The northern lights have been viewable from locations you don’t normally see them on a number of recent occasions, and on the evening of January 20, the same will be true.
On Tuesday night, the aurora borealis may be visible in parts of more than half of all U.S. states. That’s a few more than the usual six or so Northern states that are used to seeing the colorful lit-up skies. That’s because solar storms can change visibility, making the spectacle visible to additional locations in times of heightened geomagnetic activity.
According to an announcement from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric’s Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC), that’s precisely what’s in the forecast this evening as geomagnetic activity has been strengthening, reaching G4 (severe) levels early this morning at around 3:23 a.m. ET. Essentially, when it comes to hopeful viewers, that could mean some amazing visuals, as the heightened activity will make for a stronger aurora.
Just yesterday, the northern lights were visible in more states than usual, too, with the aurora making an appearance in Southern states like Alabama and New Mexico. Tonight, however, far more individuals across the country will be able to catch a glimpse of the event.
According to the SWPC’s projected view line, the lights will are predicted to be visible in Alaska, Colorado, Connecticut, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Dakota, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Vermont, Wyoming, Washington, and Wisconsin.
Of course, nothing is set in stone. The view line is just a prediction that could change as the storm shifts, the agency says.
When it comes to seeing the northern lights, NOAA says that close to midnight (within an hour or two before or after) is your best shot. “These hours of active aurora expand toward evening and morning as the level of geomagnetic activity increases,” the agency’s web page explains. “There may be aurora in the evening and morning, but it is usually not as active and, therefore, not as visually appealing.”
If you’ve been wondering why the northern lights have been visible to more locations more often of late, it’s not all in your head. According to astronomers at BBC Weather, it has to do with the sun, which hit the peak of its 11-year solar cycle in 2025. Still, solar activity will remain high throughout 2026. That means more shots at seeing the northern lights.
As the official celebrations of the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence culminate on July 4, a well-financed, privately funded initiative will kick off to try to connect hundreds of millions of Americans with efforts to solve local problems.
The “Be The People” campaign aspires to change the perception that the U.S. is hopelessly divided and that individuals have little power to overcome problems like poverty, addiction, violence, and stalled economic mobility. It also wants to move people to take action to solve those problems.
Brian Hooks, chairman and CEO of the nonprofit network Stand Together, said the 250th anniversary is a unique moment to show people that they matter, that they have a part to play, and that the future is unwritten, but it depends on each one of us stepping up to play our part.
Funded by a mix of 50 philanthropic foundations and individual donors, Be The People builds on research that indicates many people want to contribute to their communities but don’t know how. The initiative is targeting more than $200 million for its first year’s budget.
Founding members range from nonprofits including GivingTuesday, Goodwill Industries, and Habitat for Humanity, businesses like Ron Howard’s Imagine Entertainment and the National Basketball Association, to funders like the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation and More Perfect.
Hooks said this is a 10-year commitment toward trying to achieve what would be a profound shift in behavior and culture. He referenced a 2024 Pew Research Center survey that found most Americans in 2023 and 2024 did not believe that the U.S. could solve its most important problems, saying it was a red alert for the country.
Hooks said the initiative envisions actions far beyond volunteering or service that people could do in their free time. He pointed to a role for businesses and schools and said the initiative would launch a major data collection effort to track whether people are actually more engaged and whether problems are actually getting solved.
Stand Together, which was founded by the billionaire Charles Koch, works across a broad range of issues and communities in the U.S. and has carved out a role for itself as a convener that can bring coalitions together across ideological lines.
Be The People, will not incorporate as a new nonprofit, but act more like a banner for groups to organize under and use to connect to resources. As an example, at the Atlanta Hawks game on Monday, Martin Luther King III and his wife, Arndrea Waters King, linked a program they launched last year, Realize the Dream, which aims to increase acts of service, to the new campaign.
Our vision is that Be The People helps lift up what is already happening in communities across the country and reminds people that service and shared responsibility are defining parts of the American story, the Kings said in a written statement.
Asha Curran, the CEO of the nonprofit GivingTuesday, said small actions can build on each other like exercising a muscle.
Our experience with GivingTuesday is that when people volunteer together, when people work together on something to do with positive social impact, they find it harder and harder to demonize each other, said Asha Curran, its CEO.
The initiative comes against a backdrop of deep polarization, economic inequality, and the degradation of democratic norms and institutions in the U.S.
Hahrie Han, a political scientist at Johns Hopkins University, has studied civic engagement and said people need more opportunities to authentically participate as problem solvers when connecting with local organizations.
Theyre more likely to be invited into things where people are asked to let professional staff do most of the problem solving and they show up and give their time or their money, she said.
The result is that people feel less committed and dont see their participation as helping to achieve their interests or goals.
A growing number of private foundations have started funding issues related to the health of U.S. democracy, said Kristin Goss, a professor who directs the Center for the Study of Philanthropy and Voluntarism at Duke University. While foundations cannot participate in elections, Goss said they can influence policy or public opinion in other ways.
Funders are getting more concerned about of the health of American democracy, the future of the democratic experiment and pluralism and inclusion, Goss said.
Another group of funders, including the Freedom Together Foundation, launched a project last year to recognize people and groups who stand up for their communities, which they called a civic bravery award. In a November report, they issued a similar call for funders to invest in helping individuals organize together in response to a rise in authoritarianism.
Hooks and the other leaders of Be The People have also convened major communications teams to help tell these stories, which they think are lost in the current information ecosystem.
What were doing is were helping to lift up the story of Americans that is unfolding at the local level, but is not breaking through, Hooks said. So were holding up a mirror and a microphone to Americans to reveal to each other who we truly are.
___
Associated Press coverage of philanthropy and nonprofits receives support through the APs collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content. For all of APs philanthropy coverage, visit https://apnews.com/hub/philanthropy.
Thalia Beaty, Associated Press
All eyes are on Netflix, which is set to report fourth-quarter earnings after Tuesday’s closing bell.
In the ongoing saga over whether Netflix will acquire Warner Bros. Discovery, the streaming giant is now offering to pay all cash for the deal, revising a previous bid that included a mix of stock with cash, according to a filing from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
On Tuesday, Netflix and Warner Bros. Discovery announced the amended agreement, which simplifies the deal for investors who no longer have to worry about Netflixs fluctuating stock price.
The news comes as Netflix continues to stave off a hostile takeover bid from rival Skydance-owned Paramount, led by chief executive David Ellison, who has tried to blow up the deal. The acquisition deal would include Warner Bros. Discovery’s movie studio, along with HBO and HBO Max, a natural fit for Netflix. (Paramount had been offering an all-cash deal.)
The saga started about six weeks ago in early December, when Netflix initially offered to buy Warner Bros. Discovery’s assets in a cash-and-stock deal valued at $27.75 per WBD share ($23.25 per share in cash, $4.50 in Netflix stock), which comes out to about $72 billion in equity value and totals $82.7 billion in enterprise value.
Warner has repeatedly rebuffed Paramount’s offer. The WBD Board continues to support and unanimously recommend our transaction, and we are confident that it will deliver the best outcome for stockholders, consumers, creators, and the broader entertainment community, Ted Sarandos, co-CEO of Netflix, said in a statement.
The large scope of the megamerger “would reshape the entertainment industry,” according to CNN. And the back-and-forth developments have had both Wall Street and investors closely watching their share prices.
Netflix (Nasdaq: NFLX) was trading up nearly 1%, while Warner Bros. Discovery (Nasdaq: WBD) was up 0.58%, to $28.74 midday on Tuesday, at the time of this writing.
Analysts expect Netflix to report a solid fourth quarter, with the success of new seasons of shows like Stranger Things, but investors are concerned about the high price tag for the Warner Bros. Discovery deal, which would incur debt, per Yahoo Finance.
Netflix has had a string of solid quarters but missed estimates in the third quarter of 2025. The company’s stock price has decreased 30% since October, when rumors of the Warner Bros. Discovery deal first surfaced, CNBC reported. The financial news channel also said Wall Street has focused on Netflix’s ad revenue and whether price hikes are impacting subscriber numbers. Analysts polled by the London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) expect earnings per share to come in at 55 cents, with revenue of around $11.97 billion.
Efficiency dominates conversations about AI. We celebrate its ability to automate and optimize so businesses can move faster and people can work smarter. But AI is becoming more integrated into people’s lives in ways that go far beyond productivity. In a world obsessed with speed and efficiency, the future of AI isnt just intelligentits beautiful. AI is now a force that enhances creativity, self-expression, and confidence. AI does not just optimize lifeit elevates it.
Consumers are embracing AI for everything from recipe creation and travel planning to interior design and fitness regimens. They are turning to AI for recommendations on shows, movies, music, restaurants, and, of course, beauty and fashion. In these contexts, AI is enhancing experiences and sparking creativity.
Because consumers are using AI to explore and have fun, companies can encourage broader adoption by focusing on building AI products designed to inspire. Brands have more opportunities than ever to build AI into their experiences as access to generative AI and specialized APIs broadens. However, that shift requires rethinking how we design and deploy AI so that it serves as a partner in expression and discovery.
BUILD AI THAT DELIGHTS
To build AI experiences that consumers genuinely enjoy, we need to understand what makes technology beautiful and inspirational in the first place. Fundamentally, its about aligning how systems function with how people naturally behave, think, and learn.
We gravitate toward systems that show cause and effect, where we can see how our unique inputs shape the results. Visual feedback, confidence scores, or small cues that acknowledge uncertainty all make the interaction more collaborative. For example, Neutrogena’s Skin360 helps consumers identify their individual skin concerns and goals, and then suggests products, tips, and ingredients to help them achieve their desired outcomes. The experience gives consumers personalized assistance that makes them feel confident about the products and encourages them to purchase.
Inspirational AI also encourages curiosity. AI assistants allow users to try different inputs and discover new outcomes on their own terms. As an example, Hoppers AI travel planner lets users play with different dates, destinations, and budgets, surfacing alternative routes or seasons to encourage experimentation.
That experimentation works best when users maintain creative control. AI that provides suggestions rather than conclusions empowers people to make choices that feel personal. This approach transforms digital moments, such as shopping and content creation, into expressive experiences. Similarly, Grammarly and Shopify’s AI suggest edits or design options, but leave final decisions to users.
APIs HELP BRANDS OF ALL SIZES UNLEASH CREATIVITY
One of the most exciting developments in consumer AI is its accessibility. The proliferation of APIs and generative frameworks now makes it possible for companies of all sizes to experiment, prototype, and deploy creative AI experiences quickly, affordably, and with less risk.
These tools allow brands to plug advanced models into existing platforms, test new ideas, and learn from user behavior in real time. A small direct-to-consumer (DTC) brand can integrate a virtual try-on experience or an AI-powered stylist without specialized expertise. They can test whether a feature resonates with users, gather feedback, and deploy updates within days or weeks rather than months.
The proliferation of consumer AI APIs also unlocks entirely new categories of creative experiences. Take cultural recommendation engine Qloo, which offers an API that can predict correlations across music, dining, fashion, and film. Brands can explore creative pairings that surprise and delight users. Imagine a fashion brand suggesting a playlist to match a lookthese connections create moments of discovery that feel magical.
What makes these experiences particularly powerful is how they reimagine the relationship between users and recommendations. Generative tools shift the paradigm from delivering static recommendations to enabling co-creation. Brands can now offer generative AI tools that let users actively participate in creating something new rather than showing them what they might like based on past behaviordesigning personalized products, generating new looks, or expressing preferences interactively. This transforms passive consumption into active exploration.
With this transformation, the metrics of success change. Brands should think of these APIs as creative building blocks to test emotional responses and track indicators of enjoyment that may include time spent experimenting, frequency of sharing, or the likelihood of a consumer returning. New metrics for a beauty brand might look like a consumer spending ten minutes playing with different virtual makeup looks, trying bold colors they had never considered before.
With access to this technology once reserved for large enterprises, DTC brands and small-to-medium-sized businesses can compete with brand and retail giants in delivering sophisticated AI experiences. A boutique cosmetics shop can offer the same caliber of consumer AI technology as a multinational beauty company. This democratization gives consumers wider access to inspirational AI experiences across products and services they care about.
DESIGN FOR WHAT COMES NEXT
Consumer AI is at a turning point. The underlying technology will continue to improve, but adoption depends on how well it understands and serves human emotion.
To design AI rooted in inspiration and discovery is to design for trust and for delight, giving users space to explore and create technology that stops feeling like automation and starts feeling like play.
Alice Chang is the CEO and founder of Perfect Corp.
Stocks slumped in morning trading on Wall Street Tuesday after President Donald Trump threatened to hit eight NATO members with new tariffs as tensions escalate over his attempts to assert American control over Greenland.
The S&P 500 fell 1.2%, pulling back further from the record it set early last week. It was the first time U.S. markets could react to the escalation from Trump, as they were closed on Monday for Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 536 points, or 1.1%, as of 10:56 a.m. Eastern. The Nasdaq composite slumped 1.5%.
The losses were widespread and led by technology stocks, many of which already have more influence over the direction of the market because of outsized values. Retailers, banks and industrial companies also fell sharply.
Nvidia, one of the most valuable companies in the world, plunged 3%. Amazon fell 2%, JPMorgan Chase fell 0.6%, and Caterpillar lost 1%.
The energy sector eked out gains as the price of U.S. crude oil rose 1.4% to $60.19 per barrel. The price of Brent crude, the international standard, rose 1.1% to $64.69. Exxon Mobil rose 1%.
European markets and markets in Asia fell.
Trump said Saturday that he would charge a 10% import tax starting in February on goods from Denmark, Norway, Sweden, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and Finland. The annual combined imports from European Union nations are greater than those from the top two biggest individual importers into the U.S., Mexico, and China.
Gold prices surged 3% and silver prices soared 5.5%. Both reached for records. Such assets are often considered safe havens in times of geopolitical turmoil.
The trade tensions apparently short-circuited a recent rally in bitcoin. The cryptocurrency rose above $96,000 late last week but has dropped back to around $90,400.
Treasury yields were mixed in the bond market. The yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 4.27% from 4.23% late Friday. The yield on the two-year Treasury fell to 3.59% from 3.60% late Friday.
Trump linked his aggressive stance on Greenland to last years decision not to award him the Nobel Peace Prize, telling Norways prime minister that he no longer felt an obligation to think purely of Peace, in a text message released Monday.
Trumps message to Jonas Gahr Stre appeared to ratchet up a standoff between Washington and its closest allies over his threats to take over Greenland, a self-governing territory of NATO member Denmark.
Trump’s threats have sparked outrage and a flurry of diplomatic activity across Europe, as leaders consider possible countermeasures, including retaliatory tariffs and the first-ever use of the European Unions anti-coercion instrument.
Tariffs have been looming over the U.S. and global economies since 2024. Trump’s tariff policy has been confusing and uncertain, involving the threat or implementation of tariffs and then often followed by delays or cancellations. Existing tariffs have added more pressure to already high prices on goods and the threat of more to come makes it difficult for businesses to plan ahead.
The threat of tariffs reigniting already high inflation could further complicate the Federal Reserve’s job. The central bank cut its benchmark interest rate three times late in 2025 to help bolster the economy as the job market weakened. But, it has taken a more cautious view because of the risk of rising inflation, which remains above the Fed’s target of 2%.
Lower interest rates on loans can help bolster economic activity, but they could also fuel inflation, which could counter any benefit from lower interest rates.
The Fed, and Wall Street, will get another update on inflation on Thursday, when the government releases the personal consumption expenditures price index, or PCE. It is the Feds preferred measure for inflation.
The Fed will meet next week for its policy meeting on interest rates and Wall Street is betting that the central bank will hold its benchmark interest rate steady.
Wall Street is also in the midst of the latest round of corporate earnings, which could help provide more insight into how companies are handling uncertainty from tariffs, geopolitics, and cautious consumers.
Industrial and consumer conglomerate 3M slumped 6.2% after reporting mixed results for its most recent quarter. United Airlines and Netflix will report their results after the market closes on Tuesday. Companies from a wide range of industries will report their results this week, including Johnson & Johnson, Halliburton and Intel.
Damian J. Troise, AP business writer
AP Business Writers By Yuri Kageyama and Matt Ott contributed to this report.
Iranians have been struggling for nearly two weeks with the longest, most comprehensive internet shutdown in the history of the Islamic Republic one that has not only restricted their access to information and the outside world, but is also throttling many businesses that rely on online advertising.
Authorities shut down internet access on Jan. 8 as nationwide protests led to a brutal crackdown that activists say has killed over 4,000 people, with more feared dead. Since then, there has been minimal access to the outside world, with connectivity in recent days restored only for some domestic websites. Google also began partially functioning as a search engine, with most search results inaccessible.
Officials have offered no firm timeline for the internet to return, leading to fears by businesses across the country about their future.
One pet shop owner in Tehran, who spoke on the condition of anonymity like others for fear of reprisals, said his business had fallen by 90% since the protests. Before that, I mainly worked on Instagram and Telegram which I dont have access to anymore. The government has proposed two domestic alternatives. The point is our customers are not there they dont use it.
Internet outages are the latest squeeze on businesses
The internet outage compounds economic pain already suffered by Iranians. The protests, which appear to have halted under a bloody suppression by authorities, began Dec. 28 over Irans rial currency falling to over 1.4 million to $1. Ten years ago, the rial traded at 32,000 to $1. Before the 1979 Islamic Revolution, it traded at 70 to $1.
The currencys downward spiral pushed up inflation, increasing the cost of food and other daily necessities. The pressure on Iranians pockets was compounded by changes to gasoline prices that were also introduced in December, further fueling anger.
Irans state-run news agency IRNA quoted a deputy minister of communications and information technology, Ehsan Chitsaz, as saying the cut to the internet cost Iran between $2.8 to $4.3 million each day.
But the true cost for the Iranian economy could be far higher. The internet monitoring organization NetBlocks estimates each day of an internet shutdown in Iran costs the country over $37 million.
The site says it estimates the economic impact of internet outages based on indicators from multiple sources including the World Bank and the International Telecommunication Union, which is the United Nations specialized agency for digital technology.
In 2021 alone, a government estimate suggested Iranian businesses made as much as $833 million a year in sales from social media sites, wrote Dara Conduit, a lecturer at the University of Melbourne in Australia, in an article published by the journal Democratization in June. She cited a separate estimate suggesting internet disruptions around the 2022 Mahsa Amini protests cost the Iranian economy $1.6 billion.
The 2022 internet disruptions’ “far-reaching and blanket economic consequences risked further heightening tensions in Iran and spurring the mobilization of new anti-regime cohorts onto the streets at a time when the regime was already facing one of the most serious existential threats of its lifetime, Conduit wrote.
More than 500 people were reportedly killed during that crackdown and over 22,000 detained.
Prosecutors target some businesses over protest support
Meanwhile, prosecutors have also begun targeting some businesses in the crackdown.
The judiciary’s Mizan news agency reported Tuesday that prosecutors in Tehran filed paperwork to seize the assets of 60 cafes it alleged had a role in the protests. It also announced plans to seek the assets of athletes, cinema figures and others as well. Some cafes in Tehran and Shiraz have been shut down by authorities, other reports say.
Internet cuts drive more outrage
The financial damage also has some people openly discussing the internet blackout.
In the comments section of a story on the internet blackout carried by the semiofficial Fars news agency, believed to be close to the countrys paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, one reader wrote: For heavens sake, please do not let this internet cut become a regular thing. We need the net. Our business life is vanishing. Our business is being destroyed.
Another commentator questioned why the internet remained blocked after days with no reports of street protests.
Its not just the internet blackout that is hurting businesses. The violent crackdown on the protests, and the wave of a reported 26,000 arrests that followed, also have dampened the mood of consumers.
In Iran’s capital, many shops and restaurants are open, but many look empty as customers focus primarily on groceries and little else.
Those who pass by our shops dont show any appetite for shopping, said the owner of an upscale tailor shop in Tehran. We are just paying our regular expenses, electricity and staff but in return, we don’t have anything.
Elena Becatoros and Jon Gambrell, Associated Press
For years, leaders have been told that being true to themselves and ignoring what others think represent the gold standard of effective leadership, a kind of moral and emotional north star. But in practice, this type of advice often gets leaders into trouble.
For a vivid illustration, consider how two famous fictional (yet hyper-realistic) characters, namely Don Draper (Madmen) and Michael Scott (The Office) embody these two mantras. Draper clings to a rigid, unchanging identity, using this is who I am as armor to avoid confronting his insecurities, while Scott approaches management with unfiltered candor, oversharing, and acting on impulse. Both believe they are being true to themselves, so others should appreciate it, but in reality they are trapped behind a rigid self-protective shield that excuses poor judgment and blocks growth.
The real problem arises not so much from being untrue to themselves, but rather, from mis-calibrating how they show up, mistaking self-expression for effectiveness. Leaders who are reduced to this kind of pattern routinely erode trust, exhaust their teams, and undermine their own influence while sincerely believing they are acting with genuineness and integrity.
{"blockType":"mv-promo-block","data":{"imageDesktopUrl":"https:\/\/images.fastcompany.com\/image\/upload\/f_webp,q_auto,c_fit\/wp-cms-2\/2025\/10\/tcp-photo-syndey-16X9.jpg","imageMobileUrl":"https:\/\/images.fastcompany.com\/image\/upload\/f_webp,q_auto,c_fit\/wp-cms-2\/2025\/10\/tcp-photo-syndey-1x1-2.jpg","eyebrow":"","headline":"Get more insights from Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic","dek":"Dr. Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic is a professor of organizational psychology at UCL and Columbia University, and the co-founder of DeeperSignals. He has authored 15 books and over 250 scientific articles on the psychology of talent, leadership, AI, and entrepreneurship. ","subhed":"","description":"","ctaText":"Learn More","ctaUrl":"https:\/\/drtomas.com\/intro\/","theme":{"bg":"#2b2d30","text":"#ffffff","eyebrow":"#9aa2aa","subhed":"#ffffff","buttonBg":"#3b3f46","buttonHoverBg":"#3b3f46","buttonText":"#ffffff"},"imageDesktopId":91424798,"imageMobileId":91424800,"shareable":false,"slug":""}}
As psychological research shows, every leader carries internal narratives shaped by early experiences about how to stay safe, earn belonging, or manage uncertainty. These narratives result in behavioral patterns that were once adaptive. But over time, they harden into identity (this is just who I am) and limit leaders flexibility and versatility.
Leaders are therefore presented with a difficult psychological choice, namely: (a) to resist pressures to conform, and act without consideration for what others think, but, in doing so, risk alienating or antagonizing others; or (b) to adjust their behavior to meet the situational demandsmostly, what other people want and need from thembut risk alienating . . . themselves.
The question, then, is how leaders can skillfully navigate the intricate balance between their self-expression needs and their obligation to others. To this end, here are a few science-based recommendations to consider:
Communicate with greater precision and empathy
Leaders dont struggle because they speak the truth, but because they speak it without intention, timing, or attunement. Balancing candor with empathy is the discipline of telling the truth in ways that preserve dignity, empathy, and trust. Heres how:
Pair honesty with intention. Before speaking hard truths, ask: What impact do I want this message to have? Clarifying intent helps you choose language that builds trust rather than simply offloading whats on your mind. Think of it as an emotional aim: honesty without intention is like firing an arrow without checking what or who is behind the target.
Slow the reflex. If you feel urgency to just say it, pause. Urgency often signals an activated trigger, not clarity. This is your minds equivalent of a car engine revving too hot; giving it a moment prevents you from speeding into the wrong lane. Use that pause to let adrenaline fall and cognition rise.
Practice empathetic accuracy. Test your instincts by naming what others might feel, then adjust your delivery in service of effectiveness, not self-expression. Great communicators act like emotional cartographers, mapping the terrain before entering it so they know where the cliffs, rivers, and fragile bridges are.
Regulate emotion before you express it
Vulnerability builds trust only when it is regulated, purposeful, and contained. Grounded vulnerability allows leaders to be real without turning their teams into emotional shock absorbers or co-regulators. Heres how:
Share what is useful, not what is unfiltered. Vulnerability should serve others, not the leaders emotional relief. Raw disclosure is not always courageous; sometimes it is simply an emotional data dump that burdens the listener. Useful vulnerability, by contrast, is like offering a compass: personal, yes, but handed over with the intent to orient others, not to lighten your own load.
Do emotional processing upstream. Use peers, mentors, or therapists as your primary space, not your colleagues. This preserves your teams psychological safety while still giving you the support you need. Upstream processing allows you to show up composed, thoughtful, and ready to metabolize complexity on behalf of others rather than through them. For example, employees often report feeling emotionally hijacked when leaders vent openly about board pressure or uncertainty, unsure whether they are being informed or enlisted as emotional support.
Replace unloading with grounding. Before sharing, ask: Is this helpful to them? Or helpful to me? Grounding yourself first allows you to express vulnerability as perspective, not pressure. Think of grounding as fastening your oxygen mask before assisting others: when you regulate your own emotional state, your words become stabilizing rather than contagious. Leaders who ground themselves create a conversational climate where honesty feels safe instead of sharp.
Balance identity with adaptability
Many leaders confuse integrity with sameness. True reliabiity comes not from repeating the same behaviors, but from expressing the same values with greater responsiveness and emotional range. Heres how:
Redefine consistency. Anchor to values, not behaviors. Values stay largely steady; behaviors can evolve. When leaders treat consistency as performing the same behaviors in every situation, they confuse predictability with rigidity. True consistency comes from being reliably guided by the same principles even as contexts shift.
Try 10% adjustments. Micro-flexibility builds confidence without threatening identity. A modest shift in tone, timing, or format can expand your influence far more than sweeping reinventions, demonstrating that authenticity and adaptability can coexist.
Name what rigidity protects. When you feel resistant, ask: What part of me feels endangered right now? Identifying the fear beneath the resistance opens the door to more adaptive choices. This self-reflection keeps self-expression honest while ensuring that protective impulses do not override responsibilities to the people they lead.
Demonstrate values with judgment, not dogma
Strong values dont require rigid postures. Moral maturity allows leaders to stand for what matters while remaining curious, connected, and oriented toward collective impact rather than personal righteousness. Heres how:
Distinguish values from validation. Ask: Am I standing in a principle or hiding behind it? This distinguishes conviction from ego. By interrogating whether a stance is truly principle-driven or simply self-affirming, leaders prevent rigid authenticity from becoming a shield for stubbornness.
Expand the aperture of right. Seek nuance in situations that challenge your certainty. Curiosity reduces the need to treat disagreement as a moral referendum. By widening their interpretive frame, leaders move from defending their identity to understanding the system they are operating in.
Prioritize impact over insistence. Sometimes the most ethical choice is the one that maintains relationships, not the one that wins the argument. Insisting on being right can satisfy the ego but damage the social fabric leaders rely on to get things done.
In short, if you are interested in being a better leader who is true to her/himself, focus on being your best possible self rather than your unfiltered or uncensored self. Why? Because the less you care about your reputation, the more others will careand not in a good way.
Leadership is fundamentally relational, so leaders professional selves must be optimized to the needs of others. People dont need leaders to share every inner thought but to provide clarity, stability, and a responsible, human presence. Effective leaders prioritize impact over self-expression and treat authenticity as an active, intentional process. By contrast, misguided self-expression creates friction that slows decisions, distorts information, and weakens execution, even in otherwise capable teams.
The best leaders commit to continuous improvement and becoming more effective in their roles. This demands self-awareness and emotional intelligence, recognizing what traits to emphasize or adjust to meet the moment’s demands. Instead of unfiltered self-expression, leaders engage in thoughtful self-presentation tailored to the collective needs of their teams and organizations. As a result, leaders professional reputation becomes a practiced skill of managing how to show up powerfully while staying true to core values, not a static identity to be discovered or defended at all costs.
In summary, effective leadership is less about rigid self-identity and more about strategic self-curation aimed at adaptive effectiveness and relational impact. Leaders who understand this evolve beyond trapped patterns and refine themselves to lead with clarity, competence, and integrity.
{"blockType":"mv-promo-block","data":{"imageDesktopUrl":"https:\/\/images.fastcompany.com\/image\/upload\/f_webp,q_auto,c_fit\/wp-cms-2\/2025\/10\/tcp-photo-syndey-16X9.jpg","imageMobileUrl":"https:\/\/images.fastcompany.com\/image\/upload\/f_webp,q_auto,c_fit\/wp-cms-2\/2025\/10\/tcp-photo-syndey-1x1-2.jpg","eyebrow":"","headline":"Get more insights from Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic","dek":"Dr. Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic is a professor of organizational psychology at UCL and Columbia University, and the co-founder of DeeperSignals. He has authored 15 books and over 250 scientific articles on the psychology of talent, leadership, AI, and entrepreneurship. ","subhed":"","description":"","ctaText":"Learn More","ctaUrl":"https:\/\/drtomas.com\/intro\/","theme":{"bg":"#2b2d30","text":"#ffffff","eyebrow":"#9aa2aa","subhed":"#ffffff","buttonBg":"#3b3f46","buttonHoverBg":"#3b3f46","buttonText":"#ffffff"},"imageDesktopId":91424798,"imageMobileId":91424800,"shareable":false,"slug":""}}
A relatively new category of solopreneur is booming, and its ascent is challenging perceptions of what it means to be self-employed.
Since 2018 demand for fractional expertiseor specialized talent that works for one or many firms on a limited or part-time basishas tripled, according to a recent study by workforce intelligence company Revelio Labs. The most popular part-time executive position, according to the study, is CFO, which makes up 18% of fractional executive roles, followed by CMO at 14% and CEO at 10%.
Revelio Labs chief economist Lisa Simon says the skyrocketing demand for fractional executives is largely a function of the current job market. She explains that layoffs have freed up many highly skilled workers while budgetary constraints have added to the appeal of a lower cost flexible alternative to full-time hires among businesses.
Employers see fractional work as a way to save on costs while filling a particular role and, because of the weak labor market, more workers are willing to take these part-time positions, she explains.
Though some go fractional out of necessity, others actively choose the arrangement for its added flexibility, especially women. According to the Revelio Labs study, about 38% of American fractional executives are female, compared with 31.5% of those that are traditionally employed.
Women are much more likely to be interested in remote work and return to office has had particularly adversely affected women; theyre less willing to go back, because of the extra caregiving responsibilities, Simon explains. Fractional work is more attractive to mothers, to those giving elder care, because it allows for that extra flexibility.
A new work paradigm, or just a fad?
The trend may be driven by temporary market conditions, but there is reason to believe the growth in both the supply and demand of fractional help is indicative of a broader and more lasting change.
What Im seeing is the unbundling of roles, explains Sara Daw, the global CEO of U.K.-based Liberti Group, which connects businesses with fractional executive talent in 18 counties. Roles that we historically only thought of as being full-time and permanent are unbundling into more work tasks and activities, and the fractional trend meets that head on.
Daw says her organization has been providing part-time executive services since 2001, but those services have only been labelled fractional since the pandemic.
Since then the organization has doubled thanks to skyrocketing demand, especially for CFOs, which it provides through its sub-brand the CFO Centre.
Before COVID most people didnt know what we were talking about when we were pitching it, says Daw, who published a book tracking the fractional trend last year. Most business owners wanted their CFO sitting next to them, and I think COVID taught everyone that we can work differently, and it’s normalized our business model.
The pandemic also inspired workers to reevaluate their relationship with work and seek more control over their schedules.
It encouraged a lot of people to consider whether their full-time high-end C-suite leadership job was detrimental to their health, their well-being, their family, Daw says. Those two trends coming together has created this phenomenon.
Thats especially true among younger workers. Though they may not be ready to step into fractional executive roles, a new generation of talent is proving much more comfortable with the part-time model, suggesting more growth on the horizon.
Most Gen Zers have a side gig already; theyre much more portfolio-minded and gig-orientated, Daw says. I’m not saying employment is dead, I’m saying this has got its own space alongside it.
Not Just for Cash-Strapped Startups
Prior to the pandemic, Daw says the primary customer for fractional services were startups and small businesses that couldnt afford full-time help.
While that segment remains strong, there has also been significant growth among larger organizations looking for a temporary, flexible helping hand.
Since COVID, the pace of changegeopolitics, climate change, war, technology, all of those mega-trendshas meant that organizations have got a lot to cope with, and the senior leaders have started looking more for outside help, she says. They might have a group CFO or group CMO who’s employed full-time, but those individuals are overwhelmed in a turbulent world, and they need an agile talent structure.
When large organizations needed outside assistance in the past they traditionally looked to major consulting and advisory firms. Many are now discovering that they can find specialized talent at a lower cost by engaging a part-time, temporary expert.
Those fractional experts may have even been previously employed by one of those big consulting firms or may have helped a similar organization overcome a similar challenge in the past.
You’re seeing very large corporationsthe brands you knowhiring these fraction-ers intentionally to get access to the talent, says Ran Harpaz, the founder and CEO of Lettuce Financial, a Fintech platform for solopreneurs earning six figures. They don’t want to go to finance and justify a job, and put it in the budget for the next five years and deal with all the support systems around it.
From embarrassment to badge of honor
Before the term gained traction, those who offered what wed now describe as fractional services were given labels that Harpaz says didnt really match their level of expertise.
Consultant, contractor, 1099, those are accounting terms. Fractional is a business term, he says. It says Im going to solve your problem, and I can do it in a fractional capacity.
That new label, he says, has shifted the perception of this category of solopreneurs from something many felt they had to hide on their résumés to something they advertise as a badge of honor.
They say out loud, I’m so great at what I do that I can help your business in 10 hours or 20 hours a week, because Im that experienced, Harpaz says. It’s not a gig, it’s a destination, and I’m positioning myself so that clients understand what they’re getting, and they see the value in the interaction.
Balancing gut feelings with hard data isn’t a soft skill.
It’s a strategic advantage.
In an era where AI, automation, and ubiquitous dashboards flood us with metrics, it’s tempting to believe that better spreadsheets alone will yield better decisions. But our most consequential choices rarely emerge from a cell in column D. They arise from an ongoing negotiation between intuition and rational analysis.
The paradox is this: as technology becomes more sophisticated at processing information, the human capacity to notice what mattersthe intangible signals of opportunity or riskbecomes more valuable. Yet most organizations force a false choice. We either romanticize intuition (“I just know this investment is a winner”) or we bury it under rationalizations (“The model says no”). A healthierand more innovativeapproach is to design for both.
{"blockType":"mv-promo-block","data":{"imageDesktopUrl":"https:\/\/images.fastcompany.com\/image\/upload\/f_webp,q_auto,c_fit\/wp-cms-2\/2026\/01\/i-16x9-figure-thinking.jpg","imageMobileUrl":"https:\/\/images.fastcompany.com\/image\/upload\/f_webp,q_auto,c_fit\/wp-cms-2\/2026\/01\/i-16x9-figure-thinking_0b545c.jpg","eyebrow":"","headline":"\u003Cem\u003EWonderRigor Newsletter\u003C\/em\u003E","dek":"Want more insights, tools, and invitations from Dr. Natalie Nixon about applying creativity for meaningful business results and the future of work? Subscribe \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/urldefense.proofpoint.com\/v2\/url?u=https-3A__figure-2D8-2Dthinking-2Dllc.kit.com_sign-2Dup\u0026amp;d=DwMFaQ\u0026amp;c=euGZstcaTDllvimEN8b7jXrwqOf-v5A_CdpgnVfiiMM\u0026amp;r=xHenyQfyc6YcuCNMBsOvfYGQILM1d1ruredVZikn4HE\u0026amp;m=F383gnrChFhYKPhcpNHI1hY3o58IHIn_LkB5QJDrs3G5Wfft-DcucUO4UEmGO7GZ\u0026amp;s=JlJm7GyKCJvPW0jyrsfTFtinteKDitN13vfPZiuJnP8\u0026amp;e=\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022 rel=\u0022noreferrer noopener\u0022\u003Ehere\u003C\/a\u003E for the free WonderRigor newsletter at Figure8Thinking.com","subhed":"","description":"","ctaText":"Learn More","ctaUrl":"http:\/\/Figure8Thinking.com","theme":{"bg":"#3b3f46","text":"#ffffff","eyebrow":"#9aa2aa","subhed":"#ffffff","buttonBg":"#6e8ba6","buttonHoverBg":"#3b3f46","buttonText":"#ffffff"},"imageDesktopId":91470060,"imageMobileId":91470061,"shareable":false,"slug":""}}
The Science Behind the Marriage of Modes
Recent research reveals something counterintuitive. According to a Science Direct article about entrepreneurs decision making, when entrepreneurs with domain expertise integrate AI-driven analysis with their intuitive insights, they achieve the most balanced outcomes, excelling simultaneously in novelty, depth, and innovation. A controlled study of 124 entrepreneurs found that while AI assistance increased the number of recognized opportunities and the depth of evaluation, it simultaneously reduced novelty and contextual sensitivity. But here’s the interesting thing: sector knowledge and intuitive judgment restored this creative dimension. The entrepreneurs who combined both sources of intelligence outperformed those relying on either alone.
Separately, research into human-AI collaboration in decision-making found that expertise in the decision-making domain is a necessary condition for intuition to be effective. Organizations attempting to eliminate intuition in favor of pure analytics often find themselves unable to navigate ill-structured problemsyou know, the kind that have no precedent and require human judgment. Conversely, intuition without analytical rigor falls prey to bias and incomplete information.
What neuroscience reveals is even more compelling. Research shows that leaders who cultivate interoceptive awareness, which is your ability to sense and interpret internal bodily signals, experience improved self-regulation and more grounded decision-making. A study published in NeuroImage found that individuals with higher interoceptive awareness showed increased activation in the insular cortex during decision-making tasks, suggesting a direct link between bodily awareness and cognitive processes.
In other words, learning to read your physical responses during deliberation literally changes how your brain processes information.
Redesign How You Think
One practical shift is to separate your phases of thinking. In the first phase, privilege expansive, intuitive work: walking meetings, whiteboard sessions, voice notes, even practices like yoga nidra (a guided relaxation technique) or non-sleep deep rest that loosen our grip on linear problem-solving. The job of this phase is not to decide; it’s to notice. What’s tugging at your attention? What feels unexpectedly alive or off? What pattern are you sensing before you can articulate it?
This isn’t meditation or mysticism. It’s the recognition that your brain’s pattern-recognition systems, honed by years of experience in your domain, often detect signals faster than your conscious, analytical mind can process them. Honor that system.
Later, in a distinct evaluative phase, invite rigor back in. We interrogate assumptions. We ask: What data supports this hunch? What contradicts it? Who would disagree, and on what grounds? Who benefits if this decision goes our way? Who bears the costs? Simply naming that we are in “intuitive mode” or “rational mode” reduces the unspoken power struggle between the two. It also prevents the common organizational mistake I see all the time: abandoning the intuitive insight midway through because the data is messy, or defending an intuitive pull long after contradicting evidence has emerged.
Treat Hunches as Hypotheses
The next step is to treat intuition as a hypothesis, not a verdict. A gut feeling about a hire, a product direction, or a market pivot can be translated into small, testable experiments. Pilot the idea with a narrow customer segment. Run an A/B test instead of a full rollout. Offer a time-bound consulting or project role before committing to a full-time leader.
This shifts the conversation from “Should I trust my instinct?” to “What would I need to see to strengthen or challenge this intuition?” That’s rigor without self-betrayal. It’s also how learning accelerates. You’re not choosing between data and gut; you’re using data to train your gut.
The Interoceptive Edge
Of course, not all gut feelings are wisdom. Some are simply our biases wearing a confident costume. This is where building interoceptive awareness matters. Paying attention to how your body feels before and after major decisions can, over time, distinguish between expansive intuition and constricting fear.
Research on interoceptive training demonstrates that after just one week of focused practice, participants showed enhanced interoceptive accuracy and significantly more rational decision-making. They also reported reductions in anxiety and somatic symptoms. The implication for leaders is clear: developing the capacity to read your internal signals isn’t indulgentit’s foundational.
Consider keeping a brief “intuition log”: What did I feel? What did I decide? How did it turn out? Are there patterns? You’re effetively training your inner instrument. Over time, you become more reliable at distinguishing between a genuine signal and noise.
Counter Implicit Bias
To counter cultural and implicit bias, organizations need deliberate friction in decision-making. Research on affinity bias (our tendency to favor people similar to us) reveals that this bias operates silently and persistently. One study found that male candidates are 1.5 times more likely to advance to screening than equally qualified women. More broadly, diverse teams outperform homogeneous ones on measures of innovation, problem-solving, and financial returns, yet affinity bias remains one of the most common barriers to building such teams.
Designate someone in key meetings to challenge assumptions: How might affinity bias be shaping this decision? If this candidate or idea looked nothing like our past successes, would we still be excited? Would we hire or promote this person if they came from a different background? If this market opportunity came from a woman rather than a man proposing it, would we fund it?
Pairing intuitive pulls with structured dissent helps ensure we’re not just re-inscribing “this is how we do things around here.” It also reveals when our intuition is actually convenience masquerading as wisdom.
The “Both/And” Decision Framework
Ultimately, the goal is a “both/and” review of major decisions. On one side of the page: data, constraints, risks, what the models say. On the other: gut feel, emotional tone, bodily cues, pattern recognition from experience, what feels alive. Include the assumptions that underlie each. Include the people who would gain and lose with each choice.
The closing question is simple: Given both columns, what is the smallest, most reversible next step?
Make It Visible
When leaders narrate this process out loud”Here’s what my intuition is telling me, here’s what the data says, and here’s how I’m reconciling them”then they normalize a culture where neither spreadsheets nor gut checks are taboo. This transparency also models the kind of thinking that develops over time. Junior leaders see that confidence isn’t about certainty; it’s about integrating multiple sources of information and taking action despite genuine uncertainty.
In the imagination era, where ideas are our true currency and markets move faster than data can track the shifts, the organizations that thrive won’t be those that worship logic or intuition alone. They’ll be those that have the courage and discipline to let them dance.
{"blockType":"mv-promo-block","data":{"imageDesktopUrl":"https:\/\/images.fastcompany.com\/image\/upload\/f_webp,q_auto,c_fit\/wp-cms-2\/2026\/01\/i-16x9-figure-thinking.jpg","imageMobileUrl":"https:\/\/images.fastcompany.com\/image\/upload\/f_webp,q_auto,c_fit\/wp-cms-2\/2026\/01\/i-16x9-figure-thinking_0b545c.jpg","eyebrow":"","headline":"\u003Cem\u003EWonderRigor Newsletter\u003C\/em\u003E","dek":"Want more insights, tools, and invitations from Dr. Natalie Nixon about applying creativity for meaningful business results and the future of work? Subscribe \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/urldefense.proofpoint.com\/v2\/url?u=https-3A__figure-2D8-2Dthinking-2Dllc.kit.com_sign-2Dup\u0026amp;d=DwMFaQ\u0026amp;c=euGZstcaTDllvimEN8b7jXrwqOf-v5A_CdpgnVfiiMM\u0026amp;r=xHenyQfyc6YcuCNMBsOvfYGQILM1d1ruredVZikn4HE\u0026amp;m=F383gnrChFhYKPhcpNHI1hY3o58IHIn_LkB5QJDrs3G5Wfft-DcucUO4UEmGO7GZ\u0026amp;s=JlJm7GyKCJvPW0jyrsfTFtinteKDitN13vfPZiuJnP8\u0026amp;e=\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022 rel=\u0022noreferrer noopener\u0022\u003Ehere\u003C\/a\u003E for the free WonderRigor newsletter at Figure8Thinking.com","subhed":"","description":"","ctaText":"Learn More","ctaUrl":"http:\/\/Figure8Thinking.com","theme":{"bg":"#3b3f46","text":"#ffffff","eyebrow":"#9aa2aa","subhed":"#ffffff","buttonBg":"#6e8ba6","buttonHoverBg":"#3b3f46","buttonText":"#ffffff"},"imageDesktopId":91470060,"imageMobileId":91470061,"shareable":false,"slug":""}}
Curving walls of clay brick and the dappled light of a forest canopy make up the design of the 2026 Serpentine Pavilion, the annual architectural installation that has become one of the field’s most prestigious commissions.
This year’s pavilion is being designed by Isabel Abascal and Alessandro Arienzo of LANZA atelier, a Mexico City-based architecture studio. An annual installation outside the Serpentine art gallery in London’s Kensington Park that is freely open to the public from June through October, the Serpentine Pavilion is high-brow design that’s unusually accessible.
Isabel Abascal and Alessandro Arienzo of Lanza atelier. [Photo: Pia Riverola]
Hitting the premise on the nose, LANZA atelier’s design was inspired by a common English architectural feature known as a “serpentine” or a “crinkle-crankle” that uses a gently curving line of bricks to form a decorative wall. For the Serpentine Pavilion, the architects lined one side of the structure with this serpentine wall, built just a single brick wide. An architectural trick, the wall’s curves provide stability through lateral support, making it need fewer bricks than if the wall were straight.
[Image: Lanza atelier/courtesy Serpentine]
Inside, the pavilion evokes the trees of the surrounding park with a series of brick columnsalso a single brick widesupporting a semi-transparent roof. Bricks also make up the floor surface, making the interior a thoroughly earthy experience. This single material’s dominance is only broken by its white-painted metal frame lattice roof, which bounces light into the space. Its curvaceous form creates niches within the pavilion while also forming portals to the park and to the Serpentine gallery nearby.
The Serpentine Pavilion has been an architectural event for 25 years, serving as both a showcase and a creative outlet for emerging architects and artists. One of the highest-profile commissions in the field, the Serpentine Pavilion has been designed by an A-list of designers since its first iteration, including Pritzker Prizewinning architects Zaha Hadid, Rem Koolhaas, Peter Zumthor, and Diébédo Francis Kéré, and artists Ai Weiwei, Theaster Gates, and Olafur Eliasson.
The Serpentine Pavilion is a global stage for LANZA atelier, a small office founded in 2015. The firm’s built works include several private homes, a children’s community center, and minimal yet elegant public bathroom. The 2026 Serpentine Pavilion will open to the public June 6.
