Artificial intelligence capabilities have rapidly shifted from nice-to-have extras to essential requirements across industries and job levels. Employers now prioritize candidates who can harness AI tools to multiply productivity, accelerate innovation, and solve complex problems with lean resources. In this article, experts reveal how mastering AI skills can unlock career opportunities, faster promotions, and competitive advantages in today’s job market.
Own One System and Share Insights
For me, the secret to standing out in the age of AI was pretty simple: if your company is starting to use AI, use it. Don’t wait for someone to tell you where to start. Pick one tool, go deep, and let curiosity lead you.
When I was a learning designer at Zapier, I decided to focus on one thing, a new tool that had just rolled out: AI Agents by Zapier. I pushed everything nonessential to the side and gave myself two weeks to learn it inside and out. Along the way, I realized that to make my Agents even better, I needed to understand other tools too: AI fields in Tables, Chatbots, and AI steps in automation workflows. That one deep dive became a crash course in the future of work.
I started filming myself as I learned, sharing the process and mistakes with others. Soon, teammates were reaching out for help. Product teams asked me to test new features and give feedback. And before I knew it, I’d become the go-to AI person without a technical background. Eighteen months later, I was promoted to senior AI automation engineer.
If you want to stand out and make yourself indispensable, start there:
Go deep on something. Master one AI tool instead of dabbling in many.
Share what you learn. Help your teammates, post your insights, and be generous with your knowledge.
Be strategic. Know when AI is the right solution (and, importantly, when it’s not).
Being proactive about AI isn’t just about saving time. It’s about showing that you can drive change, not wait for it. That’s what makes you valuable, no matter how much technology evolves.
Emily Mabie, AI Automation Engineer, Zapier
Start Companies With Generative Help
Generative AI is not just a differentiator; it’s a career accelerator that can expand career opportunities far beyond traditional paths. AI literacy empowers individuals to create entirely new opportunities that would previously have been inaccessible to them without significant resources or institutional backing.
One powerful example is how generative AI tools, even free ones like ChatGPT or Microsoft Copilot, can enable someone to launch a company instead of simply searching for yet another corporate role. With AI, an aspiring entrepreneur with a business idea is empowered to research and draft a well-thought-out business plan in hours, create and iterate on a brand identity without hiring a creative agency, develop a full-fledged marketing plan, and even simulate customer feedback by asking AI to role-play as an ideal customer persona to review, critique, and evaluate offerings through their lens.
This ability to work with AI on tasks that once required significant investment and teams of consultants, designers, and executive focus groups fundamentally changes the opportunities for career advancement. It lowers the barrier to entry for entrepreneurship, allowing individuals to test ideas, refine messaging, and build expertise at a fraction of the cost and time it would take without AI. It’s like having an entire team of executives, business planners, marketers, and writers at your fingertips.
When I began building my consultancy, I used free generative AI tools to do just that. One of the biggest advantages my AI skills created was being able to use AI to role-play as my ideal customer persona, asking it to critique my offerings, evaluate my positioning, and highlight my blind spots. That iterative feedback loop gave me insights into how the C-suite would look at my services so I could better address their needs and concerns, and “speak” their language so it would be easier for me to build trust and, ultimately, close the deal.
I believe the real power of AI skills is not that it just makes you better at your current job, but that it opens doors to entirely new ones. It helps individuals transform from simply being a “job applicant” to being an “opportunity creator.” That’s how AI is truly going to reshape the future of work. Because AI skills don’t just prepare you for the future they give you the agency to create it for yourself.
Kristin Ginn, Founder, trnsfrmAItn
Scale Impact With Lean Force Multipliers
AI skills are no longer optionalthey are becoming fundamental for every job seeker, regardless of profession. The reason is simple: AI is transforming how work gets done in three very clear stagesfirst by automating routine tasks, then by enhancing our abilities, and finally by transforming what individuals and small teams can achieve.
Most people stop at the first stage, using AI to save time on emails, reports, or documentation. But the real opportunity lies in the next two stages. When you use AI to enhance your thinking, creativity, and output, you suddenly operate at a much higher level. And when you reach the transformation stage, AI becomes a force multiplierenabling you to do work that previously required large teams and significant resources.
I’ve experienced this personally while building my company. Thanks to AI, we have been able to build and scale one of the best all-in-one AI platforms for teachers and students with a two-member team. Everything from product management to engineering to content, design, marketing, and operations has been streamlined because AI handles a significant portion of the heavy lifting. What would traditionally require 2025 people can now be executed by a lean, agile team that is able to move quickly and deliver high-quality output across every area. This is the true power of AInot just automating tasks but transforming the very structure of how teams and companies operate.
This is why AI proficiency is becoming a defining skill for today’s workforce. People who know how to use AI don’t just work fasterthey think better, create better, and adapt better. They become more strategic, more creative, and more capable. In every fieldteaching, engineering, design, marketing, HR, sales the professionals who embrace AI will accelerate, and those who don’t will find it increasingly difficult to stay competitive.
The reality is that AI is not here to replace human talent; it is here to elevate it. It levels the playing field, giving individuals access to capabilities that once required entire departments. For job seekers, students, and pofessionals, mastering AI tools is the most direct way to stand out in a crowded job market and open doors to opportunities that simply didn’t exist a few years ago.
And if a two-member team can build and scale a platform like ours using AI, imagine what individuals can do in their own careers with the same mindset. That’s the future of work.
Binit Agarwalla, Founder, TeachBetter.ai
Pair Technology With Irreplaceable Human Strengths
AI skills are essential because they sit at the heart of how work gets done now. But here’s what matters more: AI can’t replace the human skills that truly differentiate uslistening, building relationships, making judgment calls.
When people master AI tools, they gain time and headspace to focus on what makes them irreplaceable. You can work faster, produce better quality output, and tackle projects that once felt impossible. Combined with your human abilitiesempathy, curiosity, strategic thinkingyou become far more valuable to any organization.
When I built my company, AI became my operational backbone. While I focused on listening to clients and shaping their transformation stories, AI helped me analyze feedback, test messaging, and turn rough ideas into polished content. This meant I could build a coaching practice at startup speed while staying focused on the deeper human workunderstanding what people really need.
AI gave me velocity. But the human insightthe listening, the connection, the meaning-makingthat’s what made the work valuable. That combination opened doors to bigger stages and leadership conversations I wouldn’t have reached as quickly otherwise.
The future belongs to people who can combine AI efficiency with irreplaceable human skills.
Tünde Lukacs, Founder Executive Coach Keynote Speaker, The Change Republic
Launch Software Through Prompt Mastery
AI tools are erasing technical gatekeepingopening up high-value, technical jobs and paths to starting companies to nontraditional candidates.
There used to be a four-year coding college prerequisite to building production-quality software, gluing stuff together, or making things happen. The most striking effect of AI I’ve seen in the last year is people bypassing it. One of the most impressive career leaps I’ve encountered was of a former VC CFO whom I talked to recently. He used Replit’s AI pair programmer to build and launch his own SaaS app in under 3 months. He had zero software experience. He just sat down with Excel and workflows he knew from his finance job and threw them right into AI co-pilot to make an app.
This was not possible two years ago. He couldn’t become a “real” engineer, and this app that he’s making is not an Excel-based macro. He literally taught himself how to make software with the AI acting as his partner in the driving seat.
Prompt engineeringtalking in English to make AI do complex thingsis now as valuable a skill as coding was 10 years ago.
We see that the primary accelerant is not coding per se, but prompt engineering. Many of the most effective users of our service are not coders. They have to figure out how to give the AI goals and constraints and hammer out a detailed process, all in English. They have to turn their thoughts into instructions that involve their home context. This skill is getting to be worth more than coding. Now people can go to sleep thinking up videos they want to show, and then by morning have those videos done, without having to learn VFX or hire a studio. That’s a sea change. That’s why I tell job seekers to put “prompt engineering” on their resumes.
Runbo Li, Cofounder & CEO, Magic Hour
Drive Uptake and Unlock Bigger Roles
AI skills are becoming essential because, obviously, they save time and effort. And it’s not about just handing everything over to a tool and hoping for the bestinstead, it’s about knowing what to ask, how to review the output, and when to trust your own experience over the suggestion. In essence, AI allows everyone to become a kind of manager rather than someone who just executes tasks. Employers know this, which is why they’re increasingly looking for people who can get better results with AI. And, if you’re the person who consistently does more without working more, you naturally become the one invited into bigger projects, strategy conversations, and cross-functional work. That’s where bigger opportunities tend to open up.
A good example is our Sr. Director of Communications & Creative, who recently moved into an AI Operations Manager role. He stayed current on new tools, tested them, and openly promoted what worked across the company. In under one year, he switched from Replit to Cursor, which is typically seen as a tool for more tech-savvy users. Eventually, he also pushed for a company-wide effort to upskill by launching “AI Days”a monthly initiative where everyone focuses only on AI projects for the day. We use that time to build custom tools with platforms like v0.dev, create custom GPTs, or test new third-party AI solutions to boost productivity.
Dovil Gelèinskait, Senior Talent Manager, Omnisend
Adopt Smart Tools to Accelerate Advancement
The requirement for AI skills is increasing rapidly, as virtually every occupation includes aspects of the artificial intelligence sector. The capacity for tools to obtain greater levels of intelligence, and the expectation that workers will be able to work side by side with technology, has increased dramatically. Those who possess the ability to effectively use AI will have the potential to work faster and achieve better outcomes. This skill has evolved to be a primary skill as opposed to an additional skill.
Having an understanding of AI also opens up new opportunity avenues. You can transition to a different occupation, automate your mundane tasks, and illustrate your adaptive capabilities. This indicates that you are prepared for the future of work, not the present.
A brief example from my experience. I hired a junior level analyst who had no prior experience in technical fields, but had extensive knowledge and understanding of artificial intelligence tools. This junior level analyst utilized AI tools for tasks such as data organization, analysis, and report creation. Within a few months of being with us, she became the premier person within the organization to utilize AI workflows and gained considerable recognition, leading to a promotion to a higher level role, as part of the product development team, much sooner than anticipated.
The AI tools that this analyst used did not supplant her work, but rather enhanced what she was doing. Therefore, for everyone today, this is the opportunity available to them.
Mr Edward Tian, Founder/CEO, GPTZero
Adapt Swifly and Clarify Decisions
AI skills have become essential because the pace and complexity of work have outgrown what anyone can hold in their head. The job seekers who thrive are the ones who know how to pair their human judgment with tools that help them think, create, and decide more effectively. It’s no longer about what or how much we know. It’s what we do with this information and how we apply it in innovative and influential ways.
AI isn’t the destination. It’s a method of reaching it. It is the way we clear mental clutter and speed up the work that bogs us down. When we define AI as a resource and a tool rather than an identity, the whole conversation shifts, allowing us to move faster, solve problems with greater precision, and spend more time on work that advances us personally and professionally.
I am an executive coach and leadership development facilitator. Two recent clients proved how much AI can sharpen career clarity. One used AI to compare three possible career paths against his 20 years of experience, which helped him choose the strongest direction and craft a short bio for informational interviews. Another uploaded her 360 feedback and used AI to distill pages of comments into a clear summary for her managers, outlining the skills she wanted to strengthen and the support she needed to evolve.
But let’s be real. There’s no “mastering” AI. How can we when this tool is evolving by the hour? The real skill is learning to adapt to AI, get comfortable with it, and shape it to our own work. AI is the how behind better thinking, better decisions, and, fortunately for job seekers, better storytelling about our value.
When job seekers show they can work with a rapidly changing tool set, they signal agility, curiosity, and the kind of problem-solving that sets them apart in an AI-shaped workplace that’s changing in real time.
Tina Robinson, Founder and CEO, WorkJoy
Gain Capacity and Elevate Quality
AI skills will transform an individual’s ability to be able to increase efficiency creating capacity to either do more or to utilize excess capacity to improve quality of their deliverables. The ability to do more and improve their effectiveness will allow those earlier in their career to develop quicker and accelerate through the organizational stack sooner. For more senior folks, in addition to the personal benefits of the above-mentioned efficiency and effectiveness principles, the knowledge and exposure of AI skills will allow them to build and transform their organizations to have higher levels of throughput, distinctive competitive muscle, and an ability to serve existing as well as gain new customer segments.
For me, this was transformative when I was launching my podcast in Q2 of 2024. Having never done it before, I was initially relying primarily on manual editorial work using video and sound editing tools, manually transcribing interviews, and going through numerous keyword iterations to post a single video. This effort was taking over 40 hours for a single episode. In the last five quarters while I have had to invest my time in learning and keeping up with the pace of rapidly developing AI-enabled tools, my efforts on each episode are now down to less than four hours. From transcription, to video and sound editing, to intelligent copywriting, posting, and engagement, the use of AI-enabled tools has given me hours of capacity back and the product quality is far superior than what I was able to previously achieve with manual work.
Rohit Bassi, Founder & CEO, People Quotient (PQ)
Prove Relevance to Overcome Bias
I’ve reviewed hundreds of job postings in the past year, and the common theme is showing some understanding of how AI can be used to become more efficient. You don’t necessarily need to be an AI expert, but you do need to show that you are upskilling and aware of how you can use AI to do your job better. This is important for job seekers of all ages, but especially for experienced job seekers who can often face ageism and/or assumptions that they aren’t staying on-trend with current technology.
However, demonstrating AI skills can definitely mitigate ageism risk. I recently worked with an IT analyst client in his late 60swe led off his résumé/LinkedIn with his generative AI experience and he landed his dream job within months in spite of the challenging market. The key is being clear that you know how to leverage this technology to improve the company’s bottom line.
Colleen Paulson, Executive Career Consultant, Ageless Careers
Harness New Leaps to Build Empires
Many fear AI will replace white-collar jobs. I argue that AI will instead re-skill them, favoring those who master it as a strategic tool. Our primal “fight or flight” response makes us see AI as a foe, but every technological leap in human history has been driven by those who dared to harness a powerful new force.
Consider the transition just a century ago: horses were the dominant mode of transportation. Those who daringly mastered the automobile and aviation, often through self-teaching, built the next generation of empires. Today, early adopters of AI are positioned to dominate the next half-century. New enterprises will be founded, and a new cohort of technology leaders will emerge. This is simply the natural progression of every technological revolution, from controlling fire to inventing the wheel.
In my own case, I started small, using ChatGPT and Gemini to research and draft content for a liquor store blog I was operating. Initially, my prompt engineering was clumsy. However, as I improved, the tools made producing content (listicles, cocktail trends, spirits history) significantly more efficient. This AI-fueled content strategy provided strong SEO and value, helping the brand scale from a single store to three, eventually leading to my successful exit with a 3X ROI.
I am now leveraging these newly acquired skills to capture Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) businessspecifically, using AI to rapidly generate, refine, and optimize marketing content for discovery across platforms. This has enabled me to scale my marketing agency, which had not actively onboarded new clients in three years. What began as an efficient way to pump out content for a single store has transformed into a core, highly profitable service offering. At 52, I can attest that this proficiency is not age-limited; mastering AI adds tangible, immediate value to clients and unlocks significant career growth.
Mr. Steven Paul Matsumoto, Founder, Chief Strategist, Stigmare Inc
Prototype Solutions Fast to Win Offers
Many companies today test candidates’ creativity by giving them a very specific problem to solve with little to no time. This is precisely where AI can help you in your next job application.
Four months ago, I started at Productive, and one of the tests I had was to create a functioning cold outreach campaign from scratch in four hours without spending too many resources.
In those two hours, I learned the baics of n8n and used it to create an almost completely autonomous sequence by connecting tools like Ocean.io, Apify, ChatGPT, and Reply.io.
Of course, it did not work perfectly, but the concept was enough to get me the job.
Milos Radic, Marketing Partnership Manager, Productive.io
Automate Workflows and Earn Rapid Promotion
I had a content manager at our marketing agency who was mostly responsible for ensuring his content team was creating the right content and enough of it, but he’d often have to help them out himself. He’s always been a huge AI fan, talking about new advances and boring most of us. Over a period of 35 months, he’d occasionally want to show me something he’d built that either integrated with or utilized AI to automate or semi-automate tasks and processes that were responsibilities of his content team.
After about four months of this and him getting better and continually creating more automated tasks/work by AI, he’d reduced the amount of human work needed by the content team by almost 60%. My concern was always quality or mistakes, so I’d test things and double check, but the end result was consistently BETTER than human work.
Long story short, he quickly received a promotion to a new job that didn’t exist at our company before, so I made it up, and his title became chief operational efficiency officer. He went from a lower-level manager to an executive in a few months due to his AI proficiency and ability to implement.
Landon Murie, CEO, Goodjuju Marketing
Hello and welcome to Modern CEO! Im Stephanie Mehta, CEO and chief content officer of Mansueto Ventures. Each week this newsletter explores inclusive approaches to leadership drawn from conversations with executives and entrepreneurs, and from the pages of Inc. and Fast Company. If you received this newsletter from a friend, you can sign up to get it yourself every Monday morning.
Last week, Modern CEO shared reader recommendations of books leaders should read to get ready for 2026. Lyft CEO David Risher submitted a classic, writing: If youre looking for inspiration on how to write a comeback story for your company, theres no better tale than The Odyssey.
Risher knows a bit about penning comeback stories. Hes undertaking the Homerian task of reviving rideshare company Lyft and narrowing the gap between the company and rival Uber.
Taking on a turnaround
When Risher became CEO of Lyft in April 2023, after serving on its board of directors for almost two years, the companys stock was trading at about $9 per share, well below its IPO price of $72 per share. At the time, its U.S. market penetration was about 26% or 27%. Lyft, once hailed as an innovator and a whimsical alternative to Uber, was stagnating.
Risher had previously worked at Amazon, where founder Jeff Bezos instilled an ethos of customer obsession, and he quickly assessed that Lyft had lost sight of its riders. Its employees also tended to overthink issues.
Risher has sought to address both issues: Early in his tenure, for example, he noted that customers experienced a cancellation about 15% of the time. When Risher expressed concern over the stat, employees shrugged it off. Eventually a driver would show up, and rides were completed 99% of the time. I said, Okay, but 100% of the time, its annoying, Risher recalls.
When some team members suggested they address Rishers concerns by conducting research, he replied: I dont think we have to do a study. I can tell you right now, its just really annoying. So, lets stop doing that, please.
Getting driver cancellations down required operational and technical work, but Lyft has made progress, with rates now below 5%. Risher believes that reliability helps customer loyalty. Other rider-centric moves include the national rollout last year of Lyft Silver, a service for older adults, and Women+ Connect, an opt-in feature that increases the odds of pairing female and nonbinary riders with female and nonbinary drivers.
Still, Lyft has been called out on safety issues: A recent New York Times investigation into sexual assault by Uber drivers noted that Lyft bans all drivers with convictions for violent felonies but it, too, is facing sexual assault lawsuits from passengers. Were committed to continuously strengthening our systems and working with safety experts, advocates, and regulators to set the highest standards for our industry, the company told The Times.
Risher has also worked to expand Lyfts reach via the recent acquisition of Freenow, a European mobility platform, a move that he says doubles the companys addressable market. Now we truly are a global company, he says.
Under Rishers leadership, Lyft has eked out gains: Its market share has climbed to about 30%, and the stock now trades at about $19 per share, up about 40% over the past 12 months, outperforming Uber and the broader market.
Some analysts have speculated that Lyft could be an attractive acquisition for Amazon, Tesla, Google, or Waymo as they look to expand their autonomous transportation ambitions. As a public company, were on sale every day on the market, Risher responds. People can buy our shares anytime they want, but were not out looking for suitors.
Indeed, Risherwho was a comparative literature major at Princeton Universitysounds like someone who hasnt finished writing Lyfts comeback story. When I asked what stage the turnaround is in, he says, It might well be 10%.
Whats left to be done? Having really focused on people, customer obsession, and a deep culture of operational excellence, he says, now, frankly, its asking: How do we grow in new ways? He calls autonomous vehicles one of the biggest opportunities weve had since the beginning of the company and envisages a hybrid network that allows riders to decide whether they want a self-driving car or one with a driver. I think thats going to be a big unlock, he adds.
Tell us your turnaround tales
Are you trying to turn around a company? What are some of the tactics youre deploying to increase sales, grow market share, or restore your brand? Send me a few lines about what youre doing at stephaniemehta@mansueto.com. Well publish top insights in a future newsletter.
Listen and read more: comeback kids
Brian Niccol, Starbuckss $100 million man, shares his vision
Elliot Hill on his mission to make epic shit at Nike
How to turn your company around after a crisis
To an outside observer (honestly even to the average American), the jurisdiction of the United States government appears convolutedit’s a collection of states with one set of rules that can be overturned by the larger federal government.
Holidays can sometimes fall into liminal space, and it can get confusing as to what is open and closed on days such as today (Monday, January 19), Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
Lets take a look at the man behind the holiday and the fight to get his birthday recognized, before we dive into how the day is observed.
How was Martin Luther King Jr. Day established?
Martin Luther King Jr. (MLK) was a civil rights leader, Baptist minister, and social activist whose legacy cannot be overstated.
King was instrumental in organizing the Montgomery bus boycott, which began in 1955. He cofounded the Southern Christian Leadership Conference to continue the advancement of Black people in American society.
He also organized the 1963 March on Washington, which helped usher in the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965, and he was the youngest person ever to receive the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964.
The movement to create MLK Day started just four days after Kings death in 1968.
Representative John Conyers introduced the idea in the House of Representatives, but it would take 11 years before a vote would be held on the motion. It would take even longer for the vote to pass.
Stevie Wonder got involved, dropping a single in an effort to get Kings birthday formal recognition.
Another march on Washington was organized by King’s wife, Coretta Scott King, where around 500,000 people took to the streets to show their support of the cause.
Finally in 1983, the House passed the bill, although the Senate proved to be another battle, as Senator Jesse Helms of North Carolina attempted to block the bill with a filibuster.
President Ronald Reagan signed it into law in 1983 and the first federal holiday was observed three years later.
It wasnt until 2000 that all 50 states recognized the holiday.
Now that we know the history behind the observance, here’s what to know about the potential disruption of normal day-to-day services.
Are banks open on MLK Day?
No. Most banks are closed because it is a federal holiday. Online banking is available. ATMs are available if you need fast cash.
Is the post office open on MLK Day?
No. The United Sates Postal Service (USPS) is closed on federal holidays, and most physical post offices won’t be open. Mail will not be delivered.
Are Fedex and UPS operating?
UPS will be closed in observance of MLK Day. FedEx will remain open with modified service.
Is the stock market open?
No. Both the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and the Nasdaq exchange will be closed.
Are schools open?
No. Most public schools will be closed in observance of the holiday. If your loved one attends or works at a private school it’s a good practice to double check.
Are restaurants open?
Yes. Most large chain restaurants will be open but some will modify their hours. This includes major fast-food chains such as McDonald’s, Burger King, Pizza Hut, and others. Smaller mom-and-pop establishments can make their own rules so it is best to call ahead.
Are retail chains open?
Yes. Most major retailers and big-box stores are open. This includes Walmart, Target, Costco, and Home Depot.
Are pharmacies open?
Yes. If you happen to catch the flu or a cold that always seems to go around at this time of the year, Walgreens and CVS are available to soothe your ailments.
Are grocery stores open?
Yes. Groceries stores are typically open, including major chains such as Whole Foods, Kroger, and Aldi.
Are national parks free on MLK Day?
Not anymore. Under President Trump, the National Park Service changed its policy and eliminated the free admission days that were previously available on both MLK Day and Juneteenth.
Free admission is now available on Flag Day, which coincides with the presidents birthday. Many civil rights organizations, such as the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), are upset about this change because of the gravity of both of these observances.
Ways to observe MLK Day
There are many ways to honor the legacy of King on this day. You could volunteer at a local nonprofit and help your community, or you might consider visiting a Black history museum. You could even honor the day by simply reading a book about the visionary leader or watching one of his many moving speeches.
What did the latest holiday shopping season reveal about consumer confidence going into 2026? Mastercard CEO Michael Miebach unpacks the signals hes seeing across global spendingfrom shifting consumer sentiment to AIs growing role in financial security. Miebach also explores how credit cards fit into a future shaped by crypto, digital wallets, and agent-driven commerce, and what it will take for businesses to stay competitive amid continued market disruption.
This is an abridged transcript of an interview from Rapid Response, hosted by the former editor-in-chief of Fast Company Bob Safian. From the team behind the Masters of Scale podcast, Rapid Response features candid conversations with todays top business leaders navigating real-time challenges. Subscribe to Rapid Response wherever you get your podcasts to ensure you never miss an episode.
You have a unique vantage point on consumer activity. So many payments run through your system. From this past holiday season, do you have any observations about consumer spending or customer sentiment? Any sort of emerging trends or lessons you’ve seen yet?
When you think about what we do, we facilitate payments all around the world, so that provides a really interesting data set across all sectors, across all countries, 220 countries and territories. Last year we’re about 160 billion transactions through our network, so it does provide quite a unique view. The past holiday season, 3.9% was the year-over-year growth. So that’s a strong holiday season. You think political uncertainty, you think trade alignments and all these kinds of things, but the consumer held up well.
One thing that I thought was striking was apparel sales. So we see this by categories. We don’t see individual Mastercard holder data, but the aggregate data of what are people buying and where are they buying it? So apparel sales had a real moment. So 7.8% growth in apparel, really a stick-out kind of category.
One of the interesting things that I saw there in the data this particular season compared to last holiday season, consumers came in early. Probably it’s a continuation of what the consumer has done throughout 2025. “I can look for a better deal. I can look for a promotion.” So Black Friday was particularly strong, and then you look thereafter. So the savvy consumer is doing that, and so are businesses. Businesses were also worried about potentially sitting on inventory through that. So they’re trying to sell their inventory and put out offers earlier. So interesting to see what we’re going to see in 2026.
The word affordability, at least in the U.S., has become like this big buzzword. And it sounds like you’re sort of seeing that in some of the data that that’s where people are leaning.
When you look at some of the post-tariffs, certain prices have gone up, others have come down. But it’s very interesting when you look at the 3.9% overall. Is that inflation? No. It’s about half price increases, so pretty tame. And the other half is real volume increase where people were just still making investments into the things that they wanted to buy.
It’s interesting. You must see data every day about spending patterns and changes. I’m curious how that impacts your planning and strategy. I had a CEO on the show out of the tech world recently who said he’s now replanning every week, that even monthly is too late. Very different leadership perspective from three-year, five-year plans.
Is your system different because of the speed of the feedback you get?
It’s not. Five years ago, we re-architected Mastercard’s network. We’re in more and more countries around the world. We’re facilitating more and more types of payments that might have been from an account-to-account are now happening on card rails or stablecoins or you name it. So we had to re-architect. From that perspective, that is not really changing our plans.
What is changing our plans is if consumer behaviors and consumer choices are changing in more fundamental ways. Younger consumers like “buy now, pay later.” So we got to have that built into our system. Those are the kind of changes [we are tracking], not short-term changes. Its ups and downs from the economy. Where are the payment trends going? Where do we invest to really understand where consumer or business payments are going?
The payments need to be smarter, they need to be faster, they need to be safer. All those kinds of things, that’s where we’re investing. But that’s not week on week. We look out two, three years, and then we make those technologies available for our customers, which are generally banks or large merchants or airlines. Those are our customers.
You mentioned “buy now, pay later,” a business like Klarna, which went public last year. Isnt a credit card “buy now, pay later?” What’s the distinction? Why do people get so excited about it?
It’s yet another payment choice out there. So, payments have not been more competitive than they are today. So you can pay in stablecoins, you can have a push payment, you can have a prepaid payment. You can have a buy now, pay later. This goes straight to essentially a personal loan kind of equivalent. So those are choices. And those are the choices that if we see them amongst consumers or the customers of our customers, then we make them available.
If you are a buy now, pay nowa pure play companyyou’re going to find large merchants, large brands that are going to have these offers on their websites and in their stores if they have physical stores. The way that we did it, we built it just as an offer into our network. So wherever Mastercard is available, one of our acquiring partners can offer at the checkout terminal in an in-store and someone can buy now, pay later. So JPMorgan or Galileo are partners like that of us, they make that pay available.
So the initial craze of buy now, pay later has died down a bit. I think it’s a very credible choice. We offer it. And a lot of young people think this is a good idea because it gives you more planability of your interest payments and all that. We also think loans on cards where you say, let’s say you pay $500 on a card and you turn that into three payments and many banks just offer that and it’s not going into a buy now or pay later route, but it’s the same outcome. So in the end, people want more control over their finances and more flexibility to buy bigger things that they maybe cannot afford in the moment. And different solutions to that. We’re all about consumer choice and we make all of that available.
Obviously we’ve had this drastic evolution from physical cards and checks and even cash to contactless tap and digital wallets.
Right.
Is this new standard going to stay or do you think things will keep moving to things like biometrics or face scanning? I mean, I know you’ve talked about more personalized payments. Is that what you mean?
That’s not quite hat I mean. But when you think payments, it’s a constant evolution, so it’s not going to stay where it is. It took 10 years for contactless to get what it is today. So you tap with your phone, you tap with your card. It’s about two-thirds of global transactions on our network are now contactless.
What is now a big driver for the next kind of experience is where checkout really becomes a non-issue. It just going to disappear. So we put a lot of focus on making checkout a non-event, and an enabling technology for that is tokenization. So you take your card data and you turn it into a one-time code that can only be used for the transaction that’s securely shot between the different participants and the payment ecosystem, very safe. Now you can do the same thing with your biometric identity, be your fingerprint or your facial, and that comes along with that transaction token and anybody on the other side can see that is the transaction and it should go through. So it increases security dramatically.
So we invented tokenization in the payment side many years back, and it’s now scaling. So we made a commitment starting with Europe that by 2030, every transaction will be tokenized. Really the checkout moment is just going to really recede to the background.
O-1B visas are for immigrants of extraordinary ability,” originally designed for acclaimed artists, musicians, athletes, and scholars, But increasingly they’re being handed out to people with a more modern definition of “extraordinary ability”: influencers and OnlyFans creators.
Immigration lawyers say social media influencers now make up more than half of their O-1 visa applicants, according to a recent report by the Financial Times.
These visas are intended for an individual who possesses “extraordinary ability in the sciences, arts, education, business, or athletics, or those who have a demonstrated record of extraordinary achievement in the motion picture or television industry,” according to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS).
What defines extraordinary ability,” though, is open to interpretation.
To qualify for an O-1B visa type applicants must submit evidence of at least three of the six regulatory criteria. These include, but are not limited to, performing a leading or starring role in a distinguished production or event, national or international recognition for achievements, and a high salary compared to others in the field.
USCIS regulations do not prescribe limits over what falls under the umbrella term the arts. While traditionally this might have been singers and actors, these days content creators are dominating new forms of media as cultural influence has shifted online.
The annual number of O-1 visas approved rose by more than 50% between 2014 and 2024, far outpacing the roughly 10% growth in nonimmigrant visas overall. Still, O-1s make up only a small fraction of the system: Fewer than 20,000 were issued in 2024, versus the hundreds of thousands of H-1B work visas granted.
OnlyFans creators and influencers may have an advantage over other creatives when it comes to the application process. Their influence is easily quantifiable in terms of likes and follower counts, numbers that fit neatly into the O-1B framework.
An artist or scientist, meanwhile, whose work is predominantly offline and less easily quantified, may find making their case of extraordinary ability more complicated.
The growing number of content creators seeking visas reserved for those with extraordinary ability has sparked mixed reactions online. On X, political analyst and writer Dominic Michael Tripi described the trend as a sign of end-stage empire conditions.
Others suggested the administration was taking immigration advice from fictional character Ali G. Trump is literally doing the Ali G ‘let the fit ones in’ policy.” one X user joked.
But the backlash against influencers applying for O-1 visas shows how little attitudes have shifted when it comes to recognizing influencing and content creation as legitimate work. And, when it comes to OnlyFans creators, one immigration lawyer told Fox News, acting is acting.
Putting yourself out there is difficult. Rejection is tough. And feeling like youve gotten the rug pulled out from under you is the worst. When youre in charge of business development, where youre responsible for growing your revenue within your current client portfolio as well as seeking out new potential opportunities, you can easily vacillate from feeling like a hero to feeling like a zero, depending on what kind of results youre getting from your efforts.
As a time management coach for 17 years, Ive learned how to summon the inner resolve to continue forward with business development even when it feels difficult, and Ive coached many clients on how to do the same.
Here are three of the biggest challenges you may face with staying consistent with business development, and solutions for moving forward with tenacity no matter how vulnerable and overwhelming it may feel.
1. Youre So Busy with Current Clients That Youre Not Investing in Future Ones
One of the hardest parts of success is maintaining that success, particularly if youre not solely devoted to business development. I often have individuals come to me because theyre taking care of their current portfolio but keep pushing off the activities that will help them sustain and grow their business in the future.
In these situations, I find this two-prong strategy works best: The first prong is to clearly define quantifiable actions that will support your goals. For example: I will make 10 follow-up calls to strong leads per day, or I will have five business development meetings booked each week. These concrete objectives help you to more clearly know what to do and to honestly assess whether youre doing enough.
The second prong is to decide on a timing strategy so you dont keep putting off the business development tasks. Here are a few examples: I dont look at email until Ive made five prospecting calls, or before I eat lunch, I do all the needed follow-ups on outstanding proposals. Ive found that doing business development activities earlier in the day and before a habitual activity you really want or need to do helps them to happen much more frequently.
2. Youre Getting Too Many Noes, So You Shy Away From the Ask
Experiencing noes is a natural part of the sales process. But in most instances, theres a typical close rate that you expect. When you hit a long series of deals that dont work out beyond what you were used to experiencing, doubt can creep in: What if other deals dont close? What if I dont hit my targets? What if I dont get my bonus? What if I lose my job? What if other people lose their jobs?
Even with a long history of success, this negative spiral can happen pretty quickly, and you need to catch yourself before your doubts and fears keep you from the actions that will move you into a more positive place.
There are two powerful actions you can take in this scenario: First, think about what you can learnif anythingfrom the deals that didnt happen. Was it the wrong type of client? Could you have presented the benefits in a different way? Was there something about the financial structure that needed to change?
Second, let go of the past and create as many opportunities as possible to get in front of other potential clients in the present and future. The only way to get out of a slump is to double down on the potential for people to say yes.
3. Youre Reeling From Market Changes, So Youre Uncertain About What Will Work
Most of the time, effective business development requires a greater level of commitment to the strategies you know work. But sometimes broader circumstances have had an impact on your business, and you need to completely change direction. It could be that a platform that has been a wonderful source of leads no longer provides them. It could be that the industry youve typically served has contracted, and you need to pivot to a new one. Or it could be that AI has changed how people view the value of your business.
These shifts can make business development even more overwhelming because you no longer have a repeatable, predictable strategy for your sales process.
To keep moving forward when you face this dilemma, you need to shift your definition of success from closing deals to systematically testing strategies to learn what does or doesnt work in this new environment.
For example, you might decide that youll run a new ad campaign and see whether it generates the type of leads youre hoping to attract. Or you might work with a consultant on tactics for breaking into a new industry. Or you might work on a new presentation strategy to help people understand the unique value of your company within the context of AI and test the response you receive.
In these circumstances, it’s too vulnerable to base success on what revenue you do or dont generate as a result of trying new things. That can leave you feeling frustrated, angry, and demoralized, thinking you would have been better off not even attempting a certain experiment if it doesnt work out the way you hoped. Instead, youll want to count it as success that you tried something new, and then understand theres valuable learning in every attempt. As you persistently try new strategies, youll eventually land on what works.
Business development in the face of disappointing results requires enormous inner courage to not give up. But by following these strategies mixed with a strong dose of resolve, you can not only survive whatever difficulty you may face but also thrive.
When the NFL and Apple Music announced Bad Bunny as the 2026 Super Bowl half-time show headliner, the choice surprised some. But to anyone tracking the data over the past few years, it was inevitable. In 2022, Bad Bunnys Un Verano Sin Ti redefined the market, driving Latin musics streaming growth to new heights. It later became the first Spanish-language album nominated for Grammy Album of the Year. The takeaway is simple: When you have accurate, real-time data, you dont guess where culture is going, you know. That kind of foresight is exactly what industries need now, especially as AI accelerates change at a pace that demands evidence, not instinct.
In real time, we’re watching AI fundamentally reshape the economics of music, and much of the industry is still arguing that maybe it shouldnt exist at all. The discourse surrounding AI and music is filled with necessary debates, from copyright infringement and artist compensation to vocal cloning and authenticity. These concerns are valid and must be addressed. But while the industry argues about whether AI should change music, our data shows it already is. Some of the resulting evolution has relevant precedent for reference. Some of it requires urgent action. Reliable information, detection, and measurement is required to make sense of it all.
Here to stay
Whether we like it or not, AI music is here to stay, and rather than fighting it, we should understand its benefits as a tool for artistseither to amplify existing production processes or to introduce new ways of designing music. Recent data from Luminates consumer research shows that 44% of U.S. music listeners say they’re uncomfortable with AI-created songs. But discomfort doesn’t predict behavior. The AI artist Xania Monet (created by Music Designer Telisha Jones) averaged 8 million weekly global on-demand audio streams in October, following her debut on multiple Billboard charts, including Hot Gospel Songs with Let Go, Let Go and Hot R&B Songs with How Was I Supposed to Know? Monets songs touch on emotional healing, life lessons, and heartbreak, pointing to the argument that music at its essence is how it makes you feel and not how its made. This conflicting tension between initial consumer attitudes and actual listening habits is not new.
Consider what happened with auto-tune. In 2009, Jay-Z released “D.O.A (Death of Auto-Tune),” declaring war on the technology. That same year, The Black Eyed Peas released “Boom Boom Pow” and “I Gotta Feeling, both anchored by auto-tune production. Today, each of those Black Eyed Peas songs has hundreds of millions of streams in the U.S. Jay-Z’s protest anthem? Less than 40 million. The market spoke. Technological evolution won.
Infrastructure evolves
If AI continues to earn its place in music productionand all signs point to that inevitable realityit doesnt mean that artists or rights holders have to lose. This is where foresight becomes essential. The sampler wars of the late 1980s offer an instructive parallel. When Biz Markie was sued in 1991 for sampling Gilbert O’Sullivan, the industry faced an existential crisis. The outcome wasn’t suppression of the technology, it was the creation of an entire licensing and clearance infrastructure. Detection and attribution became the foundation of a functioning market.
That infrastructure has continued to evolve in the era of streaming and transmedia discovery. Millions are being spent on legacy music catalogs, and those high valuations are proving to be valid. At the midpoint of this year, Becoming Led Zeppelin was the most-viewed new music documentary in the U.S., and its high viewership drove a sustained 23% increase in streams for the bands catalog. Notably, the documentarys release drove Led Zeppelin to its highest-ever weekly total for global on-demand audio streams: 40.4 million in late February. But what happens if AI-generated music infringes on Led Zeppelins copyright during the creation process? I think we can all agree that no one should get away with stealing others creative IP for financial gain. The industry needs to move fast and policy needs to be implemented so that artists and rights holders continue to be paid fairly and rightfully as AIs presence in music expands.
At Luminate, our mission is to provide the entertainment industry with essential, objective, and trustworthy data. When it comes to AI, that mission has only become more critical. Our data shows not just what happened, but what’s happening now, and increasingly, what’s about to happen. That visibility is what enables stakeholders across the industry, everyone from labels and publishers to platforms and policymakers, to make informed decisions rather than reactive ones. AI-generated artists designed for scale and low-cost delivery will proliferate. Online and live performance environments will be filled with algorithmically-optimized content. The technology will become more sophisticated, more accessible, and harder to detect without proper infrastructure.
We all need to work with the same objective information to navigate these advancements.
Almost everywhere you go, from the doctors office to the library to the car dealership, theres one ubiquitous design gem hidden in plain sight: the Bic Cristal.
This unsung hero of the writing desk has produced uncountable signatures and annotationsbut now its getting its moment in the spotlight through a collaboration with the Italian home goods brand Seletti.
The Bic Cristal is the worlds best-selling pen, boasting more than 120 billion sales since its release in 1950. For the tail end of the pens 75th anniversary, Bic teamed up with Seletti to produce a work of art inspired by the pen: a giant, 12:1 scale lamp.
The products massive scale translates particularly well for a lamp, with a clear case revealing a glowing, neon-like LED light inside. It can be positioned vertically or horizontally, and used as a floor lamp, pendant, or wall sconce. The lamp will be available in the pens classic blue, red, and black colorways when it debuts in the U.S. later this year for around $350.
[Photo: Bic]
Why the Bic Cristal makes a perfect lamp
The Bic Cristal is an adaptation of the first-ever ballpoint pen, invented in 1938 by a Hungarian journalist named László Biró (hence the pens common nickname, the Bic Biro). According to a breakdown written for the MoMA exhibition Pirouette: Turning Points in Design, which featured the Bic Crystal, Birós original pen was designed to allow ink to flow more consistently than older fountain pens, but it still had some issues with clogging and leaking.
After acquiring Birós patent, Bic founder Marcel Bich adjusted the design to include a smaller, 1-millimeter-wide ballpoint tip with a simple quirk: an air hole, which prevented a vacuum from forming inside the pen. This tiny tweak allows the pen’s ink to flow freely to the nub, and is what makes it such a reliable choice to this day.
Aesthetically, Bichs choice of a clear plastic for the pens body reveals how it works and renders it instantly recognizable. Paola Antonelli, MoMAs senior curator of architecture and design, said in the museums breakdown, It almost looks like it is within a crystal tube. It was such a beautiful use of plastic that almost made us think plastic could be precious.
[Photo: Bic]
Art director Stefano Seletti was similarly drawn to the Bic Cristals sleek, crystalline aesthetic as a potential lighting object for Seletti. Since the brand began dabbling in lighting several years ago, its embraced an out-of-the-box approach to its catalog, playing with everything from animal figures holding light bulbs to an anatomically correct rendition of a human heart.
The structure of the pen was absolutely perfect for this project: The transparent tubular body allows light to pass through, the ink cartridge could easily be transformed into the LED that provides the light, and the electrical components could be easily hidden by the colored plastic parts, Seletti says. His team partnered with Italian designer Mario Paroli, as well as with Bic, to bring the Bic Lamp to life. They used Bics archives and technical drawings to faithfully reproduce the pen at a 12-to-1 scale.
The final product is an ode to Bics simple-yet-functional design ethosand its the perfect kitsch addition to any space where writing gets done.
You sit down at your desk, ready to start the day. Before you can even open your first email, youve already typed in three different passwordseach more complex than the last. By lunchtime, youve repeated the ritual half a dozen times. Its frustrating, its slow, and its happening to millions of employees every single day.
This is password fatiguethe silent productivity killer and hidden security risk plaguing modern enterprises. Its more than an annoyance; its a costly vulnerability. Our global survey found that most users still rely on passwords as their primary authentication method. This should concern most organizations, because in an era defined by work-from-everywhere policies, apps, and mobile devices, businesses are still relying on a defense that hasnt meaningfully evolved since the 1960s.
Complexity Without Security
When it comes to password complexity, organizations are damned if they do and damned if they dont. They either abandon complexity altogetherlook at the Louvre, which used “Louvre” as the password to secure its surveillance systemor require increasingly complex strings of mixed cases, numbers, symbols, frequent changes, and multi-factor authentication (MFA).
While intended to strengthen security, complex password requirements can just as easily have the opposite effect. How many times has someone been locked out of their system for days because they forgot their recovery answer, or lost the phone that sends the authentication link needed to grant access? And in how many instances has that person decided to forsake those approved tools and upload sensitive data into a personal Google Driveeasier for them and their colleagues to access, but also easier for cybercriminals to exploit?
The tragedy is that added complexity doesnt guarantee safety. Cybercriminals have long since adapted to password advances with credential stuffing and brute-force attacks. But the most effective technique theyre using targets the weakest link in the password chain; not the password itself but the person who created it.
Why spend hours trying to pick a lock when the owner will unknowingly hand you the combination? There have been instances of cybercriminals creating look-alike login pages to collect passwords. The massive data breaches that hit MGM Resorts and Clorox were the result of cybercriminals masquerading as legitimate users, asking the IT help desk to reset their password and MFA. These threat actors didnt break inthey logged in.
The rise of AI has made the password problem even more urgent. Cybercriminals now use AI to guess passwords, craft flawless phishing emails, and even generate deepfake voices to trick help desk staff. Traditional passwords simply cant withstand this new generation of attacks.
According to the 2026 RSA ID IQ Report, 69% of organizations reported an identity-related breach in the last three years, a 27-percentage-point increase from last years survey. These arent abstract statisticsthey represent real financial losses, operational disruption, and reputational harm. And in many cases, they could have been prevented.
But how? Employees are burdened with increasingly unmanageable login rituals, yet organizations remain exposed to the very breaches these measures were meant to prevent. So, whats the answer?
The Passwordless Solution
The most viable way out of this cycle is passwordless authentication. When theres no password to steal, organizations significantly reduce their risks and streamline the login process by eliminating the need to remember, update, or constantly reenter a password string.
Passwords typically rely on “something you know” for users to gain access. Passwordless authentication replaces typing in a password with two or more other factors, including “something you have” like a mobile phone or hardware token, or “something you are,” like a face or fingerprint scan.
Typically, using those factors manifests in one of three ways, each with its own trade-offs:
Authenticator Apps & Push Notifications:
What it is: Instead of typing a password, the user enters their username and receives a secure notification on a trusted mobile app asking them to verify the login, often by matching a number.
Pros: Highly popular in business environments; relies on the smartphone the user already carries.
Cons: Requires the user to have a smartphone with data access; slightly slower than direct biometrics; susceptible to phishing and other attacks.
Magic Links:
What it is: Similar to the “forgot password” link Instagram or Slack might send you, the system emails a unique link or texts a code to log you in.
Pros: No hardware or setup is required; it works on any device with access to email.
Cons: While “password-free,” this is not truly “passwordless” in the security sense. It relies on the security of the email inbox (which is often protected only by a weak password) and is still susceptible to phishing and interception.
Platform Biometrics (Face ID, Touch ID, Windows Hello):
What it is: The user verifies their identity using a fingerprint scan or facial recognition built directly into their laptop or smartphone.
Pros: This offers the highest convenience and speed; users are already trained to unlock their phones this way.
Cons: It ties the credential to a specific device. If that device is lost or broken, account recovery mechanisms must be robust.
What to Look for in an Enterprise-Grade Passwordless Solution
If youre evaluating passwordless options for your company, ask yourself these two questions:
1. Is it comprehensive? If your solution only works for one environment or user group, then youll need to bolt on additional solutions to cover everyone and everything. For example, a solution might offer seamless biometric login for modern cloud apps like Office 365, but fail completely with legacy on-premises mainframes or VPNs, forcing users to fall back to passwords for critical internal systems. Your solution must work across every platform, deployment model, and environmentcloud, on-premises, edge, legacy, Microsoft, and macOS.
2. Is it truly secure? Phishing-resistance is a key trend in passwordless solutions, and its a critcal feature for eliminating one of the most frequent and highest-impact attack vectors. But phishing-resistance isnt enoughorganizations also need to be bypass resistant, malware resistant, fraud resistant, and outage resistant. If a cybercriminal can evade passwordless MFA by convincing your IT Help Desk to let them in, then the passwordless method itself isnt worth all that much.
Making the Transition
Shifting to a different paradigm doesnt happen overnight, but the payoff is immediate. Start with your most critical applications or highest-risk users and choose device-bound passkeys over synced alternatives that allow keys to roam between devices for stronger security.
Build rigorous enrollment processes with identity verification and liveness detection, which validates that the biometric source is a live person. In addition, protect your help desk with bilateral verification: this process confirms the caller’s identity via a device prompt and proves the agents legitimacy by displaying their verified status on the callers screen.
Plan for secure recovery when devices are lost by establishing high-assurance fallbacks, like pre-registered backup keys or biometric re-verification, instead of passwords. Look for solutions that automatically provide device-bound passkeys when users register the app. Lastly, measure the percentage of passwordless authentications over time against any suspected account compromises to ensure your actions are having a positive impact.
By eliminating the daily drain of password fatigue while closing one of the biggest doors to cybercriminals, enterprises can finally reclaim both productivity and peace of mind.
The 2026 national park pass features a portrait of Donald Trumps face, and the Department of the Interior (DOI) has threatened to penalize anyone who tries to cover it up. Now, park lovers are inventing their own clever work-arounds to remove the presidents visage from their passes.
For over two decades, the annual America the Beautiful park pass design has featured photography of nature, animals, and scenery across the United States. But when the DOI revealed the 2026 pass in November, something was glaringly different. Rather than a cascading waterfall or towering redwoods, the pass included a portrait of George Washington, framed side by side with Trumps mug-shot-inspired headshot.
The response to the pass design was swift. Many cardholders took to the internet to show themselves covering Trumps face with stickers as a form of protest. But mere weeks later, per an internal email obtained by SFGate, the DOI updated its Void if Altered policy in a transparent effort to discourage pass holders from covering Trumps face.
Whereas the policy previously stated that passes could be voided only if the signature section of the card was altered, it now overtly flags stickers and other coverings as alterations that could invalidate the pass. According to a policy document shared with The Washington Post, staff who come across altered passes are instructed to ask that stickers or coverings be removed. If that’s not possible, they’re permitted to either charge the guest with the regular entrance fee or give them the option to buy a brand-new pass.
While the Trump administration is acting quickly to redesign the National Park Service in Trumps literal image, national parkgoers are quicker. In the days since the pass policy was altered in early January, multiple designers have stepped up with clever work-arounds that conceal the presidents glowering face without running afoul of the restrictions. The simplest solution is a card sleeve that covers Trump’s face most of the time, but can be easily removed when the card is shown at park entrances.
[Photo: Dirt Roads Project]
How small designers are fighting back against the DOI
Katie Weber and her husband, Chris, started their Michigan-based apparel brand Dirt Roads Project in March 2025. The company, Weber says, was her way to make a difference after feeling overwhelmed by everything happening in our country.” So part of each purchase gives back to the preservation of parks and nature, including through collaborations with nonprofits like the Michigan Animal Rescue League, Alliance for the Great Lakes, and Reef Relief.
When Weber saw the park pass design for 2026, she immediately decided to create something that would cover Trumps face.
I was incredibly frustrated and wanted to be able to bring the parks front and center instead of showing someone who is honestly trying to dismantle our parks, Weber says. That night, I started going through all of our photography from past hiking trips, chose a handful that I loved, and created the design.
Her final selections, which run for just $6 each, feature photos taken at eight prominent national parks, including Zion in Utah, Haleakal in Maui, and Yosemite in California. After they launched for preorder around Thanksgiving, Weber says, interest in the stickers has been growing rapidly.
Weber specifically engineered the stickers to avoid covering any pertinent information on the cards, including the signature section, holographic strip, and barcode. But in the wake of the DOIs new sticker ban, she adapted the design to guarantee that users wont be penalized. Instead of adding the sticker directly to their passes, customers can now purchase a $2 plastic card sleeve from Dirt Roads Project to keep their cards completely unaltered while still obscuring the presidents face.
After the DOIs new regulations emerged, Weber says Dirt Roads Project has seen “skyrocketing” demand, bringing in over $6,000 from the stickers alone in the first weeks of January. To me, that shows that this small form of protest is being seen, and that people’s frustration is being heard, she says.
Other small businesses are similarly using their art to fight back. Mitchell Bowen is a graphic designer who runs a poster company called Recollection Project, pulling inspiration from 1930s illustrations to create posters of national parks and other travel destinations. He designed
