Fast Company covers the future of business, with a unique editorial focus on innovation in technology, leadership, and design.

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Why practising a little assertiveness can go a long way.

Do you find it hard to tell people what you want? Maybe a sex chatbot could help. Lindsay Goldwert, writing in Fast Company, explains why assertiveness in both your private and professional life can do wonders.

Marni Penning

How a sex chatbot made me a better communicator at work

How Big Tech platforms influence the way we think.

In this piece for Fast Company, an anonymous teenager writes about how he briefly became infatuated with the alt-right, explaining how the experience has made him critical of how big tech platforms influence the way we think.

Nick Camm

I became part of the alt-right at age 13, thanks to Reddit and Google

Have you ever wondered why you pledge to improve yourself every January 1st?

Our new year's resolutions may not even last a month, but nonetheless, we have been pledging them since the ancient Babylonians. In Fast Company, Lydia Dishman explains the 4,000-year history of New Year's resolutions.

Kelsey Navarro

The 4,000-year-old history of New Year’s resolutions and how they became big business

He was ahead of his time in more ways than just gaming.

Nolan Bushnell wasn't the world's first person to build an incubator, but he was very likely the first in Silicon Valley. Here's the story of how he tackled 21st-century ideas, with 1980s tech. By Benj Edwards, for Fast Company.

Michael Satow

The untold story of Atari founder Nolan Bushnell’s visionary 1980s tech Incubator

One of the most remarkable tech comeback stories in history.

From the company’s impressive turnaround to its creation and popularisation of our augmented reality future, CEO Evan Spiegel opens up to Fast Company's Mark Wilson about how he changed and how he built a structure for innovation.

Chris Brinkley

Snap is the world’s most innovative company of 2020

Understanding why sex sells, as demonstrated by no other than Steve Jobs.

Great design or great seduction? Michael Hageloh, who worked in Apple as a sales executive for over 22 years, explains in Fast Company why Jobs' real talent was the latter.

Tim Paige

Steve Jobs’s real talent wasn’t design — it was seduction

The athlete and investor shares tricks and apps that help her stay ahead of her competition — and the calendar.

For a 23-time Grand Slam champion like Serena Williams, whose ventures now far exceed the tennis court and include tech and fashion initiatives, time is truly of the essence. In this interview with Nicole Laporte, from Fast Company, she gives us an insight into her very busy every-day life, and why she also has her sight set on the entertainment industry.

Ashley Klanac

How Serena Williams conquers her daily schedule without breaking a sweat

AI offers employees judgement-free advice, but that doesn’t mean employers shouldn’t be involved.

A 12,000-person survey found that workers around the globe are looking to AI-powered digital assistants and chatbots to cope with mental health during the pandemic, posing questions on whether leaders and managers are failing to address the stigma around mental health epidemic at work properly. Dan Schawbel explores in Fast Company.

Penny Andrews

Why people are turning to robots when they’re sad and anxious at work

If there were ever a time to elevate small business, it’s in the middle of a crisis.

In the view of Yale University's Ben Soltoff, "it’s the responsibility of those who teach entrepreneurs to actively embrace small businesses and acknowledge that they’ve long been at the heart of entrepreneurship." In this piece for Fast Company, he shares some ideas as to how these type of businesses can continue playing a key role amid the pandemic: inclusion, recognition and education.

Why we need to bring the entrepreneurship narrative back to small-business owners

A must-listen for those working remotely and struggling to get their opinions heard.

Groupthink — "the phenomenon in which decision-making is ruled by the ease of conformity" — is dangerous for business, and often more common when all communication is happening digitally. Fortunately, Erica Dhawan has put together a guide in Fast Company that shows us how to promote thinking creatively instead.

Monita Rajpal

How to fight the groupthink that happens when we work virtually

The rock star scientist has a track record of producing difficult vaccines against the odds.

"Much of the work that Pfizer is celebrating this week is thanks to the leadership of Kathrin Jansen, head of vaccine research and development at Pfizer. Jansen has spearheaded the effort to get a COVID-19 vaccine market-ready. She’s been with Pfizer since 2009, when the company acquired Wyeth Pharmaceuticals, where she had been working on vaccines. Over the course of her multi-decade career, Jansen has proven to be something of a maverick." In Fast Company, Ruth Reader profiles one of the scientists that could change the course of the coronavirus pandemic forever.

Meet Kathrin Jansen, the woman leading Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine effort

Examining the history of voting through a very specific lens — the ballot.

Lilly Smith, from Fast Company, takes a closer look into Alicia Cheng's book, This Is What Democracy Looked Like, where the author breakdowns how voting in America evolved from its early, messy days to the far more organised system it is today, as well as why the design of a ballot is broader than what's on the page.

Michael Bott

The wild history of ballot designs — and what they say about our democracy

Google's Head of Product Inclusion on understanding who you are selling your product to.

In this excerpt from her book Building for Everyone, author Annie Jean-Baptiste explores in Fast Company how companies can use technology as a great equalizer, developing empathy for people who are often overlooked or ignored.

Andi Arndt

To be more inclusive, you need to understand exactly what exclusion looks likefas

To recover all the ground lost during the pandemic, students are going to need more than technology.

Personalized learning is a method that "modifies lessons, pacing, and subject matter to meet the needs and interests of individual students," boosting creative thinking among schools in recent years. Now, despite the increasingly digital aesthetic of our pandemic times, building these type of relationships could become a vital learning system. Ainsley Harris, from Fast Company, explores.

Betsy Foldes Meiman

Personalized learning hinges on relationships, not just algorithms

Ivy Ross discusses the impact of the pandemic on our homes and offices.

Are 'flexible houses' on the rise? Has COVID-19 actually put an end to the meteoric rise of 'open-space' design? Ross, a VP and head of product design at Google, talks to Fast Company's Mark Wilson, and together they explore why the future of design will be all about balance, and not just comfort.

Jan Cramer

Google’s design chief on the future of your home

After six months in operation, Quibi has announced it will be shutting down.

Was the 'Netflix-rival' Quibi doomed before it even started? The story of its CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg's first internet video venture, Pop.com, reveals how Hollywood has always wanted what the internet has. Fast Company's Nicole Laporte revisits it, observing the fascinating parallels between the two projects and offering great insight into the many potential reasons why the latest project didn't work.

Sarah Naughton

Quibi before Quibi: the inside story of Jeffrey Katzenberg’s first dot-com failure

AI-generated deepfakes aren’t just a problem for politics and other current affairs.

"Soon, AI-generated synthetic media may reach into the past and sow doubt into the authenticity of historical events, potentially destroying the credibility of records left behind in our present digital era." Benj Edwards analyses how fake media threatens to rewrite our record of the past and considers steps that society may take to protect it, in Fast Company.

Karl Miller

Fake video threatens to rewrite history. Here’s how to protect it

For performance seekers, here is how to find a happy medium between too little and too much pressure.

If you find yourself frequently distracted and disorganized at work, you may be either chronically stressed or understimulated. To find a nice medium, Dina Smith shares some interesting strategies to moderate your stress and get back to performing at your peak.

Bored or overloaded? This is the amount of stress you need to get things done

Joy Buolamwini is galvanizing a growing movement to expose the social consequences of AI.

Her research helped persuade Amazon, IBM and Microsoft to put a hold on their facial recognition technology. Through her nonprofit Algorithmic Justice League, she's now battling the artificial intelligence bias in other realms. Amy Farley, from Fast Company, profiles the inspiring scientist taking a stand against Big Tech.

Meet the computer scientist and activist who got Big Tech to stand down

How can markets support a new generation of creators?

"Board members and senior public company executives believe that longer-term strategic thinking improves corporate performance — and research bears them out. But they admit to consistently making decisions based on short time horizons. The result is that CEOs slash R&D while orchestrating stock buybacks, which boost earnings per share (and, not incidentally, executive pay)." Ainsley Harris analyses in Fast Company.

Ron Butler

If entrepreneurs and VCs want to build, we first need to rebuild financial markets

And the future could be here a lot faster than people thought.

A new report by Deloitte on how future business models will re-shape the function and form of hospitals in the future has gained particular prominence in light of the coronavirus pandemic. Nate Berg, from Fast Company, interviews some of the experts behind the report and finds out more.

From AI to at-home care: the hospital of the future looks nothing like today's

Brené Brown on why vulnerability is the birthplace of innovation.

In Daring Greatly, Brené Brown illustrates why in business, as in life, giving your all – and asking your team to give their all – means opening up. Drake Baer, from Fast Company, interviewed her to understand more about what this principle means, and how it could be applied.

Why doing awesome work means making yourself vulnerable

The consumer-electronics research arm has been quiet for years — but it's also been busy. 

Its new mission? Make Google hardware as smart as Google software. In Fast Company, Harry McCracken takes a closer look into the company's Advanced Technology and Projects (or ATAP) division, a research team "just like DARPA, but in Silicon Valley," lead by Dan Kaufman, and designed to make the impossible, happen.

Ken Foster

Google’s secretive ATAP lab is imagining the future of smart devices

Most experts considered the movie a failure, while in reality, it was far from that.

The calculus on what makes a movie a success or a bomb continues to evolve, but the movie that first complicated that conversation set sail 25 years ago. Joe Berkowitz, from Fast Company, analyses whether the Kevin Costner epic should have ever been considered a failure.

25 years ago, ‘Waterworld’ forever changed how we think about hits and flops

We don't realise how busy and anxious we are until we take some time to reflect.

John Fitch and Max Frenzel are co-authors of the new book Time Off: A Practical Guide to Building Your Rest Ethic and Finding Success Without the Stress. In this piece for Fast Company, they offer us creative and thoughtful ways to maximise our time off that will gift us with inspiration, ideas, and recovery.

How to build a ‘rest ethic’ that is as strong as your work one

Inside Google’s relentless pursuit of perfect AI and the derision and desperation left in the wake. 

Google has more computing power, data, and talent to pursue artificial intelligence than any other company on Earth — and it’s not slowing down. Katrina Brooker reports for Fast Company on Google’s quantum bet on the future of AI.

Google’s quantum bet on the future of AI — and what it means for humanity

Turns out, Google is tallying up receipts and invoices found in your Gmail account...

Privacy and telecommunications specialist Joel Winston opines in Fast Company about why the likes of Google and Facebook are so eager to get hold of your financial data. And it's all stored in the ’payments and subscriptions’ tab in your Google account.

Google keeps an eye on what you buy, and it’s not alone

During a time when things seem uncertain, these tricks can help you stop spiralling.

Always remember, thoughts can, at times, be just that: thoughts. It is normal that many people are experiencing high levels of stress and anxiety right now. Luckily, journalist Lindsay Tigar has compiled for Fast Company a short crash-course about catastrophizing and some tips for coping.

Teri Schnaubelt

How to stop catastrophizing and reduce your anxiety

A deep-dive into the muddled message about police in popular entertainment.

"They’ve been assured their entire lives by pop culture that good cops roughing up bad guys is what gets results. Only in our current apex Black Lives Matter moment, as countless videos reveal what it actually looks like when good cops behave not-nice toward supposed bad guys, is a critical mass beginning to question just what they’ve been rooting for in movies and TV shows—and what harm may have come of it."

How Sylvester Stallone cop movies explain changing attitudes about the police

Could the Bay Area become a concept rather than a location?

Google, Facebook and Twitter are just some of the Big Tech giants who have already announced plans to allow their staff to work from home indefinitely after lockdowns end. Could this represent the end of Silicon Valley as the technology Mecca? Maybe, but veterans of the area remain sceptical. Jared Lindzon, writing in Fast Company, explores.

Once we can work from anywhere, does the world need Silicon Valley?

They're not just utilitarian garments — projecting symbolic power is also part of their mission.

At a time when distrust of the police is rampant, the uniforms worn can further strain relationships with communities officers are supposed to protect. Elizabeth Segran, writing in Fast Company, explores the bizarre phenomenon.

The twisted psychology of militarized police uniforms

The real reason government systems tend to be terrible runs much deeper than language.

While the rest of the world has evolved to a place where we can track anything at all times and order anything from anywhere, the government has been hopelessly stranded on an island in 1993. Hana Schank explores in Fast Company.

Why government websites fail

He spent decades running with Wall Street's wolves. Now he's rethinking capitalism.

Who exactly is PayPal's CEO? AT&T, Virgin Mobile and American Express are just some of the companies in Dan Schulman's resume. Ainsley Harris, writing in Fast Company, analyses Schulman's rise to fame and why some of his forward-thinking ideas could change capitalism as we know it.

How PayPal CEO Dan Schulman is leading a more inclusive way forward

The old adage goes "work smarter not harder", but what does it actually mean?

Business expert Gwen Moran, writing in Fast Company, ditches the clichés and offers some practical solutions for getting the most out of your working day.

This is how to actually work smarter, not harder

Bell’s invention was supposed to make life under quarantine bearable. But it didn't quite work out.

"Being cooped up at home during a pandemic is not fun. But in 2020, it doesn’t involve being disconnected from the outside world. Actually, thanks to the internet, the greater risk is that you might end up feeling overwhelmed by information." Harry McCracken, writing in Fast Company, explains.

How the telephone failed its big test during 1918’s Spanish flu pandemic

Helpful principles not just of military wisdom, but also backed by contemporary neuroscience.

The stress and confinement of being in a mini-submarine are similar to those induced by the coronavirus pandemic. In this piece, a neuroscientist and a Navy SEAL explain the simple principles that can help you combat the anxiety of uncertainty and thrive. Written by Pat Dossett and Andrew Huberman, for Fast Company.

A former Navy SEAL and a neuroscientist share 3 secrets for overcoming coronavirus stress

The most important design object of our time was more than a century in the making.

By now, most people in the world have heard about these masks, an essential piece of equipment for health workers dealing with patients diagnosed with the virus. But how did they even come to be, and why are they so important? Mark Wilson, writing in Fast Company, tells the story.

The untold origin story of the N95 mask

Listen together: could the videogame sensation become an unexpected beacon of free speech?

You might not be able to find accurate info in the press in countries with oppressive regimes. Still, you can do it at Reporters Without Borders’ Uncensored Library in Minecraft, the sandbox game. Writing in Fast Company, Adele Peters reports.

This beautiful library in ‘Minecraft’ lets people access the work of censored journalists from anywhere

Listen together: it's often the simplest of items we take for granted.

Writing in Fast Company, Mark Wilson shares the story of the vegetable peeler: an item which still remains one of the best articulations of inclusive design.

The untold story of the vegetable peeler that changed the world

Instead of 'Netflix and chill', what about 'cable TV and chill'?

Could you replace your Netflix, Prime or HBO subscription with network TV for a week? Joe Berkowitz, writing in Fast Company, did just this and describes how TV's time-warp comfort food can be oh so soothing.

I replaced Netflix and HBO with network TV for a week, and my brain is different now

Chaos reigns in recycling - can we change it?

Don Norman wrote the book on complex design systems, and yet he's as mystified by recycling as the rest of us. Writing in Fast Company, the former executive at Apple and HP, explores what we should do if we really want recycling to work.

I’m an expert on complex design systems. Even I can’t figure out recycling

An all too familiar story for many women.

“I was in charge of the men’s professional development, I was on the line for their performance. And they were each making 20% to 30% more than I was.” Elizabeth Segran, writing in Fast Company, tells the shocking story.

What happened when I discovered the men I managed were paid a lot more than me

He transformed the computer from a black box of esoteric codes into an intuitive machine.

Larry Tesler, an early pioneer of usable computing died at age 74 in February 2020. Here, Mark Wilson writing in Fast Company shares this tribute to the father of user-friendly design.

A tribute to Larry Tesler, the father of user-friendly design

All your questions answered about the trillion trees everyone is talking about.

In January 2020, the World Economic Forum launched a new program; planting 1 trillion trees. Adele Peters, writing in Fast Company, finds out more about the ambitious, and possibly world-saving, project.

1 trillion trees: What would it take, how would it work, and is it even worth it?

2020 astrology apps are set to blow up this year.

“I find Myers-Briggs to be an extremely reductive process,” she says. “At the end of this self-imposed examination, you’re sort of left with either feeling like an introvert or an extrovert, which doesn’t really give a lot of room. Maybe you’re an extrovert with people that you trust, and an introvert when you’re with new people in an unknown environment. It doesn’t give that same sort of depth and complexity that understanding one’s astrological chart does.” Writing in Fast Company Pavithra Mohan explains. 

From tarot readings to Gemini memes, astrology has officially infiltrated work culture

Quantum speed: AI has quickly gone from laboratory curiosity to economic force.

John Pavlus, writing in Fast Company, explains why this rapid rate of development in the AI field gives us all the chance to gut-check what we really want out of this technology — while we still having the time to affect its course.

AI is moving too fast, and that’s a good thing

Four Google-certified ways to make you stand out from the pack.

Want to know how to write a killer résumé? Speaking to Stephanie Vozza in Fast Company, Google's director of talent, Kyle Ewing, gives us these top tips.

Google’s director of talent explains how to write a killer résumé

The 'like' button has become a social currency we can't imagine the internet without.

By introducing the like button, Facebook changed the way we interact with content by showing us where we should focus our attention and what we should like and dislike. Christopher Zara writing in Fast Company looks at why 'the like' has created the social decisiveness that defines our political age.

How Facebook’s ‘like’ button hijacked our attention and broke the 2010s

From our life online, social media and extremism to surveillance capitalism, and racism in tech.

Trying to read more this year? Here’s a list of 8 books on technology you should be reading in 2020, reflecting on the promises of tech - and what we can do about it in the future. Written by Ruth Reader in Fast Company.

8 books on technology you should read in 2020

Director Rupert Wainwright shares this inside story.

MC Hammer's infectious hit "U Can't Touch This" was a meteoric success. Writing in Fast Company KC Ifeanyi catches up with director, Rupert Wainwright, as he shares his story about the music video that cements the song in pop culture history.

MC Hammer’s breakout smash ‘U Can’t Touch This’ is 30 years old: The inside story of its iconic video

From the sharing economy to climate consciousness: evolving demands are an opportunity to innovate. 

The future of driving is more than a box with wheels, writes Devin Liddell in Fast Company, as he comments on why the automobile industry needs to completely rethink the role of a car.

The next big thing in transportation? The ‘un-car’

At a time when digital media companies are faltering, publisher Dotdash is a unique success story.

Writing in Fast Company, Aaron Cohen hears how the dot-com era relic transformed itself into a service reaching nearly 100 million Americans every month.

How the remnants of About.com are stealthily taking over the internet

Maybe those office selfies or online workplace reviews aren't so innocent after all.

Stephanie “Snow” Carruthers, the chief people hacker at IBM X-Force Red, shows exactly how easily your innocent shares can give hackers the keys to your company’s kingdom of data.

I’m a hacker, and here’s how your social media posts help me break into your company

CEO of Terramera, explains how he had to shift his mindset to build a sustainable company.

As a scientist, Karn Manhas used data to prove a hypothesis; as an entrepreneur, he uses customer experiences to propel his business. Writing in Fast Company, the Terramera CEO reflects on what he had to unlearn to build a successful sustainable business.  

I’m a scientist. This is what I had to ‘unlearn’ to build a successful business

Why these guides pushed authors to write fascinating books.

In 1999, the millennium bug and a techno-apocalypse it might have brought with it inspired a deluge of survival books. Writing in Fast Company, Harry McCraken reflects on why there's always a market for pessimistic futurism.

The weird, wonderful world of Y2K survival guides: A look back

Decades before Messenger, WhatsApp or Slack, AIM was the killer app of instant messaging.

"It was the quintessential millennial technology: a free messaging service that allowed people to broadcast their personalities, via avatars and profiles, for semi-public consumption. AIM invented the idea that you were always online — and if you weren’t, you’d set up an away message to let people know." Writing in Fast Company, Kelsey Campbell-Dollaghan explains how AOL's pioneering messaging service is still shaping the internet today.

AIM was the killer app of 1997. It’s still shaping the internet today

A new startup is hoping to use psychedelic drugs to cure depression, opioid addiction and alcoholism.

And all without any of the downsides of tripping. But with only anecdotal evidence of its effectiveness, will it even work? Ruth Reader writing in Fast Company investigates.

Silicon Valley’s psychedelic wonder drug is almost here

Are its worst fans ruining it for everybody?

Rick and Morty is arguably most famous for its cult following of highly vocal (both online and in real life) fans. As the TV show returns for its 4th season, Joe Berkowitz explains why it's not worth letting fanatic followers stop you from enjoying it.

It’s time to forgive ‘Rick and Morty’ for its toxic fandom

Are reality shows, the 2008 financial crash and student debt making American feel poorer than they are?

Pavithra Mohan writing in Fast Company investigates why so many Americans are identifying as middle class despite their elevated bank balances. She claims that in a world of "Kardashians, Real Housewives, and $300 million baseball contracts" people's perception of what upper class really means has become somewhat jaded.

This is why everyone thinks they are middle class (even if they aren’t)

Entrepreneurial women are finding that they have unprecedented influence, whether or not they want it.

Carie Battan writing in Fast Company examines the female-founder-as-influencer phenomenon. Discussing why women using social influence to build their brands are often trapped in an Instagram cycle which encourages the success of one type of woman.

The Instagram trap: Social influence is helping women build brands—as long as they follow the rules

These brands are getting behind body hair - and it appears to be quite lucrative.

Flamingo, Billie, and Fur are some brands that want to give women permission to grow out their pubes. But is it really about women, body hair and feminism? Or, as Elizabeth Segran writing in Fast Company explains, have they just found a way to create entirely new products for them.