In a recent interview with Wired, billionaire philanthropist Melinda French Gates made clear she is no friend of hustle culture and nonstop busyness.
My parents were countercultural. They actually taught us that you needed breaks, she says. We took Sundays off as a family, and guess what else? My parents actually taught me the importance of rest, of taking a short nap every day.
Building quiet, restful moments into your day doesnt just help you think more clearly and feel better physically, she continues. It also helps you check in with yourself and your values. It is important to know who you are as a person and to live in that direction and in that lane, even when the world calls you to move in different ways, she says.
Naps are clearly one (research-backed) way to do that. But in interviews and social media posts throughout the years, French Gates also recommends another way to take a pause from busyness and get back in touch with yourself The Book of Awakening by poet and cancer survivor Mark Nepo.
The book she reads almost every day
When Wired asked French Gates to name a book she thought everyone should read, she mentioned Nepos book. That made me curious and prompted me to dig into what the book is all about and why she is such a huge fan.
Rather than a novel that spins a story of a nonfiction book designed to teach you about a particular subject, The Book of Awakening is a collection of short essays, one for each day of the year. Theres no need to read from cover to cover, you can dip in and out whenever you feel the urge.
Which is apparently just what French Gates does. In a 2018 social media post she explained, I open The Book of Awakening by Mark Nepo almost every day and years later, I still get something new out of it every time I turn a page. It was illustrated by a much marked-up page from her personal copy of the book.
A daily read to quiet the mind
Put that together with the latest Wired interview, and its clear French Gates has been perusing this particular book for more than seven years and still finding valuable nuggets within. What kind of insights is she discovering there?
Marks writing helps me step back, be still, and center myself particularly on days that feel especially chaotic, or when I need a moment of quiet, French Gates continues.
Helping people find enough stillness to remember what truly matters to them and notice the grandeur of the world is just what Nepos book promises. As Amazons description puts it, this spiritual daybook is a summons to reclaim aliveness, liberate the self, take each day one at a time, and to savor the beauty offered by lifes unfolding. It aims to help readers stay vital and in love with this life, no matter the hardships.
Psychologists (and Oprah) agree with French Gates
This all might sound a little woo-woo to some hard-charging entrepreneurs. But hard science suggests that taking even just a few minutes out of your day to cultivate a sense of awe in this way can have impressive benefits.
Research by UC Berkeley psychologist Dacher Keltner and others shows awe reduces stress, loneliness, and depression, and nudges us to be kinder and more generous to others. It even seems to have physical benefits, including reduced inflammation.
The idea of taking a quiet moment outside of the hustle and bustle each day to reflect and reconnect with yourself is also endorsed by plenty of other super-achievers besides French Gates. Oprah Winfrey (who also recommended Nepos book) always takes a moment to pause and set an intention before every big event in her day.
I never go downstairs to tape a show. Any kind of media appearance that I dont have a conversation by myself alone, I need time alone, she has said.
Again, this isnt hocus-pocus. Psychologists explain that touching base with our values and intentions primes our mind to pay attention to what really matters to us when things get busy. Just as someone who just bought a Toyota will suddenly notice all the Toyotas on the road, someone who takes a moment to recommit to gratitude is more likely to notice the bright spots in their day.
Read daily for more self-awareness and awe
If taking a quiet moment each day to cultivate awe to quiet your mind and remember your values appeals to you, then French Gates has offered the same, simple advice for years. Pick up a copy of The Book of Awakening and leave it somewhere handy. Naps refresh the mind and body. This book will refresh your spirit, she insists.
Jessica Stillman
This article originally appeared on Fast Companys sister publication, Inc.
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.
In a reversal from previous years’ pollution reductions, the United States spewed 2.4% more heat-trapping gases from the burning of fossil fuels in 2025 than in the year before, researchers calculated in a study released Tuesday.
The increase in greenhouse gas emissions is attributable to a combination of a cool winter, the explosive growth of data centers and cryptocurrency mining, and higher natural gas prices, according to the Rhodium Group, an independent research firm. Environmental policy rollbacks by President Donald Trumps administration were not significant factors in the increase because they were only put in place this year, the study authors said. Heat-trapping gases from the burning of coal, oil, and natural gas are the major cause of worsening global warming, scientists say.
American emissions of carbon dioxide and methane had dropped 20% from 2005 to 2024, with a few one- or two-year increases in the overall downward trend. Traditionally, carbon pollution has risen alongside economic growth, but efforts to boost cleaner energy in recent years decoupled the two, so emissions would drop as gross domestic product rose.
But that changed last year with pollution actually growing faster than economic activity, said study co-author Ben King, a director in Rhodium’s energy group. He estimated the U.S. put 5.9 billion tons (5.35 billion metric tons) of carbon dioxide equivalent in the air in 2025, which is 139 million tons (126 million metric tons) more than in 2024.
The cold 2025 winter meant more heating of buildings, which often comes from natural gas and fuel oil that are big greenhouse gas emitters, King said. A significant and noticeable jump in electricity demand from data centers and cryptocurrency mining meant more power plants producing energy. That included plants using coal, which creates more carbon pollution than other fuel sources.
A rise in natural gas prices helped create an 13% increase in coal power, which had shrunk by nearly two-thirds since its peak in 2007, King said.
Its not like this is a huge rebound, King said. Were not sitting here claiming that coal is back and going to dominate the sector or anything like that. But we did see this increase and that was a large part of why emissions went up in the power sector.
It will take time for data to reflect Trump policies
King said the list of more than two dozen proposed rollbacks of American environmental policies by the Trump administration hadn’t been in place long enough to have an effect in 2025, but may be more noticeable in future years.
Its one year of data so far, King said. So we need to see the extent to which this trend sustains.
Solar power generation jumped 34%, pushing it past hydroelectric power, with zero-carbon emitting energy sources now supplying 42% of American power, Rhodium found. It will be interesting to see what happens as the Trump administration ends solar and wind subsidies and discourages their use, King said.
“The economic case for adding renewables is quite strong still,” King said. This stuff is cost-competitive in a lot of places. Try as they might, this administration cant alter the fundamental economics of this stuff.
Before the Trump administration took office, the Rhodium team projected that in 2035 U.S. greenhouse gas emissions would have fallen between 38% and 56% compared to 2005 levels, King said. Now, the projected pollution drop is expected to be about one-third less, he calculated.
Experts say pollution increase is an ominous sign
Others who were not involved in the Rhodium report said last year’s increase in emissions is an ominous sign.
Unfortunately, the 2025 U.S. emission increase is likely a harbinger of whats to come as the U.S. federal leadership continues to make what amounts to a huge unforced economic error by favoring legacy fossil fuels when the rest of the world is going all in on mobility and power generation using low-carbon technology, primarily based on renewables and batteries, said University of Michigan environment dean Jonathan Overpeck.
Overpeck said that favoring fossil fuels will harm both the U.S. economy and air quality.
Longtime climate change activist Bill McKibben said bluntly: It’s so incredibly stupid that the U.S. is going backwards on this stuff.”
The Environmental Protection Agency said in a statement it wasn’t familiar with the Rhodium Group report and is carrying out our core mission of protecting human health.
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The Associated Press climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find APs standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.
Seth Borenstein, AP science writer
The BBC plans to ask a court to throw out U.S. President Donald Trump’s $10 billion lawsuit against the British broadcaster, court papers show.Trump filed a lawsuit in December over the way the BBC edited a speech he gave on Jan. 6, 2021. The claim, filed in a Florida federal court, seeks $5 billion in damages for defamation and $5 billion for unfair trade practices.The speech took place before some of Trump’s supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol as Congress was poised to certify President-elect Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 election that Trump falsely alleged was stolen from him.The BBC had broadcast the documentary titled “Trump: A Second Chance?” days before the 2024 U.S. presidential election. It spliced together three quotes from two sections of the 2021 speech, delivered almost an hour apart, into what appeared to be one quote in which Trump urged supporters to march with him and “fight like hell.” Among the parts cut out was a section where Trump said he wanted supporters to demonstrate peacefully.The broadcaster has apologized to Trump over the edit of the Jan. 6 speech. But the publicly funded BBC rejects claims it defamed him. The furor triggered the resignations of the BBC’s top executive and its head of news.Papers filed Monday in U.S. District Court in Miami say the BBC will file a motion to dismiss the case on March 17 on the basis that the court lacks jurisdiction and Trump failed to state a claim.The broadcaster’s lawyers will argue that the BBC did not create, produce or broadcast the documentary in Florida and that Trump’s claim the documentary was available in the U.S. on streaming service BritBox is not true.It will also argue that Trump has failed to “plausibly allege” the BBC acted with malice in airing the documentary.Attorney Charles Tobin, for the BBC, said Trump can’t prove actual damages because he won reelection by a commanding margin, and carried Florida by 13-point margin, better than his 2016 and 2020 performances. He said the documentary also couldn’t have harmed his reputation because it aired after Trump was indicted by a federal grand jury over alleged efforts to overturn the 2020 election, including allegations he “directed the crowd in front of him to go to the Capitol.”The BBC is asking the court to postpone discovery the pretrial process in which parties must turn over documents and other information pending a decision on the motion to dismiss. The discovery process could require the BBC to hand over reams of emails and other materials related to its coverage of Trump.“Engaging in unbounded merits-based discovery while the motion to dismiss is pending will subject defendants to considerable burdens and costs that will be unnecessary if the motion is granted,” Tobin wrote.If the case continues, a 2027 trial date has been proposed.“As we have made clear previously, we will be defending this case,” the BBC said Tuesday in a statement. “We are not going to make further comment on ongoing legal proceedings.”
Jill Lawless and Brian Melley, Associated Press
If youre crypto-rich and cash-poor, you might still have a shot at securing a home loan without having to sell off your assets.
Starting next month, mortgage lender Newrez will let applicants count their cryptocurrency when applying for a home loan. Historically, a borrowers crypto holdings wouldnt be considered in the loan application process. For anyone holding a large amount of digital currency, liquidating someand incurring that tax billmight be necessary to qualify for a loan in instances where traditional investments or cash are scarce.
Today, an increasing number of consumers include crypto in their investment portfolios, while major financial institutions are deepening their involvement in crypto assets, supported by key regulatory developments, Newrez President Baron Silverstein said in the announcement, adding that now is the right time to weave crypto into the mortgage lending business. The company plans to introduce the new option next month.
Crypto isnt Newrezs only high tech experiment. Last week, the lender announced that it would invest an undisclosed amount in HomeVision, an AI-powered tool for the mortgage underwriting process. Newrez isnt a top 10 mortgage company by loan volume, but its clearly angling to make a name for itself as a lender friendly to new technologies that other, bigger lenders might be slower to adopt.
Around 14% of adults in the U.S. own cryptocurrency, but the majority of Americans say they would never buy it, according to a recent Gallup poll. Noting that Gen Z and Millennial investors are more comfortable with crypto, Newrez Chief Commercial Officer Leslie Gillin described the change as opening new pathways to homeownership that offer home buyers increased financial flexibility.
Cryptocurrency settles in
Newrez is one of the first mortgage companies to open up to cryptocurrency, but its unlikely to be the last. In July, the Federal Housing Finance Agency directed Fannie Mae and Freddie Mactwo pillars of the U.S. mortgage ecosystemto draft proposals for considering crypto as an asset in mortgage applications. On X, the agencys director William Pulte explained that the plan was part of President Trumps vision to make the United States the crypto capital of the world.
Major U.S. banks and other financial institutions started warming up to Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies in 2025. Banks have long been skittish about the much-hyped digital assets due to regulatory uncertainty, their inherent volatility and a lingering association with cybercrime.
But with Trump back in office, crypto is on the menuboth for banking stalwarts and speculative investors, who drove a post-election Bitcoin run that sent the king of coins to new heights. The president is also cashing in, raking in millions via token sales with World Liberty Financial, the Trump familys flashy, ethically dubious crypto venture.
In the current intensely crypto-friendly regulatory environment, major banks have begun tiptoeing into the realm of digital currencies. This year, Chase will let customers leverage credit card rewards points to buy cryptocurrency through Coinbasea first for a major rewards program. Mastercard was reportedly shopping for a major crypto acquisition last year and went on to introduce new support for stablecoin wallets.
The first Big Tech layoffs of 2026 have happened. This week, Facebook owner Meta Platforms reportedly informed employees that up to 1,500 positions in its Reality Labs division would be eliminated. Heres what you need to know about the job cuts.
Whats happened?
Meta this week notified employees in its Reality Labs division that up to 10% of jobs could be lost, according to a Bloomberg report. A day earlier, the New York Times reported that the layoffs were expected.
Reality Labs is a division of the social media giant primarily responsible for developing the companys augmented and virtual reality products. The division was responsible for spearheading Metas failed metaverse virtual-reality world.
How many jobs are being lost?
An exact figure is not known, but according to media reports, Meta is aiming to cut about 10% of its Reality Labs workforce. The division reportedly employs about 15,000 workers, so a 10% reduction equates to around 1,500 jobs lost.
Bloomberg reviewed an internal post to Meta’s employees from the company’s chief technology officer, Andrew Bosworth. In that post, Bosworth announced the 10% layoff estimate.
Fast Company has reached out to Meta for comment.
Why is Meta laying off workers?
In the internal post Bosworth sent to employees, the CTO reportedly announced that Meta was shifting its priorities away from virtual and augmented reality, while metaverse resources will focus more on mobile device experiences as opposed to VR headsets.
At the same time, Bosworth also confirmed that Meta was looking to cut back on its investments in virtual reality (VR) in order to make its business more sustainable.
A Meta spokesperson confirmed to Bloomberg that the company plans to reinvest the savings [from the Reality Labs cuts] to support the growth of wearables this year.
The metaverse never took off
The fact that Meta is reprioritizing its areas of focus to AI and mobile is of little surprise to those familiar with the companys metaverse virtual world initiatives.
In 2021, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced that the social media company, formerly known as Facebook, would be pivoting to the next frontier of technology: virtual worlds.
In October of that year, Zuckerberg announced the metaverse, and was so certain that the future of tech was VR that he even decided to change the companys name from Facebook to Meta.
But in the more than four years since Meta went all-in on the metaverse, consumer interest in virtual reality worlds never developed beyond a niche appeal. Moreover, the arrival of ChatGPT in 2022 made clear that the next era of computing was AI, not VR.
Since then, Meta has gone all-in on AI, and its metaverse products have languished as a result.
Shares of Meta Platforms (Nasdaq: META) were down more than 2% in midday trading on Tuesday after the news broke.
Metas job cuts are the largest tech layoffs of 2026 so far
The Reality Labs job cuts have earned Meta the distinction of having the largest layoff round of any prominent tech company in 2026 so far.
Many in the tech industryparticularly those working in non-AI sectors and divisionswill now likely be wondering whether other companies will follow suit and eliminate jobs in legacy divisions as tech firms continue to go all-in on AI development.
According to data compiled by Layoffs.fyi, total tech layoffs in 2025 resulted in neqrly 124,00 jobs lost at 269 tech companies.
While significant, the annual level of tech job layoffs has been decreasing since 2022, according to the site. In 2022, there were more than 165,000 tech layoffs. That number rose to nearly 265,000 in 2023, before falling to around 152,000 in 2024.
New AI tools from Docusign aim to make contracts easier to understand and quicker to prepare.
For people signing documents like leases or purchases agreements, a new AI feature will make it possible to request an overall summary of the contract and its key terms. Users will also be able to ask questions about the document, which for consumer agreements could include requesting details about cancellation procedures, fees that may apply, relevant timelines, or terms of a warranty.
The whole purpose of this is to allow and provide a level of trust to the signer so that they understand what is it that they’re signing, says Mangesh Bhandarkar, GVP of product management at Docusign, and help them get through the signature process in a much quicker way, with a better understanding of the agreement itself.
In a demonstration for Fast Company, Bhandarkar highlighted how the AI could generate a basic summary of a residential lease, automatically pulling out key terms like the rental period, monthly rent, and landlord and tenant responsibilities for various utilities. The AI also answered questions about other terms like pet fees, including links to relevant, highlighted sections of the document.
[Image: Docusign]
AIs use in the legal field has been controversial, with some AI legal research and analysis plagued by incorrect answers and AI hallucinations. But Bhandarkar says the company feels confident in its Iris AI system, which has been honed specifically to handle contracts based on Docusigns specialized dataset of written agreements and designed to provide in-document citations. We make sure that it is not hallucinating information that is not in the document, he says.
Still, Bhandarkar emphasizes that Docusign isnt offering formal legal advice or a substitute for getting a thorough understanding of a contract before signing it. Rather, he says, the company is trying to give a better understanding and a quicker understanding of the makeup of the agreement with relevant data that could help you make an informed decision about the actions you’re taking.
[Image: Docusign]
Docusign, which says it helps more than 1 billion people sign contracts every year, reports a recent survey indicated that nearly 75% of contract signers would feel more confident with a plain-English AI summary of the documents theyre signing. And some users, Bhandarkar says, are already using general-purpose AI tools like ChatGPT for help in understanding contracts. Theyll now be able to access AI thats both specifically optimized for the task and integrated into the platform theyre already using to review and sign the agreement.
The new feature will likely also help organizations that are creating contracts for consumers to sign, since they may see contracts signed faster and with fewer inquiries. Document creators at all plan levels will be able to choose whether to enable signers to use the tool with particular contracts, Bhandarkar says.
In recent years, Docusign has rolled out other AI features in moving to offer what it calls an intelligent agreement management (IAM) platform, where organizations can draft, store, and analyze contracts using AI and other tools, in addition to simply collecting signatures from other parties. More than 25,000 customers currently use the IAM platform, Bhandarkar adds.
And additional AI offerings aim to make the process of drafting contracts that much faster. Docusigns AI is gaining the ability to automatically detect areas on imported documents such as PDFs that should be turned into digitally fillable fields, making it that much quicker to turn draft agreements into interactive versions without manually dragging and dropping fields, Bhandarkar says. Document creators will naturally be able to preview and edit fields before sending documents out for signature, and field suggestions will be available in all Docusign plans.
The companys AI is also gaining the ability to validate email addresses and phone numbers where agreements are sent for signature, in order to reduce cases where documents are sent to the wrong destination. That feature, which will be available in Docusign Business and IAM plans, relies on a mix of internal data from peoples past interactions with Docusign and external data sources, Bhandarkar says.
Bhandarkar says Docusign will be tracking metrics like whether users of AI summaries review and sign documents more quickly and to what extent contract creators retain or replace AI-generated fields, which should help the company continue to refine the AI.
President Donald Trump will travel to Michigan on Tuesday to promote his efforts to boost U.S. manufacturing, trying to counter fears about a weakening job market and worries that still-rising prices are taking a toll on Americans’ pocketbooks.The day trip will include a tour of a Ford factory in Dearborn that makes F-150 pickups, the bestselling domestic vehicle in the U.S. The Republican president is also set to address the Detroit Economic Club at the MotorCity Casino.November’s off-year elections in Virginia, New Jersey and elsewhere showed a shift away from Republicans as public concerns about kitchen table issues persist. In their wake, the White House said Trump would put a greater emphasis on talking directly to the public about his economic policies after doing relatively few events around the country earlier in his term.The president has suggested that jitters about affordability are a “hoax” unnecessarily stirred by Democrats. Still, though he’s imposed steep tariffs on U.S. trading partners around the world, Trump has reduced some of them when it comes to making cars including extending import levies on foreign-made auto parts until 2030.Ford announced last month that it was scrapping plans to make an electric F-150, despite pouring billions of dollars into broader electrification, after the Trump administration slashed targets to have half of all new vehicle sales be electric by 2030, eliminated EV tax credits and proposed weakening the emissions and gas mileage rules.Trump’s Michigan swing follows economy-focused speeches he gave last month in Pennsylvania where his gripes about immigrants arriving to the U.S. from “filthy” countries got more attention than his pledges to fight inflation and North Carolina, where he insisted his tariffs have spurred the economy, despite residents noting the squeeze of higher prices.Trump carried Michigan in 2016 and 2024, after it swung Democratic and backed Joe Biden in 2020. He marked his first 100 days in office with a rally-style April speech outside Detroit, where he focused more on past campaign grudges than his administration’s economic or policy plans.During that visit nearly nine months ago, Trump also spoke at Selfridge Air National Guard Base and announced a new fighter jet mission, allaying fears that the base could close. It represented a win for Michigan Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and the two even shared a hug.This time, Democrats have panned the president’s trip, singling out national Republicans’ opposition to extending health care subsidies and recalling a moment in October 2024 when Trump suggested that Democrats’ retaining the White House would mean “our whole country will end up being like Detroit.”“You’re going to have a mess on your hands,” Trump said during a campaign stop back then.Curtis Hertel, chair of the Michigan Democratic Party, said that “after spending months claiming that affordability was a ‘hoax’ and creating a health care crisis for Michiganders, Donald Trump is now coming to Detroit a city he hates to tout his billionaire-first agenda while working families suffer.”“Michiganders are feeling the effects of Trump’s economy every day,” Hertel said in a statement.
Will Weissert and Corey Williams, Associated Press
In the summer of 2024, Squarespaces chief marketing officer, Kinjil Mathur, attracted criticism when she told Gen Z job seekers that they, like her, should be willing to do anything to land their first job.
I was willing to work for free, I was willing to work any hours they neededeven on evenings and weekends, Kinjil told Fortune. You really have to just be willing to do anything, any hours, any pay, any type of job. The online backlash to Kinjils statement was immediate and brutal, forcing her to walk those comments back. I shared my own college internship experiences, and my words were misrepresented as career advice for a whole generation, Kinjil later said in a statement.
The episode demonstrates a growing clash of values between the various generations in todays workplace. While some still take pride in sacrificing their well-being to demonstrate their commitment, othersprimarily younger workerssee things differently. I think they have more of an attitude of work-to-live as opposed to live-to-work that many of us grew up with, said Ravin Jesuthasan, the global leader for transformation services at the consulting giant Mercer, on stage in Davos in 2024. This is particularly true in the West. They have seen the legacy of all these broken promises. In the old days and in many parts of the West, they would promise you if you worked for 30 years, youd have this defined benefit pension, youd have retiree medical care, etc. None of that exists today.
One of the many points of differentiation between todays young people and older workers is their perception of stress. Historically, Western workplace cultures equated stress with importance. If you were stressed, it often meant your job was more demanding and thus more important, encouraging some to complain about stress as a way to subtly communicate their value. Rather than seeing stress braggingor talking about being overworked with a sense of prideas a badge of honor, however, young people are more likely to interpret it as indicative of poor time management at best and an unhealthy relationship with work at worst.
According to a 2024 study by researchers at the University of Georgia, those who brag the most about being stressed are now perceived more negatively by their peers. In fact, the research suggests those who stress brag are perceived as less capable, not more. After generations of equating time with effectiveness and busyness with importance, Gen Z has come to view the value of their time through a different lens.
Its not just that Gen Z grew up in an era when many of the traditional promises of work and loyalty had long since been broken, when individual time commitments had been largely divorced from actual results. Those born in the late 1990s through the early 2010s have also already lived through a once-in-a-century economic crisis, endured a once-in-a-century pandemic, and are regularly bombarded by what were formerly considered once-in-a-century extreme weather events. This generation, which is just entering the workforce, spent their childhoods hearing their parents panic over financial challenges during the 2008 economic crisis, had their brains shaped by an unregulated social media machine that has proven detrimental to their mental health, lost some of their formative years to pandemic restrictions and lockdowns, and continues to face a barrage of new challenges almost daily.
More so than any generation before them, this group of young people has developed an appreciation for proper time management, mental health, and well-being. Their well-documented emphasis on meaning and joy has come to replace past generations keeping-up-with-the-Joneses, competitive pursuit of material wealth. People used to say that money cant buy happiness, but the most anxious and depressed generation in modern history has internalized that sentiment.
Countless studies show that when it comes to their priorities in lifeand at workGen Zers seek a greater balance between economic and emotional stability, prizing quality time over financial excess. According to a 2023 survey by Intuit, three-quarters of Gen Zers say they would rather have a better quality of life than more money in the bank, and 66% say they are only interested in earning money as a way to support their personal interests.
Part of the motivation, the study suggests, is that social comparison has evolved from homes, cars, and other material markers of wealth to social media posts. In fact, 33% Gen Z members said they compare themselves to people they see on social media, versus 14% of the general population, and 70% say they feel as if theyre falling behind those they see online, compared with 50% of other generations. In Deloittes 2024 survey of millennials and Gen Zers, the respondents ranked work-life balance as their top priority when choosing an employer, followed by flexible hours and reduced workweeksall of which outranked salary.
In short, this is the perfect generation to champion a shorter workweek. Not only does the reduced schedule offer more leisure time, which this generation prizes over compensation, but it has also been proven to reduce stress, anxiety, burnout, and depression. Furthermore, the four-day workweek represents an opportunity to address some of their greatest collective challenges, like improving family and community ties in the digital age, improving gender equity, and addressing climate change. Finally, the four-day workweek offers this generation more time to engage in causes that are meaningful to them, a primary motivator for this generation, according to research.
Gen Z is the most enthusiastic generation about the concept of a four-day workweek and the most convinced of not just its feasibility but also its inevitability.
In a 2024 survey of Gen Z students and professionals in the United States age 18 to 27, 80% said the four-day week should be standard, up from 76% the previous year. The same study also found that most young people were already utilizing new AI technologies to get more done in less time, with 72% saying they felt comfortable using generative AI regularly. In fact, 72% of Gen Z AI users said they save between 1 and 10 hours of schoolwork per week by leveraging the technology, and 14% have reduced their work time by more than 10 hours.
Young people are so keen on a shorter workweek that theyre even willing to forgo other traditional workplace perks. In a 2023 survey by Bankrate, 92% of Gen Z and millennial respondents said they would sacrifice other common benefits in exchange for a four-day workweek, compared with 89% of Gen Xers and 80% of baby boomers.The most common workplace perks and norms that respondents of all generations would sacrifice for one less workday is the eight-hour day, with 54% saying they would work longer hours during the remaining four days. The second-most-popular trade-off was changing industries, jobs, or companies, with 37% saying they would leave their current role for a shorter schedule.
According to a 2023 survey of 12,000 workers in the United Kingdom by Hays, 62% would prefer to work a four-day workweek in the office rather than a traditional five-day hybrid schedule. In its 2025 annual review, global HR firm Randstad, which has been asking thousands of workers around the world about work preferences since 2004, found that they ranked work-life balance ahead of pay for the first time. In the companys global survey of 26,000 workers, 83% put it at the very top of their priority list, nd this preference was even stronger among Gen Z workers.
Even if other generations are slow to take up the cause, there is good reason to believe the four-day workweek is inevitablebecause it will be so highly valued by a generation of future leaders.
Reprinted by permission of Harvard Business Review Press. Adapted from Do More in Four: Why Its Time for a Shorter Workweek by Joe OConnor and Jared Lindzon. Copyright 2026 Joe OConnor and Jared Lindzon. All rights reserved.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Monday that Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence chatbot Grok will join Google’s generative AI engine in operating inside the Pentagon network, as part of a broader push to feed as much of the military’s data as possible into the developing technology.“Very soon we will have the world’s leading AI models on every unclassified and classified network throughout our department,” Hegseth said in a speech at Musk’s space flight company, SpaceX, in South Texas.The announcement comes just days after Grok which is embedded into X, the social media network owned by Musk drew global outcry and scrutiny for generating highly sexualized deepfake images of people without their consent.Malaysia and Indonesia have blocked Grok, while the U.K.’s independent online safety watchdog announced an investigation Monday. Grok has limited image generation and editing to paying users.Hegseth said Grok will go live inside the Defense Department later this month and announced that he would “make all appropriate data” from the military’s IT systems available for “AI exploitation.” He also said data from intelligence databases would be fed into AI systems.Hegseth’s aggressive push to embrace the still-developing technology stands in contrast to the Biden administration, which, while pushing federal agencies to come up with policies and uses for AI, was also wary of misuse. Officials said rules were needed to ensure that the technology, which could be harnessed for mass surveillance, cyberattacks or even lethal autonomous devices, was being used responsibly.The Biden administration enacted a framework in late 2024 that directed national security agencies to expand their use of the most advanced AI systems but prohibited certain uses, such as applications that would violate constitutionally protected civil rights or any system that would automate the deployment of nuclear weapons. It is unclear if those prohibitions are still in place under the Trump administration.During his speech, Hegseth spoke of the need to streamline and speed up technological innovations within the military, saying, “We need innovation to come from anywhere and evolve with speed and purpose.”He noted that the Pentagon possesses “combat-proven operational data from two decades of military and intelligence operations.”“AI is only as good as the data that it receives, and we’re going to make sure that it’s there,” Hegseth said.The defense secretary said he wants AI systems within the Pentagon to be responsible, though he went on to say he was shrugging off any AI models “that won’t allow you to fight wars.”Hegseth said his vision for military AI systems means that they operate “without ideological constraints that limit lawful military applications,” before adding that the Pentagon’s “AI will not be woke.”Musk developed and pitched Grok as an alternative to what he called “woke AI” interactions from rival chatbots like Google’s Gemini or OpenAI’s ChatGPT. In July, Grok also caused controversy after it appeared to make antisemitic comments that praised Adolf Hitler and shared several antisemitic posts.The Pentagon did not immediately respond to questions about the issues with Grok.
Konstantin Toropin and David Klepper, Associated Press
2025 saw several successful public offerings, especially from companies operating in the AI, cryptocurrency, and fintech spaces. What many on Wall Street are anxious to know is whether the IPO marketand its returnswill accelerate in 2026, or if investors will take a more cautious approach to newly public companies as inflationary pressures, the potential for a weakening economy, and a possible AI bubble weigh heavily on peoples minds.
The first real test of investor IPO appetite may come later this month, when cryptocurrency custody firm BitGo Holdings, Inc. is expected to go public. Heres what you need to know about BitGos IPO.
What is BitGo?
BitGo Holdings is a cryptocurrency infrastructure company. One of its main functions is providing cryptocurrency custodial services.
Crypto custody companies provide storage and security for digital assets. Such companies are often used by large institutional investors to help manage risk and also meet regulatory guidelines. In contrast, many individual cryptocurrency investors still rely on personalized digital wallets to hold their tokens.
BitGo was founded in 2013 and is headquartered in Palo Alto, California. According to the companys S-1 filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, BitGo had 566 full-time employees as of September 30.
Over the past 12 months, ending September 30, the company says it generated total revenue of $11.1 billion. Its platform currently supports more than 1,550 assets with a total value of $104 billion.
When is BitGos IPO?
BitGo hasnt set a date for its initial public offering yet. In its amended Form S-1 filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) yesterday, the company merely mentioned its intention to go public. However, the amended filing suggests that the public offering will likely happen soon.
IPOscoop.com lists BitGos expected IPO date as Thursday, January 22, but BitGo has yet to publicly confirm that date.
What is BitGos stock ticker?
BitGos shares will trade under the stock ticker BTGO.
What market will BitGos shares trade on?
BitGo shares will trade on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE).
What is the IPO share price of BTGO?
BitGo hasnt decided on an exact IPO price yet. However, in the companys amended SEC filing, the firm said it expects its shares to be priced at between $15 and $17.
How many BTGO shares are available in its IPO?
In total, 11,821,595 shares of BTGO Class A common stock will be made available in its IPO. Of those shares, BitGo itself is offering 11 million directly. The remaining shares will be offered by the companys existing shareholders.
How much will BitGo raise in its IPO?
BitGo will not receive any proceeds from the roughly 821,000 shares its existing shareholders will sell. The company will only benefit from the funds raised from its 11 million share offering. With an expected IPO price of between $15 and $17 per share, BitGo is thus expected to raise between $165 million and $187 million.
When you add in the shares being sold by exiting shareholders, BitGos IPO could raise as much as $200 million in total.
How much is BitGo worth?
BitGos ultimate valuation depends on how much its shares finally list forand how they perform on the stock market.
However, if BTGO shares do indeed IPO at the high-end range of $17 each, BitGo will have a valuation of around $1.96 billion, according to Reuters.
BitGo is hoping to repeat 2025s crypto IPO successes
If BitGo does IPO this month as expected, it will likely be closely watched as it is not just one of the first tech IPOs of the year, but one of the first operating in the hot (and volatile) cryptocurrency space. Its IPOs success or failure could signal whether investors have a robust appetite for public offerings in 2026, particularly those tied to crypto.
In 2025, several companies operating in the cryptocurrency space made successful IPO debuts. These include Circle Internet Groups (NYSE: CRCL) initial public offering in June and Bullishs (NYSE: BLSH) IPO in August.
