Small businesses are planning to hire fewer recent college graduates than they did in 2025, making it likely harder for this cohort to find entry-level jobs.
In our recent national survey, we found that small businesses are 30% more likely than larger employers to say they are not hiring recent college graduates in 2026. About 1 in 5 small-business employers said they do not plan to hire college graduates or expect to hire fewer than they did last year.
This would be the largest anticipated decrease in small businesses hiring new graduates in more than a decade.
Small businesses are generally those with fewer than 500 employees, based on standards from the U.S. Census Bureau and federal labor data.
This slowdown is happening nationwide and is affecting early-career hiring for people graduating from both college and graduate programsand is more pronounced for people with graduate degrees.
Nearly 40% of small businesses also said they do not plan to hire, or are cutting back on hiring, recent grads who dont have a masters of business administration. Almost 60% said the same for people with other professional degrees.
National data shows the same trend. Only 56% of small businesses are hiring or trying to hire anyone at all, according to October 2025 findings by the National Federation of Independent Business, an advocacy organization representing small and independent businesses.
Job openings at small employers are at their lowest since 2020, when hiring dropped sharply during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Some small businesses may change their hiring plans later in the spring, but our survey reveals that they are approaching hiring cautiously. This gives new graduates or students getting their diplomas in a few months information on what they can expect in the job market for summer and fall 2026.
How small businesses tend to hire new employees
Our survey, which has been conducted annually at the LeBow Center for Career Readiness at Drexel University, collected data from 647 businesses across the country from August 2025 through November.
About two-thirds of them were small businesses, which reflects their distribution and proportion nationally.
Small businesses employ nearly half of private-sector workers. They also offer many of the first professional jobs that new graduates get to start their careers.
Many small employers in our survey said they want to hire early-career workers. But small-business owners and hiring managers often find that training new graduates takes more time and support than they can give, especially in fields like manufacturing and health care.
Thats why many small employers prefer to hire interns they know or cooperative education students who had previously worked for them while they were enrolled as students.
Larger employers are also being more careful about hiring, but they usually face fewer challenges. They often have structured onboarding, dedicated supervisors and formal training, so they can better support new employees. This is one reason why small businesses have seen a bigger slowdown in hiring than larger employers.
Then there are small businesses in cities that are open to hiring recent graduates but are struggling to find workers. In cities, housing costs are often rising faster than starting salaries, so graduates have to live farther from their jobs.
In the suburbs and rural areas, long or unreliable commutes make things worse. Since small businesses usually hire locally and cannot pay higher wages, these challenges make it harder for graduates to accept and keep entry-level jobs.
Industry and regional patterns
Job prospects for recent college graduates depend on the industry. The 2026 survey shows that employers in health care, construction and finance plan to hire more graduates than other fields. In contrast, manufacturing and arts and entertainment expect to hire fewer new graduates.
Most new jobs are in health care and construction, but these fields usually do not hire many recent college graduates. Health care growth is focused on experienced clinical and support roles, while construction jobs are mostly in skilled trades that require prior training or apprenticeships instead of a four-year degree.
So, even in growing industries, there are still limited opportunities for people just starting their careers.
Even though small businesses are hiring less, there are still opportunities for recent graduates. Its important to be intentional when preparing for the job market. Getting practical experience matters more than ever. Internships, co-ops, project work and short-term jobs help students show they are ready before getting a full-time position.
Employers often say that understanding how the workplace operates is just as important as having technical skills for people starting their careers.
We often remind students in our classes at LeBow College of Business that communication and professional skills matter more than they expect. Writing clear emails, being on time, asking thoughtful questions and responding well to feedback can make candidates stand out. Small employers value these skills because they need every team member to contribute right away.
Students should also prepare for in-person work. Almost 60% of small employers in our survey want full-time hires to work on-site five days a week. In smaller companies, graduates who can take on different tasks and adjust quickly are more likely to set themselves apart from other candidates.
Finally, local networking is still important. Most small employers hire mainly within their region, so building relationships and staying active in the community are key for early-career opportunities.
Murugan Anandarajan is a professor of decision sciences and management information Systems at Drexel University; Cuneyt Gozu is an associate clinicalprofessor of organizational behavior at Drexel University, and David Prisco is a director at the Center for Career Readiness at Drexel University.
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
Nearly seven tons of ready-to-eat grilled chicken breast products are being recalled over Listeria concerns.
According to a Jan. 16 U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) notice, the product was distributed by Suzannas Kitchen, a Georgia-based food company known for its prepared meats. The recall targets 10-pound cases containing two 5-pound bags of fully cooked grilled chicken breast fillets with rib meat, which were produced on Oct. 14.
13,720 pounds of ready-to-eat chicken were recalled, per the notice.
According to the notice, the lot code 60104 P1382 287 5 J14 is printed on the side of the case and on the package. The products were distributed to operations in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Missouri, New Hampshire, North Carolina, and Ohio.
“The problem was discovered when a third-party laboratory sample reported a positive Listeria monocytogenes result in the ready-to-eat fully cooked grilled chicken breast fillets product,” the notice explains.
There have been no confirmed reports of illness due to consumption of these products. Anyone concerned about a potential illness should contact their healthcare provider immediately.
Listeria symptoms can range from mild gastrointestinal issues like fever, muscle aches, nausea, and diarrhea to more severe neurological symptoms like headache, stiff neck, confusion, and convulsions if the infection spreads, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The CDC also says that the bacteria can be especially dangerous for pregnant women, newborns, older adults and people with weakened immune systems.
Friday’s recall is not the first Suzannas Kitchen has initiated recently. In December, the company issued a recall of 62,550 pounds of fully cooked, bone-in breaded chicken products. The product, which was distributed nationwide, was recalled over allergen concerns. While the product was labeled with a product code that classifies it as non-allergen-containing, the product actually contained soy, one of the “big nine” allergens.
The recall notice also advises concerned customers to direct any additional questions to Dawn Duncan, Customer Service Director, Suzannas Kitchen at dduncan@suzannaskitchen.com.
Struggling to fall asleep is irritating. Struggling to get enough sleep is at least partially debilitating.
Research shows:
People who sleep five to six hours are almost 20 percent less productive than people who sleep seven to eight hours per night.
People who only get six hours of sleep per night have greater difficulty performing any task that requires focus, deep thinking, or problem-solving.
People chronically sleep-deprived (think six hours or less) have a much harder time performing complicated tasks.
So, yeah: Performing at your best requires getting enough sleep. But what if you struggle to fall asleep?
Here are three techniques sleep science says you should definitely try.
The 4-7-8 method
Heres how it works. First, place the tip of your tongue against your two upper front teeth, and keep it there. (The goal is to inhale and exhale around your tongue.) Then:
Breathe in through your nose while you count to four.
Hold your breath while you count to seven.
Purse your lips and exhaleyou should make a whooshing soundwhile you count to eight.
Repeat up to four times.
While inhaling and exhaling deeplyand worse yet, holding your breath in betweensounds like it will make you less sleepy, that pattern activates your parasympathetic nervous system and helps switch your body to rest mode.
Thats especially important if you feel stressed, since anxiety shifts your sympathetic nervous system (think fight or flight) into overdrive. Kick-starting your parasympathetic nervous system helps counteract that effect.
And gives you something else to think about in the process.Keep in mind practice is the key. The 4-7-8 method may not help you fall asleep faster the first few times. But the more you use it, the more youll train yourself to relax.
And even if you dont fall asleep quicker, you will feel a little less stressed and anxious. A 2022 study published in Physiological Reports found that 4-7-8 breathing reduced heart rate and blood pressure for several minutes. Youll feel calmer, more grounded, and better able to relax and let go.
So, as with using the physiological sigh, you can also use the 4-7-8 method to regain focus when you feel anxious.
The military method
The military method is a two-minute routine created by the Navy Pre-Flight School to help pilots fall asleep. Within six weeks, 96 percent of the pilots could fall asleep within two minutes or less, even if they were sitting in a chair, listening to a recording of machine-gun fire, and had just drunk coffee.
Heres how it works:
Relax your entire face. Close your eyes. Breathe slowly and deeply. Then slowly relax all of your face muscles. (If it helps, start with your forehead muscles and work your way down.) Relax your jaw, your cheeks, your mouth, your tongue, everything. Including your eyes; let them go.
Drop your shoulders and hands. Let go of any tension. Relax your neck, your traps; feel yourself sinking into the chair or bed. Then start at the top of your right arm, and slowly relax your biceps, forearms, and hands. Repeat on the other side. And dont forget to keep breathing slowly and deeply.
Exhale and relax your chest. With your shoulders and arms relaxed, that should be easy.
Relax your legs. Start with your right thigh; let it sink into the chair or bed. Then do the same with your calf, ankle, and foot. Repeat the process with your left leg.
Now clear your mind. Granted, its hard to not think about anything. (I end up thinking about not thinking about anything.) If thats you, try holding an image in your mind. Choose something relaxing. Picture yourself lying comfortably in darkness. But if that doesnt work
Try repeating the words Dont think for 10 seconds. If nothing else, that should help distract you from thinking about whatever it is that might otherwise keep you awake.
Like the 4-7-8 method, the military method may take practice. Remember, it took pilots up to six weeks to regularly fall asleep within two minutes. But once youve gained the skill . . .
The 10-3-2-1 method
This routine takes a little longer to execute; think of it as daylong sleep prep. As Jess Andrade describes:
10: Stop drinking caffeine 10 hours before you plan to go to sleep to clear the stimulatory effect from your bloodstream.
3: Eat your last big meal (or last drink of alcohol) three hours prior to reduce reflux and ensure alcohol doesnt impair your natural sleep cycle.
2: Create a to-do list for the next day two hours prior; as Getting Things Done author David Allen says, Your head is for having ideas, not holding ideas. Without exception, you will feel better if you get stuff out of your head.
1: Stop using screens one hour before you go to sleep, both to reduce exposure to blue light and to disengage.
Granted, this technique takes more time and effort. Then again, combining the 10-3-2-1 method with the military or 4-7-8 method can only increase your odds of falling asleep quickly.
Which increases the odds youll get sleep better and hopefully longer tonight.
And be able to perform at your best tomorrow.
Chances are good that many investors are happy today is a holiday, and thus the stock markets are closed. Thats because over the weekend, President Donald Trump announced the threat of new tariffs levied against Americas most prominent European allies.
But this time, Trumps tariff threats arent driven by trade imbalances. Instead, they center around the presidents desire to acquire ownership of Greenland. Heres what you need to know, including how assets that are trading todaygold and cryptocurrencyare reacting.
Whats happened?
On Saturday, Trump took to social media to announce that he would impose additional tariffs on eight European nations that have spoken out against his plan to acquire Greenland from the Kingdom of Denmark.
The president announced that, beginning on February 1st, goods from those nations will be charged an additional 10% tariff when they enter the United States. The nations Trump threatened to levy the additional tariffs against include: Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, and the United Kingdom.
But Trump didnt stop there. He also announced that those additional 10% tariffs would rise to 25% on June 1 and will be due and payable until such time as a Deal is reached for the Complete and Total purchase of Greenland.
Currently, there is already a 10% tariff on goods from the United Kingdom and a 15% tariff on goods from the other countries Trump cited. The additional Greenland tariffs would raise the levies on goods from those countries to at least 25% next month and at least 40% in June.
Trumps stated reason for wanting Greenland to become part of the United States is its strategic national security importancethe landmass lies directly between North America and Russia. However, Greenland is also home to vast mineral deposits and other natural resources with significant market value.
Trumps desire to acquire Greenland is deeply unpopular with the American public, a Reuters/Ipsos poll found this month, with just 17% of respondents approving of the goal. A 2025 Verian poll of Greenlanders found that an overwhelming 85% of respondents said they did not want their homeland to become part of the United States.
How has Europe responded?
European leaders are in crisis mode. Despite leaders on the continent telling President Trump that Greenland is not for sale, Trumps resolve on acquiring the Danish territory has only strengthened. On Sunday, the European Council (EC) of the European Union issued a definitive statement on the matter.
Territorial integrity and sovereignty are fundamental principles of international law. They are essential for Europe and for the international community as a whole, European Council president António Luís Santos da Costa and European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen wrote.
They added, The EU stands in full solidarity with Denmark and the people of Greenland. Dialogue remains essential, and we are committed to building on the process begun already last week between the Kingdom of Denmark and the US. Tariffs would undermine transatlantic relations and risk a dangerous downward spiral. Europe will remain united, coordinated, and committed to upholding its sovereignty.
How had gold reacted?
Geopolitical uncertainties tend to send investors fleeing from more volatile assets, such as stocks, to safer ones, such as gold. And Trumps weekend escalation over Greenland is following this trend.
While stock markets are closed today in observance of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, assets such as gold and other precious metals are being traded. Gold, particularly, is seen as a safe-haven asset that investors flee to in times of uncertainty.
As of the time of this writing, gold is currently at an all-time high of $4,671.10 per ounce. Silver is also at an all-time high of $93.20 per ounce.
How have Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies reacted?
Precious metals arent the only assets being traded today. Unlike the stock markets, which are closed on federal holidays, cryptocurrencies trade 24/7.
And unlike gold, cryptocurrencies are generally not seen as safe-haven assets. Cryptocurrencies are historically volatile in the best of times. When geopolitical uncertainties hit, crypto tends to sell off as investors take profits and move into safe-haven assets.
As of this writing, most major cryptocurrencies are retreating amid the rising geopolitical and economic uncertainty between America and its European allies.
Crypto king Bitcoin is currently down more than 2% to $93,170 per coin. Ethereum is down nearly 3%, XRP is down nearly 4%, and Solana is down nearly 6%. Memecoin Doge is down nearly 7%.
Where do things go from here?
Right now, no one can say where Trumps Greenland escalations go from here. Most of the political establishment in America and the overwhelming majority of the international community are deeply concerned about the presidents insistence on acquiring the landmass.
Numerous observers, including European leaders, have said that Trumps threats could undermine the very foundation of NATO, of which the U.S., Greenland, and European countries are part.
Right now, European leaders are debating how to respond to Trumps threats if the president does not back down. If diplomatic efforts fail, the next most likely step would be for Europe to threaten economic countermeasures against America, including tariffs of its own on American goods, and perhaps even invoking what is colloquially called the big bazookaofficially known as the Anti-Coercion Instrument (ACI).
As CNBC noted, the ACI is a trade policy tool in the EU’s arsenal designed to counter coercion by economically and militarily powerful countries. The ACI is a deterrent instrument that, if enacted, could restrict not just trade with a country, but also place a cessation on foreign investment and intellectual property rights. The ACI was created in 2023, but it has never been enacted before.
All eyes will be on Trump when he is in Europe on Wednesday, where he will address world and business leaders at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
Each year on the holiday that bears his name, Martin Luther King Jr. is remembered for his immense contributions to the struggle for racial equality. What is less often remembered but equally important is that King saw the fight for racial equality as deeply intertwined with economic justice.
To address inequalityand out of growing concern for how automation might displace workersKing became an early advocate for universal basic income. Under universal basic income, the government provides direct cash payments to all citizens to help them afford lifes expenses.
In recent years, more than a dozen U.S. cities have run universal basic income programs, often smaller or pilot programs that have offered guaranteed basic incomes to select groups of needy residents. As political scientists, we have followed these experiments closely.
One of us recently co-authored a study which found that universal basic income is generally popular. In two out of three surveys analyzed, majorities of white Americans supported a universal basic income proposal. Support is particularly high among those with low incomes.
Kings intuition was that white people with lower incomes would support this type of policy because they could also benefit from it. In 1967, King argued, It seems to me that the Civil Rights Movement must now begin to organize for the guaranteed annual income . . . which I believe will go a long, long way toward dealing with the Negros economic problem and the economic problem with many other poor people confronting our nation.
But there is one notable group that does not support universal basic income: those with higher levels of racial resentment. Racial resentment is a scale that social scientists have used to describe and measure anti-Black prejudice since the 1980s.
Notably, in our research, whites with higher levels of racial resentment and higher incomes are especially inclined to oppose universal basic income. As King well knew, this segment of Americans can create powerful opposition.
Economic self-interest can trump resentment
At the same time, the results of the study also suggest that coalition building is possible, even among the racially resentful.
Economic status matters. Racially resentful whites with lower incomes tend to be supportive of universal basic income. In short, self-interest seems to trump racial resentment. This is consistent with Kings idea of how an economic coalition could be built and pave the way toward racial progress.
Income is not the only thing that shapes attitudes, however. Some of the strongest supporters of universal basic income are those who have higher incomes but low levels of racial resentment. This suggests an opportunity to build coalitions across economic lines, something King believed was necessary. The rich must not ignore the poor, he argued in his Nobel Peace Prize lecture, because both rich and poor are tied in a single garment of destiny. Our data shows that this is possible.
This approach to coalition building is also suggested by our earlier research. Using American National Election Studies surveys from 2004-2016, we found that for white Americans, racial resentment predicted lower support for social welfare policies. But we also found that economic position mattered, too.
Economic need can unite white Americans in support of more generous welfare policies, including among some who are racially prejudiced. At a minimum, this suggests that racial resentment does not necessarily prevent white Americans from supporting policies that would also benefit Black Americans.
Building lasting coalitions
During his career as an activist in the 1950s and 1960s, King struggled with building long-term, multiracial coalitions. He understood that many forms of racial prejudice could undermine his work. He therefore sought strategies that could forge alliances across lines of difference. He helped build coalitions of poor and working-class Americans, including those who are white. He was not so naive as to think that shared economic progress would eliminate racial prejudice, but he saw it as a place to start.
Currently, the nation faces an affordability crisis, and artificial intelligence poses new threats to jobs. These factors have increased calls for universal basic income.
Racial prejudice continues to fuel opposition to universal basic income, as well as other forms of social welfare. But our research suggests that this is not insurmountable.
As King knew, progress toward economic equality is not inevitable. But, as his legacy reminds us, progress does remain possible through organizing around shared interests.
Tarah Williams is an assistant professor of political science at Allegheny College and Andrew Bloeser is an associate professor of political science; Director, Center for Political Participation at Allegheny College.
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
Being a field dependent on big developer clients and even bigger sums of money, rarely do architects get to pick the projects they work on. Would they if they could? Absolutely.
Fast Company asked architects and designers from some of the top firms working around the world to think about the kinds of projects they wish they could do, clients, budgets, and possibly reality notwithstanding. From the abstract to one very specific (and notorious) train station, seven architects shared building projects they’d love to tackle in 2026.
Here’s the question we put to a panel of designers and leaders in architecture: What’s your dream project in 2026?
An urban district reimagined
The dream project for me isn’t a skyline object or spectacle, it’s a long-life systema project whose structure is reused, materials are upgraded and recycled rather than replaced, and performance improves over time. Where sustainable strategies arent hidden in basements, or rooftops, but become part of the architectural experience. A dream project would be an urban district reimagined, edited with a scalpel (rather than a sledgehammer) with its declining building stock given a new life through subtle upgrades, modest interventions, and attention to craft and building performance.
Trent Tesch, Principal, KPF
Solutions to current crises
My dream project would be to design beyond the scale of a single buildingat the district scaleto define a new way of living. We have the ability to overcome the segmentation we have created in the built environment and move toward convergent places where people can not only live, work, and play in the same space, but also innovate, learn, and care for ourselves and each other. Embedded in this approach are solutions to current crises like housing, access to food and care, and more: to think about community-building and what people need around them to ensure a safe, vibrant, and supported life.
David Polzin, executive director of design, CannonDesign
An example of where design needs to go
My dream project should break ground right near the end of the year the New York Climate Exchange on Governors Island. It will be arguably the most sustainable project ever undertaken in the city and an example of where design needs to go in the coming decade.
Colin Koop, partner, SOM
A tangible vision of a ‘heaven on earth’
A dream project with a design ethos grounded in simplicity, sustainability, and the clear expression of engineering functions, this project would function as a living laboratory at a district-to-regional, maybe even country scale, exemplifying human-centered, climate-responsive urbanism. It would demonstrate how architecture can create healthier built environments, advance decarbonization, promote human well-being, foster thriving ecosystems, and deliver scalable models for resilient cities worldwidea tangible vision of a heaven on earth in a built environment.
Luke Leung, sustainable engineering studio leader, SOM
Breaking down silos
Our firm’s portfolio has always been shaped by the idea of architecture as social and civic infrastructure, rather than isolated objects. Our dream project in 2026 is one that will allow us to further break down overly prescriptive disciplinary and programmatic silos, to the benefit of those who use the spaces we create. This could take the form of a new kind of mixed-use district, a daycare-driven residential building, woodland cabins, or reinvented urban infrastructure, but it would be guided, as all our work is, by the idea of long-term stewardship and deep collaboration with community and our peers in architecture, engineering, and beyond. We are most interested in projects where design builds capacity and trust, and where success is measured not only by what gets built, but by what it enables over time.
Claire Weisz, founding principal, WXY architecture + urban design
Destinations for learning and gathering
There is growing need for cultural and community catalysts that bring people together, especially in communities that are lacking destinations for learning and gathering. Design can support a sense of belonging and grounding to the physicality of architecture that is important in this day of instant gratification.
Nick Leahy, co-CEO and executive director, Perkins Eastman
A nightmare-turned-dream?
Pennsylvania Station!
Vishaan Chakrabarti, founder, PAU
Most organizations still hire for culture fiteven those that loudly champion diversity and inclusion. The phrase sounds benign, even wise: who wouldnt want colleagues who fit in? But behind this feel-good notion lies one of the biggest obstacles to innovation and progress in modern workplaces. Culture fit has become a euphemism for cultural cloning: selecting people who already look, think, and behave like the incumbents. Its a polite way of saying, we want people like us, because theres nothing more comforting than workingand hanging outwith people who are just like you!
The irony, of course, is that such homogeneity kills the very things organizations claim to want: creativity, adaptability, and innovation. As Adam Grant notes, originality thrives in contexts that tolerate dissent and deviance, not conformity. Yet the more organizations glorify fit, the more they drift toward cultish sameness. The difference between a culture and a cult, after all, is just one letterand often one lawsuit.
This tendency isnt new. Social psychology has long shown that were drawn to those who resemble us; similarity reduces friction and uncertainty. But comfort is the enemy of progress. Uniformity might make life easier for recruiters and managers, but it makes systems fragile. Nature offers a cautionary tale: the Irish potato famine. For decades, Ireland depended almost entirely on a single potato variety, the Lumper. When a blight struck in 1845, the lack of genetic diversity turned one crop failure into a national catastrophe. Organizations that over-rely on a single type of employee risk the same fatea cultural monocrop vulnerable to shocks, blind spots, and collective stupidity.
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The cost of fitting in too well
Empirical research supports this. Studies show that while culture fit predicts short-term satisfaction and commitment, its often negatively related to long-term innovation and change readiness. A large meta-analysis by Kristof-Brown, Zimmerman, and Johnson found that personorganization fit strongly predicts employees attitudes but not their creativity or performance in changing environments. Similarly, Michele Gelfands cross-national study on cultural tightness found that organizations and societies that enforce conformity underperform in dynamic contexts, while looser culturesthose that tolerate rule-bending and deviance, are more innovative and adaptive.
There are also considerable costs for businesses that hire for culture-fit: when everybody thinks alike, nobody thinks at all! In line, cultural homogeneity reduces innovation, creativity, and curiosity, as well as increasing conformity and resisting change. By contrast, organizations that value constructive misfithiring people who stretch or challenge the dominant moldshow higher rates of creativity and problem-solving. Googles famous Project Aristotle study on team effectiveness found that the best-performing groups werent the most harmonious or homogenous, but those with psychological safetyteams where people felt free to disagree without social punishment. The best cultures, in other words, dont eliminate tension; they use it productively.
Unfortunately, many companies still confuse alignment with excellence. Fit becomes the criterion for hiring and promotion, even as executives pay lip service to diversity. As illustrated in Dont Be Yourself: Why Authenticity is Overrated and What to Do Instead, in practice, bring your whole self to work often means bring the parts of yourself that look and sound like the rest of us. The result is a well-intentioned echo chamber. Everybody belongsand nobody thinks.
The case for the moderate misfit
So, what happens if you dont quite fit in? If youre the person who feels slightly out of sync with the corporate rhythmtoo analytical for the sales culture, too candid for the political one, too global for the parochial one? At first, its uncomfortable. Youll have to work to fit in, even as the company insists you shouldnt have to. Inclusion sounds effortless, but it usually requires emotional laborthe cognitive gymnastics of decoding unspoken norms, managing impressions, and adapting without losing yourself.
Yet being a moderate misfitsomeone who respects the system but doesnt worship itcomes with real advantages.
You bring a different perspective. You see what insiders cant because you arent fully hypnotized by the culture. Research on task conflict shows that moderate levels of disagreement improve decision quality and innovation, as long as theyre respectful. The worst decisions in history (from Enron to the Challenger disaster) share one trait: too much agreement.
Youre more likely to become a change agent. Because you dont fully identify with the status quo, youre less invested in preserving it. Decades of research on minority influence show that consistent dissenters (even when initially unpopular) eventually shift group norms.
Youll stay an independent thinker. Irving Janiss classic work on groupthink revealed that cohesive groups under pressure tend to suppress dissent, leading to catastrophic decisions. Misfits disrupt that comfort. Theyre less likely to self-censor or outsource their thinking to the hive mind. Even when they play along, they keep a mental escape hatch opena capacity for self-reflection that prevents total ideological capture.
And you might even grow. Working alongside people who arent like you forces you to reconsider your assumptions. A widely cited meta-analysis shows that exposure to difference reduces prejudice and increases cognitive complexity. Growth happens when youre challenged; when you collaborate, debate, and adapt outside your comfort zone.
Leadership, progress, and the art of misfitting
Ultimately, leadership is not about comfort but progress. As Gianpiero Petriglieri reminds us, leadership is always an argument with tradition, a dialogue between what is and what could be. Fitting in completely, therefore, is not a strength but a symptom of stagnation. When everyone agrees, nobody leads; they merely administer.
The playwright George Bernard Shaw put it even more bluntly: The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore, all progress depends on the unreasonable man.
Moderate misfits are those unreasonable people, balanced enough to survive within the system but different enough to question it. Theyre the ones who stretch cultures, challenge orthodoxies, and prevent organizations from fossilizing. Yes, it can be exhausting to swim against the current. It takes empathy, restraint, and strategic impression management. But the payoff is immense: you remain curious, independent, and relevant in a world that worships conformity. To be sure, many dont survive so pragmatically it is worth wondering whether you want to be part of an organization or system that regards and treats you as an outlier or part of the outgroupit requires a great deal of willpower and resilience . . . the struggle is real!.
So, heres to the misfits, the ones who dont quite belong, who ask inconvenient questions, and who resist the seductive comfort of sameness. They may never win the culture fit award, but theyre the reason culture evolves at all . . . if we are brave to hire them in the first place!
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Artificial intelligence capabilities have rapidly shifted from nice-to-have extras to essential requirements across industries and job levels. Employers now prioritize candidates who can harness AI tools to multiply productivity, accelerate innovation, and solve complex problems with lean resources. In this article, experts reveal how mastering AI skills can unlock career opportunities, faster promotions, and competitive advantages in today’s job market.
Own One System and Share Insights
For me, the secret to standing out in the age of AI was pretty simple: if your company is starting to use AI, use it. Don’t wait for someone to tell you where to start. Pick one tool, go deep, and let curiosity lead you.
When I was a learning designer at Zapier, I decided to focus on one thing, a new tool that had just rolled out: AI Agents by Zapier. I pushed everything nonessential to the side and gave myself two weeks to learn it inside and out. Along the way, I realized that to make my Agents even better, I needed to understand other tools too: AI fields in Tables, Chatbots, and AI steps in automation workflows. That one deep dive became a crash course in the future of work.
I started filming myself as I learned, sharing the process and mistakes with others. Soon, teammates were reaching out for help. Product teams asked me to test new features and give feedback. And before I knew it, I’d become the go-to AI person without a technical background. Eighteen months later, I was promoted to senior AI automation engineer.
If you want to stand out and make yourself indispensable, start there:
Go deep on something. Master one AI tool instead of dabbling in many.
Share what you learn. Help your teammates, post your insights, and be generous with your knowledge.
Be strategic. Know when AI is the right solution (and, importantly, when it’s not).
Being proactive about AI isn’t just about saving time. It’s about showing that you can drive change, not wait for it. That’s what makes you valuable, no matter how much technology evolves.
Emily Mabie, AI Automation Engineer, Zapier
Start Companies With Generative Help
Generative AI is not just a differentiator; it’s a career accelerator that can expand career opportunities far beyond traditional paths. AI literacy empowers individuals to create entirely new opportunities that would previously have been inaccessible to them without significant resources or institutional backing.
One powerful example is how generative AI tools, even free ones like ChatGPT or Microsoft Copilot, can enable someone to launch a company instead of simply searching for yet another corporate role. With AI, an aspiring entrepreneur with a business idea is empowered to research and draft a well-thought-out business plan in hours, create and iterate on a brand identity without hiring a creative agency, develop a full-fledged marketing plan, and even simulate customer feedback by asking AI to role-play as an ideal customer persona to review, critique, and evaluate offerings through their lens.
This ability to work with AI on tasks that once required significant investment and teams of consultants, designers, and executive focus groups fundamentally changes the opportunities for career advancement. It lowers the barrier to entry for entrepreneurship, allowing individuals to test ideas, refine messaging, and build expertise at a fraction of the cost and time it would take without AI. It’s like having an entire team of executives, business planners, marketers, and writers at your fingertips.
When I began building my consultancy, I used free generative AI tools to do just that. One of the biggest advantages my AI skills created was being able to use AI to role-play as my ideal customer persona, asking it to critique my offerings, evaluate my positioning, and highlight my blind spots. That iterative feedback loop gave me insights into how the C-suite would look at my services so I could better address their needs and concerns, and “speak” their language so it would be easier for me to build trust and, ultimately, close the deal.
I believe the real power of AI skills is not that it just makes you better at your current job, but that it opens doors to entirely new ones. It helps individuals transform from simply being a “job applicant” to being an “opportunity creator.” That’s how AI is truly going to reshape the future of work. Because AI skills don’t just prepare you for the future they give you the agency to create it for yourself.
Kristin Ginn, Founder, trnsfrmAItn
Scale Impact With Lean Force Multipliers
AI skills are no longer optionalthey are becoming fundamental for every job seeker, regardless of profession. The reason is simple: AI is transforming how work gets done in three very clear stagesfirst by automating routine tasks, then by enhancing our abilities, and finally by transforming what individuals and small teams can achieve.
Most people stop at the first stage, using AI to save time on emails, reports, or documentation. But the real opportunity lies in the next two stages. When you use AI to enhance your thinking, creativity, and output, you suddenly operate at a much higher level. And when you reach the transformation stage, AI becomes a force multiplierenabling you to do work that previously required large teams and significant resources.
I’ve experienced this personally while building my company. Thanks to AI, we have been able to build and scale one of the best all-in-one AI platforms for teachers and students with a two-member team. Everything from product management to engineering to content, design, marketing, and operations has been streamlined because AI handles a significant portion of the heavy lifting. What would traditionally require 2025 people can now be executed by a lean, agile team that is able to move quickly and deliver high-quality output across every area. This is the true power of AInot just automating tasks but transforming the very structure of how teams and companies operate.
This is why AI proficiency is becoming a defining skill for today’s workforce. People who know how to use AI don’t just work fasterthey think better, create better, and adapt better. They become more strategic, more creative, and more capable. In every fieldteaching, engineering, design, marketing, HR, sales the professionals who embrace AI will accelerate, and those who don’t will find it increasingly difficult to stay competitive.
The reality is that AI is not here to replace human talent; it is here to elevate it. It levels the playing field, giving individuals access to capabilities that once required entire departments. For job seekers, students, and pofessionals, mastering AI tools is the most direct way to stand out in a crowded job market and open doors to opportunities that simply didn’t exist a few years ago.
And if a two-member team can build and scale a platform like ours using AI, imagine what individuals can do in their own careers with the same mindset. That’s the future of work.
Binit Agarwalla, Founder, TeachBetter.ai
Pair Technology With Irreplaceable Human Strengths
AI skills are essential because they sit at the heart of how work gets done now. But here’s what matters more: AI can’t replace the human skills that truly differentiate uslistening, building relationships, making judgment calls.
When people master AI tools, they gain time and headspace to focus on what makes them irreplaceable. You can work faster, produce better quality output, and tackle projects that once felt impossible. Combined with your human abilitiesempathy, curiosity, strategic thinkingyou become far more valuable to any organization.
When I built my company, AI became my operational backbone. While I focused on listening to clients and shaping their transformation stories, AI helped me analyze feedback, test messaging, and turn rough ideas into polished content. This meant I could build a coaching practice at startup speed while staying focused on the deeper human workunderstanding what people really need.
AI gave me velocity. But the human insightthe listening, the connection, the meaning-makingthat’s what made the work valuable. That combination opened doors to bigger stages and leadership conversations I wouldn’t have reached as quickly otherwise.
The future belongs to people who can combine AI efficiency with irreplaceable human skills.
Tünde Lukacs, Founder Executive Coach Keynote Speaker, The Change Republic
Launch Software Through Prompt Mastery
AI tools are erasing technical gatekeepingopening up high-value, technical jobs and paths to starting companies to nontraditional candidates.
There used to be a four-year coding college prerequisite to building production-quality software, gluing stuff together, or making things happen. The most striking effect of AI I’ve seen in the last year is people bypassing it. One of the most impressive career leaps I’ve encountered was of a former VC CFO whom I talked to recently. He used Replit’s AI pair programmer to build and launch his own SaaS app in under 3 months. He had zero software experience. He just sat down with Excel and workflows he knew from his finance job and threw them right into AI co-pilot to make an app.
This was not possible two years ago. He couldn’t become a “real” engineer, and this app that he’s making is not an Excel-based macro. He literally taught himself how to make software with the AI acting as his partner in the driving seat.
Prompt engineeringtalking in English to make AI do complex thingsis now as valuable a skill as coding was 10 years ago.
We see that the primary accelerant is not coding per se, but prompt engineering. Many of the most effective users of our service are not coders. They have to figure out how to give the AI goals and constraints and hammer out a detailed process, all in English. They have to turn their thoughts into instructions that involve their home context. This skill is getting to be worth more than coding. Now people can go to sleep thinking up videos they want to show, and then by morning have those videos done, without having to learn VFX or hire a studio. That’s a sea change. That’s why I tell job seekers to put “prompt engineering” on their resumes.
Runbo Li, Cofounder & CEO, Magic Hour
Drive Uptake and Unlock Bigger Roles
AI skills are becoming essential because, obviously, they save time and effort. And it’s not about just handing everything over to a tool and hoping for the bestinstead, it’s about knowing what to ask, how to review the output, and when to trust your own experience over the suggestion. In essence, AI allows everyone to become a kind of manager rather than someone who just executes tasks. Employers know this, which is why they’re increasingly looking for people who can get better results with AI. And, if you’re the person who consistently does more without working more, you naturally become the one invited into bigger projects, strategy conversations, and cross-functional work. That’s where bigger opportunities tend to open up.
A good example is our Sr. Director of Communications & Creative, who recently moved into an AI Operations Manager role. He stayed current on new tools, tested them, and openly promoted what worked across the company. In under one year, he switched from Replit to Cursor, which is typically seen as a tool for more tech-savvy users. Eventually, he also pushed for a company-wide effort to upskill by launching “AI Days”a monthly initiative where everyone focuses only on AI projects for the day. We use that time to build custom tools with platforms like v0.dev, create custom GPTs, or test new third-party AI solutions to boost productivity.
Dovil Gelèinskait, Senior Talent Manager, Omnisend
Adopt Smart Tools to Accelerate Advancement
The requirement for AI skills is increasing rapidly, as virtually every occupation includes aspects of the artificial intelligence sector. The capacity for tools to obtain greater levels of intelligence, and the expectation that workers will be able to work side by side with technology, has increased dramatically. Those who possess the ability to effectively use AI will have the potential to work faster and achieve better outcomes. This skill has evolved to be a primary skill as opposed to an additional skill.
Having an understanding of AI also opens up new opportunity avenues. You can transition to a different occupation, automate your mundane tasks, and illustrate your adaptive capabilities. This indicates that you are prepared for the future of work, not the present.
A brief example from my experience. I hired a junior level analyst who had no prior experience in technical fields, but had extensive knowledge and understanding of artificial intelligence tools. This junior level analyst utilized AI tools for tasks such as data organization, analysis, and report creation. Within a few months of being with us, she became the premier person within the organization to utilize AI workflows and gained considerable recognition, leading to a promotion to a higher level role, as part of the product development team, much sooner than anticipated.
The AI tools that this analyst used did not supplant her work, but rather enhanced what she was doing. Therefore, for everyone today, this is the opportunity available to them.
Mr Edward Tian, Founder/CEO, GPTZero
Adapt Swifly and Clarify Decisions
AI skills have become essential because the pace and complexity of work have outgrown what anyone can hold in their head. The job seekers who thrive are the ones who know how to pair their human judgment with tools that help them think, create, and decide more effectively. It’s no longer about what or how much we know. It’s what we do with this information and how we apply it in innovative and influential ways.
AI isn’t the destination. It’s a method of reaching it. It is the way we clear mental clutter and speed up the work that bogs us down. When we define AI as a resource and a tool rather than an identity, the whole conversation shifts, allowing us to move faster, solve problems with greater precision, and spend more time on work that advances us personally and professionally.
I am an executive coach and leadership development facilitator. Two recent clients proved how much AI can sharpen career clarity. One used AI to compare three possible career paths against his 20 years of experience, which helped him choose the strongest direction and craft a short bio for informational interviews. Another uploaded her 360 feedback and used AI to distill pages of comments into a clear summary for her managers, outlining the skills she wanted to strengthen and the support she needed to evolve.
But let’s be real. There’s no “mastering” AI. How can we when this tool is evolving by the hour? The real skill is learning to adapt to AI, get comfortable with it, and shape it to our own work. AI is the how behind better thinking, better decisions, and, fortunately for job seekers, better storytelling about our value.
When job seekers show they can work with a rapidly changing tool set, they signal agility, curiosity, and the kind of problem-solving that sets them apart in an AI-shaped workplace that’s changing in real time.
Tina Robinson, Founder and CEO, WorkJoy
Gain Capacity and Elevate Quality
AI skills will transform an individual’s ability to be able to increase efficiency creating capacity to either do more or to utilize excess capacity to improve quality of their deliverables. The ability to do more and improve their effectiveness will allow those earlier in their career to develop quicker and accelerate through the organizational stack sooner. For more senior folks, in addition to the personal benefits of the above-mentioned efficiency and effectiveness principles, the knowledge and exposure of AI skills will allow them to build and transform their organizations to have higher levels of throughput, distinctive competitive muscle, and an ability to serve existing as well as gain new customer segments.
For me, this was transformative when I was launching my podcast in Q2 of 2024. Having never done it before, I was initially relying primarily on manual editorial work using video and sound editing tools, manually transcribing interviews, and going through numerous keyword iterations to post a single video. This effort was taking over 40 hours for a single episode. In the last five quarters while I have had to invest my time in learning and keeping up with the pace of rapidly developing AI-enabled tools, my efforts on each episode are now down to less than four hours. From transcription, to video and sound editing, to intelligent copywriting, posting, and engagement, the use of AI-enabled tools has given me hours of capacity back and the product quality is far superior than what I was able to previously achieve with manual work.
Rohit Bassi, Founder & CEO, People Quotient (PQ)
Prove Relevance to Overcome Bias
I’ve reviewed hundreds of job postings in the past year, and the common theme is showing some understanding of how AI can be used to become more efficient. You don’t necessarily need to be an AI expert, but you do need to show that you are upskilling and aware of how you can use AI to do your job better. This is important for job seekers of all ages, but especially for experienced job seekers who can often face ageism and/or assumptions that they aren’t staying on-trend with current technology.
However, demonstrating AI skills can definitely mitigate ageism risk. I recently worked with an IT analyst client in his late 60swe led off his résumé/LinkedIn with his generative AI experience and he landed his dream job within months in spite of the challenging market. The key is being clear that you know how to leverage this technology to improve the company’s bottom line.
Colleen Paulson, Executive Career Consultant, Ageless Careers
Harness New Leaps to Build Empires
Many fear AI will replace white-collar jobs. I argue that AI will instead re-skill them, favoring those who master it as a strategic tool. Our primal “fight or flight” response makes us see AI as a foe, but every technological leap in human history has been driven by those who dared to harness a powerful new force.
Consider the transition just a century ago: horses were the dominant mode of transportation. Those who daringly mastered the automobile and aviation, often through self-teaching, built the next generation of empires. Today, early adopters of AI are positioned to dominate the next half-century. New enterprises will be founded, and a new cohort of technology leaders will emerge. This is simply the natural progression of every technological revolution, from controlling fire to inventing the wheel.
In my own case, I started small, using ChatGPT and Gemini to research and draft content for a liquor store blog I was operating. Initially, my prompt engineering was clumsy. However, as I improved, the tools made producing content (listicles, cocktail trends, spirits history) significantly more efficient. This AI-fueled content strategy provided strong SEO and value, helping the brand scale from a single store to three, eventually leading to my successful exit with a 3X ROI.
I am now leveraging these newly acquired skills to capture Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) businessspecifically, using AI to rapidly generate, refine, and optimize marketing content for discovery across platforms. This has enabled me to scale my marketing agency, which had not actively onboarded new clients in three years. What began as an efficient way to pump out content for a single store has transformed into a core, highly profitable service offering. At 52, I can attest that this proficiency is not age-limited; mastering AI adds tangible, immediate value to clients and unlocks significant career growth.
Mr. Steven Paul Matsumoto, Founder, Chief Strategist, Stigmare Inc
Prototype Solutions Fast to Win Offers
Many companies today test candidates’ creativity by giving them a very specific problem to solve with little to no time. This is precisely where AI can help you in your next job application.
Four months ago, I started at Productive, and one of the tests I had was to create a functioning cold outreach campaign from scratch in four hours without spending too many resources.
In those two hours, I learned the baics of n8n and used it to create an almost completely autonomous sequence by connecting tools like Ocean.io, Apify, ChatGPT, and Reply.io.
Of course, it did not work perfectly, but the concept was enough to get me the job.
Milos Radic, Marketing Partnership Manager, Productive.io
Automate Workflows and Earn Rapid Promotion
I had a content manager at our marketing agency who was mostly responsible for ensuring his content team was creating the right content and enough of it, but he’d often have to help them out himself. He’s always been a huge AI fan, talking about new advances and boring most of us. Over a period of 35 months, he’d occasionally want to show me something he’d built that either integrated with or utilized AI to automate or semi-automate tasks and processes that were responsibilities of his content team.
After about four months of this and him getting better and continually creating more automated tasks/work by AI, he’d reduced the amount of human work needed by the content team by almost 60%. My concern was always quality or mistakes, so I’d test things and double check, but the end result was consistently BETTER than human work.
Long story short, he quickly received a promotion to a new job that didn’t exist at our company before, so I made it up, and his title became chief operational efficiency officer. He went from a lower-level manager to an executive in a few months due to his AI proficiency and ability to implement.
Landon Murie, CEO, Goodjuju Marketing
Hello and welcome to Modern CEO! Im Stephanie Mehta, CEO and chief content officer of Mansueto Ventures. Each week this newsletter explores inclusive approaches to leadership drawn from conversations with executives and entrepreneurs, and from the pages of Inc. and Fast Company. If you received this newsletter from a friend, you can sign up to get it yourself every Monday morning.
Last week, Modern CEO shared reader recommendations of books leaders should read to get ready for 2026. Lyft CEO David Risher submitted a classic, writing: If youre looking for inspiration on how to write a comeback story for your company, theres no better tale than The Odyssey.
Risher knows a bit about penning comeback stories. Hes undertaking the Homerian task of reviving rideshare company Lyft and narrowing the gap between the company and rival Uber.
Taking on a turnaround
When Risher became CEO of Lyft in April 2023, after serving on its board of directors for almost two years, the companys stock was trading at about $9 per share, well below its IPO price of $72 per share. At the time, its U.S. market penetration was about 26% or 27%. Lyft, once hailed as an innovator and a whimsical alternative to Uber, was stagnating.
Risher had previously worked at Amazon, where founder Jeff Bezos instilled an ethos of customer obsession, and he quickly assessed that Lyft had lost sight of its riders. Its employees also tended to overthink issues.
Risher has sought to address both issues: Early in his tenure, for example, he noted that customers experienced a cancellation about 15% of the time. When Risher expressed concern over the stat, employees shrugged it off. Eventually a driver would show up, and rides were completed 99% of the time. I said, Okay, but 100% of the time, its annoying, Risher recalls.
When some team members suggested they address Rishers concerns by conducting research, he replied: I dont think we have to do a study. I can tell you right now, its just really annoying. So, lets stop doing that, please.
Getting driver cancellations down required operational and technical work, but Lyft has made progress, with rates now below 5%. Risher believes that reliability helps customer loyalty. Other rider-centric moves include the national rollout last year of Lyft Silver, a service for older adults, and Women+ Connect, an opt-in feature that increases the odds of pairing female and nonbinary riders with female and nonbinary drivers.
Still, Lyft has been called out on safety issues: A recent New York Times investigation into sexual assault by Uber drivers noted that Lyft bans all drivers with convictions for violent felonies but it, too, is facing sexual assault lawsuits from passengers. Were committed to continuously strengthening our systems and working with safety experts, advocates, and regulators to set the highest standards for our industry, the company told The Times.
Risher has also worked to expand Lyfts reach via the recent acquisition of Freenow, a European mobility platform, a move that he says doubles the companys addressable market. Now we truly are a global company, he says.
Under Rishers leadership, Lyft has eked out gains: Its market share has climbed to about 30%, and the stock now trades at about $19 per share, up about 40% over the past 12 months, outperforming Uber and the broader market.
Some analysts have speculated that Lyft could be an attractive acquisition for Amazon, Tesla, Google, or Waymo as they look to expand their autonomous transportation ambitions. As a public company, were on sale every day on the market, Risher responds. People can buy our shares anytime they want, but were not out looking for suitors.
Indeed, Risherwho was a comparative literature major at Princeton Universitysounds like someone who hasnt finished writing Lyfts comeback story. When I asked what stage the turnaround is in, he says, It might well be 10%.
Whats left to be done? Having really focused on people, customer obsession, and a deep culture of operational excellence, he says, now, frankly, its asking: How do we grow in new ways? He calls autonomous vehicles one of the biggest opportunities weve had since the beginning of the company and envisages a hybrid network that allows riders to decide whether they want a self-driving car or one with a driver. I think thats going to be a big unlock, he adds.
Tell us your turnaround tales
Are you trying to turn around a company? What are some of the tactics youre deploying to increase sales, grow market share, or restore your brand? Send me a few lines about what youre doing at stephaniemehta@mansueto.com. Well publish top insights in a future newsletter.
Listen and read more: comeback kids
Brian Niccol, Starbuckss $100 million man, shares his vision
Elliot Hill on his mission to make epic shit at Nike
How to turn your company around after a crisis
To an outside observer (honestly even to the average American), the jurisdiction of the United States government appears convolutedit’s a collection of states with one set of rules that can be overturned by the larger federal government.
Holidays can sometimes fall into liminal space, and it can get confusing as to what is open and closed on days such as today (Monday, January 19), Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
Lets take a look at the man behind the holiday and the fight to get his birthday recognized, before we dive into how the day is observed.
How was Martin Luther King Jr. Day established?
Martin Luther King Jr. (MLK) was a civil rights leader, Baptist minister, and social activist whose legacy cannot be overstated.
King was instrumental in organizing the Montgomery bus boycott, which began in 1955. He cofounded the Southern Christian Leadership Conference to continue the advancement of Black people in American society.
He also organized the 1963 March on Washington, which helped usher in the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965, and he was the youngest person ever to receive the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964.
The movement to create MLK Day started just four days after Kings death in 1968.
Representative John Conyers introduced the idea in the House of Representatives, but it would take 11 years before a vote would be held on the motion. It would take even longer for the vote to pass.
Stevie Wonder got involved, dropping a single in an effort to get Kings birthday formal recognition.
Another march on Washington was organized by King’s wife, Coretta Scott King, where around 500,000 people took to the streets to show their support of the cause.
Finally in 1983, the House passed the bill, although the Senate proved to be another battle, as Senator Jesse Helms of North Carolina attempted to block the bill with a filibuster.
President Ronald Reagan signed it into law in 1983 and the first federal holiday was observed three years later.
It wasnt until 2000 that all 50 states recognized the holiday.
Now that we know the history behind the observance, here’s what to know about the potential disruption of normal day-to-day services.
Are banks open on MLK Day?
No. Most banks are closed because it is a federal holiday. Online banking is available. ATMs are available if you need fast cash.
Is the post office open on MLK Day?
No. The United Sates Postal Service (USPS) is closed on federal holidays, and most physical post offices won’t be open. Mail will not be delivered.
Are Fedex and UPS operating?
UPS will be closed in observance of MLK Day. FedEx will remain open with modified service.
Is the stock market open?
No. Both the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and the Nasdaq exchange will be closed.
Are schools open?
No. Most public schools will be closed in observance of the holiday. If your loved one attends or works at a private school it’s a good practice to double check.
Are restaurants open?
Yes. Most large chain restaurants will be open but some will modify their hours. This includes major fast-food chains such as McDonald’s, Burger King, Pizza Hut, and others. Smaller mom-and-pop establishments can make their own rules so it is best to call ahead.
Are retail chains open?
Yes. Most major retailers and big-box stores are open. This includes Walmart, Target, Costco, and Home Depot.
Are pharmacies open?
Yes. If you happen to catch the flu or a cold that always seems to go around at this time of the year, Walgreens and CVS are available to soothe your ailments.
Are grocery stores open?
Yes. Groceries stores are typically open, including major chains such as Whole Foods, Kroger, and Aldi.
Are national parks free on MLK Day?
Not anymore. Under President Trump, the National Park Service changed its policy and eliminated the free admission days that were previously available on both MLK Day and Juneteenth.
Free admission is now available on Flag Day, which coincides with the presidents birthday. Many civil rights organizations, such as the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), are upset about this change because of the gravity of both of these observances.
Ways to observe MLK Day
There are many ways to honor the legacy of King on this day. You could volunteer at a local nonprofit and help your community, or you might consider visiting a Black history museum. You could even honor the day by simply reading a book about the visionary leader or watching one of his many moving speeches.
