Whether hes climbing skyscrapers in Taiwan or working to build the Honnold Foundation, free solo climber and activist Alex Honnold remains an optimist. He sat down with Fast Company to talk about why a good outlook is essentialboth for his sport and in the fight for the planet. Honnold also reflects on education, human potential, overconsumption, and whats at stake for American national parks and public lands.
Ive always been somewhat ritualistic, shaped by my Midwestern upbringing in a modest immigrant family. I remember my parents calculating the mileage of our 82 Honda Civic in a notepad after every fill-up, the same car I eventually inherited in high school. Or saving every receipt on vacation to audit our daily spending down to the dollar. In every sense, they were amazing parents, and their rituals instilled in me a desire to be intentional about how I lived my life.
As human beings in a world of constant distraction, time is the most precious resource we have. As a CEO, managing that resource is one of the most important skills you can master. And its no picnic. Ive often said work-life balance in the C-suite is an illusion. Its a worthwhile concept, but just like every cause has an effect, every choice has a consequence. Work out or binge-watch a show? Travel the world or save for a house? One isnt better than the other; theyre just choices.
Rituals structure your time. Put simply, the more deliberate you are with your habits and behaviors, the more intentional you can be with that time. They dont emerge from nowhere; theyre developed and refined over years of trial and error. How we create and, more importantly, maintain habits is deeply personal. What works for me almost certainly wont work for someone else.
RITUALS IN SERVICE OF OTHERS
GE, a company known for its highly organized, almost programmatic culture, is where I honed many of my habits. Early in my career, I worked 12- to 13-hour days, socialized until midnight, slept four or five hours, and hit repeat. At 26, I became a manager for the first time and realized that my colleagues, many of them only a year or two younger, were looking to me for guidance. Rituals were no longer just a catalyst for my own success; they became a way to deliver on my responsibility to othersa mindset that still defines my leadership at Twilio 25 years later.
THE 70-20-10 RULE
About 18 months ago, I met with a mentor, a seasoned leader and board chairman for some of the worlds top businesses. He shared a piece of advice that resonated with me: never spend evenings on things that aren’t mission critical. His point was simple: if its not family, it better be work. Otherwise, skip it.
Apart from a select few industry events, I decline nearly all networking and work-adjacent invitations so I can spend my time on what matters: showing up for my family and the company I run.
Most of my rituals orbit my calendar. I refuse to fill it with anything that drains attention or energy, both people and topics, personal or professional. Thats why I adhere to a 70-20-10 rule: 70% of my time on what matters, 20% on what must get done, and 10% on what gives me energy. That leaves exactly 0% for distractions.
Speaking of those work-life consequences, Ive missed milestones and moments with friends and family I can never get back. But I made choices that were right for me at the time and have few regrets. Ive been incredibly fortunate to carve out a life my parents only dreamed about. Today, as a soon-to-be empty nester, Im much more intentional (and present) about building rituals around moments that matter mostthat 70%like family dinners: a ritual I almost never miss when Im in town.
RITUALS BEHIND MY ROUTINE
Rituals are, by nature, structured and repetitive, but they arent immutable. Ive adapted mine to meet different stages of life and careerkids, promotions, jobs. Ive built and shed many, but these seven are most foundational for me right now:
Power of a plan: It sounds obvious, but aday without a plan is a ship without a rudder. I start each day, week, month, and year with one. It prioritizes what matters and reinforces accountability.
Refill the tank: My parents were firm believers in work hard, play hard, and that mantra shapes my weekends. While I do work, I make sure Saturdays and Sundays are memorableor epic as my baseline. With one kid in college and another headed there soon, I prioritize my time with them as much as possible, with regular trips to the record store with my daughter or the driving range with my son.
Delegate a lot: There are two forces at work here: I have a highly competent staff, and delegation empowers ownership (how else do we learn?). And it lightens my load.
Avoid multitasking: Multitasking is a myth; research backs this, and so does my personal experience. Its unavoidable sometimes, but always at the expense of something else. I try to avoid it, at work and home.
Declutter the inbox: Email overload is real. I embrace a philosophy of inbox zero to reduce clutter and track priorities.
No meeting default: I only attend critical meetings and believe they are for three things: dialogue, debate, and decision-making. Everything else can be done asynchronously, and I regularly purge those that dont meet this bar.
FINAL THOUGHTS
The more responsibility you take on as a leader, the greater the demands on your time and energy, and the more critical it becomes to perform for those who depend on your judgment, guidance, and steady hand. Decades into my career, Im a creature of habit. Whether in the office with colleagues, on the road with customers, or at home with family, my days are anchored by rituals.
So, as the energy and enthusiasm of the New Year inevitably wanes, resolutions will too. Its rituals, ones that fuel creativity, value precious time, and set you and your teams up for sustainable success, that last.
Khozema Shipchandler is the CEO of Twilio.
Three of the world’s biggest tech companies face a landmark trial in Los Angeles starting this week over claims that their platformsMeta’s Instagram, ByteDance’s TikTok, and Google’s YouTubedeliberately addict and harm children.Jury selection starts this week in the Los Angeles County Superior Court. It’s the first time the companies will argue their case before a jury, and the outcome could have profound effects on their businesses and how they will handle children using their platforms. The selection process is expected to take at least a few days, with 75 potential jurors questioned each day through at least Thursday. A fourth company named in the lawsuit, Snapchat parent company Snap Inc., settled the case last week for an undisclosed sum.At the core of the case is a 19-year-old identified only by the initials “KGM,” whose case could determine how thousands of other, similar lawsuits against social media companies will play out. She and two other plaintiffs have been selected for bellwether trialsessentially test cases for both sides to see how their arguments play out before a jury and what damages, if any, may be awarded, said Clay Calvert, a nonresident senior fellow of technology policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute.KGM claims that her use of social media from an early age addicted her to the technology and exacerbated depression and suicidal thoughts. Importantly, the lawsuit claims that this was done through deliberate design choices made by companies that sought to make their platforms more addictive to children to boost profits. This argument, if successful, could sidestep the companies’ First Amendment shield and Section 230, which protects tech companies from liability for material posted on their platforms.“Borrowing heavily from the behavioral and neurobiological techniques used by slot machines and exploited by the cigarette industry, Defendants deliberately embedded in their products an array of design features aimed at maximizing youth engagement to drive advertising revenue,” the lawsuit says.Executives, including Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, are expected to testify at the trial, which will last six to eight weeks. Experts have drawn similarities to the Big Tobacco trials that led to a 1998 settlement requiring cigarette companies to pay billions in healthcare costs and restrict marketing targeting minors.“Plaintiffs are not merely the collateral damage of Defendants’ products,” the lawsuit says. “They are the direct victims of the intentional product design choices made by each Defendant. They are the intended targets of the harmful features that pushed them into self-destructive feedback loops.”The tech companies dispute the claims that their products deliberately harm children, citing a bevy of safeguards they have added over the years and arguing that they are not liable for content posted on their sites by third parties.“Recently, a number of lawsuits have attempted to place the blame for teen mental health struggles squarely on social media companies,” Meta said in a recent blog post. “But this oversimplifies a serious issue. Clinicians and researchers find that mental health is a deeply complex and multifaceted issue, and trends regarding teens’ well-being aren’t clear-cut or universal. Narrowing the challenges faced by teens to a single factor ignores the scientific research and the many stressors impacting young people today, like academic pressure, school safety, socio-economic challenges and substance abuse.”Meta, YouTube, and TikTok did not immediately respond to requests for comment Monday.The case will be the first in a slew of cases beginning this year that seek to hold social media companies responsible for harming children’s mental well-being. A federal bellwether trial beginning in June in Oakland, California, will be the first to represent school districts that have sued social media platforms over harms to children.In addition, more than 40 state attorneys general have filed lawsuits against Meta, claiming it is harming young people and contributing to the youth mental health crisis by deliberately designing features on Instagram and Facebook that addict children to its platforms. The majority of cases filed their lawsuits in federal court, but some sued in their respective states.TikTok also faces similar lawsuits in more than a dozen states.
Barbara Ortutay, AP Technology Writer
Americas most iconic shoe giant is starting 2026 by laying off workers. Nike has confirmed that it will lay off 775 employees in the United States. The move marks the third year in a row that Nike has cut jobs. Heres what you need to know about the latest Nike layoffs.
Whats happened?
On Monday, CNBC reported that shoe giant Nike would eliminate 775 jobs. The job cuts will primarily encompass positions at the companys distribution centers in Mississippi and Tennessee. Nike has warehouses in those states that act as major hubs in the companys supply chain. The distribution centers store the companys inventory before shipping the products out to customers and retail partners.
Nikes most recent round of job cuts is the third in as many years. In 2024, Nike announced it would cut 2% of its total workforce, or about 1,600 roles. Those cuts were made so the company could reduce expenses in response to weakening sales.
Then last year, Nike announced in August that it would cut about 1% of its corporate staff. Those cuts were part of a company realignment, Nike said at the time.
In May 2025, Nike had around 77,800 employees. Todays confirmed layoffs of 775 workers mean the latest job cuts equate to around 1% of its workforce.
Why is Nike cutting jobs?
When reached for comment, a Nike spokesperson told Fast Company that the job cuts were part of the steps the company was taking to strengthen and streamline our operations so we can move faster, operate with greater discipline, and better serve athletes and consumers.
As part of those steps, Nike said it’s sharpening our supply chain footprint, accelerating the use of advanced technologyand automation, and investing in the skills our teams need for the future.
The company said its actions to consolidate its footprint will primarily impact its U.S. distribution operations.
These actions are designed to reduce complexity, improve flexibility, and build a more responsive, resilient, responsible, and efficient operation and to support our path back to long-term, profitable growth, including contributing to improved EBIT (earnings before interest and taxes) margins over time, the spokesperson added.
Under former Nike CEO John Donahoe, the company moved away from wholesale partners in favor of direct selling, which necessitated a buildup of employees at its distribution centers. But ultimately, Nikes lackluster sales demand could not support the number of employees at the distribution centers. Nikes new CEO Elliott Hill has flipped its sales playbook, embracing wholesale partners again, and focusing on cutting costs to increase margins.
How has Nikes stock price reacted?
As of yesterdays closing price, Nike shares (NYSE: NKE) were trading at $64.99. In premarket trading this morning, shares are essentially flat.
In other words, investors so far seem to have shrugged off the fact that the layoffs will have an immediate impact on the companys finances or operations.
After reaching an all-time high of around $180 in 2021, Nikes share price has steadily declined, falling to as low as the $62 range in March of last year.
Over the past 12 months, Nikes share price has declined by more than 11%, and over the past five years, the stocks price has collapsed by more than 50%. Since the new year began, NKE shares have risen about 2%.
In todays experience economy, cultural capital is increasingly valuable, especially for cities seeking to differentiate themselves. Municipalities routinely invest in traditional industries, physical infrastructure, and innovation pipelines, but music is often siloed as entertainment. Music can function as an economic engine, a form of cultural connective tissue, and a powerful competitive differentiator.
The scale of the opportunity is significant. The music industry contributes more than $212 billion to the U.S. GDP and accounts for 2.5 million jobs nationwide. Cultural exports are not just symbolic; they shape global perception, attract investment, and support workforce retention. According to the Recording Academy, when an out-of-town visitor buys a concert ticket for $100, the local economy sees an additional $335 in related spending.
New models show that with the right civic support, music can and should be treated like any other high-impact export.
MUSIC AS A BRAND AND A BRIDGE
City-supported music touring programs are emerging as effective tools for both artist development and place branding. When artists tour, they become de facto cultural diplomats who carry a citys stories, aesthetics, and identity into new markets. As artists expand their reach, the citys cultural profile grows alongside them, creating a powerful feedback loop of visibility and credibility. This reframes the relationship between municipalities and creators. Rather than acting as passive supporters, cities become strategic amplifiers.
One of the things that we have found that operationalizes this approach is to provide financial support to musicians who promote the city while on tour. When our city launched its Music Ambassador Program (MAP), we learned through Memphiss MAP initiative that cash touring grants and facilitated media opportunities generate artist growth and a stronger global position as a music destination. The benefits are twofold: artists receive tangible career support, and the city gains authentic, artist-led storytelling.
A STRATEGY FROM THE TECH PLAYBOOK
The private sector, music companies, and recording studios are beginning to recognize the value of these partnership models closely mirror what the tech industry has been doing for years. When private sector, government, music companies, and recording studios collaborate, artists gain regional and national exposure with cities extending their cultural footprint. For example, weve teamed up with Universal Music Groups East Iris Studios in Nashville, the MidCity District and Apollo Coalition here in Huntsville to expand visibility for the artist and our community.
Partnerships like this mirror successful long-standing economic exchange programs in tech and business that also apply toward creative capital.
BEYOND VENUES: RETHINKING MUSIC INFRASTRUCTURE
Supporting music as an export requires more than building amphitheaters and creating performance spaces. It demands logistical support, funding mechanisms, professional pathways, and investment in the systems that allow artists to scale their careers. High-impact, cost-effective strategies include:
Stipends or grant programs for touring
Mentorship pipelines connecting local talent with established and influential industry professionals
Relationships, residencies, or cultural exchange programs with peer cities
Public-private partnerships that lower barriers to touring and cross-market visibility
The goal here is to reduce friction in talent mobility and help artists build sustainable, long-term careers that extend beyond local gigscareers that have a ripple effect on job creation, production, marketing, hospitality, and tourism across the broader music ecosystem.
PROMOTE ARTISTS WITH EQUITY AND AUTHENTICITY
Here in Huntsville, Alabama, we have seen great success with our music export programs and have also learned many important lessons along the way. These three lessons in particular are helpful to consider when building or expanding a program in your city.
1. Programs must be intentionally designed to avoid favoritism or the commodification of local culture for external approval. Exporting culture carries the risk of disproportionately favoring established artists unless equity is prioritized.
2. Authenticity matters. The most successful music export initiatives reflect the true dynamics, diversity, and texture of a citys creative communitynot a curated version of its scene.
3. Community engagement is essential. Listening sessions, grassroots input, and shared ownership are crucial components needed for ensuring music strategies are sustainable and scalable. Bringing the local community into the fold is critical to the long-term success of cultural exports.
THE FUTURE: CULTURE AS ECONOMIC INFRASTRUCTURE
As the boundaries between industry, culture, and identity continue to blur, cities that treat music as an exportnot just an amenitywill gain a measurable advantage.
Municipal governments and chambers of commerce have long focused on exporting products, ideas, and innovation. In an era where identity, experience, and narrative shape everything from tourism to talent recruitment, it is time to recognize music and the arts not simply as local assets but as exportable engines of economic growth.
Matt Mandrella is the music officer for the City of Huntsville, Alabama.
Before the age of technological distraction, we lived more in tune with our bodies. We spent more time outdoors where the sun regulated our circadian rhythms, which has been scientifically proven to reduce anxiety and depression. Without constant distraction, people sat in their boredom, which became drivers of artistic endeavors, creative ideas, and human connection.
But how many of us can remember the last time we were truly bored?Drove without music, or sat in a coffee shop simply looking out the window?
Today, our digital devices have optimized our lives to the point of exhaustion. In pursuit of a frictionless experience, technology has eradicated the natural pauses that once grounded us in our bodies and environments. Yet research shows that taking breaks throughout the day is critical for restoring energy, improving focus, and inspiring creativity.
THE MYTH ABOUT OPTIMIZATION
We currently subscribe to the myth that if everything is efficient and optimized, our lives will feel easy and pain-free. We can order just about anything with the press of a button, or access infinite entertainment to fill every idle moment. Machines clean our clothes, dishes, and soon, well be able to offload daily chores to household robots. At work, we can use AI to automate tedious tasks or avoid the sometimes painful stuckness of thinking. Everything around us is designed to feel effortless, yet somehow it feels anything but.
For decades, businesses have equated technological progress with the most optimized path. In many ways weve arrived, yet were more unhappy than ever. Since 2005, the depression and anxiety among young people has increased by 63%, due, in part, to greater levels of social media engagement, academic stress, and economic stress.
Most of us know this experience firsthand: We get lost in a social media or news feed, only to emerge an hour later, disembodied, losing the throughline of the initial query. Or we pick up a phone reflexively, even if theres nothing pressing to do or see.
Research shows that overuse of smartphones can make us more in touch with our screens and less in touch with our bodies. This has only been exacerbated as platforms have shifted away from user autonomy and toward extractive profit models. As journalist and coiner of the term enshittification, Cory Doctorow wrote in a story for Wired, Technological self-determination is at odds with the natural imperatives of tech businesses. They make more money when they take away our freedomour freedom to speak, to leave, to connect.
In response, a growing movement of young people has begun leaving social media platforms, even ditching their cell phones altogether. In a New York Times story featuring Luddite teens, one teen was quoted as saying, things instantly changed. I started using my brain. It made me observe myself as a person, after trading their smartphone for a flip phone. Their goal isnt for everyone to get a flip phone, but to inspire people to reflect on their relationships with technology.
DESIGN THAT GIVES USERS CONTROL
With AI embedded into our devices and digital platforms, the tension between user autonomy and technological progress is growing. Our tools are evolving to anticipate our habits and desires, often outside of cognitive awareness.
Now is our opportunity to step back and determine what we want technology to do for us, and what we want to do for ourselves. For designers, its about questioning how we might create products and experiences that restore control to the user over their time and attention. Only when we begin designing for moments of pause, can we begin to address our fundamental human needs.
In the same way handwriting can slow your thoughts, dumb phones force users to pause and contemplate their next moves and interactions. Light Phone and Mudita are examples of a design philosophy that give control back to the user. Instead of the typical smartphone that commodifies your attention, dumb phones are designed as a tool to be used, giving users the ability to customize the apps loaded onto the device. These phones are not for everyone. The experience is intentionally slow and far from seamless. The friction is a forcing mechanism for users to pause.
Like handwriting, resonant breathing has been proven to improve heart rate variability, a metric that can indicate wellbeing and mood. Devices intentionally designed with minimal features, like Ohm, help users slow down and reconnect to their bodys signals through breathwork.
On the creative side, publishing platforms like Substack and Inoreader allow users to choose who they read and subscribe to. These intentionally designed platforms allow users to build their own news feeds and maximize their time rather than being fed content based on algorithms.
FINAL THOUGHTS
We may have different aspirations for our relationships with technology, but we should all feel autonomous in choosing them. Questioning the never-ending optimization is the first step to determining what we want our collective future to look like.
For designers, its about not assuming the maximum, most feature-rich experience, but about distilling a product to its essential utility and allowing people to form their own relationship to it.
Designing for natural pauses allows us all to feel a little more present and in tune with our core needs, and how to address them. So perhaps the next wave of technology isnt about doing everything for us, but instead about giving us back the space to choose.
Dan Harden is the founder and CEO of Whipsaw.
There’s a lot of noise in the crypto space. Price swings rile up the internet, new jargony terms pop up constantly, and the hype and haters can turn people off before they begin. But if you’re curious about where crypto is actually headed, here’s what’s worth paying attention to in 2026.
Three key shifts are changing how everyday people interact with digital assets. None of them require you to have tech or financial expertise. And none of them require you to act right now.
Think of this as a look at the horizon, so you can make informed choices when you’re ready.
1. ADOPTION IS PICKING UP, EVEN IF YOU HAVEN’T NOTICED
At the beginning of 2025, our State of Crypto Holders Report found that one in five U.S. adults was using digital assets. And at the end of 2025, our Crypto Holiday Report found that nearly one in four had or were considering gifting crypto for the holidays, indicating that even more Americans had begun embracing digital assets.
Crypto is increasingly going mainstream, even when that story doesnt show up in headlines. More often, it seems like small, practical changes: a coffee shop adding crypto as a payment option, a payroll service letting employees receive wages in crypto, or an artist selling work directly on a blockchain instead of through a gallery.
Think about how mobile payments crept into everyday life. Nobody declared a “mobile wallet revolution.” It just became easier to tap your phone than dig for cash; eventually, we stopped noticing the change. Crypto is following a similar pattern. More people hold digital assets, more places accept them at the register, and the infrastructure to use it is simpler.
Imagine your niece, fresh out of college, getting a percentage of her paycheck deposited directly into a digital wallet. Shes not obsessing over charts or trading daily; she’s just letting it sit there, just as past generations might have put money into savings bonds and forgotten about it. That’s what quiet adoption looks like.
The tipping point might not feel dramatic when it arrives. It’ll feel normal. And that’s the point.
2. REAL-WORLD ASSETS ARE GOING DIGITAL
Here’s where crypto starts becoming an even bigger part of our everyday lives. Tokenization is a way to digitally represent ownership of physical assets like property, art, or commodities. Instead of needingor being ableto buy an entire house as an investment, you can own a fraction of it.
Say there’s a vacation home you’d love for an investment property, but its out of reach financially. With tokenization, you could buy just a slice of the place instead. You’d have a stake in the property and benefit if its value rises.
But dont think of it like owning a second home. You’re not getting the keys to stay there whenever you want; you’re getting a piece of the upside. The more pieces you own, the greater that upside, and the more power you have to make decisions about property management. This gives you some key benefits of property ownership without the headaches like dealing with maintenance calls or property taxes on your own.
Depending on how these opportunities are structured, different laws may apply. For example, securities laws may entitle you to receive certain legal disclosures before agreeing to anything. But for now, the point is about opportunity and access. A lot of people have been locked out of owning certain assets because the entry cost is too high. Tokenization chips away at that barrier, opening up opportunities to people who couldn’t participate before.
3. CRYPTO AND TRADITIONAL FINANCE ARE WORKING TOGETHER
For years, the narrative around crypto and traditional finance was adversarial. Digital assets were positioned as a replacement for banks, cutting out the middleman entirely.
But now, traditional financial institutions are starting to integrate crypto services into legacy systems, making things easier. If you want to dip your toes into digital assets but not abandon everything familiar, you don’t have to. Banks and crypto are figuring out how to work together, which means fewer either-or decisions for the rest of us.
It’s like when streaming services started working with cable providers instead of trying to replace them. The transition got smoother and more people got on board. The same thing is happening with crypto and finance. Regulatory clarity is improving, trust is building, and the walls between “traditional” and “digital” are thinning.
Picture your parents, who have banked at the same place for 30 years. They may not want to download a new app and figure out how it works on their own. But if their bank starts offering a simple way to hold crypto in an account they already trust, that changes things. They don’t have to learn a whole new system; they have a new option within one they already use.
For people newer to all this, that’s genuinely helpful. You can start exploring without overhauling how you manage your money or learn new platforms all at once.
WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR YOU?
Are you on the fence or curious about crypto but unsure of where to start? This might be the year to learn more. Not because of hype and FOMO, but because the tools are better, the education more accessible, and there are more ways in.
Crypto in 2026 is about quiet adoption, real-world assets going digital, and traditional finance finding common ground with digital assets. The tech isn’t going mainstream because of hype; it’s getting there through practical, unglamorous changes in how people actually use it.
Stu Alderoty is president of the National Cryptocurrency Association.
In 2008, we published the first listing on a bare-bones website called RunMyErrand.com: a single task, posted by someone who needed help, to be completed by an individual who had opted into making their time and abilities available. At the time, it was an untested idea, launched in the midst of the worst financial downturn in a generation, and there was no established language for what we were building. The term gig economy did not yet exist, and there was no widely accepted model for how a person in need might hire a stranger through a digital marketplace to complete a unit of work.
This was before Uber, Instacart, and Postmates, and before on-demand labor became a familiar part of daily life. Smartphones were still early in their evolution, and engineers like me were only beginning to understand how mobile computing, location data, and social connection might combine to enable an entirely new economic behavior. We believed we were building a simple errand marketplace, but quickly realized this heralded a broader transition toward making these transactions of time and labor widely accessible. What we did not yet realize was that we were participating in a broader societal shift that would fundamentally change how people thought about work, income, and employment.
Looking back, it is now clear that this period marked the beginning of a structural transformation in the labor market. Platforms like TaskRabbit helped make flexible, on-demand work visible, available, and scalable, while also enabling new ways for individuals to participate in the economy outside of traditional full-time employment. Over time, these models contributed to the rise of portfolio careers and multiple income streams, blurring the boundary between salaried work and independent labor in ways that have since become normalized.
A New Inflection Point for Work
We are now standing at another inflection point, but the nature of this shift is different. While the gig economy reshaped how work is distributed and compensated, AI is reshaping what kind of work is valued in the first place.
For decades, jobs have been defined by discrete, specialized skills. Writing, coding, financial analysis, forecasting, and operational planning formed the foundation of most knowledge work, and expertise in these domains served as a proxy for value. Credentials, degrees, and job descriptions reinforced the idea that professional worth was tied to the ability to execute specific tasks accurately and efficiently.
AI disrupts this model at a fundamental level. Many of the activities that once signaled expertise are rapidly becoming baseline capabilities, available to anyone with access to the same tools. Writing, coding, and analysis can now be generated, refined, and scaled with unprecedented speed, flattening the value of execution itself.
Historically, technological change has displaced physical or repetitive labor, often eliminating some jobs while creating others. What distinguishes this moment is that AI does not merely automate tasks at the edges of knowledge work; it challenges the central premise that skills alone are a measurable advantage and worthwhile barometer for potential success.
From Skills to Creativity
As execution becomes commoditized, the next era of work will reward what these systems cannot replicate. Creativity, interpretation, and cross-disciplinary imagination are becoming increasingly valuable because they shape how judgement is made, not just how efficiently tasks are completed.
What matters now is not simply the ability to produce outputs, but the ability to frame problems, apply taste and novel ideas, and connect the dots across domains. Taste and interpretation take on new economic significance, along with making sense of complexity and possible decisions amid overwhelming choice.
As an investor, I have observed that many of the strongest founders operating today do not fit neatly into traditional categories of specialization. They tend to be hybrids who combine technical fluency with creative or human-centered disciplines, allowing them to reframe problems in ways that are difficult to replicate. These individuals are able to step outside established assumptions and articulate solutions that feel both novel and coherent.
My own background reflects this hybrid approach. I studied math and computer science, but I also minored in dance, and I attended a small liberal arts college that emphasized interdisciplinary thinking and communication across domains. At the time, this path did not resemble the conventional trajectory of an engineer, but it proved formative in shaping how I approached building a company during a period of severe constraint and uncertainty.
Constraint as a Creative Advantage
TaskRabbit was built between 2008 and 2010, when venture capital was scarce and consumer trust was fragile. Operating under these conditions forced clarity about priorities and sharpened our focus on what truly mattered. While the technological landscape has changed dramatically since then, the underlying lesson remains relevant. Constraint can be a powerful catalyst for creativity, particularly in an environment where new tools make it tempting to pursue too many directions at once.
Today, AI enables teams to experiment rapidly and produce a wide range of outputs with minimal friction. That abundance can be useful, but it can also dilute focus. Many organizations struggle not because they lack ideas or capabilities, but because they attempt to do too much at once. In contrast, the leaders most likely to succeed in this era will be those who can identify the few connections that matter and build with intention rather than breadth.
Five Principles for the AI Era
If I were starting over today, I would focus less on mastering skills and tools, and more on cultivating the capabilities for applied creativity:
Study outside your lane. Perspective is built by crossing disciplines, not by staying within them. Insight often emerges from unexpected combinations rather than deeper specialization alone.
Develop taste. AI can generate infinite viable options. The ability to discern what is meaningful, coherent, or worth pursuing is increasingly rare and increasingly valuable.
Learn to ask better questions. The framing of a problem now matters more than the speed at which an answer can be produced. Clear questions shape better outcomes.
Build with what you have. Constraint forces focus and intention. Limited resources can sharpen creativity rather than hinder it.
Seek friction, not agreement. AI is excellent at reinforcing existing perspectives. Innovation more often emerges from challenge, disagreement, and productive tension.
The Shape of Work Ahead
Over time, these shifts will reshape how organizations hire and evaluate talent. Credentials will matter less than originalty, and linear career paths will give way to bodies of work that demonstrate creative judgment and independent thinking. Side projects, essays, experiments, and unconventional experiences previously left off of résumés will increasingly signal potential for creative thinking.
In moments of profound technological change, there is rarely a clear playbook. There is, however, a pattern. The individuals and organizations that thrive are not those who optimize for efficiency alone, but those who are willing to break precedent, integrate diverse perspectives, and imagine new frameworks for value creation. In a world where everyone has access to artificial intelligence, creativity is no longer peripheral to work. It is becoming the primary currency through which work is defined and rewarded.
To anchor the long rows of server racks that power the artificial intelligence boom, every data center needs thousands of holes drilled into its concrete floor. It’s a precise part of the construction process that has required workers to bend over with handheld drills for hours at a time grinding meticulously placed holes into thick pads of concrete.
Now, there’s a robot doing it up to 10 times as fast.
Tool brand DeWalt has just revealed a downward-drilling robot that can autonomously roam the floors of under construction data centers to drill the thousands of holes that are necessary for installing server hardware and other building elements. Developed in conjunction with August Robotics and tested on data centers being built by an unnamed “hyperscaler” tech company, the autonomous robotic drill has been used to pop more than 90,000 holes into the floors of data centers, all without human involvement.
[Photo: DeWalt]
A task that can take human workers up to two months in a large data center can now be handled by a fleet of three or four robots in a matter of days. “That is so critical from a construction perspective, because they can’t move to the next stage of construction until this is done,” says Bill Beck, president of tools and outdoor for Stanley Black and Decker, the parent company of the DeWalt brand.
The pace is striking. For a smaller hole less than 1 inch wide and 2 inches deep, the robot can locate and drill one hole every 80 seconds. For a larger hole, 1 inch wide and 8 inches deep, it can finish a hole every 180 seconds. During its pilot phase, the robotic drill managed an accuracy rate of 99.97%. And because the robot is capable of operating 24 hours a day, project timelines can be drastically slashed.
[Video: DeWalt]
Making this process faster is increasingly important as data centers balloon in size. From single buildings to sprawling campuses, data centers are taking up vast amounts of space and becoming increasingly complex to build. “They’re huge slabs of concrete,” says Beck. With upwards of 10,000 holes needed to be drilled in each one, the job can be daunting. “And they’ve got to be perfect,” Beck says. “You can’t have the hole be a quarter-of-an-inch off.”
That would make it seem like a hard job to want to do, but that’s assuming there are even enough people to take on the role. One analysis suggests there is currently a shortage of more than 500,000 skilled laborers in the construction industry. And workforce shortages are the leading cause of construction delays, according to a recent survey from the Associated General Contractors of America.
The robotic drill offers an alternative. It also offers significant cost savings. Beck says it could cost about $65 per hole for this drilling work to be done by human crews. Using a fleet of the autonomous drilling robots developed by DeWalt and August Robotics, that cost comes down to about $20 per hole.
DPR Construction, the largest data center contractor in the U.S., is prioritizing this drilling robot for testing and validation in 2026, according to Tyler Williams, the company’s field and robotic innovation leader. He says the technology has “real potential to reduce ergonomic strain on craft teams, boost productivity, and generally make the onsite experience better for people.”
“Ultimately, everything were doing here is about supporting our customers, many of whom are focused on speed to market,” Williams says. “These kinds of methods are changing how projects get built and helping customers see returns on their capital investments sooner.”
DeWalt and August Robotics have been piloting this technology for the past few months and believe the robotic drill is ready for wider adoption. It will be commercially available by mid 2026. As the scale of data center construction increases, especially among hyperscaler tech companies like Meta, Google, and OpenAI, there’s likely to be pent-up demand.
“They’ve got money, and they want to go as fast as they can,” Beck says. “They know it’s a race in terms of getting these data centers up and making sure they’ve got the capacity to be able to compete from an AI perspective. So their big push obviously is how fast can you go?”
For at least this one part of the job, the answer is much, much faster.
When you think of dangerous jobs, an office job that requires you to sit for hours probably doesnt come to mind. And while many jobs are objectively riskier, a sedentary job can pose a serious risk to your health.
The average office worker spends 70% of their workday sitting down, according to data by workplace supplies firm Banner. Yet, research shows that sitting for prolonged periods without any physical activity significantly increases the risk of ill effects such as high blood pressure, numerous musculoskeletal issues, and potentially heart disease. All in all, a desk job increases your risk of mortality by 16%, according to a study published by JAMA.
Our main objective at Zing Coach is to help millions take up exercise and lead healthier lives. And as a fitness coaching company, we wanted to avoid falling into the classic corporate trap of working long hours and leading a sedentary lifestyle. We didnt want to sacrifice our employees health in the pursuit of our goals.
Were seeing more and more workplaces spotlight mental health, which is important. However, physical health is just as important. Not only does it have a huge impact on productivity and performance, but its also a huge component of mental well-being.
How we took the right steps towards success
Like most companies, we felt the pressure to optimize productivity through processes and technology. Yet, as productivity gradually plateaued, it was evident to me that the real issue was a lack of energy.
I knew that a huge part of this came from sedentary work. As a cofounder, I decided to implement a culture of wellness and vitality. This included practical steps like providing a small but welcoming in-house training space, so that employees can do short, flexible workout sessions during gaps in the workday. When employees feel their minds wandering or their backs aching, they can stand up, head to the training area, complete a workout, or even just walk and stretch a little.
Science supports this approach. Physical activity increases blood flow throughout your body, including to the brain, and particularly to the prefrontal cortex. This is the part in charge of planning, decision-making, problem-solving, working memory, and impulse control.
We suspected (and found) that this practice ended up boosting overall energy, which in turn sharpened focus, improved output, and reduced distractions. It was also a great way to build in more opportunities for interactions. Being a fitness company, these social workout sessions often led to innovative ideas.
Small moves, big returns: what I learned by introducing workout breaks
It doesnt take long to see results
People are often put off improving their physical health by a perceived lack of progress. Sure, it takes time to see your hard work paying off substantially, if youre solely focusing on the physical and visual aspects.
Encouraging employees to get up and move isnt just a way to counteract the harms of prolonged sitting; it actively and instantly improves mental function and overall energy. Research shows exercise boosts brain function immediately, with effects lasting hours. Even 10 minutes of moderate activity has been found to increase cognitive performance by 14%, according to research published by Neuropsychologia.
We havent crunched the numbers, but the difference in focus during meetings and the higher energy levels throughout the day are obvious. And weve seen this across multiple teams.
Better health leads to better teamwork
Introducing workout breaks didnt just boost individual performance. It improved the team collectively.
Exercise releases endorphins, the bodys natural mood elevators, which help us manage stress and deal with discomfort. Its the same chemical behind the runners highthat euphoric feeling you get after a good workout. It also improves sleep quality. It helps the person get better nighttime rest, reducing the likelihood of low-energy afternoons that are otherwise the norm.
As it turns out, feeling good both mentally and physically makes it easier for colleagues to get along and work together. We also found that teams that are energetic and enthusiastic automatically become less irritable and conflictual, which fuels far stronger cross-team collaboration.
Time at the desk and productivity arent the same
One important lesson is how little time at a desk actually correlates with output. Sure, youll see more empty chairs throughout the day, but that doesnt mean productivity will drop. Far from it.
Workers arent machines, and after 60 to 90 minutes, many lose focus and effectiveness. Short breaks in general can help refocus and recharge, and teams said that they experienced restorative effects after a physical break. They noticed improvement in all aspects of work performance and personal engagement with the next task after the active break.
When it comes to working out, theres a saying that quality often beats quantity. Turns out this is also true in a corporate job.
Health is the best productivity tool
Ultimately, good health equals good performance. Sure, software and systems can go so far, but if you dont take the steps to prioritize your employees health and well-being, youll never be able to get them to perfom to their true potential.
