Robots aren't taking our jobs, but artificial intelligence is making it easier than ever to do them.
"Amy" saves entrepreneur Gillian Morris about 43 productive hours a year.
Morris, the founder of Hitlist, a travel app that alerts users to cheap flights, has been using Amy, a virtual assistant from x.ai for about two years, to schedule meetings. To ask for Amy's help, Morris sends an email to the person or people she wants to meet with and copies Amy. From there, Amy takes Morris out of the email chain and handles the back and forth about dates and times.
Morris estimates Amy schedules about 10 meetings for her a week, and spares her from having to read or respond to any related emails herself. "That's time I can spend concentrating on my business and things that will have a better ROI," Morris says.
Despite concerns that artificial intelligence and robots will one day replace workers—a Pew survey found that 65% of Americans expect most jobs will be automated by 2065—several companies are using AI like Amy to increase productivity. Digital agents assist with information gathering and automated tasks such as scheduling meetings or answering customer questions and requests. While these sound like small tasks, the companies that use them are reporting greater employee productivity.
Amy[Image: courtesy of x.ai]
Artificial intelligence is enabling customer service agents at Cable and Wireless to help customers faster and with more accuracy. In the past, Alvin Stokes, Cable and Wireless's senior vice president for customer experience, says that customer service agents would need to have all the company's current customer policies and promotions memorized. They would have to sift through multiple databases looking for one piece of information about the customer at a time, processing this information while on the phone with the customer.
Now, instead of having five or six screens open on their desktop at one time looking for information that might answer the customer's question, the customer service representative works with a virtual agent to get the answers they need, Stokes says. The employee simply types or speaks the search terms, and the AI will locate and share the correct information. "It cuts down on the time it takes to get an answer and the information is more accurate," Stokes says. It also cuts down on the stress for call center employees, especially for new hires. "New employees don't have to memorize everything right out of the gate," he says.
If you've used Amazon Echo, Siri, or Cortana, you've used AI.
So while some employees might feel unsure about AI, they've often already used it in some form but didn't realize it, says Ed Boyd, vice president of Dell's experience design group. He says that while many consumers are hesitant about self-driving cars, self-driving features such as rearview cameras, parking sensors, and automatic breaking have been in use for a while. "It's just becoming more sophisticated," he says. The same is happening with our laptops, he says.
A common misconception about AI is imagining that it's a robot, but this type of AI doesn't take the form of a physical machine, says Fred Brown, founder & CEO of Next IT, the company that developed the AI used at Cable & Wireless, as well as for Amtrak and Alaska Airlines. The AI lives inside different devices and is accessed through the touchpad, microphone, or keyboard.
In fact, a previous Pew survey of over 1,800 workplace experts revealed that many believe their jobs could be made easier with the assistance of artificial intelligence.
The key to AI increasing employee productivity is for the technology to learn the employee's preferences, Brown says, not the other way around. "A human needs to train the AI so the technology does what you want it to," Brown says. For instance, he says, if AI is being used in a call center, it's important to listen in and review transcripts to make sure the AI is delivering a consistent experience day-to-day and week-to-week. If someone gave you a different answer each day, you wouldn't trust it, Brown says. The same is true of virtual agents. "They need to give a consistent answer and they need to develop trust," he says.
The U.S. Army has been using virtual agent SGT STAR to answer questions from soldiers and potential recruits for a decade, says Paul F. Denhup, chief of the experiential marketing division in the Army marketing and research group. SGT STAR has gotten better with age, Denhup says, and is now available to answer questions via goarmy.com, a downloadable app and on Facebook. "Through the algorithm and analysis of data streams, [SGT STAR's] gotten smarter and more accurate with his answers," Denhup says.
SGT STAR's data also has helped the Army with its forecasting and planning, and has enabled the Army to tweak its web pages to anticipate searches and questions that soldiers and potential recruits will ask.
"The more data you feed the AI, the better it works," Stokes says. "The more experiences the AI has, the better it can communicate and know how to handle customers in a more human way."
We spoke with Tony winner Andy Blankenbuehler about creating Broadway dance magic and living by Bob Fosse's "less is more" philosophy.
"I like to think of myself as a choreographer who can tell a story," says Andy Blankenbuehler.
Andy Blankenbuehler
At 46, the Cincinnati-born choreographer is one of the most successful storytellers on Broadway right now, having masterminded the movement for two wildly different shows: Hamilton and the revival of Cats, which opened at the Neil Simon Theatre in July. Blankenbuehler has been nominated for a Best Choreography Tony four times, and has walked away with the award twice, both for collaborations with writer-composer-actor-rapper (and and Fast Company Most Creative Person) Lin-Manuel Miranda (Hamilton and In the Heights).
We recently chatted with Blankenbuehler about his creative life.
How did you first get into the arts?
I grew up in Cincinnati. I remember doing art projects, and I would see such big ideas, but I would only be able to accomplish a draft of it. I always bit off more than I could chew. I remember in second grade, I made a circus, a Styrofoam block that was 2-feet-by-2-feet, with three rings and an elephant. I tried to do so much. People were coming in with 6-by-6 inch projects. Meanwhile, I grew up dancing. My sisters danced ahead of me, and from age 17 on, I was unstoppable, I just wanted to dance every day. I attended college briefly, but it wasn't for me, so I moved to New York.
With Hamilton, did you ever feel you bit off more than you could chew?
It's the biggest story I've ever told, and the most choreography I've ever done. Though I spent less time working on it than I did with Bring It On or In The Heights because Hamilton came to me so evolved already. So I never had to make mistakes on pieces of the show that were gonna get thrown out. The show became about, how can I apply everything I've learned not just in dance, but in life?
In life? What are some examples there?
Later in the show, the family themes. I have two kids, and while creating Hamilton, my daughter was fighting cancer. The whole second act has such resonance for me. It was hard for me to choreograph, it hit so close to home when Hamilton's son is dying. One of the most simplistic moments in the show is also one of my favorite moments, when Hamilton gets shot in the end. Two men slide next to him and row him across the Hudson. That hit me like a thunderbolt. I can always feel myself carrying my daughter to the hospital. So those things became less about the choreography and more about events that hit home. (Blankenbuehler's daughter has since recovered.)
I feel like one of the marks of a good craftsperson is knowing when to go minimalist.
"Less is more" was the mantra of Bob Fosse. For every one step in Hamilton, I probably cut eight steps. Only one makes the final cut. For the transition out of the opening number, I choreographed a 30-second transition for the entire ensemble. That 30-second transition is now one second long, a drum beat and a pose.
Did you have to go through the 30-second misadventure in order to arrive at the right answer?
I do personally. Not everyone does. I get part of the way there, then walk away from it, then bring an assistant in. Or I choreograph an idea, then bring in the people who dance hip hop better, and together we find it.
Georgina Pazcoguin in Cats
In Hamilton: The Revolution, Lin talks about how [his musical director] Alex Lacamoire runs away with idea after idea, and Lin has to say, "Wait, three ideas back—that was the winner."
Alex and I are similar that way. I go further than Alex. I overanalyze everything. It was a big learning curve for me when my daughter got sick. I realized I didn't have time in life to spend 10 hours on a decision. I started wearing all the same color clothes, to simplify my routines in life. And in the dance studio, I started trying to close my eyes, visualize my idea, and trust my first impulse.
Can you say more about trusting first impulses?
I was just thinking about Lin and Alex. Lin writes in Garageband [an elementary music application]—he does these down-and-dirty original demos. Then Alex adds crazy layering. With In the Heights, when I went to choreograph the song "Carnaval Del Barrio," I went back into Lin's original demo. The original impulse was important for me to follow. And I found in the demo, he did this thing with a grungy bass. The final version wasn't that grungy—Alex he had added layers on top of it. But after listening to the original impulse in the demo, I decided to make the step continue to be that grungy.
How was working on Cats different from Hamilton?
It's a world of difference, maybe the biggest challenge I've taken on in my career. I had strong recollections of the show from my youth, and I felt I should not change the DNA. What I wanted to do was go in, tighten it up, quicken it up. I also wanted to look at, how can the idea of character for these cats be more chiseled at? I wanted to dig deeper into their individualism.
What I noticed in your Cats was you have these scenes with 20 cat-people in a pack, but each is moving in a slightly different way.
There's a tribe energy about the play. But in today's culture, the idea is, let's be a community of individuals. I think that's what makes America beautiful, and the world beautiful. In the original show, there was a lot of unison to the choreography. I pulled away from some of those unison ideas. I wanted to force the eye a bit more, to make a focal point.
It seems hugely labor-intensive to choreograph 20 dancers slightly differently, versus just giving one set of instructions to a pack.
It's like that circus in the second grade. It's completely labor-intensive. You're choreographing 20 numbers instead of one number. It's a choice of mine, and sometimes it gets me into trouble, and I can't carry the ball across the line.
Memories! Leona Lewis in Cats
You also incorporate many dance styles in your choreography.
I used to beat my self up. I did a show with African dance, and I took three classes a day for six weeks. Now I don't do that. I just need to understand enough, then be open-minded enough to share with other people [who are collaborators and experts in that form of dance].
What's your process? How does your choreography evolve over the course of developing a show?
I video everything. With Hamilton, there were hundreds of hours of choreography that were never in the show. I might have 10 drafts of the same step. I'll pull up the videos, and video number one might have the correct step, but video two has the better hands. I usually have two assistants with me: We go back to the laptop, learn it off the laptop, and then that's what we teach to the dancer.
The original Cats choreographer Gillian Lynne was quoted about being unhappy about not choreographing the revival.
Gillian and I had a very long email exchange yesterday. We're on the same page and see eye-to-eye. She was hurt she wasn't in the room with us, but I felt like we needed the creative license to be in the room alone. That's got to be hard. I said to my wife, "What is it going to be like when Hamilton has the first major revival in 30 years?" My wife said, "I'm not letting you leave the house." I think that's probably hard for Gillian.
So she was hurt not to be in the room where it happened. But isn't the word wide enough for both Andy and Gillian?
I love that the world is wide enough for both of these artistic visions. Cats didn't become Andy Blankenbuehler's Cats, and it's not just Gillian Lynn's either. The world is wide enough for both our ideas to exist in the same show.
Including before a presidential debate, for example.
There's a paradox at the heart of off-the-cuff speaking: You can still prepare to appear spontaneous. It isn't just about faking it, though. It's about having a prepared mind. True, in many contexts, you can't decide in advance what you're going to say and how you're going to say it. Sometimes you're put on the spot unexpectedly. Other times, you know you'll need to speak, but the format doesn't allow you to show up with notes in hand and peek at them halfway through.
But neither situation simply forces you to wing it and hope for the best. With a little forethought, you can be prepared to go off script and still sound like you know what you're talking about—because you actually do. Here's how.
The first step to mastering impromptu speaking is simply to know what your message is. So even if you don't know what questions you'll face—or even if you didn't expect you'd have to face any—keeping a key set of talking points in your head can be a huge help no matter the situation. These should be pretty obvious to you; they're your most compelling ideas, the ones you're best qualified to speak on and those that people are generally most interested in hearing.
Mark Zuckerberg, for instance, is always "on message." He has one central message or vision: "connecting the world." You'll pretty much always hear him deliver variations on this theme, no matter the context—about how Facebook's mission is connecting the world, that the company is all about bringing people together, building a global community, and so on.
You may not have a single, pithy message that's appropriate for every situation, of course. And just rehearsing corporate catchphrases is never a smart move. But Facebook's "connecting people" message is ultimately the distillation of a wide range of ideas Zuckerberg is uniquely qualified to discuss in much greater nuance. Likewise, you can probably identify a handful of ideas or topics you're most likely and best equipped to address in professional settings.
So prepare to keep those on hand. Write down a set of key messages you can call upon when speaking spontaneously. Burn them into your mind so you can draw upon them every time you speak. They'll be the foundation of your many impromptu speaking scripts, which you can mentally reach for, even when you weren't expecting to have to.
Depending on the situation, you may have only a few minutes or even a few seconds. But no matter how long you've got, you'll need a structure to organize that message—to make sure it's delivered in a comprehensible and meaningful way, no matter the format or circumstances. Once you know your message, these four steps are easy to follow, even when you're speaking off the cuff.
1. Bridge to the audience. If you're in a meeting and about to bring a faltering discussion back on track, start with words like, "All of us have agreed that . . ." or "I'm on board with Bill and Amir's suggestion that we need to move forward" or even just, "To Jane's point . . ." Speaking spontaneously means establishing some sense of continuity, showing others that what you're about to say fits into the larger conversation. In short, this "bridge" shows you've been listening. And it's about finding common ground. So even if you're going to take issue with what's been said, don't say, "I disagree" or "On the contrary . . ." Instead, start with, "I can see why Pauline takes that approach. I see it a little differently."
2. Get to your main point. Once you've built a bridge, get straight to your message by framing it as something listeners can recognize as your message. You might begin with, "My point is . . ." or "I believe that . . ." or simply "Here's the thing. . ." Your main point should be one idea expressed in a single sentence. If you can't boil it down this far, it's a sign that your main point is probably several points, or none at all. For example: "My view is we should proceed with the project," or "Our firm is well-positioned to meet your needs." But a more complex message can often still fit into just one sentence: "If we're going to meet these goals as a team, we'll need to collaborate better."
3. Back up your message with evidence. There are different rhetorical structures you can use in order to organize the proof you give for your main point. These aren't exactly rocket science. For instance, "My first reason is . . ." or simply "First . . ." Then do the same for the other reasons. You can also add structure by weighing a handful of options, instead of points of proof. Say, "The first way we can . . ." and so on. You could also use chronology if your point is more of a narrative. This would sound something like, "At first . . ." "Next . . ." "Finally . . ."
4. Close with a call to action. Propose what your audience should do, or suggest what you and they will do together. This gives your message "legs." You might say, "So let's agree that this project is now going forward with our shared commitment." In a client pitch you might simply say, "We're really looking forward to an opportunity to work with you."
If these steps sound straightforward, it's because they are. The point is to keep the fundamentals in your head so you can call them up in any situation on the fly and adapt them as needed. The secret to great impromptu speaking is presenting compelling ideas clearly and succinctly. So you may not be able to prepare your actual remarks, but you can practice delivering them—even when you aren't expecting to.
Cyber threats to U.S. elections are real—and so is distrust in the federal government.
After hackers said to be linked to Russia stole data from voter registration systems in Arizona and Illinois earlier this year, the federal Department of Homeland Security offered digital security assistance to state and local election officials around the country.
In August, Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson also raised the possibility of declaring some election-related systems to be "critical infrastructure." Under an executive order issued by President Barack Obama in 2013, that would likely mean federal officials would work with local authorities to coordinate voluntary security standards for those systems.
So far, 21 states have reached to DHS for assistance, Johnson said in a statement released on Saturday. But some state officials and activists have expressed fears that even voluntary assistance programs and especially a future critical infrastructure designation could lead to unprecedented level of federal involvement in elections.
"This suggestion caught many elections officials by surprise and rightfully so," Georgia Secretary of State Brian Kemp told a Congressional subcommittee last week. "The administration of elections is a state responsibility. Moreover, this suggestion came from an agency completely unfamiliar with the elections space and raised the level of public concern beyond what was necessary."
Kemp and other state and local officials have expressed concern about federal officials setting standards about how elections are conducted. While Johnson has emphasized that taking assistance from DHS is voluntary, skeptics worry federal officials will ultimately set legal or de facto standards that states will feel compelled to follow.
"It's one thing if they want to make recommendations to the states on how to improve cybersecurity," says Hans von Spakovsky, a manager at the conservative Heritage Foundation's Election Law Reform Initiative and a former member of the Federal Election Commission. "It's quite another if they want to come in and dictate what states do, because that then brings the federal government into trying to run election administration, which is not a role given to the federal government. That's been done by the states throughout our entire history."
In terms of digital threats, security researchers have warned for years that some electronic voting machines are disturbingly easy to tamper with. Just last week, Princeton University computer science professor Andrew Appel again urged Congress to help phase out touchscreen machines that don't generate a backup paper record of ballots cast, making them especially vulnerable to tampering or accidental data loss.
But experts say it's unlikely that hackers could exploit bugs in voting machines to reliably sway a national election. Since the machines aren't internet-connected, that would require hackers surreptitiously getting physical access to large numbers of individual machines at precincts scattered across the country.
"What is more realistic is a smaller number of confirmed intrusions that maybe again aren't enough to change the outcome on the national level but are enough to undermine people's confidence in the results," says Julian Sanchez, a senior fellow at the libertarian-leaning Cato Institute who studies cybersecurity. "I think that's a more likely scenario."
Attackers looking to undermine confidence could steer clear of voting machines altogether, and focus their attacks on internet-enabled systems. That could mean entering false names into online registration systems or tampering with them to cause check-in delays and long lines at polling places, according to Joe Kiniry, CEO and chief scientist of Free & Fair, a company that develops open-source voting software.
"You don't even have to touch the voting machines," he says. "You just mess up the database."
Or, Kiniry says, attackers could interfere with online systems that publicize results after ballots are cast: Even if they can't actually change the official tallies and the right numbers ultimately make it to the public, they could still sow doubt among voters about the results.
In theory, DHS should be able to help local election authorities with limited tech resources to keep their systems more secure, providing services like digital vulnerability scans to agencies that request them and helping share information about known risks.
"They do offer that: You can contact DHS if you're an elections jurisdiction and they'll come and help you," says Pamela Smith, president of Verified Voting, which advocates for transparency and verifiability in election technology. "It's important to do vulnerability scanning or testing. If you haven't done anything like that or you're not even sure what that means because you didn't used to have know those things to be an election official, then [they're] here for you."
Verified Voting advocated for declaring voting equipment to be critical infrastructure back in 2013, when federal agencies sought public input on implementing Obama's cybersecurity order. The designation could help marshal more resources to protect elections, at a time when some local authorities lack the tech expertise needed to implement their own cybersecurity programs.
In a 2013 filing, Smith and others from the group wrote, "Given that large corporate entities, banks, government institutions, and others have experienced security breaches and sometimes sustained significant losses despite being well-resourced, it is unlikely that an under-resourced elections office, if targeted, would be able to evade similar breaches or even detect them in a timely manner."
But with trust in the federal government at near-historic lows, increased DHS involvement might not be the best way to address worries about vote tampering and legitimacy, Sanchez notes. And formally classifying election technology to be critical infrastructure, alongside the nation's dams, nuclear facilities, food supply, and other sectors, doesn't necessarily mean it'll be kept free from hackers. "Lots of things are designated critical infrastructure," Sanchez says. "It doesn't prevent those companies from getting hacked from time to time."
Forget tent dresses: Today's first-time moms put a premium on comfort and fashionably showing off their bump.
Maternity wear is a $2 billion domestic industry serving over 6 million American pregnant women each year, so why has it been treated like a stepchild for so long?
When Courtney Klein founded the modern maternity label Storq in 2013, she sought to bring maternity wear into the realm of high fashion. Frustrated by what she called "the black hole for good taste," Klein launched a line of soft, versatile basics in classic, minimalist styles that used high-quality fabrics, like stretchy modal jerseys in neutral colors, that can easily be layered into one's existing wardrobe.
Klein believes that women can be mothers without being fashion martyrs, a philosophy that resonated with frustrated consumers. Storq's sales are up 70% year-to-date, and the company intends to double their inventory in the coming year, extending into nursing and parenthood products.
"Women with a strong sense of personal style feel alienated by maternity and perceive the industry as a whole to be cheap and unfashionable," explained Klein of her desire to pursue well-made pieces at an accessible price point. "Why not design pieces just for them that look like the things they would normally buy for themselves? We wanted to create a genuine sense of value and prestige in purchasing pieces designed specifically for maternity."
Storq is one of many new brands livening up this once ignored clothing category. New online labels such as Hatch are rapidly growing, while established brands like ASOS and Topshop have successfully branched out into the maternity market. What used to be limited to a few players is now a battleground for multiple competitors reaching out to moms-to-be. Sales at former strongholds, traditional brick-and-mortar maternity stores, are down and expected to further decline. Destination Maternity, which accounts for 20% of the market, will close 25 to 30 stores in 2016.
Sales are declining, explained IBISWorld industry analyst Madeline Hurley, because retailers continue to be mass-focused, trying to meet the needs of too many. Meanwhile, online retailers catering to niche tastes are thriving in this market. The average age for first-time mothers is also rising gradually, which means women are more established in their careers by the time they pursue motherhood. That means they have more money to spend on fashionable maternity wear. "Women want to feel beautiful whether they're nine months pregnant or not," says Hurley.
]
Hatch is designed to be worn before, during and after pregnancy.
Actress Blake Lively donned designer labels like Gucci and Valentino while pregnant, with fashion magazines labeling her "one the most stylish pregnancies on record." Granted, the designer wardrobe was custom-tailored; nothing was off-the-rack, nor just a bigger size of a certain style.
"Basically, [celebrities] are wearing maternity clothing, even if they're not wearing maternity designers," says TV personality Rosie Pope, who launched her own maternity line in 2008.
Pope was the star of the former Bravo series Pregnant in Heels, which chronicled her adventures as a kind of "maternity concierge" for millionaire parents-to-be. The show's debut coincided with the time Hollywood stars became more invested in maternity wear, thereby inspiring fans to emulate red-carpet bumps. It prompted Pope to jump into the market herself.
"I was shocked at this major moment in life that celebrities and media had caught on to, but fashion hadn't; there was a big void," says Pope. "I lived in New York City, a place where you'd think you could find [stylish maternity clothes], but there was still really nothing to wear."
Pope realized maternity lacked competition. Her line offers styles of the moment: cinch dresses, body-con silhouettes, and leggings in knit performance fabrics. "If the off-the shoulder [trend] is happening in fashion, you should be able to get that in maternity," stressed Pope. "We're giving people the fashion that they want but in the shapes that fit them. If she's pregnant or not, she wants what's on the runway."
Rosie Pope Maternity is available on its online channel as well as in mass retailers like Amazon.com, BuyBuy Baby, and Nordstrom. It's one of fastest growing maternity brands, accounting for 1.1% market share. IBISWorld estimates it will reach over $20 in revenue in 2016.
Pope contributes her success to women celebrating their bodies, no longer hiding their growing shape underneath billowy dresses of decades past. "I see women being nicer to themselves than they ever have before," says Pope. "I think finding maternity clothes that give you confidence and that ability to treat yourself and feel good about this stage is a really beautiful thing. It's important for women."
Seraphine is another company catering toward fashion forward proto-moms. Celebrities like Olivia Wilde and Mila Kunis, as well as all three Swedish princesses, are big fans of the label, which features wrap dresses in bright prints, chic wool coats in cool pastels, and polka dot capris."With so many high-profile pregnancies in the press in recent years, and of course the rise of the mommy blogger, women are becoming more and more confident about showing off their curves," Seraphine founder Cecile Reinaud says of young moms who similarly want form-fitting ensembles. "Women are no longer content to settle for shapeless tent dresses, so designers have upped their game to meet demand."
The celebrity influence is a strong one: After Duchess Kate wore a fuschia-colored Seraphine dress for the first royal family portrait with Prince George in 2013, the company sold 20,000 units of the style (after the website, which initially crashed, was up and running again).
"Over the past three years, we've built on that initial boost to expand our reach into new territories and to secure our place as an industry-leading maternity wear retailer," explained Reinaud. The company has grown 25% over the last year and will now expand into areas such as Dubai. "Having such an impressive celebrity following definitely bolsters both sales and brand recognition—especially in the States, where many of our celebrity clients are based."
The current collection of Seraphine, favored by celebrities like Duchess Kate.
The average age of first birth has increased from 24.9 in 2000 to 26.3 in 2014, according to the latest date by the CDC. That makes many first-time moms millennials more willing to purchase premium-level clothing.
"The whole idea of maternity wear is really changing with this generation of millennial parents and what they're willing to spend to look stylish and feel comfortable throughout their pregnancy," says Julia Wang, director of digital content for TheBump.com. Her readers invest in staples pieces like a maternity bra or black pants, but also want items that mirror their current fashion taste.
"They're looking for silhouettes that they're already wearing," rather than conforming their style to accommodate their growing form, she says. Some companies successfully meld trends with more forgiving cuts. She cites the current collaboration between Hatch and designer Current/Elliott as a prime example of a collaboration that fulfills a younger generation's interest in sticking to accustomed fashion.
Millennials have strong brand loyalty, so it makes sense companies cater to their lifestyle needs, not only in terms of style but also the shopping experience, like points programs or free shipping and returns. Engaging with consumers during pregnancy fosters a strong relationship with brands, one that continues once they're done with their pregnancy.
That's why Storq extended into nursing-wear and diaper bags last season. Storq customers, following their births, requested the startup tackle their next hurdle: parenthood.
"There are these certain crucial moments in your life where if you make a connection with a brand, then you're much more likely to keep that connection," explained Klein. "It's such a formative time in your life.... if you have a great experience with brand during those moments, it sticks with you."
Bigger retailers quickly adopted the pattern. Topshop, H&M, The Gap, and more mainstream fashion companies further invested in their maternity offerings, giving consumers what they're accustomed to pre-pregnancy.
As Wang says, "It's a win for the consumer and the brand."
Fast-fashion retailer ASOS, for example, made trendy styles—skater dresses in bright prints, clingy tops with strategic cut-outs, and stretchy jumpsuits—available in maternity sizes.
"Many more brands now offer maternity ranges, which has meant the customer has more on offer but we have managed to continue to grow by ensuring that we always have the newest styles as well as pieces for every occasion at an affordable price point," says Eef Vicca, ASOS senior director of fashion.
Preparing for parenthood is an expensive endeavor, and first-time parents weigh costs, especially when it comes to clothing with a foreseeable end date.
"The baby industrial complex is amazingly strong at making people feel like they have to have all this stuff," says Storq's Klein, whose company tackles such anxiety by pushing basics that can be worn from start to finish throughout one's pregnancy. Klein observes women struggling to justify spending money on themselves when an avalanche of stuff has yet to be bought for the baby's room. There's also the inner calculus of cost-per-wear, which is only amplified when buying clothes to wear for a finite time. It's why the company sells direct to consumer: to reduce costs.
"We've found that by working outside of the seasonal wholesale model, it is possible to make nice things at a reasonable cost," says Klein. "Going direct to consumer gives us an important degree of flexibility in how and when we get things made. We also make every effort to ensure that what we produce is truly essential."
Some companies make clothes designed to go even beyond the nine months, making an even larger claim for cost-per-wear. Hatch was launched in 2011 as a collection of wardrobe essentials intended for wear before, during, and after pregnancy. It features items ranging from button-down shirts to trendy faux leather leggings.
"I believe that a woman's style should be a continuum," says Hatch founder and CEO Ariane Goldman of her line's duality. "You should feel like yourself and comfortable in your wardrobe through all of life's stages, whether during pregnancy or just as your body changes." Hatch has grown 45% season-over-season, and 30% of their customers aren't even pregnant. Goldman sees the growth as a testament to women wanting their specific style of clothing, instead of clothing that feels "maternity-only."
Like Storq, Hatch wants to shift perceptions, to enable women to feel good about purchasing quality maternity pieces rather than buy pieces that are poorly made and disposable. "Women are investing in a handful of versatile items," confirms Goldman.
Storq founder Courtney Klein models her line's caftans, meant to extend for numerous months in one's pregnancy.
The brand Isabella Oliver also markets itself as a pre-, during-, and post-pregnancy line. Launched 13 years ago, it was handpicked by Hollywood A-listers like Gwen Stefani and Halle Berry, although only during their pregnancies. The brand focuses on comfortable core classics, within a few seasonal trendy items thrown in.
"[Maternity] is all about comfort," says Baukjen de Swaan Arons, creative director at Isabella Oliver, who has seen a huge uptick in the brand's athleisure-wear section. "Comfort is key to every style that we design: we incorporate hidden techniques and design details like internal shelf bras, bra strap loops, all the little details that make a big difference."
Comfort was not always at the forefront of maternity wear. Today's leading brands better incorporate top fabrics as well as reconsider the positioning of elastics, side zippers, and tags that could irritate the body. "It's no longer polyester and flammable materials: These are really comfortable, soft materials that you would want against your skin," TheBump.com's Julia Wang says.
"Customers want clothing that is stylish, that feel comfortable, and that won't break the bank," says Wang, "and many brands are delivering on all three of those."
Despite all of the new brands in maternity, there's still room for more competitors. "There always will be women that will need maternity clothing," says IBISWorld's Hurley. "[Companies] should definitely try to establish their market better—either go for the fast-fashion type model or more upscale and downsize their stores, trying to expand their online presence."
These labels—and new ones—just need to find the next black hole in need of sartorial help. With this niche-serving market, moms-to-be won't dread what was once a painful chore. As Rosie Pope remarked, "People are now excited to go maternity shopping."
The way someone chooses to leave their job can serve as a "diagnostic tool" for the company.
Whether you give your employer appropriate notice and thank them for their leadership, or quit in a rage never to be heard from again, the way in which you choose to resign can reveal a lot about you, your employer, and the work environment.
Anthony Klotz, an assistant professor in the College of Business at Oregon State University, studies the ways people leave their jobs. He recently found that the way that as many as 48.9% of employees quit their jobs was received positively by employers, but the majority was not. Another 36.2% quit in a way that was perceived as negative, but not necessarily damaging to the employer, and 14.9% chose to resign using a method that could potentially inflict damage.
"For much of employees' work lives, they possess relatively little power and control over their situation at work. However, once employees decide to leave, that power balance shifts," Klotz says. "As such, the resignation is one of the few times that employees are free to express themselves without fearing termination," he adds, suggesting that employers consider the way in which employees resign as a "diagnostic tool" for measuring employee satisfaction.
Saying Goodbye: The Nature, Causes, And Consequences Of Employee Resignation Styles[Screenshots: courtesy of Anthony Klotz]
The study, which was recently published in the Journal of Applied Psychology, was conducted in four parts. The first two interviewed 53 MBA students who had recently quit their jobs and 202 supervisors who had overseen a resignation within the previous three months. The third study asked 240 former employees how their thoughts and feelings toward their former employer informed their decision on how to resign, and the final study of nearly 500 managers explored how they responded to various resignation styles and scenarios.
In his initial studies Klotz found that there were seven common ways in which people resign, listed in order of their frequency:
By the book (31%). These resignations involve a face-to-face meeting with one's manager to announce the resignation, a standard notice period, and an explanation of the reason for quitting. Perfunctory (23.5%). These resignations are similar to "by the book" resignations, except the meeting tends to be shorter and the reason for quitting is not provided. Avoidant (12.7%). This occurs when employees let other employees such as peers, mentors, or human resources representatives know that they plan to leave rather than giving notice to their immediate boss. Grateful goodbye (10%). Employees express gratitude toward their employer and often offer to help with the transition period. Bridge burning (8.6%). In this resignation style, employees seek to harm the organization or its members on their way out the door, often with verbal assaults. In the loop (7.9%). In these resignations, employees typically confide in their manager that they are contemplating quitting, or are looking for another job, before formally resigning. Impulsive quitting (6.3%). Some employees simply walk off the job, never to return or communicate with their employer again. This can leave the organization in quite a lurch, given it is the only style in which no notice is provided.
Klotz explains that while the perfunctory and avoidant methods still allow the organization to fill a talent gap, managers generally view it as negative method of resignation, as they are kept in the dark about the employee's reasons for quitting. In total, less than half of all employees quit in a manner that is viewed positively by managers, while more than 51% choose a method that is perceived as negative.
Saying Goodbye: The Nature, Causes, And Consequences Of Employee Resignation Styles[Screenshots: courtesy of Anthony Klotz]
Unsurprisingly, Klotz found that workers who felt their employer had treated them fairly were more likely to resign in a positive way, while those who reported having a negative experience were more likely to choose a harsher resignation style.
"If they see a rash of negative resignations, it is a signal that employees are being treated poorly, and they should investigate and find the cause," he says. However, Klotz notes, "When a company notices that in general their employees leave in a positive and grateful manner, they can take that as one sign that employees feel like they are treated relatively well."
In his previous roles as both a manager and an employee, Klotz admits it was difficult to determine how best to resign, or how to feel about those who submitted their resignation to him. "I couldn't discuss it with many people because I wanted it to remain confidential," he says. This understandable lack of transparency around resigning can often lead to confusion on how to choose the appropriate method.
Klotz encourages managers and HR professionals to investigate how their employees chose their method of resignation, and what it says about the organization as a whole. In his own research Klotz found that management is quick to chalk up a negative departure to a bad apple, but it's rarely that simple. He says, "What our results suggest is that employees who resign in these negative ways often do so in response to being treated unfairly by their organization or being abused by their supervisor."
Take it from Scott and Mark Kelly, two guys who know the real meaning of "moonshot."
"As kids, we did not do well in school. We had no goals to speak of. We had no direction."
Scott Kelly and Mark Kelly, the "coolest brothers on the planet," have come a long way since those early days in New Jersey. Scott spent one year on board the International Space Station and returned this March, while his brother Mark—who has already completed four space missions—remained on the ground. As such, the twins have been the subjects of a comparative study of the effects of space on the human body. Mark Kelly is also the husband of former Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, who was shot in Tucson in 2011 during a meet-and-greet event in front of a local supermarket.
Wearing identical teal NASA bomber jackets, the world's only sibling astronauts took turns poking fun at each other and shared inspirational stories from their days on the ground, in the air as Naval fighter pilots, and in outer space in a crowded ballroom at the Dreamforce Salesforce conference in San Francisco yesterday. Here are a few of the lessons gleaned from their banter.
Mark: In the 1970s, our mom wanted to be a police officer. In order to pass the physical fitness test, she had to climb a seven-foot-two-inch wall. To help our mother out, dad built a replica for her in the backyard. She went out there every night after dinner. Initially, she couldn't even reach over the top of this thing. And when she did, she would fall off into the dirt. After months of practice, she was able to take her test, and instead of the required nine seconds, she was over in four and a half. She was one of the first female police officers in our part of New Jersey. This was the first time in our lives we saw the power of having a goal and a plan and what it meant to work really, really hard.
Scott: For the first 13 years of my life, I was not paying attention in the classroom. If I were a kid today, I would be probably diagnosed with ADD or ADHD. One day in college, I went to the bookstore on campus, and I saw a book about fighter pilots. It was The Right Stuff by Tom Wolfe. I was fascinated and read stories about these test pilots, and I saw traits in these guys that I felt I had in myself despite being an 18-year-old kid definitely on a path to nowhere. I decided then and there that I would be like these guys. I wasn't sure how I was going to do it. The book was the spark for me to get moving in the right direction. I remembered what my mother taught us, that with a goal and plan and in small steps, you can do it. And these tiny steps all along the way became a giant leap from where I was—an 18-year-old kid who couldn't even do his homework—to where I was at the end of my career.
Mark: Life is a set of challenges. In the summer of 1990, Saddam Hussein was invading Kuwait. I was a fighter pilot, and we were carrying eight 1,000-pound bombs ready to drop them in an airfield in southern Iraq. I saw bullets coming at us. We had to go through an area with surface-air missiles. One of the worst feelings was seeing the missile coming at us getting bigger. I immediately said to Paul, my navigator, "I think a missile tracking on us." His only comment to me was, "Roger, I am tracking the target." I could not be any more impressed at his focus. He was compartmentalizing. To have success in that environment, you need to have compartmentalization and teamwork. Focus on the stuff you can control.
Scott: In 2007, I was halfway in a six-month mission in a space station. Ground control called me to say they were privatizing the call. I was told my sister-in-law Gabi was shot. I quickly got on the phone and talked to my brother in space, and I lost contact with him. I tried to support him as best I could, but nothing was going to bring me home. I had several months ahead in the space station in front of me. I realized could do nothing. I still had to focus on my job and being the commander of the space station, I had to operate the systems. I had to control what I could control, and ignore what I couldn't, which was this huge tragedy.
Scott: I launched the space shuttle at night my first time. Of the two thousand switches and circuit breakers, if you press a button at the wrong time, you can blow up the vehicle, yourself, and your fellow crew members. I have to think to myself that nothing is more important than what I am doing right now when I am taking an action that has such critical consequences. That applies to other industries as well.
Mark: In flight school, the Navy sent me to fly out in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean to make a touch-and-go landing on an aircraft carrier. That night I was debriefed by instructor who said, 'Are you sure this career is for you?' I did not do well. I think Tom Cruise [in his role as a naval aviator in Top Gun] would have done better landing on that ship than I did. I did not give up. I believe how good you are at the beginning is not an indicator of how good you can become. I am a prime example of someone who was able to overcome a lack of aptitude with three things: practice, persistence, and not giving up.
Scott: I was assigned to fly an F-14 Tomcat, and I was taking it to a ship for the first time, getting ready to land on what looked like a postage stamp in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. I landed so short, the tail hook hit the back of the aircraft carrier, and I almost crashed. If you cannot do this in the day when it is supposed to be easy, how can you do it at night?
Over the course of the next couple of months, I had to dig down deep inside to see if this was something I was capable of doing. Eventually, the Navy hooked me up with a radar intercept officer who recognized that while I could maintain course and altitude and air speed just fine in the day, my problem was I was too complacent when things were just right. By not making constant corrections, things would get worse. I learned never be comfortable with the status quo whether it be flying an airplane or a spaceship, or managing a program. Very small, constant corrections have always been required to make things better.
Mark: When we put a team together on these space shuttle missions, we do so two or three years in advance. As commander, I get a little bit of a say on who I want as my other crew members. There are certain things I like in individuals. I want people who lean forward and take risks. My biggest pet peeves are the yes-men, the yes-women. I tell the crew they are required to question my decisions. It's not optional. If we should do something differently when it comes to mission success or safety, tell me about it, we will do it together.
Scott: We are leaving the space station for last time, and we undock, I am considering this achievement. This partnership had 15 different countries and languages and engineering standards. We traveled 17,500 miles an hour in a vacuum. In extremes we experienced temperatures of 270 degrees plus and minus. We attached these modules never connected together before. This was the hardest thing we have ever done as a species. If we can build a space station and operate it safely for the last 16 years, we can do anything. If we choose to go to Mars, we can go to Mars. If we decide we want to cure cancer and put the resources behind it, we can cure cancer. If we want to fix problems with the environment or fix fiscal problems here in our country or others, we can do that too.
Whatever challenges you face in your industry whatever they may be, you can meet those challenges and fix them. You can dream it and you can do it if you have a goal, if you have a plan, if you are willing to take risks and make mistakes.
Mark: The best thing about this career is that it is really hard. Flying in space is hard. Choose to do the hard things because there is value in doing the hard stuff. The greatest gift we can give to our children and grandchildren is to continue to do those very hard things.
We can choose to do the hard thing, and if we do that, the sky is not the limit.
The smartwatch pioneer's new take on its original model is slimmer, more fitness-centric, and better at supporting iPhones.
Eric Migicovsky isn't shy about calling the Pebble 2 a pivot.
The CEO of Pebble, who once fancied his company's smartwatches as underdogs in a fight against Apple, is now picking a different target. The sportier Pebble 2, he says, is supposed to compete not with the Apple Watch, but with dedicated fitness trackers such as Fitbit.
Here's the elevator pitch: The Pebble 2 does step counting, sleep tracking, and heart-rate monitoring for $20 less than a Fitbit Charge 2. But it's also a full-blown smartwatch, with a black-and-white display for notifications, customizable watch faces, and lightweight third-party apps. (It's coming to Walmart and Amazon later this month, followed by Best Buy, Target, and Pebble.com in November.)
"It's really doubling down on what we think are the critical things smartwatches need to do on a daily basis, which are health and fitness, as well as notifications and time management." Migicovsky says.
Photo courtesy of Pebble
Full disclosure: As someone who's used smartwatches for the past few years—starting with ]the original Pebble in 2013—I think of fitness tracking as a nice-to-have feature rather than a core component. I'm more interested in notifications and quick actions, and have always found Pebble to be more efficient on those counts than other smartwatches, including the Apple Watch. (I've been wearing a Pebble Time Steel for much of the last year.) Still, I understand that health and fitness is currently the low-hanging fruit of the wearable market, which even Apple has acknowledged in its marketing of the Apple Watch Series 2.
The last year hasn't been easy for Pebble, which laid off a quarter of its staff in March, but the newfound focus may be company's best chance to become a sustainable business. To that end, Pebble's pivot to health and fitness doesn't quite feel complete, as the Pebble 2 may be too large for some wrists, and lacks some of Fitbit's social features. But with its rich notifications and ability to run apps, it's undeniably a better smartphone companion than a Fitbit, which makes it a contender for those who don't want to buy a fitness tracker that's only a fitness tracker.
With wearables, even slight reductions in size can make a big difference in perception, and the Pebble 2 is the perfect example.
In actual measurements, the Pebble 2's body is only about 3 mm narrower and about 3.5 mm shorter than the original Pebble. It's also roughly 2 mm thinner if you don't count the Pebble 2's protruding heart-rate sensor on the underside. (Laid flat, the two devices have nearly the same thickness.)
But after opening up the box, I was shocked by how small the smartwatch looks compared to the original. In shaving off a couple millimeters here and there, the Pebble 2 seems far less bulky. My wrists are pretty skinny, yet I didn't feel overly self-conscious wearing the Pebble 2 like I used to with the original.
The Pebble 2 (left) and original Pebble
Not everyone will feel the same way, as the Pebble 2 is still much longer than it is wide. My wife, upon trying the Pebble 2, said it was "huge" on her wrist, adding that she found the style so off-putting that she wouldn't even consider wearing the watch. Compared to a Fitbit, Pebble's size is inherently compromised by its display and smartwatch innards.
This is not an unsolvable problem for Pebble. Last year, the company released a round smartwatch that was much thinner than previous Pebbles, and any other smartwatch for that matter. The Pebble Time Round didn't have the same battery life—lasting about two days on a charge instead of one week—and wasn't sufficiently water-resistant for swimming, but it was stylish enough for even the smallest wrists.
Migicovsky won't comment on whether Pebble is working on a sequel to the Pebble Time Round, but he promises the company will always offer watches in multiple screen sizes and shapes. (The Pebble Time 2, a larger-screened follow-up to last year's Pebble Time Steel, is coming later this year, with a heart-rate sensor and rubberized strap instead of leather to emphasize the new fitness focus.)
"I think one of the lessons that we've learned is you need to have variation, pretty simply because people have different wrist sizes," Migicovsky says.
Pebble didn't pivot toward health and fitness overnight. Since last year, the company has been building up its own health features, rather than relying on third-party tracking apps from Misfit, Jawbone, and others. Out of the box, the Pebble 2 counts steps, detects exercise, and automatically measures light and deep sleep.
The Pebble 2's heart-rate sensor
Most of those features are also available in last year's Pebble Time watches, but the Pebble 2 is the first to include a heart-rate sensor. At the moment, the sensor can check your pulse throughout the day and help you reach a target heart rate during exercise, but over time, Pebble plans to add new uses and tap into heart rate to improve overall health tracking accuracy.
Compared to Fitbit, Migicovsky says Pebble 2's big advantage is that it can provide more fitness information without a smartphone. For instance, you can view a full week's history and averages, or keep an eye on workout times and heart rate simultaneously. The Pebble 2 also provides occasional words of encouragement to help you overtake your averages.
There's just one big fitness tracking feature that the Pebble 2 is missing compared to Fitbit and the Apple Watch, and that's the ability to share stats and accomplishments with others. Migicovsky counters that you can sync your data to Apple Health or Google Fit, which in turn allow sharing through services like Runkeeper and Strava, but that's a roundabout solution, and it robs Pebble of any potential network effects that might be gained from built-in sharing. Pebble will need to come up with something more seamless.
Just because Pebble has focused on fitness doesn't means the company is ignoring smartwatch basics. Over the past year, the company has vastly improved its smartwatch platform through a series of software updates.
Pebble still uses push buttons instead of a touch screen or fancy knobs, both for better and for worse. Buttons have the advantage of being precise and predictable. Pressing the down button shows my upcoming calendar appointments, and holding the back button turns off vibration alerts. I've set a shortcut to launch music controls by holding the down button, which means I can control my phone's playback without even looking at the watch. On the downside, scrolling through emails and menus can take a while.
With the Pebble 4.0 software, you can now assign app shortcuts to all four of those buttons. The app menu has also been streamlined, showing more items on the screen and providing bits of glanceable information such as battery life and weather. Watch faces can now integrate health data, and pressing the up button lets you scroll through health stats.
Pebble has also become more useful when it's paired to an iPhone. AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile users can send and respond to text messages by voice or with canned text. Gmail users on iPhone can also take action on incoming e-mails, with the ability to reply, delete, archive, and mark as read. Migicovsky says Pebble is now looking to expand actionable notifications from an iPhone, bringing the experience closer to that of Android. (Because of Android's open nature, Pebble is able to support full actionable notifications, mirroring what's available on the phone.)
"Now that we've built that functionality, we're going to take the show on the road," says Migicovsky of the improved iOS support. "Anything that has an open API, we can target."
And while Pebble doesn't get much support from big-name app developers these days, the company is still investing in its ecosystem. Pebble recently started supporting app development done entirely JavaScript, a core technology for web applications, rather than C. Migicovsky describes this as a "major change" that makes the platform accessible to millions of web developers.
"Now that it's out there, we see hackers being able to write an app in five minutes," he says.
The smartwatch market hasn't been kind to anyone but Apple, which dominates smartwatch shipments according to both IDC and Strategy Analytics. Instead of fighting over the scraps, it makes sense for Pebble to start attacking Fitbit, which still sells more wearables than anyone.
The upcoming Pebble Core
Still, wrist-worn devices aren't the only bet that Pebble is placing. During a Kickstarter campaign for the Pebble 2 and Pebble Time 2, the company announced a third product called the Pebble Core, due out next year. The keychain-sized device won't have a screen, but will pack Wi-Fi and a micro-SIM for 3G connectivity, along with GPS for run tracking and emergency alerts.
Migicovsky sees the Core as an anchor point for a post-smartphone era, in which we might load our bodies up with smartwatches, augmented reality glasses, connected headphones, and sensor-packed clothing. The Pebble Core could provide a data connection and additional processing power to all of these wearables.
"Right now, everything's centralized around your phone. There's going to be a little bit of divergence," Migicovsky says.
Even as Pebble thinks about new sorts of gizmos, its minimalist perspective on smartwatches—that they shouldn't be a full-blown smartphone on your wrist—remains unique among the many companies who've entered the market. Whatever the future holds for the company, that's a perspective worth having.
Collectibles, comics, clothing, and toys make up nearly one-third of Microsoft's Halo business. How much bigger can the non-gaming side get?
When Bonnie Ross became Microsoft's head of all things Halo nine years ago, she wasn't just thinking about video games.
Ross wanted Halo to endure over decades, and so she studied other entertainment franchises with a geeky bent—Batman, Pokémon, Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, and above all, Star Wars—to understand how they achieved longevity. The common thread was that they all became less dependent on their core medium for revenue.
"A lot of their initial businesses, what was the core business at the beginning, changed to a different business," Ross says. "And a lot of it was consumer products."
"Consumer products," in this case, is business jargon for everything in the Halo universe besides the wildly popular video games. It includes toys, T-shirts, novels, comics, full-scale replicas, and—for lack of a better term—tchotchkes. Ross, a corporate vice president at Microsoft and the leader of Halo developer 343 Industries, oversees both the gaming and non-gaming sides of the business, which operate out of the same studio in Redmond, Washington.
Bonnie Ross
In recent years, the earnings disparity between those two sides has shrunk. Since the first Halo game launched in 2001, the franchise has brought in $5 billion. Roughly 30% of that revenue, or $1.5 billion, has come from consumer products.
In an interview, Ross says the studio has looked at how to turn the non-gaming side of Halo into the larger piece of the pie.
"As we launch a game, and our game is doing well, our consumer products business rides on that coattail, so we're not at the point where our consumer products business is leading our business," Ross says. "But if you look at some of the biggest franchises, consumer products are where they get the lion's share of the money."
The idea of blockbuster entertainment franchises making most of their money on licensed products is hardly new. Last year, Fortune estimated that the Star Wars films—including home and box office sales—only accounted for about $13.05 billion of the franchise's $41.98 billion lifetime earnings. Merchandising alone has been a bigger moneymaker than the movies, bringing in $17 billion in 1977. (Mel Brooks was right all along.)
But while media giants like Disney have demonstrated how to turn movies and comic books into merchandising powerhouses, no such blueprint exists in the gaming world. Nintendo has one of gaming's most recognizable faces in Mario, yet only 1% of the company's 2015 revenue came from licensing, Reuters reports. Rovio Entertainment's Angry Birds is notorious for its glut of licensed goods, but even during its heyday four years ago, most of the money came from games. (The Angry Birds movie may tip the scales, but only because Rovio's revenue has cratered in recent years.)
Ross envisions Halo becoming more like those blockbuster movie franchises. Even if gaming is the core business, consumer products are a broader sign of franchise strength, helping to fuel a rabid fan base in between major releases. In the past, she's compared Halo to Star Wars, and doesn't shy from that comparison now.
"When I look at having Star Wars as an aspirational target, it's how we all felt the first time we saw that Star Wars movie, and how that universe, and any story you want to tell in that universe, is worth listening to," Ross says.
In essence, consumer products aren't just about making money. They're about making sure people never stop thinking about Halo, even when there's no new game to play.
Keep in mind that in the broader entertainment world, Halo's $1.5 billion lifetime consumer product revenue barely registers as a blip, says Lutz Muller, a toy industry expert who runs a consulting firm, Klosters Trading Corporation. In License Global's list of the top 150 licensors, which collectively reported $262.9 billion in revenue last year, Microsoft doesn't even show up. (Microsoft counters that it chooses not to report revenues to this list, but if it did, Halo earnings alone would easily make the cut.)
"If you look at what Halo is doing, Microsoft, whatever they tell you, are not a factor in licensing merchandise, period. End of story," Muller says.
That's largely because of the toy business, which makes up 31% of all entertainment licensing revenue—larger than any other segment. Although Mattel has been putting out Halo-themed Mega Bloks and BoomCo toy guns, neither are top sellers for Mattel, and both toy lines are much smaller businesses than rivals LEGO and Nerf, according to Muller. Mattel is now becoming a bigger partner, with Halo action figures, remote control vehicles, and Hot Wheels coming this year and next, but it's unclear how well they'll sell.
The problem, Muller says, comes down to demographics. The toy business generally appeals to children between ages 2 and 10, while Halo is marketed to older teens and adults. Toy makers are more interested in pushing franchises with all-ages appeal, which explains why other game franchises, such as Destiny and Warcraft, aren't moving a lot of toys either.
"I can't tell you of one successful video game brand that has made the transition into toys," Muller says.
Ross argues that the audience for Halo's non-gaming business is starting to expand organically. Children who are a little young to be shooting aliens in the face might still get a kick out of Halo Mega Bloks. Adults who don't enjoy virtual combat might still approach the series' space opera plot through comics or novels. Though she doesn't offer specifics, Ross says the company has data showing a certain level of cross-generational appeal.
"People that were playing the first Halo, they now have kids that they're bringing into the franchise, and that's where we see our toy business," she says.
Even if Halo is carving out modest success in toys and other merchandise, it's unlikely that these products and their corresponding games will propel the franchise to become a massive multimedia one. To reach the next level, Halo will need something new.
In Muller's view, this would likely have to be a movie with a major marketing push behind it, because that's what gets toy makers to activate their sales forces. "If they wanted to make it possible for toy companies and other license companies to get really interested in the brand and put some weight behind it, what I would suggest is, make a movie and make a successful one," Muller says.
Ross points out that Halo has already expanded beyond games to live-action web video series, books, and comics. There's also a Halo TV series for Showtime in the works, with Steven Spielberg producing. But she rejects the idea that Halo must commit itself to a blockbuster movie or de-emphasize gaming.
"Games will always be the core business for Halo," she says. "It's what we've built the brand around, and the lifeblood that connects the various pieces of the franchise."
To that end, Ross doesn't outright dismiss the idea of new Halo games for a wider audience. While she is very careful to note that 343 Industries doesn't have any plans on that front, she says the studio is watching the younger demographic and figuring out how to balance their interests against those of core fans.
"Whether or not we do a game, I think we need to be really deliberate on the right game, because we can't alienate our core audience," Ross says. "I would say that when we first started the franchise, the thought of doing, like, a LEGO Halo game was not something that our core fans thought was interesting, whereas now we're getting requests for that."
If you're a diehard Halo fan, this talk of more merchandising and new audiences might make you squeamish. There's certainly a faction of Star Wars fans who feel the films have been ruined by merchandising, and film buffs who believe the Star Wars business model has ruined cinema.
Ross—herself a huge Star Wars fan—is aware of the potential pitfalls.
"When you look at how the overall [Star Wars] portfolio is managed, there is a lot, a lot of stuff out there. And not all of it is on canon," Ross says. "It's been very important for us to have a more curated, connected story."
She admits that 343 Industries can get carried away in this regard. In recent years, the Halo games have become overwrought with storylines, and an expectation that players have studied the lore from the expanded universe. At some point, the series' purity of gameplay, backed by simple but cohesive plot lines, got lost.
"The learning we're looking at right now is, How do we be a little bit more purist about the stories we tell in our games, and how do we make sure that we use our consumer products and all our novels and everything to tell the richer, deeper story?" Ross says. "Fans have definitely given us the feedback that we've had a little bit too much story out there."
On the whole, though, Ross suggests that Halo's ambitions are resulting in better games for the core audience. She describes how Greg Bear, the author of a trilogy of Halo novels, visited 343 Industries to describe his vision for the Forerunner characters that appeared in future games. And with Halo 5, the game designers were thinking about how their vehicle and weapon designs might look as toys. One might view the latter example with cynicism—another sign that merchandising is poisoning artwork—but Ross sees it as a way to prod Halo's designers into thinking differently.
"When you look at something like Star Wars, or others, you do want to re-enact your own stories if you're a kid. You do look at LEGOs, you do look at action figures when you tell your own stories," Ross says. "And it really makes our team think more broadly as they design, which I think is good."
Halo is trying to strike a tough balance. Ross wants the franchise to expand its horizons so that it might be cherished by a wider audience. But for a video game whose roots are in violent simulated combat, there's no easy, proven way to do that. Ross and 343 Industries are in the difficult position of trying to keep fans happy—the importance of which she stresses multiple times throughout our interview—while charting entirely new territory.
"The critical piece there is to never alienate the torch bearer. And the torch bearer, if you look at Marvel or whatever, is the kid that was so into that comic book character before that comic book character ever came to the masses," she says. "How do you give a nod to him or her as you broaden the franchise? You have to be really careful, because if you alienate the torch bearer, you lose what the DNA is of your franchise."
Among the concerns was that Russia could be using social media to spread misinformation designed to sway the U.S. presidential election.
Representatives from Twitter have met with Senate staffers to discuss concerns about Russian-backed efforts to use the network to spread propaganda and misinformation to manipulate the U.S. election, both sides confirmed on Wednesday. The meeting was the result of a letter sent by Delaware Sen. Tom Carper, ranking Democrat on the Senate Homeland Security Committee, to Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey about the issue.
"These 'social' cyberattacks are made possible through the proliferation of 'bots,' automated and often false accounts controlled by a single entity, that pollute information streams by generating messages that appear to come from many different users," Carper wrote last month in the letter to Dorsey, inquiring about steps the company takes to curb automated bots on the network.
"Our staff recently met with Senator Carper's staff, to explain our content policies and anti-spam tools," Twitter spokesman Nu Wexler wrote in an email to Fast Company Wednesday, though Wexler declined to comment further on the meeting or on any statistics the company may have on such bots on the network. A spokesperson for Carper also declined to comment, beyond saying that the senator's staffers were "pleased to have a substantive meeting" with the Twitter representatives.
A report in The Guardian last year described a Russian state-sponsored "troll army," paid to intersperse innocuous clickbait posts on blogs, forums, and social networks, with content praising Russian President Vladimir Putin and critiquing enemies of his regime at home and abroad.
Both Russian-funded official media, like the RT television network, and government-backed internet trolls have reportedly critiqued U.S. targets in the past, notably including now-White House Communications Director Jen Psaki during a past stint at the State Department. Adrian Chen, a staff writer for The New Yorker who's reported on Russian internet propaganda in the past, wrote in July that some Twitter accounts linked to Russian trolls had begun to promote Donald Trump.
"Election officials at every level of government should take this lesson to heart: Our electoral process could be a target for reckless foreign governments and terrorist groups," warned members of the Aspen Institute Homeland Security Group, including former top Department of Homeland Security officials, in a July statement. "The voting process is critical to our democracy and must be proof against such attacks or the threat of such attacks."
Recent hacks on online voter registration systems in Arizona and Illinois have also been tentatively linked to Russia. Carper also wrote last month to the heads of the National Governors Association, urging them to work with federal officials to safeguard state election systems.
Cybersecurity experts have said it's unlikely that Russian hackers or other digital attackers could manage to digitally alter vote totals and sway the election, but they've warned that even limited tampering could undermine public confidence in the vote in a time when the country is at a high level of partisan distrust.
Working with a freelancer requires unique considerations distinct from typical employees or a typical vendor. Whether it's finding, vetting, and onboarding a freelancer, maintaining clear expectations, or having a process for conflict resolution, there are certain considerations employers need to maintain when working with a freelance professional.
While there are a number of online resources and databases containing freelancer profiles and portfolios, those should only act as a starting point, explains Rachel Zimmer, the cofounder of 5Crowd, a two-sided marketplace that connects freelance professionals in 150 cities around the world with Fortune 500 companies.
"It's really important to do your homework when vetting an individual, and vetting an individual goes so much beyond just their portfolio," she says. Zimmer adds that while online portfolios can be a strong indicator of the freelance professional's quality of work, certain intangible yet equally important elements, such as how they respond to feedback, whether they have long-term potential, and whether they deliver on time, can only be discovered through a more thorough vetting process.
Zimmer explains that 5Crowd typically puts its freelance professionals through a brief paid pilot project to "test the waters" before diving in with a longer-term contract.
"Whether it's the portfolio or email correspondence, all the way through to the pilot project, those are all pieces that we use to vet for a whole bunch of different criteria based on the required skill set," she says.
Communication is a key consideration in any business, but it becomes especially important when working with freelancers, particularly those who work remotely. Maintaining clear expectations and milestones, invoicing and payment procedures, and timelines for deliverables can help prevent disputes between freelancers and their employers later on.
"The more each party can share up front, the smoother sailing it will be," says Zimmer. "Set expectations from an employer perspective on how fast you're going to pay someone, and what is required up front," she says. "From the freelancer's perspective, make sure you set expectations on what you're going to deliver and how you're going to deliver it," Zimmer adds.
It's also important for employers to share the institutional knowledge they retain on the specific project or client with the temporary staff they're onboarding for that project.
"It's important to provide context in order to get the best work and the best results," says James Loftus, the vice president of strategic communications for CO-OP Advertising, a Toronto-based full-service creative agency that employs up to 40 freelancers on a regular basis.
"Remember that freelancers haven't been living and breathing your client for the last year or more like you have, so it's important to frame up the project or the challenge that's ahead of them," he says. "Take the time to do that instead of just sending off a quick email saying, 'I need your help.'"
Freelance employers have a tendency to treat their temporary staff like any other large vendor, providing payments on a 60- to 90-day cycle. However, research has shown that the primary concern among freelance professionals is receiving payment in a timely fashion.
"We know from our research that this is a problem that affects seven out of 10 freelancers," says Caitlin Pearce, the director of member engagement for the Freelancers Union. "That's my number one piece of advice: pay your freelancers on time," she maintains.
Just as employers carefully vet their freelance partners, explains Pearce, freelancers often vet their employers, both within their personal networks and online. Not paying a freelancer on time or at all can therefore lead to a negative relationship with the freelance community at large, and make it difficult to find qualified independent workers in the future.
While freelancers are not full-time employees, Pearce emphasizes that it is important for employers to treat them with the same level of respect that they would any other team member.
"Remember to include your freelancers in your social events," says Pearce, such as holiday parties and other gatherings. Pearce says this way they can continue to make the connections that employees make, "which will ensure great working relationships."
5Crowd, for its part, publishes a Freelancer Spotlight video blog highlighting the life and work of its freelancer community around the globe, while CO-OP Advertising hosts a quarterly meetup group to discuss trends in the freelance advertising industry. CO-OP also recently announced the Freelancers Unite awards, providing employers from across Canada the opportunity to nominate their creative freelancers.
"The meetups and the awards are opportunities [for freelancers] to not only engage with the organization as more than just a solution for a particular timeframe," says Loftus, "but also to actually bring them into the fold of the cultural organization, which is key." Loftus says that the Freelancers Unite awards will extend to the U.S. next year.
"Treating freelancers like they are members of your own staff is a guiding principal that we use day in, day out," says Loftus. He believes that doing so is vital for maintaining long-lasting relationships with individual freelancers as well as establishing a positive reputation in the freelance community at large.
According to a new survey by Freelancers Union and Upwork, 81% of workers say they would consider freelancing. So why don't they?
Freelancers love to freelance, according to a survey commissioned by the Freelancers Union, a nonprofit organization that advocates for independent workers, and Upwork, the largest online freelance marketplace.
The survey found that among freelancers (defined in this case as any adult that has taken a full- or part-time freelance assignment or worked as a temp in the last 12 months), 63% say they started freelancing by choice rather than necessity, and 79% said that freelancing is better than working a normal job. Perhaps most convincingly, half of the freelancers in the survey who had quit a traditional job in order to start freelancing said that no amount of money would convince them to go back to a traditional job.
While 81% of non-freelancers they would "be willing to do additional work outside of [their] primary job if it was available and enabled [them] to make more money," only 37% of people who freelanced in addition to another job said they had considered freelancing full-time. Many respondents said they would like to quit their day jobs, but wouldn't.
What's stopping them? The survey asked about that, too. It found:
They want consistency. Workers' desire for flexibility has been a mantra among freelance and gig economy proponents (73% of respondents in the Upwork/Freelancers Union survey said it was a reason for freelancing). But consistency is pretty great, too. The most popular reason that part-time freelancers kept their day jobs was "worries about income predictability."
This mirrors the concerns of freelancers who have already gone full-time, who ranked unpredictable income as their second biggest concern.
They're worried about income. The second and third most popular reasons freelancers kept a day job that they didn't want boiled down to fear of failure. About half of would-be full-time freelancers chose "concern that you would be able to find enough work to support yourself" as a reason they don't take the leap, and 44% said "uncertainty that 'you could make it on your own'" as a factor. Failing is arguably especially scary as a freelancer, as independent workers are not covered by unemployment insurance.
Full-time freelancers in the survey said that finding work isn't actually a big issue. More than half said they have the right amount of work (23% said they had more work than they wanted, and 25% said they had too little work). But inconsistent income did impact them.
In the survey, 51% of freelancers said they would spend more money if they knew they would have a reliable income and unemployment benefits, compared to 31% of non-freelancers. While non-freelancers were more likely than freelancers to save for retirement, more freelancers said they saved for the period in-between jobs.
They want benefits. The fourth most popular reason part-time freelancers didn't quit their other job, which 37% said influenced their decision, was a "desire to keep company-sponsored benefits." Twenty percent of full-time freelancers, meanwhile, said they don't have health insurance.
Think tank thinkers, labor leaders, startup founders, and others have proposed policy updates that could mitigate some of these fears. The Freelancers Union/Upwork survey asked freelancers what they think are the most important issues (and makes the point that freelancers vote).
One popular idea for creating more stability for freelancers is to create a system of portable benefits that aren't attached to a specific job, but rather to which multiple employers can contribute. A broad coalition of leaders signed a letter in support of the idea last year. The survey found that 66% of freelancers preferred to have more pay with which to choose their own benefits, compared to 34% who would prefer to receive less pay and a package of benefits from an employer or client.
Freelancers in the survey ranked health insurance and liability insurance as the most important benefits or support programs (unemployment insurance came in second to last). But revamping benefits wasn't at the very top of freelancers' lists. When asked to rank priorities for policymakers, only 20% of freelancers who said they would vote ranked "ensuring benefit options were available regardless of employment status, including to independent professionals," as a top priority.
The survey respondents didn't resoundingly agree on the best role for policymakers. The top choice, at 38% of freelancers, was that policymakers should better understand the freelance workforce and its economic impact. On this point, perhaps they've already been heard: The Bureau of Labor Statistics will do its own survey of contingent workers next year, for the first time since 2005.
Correction: A previous version of this story misstated the number of freelancers in the study who said they would quit their jobs to freelance full-time.
You can do much more than just get your name back at the top of a hiring manager's inbox.
Fact No. 1: After you've interviewed for a job, hiring managers don't always get back to you in the time frame they told you they would.
Fact No. 2: You should absolutely follow up with a polite email if you're expecting to hear back and you haven't.
Fact No. 3: You can use this message not just to check in, but to give the decision maker even more info that'll show you're the right person for the job.
That's right. Take this traditional "just following up" email:
Hi Damon,
I hope you had a great week. You had mentioned that you'd be in touch with next steps on the hiring process by Wednesday, so I just wanted to check in. Please let me know if there's anything I can do to help with your decision.
Best,
Adrian
There's nothing wrong with that note. It's brief, it's polite, and it gets your name in front of the hiring manager.
That said, instead of asking if there's anything you can do to, in essence, boost your candidacy, why not take that next step and provide something that does just that?
Let's say you're applying to a social media position with Dolby. You might say something like this instead:
Hi Damon,
I hope you had a great week. You had mentioned that you'd be in touch with next steps on the hiring process by Wednesday, so I just wanted to check in.
In the meantime, I wanted to share a social campaign that I launched this week. It's already had more than 5,000 shares—the company's second most successful program ever. I think something similar to this would be very impactful for Dolby, and I'd be excited to jump right in and get started.
Best,
Adrian
In this message, you've shared another example of your work, you've highlighted a recent success, and you've reiterated your enthusiasm for the position. And you've done so proactively, which is never a bad thing.
You can tailor this template pretty easily if your work is online or easily sharable, like writing, marketing, or design.
Or, if your work or goals can be quantified—you're in sales or account management, say—you might try something like this:
In the meantime, I wanted to share that I finished this month as the No. 1 sales rep in the New York market. It was a big honor, and also a reminder that I'm ready for my next challenge, hopefully as the sales manager at Dolby.
If your work is more behind the scenes, or if you're working on proprietary information that can't necessarily be shared externally, you might consider describing a project you're working on (one that could apply in some way to the job you're applying for) in broader terms:
In the meantime, I wanted to share that I just put the finishing touches on a crisis communications plan for one of our technology clients—a three-month process that involved collaborating with everyone from the customer success team to the CEO. It was a great experience, and one that made me even more excited about the opportunity to work on the communications team at Dolby.
Still stumped? Here's something anyone, in any field, can do:
In the meantime, I wanted to share an article that I published last week on LinkedIn, which was inspired by the conversation we had about [topic you discussed in interview]. It'll give you a little more on how I think about [subject matter]. Thanks for the inspiration—I hope we have the opportunity to work together and have many more of these conversations.
Assuming you're not the only candidate in the pipeline, your "just checking in" email will probably be one of many sitting in the hiring manager's inbox. Use the opportunity not just to follow up, but to show once again why you're the best candidate for the job.
This article originally appeared on The Daily Muse and is reprinted with permission.
The company's AI is built on what it already knows about you. Now it wants to integrate that technology deeply into your life.
Google, the company that has done more than any other to democratize mobile computing, argues that we are moving away from a mobile-first world. Indeed, at the company's wide-ranging product reveal on Tuesday in San Francisco, it rarely mentioned Android at all.
Yet all the products that Google announced at its event introduced either complemented or reacted to the phone. In addition to the Pixel smartphone itself, the first Daydream VR goggles and controller are aggressively priced at $79 in part due to their reliance on Daydream-ready smartphones such as the Pixel (as opposed to PC-based systems from HTC and Oculus). And the Chromecast Ultra seeks to provide more 4K programming options for TV watchers by leveraging the phone as a content source.
Google's new products, from left: Google Wi-Fi, Chromecast Ultra, Google Home, Pixel XL, Pixel, and Daydream View
While the new Google Wi-Fi smart routers will certainly serve the range of connected products in the home, home wireless networks are also major carriers of smartphone traffic. Even the Google Home smart speaker seems to be designed to let people use the Google Assistant AI service when their phones aren't available.
The Pixel phone may in part be aimed at providing consumers more choice in high-end Android smartphones, a class of product dominated by Samsung's Galaxy models. However, as has always been Google's goal for Android itself, the Pixel is a means, not an end. Its timing is not meant to seize on the opportunity of a growing market, but of a growing technology trend in which the company has a particular advantage: artificial intelligence. Google Assistant is only available on two of the products Google announced: the Pixel and the Google Home speaker. However, all of the products Google announced at its launch event this week serve its AI efforts.
User interface was once the great separator between competing consumer electronics products, but with the rise of services such as Google Assistant, Apple's Siri, and Microsoft's Cortana, the frontier is now shifting from how devices facilitate usage to how they facilitate assistance. As Google readily shares, a key to building its AI personalization efforts has been the development of its knowledge graph built through tracking usage of the web and its mobile platforms and apps. The company's intimate knowledge of the behavior of vast numbers of consumers has helped build its AI.
But as Google pushes AI to the fore of its product experiences, it can not only learn more about what you do, but what you're considering doing and potentially influence your choices even more than it does today. In time, you may rely more on Google for bigger life decisions, such as wedding venues and university selections, that could be even more valuable to its advertisers. Google knows more and more about your past, and by aggressively pursuing next-generation experiences such as VR, it can continue to learn about you in the future.
When Google created Alphabet as a new umbrella company last year, it moved moonshots relating to subjects such as health and connectivity out of Google and into other Alphabet companies. Many of Google's future-focused technologies have moved to other Alphabet companies, However, AI research remains within Google to elevate the company's trade-off proposition—exchanging personal information for valued services—that it has been offering since it started placing little text ads next to search results. Moving from tracking behavior to influencing behavior can only enrich Google's delivery of services to you—and delivery of you to advertisers.
From November 1-4, more than 125 events, 175 speakers, and thousands of attendees will take over New York City for #FCNY16.
The second annual Fast Company Innovation Festival comes at a busy time of year—one week before this whirlwind of a presidential election comes to a close, and days before the New York City marathon. The lead-up to the festival has been a marathon of sorts for the staff here, and we're pretty excited about the lineup we've pulled together. Running from November 1-4 at venues across New York City, the festival's content is built around the theme, "Find Your Mission. Deepen Your Purpose." Here are 25 good excuses to play hooky and join us:
Join the cult with SoulCycle CEO Melanie Whelan, Casper COO Neil Parikh, and Drybar cofounder Alli Webb who will discuss the unique challenges and massive opportunity in growing fan-favorite brands.
Laugh with Full Frontal host Samantha Bee as she talks politics, late-night, and breaking down the boys' club barriers.
Listen to Warby Parker CEO Neil Blumenthal and Shake Shack founder and Union Square Hospitality CEO Danny Meyer trade insights about how their people-first strategies set their brands apart.
Take notes as AOL's CEO Tim Armstrong shares the secrets of re-energizing an iconic brand.
Go deep with activist DeRay McKesson, Prosecutor Integrity founder Adam Foss, and Google's senior counsel on civil and human rights, Malika Saada Saar, as they come together to discuss the challenges we face in changing the criminal justice system.
Check out contenders for this election's Hope poster.
Satisfy your coffee craving with a tour and tasting at Birch Coffee's roast house.
Join DNCE's Joe Jonas, Kevin Jonas II, and Philymack CEO and founder Phil McIntyre as they offer a first look at how artists and management identify new revenue streams.
Get a glimpse into the future of VR documentary making with Gary Hustwit.
Peer into the future of the on-demand economy with Instacart's Apoorva Mehta and Uber's Rachel Holt.
Hear New Harvest CEO Isha Datar, Ginkgo Bioworks Creative Director Christina Agapakis, and Genspace cofounder Ellen Jorgensen discuss their work sciencing the s%*t out of everything from the food we eat to the way we smell.
Two colleagues butting heads can quickly turn into a problem for everyone.
First, the good news: We're all different people with unique talents, abilities, and personalities. And now for the bad news: We're all different people with unique talents, abilities, and personalities—which often clash. Sometimes the results of all these personalities working together are great. Other times, especially under high pressure, they aren't.
As a startup founder, I've had to mediate quite a few clashes on teams careening toward total dysfunction. Here's what I've learned about getting things back on track.
Not every conflict is the consequence of personality differences. Sometimes it has to do with opposing points of view, where neither side is willing to compromise. Other times, there are outside pressures on people's emotions that spill over into the workplace. And other times still, limited resources, management's expectations, and the sheer amount of time spent together can turn an otherwise high-performing team into a toxic one.
As a manager, it's important to find out what's causing the clash before you roll up your sleeves to try and fix it. And it's important to do this fast. It isn't always just one person on the team who's making mayhem for everyone else; it's often a handful of team members butting heads—and making everyone's lives harder. So the sooner you can pinpoint the main culprits, the sooner you can address their concerns—which, in turn, means the sooner you can solve the team-wide problem.
Some managers prefer a hands-off approach, and leave their team members to sort things out themselves. In my experience, that's more often a bad move than a good one. Better to call out the clash early so everyone can get past it sooner.
Once you've applied the brakes, it's time to get everyone to agree to communicate about the conflict—even reluctantly. Some of the most damaging misunderstandings tend to be about issues other than what individual team members think they're fighting over. And you can't figure out what those are without hashing it all out. Managers need to moderate these conversations so they stay as rational and orderly as possibly. Sometimes that means setting some guide rules, so opinions can be shared rather than fingers pointed.
Talking it out also requires active listening. This way, your team members can understand the context for the friction that's been building up, not just their own experiences of it.
By now, tempers should be calmer than they were at first, making this the time to remind your team members why they're collaborating with each other in the first place. Ideally, the goal of all that teamwork—even the most frustrating parts of it—is to achieve collective goals they couldn't by working solo. And they all realize benefits from pulling it off.
Point out to your team members that while they don't necessarily need to agree (or even like) one another all the time, they still do have things in common—like wanting the company to succeed—that can help them move past petty differences. It's not about them individually; it's really all about the company's success, which each team member's individual success relies upon.
Because the team exists to help the company, those who clash will need to start thinking about what type of compromise they each need to make. When both see that they have to give something up in order to create peace for the team, the conflict may suddenly not seem as important as it once was.
On one clashing team, I agreed to make a sacrifice along these lines after this became clear. I gave part of my task to the team member I was butting heads with. It was a peace offering that quickly took away the tension between us. And I was surprised to find how it benefited me, too; I had more free time and less stress, so I was relieved to give up part of a responsibility I'd originally wanted to take the lead on by myself. After that, we both got along with each other, and the whole team dynamic improved.
Another time, I decided to invite a colleague I was clashing with out after work to see if talking outside of the work environment would help us work through things. This helped quite a bit. We both got to know each other better and in a different way, and by the end of the evening we were laughing together like old friends. This camaraderie actually stuck with us the rest of the time we worked together. It turned out all we needed was time alone to get to figure out where we each were coming from.
This may not resolve every difference of opinion, but sometimes encouraging your team members to step away from their work in a more relaxed atmosphere is exactly what they need to gain some perspective.
Close proximity may mean that it's better to build different shifts into the workday to reduce the level of interaction certain team members are likely to have—and with it, their likelihood of conflict. It may sound extreme to separate certain personalities on your team, but when things are veering off course, this may help give everybody the breathing room they need to excel.
This divide-and-conquer approach has proven useful in some of the teams I've managed—even if only as a temporary solution. It's been true when they say that absence makes the heart grow fonder; in this case, anyway, it simply helps people get along better when they aren't forced to get along so often. And even if it's a temporary solution, it can help
I've been on teams where everything on this list has been tried and more, but the reality is that the team chemistry is just wrong. It can get better simply by reassigning one team member and replacing them with someone with better competencies, values, and collaboration skills for the level of teamwork you're looking for. Clashes are bound to happen, and sometimes it's just better to make a change than pour time and resources into making everyone get along.
Ultimately though, each of these steps falls under a common theme: The goal is to take a positive, proactive approach to dealing with the conflict. Punishments, threats, or harsh tactics simply don't fix dysfunction. If anything, it only makes the conflict worse—at a time when the first thing managers need to do is contain it.
Proposals to control insect populations by genetically modifying the pests have been controversial. Alphabet says it has a non-GMO solution.
If all goes as planned, Alphabet's life-sciences unit is about to help communities wipe out a whole lot of mosquitos.
Verily, the health company that sits under the Alphabet umbrella, has been quietly working for a few years on an effort known as the "Debug Project." It is helping communities in the United States and beyond reduce populations of an invasive species of mosquito called Aedes aegypti. This particular species is a known carrier of potentially-fatal diseases like dengue, Zika, chikungunya, and yellow fever.
Verily's steadily-growing team of mosquito biologists and computer scientists is focusing its energies on the "sterile insect technique," which has been used for many decades to control mosquito populations. The idea is to release infertile male insects into the wild to mate with females, that will then release eggs that won't hatch. It is most effective in controlling mosquito species that tend not to travel much in their lifetimes, and that only mate once. On both those counts, Aedes aegypti is an ideal candidate.
This might seem like an odd proposition for a company that was formerly part of Google X, but Linus Upson, Verily's vice president of engineering, says he has been interested in tackling this problem since his undergraduate days at Princeton University. "That's when I found out how many people that mosquitos kill and sicken," he says. "Cars kill more people than mosquitos by just a bit, but others [at Alphabet] are working on that problem."
In recent years, proposals that would genetically modify insects in order to control populations and fight disease have proven controversial. In Florida's Key West, where Zika cases have been reported, a biotech company called Oxitec unveiled a plan to inject mosquito eggs with DNA that contains lethal genes. Many residents shared concerns about the plan, including fears that they were being used as human experiments.
For this reason Verily's Debug Project is focusing on "non-GMO" alternatives: Sterilize the male mosquitos by infecting them with a naturally occurring bacteria called Wolbachia. It has been known for some time that this bacteria, which is possibly the most common reproductive parasite, will cause the males to become sterile while leaving them physically up to the task of competing for females in the wild. Earlier this summer, a company called MosquitoMate filed for approval from the Environmental Protection Agency to get Wolbachia in a related mosquito, Aedes albopictus, as a pesticide.
Some labs, such as Stephen Dobson's at the University of Kentucky, have already tested the Wolbachia technique in the field in relatively uninhabited places. And in August, a city called Clovis in California released 400,000 males carrying Wolbachia into the wild to control Aedes aegypti.
What Verily is bringing to the table is its machine learning and computer vision expertise. The company is developing algorithms to rapidly distinguish between the male and female mosquitos by picking up on subtle physical characteristics that are almost impossible to detect with the naked eye.
In previous field tests, researchers would often have to hand-separate the insects. That can be costly and result in mistakes. It's important to avoid releasing females, as they're are the ones that rely on blood meals while the males subsist on plant nectar.
In a blog post, the company shared that it is also working on prototypes related to automated rearing and releasing the insects, as well as new sensors to track the mosquito population.
"Any way that you can automate and increase accuracy without accidentally releasing females is good," says Jason L. Rasgon, an associate professor of entomology and disease epidemiology at Penn State, when asked about the role that Verily might play. If the company can show the efficacy of its technology in peer-reviewed papers, Rasgon says it might lead to this Wolbachia technique being "more widely adopted."
At this stage, Upson admits that the technology is far from perfect, but that it's getting smarter over time. "We're at the prototype phase right now," he says. "But we can achieve a high level of accuracy."
In recent months, Rasgon says he's seen the company recently pluck some of the "excellent minds" out of academia, including fellow entomologists, to work on this problem. Verily's Upson wouldn't share how many experts it has hired to date. "Let's just say that we're making a significant investment."
Catering to those of us who can't afford Sotheby's, the new online marketplace sells limited-edition prints from top artists.
For someone who is tinkering with the idea of buying art for the first time, it can be hard to know where to start. Even if you've got a few thousand dollars to invest in a piece to display in your home, you're probably priced out of Sotheby's and Christie's auctions. (Not to mention, making conversation with millionaire art aficionados over pre-auction champagne is not everyone's idea of a good time.) You could visit a neighborhood art gallery, but then how do you assess how much a painting is worth, especially when the owner gives you the hard sell?
Matt Randall and Justin Halloran, Twyla's founders
Today, an Austin-based company called Twyla is launching to offer a new alternative for mid-range art buyers. Twyla has hired a team of expert curators who have selected 300 pieces from 80 well-known artists from around the world—including Miya Ando, Travis Boyer, and Kristen Schiele—whose work can be found at the Whitney, the Guggenheim, and MoMa. Instead of originals, the site sells limited-edition prints that are individually numbered and signed by the artist and go for between $1,000 and $5,000—about one-tenth of the price you might pay for an original painting. "We're filling the gap between posters and Picassos," says Matt Randall, Twyla's cofounder and CEO.
The prints will be featured on the website, but Twyla is also collaborating with galleries, restaurants, and boutique hotels like South Congress Hotel in Austin and Soho House in West Hollywood to create physical showrooms where buyers can get a sense of the scale and quality of their potential investments. The curators will be working to grow Twyla's collection and cover a wide assortment of styles, from geometric to street to pop, to meet a variety of tastes.
Twyla is targeting the consumer who wants to start building a collection but doesn't know where to begin and doesn't have the budget to purchase an original. This, in fact, is a large swath of the market. Despite the fact that overall global art sales have slowed, the online art market is currently worth $3.27 billion, up by 24% from last year. And since art priced under $10,000 accounts for only one-third of all online sales, there appears to be plenty of room for growth in the mid-market. Many millennials, for instance, have been in the workplace for several years and are now eager to deck their walls.
Twyla's custom welcome kit
Take Jonathan Golden, the 33-year-old finance director of the David Chang bakery chain Momofuku Milk Bar. He recently moved into a new New York City apartment that he wanted to decorate and came across the Twyla beta site through a friend of a friend. "I thought it was an interesting concept, so I started digging," he says.
He fell in love with a large black-and-white abstract painting called Corridors #5 by the Israeli artist Amir Guberstein that cost $1,800. "It sounds simple, but this Guberstein piece is the one I had the best reaction to and thought I'd enjoy having on my wall," Golden explains. "It felt like the kind of piece I could find something new in each week."
But beyond just finding high-quality art at an accessible price, buying it usually entails the hassle of schlepping large canvases and prints around town, then spending time and money at a frame shop to make them wall-ready. Twyla is trying to simplify this part of the process as well. Each item on the site arrives at the buyer's home framed and protected in a sturdy box designed for Twyla by an aerospace engineer. For $150, Twyla can send expert gallery-trained handlers to install the print on your wall, or the buyer can install it using a special "welcome kit" that Twyla created.
Art from the Twyla collection
"There's a convenience play here, too," says David Krane, CEO of GV (formerly Google Ventures), which led Twyla's $19 million Series A round of funding. "We're helping the customer dramatically by making framing decisions for them, delivering it in such a format that it is ready to go on your wall." He points out that the typical buying experience involves agonizing over the decision to buy art, only to be confronted with four to six weeks of more decisions and production time before you can enjoy looking at it in your home.
From the artists' perspective, there's a lot to be gained from a platform like Twyla, since it creates an entirely new revenue stream for them. Artists can continue to sell their work to galleries, but Twyla has created a licensing model. "It's akin to the licensing model that exists in film or music," Randall says. "We're not only giving consumers a destination to access great art, we're raising the artists' living wage."
The artist Kristen Schiele has three prints on Twyla, each going for between $2,000 and $2,600. "I personally know the curator who reached out to me and I respect her," Schiele says. "The benefit of working with Twyla is the exposure for the artists for their galleries. It's a way to reach and inspire people."
Related Video: These Blind Photographers Prove No Art Form Is Off Limits
The language-learning platform is launching "nonjudgemental" AI so beginners can practice foreign languages without feeling intimidated.
Luis von Ahn is a genius according to the MacArthur Foundation, but he feels pretty dumb when he tries to speak Portuguese. "I can read anything, and I can write almost perfectly, but I will not open my mouth," the CEO and cofounder of the foreign language-learning app Duolingo confesses to Fast Company. "The majority of people don't like sounding stupid, and this is one of the major impediments for learning a language."
Duolingo's solution, unveiled today, are new chatbots that let newbies practice conversations with artificial intelligence discussion partners instead of having to face real human beings when they are just starting out.
"Practice real Spanish conversations without blushing," promises the new module for von Ahn's native language. Duolingo, which claims over 150 million users since its launch in 2012, has also rolled out bots for French and German; and it intends to bring them to all 20 languages that the free app offers. (For niche languages like Irish and Welsh, Duolingo enlists volunteers to develop materials, and it may continue that practice with bot creation.) Bots are debuting in the iOS version first. Duolingo isn't announcing when the Android version is coming, other than saying "it won't take too long."
Duolingo will add more chats to each language every few days.
"For the last maybe three years, a lot of people have asked for conversation help on Duolingo," says von Ahn. Often they request conversation partners, like pairing an English speaker who wants to learn German with a German speaker who wants to learn English. "It's a very elegant version of the idea," says von Ahn. But as Duolingo looked into the idea over the past few years, it found that about three quarters of users hate the idea of talking to a stranger. "At some point we had this idea, well, it would be really cool if they could pair up with a computer as opposed to a stranger," says von Ahn, "because as far as we know, computers are not judging you yet."
He should know about how computers think. In 2006, at age 28, van Ahn won a MacArthur fellowship, known colloquially as the "genius" grant, in part for his work on cryptography. He developed the CAPTCHA test used to distinguish a human from a bot accessing a website by distorting text so that a human can still read it, but a machine can't. Von Ahn sold the subsequent company, reCAPTCHA, to Google in 2009. Duolingo has received $83.3 million in funding, mainly from Google Capital, and currently makes money mainly by providing English-language proficiency testing.
The bots, which Duolingo started developing about a year ago, don't yet solve von Ahn's concern about opening his mouth. While bots speak both in text and out loud, users at the moment can respond only in text. Speech recognition is coming "pretty soon," says von Ahn. "I would say sometime this year." Duolingo has already been using speech recognition in some of its other exercises, so it has the technology in-house.
Those who have seen Duolingo will recognize its cheery, playful design in the new chatbots. The early ones I tried (in Spanish and French) feature shopping in a "Chic Boutique," visiting a new restaurant, and meeting some peculiar animals in a zoo. The dialogs are adorably illustrated and lightly sprinkled with humor. The chef, for instance, first shows you to a table with a broken dish covered in flies and asks if you like it. When the inevitable "No" answer comes, he replies, "This table is terrible. I'm very sorry," in the language you are practicing. The owner of the Chic Boutique recommends a purple hat. If you say no, she replies dejectedly, "What a shame, purple is my favorite color."
"Do you like this table?"
Duolingo is cautious about getting too clever. "When you're a beginner in a language, anything that you add makes things way harder," says von Ahn. "We can't work with wordplay. Any type of humor is very simplistic." The app makes a point of not leaving the user hanging. You can click on every word in the bot's dialog to see its meaning in your language. It also offers autocomplete to help with spelling, as well as suggestions if you get stuck. The zookeeper showed an image of a turtle munching on a carrot and asked me what it was eating. As I cluelessly started typing "Una ca…" the app saved me by suggesting "zanahoria." It also won't allow you to submit answers that don't make any sense, to avoid having the chatbot say something like "Huh?"
The dialogs do recognize user ability. Answering "Si, por favor," for instance, earns a bonus point over just answering "Si." Duolingo wants to make dialogs flexible to match the user's ability. Currently, this is pretty simple, such as tossing in phrases like "What's up?" instead of just "Hello," for users who show better proficiency. "What we actually want is that they get even more sophisticated," says von Ahn. "So that in the simpler version you just order a coffee and it says 'fine.' In the more advanced [version] you get into a fight with the barista."
Duolingo will have plenty of opportunity to experiment with bot dialogs. It intends to roll out a new one every two or three days for each language. These will include topical and seasonal dialogs, such as upcoming ones about voter registration and Halloween. "It's as if you are having conversations about stuff that day," says von Ahn.
The app provides translations and hints if you need them.
The company put a lot of work into automating its bot creation software, he says, so it can churn out new dialogs quickly. "When you do a conversation," says von Ahn, one of the hardest things is, you know, if I say 'Hello' to you, you could say to me like 'Hello,' 'What's up?,' 'What's going on?,' 'How's it going?'—hundreds of things." There are 390 of them in Spanish, for instance, all of which the creation tool lists as options for the bot writer to use. It recognizes variations on answers from students, including equally valid verb forms, such as the foreign-language equivalents of "I will" or "I'm going to." The tool suggests user answers that the bot creator can specify as acceptable, including "almost correct" options that can be allowed—with a note telling the user how to say it exactly right.
It even helps you build whole phrases.
The software even provides the bot writer with statistics to show what works, like the percentage of users who quit after a particular question and the percentage that gave a particular answer. Duolingo already has some stats because it's been testing bots with a few users over the past three to four months. And the more users, the smarter the bots will get, says von Ahn. The system uses machine learning to analyze how students respond, which could for, instance, allow it to expand the list of acceptable answers.
No matter how good the bots get, eventually students will have to venture into the real world. Von Ahn recommends taking this step once people know a language well enough that they can easily come up with things to say. Duolingo is betting that chats with bots will get people to that stage faster. "For me, I'm very interested in the Portuguese one that will come out soon," says von Ahn.
What's the most economical way to get a package to its destination? This "Kayak for shipping" will tell you.
Shyp, the San Francisco startup that aims to make shipping easy, will let you use your smartphone to summon a courier to your door. If you want, it will even pack your stuff for you. But the company, which launched in 2013, has been in no hurry to expand. It still only has couriers and warehouses in Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, and San Francisco.
But as of today, there is an aspect of its service that's now available throughout the U.S. You have to pack your items and take them to Fedex, UPS, or the post office, which at first blush might sound like you're doing all the work that would otherwise be done by Shyp. But before you do, you can see all the service offerings from Fedex, UPS, and the USPS and choose the cheapest one that will deliver your package on time. You then pay for shipping and print a label using Shyp's mobile app or web interface.
Shyp is now available both as a mobile app and on the web.
Shyp compares this service to travel price engines such as Kayak. The company built it by creating a public-facing version of the pricing tool it uses to select delivery services in its four full-service areas. Using it could save a substantial amount of money: On average, the company says, people who use Shyp pay 30% less than what they would have paid if they'd not done any price research. (After a customer's first 90 days, Shyp will add a per-label fee of 50¢ to the shipping cost, with volume discounts.)
Kevin Gibbon
"There's this perception that USPS has the cheapest cost, which is not the case at all," says Shyp cofounder and CEO Kevin Gibbon, who notes that the post office is optimized for getting small packages to any address in the U.S. via small delivery trucks, not handling bigger and bulkier boxes. "Roughly speaking, for anything over three pounds, you're leaving money on the table if you go to USPS." UPS is often more economical—but then again, Fedex's ground service is aggressively priced. With a few clicks, Shyp's new service will let you see what your best option is for any particular shipment.
Shyp decided to roll out the nationwide pricing service after introducing shipping for eBay sellers in late 2015, a move that broadened its base beyond consumers by introducing its service to a lot of small businesses involved in e-commerce. It turned out that many of them were happy to handle much of the fulfillment process themselves, but Shyp's ability to save them money on shipping costs was appealing. The company has deep discounts with the big shipping firms and has a loyalty program with price breaks for frequent customers, making its pricing "as good or better than you'd be able to negotiate with these carriers yourself," says Gibbon.
The emphasis on catering to the needs of business customers who ship in bulk is part of Shyp's effort to reach profitability sooner rather than later, a strategy that has also led to tweaks such as additional fees for packing, a service that was originally rolled into the overall price. "We did lose some customers in the process," Gibbon acknowledges. "But the health of the business has never been better."
And what about bringing the full Shyp experience to more cities? Gibbon says that the nationwide price-comparison service will help the company learn about large quantities of customers across the country, thereby letting it make smarter decisions about its future.
"This is a really, really tough business to run, and we've done a lot of the hard parts," he explains. "When we do expand, we want to be aggressive. It's not going to be one or two markets, it's going to be a massive expansion."
