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Starting a new job is exhilarating and exhausting. Exhilarating, because youre trying new things, meeting new people, and picking up new skills. Exhausting, because all of those activities tax your brain, so that by the end of the day, you just want a nap. Over time, though, some of the things youre doing become routine. You know the general tasks that drive your workday, and you can solve most of the problems that come up on most days. Once that happens, you go from being exhausted to being bored. Ultimately, your brain craves a middle-ground in which your world is generally predictable, but there are enough novel situations that you have to pay attention, think a bit, and learn some new things. So, if you feel like youre running in place at work, then you have to take responsibility for learning new things. You have to decide what you ought to learn and how to learn it. Here are three approaches that can motivate you to get out of your rut. 1. Plan your next move Where do you want to be in five years? Have you got an answer to that question? You might have a sense of the next role or two youd like to take. If not, chat with more senior colleagues to get a sense of how your career might progress. You might even think about working with a career coach to get some ideas. Then, take a hard look at your current skills. How do they match up with what is required to take on the next role? You should focus both on the skills you dont have that are a big part of a new role, but also on leveling up some of your existing skills where you may need even greater proficiency when you move up. It is a natural first step to pick up a book on one of these topics. That is a good start, because it gives you a lay of the land of what needs to be learned to gain competence in an area. But, active practice is an important part of skill development. Seek opportunities that will teach you and also enable you to practice those skills. That might involve taking a class in which you work to hone your new abilities. There are also an increasing number of online platforms that use structured lessons incorporating AI that enable you to try new things and get personalized feedback. 2. Try new things You may not be so sure what you want to do next. Even if you have a clue, that doesnt mean you have to direct your study just at skills that will get you to the next rung of the ladder. Learning itself is invigorating. When you take up a new topic, it often lets you notice things you havent seen before. Even picking up a new hobby can change the way you engage with the world. I have written a lot about how I took up the saxophone in my mid-thirties. Not only did it lead to some new skills and the chance to play in some bands, but it also gave me unexpected insights into education and leadership. After all, you never know where your next great idea might come from. The more you know, the more likely you will be to see a professional situation in a way that is different from how those around you view it. 3. Consider a deep dive or a pivot A lot of the work-related training people do is cursory. You read a book (or perhaps two). You take a seminar (or two) online or at a local university. Those classes open up some new vistas and can often jolt you out of the rut that drives your daily routine. But, if you really want to transform yourself, you need a much deeper dive in either a topic you’re familiar with, or perhaps you want to switch to something completely different. That is where a degree program can be a huge benefit. Most universities have realized that master’s programs are an important part of peoples career paths. An increasing number of those programs are tailored to working professionals who can retain their jobs while doing the program. In some fields (like computer science, data science, and AI), these programs are also structured to enable a large number of people to take these programs so that the cost is low. One advantage to a master’s program is that you often get to know a cohort of fellow students who are pursuing the same degree. That enables you to meet new people with similar goals (and often at a similar point in their careers). These individuals can often give you insight into how you can think differently about your own career. Not only do you leave a degree program with a greatly enhanced bag of tools, you also have a fresh perspective that can drive the next decade of your career.
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E-Commerce
When crypto first gained prominence more than 15 years ago, one of the big selling points of the currency was its lack of ties to any specific government. Unlike fiat currency, cryptocurrency offered the possibility of a purely mathematical currency that was unrelated to politics, governance, or taxes. While crypto is still touted as an alternative to fiat currency, such as the U.S. dollar, the real world of politics, governance, and taxes has found a way to intrude on the use of this alternative currency in America. Specifically, the IRS requires U.S. taxpayers to report crypto earnings on their taxes. Because in this world nothing can be said to be certain, except the death of idealistic perfection and taxes. And since the IRS is involved, the process of reporting your crypto assets on your tax return can include the kind of tear-your-hair-out complexity that makes you want to forgo money altogether and return to the barter system. Thats why we spoke to personal finance expert Robert Farrington about how to handle tax filing when you have crypto assets. Heres what we learned. How you received your crypto matters There are several ways you can find yourself the proud owner of cryptocurrency: You might receive crypto as a payment for goods or services You might mine it yourself You might purchase it as an investment Depending on how the crypto came into your possession can affect how you report it on your taxes, and Farrington explains that this can make your taxes complex as a result. Crypto as income If you accept crypto as a payment for goods or services, the currency is considered part of your income. In that case, you treat the income as business income regardless of the currency. You need to report it as the USD value at the time you received it, Farrington says. For example, lets say you received 0.25 Bitcoin on August 31, 2025, as payment for your businesss services. Bitcoin was worth $108,236.71 USD on that day, which means youll need to report your 0.25 Bitcoin income as $27,059.18, even if you did not immediately convert the cryptocurrency into USD. When or if you convert the crypto to USD, you’ll have a secondary transaction that may have a capital gain or loss associated with it, Farrington explains. (More on that below.) Its also important to note that mining your own crypto is also treated as income, which could either be considered business income or hobby income. If it’s mined as part of a business, you can also potentially deduct related business expenses, like computer hardware, software, or utility costs, Farrington says. Crypto as investment Investing in crypto has become much more mainstream in recent years, and the tax rules governing cryptocurrency investments are largely the same as the rules for other investments. In particular, like other types of investments, short-term and long-term capital gains rules apply to cryptocurrency gains and losses. For any cryptocurrency youve held for less than one year, short-term capital gains or loss rules apply, while any crypto youve held for longer than a year will fall under long-term capital gains or loss rules. Where things get a little confusing is how you experience capital gains or losses with crypto: by converting your crypto into USD. When you convert the crypto to fiat currency, like USD, you’ll typically pay capital gains taxes on it, Farrington says. Thats because you will usually convert the crypto at a higher currency exchange rate than you purchased it for. For example, lets say you invested in a crypto asset worth $20,000 USD and held it for three years, during which time it increased in value to $28,000 USD. When you convert the asset into USD, you would have a long-term capital gain of $8,000. Dont forget to account for crypto shopping Another confusing aspect of reporting crypto on your taxes is the fact that you can have a capital gain or loss when you pay for goods or services via cryptocurrency. Heres how it works: In any transaction where you use your cryptocurrency to make a payment, there will likely be a difference between the amount the crypto was worth when you received it and its current fair market value (FMV). If the FMV has gone up, thats a capital gain, which means youll have to pay the capital gains tax. If the FMV has gone down, thats a capital loss, which you may be able to use to offset future gains or income. The IRS is getting more aggressive As with any new technology, cryptocurrency operated in a kind of lawless Wild West environment before legislation, regulations, and tax law got a chance to catch up with the new state of affairs. With the new reporting requirements for the 2026 tax filing season, the IRS is now catching up toand getting more aggressivewith crypto. This year, for the 2025 tax year, centralized exchanges will be required to file form 1099-DA with the IRS to report digital asset sales, Farrington says. Theoretically, the government has always required taxpayers to report their digital asset sales on their taxes in previous years, but without the requirement that crypto exchanges file these 1099-DA forms, the IRS was more reliant on self-reporting. This is why Farrington says it’s essential that you ensure your crypto transactions are accurately reported on your tax return, or it could trigger an audit. Meticulous crypto bookkeeping is a must, and Farrington suggests taking the time to ensure that your transactions are accurately categorized on the exchange so there are no incorrect 1099s filed. For example, if you transfer tokens between exchanges, you may want to go in and make certain its categorized as a transfer so that the exchange doesn’t mistakenly report it as a gain, Farrington recommends. A little bit of extra prepaation, documentation, and double-checking can give your tax season some important peace of mind. Virtual currency, real taxes Cryptocurrency may not feature portraits of Washington, Lincoln, Hamilton, or Jackson, but that doesnt keep Uncle Sams sticky fingers out of your virtual wallet. American taxpayers have to report their crypto income, investments, gains, and transactions on their tax returns. And for the first time in 2026, crypto exchanges are now required to file 1099-DA forms to report digital asset sales. Keeping good records of your crypto assets will help you tame the tax filing beastbut Farrington stresses that If you’re not familiar with these concepts to begin with, you should definitely seek advice from a tax professional.
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E-Commerce
Every year, Tennis Australia CEO Craig Tiley issues a challenge to his team that would make most executivesand their teamsbreak into a cold sweat: Reinvent 50% of the Australian Open. Not subtle changes or a few tweaks. Half of everything, so no two tournaments are ever the same. Today, to help satisfy Tiley’s mandate, the event has evolved into a three-pronged innovation machine. There’s an in-house R&D lab that’s been developing analytics, broadcast, and fan engagement advancements for more than 15 years, alongside a startup accelerator that’s piloted 40 companies, and a $40 million VC fund to capitalize those startups. “The 50% innovation challenge creates something most large organizations struggle to cultivate: permission to fail,” says Machar Reid, director of innovation and AO Ventures general partner. It’s working. The 2025 Australian Open set attendance records with 1,218,831 fans through the gates over three weeks, breaking the previous year’s mark by more than 100,000. It attracted 1.9 billion global viewers, drew 2.3 billion social impressions, and generated $565.8 million for host city Melbournes economy. And this year’s tournament, which rolls into its final rounds this weekend, is poised to be another record-setter. Inside Tennis Australia’s tech workshop It all started with AO Labs, Tennis Australia’s research and development arm. This is the internal division that builds the broadcast and fan engagement technologies that have transformed how people watch tennis. Last year’s breakout was AO Animated, which uses skeletal tracking to turn live matches into Nintendo Wii-style cartoons. The technology tracks 29 points on each player’s body at 50 frames per second, creating real-time avatars that move exactly as the players do. The feed went viral in 2025, drawing nearly 1 million viewers in the first four days alone. [Image: AO Animated] The technology is fun. But it also solves a real problem. Tennis Australia took over its own broadcast production in 2015one of only two Grand Slam tournaments to control its own broadcast (the US Open only recently started moving in this direction). Other Grand Slams turn broadcast production over to networks like ESPN or TNT Sports. Tennis Australia maintains creative control, then licenses that production to broadcast partners including ESPN in the U.S. and Channel 9 in Australia. [Image: AO Animated] But those licensing agreements create restrictions. The AO Animated stream functions as a legal work-around. Since it’s generated from tracking biometric data rather than relying on video footage, it doesn’t violate exclusivity agreements. Viewers without broadcast subscriptions could clip highlights and share them. Fans loved it. Players found it hilarious. By week two of last years tournament, Tennis Australia was providing the feed to three broadcast partners, and they’ve brought it back again for 2026. AO Animated is among the latest in a series of experiments. But even AO Labs isn’t enough to satisfy Tiley’s 50% mandate. To achieve that, the team knew it had to tap external resources. Turning Melbourne Park into a tech incubator In 2022, Tennis Australia launched AO Startups. The goal: identify early-stage companies with technology Tennis Australia could eventually implement, giving both sides a chance to test product-market fit at one of the world’s biggest sporting events. “Rather than trying to be really narrow with a problem statement, we stay purposefully broad,” says Reid. “There are occasions where we don’t know what we don’t know.” The 2025 cohort included 12 companiesthe largest since inceptionspanning digital ticketing platforms, AI-powered personalized menus for dietary needs, automated screening checks, production project management software, and wearable resistance suits for athlete training. The selection process is rigorous, but fast. Startups apply through aostartups.ausopen.com, with applications opening periodically throughout the year and Tennis Australia announcing new cohorts in the lead-up to each Australian Open. Applicants are evaluated on team quality, market opportunity, ambition level, and mutual impact potential. Those accepted get access to Tennis Australia executives, pilots across the organization’s summer events, and pathways to becoming official suppliers. Each pilot is customized based on the company’s stage and technology. Some test products still in development. Others run full-scale deployments. Some pilots test across Tennis Australia’s entire three-week summer seriesthe United Cup in Sydney and Perth, Brisbane International, and Adelaide Internationalwith select pilots deployed at the Australian Open itself. The customized trials give funders real-world feedback at scale while giving Tennis Australia confidence that the systems work under pressurewhich is critical, given that they’re not just piloting tools that enhance the broadcast and fan experience, but technology that can impact the matches themselves. Six engineers vs. one monopoly In 2021, four engineers walked away from Hawkeye, the company that had dominated electronic line calling in tennis for two decades. They teamed up with two others and founded Bolt6 specifically to build something bettera cloud-first system that could do things Hawkeye’s legacy architecture couldn’t. Tennis Australia had been a Hawkeye client for 17 years. When Bolt6 approached the team about piloting new technology through AO Startups, Reid saw opportunityand a lot of risk. “[Line calling] is our highest-risk technology,” Reid says. “If that does not work, we’re in trouble, because it’s calling lines for the playing group. It’s not like we have lines people waiting on standby to jump in if the technology goes down.” So Tennis Australia methodically de-risked it, inviting Bolt6 to join AO Startups. At the 2023 Australian Open, Bolt6 ran in stealth mode alongside Hawkeye on the tournament’s center courtside-by-side testing, every call compared. In 2024, Bolt6 handled all Australian Open lead-up events and expanded to testing alongside Hawkeye on three stadium courts during the main tournament. Only after two years of testing did Tennis Australia deploy Bolt6 across all 17 courts for the entire 2025 summer, fully replacing Hawkeye. Risk/reward The gamble paid off. Bolt6’s cloud architecture unlocked capabilities Hawkeye couldn’t deliver. Because the system is cloud-based, Tennis Australia could centralize operationsrunning all courts from one location instead of requiring on-site servers at each venue. The system processes faster and integrates with other platforms more easily, opening new possibilities beyond just calling lines. [Image: Bolt6] In fact, it’s Bolt6’s technology that drives the skeletal tracking and 360-degree camera system that AO Labs integrated to create the Wii-style animations and dynamic broadcast angles. Technology that started as line calling evolved into a dynamic broadcasting tool. [Image: Bolt6] “It is a genuine partnership around how to create stories for the viewer at home,” says James Japhet, Bolt6 cofounder and chief commercial officer. “It’s not just us doing it, this is us working hand in hand with Tennis Australia.” The partnership has turbocharged Bolt6’s growth. The company went from being deployed at three events in 2023 to 40 in 2024, around 90 in 2025, and now a projected 170 events in 2026, expanding beyond tennis into sports like NASCAR and the PGA Tour. “I don’t think we would have had that same trajectory without the partnership and support of Tennis Australia,” Japhet says. A global stage for tech startups Another company, Raven Controls, came through AO Startups in 2023 with a different kind of technology. Founder Ian Kerr, a former police officer in Scotland who specialized in emergency planning, had built an incident management platform after witnessing chaos at major eventssafety decisions that weren’t properly logged, stakeholders who couldn’t communicate, critical information lost in radio chatter. Raven digitizes that coordination. The platform is cloud-based and AI-driven, creating one centralized system where every incident gets logged, every decision gets recorded, and security, medical, and crowd control teams can all see what’s happening in real time. “Before Raven, these systems were all siloed,” Kerr explains. “Security would know about an incident, but medical wouldn’t. Or crowd management would see a problem, but it would take 20 minutes to coordinate a response.” By the time Kerr connected with Tennis Australia in 2023, Raven had already managed UEFA Champions League finals, two Euro soccer championships, and two Ryder Cups. Reid saw the value immediately. The platform could handle the complexity of coordinating security, operations, and emergency response across Melbourne Park’s 17 courts and sprawling grounds. The AO Startups pilot tested Raven across Tennis Australia’s summer events in 2023, giving Kerr’s team real-world feedback at scale while providing global exposure beyond their European base. Completing the innovation loop With the in-house lab and external tech incubators thriving, in January 2025 Tennis Australia completed the innovation loop, launching a $30 million fund called AO Ventures. Backed by 150 investors, including venture capitalist Brad Feld and prominent Australian families, the fund writes checks of around $500,000 for seed rounds and $1 million for Series A, according to Reid. To date, four investments have closed: Bolt6 and Raven, along with two padel propertiesMindspring Padel and Padel Haus. The goal, according to Reid, is to invest in approximately 20 companies, with at least five emerging from the AO Startups pipeline. The key, Reid says, is that Tennis Australia becomes not just the investor, but ideally the customer a well. “Our best way of delivering return is for us to be a client and be able to shout from the rooftops,” he says. After Raven completed its pilot and became a Tennis Australia client, the company competed for a contract with Legends Global, which operates more than 300 stadiums across North America. Legends conducted due diligence with Tennis Australia, and its reference, Kerr sayscombined with Raven’s proven performance across Tennis Australia’s eventsis what helped Raven win the contract. “Having Tennis Australia as a part of our profile has absolutely given us a massive stamp of approval at a very senior level,” Kerr says. “That support was invaluable to us.” A 70% success rate Ten startups are participating in the 2026 tournament, including the National Pickleball League, VueMotion, and Truefuels. Since launching in 2022, 40 companies have piloted their technology through AO Startups. Some 70% have become Tennis Australia suppliers or partnersa conversion rate that significantly outperforms typical corporate accelerator programs, where 40% to 50% is considered strong. Tiley has said he wants to make the Australian Open “the biggest sporting event in the world.” The three-pronged innovation engine turning startups into global players is driving the Open to ever-higher levels of fan engagement. “From a leadership point of view, I tell the team to come and ask for forgiveness, not permission,” Tiley told Boardroom. “The approach is: Just go for it. If it works, great. If it doesn’t, we’ll just make some adjustments and give it a go again.”
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E-Commerce
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