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- This year’s historically strong El Niño could cause extreme weather through 2027 and raise sea levelson the California coast by a foot.
- An AI researcher claims he resigned from Anthropic over threat to the human race. Jacob Coxon accusedAnthropic and OpenAI of “gambling with our lives.”
- Prediction markets are eating politics. As the midterms heat up, here is how Kalshi and Polymarket are shaping campaign narratives andwhere the money is flowing.
- New Apple Watch AI features hint at how Apple plans to address privacy concerns in future smart glasses. Two newAudio Intelligence features are truly groundbreaking
As Gen Zers turn to Instagram to network and find job opportunities, employers are learning they need to show—not just tell—what it’s like to work there.
Compared to the humble brags and AI slop clogging up many users’ LinkedIn feeds, Instagram gives Gen Z jobseekers a fuller picture of workplace culture than traditional professional networks.
Younger workers are even using social media to investigate employers before they apply. In a way, they’re attempting to rebalance a hiring process that has traditionally favored employers.
Watch more Fast Company video content hereandread more about how younger professionals are moving away from LinkedIn.
5 neuroscience-backed ways to make meetings less painful and more productive
Meetings rarely bring us joy. Many are inefficient, boring, stream-of-consciousness downloads: the same people dominating the conversation, too many people in the room, and too few decisions.
Meetings aren’t necessarily painful because people have nothing to contribute or dislike collaboration. Meetings are painful because they aren’t designed around how people think and work together. They suffer from unclear purpose, inadequate thinking time, poor group dynamics, predictable discussions, and vague decisions.
If we’re honest, we have become too accepting of meetings that waste time. Meeting fatigue produces plenty of eye-rolling, but rarely prompts us to redesign meetings around what really adds value: debate, alignment, and decision-making. It is time to expect more from meetings.
There are five principles for getting more value from the time we spend thinking together, based on neuroscience research and my almost 20 years of leading senior strategic problem-solving projects.
1. Get razor-sharp clarity up front
Many meetings begin with an unclear focus. People spend a good chunk of the meeting figuring out what they are there to solve. Ambitious discussions take place without the authority or appetite to act. In interviews with global innovation directors, lack of clarity of focus and alignment was the number one reason cited for early-stage innovation failure.
Neuroscience tells us that clear direction activates the part of our brain that controls attention and helps us focus on a specific problem. Without it, teams risk directing energy in the wrong places.
In advance, be explicit about what’s in and out of scope for the meeting, who needs to be involved, what preparation is required, and the decisions you will make. Crucially, your ambition must match your decision-making mandate: What can people in the room actually decide?
Read the full story on Fast Company.
