Unsuspecting Netflix (Nasdaq: NFLX) investors might be startled this morning if they glance at a stock price chart for shares in the TV streamer.
As of the time of this writing, popular stock tracking sites like Yahoo Finance and apps like Apple Stocks are showing that Netflixs shares dropped more than 90% on Friday, when they began the day trading at more than $1,100. Those same charts now show that NFLX shares are trading at just around $111 each.
But dont panic. Netflixs shares havent actually lost 90% of their value. NFLX stock just split. Heres what you need to know.
Why are Netflix shares trading so ‘low’?
Netflix shares are currently trading at around $111 in premarket. Thats roughly 90% less than where the stock was trading when the bell closed on Friday. So whats happened?
Netflix shares did indeed trade at over $1,100 on Friday (the companys shares have traded in the four-digits for months). But when markets closed on Friday, Netflix initiated its previously planned 10-for-1 stock split.
As Fast Company previously reported, Netflix announced in October that it would split its stock 10-for-1 after the close of the market on Friday, November 14. NFLX shares would begin trading at their new split-adjusted price when markets opened on Monday, November 17, which is today.
So that dramatic stock price fall that you are seeing on some financial charts this morning isnt actually a fall in the value of Netflixs stock. Its just a temporary display of the difference between the pre- and post-split adjustment in Netflixs share price.
And even though Netlfixs shares are trading at 90% less than they were on Friday, qualifying investors who owned the shares that day will find they now have nine additional NFLX shares for each one they previously had, meaning the total value of their Netflix shares are the same (provided they did not sell any between then and now, and adjusting for any early-morning trading increase or decrease today, of course).
Why did Netflix split its stock?
Companies split their shares for a variety of reasons. In Netflixs case, when the streaming TV giant announced its share price split on October 30, it said it was doing so to reset the market price of the Company’s common stock to a range that will be more accessible to employees who participate in the Company’s stock option program.
Many large companies offer employee stock purchase plans that let their employees buy shares at a slight discount on a monthly or quarterly basis. When employees buy stock in the company they work for, it generally incentivizes them to ensure the company performs as well as possible, so their personal shares increase in value.
The problem for Netflix was that its shares were trading at over $1,000 apiece and, even with its employee purchase plan discounts, that put even a single share of the company out of reach for many employees.
But with the stock now trading at around $111 per share, a single share is much more affordable to the average employee.
Could Netflixs stock split benefit its share price?
Its important to note that stock splits dont change the fundamental value of a company. A company with 10 shares valued at $1,000 each is worth the same when it is composed of 100 outstanding shares valued at $100 each. The total value of all the companys shares remains the same pre- and post-split.
However, the lower value of a post-split share can make the stock more attractive to retail investors, who normally might balk at (or be unable to afford) a single share valued at $1,000.
Those same investors may decide, or now be able to afford for the first time, to pick up shares in the same company if a single share now costs only a few hundred dollars.
And if more retail investors start buying shares post-split because the individual share price is now more affordable, that could boost the companys stock price. In this way, share splits can potentially benefit a company’s stock pricenot because of the split itself, but because investors react to the stock’s now lower price.
Whether that potential benefit actually materializes in Netflixs stock remains to be seen.
Transitioning to a new industry often seems like a daunting prospect if you feel like you have to start from scratch, but that’s not necessarily the case. There are numerous strategies you can employ to navigate career changes, including translating existing achievements into relevant terms, finding unique opportunity gaps, and leveraging transferable skills in meaningful ways. Take it from professionals who have personally experienced this transition (or have helped others through it): you can build forward from experience rather than starting over.
Build Forward From Experience, Not From Scratch
When I was transitioning from more than 20 years in corporate roles to launching my own business, I told a colleague I felt like I was starting over.
“Why couldn’t I have done this at 20,” I said, “before spending decades building all this other experience? It feels like I’ve hit reset on my career momentum, and the mountain ahead looks huge.”
She smiled. “You’re facing your version of Everest,” she said. “But you’re starting at base camp, thousands of feet above where others begin.”
She was right. I wasn’t starting from scratch. I was starting from experience. Every skill I’d developed working for others was still mine to use. I’ve remembered that reframe ever since and share it with clients who are shifting into something new.
When you move into a different industry, start by looking at what still applies. Connect the dots between where you’ve been and where you’re going. Ask yourself:
What problems or structures feel familiar?
How do the revenue models, customer relationships, or supply chain challenges overlap?
Which of your strengths will transfer naturally into this new space?
Do your homework. Use AI to gather insights about your new industry. Talk to people who’ve made a similar jump. You’ll discover that what you know remains relevantyou just need to translate it.
When I moved from an HR leadership role in healthcare software to one in petroleum distribution, I quickly realized the challenges were similar. Different products, same human dynamics.
A client made a successful transition from investment banker to graduate career adviser for international finance students by leaning into his most transferable (and enjoyable) expertisedecades living in Asia, fluency in Mandarin, passion for mentoring, knowledge of the banking world. He’s at a premier university and loves his work.
Another client leapt from corporate program manager to nonprofit executive by trusting her strengthsstrategic alignment, stakeholder management, resource prioritization, and risk and issue management. Skills she learned at a huge organization applied differentlywith phenomenal results.
Bottom line: you’re not starting over. You’re building forward. Ground yourself in where you’ve been, learn what’s ahead, and construct bridges between the two.
That’s how you climb your next mountain, starting from base camp and not from scratch.
Tina Robinson, Founder and CEO, WorkJoy
Gain Industry Access Through Consulting Projects First
To not start completely from scratch in a new industry, I’d advise doing a little side-gig or consulting project within the new industry before pursuing full-time roles. For example, if you are a finance executive who wants to break into climate tech but keeps getting rejected because of the lack of relevant industry experience, you could try to get a freelance role first. For instance, offer to do a 90-day cash flow optimization project for a climate startup. Such an experience will help you see how the new industry operates from inside out, learn all insider terminology, see the unique problems that you can help solve, and make some useful connections who can then advocate for your work. This can change everything about your job search: you are no longer an outsider trying to get in; you’re already on the inside solving real problems. Many companies will take a risk on a consultant they wouldn’t take on as a permanent hire, and once you’re in, the industry experience barrier disappears.
Jan Hendrik Von Ahlen, Managing Director & Cofounder, Career Coach, JobLeads
Join Digital Communities to Connect Skills Meaningfully
Join a digital community, talk with professionals in that industry, and connect the dots from your skills to their needs. I have 15-plus years of marketing and communications management experience, and somewhere along the way, I realized that my team leadership skills and passions in developing communicators and leaders overlaps with the field of L&D (learning and development).
I joined an L&D Slack community, which opened myriad doors for me. Through the community, I signed up for their mentorship program and started working with a fantastic mentor to understand how my skills could transfer; I joined a book club, where I could share insights with L&D professionals; I signed up for coffee chats, where I listened to their pain points and discussed possible solutions; and I joined the digital conversations, adding my thoughts or asking questions and collaborating with colleagues in the space.
In that way, I listened to stories, learned the ins and outs of the function, and gained valuable insight that helped me connect the dots from my skills and passions to this new function and all it encompassed. In this way, instead of starting from scratch, you can leverage your skills in ways that are meaningful based on empirical evidence. You can also leverage your new network to identify solutions you didn’t know you could provide and to explore opportunities you didn’t know existed.
I can’t say enough good things about all the value digital communities have added to my professional career. As I’ve meandered through functions and industries for nearly two decades, communities have made all the difference.
Laura Goldstone, Senior Director of Communications and Branding Strategy, AdDaptive Intelligence Inc.
Make Skills Company and Industry Agnostic
The dawn of AI has many professionals worried about their current careers and considering, if not pursuing, a career shift.
First, realize that the days of an entire career with a single company, or even a single industry, are gone for most people, regardless of your education level, geography, or industry.
Second, realize that much of your knowledge and many of your skills are company and industry agnostic.
Start by making a comprehensive list of your knowledge, skill, and experience. Are you a good writer? Are you a Microsoft Excel expert? Do you have any certifications like “Project Management Professional” or “Six Sigma Black Belt?” Have you managed people? Take your time and be thorough. Note everything on the list that is useful outside of your current or last company and industry.
Next, rewrite your résumé to be company and industry agnostic, using your list as a guide. Again, take your time and focus on your audience, who does not know your company or industry specifics, acronyms, etc. Be sure anyone could read the résumé and understand your competencies and their value in any company.
Lastly, practice interviewing and answering common interview questions. Here, AI can be very helpful in identifying industries and companies in “hiring mode” and generating likely interview questions. Use a family member or friend for “role play” interviews to practice your responses. Even though you may have used AI to generate the likely interview questions, do NOT use AI to generate the best responses. The responses must be yours and must be genuine. Just be you. Interviewers can smell AI-generated and/or “boiler plate” responses within a few words.
While this strategy may seem “old school” to some, I can attest that it still works as well as ever. I have a client who transitioned from financial services to healthcare analytics. Their core principles of data interpretation, regulatory compliance, and stakeholder communication used in finance translated well to the healthcare industry. They used this strategy, while also enrolling in a short online course to gain familiarity with healthcare-specific terminology and regulations. Because they could demonstrate how their existing skill set aligned with the new role’s requirements, they were able to secure a mid-level position instead of starting in a junior role.
Don’t underestimate the value of your hard-earned knowledge, skills, and experience.
Joe Palmer, Managing Partner, Prosperity Partners Consulting, Inc.
Map Your Strengths to Find Transferable Joy
Write down your primary work responsibilities and rate them on a scale of 15, with 5 being the tasks you do with ease, excellence, and joy. Consider what the high scores tell you about your performance, thought process, relationship building skills, motivations, and work style. This gives you a road map of the type of work you would enjoy in the new industry and examples of the responsibilities and skills you hold that transfer over. When I coached someone using this strategy, she quickly realized why she was burned out as an attorney. She quit not too long after and found success transferring her legal knowledge to the nonprofit space.
Jaclynn Robinson, Founder | Organizational Consultant and Executive Coach, Nine Muses Consulting, LLC
Find Opportunity Gaps Others Miss
One of the main operating strategies I brought with me when I transitioned from executive production into successfully founding my own company in the world of brand strategy is, “Hit it where they ain’t,” a quote popularized by baseball hall of famer Willie Keeler. If you adopt this strategy, everything else you do will ladder up to it. This is a transferable skill. It’s true of baseball, advertising, and business in general. I’ve fine-tuned this skill, like a strategic curiosity looking for the useful gaps, throughout my career shifts and growth, and it’s served me well.
For example: we live in a highly digital world. Where most entrepreneurs I know are focused on winning in the digital space, we’re focused on finding real-world, offline opportunities to connect. We’ve joined a number of business development councils and networking groups that have taken our business to the next level. Segmenting 10% of my week to making meaningful connections within my space through both potential clients and competitors has been transformative for us as a business, and me as a leader.
The world around you is built by people who, in any realm, decided their 24 hours would be put towards building the world around them in their own vision, not someone else’s. “Hitting it where they ain’t” is about having the courage to dream big, taking a big swing, and making sure to follow through.
Andrew Stadelberger, Founder, Player/Coach
Leverage Executive Advising for Leadership Positions
One of the most overlooked transferable skills is executive advising. Consultants learn early how to communicate with and earn the trust of senior leaders. Their ability to distill complexity, identify what truly matters to the business, and operate with executive presence uniquely positions them for leadership roles. Several of my clients have leveraged this skill to step into senior positionsa senior manager became a department head leading 25 people, and another advanced straight from manager to director of partnershipswithout having to start over.
Cydnee DeToy, Career Coach, Cydnee DeToy Coaching
Translate Achievements into Target Role Language
Start by picking one target role and gather 10 job posts for that role so you can see the same tasks and words repeating.
Then translate your current achievements or roles into that language on a single page that lists three results you’ve delivered that match those tasks, written in plain terms with the metric that field is using.
Build two small proofs of work that fit the role, such as a sample analysis, a short teardown, or a simple workflow built from public data, and keep them tight enough that a busy manager can read them in five minutes.
While you build those pieces, talk to five people who do the job today. Connect using LinkedIn, politely ask how they spend a normal week, what gets them judged, and what a good first 90 days looks like, then adjust your proofs to mirror what they told you. This gives you a clear story, real information, and the right words, which is what hiring managers need to see when you come from somewhere else.
Jeff Mains, Founder and CEO, Champion Leadership Group
Showcase Expertise Through Content Creation Platforms
One great way to make a smooth transition into a new industry is by tapping into your transferable skills through writing on Substack. I’ve used this platform to share insights from my teaching experience in careers and personal development, which have helped me pivot into a new career as a coach.
By emphasizing the skills I already possessed and picking up new skills such as writing and marketing along the way, I have managed to connect the dots between education and entrepreneurship.
Writing not only gave me a platform to showcase my expertise but also allowed me to engage with an audience that appreciated my viewpoint, making the whole transition fel like a natural evolution instead of having to start from square one.
Katharine Gallagher, Founder, Personal and Professional Growth, katharinegallagher.com
Take Small Steps Before Making Big Leaps
When you know you want to transition into a new industry, you should focus on starting small and doing it step by step. You cannot simply drop everything, leave your company, and expect to get hired by a new company for a senior position.
The best approach in my opinion is starting by listening to podcasts, interviews, and webinars from industry experts. Transferable skills like good adaptation, project management, and attention to details will be your biggest allies because the soft skills are always important, and you need to learn just the hard skills.
I’ve been working in the HR industry, and when I knew I wanted to change my career, I started working on it eight months before. I read magazines about digital marketing, started following industry leaders, and launched my small side-hustle project, which worked like a playground for testing my new skills and knowledge.
Jan Kawecki, Cofounder, Kontra
Outsider Perspective Becomes Your Greatest Advantage
Every industry is drowning in sameness, so even though it may seem counterintuitive, you should lean into the fact that you’re an outsider. The fact that you don’t come from that world is your leverage. You have a different perspective, a different mindset, a different network even.
A lot of people complain about imposter syndrome, and that’s a very real phenomenon, even with people who have been in the industry for ages. So I don’t think the advice of “fake it till you make it” is really practical. It’s better when you look at yourself as the fresh variable in a system that’s been running on the same formula for too long. And it also allows you to be more authentic. That honesty translates and people respond to it because it doesn’t feel rehearsed.
Paul Carlson, CPA & Managing Partner, Law Firm Velocity
Strong Communication Skills Outweigh Technical Experience
Developing one’s interpersonal and communication abilities is a highly effective strategy to avoid starting from scratch when transitioning between industries. Oftentimes, companies believe it is easier to teach employees technical skills than social skills. Therefore, displaying strong interpersonal skills can be viewed as highly advantageous for employers and can compensate for having minimal or no experience within a specific industry.
As a clinical psychologist, when working with clients who are looking to pivot between job industries or are starting fresh without a prior employment history, a major focus of our work is on strengthening their interpersonal and communication skills. Examples of these skills, which can be developed through a range of practices, include speaking confidently, maintaining strong eye contact, practicing empathic and reflective listening, and displaying relatable body language.
Kimberly Glazier Leonte, PhD, Psychologist, Break The Cycle, LLC; Clearview Horizons, PLLC
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.
Performance assessment matters: Research from McKinsey & Co. maintains that companies with a focus on employee performance see 30% higher revenue growth and lower attrition rates than their peers.
In the past, though, top executives seemed to care mostly about the results of employee reviews: GE chief Jack Welch, for example, famously used performance appraisals to rank employees and fired those scoring in the bottom 10%.
Performance reviews reviewed
Dan Springer, CEO of Ironclad, makes the case that CEOs who care about culture should also dig into the quality of employee reviews. When he joined the 650+-person AI contract-management-software company, employees praised the culture but, he says, indicated that manager evaluation of their work was often lacking. When you asked if they were getting the kind of feedback that they needed to do their jobs, they didnt say no, but they were sort of bemused by the question, he recalls.
Springer conducted a training session on how to do performance reviews, going as far as role-playing a review with chief financial officer Helen Wang, who delivered an unvarnished assessment of Springers first few months on the job. (Helens tough, Springer says. I think people really enjoyed seeing the CEO get reviewed.)
The CEO then read one written midyear review from every frontline managerabout 80 in total. He says about 20% were outstanding. Another 60% were solidclear, metrics-driven, with specific examples. But roughly 20% missed the mark. Some featured long narratives that showed care for the employee but lacked actionable guidance. Others were short and vague.
Springer tapped these managers for further training on how to give effective feedback. We really did try to make it fun and not boring, he says.
A chance to fill in the gaps
With a résumé that includes CEO roles at Docusign and Responsys, Springer notes that at Ironclad and many other tech companies first-time managers sometimes get promoted without proper training. The great news is, our people are really smart, he says. Some people had not been trained on these best practices.
He says he believes Ironclads efforts to improve the quality of reviews will lead to better feedback in the long run and also send a powerful message to the organization. A number of employees feel that Ironclad has a kind and understanding culture, and while we have great company performance, they wanted to see our leaders raise the bar on addressing low [performance] and rewarding high performance, he says. So as CEO, I want to up the sense that were a performance culture by demonstrating that any chance I get. Privately held Ironclad says its annual recurring revenue is north of $150 million, and top line is growing about 40% a year. Springer says he aspires to take the company to another level.
Why better reviews matter
While Springer joined Ironclad in April, he opted not to rewrite corporate goals midyear. Now, he is focused on finalizing goals for the companys next fiscal year, which starts in February 2026. Springer says corporate goals will be centered on customer success, business and financial performance, innovation (particularly around AI), and employee success. Once theyre established, managers and employees will create objectives and key results that align with the companys priorities. Its a challenge to give good feedback if you dont have clear goals to talk about, he says.
I asked Springer why hes been so engaged in performance management and why other CEOs might want to invest time in making sure their employees are dispensing constructive feedback. There are only two reasons why, I think, a CEO should really care, he says. One is that they want to have a high-performance company, and two, they want to develop their talent. Those are pretty important reasons.
How are you raising the bar?
How does your organization approach performance management? Are there ways your CEO is directly involved in the process? Share your insights with me at stephaniemehta@mansueto.com, and well include some of the best reader feedback in a future newsletter.
Read and watch more: feedback loop How top CEOs get better at giving feedback Can AI make performance reviews less terrible? Executives, heres the one question your employees should ask during reviews
Over the summer, Bogg bags were ubiquitous at beaches and parks. This year alone, the company has sold more than $100 million of these plastic totes full of holes that come in a rainbow of colors. But now, the brand is trying to get you to bring your Bogg bag to dinner at a fancy restaurant, or the office, or a hot date.
Today, Bogg releases its newest line, which it is describing with a delightfully tongue-in-cheek name: Bougie Quilted Collection. The structure of the bag hasn’t changed much; it is still made of plastic and has plenty of holes on it. But it also has a quilted texture, reminiscent of the surface of a Chanel flap purse or a nylon Prada bag. And it comes with an array of accessories, like a chain, pom-poms, and pearls, designed to elevate the bag.
The question is: Will Bogg fans buy this as an everyday bag for the winter, before they’re ready to head back to the beach again?
[Photo: Bogg]
Kim Vaccarella, Bogg’s founder and CEO, believes they will. Over the past few years, she’s identified a very devoted customer base who tends to buy the bag in many colors, collecting them in the same way people collected Stanley tumblers. But given that the bag was designed for the beach, Bogg sees a big dip in sales after the summer.
The Bougie bag is designed to test customers’ appetites for an everyday bag that they can carry throughout the winter. The bag comes in the same three sizes as the original, from the enormous tote to the ‘bitty’ which is more like a small purse. “We know we’re not a fashion bag,” says Vaccarella. “But we wanted to create a bag that is more fashionable, so you can use it in more places, especially when you don’t want to be carrying your Gucci or Chanel purse.”
Bogg has grown exponentially over the last few years. Vacarella first came up with the design of the original bag back in 2011. She was looking for a solid beach bag that would carry everything she needed for the day while also being easy to clean out. The company was a tiny operation for years; it only had two employees as recently as 2018.
But something happened in the pandemic. For a brief period, canvas and cloth bags were considered problematic because they carried germs, so nurses and teachers turned to Bogg to carry their stuff to work, and would hose them down afterwards. This was also a time when people were flocking to parks and beaches to get out of the house while remaining socially distanced. The Bogg bag suddenly became a useful accessory.
[Photo: Bogg]
In the years that followed, Bogg bagswith their distinct Crocs-like aestheticbegan showing up everywhere, and word of mouth spread. They are particularly popular in families with school-age children. Customers quickly found that there were many use cases for the bag outside the beach, from sports practice and school events to tailgating. “They keep finding new uses for them,” says Vacarella. “Kids are using them to bring their stuff to school. Over Halloween and Easter, kids are using them to collect candy.”
[Photo: Bogg]
Every year, Bogg has doubled in size. And this year, Bogg will generate $100 million in revenue, which is as much as it has made in total since 2011. Now, Vacarella is keen to continue building momentum.
It’s a conundrum that other brands have faced. Consider Crocs and Birkenstockboth of which are highly functional, unique looking shoes that suddenly became ubiquitous in the mid-2000s. These brands have tried to continue growing by producing a constant stream of new products, including regular collaborations with other brands. Since they are both summer shoes, they’ve both come up with shearling-lined closed-toed shoes that can be worn during the colder months. This strategy has worked: Crocs generated more than $4 billion in revenue last year, while Birkenstock made more than $2 billion.
Will the Bougie bag help Bogg achieve its next level of growth? Over the last few years, Vacarella has made the bags in a wide range of colors and patterns, and she’s noticed customers coordinating the bags with their outfits. Now, she’s giving them even more options. When she designed the Bougie bag, she decided it was important to keep the holes, since they have become Bogg’s defining feature. “In the past, when I created prototypes of bags without holes, customers said they just didn’t look like Bogg,” she says. Still, the quilted texture gives the bags a slightly different, trendier aesthetic.
Will Bogg’s customers take a cue from the bag’s name and bring it to bougie places? We’ll have to wait and see.
[Photo: Bogg]
Ask yourself one question: Is your incentive plan changing employee behavior in a way that drives better business outcomes? If the answer is no, its time to rethink your strategy.
Profit sharing, stock options, and employee ownership are popular tools, and in many cases theyre useful. Employees generally appreciate them. But heres the catch: Appreciation doesnt equal action. And more importantly, satisfaction isnt engagement. Too often, these programs fail to move the needle where it matters most: day-to-day performance. If your performance compensation doesnt change performance, its not performance compensation.
Over the past three decades, working with hundreds of companies, weve uncovered a proven path to building incentive plans that dont just look good on paperthey energize employees and fuel real, measurable growth. Heres what you need to do.
1. Define the right team
Business is a team sport. And, like any sport, performance hinges on clearly defined teams. For small companies, this often means everyone is part of one incentive group. For larger companiesthink several hundred employees or morethe game changes.
Here, success lies in breaking the business into smaller, functional unitsbranches, departments, value streams, or what appliance company Haier refers to as microenterprises. Once defined, each team can be treated like its own business, with an incentive structure tailored to its unique goals and challenges.
2. Do the homeworkwith everyone
The best incentive plans begin with a 360-degree understanding of your business. That means gathering:
Customer insights. What do your customers truly value? Asking them this question directly, in a real conversation, deepens relationships and boosts repeat and referral business.
Employee input. What opportunities or roadblocks do they see on the front line? This step transforms employees from task-doers to trusted partners.
Manager perspectives. Do their views align with employees? If not, thats a conversation worth having, and having often.
Financial trends. Review the last five years to spot patterns in profit, debt, and cash flow. Your numbers will tell a story. Listen closely.
3. Identify the right metric to rally around
Once the homeworks done, form a working group of leaders to interpret the data. Whats the one performance metric that best defines success for your business right now?
If youre in survival mode (drowning in debt or bleeding cash), then liquidity becomes the metric. But most often, the focus is operational: cost per ton in a mine, job margin dollars in landscaping, or throughput in a bottlenecked department. Whatever it is, it must be specific, measurable, and universally understood by the team. It should be something they already have their hands on every day.
4. Build a scoreboard everyone can read
How can you win if you dont know the score? Once your team has a metric, you need a visual scoreboard that updates frequently and clearly communicates progress. When people can see the real-time impact of their efforts, engagement soars. Tap into your existing systems whenever possible.
Your scoreboard should do three things:
Show current performance versus baseline and budget
Make it obvious whether the team is winning or not
Include a forecast element to encourage forward-thinking
Heres an example:
Its clear when this team is winningthat is, beating prior performance and budget. There should be ongoing discussions as to why and how. Youll also note the forecast line: This motivates everyone to see what can be done to improve future performance.
5. Craft a self-funding incentive plan
With your metric and scoreboard in place, its time to build the plan. Start by calculating the value of improved performance. If a department boosts output or gross margin, what is that worth in dollars? This becomes your bonus pool.
We recommend a simple, equitable formula:
33% to employees (the incentive)
33% reinvested in the company
33% set aside for taxes
This is what we mean by self-funding. Everyone winsemployees, leadership, and the business itself.
Next, decide how to distribute the bonus. A commonly effective approach is to base it on a percentage of each employees base pay. Its transparent, scalable, and easy to explain. Express payouts in terms employees understand, like hours of pay, to boost resonance and clarity.
Dont forget edge cases. How will bonuses work for those on extended leave? Address these details upfront to prevent confusion later.
6. Roll it out and rally the group
Once the plan is ready, bring your people together. Thank them for their contributions and explain how the performance metric was chosen based on current challenges and opportunities.
Walk through the scoreboard and incentive structure. And then, perhaps most importantly, challenge every employeeincluding managersto submit one idea they believe could improve performance (and their bonus) in the next two weeks.
Remove names, share the ideas, and spotlight the most promising ones. This creates a culture of continuous improvement.
7. Work the plan, week in and week out
Incentive plans are not set it and forget it tools. Theyre living systems. Leaders must stay close to the actiontracking performance, celebrating wins, learning from missteps, and keeping everyones eyes on the scoreboard.
When done right, these plans do more than move numbers. They reshape culture. They turn passive employees into active business partners. They provide a sense of purpose and psychological ownership, making work feel like a shared missionnot just a job.
If youre ready to build a culture of what we call Economic Engagement, start with the steps above. And when the results start showing upin your numbers, your morale, and your momentumdont forget to share your success story. Make sure to celebrate with your employees, a.k.a. your trusted partners. After all, theyve earned it. Julia Banks
Julia Banks, a former Harvard Business School research associate, is the director of research at management consulting firm Economic Engagement.
The opinions expressed here by Inc.com columnists are their own, not those of Inc.com.
This article originally appeared on Fast Companys sister publication, Inc.
Inc. is the voice of the American entrepreneur. We inspire, inform, and document the most fascinating people in business: the risk-takers, the innovators, and the ultra-driven go-getters that represent the most dynamic force in the American economy.
Black, unassuming, about the size of a pack of chewing gum: On the surface, the Fire TV 4K Select stick released in mid-October looks just like any other streaming device made by Amazon. Plug it into your TV, and youll be greeted by Amazons tried-and-true living room interface, complete with icons for popular streaming apps like Netflix, Disney+ and Prime Video.
And yet, the Select streaming stick is unlike any of its predecessors.
Thats because the device is running Vega a new, Linux-based operating system Amazon has quietly been building over the past couple of years as a replacement for its legacy, Android-based Fire OS. The company plans to eventually launch Vega across a wide range of devices, including smart displays, streaming devices, even car dashboards.
The adoption of Vega represents one of Amazons most ambitious hardware-related initiatives ever since the launch of the first Fire TV device over a decade ago. It also prompted backlash from consumers and lukewarm reception from developers. But for the company, launching Vega may be worth the pain.
Amazon has always wanted to create its own software ecosystem, says Techsponential analyst Avi Greengart. Betting on Vega allows Amazon not just to optimize the code running on its devices, but also to break free from Google and take control of its own destiny.
Android was developed to run on phones
When Amazon launched its first Fire TV streaming box in early 2014, it did so by using a version of Googles Android OS that the company customized to its own needs. For that, Amazon decided not to license Googles Play Store and other services available on officially Google-sanctioned hardware. Instead, it simply used open source Android code freely available to anyone, and built its own Fire TV app store and services on top of that foundation.
Android [has] been and remains super, super important to our product lines – it is wonderful how Google has built and supported that platform, wrote the outgoing Amazon devices executive Robert Williams in a recent LinkedIn post, adding: However, we also felt that we could build something more purpose-built for consumer electronics devices that was faster and used more modern components and design.
[Photo: Amazon]
There are sound technical reasons for this approach: Android is, at its core, an operating system for mobile phones, and many of its components are either not required or not optimized for other kinds of devices. Thats why Google itself switched from Android to a new, custom OS called Fuchsia for its smart displays in 2021.
Similarly, Amazon first launched Vega on a smart display, the Echo Show 5, in 2023, albeit without publicly announcing the switch. We started where we could have the biggest impact right away, explains Tapas Roy, Amazons vice president of device software & services. Vegas integration with our custom-designed silicon accelerates AI query response times, such as for Alexa+, making our Echo lineup ideal for joint development.
An insurance policy against Google
Other reasons for an alternative to Android are less technical. While Google has maintained the core Android code as an open source project, it has also long tightly controlled what device makers can and cannot do if they want access to the companys Play Store, and other commercial Android components. Google in particular frowned upon efforts to build alternative, customized distributions of Android, something thats known among open source insiders as forking.
Fire OS is the most popular forked version of Android in Western markets, leading to significant friction between the two companies. The conflict came to a head when Amazon began approaching third-party consumer electronics companies about making TVs powered by Fire OS a few years after launching its own streaming adapters.
At the time, Google told TV makers that they couldnt use Fire OS if they also were using Googles Android on other devices, including phones. Google justified this by arguing it was trying to prevent fragmentation, but the move also effectively kneecapped Amazons smart TV efforts. The conflict resulted in an antitrust investigation in India that got resolved with a settlement earlier this year. Google and Amazon separately came to an agreement on the issue, paving the way for manufacturers like TCL to build TVs powered by Fire OS.
Despite this truce, Vega OS can be seen as a kind of insurance policy against Google. If the search giant were to further restrict the use of Android in the future, Amazon wouldn’t be left empty-handed.
At least publicly, Amazon is committed to shipping devices with both operating systems for the foreseeable future. We’re not moving away from Android, says Roy. Were a multi-OS company, and Fire OS isnt going anywhere. Creating and managing our own operating system lets us innovate across the whole tech stack within our devices where we need it. Amazon has no plans to make Vega available to third-party device makers, Roy said.
Pushback from developers and consumers
Amazon has faced some pushback from consumers after launching the Vega-powered Select stick. While Android-powered Fire TV sticks are rated 4.6 stars and up on Amazons shopping website, the Select model currently has a 3.6 star rating, with a whopping 25% of reviewers awarding it just a single star.
Part of the backlash has to do with the fact that prior Android models allowed consumers to install their own apps from sources other than Amazons official store a feature frequently used for apps designed to access pirated content. Vega does not offer a similar sideloading feature.
Amazon has also struggled to gain support from app developers and publishers for the device.
Smart TV app developers already deal with a very fragmented landscape, with devices made by Roku, Samsung, Google, and LG, all requiring them to build different versions of their apps. At launch, the Select Stick was missing native apps from a number of major publishers, including CBS, PBS, andBET.
To make up for those shortcomings, Amazon adopted a novel approach: For the time being, it is simply running the existing Android apps for services like these in the cloud. In most cases, consumers will notice little to no difference to an app running on the device itself. Some functionality, however, simply isnt compatible with this approach. As a result, Select stick owners currently dont have access to a Spotify app on the device.
Despite the initial extra investment, publishers could ultimately benefit from porting their apps to Vega. The operating system is based on technology that will, at least in theory, allow developers to consolidate their codebase across multiple operating systems. Developers can reuse their … code from one project to another, within or outside of Amazon apps, to make the most of their time and efforts, Roy says.
Aside from those practical considerations, developers do have another factor to contend with: With over 200 million Fire TV devices sold to date, Amazon is a giant in the streaming hardware space. If the company keeps shipping new devices running Vega, publishers may just have to fall in line and rebuild their apps for the new operating system.
There are likely to be growing pains, says Greengart, adding: I would give Amazon extremely high odds for success with Vega OS.
Sunbridge appears to be a quintessential example of 21st century sprawl. A 27,000-acre residential mega-development taking shape outside of Orlando, Florida, its set to include more than 30,000 new homes in total when completea few neighborhoods, miles of trails, and a K8 school have already been completed. Its riding a growth boom in Central Florida; this fast-growing section of the Sun Belt has added more than 1,000 people every week in recent years.
But within the different subdivisions being constructed at Sunbridge over the next 30 years, a landscape will emerge with each new home and green space thats much more wild, native, and sustainable than the stereotypical manicured, monoculture green lawns ringed with white picket fences.
My spiel for Sunbridge is that you leave your house and in 10 minutes, youre immersed in nature, says Clint Beaty, senior vice president of Operations at Tavistock Development Company, which is developing Sunbridge. Im not talking about a single tree next to a retention pond. I mean a deer is going to walk up to you, and you may see bald eagles, all 15 minutes from the Orlando International Airport.
Sunbridge was just named the nations first Homegrown National Park Community, a designation highlighting the projects focus on native plants, nature conservation, and sustainability focused on restoring a measure of biodiversity. Containing an array of different single-family homes, constructed by different developers, mostly ranging in price between $300,000 and $600,000, the larger development will feature a slate of standard suburban homes.
According to Tavistock, a majority of the plants will be native, and interspersed with all those homes will be 13,000 acres that will be preserved as an interconnected network of natural habitats, including lakes, wetlands, and oak hammocks, a type of forest habitat native to Florida and the Southeast.
[Photo: Scott Cook Photography/Tavistock Development Company]
Conservation goes private
Typical Florida developers often put the most expensive homes on the water and charge a premium; Sunbridge will leave those waterfronts open and wild for all to enjoy. In the long term, Beaty says, this philosophy will drive value; the challenge is, in the short term, getting homebuyers to understand that.
The Homegrown National Park concepta marketing term, not an actual registered and protected public placewas cofounded by scientist and author Doug Tallamy, and aims to regenerate and restore 20 million acres of native habitat across the U.S., mostly on private land, in an effort to stem the biodiversity crisis. The pollution and the loss of habitat have put roughly 40% of animals, plants, and ecosystems in the U.S. at risk. The nation currently has 44 million acres of traditional green turflawn, which Tallamy calls dead space in terms of its ability to support diverse species and local ecosystems. Why should we develop property in a way that expels nature?
And while Tallamy says there are parks and preserves for preservation of wildlife, if 78% of the U.S. is privately owned85% of land east of the Mississippi is in private handssomething has to make landowners take biodiversity more seriously. He hopes Sunbridge becomes the first of many such developments, and can help make the case to landowners that this strategy is both cost-effective and consumer friendly.
If we dont do conservation on private property, were going to fail, he says. You cant say were not going to do conservation where we develop, because thats everywhere.
[Photo: Tavistock Development Company]
Landscaping the future
While the Homegrown National Park focuses on flora and fauna, the team behind Sunbridge came to the idea while looking at water. Like other fast-growing parts of the country, such as Phoenix, Central Florida faces water shortages and hard limits on growth if business-as-usual development continues. The Central Florida Water Initiative predicts the region will face a 96 million gallon-per-day water shortfall starting in 2045.
The landscaping philosophy of Homegrown National Parknative plants that require much less water, less maintenance, and less fertilizercan reduce irrigation and fertilizer runoff. Sunbridge developers estimate that when the entire project is complete and occupied in the coming decades, the planned Florida-native and drought-tolerant landscaping palette will save between 39,000 to 146,300 gallons of water daily, and help cut outdoor water use by 75%.
In addition, it will contain whats called keystone plants, native species, such as live oaks, that support local insects and animals. Tallamy says that traditional American landscaping, which uses a variety of non-native plants for decorative purposes, doesnt feed local species and can disrupt the existing food web.
Developers hope this plan not only allows the development to grow without bumping up against resource limits, but also proves to be a point of differentiation that attracts future buyers and even adds a premium to home prices. Theyve been aggressively marketing the developments trails, greenspace, lakes, and landscape, dubbing it a naturehood.
Beaty, who grew up in Florida, remembers playing in backyards in July with brown grass as a kid, since it was so challenging to water. Ever since Disney came to Florida, he says, thats the (artificial) expectation people have of the Florida front yard.
This is the horticultural challenge of our time, says Tallamy. How do we make ecologically accesible landscapes that are also pretty?
[Photo: Scott Cook Photography/Tavistock Development Company]
Finding the solution in sprawl
It may seem counterintuitive to count suburban developments as part of the solution to the biodiversity crisis, since theyre a significant cause of the problem in the U.S. Sprawl development in the 21st century alone has eaten up more than two million acres annually in the U.S., according to the Center for Biological Diversity, leading to significant habitat and species loss: roads, fences and structures break up habitats; fertilizers and pollution harm plants; and light and noise pollution impact animal health.
While Sunbridge remains the first large development to sign on, Homegrown National Park has also been busy with other collaborations, partnering with regional and state Native Plant Societies, including the Native Plant Society of Texas, to engage and support developers and HOAs that are interested in integrating the Homegrown National Park model.
One of the challenges going forward will be maintaining the initial philosophy of native plantings and more sustainability minded landscaping. Since there arent necessarily strong ways to mandate lawn care or plant choicethere wont be an overarching homeowners association enforcing standardsBeaty hopes the good faith approach theyre taking, which favors carrots instead of sticks, will prove itself over time.
This will include a number of resources and support, including publishing a curated list of native plants, and a variety of community programs to help with lawn care and to promote conservation. Residents will also be given digital water dashboards to help monitor their consumption, and messaging about how a healthier, more native lawn means fewer chemicals that aren’t good for your kids and a lower utility bill every month.
Advocates say these kinds of development agreements, and efforts at urban rewilding in cities, can, along with the vital preservation of remaining natural habitat, help slow and ideally reverse the biodiversity loss being felt around the globe. Tallamy says that scientists already understand what needs to be done to fix the biodiversity crisis. Projects like Sunbridge, which seek to sell residents on the benefits of a more biodiverse landscape, can help get more momentum behind deploying those solutions.
We know how to increase biodiversity, he says. What were fighting now are sociological problems.
With over 800 student organizations on campus, the University of Pennsylvania already seems to have a club for every interest, from investment banking to beekeepingeven cheese. Now, add AI to the mix.
In September, dozens of Penn students gathered in the engineering school auditorium for the debut of the Claude Builder Club, sponsored by AI company Anthropic. Over the course of this semester, the Builder Club has plans to host a hackathon, demo night, and other opportunities to create projects using artificial intelligence.
I need the Claude premium for a year, says Crystal Yang, a freshman who attended the first meeting. Claude, she had heard, is better for coding and sounding more human in writing.
Like Yang, many attendees were interested chiefly in the free Claude Pro and API credits offered. But according to their responses at the first meeting, a number of attendees also wanted to spend the semester working on problems with climate, healthcare, and manufacturing.
Hearing other Penn students stand up and share what problems they were working on solving with the help of AI was genuinely inspiring, says Alain Welliver, one of the Builder Club ambassadors leading Penns chapter. As an ambassador, Welliver is responsible for promoting the club and developing programming. Hell receive a $1,750 stipend for his work.
Welliver, an engineering student, saw the ambassadorship opportunity this summer on LinkedIn and was quickly interestedhe had considered creating a similar club before. To land the role, he completed a written application form about projects hes built and his perspective on AI, and did an interview.
The Builder Clubs are part of Anthropics broader Claude for Education initiative, which also includes a Learning mode in Claude and free campuswide access for partnering universities. Drew Bent, the education lead on Anthropics Beneficial Developments team, suggests that economics students who take part in the Builder Clubs could, for example, use their Claude app to create an interactive simulator for a macroeconomics concept in minutes.
The first iteration of Builder Clubs debuted this fall semester; there are now over 60 participating universities. Theyve launched at seven of the eight Ivy League schools, SEC schools like the University of Georgia and Vanderbilt University, and international universities like the London School of Economics.
According to Greg Feingold, who leads the Builder Club program for Anthropic, over 15,000 students have signed up. More than 25 of the chapters exceed 100 members.
By the end of the semester, Feingold hopes to empower students to build projects theyre interested in, especially those who have found AI tools too costly or otherwise inaccessible before.
I really want us to find those students who are not technical students and have them participate, Feingold says. I just know that were going to get some really amazing stories of people who have never written a line of code but were able to make an app for the first time.
A certain type of agency
Victor Lee, a professor at Stanford Universitys Graduate School of Education, says tech companies have launched similar programs in the past, pointing to Apples Swift Coding Clubs as an example. A lot of groups are trying to jockey for position and recognition, especially amongst a user base that is likely to be core to them, he says.
Across college campuses, AI companies are everywhere. During the last finals season, OpenAI offered free ChatGPT Plus. At Penn, students recently waited in line for over an hour at a Google Gemini pop-up eventwhich included free Gemini-branded Owala water bottles. This has created concerns for educators, who worry many students are using AI to cheat.
In addition to being a Builder Club ambassador, students can apply to be a Campus ambassador and promote Anthropic products directly to peers. Anuja Uppuluri, one of the first ambassadors, shared on X Anthropics $1/month Pro subscription deal for Carnegie Mellon University students this spring. Her post received tens of thousands of views, and in the comments section, multiple students asked for the offer to be available at their schools too.
Uppuluri feels thankful that she took her introductory computer science courses before LLMs got popular: The temptation to use an AI tool would have been all too alluring.
Theres some type of agency about Claude Code that makes it different, Uppuluri notes. It doesnt make it a tool. I think it makes it more like a pair programmer.
Welliver finds Anthropic to be one of the few AI companies with an approach that fully aligns with his values. Part of the Builder Club programming that Anthropic has developed is education about AI safety and the societal impacts of AI.
If you ask my friends, theyd probably be like, Alains the last person to become a brand ambassador, Welliver says. Anthropic, though, is really intentionally trying to do an ethical approach to advancing AI. I think those values transfer over to the club.
Its not often that headlines about customer brawls end up morphing into good news for a brand. But thats arguably whats happened to Starbucks thanks to the bungled rollout of its limited-run Bearista cups becoming the first new craze of this holiday seasoneven including good-natured copycat tributes from the likes of Aldi and Walmart.
At first, the Bearista debut on November 6 seemed like a black eye. The 20-ounce glass tumbler, shaped like a cute bear sporting a Starbucks beanie, sparked immediate viral demand, with customers at some locations lining up at 3 a.m. to score one. This apparently caught the company off guard, and supplies of the $30 object ran out almost instantly.
Frustrated customers slammed the brand online (some claiming stores were woefully understocked), and in a few cases physically battled each other for what was available. ‘Bearista’ cups brew up brawls at Starbucks, Fox News reported. With fistfight accounts and clips circulating online, the fiasco took on a Waffle House vibenot exactly the community-centric third place experience the coffee giant tries to cultivate. Starbucks apologized for the disappointment.
But the story didnt go away. It evolved. Of course the bear tumblers materialized on eBay, on sale for hundreds of dollars. But less predictably, a new round of social media videosand mainstream press coverage of themexplained how to DIY your own bear-shaped drinking vessel dupe by draining honey packaging and perhaps drawing on the Starbucks logo for fun. Aldi began winkingly promoting a $5 gingerbread-figure cup for those who missed out on that $30 bear; Walmart chimed in with its own version, a bear-shaped bottle of its Great Value brand honey filled with coffee.
All of this has been lighthearted, and ultimately a tribute. Thus the Bearista mini-craze was pulled back from becoming a borderline squalid tale of corporate fumbling and manic consumerism. Instead, its as if the market has decided that thanks to this absurd incident, bear cups are, somehow, out of nowhere, now a Holiday Thing.
And that works out rather neatly for Starbucks, which this week, in the direct aftermath of the Bearista freakout, began rolling out this years version of its traditional holiday-object lineup. On November 13 it started offering the new iteration of its annual reusable Red Cup promotiona free, limited-edition cup, in four design choices, for certain orders from its holiday menu. And it has teased new holiday merch additions to its lineup, including a collaboration with fashion brand Roller Rabbit slated for early December.
Meanwhile, though Starbucks has declined to comment on whether the Bearista will return (a McRib-style mystery?), demand clearly transcends any ill will about the botched debut. We want the cup , reads the top response to one Starbucks Instagram post hyping the new Red Cup designs. Dont ignore our bear cup requests! echoes another response. We want more!
In other words, what looked like a brand blunder is now arguably the happiest story of the early Brian Niccol eracertainly better than news of store closings or lagging earnings or union disputes. The Bearista tale, however chaotic, has ended up making Starbucks feel relevant, in a good way. If there is such a thing as the right kind of brand brawl, this was it.
For years, weve treated confidence in the workplace as something that rises with seniority. The longer youre in the game, the more secure you should feel, at least in theory. But new data is telling a different story. Confidence is quietly increasing among early and mid-career employees, while many senior leaders are facing a growing sense of doubt. The emotional center of the workforce is shifting, and it says a lot about how work, identity, and leadership are changing.
The View from the Ground
Glassdoors latest numbers show something many leaders might not expect: Confidence is rising among those at the beginning and middle of their careers. Entry-level confidence ticked up 1.9 points and mid-level roles rose 2.3. After several years defined by layoffs, volatility, and reorganization, youd think this group would be the most anxious. But instead, theyre slowly stabilizingand in many cases, feeling more empowered.
One possible explanation is that younger employees, particularly Gen Z, have grown up in uncertainty. They graduated into disrupted schools, unpredictable labor markets, and news cycles dominated by instability. Adaptation became the norm. So rather than viewing change as a threat, many see it as the default environment, something to work within rather than fight against.
Hybrid work and flexible career pathways also matter. Many early-career professionals now build identity and stability not from a single employer, but from a mosaic of work, skill-building, networking, and side projects. They have learned to diversify not only their income but their sense of purpose. This gives them a form of psychological safety: When your career has multiple anchors, no single wave capsizes the ship.
And importantly, younger workers are redefining what it means to succeed. Its less about climbing a ladder and more about gaining agency, having influence over how, when, and why they work. Even small signals of autonomy can boost confidence: the ability to negotiate schedules, contribute ideas early, or move laterally to explore new roles.
So, while the headlines focus on uncertainty, many early-career employees are quietly reframing it. Theyre not waiting for perfect stability to feel secure. Theyre building confidence through adaptability, community, and self-direction.
The Shifting View from the Top
While those in the frontline are earning their sea legs, it seems executives and their peers are losing their footing. Many aspects of workforce management stabilized post pandemic, but confidence in executive leadership teams abilities to manage their teams, responses to critical issues, and readiness to address technical disruptions has trended downwards. From board members to C-suite team members themselves, there is an increasing belief that leadership teams are unable to withstand the demands of conflicting constituents and put the interests of the company above their own. These votes of incompetence are taking their toll in the confidence of those at the top.
For a long time, it seemed the era of grey-haired expertise was impenetrable. The sentiment was that having seen it before, you would be trusted to resolve any problem and people would trust you. The Boomers and even Gen Xers who would fit that mold, however, are not perceived to be able to keep up. In some instances, it is made explicitly obvious that their value is waning. But regardless of age, leadership is exhausting. In the face of technological advancements and AI, topics that any employee may grapple with, executives are too often seen to be out of touch.
It seems that the complexities of leadership are taking their toll. There are endless questions about the pros and cons of remote, hybrid, (or return to office) work modalities; international economic instability and politics are impacting trade and augmenting cost pressures; and retention is still a problem that has not fully recovered from the Big Quit. While leader responsibilities are not new, there do not seem to be right answers or resolutions to strive to achieve. Decision fatigue, and constant uncertainty may be eroding their sense of control. As a result, senior level employees have seen employee confidence fall month over month, a concerning trend as it may impact hiring and investment plans.
In addition to task-related burnout, senior leaders are also unsure of how their reactions to colleagues and direct reports are measuring up. Many feel the weight of being both empathetic and decisivea balance thats emotionally taxing. This dip may reflect a growing leadership gap: leaders caring deeply, but struggling to sustain optimism.
Despite moving in opposite directions, both groups reflect the same reality: The workplace is changing faster than people can adjust. For younger employees, that change still feels full of possibility. For leaders, it feels like exhaustion. Understanding both sides could be key to rebuilding trust and confidence across the organization.
