Bespoke clothing is the ultimate luxury, but not everybody can afford to get fitted at Savile Row. For several years, companies have been working to use technology to bring customization to the masses, with brands like Burberry and Tinker Tailor taking a stab at it, with mixed results.
Frilly, an L.A.-based startup, believes it has a formula that works. It has just launched a collection of clothing designed for every aspect of a woman’s life–from formal gowns to shorts–that can be entirely customized. You can choose the length of a dress, the style of the sleeves, the fabric and color, plus other details. One key to the process is the brand’s 3D simulation that allows you to see what the outfit will look like as you make changes.
Each item is made to order in China where a single tailor will make the piece from start to finish with fabrics imported from Italy, Japan, India, Spain, and France. The clothing is then delivered directly to the customer within two weeks.
Frilly’s designers regularly create new designs, which customers can then tinker with every season. Depending on the fabrics chosen and the complexity of the final garment, prices go from under $100 to close to several hundred dollars. The brand hopes to make customization more mainstream, so women expect to be able to design every piece of clothing in their wardrobe from scratch.
SpaceX is launching a Falcon 9 rocket for the U.S. military today, starting around 9:50 a.m. EDT. You can watch live by simply clicking on a link (this link!), which is much easier than actually building a rocket, launching it, or heading to Florida during a hurricane to try and sneak a peek at the fun.
The Orbital Test Vehicle 5 (OTV-5) is taking off from Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A) at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The primary launch window opens this morning at 9:50 a.m. EDT (or 13:50 UTC), and closes at 2:55 p.m. EDT (or 18:55 UTC). A backup launch window is available on Friday, September 8.
They have planned for everything—except for which music to listen to while you’re waiting for the rocket to take off. That’s where we come in. Here is the soundtrack for today’s launch:
I first heard about “Mr. Positive” when I was coaching leaders from a major multinational company a few years back. As his nickname would suggest, he had a reputation for relentless optimism–so I decided to shadow him for a day to see if he really was as positive as everyone said.
It turns out he was. No matter the situation, he was the one employee on his team who always found a way to spin things optimistically. And what’s more, it didn’t come off as annoying boosterism or feigned enthusiasm. When I first met Mr. Positive, he was a general manager, but in just five years, he’d become the CEO of another major company.
A career trajectory that rapid is pretty rare in the business world, but since meeting this world-class optimist, I’ve begun to notice similar traits in many of my most successful clients: no matter how challenging the situation, they typically manage to muster optimism to rally their teams. Here’s what it takes to master the art of positive talk–even if you’re a natural pessimist–and why that matters so much in tough workplace situations.
1. Frame Your Words In A Way That Encourages Action
Fundamentally, positive talk is all about framing what you say. You can express the same idea in completely different ways, eliciting two completely different reactions.
Say you’re struggling to maintain your margins in a price-competitive market. If you remark to a coworker, “Why can’t you meet their price and still be profitable?” they’ll probably feel attacked. But if you say, “How are you going to meet this challenge? I know you’ll figure out a solution,” you’ll be more likely inspire them to action. This might seem obvious, but under pressure many people aren’t just more likely to think pessimistically, they’re also prone to point out the problem rather than discuss actions that might solve it. Just switching up how you frame conversations like these can make a huge difference.
2. Zero In On Others’ Strengths, Not Their Weaknesses
Another key to the art of positive talk is inspiring confidence by focusing on people’s strengths. While you can’t ignore glaring weaknesses, you’ll get more out of people if you don’t make their flaws the center of your conversation.
For example, let’s say I’m working with a speech-coaching client who can be accurately described as “hyperactive.” I might be tempted to comment, “You can’t stand still or stop fidgeting, and you keep flapping your arms in space. You need to get a handle on yourself!” That may be true, but it probably won’t get us very far. In order to smooth out these tics, I first need to come across as optimistic that my client can actually do better. “You speak with tremendous energy and exuberance–so much power,” I might say instead. “By focusing on channeling that energy, I know you’ll be able to achieve even more impact.” Sure, call it sugarcoating if you like, but this can-do attitude can be really effective. It helps people feel capable of change while still ensuring they feel comfortable with themselves.
3. Stay Respectful
Being respectful may sound obvious, but it’s important to consider how your words can affect others–which can be easy to do when the going gets tough and you’re tempted to look on the downside. Just focus on using language that’s clear, precise, and descriptive rather than language that’s sarcastic, ambiguous, and judgmental. When you’re a leader, it’s hard not to lash out occasionally, especially when you’re frustrated. But you’ll be more likely to get good outcomes when you remain as respectful as possible.
For example, let’s say you’re dealing with a lot of complaints from customers about delivery delays. Don’t say, “Keep this up, and pretty soon our customers won’t be complaining about their orders. They’ll just cancel flat-out! What’s wrong with you guys?” Pessimism in this example–the real worry that you’ll lose business–becomes weaponized: now, rather than just being one possible outcome, it’s a barb you’re hurling at the very people you need to rely on to find a better outcome.
So instead, try something like this: “You need to address customers’ concerns about the delays in delivery. Review the entire process from their perspective and your perspective. You have so much knowledge and experience–how can you be even better, no matter what issues customers bring to us?” That’s a respectful, action-focused comment that makes you sound like the most confident one in the room that your team can pull through this rough spot together.
The thing many people mistake about positive talk and optimism in general isn’t about being “nice.” It’s about communicating with people in a way that motivates them to be the best they can be. Your career trajectory might not resemble Mr. Positive’s, but by mastering this key speaking skill, you can increase your influence and create more opportunities in your professional life. And that’s something worth being optimistic about.
What:Dumpster Diving, a short film about bullying.
Who: Seth Rogen, James Franco, Michael Pena, Nick Kroll, and… a bunch of high schoolers.
Why we care: Rogen and his creative partner, Evan Goldberg, wrote the first draft of Superbad when they were high school students. Now that they are Hollywood moguls/gazillionaires, they are hoping to inspire the next generation to start early as well.
Goldberg recently teamed up with his longtime friend Adrienne Slover, who teaches kindergarten in Toronto, to launch And Action! The program offers students the chance to work with Hollywood talent to create short films about a social issue of their choosing. During the first round, the students selected from John C. Fremont high school in L.A. had no idea what level of Hollywood talent they would be collaborating with.
After developing a screenplay about bullying, a perennially relevant issue for high schoolers, the students showed up and found no less than Rogen and Franco. (Along with Michael Pena, Nick Kroll, Hannah Simone, and an A-list film crew.) The film they all made together, Dumpster Divers, features Rogen and Pena as bullied teens who end up carousing with gang members played by Kroll and Simone, along with Franco as the sinister, heavily tatted gang leader.
It’s a no-frills production that will recall the “sweded” cinema of the movie Be Kind Rewind. If you imagine how stoked the students behind the camera must have been, it just might make your day.
Ask any manager what the least favorite part of their job is, and they’ll likely tell you it’s having to fire someone. It can be a gut-wrenching experience where emotions run high on both sides, and with no shortage of opportunities for going sideways.
Perhaps the person being fired has been slacking, has a serious attitude problem, clashes with their coworkers, or has ignored repeated efforts to help them change their behavior. On the other hand, it could be that the person is doing their best and is pleasant to work with, but just can’t seem to perform up to the standard of the role. In either case, the decision to fire someone really should be a last resort, once all other options have failed.
An emotionally intelligent manager will be attuned to these circumstances, and still do everything possible to minimize the pain and discomfort–not just for the person being let go but for the team left behind. That’s no easy balancing act, but it can be done. Here’s how.
Planning Ahead
There are many times when spontaneity is the best course of action, but this isn’t one of them. The more prepared you are, the less chance there is of things going off the rails. It doesn’t hurt to even mock up the language you’ll use in delivering the bad news. You’re likely going to be uncomfortable, so draw up a script and rehearse it (preferably with someone in HR) and practice until you’re familiar with it.
During the meeting with the person being terminated, emotions will run high, and you might be tempted to veer off from your planned remarks. That’s not necessarily a bad thing–you want to be humane and respectful–but you don’t want to negotiate; by the time you reach this point, the decision really is final.
Pick The Right Time And Place
Don’t even think of terminating an employee in any other way than in a face-to-face meeting. The person deserves at least this much. The other staff in the organization, who will inevitably find out what’s happened to their colleague, will lose respect for a manager who doesn’t have the courage or consideration to fire in person.
So think through the time and place of your meeting. A good time is when other staff are away or have gone home. Emotionally intelligent managers know to prepare for various levels of shock, anger, shame, or humiliation. What’s more, they need to see those reactions as normal, and leave room for emotions to play out. But that also means doing everything possible to prevent the terminated employee from rushing back to a full office and talking with all their coworkers immediately afterward. Give them, yourself, and their former colleagues some time and space.
Prepare Yourself Emotionally
Check your emotions before going into the meeting–don’t just rush right in and rip off the Band-Aid. At any point in your conversation, when you start to feel yourself giving into your rising emotions, stop and wait them out. Silently count to 10 or try to think of something else, but wait until you’re calm before speaking again. (Awkward silences during firing talks are better than most alternatives.) Another technique is push your feet firmly into the floor; this can help keep you centered.
Don’t Point Fingers
While your employee may have been totally responsible for bringing their firing upon themselves, going to that place will only make things worse. Simply state that things didn’t work out. And if you’re truly sorry, say so. But if not, simply say that you’re sorry that things didn’t work out, and leave it at that. Allow the person’s dignity to remain as intact as possible without being inauthentic or insincere in what you say.
Be Both Firm And Fair
This can be a fine line to walk. Summarize the main points regarding what led up to your decision, and then leave it there. Just be careful if you choose to do this; most U.S. employees are “at will” workers, meaning they can be fired for any reason or, technically, none at all. So if you provide a thorough rationale for firing someone, you may open your company up to legal liability, since the terminated employee can now challenge your grounds for firing them.
Whatever you do, make sure to be firm and to avoid rehashing the past or opening up new areas for discussion. This conversation’s purpose is to deliver information, not bartering or bickering. The best way to relay bad news as fairly as possible is simply to leave room for the person you’re letting go to express what they’re feeling. If the person is in shock and denial, just calmly repeat the message. Don’t get into a debate or defend your decision. You only need to make sure your message got through. If you’re encountering anger or grief, acknowledge those feelings but don’t get into further discussions. Keep moving forward and focus on the future.
Clear Up All the Details With As Much Sensitivity As Possible
Be prepared with all the details that are necessary upon termination, such as severance pay, unused vacation time, returning company property, end dates of benefits, and so on. Allow the person to clean up their belongings without their coworkers around–this can be an especially painful moment. If this isn’t feasible, though, set up a time as soon as possible to let them do this with as much privacy as you can arrange.
If the situation allows, offer to give a reference. And since the employee may be in shock, offer to call them a ride or taxi to get them home (but don’t take them yourself).
Firing somebody is a tense, difficult experience fraught with unpleasant feelings. Ultimately, the emotionally intelligent way to handle it isn’t to deny or cut off those feelings but to tune into and leave room for them–without losing sight of the task at hand.
What: In KFC’s newest ad, Colonel Ray Liotta can’t decide between Georgia Gold honey mustard BBQ chicken and spicy Nashville Hot chicken.
Who: KFC, Wieden+Kennedy
Why we care: Over the last couple of years, KFC has brought its legendary founder back to life in the form of many an unexpected celebrity–Darrell Hammond, Jim Gaffigan, Norm MacDonald, Billy Zane and Rob Riggle, George Hamilton, and Rob Lowe. Now, Ray Liotta joins this esteemed list and dons the white wig n’ stache to deliver one of his signature mercurial performances, this time not as a cop or a gangster, but instead as a fried chicken magnate. Frankly, it’s mesmerizing.
More turbulence is afoot at J.Crew. In April, Jenna Lyons, the brand’s longtime creative director, suddenly announced her departure from the company. Somsack Sikhounmuong, who had been designing for J.Crew since 2001, would replace her. But right at the start of New York Fashion Week, Sikhounmuong has announced that he is also leaving the company. Business of Fashion first reported the news.
Sikhounmuong will not be replaced. Instead, his roles will be absorbed by a wide range of staff. This means that J.Crew will no longer have a creative director, with a distinct vision for the brand.
Over the last few years, J.Crew has seen declining sales. There were many reasons for this, including a pricing strategy that made the clothes unaffordable to their core customers and a sense of fatigue around Lyons’s eclectic aesthetic. In June, CEO Mickey Drexler was replaced by James Brett, who formerly ran West Elm.
J.Crew was among the few mainstream retailers that presented collections at New York Fashion Week. This season, it is noticeably absent from the schedule. It’s unclear what J.Crew’s future holds, but all of this tumult is certainly not inspiring much confidence.
As Hurricane Irma bears down on Florida, the airlines are racing to do their part to help people escape from the hurricane’s path–although some only did so after getting blasted on social media for alleged price gouging.
Now, most major airlines that operate flights out of Florida are capping fares as people follow government orders to evacuate the region before the Category 5 hurricane potentially makes landfall.
JetBlue, which was never accused of jacking up their fares, is currently “offering any remaining seats in select markets” at reduced fares of between $99 and $159, including flights from Florida, the Caribbean, and even Charleston, North Carolina, and Savannah, Georgia.
American Airlines, which has a major hub in Miami, has capped the price of main cabin seats on single leg flights at $99.
Delta Air Lines announced it won’t charge more than $399 for one-way tickets on all flights out of southern Florida and the Caribbean. That price cap will apply to all seats, including first class. They are also waiving all baggage and pet-in-cabin fees for customers traveling to or from the cities covered by a weather waiver issued for the region this week. Unsurprisingly, they are one of the few airlines with seats available.
United Airlines is offering travel waivers to travelers with booked flights to, from, or through select airports in the Caribbean and Florida.
Airlines offering price caps say they will be in effect through September 13. However, customers need to be aware that many of the flights are already fully booked and many of the airlines are winding down operations in advance of the storm, canceling flights to keep their crew and planes safe.
While ticket prices are typically set by algorithms that respond to supply and demand—and last-minute tickets are usually more expensive—some consumers are complaining of price gouging. According to CNN, the U.S. Department of Transportation has already “received consumer complaints” about potential price abuse from areas affected by Hurricane Harvey, as well as Irma.
It should come as little surprise that Rihanna’s much-awaited beauty brand will cater to deeper skintones from the get-go, with a reported 40 shades of foundation at launch, according to Vibe. That’s a formidable shade range for any brand—let alone a new one—which means Fenty will offer more shades than countless established, high-end brands, even amongst the more inclusive set.
I sat with my head propped up in my hand at one of those cramped hotel computer desks, listening to my boss ramble endlessly on the other end of the phone about something she needed–yet was apparently unable to locate herself.
My family stood eagerly by the hotel room door, trying their best to be patient while simultaneously gauging just how much longer I’d be stuck there. Considering the fact that we were attempting to enjoy a family vacation, they were excited to get down to the pool–which was being delayed by yet another needless conversation with my supervisor.
Here’s the thing: My manager knew I was out of the office. My email out-of-office message was turned on. We had an in-person conversation in order to tie up loose ends before I left. And, to add insult to injury, she had personally approved my vacation request months ago. My absence wasn’t a surprise.
Yet, this boss of mine seemed to have absolutely no respect for my time out of the office. She’d send me emails over the weekend. When she was leaving work for the day, she’d ask me to finish up one of her projects–even though it was already well past quitting time. And, as I’m sure you saw coming, she’d pop up with the ever-frequent phone call–even when I was on vacation.
How exactly did I deal with it, you ask? Well, back then, my coping strategy involved a lot of grumbling and complaining—and not much else.
But, if I could turn back time and to the whole thing all over again? I’d be more direct about handling the situation by immediately sending her an email that followed one of the below templates—and then I’d promptly join my family at the pool.
If You’re Planning Ahead For Your Time Off
Hello [Boss’ Name],
Ahead of my upcoming time off from [date] to [date], I wanted to be sure to touch base with you about my plans.
In order to use that time to truly relax and recharge, I’m going to unplug from work as much as possible. So, I wanted to give you advanced warning that I will likely be totally unreachable until I return to the office on [date].
I will be sure to complete my pending projects, tie up any loose ends, and notify other relevant team members of my absence before I head out. Of course, I’m also happy to sit down with you ahead of my time away in order to confirm we have all of our bases covered before I’m out of touch. Let me know if you’d like to get a brief conversation on your schedule.
Don’t hesitate to let me know if you have any questions about this, and I really appreciate you allowing me to make the most of my time off!
I wanted to reach out with a quick update for you.
As you know, I’m currently away from my desk until [date]. In order to make the most of my time off and return to the office feeling as refreshed and recharged as I can, I’m aiming to disconnect from my work as much as possible.
So, please be aware that–after this message–I won’t be responding to any work-related emails or phone calls for the duration of my time off.
If anything comes up in my absence, [Contact Name] is filling in for me while I’m away and can assist with those issues or questions. Otherwise, I’ll make sure to promptly address any other pending items when I return to the office on [date].
Thanks so much for understanding, [Boss’ Name]. I really appreciate you allowing me this time to relax and enjoy my time off!
Best, [Your Name]
I get it–it can feel awkward to set the record straight with your boss about your vacation time (hence why I personally took the cowardly way out and just rolled over).
However, know this: You’re entitled to your vacation days, and you’re more than justified in expecting them to be totally work-free.
So, it’s well worth it to gather your courage and let your boss know what your expectations are for your time off. Unless, of course, you want to follow in my footsteps and sacrifice your well-deserved pool session for an hour spent in the stuffy hotel business center. Take it from me–I don’t recommend it.
Three years ago, as a 26-year old struggling to find an affordable place to live in London–but, as a young professional, earning too much for subsidized housing–Tim Lowe embarked on an experiment. For four months, he would try living in whatever housing he could find for less than £500 (around $800 at the time) in Central London.
“It opens up and unlocks spaces that people wouldn’t otherwise be able to afford.” [Photo: Laura Balseviciute]He ended up in a houseboat, a housing commune, a converted horse trailer, a prototype of a pop-up tiny house, a co-living community in a former office building, and in vacant buildings where he acted as a live-in “property guardian” for the owners. Guardianship had challenges–in one building, he lived with rats, heat that couldn’t be turned off in the summer, and shared a neglected shower with 20 other people. But he recognized the potential for making use of temporarily vacant buildings for much-needed housing.
Lowe founded a startup, Lowe Guardians, that now converts empty buildings into clean, safe, desirable, and cheap housing. For building owners, having temporary residents provides free security and qualifies them for a tax break. For “guardians,” it’s an affordable way to live in a central part of the city. “It opens up and unlocks spaces that people wouldn’t otherwise be able to afford,” says Lowe.
“London is a big city, but there is a high percentage of vacant space, and there’s also a high percentage of space that could be used much better[Photo: David Jensen]The concept of property guardianship began in the Netherlands and Germany and came to the UK in the early 2000s, where it quickly grew. But it hasn’t been well regulated, and conditions are often miserable. “The guardian industry, for too long, has basically felt that they’re doing guardians a favor because they’ve got somewhere cheap-ish to rent,” he says. “The conditions inside were not great.”
The startup worked with designers at Studio Bark to create a Shed, a simple, affordable structure that can go inside a larger space to create a bedroom and private living area for each guardian. It’s is now beginning to use the structures inside the buildings it works with. The kit takes a day to build, and was designed for non-experts, so guardians can construct the unit themselves. When the property is later developed for another use, each Shed can be disassembled and reused elsewhere. The next version of the design, in development now, will include private bathrooms and kitchens. (Today, there are shared kitchens and bathrooms available in the vacant buildings.)
The company tries to fit as many people as it comfortably can into each building to make the most use of space, while meeting safety standards; one building, for example, has 60 guardians inside. It currently works with 180 guardians, and is looking for more vacant space.
“London is a big city, but there is a high percentage of vacant space, and there’s also a high percentage of space that could be used much better . . . we’re about using space better,” he says. “We understand that we need more housing, but we also believe that there’s a lot of real estate at the moment which is underused and can perform much better.”
“A lot of the time, it’s about 50% below market rent.” [Photo: David Jensen]Rent varies depending on location and the individual building, but ranges from about £250 ($325) to £650 ($847). “It’s pretty cheap,” says Lowe. “A lot of the time, it’s about 50% below market rent.” Depending on individual contracts, the company can also be paid by the property owner for providing security service.
Lowe argues that having high-quality accommodations inside is also better for owners. “Our viewpoint is that if we have people who are happy and respect the space they’re in, the buildings get much better looked after,” he says.
Guardians have to move if the property owner decides to develop–ironically, the land is often used to build luxury housing. But the startup sees guardianship as a solution that can help at least temporarily as the government and market struggles to solve some of the underlying challenges causing the housing shortage.
“It’s not the solution,” he says. “We’re very pro-development, and pro building the right type of housing. I feel quite passionately that our generation–the millennial generation, or whatever you want to call it–has been cut off from that.”
Are you having trouble accessing your Google Docs? It’s because Google Drive appears to be down. People, of course, have taken toTwitter to announce/complain/etc. At 10:37 a.m. ET, Google wrote on its status page that it is “investigating reports of an issue with Google Drive. We will provide more information shortly. Google Drive is not loading files and results in a 500 error.”
So it’s not just you. Hopefully the problem will be resolved soon!
It was just weeks ago that residents of Texas and southwestern Louisiana were preparing for Hurricane Harvey’s impending arrival. Now the residents of Florida are awaiting Hurricane Irma’s landfall. As people take their own precautions–whether they intend to evacuate or ride it out–human resources professionals will need to manage their organizations’ emergency plans, keep employees updated with crucial information and support, and make sure business stays on track.
Natural disasters can arrive unexpectedly or with merely a few days’ notice. As a resident of Louisiana, I’ve lived through Hurricanes Katrina and Gustav as well as the catastrophic flooding that drenched Baton Rouge in 31 inches of rain last summer. As an HR professional I’ve learned lessons each and every time.
Fortunately, so have my colleagues. The other evening, a conversation sprang up on the HR Open Source Facebook group, where over 4,200 HR and recruiting professionals from over 50 countries gather to share their ideas and experience. The community is an excellent source for ideas and suggestions, especially when faced with events of this magnitude. Here’s a checklist organizations can use to prepare, based on our discussion this week.
Share Your Plans And Emergency Resources Early
In anticipation of a storm arriving, HR leaders are often responsible for setting up communication plans and sharing information so that individual employees can prepare. For starters, Ryan Lloyd, HR Business Partner with Cox Communications in Baton Rouge, suggests sharing the following resources to all who may be affected:
Angela Smith, HR Director for a global software development company with headquarters in Miami, says that her team “sent the usual checklists, evacuation shelter info, evacuation maps, and contact information for various resources.” But Smith also pointed out that resources for what to do with pets is always appreciated; PetMD offers some useful guidelines on that front.
Make Sure You Can Contact Employees, And Vice Versa
Lloyd pointed out that it’s critical to encourage employees to update their contact info in the organization’s system to ensure up-to-date phone numbers and other pertinent details are on hand.
Nathan B. Levoit, VP of People at First Direct Lending, is not in the path of Irma himself but does have a team in Miami, so he’s been busy pulling a communication plan together and getting items into the hands of employees. In addition to distributing a phone tree and access to an 800-number, Levoit has also overseen the addition of a page to the company’s website displaying information for affected employees. He says employees have also been encouraged to like or follow the company’s Facebook page for updates, and to mark themselves “safe” during the storm.
Plan For No Cell Service
While cell phone towers may go down and access to the internet or SMS capabilities may be affected, texting may provide one of the best options for staying in touch. Last week the Society for Human Resource Management ran an article highlighting the experiences of an HR leader in Houston before, during, and after Hurricane Harvey. Among other things, her team utilized an SMS instant-messaging system that allowed them to notify employees about operations and other pertinent details.
Avi Singer, CEO and founder of showd.me, learned some lessons during Hurricane Sandy; his preparation for that event included “ensuring key employees have wireless cards/extended batteries for internet access . . . getting support and backup in place from unaffected offices, and rescheduling interviews/meetings in advance.”
Extend Deadlines, Alert Vendors, And Pre-Schedule Remote Check-Ins
Business, of course, goes on in the rest of the world and deadlines still loom. Melissa Fairman, an HR professional in Cleveland, pointed out that “if you have any vendors outside the affected areas with employee deadlines you should start working with them to get an extension for employees.”
When she lived in another part of the country, in the path of a storm, Fairman’s organization worked with an out-of-state vendor that didn’t understand the need to extend the benefit open enrollment period due to a Category 1 hurricane. But, as Fairman successfully pointed out to the vendor, “no power or phones means people can’t sign up for benefits.”
I further suggest that leadership and operations teams pre-schedule call-in times and provide access to a conference line. In the aftermath of last year’s historic flooding in Baton Rouge, our operations team scheduled daily calls at 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. for leaders who were either back in the workplace or, in the case of quite a few, stranded at home by flood waters. The calls allowed us to effectively plan for business continuity and report on our efforts to check in with our 450 employees.
[Photo: TexasPixelPro/iStock]
Consider An Advance Payroll
Many of the activities HR teams will need to address in the immediate aftermath of a natural disaster will, in some instances, be things that have been prepared for ahead of time. As employees get back in touch additional needs will be identified, but access to payroll funds and cash, as well as a sense of job security, are often uppermost in the minds of staff members.
Franny Oxford, VP of HR for a privately held manufacturing company in Houston, has spent the last two weeks dealing with Hurricane Harvey and all that it brought to her city. In anticipation of the storm arriving, she proactively sent an HR staff member and a payroll staff member out of town to be sure payroll could be run even if the company’s building lost power. As Oxford pointed out, “that first paycheck after a storm like this is critical for employees.”
Levoit’s company, First Direct Lending, did a special payroll run so that automated clearinghouse (AHC) deposits of payroll checks occurred three days early so that employees could take out cash before Irma arrives later this week. Remember that if extreme power outages occur, not only will banks be closed but ATMs will probably not work either–cash is king!
Be Flexible With Attendance And PTO Policies
Employees who have been displaced from their homes or have evacuated entirely may be anxious about job continuity even as they’re struggling with basics like getting access to food, shelter, and clothing. Part of the communication prior to the weather event will ideally have provided employees with clarity around items such as pay continuity, use of PTO, or flexibility in the company’s attendance policies.
Levoit encouraged employees in Miami to put in leave requests, and his company has also discussed options around pay continuity internally. Dorothy Carter, a consultant with Clesi Burns, LLC, in Baton Rouge (where she relocated permanently from New Orleans as a result of Hurricane Katrina), suggested automatically posting/paying PTO for employees who remain out of contact for several days.
As employees return to work, whenever that may be, they’ll still be dealing with numerous aftereffects. Providing consideration for additional time-off without penalty will be important to employees who must keep appointments with insurance adjustors, rebuild their homes, or find new living arrangements; this time may be with or without pay as appropriate and in alignment with the Fair Labor Standards Act for employers in the U.S.
Distribute Supplies From Your Office
Depending upon the destruction and clean-up needs, employees may need access to supplies and materials. Levoit, Carter, and I have all found value in purchasing supplies and having them on hand for free distribution to employees; this could include mops, mold cleaner, buckets, gloves, masks, flashlights, batteries, battery operated fans, ice, and water.
In addition, Carter suggested providing supplies for employees who are caring for elderly parents or very young children, in which case diapers, formula, or Depends may be appreciated. Once the stores reopen the lines will be long, so if employees can make it to the workplace to acquire these supplies it will not only be a time-saver but also allow them to manage their cash flow.
Keep Providing Long-Term Support
Aaron Lintz, manager of recruiting software and systems at Snow Software in Florida, reminded us of the importance of making sure team members and their family members have access to the company’s Employee Assistance Program for ongoing support and to help people talk about stress, grief, or loss of any kind. We are, after all, in the business of HR–and that means remembering the people.
Robin Schooling is VP of human resources with Hollywood Casino in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. She writes her own HR blog and curates content at the Carnival of HR blog.
A version of this article originally appeared on HROS and is adapted with permission.
This morning, a lot of podcast hosts and execs had to leave their Casper mattresses, schedule their MailChimp newsletters, unplug from their Audible books, and pack up their Kind Bars for their annual upfront where they try to sell advertisers on the joys of podcasting.
It’s also where they pitch their shiny new projects. For instance: Midroll Media, the people behind Katie Couric’s podcast, just announced new partnerships with the NFL to bring all their fantasy football and game-time shows to the network and develop some new football podcasts.
Other tidbits:
Vox Media will be launching adaily news podcast on Midroll to compete with the New York Times’s and NPR’s daily news podcasts. It will launch in early 2018.
True-crime podcast My Favorite Murder is coming to Midroll, so fans can continue to feel bad for laughing as hosts Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark share their favorite grisly tales of murder.
Comedy Bang! Bang! regulars Lauren Lapkus and Jon Gabrus are launching a show called Raised by Television.
The Stuff Mom Never Told You creware getting the girl gang back together for Unladyliketo discuss women-centric topics.
The most exciting news, though is this: Snap Judgment host Glynn Washington—who was born and raised in a cult—is taking a look at the Heaven’s Gate cult and the biggest mass suicide in U.S. history. That will most likely be mandatory listening.
Washington is going to be busy, because Snap Judgment also got its own spin-off—WNYC announced Spooked, a new show featuring scary true stories of the supernatural. You can listen to the first two episodes now, but turn the lights way up and find a trusted adult to listen with you.
Every time students take a writing exercise on Quill.org–a writing instruction platform for schools–their responses are logged by computers and analyzed for patterns. Algorithms take account of every false word they type, every misplaced comma, every inappropriate conjunction, deepening a sense of where the nation’s kids are succeeding in sentence-construction and where they need extra help.
The algorithms substitute for human intervention. Instead of teachers having to correct errors late at night with a red pen, the system does it automatically, suggesting corrections and concepts on its own. The goal, says Peter Gault, who founded Quill three years ago, is to reach more students than traditional teaching methods, including those who need support the most. About 400,000 students in 2,000 schools have used the (mostly free) writing-instruction platform so far.
“With math, there is a clear process. You start with addition, subtraction and multiplication, then you move on to algebra, geometry. In the writing world, we don’t see that. ” [Image: courtesy Quill]Kids today write all the time, perhaps more than previous generations. Whether it’s texts to their friends, or posting on Facebook, they’re constantly hitting the keys one way or another. But all this composition doesn’t necessarily make for better writing, at least not in the formal, academic sense. Just 24% of 8th- and 12th-grade students are “proficient” writers according to the Department of Education’s “The Nation’s Report Card: Writing 2011,” published in 2012. Teachers often complain they lack professional development to teach writing well. And, there’s a widespread acceptance in education circles that writing instruction is less developed and successful than, say, math or science teaching.
“Teachers just don’t have enough time in the day to offer feedback on everything students write, and that becomes a huge blocker to students moving forward,” Gault says in an interview. “Using machine learning to detect these patterns really unlocks a lot of options that allow us to bring this to thousands, or millions, of additional students in the coming years.”
The New York-based startup trains its algorithms with about 200 responses to each exercise, submitted by its programmers (it has about 300 exercises so far). As the students offer up thousands of their own responses, the code is then able to detect patterns without additional human intervention. When it prompts students to correct their sentences, it does so based on the collective trial-and-error of thousands of other users of the service.
A typical exercise asks students to connect a series of ideas into a sentence, like the following:
Jackie Robinson had a strong mother. She taught him to be proud. He did not give up. He faced racism.
A decent answer might be: “Jackie Robinson did not give up when he faced racism because he had a strong mother who taught him to be proud.” It combines the ideas and it shows their relationship–that is, that Robinson’s attitude was forged during his upbringing.
[Image: courtesy Quill]A poor sentence might be, “Jackie Robinson who faced racism and did not give up, had a strong mother who taught him to be proud.” It combines the ideas but doesn’t show the links and encourage students think through the underlying concepts.
Students often use fragmentary or over-run sentences, or they’ll use “and” instead of more expressive conjunctions like “so,” or “but,” or “instead,” Gault says. Another exercise asks users to link up two phrases like “bats have wings” and “they can fly.” If they type “bats have wings and they can fly,” they’ll be told the sentence makes sense but that they can improve it with another word (“so” is a better choice). Then they’re asked to correct the punctuation (there should be a comma between the two clauses: “bats have wings, so they can fly”).
“A lot of schools don’t know how to teach writing,” Gault says, echoing what teachers themselves say. “With math, there is a clear process. You start with addition, subtraction, and multiplication, then you move on to algebra, geometry. In the writing world, we don’t see that. We often see [students] are taught in a haphazard manner.”
“We often see [students] are taught in a haphazard manner.” [Image: courtesy Quill]Quill is aimed at middle school students, though it’s used by high school and college students as well. It’s designed for in-class instruction in 10- or 15-minute chunks, with students working on their own lesson plans. Every session is personalized, so individuals only work on what they need help with (for example, prepositions, sentence structure, and punctuation). The basic package is free, though schools can pay for training and premium teacher dashboards. About 150 public schools have paid for annual $1,000 licenses so far. Quill is funded mostly by philanthropy, including from the AT&T Foundation and the Louis Calder Foundation.
Gault, a wiry and energetic entrepreneur in his mid-twenties, says he initially imagined a startup that encouraged low-income students to debate social issues and thus improve their critical thinking. But he soon realized many, particularly low-income students, are struggling with the “basic building blocks of language” and that he’d have to start at a more fundamental level. He talks quickly and excitedly about Quill’s mission. Sentences are just the beginning, he says. He wants to build the platform out so it can help students write whole paragraphs, and even thesis papers and news stories.
“We’re at a very early stage of educational technology. What it looks like now is the equivalent of movies in the 1920s. It’s silent black and white films. We can do a lot more to get many more people writing well, ultimately improving their ability to think clearly. There are 30 million low-income kids in the United States, and we want to make sure every one is a strong writer.”
Rag & Bone CEO and creative director Marcus Wainwright caused some ripples in the fashion community earlier this year when he announced that his fashion brand would nix future runway shows, including one of the industry’s crown jewels, New York Fashion Week.
“For a while now, I (along with what seems to be a lot of people!) have been questioning the effectiveness of the traditional fashion system, particularly for Rag & Bone. Coupled with everything that’s going on in the world today, it felt somewhat tone deaf to do a runway show or throw a huge event,” Wainwright said in a statement. “So while we are huge believers in NYFW, and in many ways have it to thank for so much, we are opting out of being on the calendar this season and instead are doing something that we feel is more relevant, impactful, and meaningful.”
And that “something” is a series of striking selfies.
In lieu of a traditional runway show featuring its spring/summer 2018 collection, Rag & Bone is offering individual appointments to press and industry, as well as a series of self-portraits from an array of models, actors, artists, etc. The retailer is also adding a philanthropic angle to the campaign by making a donation to whichever charity each participant chose to support, including Lupus Foundation of America, Earth Justice, and Open Door Foundation.
“Last season we focused on individuality, allowing friends of the brand to style themselves in the new collection,” Wainwright says. “For our spring season, we wanted to explore individual perspective as we feel that it is a relevant topic, both for our brand and in the context of all that is happening socially and politically around the world.”
Check out Rag & Bone’s alternative “runway” show in the slide show above.
Stories or still photos? That’s become an increasingly common question since Instagram introduced its Snapchat-imitating video feature. The ephemeral mobile viewing experience has grown rapidly since then–surpassing 250 million daily active users earlier this summer.
One result is that the number of badly shot mobile videos is proliferating, making it even harder to stand out and get noticed in feeds. Here are some of the things I have learned about effectively using Instagram Stories since it launched in 2016. These are tips and tricks I used while covering the nine-month battle for Mosul in Iraq for the Guardian, the Wall Street Journal, and Foreign Policy, among others. Some of this material is from presentations I’ve given at Instagram and Facebook as well.
There are countless ways to use the Instagram app, and my hope is that these 12 ideas will either help get you started or spark some creativity if you’re already using it.
Tip 1: Use your phone’s native camera for pictures or video. Don’t use the app’s camera. Video and pictures taken in Instagram’s app are lower resolution than what your camera shoots. You’ll also have more limited options for editing your video or pictures if you shoot directly from the app. The downside to this is that your phone will run out of storage more quickly and need to be backed up more often.
Tip 2: Download and save everything captured. Set Instagram to automatically download all your images and videos (under Stories settings “Save Shared Photos”). You’ll never know what you want to remember or how you might need to reuse what you’ve shot. This is especially important when dealing with newsworthy video or pictures–what you shoot during the day may be important evidence, and you might need it later. Save everything.
Tip 3: Shoot vertically. People hold their phones vertically when scrolling through their feed, and because of that are less likely to rotate it when they land on your story. If your video is horizontal, it could push viewers to skip over it and ignore your story altogether. Learn to shoot vertically, and adapt your material to viewer preferences.
Tip 4: Edit and upload at the end of the day. This is especially important if you’re working with a weak internet connection–maybe somewhere rural or remote. If uploads fail, they are likely to sequence out of order when you finally get to upload everything, and that can ruin a narrative story arc. To get around this problem, sequence everything at once when you get somewhere with a strong internet connection. Uploading all at once also allows your viewers to see everything together instead of flipping back and forth between chapters, or only seeing one slide without much context.
Tip 5: Keep your videos between five and 10 seconds in length. Less than five seconds of video is barely enough to show a situation, and anything longer than 10 seconds will most likely get swiped over. Use the iPhone’s edit feature to trim the video to find the best part of your clips. Shooting 15- to 20-second clips at a time will help you create enough video to sort through and shorten later.
Tip 6: Make your text short and to the point. Condense the text that accompanies your story as much as possible. Assume people using Instagram have about the same reading attention span that you do (no offense). Using that as a guide, you probably only have a few seconds to command someone’s attention, even if the content is riveting. Use short sentences. Avoid long paragraphs. Instead, let your text extend over a few slides in sequence.
Tip 7: Use the phone’s edit feature to crop your pictures. You phone’s screen and Stories dimensions are most likely 9-by-16, but those aren’t the photo dimensions if you shoot with your phone’s native camera. Crop your images before uploading them so you can select what part of the frame you want centered.
Tip 8: Upload old material by exporting from editing software with new metadata. Saving new files out of editors like Photoshop, iMovie, or Premier will trick Instagram into thinking they were taken the same day. This way you can show old photos or videos, or even build a story over a longer period of time to show a narrative evolution.
Tip 9: Set the scene. Think of how movie sequencing works: It starts with a wide opening shot that helps set the scene, and then moves into medium and detail shots to fill out the story as it get more intimate. One of the most common mistakes in shooting video and photo stories is to use a long sequence of medium shots without depth or detail–don’t make that mistake with your Instagram Stories.
Tip 10: Use editing software to add text over your images. Instagram has a limited number of font styles available, so if you want to get more creative, it’s best to edit your photos on another piece of software. This will take a bit more time and patience than just a quick upload at the end of the day, but it will pay off visually. If you’re good at graphic design, the 9-by-16 layout can be really fun to mess around with.
Tip 11: Place your font wisely. Don’t place anything too high or too low in the frame, because it will get cut off by the logos and decals in Instagram’s playback. Use blank space in the video or images–think sky or ground–to your advantage. Alternatively, shoot blank walls or other textures to create transition slides that help tell your story.
Tip 12: Use your friends, family, and colleagues as presenters (and tag them). It’s rarely just you with an iPhone these days; there are almost always other people engaging in the story. Ask the people around you to talk for a few seconds and describe your shared experience. This will make the story feel more relatable and more of an interaction than a one-way feed. Tagging shows you appreciate your community and friendship, but don’t overdo it all the time.
Cengiz Yar is an American documentary photographer based in northern Iraq who focuses on human displacement, religious and ethnic minorities, and the fight against the Islamic State. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram or view more of his work here.
An intractable political divide. Climate change. The nuclear threat from North Korea.
If you’re worried about the future, you certainly can be forgiven. Yet venture capitalist Albert Wenger, for his part, sounds awfully sanguine.
The reason: The spread of digital technology, he says, is going to “dramatically accelerate the knowledge loop” through which people learn new things, create solutions to major problems as a result, and then share their solutions with others who, in turn, will learn as well.
By “accelerating the knowledge loop, we can drive down the cost of a lot of physical things,” Wenger, a partner at Union Square Ventures, told me on the latest episode of my podcast, The Bottom Line.
“So, how do we drive down the cost of energy, for instance?” Wenger asks. “Well, we drive it down by creating . . . more powerful technology, like better solar cells. How do we get clean water to everybody? Well, we drive down the cost of filtering water. And we do that by having more knowledge.”
Albert Wenger [Photo: Flickr user Joi Ito]Wenger suggests that the shift from the industrial age we currently inhabit to a knowledge age promises to be as profound as when civilization moved from foraging to farming, or from the agrarian age to the industrial age.
But getting from here to there won’t happen automatically. As Wenger sees it, people will need “economic freedom” (which is why he’s advocating a universal basic income), “informational freedom” (in which individuals—and not big tech companies—control the flow of content and computation), and “psychological freedom” (so that we don’t become “prisoners of parts of the brain that simply crave another little information hit, a little dopamine hit”).
“We’ve sometimes forgotten how important knowledge is,” Wenger says. “We are not really encouraging a lot of curiosity. We’re not really encouraging knowledge as a thing that makes us distinctly human, but rather as an instrument of making money. And that, I think, will turn out to be a mistake.”
You can listen to my entire interview with Wenger here, as well as Robin Urevich reporting on Alaska’s version of a basic income, and Natalie Foster examining what the Affordable Care Act means for entrepreneurs.
As Texas cleans up from Hurricane Harvey, and Hurricane Irma bears down on Florida, MIT’s Technology Review just published a frightening reminder that basically no one is safe from flooding. Reassuring, right?
The gist of the article is that climate change has dramatically altered the floodplain, so guessing what will and will not flood is entirely that–a guess. The article pulls from research by the University of California, Davis, that compared FEMA’s flood-zone maps to Harvey’s actual flooding and found that “two-thirds of the inundation occurred outside the federal agency’s 100-year floodplains, where there should be only a 1% chance of flooding in any given year.” That’s not all: More than half of the deluge happened “outside of any mapped flood zone,” even including those increasingly common so-called 500-year floods, three of which have hit Houston in the last three years alone. Historical data is simply no longer accurate on its own when it comes to predicting storms and their devastating effects.
Back in 2015, President Obama issued an executive order that established new flood standards for federally funded projects that took into account climate change, but as Technology Review notes, President Trump rescinded that order. So we’re pretty much stuck with inaccurate historical data to predict flooding and prepare for it.
The only silver lining is that most insurance companies don’t seem to have updated their maps yet, and those of us who don’t live in those historical flood zones can still buy flood insurance relatively cheaply. Read the full article over at Technology Reviewwhile you’re on hold with your insurance company.
The company has announced a new “Clear Air Plan” for drivers in the United Kingdom’s capital, reports Engadget. Under the plan, Uber wants to see all drivers in London to be picking up passengers in fully electric vehicles in just eight years’ time. In order to achieve this, Uber is launching a “Clean Air Fund,” which will allow licensed Uber drivers to claim up to £5,000 (about $6,600) toward a new hybrid or electric vehicle. The company says it expects to pay out £150 million (almost $200 million) for this initiative over the fund’s lifetime. Uber has also announced plans to roll out Uber-branded rapid chargers for EVs in London so drivers don’t run out of juice when ferrying people around in all those EVs.
