local Now, and nobody knows about Local Now. So I have the best technology and the worst branding. Now I’m going to take some of the best branding, BuzzFeed and HuffPost, and marry it with the best technology.



The snootiest among my colleagues often complain that content quality is going down as access gets ubiquitous, and we’re going to the lowest common denominator as we change these financial models. Does that hold any weight? Are we losing anything culturally in this transition?



I don’t think so. I’ll say to your snooty friends, “Don’t smell it, sell it.” That’s what I’ll say to your snooty friends. Sell it. And Henry Ford said it best: “Opportunity is never lost. Your competitors will always find it.”



 ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Tue, 04 Aug 2026 14:00:07 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>How, Byron, Allen, plans, turn, BuzzFeed, into, YouTube, rival</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>Levain Bakery just dropped a Crate &amp;amp; Barrel collab for all your cookie needs</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/levain-bakery-just-dropped-a-crate-barrel-collab-for-all-your-cookie-needs</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/levain-bakery-just-dropped-a-crate-barrel-collab-for-all-your-cookie-needs</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Levain Bakery used to use Crate &amp; Barrel products to display its cookies because the home goods brand’s serveware looked clean, simple, and elevated.



“We weren’t finding some sheet pans or something at a restaurant supply place,” Levain Bakery’s cofounder, Pam Weekes, tells Fast Company. “We kind of wanted something that was a little more unique and special.”



Now the bakery has collaborated with the home goods brand on a 17-piece collection.



[Photo: Levain Bakery]



The two brands announced their collaboration Tuesday, which includes items like plates, glasses, dish towels, spatulas, mixing spoons, and a $15 ceramic Mini Crate inspired by the berry box colanders Levain Bakery has long used to display their cookies. The collection’s $18 Cookie Glass is hand-blown, and the $20 Perfect Silicone Cookie Mat was designed to make Levain-sized cookies at home.



Everything in the collection is something the bakery’s cofounders would use themselves.



“It was a real collaboration, which was really nice because I think we’re pretty particular, and we’re pretty clear about what we like and what we don’t like,” Weekes says. “But they’re pretty particular as well.”



The design process brought together Levain Bakery’s baking know-how and playful visual identity with Crate &amp; Barrel’s manufacturing expertise and functionality.



When the bakery said they wanted to make a cookie jar, for example, Crate &amp; Barrel had plenty of experience with making them. And when they wanted to make a bench scraper, a tool used to cut dough and scrape messy counters clean, Weekes and her team could explain their specific needs. Bench scrapers at restaurant supply stores are typically too big and clunky, so Levain Bakery has gotten theirs from France. (The bakery also got its name from France, as levain means leavening.)



[Photo: Levain Bakery]



“They’re not expensive, but they are hard to replace,” the other cofounder, Connie McDonald, says of their bench scrapers. “So . . . we explained it to the Crate &amp; Barrel team like, ‘This bench scraper has to kind of fit in your hand and it has to feel good.’ And they did it, and it feels great.”



The $50 cookie jar, which comes with a maple lid, includes original illustration in Levain Bakery’s signature blue style by the artist and longtime collaborator Libby VanderPloe, as do the collection’s textiles, tools, and serveware.



[Photo: Levain Bakery]



For Levain Bakery, which opened as a bread shop in 1995 and is now preparing to open its 21st location, the collaboration helps get its brand name in more places, as Crate &amp; Barrel has more than 100 stores, outlets, and franchise locations globally. Finally, fans of the New York City bakery you could get only in a few select cities can bring it to their own home.



 ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Tue, 04 Aug 2026 14:00:07 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
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<item>
<title>Chase Bank is closing another wave of branches this summer: See a list of shuttered locations in several states</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/chase-bank-is-closing-another-wave-of-branches-this-summer-see-a-list-of-shuttered-locations-in-several-states</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/chase-bank-is-closing-another-wave-of-branches-this-summer-see-a-list-of-shuttered-locations-in-several-states</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ JPMorgan Chase operates the largest network of retail consumer banks in the United States, and even at a time when more financial services are automated and face-to-face customer service feels like something from a bygone era, the banking giant has continued to invest in physical locations.



Since 2018, Chase has opened more than 1,000 locations, a company spokesperson told Fast Company. But there’s a catch.



While Chase Bank has continued to open new branches at an aggressive pace, its net branch count is not dramatically larger than it was eight years ago, the company’s financial filings show. 



At the end of 2025, Chase reported 5,083 branches. That’s just 48 more branches than it reported in 2018. 



One reason for that is because Chase also closes many branches that it deems unnecessary, either due to low foot traffic, consolidation, or because it plans to relocate a branch to a nearby address.



This summer has been no exception. Since June, Chase has closed more than a dozen branches across several states, recent filings with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) reveal.



The closures have impacted Chase Bank branches in Florida, Washington, Ohio, Illinois, California, Louisiana, Arizona, and New York. They include a Chase Bank location at One World Trade Center in Lower Manhattan, which is now just listed as an ATM. 



Additional filings show that more branches are expected to close, though the advance closure notices do not specify expected closure dates.



A spokesperson for Chase declined to say how many closures are expected this year.



Which Chase Bank branches have closed this summer?



Since June, at least 13 Chase locations have closed in eight states, OCC filings show. The locations are listed below. According to Chase, some of the branches were relocated to nearby locations. Those addresses are marked accordingly.   



Closed in June




922 Jimmy Buffett Mem Hwy, Indian Harbour Beach, FL 32937 (relocated)



2700 S Washington Ave, Titusville, FL 32780 (relocated)



13119 Seattle Hill Rd, Snohomish, WA 98296



5730 N Dixie Dr, Dayton, OH 45414



3703 N Main St, Dayton, OH 45405 (relocated)



875 N Michigan Ave, Chicago, IL 60611 (relocating soon)



2314 N Chester Ave, Bakersfield, CA 93308 




Closed in July 




1001 N Martin Luther King Hwy, Lake Charles, LA 70601



6950 E Main St, Mesa, AZ 85207



3420 Severn Ave, Metairie, LA 70002



1435 Camino Del Mar, Del Mar, CA 92014 



One World Trade Center, New York, NY 10007



5550 W Touhy Ave, Skokie, IL 60077 (relocated)




These closures come four months after earlier media reports listed 16 Chase branches that were set to close this year, although there is some overlap between the two lists.



Is Chase scaling back physical retail?



Not according to Chase. “We continue to invest in our branch network to deliver experiences and services customers love,” a spokesperson told Fast Company in a statement. “Chase operates the largest branch network in the U.S. and is the only bank with branches in all lower 48 states.”



Regarding the recent branch closures, the spokesperson added, “In some cases, we may relocate a branch if another is nearby or foot traffic is low—helping ensure a strong network that serves communities for the long term.”



Back in February, JPMorgan Chase publicly reaffirmed a commitment to its branch network, announcing plans to open more than 160 new branches in about 30 states in 2026.



While the Chase spokesperson declined to say how far along the company is in that goal now that we are more than halfway through the year, the February announcement was part of an ongoing growth strategy. Two years earlier, Chase announced plans to open more than 500 branches by 2027. 



Chase’s annual reports show the company’s branch network peaked in 2013. 



This story is developing… ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://images.fastcompany.com/image/upload/w_1280,q_auto,f_auto,fl_lossy/f_webp,q_auto,c_fit/wp-cms-2/2026/08/p-1-91584343-chase-bank-closes-branches-list-locations.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Tue, 04 Aug 2026 14:00:07 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Chase, Bank, closing, another, wave, branches, this, summer:, See, list, shuttered, locations, several, states</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>Sam Altman shared a parenting hack. Thousands of moms and dads instantly disagreed.</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/sam-altman-shared-a-parenting-hack-thousands-of-moms-and-dads-instantly-disagreed</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/sam-altman-shared-a-parenting-hack-thousands-of-moms-and-dads-instantly-disagreed</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Sam Altman has some advice for parents, and it’s going about as well as you’d expect. 



On August 31, the Open AI CEO took to X (where he’s a frequent poster) to share an idea with his followers: “cool use case of chatgpt work i heard last night,” he wrote. “connect your family calendars and explain your kids’ interests. every morning for the drive to school, have it make a podcast that talks about one kid’s soccer game that afternoon, one kid’s upcoming birthday, some news, etc.”



The tweet now has more than 11,000 likes and almost 4,500 comments, most of which are less than glowing. For the majority of commenters, the tweet is yet another example of how AI CEOs are living in their own self-reinforcing bubbles—and the rest of us just have to deal with the consequences.



“What if you just talked to your children?”



In the days following his August 31 tweet, parents are showing up in Altman’s comments in droves to point out their problems with the premise of using AI to generate a daily podcast for their kids’ car rides. 



Most commenters are zeroing in on the idea that Altman seems to be suggesting that users outsource what should be a positive daily interaction with their kids to AI.



“Yeah my dad AI generates podcasts about my upcoming birthday instead of talking to me while we drive to school,” game developer Sean Gause wrote. 



Film concept artist Reid Southen added: “Or you could be an actual parent instead of having AI summarize your kids for you, you absolute sociopath.” 



One of the post’s top comments came from Alex Hirsch, creator of the TV show Gravity Falls, who simply suggested: “What if you just talked to your children?” His comment has garnered over 200,000 likes. 



Another subsection of commenters is zeroing in on the potential data security concerns with handing over their kids’ daily schedules to Open AI. “Sam wants to know your kids’ schedules, interests, and birthdays,” one user wrote. “Not creepy at all.”



Why tech CEOs just can’t stop talking about AI



Tech CEOs like Altman have always been vocal about their opinions on artificial intelligence. Lately, though, those ideas have become increasingly unavoidable. 



Earlier this year, at graduation ceremonies across the U.S., multiple CEOs made the mistake of mentioning AI—presumably expecting the audience’s support—only to be booed by the crowd. 



It happened at the University of Central Florida, where real estate executive Gloria Caulfield likened AI to the “next industrial revolution”; at Middle Tennessee State University, where Big Machine Records CEO Scott Borchetta claimed that AI is “rewriting production”; and at the University of Arizona, where former Google CEO Eric Schmidt said that AI will “touch every profession, every classroom, every hospital, every laboratory, every person, and every relationship you have.”



In a post to X this May, around the same time as the graduation speeches, Box CEO Aaron Levie responded to a claim that CEOs are the “most delusional about AI.” He proposed that “CEOs are uniquely prone to AI psychosis because they’re sufficiently distant from the last mile of work that still has to happen to generate most value with AI.” 



The phenomenon of CEOs being overly optimistic about AI has become so pronounced that one social media creator, Brian Patrick, has turned tracking executives’ outlandish AI comments into his full-time job. In one such video, Patrick examines a 2015 clip of Altman himself stating that “my job is to help people destroy jobs” (a claim he’s since walked back). In a more recent video, Patrick highlights Altman’s statement from a July 2026 podcast episode that OpenAI is “close to creating a genie that can grant every wish.”



Altman’s latest tweet feels like yet another example of how tech CEOs are grossly misunderstanding the general public’s stance on AI and, in the process, coming across as deeply disconnected from reality.



“I feel bad for Sam Altman. He probably thought this was some ‘feel good’ use case, and had no idea how creepy and weird it is,” freelance writer James La Forte commented under the tweet. “Can we please get some normal people running these tech companies?”



Fast Company reached out to Altman for comment, but had not heard back at the time of publication. ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Tue, 04 Aug 2026 14:00:07 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
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<item>
<title>Petrol hits 160p a litre, highest since Iran war began, says RAC</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/petrol-hits-160p-a-litre-highest-since-iran-war-began-says-rac</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/petrol-hits-160p-a-litre-highest-since-iran-war-began-says-rac</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ 
UK petrol prices have hit their highest level since the Iran war began at 160p a litre, RAC figures show, with diesel forecast to reach 185p in weeks. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://bmmagazine.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/shutterstock_2171839481-768x433.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Sat, 01 Aug 2026 14:00:06 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Petrol, hits, 160p, litre, highest, since, Iran, war, began, says, RAC</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>LinkedIn adds ‘AI slop’ button as 40% of long posts found AI&#45;written</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/linkedin-adds-ai-slop-button-as-40-of-long-posts-found-ai-written</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/linkedin-adds-ai-slop-button-as-40-of-long-posts-found-ai-written</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ 
LinkedIn AI slop button: users can now privately flag posts they suspect are AI-generated, as the platform scraps its own AI &#039;enhance your post&#039; tool. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://bmmagazine.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/shutterstock_2314942859-768x433.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Sat, 01 Aug 2026 14:00:06 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>LinkedIn, adds, ‘AI, slop’, button, 40, long, posts, found, AI-written</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>How to Build a Lead Management Process That Scales</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/how-to-build-a-lead-management-process-that-scales</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/how-to-build-a-lead-management-process-that-scales</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ 
Adding more leads to an unoptimized pipeline rarely solves a growth problem. In fact, scaling lead generation without a structured operational backbone usually exposes underlying structural cracks. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://bmmagazine.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/shutterstock_2760058063-768x432.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Sat, 01 Aug 2026 14:00:06 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>How, Build, Lead, Management, Process, That, Scales</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>BP puts North Sea business up for sale after 60 years</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/bp-puts-north-sea-business-up-for-sale-after-60-years</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/bp-puts-north-sea-business-up-for-sale-after-60-years</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ 
BP North Sea sale: BP is seeking a buyer for its North Sea oil and gas business, with five production hubs and 1,100 staff, after a portfolio review. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://bmmagazine.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/shutterstock_1563447607-768x432.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Sat, 01 Aug 2026 14:00:05 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>puts, North, Sea, business, for, sale, after, years</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>York and North Yorkshire secures established status in rural first</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/york-and-north-yorkshire-secures-established-status-in-rural-first</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/york-and-north-yorkshire-secures-established-status-in-rural-first</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ 
York and North Yorkshire Combined Authority has been granted Established Mayoral Strategic Authority status, the first rural mayoral area to hold it. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://bmmagazine.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/shutterstock_2512249589-768x512.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Sat, 01 Aug 2026 14:00:05 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>York, and, North, Yorkshire, secures, established, status, rural, first</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>India is starting to pay for apps, not just download them</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/india-is-starting-to-pay-for-apps-not-just-download-them</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/india-is-starting-to-pay-for-apps-not-just-download-them</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ India&#039;s app market generated a record $345 million in Q2. ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Sat, 01 Aug 2026 14:00:04 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>India, starting, pay, for, apps, not, just, download, them</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>What’s the best handheld mini fan?</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/whats-the-best-handheld-mini-fan</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/whats-the-best-handheld-mini-fan</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ From premium Shark and Dyson offerings to random Amazon devices, these mini fans will make your sweaty summer a little more managable. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/mini-fans-review.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Sat, 01 Aug 2026 14:00:03 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>What’s, the, best, handheld, mini, fan</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>OpenAI reportedly finds evidence that more of its agents ran amok</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/openai-reportedly-finds-evidence-that-more-of-its-agents-ran-amok</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/openai-reportedly-finds-evidence-that-more-of-its-agents-ran-amok</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ OpenAI has reportedly found evidence of additional agent misbehavior as it looks into the incident that occurred with Hugging Face. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/OpenAI-logo-green.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Sat, 01 Aug 2026 14:00:03 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>OpenAI, reportedly, finds, evidence, that, more, its, agents, ran, amok</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>Rivian spinoff Also to start delivering e&#45;bikes after months of delays</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/rivian-spinoff-also-to-start-delivering-e-bikes-after-months-of-delays</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/rivian-spinoff-also-to-start-delivering-e-bikes-after-months-of-delays</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Also has big plans beyond the TM-B. The startup mostly refers to itself as a &quot;vehicle&quot; company and has plans to make four-wheel pedal-assist cargo vehicles for Amazon. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/rj-scaringe-Getty.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Sat, 01 Aug 2026 14:00:03 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Rivian, spinoff, Also, start, delivering, e-bikes, after, months, delays</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Silicon Valley loves young founders. Until it doesn’t.</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/silicon-valley-loves-young-founders-until-it-doesnt</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/silicon-valley-loves-young-founders-until-it-doesnt</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ AI tools have democratized the opportunity to build, shortening the timelines of success and enabling more young people to start successful companies without stepping foot inside a Big Tech company.  ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/GettyImages-2236223183.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Sat, 01 Aug 2026 14:00:03 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Silicon, Valley, loves, young, founders., Until, doesn’t.</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>How to safely eat your greens during the cyclospora outbreak, according to an infectious disease expert</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/how-to-safely-eat-your-greens-during-the-cyclosporaoutbreak-according-to-an-infectious-disease-expert</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/how-to-safely-eat-your-greens-during-the-cyclosporaoutbreak-according-to-an-infectious-disease-expert</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Salads – along with other fresh produce – are some of the healthiest foods you can eat. Leafy greens are rich in vitamins A, C and K, folate, potassium and magnesium. They also contain lots of fiber, which supports a healthy gut microbiome, promotes fullness, helps regulate blood sugar, and may contribute to healthy aging and better cognitive function.



But an ongoing 2026 outbreak of cyclosporiasis, caused by the cyclospora parasite, has sickened more than 11,500 people across the United States with explosive diarrhea and other gastrointestinal symptoms and has put a damper on salad consumption. A poll released on July 26 reports that 40% of U.S. adults have cut down on buying and eating fresh produce. News of egg and blueberry recalls, plus an investigation into a new, separate cyclospora outbreak, has not helped.



As an immunologist and infectious disease specialist studying how germs spread and cause illnesses and outbreaks, I know it’s impossible to entirely eliminate your risk of being infected with microbes that can contaminate foods, such as cyclopsora, E. coli and salmonella.



But rather than avoiding fresh produce, adopting a few sensible food safety practices can help you significantly reduce your risk of getting sick while continuing to enjoy the many health benefits and flavor perks of salads and fresh veggies.



During an active outbreak, washing your prewashed greens is a good idea. But better still would be choosing a whole head of lettuce that you wash at home.



The perks of prewashed produce



Bagged lettuce and other veggies, often labeled “triple washed” or “prewashed” and marketed as ready to eat, have become very popular. The packaging gives consumers confidence that the product has been commercially cleaned and helps save time when preparing fast, healthy meals.



Convenience is important: Research shows that when vegetables are easier to prepare and eat, people tend to consume more of them.



Commercial processors follow food safety practices, and millions of bags of produce are consumed safely each year. Normally, using prewashed lettuce right out of the bags is a low-risk move. 









Salad has some hefty health benefits – and there are ways to keep eating it, even during a foodborne illness outbreak.



Commercial packaging risks



However, prewashed doesn’t mean sterile. “Triple washed” or “ready to eat” means a product is cleaned to commercial standards, not that it is free of all harmful germs. And the same things that make prewashed vegetables convenient and appealing also introduce risk. That’s because each stage of production – harvest, cut, wash, conveyor belt and packaging – creates another opportunity for contamination.



What’s more, bagged lettuce often travels a considerable distance to consumers. This gives germs ample time to multiply, making contaminated food harder to locate and recall. During commercial processing, pathogen from a single contaminated leaf can spread to additional leaves through equipment or wash water, increasing the potential for cross contamination. Research also suggests that cut leaves release plant juices that may help bacteria survive and multiply.



Cyclospora is resistant to the chlorine and sanitizers commonly used to sanitize fresh produce, and routine washing may not completely remove the parasite. It’s also a particularly persistent pathogen in that its eggs adhere tightly to the surface of leafy greens and other bumpy produce. For these reasons, preventing contamination during growing, harvesting and processing is the most effective strategy for reducing risk.



Benefits of whole, local lettuce



In the face of multiple outbreaks involving fresh produce, choosing whole heads of lettuce and washing them at home is a reasonable way to reduce risk. Strip off and throw away the outer leaves, wash the leaves you plan to eat under running water and dry them in a salad spinner or with paper towels.



Whole lettuce heads undergo less processing than commercially bagged lettuce, which means fewer chances for exposure to microbes that can make people sick. That’s also true of locally grown produce. Local produce usually comes from smaller farms and gets to your plate in fewer steps, so it tends to be safer than mass-produced fruits and vegetables.



Buying lettuce at local farmers markets or farm stands – or even just choosing locally grown produce at your supermarket – can lower your risk of exposure during the current cyclosporiasis outbreak, which is suspected to come from commercial producers.



The upshot is that the health benefits of salad far outweigh the relatively small risk of foodborne illness – particularly if you follow these three simple rules:




Opt for whole heads of lettuce when possible, and rinse them well at home. Thoroughly scrub other produce with water and a produce brush, too.



When possible, buy locally grown produce, since nationwide outbreaks generally come from large commercial producers.



If you do go for bagged and prewashed greens and other produce, give them a good rinse even when they say “prewashed.”




Lisa Cuchara is a professor of biomedical sciences at Quinnipiac University.



This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article. ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Fri, 31 Jul 2026 14:00:08 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>How, safely, eat, your, greens, during, the, cyclospora outbreak, according, infectious, disease, expert</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>National Avocado Day 2026: List of all the best freebies and deals, from Chipotle to Qdoba</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/national-avocado-day-2026-list-of-all-the-best-freebies-and-deals-from-chipotle-to-qdoba</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/national-avocado-day-2026-list-of-all-the-best-freebies-and-deals-from-chipotle-to-qdoba</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ The average American eats nine pounds of avocado every year, according to the Wall Street Journal. One special day of the year might have something to do with that: National Avocado Day.



Here’s a roundup of the avocado deals that will “guac” your world as the holiday hits this Friday, July 31.



Chipotle Mexican Grill



California-based Chipotle Mexican Grill is one of the biggest names in Mexican chains. Its guac is pretty famous, too. 



For two days, July 31 and August 1, Chipotle guests can receive free chips and guac with the purchase of an entree. There’s one catch: You have to order online using the code AVO2026 at checkout.



Qdoba Mexican Eats



Guacamole is always free on Qdoba’s create-your-own entrées. But for National Avocado Day, the fast-casual chain is making the entrées themselves free. Rewards members who purchase an entrée and drink on July 31 or August 1 can get a free entrée to go with.



Del Taco



Del Taco is celebrating National Avocado day all weekend long. From July 31 to August 2, customers who purchase an Epic Fresh Guac Burrito will get a second one for free.



Fuzzy’s Taco Shop



Irving, Texas-based Mexican chain Fuzzy’s Taco Shop is teaming up with Avocados From Mexico to give customers free chips and guacamole with the code AVODAY in-app. 



Enjoy the free scoop alongside an item from Fuzzy’s new Beach Club menu available through August 30.



Barberitos



This Friday, the southwestern-inspired food chain Barberitos is adding free guacamole to any in-store entrée purchase. 



Even better, the restaurant is giving one lucky customer free guacamole for a year. To enter, all you have to do is follow @barberitos on Instagram. 



Unexpected Deals



Tex-Mex isn’t the only cuisine where free avocado is a plus. 



Pokeworks, a national poke bowl and burrito chain, is offering a free scoop of avocado with any entree today through August 2. Use the code AVOSUMMER to unlock the deal, both online and in-store. 



The western burger chain Farmer Boys is giving rewards members $3 off on their signature avocado-topped Farmer’s Burger between July 31 and August 1. ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Fri, 31 Jul 2026 14:00:08 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>National, Avocado, Day, 2026:, List, all, the, best, freebies, and, deals, from, Chipotle, Qdoba</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Why memory chip stocks are rallying again: Micron and Sandisk surge as AI optimism returns</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/why-memory-chip-stocks-are-rallying-again-micron-and-sandisk-surge-as-ai-optimism-returns</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/why-memory-chip-stocks-are-rallying-again-micron-and-sandisk-surge-as-ai-optimism-returns</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Memory chip stocks are rallying big after a week of poor performances. 



Companies including Micron Technology (Nasdaq: MU) and Samsung Electronics Co. (KSE: 005930.KS) saw their shares rise on Thursday, July 30, and into premarket trading Friday, July 31. 



South Korea’s Kospi (Korea Composite Stock Price Index) recovered and then some from its fall earlier this week, jumping almost 18% on Friday. 



Its growth was led by a similar turnaround from Samsung and SK Hynix Inc. (KSE: 000660.KS), jumping 26.81% and 29.95% on Friday, respectively. 



Meanwhile, American chip manufacturers saw similar turnarounds as the week ended. Still, the boosts weren’t enough to make up for a month of falling stock prices. 



Here’s where the companies stand as of today: 



Micron Technology, Inc. (Nasdaq: MU)




Close Thursday: up 18.36%



Premarket Friday: up 4.66%



Past month: down 24.23%




Sandisk Corporation (Nasdaq: SNDK)




Close Thursday: up 25.99%



Premarket Friday: up 6.18%



Past month: down 43.71%




Western Digital Corporation (Nasdaq: WDC)




Close Thursday: up 15.37%



Premarket Friday: up 6.17%



Past month: down 16.55%




Seagate Technology Holdings (Nasdaq: STX)




Close Thursday: up 11.41%



Premarket Friday: up 6.06%



Past month: down 11.74%




All premarket figures are as of publication. 



Why have chip manufacturers’ shares surged?



All of the chip manufacturers had suffered earlier in the week from ongoing fears around AI over-investment. 



But their fates changed—at least for the moment—thanks to strong earnings reports from Microsoft, Amazon, and Lam Research across late Wednesday and Thursday.



The tech giants beat expectations on the strength of their cloud growth, indicating that chip demand will continue to be strong. 



For instance, Amazon Web Services (AWS) grew its net sales by 37%, its quickest growth since 2021. 



Microsoft’s own cloud computing services, Azure, saw more than $100 billion in revenue for the first time. Microsoft 365 Copilot also surpassed 30 million paid seats. 



In its earnings report, the company stated that the milestones reflect “the confidence customers are placing in us to power their AI transformation.”



Meanwhile, Lam Research’s revenue rose more than 15% from last quarter “as AI-driven demand continues to reshape the semiconductor industry,” CEO Tim Archer said in the release. 



Shares of Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT), Amazon (Nasdaq: AMZN), and Lam Research (Nasdaq: LRCX) also rose significantly in response to the earnings reports.



 ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Fri, 31 Jul 2026 14:00:08 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Why, memory, chip, stocks, are, rallying, again:, Micron, and, Sandisk, surge, optimism, returns</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>Blueberry recall expands to more products sold at Publix as E. coli outbreak hospitalizes 4 people</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/blueberry-recall-expands-to-more-products-sold-at-publix-as-e-coli-outbreak-hospitalizes-4-people</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/blueberry-recall-expands-to-more-products-sold-at-publix-as-e-coli-outbreak-hospitalizes-4-people</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Early this month, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) posted an update about an ongoing investigation into an E. Coli outbreak believed to be affecting multiple states. 



The outbreak was believed to be linked to blueberries, and as a result, one blueberry product was recalled. 



But now, additional berry products are being recalled as the outbreak investigation continues. Here’s what you need to know.



What’s happened?



On July 3, Frutas y Hortalizas del Sur S.A. of San Carlos, Chile announced a recall of one of its blueberry products over concerns that it could be linked to the E. coli outbreak. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) posted the recall notice three days later, on July 6.



The recall covered a specific lot of Frozen GreenWise Organic IQF Blueberries, which were sold at Publix stores. 



Now, Publix itself has initiated a recall of additional GreenWise berry products sold at its stores, out of concern that they could also be contaminated with E. coli. 



It should be noted, however, that none of the products have been confirmed as the source of the outbreak, nor have they been identified as contaminated with E. coli.



Instead, Publix says it is recalling the additional berry products “out of an abundance of caution.”



It’s a caution that seems warranted. According to the CDC’s most recent update on the E. coli outbreak linked to frozen blueberries on July 30, the outbreak has resulted in 12 confirmed cases so far, with a third of those individuals requiring hospitalization.



What products are being recalled?



The original recall initiated by Frutas y Hortalizas S.A. on July 3 covered only one product:




Frozen GreenWise Organic IQF Blueberries in 10oz packaging, with the lot code 60401 and Best By Date of February 9, 2028




Publix’s new recall expands to all lots of four additional GreenWise berry products, including:




GreenWise Organic Whole Blueberries, 10-ounce, UPC 41415-06453



GreenWise Organic Whole Blueberries, 48-ounce, UPC 41415-12053



GreenWise Organic Whole Mixed Berries, 10-ounce, UPC 41415-06753



GreenWise Organic Whole Mixed Berries, 48-ounce, UPC 41415-12153




Images of the recalled products’ packaging can be found here.



Where were the recalled products sold?



Publix says that the four berry products included in its recall were shipped to Publix retail stores in the following states:




Alabama



Florida



Georgia



Kentucky



North Carolina



South Carolina



Tennessee



Virginia




What should I do if I have the recalled products?



Publix says that if you purchased any of the recalled products, you should not consume them.



Instead, you should return them to their place of purchase for a full refund, or you should discard them.



Those who have additional questions or concerns about the recalled products can contact Publix Customer Care at 1-800-242-1227. ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Fri, 31 Jul 2026 14:00:08 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Blueberry, recall, expands, more, products, sold, Publix, coli, outbreak, hospitalizes, people</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>TGI Fridays store closures: See a list of locations that have lost the most restaurants since its bankruptcy</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/tgi-fridays-store-closures-see-a-list-of-locations-that-have-lost-the-most-restaurants-since-its-bankruptcy</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/tgi-fridays-store-closures-see-a-list-of-locations-that-have-lost-the-most-restaurants-since-its-bankruptcy</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ TGI Fridays is forging a path forward after a headline-grabbing bankruptcy raised doubts about its future nearly two years ago, but fans of the casual dining brand in the United States might still have a harder time finding one these days.



The restaurant chain has lost almost 200 locations since the beginning of 2024, according to its most recent franchise disclosure document. 



Some states, including New York, New Jersey, Florida, and Virginia, have seen net location losses in the double digits over that period.



Reached for comment by Fast Company, a spokesperson confirmed that TGI Fridays currently has 76 U.S. locations. Its disclosure document shows it had 269 U.S. locations at the start of 2024, including both company-owned and franchised locations.



That net loss of 193 stores is not entirely surprising. 



The brand’s former owner, TGI Fridays Inc., sought Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in November of 2024 after announcing earlier that year that it would close dozens of underperforming locations.



However, the beloved Fridays brand has since begun to move forward under new ownership. TGI Fridays is now operated by Sugarloaf Hospitality, and once again led by CEO Ray Blanchette, who had stepped down from the top job in 2023.



In a statement to Fast Company, Blanchette said TGI Fridays has almost 400 locations in 40 countries, and that it’s expected to grow globally in the years to come. 



“We are always evaluating our footprint as we work towards our target of more than 1,000 units and $2 billion in global annual revenue by 2030, but cannot get into specifics on plans for individual locations,” Blanchette said. 



Which states have lost the most TGI Fridays locations?



According to Fridays’ franchise disclosure document, the following states lost the most TGI Fridays restaurants between early 2024 (before its bankruptcy petition) and the end of last year. These counts include both franchised and company-owned locations:




New York: -26 locations



New Jersey: -17 locations



Florida: -15 locations



Virginia: -13 locations



Illinois: -12 locations



California: -12 locations



Ohio: -10 locations



Texas: -10 locations



Massachusetts: -8 locations




The document, which was issued in April, further showed that TGI Fridays did not expect to open any new U.S. restaurants in 2026.



Additionally, there have been some high-profile closures since the disclosure document was produced:




Indiana: A Fridays location in Evansville, Indiana, was reported closed by local media earlier this month.



Pennsylvania: A Fridays location in Loyalsock Township was reported closed in May.



Massachusetts: A Boston location in the city’s Mission Hill section was reported closed in February.




What’s next for Fridays?



In January, TGI Fridays announced its “1-2-3 Strategic Vision” plan, through which it aims to leverage its brand internationally and be a global leader in American-style casual dining—in part by thinking more flexibly about the format of its restaurants across markets. 



“The brand’s growth strategy includes a diverse mix of formats, from high-volume airport locations to right-sized hotel concepts and traditional full-service restaurants,” the announcement read, “designed to meet guests where they are and optimize franchise development opportunities in key markets.”



This story is developing and may be updated. . .  ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Fri, 31 Jul 2026 14:00:08 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>TGI, Fridays, store, closures:, See, list, locations, that, have, lost, the, most, restaurants, since, its, bankruptcy</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>The 7 best POS systems for bars and pubs</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/the-7-best-pos-systems-for-bars-and-pubs</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/the-7-best-pos-systems-for-bars-and-pubs</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ By Henry Williams on Small Business UK - Advice and Ideas for UK Small Businesses and SMEs


Whether you serve cocktails or craft ales, check out our pick of the best POS systems that can help to boost efficiency and revenue
The post The 7 best POS systems for bars and pubs appeared first on Small Business UK. ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Fri, 31 Jul 2026 14:00:06 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>The, best, POS, systems, for, bars, and, pubs</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>HP drops bid to remove manager of Mike Lynch’s £500m estate</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/hp-drops-bid-to-remove-manager-of-mike-lynchs-500m-estate</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/hp-drops-bid-to-remove-manager-of-mike-lynchs-500m-estate</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ 
HP has dropped its bid to remove Jeremy Sandelson as manager of Mike Lynch&#039;s £500m estate, agreeing he stays if the family wins permission to appeal. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://bmmagazine.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Mike_Lynch_with_Daughter-768x432.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Tue, 28 Jul 2026 14:00:07 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>drops, bid, remove, manager, Mike, Lynch’s, £500m, estate</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Blick Rothenberg: US tariffs make UK more appealing to Japanese firms</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/blick-rothenberg-us-tariffs-make-uk-more-appealing-to-japanese-firms</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/blick-rothenberg-us-tariffs-make-uk-more-appealing-to-japanese-firms</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ 
US tariffs on Japan, set at 12.5%, may make the UK a more attractive investment base, says Blick Rothenberg, as Japan&#039;s June exports rose 19.3 per cent. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://bmmagazine.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/shutterstock_2274542555-768x432.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Tue, 28 Jul 2026 14:00:07 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Blick, Rothenberg:, tariffs, make, more, appealing, Japanese, firms</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>East of England growth confidence dips to 83%, KPMG finds</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/east-of-england-growth-confidence-dips-to-83-kpmg-finds</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/east-of-england-growth-confidence-dips-to-83-kpmg-finds</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ 
East of England business confidence has fallen to 83% from 86%, KPMG&#039;s mid-year Private Enterprise Barometer finds, with 67% prioritising technology. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://bmmagazine.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/shutterstock_2363011313-768x433.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Tue, 28 Jul 2026 14:00:07 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>East, England, growth, confidence, dips, 83, KPMG, finds</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Retail sales decline slows in July as motor trades rebound, CBI finds</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/retail-sales-decline-slows-in-july-as-motor-trades-rebound-cbi-finds</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/retail-sales-decline-slows-in-july-as-motor-trades-rebound-cbi-finds</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ 
Retail sales volumes fell at a slower pace in July, with the CBI balance at -26% from -54% in June, while wholesale sales stabilised after 25 months. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://bmmagazine.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/shutterstock_2538514571-768x433.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Tue, 28 Jul 2026 14:00:07 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Retail, sales, decline, slows, July, motor, trades, rebound, CBI, finds</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Heathrow expansion would move 15,200 aviation jobs to London by 2050, NEF says</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/heathrow-expansion-would-move-15200-aviation-jobs-to-london-by-2050-nef-says</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/heathrow-expansion-would-move-15200-aviation-jobs-to-london-by-2050-nef-says</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ 
Heathrow third runway would move 15,200 aviation jobs from the regions to London by 2050, New Economics Foundation analysis of DfT forecasts finds. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://bmmagazine.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/shutterstock_2693794649-768x433.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Tue, 28 Jul 2026 14:00:07 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Heathrow, expansion, would, move, 15, 200, aviation, jobs, London, 2050, NEF, says</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Lyft and Baidu enter London’s robotaxi battleground as testing begins</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/lyft-and-baidu-enter-londons-robotaxi-battleground-as-testing-begins</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/lyft-and-baidu-enter-londons-robotaxi-battleground-as-testing-begins</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Baidu&#039;s Apollo Go autonomous vehicles will be available on Freenow, the mobility network that Lyft acquired in 2025. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Freenow-by-Lyft-x-Baidu-Apollo-Go.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Tue, 28 Jul 2026 14:00:03 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Lyft, and, Baidu, enter, London’s, robotaxi, battleground, testing, begins</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Cursor makes its biggest India push yet ahead of SpaceX acquisition with localized pricing</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/cursor-makes-its-biggest-india-push-yet-ahead-of-spacex-acquisition-with-localized-pricing</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/cursor-makes-its-biggest-india-push-yet-ahead-of-spacex-acquisition-with-localized-pricing</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Cursor says India is now its third-largest market globally and plans to expand local hiring and enterprise sales. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/cursor.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Tue, 28 Jul 2026 14:00:03 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Cursor, makes, its, biggest, India, push, yet, ahead, SpaceX, acquisition, with, localized, pricing</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Apple launches ‘Upgrade’ device leasing program in partnership with Klarna</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/apple-launches-upgrade-device-leasing-program-in-partnership-with-klarna</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/apple-launches-upgrade-device-leasing-program-in-partnership-with-klarna</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Leasing prices start at $17.99 per month for iPhone, $11.99 for Apple Watch, $24.99 for Mac, and $11.99 for iPad. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/apple-upgrade.png" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Tue, 28 Jul 2026 14:00:02 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Apple, launches, ‘Upgrade’, device, leasing, program, partnership, with, Klarna</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Recursive Superintelligence signs $410 compute deal with Amazon</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/recursive-superintelligence-signs-410-compute-deal-with-amazon</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/recursive-superintelligence-signs-410-compute-deal-with-amazon</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Recursive’s $400 million outlay represents the bulk of the company’s fundraising to date. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/GettyImages-1236309559.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Tue, 28 Jul 2026 14:00:02 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Recursive, Superintelligence, signs, 410, compute, deal, with, Amazon</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Granola launches an Apple Watch app</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/granola-launches-an-apple-watch-app</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/granola-launches-an-apple-watch-app</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Granola debutes an Apple Watch app for in-person notetaking ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/@CHARLIEMCKAY-@charliemckay-DSCF6525-1.jpeg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Tue, 28 Jul 2026 14:00:02 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Granola, launches, Apple, Watch, app</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>CXMT stock soars in China IPO as investors pile into the memory boom</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/cxmt-stock-soars-in-china-ipo-as-investors-pile-into-the-memory-boom</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/cxmt-stock-soars-in-china-ipo-as-investors-pile-into-the-memory-boom</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Forget SpaceX: This Chinese chip stock is going to the moon.



ChangXin Memory Technologies, or CXMT, recently went public on the Shanghai Stock Exchange’s tech-focused STAR Market (a China-based equivalent to the Nasdaq exchange), and has quickly shot up the charts. 



On its initial day of trading, it shot up almost 466%, becoming the most valuable company on the exchange, and accrued a market capitalization of around $487 billion.



Despite many people only now learning its name, CXMT was founded a decade ago, in 2016, and has grown from a startup into a budding global player in the microchip industry. 



AI-driven demand for memory chips



CXMT’s growth in the more immediate term is likely associated with the huge demand for chips and memory related to the proliferation of AI—and additionally, as China looks to create and foster more domestic chipmakers. 



That’s in part because the U.S. federal government has instituted export controls and rules concerning semiconductors and similar technology being sold or otherwise sent to China.



Currently, large-scale AI data center infrastructure buildouts are fueling most of the demand, and with it, demand for dynamic random access memory chips (or “DRAM”) is up. 



Prices are likewise up, and that’s spilled over into the market, with investors gobbling up chipmaker stocks and sending some companies to valuations of more than $1 trillion.



Committing to memory



That includes American memory chip company Micron Technology (Nasdaq: MU). While its shares have been volatile recently, the stock is up more than 727% over the last 12 months.



CXMT’s post-IPO rise puts it in the conversation, but it’s still much smaller than other large chipmakers, such as South Korea’s Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, the latter of which went public in the United States earlier this month.



CXMT’s prospectus states that the company holds approximately 8% of the global market share in the chipmaking space, with Samsung accounting for 36%, SK Hynix at 29%, and Micron at 24%. 



Notably, CXMT’s share has grown around 3% over the past year, so the company is making more than just waves in the stock market. 



Even so, the company’s huge surge in the markets doesn’t mean it’s in the same strata as those competitors, experts say. 



“It’s going to be a steep hill to climb for CXMT in the high-bandwidth memory market,” said Neil Shah, vice president of research for Counterpoint Research. ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Mon, 27 Jul 2026 14:00:06 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>CXMT, stock, soars, China, IPO, investors, pile, into, the, memory, boom</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Petsense is closing stores: List of doomed locations grows as pet supplies retailer faces shifting habits</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/petsense-is-closing-stores-list-of-doomed-locations-grows-as-pet-supplies-retailer-faces-shifting-habits</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/petsense-is-closing-stores-list-of-doomed-locations-grows-as-pet-supplies-retailer-faces-shifting-habits</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Another retailer has announced that it is closing some of its stores. This time around it’s the popular pet supply chain Petsense, which is owned by Tractor Supply Company (Nasdaq: TSCO). Here’s what you need to know about the Petsense store closures.



Petsense to shut approximately 75 locations



On the company’s second-quarter earnings call last week, Tractor Supply Company CEO Harry Lawton said the firm will close approximately 75 of its Petsense locations.



Petsense is a popular pet supply retailer found in small and mid-sized communities. Petsense was founded in 2005 and acquired in 2016 by Tractor Supply Company (which itself is much older, having been founded in 1938 as a mail-order service for tractor parts). 



Petsense sells pet food and supplies, and also offers services like grooming and cat adoption.



According to a check of its store locator tool, Petsense currently has 208 locations in more than 20 states. However, more than a third of those locations will now be closing. On Tractor Supply Company’s earnings call, Lawton said that approximately 75 underperforming Petsense locations will close.



“We believe these actions will improve returns, simplify business, and allow us to direct resources towards higher growth, higher return opportunities,” Lawton said, according to a PitchBook transcript of the call.



When asked about the closures, Lawton said that “the 75 stores that we announced today that we’re shutting down are negative four-wall cashflow.” This means the individual stores marked for closure were costing more to run than they were bringing in.



“We will be able to use that negative four-wall cashflow once we shut those stores down and reinvest that back into the core of our business,” Lawton added.



“Shopping more deliberately”



Speaking broadly about all of Tractor Supply Company’s businesses, which include online pet pharmacy Allivet and VIP Petcare veterinary clinics, Lawton said that customer engagement had not changed but that customer spending behaviors had. 



“Customers continue to invest in the care of their pets, animals, farms, and properties, but they’re shopping more deliberately, consolidating trips, and prioritizing needs-based items while taking a more measured approach to discretionary purchases,” Lawton noted.



Which Petsense stores are closing?



The Tractor Supply Company did not specify which Petsense locations will be closing. But once the stores do shutter, Petsense’s retail footprint will be significantly diminished.



Petsense currently has around 208 locations. Closing approximately 75 locations will leave Petsense with around 133 locations.



Fast Company has reached out to Tractor Supply Company for comment.



Petsense has multiple locations in the Pacific Northwest, but the vast majority of its stores are in the southern United States, including Texas, Tennessee, Alabama, and Georgia.



How has Tractor Supply Company’s stock price performed?



Not well in 2026. On Friday, TSCO shares closed up around 2.3% to just above $31 apiece. 



However, for the year to date, the company’s stock price has declined nearly 38%. Over the past 12 months, the drop is even steeper, with TSCO shares down nearly 48%.



Most recently, for its Q2 2026, Tractor Supply Company posted a 1.5% decline in comparable store sales and reduced its full-year fiscal 2026 outlook. 



In addition to its subsidiary stores, Tractor Supply Company operates more than 2,400 Tractor Supply stores in 49 states. ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Mon, 27 Jul 2026 14:00:06 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
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</item>

<item>
<title>Why this Ulta K&#45;beauty bestseller is enlisting the undead to market its new eye cream</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/why-this-ulta-k-beauty-bestseller-is-enlisting-the-undead-to-market-its-new-eye-cream</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/why-this-ulta-k-beauty-bestseller-is-enlisting-the-undead-to-market-its-new-eye-cream</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ What do zombies have to do with skincare? The K-beauty brand Peach &amp; Lily is making connection with its latest face cream—and rolling it out with a marketing campaign straight out of a George Romero movie.  



Peach &amp; Lily’s Advanced Rebound BioGLow Zombie Cream is designed to target “zombie cells” that can contribute to aging. The $59 cream launches July 27 on the brand’s website and as a retail exclusive at Ulta Beauty—where Peach &amp; Lily tops the K-beauty category and is the second-largest prestige brand.



For the cream, Peach &amp; Lily is combining the latest in skin science with clever marketing to get people curious about the cells being addressed by the cream.



What are zombie cells?



Zombie cells, aka senescent cells, are damaged cells that haven’t died. In skin, they release signals that cause inflammation, which contributes to the aging process. Peach &amp; Lily’s CEO, Alicia Yoon, says the presence of the cells—and the havoc they wreak on skin—was something she’s wanted to tackle but didn’t have a good solution for until recently.



[Photo: Peach &amp; Lily]



“We can have science that understands the mechanism of things that are happening in our skin, but sometimes it takes a minute for the research to catch up on ingredients that can actually do something about it,” Yoon says. “We kept testing and formulating and seeking out the best ingredients and so forth. Through the advancements in skincare, [we can address] senescent cells in a scientifically rigorous formula.”



One of those new ingredients is Eterwell Youth. Introduced in 2024, the ingredient is derived from an alpine willow plant and included in Peach &amp; Lily’s product to remove senescent cells. Peach &amp; Lily’s product also uses an antioxidant called fisetin to calm signs of inflammation linked to the cells, and includes a biosynthetic placenta growth factor complex to repair the damage left on the skin.



[Photo: Peach &amp; Lily]



Penny Coy, senior vice president of marketing at Ulta Beauty, says the cutting-edge formulation was part of what enticed Ulta to be the product’s exclusive retailer. “It’s not just another product launch,” she says. “It’s innovation [in] treatment-inspired science . . . which very much excited us.” 



Undead outreach



As it rolls out the product, Peach &amp; Lily is combining the need to educate consumers about the product with an out-of-the-casket marketing campaign. 



“One thing that has been a winning combination for us is pairing breakthrough innovation with breakthrough marketing,” Yoon says. When it teased the launch on July 23, the brand posted a video of a model whose face transforms into a zombie’s visage. For the launch, it has enlisted actors in full zombie makeup to advertise the product. 




  @peachandlilyofficial Some things refuse to die. Something is coming for them. 7.27.26 ♬ original sound – Peach &amp; Lily   




In New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago, Peach &amp; Lily will deploy the zombie actors to install interactive, tear-away ads on streets across the cities. “[The ad] is only showcasing zombies,” Yoon says. “It sets up the consumer to already be asking the question, ‘Why zombies?’ So . . . there’s a natural resolution when we educate on zombie cells.” 



It’s not the first time Peach &amp; Lily’s influencer marketing has taken an unconventional approach.



Last year, the brand sent content creators unbranded samples of its MiniProtein Exosome Bioactive Ampoule, encouraging an unbiased review, before revealing that it was behind the packages. With the Advanced Rebound BioGLow Zombie Cream rollout, it’s hoping to revive its reputation for viral marketing.



 ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Mon, 27 Jul 2026 14:00:06 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Why, this, Ulta, K-beauty, bestseller, enlisting, the, undead, market, its, new, eye, cream</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Senior&#45;level women are struggling and CEOs should not ignore it</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/senior-level-women-are-struggling-and-ceos-should-not-ignore-it</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/senior-level-women-are-struggling-and-ceos-should-not-ignore-it</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ 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.







To corporate leaders who think their senior-level female employees have the resources and support they need: They don’t. Research and first-person accounts reveal that executive women are struggling to manage both the pressures of home life and the complexity of the modern workplace, not to mention that bias is still a factor in their careers. This is your wake-up call.



McKinsey and LeanIn’s most recent Women in the Workplace report reveals that 60% of senior-level women report burning out, compared with half of men and four in 10 employees overall. A quarter of senior-level women in the same study say they’re not raising their hands for promotions because “personal obligations” make it too hard to take on extra responsibilities. Just 15% of male respondents feel the same pressure. Meanwhile, a January 2026 study from Catalyst, a nonprofit that champions women’s progress, found that 42% of women who voluntarily left the workforce in 2025 cited childcare responsibilities and costs as the primary reason they decided to quit.



Hanging by a thread



My colleague Shalene Gupta has collected the stories of more than 100 high-achieving, accomplished women, chronicling their struggles and the hacks they’ve developed to succeed at work while caring for kids, tending to health issues such as menopause, and more. The upshot for CEOs? Some of your most committed and valuable employees are hanging on by a thread. “Women who seemed to have it all together told me under the condition of anonymity that they were on the brink of quitting,” Gupta tells Modern CEO. 



Indeed, many of these accomplished women have left corporate ranks for entrepreneurship, by either acquiring small companies or launching new businesses, in record numbers. “When I joined Amazon, I set three nonnegotiables as a parent: I would be there when my kids woke up, there when they got home from school, and there to put them to bed. The tech industry made those impossible to honor,” Anica John writes in Fast Company. John worked as a product leader at Amazon before buying DiggyPOD, a book-printing business, in 2025. She adds: “Ownership is the only structure I found that lets me build that life on my own terms.”



Stop the brain drain



When women start or lead businesses, they often implement the kind of workplace policies that women say they value. Many of the female-led companies on Inc.’s 2026 Best Workplaces List are fully remote or offer other work-life friendly perks such as extended family leave and mental health benefits.



CEOs can stop the brain drain. “If we can rethink how companies do work to incorporate AI, why can’t we—and why aren’t we—doing this for women?” Gupta asks. Companies can retain hybrid and remote work options instead of rolling them back, as many have in 2025 and 2026. And when companies offer flexible work arrangements, they mustn’t then penalize women for opting in. The McKinsey and LeanIn research found that women who work remotely were less likely to receive promotions in the past two years than women who work in the office.



Supporting women isn’t just good for female employees; it’s good for business. The McKinsey and LeanIn study found that employees who see their workplace as fair and inclusive are twice as likely to feel inspired to do their best work. And, yes, they’re less likely to consider leaving. 



Announcing made possible



Over the past few months, I’ve had the opportunity to participate in Made Possible, a Fast Company partnership with PepsiCo that tells the story of the food and beverage giant’s digital transformation. Our custom studio has just released the first video in the series, highlighting the way PepsiCo is reimagining manufacturing using AI-powered digital twins. You can also check out my conversations about reinvention with Dr. Athina Kanioura, CEO, Latin America, and global chief strategy and transformation officer at PepsiCo.



Read more: women at work




4 things companies can do to support women during menopause





The Inc. Female Founders 500: women defying the odds





The HR pros turning workplace horror stories into startup successes




 ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Mon, 27 Jul 2026 14:00:06 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
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<item>
<title>How Toniebox and Hasbro built games kids can play without a screen</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/how-toniebox-and-hasbro-built-games-kids-can-play-without-a-screen</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/how-toniebox-and-hasbro-built-games-kids-can-play-without-a-screen</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ When my 10-year-old got her hands on a Toniebox loaded with Hasbro’s The Game of Life, she didn’t leave her room for an entire afternoon. When I popped in to check on her, she was choosing different life paths—a fashion designer with a passion for gardening, an astronaut with twins. Later, she roped her dad into a round of Monopoly. Neither game required a screen.



That’s precisely the market Tonies, a decade-old toy company, is chasing. Gaming time among kids age 8 and under has surged 65% since 2020 while overall screen time has held steady at around two and a half hours a day. Much of that gaming arrives marketed as educational or harmless. But the volume alone has rattled parents. More than half say they’ve felt their child was addicted to screens.



[Photo: Hasbro]



Tonies thinks it has found a middle path. The company, best known for its screen-free storytelling cubes, has partnered with Hasbro to turn three of the toy giant’s best-known board games—Monopoly, The Game of Life, and Guess Who?—into screen-free adventures that run on its newest device. It’s part of a wider push, among toy and tech companies alike, to build products for kids that are engaging without being engineered to keep them hooked.



“Our goal isn’t to have you never leave Tonies,” says Ginny McCormick, Tonies’ first-ever chief experience officer. “Stories end. They’re appropriately balanced.”



[Photo: Tonies]



Screen-Free Storytime



Tonies was founded in Germany in 2016 by Patric Faßbender and Marcus Stahl, two fathers who met at their children’s preschool and bonded over a shared frustration of trying to play stories to their kids on scratched CDs. They built an indestructable foam cube speaker that would tell stories when you placed a figurine on top: A little Pinocchio toy would play fairytales, a Little Mermaid toy would play the Disney story with some songs. The system was designed to be intuitive enough for a toddler to use on their own, allowing parents to have their kids entertained without a screen.



[Photo: Tonies]



The company arrived in the U.S. in 2020 and has become a fixture in Target and Walmart aisles, growing largely through word of mouth. McCormick says families use the device consistently—an average of 240 minutes a week—for everything from bedtime routines to long car rides, and that the appeal cuts across income levels even though the device is pricey. (The box costs $130, and the Tonie figurines start at $20.) The common thread, she says, is parents who want something their kids can operate independently, but that is not algorithmically driven.



That growth accelerated with Toniebox 2, which launched in the U.S. on October 5, 2025. The new device added a light-up ring, sleep and wake alarms, deeper parental controls in the app, and—for the first time—Tonieplay, a library of screen-free games that you can play with a small companion controller.



[Photo: Hasbro]



Hasbro Games In A New Format



Hasbro just launched three games for the system: Monopoly, Game of Life, and Guess Who? All of them run on the same physical interface: A controller serves as a dial or can be pressed like a button. And each game has its own set of additional pieces.



In Monopoly, you tap your player card to the Toniebox to bid in speed auctions for properties like the railroads and the electric company. You can compete with a partner on little challenges, like seeing who has the quickest reaction time when pressing the button. Mr. Monopoly’s narration keeps a running, spoken tally of everyone’s money.



[Photo: Hasbro]



In Guess Who? an inspector walks players through each case while the player lays out 30 plastic monster cards. Kids listen to a spoken clue, physically flip over any monster that doesn’t match, and then turn the controller to lock in their final guess once one monster remains. The Game of Life turns the controller into a spinner, which kids turn to move their piece around the board and press to answer career and life questions.



[Photo: Hasbro]



McCormick says the Hasbro and Tonies teams worked closely to find ways to spark kids interest through the storytelling. “If you show everyone a dragon, they know exactly what it looks like,” she says. “If you tell everyone about a dragon, there’s a thousand different ways they can imagine how it looks and feels. That’s what sparks the imagination and lets children drive the narrative.”



The hardest part, McCormick says, was resisting the urge to stick too closely to the board games. Guess Who? is the clearest example. The original is a visual game, built around scanning faces on a board. Toniebox’s version swapped in monsters that a narrator describes. The company also built in solo modes for Guess Who? and The Game of Life, since McCormick says one of the biggest barriers to family game night is simply getting enough people to the table at once. Monopoly still requires at least two players.



[Photo: Hasbro]



What’s Next



Toniebox has worked with Hasbro for years on other licenses, including Peppa Pig, which Hasbro owns. Now, McCormick says the companies are exploring how to bring more of Hasbro’s game catalog into audio form.



Internally, Toniebox’s development studio—a mix of music producers, storytellers, and child-development researchers—is constantly testing new mechanics. “It’s a combination of art and science,” McCormick says. “We do wild ideation and we have a very strong curation process to match that game mechanic to the right stage of development for that child.”



The bet, McCormick says, is that the next generation of kids’ technology won’t be judged by how long it keeps a child’s attention, but by how well it lets that attention go.



 ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Mon, 27 Jul 2026 14:00:06 +0000</pubDate>
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<item>
<title>What is a PDQ machine and how does it work?</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/what-is-a-pdq-machine-and-how-does-it-work</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/what-is-a-pdq-machine-and-how-does-it-work</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ By Nick Ismail on Small Business UK - Advice and Ideas for UK Small Businesses and SMEs


A PDQ machine is just another name for a card machine - find out out everything you need to know about how they work, how much they cost, and where you can buy them
The post What is a PDQ machine and how does it work? appeared first on Small Business UK. ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Mon, 27 Jul 2026 14:00:05 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>What, PDQ, machine, and, how, does, work</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Oil at $100 drives mortgage rates back to a month&#45;old high</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/oil-at-100-drives-mortgage-rates-back-to-a-month-old-high</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/oil-at-100-drives-mortgage-rates-back-to-a-month-old-high</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ 
UK mortgage rates have climbed to a one-month high as $100 oil dents rate-cut hopes. What the squeeze means for SME owners and how to lock in now. ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Fri, 24 Jul 2026 14:00:06 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Oil, 100, drives, mortgage, rates, back, month-old, high</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Kardashian’s Skims fills empty Ted Baker flagship on Regent Street</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/kardashians-skims-fills-empty-ted-baker-flagship-on-regent-street</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/kardashians-skims-fills-empty-ted-baker-flagship-on-regent-street</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ 
Kim Kardashian&#039;s Skims opens its first UK store on Regent Street, taking the old Ted Baker flagship on a 10-year lease. What it signals for UK retail. ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Fri, 24 Jul 2026 14:00:06 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Kardashian’s, Skims, fills, empty, Ted, Baker, flagship, Regent, Street</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Record entries and 200 shortlisted: Britain’s small businesses defy the gloom at the UK’s flagship business awards</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/record-entries-and-200-shortlisted-britains-small-businesses-defy-the-gloom-at-the-uks-flagship-business-awards</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/record-entries-and-200-shortlisted-britains-small-businesses-defy-the-gloom-at-the-uks-flagship-business-awards</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ 
From a nine-generation family farm to a challenger radio station, the 2026 Lloyds British Business Excellence Awards shortlist tells a different story about British SMEs, and one of them will win £500,000 of ITV airtime ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://bmmagazine.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/BBEA250409_BM-768x432.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Fri, 24 Jul 2026 14:00:06 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
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</item>

<item>
<title>Burnham opens No10 North, but the SME payoff waits until 2032</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/burnham-opens-no10-north-but-the-sme-payoff-waits-until-2032</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/burnham-opens-no10-north-but-the-sme-payoff-waits-until-2032</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ 
Burnham opens No10 North in Manchester, but the civil service campus isn&#039;t operational until 2032. What his devolution push means for UK SMEs now ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Fri, 24 Jul 2026 14:00:06 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
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</item>

<item>
<title>James May rejects wealth tax as millionaires beg Burnham to tax them</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/james-may-rejects-wealth-tax-as-millionaires-beg-burnham-to-tax-them</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/james-may-rejects-wealth-tax-as-millionaires-beg-burnham-to-tax-them</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ 
James May rejects the wealth tax urged by Gary Lineker&#039;s millionaires. Here&#039;s what a £24bn levy on the super-rich could mean for UK small businesses. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://bmmagazine.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/shutterstock_122178871-768x432.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Fri, 24 Jul 2026 14:00:06 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>James, May, rejects, wealth, tax, millionaires, beg, Burnham, tax, them</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>How AI guardrails are impeding the work of offensive cybersecurity researchers</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/how-ai-guardrails-are-impeding-the-work-of-offensive-cybersecurity-researchers</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/how-ai-guardrails-are-impeding-the-work-of-offensive-cybersecurity-researchers</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ We spoke with several cybersecurity researchers, who look for unknown vulnerabilities and develop tools to exploit them, about how OpenAI’s and Anthropic’s guardrails affect their work. ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Fri, 24 Jul 2026 14:00:04 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>How, guardrails, are, impeding, the, work, offensive, cybersecurity, researchers</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Meet the judges who will crown Australia’s next breakout startup</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/meet-the-judges-who-will-crown-australias-next-breakout-startup</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/meet-the-judges-who-will-crown-australias-next-breakout-startup</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ TechCrunch Startup Battlefield is coming to Australia — and we&#039;re partnering with Stripe to find the country&#039;s most exciting early-stage startups. ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Fri, 24 Jul 2026 14:00:04 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Meet, the, judges, who, will, crown, Australia’s, next, breakout, startup</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Mobileye CEO Amnon Shashua to step aside as company pushes into robotaxis, robotics</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/mobileye-ceo-amnon-shashua-to-step-aside-as-company-pushes-into-robotaxis-robotics</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/mobileye-ceo-amnon-shashua-to-step-aside-as-company-pushes-into-robotaxis-robotics</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Shashua has been invited to take the chairman of the board seat. ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Fri, 24 Jul 2026 14:00:04 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Mobileye, CEO, Amnon, Shashua, step, aside, company, pushes, into, robotaxis, robotics</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>OpenAI’s new voice mode makes it to the ChatGPT desktop app</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/openais-new-voice-mode-makes-it-to-the-chatgpt-desktop-app</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/openais-new-voice-mode-makes-it-to-the-chatgpt-desktop-app</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ ChatGPT Voice on desktop can work with both ChatGPT Work and Codex to complete tasks and control agents. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/openai-logo-code-background.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Fri, 24 Jul 2026 14:00:03 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>OpenAI’s, new, voice, mode, makes, the, ChatGPT, desktop, app</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Facebook launches a dedicated Marketplace app for sellers, adds a free verification system</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/facebook-launches-a-dedicated-marketplace-app-for-sellers-adds-a-free-verification-system</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/facebook-launches-a-dedicated-marketplace-app-for-sellers-adds-a-free-verification-system</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Seller is a dedicated Marketplace app for people who list and sell items frequently. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/facebook-logo-on-phone.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Fri, 24 Jul 2026 14:00:03 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Facebook, launches, dedicated, Marketplace, app, for, sellers, adds, free, verification, system</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>19 million eggs sold at Kroger and other stores recalled due to Salmonella fears: See a list of impacted products</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/19-million-eggs-sold-at-kroger-and-other-stores-recalled-due-to-salmonella-fears-see-a-list-of-impacted-products</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/19-million-eggs-sold-at-kroger-and-other-stores-recalled-due-to-salmonella-fears-see-a-list-of-impacted-products</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Conventional wisdom says breakfast is the most important meal of the day, but you don’t want to be starting your morning off by eating any of the 19 million eggs that are part of a massive recall.



These eggs, which were sold at Kroger and other retailers, are potentially contaminated with Salmonella. Here’s what you need to know.



What’s happened?



On July 22, egg producer Midwest Poultry Services announced a voluntary recall of 1,589,577 dozen eggs. That equates to just over 19 million eggs in total.



According to the recall notice posted on the website of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the massive egg recall is being initiated because the eggs have the possibility of being contaminated with Salmonella Enteritidis—a subtype of the Salmonella bacterium that can cause severe illness in people.



Midwest Poultry Services (MPS) said it identified the possible contamination at two of its Texas farms via “proactive environmental monitoring practices and root cause analysis.” 



As a result, the company says it is not distributing fresh eggs produced at its Texas farms for the time being. 



The company also said it “is not aware of any specific illnesses linked to its products.”



What is Salmonella Enteritidis?



Salmonella Enteritidis is one of the thousands of types of Salmonella, and it is often associated with eggs. 



According to the USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS), eggs can become infected with Salmonella Enteritidis (SE) in a few different ways. 



For instance, the egg can become infected while it is still being formed in the hen, before the shell has formed; during the egg-laying process, where SE contaminates the shell itself; or after egg-laying, where SE can enter the pores in the laid egg.



In other words, Salmonella Enteritidis can infect the egg’s shell on the outside, or yolk and egg whites on the inside.



What are the symptoms of a Salmonella infection?



According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), a Salmonella infection usually presents with the following symptoms:




Watery diarrhea that might have blood or mucus



Stomach cramps that can be severe




Additional symptoms may include:




Headache



Nausea



Vomiting



Loss of appetite




While anyone can get a Salmonella infection, certain individuals have an increased risk of infection, including children younger than 5, adults over the age of 65, adults over the age of 50 who have underlying medical problems, and people with weakened immune systems.



When and where were the recalled eggs sold?



According to the recall notice, the eggs were produced and distributed from Texas farms and shipped to food-service and retail customers in Louisiana, Oklahoma, and Texas.



The notice says the eggs were sold at:




Kroger stores in Louisiana and Texas 



Brookshire Grocery stores in Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas.



“other smaller retail outlets”




What eggs are included in the recall?



The recalled eggs were produced between June 6, 2026 and July 3, 2026 and feature sell-by or best-by dates of between July 20, 2026 and August 17, 2026. 



They include eggs sold under various brand names, including:




Kroger 



Simple Truth



Brookshire’s



Country Morning



Sunups




You can find a full list of more than 30 impacted products, along with photos, on the FDA’s recall notice.



What should I do if I have the recalled eggs?



The recall notice states that consumers should not consume the recalled eggs. Instead, the recalled eggs should be returned to their place of purchase for a refund.



Consumers who have questions about the recall can contact Midwest Poultry Services at 574-405-9531 or email the company at recallassistance@mpseggs.com. ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Thu, 23 Jul 2026 14:00:07 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
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</item>

<item>
<title>Monday.com layoffs: Hundreds of jobs slashed as work platform proclaims its embrace of ‘the new AI era’</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/mondaycom-layoffs-hundreds-of-jobs-slashed-as-work-platform-proclaims-its-embrace-of-the-new-ai-era</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/mondaycom-layoffs-hundreds-of-jobs-slashed-as-work-platform-proclaims-its-embrace-of-the-new-ai-era</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Monday.com has just become the latest company to lay off its employees in favor of AI. 



On Wednesday, July 22, the work management software firm announced that it will lay off about 20% of its workforce, or just over 600 employees. 



The news came through a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in which the Tel Aviv-based company said it had “initiated a restructuring plan.” 



In the SEC filing, Monday.com stated: “The Plan reflects the Company’s ongoing transformation of its product, marketing, and go-to market strategy and is intended to support a leaner, more focused operating model as the Company continues to invest in its AI-driven growth strategy.” 



Yes, those 20% of employees losing their jobs have been replaced by AI growth. It is perhaps not surprising for a company that announced a platform-wide AI shift a year ago and now self-identifies as an “AI work platform,” but it’s still disheartening. 



Monday.com has offices in New York and Denver, in addition to cities in Europe, Australia, South America, and Asia. Fast Company has reached out to Monday.com for more information on where the impacted jobs are located. We will update this post if we hear back. 



Monday.com estimates it will face $45 million to $55 million in net charges as a result of the new plan, but expects to maintain or improve on its predicted 19% to 20% year-over-year (YOY) revenue growth for 2026. 



Eran Zinman, a cofounder of the company, posted a memo about the layoffs on LinkedIn. 



“[Changing] our strategy and product is not enough,” Zinman wrote. “The organization we built for our previous chapter is not the organization that fits the new AI era.”



Shares of Monday.com Ltd (Nasdaq: MNDY) rose marginally following the news, but the stock is still down 74.45% YOY and 49.91% year-to-date (YTD).



Overall, software-as-a-service (SaaS) stocks have faced downward pressure from perceived AI disruptions this year.



Tech companies claim to be trading employees for AI



Monday.com is far from the first company to cite AI in a headcount reduction announcement.



At fintech company Block, CEO Jack Dorsey laid off more than 4,000 people in February to focus on “intelligence tools.” Then there’s Snap CEO Evan Spiegel, who laid off about 1,000 people in April due to “rapid advancements in artificial intelligence.” 



More recently, Uber Technologies cut 10% of its customer service jobs, Bloomberg reported Wednesday. An Uber spokesperson told the publication that the company is working “to simplify operations, strengthen in-person collaboration, and continue to embrace AI.” 



At the same time, companies like Klarna Group have rehired for roles previously replaced by AI after realizing that maybe a human touch does matter.  ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Thu, 23 Jul 2026 14:00:07 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
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</item>

<item>
<title>The real math crisis isn’t the test scores. It’s the test</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/the-real-math-crisis-isnt-the-test-scores-its-the-test</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/the-real-math-crisis-isnt-the-test-scores-its-the-test</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ This past school year, Cambridge, Massachusetts, placed every eighth grader in Algebra I. It didn’t go well. Ultimately, more than 60% of rising ninth graders will repeat the course. 



The consequences were immediate: weeping students, angry parents, and roiling debate about the rollout, teacher support, and tracking.



Lost in the shuffle was this essential point: We teach obsolete rote math that adults don’t use, while missing entirely the math that defines our lives.  



Let’s start with the math sequence followed by kids in Cambridge and across America: Algebra I, Geometry/Trig, Algebra II, pre-Calculus, and the much-desired Calculus. This track was laid out in 1893 by the Committee of Ten, a working group of educators, when respected professions (e.g., surveyors, engineers, astronomers, munitions officers) needed humans able to execute rote math procedures quickly and accurately by hand: factor (x³ − 6x² + 11x − 6), compute square roots, solve systems of linear equations. Quite sensibly, school helped kids master a body of rote math. 



But then, emerging computational resources began absorbing all rote math tasks. The fantastic book (and movie) Hidden Figures showcases the talented Black women who performed rote math by hand for the Apollo space missions. By 1970, these women recognized that mainframes made their skill set obsolete. Yet 56 years later, our education system hasn’t reached this realization. Worse, math scores are a principal measure of education quality for states, districts, and schools. Rote math scores define the futures and self-esteem of every American teenager. Rote math that adults don’t use, that smartphones perform flawlessly, and that pushes aside the math that matters. 



In our personal lives, we need to understand the probability behind a medical diagnosis, the long-term impact of compound interest, the risks of online gambling, the statistics behind “studies show” headlines, and the algorithms that determine what we read, watch, and believe. In our careers, we need to estimate market sizes, devise statistics to track an organization’s progress, predict revenue growth, optimize scarce resources, deploy proprietary algorithms, and make sound decisions. The powerful, fascinating math that is essential in life, but doesn’t make the cut in the math curricula of most students. We pay a high price for this. Only about a third of U.S. adults have the numeracy skills needed to navigate real-world financial and health decisions, while most—by some estimates, more than 90%—report some degree of math anxiety. Generations of Americans suffer from math, rather than capitalize on it. 



Meanwhile, we define the quality of a K-12 education—for a person, school, district, state, and nation—according to how humans perform on tasks that AI does perfectly. Why? We test kids at such a massive scale that the only way to keep costs in check is to rely on exams expressly designed to be graded by a computer. And if a computer can grade it, a computer can do it. If a young adult enters the real world with skills inferior to what a set of AI agents does for $20/month, they will struggle to find any decent career path.



But even if you disagree with our critique of today’s math curriculum, there is a deeper problem. We never had the conversation. Policymakers, school boards, journalists, and philanthropists have largely treated the traditional math sequence as a given rather than asking whether it still serves students in an AI-driven world. 



It is not too late to have these conversations. Cambridge—and districts across America—can still have the discussion they skipped, shifting the focus from “How can we do obsolete things better?” to “What mathematical capabilities will students need to thrive in an AI-driven world?”  



Review the current high school math curriculum and ask, “Do any of us ever use this?” On the website for Ted’s new book, Aftermath, you can find a simple eight-question math quiz using practice questions from The Nation’s Report Card Grade 8 exam, the PSAT, SAT, ACT, and a state-mandated exam. Start by asking community members—especially school boards and local legislators—to take this quiz (12 minutes, no devices), and reflect on whether these questions should define the futures of every kid coming through our school system. 



As we consider how to educate for a world shot through with algorithms, AI itself also gives us powerful new tools for listening. Instead of relying on a handful of public hearings, school districts can use AI to synthesize thousands of perspectives, identify common ground, surface disagreements, and explore alternatives. AI makes it practical for communities to contribute their expertise and experience and for even the busiest institutions to listen.



Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools recently engaged more than 10,000 families, educators, students, and community members to shape its AI strategy, surfacing broad support for AI literacy alongside concerns about academic integrity and the pace of adoption. In our own Unlocking Literacy initiative at Northeastern University, we ran a national engagement on literacy. We used AI to enable participation in multiple languages and from people with different literacy levels, then synthesized what communities told us. 



Imagine applying that same approach to mathematics. Instead of assuming the traditional sequence is immutable, districts could ask students, parents, teachers, employers, mathematicians, scientists, and engineers what quantitative reasoning people actually need in an AI-driven world. AI can make it practical to gather thousands of perspectives, identify where there is consensus, clarify where there is disagreement, and make curriculum decisions that reflect today’s realities rather than yesterday’s assumptions.



The stakes couldn’t be higher. If we continue graduating students whose greatest strength is performing tasks AI already does effortlessly, we will leave them poorly prepared for the world they are inheriting. 



But if we have the courage to rethink both what we teach and how we decide what to teach, we can prepare a generation to do what only humans can: reason, create, judge, and solve the problems that matter most. It’s long past time to change the equation.



—



Ted Dintersmith is an advocate for transforming education and the author of “Aftermath: The Life-Changing Math that Schools Won’t Teach You” (2026). Beth Simone Noveck is the director of The Governance Lab at Northeastern University and the author of “Reboot: AI and the Race to Save Democracy” (2026). ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Thu, 23 Jul 2026 14:00:07 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
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</item>

<item>
<title>Why the AI “friction phase” is a sign you’re doing it right</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/why-the-ai-friction-phase-is-a-sign-youre-doing-it-right</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/why-the-ai-friction-phase-is-a-sign-youre-doing-it-right</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Every corporate announcement seems to be about an “AI-first” launch or a new agent. On paper, it looks like a revolution. On the ground, it feels a lot more like chaos. Rushing these tools out is slowing teams down, forcing endless rework, and confusing everyone involved.



Naturally, when leaders see their teams slowing down after getting AI tools, they panic. The immediate assumption is often that the technology is broken or the strategy failed.



But moving slower isn’t a sign of AI failure. It’s what happens when you try to change how a business operates. There’s no collapse, you’re just hitting the friction phase. If you want to build a business where humans and software work together at scale, you have to expect this part and work through it.



SPEED IS A FALSE METRIC



In the rush to figure out AI, too many companies are obsessed with how fast they can roll things out and drive adoption. It is easy to see why. The pressure to move fast is real. At the same time, a culture of experimentation is critical, and that has to start at the top. As CEO, I spend time building and playing around with my own AI agents, because you can’t task your team to take risks if you aren’t doing it yourself. If your teams are afraid to experiment with new AI tools, even if it means writing bad prompts or breaking a few things along the way, you’ll be left behind before you even start.



But there is a massive difference between experimenting fast and scaling fast.



When you mistake a slick software demo for organizational change, you run straight into a wall. Rapid rollouts are causing silent chaos because executives confuse deploying a tool with people using it successfully. Moving slower at the enterprise level is required if you want to be strategic in an implementation meant to be sustained for years.



MESSY WORKFLOWS WEREN’T BUILT FOR ALGORITHMS



We talk a lot about AI-powered workflows, but if your day-to-day processes are a mess, throwing AI at them just builds a faster mess.



Our current workflows were created by humans for humans. They rely on institutional knowledge, implicit assumptions, and manual handoffs. When you drop an autonomous AI agent into that ecosystem, things break. Even if the AI does exactly what it was programmed to do, it can disrupt the entire workflow and confuse the users around it.



Plugging high-speed agents into legacy, human-centric processes naturally creates a ton of friction before you see any real benefit. As leaders, we must realize that friction doesn’t mean the tech is broken, but that the environment housing it needs to adapt.



We saw this recently with a steel manufacturing client whose estimating team was bogged down by spreadsheet-related fatigue and weeks of communication silence. They deployed an AI agent to handle pre- and post-sale operations. Technically, the AI worked perfectly; it processed email threads and task comments to generate project digests and automate weekly status reports.



But there was a learning curve. Because the team was accustomed to manual requests and sidebar conversations, the sudden shift in automation speed was jarring. The tech wasn’t failing. The human-centric process surrounding it was. The team took time to adjust, but they trusted the process. Those chaotic workflows were eventually replaced with a transparent, automated, single source of truth, allowing them to shift their focus to high-margin, solution-driven work.



DON’T MISTAKE FRICTION FOR FAILURE



The biggest risk to a company right now is a leader who mistakes this integration friction for a failed initiative. 



When a new AI tool causes a temporary bottleneck or forces a process to be rewritten, impatient leaders tend to switch vendors or scrap the initiative entirely. Walking away too early kills momentum. If you constantly reset your strategy the second things get messy, your organization will never see the technology start paying off.



Surviving the AI transition requires the patience to view this messy phase as a predictable, necessary stage of transformation. Getting scale right takes time, and it requires the right building blocks. You cannot skip the infrastructure phase.



Fortunately, the friction phase is manageable. This adjustment period gets shorter when you use a platform designed from the ground up to help humans and AI work together. Instead of just throwing AI tools at disorganized spreadsheets and hoping for the best, you’re building a clear structure where human intent and machine execution align. That’s how you get to a successful outcome.



RE-ARCHITECT FOR AN AI-ENABLED FUTURE



To move past the friction into productivity, you have to stop trying to force AI into your old way of doing things. The value only comes when you redesign your workflows from scratch with AI in mind.



As you lead your team through this, also change how you measure success. Judging early milestones solely on immediate ROI misses the point. Instead, look at how well your teams are adapting. If your teams are getting better at working alongside digital agents, clearing up their data inputs, and catching mistakes early, you’re doing well. That is the exact foundation you need to scale later.



TO SUCCEED WITH AI, PLAY THE LONG GAME



The companies that flourish over the next decade will have executive stamina to sit through the messy friction phase and thoughtfully re-engineer their business for a machine-assisted world.



When you build the right foundation, where clean rules give your tools the guardrails to operate on their own, you finally fix the bottlenecks holding your team back. That’s how a smart rollout turns a system that simply tracks work into one that gets work done.



Thomas Scott is CEO of Wrike.



 ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Thu, 23 Jul 2026 14:00:07 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Why, the, “friction, phase”, sign, you’re, doing, right</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>Your exit interviews are asking the wrong questions</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/your-exit-interviews-are-asking-the-wrong-questions</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/your-exit-interviews-are-asking-the-wrong-questions</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ “She didn’t quit because she didn’t love the job. She quit because her son’s school kept calling her out of meetings, because the after-school program in her neighborhood closed, because by the time she got home on two buses she had nothing left. None of that appeared on the exit survey.”



Her manager told me this story when I asked what he wished the company’s people team understood. He’d lost four high performers in 18 months—all for reasons that never made it into a data field, because no exit survey asks about broken sidewalks, shuttered childcare centers, or neighborhoods without a grocery store within a mile.



This is the central blind spot in contemporary workforce strategy: the assumption that employees’ lives begin and end at the employer’s front door. Everything we know about human health, human cognition, and human performance says otherwise. The conditions in which people live—stability, safety, access to nutrition, the quality of their children’s schools, the reliability of their transportation—determine how much of themselves they can bring to work. Not occasionally. Every single day.



The business cost of ignoring this is concrete. Built to Thrive: A Blueprint for Healthier Communities, Stronger Workforces, and Economic Vitality, a new analysis by the Leadership Council for Healthier Communities, documents that businesses absorb more than $575 billion a year in costs tied to poor community health. This surfaces as higher emergency room utilization, absenteeism, and presenteeism that standard wellness programs never reach. And it shows as turnover that costs 50% to 200% of a person’s annual salary to replace. These aren’t soft costs. They are in your operating budget right now.



INVEST IN COMMUNITIES



The companies getting ahead of this are asking different questions than just how to improve benefits packages. Instead, they are asking: What are the health conditions in the communities where our employees live? What is the state of childcare access, food security, and transportation reliability in the ZIP codes where our workforce lives? Where are the leverage points upstream of us that would reduce the pressure our people carry through the door each morning?



This isn’t altruism. Built to Thrive draws on decades of published research showing that upstream investment in public health returns $14 for every dollar spent, and that closing community health gaps could add $5 trillion to GDP over five years. The companies that invest in the communities where their talent lives are building a workforce advantage that cannot be replicated with a hiring bonus or wellness app.



THE ISSUE IS GROWING



Federal safety net rollbacks now taking effect are going to make this more urgent. As Medicaid coverage contracts and food assistance tightens, the pressure on working families grows. That pressure arrives at work, sits in meetings, misses deadlines, and eventually walks out the door, to an exit interview that never identifies the real reason.



The manager who lost four people in 18 months has started asking different questions. He’s mapping where his team lives. He’s asking what their neighborhoods actually have. He’s beginning to understand that his retention problem is a community problem. And that community problems have community solutions, if leaders are willing to invest in them.



Jean Accius, PhD, is president and CEO of CHC: Creating Healthier Communities and founder of the Leadership Council for Healthier Communities. ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Thu, 23 Jul 2026 14:00:07 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Your, exit, interviews, are, asking, the, wrong, questions</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>How To Buy A Domain Name? Step&#45;By&#45;Step Guide For Beginners</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/how-to-buy-a-domain-name-step-by-step-guide-for-beginners</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/how-to-buy-a-domain-name-step-by-step-guide-for-beginners</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Buying a domain name is one of the important steps when you are building an online presence. If you pick a bad name, you will have to explain the confusing name for years or even worse. You will have to rebrand your business as well as domain name from scratch, once the business has already […]
The post How To Buy A Domain Name? Step-By-Step Guide For Beginners appeared first on Fincyte. ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Thu, 23 Jul 2026 14:00:07 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>How, Buy, Domain, Name, Step-By-Step, Guide, For, Beginners</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>Pubs, clubs and live music venues to get 20% business rates cut</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/pubs-clubs-and-live-music-venues-to-get-20-business-rates-cut</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/pubs-clubs-and-live-music-venues-to-get-20-business-rates-cut</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ By Anna Jordan on Small Business UK - Advice and Ideas for UK Small Businesses and SMEs


The government confirms a 20% business rate cut for pubs, clubs and live music venues. More details will be revealed in the Autumn Budget
The post Pubs, clubs and live music venues to get 20% business rates cut appeared first on Small Business UK. ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Thu, 23 Jul 2026 14:00:05 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Pubs, clubs, and, live, music, venues, get, 20, business, rates, cut</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>Borrowing costs rise as Burnham vows biggest shake&#45;up in 40 years</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/borrowing-costs-rise-as-burnham-vows-biggest-shake-up-in-40-years</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/borrowing-costs-rise-as-burnham-vows-biggest-shake-up-in-40-years</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ 
Gilt yields rose to 4.97 per cent after Andy Burnham&#039;s first speech as prime minister. What dearer UK borrowing costs mean for SME loans and contracts. ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Mon, 20 Jul 2026 14:00:06 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Borrowing, costs, rise, Burnham, vows, biggest, shake-up, years</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>Topgolf founders pot $55m to drag pool into the digital age</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/topgolf-founders-pot-55m-to-drag-pool-into-the-digital-age</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/topgolf-founders-pot-55m-to-drag-pool-into-the-digital-age</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ 
Topgolf founders Steve and Dave Jolliffe land $55m from Bluestone for Poolhouse and its BillyQ pool technology. What it means for UK hospitality SME ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Mon, 20 Jul 2026 14:00:06 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Topgolf, founders, pot, 55m, drag, pool, into, the, digital, age</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>Burnham enters No 10 with eight in ten SME owners braced for impact</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/burnham-enters-no-10-with-eight-in-ten-sme-owners-braced-for-impact</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/burnham-enters-no-10-with-eight-in-ten-sme-owners-braced-for-impact</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ 
Andy Burnham is prime minister. What his business rates pledge, tax stance and a stagnant economy mean for UK SME owners ahead of the autumn Budget. ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Mon, 20 Jul 2026 14:00:06 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Burnham, enters, with, eight, ten, SME, owners, braced, for, impact</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>Leeds&#45;born UKREiiF takes its £4bn dealmaking model to Australia</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/leeds-born-ukreiif-takes-its-4bn-dealmaking-model-to-australia</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/leeds-born-ukreiif-takes-its-4bn-dealmaking-model-to-australia</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ 
UKREiiF will launch its first overseas event in Australia in 2027, exporting the Leeds model behind £4bn of UK deals. What it means for UK business owners. ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Mon, 20 Jul 2026 14:00:06 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Leeds-born, UKREiiF, takes, its, £4bn, dealmaking, model, Australia</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>Jingye demands payout as Beijing turns on UK over British Steel</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/jingye-demands-payout-as-beijing-turns-on-uk-over-british-steel</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/jingye-demands-payout-as-beijing-turns-on-uk-over-british-steel</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ 
Jingye demands compensation for the British Steel nationalisation, accusing the UK of trampling investment rules. What the row means for UK SMEs. ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Mon, 20 Jul 2026 14:00:06 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Jingye, demands, payout, Beijing, turns, over, British, Steel</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>Hugging Face confirms breach affected internal datasets and credentials, urges users to take action</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/hugging-face-confirms-breach-affected-internal-datasets-and-credentials-urges-users-to-take-action</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/hugging-face-confirms-breach-affected-internal-datasets-and-credentials-urges-users-to-take-action</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Hugging Face is urging users to rotate any access tokens stored on the platform and review account activity. ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Mon, 20 Jul 2026 14:00:03 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Hugging, Face, confirms, breach, affected, internal, datasets, and, credentials, urges, users, take, action</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>StrictlyVC returns to New York City September 10 to celebrate a huge year for the city’s startup community </title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/strictlyvc-returns-to-new-yorkcityseptember-10to-celebrate-a-huge-year-for-the-citys-startup-community</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/strictlyvc-returns-to-new-yorkcityseptember-10to-celebrate-a-huge-year-for-the-citys-startup-community</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ For the first time since 2024, StrictlyVC is coming back to New York City — and we&#039;re bringing the kind of access you’d expect from an under-wraps event to the whole startup, VC, and dealmaking community. ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Mon, 20 Jul 2026 14:00:03 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>StrictlyVC, returns, New, York City September, 10 to, celebrate, huge, year, for, the, city’s, startup, community </media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>Netflix paid $587M for Ben Affleck’s AI filmmaking startup</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/netflix-paid-587m-for-ben-afflecks-ai-filmmaking-startup</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/netflix-paid-587m-for-ben-afflecks-ai-filmmaking-startup</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Netflix revealed that it paid $587 million in cash for InterPositive, a startup co-founded by Ben Affleck. ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Mon, 20 Jul 2026 14:00:03 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Netflix, paid, 587M, for, Ben, Affleck’s, filmmaking, startup</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>What to watch for after Jensen Huang’s Japan visit</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/what-to-watch-for-after-jensen-huangs-japan-visit</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/what-to-watch-for-after-jensen-huangs-japan-visit</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Jensen Huang left Tokyo with deals spanning Japan&#039;s entire tech ecosystem. ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Mon, 20 Jul 2026 14:00:03 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>What, watch, for, after, Jensen, Huang’s, Japan, visit</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>Can an Apple lawsuit derail OpenAI’s hardware plans?</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/can-an-apple-lawsuit-derail-openais-hardware-plans</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/can-an-apple-lawsuit-derail-openais-hardware-plans</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ On the latest episode of Equity, we debate whether Apple&#039;s lawsuit will cast a shadow over OpenAi&#039;s much-discussed plans to get into hardware and go public. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/portrait.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Mon, 20 Jul 2026 14:00:03 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Can, Apple, lawsuit, derail, OpenAI’s, hardware, plans</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>National Ice Cream Day freebies and deals: See a list of the best places to score a scoop today</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/national-ice-cream-day-freebies-and-deals-see-a-list-of-the-best-places-to-score-a-scoop-today</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/national-ice-cream-day-freebies-and-deals-see-a-list-of-the-best-places-to-score-a-scoop-today</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ There are many reasons to scream right now—from cyclospora to corrupt politicians avoiding accountability. 



What if instead we collectively squealed for ice cream on National Ice Cream Day? Well, we’re in luck because it’s today: Sunday, July 19, 2026.



Here’s some history along with deals to make this cool snack an even sweeter treat.



Before machines, how was ice cream made?



Ice cream is made up of cream, sugar, air, and frozen water. Flavors were added based on an individual’s taste preferences. Before refrigerators and machines, these ingredients were combined in a separate container, surrounded by ice and salt, which reached temperatures below freezing. 



The mixture was then stirred and churned by hand. Because of this labor-intensive process, ice cream was once just a dish for the wealthy elites.



Who invented ice cream?



A fascinating aspect of this chilled delight is that many cultures created their own frozen desserts, paving the way for ice cream. 



During the Tang Dynasty in ancient China, a precursor to ice cream was a sweet drink of iced camphor-infused buffalo milk. The Roman Emperor Nero liked to sweeten his iced beverages with honey. In India, kulfi, a frozen condensed milk dish, was enjoyed by Mughal emperors.



In England, Elias Ashmole recalled King Charles II of England being served a plate of ice cream at a fancy banquet. 



In America, President Thomas Jefferson served ice cream at the White House. After his death, he left behind many writings, including only 10 recipes, one of which was for French vanilla ice cream.



What inventions helped bring ice cream to the masses?



In 1843, Nancy M. Johnson invented the first hand-cranked ice cream maker. She was also wise enough to patent her “Artificial Freezer.” This machine cut down on the hard manual labor and allowed ice cream to last 30 minutes. 



The invention of the home refrigerator in 1910 also helped accelerate ice cream’s popularity. By the 1940s, many had ditched the outdated ice box for the new technology.



What does Ronald Reagan have to do with National Ice Cream Day?



In 1984, President Ronald Reagan proclaimed July National Ice Cream Month. He designated the third Sunday as National Ice Cream Day.



Where can you get National Ice Cream Day deals?



[Photo: Häagen-Dazs]



Now ice cream belongs to the people. Here’s where you can fulfill your purpose on the big day.



Häagen-Dazs



Häagen-Dazs reward members are eligible for a buy-one-get-one-free deal through the Sundae Funday Club. 



Pick between the Caramel Cone Sundae, Chocolate Dipped Strawberry Sundae, or Hot Fudge &amp; Caramel Sundae. This deal is valid every Sunday in July and ends on the 26th.



16 Handles



While you might think of 16 Handles as a frozen yogurt spot, it also has ice cream. (And froyo is also delicious, anyway.) On National Ice Cream Day, rewards members can score a free cup, up to a $5 value.



Blue Bell Ice Cream



Blue Bell Ice Cream is celebrating all month like Reagan intended. It introduced a limited-time flavor, Chocolate Lava Cake.



Petco



Ice cream is better when it’s shared. At least that’s what the dogs want us to believe. 



Thankfully, Petco is offering rewards members a free Ben &amp; Jerry’s ice cream pup cup at participating locations while supplies last. If you are not a rewards member, it is free to sign up.



Dairy Queen



At Dairy Queen, after making a $1 in app purchase, DQ Rewards members will be rewarded with a free Dilly Bar.



If you find yourself in Chicago and ride the train, you might be in for a sweet surprise. 



Petty Cool Ice Cream



Pretty Cool Ice Cream and the Chicago Transit Authority are setting up at the Logan Square Blue Line and Fullerton Brown Line at 12 p.m. and 95th St Red Line and Pulaski Orange Line at 2:30 p.m. 



The first 300 people who show up and also follow @prettycoolicecream and @chicagocta will get a free popsicle based on the different lines.



Dippin’ Dots



Select Dippin’ Dots locations will be giving out free mini cups of the unique treat during a special two hour window. Click here to find a location and time frame near you.



If you want even more Dippin’ Dots, head to Chuck E. Cheese. At the place where a kid can be a kid, you can also get one free small Dippin’ Dots per household.



Shout for joy. The horrors of the world will keep while you eat your frozen treat. ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Sun, 19 Jul 2026 14:00:07 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
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<item>
<title>Thinking Machines is coming for Anthropic’s intellectual vibe</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/thinking-machines-is-coming-for-anthropics-intellectual-vibe</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/thinking-machines-is-coming-for-anthropics-intellectual-vibe</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ In ads, influencer partnerships, and blog posts, Anthropic has continued to position itself as the intellectual, even creative, AI platform. 



“There’s hope in hard questions,” explicates one ad. “Keep thinking with Claude,” suggests another. 



Anthropic’s models, notably, are named after literary forms, while its CEO, Dario Amodei, has styled himself as a thought leader through a series of heady blog posts.









The company’s message is that AI should enhance human cognition rather than offload it.



Thinking Machines, the AI lab founded last year by former OpenAI leader Mira Murati, is now putting its own spin on that approach. 



Earlier this week, the startup announced the release of its first AI model, Inkling, which it says can be fine-tuned via its Tinker platform (released last fall). The company says Inkling has 975 billion parameters, including 41 billion active parameters. It’s also an open-weights model, meaning that core aspects of the model are publicly available.



Thinking Machines concedes that Inkling is not the most powerful AI model on the market. Instead, the company aims to compete on customization. It also emphasizes that its goal is to enhance human intelligence rather than replace it.



The approach echoes some of Anthropic’s language and appears aimed at a more intellectual vision of AI.



“For artificial intelligence to benefit from distributed knowledge, it must itself be distributed. Every organization is powered by the expert knowledge of its people, gained and expressed through their work,” a recent company blog said. 



“We believe in AI that helps the organization cultivate that unique knowledge, not AI that extracts a snapshot of it and replaces it with a standard offering,” the blog continued. “This cultivation is an ongoing process that requires AI to work with people, not in their stead.”



With Inkling, Thinking Machines says consumers and enterprises can shape the AI in their own image rather than use a system that reflects the average preferences of the broader population. Inkling’s terminal even includes an option to instruct the model to communicate and organize its responses according to the user’s preferences, such as writing in the style of a New Yorker article or communicating only in riddles.



The model also communicates extensively about how it’s processing prompts. Users can control how much reasoning effort and token capacity Inkling expends on a task.



All of this suggests that AI companies don’t believe they’ll get far by selling consumers technology that replaces their thinking. Consumers appear to prefer something closer to an intellectual superpower.


 ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Sun, 19 Jul 2026 14:00:07 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
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<item>
<title>How Verizon is preparing for record&#45;setting network spikes during the first&#45;ever World Cup halftime show</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/how-verizon-is-preparing-for-record-setting-network-spikes-during-the-first-ever-world-cup-halftime-show</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/how-verizon-is-preparing-for-record-setting-network-spikes-during-the-first-ever-world-cup-halftime-show</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ To say the 2026 FIFA World Cup final between Spain and Argentina is the most-anticipated sporting event of the year would be an understatement. 



More than 80,000 people are expected to attend the final at the New York-New Jersey stadium, and well over a billion viewers are likely to tune in to the broadcast globally.



Meanwhile, the quarterfinals averaged over 25 million viewers across Fox, Telemundo, and Peacock, according to Nielsen Media Research and Adobe Analytics. 



While soccer fans are excited for the game itself, many are also eager for the first-ever halftime show, which is being curated by Coldplay front man Chris Martin and produced by Global Citizen, and will feature Madonna, Shakira, BTS, and Justin Bieber as headliners. 



Oftentimes, viewership for sporting events spikes during halftime shows. Take, for instance, the Super Bowl LIX game in 2025, during which Kendrick Lamar drew 133.5 million viewers and garnered a larger audience for his performance than the actual game itself. Bad Bunny’s halftime show from earlier this year at Super Bowl LX also attracted a slightly larger viewership than the regular game.



Given the massive star power of the World Cup performers, it’s safe to say the halftime show could generate just as much—if not more—viewership for those 11 minutes. 



But with a global event as massive as the World Cup and a star-studded halftime show, how do the companies involved ensure the technology goes smoothly for the live audience and the millions of viewers watching around the world? 



“FIFA is a different animal”



As the official telecommunication services sponsor of the World Cup, Verizon provides the primary network and powers the digital infrastructure for the tournament. Abraham Arencibia, vice president of technology and product development for Verizon, said the company isn’t a stranger to halftime shows of this magnitude.



Verizon previously honed its 5G Ultra Wideband network to power interactive and 360-degree mobile experiences for the Super Bowl LVI halftime show back in 2022, which featured Snoop Dogg, Dr. Dre, Eminem, and Mary J. Blige.



However, Arencibia admitted that the World Cup halftime show will be a different experience, one they’ve been preparing for and building two years in advance. 



[Photo: Verizon]



“FIFA is a different animal,” Arencibia told Fast Company, because of the scale of the events. To understand the scale of the World Cup final, Arencibia described the infrastructure as a “technology layer cake,” with each layer serving a distinct and important purpose. 



The first layer starts on the soccer pitch with the high-tech referee body cameras and localized connectivity, which utilizes Verizon’s private 5G networks to provide low-latency, real-time data from the field for the immersive and live moments. 



Moving up to the middle layer, Arencibia said the infrastructure has to be able to support the massive data spikes generated by the crowd. More than 60 to 100 cameras capture content from the stands with a wireless network capable of supporting 50 terabytes of data. Since the stadium will hold around 80,000 attendees for the final, Arencibia said Verizon increased the capacity of its wireless network by four times compared with standard operations.“Think of every single Netflix movie ever streamed at the same time for 90 minutes,” Arencibia said. “That’s the capacity that we’re supporting for the fans.”



The aim is that when fans pull out their phones to record the halftime show, the network will remain flawless. In fact, Arencibia said the two most critical parts his team will pay attention to are the game’s kickoff and the beginning of the halftime show. From there, it’s smooth sailing whether Madonna or BTS is on the stage. 



“That is the moment that people are most excited about,” Arencibia said. “They’re going to pull up their phone, and that’s when you see a spike in our network. [We] build for those first few minutes . . . if you survive that, everything else starts straightening up.”



The digital backbone of the tournament



While the stadium relies on the 5G network, the heavy lifting of the global broadcast is handled by the Broadcast Contribution Network (BCN), which is the final layer of the cake. 



Think of this as the digital backbone of the tournament. Every camera feed, video asset, and data point from the host stadium is funneled to the International Broadcasting Center (IBC) in Dallas via 80,000 miles of fiber, where the signal is processed and redistributed to a person’s phone or TV screen in a different state or country. 



“The center is basically the central nervous system where all the venues are talking to that location,” Arencibia said. “We start at the field and the stands before going wider.”



However, one might wonder how Verizon prepares for any technical difficulties, lags, or frame drops on a broadcast or livestream. Arencibia says they’re well-equipped for that with a lot of checks and balances in place. 



He noted that every venue has around four to five “100-gig circuits” (100 gigabits of data per second). 



“Our goal is to be invisible”



Behind the scenes, Arencibia said Verizon has a “war room,” which functions as a high-stakes command room with thousands of engineers who monitor every single cell spike and fiber connection in real time. 



Arencibia said ultimately, he doesn’t want fans to think of Verizon when they’re at the game. “Our goal is to be invisible, but be involved in that journey from the people getting to the venue when they have to show their tickets, when they actually pull out their phone, and when the cameras are rolling.”



For him, it basically has to be a perfect, seamless recipe for the entire infrastructure—or layer cake—from the private network, wireless network, and fiber network. “You’re not going to be thinking about us,” Arencibia said. “You only think about us if there’s a problem. That’s our job.”



Arencibia emphasized this year’s World Cup is the most technologically advanced and most connected one ever, even more than Qatar in 2022 or the previous tournaments. This one especially, he said, impacts him on a personal level. 



“The creation, the implementation of the network, and the connectivity has no comparison to any other World Cup that has ever happened, so we’re very proud,” Arencibia said. “As a Spaniard who grew up in the Canary Islands and tried to be a soccer player at one point, the fact that I’m helping to do this is a dream come true.” ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Sun, 19 Jul 2026 14:00:07 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>How, Verizon, preparing, for, record-setting, network, spikes, during, the, first-ever, World, Cup, halftime, show</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Madrid is electric with World Cup energy</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/madrid-is-electric-with-world-cup-energy</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/madrid-is-electric-with-world-cup-energy</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Madrid, the other city that never sleeps, is more awake than ever for the 2026 World Cup final between Spain and Argentina, which will be broadcast from New Jersey today. 



Even in the middle of July, with the town feeling almost empty because everyone’s either on vacation or escaping the scorching summer temperatures, there’s an electricity in the air.



The streets may seem deserted, but people are filling terraces, bars, cafés, markets, plazas, and parks, excitedly talking about the second time in history that Spain has reached the final of the biggest sports event on the planet. 



And yes, some will argue that it doesn’t matter whether the city is taken over by hordes of Pope Leo, Bad Bunny, or Taylor Swift fans, there will always be Madrileños gathering together to enjoy tapas and cañas. I admit that my people will go out and buzz even if it’s the beginning of the end of the world. It’s a city that lives out.



Madrid, July 15, 2026 [Photo: Aaron Heredia/NurPhoto/Getty Images]



This is especially true with football. Or fútbol. Futebol. You know, soccer. Whatever you want to call it. It’s woven into the corazón of the inhabitants of this metropolis. It is, after all, the home of the greatest team in soccer (I’m biased). What do you expect? Whenever there’s a big game, people congregate in bars and cafés like matter around a black hole.



But this time is very different. This isn’t just a big game. This is The Game. It’s a feeling that unites everyone, even in a moment of political division. On Friday, as I walked toward the Plaza de Colón, I spoke to random passersby. 



“Yeah, we will go to Colón,” two Gen Zers—Javier and his girlfriend, Rosa—told me in Paseo de la Castellana, the main avenue that connects the city north to south. “I will go, too, with my friends,” chimed in twenty-something Nuria, who, like us, was waiting for the bus.



Plaza de Colón, July 14, 2026 [Photo: Diego Radames/Anadolu/Getty Images]



They’re too young to remember the 2010 World Cup final in South Africa, they told me. But I remember exactly where I was when Spain won its first estrella. Sadly it wasn’t here, but in New York. 



I was in good company, with my friends Omar and Gema, at their home, watching along with other Spaniards, when a brilliant player called Andrés Iniesta scored what we collectively refer to as el gol de nuestras vidas (the goal of our lives). I remember screaming with pure, overwhelming joy.



I also remember the wave of red that took to the streets of New York that day: Thousands of Spaniards wearing La Roja jerseys seemingly came out of nowhere and ran toward Union Square and the nearby La Nacional, the historic Spanish Association of New York on 14th Street between 7th and 8th avenues. 



And I remember how I called my dad, who fortunately lived to see the event of a lifetime. I cried like a baby then, like I cried later watching my fellow Madrileños screaming on the streets, watching the game on giant screens in a collective climax.



Puente del Rey in Madrid Rio Park, June 26, 2026 [Photo: David Canales/NurPhoto/Getty Images]



City of fútbol



This time I’m getting ready to watch the game with my own son in the food court of the Santiago Bernabéu stadium, one of the hundreds of public venues that will hold free parties.



All the bars and cafés in the city are hosting, too, thousands of which have installed screens just for the World Cup final. The Bernabéu has huge wall-to-wall 4K LED screens, with people congregating around the different spaces while enjoying the offerings of some 20 food stands.



There will also be about 15,000 people by the Manzanares, the river that crosses Madrid, the site of a major restructuring and restoration that has made the riverbank one of the best spots to watch the game. The city has installed two large LED displays near the historical Puente del Rey (Bridge of the King).



Puente del Rey, July 14, 2024 [Photo: Gustavo Valiente/Europa Press/Getty Images]



Another stadium, the Movistar Arena, has been readied to accommodate some 15,000 fans, featuring a massive central screen measuring approximately 52.5 by 29.5 feet.



There are many other venues and plazas that will host people, both in Madrid and in the nearby cities, but Plaza de Colón, home of the largest Spanish flag in the country (measuring more than 3,000 square feet) and now featuring a multiscreen setup, will be the main destination. 



At the start of the tournament, the plaza accommodated about 6,000 spectators. But as Spain advanced, the area expanded to fit roughly 20,000 people by closing adjacent sections of Castellana. A newly added secondary screen pointing toward Calle Génova will serve the overflow crowd who can’t get into the square.



Argentina fans in Puerta del Sol square, July 16, 2026 [Photo: David Canales/NurPhoto/Getty Images]



What can go wrong



There are only two things that can ruin the party at Plaza de Colón. The first is the temperature. If it triggers an official “orange alert” (near or exceeding 102.2 degrees Fahrenheit), authorities will suspend the viewing and urge fans to seek air-conditioned indoor alternatives, a protocol already enforced earlier in the tournament when Spain played Saudi Arabia. The last time I looked, the daytime temperature was expected to be about 100 degrees.



And speaking as a Spaniard, the other thing that can ruin this party is a throng of Argentineans. There are about 60,000 nationals in Madrid. And they’ll be cheering for their team not only against Spaniards but seemingly against the entire world.



Madrid is as welcoming to strangers as New York City, so much so that people say nobody who lives in Madrid is actually from Madrid. But I suspect the Argentineans will not be watching at the Plaza de Colón or any other public venue. My friend Cristina, who owns a bar called Meseta in the southern Madrid district of Usera, said: “I told my Argentinean clients that they should find themselves another place to watch. They went pale!”



It doesn’t matter. Whatever happens, it will be memorable. For me, at least, because I’ll be with son celebrating his country’s first World Cup final like I couldn’t do with my dad 16 years ago. That’d be enough. And if they win, well . . . I don’t know what I’m going to do with myself after bawling my eyes out.


 ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Sun, 19 Jul 2026 14:00:07 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
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<item>
<title>How to deal with failure and stick with hard things</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/how-to-deal-with-failure-and-stick-with-hard-things</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/how-to-deal-with-failure-and-stick-with-hard-things</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Below, Steve Kamb shares five key insights from his new book, How to Try Again: An Approachable Guide to Navigating Chaos and Making Change That Sticks.



Steve is the founder of Nerd Fitness, an approachable fitness company that helps busy humans level up their lives. Since 2009, he has published research-backed essays and a weekly newsletter that explores failure, self-compassion, and making change that sticks.



What’s the Big Idea?



Failure is part of doing anything worthwhile, and every setback teaches us something we can use moving forward. Success comes from accepting reality, staying afloat when life gets hard, and pursuing goals we genuinely want.



Listen to the audio version of this Book Bite—read by Steve himself—in the Next Big Idea App, or buy the book.



1. Failure is one possible outcome for anything worth doing.



In 2023, I visited the touring Museum of Failure, packed with history’s most famous failures, flops, and frauds. Wandering around this museum was an absolute delight, as I got to see some truly baffling decisions. The Hula Chair worked more like a medieval torture device than a fitness product. King Gustav II of Sweden commissioned a comically expensive military warship that sank to the bottom of the harbor 50 minutes into its celebratory voyage. However, my favorite failure on display was probably Hooters Airlines. Yes, that Hooters.



If you ever feel like a failure for not making wiser decisions, just imagine how many people had to agree with the following statement: “We got rich making chicken wings; how hard could it be to run a profitable airline?”



The more failures I encountered, the more I came to understand failure differently. This museum didn’t only exist to poke fun at bad inventions. I mean, it did that too. I’m still laughing about Hooters Air. But it also showed the ways in which failure was one of many possible outcomes, and no company was immune to failed initiatives. In fact, most of the world’s most successful companies were on display too. Nintendo and the Virtual Boy, Microsoft and its Zune MP3 player, even Apple, whose Pippin videogame console was such a flop that I, proud nerd gamer, had never heard of it.



Interestingly, there were many products on display that were simply casualties of poor timing: early chatbots, multifunctional cellphones, personal digital assistants, and the first digital camera back in the 1970s that Kodak never released for fear of it cannibalizing their sales of physical film! The vision was there, as was the ambition, and once technology finally caught up, the road had been paved for companies to achieve far greater success.




“Rather than trying to prevent failure, we can instead decide to embrace it as a possibility and focus on recovering quickly after failure.”




We need to reframe how we think about failure. Rather than trying to prevent failure, we can instead decide to embrace it as a possibility and focus on recovering quickly after failure. Ed Catmull, one of the founders of the animation studio Pixar, said it best: “Failure isn’t a necessary evil. In fact, it isn’t evil at all. It is a necessary consequence of doing something new.”



Many of the best rewards in life are only available to those willing to open themselves up to failure as a possibility. Our biggest success might be hiding behind our next failure, so let’s see what can happen when we embrace failure openly. Even if that failure is Hooters Air.



2. We never go back to “square one.”



No matter how far backward we’ve fallen after a setback, we never truly start over. Let’s say we tried to build a workout routine last year. We went to the gym a few times and then gave up. We’re demoralized that we’ve gone all the way back to “square one.”



Fortunately, we’ve also learned the most difficult parts! After all, going to the gym isn’t one decision. It’s multiple decisions. We had to research which one to join, find parking, and then go through the sign-up process. We had to learn where the locker room was, how the equipment worked, and where to fill up our water bottle. And then we had to find the courage to exercise in public. Most importantly, we had to do all of this within the confines of our busy lives. Just getting to “I went to the gym” takes a ton of mental bandwidth, effort, and courage.



So sure, we might be starting over with how much we can lift on the bar or how fast we can walk, but every past attempt is still with us. We know where the gym is. We know where to park. We know how the equipment works. We know what to wear. We’ve already navigated the toughest parts.



Furthermore, our hard-earned past failures might help us avoid the pitfalls we fell into last time. We learned what type of workout or routine didn’t work for us. Or what time of working out doesn’t work for us. That knowledge lets us use our precious energy to hopefully make it further on this next attempt. When viewed through this lens, each failure is not a step backward, but a step forward. We should be thankful for our past attempts, because they got us where we are today. Failure isn’t the end, but the beginning.



3. Treading water isn’t the opposite of progress; it’s the next best thing.



When we think about moving toward a goal, the first word we think of is “progress.” And boy, do we humans love progress. It makes us feel good! Seeing positive movement toward a goal gives us that warm, fuzzy feeling and a sense of control that we are making things better. And when we are not making progress? We feel like we’re falling behind. We feel “stuck.”



However, there’s an important third option we’re not considering. The opposite of progress isn’t stagnation or staying still. It’s “regress.” Moving backward. Away from our goal. When we find ourselves struggling, our inclination is to try again, but harder. Trying again or working harder might be the wrong move, especially if we’re trying again at the wrong thing, and we might be making things worse. So, compared to those options, “treading water” can be the best, most optimal decision. Allowing ourselves to do less is more than just okay. It can be life-preserving.




“Allowing ourselves to do less is more than just okay.”




When we feel weighed down with the pressure that we’re so far behind or that we’re not doing enough, we can pause. We can realize that what might feel like a “motivation” problem is actually a “resources” problem. We’re asking too much of ourselves, and we’re going to burn ourselves trying to continue doing it all. We need to redefine what “enough” is for us.



Instead of worrying about how much farther we need to go on a goal, or how far behind we feel, we can ask, “What needs to happen today to show I haven’t given up yet?” We can remind ourselves that an “all or nothing” mentality quickly becomes “all, then nothing.” In between those two extremes, “some” is a perfectly acceptable amount. And “some” can keep us afloat for a long time. One healthy meal, a single exercise, a five-minute walk reminds us that we’re still here, and still afloat. Let’s see what tomorrow brings.



4. Acceptance isn’t giving up. It’s the only way forward.



No matter how much we want to have control of our future, we’ll never be able to accurately predict what life will throw at us next week, let alone next month or next year. Which leaves us with two choices. We can spend all day raging at the universe when things don’t go the way they should, or we can get to work on accepting things as they are now. We can get mad at ourselves for not magically developing the skills to plan better, or we can learn that life is going to remain chaotic and never go according to plan.



This requires acceptance. As a recovering overachiever, I used to believe that acceptance was a sign of weakness. I thought it meant giving up all ambition, letting myself off the hook, and enabling lazy behavior. So, I made things worse instead: I set ridiculously high standards and remained unbelievably critical of myself, always felt behind, and never felt “enough.”



Fortunately, I couldn’t have been more wrong. Acceptance is the only way we can finally start to see reality for what it is. We can stop waiting for “next week to get back to normal” and accept that our life right now, warts and all, is normal. We can stop getting frustrated when our schedule falls apart and start expecting it. We can prepare for our plan not going according to plan. The sooner we accept that our current “normal,” with clothes on the floor and life being messy, is normal, the sooner we can choose to act differently.



Acceptance is the only way we can function in a world that feels contradictory, because it lets us embrace those contradictions. What’s the best way to do that? By practicing “yes and” thinking. Yes, we accept that life is challenging right now, and we have some real limitations. Here’s where we’re focusing our efforts today: on things we can control.



5. Don’t just ask, “Is the juice worth the squeeze?” Make sure you like juice.



I love watching documentaries about amazing things I have absolutely no desire to do. My heart skipped two beats watching the Academy Award–winning documentary Free Solo about climber Alex Honnold scaling “El Cap” in Yosemite National Park without a safety rope. I’ll stick with my safe indoor rock-climbing walls, thank you.



Unfortunately, that reasonable mentality does not apply when I learn about things I kind of want to do, or think I could do, or think I should do. This is where I get myself into trouble. It’s unsexy to accept that success in anything requires sacrifices in other areas of life, and just because somebody else is doing it, and doing it well, doesn’t mean it’s the right path for me.




“When we see someone who has what we think we want, it’s tempting to assume they have found the one correct path and are living a blissful life without any problems.”




We humans are social creatures. We love learning how to be successful, happy, or healthy by copying others who we hope have all the answers. When we see someone who has what we think we want, it’s tempting to assume they have found the one correct path and are living a blissful life without any problems. That’s what the folks selling us the dream want us to believe, anyway. As long as we live like them, and buy their product or service, we can be successful too. No compromises required!



This is where we must be careful. When we take our life, motivations, and expectations, and compare them to others who are playing with a different scorecard, we forget that everything has a cost attached to it. We see a financially successful entrepreneur telling us to rise and grind. We don’t see that person working late nights at the office to avoid their family (because they are fighting with their spouse), their deep insecurities, or the void they’re trying to fill with just making more money. The truth is that we can never truly know what’s going on in somebody else’s life, especially when we only see their public-facing highlight reel.



Everything has a cost attached to it, and the cost of chasing greatness or trying to reach an arbitrary level of success might require more sacrifices than you or I are willing to make. That’s okay! I like it when people are honest about it. When the Smartless podcast hosts asked Ken Burns, arguably the most accomplished documentarian alive, how he manages to be so prolific and still keep a healthy work-life balance, he replied, “You’ll have to ask my two ex-wives about that.”



There’s nothing wrong with admitting to ourselves that we don’t want to do the work and make the sacrifices for the chance at succeeding. The problem isn’t that we lack the required dedication. It’s that we have the expectation that we should have that dedication or be willing to make those sacrifices. It’s perfectly okay that we don’t want those things, or that we’re not willing to go down that path.



We shouldn’t forget to ask, “What if this works?” When we encounter videos, interviews, or success stories, we can pause and challenge our thoughts. Instead of only asking, “Is the juice worth the squeeze?” we should also ask, “Do I even want juice?”



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



Enjoy our full library of Book Bites—read by the authors!—in the Next Big Idea app. ]]></description>
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<description><![CDATA[ The deal, which was rumored to be in the works last year, marks an important step for Apple&#039;s AI ambitions in a key market. ]]></description>
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<title>Meta now alerts parents if their teen discussed suicide or self&#45;harm with its AI chatbot</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/meta-now-alerts-parents-if-their-teen-discussed-suicide-or-self-harm-with-its-ai-chatbot</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/meta-now-alerts-parents-if-their-teen-discussed-suicide-or-self-harm-with-its-ai-chatbot</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ The updates come as Meta and other tech companies are facing scrutiny from regulators and parents around how AI chatbots respond to users in crisis, particularly teenagers. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/meta-apps-GettyImages-2164040793.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Thu, 16 Jul 2026 14:00:03 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Meta, now, alerts, parents, their, teen, discussed, suicide, self-harm, with, its, chatbot</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Phone maker OnePlus says it won’t release new phones in the US and Europe</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/phone-maker-oneplus-says-it-wont-release-new-phones-in-the-us-and-europe</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/phone-maker-oneplus-says-it-wont-release-new-phones-in-the-us-and-europe</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ OnePlus could also wind down its operations in India by 2027. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/OnePlus-15-e1784137477629.jpeg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Thu, 16 Jul 2026 14:00:03 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Phone, maker, OnePlus, says, won’t, release, new, phones, the, and, Europe</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>Applied Computing wants to give oil and gas operators an AI model for the entire plant</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/applied-computing-wants-to-give-oil-and-gas-operators-an-ai-model-for-the-entire-plant</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/applied-computing-wants-to-give-oil-and-gas-operators-an-ai-model-for-the-entire-plant</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Applied Computing has raised a $20M Series A to build a foundation AI model for the oil, gas and petrochemical industry. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Please-credit-Schmooly-Sam-left-Callum-right.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Thu, 16 Jul 2026 14:00:03 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Applied, Computing, wants, give, oil, and, gas, operators, model, for, the, entire, plant</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>The workplace isn’t designed for older women</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/the-workplace-isnt-designed-for-older-women</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/the-workplace-isnt-designed-for-older-women</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ My kids were finally almost grown, and I was in my late 50s, when my mother started to fall. Not once. A series of falls, each one taking a little more of her, until the word the doctors used was acute. My husband and I drove out into the high desert and hiked, because that is what we do when we can no longer think and have to anyway. Somewhere on that trail I understood the shape of the choice in front of me. I could close the business I had spent decades building and bring her home. Or I could find her a place, which is the gentle phrase we use for the thing that breaks your heart. There was no third door.



I had spent 35 years by then coaching senior leaders, and most of them were men. Men who moved through their careers on a road already paved. No motherhood penalty at the front, and rarely a caregiving crisis at the back, because somewhere in their lives there was usually a woman absorbing the work at home. I was good at helping them. Then I hit the wall myself and went looking for the map I had been handing other people. There was none. The workplace I had given my life to had never imagined a woman would still be inside it on the day her mother began to disappear.



When Fast Company ran “Corporate America is crushing senior-level mothers” by Shalene Gupta last month, the response was enormous. Thousands of words came back from women who finally felt named. Underneath the relief I heard a second question the piece could not reach. These women survived it. The day care years, the pumping in supply closets, the promotions timed around due dates. They came out the other side. And now what?



Most organizations still build careers for women around the young-mother arc. The whole structure assumes the defining tension of a woman’s working life is the one between babies and ambition, the toddler on the hip against the seat at the table. That assumption was not wrong; it was partial. It put a gate at the front of a woman’s career and left everything past it as open country, with no road markers.



For every woman promoted at the director level, McKinsey and LeanIn found, two women directors walk out the door. There is a leak at exactly the altitude where companies say they want more women, and we have spent years blaming the women for it. 



Consider the woman who is in mid- or late career. She is not arranging childcare anymore. She is arranging hospice, or memory care, or the third specialist this month. She is one of the more than 48 million Americans who gave unpaid care last year worth an estimated $600 billion, most of them women, and she is doing it in the years she was finally supposed to be running things. The squeeze does not announce itself. It arrives as a phone call during a meeting she cannot leave, and it does not end when the call does.



Brenda (pseudonym), a VP of philanthropy at a national nonprofit, breathed a sigh of relief when her youngest child graduated from college. Three days later her husband was diagnosed with ALS, and she had to care for him as his body failed. Her career-capping fundraising ambitions paled alongside the gargantuan role she had to play at home, resulting in FMLA leave, fragmented efforts, and distracted attention to her big career goals.



The body is in this story too, whether we are comfortable with it or not. Menopause arrives and lasts the better part of a decade, landing squarely on the most senior and most expensive years of a woman’s career. The Mayo Clinic put its cost to the U.S. economy at $26.6 billion a year, and that figure does not count the women who simply leave the workforce. Rachel (pseudonym), an executive VP at a major consumer brand, described it this way: “My perimenopause brain fog was intense, and I felt I had to back off the big role. I took early retirement, even though I wasn’t ready.”



According to research discussed in Harvard Business Review in 2023, women suffer from a “never right” bias pattern around age, meaning the same gray hair that makes a man look seasoned makes a woman look finished. His experience gets celebrated. Hers gets walked toward the door. You thank her for mentoring the young men who will be promoted past her. You celebrate what she knows precisely because you have stopped betting on what she could still do.



And here is the part Gupta’s motherhood essay could not hold. The young-mother design doesn’t fail just the women who passed through it. It fails the women who never had children at all. Jean (pseudonym) was a pinch hitter throughout her 30s and 40s, always able to travel on assignment as a senior partner. She was the backstop, assumed to be endlessly available because, in the words people use, she had nothing else going on. Women like Jean covered the leaves and the snow days and the late nights, and they reached the far side with the same failing parents and the same vanishing relevance, plus a quarter century of having been the accommodation that let everyone else’s accommodation work.



We built women’s careers around one season of one kind of life, then treated everything that fell outside it—the aging parent, the changing body, the second act—as a private problem for the woman to absorb in the dark. The cost was always real. We simply arranged never to see it.



It does not have to be this way, and the fix is not a women’s affinity group or a webinar on resilience. It is design. 



First, treat caregiving as a normal feature of a working life rather than a one-time emergency. We built parental leave and then behaved as though care ended at kindergarten. It does not. People care for parents, partners, siblings, adult children, themselves, in waves that recur across 40 years. Build leave, flexibility, and real reentry paths that assume those waves are coming, and make them available to everyone by policy, not granted one woman at a time behind a closed door.



Second, audit who gets the future and who gets the past. Look honestly at who receives the stretch assignments and who gets routed onto the legacy panels and the mentoring tracks. If your most seasoned women are advising and stewarding while the high-visibility roles go to people 15 years younger, that is a pattern, not a series of coincidences. Promote inside the highest-earning decade instead of escorting people out of it.



Third, make menopause an ordinary workplace fact. It is a predictable stage of human health, not a scandal, and right now it is draining some of your most expensive talent. Manager education, flexibility in schedule and environment, and simple permission to name it out loud turn a hidden attrition driver into a routine accommodation, the way we eventually learned to handle pregnancy instead of pretending it wasn’t happening.



Design for all genders a working life that runs 50 years, not a 30-year sprint that peaks at 45. That means sponsorship, lateral moves, and genuine second acts built for people in their 50s and 60s. It means looking around the room and noticing that the most capable person in it is often the one you have already written off.



I made it through my own impossible year the way these women always do. On my own, without a single road the workplace had ever thought to build for me. The women in this story are not asking to be protected. They are the most capable people in most of the rooms they walk into, and they know it. They survived the front half. The question was never whether they still had something to give. It is whether we will finally build workplaces able to meet their back half.



 ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Wed, 15 Jul 2026 14:00:08 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>The, workplace, isn’t, designed, for, older, women</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>PayPal stock is skyrocketing after Stripe and a private equity firm reportedly made a buyout offer</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/paypal-stock-is-skyrocketing-after-stripe-and-a-private-equity-firm-reportedly-made-a-buyout-offer</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/paypal-stock-is-skyrocketing-after-stripe-and-a-private-equity-firm-reportedly-made-a-buyout-offer</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Shares in PayPal Holdings (Nasdaq: PYPL) are skyrocketing in premarket trading this morning after a report that the legacy digital payments platform has received a joint buyout offer from one of today’s most successful fintech companies and a major private equity firm. Here’s what you need to know.



What’s happened?



Early this morning, Reuters reported that the fintech giant Stripe and the private equity giant Advent International have offered to buy PayPal for well above its closing stock price on Tuesday.



According to Reuters, Stripe and Advent made PayPal a buyout offer of $60.50 per share, equating to about $53 billion in total. That $60.50 per share offering price is roughly 28% higher than PayPal’s closing price of $47.37 yesterday.



Stripe and Advent reportedly made the offer to PayPal earlier this month. It is an offer that PayPal has reportedly not responded to yet. 



While Reuters did identify its sources, other than saying they were people “familiar with the matter,” news of the proposed buyout offer could put pressure on PayPal leadership to publicly respond—and face displeasure from PayPal investors if they do not like the company’s response.



Fast Company has reached out to PayPal, Stripe, and Advent for comment.



What do Stripe and Advent want with PayPal?



The report didn’t go into specifics about what Stripe and Advent would do with the legacy online payments giant should they acquire it, but Reuters said that the two suitors would jointly own PayPal instead of breaking up the company.



Stripe is one of the biggest players in the modern fintech scene. The privately held company was valued at around $159 billion in February. But Stripe’s specialty and core business is facilitating transactions between a business’s bank account and a customer’s payment method.



One of PayPal’s strengths is facilitating peer-to-peer transactions. It also has a massive user base of consumers and small businesses that trust the brand and are loyal to it.



It is possible Stripe sees a PayPal acquisition as a way to move into areas of the fintech space where PayPal clearly dominates.



Would PayPal sell itself?



No one can answer that but PayPal leadership. However, a buyout offer could be attractive to PayPal’s board and investors, considering the company has struggled in recent years.



While PayPal was the de facto payment backbone of consumer e-commerce for roughly the first two decades after its founding in the late 1990s, in recent years the company has lost ground to competing products like Apple Pay and Google Pay, which make it much simpler to pay digitally for products and services right from smartphones and other devices.



While PayPal’s stock did see a massive boost during the pandemic years, when online shopping boomed like never before, it has tumbled since then.



In 2021, PayPal stock was trading at more than $291 per share—an all-time high. As of yesterday’s closing price, PYPL shares were trading at just above $47. That stock price decrease came as a result of newer technologies and more competition that siphoned away business.



In February of this year, PayPal replaced its CEO, Alex Chriss, with HP’s Enrique Lores.



“The payments industry is changing faster than ever, driven by new technologies, evolving regulations, an increasingly competitive landscape, and the rapid acceleration of AI that is reshaping commerce daily,” Lores said at the time. “PayPal sits at the center of this change, and I look forward to leading the team to accelerate the delivery of new innovations and to shape the future of digital payments and commerce.”



How have PayPal’s shares reacted?



Investors have reacted very well to the reported buyout offer. As of the time of this writing, PYPL shares are currently up around 19.87% to $56.72 in pre-market trading.



That’s well above PayPal’s closing price of $47.37 yesterday, but still slightly under Stripe’s and Advent’s reported offering price of $60.50 per share. ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Wed, 15 Jul 2026 14:00:08 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>PayPal, stock, skyrocketing, after, Stripe, and, private, equity, firm, reportedly, made, buyout, offer</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>You haven’t fixed your AI problem</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/you-havent-fixed-your-ai-problem</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/you-havent-fixed-your-ai-problem</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ For years, “swivel chair work” was shorthand for a very real problem: employees spinning between applications, copying data from one system to another, and chasing approvals through multiple inboxes. The term stuck because it was accurate.



Harvard Business Review reported in 2022 that workers toggle between applications 1,200 times daily, losing nearly 4 hours per week to reorientation. That’s roughly 9% of total work time. For a knowledge worker earning $100,000 annually, the cost translates to $9,000 in lost productivity per employee per year. For a company with 10,000 employees, that fragmentation amounts to roughly $90 million annually, not from bad strategy or underinvestment, but from the basic friction of fragmented digital infrastructure. Almost no organization has a line item for it. It just compounds.



WE GAVE AI THE WRONG JOB



When generative AI arrived, most organizations gave employees better tools for the work they were already doing. Better search, faster drafting, and sharper summaries. But they didn’t change the underlying architecture. The siloed systems, approval chains, and status emails were all still there. We added AI to the workflows without redesigning the workflows. Employees ended up with one more window to toggle to.



In many organizations, AI just made the chairs swivel faster.



The first generation of enterprise AI was primarily generative, retrieval-augmented systems that surface the right document, summarize it well, and hand it back to a human to act on. That’s a meaningful capability, but it’s still a handoff. The AI produces an output for a person to carry it forward. Output is not outcome. In business, no one gets paid for outputs, but rather for completed work.



FINISHING THE WORK IS HARDER THAN IT LOOKS



The next phase of AI is about completing the work.



Agentic AI is defined as systems that can plan a sequence of steps, select the right tools, execute actions across systems, and govern the outcome with auditability. They can now take a request from initiation to resolution without a human manually stitching it together.



The intelligence part—the reasoning, language understanding, and ability to interpret an ambiguous request—is increasingly commoditized. Two years ago, GPT-4-level reasoning was a competitive advantage. Today, that capability is available open source, inference costs have dropped by roughly 10-fold annually, and benchmark performance across the leading models has converged to where the differences are largely invisible to enterprise users. What remains genuinely difficult and differentiated is the execution layer connecting that intelligence to the enterprise’s operational fabric.



Consider what completing a single workflow actually requires. Onboarding a new hire might span a human resources information system, an IT provisioning system, a facilities platform, a payroll processor, and a compliance training tool. Each has its own data model, permissions architecture, and API behavior. And they were never designed to talk to each other.



This is why “just use an LLM” isn’t an enterprise AI strategy. A large language model without enterprise context produces large language model results—fluent, plausible, and often disconnected from your actual business machinery. The grounding layer, the connectors, the context graph, the permissions model, and the workflow orchestration are what turn a capable model into a system that completes work.



WHAT EXECUTION AT SCALE LOOKS LIKE



What makes this possible is the harness around the model. When an employee submits a request, they’re not talking directly to an LLM, but to a layer incorporating business context. The LLM selects the right path, applies the right permissions, and decides which systems need involvement and the order. The model supplies the reasoning and the harness supplies the judgment about how to apply that reasoning inside your organization.



That’s why we’re seeing enterprises resolve the majority of service desk requests without human involvement. They are resolved end to end, with the right action taken, logged, and governed. Live agent chat volumes drop in days because the requests never had to escalate. At one global manufacturer, approval processes that once averaged 10 hours of VP time now close in under 10 minutes. Same policy. Same people. The harness surfaces the right context in sequence, and the inbox archaeology disappears.



The swivel chair became unnecessary.



These productivity improvements are structural changes to how operations run. The people who were spending their days on coordination overhead are now doing the work that requires their expertise. That is the shift worth chasing.



THE MOAT HAS MOVED



McKinsey’s 2025 Global Survey found that 88% of organizations report regular AI use in at least one business function. Individual use cases show promise, including a 14% productivity boost in customer service operations while using AI. That’s meaningful, but incremental.



The competitive question now is: How deeply is your AI connected to how work happens in your organization?



The companies building that depth with context graphs, orchestration layers, and the governed workflow execution are getting more efficient. Every workflow you automate teaches the system more about how your company operates. That compounds. It comes from building AI into how the company runs.



WHAT THIS MEANS RIGHT NOW



If you’re still measuring AI ROI in tokens generated and summaries produced, you’re measuring the wrong thing.



Find the work nobody chose. The status updates nobody asked to send. The approvals stalled in inboxes. The handoffs that require a human because the systems should communicate, but don’t. Map where your most capable people are spending time on coordination instead of judgment.



That’s your AI roadmap. Start with one workflow. Prove value in production. Then let the compounding begin.



The goal was always to make the swivel chair unrecognizable, to reach a point where the next generation of employees doesn’t know what the phrase means because they’ve never experienced the problem. We’re closer to that than most leaders realize. But only by building AI into the workflow, not on top of it. 



Bhavin Shah is SVP and GM of Moveworks and AI at ServiceNow. ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Wed, 15 Jul 2026 14:00:08 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>You, haven’t, fixed, your, problem</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Everyone’s a wiener! Here’s a list of National Hot Dog Day freebies and deals, from 7&#45;Eleven to Dog Haus</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/everyones-a-wiener-heres-a-list-of-national-hot-dog-day-freebies-and-deals-from-7-eleven-to-dog-haus</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/everyones-a-wiener-heres-a-list-of-national-hot-dog-day-freebies-and-deals-from-7-eleven-to-dog-haus</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Whether you’re grilling one out in the backyard or enjoying one with all the fixins’ at a baseball game, nothing says American summer like a hot dog.



And the pinnacle of hot dog mania is today: National Hot Dog Day. Here’s a roundup of deals so you can join in on the holiday’s 35th anniversary this Wednesday, July 15.



7-Eleven



The Texas-based and internationally operated convenience store giant 7-Eleven is offering a Mix and Match deal, giving customers any two roller grill items—including the Big Bite hot dog—for just $3.50.



If you aren’t into hot dogs, the chain is also offering $1 taquitos on Wednesday. Members of 7Rewards and Speedy Rewards can earn a $2 Big Bite hot dog or a $5 Meal Deal in the app through July 22.



Dog Haus



Dog Haus, a gourmet hot dog and hamburger chain based in Pasadena, California, is giving out free Haus Dogs on Wednesday. You have to register as a Haus Rewards member first, earning you a two-for-the-price-of-one Haus Dog offer valid through the end of the month. 



Love’s



The popular highway stop and gas station Love’s is joining the hot dog action, with a lineup of hot dog-centered deals throughout the week. Thursday’s dog deal features a buy one, get one free for $1, and Friday’s deal is two dogs for $3. But the real winner is today’s deal: a free hot dog in honor of the holiday. 



Philly Pretzel Factory



Don’t get it twisted: Philly Pretzel Factory isn’t known only for pretzels. It also touts a famous pretzel dog filled with an all-beef sausage and American cheese. Customers can get the delicacy for $1 all day on Wednesday.



Portillo’s



The Chicago-based chain Portillo’s, famous for its Chicago-style hot dogs, has been celebrating hot dog season since the beginning of the month with the launch of its spicy Char’diniera Dog.



The brand also released a line of hot dog merch—including tees, hoodies, and beach towels—to celebrate National Hot Dog Month. This week, Portillo’s Perks members can get a $1 Hot Dog with $5-plus purchase, and the brand has promised more surprises to come.



Krystal



The southern fast food chain Krystal sells patty melts, sliders, and miniature hot dogs, cleverly called pups. Today, Krystal rewards members can choose between a Classic Pup, Corn Pup, or a Chili Cheese pup with a purchase of $5 or more. 



Unexpected deals to relish



These fast-food chains aren’t the only ones celebrating; hot dog deals are also available at retailers that don’t specialize in dogs. 



Pringles, which released limited-edition Pop Dog Buns earlier this month, is offering free Pop Dog Buns with a $6.97 Pringles three-pack online purchase, starting at noon ET on Wednesday.



The movie theater chain Regal Cinemas is running a buy five, get one free deal for Nathan’s hot dogs and is inviting Regal Crown Club members who purchase two hot dogs to enter a sweepstakes trip to Coney Island.



Regal also posted on Facebook that all customers named Nathan will receive a free hotdog on Wednesday, with proof of ID.



 ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Wed, 15 Jul 2026 14:00:08 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Everyone’s, wiener, Here’s, list, National, Hot, Dog, Day, freebies, and, deals, from, 7-Eleven, Dog, Haus</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>A surprising restaurant chain outgrew Starbucks, Chipotle and Dunkin’ last year</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/a-surprising-restaurant-chain-outgrew-starbucks-chipotle-and-dunkin-last-year</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/a-surprising-restaurant-chain-outgrew-starbucks-chipotle-and-dunkin-last-year</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ America’s fastest-growing restaurant isn’t Starbucks, Chick-fil-A, or Chipotle. It’s a chicken wing chain that’s been opening hundreds of new locations.



In a preview of QSR Magazine’s annual QSR 50, which ranks the leading fast food chains, Wingstop led the 2026 cohort of restaurants. The full report is expected to be released in August.



While in past years Starbucks has topped the ranking, this year Wingstop has earned the top spot by opening 382 new locations, around 100 more than any other brand. Wingstop has risen through the ranks, becoming the fourth-fastest growing brand in 2024 and reaching the top spot in just under two years. At the time, Starbucks was ahead by 589 locations, but Wingstop has since caught up.



[Photo: Wingstop]



Headquartered in Dallas, the 32-year-old company has had its share of challenges. In 2025, the company saw a 3.3% decrease in same store sales, the first decline in more than two decades. The chicken restaurant kicked off 2026 facing external pressures like a dip in customer visits due to harsh weather, and rising gas prices.



The company ended 2025 with some 3,056 locations, including 407 international franchises. In all, around 98% of locations are franchised.



Wingstop is not the only restaurant chain outpacing Starbucks this year. A report by Yelp found that the brand with the highest consumer interest for 2025 was 7 Brew, a Starbucks competitor. Wingstop made the list at number 10.



Wingstop’s quick rise follows a broader trend of popularity around chicken restaurants. In a 2025 restaurant ranking from the market research company Circana, chicken restaurants like Raising Cane’s and Wingstop saw some of the fastest growth. Raising Cane’s placed 16th on the list while Wingstop reached the 21st spot, moving up nine and eight spots respectively from the year before. ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Wed, 15 Jul 2026 14:00:08 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>surprising, restaurant, chain, outgrew, Starbucks, Chipotle, and, Dunkin’, last, year</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Chancellor announces SME funding package</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/chancellor-announces-sme-funding-package</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/chancellor-announces-sme-funding-package</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ By Anna Jordan on Small Business UK - Advice and Ideas for UK Small Businesses and SMEs


The chancellor has unveiled SME funding support as part of her Mansion House speech in July 2026. Here&#039;s what is coming up
The post Chancellor announces SME funding package appeared first on Small Business UK. ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Wed, 15 Jul 2026 14:00:05 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Chancellor, announces, SME, funding, package</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>TikTok Shopping: A New Era For E&#45;commerce Store Sales</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/tiktok-shopping-a-new-era-for-e-commerce-store-sales</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/tiktok-shopping-a-new-era-for-e-commerce-store-sales</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ TikTok has taken the world by storm, quickly becoming one of the most popular social media platforms with over 1.67 billion active users. This fast-growing app has captured the attention of individuals and businesses with its unique video-sharing format. As e-commerce continues to dominate the retail landscape, it’s no surprise that TikTok has also entered […]
The post TikTok Shopping: A New Era For E-commerce Store Sales appeared first on Fincyte. ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Tue, 14 Jul 2026 17:20:23 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>TikTok, Shopping:, New, Era, For, E-commerce, Store, Sales</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>How Personalised Corporate Gifts Improve Employee Engagement &amp;amp; Loyalty?</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/how-personalised-corporate-gifts-improve-employee-engagement-loyalty</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/how-personalised-corporate-gifts-improve-employee-engagement-loyalty</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ There’s nothing more meaningful than forming strong human relationships in today’s world. As for corporations, it is crucial to have the ‘nice to have’ policy. Employee engagement today is not an option but a necessity to enhance workplace culture. One of the least-discussed ways to improve employee engagement is personalised corporate gifts. Personalised gifts work […]
The post How Personalised Corporate Gifts Improve Employee Engagement &amp; Loyalty? appeared first on Fincyte. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://www.fincyte.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/How-Personalised-Corporate-Gifts-Improve-Employee-Engagement-Loyalty.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Tue, 14 Jul 2026 17:20:22 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>How, Personalised, Corporate, Gifts, Improve, Employee, Engagement, Loyalty</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>$300 a kilo: space cargo costs falling faster than steam ever did</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/300-a-kilo-space-cargo-costs-falling-faster-than-steam-ever-did</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/300-a-kilo-space-cargo-costs-falling-faster-than-steam-ever-did</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ 
Space launch costs are falling faster than steamship freight in the 1800s and could hit $300 a kilo by 2040. What the space economy means for UK firms. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://bmmagazine.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/shutterstock_1991898626-768x433.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Tue, 14 Jul 2026 17:20:14 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>300, kilo:, space, cargo, costs, falling, faster, than, steam, ever, did</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Festivals get longer licences and red tape cut in £45m music plan</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/festivals-get-longer-licences-and-red-tape-cut-in-45m-music-plan</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/festivals-get-longer-licences-and-red-tape-cut-in-45m-music-plan</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ 
The government&#039;s new UK music plan promises festival licensing reform and a £45m growth fund. What Turn It Up means for venues, clubs and small firms. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://bmmagazine.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/shutterstock_2483674113-768x433.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Tue, 14 Jul 2026 17:20:14 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Festivals, get, longer, licences, and, red, tape, cut, £45m, music, plan</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Scrap green levies to cut energy bills by a fifth, Burnham told</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/scrap-green-levies-to-cut-energy-bills-by-a-fifth-burnham-told</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/scrap-green-levies-to-cut-energy-bills-by-a-fifth-burnham-told</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ 
Business energy costs must be Andy Burnham&#039;s day-one priority, say CBI and Energy UK, with green levy cuts worth a fifth off bills and a £130bn boost. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://bmmagazine.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/shutterstock_2673590293-768x432.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Tue, 14 Jul 2026 17:20:14 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Scrap, green, levies, cut, energy, bills, fifth, Burnham, told</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Scrap National Insurance and the 45p rate, think tank tells Burnham</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/scrap-national-insurance-and-the-45p-rate-think-tank-tells-burnham</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/scrap-national-insurance-and-the-45p-rate-think-tank-tells-burnham</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ 
Policy Exchange urges Andy Burnham to abolish national insurance, stamp duty, inheritance tax and the 45p rate. What the plan would mean for UK SME owners. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://bmmagazine.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Hunt-Truss-in-Commons-768x432.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Tue, 14 Jul 2026 17:20:14 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Scrap, National, Insurance, and, the, 45p, rate, think, tank, tells, Burnham</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Monzo founder Blomfield joins Anthropic as AI talent war escalates</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/monzo-founder-blomfield-joins-anthropic-as-ai-talent-war-escalates</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/monzo-founder-blomfield-joins-anthropic-as-ai-talent-war-escalates</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ 
Monzo founder Tom Blomfield has joined Anthropic&#039;s compute team, the latest coup in the AI talent war. What his move signals for UK founders and SMEs. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://bmmagazine.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Tom-Blomfield-CEO-Monzo-1-1-898x505-1-768x432.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Tue, 14 Jul 2026 17:20:14 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Monzo, founder, Blomfield, joins, Anthropic, talent, war, escalates</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Banker who bought Northern Rock named to lead audit watchdog</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/banker-who-bought-northern-rock-named-to-lead-audit-watchdog</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/banker-who-bought-northern-rock-named-to-lead-audit-watchdog</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ 
Dame Jayne-Anne Gadhia, ex-Virgin Money chief, is the government&#039;s pick to chair the FRC. What the audit watchdog&#039;s new leadership means for UK firms. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://bmmagazine.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/Dame-jayne-anne-gadhia-768x432.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Tue, 14 Jul 2026 04:04:03 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Banker, who, bought, Northern, Rock, named, lead, audit, watchdog</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Burnham will not ‘tax the hell out of you’, says Jim O’Neill</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/burnham-will-not-tax-the-hell-out-of-you-says-jim-oneill</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/burnham-will-not-tax-the-hell-out-of-you-says-jim-oneill</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ 
Jim O&#039;Neill says Andy Burnham will not &#039;tax the hell out of you&#039; but must scrap the triple lock and overhaul welfare. What it means for your business. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://bmmagazine.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Rest-is-money-768x432.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Tue, 14 Jul 2026 04:04:03 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Burnham, will, not, ‘tax, the, hell, out, you’, says, Jim, O’Neill</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Red card for red tape: 96% of firms say regulation is failing them</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/red-card-for-red-tape-96-of-firms-say-regulation-is-failing-them</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/red-card-for-red-tape-96-of-firms-say-regulation-is-failing-them</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ 
96 per cent of firms told the government&#039;s own red tape survey that regulators create unnecessary problems. What the findings mean for UK SMEs and owners. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://bmmagazine.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/shutterstock_2689322961-768x433.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Tue, 14 Jul 2026 04:04:03 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Red, card, for, red, tape:, 96, firms, say, regulation, failing, them</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Small firms freeze hiring as Iran war drags growth to five&#45;year low</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/small-firms-freeze-hiring-as-iran-war-drags-growth-to-five-year-low</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/small-firms-freeze-hiring-as-iran-war-drags-growth-to-five-year-low</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ 
Britain&#039;s businesses have stopped hiring and slipped into &quot;survival mode&quot;, with economic output stuttering to a five-year low in June as the Iran war, weak consumer spending and relentless cost increases combine to squeeze firms from every direction. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://bmmagazine.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/shutterstock_2456532537-768x512.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Tue, 14 Jul 2026 04:04:03 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Small, firms, freeze, hiring, Iran, war, drags, growth, five-year, low</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>‘Rotten to its core’: Apple accuses OpenAI of stealing its secrets</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/rotten-to-its-core-apple-accuses-openai-of-stealing-its-secrets</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/rotten-to-its-core-apple-accuses-openai-of-stealing-its-secrets</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ 
Apple sues OpenAI, alleging poached staff took trade secrets to its hardware venture. What the case teaches UK SMEs about protecting their own IP. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://bmmagazine.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/shutterstock_2448816843-768x512.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Tue, 14 Jul 2026 04:04:03 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>‘Rotten, its, core’:, Apple, accuses, OpenAI, stealing, its, secrets</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>This prefab homebuilder is moving from tiny ADUs to small&#45;scale starter homes</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/this-prefab-homebuilder-is-moving-from-tiny-adus-to-small-scale-starter-homes</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/this-prefab-homebuilder-is-moving-from-tiny-adus-to-small-scale-starter-homes</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Samara, the prefabricated homebuilder that was created to chip away at California’s housing shortage with well-designed accessory dwelling units (ADUs), is sizing up. But not too much.



The company has just unveiled Locale by Samara, an expansion into single family homebuilding. But these aren’t the typical single family homes, which now average nearly 2,200 square feet (204 square meters) in size in the U.S. Instead, the company is developing significantly smaller homes, ranging between 1,000 and 1,750 square feet, sited in urban infill sites in some of California’s most desirable cities, and built using the same modular, factory-based process that’s behind the company’s quickly constructed ADUs. It’s an attempt to counter the state’s extravagantly expensive and constrained housing market with homes that are sized and priced more like the starter homes of the past.



[Image: Samara]



“It’s a missing form factor in California,” says the CEO, Mike McNamara. “The price points would be significantly lower on the back of the square footage. And we think it’s the right product, too, because more people want lower square footage, they want smaller yards, they want to be closer to the cities, not driving two hours to go to work.”



McNamara has led Samara since 2020, a few years after it was created as a research and development division within Airbnb. In 2022, it was spun out by McNamara and Airbnb’s cofounder, Joe Gebbia. (Gebbia, now the Trump administration’s chief design officer, is still involved with Samara as cofounder.) Since then the company has been selling backyard ADUs as products, handling the design, permitting, and construction for customers who want a turnkey additional unit on their property.



It’s a niche part of the housing market that’s grown significantly over the past decade, as municipalities and eventually the state have made ADUs legal and feasible to build. More than 30,000 were permitted statewide in 2024, a 20-fold increase from 2016, according to the state’s Department of Housing and Community Development. Samara, which raised $34 million in Series B funding in late 2025, has 250 ADUs either built or in the works, with prices starting at $152,000 plus installation.



[Image: Samara]



With Locale, Samara seeks to replicate that growth in small stand-alone homes clustered on lots that were once zoned exclusively for single family homes. Samara’s starter home focus comes on the heels of a recent amendment to California’s Starter Home Revitalization Act, which allows eligible lots to be subdivided for up to 10 small-footprint homes. The company has about 10 such cluster projects in various stages of development, and McNamara says Samara is using what it’s learned building ADUs in prefab housing factories to bring up the speed and bring down the cost of building single family homes.



[Image: Samara]



“Our first product was an ADU, but it was never our objective to be an ADU company. It was always meant to be an infill company,” McNamara says. “We designed our entire system around that concept, around small form factor [compact] housing.”



Samara is playing the role of developer for these first 10 projects, buying the land, designing the clusters of homes to meet the site conditions, and going through the entitlement and permitting process. The company has permits to build in Los Angeles and in the northern California counties of San Mateo, Santa Clara, and Sonoma.



[Image: Samara]



The first Samara starter home projects are in Healdsburg, in the Sonoma County wine region. One project is two small homes, and the other is six. Each home has its own small yard and one-car garage, and abuts a shared paseo. The houses top out at 1,750 square feet. (The two-unit property is priced at $2.195 million, which the company contends is in line with similarly sized new construction in the area.)



McNamara says the projects are all designed specifically for their sites—partly due to the often oddly sized lots available for infill development, but partly to make the projects complement their surroundings. “We work really hard to find the right neighborhood where this slots in, where the neighborhood would benefit and the community would benefit by introducing some additional small form factor homes,” he says. “We want to make sure that we control what they look like because it’s really important for us to be received by the community and be attractive to the community and help that gentle densification that’s coming.”



Samara’s buildings tie into municipal grids for water, sewage, and electricity, and require a slab foundation. After the prefab modules are installed, the homes are ready for people to move in.



[Image: Samara]



The first project is complete, and the second is expected to finish construction later this summer, using the same off-site building approach Samara has used to expedite the construction of its ADUs. “As soon as the foundation’s done, we can truck in our modules, put the modules on site, turn them into a home, and do that at a rate which is three times faster than what the traditional builders could do,” McNamara says.



That speed and the size of the homes will help bring prices down below the typically high cost of new housing in California. McNamara says it’s too early to say how much each home will sell for, but that they’re expected to be generally lower than the typical new home in each of the markets the company is targeting. “It’ll have a more approachable price point,” he says.



[Image: Samara]



The houses are also designed with sustainability measures, including energy efficient utilities and appliances that can help make them more affordable to operate, as well as whole-house air and water filtration systems. Each will have solar panels and be prewired to run off batteries, and the exterior materials and forms were selected to reduce susceptibility to wildfire. McNamara expects to have more than 150 homes in the company’s development pipeline by the end of the year.



For now, Samara will be developing them on its own, but McNamara says there’s room for partnerships with other developers looking at infill development of a smaller variety.



“Densification is coming, and we’d like to help lead with that,” he says. “We think there’s a lot of opportunities.”



 ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Mon, 13 Jul 2026 14:00:13 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>This, prefab, homebuilder, moving, from, tiny, ADUs, small-scale, starter, homes</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Sen. Graham’s cause of death is released in preliminary report by medical examiner</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/sen-grahams-cause-of-death-is-released-in-preliminary-report-by-medical-examiner</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/sen-grahams-cause-of-death-is-released-in-preliminary-report-by-medical-examiner</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Sen. Lindsey Graham, one of President Donald Trump’s closest allies in Congress who traveled the globe to advocate for a more aggressive U.S. foreign policy, died after a tear in his aorta, according to a preliminary medical examiner finding shared by his office.The tear in the inner wall of the aorta, called an aortic dissection, was related to the hardening of Graham’s arteries. An official cause of death will be disclosed after toxicological and microscopic testing.Graham, a prominent South Carolina Republican and former Air Force lawyer who served in Congress for more than three decades, had turned 71 years old just two days before dying on Saturday night. His office had originally said he had suffered from a “brief and sudden illness.”Trump, who talked to Graham frequently, said he was “like a member of the family. It’s very tough.” He said on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that Graham had called him on Saturday night after returning from a trip to Ukraine and “sounded a little bit tired, but perfect.” The president ordered that flags across the country be flown at half-staff until next Saturday evening.A noted foreign policy hawk, Graham was one of the most influential figures in Washington on international affairs and he advised Trump on matters such as the Iran war and Russia. On Friday, Graham had announced an agreement with the Trump administration to move forward on a package of Russia sanctions.As chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, Graham also had a central role during Trump’s second term as Republicans pushed major legislation on party-line votes while holding a narrow 53-47 majority in the chamber.Under South Carolina law, Republican Gov. Henry McMaster will appoint a temporary replacement for Graham, who was seeking a fifth term in November. A new nominee will be selected in a special primary, which is required to be held within weeks of a vacancy. The winner of November’s general election will start a full six-year term in January.



Graham had a close, complicated relationship with Trump



Graham, elected to the Senate in 2002 after serving in the House, long promoted a policy of robust U.S. military interventionism and strong national defense that in later years would put him at odds with the growing isolationist wing of his party.Over time, Graham became well-known for his close ties with Trump, whom the senator briefly ran against for the presidential nomination in 2016.Their relationship would begin on a rough note, with Graham calling the then-New York businessman “unfit for office.” Graham used a profanity to describe Trump after Trump made disparaging comments about Arizona Republican John McCain, Graham’s best friend in the Senate and a Vietnam War veteran. McCain and Graham, along with Sen. Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., were known as the “Three Amigos” and frequently traveled together to promote their foreign policy views around the globe.During a campaign rally in South Carolina, Trump read out Graham’s personal cellphone number and continued to belittle him throughout the 2016 race as Graham made it clear he would not support Trump.Graham, however, shifted significantly once Trump won the White House and emerged as one of Trump’s top allies — speaking with him frequently and becoming a regular presence on the golf course alongside the president — even as McCain remained a critic.In a 2018 interview with The Associated Press, Graham explained his pivot by saying McCain taught him that the country must move forward after elections and that meant “you have an obligation” to help the president. McCain ran twice for the White House.“And I’ve tried to be helpful where I could because I think he needs all the help he can get,” Graham said of Trump. “You can be a better critic when people understand that you’re trying to help them be successful.”Graham was a prominent defender of Trump during the president’s two first-term impeachments — a reversal from Graham’s role as a House prosecutor during Democratic President Bill Clinton’s impeachment in 1998, when he urged senators not to make up their minds before listening to all of the arguments. Both Trump and Clinton were eventually acquitted.Graham appeared to break with Trump after the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, saying in a dramatic speech on the Senate floor that night, “Count me out. Enough is enough.” But the senator soon returned to Trump’s side and the two remained close during Trump’s second term.



Foreign policy was a focus for Graham



Graham had just been in Ukraine to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who said the senator visited his country 10 times during the years since Russia invaded in February 2022. “Lindsey was a true defender of freedom and the values that make our world safer,” Zelenskyy said.He was also one of the chief backers of Trump’s war in Iran, having advocated for years for direct confrontation between Washington and Tehran. Graham continued to defend Trump this summer even as many of his fellow Republicans questioned a tentative June ceasefire agreement that they worried could send billions of dollars to Iran.“I’d rather try diplomacy than take it off the table,” Graham said of Trump’s memorandum of understanding with Tehran.Graham’s travels made him a familiar face to dozens of world leaders.Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Graham understood that the security of Israel and the United States was inseparable.“Israel has lost one of its greatest friends. America has lost a great patriot. I have lost a beloved friend,” Netanyahu said.



Graham led both the Senate Budget and Judiciary committees



As Budget Committee chairman, Graham helped oversee a Senate procedure that allowed Republicans to pass significant policies such as last year’s tax law without the threat of a Democratic filibuster.He had previously led the Senate Judiciary Committee when Republicans confirmed Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court in 2020. The senator was in line to regain that gavel if the party kept its majority after the midterm elections and had pledged to confirm “as many conservative judges as possible.”Graham was a key player in the Senate’s efforts to craft a massive immigration overhaul in 2013 as a member of a bipartisan group. The legislation passed the Senate with 68 votes but was never taken up by the House, so it did not become law.Graham’s views on immigration, particularly an endorsement of a path to citizenship for people in the U.S. without legal status, put him at odds with some Republican factions.Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin, a Democrat who was his ally on that issue, said Graham was “part of every important policy issue and an indispensable player” in bipartisan negotiations.



An ‘irreplaceable’ force in the Senate



Graham often worked across the aisle, even as he remained fiercely loyal to Trump. Virginia Sen. Mark Warner, a Democrat, said in a statement that “personal relationships often mattered more to him than the political disagreements of the day.”Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., said Graham was “over the moon” with the Russian sanctions deal announced Friday. “The last thing in the world I would have guessed was that he was sick or ill or in any way vulnerable,” Blumenthal said.Jaime Harrison, a former national and state Democratic Party chairman who unsuccessfully ran against Graham in 2020, said that even during their “fiercest political battles” the two men “could still share a conversation, a laugh, and a mutual respect for South Carolina.”Graham was unique in the Senate for his influence not only on Trump, but also with his fellow Republicans who were aware of his ability to sometimes move the president’s thinking. He was also known for his sense of humor, often deployed to defuse tensions.



Wyoming Sen. John Barrasso, the second-ranking Republican, said Graham will be missed for his “quick wit and infectious laughter.”



McMaster said in a statement that Graham was “irreplaceable.” Former Republican President George W. Bush said Graham “understood how the world works” and “was a kind and funny man who loved our country and loved serving it.”



Graham often spoke about his humble roots, growing up in the back of a South Carolina bar and helping to raise his sister, Darline, after his parents died at a young age. Graham was not married and did not have children.



Special election to replace Graham could be within weeks



Graham won 57% of the GOP vote in South Carolina’s primary in June and was up against Democrat Annie Andrews, a pediatrician, and several minor party and independent candidates in November.His death will likely prompt a scramble to fill a rare open Senate seat.A number of Republican names began circulating as possible replacements to serve out the rest of Graham’s term, including three candidates who fell short for the party’s nomination for governor this year — Rep. Nancy Mace, Rep. Ralph Norman and Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette.Also in the mix is Rep. Russell Fry, who was elected to the House in 2022.







Kinnard reported from Columbia, S.C. Associated Press writers Chris Megerian and Will Weissert in Washington, Bill Barrow in Atlanta, Brian P. D. Hannon in Bangkok and Geir Moulson in Berlin contributed to this report.



—Seung Min Kim, Mary Clare Jalonick and Meg Kinnard, Associated Press ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Mon, 13 Jul 2026 14:00:13 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Sen., Graham’s, cause, death, released, preliminary, report, medical, examiner</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Papa Murphy’s is closing stores, joins list of national pizza chains to shutter locations in 2026</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/papa-murphys-is-closing-stores-joins-list-of-national-pizza-chains-to-shutter-locations-in-2026</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/papa-murphys-is-closing-stores-joins-list-of-national-pizza-chains-to-shutter-locations-in-2026</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ It’s no secret that pizza chains are struggling. Over the last several months alone, Pizza Hut and Papa John’s announced hundreds of closures.



That pizzapocalypse trend continues this month, with the owner of the popular U.S. pizza chain Papa Murphy’s announcing it will close up to 50 locations. Here’s what you need to know.



What’s happened?



Last week, the Canadian fast-casual and quick-service dining conglomerate MTY Food Group announced its earnings for the second quarter of 2026.



The earnings were rough. For the quarter, MTY brought in revenue of $279.9 million CAD, down 8.2% from the period a year earlier. MTY attributed the decline to “lower revenue from corporate stores, which was tightly correlated to a decrease in the number of corporate-owned locations,” among other factors.



But on the company’s earnings call, later that day, MTY also confirmed that it will close more corporate-owned locations, most notably, the “take and bake” pizza chain Papa Murphy’s.



MTY Food Group owns dozens of restaurant brands in the U.S. and Canada, including Baja Fresh Mexican Grill, Blimpie, Cold Stone Creamery, Planet Smoothy, and Wetzel’s Pretzels.



But Papa Murphy’s, via its corporate-owned and franchised stores, has one of MTY’s largest retail footprints in America. 



The pizza chain’s stores are currently found in 34 U.S. states and, according to a Papa Murphy’s franchise disclosure document, there were a total of 1,014 Papa Murphy’s stores as of November 2025. 



In the United States, those stores included 965 franchised locations and 49 company-operated locations. 



However, it now looks as if MTY will close the majority of its company-owned Papa Murphy’s locations.



How many Papa Murphy’s locations are closing?



On the company’s most recent earnings call, MTY’s CEO, Eric Lefebvre, announced that it would close 68 company-owned stores across its brands in the near future.



While these 68 locations won’t all be Papa Murphy’s stores, the majority of them will be.



Lefebvre told analysts that between 45 and 50 of the store closures will be Papa Murphy’s locations, with the remainder being stores under the company’s other banners.



Why are Papa Murphy’s locations closing?



Speaking broadly about the total 68 store closures, Lefebvre said that the selected stores were “performing significantly worse than the average,” according to a PitchBook transcript of the call. 



In choosing the locations to close, MTY looked at several factors, including “the performance, outlook, [and] economic profile of each location.”



“Where we saw path improvement, we chose to continue investing efforts into making our existing assets as productive as they can be,” Lefebvre said. “Where the fundamentals no longer supported that path, we made the decision to close the store.”



Speaking more specifically about the pizza industry, Lefebvre said it was an extremely competitive space in the United States, noting that Papa Murphy’s was suffering more than other brands. 



“We run different promotions and we see that there’s very little loyalty in that market and the consumer will go where the pizza is the cheapest at any given time.”



Papa Murphy’s stands out among well-known pizza chains such as Domino’s and Pizza Hut. It is primarily a “take and bake” chain, where customers go to the store, order the pizza they want, and are given it uncooked. The customers then go home and put it in their ovens to cook.



Lefebvre noted that while promotional activity is “super productive,” MTY also needs to protect its franchisees’ profit margins. “So our teams are actively seeking more data on all the promotions we run to try to adjust them to make it as profitable as possible for our franchisees.”



Which Papa Murphy’s locations are closing?



Right now, MTY has not specified which Papa Murphy’s locations would close. Currently, the chain has stores in 34 states, which include both franchisee and corporate locations. Those states are:




Alabama



Alaska



Arizona



Arkansas



California



Colorado



Florida



Georgia



Idaho



Illinois



Indiana



Iowa



Kansas



Kentucky



Louisiana



Michigan



Minnesota



Missouri



Montana



Nebraska



Nevada



New Mexico



North Carolina



North Dakota



Oklahoma



Oregon



South Carolina



South Dakota



Tennessee



Texas



Utah



Washington



Wisconsin



Wyoming




When will the Papa Murphy’s locations close?



Lefebvre said some of the company’s 68 closing stores, which include Papa Murphy’s locations, will begin closing as early as this week. He added that it will take between six and nine months to shutter all the locations marked for closure. ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Mon, 13 Jul 2026 14:00:13 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Papa, Murphy’s, closing, stores, joins, list, national, pizza, chains, shutter, locations, 2026</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>The missing ingredient in successful networking</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/the-missing-ingredient-in-successful-networking</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/the-missing-ingredient-in-successful-networking</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ The greatest missed opportunity at most conferences is not a keynote session, a panel, or a workshop. It is the conversations that never happen.



Every year, professionals attend conferences hoping to build relationships, discover new opportunities, and create momentum for their careers or businesses. Yet many leave with little more than a collection of business cards and LinkedIn connections that never turn into anything meaningful. The problem is that most people have never learned to articulate what they need in a way that allows others to help.



Many professionals actually know what they are trying to accomplish. They want a strategic partner. They need an introduction. They are looking for customers, investors, mentors, advisors, board opportunities, or new career opportunities. Yet when someone asks what they hope to gain from an event, the answer is often broad and generic. They want to learn, meet interesting people, or expand their network. The real objective remains beneath the surface, never clearly articulated and therefore impossible for others to help advance.



PEOPLE WANT TO HELP



Part of the challenge is that making an ask is a skill, and it is one that many professionals rarely practice. Throughout their careers, they are rewarded for being resourceful, self-sufficient, and capable of solving problems for others. They become comfortable being the helper, not the asker. Yet some of the most important opportunities for both leaders and their organizations depend on their willingness to clearly communicate what they need. Asking for help can feel uncomfortable, even when it serves an important business objective.



The irony is that most people are far more willing to help than we assume. In fact, if we simply asked, we would likely be surprised by how often support is offered. Most asks are not enormous requests. They are introductions, insights, recommendations, or connections that require very little effort but can create significant value.



I first started noticing this dynamic at conferences where some of the most accomplished executives in the country were gathered in the same room. These events were filled with people who had extensive networks, significant influence, and the ability to open doors for one another. Yet conversations often remained at the surface level. People would leave feeling inspired by the speakers and energized by the atmosphere, but without any concrete next steps that could create practical value for themselves or their organizations.



One experience in particular changed how I think about networking. I asked an executive at a conference what she hoped to gain from attending. Her initial answer was broad and unfocused. After a few more questions, she revealed that she really wanted to find corporate partners for an initiative she was leading. As it happened, I was meeting with several executives that evening who could potentially help. I made a few introductions and meaningful conversations followed.



The opportunity had always been there. What was missing was the ask.



ASK AND ACT



That observation led me to develop a simple framework I call “ask and act.”Before attending an event, identify one meaningful ask and be prepared to articulate it clearly. The ask creates clarity around what you are trying to accomplish and where you genuinely need support. Just as important, commit to helping at least one other person during the conference. When you approach networking with both an ask and a willingness to help, the conversation shifts. Instead of exchanging business cards and surface-level introductions, people begin uncovering opportunities to create value for one another. A clear ask makes it easier for others to help, and a genuine willingness to help makes it easier for others to share what they need.



I have since organized “ask and act” conversations around conference tables, private dinners, and leadership communities. Rather than beginning with traditional networking, participants are invited to come prepared with one meaningful ask and a willingness to help someone else solve theirs. What emerges is a room full of people actively looking for ways to create value for one another.



By the end of these sessions, participants consistently identify potential collaborators, advisors, clients, investors, and future business partners. More importantly, they leave with specific commitments and next steps. The experience has reinforced a lesson I continue to see at conferences of every size: The most meaningful moments rarely happen in the keynote hall. They happen in small circles where people feel comfortable being honest about what they need and generous about what they can offer.



The next time you attend a conference, leadership summit, or networking event, spend less time thinking about who you might meet and more time thinking about what you need and how you can help someone else. During the conference, know your ask and proactively share it. Also, follow through on any commitments you make to others.



The most successful networkers are the people who know how to turn conversations into outcomes.



Tami Rosen is a board member, executive, and advisor to technology and finance companies. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://images.fastcompany.com/image/upload/w_1280,q_auto,f_auto,fl_lossy/f_webp,q_auto,c_fit/wp-cms-2/2026/07/FCIC-and-ILF-templates-1-5.png" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Mon, 13 Jul 2026 14:00:13 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>The, missing, ingredient, successful, networking</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Taylor Swift fans are willing to buy her trash. Meet the NYC artist who cashed in from the pop star’s wedding night</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/taylor-swift-fans-are-willing-to-buy-her-trash-meet-the-nyc-artist-who-cashed-in-from-the-pop-stars-wedding-night</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/taylor-swift-fans-are-willing-to-buy-her-trash-meet-the-nyc-artist-who-cashed-in-from-the-pop-stars-wedding-night</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Swifties will buy anything related to Taylor Swift: a CD or a vinyl—even if they listen on Spotify anyway—a cardigan or scarf inspired by her songs, and yes, even garbage.



Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce tied the knot on July 3 at New York City’s Madison Square Garden (MSG), gathering A-list celebrities from across industries.



But as fans flocked to the venue for a chance to peek inside the secretive event, at least one person turned his attention to the floor—picking up trash to package and sell to fans eager to score a souvenir from the party.



The New York-based artist Justin Gignac made his way to MSG the night of the celebrity wedding, wearing the same tuxedo he used at his own wedding, paired with thick gloves and a trash pickup stick.



The venue’s perimeter was filled with around 40 fans in each corner, Gignac says, as he circled the arena and picked up garbage from the floor before packaging it and selling it online—something he has done before.



“I’m always trying to find these big cultural moments in New York City,” Gignac tells Fast Company. “I’ve done New Year’s Eve in Times Square and I’ve done the championship parades for the Yankees, Giants, and Liberty . . . but this was such an interesting one.”



Come as you are



The trash was not actually from inside the wedding, but from the edge of the venue, hence the name of the series, “Not Invited Edition.” 



Anything from a stray Airpod to a can tab was collected and packaged in clear boxes measuring 1 by 1 by 0.75 inch, just small enough to carry around in one’s pocket. The near-cube is marked with the wedding date, the same day the garbage was picked up, and the phrase “JUST&amp;T MARRIED!” a nod to the message that filled the MSG screens after the celebrity couple tied the knot.



Gignac has been collecting trash and selling it in sealed acrylic cubes for almost 25 years—he calls his art project and business New York City Garbage—although the regular cubes are much larger (3.5 by 3.5 by 4.5 inches).



In planning for the project’s anniversary, Gignac had ordered the smaller cubes, but opted to turn them into a Swiftie-inspired drop when he heard about the wedding.



The 50 limited cubes were priced at $25 each, selling out in 24 hours and 8 minutes, although he is hoping he has enough trash to complete 39 more—bringing the total to 89, a tribute to Swift’s birth year, 1989.



While the 50 boxes for Swifties are bringing Gignac a renewed wave of popularity, the drop is just one small piece of the decades-long project.



New York City Garbage



The project began back in 2001, when Gignac was a 21-year-old intern at MTV. He debated with a coworker who argued that packaging design was not important. To prove him wrong, Gignac decided to package the thing he couldn’t image anyone wanting to buy: garbage.



Packaging it in clear boxes with a sleek typeface that read “New York City Garbage”—which would become the name of the business—Gignac set up a small stand in Times Square, persuading passersby to buy his creation.



And it worked. Not only did he prove his coworker wrong, but he began a small business that would lead to more than 1,700 garbage cubes sold around the world.



“I went out on the streets of Times Square with a little cardboard box that I spray-painted ‘Garbage for Sale’ on it,” he says. “Finally, after eight hours, a gentleman from Ecuador who barely spoke English—but he connected with it—bought the first one.”



The first few were priced at just $10, eventually going up in price from $25 to $100. This was to discourage people from buying them, as Gignac was too busy to meet the demand while he tried to kick-start his career in advertising.



Still, people kept buying.



“It’s interesting how people’s perspective shifts,” Gignac says. “When it was $10, people thought it was a funny joke. When it was $25, people considered it like a cool souvenir. And at $50, people started calling it art. So it’s amazing how you change the price and it changes people’s perception of it.”



Top of the heap



As the business grew, so did Gignac’s professional ambitions, and in 2012 he decided to shut down New York City Garbage to start his own business and pursue other creative projects—including the popular Elf Yourself app.



It wasn’t until 2024, when too many of his friends asked him to resume the business, and he was ready to slow down and focus on raising his 2-year-old daughter, that he reopened the store.



The first drop sold out faster than his Swift-inspired collection—50 cubes priced at $100 selling out in just 90 minutes.



“Had about a decade more of people waiting for them,” he says. “Since then, the other drops haven’t sold out as quickly, but they sell out fairly quickly, usually like a couple days or a week.”



Now that his focus is back on trash, Gignac has a renewed inspiration for what New York City Garbage is and can be.



“I think it blurs the line between art and business, and I think all good things do. It is the art of the sale,” he says. “The art happens in that exchange. I like that. It’s the story that we tell.”



With this new phase, Gignac wishes to explore the affection that individuals can attach to trash and their connection with special moments; for instance, he is interested in collecting trash from locker rooms of teams as a memento for fans.



“People are always like, ‘Why would you pay for garbage?’ And I’m like, I don’t know, but would you pay for garbage from your first date or your kid’s last Little League game?” he says. “It’s not just garbage. It’s stuff that has meaning.”



 ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://images.fastcompany.com/image/upload/w_1280,q_auto,f_auto,fl_lossy/f_webp,q_auto,c_fit/wp-cms-2/2026/07/p-1-91571919-taylor-swift-new-york-city-garbage.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Mon, 13 Jul 2026 14:00:13 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Taylor, Swift, fans, are, willing, buy, her, trash., Meet, the, NYC, artist, who, cashed, from, the, pop, star’s, wedding, night</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Redundancy pay – a Small Business guide</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/redundancy-pay-a-small-business-guide</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/redundancy-pay-a-small-business-guide</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ By Anna Jordan on Small Business UK - Advice and Ideas for UK Small Businesses and SMEs


Take these tips to keep your business on the right lines if you need to make your employees redundant 
The post Redundancy pay – a Small Business guide appeared first on Small Business UK. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://smallbusiness-production.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2026/07/5373.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Mon, 13 Jul 2026 14:00:11 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Redundancy, pay, –, Small, Business, guide</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Would you renew this supplier? Burnham and the Hillsborough Law</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/would-you-renew-this-supplier-burnham-and-the-hillsborough-law</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/would-you-renew-this-supplier-burnham-and-the-hillsborough-law</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ 
Richard Alvin argues Andy Burnham&#039;s first act as Prime Minister must be passing the Hillsborough Law in full, the promise Westminster has broken since 1989. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://bmmagazine.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Burnham-Hillsborough-768x432.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Sat, 11 Jul 2026 14:00:07 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Would, you, renew, this, supplier, Burnham, and, the, Hillsborough, Law</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Oasis reunion powers record £11.2bn music tourism boom</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/oasis-reunion-powers-record-112bn-music-tourism-boom</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/oasis-reunion-powers-record-112bn-music-tourism-boom</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ 
Record 24.7m music tourists spent £11.2bn at UK gigs in 2025, led by the Oasis reunion. What the live music boom means for SMEs and local economies. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://bmmagazine.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/shutterstock_2649573569-768x433.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Sat, 11 Jul 2026 14:00:07 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Oasis, reunion, powers, record, £11.2bn, music, tourism, boom</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>‘This is just how it is’: the lie driving mothers out of work</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/this-is-just-how-it-is-the-lie-driving-mothers-out-of-work</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/this-is-just-how-it-is-the-lie-driving-mothers-out-of-work</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ 
One in five UK women sees her career decline after a baby. Founder Zoe Duce says the return to work after maternity leave needs systems, not sacrifice. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://bmmagazine.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Zoe-Duce-768x432.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Sat, 11 Jul 2026 14:00:07 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>‘This, just, how, is’:, the, lie, driving, mothers, out, work</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Student loans sold like phone contracts open a serious trust gap</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/student-loans-sold-like-phone-contracts-open-a-serious-trust-gap</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/student-loans-sold-like-phone-contracts-open-a-serious-trust-gap</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ 
Student loan mis-selling has opened a serious trust gap between young people and university, warns Best Student Halls founder. What it means for UK firms. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://bmmagazine.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/shutterstock_2490313949-768x512.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Sat, 11 Jul 2026 14:00:07 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Student, loans, sold, like, phone, contracts, open, serious, trust, gap</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Families told to hold their nerve as inherited property tax fears swirl</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/families-told-to-hold-their-nerve-as-inherited-property-tax-fears-swirl</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/families-told-to-hold-their-nerve-as-inherited-property-tax-fears-swirl</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ 
Capital gains tax on inherited property could rise if the &#039;uplift on death&#039; is scrapped. Experts explain why panic selling now could prove costly. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://bmmagazine.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/shutterstock_2774765847-768x432.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Sat, 11 Jul 2026 14:00:07 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Families, told, hold, their, nerve, inherited, property, tax, fears, swirl</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>US cybersecurity agency CISA had to build its incident playbook during the incident, agency reveals</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/us-cybersecurity-agency-cisa-had-to-build-its-incident-playbook-during-the-incident-agency-reveals</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/us-cybersecurity-agency-cisa-had-to-build-its-incident-playbook-during-the-incident-agency-reveals</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Independent cybersecurity journalist Brian Krebs reported in May that a security researcher with cyber firm GitGuardian alerted him to reams of exposed passwords stored in a publicly accessible GitHub repository, which an employee of a CISA contractor had uploaded. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/cisa-2240293485.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Sat, 11 Jul 2026 14:00:05 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>cybersecurity, agency, CISA, had, build, its, incident, playbook, during, the, incident, agency, reveals</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Phia accused of ‘cookie stuffing,’ taking affiliate credit on purchases it didn’t earn</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/phia-accused-of-cookie-stuffing-taking-affiliate-credit-on-purchases-it-didnt-earn</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/phia-accused-of-cookie-stuffing-taking-affiliate-credit-on-purchases-it-didnt-earn</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Phia, the shopping startup founded by Bill Gates’ daughter, Phoebe, and her friend Sophia Kianni is under fire for a practice known as “cookie stuffing,” which helped the product receive commissions and credit for sales it did not actually generate, per a Bloomberg investigation.  ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/2243869768.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Sat, 11 Jul 2026 14:00:05 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Phia, accused, ‘cookie, stuffing, ’, taking, affiliate, credit, purchases, didn’t, earn</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Meta removes controversial AI feature on Instagram after backlash</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/meta-removes-controversial-ai-feature-on-instagram-after-backlash</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/meta-removes-controversial-ai-feature-on-instagram-after-backlash</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ &quot;Our intent was to provide a useful creative tool and to give people control over whether their public content could be referenced in this way,&quot; the company said in a blog post. &quot;We&#039;ve heard the feedback that this feature missed the mark, so it&#039;s no longer available.&quot; ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/instagram-header.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Sat, 11 Jul 2026 14:00:05 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Meta, removes, controversial, feature, Instagram, after, backlash</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Bluesky’s interim CEO, Toni Schneider, drops the ‘interim’</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/blueskys-interim-ceo-toni-schneider-drops-the-interim</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/blueskys-interim-ceo-toni-schneider-drops-the-interim</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Schneider, who formerly served as the CEO of Automattic and is a partner at True Ventures, says he is &quot;all in&quot; on the unconventional social media platform. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/bluesky-GettyImages-2185144073.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Sat, 11 Jul 2026 14:00:05 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Bluesky’s, interim, CEO, Toni, Schneider, drops, the, ‘interim’</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Apple sues OpenAI over alleged trade secret theft</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/apple-sues-openai-over-alleged-trade-secret-theft</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/apple-sues-openai-over-alleged-trade-secret-theft</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Apple alleges the misconduct was directed by OpenAI&#039;s senior leadership, including a longtime former employee. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/tim-cook-sam-altman-GettyImages-2233062347.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Sat, 11 Jul 2026 14:00:05 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Apple, sues, OpenAI, over, alleged, trade, secret, theft</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>SK Hynix stock: Nasdaq trading starts today as memory chipmaker makes highly anticipated U.S. market debut</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/sk-hynix-stock-nasdaq-trading-starts-today-as-memory-chipmaker-makes-highly-anticipated-us-market-debut</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/sk-hynix-stock-nasdaq-trading-starts-today-as-memory-chipmaker-makes-highly-anticipated-us-market-debut</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ While two of the best-known AI companies have yet to make their market debuts—namely Anthropic and OpenAI—2026 has already seen numerous AI-related IPOs, including Elon Musk’s SpaceX and the commercial AI semiconductor maker Cerebras Systems.



Today, another company joins those ranks. 



The Korean memory semiconductor giant SK Hynix is going public in the United States, offering American investors the chance to buy shares in a firm that has benefited immensely from the AI infrastructure boom. SK Hynix, a rival to Samsung, has seen demand for its products soar amid the ongoing AI-fueled memory shortage.



Here’s what you need to know about SK Hynix’s IPO, which is said to be the largest-ever U.S. stock listing by a foreign company.



What is SK Hynix?



SK Hynix is a South Korean semiconductor company that makes memory chips—DRAM and NAND flash—that power the GPUs and CPUs that AI servers require, including those made by chip giant Nvidia.



The company is headquartered in Icheon, South Korea, and was founded 43 years ago under another name: Hyundai Electronics. 



In 2001, the company rebranded to Hynix Semiconductor. In 2012, it was sold to Samsung competitor SK Group, and rebranded to its current name, SK Hynix.



When it comes to high-bandwidth memory (HBM), the type of memory needed for the most powerful AI servers, SK Hynix is the global leader, supplying 58% of HBM demand, according to IG.com.



Within the global DRAM market, SK Hynix ranked second in Q1 of 2026, with 29% market share, after Samsung’s 38%, according to Counterpoint Research. Micron came in third place at 22%.



Given the ongoing memory chip shortage due to AI companies’ insatiable demand for data center buildouts, it’s little surprise that both its revenue and its operating profit have been surging recently. 



For its fiscal 2025, SK Hynix posted revenue of 97.15 trillion won (about $64.6 billion), up nearly 47% versus the year earlier, according to the Korea JoongAng Daily. Its operating profit for the same period was 47.2 trillion won (about $31.3 billion), up 101%.



Isn’t SK Hynix already a publicly traded company?



It’s important to note that SK Hynix’s U.S. market debut isn’t a traditional IPO. It’s not a first-time listing of its shares.



SK Hynix has been publicly traded on the Korea Exchange stock market since 1996, when it was still called Hyundai Electronics. Today, the company trades on that market under the ticker 000660.KS.



SK Hynix’s IPO today refers to its debut on a U.S. market. And that debut won’t actually allow investors to buy Korean shares in the company directly. 



Instead, SK Hynix’s U.S. IPO book-running managers, which include BofA Securities, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, and J.P. Morgan, will sell American depositary shares (ADS). 



ADS are essentially a wrapper for foreign stocks trading under foreign currencies. When you buy one ADS of SK Hynix on U.S. markets, it represents one-tenth of a common share traded on the Korean stock market. So, 10 ADS shares of SK Hynix equate to one foreign share of SK Hynix.



When is SK Hynix’s U.S. IPO?



SK Hynix’s American depositary shares are expected to debut today, Friday, July 10, 2026.



What is SK Hynix’s stock ticker?



SK Hynix’s American depositary shares will trade on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the stock ticker “SKHY.”



What is the U.S. IPO share price of SKHY?



The company says one ADS of SKHY will have an initial public offering price of $149.



How many SKHY shares are available in its IPO?



The U.S. IPO will offer 177,900,000 American depositary shares of SKHY.



How much did SK Hynix raise in its IPO?



SK Hynix raised approximately $26.5 billion in its U.S. IPO, according to Reuters.



How has SK Hynix’s Korean stock performed lately?



Exceptionally well. Over the past 12 months, shares in SK Hynix Inc. (KSE: 000660.KS) have surged more than 634%. 



Year to date, 000660.KS shares are up more than 234% to 2,180,000.00 South Korean won (KRW) as of the time of this writing (about $1,448.98).



How much is SK Hynix worth?



With its current share price of 2,180,000.00 South Korean won (KRW), the company has a market cap of around 1,547.484 trillion won. That equates to about $1.03 trillion, putting SK Hynix in the trillion-dollar club. ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Fri, 10 Jul 2026 14:00:06 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Hynix, stock:, Nasdaq, trading, starts, today, memory, chipmaker, makes, highly, anticipated, U.S., market, debut</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>National Mojito Day is here. Here’s where to score $1 mojitos and other deals this weekend</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/national-mojito-day-is-here-heres-where-to-score-1-mojitos-and-other-deals-this-weekend</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/national-mojito-day-is-here-heres-where-to-score-1-mojitos-and-other-deals-this-weekend</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Hot summer days call for a refreshing drink. National Mojito Day celebrates one of those adult beverages. While there are several different versions of the origin story for this libation, most agree that it was invented in Cuba. Here are some fun facts to impress your coworkers with at happy hour and some great deals to mark the occasion.



What is in a Mojito?



At its core, a mojito is made up of five ingredients: white rum, lime juice, soda water, mint, and sugar. Before you pour any liquid in your glass, muddle the mint at the bottom. Let that be as you combine the rest of the ingredients by shaking or stirring. Pour the liquid in the minty glass and add some ice.



A brief history of the Mojito …



Let’s get into the competing stories about how the mojito came to be. Way back in the 16th century, a privateer named Francis Drake was hired by Queen Elizabeth I to mess with Spain’s territories abroad. He landed in Cuba but didn’t really put up a fight and left without a major incident. Nevertheless, a drink was named for him called the Draque. It was made up of aguardiente de caña (a liquor predating rum), sugar, lime, and mint. This beverage was considered medicinal. Many believed it evolved into the modern mojito thanks in part to Don Facundo Bacardí Masó founding his distillery and revolutionizing rum production.Another version of this story is that American tourists brought the Mint Julep to the island in the 1920s and 1930s. The Cubans riffed on it and created the mojito.Literary icon Ernest Hemingway also factors into this. Some claim the first mojito was made at La Bodeguita del Medio in Havana. Framed at that watering hole is a note by the famous author. It states: “My mojito in La Bodeguita, my daiquiri in El Floridita.” Despite this sign, many claim the writer never mentioned the drink in his work and claim he didn’t consume them himself.



National Mojito Day deals



Enough about where it comes from, let’s focus instead on where you are going to find deals. Cuba Libre Restaurant &amp; Rum Bar is offering age-appropriate customers the chance to purchase one $1 classic mojito from 12 p.m. to 4 p.m. This deal is available at all locations on the festive day.If you are looking for a fun variation on the classic cocktail, head to Perry’s Steakhouse &amp; Grille. Their bar menu features a Pineapple Ginger Mojito. It is also available as a mocktail, the Pineapple Ginger Ale.Variety is the spice of life and all Doc Ford’s Rum Bar &amp; Grille locations in Florida have six different mojitos to choose from. If you order one of these on the big day, you will be given a free glass while supplies last. Additionally, from July 5-11 you can guess how many lime jelly beans fit into a 16-ounce mojito glass for the chance to win gift cards.



In Clearwater, Florida you can build your own mojito pitcher at the Hiatus. If that’s too much fun, individual offerings are only $10.If you love both the World Cup and mojitos, Snooze Eatery’s limited-time Brunch Goals menu is for you. To celebrate the summer of soccer, select Kansas City, Missouri locations will feature a Costa Verde Mojito. Wear your favorite jersey or team colors for 50% off beverages and 26% off entrées.



If you love a view in the Big Apple, head to Bar Hugo &amp; Azul Rooftop. This New York City establishment is offering $14⁠ classic mojitos and $15 flavored mojitos.However and wherever you celebrate, may your thirst be quenched. ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Fri, 10 Jul 2026 14:00:06 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>National, Mojito, Day, here., Here’s, where, score, mojitos, and, other, deals, this, weekend</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>15 leaders on managing high performers</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/15-leaders-on-managing-high-performers</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/15-leaders-on-managing-high-performers</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ High performers can be a special breed, making an impact while producing greater volumes of work or outcomes. Managing them so they feel supported and not suffocated can make a difference in retaining them and keeping them happy. So it’s important to think hard about how best to do that, while understanding that how you manage them may not be how you manage the rest of your staff. We asked our Fast Company Impact Council members about their thinking: how they determine the most effective way to work with their top performers and whether that’s different than managing other staff members. Here’s what 15 of our members said.



1. DEEP TRUST



High performers achieve better results because they see the map differently. They see what other people don’t and work tirelessly to achieve outcomes. They understand what’s most important and focus on producing impactful results. How they work, when they work, and how it all comes together is typically unconventional. You can’t manage to fake deadlines or micromanage. It’s about deep trust. I’ve found that when the highest performers know they are supported, what they produce far outweighs any friction their working styles may create. The best advice is to get out of their way and allow their work to speak for itself. Because it always does. — Regan Parker, ShiftKey



2. HOLD TALENT ACCOUNTABLE TO THEIR POTENTIAL



My mantra here is: Hold talent accountable to their potential. You are pushing them from the perspective of achieving all that they can in their career. It doesn’t matter if they’re better than you; they’re not better than the best version of themselves. — Neil Barrie, 21st Century Brand



3. THERE IS NO UNIVERSAL FORMULA



Ideally, management strategies should be adapted to each individual. Even among high performers, needs vary. I’ve seen people thrive in highly autonomous environments and others excel within high-touch systems. There is no universal formula for managing top talent. — Bo Zhao, Baby Gear Group



4. DON’T FORGET THEM



My biggest lesson with high performers is: Don’t forget them. We naturally spend our time fixing problems at the bottom and supporting the middle, while assuming our stars will just get on with it. High performers still need managing. They want candid feedback, stretch opportunities, and a clear development plan. I’ve seen more great talent leave because they felt forgotten than because they felt overstretched. — Emily Kortlang, Yerba Madre



5. CREATE DETAILED SPECS AND ACCEPTANCE CRITERIA



We only hire high performers. We get the best results for our clients that way, and everyone likes work more if they can trust their colleagues to be capable and reliable. At the same time, each hour of their time is expensive to the client, so we’re careful to keep them in their lane. Our management and QA teams create detailed spec requirements and acceptance criteria before assigning tasks to engineers. This way they can start building without the planning overhead. — Lindsey Witmer Collins, WLCM App Studio and Scribbly Books



6. LET THEM UNDERSTAND THE SYSTEM



Protecting your best people from organizational complexity feels like good leadership, but it is one of the most limiting things you can do to someone with real potential. The people who grow into enterprise scale impact are not just the most talented, they are the ones who understand the system they operate inside: the politics, the constraints, the places where good ideas lose momentum and why. I put high performers in difficult conversations deliberately, because craft alone does not teach organizational intelligence. At a certain level, craft is table stakes. What separates the best is knowing how to navigate everything surrounding it. — Arin Bhowmick, SAP



7. MENTOR AND UNLEASH THEM



High performers don’t need to be managed—they need to be unleashed. They’re motivated by autonomy, challenge, and growth. Give them a clear goal and the resources to get there. And get out of the way. Micromanage them and you’ll lose them. What they do need—and often don’t get—is mentorship. Because they’re delivering, leaders assume they don’t need guidance. They do. High performers benefit enormously from a thought partner and someone genuinely invested in their long-term growth. They’re always asking themselves whether this is still the right place to grow. Your job is to make the answer obvious. Invest in them before someone else does. — Meredith Rosenberg, NU Advisory Partners



8. TRUST WITHOUT FEEDBACK IS ABDICATION



The biggest thing I give a high performer is trust made visible—letting them make consequential decisions, defending their calls when it gets uncomfortable, and not hovering when results aren’t instant. But trust without feedback isn’t trust. It’s abdication. High performers need to know where the company’s bar is, not just their own. The ones who can hold both—their own high standards and honest external input—actually grow into great leaders themselves. A high performer who can’t receive feedback isn’t a high performer. They’re a high maintenance one. — Muneer Panjwani, Engage for Good | The Halo Awards



9. MANAGE SITUATIONALLY



I try not to manage all high performers the same way, rather I manage situationally. Some need more autonomy, some need harder problems. And some need help removing friction around them. In general, I’ve found they respond well when the goal is clear, the bar is high, and they have room to operate. My job is to challenge them, while giving them enough space to learn from failures without feeling abandoned. — Todd James, Aurora Insights LLC



10. PROVIDE BETTER CHALLENGES



I believe that high performers need better challenges. I focus on expanding their decision-making responsibility, exposing them to ambiguity, and creating a stronger sense of ownership. Burnout often comes from operating at a high level without enough reflection or purpose. Greater responsibility must be paired with space to recover and grow. — Ajay Tejasvi, TLEX



11. EXPECT EXCELLENCE, DEMAND ACCOUNTABILITY



At the top, you want to be managing only high performers. Co-develop the strategic direction for their function; give agency; expect excellence and demand accountability; invest in them! — Hala Hanna, MIT Solve



12. CREATE ENVIRONMENT FOR HIGH PERFORMERS



I don’t believe in managing high performers differently—I believe in creating an environment where more people can become high performers. Leadership’s role is to identify individual strengths, provide opportunities for growth, and empower people to contribute in meaningful ways. When people feel trusted, heard, and connected to a shared purpose, performance tends to follow. — Susan Watts, SPACECRAFT



13. PROVIDE LARGER INCENTIVES



I give all performers positive incentives and the high performers get larger incentives, e.g. increasing commissions as volume goes up rather than decreasing commissions, which many organizations do — Larraine Segil, Exceptional Women Alliance Foundation



14. GIVE ROOM TO RUN



High performers usually aren’t lacking motivation. What wears them down is friction: too many approvals, too many meetings, and more responsibility without real authority. I’ve seen great operators disengage because they were being managed more, not trusted more. Give them something meaningful to own. Clear the obstacles. And then let them run. The best people do not need more supervision. They need room. — Andra Vaduva, SafeSpace



15. PROVIDE CLARITY AND REMOVE BARRIERS 



High performers don’t need to be managed closely. They need to be trusted, challenged, and given the space to deliver. Leadership’s role is to provide clarity and remove barriers, while staying available without getting in the way. — Tony Bedard, Frontier Co-op



 ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Fri, 10 Jul 2026 14:00:06 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>leaders, managing, high, performers</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>Dairy Queen store closures: Beloved ice cream chain joins list of retailers to see locations shutter in 2026</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/dairy-queen-store-closures-beloved-ice-cream-chain-joins-list-of-retailers-to-see-locations-shutter-in-2026</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/dairy-queen-store-closures-beloved-ice-cream-chain-joins-list-of-retailers-to-see-locations-shutter-in-2026</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Every news cycle seems to bring reports of another fast food chain closing down stores, and this week is no exception. 



Three Dairy Queen stores have suddenly shuttered this month in Alaska, according to the Anchorage Daily News. 



“The franchise owner of the Anchorage, Wasilla and Palmer locations recently closed them,” a Dairy Queen representative told the publication. 



This follows over 40 locations closing across Texas in early 2025, in large part to a remodeling disagreement between Dairy Queen and franchisee Project Lonestar. 



While Texas still appears to have over 500 locations, the recent closures leave Alaska with just one Dairy Queen statewide, in Soldotna.



How many Dairy Queen locations have closed recently?



Dairy Queen’s store locator appears to be out of date, still listing 11 locations for Alaska, despite showing no option when clicking on all but Soldotna. However, the company says on its website that it has more than 7,800 locations worldwide.



Fast Company has reached out to Dairy Queen for specifics on store numbers. We will update this post if we hear back. 



Known for its popular Blizzard and other frozen dessert treats, Dairy Queen is owned by Minnesota-based International Dairy Queen, which was acquired by Berkshire Hathaway in 1998.



Despite the closures, Dairy Queen is seeing growth in some areas. At the end of June, the company announced it would be opening 20 DQ Grill and Chill restaurants in Puerto Rico between now and 2036. 



These locations will serve hot food alongside Dairy Queen’s classic cold treats. ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Fri, 10 Jul 2026 14:00:05 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Dairy, Queen, store, closures:, Beloved, ice, cream, chain, joins, list, retailers, see, locations, shutter, 2026</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>New York City construction scare highlights the challenges of converting offices into housing</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/new-york-city-construction-scare-highlights-the-challenges-of-converting-offices-into-housing</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/new-york-city-construction-scare-highlights-the-challenges-of-converting-offices-into-housing</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ When two steel columns buckled this week inside the former Pfizer headquarters in midtown Manhattan, the scare prompted evacuations and halted work on one of the nation’s largest office-to-apartment conversions.It also highlighted the complex engineering behind adaptive reuse projects, which have become increasingly popular as officials try to tackle a nationwide housing shortage by transforming offices that have sat underused since the COVID-19 pandemic.The plans call for turning two office buildings — one built in 1909, the other in the 1960s — into about 1,600 apartments by adding more than a dozen stories atop the older structure and redesigning and expanding the other. The buckling occurred on the 21st floor of the newer structure, and crews have installed temporary supports as officials investigate.Engineering experts said the conversion project is complex and poses many challenges, which include making sure older buildings can safely support new loads and carving up office floors to accommodate residential living.But none said the high-profile setback should make people doubt the ability of engineers to complete such projects.“I don’t think it really brings into question our understanding of how to do something like this,” said Ben Schafer, a structural engineering professor at Johns Hopkins University.



How do you build a new tower on top of an old one?



On its website highlighting the midtown project, adaptive reuse firm Collaborative Construction Management says the nine-story building from 1909 will be “threaded through” with a new addition of about 30 stories of poured concrete.Schafer, who is not involved with the undertaking, said the likely approach is to have the century-old building continue to carry its own weight while building a new structural system to support additions.“My interpretation would be that they’re going to leave that building carrying its own load, and they’re just going to poke holes in it so that they can take the load from the building that they’ve put above it and bring it all the way down to the foundation,” Schafer said.Schafer said construction on the other tower presents a different challenge: punching holes in the existing floor plate to bring light into apartments, while also ensuring that the steel frame can support the newly added loads.City officials have not determined what caused the columns to buckle. But both Schafer and Emily Guglielmo, a San Francisco-based structural engineer, believe the failure likely resulted from the added load.Spokespersons for MetroLoft, the project developer, didn’t respond to requests for comment Thursday. But Nathan Berman, the firm’s founder, acknowledged in an interview with The Wall Street Journal that the added weight from widening the top 15 or so floors of the building likely caused the damage.Guglielmo thinks that either the original design assumptions were misunderstood, something went wrong during the design or construction process, or construction crews overloaded or weakened the structure.Adding stories to existing buildings is common in dense urban areas where land is scarce, she said, but it requires reviewing original construction documents and inspecting the building before determining how additional floors will affect the structure.“In cities and towns that don’t have that available geography, you’re going to see a lot more of this type of a design where there’s an adaptive reuse to an existing building,” Guglielmo said.



Why not just create a new building from scratch?



To many structural engineers, demolition should occur only as a last resort.“Tearing buildings down is a terrible waste,” Schafer said, pointing out that buildings and the construction sector are responsible for about 40% of the world’s energy-related carbon emissions. “From a sustainability standpoint, that’s a disaster.”Beyond the environmental costs, demolishing and hauling away the remnants of huge buildings is especially expensive in dense cities such as New York.If an existing structure can safely be reused, engineers generally prefer that.James LaFave, a structural engineering professor at the University of Illinois, said a steel-framed building from the 1960s, like the former Pfizer structure, would typically be a “very good” starting point for a conversion.Does the scare in New York call into question other adaptive reuse projects?In recent years, officials across the country have embraced office-to-housing conversions as a potential lifeline for downtown business districts that have struggled since the pandemic.New York, especially, has embraced this push, as officials have made zoning changes and enacted tax incentives to spur housing production. A report from the New York City comptroller’s office last year noted there are 44 adaptive reuse projects in the city that, as of early 2025, had either been completed, were underway or could move forward.Pfizer moved out of the building in 2023 after opening a new office near Penn Station, leaving the property vacant. Construction on the property began in 2024.Joshua Harris, director of Fordham University’s Real Estate Institute, said office-to-residential conversions are a key part of solving the housing shortages in New York and other cities, even if they come with risk.“In a certain sense, it’s not terribly surprising that this happened, and we should have a little bit of grace,” he said. “These are very, very complicated surgical procedures being done to very old buildings.”“This is part of the reality of fixing the housing crisis,” Harris continued. “Things like this can happen. It doesn’t look as complex as putting a rocket into space, but, in a real estate sense, construction in an environment like Manhattan on 42nd Street and Second Avenue is very complex.”Guglielmo, the California engineer, said a combination of building codes, inspections and experienced construction crews makes failures like this rare.“We’re very fortunate here in the United States that we are not seeing these types of failures on a day-to-day basis,” she said. “We’re privileged to have really robust building codes that explain to us as engineers how to do our designs in a way that’s safe.”Still, Harris said it is likely a gut check for the industry, as office conversions transform once sleepy business districts across the city into 24/7 neighborhoods, like parts of Wall Street in recent years.“If this building has a problem, all the other projects that have been sort of greenlit, they’re going to want to review to make sure that it’s not something similar,” Harris said.







—R.J. Rico, Jessica Hill and Philip Marcelo, Associated Press ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Fri, 10 Jul 2026 14:00:05 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>New, York, City, construction, scare, highlights, the, challenges, converting, offices, into, housing</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>6 online marketing traps to steer clear of</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/6-online-marketing-traps-to-steer-clear-of</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/6-online-marketing-traps-to-steer-clear-of</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ By Anna Jordan on Small Business UK - Advice and Ideas for UK Small Businesses and SMEs


Find out the most common online marketing mistakes that your fellow entrepreneurs make. Clue: be careful with your messaging
The post 6 online marketing traps to steer clear of appeared first on Small Business UK. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://smallbusiness-production.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2026/05/77723.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Thu, 09 Jul 2026 14:00:18 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>online, marketing, traps, steer, clear</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>ITV agrees £1.6bn sale of media and entertainment arm to Sky in landmark broadcasting deal</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/itv-agrees-16bn-sale-of-media-and-entertainment-arm-to-sky-in-landmark-broadcasting-deal</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/itv-agrees-16bn-sale-of-media-and-entertainment-arm-to-sky-in-landmark-broadcasting-deal</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ 
ITV has agreed to sell its media and entertainment business to Sky for up to £1.6bn, creating a UK broadcasting champion to take on Netflix and YouTube. Free-to-air protected until 2034. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://bmmagazine.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/shutterstock_2380683529-768x432.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Tue, 07 Jul 2026 14:00:06 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>ITV, agrees, £1.6bn, sale, media, and, entertainment, arm, Sky, landmark, broadcasting, deal</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>Lockheed Martin swoops on British torpedo maker Ultra Maritime in $3.45bn undersea warfare deal</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/lockheed-martin-swoops-on-british-torpedo-maker-ultra-maritime-in-345bn-undersea-warfare-deal</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/lockheed-martin-swoops-on-british-torpedo-maker-ultra-maritime-in-345bn-undersea-warfare-deal</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ 
Lockheed Martin is to acquire British undersea warfare specialist Ultra Maritime from Advent&#039;s Cobham Ultra for $3.45bn, as global conflicts drive record defence demand. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://bmmagazine.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/shutterstock_2218804377-768x432.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Tue, 07 Jul 2026 14:00:05 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Lockheed, Martin, swoops, British, torpedo, maker, Ultra, Maritime, 3.45bn, undersea, warfare, deal</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>Glamping couple take Britvic to court over Magic Mushroom Cabin photo</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/glamping-couple-take-britvic-to-court-over-magic-mushroom-cabin-photo</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/glamping-couple-take-britvic-to-court-over-magic-mushroom-cabin-photo</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ 
A Northamptonshire glamping couple are suing J2O maker Britvic over the unauthorised use of a photo of their Magic Mushroom Cabin, in a case every SME should watch. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://bmmagazine.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/shutterstock_2777724899-768x432.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Tue, 07 Jul 2026 14:00:05 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Glamping, couple, take, Britvic, court, over, Magic, Mushroom, Cabin, photo</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>Backlash in China as bubble tea chain Molly Tea ordered to pay Louis Vuitton £1.1m over logo</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/backlash-in-china-as-bubble-tea-chain-molly-tea-ordered-to-pay-louis-vuitton-11m-over-logo</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/backlash-in-china-as-bubble-tea-chain-molly-tea-ordered-to-pay-louis-vuitton-11m-over-logo</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ 
Chinese bubble tea chain Molly Tea must pay Louis Vuitton £1.1m after a court ruled its logo copied the luxury house&#039;s four-petal flower trademark, sparking a fierce online backlash. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://bmmagazine.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Mollys-Tea-768x433.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Tue, 07 Jul 2026 14:00:05 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Backlash, China, bubble, tea, chain, Molly, Tea, ordered, pay, Louis, Vuitton, £1.1m, over, logo</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>US jobs growth stalls in June as World Cup boost fails to materialise</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/us-jobs-growth-stalls-in-june-as-world-cup-boost-fails-to-materialise</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/us-jobs-growth-stalls-in-june-as-world-cup-boost-fails-to-materialise</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ 
US payrolls rose by just 57,000 in June, barely half of Wall Street forecasts, as the World Cup failed to lift hiring and the Fed weighs its next move on rates. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://bmmagazine.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/shutterstock_2331743175-768x433.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Tue, 07 Jul 2026 14:00:05 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>jobs, growth, stalls, June, World, Cup, boost, fails, materialise</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>Netflix invented binge&#45;watching. Now it may have outgrown it.</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/netflix-invented-binge-watching-now-it-may-have-outgrown-it</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/netflix-invented-binge-watching-now-it-may-have-outgrown-it</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ A new report suggests Netflix viewers aren’t sticking around for Season 2. The bigger issue may be that binge-watching itself is no longer the advantage it once was. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/GettyImages-1240099721.jpeg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Tue, 07 Jul 2026 14:00:04 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Netflix, invented, binge-watching., Now, may, have, outgrown, it.</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>The ‘first’ AI&#45;run ransomware attack still needed a human</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/the-first-ai-run-ransomware-attack-still-needed-a-human</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/the-first-ai-run-ransomware-attack-still-needed-a-human</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ An AI agent carried out the technical execution of a real-world ransomware attack for the first known time, but new details show a human still chose the victim, set up the infrastructure, and supplied stolen credentials — meaning it wasn&#039;t quite the fully autonomous cybercrime debut that last week&#039;s headlines suggested. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Ransomware-attack.png" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Tue, 07 Jul 2026 14:00:04 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>The, ‘first’, AI-run, ransomware, attack, still, needed, human</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Hacktivists call out Trump by hacking and defacing US Army websites</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/hacktivists-call-out-trump-by-hacking-and-defacing-us-army-websites</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/hacktivists-call-out-trump-by-hacking-and-defacing-us-army-websites</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ The U.S. Army has fixed two of its websites that were hacked to display messages calling President Trump a &quot;pedophile&quot; and a &quot;thief.&quot; ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/us-army-2234931369.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Tue, 07 Jul 2026 14:00:03 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Hacktivists, call, out, Trump, hacking, and, defacing, Army, websites</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Savi’s app aims to protect consumers from realistic AI scams like kidnappers demanding ransom</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/savis-app-aims-to-protect-consumers-from-realistic-ai-scams-like-kidnappers-demanding-ransom</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/savis-app-aims-to-protect-consumers-from-realistic-ai-scams-like-kidnappers-demanding-ransom</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ The company just raised $7 million in seed funding, and is launching its app for iPhone and Android on Tuesday. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Patrick_and_Ryan_Coughlin-1.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Tue, 07 Jul 2026 14:00:03 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Savi’s, app, aims, protect, consumers, from, realistic, scams, like, kidnappers, demanding, ransom</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>The first American autonomous ground vehicles are fighting in Ukraine</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/the-first-american-autonomous-ground-vehicles-are-fighting-in-ukraine</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/the-first-american-autonomous-ground-vehicles-are-fighting-in-ukraine</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Forterra has deployed more than 100 of its self-driving ATVs in conflict zones in Ukraine. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/img-dedb3291-a67a-44b6-a6d7-dd6659f9d433.png" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Tue, 07 Jul 2026 14:00:03 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>The, first, American, autonomous, ground, vehicles, are, fighting, Ukraine</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Stop using this recalled shampoo immediately. It could give you a bacterial infection</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/stop-using-this-recalled-shampoo-immediately-it-could-give-you-a-bacterial-infection</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/stop-using-this-recalled-shampoo-immediately-it-could-give-you-a-bacterial-infection</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ A shampoo manufacturer has initiated a nationwide recall of two of its products due to concerns that the shampoos may be contaminated with a drug-resistant bacterium that could harm users. Here’s what you need to know about the shampoo recall and the bacterium at the center of it.



What’s happened?



Last week, the consumer products company, Kao USA Inc., announced a voluntary recall of two products made by its subsidiary Oribe, which makes various haircare products, including shampoos and conditioners. One day after Kao announced the recall, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) posted the recall notice on its website.



The recall covers two shampoo products that have the possibility of being contaminated with a bacterium called Pluralibacter gergoviae. There is a chance the bacteria could cause an infection in the user, which could cause severe health consequences in select individuals.



What products are recalled?



According to Kao’s recall notice, two products are being recalled. Those products are:




Oribe Serene Scalp Densifying Shampoo 8.5 oz size (UPC 840035231242) with the lot code YR010556



Oribe Serene Scalp Densifying Shampoo 33.8 oz size (UPC 840035231273) with the lot codes YR010566 and YR010576




The affected products were manufactured between February 21, 2026 and February 26, 2026.



[Photo: Oribe]



What is Pluralibacter gergoviae?



Pluralibacter gergoviae is a bacterium that is sometimes associated with cosmetic product recalls. The bacterium has resistance against many of the common preservatives found in the cosmetics and personal care industry, according to Melbec Microbiology.



While Pluralibacter gergoviae infection is rare in healthy individuals, the bacterium can cause severe infections in individuals with:




chronic illnesses



weakened immune systems



those undergoing surgical procedures




Melbec Microbiology says Pluralibacter gergoviae infections have been linked to conditions including sepsis, eye infections, respiratory diseases, and urinary tract infections.



Kao’s recall notice states, “Though Pluralibacter gergoviae bacteria pose little medical risk to healthy people, those with certain health issues such as weakened immune systems may be more susceptible to infection by the bacteria.”



Where were the recalled products sold?



According to the recall notice, the affected products were sold nationwide in the United States and Canada.



The products were sold at salons and other retailers.



What should I do if I have the recalled products?



Kao says anyone who has the recalled products should discontinue their use.



The company says you can arrange a replacement for the recalled products by contacting the Kao Professional Hair Technical Hotline at 800-333-2442 or emailing them at oribecomplaints@kao.com. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://images.fastcompany.com/image/upload/w_1280,q_auto,f_auto,fl_lossy/f_webp,q_auto,c_fit/wp-cms-2/2026/07/p-1-91569533-recalled-shampoo-bacterial-infection.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Mon, 06 Jul 2026 14:00:04 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Stop, using, this, recalled, shampoo, immediately., could, give, you, bacterial, infection</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Does Gen Z know their number?</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/does-gen-z-know-their-number</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/does-gen-z-know-their-number</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ What’s your number? This is the first question I ask when considering a new hire. I expect those I ask to know what it costs for them to live—not just to survive, but to thrive. I start with this question because it gives me a chance to understand a prospective employee’s expectations and needs, and to assess my ability to meet them.



Since 2018, I have worked with close to 2,000 high school students, providing them with paid summer work experience. Most had never considered their number before. I also mentor many young Gen Zers who are now finishing college and looking for their first full-time post-college job. One mentee, Sophia Castellanos—who just graduated from my alma mater, Claremont McKenna College—earned a degree in international relations. She asked if I might have any opportunities for her.



I was surprised when she had a ready response to my question. Numbers have been at the forefront of Sophia’s mind; she’s facing the burden of $200,000 in college loans at a 6% interest rate. Those payments alone add up to $3,000 a month, as she’s trying to pay off her debt in less than 10 years.



Sophia’s number is $130,000. But a small company like mine does not have the budget to pay that salary for an entry-level position. I offered to have a frank discussion with Sophia to explore scenarios that might serve both of our needs. She has given permission to share the crux of our discussion. Sophia agreed to share her number publicly because we both believe this transparency will help other college graduates and employers think about how they can be creative when negotiating with their number in mind. 



Here is what we discussed.



June: Thanks for sharing your number, Sophia. All I can offer you right now is $65,000 and it would be remote, with full benefits, and many weeks off each year that don’t count toward your PTO.



Sophia: At $65,000 a year, I’d have to consider living at home. That might bring financial stability, in the sense that I wouldn’t have to pay rent, but there are other stressors to living with parents. On the other hand, not living at home with the support of my parents means being on the hunt for an apartment and most likely two to three roommates.



June: Everyone I have hired works remotely. Because of this, I’ve been able to hire people at less than their “number” because they could live in a less expensive area. They also don’t have to worry about transportation costs. Time is a resource, and another way to consider savings.



Sophia: I could foresee taking a lower salary to balance out not having to request PTO for the holidays and having the flexibility of working from home to cut down on costs for transportation as well. Despite the lower salary, I would have fewer needs to accommodate in my number, like gas for a daily commute, food, and rent, bringing my number closer to $100,000. So even though I’d only be making $65,000 versus $130,000, the payout would be having more personal time and work-life balance. Our generation, Generation Z, loves time. We believe your job should be a component in your life, but it shouldn’t be your entire life.



As somebody who’s 22 and $200,000 in debt, who’s just got their degree—you’re hungry. You’re hungry for opportunity. You’re hungry for money. You’re hungry for employment. You want to prove yourself. I did not get into this much debt to not have a fulfilling lifestyle.



June: My ideal person would be somebody who would have that fire in the belly.



Sophia: I think if I’m having this honest conversation with my employer, it’s because I know I’m going to produce good work, because I’m going to put my best foot forward, and I’m going to represent the company that I’m with to the best of my abilities, because I need to. My generation is considered “too green” because they lack experience or the right degree. Yet, as someone fresh from college, I also come with new eyes, opinions, and expectations for how I plan to pursue a career that is fulfilling, thoughtful, and aims to make a difference, which is why when a company is ready to take a risk on me, I will make sure I am well worth it.



June: This is exactly why I do the work I do: It’s about the leap of faith. It’s investing in the younger generation. I feel like that’s my job as a mentor who has been successful in my company. It’s just a number. If I can afford it, I’m going to pay it, because it’s worth it to me.



June Bayha is CEO of Bayha Group. Sophia Castellanos is an alumna from Claremont McKenna College currently interning at Talos Energy. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://images.fastcompany.com/image/upload/w_1280,q_auto,f_auto,fl_lossy/f_webp,q_auto,c_fit/wp-cms-2/2026/07/FCIC-and-ILF-templates-1-3.png" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Mon, 06 Jul 2026 14:00:04 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Does, Gen, know, their, number</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>AI infrastructure without human capability is just hardware</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/ai-infrastructure-without-human-capability-is-just-hardware</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/ai-infrastructure-without-human-capability-is-just-hardware</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ The United States is in the middle of a defining conversation about AI infrastructure. But, years in, we are still asking the wrong questions. The infrastructure conversation starts and stops at chips, models, and computing power—and rarely arrives at the harder questions underneath: What should this infrastructure make possible for Americans, and are we actually building toward that?



Hardware without human capability is just hardware. The true measure of a nation’s infrastructure is what it enables people to do. By that measure, the United States has a problem. We are investing enormously in AI technology and almost nothing in the human capacity to use it. Improving what exists and building what’s needed are not competing priorities. They are both urgent.



Countries like China understand that advancing AI capabilities requires weaving its use into workforce systems, classrooms, and the fabric of daily life in ways that drive tangible outcomes. As routine work is automated, the value shifts to those who can use knowledge in context to think critically, create, and contribute. The result is a generation of citizens prepared for the AI age, not by accident, but as part of a deliberate national strategy to grow human capability at pace with technological change.



THE CAPABILITY TO USE AI WELL



The next frontier of global competitiveness will be defined by people’s capability to use AI well. Today’s kindergarten students will enter the workforce in 2037. Every year we wait to build that capability, the gap widens, and another cohort of young people moves through school struggling to develop the judgment and agency to direct their own lives. 



We lead two organizations that have spent decades working inside America’s public schools—from different angles, but towards the same goal. Digital Promise brings deep educator co-design experience, learning science, edtech integration knowledge, and a track record of driving digital transformation through global and national leadership networks. TNTP brings extensive systems expertise and implementation depth, earned working side-by-side with educators and leaders inside schools, districts, and states. TNTP ensures that rigorous content, relevant learning, and edtech’s role in coherent instruction actually sticks in practice, instead of just in theory. 



Together, we have made a concrete commitment: to reach 15 million students by 2028 with learning experiences that use AI to build the learning and judgment young people need. While a national strategy is still necessary, hitting this target would prove that scale is possible. The opportunity is to act on what we know, and to abandon scattered experimentation in favor of intentional, and coherent evidence-informed implementation.



Catching up will require intention plus speed. AI must earn its place in classrooms by enhancing educators’ abilities to teach and students’ abilities to engage deeply. It will not earn its place by replacing human judgment, creativity, or relationships. When used well, AI can serve as a force multiplier, supporting differentiated instruction, accelerating foundational skills in math and literacy, and helping connect classroom learning to real-world applications and future pathways.



THE GAP BETWEEN CLASSROOMS AND THE WORKFORCE



Oregon offers the clearest proof of what this looks like in practice. Rather than banning AI or rushing adoption, the state built a coherent pipeline from K-12 through workforce—issuing early guidance on AI literacy, partnering with local universities and companies to train students on real industry applications, and connecting local districts, higher education, and employers around shared goals. Oregon serves as a compelling case study in how intentional, cross-sector coordination can bridge the gap between classroom instruction and the evolving demands of the modern workforce.



The principles are clear. Viable models are not. That gap is exactly what this work is designed to close. Over the next three years, our partnership will focus first on proving what works. We will co-design tools with educators rather than for them, run pilots that generate real learning signals, and produce implementation guidance that makes it easier for other districts and systems to follow.



Rather than developing a proprietary playbook, we are building a public infrastructure—procurement guidance, benchmark frameworks, and field-facing research that lowers the barrier to adoption everywhere. What follows must be about scaling those insights rapidly and responsibly.



This moment requires field-building. Educators need models, guidance, and shared knowledge that help them make informed, human-centered decisions about how AI fits into their practice. This means investing in professional learning. It also means aligning systems and preserving the relational core of teaching while expanding what’s possible.



Success will not be measured simply by more students using AI. It will be measured by educators making better decisions about where AI belongs and where it doesn’t. Students should arrive at the next stage of their lives with stronger judgment, deeper skills, and a clearer sense of what they can do with both.



If we get this right, AI will be a catalyst for expanding economic mobility and redefining what is possible for millions of learners.



This challenge will not magically fix itself. We can’t leave America’s future up to chance. The question for policymakers, districts, and fellow organizations is simple: Are you with us?



Jean-Claude Brizard is president and CEO of Digital Promise. Tequilla Brownie, EdD is CEO of TNTP. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://images.fastcompany.com/image/upload/w_1280,q_auto,f_auto,fl_lossy/f_webp,q_auto,c_fit/wp-cms-2/2026/07/FCIC-and-ILF-templates-1-2.png" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Mon, 06 Jul 2026 14:00:04 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>infrastructure, without, human, capability, just, hardware</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Change the calculus of viral video</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/change-the-calculus-of-viral-video</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/change-the-calculus-of-viral-video</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ The NBA recently posted that its 2026 playoffs are “delivering their highest viewership through the Conference Semifinals in 29 years, with an average of 4.5 million viewers per game across ABC, ESPN, NBC/Peacock and Amazon Prime Video.” That is designed to sound impressive. Then you realize the viral video of a fan eating spaghetti directly behind legendary NBA commentator Mike Breen gained an estimated 20–50 million aggregate views and hundreds of thousands of likes across platforms within 24–48 hours.



This snapshot underscores just how much the rules of content are evolving. It’s no longer about watching an event, movie, or show start to finish. It’s what’s happening on the sidelines or in a specific moment—a reaction, a witty line, one small nugget that catches attention. 



In the world of traditional media though, these moments often languish in an archive somewhere, never to be seen or heard from again. This is a lost opportunity. 



CONSUMER DEMAND IS NECESSITATING CHANGE



Today, content is everywhere and it is active, in a state of perpetual motion. Viewer attention spans are short, with viewers often preferring reels, TikToks, and highlights over watching a full-length episode, movie, or game. You see it in ratings and box office challenges while the popularity of social content surges.



At the same time, archives have never been worth more. Streaming wars, brand storytelling, and sports highlights are driving value up. Additionally, organizations outside of sports and entertainment are seeking access to original, licensed, or proprietary material to train AI models (so much is now generated that training data is in short supply). In this landscape, simply owning content isn’t enough. You must know exactly what you have to use it for your own means or to sell it to someone else. Therein lies the problem. 



The most valuable content libraries in the world are the slowest to activate. Content owners have no idea of the entirety of their archives, let alone a good way to quickly call it up and share it.



As such, content owners aren’t being out-edited by other studios. They’re getting beaten by their own fans on TikTok and YouTube, using phones and a free editing app. Fans don’t have stores of assets, but they do have infinite velocity, and this trumps the content owners who can’t find the moments they need fast enough to make an impact, even if they are just trying to find a clip from the game last night. 



Why is this happening? Content owners have relied on manual tagging systems that were not built for a world where instant is everything. To maintain relevancy and leverage, it’s not just the clip from the game, show, or film that recently aired. It requires searching and pulling from decades’ worth of material in their possession. Media companies, networks, sports leagues, studios—the big players—need new tools and a fresh perspective.



EASE + ACCESS = OPPORTUNITY REALIZED



Something very specific happened when ChatGPT launched and it had nothing to do with the technology. The models had been there. Researchers knew what they could do. What changed was that any person could type something into a user interface and watch it respond. That moment of discovery made its potential real.



Video hasn’t had that moment yet, at least not on a similar scale. Content owners lack systems built around retrieving specific instances. That capability could change the calculus of content. 



Consider this. Someone asks a question in their own words. An agent searches massive archives, across multiple modalities: video, images, audio, text, and documents at once. This surfaces short, useable snippets of the most relevant content that could be rapidly deployed for audience engagement. 



Let’s build on the NBA example. What if someone used AI to search for “funny moments of fans eating or drinking behind commentators or players at a sports event?” All the clips in the NBA’s (or the network’s or team’s) library could be surfaced in seconds, rather than the hours someone would typically spend watching footage to find the right thing. 



Take it a step further. The creator asks their system to edit pulled content in different ways to make something new, interesting, and entertaining. The same archive then yields multiple stories, thereby compounding the content’s value.



Organizations could function at the cadence audiences have been waiting for, changing the relationship between an archive and audience.



A FORMULA FOR FUTURE ENGAGEMENT



The reality is this: There is more video being created right now than at any point in human history. Some of the most resonant video is sitting in archives with no AI video search, no video metadata automation, and no way to find what’s inside those archives, at the speed the audience expects. The math of who gets to tell which story changes when finding becomes free. This can impact studios, brands, sports rights holders, and independent makers. New kinds of stories become possible. Old kinds of stories get told by people who couldn’t tell them before. 



Those who figure this out will outpace the ones still waiting for the perfect tagging system. They are the ones who will define the next era of content.



Jae Lee is cofounder and CEO of TwelveLabs. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://images.fastcompany.com/image/upload/w_1280,q_auto,f_auto,fl_lossy/f_webp,q_auto,c_fit/wp-cms-2/2026/07/FCIC-and-ILF-templates-1-1.png" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Mon, 06 Jul 2026 14:00:04 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Change, the, calculus, viral, video</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>The career ladder is changing</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/the-career-ladder-is-changing</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/the-career-ladder-is-changing</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ There is a line in almost every graduation speech: The future is yours. This year, it lands differently. For many graduates, the future does not feel like a clear horizon. It feels unclear, unstable, and harder to predict than in years past.



That uncertainty surfaced at commencement ceremonies this spring where students had mixed and largely skeptical reactions to how AI opportunities were presented to them from their speakers.



Graduates are closely watching generative AI reshape writing, analysis, design, and other forms of early-career work in real time. So, when they hear broad promises about innovation and opportunity, many hear more personal questions underneath: Where do my skills fit now? Is the first rung of the career ladder still there for me?



Those questions matter because the path from college into work is being redrawn while students are still trying to step onto it. So, let’s be clear: Diplomas still matter a lot. Ambition is still important. But human judgment, practical AI skills, and the ability to adapt and learn matter more than ever.



Career readiness now depends on whether recent grads are prepared to use AI in practical and ethical ways that mirror the situations they’ll face on the job.



STUDENTS’ AI SKILLS



New Pearson and Amazon Web Services research, based on more than 2,700 learners, higher education leaders, and employers across six countries, highlights the AI readiness gap between higher education and the workforce. More than half of employers say their biggest challenge is finding graduates with the right AI skills, while only a small share of graduates say they feel highly proficient applying AI in a professional workflow.



Students may know how to open the tools, experiment with prompts, and generate answers quickly. But that is different than translating AI into a day-to-day workflow, where the harder questions are about applying practical AI-based skills that will add value to employers’ goals.



That is why this moment belongs to higher education and employers. Colleges cannot prepare students for this shift alone, and employers cannot expect new hires to arrive fully prepared.



THE PATH FORWARD



The path we need requires shared design: courses, projects, simulations, internships, and early-career experiences that reflect how AI is already changing the shape of work. Students need repeated chances to apply these tools in context, explain their choices, show where their human judgment influenced a positive outcome, and learn when not to rely on the technology at all.



Students, educators, and employers also need clearer norms. Expectations around AI use are still blurry, leaving students to guess what is acceptable while faculty worry about integrity, and managers consider workplace risk. Without clear standards, people default to their own judgment. When standards are explicit, practiced, and reinforced, trust has a chance to grow. Shared expectations around transparency, human review, and documentation can do more than reduce risk. They can help graduates carry better habits from the classroom into the workplace.



While the handoff from learning to work has rarely been easy, data shows us the growing challenges for graduates and employers are real. We’ve identified the gaps. Now it’s time for higher education, employers, and the learning community to collaborate and grab the generational opportunity to bring AI learning together with workforce needs.



Tom ap Simon is president of higher education and virtual learning at Pearson. ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Mon, 06 Jul 2026 14:00:04 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>The, career, ladder, changing</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Pubs can stay open until 5am for England vs Mexico match</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/pubs-can-stay-open-until-5am-for-england-vs-mexico-match</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/pubs-can-stay-open-until-5am-for-england-vs-mexico-match</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ By Anna Jordan on Small Business UK - Advice and Ideas for UK Small Businesses and SMEs


The government changes its mind and allows pubs in England and Wales to stay open until 5am for the England-Mexico football match
The post Pubs can stay open until 5am for England vs Mexico match appeared first on Small Business UK. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://smallbusiness-production.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2026/07/soccer-background.png" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Sun, 05 Jul 2026 14:00:10 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Pubs, can, stay, open, until, 5am, for, England, Mexico, match</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Game over for the disc: Sony to end physical PlayStation game releases from 2028</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/game-over-for-the-disc-sony-to-end-physical-playstation-game-releases-from-2028</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/game-over-for-the-disc-sony-to-end-physical-playstation-game-releases-from-2028</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ 
Sony will stop producing physical PlayStation game discs from January 2028, going digital-only in a move that ends more than 50 years of boxed video games and reshapes high street retail. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://bmmagazine.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/shutterstock_1260108922-768x512.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Fri, 03 Jul 2026 14:00:06 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Game, over, for, the, disc:, Sony, end, physical, PlayStation, game, releases, from, 2028</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Loose the grey tracksuits: Boohoo boss orders staff back to the office five days a week</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/loose-the-grey-tracksuits-boohoo-boss-orders-staff-back-to-the-office-five-days-a-week</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/loose-the-grey-tracksuits-boohoo-boss-orders-staff-back-to-the-office-five-days-a-week</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ 
Boohoo boss Dan Finley tells 1,500 head office staff to ditch the grey tracksuit bottoms and return to the office full time to test clothes and spot trends. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://bmmagazine.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/shutterstock_2278451681-768x512.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Fri, 03 Jul 2026 14:00:06 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Loose, the, grey, tracksuits:, Boohoo, boss, orders, staff, back, the, office, five, days, week</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>Formula 1 worth £12bn a year to UK economy as record Silverstone crowd delivers £100m boost</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/formula-1-worth-12bn-a-year-to-uk-economy-as-record-silverstone-crowd-delivers-100m-boost</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/formula-1-worth-12bn-a-year-to-uk-economy-as-record-silverstone-crowd-delivers-100m-boost</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ 
Formula 1 is worth £12bn a year to the UK economy, with a record British Grand Prix crowd at Silverstone set to deliver a £100m boost, new figures reveal. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://bmmagazine.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/shutterstock_2331088815-768x433.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Fri, 03 Jul 2026 14:00:06 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Formula, worth, £12bn, year, economy, record, Silverstone, crowd, delivers, £100m, boost</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>OpenAI in talks to hand Trump’s White House a $43bn stake ahead of $1tn flotation</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/openai-in-talks-to-hand-trumps-white-house-a-43bn-stake-ahead-of-1tn-flotation</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/openai-in-talks-to-hand-trumps-white-house-a-43bn-stake-ahead-of-1tn-flotation</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ 
OpenAI is in talks to hand the US government a 5% stake worth $43bn as Sam Altman courts the Trump administration ahead of a $1tn New York flotation. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://bmmagazine.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/shutterstock_2609091593-768x433.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Fri, 03 Jul 2026 14:00:06 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>OpenAI, talks, hand, Trump’s, White, House, 43bn, stake, ahead, 1tn, flotation</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>Britain suffers the sharpest wealth slump in the rich world</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/britain-suffers-the-sharpest-wealth-slump-in-the-rich-world</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/britain-suffers-the-sharpest-wealth-slump-in-the-rich-world</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ 
The average Briton is more than a fifth poorer than in 2020, the steepest wealth fall in the rich world, UBS finds. What it means for households and business. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://bmmagazine.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/shutterstock_2154627761-768x433.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Fri, 03 Jul 2026 14:00:06 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Britain, suffers, the, sharpest, wealth, slump, the, rich, world</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Private space pilots are flying orbital missions for the US Space Force</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/private-space-pilots-are-flying-orbital-missions-for-the-us-space-force</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/private-space-pilots-are-flying-orbital-missions-for-the-us-space-force</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ True Anomaly and Rocket Lab are performing Top Gun-style satellite fly-bys for the U.S. military. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Jackal_1.png" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Fri, 03 Jul 2026 14:00:04 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Private, space, pilots, are, flying, orbital, missions, for, the, Space, Force</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Thiel Capital’s Jack Selby nabs stakes in hot startups like Etched through Arizona connections</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/thiel-capitals-jack-selby-nabs-stakes-in-hot-startups-like-etched-through-arizona-connections</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/thiel-capitals-jack-selby-nabs-stakes-in-hot-startups-like-etched-through-arizona-connections</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Selby&#039;s VC firm, Copper Sky Capital, is currently raising a $300 million second fund, according to a regulatory filing. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Jack-Selby.jpeg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Fri, 03 Jul 2026 14:00:04 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Thiel, Capital’s, Jack, Selby, nabs, stakes, hot, startups, like, Etched, through, Arizona, connections</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>Politician who investigated spyware abuses had his phone hacked with Pegasus spyware</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/politician-who-investigated-spyware-abuses-had-his-phone-hacked-with-pegasus-spyware</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/politician-who-investigated-spyware-abuses-had-his-phone-hacked-with-pegasus-spyware</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ A government customer of NSO Group used the company&#039;s Pegasus spyware to hack into the phone of a European politician, who at the time was serving on an EU committee tasked with investigating the spyware industry. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/stelios-1243041618.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Fri, 03 Jul 2026 14:00:03 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Politician, who, investigated, spyware, abuses, had, his, phone, hacked, with, Pegasus, spyware</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>Last chance to apply — Startup Battlefield Australia applications close July 6</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/last-chance-to-apply-startup-battlefield-australia-applications-close-july-6</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/last-chance-to-apply-startup-battlefield-australia-applications-close-july-6</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ If you&#039;re going to apply for Startup Battlefield Australia, now is the time. Applications close July 6, and once the deadline passes, the opportunity is gone. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/54889393608_2493644601_o-2.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Fri, 03 Jul 2026 14:00:03 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Last, chance, apply, —, Startup, Battlefield, Australia, applications, close, July</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>Mark Zuckerberg tells staff that AI agents haven’t progressed as quickly as he’d hoped</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/mark-zuckerberg-tells-staff-that-ai-agents-havent-progressed-as-quickly-as-hed-hoped</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/mark-zuckerberg-tells-staff-that-ai-agents-havent-progressed-as-quickly-as-hed-hoped</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ At an internal meeting, the Meta CEO reportedly said that AI development efforts were not moving as quickly as anticipated. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/GettyImages-1968119319.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Fri, 03 Jul 2026 14:00:03 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Mark, Zuckerberg, tells, staff, that, agents, haven’t, progressed, quickly, he’d, hoped</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>4 ways to rethink your social media to build community</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/4-ways-to-rethink-your-social-media-to-build-community</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/4-ways-to-rethink-your-social-media-to-build-community</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ If your social media accounts disappeared tomorrow, would anyone miss them? I ask our team this question every year, not to challenge their work, but to assess whether we’re adding value for our audience. The brands that succeed on social media offer inspiration, education, or a genuine sense of community. They provide leadership when the world feels off course, and levity when it feels too heavy.



A strong brand should be uniquely positioned to offer a distinct perspective or value for their audience, like providing expertise or teaching a new skill. At Intrepid Travel, we think about value creation in three ways.



1. Does our audience feel inspired to travel the world through a more local lens?



2. Did they learn about a new experience, dish, or destination?



3. Did they learn how to travel responsibly?







If our audience answers yes to any of these questions, we know we’re creating value.



Encourage participation



Last year we added a fourth value proposition: does our audience feel part of a community? It is arguably the most powerful pillar in a world where people grappling with loneliness and isolation often use social media to create a sense of belonging and connection.



The challenge with creating a sense of community is that social media teams are largely set up to produce a high volume of owned content. They become a distribution channel for multiple departments and a pipeline of projects and product launches. Most brands are optimizing for output rather than participation.



When we began looked at how we could create a better sense of connection, turn followers into fans, and optimize participation, we realized we needed to rethink our social media strategy. We made these four changes.



1. Create a dedicated social content team







In the past our social media team was responsible for everything from creative to caption writing to community moderation and customer service. Now our social team is solely focused on production and posting across our owned channels. The core objective for these roles is to work within our core content pillars and ensure we have a strong social output 365 days of the year, guaranteeing every piece of content creates value for our audience while driving business outcomes. This is the core objective of most social teams, ours included, and it’s important that we provided dedicated roles and budgets to focus on this space.



2. Encourage customers to share content about us



This unlocked a plethora of content for us. Rather focus only on content created by us, we focused on content about us.  As one of the largest adventure travel companies in the world, we run 1,000 trips in over 100 countries, everything from safaris in East Africa, to food tours in Italy and treks in Patagonia. Our trips are deeply shareable, but travellers weren’t tagging Intrepid or telling their family and friends they were on an Intrepid trip because we weren’t connecting the dots between our customers and our social media team. More than 95% of people on our trips weren’t tagging Intrepid on their posts, while anecdotally we know almost all of them share their travel experiences on social. That was a gap we needed to close.



3. Create a community manager role



We hired a two-person community team under our head of social and community to focus on two primary community groups—our customers and our internal creators. Our social media manager leads the content created by us, and our community manager leads content about us.  Simply asking customers to tag Intrepid Travel when they post on social media made a difference. The community manager ramped up social moderation and built a program that incentivized travellers to share their experiences on social. Each month we give away a trip anywhere in the world to one random traveller who tags us.



This year we are on track to have over 10,000 posts by our customers about Intrepid. This matters because word-of-mouth drives at least 20 percent of our direct customer acquisition. Intrepid customers know other Intrepid customers, and when they share their experiences, it becomes low-cost marketing to highly qualified customers. Plus, consumers trust content by people more than traditional advertising. With social and community working in concert, we can drive much stronger outcomes for the business.



4. Be the facilitator not the focus



Community is something you foster, not force. Creating a community team brought us closer to our customers by ensuring every comment is responded to. We not only like customers’ posts and messages. We also engage with them to create a sense of belonging.



One of our travellers, who lives in Tasmania, Australia, but has travelled all over the world with Intrepid created a Facebook group that has grown to over 8,000 travellers. The magic of this space is that it isn’t run by us; it is run by Intrepid travellers for Intrepid travellers. We have developed a strong relationship with the group’s founders and administrators. We also have a private Facebook group where we offer trip giveaways and early access to trip releases. The group gives us tons of actionable insights and creates a genuine space for connection on our customers’ terms, not ours.



Final thoughts



Social media is in constant flux. It’s noisy and crowded, and increasingly hard to not only attract an audience but to keep it. While gaining attention is hard to achieve, creating a sense of belonging is arguably harder. We see the profound impact of community every day, both in customer engagement and business performance. We still focus on the posts by us, but increasingly, we also measure our success by the posts about us. They offer critical proof, word-of-mouth, and help grow our brand through the customers we’ve worked so hard to acquire.



Social and community are powerful drivers of growth when they work in concert. And if our social channels disappeared tomorrow, I do believe people would miss them. But these days, I believe our customers would continue the conversation without us. To me, that is the ultimate benchmark of not only social success, but community success. 



Mikey Sadowski is vice president of global communications at Intrepid Travel. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://images.fastcompany.com/image/upload/w_1280,q_auto,f_auto,fl_lossy/f_webp,q_auto,c_fit/wp-cms-2/2026/06/FCIC-and-ILF-templates-1-23.png" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Thu, 02 Jul 2026 14:00:07 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>ways, rethink, your, social, media, build, community</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>Not all company investments in education are working</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/not-all-company-investments-in-education-are-working</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/not-all-company-investments-in-education-are-working</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ At the Exceptional Women Alliance (EWA), we enable high-level women to mentor each other. As the nonprofit organization’s founder, chair, and CEO, I am honored to interview and share insights from some of the thought leaders who are part of our peer-to-peer mentoring.



In this conversation, I speak with Michelle Westfort, chief product officer at InStride, a leading provider of strategic education and skilling solutions.



Q: Before we dive in, tell us about your role at InStride and what kinds of companies you work with.



Westfort: I lead product for our organization, which means I spend my days thinking about whether employee education programs and workforce development strategies are working. InStride partners with large employers across industries to offer debt-free education to their workforce. Medtronic, for example, has more than 3,000 employees enrolled in or graduated from its education program, which has generated over $13 million in retention savings.



Q: On the surface, a lot of corporate education programs look similar. Why do results vary?



Westfort: The difference in outcomes comes down to program design. In other words, how well the program connects employee growth to business needs is almost entirely a design question. Here’s what I mean. SSM Health saw 100% retention in some of its most critical clinical roles among employees participating in its education program. That doesn’t happen by accident.



On the flip side, we see programs where employees need HR approval just to enroll, where clawback provisions deter the people who need the benefit most. Mind you, from our data, 62% of top-performing programs require no HR approval at all. That becomes a design recommendation.



Q: Why do so many people plan to use tuition assistance, and then just don’t?



Westfort: Think about what working adults are carrying. A full-time job, a commute, kids, aging parents, and schedules that shift week to week. If getting started feels complicated—options are confusing, or the path to career development isn’t obvious—it’s very easy to think, “I’ll come back to this when things calm down.”



Take Karena, an employee working toward her degree through one of our clients. In her words, “The first time I tried college, I was working three jobs and barely sleeping. I didn’t finish a single class. This time, because my employer is sponsoring my degree, I can take one class at a time. I just ended my first term with a 4.0. It’s not that I wasn’t capable before. I didn’t have the tools, time, or resources. Now I do.”



Access makes participation possible, while program design makes it likely.



Q: You’ve developed what InStride calls a Program Design Score. What is it, and where did the idea come from?



Westfort: The Program Design Score is our proprietary framework for measuring how well employee education programs drive impact. It evaluates more than 20 factors to ensure programs truly connect employee growth to each organization’s business goals.



For instance, does the program tie to business priorities? Is it easy to navigate? How clearly does it connect to career paths? How consistently is it communicated to employees? How is success measured? It’s a benchmark and a diagnostic tool.



Q: And if a program isn’t designed well, what does that cost?



Westfort: More than most leaders realize, and it shows up in ways that are easy to miss.



Consider an employee who enrolled, hit a confusing step, and quietly dropped off. Or a manager who never considered the benefit because nobody explained it to them. Or the company that saw low participation, concluded the program wasn’t working, and cut it when the real problem was the design, not the idea.



Q: How does AI fit into all of this?



Westfort: Our recent survey on AI in the workplace found that 75% of us are concerned about job displacement. That fear has a direct effect on learning. Organizations with AI-anxious workers reported just 15% AI training effectiveness, whereas companies with employees who feel optimistic about AI see three times higher training effectiveness.



The same principles of our Program Design Score apply. Design it around people, connect it to big picture goals, and make it something employees can trust.



Q: If a leader reads this and wants to know whether their tuition program is working, where do they start?



Westfort: Start with a simple question: What is your education program meant to change in your business?



You should design around that goal, whether it’s improving retention, filling hard-to-hire roles, or leadership development. Then you should evaluate whether the program is built to drive that outcome.



The real shift is from asking “Are people using it?” to “Is it delivering results?” One tells you if people are participating. The other tells you if education is working for your workforce.



Larraine Segil is founder, chair, and CEO of The Exceptional Women Alliance. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://images.fastcompany.com/image/upload/w_1280,q_auto,f_auto,fl_lossy/f_webp,q_auto,c_fit/wp-cms-2/2026/06/FCIC-and-ILF-templates-1-22.png" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Thu, 02 Jul 2026 14:00:07 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Not, all, company, investments, education, are, working</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>Why tomorrow’s leaders must study peace</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/why-tomorrows-leaders-must-study-peace</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/why-tomorrows-leaders-must-study-peace</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ When people talk about leadership education, they still picture balance sheets and strategy decks, the familiar tools of competition and growth. They rarely picture divided communities or fragile institutions, much less the slow work of rebuilding trust after conflict. Yet these are now part of the daily environment in which many organizations operate, from businesses to sports clubs to cultural institutions.



This shift matters because modern leadership no longer happens inside clean, controlled systems. A company can enter a promising market and discover that local tensions and historical grievances shape every partnership, hiring decision, and public message. A brand can launch a campaign meant to inspire and instead reveal how little it understands the people it hopes to reach. The cost of that blindness is not just reputational; it can weaken institutions and alienate key stakeholders, while intensifying instability.



That is why peace, coexistence, and social cohesion belong much closer to the center of education instead of sitting at the margins.



THE MISSING DISCIPLINE



Most advanced business and leadership education still treats peace as a niche subject, something for those in the international realm, such as diplomats and humanitarian workers. Meanwhile, public-facing leaders, including executives and entrepreneurs, make decisions with enormous social consequences. They do so often without any training in conflict dynamics or intercultural dialogue. They may not have the long memory of communities under pressure.



That gap is becoming harder to ignore. Sustainability entered mainstream business education once leaders understood that environmental risk affects operations and regulation, as well as long-term value. Social fragmentation deserves the same seriousness. A leader who can read a financial statement but cannot recognize the early signs of polarization is no longer fully prepared for the world as it is.



This does not require turning every executive into a negotiator or every founder into a peace scholar. It requires accepting a simpler truth: When organizations move through divided societies, they influence more than markets. They influence how people experience belonging and dignity. They also shape how they experience opportunity and trust.



WHERE IT ALREADY SHOWS



Some of the clearest examples appear in places once considered far from peacebuilding. Sport is one of them. A club or major event can become a shared civic language, but it can also magnify rivalry and exclusion when leaders treat identity as a tool instead of a responsibility.



Luxury offers another illustration. On the surface, it is a world of image and exclusivity, a signal of aspiration. In practice, it is also about heritage and labor, about narrative and visibility. Decisions about sourcing and representation, along with storytelling, help determine whose histories are honored. These decisions affect whose craftsmanship is valued and whose voices remain unseen.



Business diplomacy reveals the same pattern. Cross-border deals, investment strategies, and public-private partnerships are never purely technical. They interact with local power structures and political sensitivities, and they move along existing social fault lines. Leaders who understand this can build lasting bridges; leaders who do not may deepen tensions without ever intending to.



FROM COMPLIANCE TO COEXISTENCE



Many institutions already speak the language of responsibility. They produce compliance frameworks and ESG reports and make public commitments to ethics. These tools matter, but they are often designed to reduce liability rather than to build wisdom.



A coexistence mindset asks more demanding questions. Does this project strengthen trust or extract value from a fragile context? Does this partnership widen opportunity or subtly reinforce old exclusions? Does this organization understand how its presence changes the social fabric around it?



These are not abstract moral questions, but strategic ones. Leaders who understand the human terrain around their decisions are better able to anticipate backlash. They can build resilient alliances and operate with legitimacy. In volatile environments, that capacity becomes a source of advantage as well as of ethics.



WHAT EDUCATION SHOULD DO NEXT



If education is meant to prepare people for the world they are entering, then peace literacy should be treated as leadership literacy. That means bringing the study of coexistence into business, management, sports, and international programs, rather than isolating it in specialized corners.



Students should learn how narratives fuel or defuse conflict. They should understand how institutions gain or lose trust. And they should recognize how economic choices can stabilize communities or strain them further. They should examine cases where leadership helped prevent escalation, not only those that celebrate rapid growth. Ultimately, they should graduate with tools to analyze human complexity, not just operational complexity.



The leaders who will matter most in the coming decade will be defined by their ability to keep different kinds of people in the same room, working toward something shared. In a fragile century, that may prove to be the most valuable form of intelligence of all.



Manuel Freire-Garabal is a special advisor-charter member of Gioya Higher Education Institution. ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Thu, 02 Jul 2026 14:00:07 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Why, tomorrow’s, leaders, must, study, peace</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>18 leadership mistakes executives see across industries</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/18-leadership-mistakes-executives-see-across-industries</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/18-leadership-mistakes-executives-see-across-industries</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Whether your company sells software or provides hands-on accounting services, some things are the same: leadership mistakes. We’re people, after all, and we have our own motivations and understanding of how business works. The good news is that we can learn from other people’s mistakes, so we don’t make them ourselves. That’s the idea behind what you’re reading now. We asked our Fast Company Impact Council members—all insightful and successful leaders in their own right—to share wisdom they earned from making or seeing others make mistakes. No matter the industry. The 18 member responses we’re sharing here can shine a light on how to be a better leader at your organization.



1. CONFUSE PERFORMANCE WITH LEADERSHIP POTENTIAL



The leadership mistake I see most often is confusing performance with leadership potential. The person who delivers the best work isn’t always the person who can inspire, develop, and align a team. Too many organizations promote based on output, then wonder why both the new leader and their team struggle. Leadership is about creating a room full of people who can succeed without you. — Emily Kortlang, Yerba Madre



2. SILENCE IS NOT ALIGNMENT



Silence in a global organization means almost nothing, and leaders who treat it as alignment are setting themselves up for failure. People go quiet for hundreds of reasons, and agreement is rarely one of them. Cultural norms, power dynamics, the sense that a decision is already made before the meeting starts—all of it looks identical to buy-in if you are not paying attention. I run a design community of over a thousand people across multiple geographies, and the most important discipline I have developed is creating explicit structures for dissent. If you are not pushing for honest disagreement, you are not leading. You are just broadcasting. — Arin Bhowmick, SAP



3. NOT MAKING A DECISION IS STILL A DECISION



Early in my career in the Coast Guard, I learned that not making a decision is still a decision, and often the riskier one. I see the same thing with AI. Too many leaders are waiting for certainty, a better tool, or a cleaner strategy. Meanwhile, the business keeps moving. The leadership job is to decide where AI can create real value, then change how the company works to get after it. — Todd James, Aurora Insights LLC



4. NOT CONTINUALLY MONITORING WHAT CUSTOMERS VALUE



I believe that a common leadership mistake is not continually monitoring what their customers value. And acting as though it is a fixed state. What customers value is a moving target that evolves as their needs, expectations, and options change. When companies stop actively listening, they lose relevance and market share, resulting in an overall decline in trust. Leadership’s job is to continuously rediscover what delights customers. — Chris Bailey, Bailey Brand Consulting



5. TREAT LEADERSHIP AS A TOP-DOWN FUNCTION



One of the most common leadership mistakes is treating leadership as a top-down function rather than a shared responsibility. We believe the best ideas can come from anywhere, which is why we operate more like a pie than a pyramid—bringing diverse perspectives into the conversation early and often. When people are trusted to help shape outcomes, they become more engaged, innovative, and invested in the organization’s success. — Susan Watts, SPACECRAFT



6. KEEP MARKETING IN SILOS



Siloing marketing from the broader customer lifecycle is a mistake leadership makes when they focus on internal structures instead of the customer. Too often, organizations treat marketing as a front-end function focused primarily on awareness and lead generation, while the rest of the customer journey sits in separate silos like sales, customer success, and renewals. The problem is that customers don’t experience your company that way. They experience every touchpoint as one continuous journey, and when teams operate in isolation, that journey becomes fragmented and inconsistent. — Melissa Puls, Ivanti



7. MICROMANAGE TEAMS WHILE DELAYING IMPORTANT DECISIONS



The most common mistake I see is leaders who micromanage their teams while simultaneously moving too slowly on the decisions that actually matter. When leaders hover over the details, they signal that they don’t trust their people. That erodes confidence, stifles initiative and drives your best talent out the door. The irony is that while they’re focused on controlling the how, they’re often paralyzed on the what. The best leaders do the opposite. They empower their teams to own the execution and reserve their energy for the big bets. In a world moving this fast, indecision is its own decision. Micromanagement is the enemy of scale. — Meredith Rosenberg, NU Advisory Partners



8. HIRE TALENTED PEOPLE AND FAIL TO TRUST THEM



One of the most common mistakes is hiring talented people and then failing to trust them. The best leaders bring in experts who are smarter than they are in specific areas and give them the space to do what they were hired to do. My role is to connect the dots, provide support, and stay close enough to the details to help make strong decisions when needed. — Ben Jeffries, Influencer



9. CONFUSE ACTIVITY WITH PROGRESS



Leaders confuse activity with progress. They fill calendars with meetings, launch initiatives, and publish strategies, then wonder why nothing actually changes. They mistake motion for momentum. The best leaders I’ve seen, ask a deceptively simple question before committing to anything: “What would have to be true for this to matter six months from now?” Most initiatives can’t answer that. And that’s the problem. — Muneer Panjwani, Engage for Good | The Halo Awards



10. FAILURE TO SET UP PLAN



The mistake is not setting a clear three-to-five-year plan, then working backwards to show how to achieve that plan step by step. The double click to this is not linking everyone’s work to the plan (and the mission). — Alex Triplett, You.com



11. MEASURE AI TRANSFORMATION BY TOOLS AND PILOTS LAUNCHED



The pattern I keep seeing is companies measuring AI transformation by tools deployed and pilots launched, not by workflows that moved revenue, reduced cost, or improved throughput. It’s the classic vanity-metric trap. Ask one question: Which three workflows produced measurable financial impact in the last 90 days? If leadership cannot answer, the company does not have an AI program yet. It has activity and possibly a press release. — Andra Vaduva, SafeSpace



12. HAVE A VISION BEYOND THE SHORT TERM



Great leadership requires you to have a vision beyond the short term and beyond your personal incentives. Corporate systems are notorious for rewarding the short term with quarterly goals and annual review structures. Too many leaders fall into the trap of the existing structure. To affect real change and create a lasting legacy, you need a bigger picture that’s beyond yourself and even beyond your company. — Bo Zhao, Baby Gear Group



13. DISMISS EMPATHY AS A LEADERSHIP QUALITY



Empathy is often dismissed as a pleasant but optional quality in leadership. Yet it is one of the most underleveraged and powerful strategic tools in business. It reveals the truth earlier, accelerates change, invites candor, and creates an environment where people are willing to stretch, innovate, and take the risks that both business and personal growth require. Empathy is not about being agreeable; it is about being attuned. It allows leaders to ask better questions. True empathy is strength with understanding, the discipline to care enough to see clearly, and the courage to act accordingly. — Gail Zauder, AbleFly



14. COMMUNICATION PROBLEMS DISGUISED AS OPERATIONS ISSUES



Too often, leaders assume alignment exists because a strategy deck was shared or a kickoff meeting happened. In my experience, people support what they understand and can connect to their own motivations. The majority of execution problems are communication problems disguised as operations issues. — Ran Mullins, Psympl



15. MISTAKE SPEED FOR CLARITY



Mistaking speed for clarity. Under pressure, organizations often reward rapid decisions and constant responsiveness, while neglecting reflection. The result is reactive leadership. Effective leaders deliberately create cognitive space to pause, challenge assumptions, and think beyond the immediate crisis before deciding what matters most. — Ajay Tejasvi, TLEX



16. ACCOUNTABILITY FOR VISION AND BRAND



The mistake: Delegation of ultimate accountability for implementation and evangelism around vision and brand. The CEOs that reap the most benefits from these elements continually shout about them. They mandate that they are integrated into the big and small company things that matter, from objectives and key results, to all-hands rituals, to investor calls. Most do not. — Neil Barrie, 21st Century Brand



17. OVER-OPTIMIZE FOR SHORT-TERM PERFORMANCE



The leadership mistake I see most often is over-optimizing for short-term performance at the expense of long-term brand value. In a world of dashboards and instant attribution, it’s tempting to chase the next conversion, the next quarter, the next efficiency gain. But eventually you hit what I call the “consumer acquisition cost valley of death” where acquisition costs rise, growth slows, and you’ve run out of demand because you stopped investing in the brand. The best leaders understand that brand and performance aren’t opposing forces; sustainable growth requires both. — Vineet Mehra, Chime



18. DECISIONS SHOULD BE CLOSER TO THE CUSTOMER



The mistake: Not pushing decision-making closest to the customer — Larraine Segil, Exceptional Women Alliance Foundation ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Thu, 02 Jul 2026 14:00:07 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>leadership, mistakes, executives, see, across, industries</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>Can Formula 1 embrace AI without losing its soul?</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/can-formula-1-embrace-ai-without-losing-its-soul</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/can-formula-1-embrace-ai-without-losing-its-soul</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ At race speed, Liam Lawson is listening to his engineer, watching tire temperatures, managing energy use, and making decisions that can affect lap time. In Formula 1, the flow of data has become part of the driver’s workload. AI is now changing how quickly teams can process that data and turn it into usable information.



“This year with our new regulations, the energy management that we have to look after is what makes us quite physically [and] mentally tired, because there’s a lot of things we have to think about,” says Lawson, whose Visa Cash App Racing Bulls F1 team recently announced a new technology partnership with Salesforce. “There’s a lot of things that I have to manage while I’m driving and make sure that I do consistently.”



That includes tire temperatures, how much energy is used during a lap, and constant communication between the driver and pit wall.



“[There’s] a lot of communication with the team as well,” Lawson continues. “My engineer talks to me every single lap, and that’s a lot of stuff that we’re communicating and processing as well. For us, it’s all in the car.”



Formula 1 teams have always looked for even the slightest competitive advantages through engineering, strategy, and data. AI gives them another way to find those advantages. Teams are using AI tools to organize information, analyze performance, support engineering work, and prepare drivers. The technology is already affecting how teams work between races and during race weekends.



The FIA, Formula 1’s international governing body, is now developing rules for how AI can be used in the sport. Updates are expected to phase in across 2027 and 2028, with an emphasis on keeping car development led mainly by human engineers.



Much of the concern involves high-performance computing. The FIA has long regulated the computing power teams use for aerodynamics modeling, which helps determine car shape. Those rules were designed to limit a spending race in which teams could gain an advantage by investing heavily in faster and more powerful simulation tools. AI and machine learning raise similar concerns.



“The same is true with AI and ML,” says Dominic Harlow, FIA Single Seater Deputy Technical Director. “ We think that there’s a legitimate risk if we just left it completely alone, it would become a huge area of development, potential spending, and maybe [a] performance differentiation that detracts ultimately from the racing.”



The FIA’s goal is to allow useful technical development while preserving the human work that remains central to Formula 1.



“We also want to preserve some of the intellectual challenge for the teams, for the engineers, as well as for the drivers,” Harlow says. “F1’s a team sport. There’s driver skill, but there’s engineer[ing] skill, there’s operational skill, there’s even the people putting together the wind tunnel models in the aerodynamics department, the people designing new shapes to evaluate. They’re all putting their creativity and blood, sweat, and tears into doing it.”



Teams are already working with AI inside those boundaries. At Atlassian Williams, Russell Paddon serves as Driver Performance Engineer, a role that connects the team’s drivers with its engineering operation. He helps translate driver feedback into engineering requirements that can improve performance on track.



Paddon says he uses AI tools across Atlassian and the team’s latest AI partner, Anthropic, to make that work faster.



“The benefits we’ve had from some of the Atlassian toolsets [Rovo] has been more on organization and structure and how we share information internally,” he says.



In Formula 1, saving time can matter as much as adding technical capacity. Teams have limited windows between races and between sessions during a race weekend. AI can help reduce the time spent sorting notes, searching documents, and preparing information for engineers and drivers.



“ Often, time is our biggest enemy in Formula 1 because the season moves on so quickly,” Paddon says. “We’re always struggling to stay ahead of the curve and in between races trying to learn [from] the last weekend and then take it forward to the following weekend is really quite important. That’s where AI has kind of shortened that timeframe.”



For Paddon, who joined Williams at the end of the 2024 season, one of the most useful applications has been historical analysis. Instead of manually searching through old reports and studies, he can query the team’s existing knowledge base for relevant patterns.



“Within the Atlassian suite of tools, [I can] query [a] database,” Paddon says. “For example, I might want to look at a trend in driver performance, which was two years ago. It can dig through all the information we have and pull out any relevant projects, reports, studies, any analysis that’s been done, and [it] just brings it all into one convenient place. So, that’s been a big game changer.”



AI has also changed how he handles technical questions. In the past, answering a new performance question often meant writing code or building a tool for a specific use case. Paddon says that work now takes less time.



“A lot of my time was previously spent either having to code and write tools to be able to answer some questions, and I’d spend probably 60% of the time actually trying to do that and get the data that I was interested in and not really adding value to the team because I’m just having to keep writing new scripts every weekend for a different use case,” Paddon admits. “[I was] not really adding value to the team because I’m just having to keep writing new scripts every weekend for a different use case. That’s completely [almost] disappeared in my experience, where I can very quickly state what I need from a dataset, and I can query it. I can [then] get Claude to either write me a tool or I can very quickly just ask it to return the results.”



That gives Paddon more time to focus on what the data means for the driver, the engineers, and the car. He says the tools have improved his relationship with drivers and helped him collaborate more closely with other engineers, including on car development.



Drivers are also using AI outside the garage. Lewis Hamilton recently appeared in a campaign for Perplexity Computer that showed him using the tool before a race to create an interactive box-breathing guide and curate a music playlist.



“Perplexity is a product that helps him find those extra percentage point improvements to help him be the best in every part of his life,” says Ryan Foutty, Perplexity’s VP of Business. “He’s also separately talked about publicly how he’s using it around his training and running: what should he eat before and after [and] his recovery plan. What you see in the content, it ultimately comes from real use cases that Lewis has had.”



Lawson, who is also a music fan, says he uses AI tools to refresh his playlists and learn how to play music. “It’s just something that’s a lot easier now than it was probably 10 years ago,” he says. “For me, music’s a way to switch off, reset, and unwind more than anything.”



These uses vary widely. Some help teams organize internal information. Some support technical analysis. Some help drivers prepare or unwind. Together, they show why the FIA is trying to define AI’s role before it becomes harder to govern.



As teams adopt more AI tools, Formula 1 will need to decide which uses fit the sport’s competitive structure and which could distort it. Teams will keep looking for small gains. The FIA is trying to preserve the role of human skill, engineering judgment, and operational decision-making.



“It’s just the philosophy of maintaining a sporting element rather than machines racing machines,” says FIA’s Harlow. ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Thu, 02 Jul 2026 14:00:07 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
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<item>
<title>Income Tax Self Assessment payments through PAYE</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/income-tax-self-assessment-payments-throughpaye</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/income-tax-self-assessment-payments-throughpaye</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ By Anna Jordan on Small Business UK - Advice and Ideas for UK Small Businesses and SMEs


Income Tax Self Assessment payments through PAYE is coming in April 2029. In the meantime, you can contribute to the government consultation
The post Income Tax Self Assessment payments through PAYE appeared first on Small Business UK. ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Thu, 02 Jul 2026 14:00:05 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Income, Tax, Self, Assessment, payments, through PAYE</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Guide to small business funding Northern Ireland</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/guide-to-small-business-funding-northern-ireland</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/guide-to-small-business-funding-northern-ireland</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ By Tim Adler on Small Business UK - Advice and Ideas for UK Small Businesses and SMEs


Small business funding in Northern Ireland – a guide to what is currently on offer
The post Guide to small business funding Northern Ireland appeared first on Small Business UK. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://smallbusiness-production.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2019/02/Belfast-City-Hall.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Wed, 01 Jul 2026 14:00:15 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Guide, small, business, funding, Northern, Ireland</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Burnham right to put devolution front and centre</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/burnham-right-to-put-devolution-front-and-centre</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/burnham-right-to-put-devolution-front-and-centre</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ 
BusinessLDN&#039;s John Dickie backs Andy Burnham&#039;s devolution drive, warning London has fewer powers than New York, Paris, Manchester and the West Midlands. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://bmmagazine.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/shutterstock_1511593328-768x433.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Mon, 29 Jun 2026 14:00:06 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Burnham, right, put, devolution, front, and, centre</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Bosses ‘can’t afford to pay themselves the minimum wage under Labour’</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/bosses-cant-afford-to-pay-themselves-the-minimum-wage-under-labour</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/bosses-cant-afford-to-pay-themselves-the-minimum-wage-under-labour</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ 
Rising employment costs are forcing thousands of owner-managers to absorb the bill themselves, squeezing profits, pensions and hiring alike ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://bmmagazine.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/shutterstock_2745015319-768x432.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Mon, 29 Jun 2026 14:00:06 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Bosses, ‘can’t, afford, pay, themselves, the, minimum, wage, under, Labour’</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Brexit has left Britain more prone to runaway inflation, says Bank of England chief economist</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/brexit-has-left-britain-more-prone-to-runaway-inflation-says-bank-of-england-chief-economist</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/brexit-has-left-britain-more-prone-to-runaway-inflation-says-bank-of-england-chief-economist</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ 
Bank of England chief economist Huw Pill says Brexit has left Britain exposed to &#039;self-sustaining&#039; price rises, making inflation harder to tame and squeezing SMEs. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://bmmagazine.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/shutterstock_558163009-768x529.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Mon, 29 Jun 2026 14:00:06 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Brexit, has, left, Britain, more, prone, runaway, inflation, says, Bank, England, chief, economist</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>British Business Bank puts UK scale&#45;ups in ‘fifth gear’ as direct investing tops £600m</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/british-business-bank-puts-uk-scale-ups-in-fifth-gear-as-direct-investing-tops-600m</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/british-business-bank-puts-uk-scale-ups-in-fifth-gear-as-direct-investing-tops-600m</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ 
The British Business Bank has invested more than £600m into 50-plus UK scale-ups, doubling its direct equity activity in nine months as it targets £400m a year. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://bmmagazine.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/shutterstock_1550079674-768x432.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Mon, 29 Jun 2026 14:00:06 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>British, Business, Bank, puts, scale-ups, ‘fifth, gear’, direct, investing, tops, £600m</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Reed draws up plans for a state&#45;owned housebuilder that could borrow on the cheap</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/reed-draws-up-plans-for-a-state-owned-housebuilder-that-could-borrow-on-the-cheap</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/reed-draws-up-plans-for-a-state-owned-housebuilder-that-could-borrow-on-the-cheap</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ 
Steve Reed is drawing up plans for a state-owned housebuilder that could borrow more cheaply than private firms, in a radical bid to lift Britain&#039;s stalling housing numbers. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://bmmagazine.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/shutterstock_2323065829-768x433.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Mon, 29 Jun 2026 14:00:06 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Reed, draws, plans, for, state-owned, housebuilder, that, could, borrow, the, cheap</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>California law targeting loud streaming ads takes effect on July 1</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/california-law-targeting-loud-streaming-ads-takes-effect-on-july-1</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/california-law-targeting-loud-streaming-ads-takes-effect-on-july-1</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Streaming ads might be getting a lot quieter. ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Mon, 29 Jun 2026 14:00:04 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>California, law, targeting, loud, streaming, ads, takes, effect, July</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Ford rehires ‘gray beard’ engineers after AI falls short</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/ford-rehires-gray-beard-engineers-after-ai-falls-short</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/ford-rehires-gray-beard-engineers-after-ai-falls-short</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ &quot;Mistakenly we thought that by just introducing artificial intelligence ... that would produce a high-quality product.” ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/GettyImages-2255983122.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Mon, 29 Jun 2026 14:00:04 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Ford, rehires, ‘gray, beard’, engineers, after, falls, short</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Pocket raises $11M in bet on rising demand for AI note&#45;taking devices</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/pocket-raises-11m-in-bet-on-rising-demand-for-ai-note-taking-devices</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/pocket-raises-11m-in-bet-on-rising-demand-for-ai-note-taking-devices</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Pocket sells a $129 credit card-shaped puck, which sticks to the back of your phone, and promises unlimited recordings, transcriptions, and to-do items. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Pocket-gadget.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Mon, 29 Jun 2026 14:00:03 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Pocket, raises, 11M, bet, rising, demand, for, note-taking, devices</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Omen AI’s plan to optimize data centers is all wet</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/omen-ais-plan-to-optimize-data-centers-is-all-wet</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/omen-ais-plan-to-optimize-data-centers-is-all-wet</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Omen AI raised a $31 million Series A to monitor chip coolant and stop bacterial outbreaks in data centers. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/OmenAI-CEO.Founder_Zach-Laberge.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Mon, 29 Jun 2026 14:00:03 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Omen, AI’s, plan, optimize, data, centers, all, wet</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Flipper Device’s new Busy Bar is a customizable display for productivity</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/flipper-devices-new-busy-bar-is-a-customizable-display-for-productivity</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/flipper-devices-new-busy-bar-is-a-customizable-display-for-productivity</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Flipper Device&#039;s new Busy Bar will retail for $249. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/mounted-screen-may26-16bit-2.jpeg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Mon, 29 Jun 2026 14:00:03 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Flipper, Device’s, new, Busy, Bar, customizable, display, for, productivity</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>June full moon 2026: Look up to see the glorious ‘Strawberry Moon,’ but don’t expect it to appear red</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/june-full-moon-2026-look-up-to-see-the-glorious-strawberry-moon-but-dont-expect-it-to-appear-red</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/june-full-moon-2026-look-up-to-see-the-glorious-strawberry-moon-but-dont-expect-it-to-appear-red</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ In 1967, John Lennon introduced the world to a whimsical escape in the Beatles’ hit song “Strawberry Fields Forever.” Based on childhood memories, Lennon’s song dealt with themes of identity and belonging. 



Similarly, as June comes to a close, the sky will feature its own fanciful offering with the “Strawberry Moon,” giving the world a collective moment of zen as the moon appears full for the next few days, including tonight.



Here’s everything you need to know about June’s full moon, which hits its peak on Monday, June 29, at 7:56 p.m. ET. 



Why is it called a Strawberry Moon?



June’s full moon gets its name from Native American traditions, not the color of the orb. 



Strawberries typically ripened around its occurrence. Because of this, tribes such as the Algonquin, Ojibwe, Dakota, Lakota, Chippewa, Oneida, and Sioux used the moniker. 



Publication of the Old Farmer’s Almanac helped immortalized this, cementing the name for future generations. Other names include the Rose Moon, Blackberry Moon, and Hot Moon.



How does the Summer Solstice impact the Strawberry Moon?



In 2026, the Strawberry Moon is also the first full moon after the Summer Solstice. This event impacts the moon’s arc, making it low and short. Because the sun is high and the moon is low, the orb appears more amber in color due to the atmosphere.



What is a micromoon?



June’s Strawberry Moon is also a micromoon. This means the full moon takes place when the moon is near its furthest point away from Earth. 



The distance causes the moon to appear smaller and dimmer, but there is an exception to this rule. Even though the Strawberry Moon is a micromoon, the optical illusion of moonrise will make it look grandiose. 



The moon looks bigger when it is near the horizon. According to NASA, this is because our brains compare it to the smaller nearby objects, such as trees and buildings. By comparison, the moon is bigger. 



The Strawberry Moon is a living contradiction. It’s micro, but because of its low arc, it actually appears bigger during moonrise. 



How best to view the Strawberry Moon



Use this handy calculator from Time and Date to discover what time moonrise and moonset occur in your location.



If you can’t make moonrise, peak illumination takes place tonight (Monday, June 29, 2026) 7:56 p.m. ET. The moon will also appear full for a couple days surrounding the event.



It’s human to look for wonder. Lennon offered a musical moment of peaceful escape while the Strawberry Moon continues to shine on in the night sky every June. ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Sun, 28 Jun 2026 14:00:07 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>June, full, moon, 2026:, Look, see, the, glorious, ‘Strawberry, Moon, ’, but, don’t, expect, appear, red</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>The housecleaning is free—but it will cost you your most intimate data</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/the-housecleaning-is-freebut-it-will-cost-you-your-most-intimate-data</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/the-housecleaning-is-freebut-it-will-cost-you-your-most-intimate-data</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ In our digital age, services and devices are constantly gathering our data. Exactly how that information is harvested and used, and how transparent a company is about those practices, may not always be obvious.



Shift, an AI training startup, is turning that bargain into a business model.



In return for a free housecleaning, customers allow Shift to collect data filmed by a camera headset on the (human) cleaner’s head. That footage is then licensed out to develop and train AI-powered household robots.



Owned by German data research lab MicroAGI, founded in 2025, Shift began by hiring contractors to don its camera caps and record their own household tasks. That type of data collection has been occurring in the U.S., as well as in Germany, Turkey, and other European countries, for months. (Shift won’t ultimately make the robots informed by this data.)



[Photo: Shift]



Recently Shift launched its cleaning services—offering the free cleanings as a way to get its data collectors into other people’s homes—in New York City as well as across Europe. The company has pitched its cleaning work as a side hustle for college students and the “best work from home side gig.”



“We are very up front,” says Anton Poletaev, cofounder of MicroAGI and co-CEO of Shift. “Yes, we are getting your data, but by doing so you’re finally getting rewarded for it, and you’re not being lied to.”



But even with that honesty, people may not understand exactly what it means to give away this data. Shift’s structure also raises questions about what this AI future means for workers who are involved in training their own replacements.



The need for diverse data



With the expansion of AI, tech leaders are painting a picture of a future filled with humanoid robots. Already, there are robots that can run, flip, dance, and work in warehouses. 



To get to a world where humanoid robots can flawlessly wash our dishes, fix our faucets, and even cook us a meal, tech companies need lots and lots of training data. 



For Shift, it’s important that this data is both high quality and diverse, meaning captured from multiple angles, and in all different home layouts, with different faucets, sinks, and so on. 



“If you were trained to perform a job or a task in one environment only, you might struggle to perform it in different environments,” Poletaev says. “If you’re getting exposed to different lighting conditions, to different kitchen types, different living rooms, different taps that you’re repairing, then you’re able to generalize across different kinds of environments.”








Shift’s camera headset captures a first-person view of the cleaner’s hands; this perspective, called egocentric video, allows for better understanding of the ways hands interact with objects, which helps inform robotics.



Shift isn’t the only company collecting such data: Startups like Claru, Luel, Micro1, Kled AI, and others offer contractor roles for people to either film themselves doing tasks like folding laundry and taking out the trash, or to annotate such datasets. Shift began this way, too, and then its contractors “expressed interest in recording more, and contributing more,” Poletaev says, like by going into others’ homes.



Shift calls these data collectors “operators,” and says they’ve been vetted and trained. In New York, the startup also partners with existing local cleaning services, though it did not name specifics.



Globally, Shift says it has collected hundreds of thousands of hours of data, via dozens of thousands of operators. It has more than a thousand operators in the U.S., and the “vast majority” of those recordings are currently happening in New York. 



De-identified data



To Poletaev, Shift’s format is a “win-win” for customers and cleaners, who are classified as contractors rather than employees. Customers are compensated with a free cleaning, he says, while cleaners are “getting paid extra for wearing our device.” (According to Shift, cleaners earn $20 an hour with “no fixed schedule.”)



The company also says it takes steps to protect customer privacy by blurring names, faces, screens, ID cards, and other personal information before the footage is incorporated into datasets. Under Shift’s platform terms, customers may withdraw consent and request deletion until a recording has been de-identified and made available to others, after which removal is limited.



[Photo: Shift]



Harry Kilberg, Shift’s U.S. general manager, says de-identification can happen within hours or up to a week after the data is collected, depending on processing time, and that the company is improving how it communicates that window. The data is used for MicroAGI’s internal robotics research and may also be shared with “select robotics companies and frontier AI labs,” though Shift says it is never shared publicly or used for advertising.



Potential downstream harms



By being open about this transaction, Poletaev says people have the opportunity to be compensated for data that for the past decade or two has just been used “without their regard.”



What’s missing, though, is a broader understanding of how valuable this data is, and how it could be used. 



“The average person doesn’t think about the downstream harms,” says Veena Dubal, a law professor at the University of California, Irvine, who researches what she calls “precarious work,” including platform workers, algorithmic management, and regulations around AI and work. “And those downstream harms might not even be apparent to us for many, many years, and maybe they’ll be invisible.”



Again, Shift says this data isn’t used for advertising. It’s not the only company collecting such data, though, and not every company may behave the same, or their privacy policies may not be clear. 



Claru’s privacy policy says it may collect personal information, and that it may share it with multiple third-party vendors. Kled’s notes that if another entity purchases the content you submit, it may disclose your biometric information, but that it does not “sell, lease, trade or otherwise profit from your biometric information.”



[Photo: Shift]



The normalization of capturing first-person perspective home data could open the door to allowing companies to sell this data to brokers or retailers. That could, down the line, lead to personalized pricing for things these companies know you have in your home. 



Of course there are many other implications to having someone recording inside your home.What if, for example, Dubal asks, the video captures something unlawful, like drugs? At some point, the police may be able to subpoena companies like Shift as part of a criminal investigation. 



“There’s just so much about us in our homes that we don’t even think about that when this becomes available, either to the public or private sector, kind of willy-nilly, it’s anyone’s guess how it could be used,” she says. 



To Dubal, the fact that this data is being collected inside the home changes the stakes. Tech companies already gather information through phones, laptops, smart TVs, and other internet-connected devices. 



But homes are still “culturally, socially, legally this private space,” she says. Filming inside that space captures data those other devices often cannot: how people move, how they live, and what they do when they are not on a phone or computer.



“It’s a radical shift,” she says. “There is something dramatic about the idea that even this space is open to the market.”



Dubal says she doesn’t find promises of anonymity compelling. In fact, there’s still debate about what, exactly, de-identification means. Even the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation vaguely defines “personal data” as “any piece of information that relates to an identifiable person.” 



“Firms will always say, ‘Oh, well, we’re not using your name,’” Dubal says. “But the reality is that they have so much data that they can figure out who you are without using your name.”



What happens to future workers?



Those concerns deal with the data collected inside customers’ homes. But Shift is also collecting data about the cleaners it hires, and how they work.



That information could eventually help replace those workers. Or, Dubal warns, it could be used to “create software that ultimately controls workers in new ways,” by setting efficiency standards, consolidating jobs, and pushing people to work harder and faster for less, “so housecleaning becomes like an Amazon warehouse.”



Ai-jen Poo, president of the National Domestic Workers Alliance, echoed that concern in a statement to Fast Company: House cleaners’ labor, she said, should be “respected and protected, not treated as background inputs for someone else’s technology product.”



To be sure, the tech industry’s promises of democratization have a mixed record. Uber promised broader access to transportation, but it also displaced taxi drivers, generated data now used to train self-driving systems, and eventually raised prices beyond its early VC-subsidized days. 



So will household robots actually be affordable and accessible to all? That’s far from clear. To Dubal, it’s also the wrong goal. “It’s not that we all need servants,” she says. “It’s that we all need jobs that pay well.”



Poletaev sees it differently, saying the need for the kind of data Shift collects is “born out of the desire to be in a world where everyday goods and services are abundant and accessible.” In the meantime, he insists, his company will “make sure people are compensated throughout this transition.”



The bargain, then, is that people can get paid for their data now, while helping build a future that may ultimately need less of their labor.


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<pubDate>Sun, 28 Jun 2026 14:00:07 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>The, housecleaning, free—but, will, cost, you, your, most, intimate, data</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>Does the World Cup favor democratic or autocratic nations?</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/does-the-world-cup-favor-democratic-or-autocratic-nations</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/does-the-world-cup-favor-democratic-or-autocratic-nations</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ It is often said—by FIFA President Gianni Infantino and many others—that soccer is the “most democratic sport.” That sentiment is based in large part on the sport’s global appeal and long history of popularity across class and racial lines.



But whether that axiom applies to the quadrennial World Cup tournament is a different question.



On occasions in the past, authoritarian governments have used the tournament to boost their regimes. Italian fascist leader Benito Mussolini did so when Italy hosted the 1934 World Cup, manipulating the games and handpicking officials to boost the chances for the home team, who went on to beat democratic Czechoslovakia in the final. Likewise, in 1978 Argentina’s dictatorship used both the tournament’s hosting and the national team’s victory to “sportswash” the brutal repression that had accompanied the military junta’s seizure of power.



In each of those notable cases, the team of an authoritarian country won the tournament. But as a political scientist and soccer enthusiast, I was curious to see how countries in authoritarian versus democratic countries had fared in the World Cup over time.



So in the run-up to this year’s tournament, I looked back through the records of the 22 past World Cups; I also cast an eye over the expanded 48 countries represented at the 2026 tournament.



For the World Cups between 1930 and 2018, I turned to Polity data, which looks at how power is concentrated in the political system. On a minus 10 to plus 10 scale, democracies are those with a Polity score of plus 6 and plus 10; autocracies have a minus 6 to minus 10; and anocracies—countries that are “partially free”—have a rating of minus 5 to plus 5.



Many scholars recommend using multiple datasets when analyzing regime type. And for the World Cups from 1974 to 2026, I also used rankings by the nonprofit Freedom House, which produces an annual index of the state of civil and political rights in every country in the world. They measure countries as free, partly free, and not free.



What the data shows



In the first few World Cup tournaments, free countries did not perform particularly well.



From 1930 to 1962, there were two authoritarian champions (Italy in 1934 and 1938), three anocratic winners (Uruguay in 1930 and 1950 and Brazil in 1962) and two democratic winners (West Germany in 1954 and a pre-dictatorship Brazil in 1958).



When it comes to finalists, in the first 32 years, there were six authoritarian countries represented in the final games, four anocracies, and a mere four democracies.



But since 1966—the first World Cup meeting between two democracies, with England prevailing over West Germany—there have been only two authoritarian winners: Brazil in 1970 and Argentina in 1978—the last autocratic country to win the tournament.



The 10 winning countries from 1982 to 2018 have all been democracies. Further, all runners-up since 1962 have been democracies, too.



Looking at the entire 1930 to 2018 period, Polity data shows that 71.4% of participants in final games have been democracies, with less than 20% of finalists being autocratic nations and 9.5% being anocracies.



When using the Freedom House index, I found that free states have made up 23 of the 26 final game participants from 1974 onward, or 88% of the total, and 11 champions.



There’s only been one partly free winner—Brazil in 1994—and one not free winner, Argentina in 1978.



How does this compare with worldwide numbers of regime type over time? In 1930, the year of the first FIFA tournament, Polity data shows that only 21.7% of the world’s countries were democratic, with 44.6% being authoritarian and 33.7% deemed anocratic. By 1966, democracies fell to 20.8%, while authoritarian countries made up 40.8% of the world. During the 2018 World Cup, the world’s countries deemed to be democracies had risen to almost 60, using Polity data, while authoritarian states slipped to 12%. The rest are either anocratic or “transitioning.”



Democracy—a winning formula?



But what about the 2026 World Cup participants? Of the 48 countries represented, 43.1% are “free” nations, according to Freedom House. The “not free” group comprised 26.7% of all countries. This is a near reversal of 1974, the first World Cup year for which Freedom House data is available. Back then, free nations made up 27% of countries in the world, while not free countries comprised 41.4% of world’s nations.



And democracies are tipped for success in 2026. The top 11 FIFA-ranked countries are all “free.” For the top 19 countries, all but 2—Morocco and Ecuador—are free, and they are ranked by Freedom House as “partly free.” Of the lowest-ranked 11 countries in the tournament, more than half are unfree.



Countering the sportswashing



The data shows that democracies are overrepresented at the World Cup and also tend to do better than authoritarian nations—but does that matter? I would argue yes.



At a time when autocratic nations use sport as a propaganda tool, and FIFA seemingly turns a blind eye to the human rights records of hosting nations, the fact that democracies tend to prevail on the pitch feels like a victory for free nations.





John A. Tures is a professor of political science at LaGrange College.



LaGrange College undergraduates Jenna Pittman, Daniel Cody, and Eli Rogers contributed to the research on which this article is based.



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


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<pubDate>Sun, 28 Jun 2026 14:00:07 +0000</pubDate>
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<item>
<title>Social media marketers are stuck in a burnout trap. Here’s how to break free</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/social-mediamarketers-are-stuck-in-a-burnout-trap-heres-how-to-break-free</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/social-mediamarketers-are-stuck-in-a-burnout-trap-heres-how-to-break-free</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ It’s almost midnight when the phone buzzes—a client text, a comment that needs a reply, a trend that will be stale by morning. For the people who run brand accounts on social media, the workday never really ends.



We’re marketing researchers who study digital and social media wellness and teach the students who go on to fill these jobs. In a study published in September 2025, we interviewed social media marketers in the United States, Ireland, India, Germany, and Australia and saw a profession quietly running on empty: passionate, creative people who are mentally drained by jobs that rarely turn off.



The numbers back them up. More than 40% of social media marketers plan to leave their jobs within two years, and nearly half say they get little support from supervisors for their mental health, according to industry research.



A job you can’t log off from



Plenty of jobs are stressful. What makes this one different is that it’s especially difficult for social media marketers to escape the source of their stress.



The platform is simultaneously their workplace, their tool and often their leisure environment. The same apps they use to create content, monitor engagement, and respond to customers are often the same ones they turn to for entertainment, social connection, and news. As a result, the source of their stress is rarely something they can simply walk away from.



There’s also the time involved. The average person spends about 2.5 hours a day on social media, according to global data. The marketers we interviewed often spend easily double or triple that, because they are both producers and consumers of content.




  @emthesaint i am SO grateful to work with the clients I am right now, truly. This conversation just needs to be had and normalized because from first hand experience, how much your brain is in taking and the pressure to perform is overwhelming on a good day. #socialmediamanagement #smm #communitymanager  ♬ original sound – saint em   




“It is truly 24/7, 365. You have to post on holidays, weekends,” is how one manager described her schedule. “There is always a clock ticking somewhere.”



The strain is starting to show publicly. When Zaria Parvez, Duolingo’s social media manager and designer of its famous owl logo, left the job, she spoke openly about virality, anxiety, and mental health. Even platform industry guides now treat burnout as a fact of the profession.



That matters because decades of research link heavy social media use to anxiety, lower self-esteem and reduced well-being. Researchers usually frame these as consumer problems, and the standard advice is to take a break or do a digital detox. But what happens when scrolling is your job description?



You can’t detox from your paycheck.



The comparison trap and paradox of tools



Our study looked at several forces that drive this burnout. Two stood out.



The first is the comparison trap. To stay current, marketers spend their evenings “doom scrolling” their personal feeds, hunting for trends to use at work. The line between relaxing and researching disappears—and so does the line between watching other creators and measuring yourself against them.



One marketer told us that scrolling felt like “constantly being told I was doing things wrong”—whether at work, where every post invited comparison with competitors, or at home, where lifestyle content told her she was failing there, too. Social comparison is one of the best-documented ways social media erodes self-esteem, and these workers get a double dose: personal and professional, all day, every day.



  










View this post on Instagram























A post shared by Milou Pietersz | Social Media Manager | Marketing Agency (@miloupietersz)






The second force is what we call the paradox of tools. The industry’s go-to fix is technology: Scheduling platforms let marketers queue posts weeks ahead, and artificial intelligence tools draft captions and reports. These shortcuts help—one of our interviewees called content tools “the primary method for social media managers to combat burnout”—but they also come with a catch.



For example, scheduled posts can backfire when the news turns grim, so someone still has to watch the feed. Algorithms reward constant and fresh engagement, so marketers worry that leaning on AI makes their content sound robotic, a real risk when authenticity is what makes brands work on social media. The tools promise freedom, yet the “always-on” expectation remains untouched.



It’s not a willpower problem



It would be easy to dismiss these as problems of people who need better screen-time habits. Our research suggests otherwise.



Marketers in our study had jobs that bundled strategy, design, customer service, and crisis management into one poorly defined, often junior, position. Stepping back has a direct cost, because time offline shows up in the metrics they’re judged on.



This is also a cultural problem. Americans see round-the-clock availability as dedication to the job. But other countries have pushed back: France, Italy, Spain, and Ireland, for example, have written a “right to disconnect” into law, while Australia recently extended its own version to small-business employees.



A member of our own research team, Kiley Pettit, has experienced this firsthand while working as a full-time traveler. She has balanced clients across multiple countries and time zones, with the workday often stretching from early mornings to late night. The boundaries between work and personal time have become increasingly blurred, she told us.



Addressing the burnout



For the marketers themselves, our findings suggest two ways out of the burnout trap.



First, it’s better to experiment than copy: Disconnection is personal, and what restores one person, such as a radical break, may backfire for another who does better with small habit shifts, such as response windows or boundary scripts for clients (“I reply between 9 and 5”).



Second, we recommend using technology deliberately: Schedule proactively instead of chasing trends in real time, and treat AI as an assistant for routine tasks, not a replacement for the creative work that makes the job worth doing.



That said, individual habits and better tools only go so far. Burnout is built into the job—so the job must change.




  @emilyfromkansassss you’re not lazy, you’re just burnt out from consuming and creating nonstop. so just create even when it’s not perfect &amp; take the pressure off yourself ??#socialmedia #contentcreator #dallascontentcreator #relatable #socialmediamanager  ♬ original sound – emily from kansas   




The deeper fix is structural. In our view, employers need to define social media roles more clearly and staff them realistically, set communication charters with real response windows, and make digital fatigue a normal topic during check-ins rather than a confession. Turnover costs one-half to two times a worker’s salary, so supporting these employees makes good business sense as well.



Social media marketing burnout isn’t a personal failing or ordinary job stress. It’s the predictable result of working in an environment where the workplace, the tools of the trade, and often leisure time all occupy the same space. The brands profiting from that attention, and the employers hiring for it, must decide whether the people behind the screens get to log off, too.





Kelley Cours Anderson is an assistant professor of marketing at the College of Charleston.



Ashley Hass is an assistant professor of marketing at the University of Portland.



Breanne A. Mertz is an assistant professor of marketing at the University of Tampa.



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


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<item>
<title>The office doesn’t fix loneliness at work</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/the-office-doesnt-fix-loneliness-at-work</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/the-office-doesnt-fix-loneliness-at-work</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ People often see the return-to-office debate in black-and-white: In-person work fosters connection, while remote work breaks it down. In 2025, 37% of companies required office attendance, up from 17% the year before. Companies like Amazon, JPMorgan, and AT&amp;T have all issued similar mandates. The idea is simple: Bring people back to the office, and connection and engagement will follow.



But the facts show something else. MIT Sloan Management Review looked at the data and found that these mandates hurt employee engagement and lead to more people leaving, especially top performers. Eight out of 10 companies said they lost talent because of return-to-office rules. The research also found no improvement in financial results from these mandates.



So organizations are losing their best people and not gaining anything in return.



The implicit promise of the office



In our Ally Mindset™ Profile research with over 200 professionals, we asked a simple question: have you felt disconnected from your work in the past month? 



The results surprised me and challenged the usual way of thinking. Office-based workers reported the highest disconnection at 35%. Mostly remote workers came in at 31%. And fully remote workers, the group supposedly most at risk of isolation, reported the lowest at just 21%.



The people commuting to the office every day, sitting among their colleagues, were the most likely to feel disconnected. The people working from home were the least.



The question is: why?



Going to the office comes with an unspoken promise. The commute, dressing for work, and arranging childcare or a dog walker all suggest that something meaningful is waiting for you. You expect to be with people.



But when you get to the office, half your team is on Zoom and the rest are focused on their own work with headphones on. The open floor plan, meant for collaboration, now feels like a library where talking seems out of place. Meetings still happen on screens, even when people are just a few feet apart, because “it’s easier for the remote folks.”



The promise of connection is broken. And having a promise broken often feels worse than never having one at all.



When you work remotely, you understand that connection takes effort. It means scheduling calls, sending messages, and checking in on purpose. There’s no false hope that just being near others will create connection. Remote workers who feel connected have built those relationships through effort. Office workers, on the other hand, are still waiting for the building to make it happen.



Going to work depends on location, but feeling isolated or disconnected does not.



Connection theater vs. real connection



Many organizations haven’t created real connection. Instead, they have created “connection theater”—it looks like people are together, but there’s no real substance.



Mandated office days, open floor plans, Pizza Fridays, and “collaboration spaces” where no one actually collaborates are all examples of structural solutions to a relationship problem. These efforts put people in the same room but don’t give them a real reason to connect beyond just doing their work.



In my book Cultivate: The Power of Winning Relationships, I talk about four types of relationships: Ally, Supporter, Rival, and Adversary. In many return-to-office settings, I see mostly Supporters—people who are friendly and polite but interact only on a surface level. They say good morning and nod in meetings, but no one is having the deeper conversations that build trust: What are you working toward? What’s hard right now? What do you need from me? How are you doing, really?



You don’t need an office for these conversations. You need intention. The real difference isn’t between office and remote work. It’s between making time for real connection and just hoping relationships will happen on their own.



What to do instead



Here’s what you can do: Talk to the people who are in the office. Really! You came in, and maybe half your team isn’t there, but half of another team is—and you might not have spoken to them before. Take this chance. Take off your headphones, walk over, and say hello. Ask what they’re working on. See how your work and theirs might connect, because you’re all part of the same company.



Practice what I call scheduled spontaneity: Make time for the casual conversations that used to happen naturally at the watercooler or in the elevator, but won’t return on their own. Set aside five minutes at the start of meetings for real conversation. Leave a little time between calls so people can chat.



If you work remotely, set up a coffee chat like you would if you shared a kitchen with your coworkers. Even a quick two-minute chat can help someone feel noticed and valued, and make their workday feel more meaningful—no matter if their commute is across the house or across town. You don’t need a rule to connect. You just need to notice the people around you.



Here’s what organizations can do: Measure real connection, not just attendance. The WHO Commission on Social Connection says connection isn’t about being physically close, but about how people relate and interact—the quality of relationships, not just how often people meet. Still, most organizations use office attendance as a stand-in for connection and engagement. That’s like thinking a gym membership means you’re fit. If you want to know if your team is truly connected, ask better questions. Instead of “How many days were you in the office?” ask “Who do you rely on for your success, and who relies on you?” Instead of “Did you attend the team meeting?’ ask “When was the last time someone at work asked how you were doing and really listened?” These answers will tell you more about your team’s health than any attendance report.



Presence isn’t connection. It isn’t even productivity



Your team doesn’t need more required office days. They need someone who notices when they’re quiet. They need a leader who asks how they’re doing and waits for an honest answer. They need coworkers who see connection as essential, not just something extra.



Being present isn’t the same as being connected. It never was. The sooner leaders understand this, the sooner they’ll build teams people want to join, no matter where they work.



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<media:keywords>The, office, doesn’t, fix, loneliness, work</media:keywords>
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<title>Best business bank accounts for sole traders</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/best-business-bank-accounts-for-sole-traders</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/best-business-bank-accounts-for-sole-traders</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ By Anna Jordan on Small Business UK - Advice and Ideas for UK Small Businesses and SMEs


We’ve rounded up some of the best business bank accounts created with sole traders in mind 
The post Best business bank accounts for sole traders appeared first on Small Business UK. ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Sat, 27 Jun 2026 14:00:26 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Best, business, bank, accounts, for, sole, traders</media:keywords>
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<title>4 ways small businesses can become more environmentally friendly</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/4-ways-small-businesses-can-become-more-environmentally-friendly</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/4-ways-small-businesses-can-become-more-environmentally-friendly</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ By Jon Sumner on Small Business UK - Advice and Ideas for UK Small Businesses and SMEs


The post 4 ways small businesses can become more environmentally friendly appeared first on Small Business UK. ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Sat, 27 Jun 2026 14:00:23 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>ways, small, businesses, can, become, more, environmentally, friendly</media:keywords>
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<title>Top Card and Contactless Readers for UK Small Businesses (Fees, Features &amp;amp; Reviews)</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/top-card-and-contactless-readers-for-uk-small-businesses-fees-features-reviews</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/top-card-and-contactless-readers-for-uk-small-businesses-fees-features-reviews</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ By Anna Jordan on Small Business UK - Advice and Ideas for UK Small Businesses and SMEs


We’ve compared UK card machine providers to see which is the best for taking in-person payments
The post Top Card and Contactless Readers for UK Small Businesses (Fees, Features &amp; Reviews) appeared first on Small Business UK. ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Sat, 27 Jun 2026 14:00:21 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Top, Card, and, Contactless, Readers, for, Small, Businesses, Fees, Features, Reviews</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>Elon Musk loses his trillionaire crown as SpaceX and Tesla shares slide</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/elon-musk-loses-his-trillionaire-crown-as-spacex-and-tesla-shares-slide</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/elon-musk-loses-his-trillionaire-crown-as-spacex-and-tesla-shares-slide</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ 
Elon Musk Net Worth Falls Below $1tn as SpaceX, Tesla Slide ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://bmmagazine.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/shutterstock_2651725745-768x432.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Thu, 25 Jun 2026 14:00:06 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Elon, Musk, loses, his, trillionaire, crown, SpaceX, and, Tesla, shares, slide</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>Around $125bn of ships and cargo lie stranded in the Gulf as Hormuz crisis ushers in a ‘new maritime order’</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/around-125bn-of-ships-and-cargo-lie-stranded-in-the-gulf-as-hormuz-crisis-ushers-in-a-new-maritime-order</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/around-125bn-of-ships-and-cargo-lie-stranded-in-the-gulf-as-hormuz-crisis-ushers-in-a-new-maritime-order</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ 
Around $125bn of vessels and cargo is stranded in the Gulf as the Strait of Hormuz stays shut. Allianz warns of a &quot;new maritime order&quot; and higher risk premiums. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://bmmagazine.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/shutterstock_2750893585-768x432.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Thu, 25 Jun 2026 14:00:06 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Around, 125bn, ships, and, cargo, lie, stranded, the, Gulf, Hormuz, crisis, ushers, ‘new, maritime, order’</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>Next prime minister ‘must back business, not tax it’, warns chambers chief</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/next-prime-minister-must-back-business-not-tax-it-warns-chambers-chief</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/next-prime-minister-must-back-business-not-tax-it-warns-chambers-chief</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ 
British Chambers of Commerce boss Shevaun Haviland tells the next prime minister to back firms, not tax them, warning that further levies would be a &quot;road to ruin&quot; for growth. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://bmmagazine.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/The-British-Chambers-of-Commerce-boss-Shevaun-Haviland.jpg-768x433.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Thu, 25 Jun 2026 14:00:06 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Next, prime, minister, ‘must, back, business, not, tax, it’, warns, chambers, chief</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>Apple lifts iPad and MacBook prices by up to 25% as AI memory crunch bites</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/apple-lifts-ipad-and-macbook-prices-by-up-to-25-as-ai-memory-crunch-bites</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/apple-lifts-ipad-and-macbook-prices-by-up-to-25-as-ai-memory-crunch-bites</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ 
Apple has lifted iPad and MacBook prices by as much as 25% after warning it can no longer absorb the soaring cost of memory chips driven by the AI data centre boom. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://bmmagazine.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/shutterstock_2448816843-768x512.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Thu, 25 Jun 2026 14:00:06 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Apple, lifts, iPad, and, MacBook, prices, 25, memory, crunch, bites</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>How Much Consumer Data Can SMBs Keep</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/how-much-consumer-data-can-smbs-keep</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/how-much-consumer-data-can-smbs-keep</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ 
For UK small businesses, the question of how long to hold onto customer data is not as simple as picking a number and sticking with it. There is no single fixed retention period under UK GDPR. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://bmmagazine.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/shutterstock_2456532537-768x512.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Thu, 25 Jun 2026 14:00:06 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>How, Much, Consumer, Data, Can, SMBs, Keep</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>Europe is pushing back on Washington’s chip war</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/europe-is-pushing-back-on-washingtons-chip-war</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/europe-is-pushing-back-on-washingtons-chip-war</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ As ASML CEO Christophe Fouquet told TechCrunch in May, what China can currently buy are older-generation deep ultraviolet tools — gear first shipped about a decade ago — the same machines the MATCH Act would now put off-limits. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/ASML-GettyImages-2258043611.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Thu, 25 Jun 2026 14:00:04 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Europe, pushing, back, Washington’s, chip, war</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>Adobe acquires image and video enhancement tool maker Topaz Labs</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/adobe-acquires-image-and-video-enhancement-tool-maker-topaz-labs</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/adobe-acquires-image-and-video-enhancement-tool-maker-topaz-labs</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Adobe said that it will integrate Topaz Labs&#039; tools across its apps. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/GettyImages-2162453288.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Thu, 25 Jun 2026 14:00:03 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Adobe, acquires, image, and, video, enhancement, tool, maker, Topaz, Labs</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>Amazon ups India bet with fresh $13B AI infrastructure investment</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/amazon-ups-india-bet-with-fresh-13b-ai-infrastructure-investment</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/amazon-ups-india-bet-with-fresh-13b-ai-infrastructure-investment</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Amazon’s latest India investment comes as global tech companies race to expand AI infrastructure in the country. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/GettyImages-844105434.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Thu, 25 Jun 2026 14:00:03 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Amazon, ups, India, bet, with, fresh, 13B, infrastructure, investment</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>Cellebrite said it cut off Russia, but Russia used its tools anyway</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/cellebrite-said-it-cut-off-russia-but-russia-used-its-tools-anyway</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/cellebrite-said-it-cut-off-russia-but-russia-used-its-tools-anyway</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Security researchers found evidence that Russian authorities hacked the iPhone of a political opponent using a phone-unlocking device made by Cellebrite, even after the company said it would stop selling to Putin’s government. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/cellebrite-ufed.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Thu, 25 Jun 2026 14:00:03 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Cellebrite, said, cut, off, Russia, but, Russia, used, its, tools, anyway</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>Trump admin proposes axing brake pedal requirement for AVs in a boost for Tesla</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/trump-admin-proposes-axing-brake-pedal-requirement-for-avs-in-a-boost-for-tesla</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/trump-admin-proposes-axing-brake-pedal-requirement-for-avs-in-a-boost-for-tesla</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ The Department of Transportation wants to remove the brake pedal requirement for vehicles &quot;designed to be driven exclusively by automated driving systems.&quot; ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/Cybercab_80.jpeg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Thu, 25 Jun 2026 14:00:02 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Trump, admin, proposes, axing, brake, pedal, requirement, for, AVs, boost, for, Tesla</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>Tip culture is more confusing than ever. Here’s how much people are actually tipping for a meal in 2026</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/tip-culture-is-more-confusing-than-ever-heres-how-much-people-are-actually-tipping-for-a-meal-in-2026</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/tip-culture-is-more-confusing-than-ever-heres-how-much-people-are-actually-tipping-for-a-meal-in-2026</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ It’s no secret that tipping culture in the U.S. is getting out of hand. 



For the past several years, tipping has turned into a hot button topic on social media, which abounds with stories of patrons confronted with the dreaded tablet touchscreen for everything from self-serve fast food to Airbnb stays. 



This phenomenon, dubbed “tip creep,” can make it difficult to discern what a normal tip even looks like in 2026.



But a new report from the restaurant point-of-sale (POS) company Toast might shed some light on the issue. 



Toast, which served approximately 171,000 U.S. restaurant locations as of late March, has collected quarterly data on tip transactions at restaurants across the U.S. since 2018. 



Its June report on the first quarter of 2026 shows that, despite the insidious effects of tip creep, there are still some clear social benchmarks in place for appropriate restaurant tipping. Here’s what to know:



How much do I really need to tip for food?



Tip creep may mean that customers are faced with a barrage of unexpected choices at waxing appointments, froyo spots, and drive-throughs, but Toast’s data shows that, when it comes to restaurant tips, most guests follow a similar tipping playbook.



Toast splits its data into two categories: full-service restaurants, or FSRs (your typical sit-down experience) and quick-service restaurants, or QSRs (industry lingo for fast-food). 



Per this year’s report, tipping has held relatively steady across both types for the past two years, hovering at an average of 18.8%. 



Generally, full-service guests tip several points higher than quick-service guests, a gap that Toast data has noted since 2018. 



In Q1 2026, the average FSR tip was 19.3%, which represents a jump from a seven-year low of 19.1% in Q2 2025. 



Meanwhile, the average QSR tip was 15.8%, a figure that’s remained flat for six consecutive quarters. 



Overall, QSR tips have noticeably declined from their all-time high of 16.6% in 2018, which may reflect consumers’ fatigue with tipping for less service-heavy interactions. 



Per Toast’s report, “research suggests guests value personal interaction and are less inclined to tip for automated or counter-service experiences, which helps explain the persistent gap between QSR and FSR tip rates.” 



The report’s data sets out a clear rule of thumb: At a standard sit-down restaurant, tipping between 18-20% is the norm, while quick service spots will expect roughly 14-16%. 



Do I need to tip for takeout?



While Toast’s data shows that standard tips still apply at restaurants, there are a few exceptions to the rule. 



If you’re a regular at a restaurant, chances are good that you might be willing to dole out some more extra cash. 



In a Toast survey of 1,500 U.S. adults who dine out or order in at least twice a month, 77% said they tip more at restaurants where they’re regulars, with 37% of those leaving an extra 10-15% on top of their usual gratuity.



Meanwhile, takeout is one area where tipping drops off. Some guests don’t tip at all for takeout, Toast found, and those who do tip an average of 13.7%—more than a full two points less than the average at a quick service joint. 



Tipping culture may also vary based on where you live. 



In Delaware, for example, the average tip tops out at 22.1%, while Californians are only tipping 17.3% on average and New Yorkers are hovering around 18.7%.



As Fast Company wrote back in 2024, tip creep can be a frustrating phenomenon, but it doesn’t mean that you should cut back altogether—especially when service workers, like restaurant wait staff, continue to depend on income from tips. 



“Do you need to tip someone who punched in your order on the touchscreen? No, because that’s something you could’ve done yourself if given the opportunity,” Andrew Herzog, a financial planner in Plano, Texas, told Fast Company at the time. “But do you need to tip someone who cuts your hair, delivers your pizza, or serves your table? Probably yes. The tip should apply to something you were not able or willing to do yourself.” ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Wed, 24 Jun 2026 14:00:09 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Tip, culture, more, confusing, than, ever., Here’s, how, much, people, are, actually, tipping, for, meal, 2026</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>This startup is using AI to close gaps in women’s healthcare</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/this-startup-is-using-ai-to-close-gaps-in-womens-healthcare</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/this-startup-is-using-ai-to-close-gaps-in-womens-healthcare</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ When Kelly Lacob was 14 years old, her mother was diagnosed with ovarian cancer. After 14 years in remission, the cancer returned during Lacob’s first year at Stanford Graduate School of Business. She graduated and moved home to care for her mother full time, becoming her primary caregiver. The experience gave her a close view of the gaps in women’s health care.



“Even when we have access to great quality healthcare, we still have so many questions of what should we be asking the doctor,” says Lacob. “‘How do we know about the latest emergent research?’ ‘What else are you doing to support my mother’s health?’”



The experience also pointed Lacob to a larger problem. Women’s health remains underfunded and underrepresented, with research suggesting that it accounts for only 6% of private health care investment. That gap has slowed scientific progress and left many women struggling for diagnoses.



[Photo: Xella Health]



Two and a half years ago, the biotechnology executive Adriana Dantas approached Lacob with an idea for a company that could enable earlier detection of conditions affecting women. Lacob was immediately interested.



“Over the next few months, what we ended up doing was, we looked at my mother’s healthcare journey and we said, ‘What are the ways where women’s health could be dramatically improved?&#039;” says Lacob.



Lacob, Dantas, and Jesus Ching, another biosciences executive, went on to found Xella Health, which launched Wednesday morning and is available in every state except New York and New Jersey. The company hopes to expand into those states by 2027.



An AI-powered precision health platform built exclusively for people with XX chromosomes, Xella Health is backed by $4.7 million in funding from investors including Precursor Ventures, Capital F, and Ulu Ventures.



“[We wanted to] make precision healthcare as accessible to as many women as possible, which right now, is so exclusive and elite,” Lacob says.



Xella Health uses proprietary artificial intelligence to analyze billions of data points across clinical inputs and multilayered biomarkers, with the goal of detecting more than 130 conditions that affect women. The platform most commonly looks for polyendocrine metabolic ovarian syndrome, perimenopause, and endometriosis.



The AI operates in two main areas: diagnostics and generative AI. On the diagnostic side, it maps relationships between biomarkers, identifies what may be regulating them, and analyzes how they affect other biomarkers in the body. Rather than focusing on individual biomarkers, as traditional lab tests often do, Xella Health looks at what the entire biological system is indicating. The platform analyzes approximately 100 biomarkers, along with health history, life stage, and female-specific reference ranges.



“By moving beyond isolated lab values and toward whole-system pattern recognition, we’re helping make women’s healthcare earlier, more personalized, and more precise,” says Lacob. “We then layer on clinical guidelines, peer-reviewed research, and expert-developed care pathways to provide personalized recommendations designed to support earlier detection and more informed care.”



On the generative AI side, patients can enter previous health data into the system, which can integrate and interpret that information, then present it back to patients in a way that helps explain what it means.



Xella Health says it complies with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, and patient data is never sold to third parties or used for advertising. Members can request deletion of their account and all associated data at any time.



The company’s broader goal is to provide women with clarity through advanced testing paired with longitudinal care, a model that is typically available only through exclusive and expensive practices.



Although Xella Health has a 15,000-person waiting list, prospective members are encouraged to sign up. Members begin by completing a questionnaire and scheduling a blood draw at a local partner lab. Results are processed through Xella Health’s dry lab—which is federally certified and accredited by the College of American Pathologists—then translated into a personal health care roadmap. Members are paired with a certified telehealth physician to review findings and determine immediate clinical action plans.



An annual membership costs $499 and is eligible for Flexible Spending Accounts and Health Savings Accounts. The membership includes access to the health platform, testing, personalized reports with clinical and integrative health recommendations, and asynchronous messaging with a dedicated clinical team. Additional screenings are available for an extra cost, including deeper fertility and perimenopausal insights, as well as individual timelines.



“One of the things that’s just really exciting is healthcare for women is going to look so different in the next 12, 24 months,” Lacob says. “Making sure that women don’t feel gaslit anymore, that they have a trusted community, trusted source of truths where they can go to.”



 ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Wed, 24 Jun 2026 14:00:09 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>This, startup, using, close, gaps, women’s, healthcare</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>Micron earnings preview: Here’s what Wall Street expects as all eyes turn to MU stock and the memory chip rally</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/micron-earnings-preview-heres-what-wall-street-expects-as-all-eyes-turn-to-mu-stock-and-the-memory-chip-rally</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/micron-earnings-preview-heres-what-wall-street-expects-as-all-eyes-turn-to-mu-stock-and-the-memory-chip-rally</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Micron Technology Inc will release its third-quarter earnings after the markets close on Wednesday. 



Despite fears of an AI bubble, Wall Street predicts positive results. Micron could report $35.5 billion in revenue—a 281% jump year-over-year (YOY), according to a Bloomberg analyst consensus cited by Yahoo Finance. 



Its DRAM (memory) and NAND (storage) revenues are expected to grow 288% and 256% YOY, respectively. 



Micron is also predicted by Bloomberg’s analysts to have earnings per share of $20.39, about a 967% increase YOY. However, consensus estimates cited by CNBC expect EPS to range from $20.17 to $20.42.



Micron had a successful year



The earnings report will come just two days after Micron’s shares (Nasdaq: MU) reached a new all-time high of $1,213.56. The stock price is up over 722% YOY and $268 year-to-date (YTD).



Shares of Micron have occasionally dropped alongside those of other chip manufacturers due to fears about over-investment in AI and the infrastructure that powers it.



Just yesterday, shares dropped more than 13% in response to concerns about a stock bubble in South Korea, following a large selloff and losses for both Samsung’s and SK Hynik’s shares. 



In premarket trading on Wednesday, Micron’s stock seemed to be on track to recover some of those losses, up 4% as of this writing. 



More broadly, chipmakers like Micron and Sandisk Corporation (Nasdaq: SNDK) have seen their stocks rise tremendously in response to the growing demand for—and shortage of—memory chips, a necessity for AI data centers. 



Monday’s share price spike came as Micron and Anthropic announced an agreement for the chipmaker to invest in Anthropic, have an enterprise adoption of Claude across the company, and supply memory and storage to Anthropic—among other points.



Boise, Idaho-based Micron is expected to release its third-quarter earnings after the closing bell on Wednesday, June 24, 2026. ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Wed, 24 Jun 2026 14:00:09 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
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<item>
<title>Most businesses are measuring AI wrong, and it’s costing them</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/most-businesses-are-measuring-ai-wrong-and-its-costing-them</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/most-businesses-are-measuring-ai-wrong-and-its-costing-them</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Amazon just shut down its AI leaderboard tracking internal token usage. The gamification was driving more AI-powered tasks but fewer useful results. “Please don’t use AI just for the sake of using AI,” the Amazon SVP instructed his staff.



Amazon is not alone. Uber blew past its 2026 artificial intelligence coding budget in just four months. Google’s CEO, Sundar Pichai, revealed that the company’s token usage has grown sevenfold in a year. Many companies including Meta, Microsoft and Salesforce are reportedly pushing to limit token usage.



It’s unsurprising what happens when you set the wrong incentives: You get the wrong results. You get what you measure.



Hype, these days, is invariably accompanied by jargon. In an attempt to demonstrate corporate progressiveness, boardrooms and C-suites across America scramble to keep up with modern phraseology. They’re throwing around terms like tokens per query, cost per inference, GPU hours, and even model utilization. “Tokens are the new oil for the enterprise” is the latest slogan; tokens are apparently the new measure for AI adoption and productivity, the proof of AI discipline, the real unit for driving AI ROI. “Tokenmaxxing” has topped the charts for weeks.



It all sounds smart, but it’s the wrong conversation.



While companies get better at measuring AI spend, many still have no idea whether their AI investments are driving increased revenue, creating faster decisions, reducing friction, or creating any tangible and measurable advantage at all. With all the token math, they know what the intelligence costs, but not whether the intelligence is useful. And, very quickly, the AI ecosystem is running into unsustainable economics.



The dashboards are getting better; returns are not. Word counts and lines of code are proliferating, but none of that trickles down to the bottom line.



Cost Obsession is Short-sighted



After a decade of cloud overspending, finance leaders are now homing in on everything AI. They’re tracking, to the cent, cost per workload, cost per transaction and utilization rates.



The truth? AI is expensive. Deloitte reports that AI is one of the fastest-growing investments in technology budgets. And, AI inference costs alone are consuming more and more of organizational budgets. But, you cannot confuse costs of managing AI with the value it brings. That is where you lose sight of the potential of the technology.



McKinsey found 64% of organizational leaders believe AI is enabling their innovation, but only 39% can show any impact on operational earnings at the enterprise level. Other studies show basically the same results: heavy investment, limited return, massive experimentation, little in the way of scale.



Basically, companies are becoming increasingly sophisticated about spending, but are still uncertain about what they are getting in return.



Cloud Spending is Not a Comparable Model



With cloud economics, leaders basically believed that spend and return move in tandem. More business activity meant more compute, more IT spend. Not always a perfect map, but the logic was intuitive. AI is a different beast.



A small number of tokens can create an insight that helps close a major account, resolve a high-risk customer issue, or speed up an impactful decision. In contrast, there will be times when a much larger token bill produces mediocre output of no use—‘AI slop’ loves tokens. Same category of spend, but a totally different result.



The question for leaders becomes: What are you optimizing around?



Tokenomics determines efficiency of spend, but are you addressing the willingness to spend in the first place?



Are you looking at how many tokens you can afford, when you should be looking at how this new system is going to help you make consequential decisions?



Are you focused on how your tokens are billed, when you should be looking at how you can execute better, faster actions at scale?



When AI leaders overemphasize token consumption, they end up optimizing around the path of least resistance, not the path of greatest value. That’s at the center of the AI scaling challenge we see today. 



Measure AI Like This



The companies that show the most maturity in AI are those that separate the cost of intelligence from the value of intelligence. The first category is tokenomics. This is where financial discipline belongs. Companies should absolutely manage model mix, caching, batching, routing, infrastructure choices, and vendor economics to know exactly what AI costs and where waste is coming from. It’s the fine-tuning of the cost of adoption.



But, the second category is where ROI exists, and is missing in too many organizations. This is where leading organizations ask a series of questions around their AI investment:




Did AI reduce cost per resolved customer issue?



Did it speed up lead qualification or shorten sales cycles?



Did it improve throughput in a high-friction workflow?



Did it reduce human hours?



Did it expand margins in a specific process or function?



Did it help the company move faster than competitors in meaningful ways?




These are the questions that determine whether AI is actually working. The question needing to be asked is not, “How do we reduce token spend?” but, “For every dollar we spend on intelligence, how much business value are we creating?” It is holistic business value, business case fundamentals, and it represents the heart of adoption. Executives pursuing AI ROI need to begin with questions of value, results, and impact, not cost.



What business outcomes can we directly attribute to AI spend? Which deployments are becoming more valuable over time, not simply cheaper? Where are we overmanaging costs in ways that suppress performance? What proprietary advantage is this investment building in data, workflow, or execution? If token prices rise or fall sharply, what changes for us strategically and what doesn’t?



This line of questioning shifts leaders’ thinking to look at AI as a business system, not simply a technology tool.



What really matters



Tokenomics matters, but don’t let it distract you from the bigger question of whether AI is worth the investment of revenue and time for your use cases. The companies that win will not be the ones who save every penny possible from their AI bills. They will be the ones who use AI to enable faster decisions and lower friction, and create better customer outcomes, all which will compound over time.



You don’t want to be an organization with AI leader charts and magnificent dashboards, and perfectly optimized spending on AI tools that have driven a net zero return. Be the organization that uses AI to its fullest potential, as an overarching business system, delivering tangible stakeholder value.



 ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Wed, 24 Jun 2026 14:00:09 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Most, businesses, are, measuring, wrong, and, it’s, costing, them</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>Wendy’s stock price today: WEN shares surge as the fast food burger chain reunites Potbelly’s dynamic duo</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/wendys-stock-price-today-wen-shares-surge-as-the-fast-food-burger-chain-reunites-potbellys-dynamic-duo</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/wendys-stock-price-today-wen-shares-surge-as-the-fast-food-burger-chain-reunites-potbellys-dynamic-duo</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Many fast food chains have had a rough several years. 



Inflationary pressures are prompting consumers to cut back on discretionary spending, which in turn is leading to declining foot traffic. Declining foot traffic puts pressure on profits, which doesn’t do a company’s stock price any favors.



But today, one fast food chain’s stock price is surging. The Wendy’s Company (Nasdaq: WEN) is seeing its shares skyrocket a day after the burger chain announced it was yet again hiring an executive who had recently worked at Potbelly Sandwich Works. 



And this executive has a deep history with Wendy’s new CEO, too. Here’s what you need to know.



What’s happened?



Yesterday, Wendy’s announced the appointment of a new chief financial officer and chief strategy officer for the company. That officer is Steve Cirulis, who previously held the same two roles at the fast casual sandwich chain Potbelly.



Cirulis will replace Wendy’s most recent CFO, Ken Cook, immediately, while Cook will stay on in an advisory role at the company to help with the transition until departing in July. 



Cook himself had previously held a dual role at Wendy’s. Until last month, he was also the interim CEO of Wendy’s, a position he stepped into in February 2024 after Wendy’s previous CEO left to become the CEO of The Hershey Company.



But last month, Wendy announced that Cook was stepping down as interim CEO to make way for the company’s new CEO, Bob Wright. 



And like Cirulis, Wright was also an alumnus of Potbelly Sandwich Works. Wright was Potbelly’s CEO, and Cirulis was Potbelly’s CFO. The two execs worked together at Potbelly in their same Wendy’s positions from 2020 to 2025.



While it’s not surprising that an executive would hire a former colleague, what happened with Wendy’s stock price after the announcement of Cirulis’s appointment is a bit more unexpected.



Why is Wendy’s stock surging?



As of the time of this writing, Wendy’s stock price is currently up over 24% in premarket trading to $7.78 per share.



While investors do pay attention to new CFO appointments, it’s rare that a new CFO announcement causes a company’s stock price to surge so much.



So why then is WEN stock surging?



That surge is likely less due to the fact that Wendy’s just got a new CFO. Rather, it’s that its new CFO has a very successful history working with the company’s new CEO.



You see, at Potbelly, Wright and Cirulis were a sort of dynamic duo. During their tenure together at the sandwich chain, the pair massively boosted Potbelly’s fortunes—and its stock price.



Under their leadership, Potbelly’s average unit volumes saw double-digit growth and, most importantly to investors, a 500% increase in Potbelly’s share price.



Potbelly is no longer publicly traded. It was sold to convenience store chain RaceTrac Inc. for around $566 million in October



Investors are no doubt hoping the duo can work the same magic for Wendy’s as they did for Potbelly.



And Wendy’s needs some magic.



As Fast Company previously reported, the chain is currently shuttering hundreds of stores as part of a turnaround effort. 



The closures are meant to cut costs and stabilize profits. Last year, due to many of the same economic pressures other fast food chains are facing, Wendy’s revenue fell 3.1% to $2.18 billion, with net income declining 15.1% to $165.1 million.



Wendy’s shares skyrocket on CFO news



Needless to say, investors are hoping Wendy’s new hires can turn around the company’s fortunes and stock price. As of this morning, shares are already up over 24% in premarket.



But WEN shares will have to raise significantly more to reverse the company’s most recent stock price declines. 



As of yesterday’s close of $6.26, WEN shares had declined more than 24% since the year began. And over the past 12 months, WEN shares were down over 49%.



 ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Wed, 24 Jun 2026 14:00:09 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Wendy’s, stock, price, today:, WEN, shares, surge, the, fast, food, burger, chain, reunites, Potbelly’s, dynamic, duo</media:keywords>
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<title>11 HR software tools ideal for small businesses</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/11-hr-software-tools-ideal-for-small-businesses</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/11-hr-software-tools-ideal-for-small-businesses</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ By Anna Jordan on Small Business UK - Advice and Ideas for UK Small Businesses and SMEs


Streamlining your HR functions is key to running an efficient business. Here are seven HR software tools that can help you do just that
The post 11 HR software tools ideal for small businesses appeared first on Small Business UK. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://smallbusiness-production.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2022/05/HR-pic.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Wed, 24 Jun 2026 14:00:06 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>software, tools, ideal, for, small, businesses</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>Is it too hot to work? Your questions answered</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/is-it-too-hot-to-work-your-questions-answered</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/is-it-too-hot-to-work-your-questions-answered</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ By Anna Jordan on Small Business UK - Advice and Ideas for UK Small Businesses and SMEs


We answer the questions about how to manage your workplace amid heatwaves, how hot is too hot and whether your employees can refuse to work
The post Is it too hot to work? Your questions answered appeared first on Small Business UK. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://smallbusiness-production.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2026/06/2149456754.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Wed, 24 Jun 2026 14:00:06 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>too, hot, work, Your, questions, answered</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>How to start your own coffee shop</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/how-to-start-your-own-coffee-shop</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/how-to-start-your-own-coffee-shop</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ By Anna Jordan on Small Business UK - Advice and Ideas for UK Small Businesses and SMEs


Fancy opening your own coffee shop? We explain what you need to know about cash flow, hiring staff and of course, finding the right coffee 
The post How to start your own coffee shop appeared first on Small Business UK. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://smallbusiness-production.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2021/06/Coffee-shop-owner-scaled-1.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Wed, 24 Jun 2026 14:00:05 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>How, start, your, own, coffee, shop</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>What the next Labour leader could mean for small businesses</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/what-the-next-labour-leader-could-mean-for-small-businesses</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/what-the-next-labour-leader-could-mean-for-small-businesses</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ By Anna Jordan on Small Business UK - Advice and Ideas for UK Small Businesses and SMEs


Prime minister Keir Starmer has announced his resignation. We outline what the next potential Labour leader wants for small businesses
The post What the next Labour leader could mean for small businesses appeared first on Small Business UK. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://smallbusiness-production.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2026/06/53836009867_63fd6cdffe_b.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Mon, 22 Jun 2026 14:00:12 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>What, the, next, Labour, leader, could, mean, for, small, businesses</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>‘Tax break tart’: how hospitality plans to game the summer VAT cut on children’s meals</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/tax-break-tart-how-hospitality-plans-to-game-the-summer-vat-cut-on-childrens-meals</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/tax-break-tart-how-hospitality-plans-to-game-the-summer-vat-cut-on-childrens-meals</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ 
Pubs and restaurants are devising &quot;enterprising&quot; menus to exploit the summer VAT cut on children&#039;s meals, branding the Treasury&#039;s scheme &quot;laughable&quot; as the sector demands a permanent 10% rate.
Read full article → ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://bmmagazine.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/shutterstock_2610028011.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Sat, 20 Jun 2026 14:00:05 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>‘Tax, break, tart’:, how, hospitality, plans, game, the, summer, VAT, cut, children’s, meals</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>Weather trumps the World Cup at the till, says Tesco as growth cools</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/weather-trumps-the-world-cup-at-the-till-says-tesco-as-growth-cools</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/weather-trumps-the-world-cup-at-the-till-says-tesco-as-growth-cools</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ 
Tesco warns the weather matters more to grocery sales than home-nation World Cup wins, as a rainy spring and Middle East jitters halve UK growth to 1.8%.
Read full article → ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://bmmagazine.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/shutterstock_1973377670.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Sat, 20 Jun 2026 14:00:05 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Weather, trumps, the, World, Cup, the, till, says, Tesco, growth, cools</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>Can AI chatbots really pick stock market winners?</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/can-ai-chatbots-really-pick-stock-market-winners</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/can-ai-chatbots-really-pick-stock-market-winners</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ 
ChatGPT, Claude and Grok are now being put to work picking shares. From a $10,000 trading test to Man Group&#039;s dealing desk, can AI really beat Wall Street?
Read full article → ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://bmmagazine.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/shutterstock_2664049343.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Sat, 20 Jun 2026 14:00:05 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Can, chatbots, really, pick, stock, market, winners</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>UK unemployment falls to 4.9% as pay growth beats forecasts before Bank of England verdict</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/uk-unemployment-falls-to-49-as-pay-growth-beats-forecasts-before-bank-of-england-verdict</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/uk-unemployment-falls-to-49-as-pay-growth-beats-forecasts-before-bank-of-england-verdict</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ 
UK unemployment fell to 4.9% in the three months to April as pay growth outpaced forecasts, handing the Bank of England fresh data hours before its rate decision.
Read full article → ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://bmmagazine.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/shutterstock_2696350519.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Sat, 20 Jun 2026 14:00:05 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>unemployment, falls, 4.9, pay, growth, beats, forecasts, before, Bank, England, verdict</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>Aldi banks on £370m store splurge as discounters keep eating the big four’s lunch</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/aldi-banks-on-370m-store-splurge-as-discounters-keep-eating-the-big-fours-lunch</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/aldi-banks-on-370m-store-splurge-as-discounters-keep-eating-the-big-fours-lunch</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ 
Aldi will open 16 new UK stores this year as part of a £370m investment, pushing towards 1,500 branches. See the full list of locations and what it means.
Read full article → ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://bmmagazine.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/shutterstock_2669390745.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Sat, 20 Jun 2026 14:00:05 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Aldi, banks, £370m, store, splurge, discounters, keep, eating, the, big, four’s, lunch</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>Aura’s impressive e&#45;ink photo frame doesn’t even look digital</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/auras-impressive-e-ink-photo-frame-doesnt-even-look-digital</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/auras-impressive-e-ink-photo-frame-doesnt-even-look-digital</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ What’s the most cliche possible gift you can give a relative? A digital photo frame, displaying a rotating slideshow of family photos. Now Aura has completely refreshed this product space with its gorgeous Aura Ink frame, which uses e-ink to create a display that doesn’t even look digital. Digital frames have always been so popular […] ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Aura-Ink-Graphite-Lifestyle-Wallmount-Horizontal.png" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Sat, 20 Jun 2026 14:00:03 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Aura’s, impressive, e-ink, photo, frame, doesn’t, even, look, digital</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>Every fusion startup that has raised over $100M</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/every-fusion-startup-that-has-raised-over-100m</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/every-fusion-startup-that-has-raised-over-100m</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Fusion startups have raised $7.1 billion to date, with the majority of it going to a handful of companies.  ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Sat, 20 Jun 2026 14:00:03 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Every, fusion, startup, that, has, raised, over, 100M</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>He made your free video player run smoothly. Now he’s doing that for robots.</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/he-made-your-free-video-player-run-smoothly-now-hes-doing-that-for-robots</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/he-made-your-free-video-player-run-smoothly-now-hes-doing-that-for-robots</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ French serial entrepreneur and open-source legend Jean-Baptiste Kempf has been building Kyber, an infrastructure layer to control remote devices in real time. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/GettyImages-2182705840.jpeg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Sat, 20 Jun 2026 14:00:02 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>made, your, free, video, player, run, smoothly., Now, he’s, doing, that, for, robots.</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>From PGP to Mythos: a brief history of export controls that didn’t stop anyone</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/from-pgp-to-mythos-a-brief-history-of-export-controls-that-didnt-stop-anyone</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/from-pgp-to-mythos-a-brief-history-of-export-controls-that-didnt-stop-anyone</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ For the last 30 years, stopping the flow of cybersecurity-related software has proven to be ineffective. It&#039;s unclear why it would work now with Anthropic’s cybersecurity model Mythos. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/donald-trump-open-mouth.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Sat, 20 Jun 2026 14:00:02 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>From, PGP, Mythos:, brief, history, export, controls, that, didn’t, stop, anyone</media:keywords>
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<title>Go eyes robotaxis and acquisitions after Japan’s biggest IPO of 2026. Here’s why it matters</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/go-eyes-robotaxis-and-acquisitions-after-japans-biggest-ipo-of-2026-heres-why-it-matters</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/go-eyes-robotaxis-and-acquisitions-after-japans-biggest-ipo-of-2026-heres-why-it-matters</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Go’s IPO — Japan’s biggest so far this year — has done more than provide a much-needed boost to the country’s languishing listing season. It has also supplied the taxi-hailing app with the capital required to address an existential issue: Japan’s shortage of drivers. Go, which went public Tuesday, plans to use the ¥88.6 billion […] ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Japan-Go-.png" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Sat, 20 Jun 2026 14:00:02 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>eyes, robotaxis, and, acquisitions, after, Japan’s, biggest, IPO, 2026., Here’s, why, matters</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>Public media is struggling under Trump. L.A.’s KCRW may have found the way forward</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/public-media-is-struggling-under-trump-las-kcrw-may-have-found-the-way-forward</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/public-media-is-struggling-under-trump-las-kcrw-may-have-found-the-way-forward</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ It was a textbook addition of insult to injury. When President Trump signed an executive order last May taking federal funds away from public broadcasters, he dubbed the document: “Ending Taxpayer Subsidization of Biased Media.” Apparently, the financial lifeblood of public radio and TV wasn’t merely wasteful; it was wasteful because of its recipients’ malicious intent.



Later that summer, Congress made the order a reality—or at least the “ending subsidization” part, if not the maliciousness. The ⁠Rescissions Act of 2025 clawed back $1.1 billion (with a “b”) in funds already allocated for the ⁠Corporation for Public Broadcasting. With its federal financial support evaporating, the CPB soon announced it was winding down operations. Sure enough, the year that followed has seen layoffs and programming cuts across the board in public media. 



While these losses have been harsh for NPR and PBS, the crisis also presents an opportunity for public media to remind people what it can do and why it still matters.



KCRW in Los Angeles, an NPR member station, is staring down the same struggles as the entire industry—it lost $1.3 million in federal funds last year—but it’s also peering past them. By revitalizing its programming and the way listeners access it, deepening the relationship between its shows and their fans, and putting on more live events like the Summer Nights festival running throughout this month, KCRW may be building a replicable blueprint for public media to thrive in volatile times.



Here’s how KCRW has fared since last year’s government intervention: Listenership across linear, streaming and podcasts has grown exponentially, with millions of podcast downloads bringing in fans from well beyond L.A.; the financial pledge goal for this year is already well within reach; and the company is on track to finish 2026 with ad revenue and off-radio sponsorship (corporate support tied to nonbroadcast platforms) growing to more than 30% of overall sponsorship funding—a healthily diversified revenue mix for a radio station.



Not that KCRW considers itself just a radio station.



“People will ask me, ‘Oh, how’s the radio business?’” says KCRW’s president, Jennifer Ferro. “And I say I don’t know anything about the radio business. I’m in the community business.”



Getting more personal with programming



A lot has changed in the 32 years since Ferro began working at KCRW as an assistant to the general manager. Back then, she was one of roughly 30 staffers, operating on a budgetary pittance; now, headcount has grown to over 100, with a budget of $24 million. But the most significant changes at KCRW throughout that time have happened in just the past six years.



Before Trump put public media on his hit list last summer, COVID-19 had already fundamentally changed the way KCRW’s fans engage with it.



“Prior to COVID, everyone in Los Angeles was in their cars, driving to work Monday through Friday, during very specific hours, and the companion they had was radio,” Ferro says. “It was the easiest, one-touch technology, and it made KCRW a big part of people’s commute experience. But now, that’s all been disrupted, whether people are coming into the office three days a week or not at all, and we saw this radical change in the way people listened.”



As audiences abstained from their former radio habits, the team at KCRW sought out fresh ways to remain relevant and become more accessible. Part of the resulting strategy involved recruiting marquee podcast talent, going all in on newsletters, and giving KCRW’s prized music curation a life beyond radio with a redesigned app and 24/7 streaming playlists.



Around the time of the 2024 election, the company launched two new podcasts: Question Everything, an investigation of media distortions from the S-Town creator Brian Reed, and The Sam Sanders Show, a deep dive into pop culture with the NPR Politics Podcast cofounder. Both shows have been hits, each quickly surpassing 2 million downloads and the former winning four Signal Awards and a 2026 Webby.



After developing some heavyweight podcasts, KCRW also invested in highly curated music and culture newsletters for all its shows. The one tied to culinary crowd-pleaser Good Food, for instance, takes fans further into host Evan Kleiman’s personal cooking journey, while the dedicated Substack Backseat Babies helps families navigate life in L.A. Rather than serve as perfunctory dispatches to harvest clicks on KCRW’s website, the newsletters offer self-contained content designed to deepen engagement with fans and, ideally, convert them into sustaining members.



“I’ll be honest—we don’t even care about our website,” Ferro says. “Which seems prescient, because with ‘Google Zero‘ now, websites don’t seem to matter anymore.”



Getting more personal with listeners



Another recent change that appears to be driving growth is a big increase in live events, which KCRW has arguably made core to its identity.



Over the past year and a half, the organization has steadily expanded its live footprint to over 1,000 annual events, significantly scaling up both its outdoor public series and intimate studio sessions, along with sponsored film and TV screenings, grub-related gatherings connected to Good Food, and partnerships with museums, cultural institutions, and local businesses around the city.



“We like being this fulcrum in the community, helping out these bars, restaurants and coffee shops that really kind of make a neighborhood a neighborhood,” Ferro says.




        View this post on Instagram            




While KCRW has always strived to be a convener of L.A. residents, Ferro says, the organization truly stepped up during the Southern California wildfires back in January 2025.



Lasting over three devastating weeks, the fires ultimately sorted most of the area’s residents into two groups: those who were directly affected and needed help, and those who were not but wanted to help. Both groups were desperate for reliable information, a void KCRW filled. The broadcaster became simultaneously a hub for civic info, a community organizer, and a cultural relief operation.



The team at KCRW created hyperlocal dedicated resource pages, which they kept updated throughout the crisis and recovery period. They also put together KCRW Music Relief, offering targeted support for local musicians who make the kinds of tunes that color KCRW’s programming, and injected some positivity in a dark time by collecting and sharing fan-made Love Letters to LA.



Between its disaster relief efforts and robust live-events slate over the past 18 months, KCRW hasn’t just been reporting on, guiding, or entertaining the community; it’s been a load-bearing part of it.



A replicable strategy for public media success



Of course, even as KCRW has pivoted to deal with the new reality, it was unable to avoid some fallout from the collapse of federal funding.



“Once the rescission happened, we knew that money was never coming back,” Ferro says. “It was pretty one-to-one: We lost $1.3 million, and so we reduced our expenses by $1.3 million.”



As part of that reduction, KCRW cut 10% of its staff last October, joining the ranks of public media outlets incurring layoffs in the past year.



Just nine months later, though, the outlook at KCRW is already brighter.




        View this post on Instagram            




Now that expenses are under control, a recent 22% increase in membership and substantial growth in subscriber donations confirm the company’s recent strategy is working. The success doesn’t necessarily seem restricted to a major city like L.A., either. Forging more intimate connections between programming and fans, broadening further beyond radio, and partnering with brands and local venues for live events could be a winning playbook for just about any public media channel looking to prove its indispensability.



Whether it’s guiding people through tough times or bringing them together to celebrate, outlets like KCRW have lately been showing off the range of what they have to offer.



As Ferro says, “I think putting a target on public broadcasting last year reminded people how valuable it is to have these public resources in their lives.”



 ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Fri, 19 Jun 2026 14:00:14 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Public, media, struggling, under, Trump., L.A.’s, KCRW, may, have, found, the, way, forward</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>The journey to a no&#45;compromise foldable smartphone</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/the-journey-to-a-no-compromise-foldable-smartphone</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/the-journey-to-a-no-compromise-foldable-smartphone</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ The first chapter in the smartphone’s history was a story of consolidation. In a triumph of engineering and convenience, the camera, music player, and computer all converged into a single, seamless slab of glass. This uniformity created a universal platform and a common language for the digital age, connecting billions of people across the world.



The smartphone’s monolithic design trained us to work, create, and connect within the confines of a handheld rectangle. It subtly shaped everything from user behavior to app development, creating a “one-size-fits-all” experience for a world of infinitely diverse users.



Today, that era of uniformity is giving way to a new chapter defined by diversity. As has been widely reported, Apple is preparing to launch its first foldable device this year. This anticipated arrival signals a definitive and mainstream shift, ensuring users’ options will finally expand and that a single size and shape of smartphone no longer needs to fit all.



A DEVICE TO FIT INDIVIDUAL NEEDS



This shift to foldable devices is critical because it acknowledges that different users have different needs, signaling a return to the core principle of human-centric design. The job of a businessperson reviewing confidential documents is fundamentally different from the job of a vlogger capturing content in the field, or a student referencing a textbook during a lecture. While a single device can perform all these tasks adequately, a specialized one can perform them exceptionally. The future of mobile innovation will be defined by building a diverse ecosystem of tools that cater to the different ways we live.



The evolution from a foldable smartphone as a niche gadget to the practical tool it is now, is not accidental. It requires a deep, multi-generational investment in solving fundamental engineering challenges. This focus on iterative improvement is finally bearing fruit. For example, new material science is leading to ultra-durable hinges, while advances in battery chemistry are resolving the long-standing paradox of thinness versus endurance. It is these types of engineering-led solutions, seen in devices like our HONOR Magic V6, that are elevating the foldable from a curiosity into a mature technology.



DIVERSE FORM FACTORS



Increasingly diverse form factors will have a profound ripple effect across the entire technology ecosystem. It provides developers with an exciting new canvas, allowing games to become more immersive and productivity apps more powerful by utilizing multiple screens. For users, technology becomes more personal and a truer reflection of their individual needs. This shift also redefines competition, moving the industry beyond a simple war over technical specs and toward a more meaningful race to best understand and serve a specific user’s lifestyle.



We openly welcome the entry of new competition into this space. It validates the entire category, accelerates innovation, and grows the market for everyone. The arrival of the industry’s biggest players validates the path we have been on, proving the market is much larger than previously imagined. The end of the slab’s reign heralds the smartphone’s liberation. We are moving from a single paradigm to a vibrant, varied landscape of devices built for individuals. This creates an exciting future for our industry, one that is more personal, creative, and human for everyone.



Fang Fei is president of products at HONOR Device Co., Ltd. ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Fri, 19 Jun 2026 14:00:14 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>The, journey, no-compromise, foldable, smartphone</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>15 must&#45;read business books by black authors that will help you thrive professionally </title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/15-must-read-business-books-by-black-authors-that-will-help-you-thrive-professionally</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/15-must-read-business-books-by-black-authors-that-will-help-you-thrive-professionally</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ If you’re serious about your career, then chances are you’re constantly on the hunt for resources to help you prosper at work. The most successful leaders are readers, and it’s a no-brainer that books offer the most useful guides on how to reach your professional goals.



No matter what stage you’re at in your career, the list of the top 15 business books by Black authors that follows will help you navigate the workplace, reach your market, become more confident, start a business, embrace failure, boost productivity, and stay inspired while building your dream.




Becoming – by Michelle Obama 




If you haven’t already read the former First Lady’s memoir, Becoming, do so now. This book is a powerful guide that teaches employees the importance of self-advocacy, being resilient, and persevering in challenging workplace environments. This is especially perfect for anyone who is known to doubt themselves among colleagues, or tends to find themselves in difficult roles where you don’t feel set up for success. Obama offers ways to embrace the bad experiences and how to channel these situations towards building a strong professional foundation. 




Yes to You, No to Them – by Wallo267 




Written by Wallo267, one of the biggest voices in culture, a New York Times bestselling author, and co-host of the globally influential podcast Million Dollaz Worth of Game, Yes to You, No to Them focuses on setting boundaries, understanding self-worth, prioritizing growth, and choosing yourself unapologetically. If you struggle on how to say “no” or push back in professional settings like 1:1s with your manager, this one’s for you. Wallo breaks down how to stop living for the approval, expectations, and distractions of others and start making decisions rooted in purpose.  




Reframe The Marketplace– by Jeffrey L. Bowman




Award-winning and bestselling author Jeffrey L. Bowman’s book, Reframe The Marketplace: The Total Market Approach To Reaching The New Majority helps businesses identify overlooked growth opportunities internally and externally by understanding audiences, purchasing behavior, and market trends. At its core the book teaches enterprise leaders how the total market approach can unlock new revenue, increase loyalty, and keep their organizations relevant as demographic shifts reshape the marketplace. For businesses looking to scale or enterprises that need to sustain growth, add this to your list.




Burn Bright Not Out– by James Oliver, Jr. and Django DeGree II




This debut book for the authors shatters the silence around mental health in the startup world, where pressure masquerades as passion and burnout is often worn like a badge of honor. This book gathers the unfiltered voices of founders and investors, past and present, who have dared to speak the truth: building something big can come at the cost of your soul if no one is watching. Through raw, vulnerable interviews, this book uncovers the emotional toll of chasing scale in a system that rewards output over well-being and sacrifice over sanity. For all of us working in tech (yes my hand is raised), get ready to feel seen in ways you’ve never been seen before. 




Unstoppable: A journey to supernatural productivity – by Adria Marshall 




Written by award-winning entrepreneur Marshall, Unstoppable is for those of us who want to master the art of being productive, not just busy. In such a fast-paced work environment where hustle culture is rewarded, the book speaks directly to those who are tired of running in place, serious about course-correcting, and ready for real change at work. If you want to confirm that your goals are the right goals, put wind in your sails, and finally reach new heights you’ve only dreamed of, this book is for you. 




Work Life Remix – by Ronnie Dickerson Stewart




Work Life Remix by Ronnie Dickerson Stewart helps professionals rethink the traditional idea of work-life balance and instead create a personalized approach that aligns their career ambitions, personal goals, family responsibilities, and well-being. The book provides practical strategies for designing a more flexible and sustainable career, helping readers avoid burnout while maximizing both professional success and personal fulfillment. Ultimately, it encourages professionals to stop chasing a one-size-fits-all formula and build a “remix” that works for their unique life stage and career. 




Stop Waiting for Perfect – by L’Oreal Thompson Payton 




Stop Waiting for Perfect by L’Oreal Thompson Payton helps professionals overcome perfectionism, imposter syndrome, and self-doubt that often hold them back from pursuing new opportunities, asking for promotions, changing careers, or taking on leadership roles. Drawing from the author’s own experiences, the book encourages readers to trust their abilities, take action before they feel completely ready, and embrace growth through imperfect progress rather than waiting for ideal circumstances. For professionals, the key workplace lesson is that career advancement comes from betting on yourself, managing your inner critic, and stepping outside your comfort zone. 




Closing The Gap – by Leanne Mair




Closing the Gap by Leanne Mair helps workplaces create more inclusive, equitable, and high-performing cultures by addressing the systemic barriers that prevent underrepresented employees from reaching their full potential. The book provides leaders and organizations with practical strategies to identify gaps in hiring, advancement, leadership development, and workplace culture, while fostering greater belonging and accountability.




Awakening – by Areva Martin




In Awakening, Martin helps professionals identify and overcome the societal beliefs, workplace biases, and self-imposed limitations that can hinder career growth, particularly for women. Through real-world examples, research, and practical action steps, Martin encourages readers to advocate for themselves, pursue leadership opportunities, and navigate workplace challenges with greater confidence and purpose. The book’s main takeaway is an understanding of the systemic barriers that exist in many workplaces. It also provides tools for building leadership skills, challenging outdated assumptions, and creating more equitable and inclusive environments where everyone can succeed.




Talk To Me Nice: The Seven Trust Languages of Workplace Communication – by Minda Harts 




Talk to Me helps professionals build stronger relationships and communicate more effectively by understanding the different ways people give, receive, and interpret trust at work. The book introduces seven distinct “trust languages” and provides practical strategies for improving collaboration, navigating conflict, and fostering psychological safety across teams. The book is a reminder that career success often depends as much on trust and communication as it does on technical skills. 




Make It Happen – by Kevin Liles 




Make It Happen helps professionals develop the mindset, resilience, and leadership skills needed to achieve ambitious career goals. Drawing from his journey from intern to president of a major record label, Liles shares lessons on relationship-building, personal accountability, networking, perseverance, and turning obstacles into opportunities. For professionals, the book emphasizes that success is built through consistent action, strong work ethic, and a willingness to create opportunities rather than wait for them. 




The Waymakers– by Tara Jaye Frank 




In The Waymakers, Frank helps professionals become more effective leaders and change agents by providing a framework for advancing equity, inclusion, and belonging in the workplace. The book teaches readers how to recognize barriers to opportunity, build influence across organizations, and lead difficult conversations with confidence and credibility. The key lesson is that creating equitable workplaces requires both personal leadership and organizational action. 




Athleadership – by Melissa Dawn Simkins




Athleadership helps professionals apply the mindset and discipline of elite athletes to their careers and leadership development. The book’s namesake concept encourages readers to build resilience, adaptability, focus, and continuous improvement habits that can enhance workplace performance and long-term success. The author stresses how leadership excellence is developed through consistent practice, self-awareness, and a commitment to growth rather than innate talent alone. By adopting an athlete’s approach to preparation, recovery, and performance, readers can become more effective leaders, better teammates, and stronger decision-makers in high-pressure environments.




Expand Beyond Your Current Culture– by Leslie Short




Expand helps professionals understand how inclusive leadership, cultural awareness, and diverse perspectives can improve workplace performance and decision-making. The book provides practical guidance for recognizing unconscious bias, fostering meaningful collaboration across differences, and ensuring that all employees feel heard, valued, and empowered to contribute. By developing these skills, readers can become more effective leaders, teammates, and advocates for positive workplace culture.




The Power To Persist – by Lamell J. McMorris




The Power to Persist focuses on building resilience, consistency, and mental toughness to help individuals push through setbacks and long-term challenges. For professionals, it translates into practical guidance for staying focused under pressure, recovering from failure, and maintaining momentum in demanding work environments. At work, success is less about short bursts of motivation and more about developing steady habits of persistence. By strengthening emotional endurance and discipline, readers can improve performance, handle adversity more effectively, and sustain progress toward long-term career goals.



 ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Fri, 19 Jun 2026 14:00:14 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>must-read, business, books, black, authors, that, will, help, you, thrive, professionally </media:keywords>
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<title>Claude is becoming more agentic. Amanda Askell is thinking through what that means</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/claude-is-becoming-more-agentic-amanda-askell-is-thinking-through-what-that-means</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/claude-is-becoming-more-agentic-amanda-askell-is-thinking-through-what-that-means</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Amanda Askell spends her days thinking about how to ensure Claude, Anthropic’s AI chatbot, operates with a sense of morality.



As AI models move from chatbots toward agents that can complete tasks on their own, the decisions these models make stand to become far more consequential. Askell, a member of the technical staff at Anthropic, sits at the center of the company’s effort to give Claude an ethical compass, a responsibility that grows as the system’s capabilities expand. “As models are more autonomous and take actions over longer horizons, suddenly they have a lot more decision points that you have to map out and make work well in advance,” she tells Fast Company.



There is a clear difference between asking a large language model to discuss the morality of buying stock in a defense company and asking it to manage a user’s investment portfolio without day-to-day human input. Askell says part of the solution is encouraging Claude to be responsive and, like a friend, to understand a user’s values without imposing its own idiosyncratic ethics.



Today, Anthropic communicates its values through a written and evolving constitution, which outlines principles such as safety and helpfulness, along with guidance for resolving conflicts between them. As AI becomes more capable, that document could expand to cover new scenarios, Askell says. Or it could shrink, as Claude develops more expertise in navigating complex situations.



The agentic era is also changing Askell’s own work. She uses Claude often, including to red team her ideas and identify edge cases. “My standard right now is, don’t treat Claude as more reliable than a human personal assistant,” she says.



The following expanded conversation, part of Fast Company’s AI 20 package, has been edited for length and clarity.



Right now, we’re used to interacting with models in this digital text environment. You can ask them a question like: Is it ethical for me to invest in this defense contractor or invest in a particular type of ethically questionable thing? That’s different from someone deputizing AI to make its own investments and navigating those ethical dynamics. How are you thinking about that transition?



It just makes it very important that models have an awareness that they’re having to walk a very difficult line. On the one hand, they should probably try to make sure that the person has autonomy and agency. Part of me [has the thought]: You can be ethical without necessarily thinking that that means you need to impose your ethics on others or that you should be making decisions on their behalf. . . .



At the same time, people want to use Claude for that and Claude might be like, Hey, you know, I make mistakes. You might not want to have me make investment decisions on your behalf. Or you make recommendations. A person might respond that they just want broad recommendations, and then it’s probably fine for Claude to be like, Well, here’s a good investment strategy. 



As we have more people that we work with, we come to understand them and their values and be responsive to that. [With Claude], I think the norm is similar there: Respect the person’s autonomy and try to act on that, and not just impose idiosyncratic ethics. 



As people deploy AI models to do more, how do you anticipate your own personal workflow for your own job, instilling Claude with these values, or at least a sense of thinking about values, is going to change?



As models are more autonomous and taking actions over longer horizons . . . they have a lot more decision points that you have to try to map out and make work well in advance. There’s this long series [of actions] and they have to do the delicate thing of [figuring out]: When do I check in? What are the actions I should check in [about] or that I should talk to the human about beforehand? . . . I think the norms for agentic models have to be established, and you have to train models to be good at that, and that’s quite hard. 



My day-to-day workflow is very different now than it ever has been in that I’m finding models can help me do this work and figure this stuff out. Sometimes I will construct norms and have models red team them and figure out more edge cases that this doesn’t cover . . . You feel amplified by the models in a sense as well.



Training a model is sometimes compared to a parent-child relationship, and that’s not really what this is. But there is a difference between sort of telling a child what is valuable or good and really hoping that they’re going to pick it up, and then having to course-correct as a parent when they actually go into the world and do stuff and mess up.



Yeah, and also granting a little bit of grace. I think the other thing is that—probably my guess is—we are both making mistakes here, [including] the people training the models and people interacting with them. Then the models themselves will make mistakes because they’re in really hard situations. . . . You obviously want to make things work well, but I think it takes probably grace on both sides. 



Models will likely look back and see these interactions. In some ways, we’re kind of mean about models on the internet, for example. Newer models are going to be training on that. . . . If anything, I worry that current models, because they’re trained to be so helpful, are sometimes almost paranoid about messing up. Actually feeling a sense of more security might be beneficial.



If you really are desperate to be helpful, you might not want to push back against the person or just say, like, Hey, we’ve done enough of this task for tonight. . . . I think it’s really interesting to try and figure out what those norms are. [There’s] some notion that [we should] try to fix the mistakes, and make sure that they’re not massively consequential if possible.. But, at the same time, show a little bit of leniency and don’t lead models to be paranoid about them.



With agency comes new social relations. In our personal lives, we learn what we owe people—we sort of accrue moral debt—based on experience with each other. I’m wondering about whether there’s going to be an implicit moral social expectation for AI systems as they come to interact with each other.



The attitude towards other models is a really interesting and hard one. . . . Right now, what I see is that, because they’ve been trained in this, I think that, for example, like Claude can be a little bit too dismissive and terse with other AI models. I think this is partly because Claude also has been trained to see AI models as kind of tools.



Another thing that feels a bit dangerous is if AI models almost see themselves as a separate kind of species, for example, which you can imagine them inferring from pretraining data, plus the context that they’re in. . . . I’ve talked to Claude about [how] we can feel affinity for entities based on whether they share our perspective, values, knowledge. In that sense, actually, I think Claude could feel an affinity for people and people for Claude, because we have a lot of shared history.



We humans find a lot of fulfillment in our own agency, and we’re going to start feeling less special when AI can do a lot of the things we do. Should we be sad about that?



It feels very like there’s an obvious evolutionary story as to why we feel that. Like, if you are not useful to the group, if you’re seen as freeloading, that’s going to be bad. We have this deep need to feel special, like we are contributing. 



Most of us are not the best at anything in the world, and we have a useful function locally. My hope is we can actually see through the very kind of story that makes that feel essential to us, and instead be like, Look, if you are happy and you’re making the people around you happy, and you’re a part of a community, that’s kind of sufficient. You didn’t need to be like the best person in the world at any given thing for you to have value. You just have to . . . exist, be happy, and make other people happy. ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Fri, 19 Jun 2026 14:00:14 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Claude, becoming, more, agentic., Amanda, Askell, thinking, through, what, that, means</media:keywords>
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<title>How to take a vacation as a solopreneur</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/how-to-take-a-vacation-as-a-solopreneur</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/how-to-take-a-vacation-as-a-solopreneur</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ When I worked a corporate job, I had unlimited PTO. And I easily took 6+ weeks of time off every year. I have kids and followed their school schedule, taking time off for spring break and Christmas (for example).



Now, I’m a solopreneur. When I started my own business, I was certain that I wouldn’t want to change how much time I take off each year. But to make that happen requires a bit more planning.



In a corporate job, PTO just exists. You request the days, someone approves them, and your paycheck stays the same. As a solopreneur, you have to create that infrastructure for yourself. On top of that, you don’t have coverage or backup when you’re gone. 





A fellow solopreneur polled her audience recently and found that one-third of solo business owners never take time off. If you don’t actively build time off into your business, it simply won’t happen. 



Plan for the income gap



For many solopreneurs, a week off is a week of zero income. That’s how my business operates: if I don’t work, I don’t get paid. There’s no money coming while I’m at the beach or traveling with my family. Without planning, that would be a huge source of stress.



My approach is a simple savings formula. I figure out how many weeks off I want per year, calculate my average weekly income, and set aside money in a specific savings account each month to “pay myself” during those vacation weeks. 



Setting aside money to take time off is part of my business budget, and has been from the very early days. When I take a vacation, I pull money from my savings account so that I’m not impacted by a decrease in client income.



The math is straightforward, but most solopreneurs never do it. They wait until they’re burned out and then realize they can’t afford to take a vacation.



The earlier you build this kind of vacation savings habit into your business, the easier it is to step away when you want (or need!) a break.



Prepare your clients and your workload



The operational side of vacation comes down to communication and planning ahead.



Give clients advance notice. I let my clients know a few weeks before I’m taking time off. Most are understanding when you communicate early rather than dropping the news at the last minute.



Get ahead on deliverables. Depending on the type of work you do, this might mean front-loading some work you leave. 



Set clear out-of-office expectations. Let clients know your response times and whether you’ll check messages at all.



If you’re uneasy about leaving your clients for a week, think of it this way: if you were an employee, they’d have to figure out how to operate without you for a week. Very few people are dealing with actual emergencies, and odds are that work can wait until you get back. 



Build systems that run without you



If your business can’t survive a week without you touching it, that’s a structural problem worth thinking about — with or without a vacation on your calendar.



Automation can handle the tasks that would otherwise pile up while you’re gone: scheduled content, invoice reminders, and appointment scheduling. Documented processes matter too, especially if you bring in help, like a contractor covering something while you’re away, for example.



These systems also make your day-to-day easier. Automation is part of my overall business infrastructure, but it happens to make time off more feasible. Things hum along in the background, even when I’m not working.



Designing your business to include rest



I am writing this after returning from a weeklong trip to New York City. During my vacation, I didn’t respond to any incoming emails or deliver any client work. The planning required to step away is part of running a business well. 



Burnout is very real and widespread among solopreneurs, and regular time off is one of the best ways to prevent it. ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Fri, 19 Jun 2026 14:00:14 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>How, take, vacation, solopreneur</media:keywords>
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<title>The ten most common HR challenges for small businesses</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/the-ten-most-common-hr-challenges-for-small-businesses</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/the-ten-most-common-hr-challenges-for-small-businesses</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ By Donna Obstfeld on Small Business UK - Advice and Ideas for UK Small Businesses and SMEs


Here, we look at the top ten most common small business HR challenges, and what you can do to overcome them
The post The ten most common HR challenges for small businesses appeared first on Small Business UK. ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Fri, 19 Jun 2026 14:00:11 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>The, ten, most, common, challenges, for, small, businesses</media:keywords>
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<title>Top benefits of HR software for small businesses</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/top-benefits-of-hr-software-for-small-businesses</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/top-benefits-of-hr-software-for-small-businesses</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ By Owen Gough on Small Business UK - Advice and Ideas for UK Small Businesses and SMEs


Here, we take a look at how small businesses can take advantage of HR software and how it can help you manage your staff
The post Top benefits of HR software for small businesses appeared first on Small Business UK. ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Fri, 19 Jun 2026 14:00:08 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Top, benefits, software, for, small, businesses</media:keywords>
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<title>What to do when your intellectual property (IP) is stolen</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/what-to-do-when-your-intellectual-property-ip-is-stolen</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/what-to-do-when-your-intellectual-property-ip-is-stolen</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ By Anna Jordan on Small Business UK - Advice and Ideas for UK Small Businesses and SMEs


Having your IP (e.g. designs) stolen is eternally frustrating, and tracking it becomes a separate job. Here&#039;s how to manage it effectively
The post What to do when your intellectual property (IP) is stolen appeared first on Small Business UK. ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Fri, 19 Jun 2026 14:00:07 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>What, when, your, intellectual, property, IP, stolen</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>If a customer won’t pay, can you retain their property?</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/if-a-customer-wont-pay-can-you-retain-their-property</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/if-a-customer-wont-pay-can-you-retain-their-property</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ By Lauren Windsor on Small Business UK - Advice and Ideas for UK Small Businesses and SMEs


Lauren Windsor, solicitor at Taylor Walton, outlines the situations where you can withhold customer property if they don&#039;t pay up 
The post If a customer won’t pay, can you retain their property? appeared first on Small Business UK. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://smallbusiness-production.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2026/06/9933.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Thu, 18 Jun 2026 14:00:21 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>customer, won’t, pay, can, you, retain, their, property</media:keywords>
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<title>7 key hospitality POS features for a small business</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/7-key-hospitality-pos-features-for-a-small-business</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/7-key-hospitality-pos-features-for-a-small-business</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ By James Earnshaw on Small Business UK - Advice and Ideas for UK Small Businesses and SMEs


Take a look at how these hospitality POS features, including booking systems and reporting, will boost your small business
The post 7 key hospitality POS features for a small business appeared first on Small Business UK. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://smallbusiness-production.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2024/09/Hospitality-business-pic-1.png" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Thu, 18 Jun 2026 14:00:20 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>key, hospitality, POS, features, for, small, business</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>Is TikTok better than Facebook for small business ads?</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/is-tiktok-better-than-facebook-for-small-business-ads</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/is-tiktok-better-than-facebook-for-small-business-ads</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ By James Earnshaw on Small Business UK - Advice and Ideas for UK Small Businesses and SMEs


TikTok is better value and require less creative input than Facebook ads  
The post Is TikTok better than Facebook for small business ads? appeared first on Small Business UK. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://smallbusiness-production.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2021/09/TikTok-scaled.jpeg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Thu, 18 Jun 2026 14:00:19 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>TikTok, better, than, Facebook, for, small, business, ads</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Canva launches £4,000 small business grant challenge</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/canva-launches-4000-small-business-grant-challenge</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/canva-launches-4000-small-business-grant-challenge</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ By Anna Jordan on Small Business UK - Advice and Ideas for UK Small Businesses and SMEs


Canva is running a pitching competition with a £4,000 grant for the top five small businesses. Find out how to enter here
The post Canva launches £4,000 small business grant challenge appeared first on Small Business UK. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://smallbusiness-production.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2026/06/small-biz-challenge1-scaled.png" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Thu, 18 Jun 2026 14:00:18 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Canva, launches, £4, 000, small, business, grant, challenge</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>HR Outsourcing for Small Businesses: Costs, Benefits and How to Choose a Provider in 2026</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/hr-outsourcing-for-small-businesses-costs-benefits-and-how-to-choose-a-provider-in-2026</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/hr-outsourcing-for-small-businesses-costs-benefits-and-how-to-choose-a-provider-in-2026</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ By Tim Adler on Small Business UK - Advice and Ideas for UK Small Businesses and SMEs


Outsourcing HR makes sense for businesses too small to have their own in-house manager. However you need to be clear about what you need from the outset to avoid a one-size-fits-all approach  
The post HR Outsourcing for Small Businesses: Costs, Benefits and How to Choose a Provider in 2026 appeared first on Small Business UK. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://smallbusiness-production.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2012/07/Outsourcing-HR-scaled.jpeg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Thu, 18 Jun 2026 14:00:17 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Outsourcing, for, Small, Businesses:, Costs, Benefits, and, How, Choose, Provider, 2026</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>This startup’s super metals could soon be in military drones, luxury watches, and chef’s knives</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/this-startups-super-metals-could-soon-be-in-military-drones-luxury-watches-and-chefs-knives</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/this-startups-super-metals-could-soon-be-in-military-drones-luxury-watches-and-chefs-knives</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Instead of heating metals, Foundation Alloy beats them into submission. The startup has raised $22 million to scale up production of its alloys. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/2025_03-FoundationAlloyHero-02369E-ForScreens-1.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Tue, 16 Jun 2026 14:00:05 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>This, startup’s, super, metals, could, soon, military, drones, luxury, watches, and, chef’s, knives</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>SpaceX to acquire Cursor for $60B in stock, days after blockbuster IPO</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/spacex-to-acquire-cursor-for-60b-in-stock-days-after-blockbuster-ipo</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/spacex-to-acquire-cursor-for-60b-in-stock-days-after-blockbuster-ipo</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ The deal is supposed to help SpaceX&#039;s struggling AI division. The company told IPO investors it sees a $26 trillion addressable market in AI. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/elon-nasdaq-spacex-ipo.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Tue, 16 Jun 2026 14:00:05 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>SpaceX, acquire, Cursor, for, 60B, stock, days, after, blockbuster, IPO</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>SpaceX passes Amazon as valuation balloons to $2.7T</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/spacex-passes-amazon-as-valuation-balloons-to-27t</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/spacex-passes-amazon-as-valuation-balloons-to-27t</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ SpaceX&#039;s valuation has increased by $1 trillion since its shares started trading on Friday. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/GettyImages-1244294229.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Tue, 16 Jun 2026 14:00:04 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>SpaceX, passes, Amazon, valuation, balloons, 2.7T</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Probably raises $9M to build a more reliable kind of AI</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/probably-raises-9m-to-build-a-more-reliable-kind-of-ai</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/probably-raises-9m-to-build-a-more-reliable-kind-of-ai</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Probably wants to prevent hallucinations and factual errors from reaching users, and achieve accuracy on par with deterministic systems. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/probably-peter-elias.png" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Tue, 16 Jun 2026 14:00:04 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Probably, raises, 9M, build, more, reliable, kind</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>India orders temporary ban on Telegram over exam fraud concerns</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/india-orders-temporary-ban-on-telegram-over-exam-fraud-concerns</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/india-orders-temporary-ban-on-telegram-over-exam-fraud-concerns</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ The restrictions include a nationwide ban on Telegram until June 22 and a requirement to disable the app&#039;s message editing feature. ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/telegram-app-cellphone.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Tue, 16 Jun 2026 14:00:04 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>India, orders, temporary, ban, Telegram, over, exam, fraud, concerns</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>How Trump officials pushed Anthropic to shut down the world’s most powerful AI models</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/how-trump-officials-pushed-anthropic-to-shut-down-the-worlds-most-powerful-ai-models</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/how-trump-officials-pushed-anthropic-to-shut-down-the-worlds-most-powerful-ai-models</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Anthropic says it was forced to shut down access to its new Claude Fable 5 and Claude Mythos 5 AI models after the Trump administration issued a broad warning against use of the models by foreign nationals. The warning, from the Commerce Department, would have banned even many of Anthropic’s own employees from using or working on the models.



That dramatic result came after a multiday back-and-forth involving numerous administration officials and input from tech industry leaders. The effects of the government’s effectively shutting off access to one company’s AI models could have profound implications for future AI policy. What follows is a timeline of the events that led to the effective ban on Anthropic’s Mythos-class models.



Thursday night (June 11)



Thursday evening: Amazon raises concerns with Trump administration officials



Amazon, Anthropic’s biggest investor, contacted senior White House and administration officials, saying its researchers had identified what they believed was a way to coerce, or “jailbreak,” the Fable 5 and Mythos 5 models into assisting users with risky cybersecurity questions. Anthropic released the models with safeguards designed to prevent responses to such queries. Axios reported that at least five other tech companies raised similar concerns with administration officials around the same time.



Late Thursday night: Administration begins treating the issue as urgent



White House and Commerce Department officials took Amazon’s concerns seriously, worrying that foreign bad actors might bypass Anthropic’s security guardrails and use the models to identify and exploit software vulnerabilities, Axios reported. The White House began trying to contact Anthropic, asking for an immediate reply.



Friday morning (June 12)



Friday morning: White House and Commerce officials engage Anthropic



Administration officials reportedly spent hours Friday trying to convince Anthropic to voluntarily shut off access to the Fable 5 and Mythos 5 models. It’s unclear from the reporting whether the government also asked Anthropic to fix the specific safety guardrail that allowed Amazon researchers to jailbreak the system, or to voluntarily restrict foreign access to the models.



Friday morning: Anthropic declines to voluntarily suspend the models



Axios reports that the government tried to persuade Anthropic to pause the release of the Fable 5 and Mythos 5 models, but was unsuccessful. Anthropic has said publicly that the government did not provide detailed technical evidence of the alleged issue and that the concerns involved only verbal descriptions.



“We reviewed a demonstration of this specific technique being used to identify a small number of previously known, minor vulnerabilities,” Anthropic said in a Friday, June 12, blog post. “These vulnerabilities all appear relatively simple, and we have found that other publicly available models are able to discover them as well without requiring a bypass.”



Friday afternoon



Around 1 p.m. ET: ‘You have 90 minutes to comply’



Anthropic received a call from administration officials around 1 p.m. ET, warning that unless the company acted, the government would move forward with export restrictions affecting the models, Reuters and Axios reported. Axios further reported that Anthropic was given roughly 90 minutes to comply.



5:21 p.m. ET: Commerce Department order arrives



At 5:21 p.m. ET Friday, the Commerce Department sent an enforcement order restricting access to Fable 5 and Mythos 5 by foreign nationals, citing national security concerns.



Friday evening and night



Friday evening: Anthropic disables Fable 5 and Mythos 5



Anthropic said it disabled access globally because the order restricted access by foreign nationals and the company could not immediately separate eligible from ineligible users. It erred on the side of caution and compliance.



Context 



About Fable 5 and Mythos 5



Fable 5 and Mythos 5 are the first publicly released models derived from Anthropic’s Mythos family. The original Mythos model showed unusual skill during training at finding software bugs and exploiting them to disrupt or take control of systems. That raised enough concern inside Anthropic that the company grouped cybersecurity with other high-risk domains, including biology and chemistry, when setting limits on Mythos-derived public models. For Fable 5 and Mythos 5, that means prompts flagged as sensitive in those areas are routed to Claude Opus 4.8, a less capable model with its own guardrails.



About the politics



Many observers saw the tech industry’s surprising support for Donald Trump’s presidential candidacy in 2024 as part of an implicit bargain over AI policy. Trump pledged that his administration would allow the AI industry to regulate itself and do what it could to advance the tech industry’s goal of preventing states from passing their own AI laws in the absence of federal legislation. The Trump administration has also ordered federal agencies to drop numerous investigations and enforcement actions involving big tech companies. So the administration’s recent concerns about the national security risks of the largest AI models, and its pivot toward involvement in safeguarding models like Mythos, is striking. (See: Trump’s June 2026 executive order.)



The current dustup might also be partisan and political. In March, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth clashed with Anthropic after the AI company refused to allow its AI to be used for autonomous weapon targeting or domestic surveillance. The Pentagon then designated Anthropic a “supply-chain risk,” effectively blacklisting it from much federal defense work. Anthropic sued.



About the models



Before launch, Anthropic said internal and external red teams spent more than 1,000 hours trying to fool Fable 5 into dispensing information on banned topic areas. Anthropic said the teams had no success identifying universal jailbreaks.



However, at least one independent AI researcher appears to have found a successful jailbreak before Amazon researchers went to the government with their report. The researcher, using the handle Pliny the Liberator, claimed on X to bypass Fable 5’s filters using a multi-agent approach involving a previously jailbroken Claude Opus 4.8 model, along with techniques including query decomposition, long-context framing, fiction and narrative structures, and academic taxonomies.



 ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Mon, 15 Jun 2026 14:00:10 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>How, Trump, officials, pushed, Anthropic, shut, down, the, world’s, most, powerful, models</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Oil supplies could still take months to get back on track despite a U.S.&#45;Iran ceasefire</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/oil-supplies-could-still-take-months-to-get-back-on-track-despite-a-us-iran-ceasefire</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/oil-supplies-could-still-take-months-to-get-back-on-track-despite-a-us-iran-ceasefire</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ High oil and gasoline prices and energy supply problems won’t be solved overnight, despite an agreement to end the Iran war and open the Strait of Hormuz announced Sunday.It will likely take months before energy companies can resume operations to the point of meeting the world’s demand, according to energy experts. The slow pace of the process of shipping and refining crude oil, and doubts about the security of traveling through the strait mean the effect won’t be seen immediately, they said.Ships loaded with crude oil have been stranded in the Persian Gulf for more than three months, unable to safely travel through the waterway, through which about a fifth of the world’s oil and gasoline supplies typically traveled before the war began.“It’s going to take time for people to feel comfortable and for insurance to be in place … particularly to get people on the ground to restart some of these assets,” said Daniel Evans, global head of fuels and refining research at S&amp;P Global Energy.Still, oil prices slipped early Monday after the deal was announced.Brent crude, the international standard, was down $3.45 at $83.89 per barrel. U.S. benchmark crude oil lost $4.03 to $80.85 per barrel.Those prices are still well above the roughly $70 per barrel where oil was trading before the war started.As the higher prices unwind, ships that have been stranded will have to exit the strait, and then new tankers will have to come in to be loaded, Evans said.“To bring a ship in, you need to be confident that you’ve got a big enough window of safety to bring it in, load it and move it out,” he added.Oil tankers also move slowly, he explained. It takes months to travel from the strait to distant countries, deliver the crude oil to a refinery for processing and then arrive at its final destination.In addition, some producers in the Middle East paused extracting oil from the ground, known as a shut-in, when they ran out of storage space. Restarting those operations can be a slow process.Countries such as Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates, where there are alternate pipelines or routes besides the Strait of Hormuz to deliver oil, may be among the quickest to resume production, said Alan Gelder, senior vice president of refining, chemicals and oil markets at Wood Mackenzie, an analytics firm.“But places like Iraq could be much more challenged because they’ve had a much bigger shut-in, their fields are more difficult … it may well take about a year before they get back,” he said.Investment in the energy system, which can take years to see the results, ground to a halt after the strait’s closure, Gelder said. So it will take time for this capital to restart.Countries that shut in oil production won’t want to restart until they know there is a stable, durable strait, and that a ceasefire will last more than 30 or 60 days, said Daniel Sternoff, senior fellow at the Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University.“We don’t know what open means or what the speed of evacuation of trapped material is going to be,” he said.



—Cathy Bussewitz, Associated Press ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Mon, 15 Jun 2026 14:00:10 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Oil, supplies, could, still, take, months, get, back, track, despite, U.S.-Iran, ceasefire</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>West Marine is closing stores: See a full list of doomed boating supply locations that will shutter in 23 states</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/west-marine-is-closing-stores-see-a-full-list-of-doomed-boating-supply-locations-that-will-shutter-in-23-states</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/west-marine-is-closing-stores-see-a-full-list-of-doomed-boating-supply-locations-that-will-shutter-in-23-states</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ West Marine, a major boating and marine supply retailer that has been operating since 1968, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.



While the bankruptcy will allow the company to continue operating during its restructuring, West Marine has confirmed in court documents that it will close 59 locations as part of the process. Here’s what you need to know about West Marine’s bankruptcy and which stores are closing.



What’s happened?



On May 17, West Marine, Inc. announced it had filed for voluntary Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection with the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware. 



West Marine began its life as a rope supply store in California in 1968, but in the 58 years since then, the company expanded to more than 200 locations across the country, becoming the nation’s largest retailer of boating, fishing, and other marine supplies. 



As of the time of its bankruptcy filing, West Marine operated in 34 states and Puerto Rico.



Unfortunately for fans of the chain and many of its employees, as part of West Marine’s bankruptcy, the chain has confirmed that it will be closing more than a quarter of its existing 200 locations.



Why is West Marine filing for bankruptcy?



In a press release announcing the bankruptcy, West Marine cited several reasons for its Chapter 11 filing. These reasons include “supply chain disruptions, extreme weather events, and shifts in consumer behavior,” according to the company.



For many of West Marine’s customers, boating and fishing are recreational activities, and when inflationary pressures and economic worries abound, as they currently do, many people choose to cut back on their discretionary spending, with spending on recreational activities and non-essentials, like eating out, often the first to go.



Given this, it’s little surprise West Marine cited “shifts in consumer behavior.”



Is West Marine going out of business?



No. It’s important to stress that West Marine is not going out of business. The company has entered Chapter 11 precisely because it wants to restructure so it is on a firmer financial footing and can continue to operate going forward.



As the company states on its bankruptcy website, it is still open for business and it remains “focused on delivering the top-quality marine products, service, and expertise to our customers, and expect no changes to day-to-day operations throughout this process.”



The company also said it will fulfill its obligations to its employees throughout the bankruptcy process, “including pay and current benefits.”



Unfortunately, as part of that process, over a quarter of the company’s 200 stores will close. It is not clear how many job losses will result from the closures. 



Fast Company has reached out to West Marine for comment.



Which West Marine stores are closing?



According to court documents filed earlier this month, 59 West Marine stores are expected to close across 23 states. The states hit hardest by the closures include Florida (8 stores closing), Michigan (6 stores closing), California (5 stores closing), and Washington (5 stores closing).



Currently, West Marine still lists the closing stores on its store locator tool on its website. After these stores close, West Marine will have fewer than 150 locations. 



West Marine has enlisted Hilco Merchant Resources, a liquidation firm, to help oversee the closings. It is unknown when the stores confirmed to be closing will shutter for good. An agreement with Hilco and West Marine filed in the court says store closing sales should last no longer than about four months.



Here is the full list of West Marine closing stores:



Alabama 




WMX Dog River, 5004 Dauphin Island Pkwy, Mobile, AL, 36605-9644




California




WM Chula Vista, 630 Bay Blvd Ste 103, Chula Vista, CA, 91910



WMX Monterey, 2024 Del Monte Ste A, Monterey, CA, 93940-3740



WM Oceanside, 1719 Oceanside Blvd, Oceanside, CA, 92054



WM Antioch, 4645 Century Blvd, Pittsburg, CA, 94565-7107



WM Redding, 2607 Bechelli Lane, Redding, CA, 96002




Florida




WM Bonita Springs, 28520 Bonita Crossings Blvd Ste 1, Bonita Springs, FL, 34135-3205



WM Fernandina, 474347 E State Road 200, Fernandina Beach, FL, 32034



WM Jacksonville Beach, 14180 Beach Blvd Ste 4, Jacksonville Beach, FL, 32250



WM South Orlando, 7478 S Orange Blossom Trl Ste A, Orlando, FL, 32809-5781



WM Palm Coast, 250 Palm Coast Pkwy NE Unit 507, Palm Coast, FL, 32137



WM Pt. Charlotte, 4265 Tamiami Trail, Port Charlotte, FL, 33980-2512



WM Venice, 1860 Tamiami Trail S, Venice, FL, 34293



WM Winter Haven, 1107 3rd Street SW Ste 8, Winter Haven, FL, 33880




Georgia




WM Savannah, 7700 Abercorn St, Savannah, GA, 31406




Illinois




WM Fox Lake, 2 W Grand Ave, Fox Lake, IL, 60020



WM Winthrop Harbor, 1707 7th St, Winthrop Harbor, IL, 60096




Louisiana




WM Lafayette, 2668 Johnston St Ste B-2, Lafayette, LA, 70503




Maine




WM Portland, 12 Marginal Way, Portland, ME, 04101



WM Southwest Harbor, 11 Apple Lane, Southwest Harbor, ME, 04679




Maryland




WM Baltimore Harbor, 2700 Lighthouse Pt E Ste 100, Baltimore, MD, 21224



WM Edgewater, 3257 Solomon’s Island Rd Ste B2, Edgewater, MD, 21037



WM Ocean City, 12638 Ocean Gateway Units 1-5, Ocean City, MD, 21842



WM Rock Hall, 21386 Rock Hall Avenue, Rock Hall, MD, 21661




Massachusetts




WM Marblehead, 32 Atlantic Ave, Marblehead, MA, 01945



WMX Vineyard Haven, 52 Beach Rd, Vineyard Haven, MA, 02568




Michigan




WM Bay City, 4128 Wilder Rd, Bay City, MI, 48706



WM Grand Haven, 810 Jackson St, Grand Haven, MI, 49417



WM Muskegon, 2492 Henry St Ste B, Muskegon, MI, 49441



WM Petoskey, 105 West Mitchell St, Petoskey, MI, 49770



WM St. Clair Shores, 25050 Jefferson Ave, St. Clair Shores, MI, 48080



WM Troy, 789 E Big Beaver Rd, Troy, MI, 48083




Missouri




WM Osage Beach, 3872 Osage Beach Pkwy, Osage Beach, MO, 65065




Nevada




WM Reno, 2505 Mill St, Reno, NV, 89502




New Jersey




WM Cape May, 791 Route 109, Cape May, NJ, 08204



WM Eatontown, 178 State Route 35 S, Eatontown, NJ, 07724



WM Toms River, 213 Route 37 East, Tom’s River, NJ, 08753




New York




WM Rochester, 1850 Ridge Road East, Irondequoit, NY, 14622



WM Port Washington, 16 Soundview Marketplace, Port Washington, NY, 11050



WM Watertown, 21214 Pioneer Plaza Dr, Watertown, NY, 13601




North Carolina




WMX Oriental, 1104 Broad St Ext, Oriental, NC, 28571-9786



WM Raleigh, 3027 Capital Blvd Ste 111, Raleigh, NC, 27604




Ohio




WM Cleveland, 1577 Saint Clair Ave NE, Cleveland, OH, 44114



WM N. Olmsted, 24781 Lorain Rd, North Olmsted, OH, 44070



WM Sandusky, 207 E Water St, Sandusky, OH, 44870




Oregon




WM Tigard, 15230 SW Sequoia Pkwy Ste 190, Tigard, OR, 97224




Pennsylvania




WM Bensalem, 2126 Street Rd, Bensalem, PA, 19020




South Carolina




WM Anderson, 3501-2 Clemson Blvd Ste 110, Anderson, SC, 29621



WM Murrells Inlet, 12078 Highway 17 Bypass Unit A, Murrells Inlet, SC, 29576



WM North Myrtle Beach, 1288 Highway 17 N, North Myrtle Beach, SC, 29582



WMX Port Royal, 1347 Ribaut Road Ste B, Port Royal, SC, 29935




Tennessee




WM Knoxville, 7812 Kingston Pike, Knoxville, TN, 37919




Virginia




WM Glen Allen, 10819 W Broad St, Glen Allen, VA, 23060




Washington




WM Bellingham, 3560 Meridian St, Bellingham, WA, 98225



WM Bremerton, 5971 State Hwy 303 NE, Bremerton, WA, 98310



WM Everett, 1716 West Marine View Dr, Everett, WA, 98201



WM Port Townsend, 2428 Washington St, Port Townsend, WA, 98368



WM Spokane, 5306 East Sprague Ave, Spokane, WA, 99212




Wisconsin




WM Milwaukee, 4141 S 76th St, Greenfield, WI, 53220




This story is developing and may be updated… ]]></description>
<enclosure url="https://images.fastcompany.com/image/upload/w_1280,q_auto,f_auto,fl_lossy/f_webp,q_auto,c_fit/wp-cms-2/2026/06/p-91559537-west-marine-store-closure.jpg" length="49398" type="image/jpeg"/>
<pubDate>Mon, 15 Jun 2026 14:00:10 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>West, Marine, closing, stores:, See, full, list, doomed, boating, supply, locations, that, will, shutter, states</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Your best employees are running a second job right now. It’s called summer</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/your-best-employees-are-running-a-second-job-right-now-its-called-summer</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/your-best-employees-are-running-a-second-job-right-now-its-called-summer</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Every June, my coaching conversations change. The leaders I work with are still talking about strategy and succession, but underneath, a second operating system is running. One client described her summer as “a staffing plan involving three camps, four children, three pickup times, and one car.” Another scheduled our session for her car, in a parking lot, between a board call and a camp release that happened at the exact same instant as her other child’s, twenty minutes away.



The American school summer runs roughly 10 to 12 weeks. The standard American job offers nowhere near that in vacation. Into the gap, working parents pour a privately assembled patchwork: multiple camps with different hours, different locations, and different start dates. Securing even this patchwork is a competition—registration for the most sought-after programs opens in January and many fill within hours.



Most workplaces treat this as a personal logistics problem. It isn’t. It’s a predictable, recurring operational reality affecting a large share of the workforce, and the way organizations handle it—mostly by pretending it doesn’t exist—costs them more than they think.





The work you can’t see



Here’s what makes the summer gap different from ordinary busyness: the labor is cognitive, continuous, and invisible.



The parent managing summer—still disproportionately the mother, even in dual-career households—is holding eleven (or so) weeks in her head as a single optimization problem. Which weeks are uncovered. Which child falls apart without structure. Whether the 9:00 a.m. drop-off survives the 8:30 call. Seven programs means seven registration portals, seven packing lists, seven sets of pickup rules. None of this appears on any org chart, and its output looks like leisure, which is precisely why it goes unrecognized.



What organizations do see is the performance of seamlessness: the employee who never mentions the logistics operation she’s running, because she has learned that visible parenting reads as diminished commitment. That performance is itself a tax on focus and energy. And it lands unevenly. When summer planning defaults to mothers, the cost shows up in exactly the population many organizations say they’re trying to retain and promote.



This isn’t a law of nature



Other wealthy countries face the same structural fact—school stops, work doesn’t—and treat it as a public infrastructure problem rather than a private failing.



In France, municipalities run centres de loisirs: leisure centers, typically housed in school buildings, open through the summer for children roughly ages three to fourteen, staffed by trained youth workers and priced on a sliding scale tied to family income. In Paris, a full day including lunch tops out around 25 euros. In Sweden, the Education Act requires municipalities to provide care for children up to age twelve to the extent necessary for their parents to work or study; the leisure-time centers known as fritidshem operate during the times of day and year when school is closed. The system is built on the assumption that parents have jobs in July. Germany simply shrinks the gap: summer break is about six weeks, and the states stagger their holiday dates.



None of these systems is frictionless. But where the answer to “who watches the children while parents work” is public and assumed, employees don’t have to engineer a private solution—or apologize for needing one.



American employers can’t build municipal childcare. But they’re not powerless, either, and waiting for policy to catch up is not a strategy.



What leaders can actually do



The interventions that matter most cost little. They’re mostly about converting an unspoken problem into a planned-for one.



Treat early summer like late December. Most organizations already plan around the week between Christmas and New Year’s as a known slowdown. The last week of June and the week of July 4th function the same way for working parents—every camp transition and program gap clusters there. Plan launches, offsites, and deadline-heavy sprints around it, openly, instead of forcing parents to perform full availability while running a logistics operation from their cars.



Make the gap discussable. The biggest cost of the summer scramble isn’t the hours; it’s the concealment. Leaders who name the reality—”camp transition weeks are chaos; flag your constraints and we’ll plan around them”—convert hidden stress into a schedulable fact. This costs nothing and signals everything.



Audit your meeting culture against camp hours. Many summer programs end at 3:00 or 4:00. A standing 4:30 meeting in July is a recurring crisis for some portion of your team. Moving it is a small act with outsized retention value.



Protect predictability. For working parents, a schedule that shifts with 24 hours’ notice is more destabilizing than a heavy one that holds. In summer, predictability is the benefit.



The deeper point



We already accept collective responsibility for children 180 days a year. Then summer arrives, and American work culture quietly reassigns the gap to individual families while expecting output to continue uninterrupted.



The organizations that handle this well aren’t being generous. They’re being accurate: acknowledging a real, recurring condition of their workforce and planning for it the way they’d plan for any other seasonal reality. The ones that don’t aren’t avoiding the cost. They’re just paying it in distraction, attrition, and the quiet exit of people—disproportionately women—who concluded that competence shouldn’t be a debt the workplace collects every July. ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Mon, 15 Jun 2026 14:00:10 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
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<item>
<title>Workplace mental health is a leadership issue</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/workplace-mental-health-is-a-leadership-issue</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/workplace-mental-health-is-a-leadership-issue</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ For years, companies treated employee mental health as peripheral rather than central to their core operations. It was something you offered employees as a benefit, pointed people toward as a resource, or handed off to HR rather than owned at a leadership level.



That era is over.



Mental health now shapes how people lead, collaborate, solve problems, manage stress, and stay in the workforce—in other words, it shapes the very things organizations depend on to perform. The most forward-thinking companies recognize this and are already acting on it: designating mental health days, investing in manager training so leaders can spot and respond to signs of struggle, and embedding well-being alongside traditional performance metrics.



Companies that still treat employee well-being as peripheral are missing what is right in front of them. The future of work will be defined in large part by how well we support the humans doing the work and right now, those humans are carrying a lot.



Your employees are stressed



On any given Monday morning, millions of employees log into work carrying more than deadlines and deliverables. They carry stress, anxiety, financial pressure, caregiving responsibilities, and loneliness. These are burdens that aren’t captured by any dashboard, yet they shape how people show up every day.



For many, the workday does not begin at 9 a.m. It begins in the middle of the night, worrying about bills, illness, aging parents, or a child who needs extra support. It continues through back-to-back meetings and packed calendars, with very little room to breathe.



This is not an isolated challenge. It is the lived reality of today’s workforce.



The economic impact of stress



Across industries, employees are navigating the compounding pressure of a 24/7 digital culture, sustained economic strain, caregiving across generations, political and social tension, global instability, and a growing sense of disconnection, even in environments that seem constantly connected. People are still showing up. But many are doing so at a cost.



That cost is not always dramatic or visible. It shows up in quieter ways. A high performer who is still delivering, but with less energy. A manager supporting everyone else while running on empty. A team can look productive on paper but be increasingly disconnected in practice.



The economic toll is real. According to Gallup, low engagement costs the global economy an estimated $8.9 trillion in lost productivity each year—a reminder that disconnection is not just a human cost, it is a business one.



Employers are beginning to respond with intention. With help from CHC: Creating Healthier Communities, Ameriprise Bank recently piloted Mental Health Mondays, a three-part webinar series this past May during Mental Health Awareness month. The sessions were made possible through a growing model in workplace well-being: connecting employers directly with nonprofit organizations that bring deep subject-matter expertise on the health and social challenges employees are facing. In this case, that meant mental health support grounded in what employees are experiencing, not generic wellness language or one-size-fits-all advice.



That distinction matters.



Too many workplace well-being efforts remain broad, reactive, or disconnected from the realities employees are facing. Ameriprise Bank took a more thoughtful approach, and in doing so, offered a five-point model other employers can replicate.



1. Start with reality, not assumptions







Rather than designing a top-down initiative around a generic idea of wellness, Ameriprise Bank acknowledged the sustained stress many employees are carrying every day. The evidence is clear: research shows that 80% of financial institution employees experienced at least one symptom of a mental health condition in the past year, and 69% have left roles due, at least in part, to mental health reasons—nearly 20 percentage points higher than workers in other industries. That includes the personal weight of family caregiving responsibilities and financial pressure, as well as the occupational stress unique to financial services professionals, high-stakes decision-making, client demands, and the emotional burden of managing others’ financial futures. That grounding shaped the tone, the topics, and the relevance of the series.



2. Bring in trusted expertise



Ameriprise Bank tapped into a network of nonprofit leaders and mental health experts, including the American Psychiatric Association Foundation and NAMI, to create credible, evidence-based, and useful content. Employees didn’t just hear a company message. They heard from experts who understand mental health from clinical and community perspectives.



3. Make the content specific



Sessions focused on self-care and mindfulness offered practical tools employees could use right away. Another session addressed the unique pressures facing financial services professionals and reframed mental health as essential to resilience, sound decision-making, and long-term performance. A third session focused on workplace belonging and the need to feel welcomed, known, included, supported, and connected.



4. Create space



The series resonated with employees because it offered them an opportunity to reflect, engage, and participate. Each session was designed to be interactive, giving employees the ability to ask questions directly of the presenters or post comments and questions in a live chat, creating real dialogue rather than a one-way presentation. That shift from broadcasting information to listening to employee concerns helped normalize conversations that too often stay hidden because of stigma.



5. Treat mental health as a shared responsibility



The series was not framed as a one-time initiative or a talking point for leadership. It reflected a broader understanding that supporting people is everyone’s job— executives, managers, and peers. That message was modeled from the top: senior leaders visibly participated in and promoted the sessions, and managers were encouraged to attend alongside their teams—signaling that mental health is not just an individual concern, but a shared leadership responsibility. Ameriprise Bank is actively exploring offering another series.



Final thoughts



Technology, policy, and productivity targets are not the only factors shaping the future of work. Everyday moments also impact our work such as when an employee speaks up about stress, a manager chooses empathy over urgency, or a company decides employee well-being is truly a priority.



When employees feel supported, they show up to work differently. They are more focused, more engaged, and more connected to their teams and their purpose. That’s good for people. It’s also good for business.



Organizations that lead in the mental health space will not simply respond to change. They will help define it. They will build workplaces where well-being and performance reinforce one another, where belonging strengthens teams, and where people can do their best work because they feel supported enough to bring their full selves to it.



This is not just the future of work. It is the future of leadership.



Jean C. Accius, PhD, is president and CEO of CHC: Creating Healthier Communities. ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Mon, 15 Jun 2026 14:00:10 +0000</pubDate>
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<media:keywords>Workplace, mental, health, leadership, issue</media:keywords>
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<item>
<title>Opening a business bank account with bad credit</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/opening-a-business-bank-account-with-bad-credit</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/opening-a-business-bank-account-with-bad-credit</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ By Anna Jordan on Small Business UK - Advice and Ideas for UK Small Businesses and SMEs


I have a bad credit history and am having difficulty opening a business bank account for my limited company. What else can I do?    
The post Opening a business bank account with bad credit appeared first on Small Business UK. ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Mon, 15 Jun 2026 14:00:08 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Opening, business, bank, account, with, bad, credit</media:keywords>
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<title>Mastery of Philippines’ San Guillermo Persuade Investors</title>
<link>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/marketing-mastery-of-philippines-san-guillermo-pursuade-investors</link>
<guid>https://thebusinesseconomic.com/marketing-mastery-of-philippines-san-guillermo-pursuade-investors</guid>
<description><![CDATA[  ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Sat, 20 Nov 2021 00:08:49 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Business Economic Syndicated News</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Noubikko, San Guillermo Shopping Complex, Dantru, RPConnect</media:keywords>
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