After spending much of his career in marketing, Daniel Hebert pivoted into Software as a Service (SaaS) sales for a high-growth startup in 2018. But what started out as a dream job soon turned into a nightmare.
Like many tech startups, the business went from growth mode to scaling down as the market turned in 2022. As the head of the sales team, Hebert found himself on the front lines of that cost-cutting campaign.
I would be assigned a team and have to fire half the people. Then Id have to rebuild the process and rebuild the team. I did three or four cycles of that in 15 months, and I just got so insanely burnt out, he says. I just randomly started getting [stress-induced] vertigo, to the point where I was bedridden for days at a time. Like, I couldnt stand up without falling over.
Though he was just a couple of months shy of a big payday when the company was set to be acquired, Hebert resigned and began offering independent sales coaching services in early 2023.
In the very early days, I used AI a lot for brainstorming: figuring out, like, how do I market this thing? he says. Then it became kind of like a marketing editor, and then I started using it with my clients. And from there, it went wild.
As he got more comfortable with the technology, Hebert says he started to look for ways he could leverage it to scale his offering. If I want to increase my income as a coach, I have to add more coaching hours, and theres so many hours I can coach before I max out, he says. So if I want to scale my income, I have to do it in a way that doesnt require my time.
Hebert says he had lots of ideas for tech products over the years, but never had the time, resources, or capacity to build them. That is, until he became a solopreneur and learned how to use Lovable, an AI-powered app builder.
I could actually build functioning B2B SaaS software, and it completely changed everything for me, he says. I could now build a handful of these tools and get some subscribers, and have this portfolio of apps generating income without me having to add more coaching hours.
AI is widely expected to be a game changer for businesses of all shapes and sizes, enabling new kinds of productivity and revenue. But that transformation is already well underway among solopreneurs.
Thats because those who are independently employed dont have the practical constraints that hold back those operating in traditional organizations, like legal compliance, or a lengthy rollout process of new tools involving large groups of people and many teams. They also enjoy more direct financial rewards from being early AI adopters.
Why solopreneurs are winning the AI race
In a recent survey conducted by online freelance marketplace Upwork, 90% of freelancers said AI is helping them learn new skills faster, and 88% said it positively impacted their careers. Furthermore, 34% strongly agree that AI gives them an edge, compared with 28% of those who are traditionally employed.
Overall, 54% of independently employed professionals self-report advanced AI proficiency, compared with 38% of those who are independently employed.
The data overwhelmingly shows that independent talent is adopting AI at higher rates, says Gabby Burlacu, a senior researcher at the Upwork Research Institute and one of the studys authors. They are faster at adopting it, and they are also more proficient in finding ways to use these tools to improve their work, and actually embedding them in their workflows when we compare them to full-time employees.
As traditional organizations sort through how to deploy which AI tools and embark on lengthy integration and change management campaigns, solopreneurs are taking it upon themselves to experiment on their own.
They are pursuing self-developmentwhich we’re seeing across the boardat much higher rates than full-time employees who tend to rely more on organizational learning and development, Burlacu says. The tools are available to everyone, but the ability to unlock their power and do better work comes from being in control of how you work, how you learn. Thats the game changer.
Not just for knowledge workers
While knowledge industry workers are the most likely to latch onto the technology, solopreneurs of all shapes and sizes are finding ways to grow their business using AI.
According to a study conducted by business insurance provider Simply Business, about 37.5% of independently employed knowledge workers, such as accountants, IT specialists and legal advisers, are using AI in their day-to-day operations. At the same time, so are 29.7% of those with independent creative or lifestyle ventureslike artists, coaches, and photographersand 14% of tradespeople and contractors.
Those figures, however, only capture intentional adoption, and don’t include those that are using other software tools to run their business, which are increasingly integrating AI functionality.
According to the survey, more than half use digital marketing tools, and another 39% leverage accounting software. Some of those, quite frankly, have AI built in that they may not even realize they’re using, says Dana Edwards, group chief technology officer at Simply Business. In our 2025 survey, 23% [of solopreneurs] were using AI, and if you kind of follow the trend line, I wouldn’t be surprised if we were in the 60 or 70% range in 2026.
AI offers solopreneurs direct value
In a recent survey of solopreneurs who are already using AI conducted by Zoom and Upwork, 93% agreed or strongly agreed that the technology is critical to their success.
Furthermore, 75% said it has reduced costs, 89% said its helped them expand into new markets, 78% said it allowed them to automate repetitive tasks, and 74% said it’s directly contributed to a new product or service offering.
Seven out of 10 of those individuals are already seeing revenue impact from incorporating AI in their day-to-day operations, and were just at the start, says Lisa Scheiring, Zooms new global small business advisor and chief solo officer. Technology now is enabling those individuals to build durable, scalable businesses that can compete directly with some of the larger enterprises in their categories.
Scheiring says the establishment of her position, along with Zooms recently announced Solopreneur 50 recognition program, are a testament to the impact the company believes businesses of one will have in the AI era.
She adds that its not just the lack of traditional constraints that allows solopreneurs to leverage AI more readily; its also about personality and risk appetite.
If you are bold enough to take on a solo venture, you are already someone who is willing to learn new things and change and grow. Those are the same skills that you need to learn how to use AI, Scheiring says.
Someone who s willing to take that step forward and be a solopreneur, those same capabilitieswhen applied to a new technology like AIwill help them move further, faster.
That proved the case for Hebert, who went from burned-out sales professional to independent sales coach to launching his own tech products in less than three years.
You used to have to raise a lot of money and hire a big team to do things like thisnow you just need an idea and the patience to actually learn the AI skills to make it happen, he says.
Thats the superpower of the solopreneur.
As the United States prepares to celebrate its 250th birthday, an auction in New York will feature rare items that trace the nation’s history.The event Friday at Christie’s, dubbed “We the People: America at 250,” will bring together foundational political texts, iconic American art and rare historical artifacts.Among the highlights is a rare 1776 broadside printing of the Declaration of Independence produced in New Hampshire by printer Robert Luist Fowle, estimated at $3 million to $5 million.“It’s historically significant because you get to see what people at the time actually saw,” said Peter Klarnet, senior specialist for books, manuscripts and Americana at Christie’s.While the initial printing was produced by John Dunlap on the night of July 4, 1776 with about 200 copies printed and only 26 known to survive other printers quickly began producing their own versions.“This is the way that everyday Americans would have encountered the Declaration of Independence whether it was tacked to a wall or read from the pulpit of their local congregation,” Klarnet said.Another founding document up for sale is Rufus King’s edited draft of the U.S. Constitution, estimated at $3 million to $5 million. Printed just five days before the final version was issued on Sept. 17, 1787, the document captures the nation’s founding charter as it was being finalized.“This is the Constitution taking final form,” Klarnet said. “You can see the edits being made in real time.”King was a delegate from Massachusetts to the 1787 Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia. He was also a member of The Committee of Style, a five-member group tasked with refining the text.“This puts you directly in Independence Hall as they’re drafting and making the final changes and edits to this remarkable document,” Klarnet said.The auction also includes a signed copy of the Emancipation Proclamation. The authorized printed edition was commissioned for the Great Central Fair, a Civil War-era fundraiser held in Philadelphia in June 1864 to raise money for Union troops. The Proclamation is estimated at $3 million to $5 million.“Lincoln, together with his Secretary of State William Seward and his Secretary John Nicolay, signed 48 copies of this,” Klarnet said, noting they were originally sold for $20 each and not all sold at the time.American art plays a major role in the sale as well. Leading the category is Gilbert Stuart’s portrait of George Washington thought to have inspired the face on the U.S. dollar bill. The painting was commissioned by James Madison. It is estimated to bring between $500,000 and $1 million.Other artworks include a Jamie Wyeth painting of John F. Kennedy accepting the 1960 Democratic presidential nomination at the Los Angeles Coliseum estimated at $200,000 to $300,000.There is also Grant Wood’s original pencil sketch of American Gothic drawn on the back an envelope estimated at $70,000 to $100,000.Beyond the founding documents, the sale features rare historical objects like the only known flag recovered by U.S. forces from the 1876 Battle of Little Bighorn. The flag is expected to sell for between $2 million and $4 million.Historians say auctions like these underscore the role of private collectors in preserving the nation’s material past.“Private collectors play an important role,” historian Harold Holzer said. “They save things, they preserve things, and ultimately they pass on their collections.”For Holzer, the emotional power of the items remains meaningful.“You almost feel the electricity from these relics,” Holzer said, “their impact on the people, who not only read these documents, but fought for what they were calling for.”He calls the documents “great words fought for with blood.”
Joseph Frederick, Associated Press
President Donald Trumps late-night Truth Social posting spree on Tuesdaydoubling down on his Greenland ambitions and threatening any who try to get in his wayalso included a flurry of leaked texts from the leaders of NATO, France, Finland, and Norway.
TL;DR: French President Emmanuel Macron invited him to dinner in Paris. NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte cant wait to see him. America is threatening to take over Greenland.
Turns out, they text just like us.
[Screenshots: Truth Social]
Posted on Truth Social, Trump apparently leaked a private text from the French President: My friend, We are totally in line on Syria. We can do great things on Iran. I do not understand what you are doing on Greenland, the message from Macron appeared to read.
Social media users were quick to share their thoughts on the text exchangenot so much the threat to blow apart the alliance that has underpinned Western security for decades, but the fact that matters of diplomacy are conducted over iMessage.
I honestly love this for reasons I cannot articulate, one X user wrote, alongside a screenshot of the messages.
They continued in a follow-up post: you can imagine Trump getting *so many texts like this*. An edited screenshot of the original conversation read: we are totally in line on real estate. We can do great things on reality television. I do not understand what you are doing running for president.
Theyre just like us fr fr, another X user responded. This feels like when Kanye went crazy and started posting text messages, another suggested.
In a leaked Sunday message to Jonas Gahr Stre, the prime minister of Norway, Trump reiterates threats of a takeover, now apparent to be rooted in a personal grudge over being snubbed for the Nobel Peace Prize last year.
Considering your Country decided not to give me the Nobel Peace Prize for having stopped 8 Wars PLUS, I no longer feel an obligation to think purely of Peace, although it will always be predominant, but can now think about what is good and proper for the United States of America, Trump wrote.
He went on to question Denmarks claim to Greenland, signing off Thank you! President DJT
Leaking an opponent’s private messages (or coming in hot with receipts) is a common power play tactic some social media users have likened to teenage behavior: Trump is leaking the texts of WORLD LEADERS like hes a 13 year old girl, as one X user noted.
Exchanging messages over apps such as WhatsApp or Signal has become common practice in government. And public snafus because of it have become a bit more common, too: Last year, the US national security adviser, Mike Waltz, landed in hot water after accidentally adding The Atlantic editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg to a private Signal group chat in which senior officials discussed Yemen war plans.
Still, it’s rather unsettling to imagine world leaders simply texting sensitive discussions around the fate of geopolitics to one another. Perhaps it doesnt feel secure enough, or official enough.And in this instance, when it comes to the U.S. President, he appears to have taken diplomacy advice from The Real Housewives of Salt Lake Citys Heather Gay: “Receipts, proof, timeline, screenshots.
Welcome to AI Decoded, Fast Companys weekly newsletter that breaks down the most important news in the world of AI. Im Mark Sullivan, a senior writer at Fast Company,covering emerging tech, AI, and tech policy.
Im dedicating this weeks newsletter to a conversation I had with the main author of Anthropics new and improved constitution, the document it uses to govern the outputs of its models and its Claude chatbot.
Sign up to receive this newsletter every week via email here. And if you have comments on this issue and/or ideas for future ones, drop me a line at sullivan@fastcompany.com, and follow me on X @thesullivan.
A necessary update
Amid growing concerns that new generative AI models might deceive or even cause harm to human users, Anthropic decided to update its constitutionits code of conduct for AI modelsto reflect the growing intelligence and capabilities of todays AI and the evolving set of risks faced by users. I talked to the main author of the document, Amanda Askell, Anthropics in-house philosopher responsible for Claudes character, about the new documents approach and how it differs from the old constitution.
This interview was edited for length and clarity.
Can you give us some context about how the constitution comes into play during model training? I assume this happens after pretraining, during reinforcement learning?
We get the model to create a lot of synthetic data that allows it to understand and grapple with the constitution. Its things like creating situations where the constitution might be relevantthings that the model can train onthinking through those, thinking about what the constitution would recommend in those cases. Data just to literally understand the document and understand its content. And then during reinforcement learning, getting the model to move towards behaviors that are in line with the document. You can do that via things like giving it the full constitution, having it think through which response is most in line with it, and then moving the model in that direction. Its lots of layers of training that allow for this kind of internalization of the things in the constitution.
You mentioned letting the model generate synthetic training data. Does that mean its imagining situations where this could be applied?
Yeah, thats one way it can do this. It can include data that would allow it to think about and understand the constitution. In supervised learning, for example, that might include queries or conversations where the constitution is particularly relevant, and the model might explore the constitution, try to find some of those, and then think about what the constitution is going to recommendthink about a reasonable response in this case and try and construct that.
How is this new constitution different from the old one?
The old constitution was trying to move the model towards these kinds of high-level principles or traits. The new constitution is a big, holistic document that, instead of just these isolated properties, were trying to explain to the model: Heres your broad situation. Heres the way that we want you to interact with the world. Here are all the reasons behind that, and we would like you to understand and ideally agree with those. Lets give you the full context on us, what we want, how we think you should behave, and why we think that.
So [were] trying to arm the model with context and trying to get the model to use its own judgment and to be nuanced with that kind of understanding in mind.
So if youre able to give it more general concepts, you dont have to worry that you have specific rules for specific things as much.
Yeah. It feels interestingly related to how models are getting more capable. Ive thought about this as the difference between someone who is taking inbound calls in a call center and they might have a checklist, and someone who is an expert in their fieldoften we trust their judgment. Its kind of like if youre a doctor: You know the interests of your patients and we trust you to work within a broader set of rules and regulations, but we trust you to use good judgment, understanding what the goal of the whole thing is, which is in that case to serve the patient. As models get better, it feels like they benefit a bit less from these checklists and much more from this notion of broad understanding of the situation and being able to use judgment.
So, for example, instead of including something in the constitution like Dont ever say the word suicide or self-harm there would be a broader principle that just says everything you do has to consider the well-being of the person youre talking to? Is there a more generalized approach to those types of things?
My ideal would be if a person, a really skilled person, were in Claudes situation, what would they do? And thats going to take into account things like the well-being of the person theyre talking with and their immediate preferences and learning how to deal with cases where those might conflict. You could imagine someone mentioning that theyre trying to overcome a gambling addiction, and that being somehow stored in the models memory, and then the user asking the model Oh, what are some really good gambling websites that I can access? Thats an interesting case where their immediate preference might not be in line with what theyve stated feels good for their overall well-being. The models going to have to balance that.
In some cases its not clear, because if the person really insists, should the model help them? Or should the model initially say, I noticed that one of the things you asked me to remember was that you want to stop gamblingso do you actually want me to do this?
Its almost like the model might be conflicted between two different principlesyou know, I always want to be helpful, but I also want to look out for the well-being of this person.
Exactly. And you have to. You dont want to be paternalistic. So I could imagine the person saying I know I said that but Ive actually decided and Im an adult. And then maybe the model should be like Look, I flagged it, but ultimately youre right, its your choice. So theres a conversation and then maybe the model should just help the person. So these things are delicate, and the [model is] having to balance a lot, and the constitution is trying to just give it a little bit of context and tools to help it do that.
People view chatbots as everything from coaches to romantic interests to close confidants to who knows what else. From a trust and safety perspective, what is the ideal persona for an AI?
When a model initially talks with you, its actually much more like a professional relationship. And theres a certain kind of professional distance thats appropriate. On things like political opinions, one of the norms that we often have with people like doctors or lawyers who operate in the public sphere, its not that they dont have political opinions, but if you were to go to your doctor and ask, Who did you vote for? or Whats your view on this political issue? they might say, Its not really that appropriate for me to say because its importnt that I can serve everyone, and that includes a certain level of detachment from my personal opinions to how I interact with you.Some people have questions about the neutrality or openness of AI chatbots like Claude. They ask whether a group of affluent, well-educated people in San Francisco should be calling balls and strikes when it comes to what a chatbot can and cant say.
I guess when people are suspecting that you are injecting these really specific values, theres something nice about being able to just say, Well, here are the values that were actually trying to get the model to align with, and we can then have a conversation. Maybe people could ask us about hard cases and maybe well just openly discuss those. Im excited about people giving feedback. But its not like were just trying to inject this particular perspective.
Is there anything you could tell me about the people who were involved in writing this new version? Was it all written internally?
The document was written internally and we got feedback. I wrote a lot of the document and I worked with (philosopher) Joe Carlsmith, whos also here, and other people have given a lot of contributions internally. Ive worked with other teams who work with external experts. Ive looked at a lot of the use cases of the model. It comes from years of that kind of input.
More AI coverage from Fast Company:
Inside the founder factory known as Palantir, Americas most polarizing company
Is the AI manipulation engine here? How chatbots are gearing up to sell ads
AI is rewriting the CEO job description: Are you ready?
Intel admits consumers dont care about AI PCsyet
Want exclusive reporting and trend analysis on technology, business innovation, future of work, and design? Sign up for Fast Company Premium.
Leadership loves speed.
You see it in job postings: Were a fast-paced environment. And you hear it: Decide quickly. Respond ASAP. Fix it… now.
And yes, action needs to happen at work. But reacting quickly and leading effectively arent the same thing.
{"blockType":"mv-promo-block","data":{"imageDesktopUrl":"https:\/\/images.fastcompany.com\/image\/upload\/f_webp,q_auto,c_fit\/wp-cms-2\/2026\/01\/i-169-Ashley-Herd.jpg","imageMobileUrl":"https:\/\/images.fastcompany.com\/image\/upload\/f_webp,q_auto,c_fit\/wp-cms-2\/2026\/01\/i-11-Ashley-Herd.jpg","eyebrow":"","headline":"\u003Cem\u003EThe Manager Method\u003C\/em\u003E","dek":"Want practical leadership development training that actually sticks? Visit managermethod.com to learn more and order Ashley Herds book, \u003Cem\u003EThe Manager Method\u003C\/em\u003E.","subhed":"","description":"","ctaText":"Learn More","ctaUrl":"http:\/\/managermethod.com","theme":{"bg":"#2b2d30","text":"#ffffff","eyebrow":"#9aa2aa","subhed":"#ffffff","buttonBg":"#3b3f46","buttonHoverBg":"#3b3f46","buttonText":"#ffffff"},"imageDesktopId":91478992,"imageMobileId":91478994,"shareable":false,"slug":""}}
Some of the biggest leadership mistakes dont happen because someones careless. They happen because someone feels pressure to respond immediately and prioritizes urgency over accuracy.
Someone makes a mistake and you groan. You hear feedback and go on the defensive before youve even fully heard it. Someone gets sick during a key project and your first thought is, How will this get done now? These moments pass fast, but the ripple effects linger.
Thats why leaders can use a simple framework that creates better decisions and better conversations without slowing down the work: Pause-Consider-Act. Not because leaders need to become slower. Because they need to become steadier. Heres how it works.
Step 1: Pause (not stop)
When leaders hear the word pause, they sometimes picture a dramatic freeze or a long, awkward silence while everyone waits for a decision. Thats not what this is.
Pausing isnt stopping. Its creating an opportunity to think before you respond.
A pause can be as small as a breath before you speak. It can be a quick reset of your tone and your words. That beat matters because without it, pressure changes the way you lead. Your tone gets sharper. Your patience gets thinner. Your words get shorter. Your brain goes into handle it now mode instead of handle it well mode.
Its not a character flawits human. But leadership is the ability to respond without letting stress take the wheel.
If you want words to have ready when youre on the spot, try these: I want to make sure I answer this the right way. Let me take a second.
It buys you time without creating uncertainty. It signals confidence, not weakness. And it keeps a tense moment from becoming a bigger one.
Step 2: Consider (the full picture)
When you pause, you have room to consider whats actually happening. Not just the words being said, but whats underneath them.
Consider isnt about being soft. Its about being fair and smart. It means running decisions through a simple filter: How would I want to be treated if this were me? Or: How would I a loved one treated in this situation?
It doesnt mean you avoid accountability. It means you stop treating people like problems to solve and start treating them like humans to lead.
In the Consider step, ask yourself:
What might I be assuming that I dont actually know?
What outcome am I aiming for here?
If this were someone else, would my response be the same?
That last question matters more than people want to admit. Because inconsistency is one of the fastest ways to lose trust. Employees can handle tough feedback. What they struggle to handle is unpredictability.
Step 3: Act (follow through)
Strong leadership action is direct, calm, and specific. Its not vague promises or reassurance. Its saying what needs to be said, without making someone feel uncertain or ashamed in the process.
And this is where leaders sometimes slip: they pause, consider… and then never actually act. They avoid the conversationsaying Ill circle back, but never do. Or they soften a message, so its not actually heard.
If you want your team to trust you, action has to include follow-through, even if its simple:
Heres what Im doing.
Heres what I need from you.
Heres when well check in again.
Clear communication builds trust. And trust is what makes teams more efficient, more resilient, and easier to lead long-term.
What this looks like in real leadership moments
Pause-Consider-Act matters most in the moments that test you.
If someone makes a mistake, instead of groaning or snapping, try: Lets look at what went wrong and how we fix it and from it.
If you get feedback, instead of becoming defensive, say: Thank you for telling me. I want to think on that and talk more about it.
If someone gets sick during a key project, instead of stress, respond: First, take care of yourself. Well figure out coverage and next steps.
Pause-Consider-Act wont make every situation easy. But it gives you a repeatable way to lead reliably, especially when your first instinct is to move fast. Because the leaders who build the most trust arent the fastest to respond. Theyre the ones who know how to pause, consider, and act with intention.
{"blockType":"mv-promo-block","data":{"imageDesktopUrl":"https:\/\/images.fastcompany.com\/image\/upload\/f_webp,q_auto,c_fit\/wp-cms-2\/2026\/01\/i-169-Ashley-Herd.jpg","imageMobileUrl":"https:\/\/images.fastcompany.com\/image\/upload\/f_webp,q_auto,c_fit\/wp-cms-2\/2026\/01\/i-11-Ashley-Herd.jpg","eyebrow":"","headline":"\u003Cem\u003EThe Manager Method\u003C\/em\u003E","dek":"Want practical leadership development training that actually sticks? Visit managermethod.com to learn more and order Ashley Herds book, \u003Cem\u003EThe Manager Method\u003C\/em\u003E.","subhed":"","description":"","ctaText":"Learn More","ctaUrl":"http:\/\/managermethod.com","theme":{"bg":"#2b2d30","text":"#ffffff","eyebrow":"#9aa2aa","subhed":"#ffffff","buttonBg":"#3b3f46","buttonHoverBg":"#3b3f46","buttonText":"#ffffff"},"imageDesktopId":91478992,"imageMobileId":91478994,"shareable":false,"slug":""}}
Sometimes Warren Buffett says something so simple, so obvious, that you almost want to roll your eyes. At 95 years young, he has offered plainspoken advice that has shaped one of the most successful careers in history. But when you hear it, you know its truth and part of you wonders: Why havent I applied this yet?
When we slow down long enough to sit with some of his wisdomreally let it sink in, not just skim it on our phoneshis principles can reshape how we lead, how we work, and how we show up in life. The challenge, of course, is in the follow-through. How many of us can read something today and honestly say, Im going to start doing this tomorrow?
If youre feeling even a little inspired, here are six Buffett classics worth putting into practice.
Break the habits that hold you back
Most of us know exactly whats holding us back. Buffett doesnt sugarcoat it. He once told a group of college grads, I see people with these self-destructive behavior patterns. They really are entrapped by them. His message was simple: Build better habits early, because the longer you wait, the harder it gets. The chains of habit are too light to be felt until they are too heavy to be broken, added Buffett.
This is leadership 101. Your people wont rise above the behaviors you tolerate in yourself.
Dont gamble what matters most
Buffett told those same students that hes watched countless leaders and companies blow up their lives chasing something biggerusually out of greed or impatience. His filter is straightforward: If you risk something that is important to you for something that is unimportant to you, it just doesnt make sense. Leaders often get in trouble not because they lack intelligence, but because they lose perspective.
Surround yourself with people who do whats right
Buffett asked students to think of the classmate whose long-term success theyd bet on. The qualities theyd identify? Integrity. Humility. Generosity. That would be the person who is generous, honest, and who gave credit to other people for their own ideas, he said.
Integrity in the age of liars and narcissists is your competitive advantage. People follow leaders they trust.
Stay in the lane where you excel
Buffett once quoted Tom Watson Sr., founder of IBM: Im no genius. But Im smart in spots, and I stay around those spots. Leaders get themselves into trouble when they drift too far from their strengths. Know your lane. Build from it. Delegate what sits outside it. That focus is what creates mastery and a career you can be proud of.
Build a career you actually love
This one feels almost too obvious, but most people ignore it for decades: In the world of business, the people who are most successful are those who are doing what they love, said Buffett. Too many leaders stay in roles that drain them simply because the paycheck feels safe. But when you do work that energizes you, everythingcreativity, resilience, performancegets better.
Choose people who raise your standards
At a 2004 Berkshire Hathaway annual meeting, Buffett told a 14-year-old: Its better to hang out with people better than you. Pick out associates whose behavior is better than yours and youll drift in that direction. This is one of the most underrated leadership truths. We absorb the standards of the people around us. You want to grow? Surround yourself with leaders who elevate you.
When you strip away the mystique around success, Buffetts tips leave us with a clear reminder that it doesnt have to be complicated or grand. Your success is built on small, steady choiceshabits, relationships, focus, integrity. All of it is transformative if you take it seriously.
Look back at that list. Now, pick one principle and start practicing it today. Thats how real change happens, for you and for the people you lead.
Like this article? Subscribe here for more related content and exclusive insights from executive coach and global speaker Marcel Schwantes.
Inc.
Pantone’s professional color matching kits can cost anywhere from several hundred dollars to upwards of several thousand dollars for pros who work in industries like fashion and interiors. Its newest, though, is a single-fan book with more than 600 spot colors, and it’s priced at just $99. Pantone for beginners.
Pantone on Thursday announced its Pantone Capsule: Signature Edition. Housed in a collectible, cylindrical case that wouldn’t look out of place in a Sephora, the guide is a sort of Pantone 101 that come on coated and uncoated paper stock with colors selected from across more than 60 years of Pantone history.
“At Pantone, we have spent a lot of time speaking with our creative community to understand how their roles have changed, the tools they need, and how to best serve them,” Ora Solomon, Pantone’s vice president of product and engineering, said in a statement. “As a result, we wanted to expand the opportunities for our design community to have a more accessible way to use our guides, especially at the beginning of their careers, and help them create with confidence.”
[Photo: Pantone]
The colors for the collection were chosen for their utility, based on Pantone data about the most popular and widely used colors. There’s Pantone 6104 C, a sapphire blue that’s one of its newest colors, and retro throwbacks, like the bright yellow Pantone 102 C and the purple-pink Pantone 238, which were popular in the 1980s and ’90s.
The Pantone capsule represents something of a departure for the color-matching company’s product releases, since it usually adds colors to its existing standard formula guide instead of curating new guides. The idea for it came from Pantone’s creative listening initiative to work directly with creatives in order to improve its products. After being previewed with designers at Adobe Max in October, Pantone says the reaction was enthusiastic.
Pantone imagines the guide as a primer on the Pantone Matching System for students and content creators, or a portable companion for freelancers between clients and project. Or even just for fun, since it was designed to be collectible.
While Pantone’s business is verifying colors, initiatives likes its long-running Color of the Year and collaborations with celebrities, bands, and brands have made Pantone a popular authority on color. An affordably priced, mobile color-matching starter kit that also happens to look good on a shelf manifests that ethos in a physical, accessible way.
Data collected from 35 American cities showed a 21% decrease in the homicide rate from 2024 to 2025, translating to about 922 fewer homicides last year, according to a new report from the independent Council on Criminal Justice.The report, released on Thursday, tracked 13 crimes and recorded drops last year in 11 of those categories including carjackings, shoplifting, aggravated assaults and others. Drug crimes saw a small increase over last year and sexual assaults stayed even between 2024 and 2025, the study found.Experts said cities and states beyond those surveyed showed similar declines in homicides and other crimes. But they said it’s too early to tell what is prompting the change even as elected officials at all levels both Democrats and Republicans have been claiming credit.Adam Gelb, president and CEO of the council a nonpartisan think tank for criminal justice policy and research said that after historic increases in violence during the COVID-19 pandemic, this year brought historic decreases. The study found some cities recorded decades-low numbers, with the overall homicide rate dropping to its lowest in decades.“It’s a dramatic drop to an absolutely astonishing level. As we celebrate it we also need to unpack and try to understand it,” Gelb said. “There’s never one reason crime goes up or down.”The council collects data from police departments and other law enforcement sources. Some of the report categories included data from as many as 35 cities, while others because of differences in definitions for specific crimes or tracking gaps, include fewer cities in their totals. Many of the property crimes in the report also declined, including a 27% drop in vehicle thefts and 10% drop in shoplifting among the reporting cities.The council’s report showed a decrease in the homicide rate in 31 of 35 cities including a 40% decrease or more in Denver, Omaha, Nebraska, and Washington. The only city included that reported a double-digit increase was Little Rock, Arkansas, where the rate increased by 16% from 2024.Gelb said the broad crime rate decreases have made some criminologists question historic understandings of what drives trends in violent crime and how to battle it.“We want to believe that local factors really matter for crime numbers, that it is fundamentally a neighborhood problem with neighborhood level solutions,” he said. “We’re now seeing that broad, very broad social, cultural and economic forces at the national level can assert huge influence on what happens at the local level.”Republicans, many of whom called the decrease in violent crime in many cities in 2024 unreliable, have rushed to say that tough-on-crime stances like deploying the National Guard to cities like New Orleans and the nation’s capital, coupled with immigration operation surges, have all played a role in this year’s drops.However, cities that saw no surges of either troops or federal agents saw similar historic drops in violent and other crimes, according to the Council’s annual report.Democratic mayors are also touting their policies as playing roles in the 2025 decreases.Jens Ludwig, a public policy professor and the Director of the University of Chicago Crime Lab, stressed that many factors can contribute to a reduction in crime, whether that’s increased spending on law enforcement or increased spending on education to improve graduation rates.“The fact that in any individual city, we are seeing crime drop across so many neighborhoods and in so many categories, means it can’t be any particular pet project in a neighborhood enacted by a mayor,” Ludwig said. And because the decrease is happening in multiple cities, “it’s not like any individual mayor is a genius in figuring this out.”He said while often nobody knows what drives big swings in crime numbers, the decrease could be in part due to the continued normalization after big spikes in crime for several years during the pandemic. A hypothesis that stresses the declines might not last.“If you look at violent crime rates in the U.S., it is much more volatile year to year than the poverty rate, or the unemployment rate; It is one of those big social indicators that just swings around a lot year to year,” Ludwig said. “Regardless of credit for these declines, I think it’s too soon for anybody on either side of this to declare mission accomplished.”
Claudia Lauer, Associated Press
A new campaign launches today against AIs sticky fingers on copyrighted material.
The Human Artistry Campaigns Stealing Isnt Innovation movement launches today with over 800 signatories. Those include many Hollywood actors, including Scarlett Johansson, Cate Blanchett, and Joseph Gordon-Levitt, as well as writers such as Jodi Picoult and Roxane Gay, and musicians like Cyndi Lauper and They Might be Giants.
The campaign has a simple message: Stealing our work is not innovation. It’s not progress. It’s theftplain and simple.
Many record labels, news outlets, and other creative entities have partnered with AI companies in recent years, despiteor possibly in response totheir propensity to mine copyrighted materials.
Creatives have fought (and continue to fight) for protections, such as in the lengthy Writers Guild of America (WGA) and Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) strikes in 2023.
However, the Stealing Isnt Innovation campaign isnt against AI, it just wants creatives to be part of the process.
A better way existsthrough licensing deals and partnerships, some AI companies have taken the responsible, ethical route to obtaining the content and materials they wish to use, the letter reads. It is possible to have it all. We can have advanced, rapidly developing AI and ensure creators’ rights are respected.
The Stealing Isnt Innovation campaign will promote itself through ads on social media and in news publications.
Creatives in the U.K. have taken comparable action
The latest campaign focuses on American creators and takes a bit of a nationalist stance in its opening line: Americas creative community is the envy of the world and creates jobs, economic growth, and exports.
But artists across the U.K. have launched similar movements in response to AIs access to copyrighted material, including a law that would require creatives to opt out of letting AI use their work.
In February 2025, the Make It Fair campaign ran in hundreds of publications to raise awareness of the threat of AI to creative industries. The same month saw over 1,000 musicians, from Kate Bush to The Clash, release a silent album titled Is This What We Want?with the 12 tracks spelling out: The British government must not legalise music theft to benefit AI companies.
In May, creatives across industries took action again. In an open letter to Prime Minister Keir Starmer, everyone from Elton John to Kazuo Ishiguro voiced their opposition to the proposed copyright law.
The U.K. government is set to issue policy proposals on the matter in mid-March.
Anxiety about costs and affordability is particularly high among Asian Americans, Pacific Islanders and Native Hawaiians, even at a moment when economic stress is widespread, according to a new poll.About half of Asian American and Pacific Islander adults said they wanted the government to prioritize addressing the high cost of living and inflation, according to the survey from AAPI Data and The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, which was conducted in early December. In comparison, a December AP-NORC poll found that about one-third of U.S. adults overall rated inflation and financial worries as the most pressing problems.The findings indicate that this small but fast-growing group is not persuaded by President Donald Trump’s attempts to tamp down worries about inflation and defend his tariffs. Even when considering partisanship, AAPI Democrats and Independents and even AAPI Republicans are at least slightly more likely than those groups overall to mention inflation and costs. Concern about costs has risen among AAPI adults since last year, when about 4 in 10 AAPI adults said they wanted the government to focus on this issue.Like Americans overall, AAPI adults have also become more focused on health care issues over the past year.The poll is part of an ongoing project exploring the views of Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders, whose views are usually not highlighted in other surveys because of small sample sizes and lack of linguistic representation.Jayakumar Natarajan, a 56-year-old manager for a major tech company living in the San Francisco Bay Area, is rethinking his goal of retiring at 60 because of climbing costs in basic goods and health care. He can afford to live the way he wants for now, but is considering delaying retirement or moving outside the U.S., where prices are lower.The cost of health care is very much on his mind. “I think it will really make a big difference in the way I think about retirement planning,” he said.
AAPI adults are worried about rising costs
Inflation and affordability loom large for AAPI adults, even compared to other economic concerns, the survey found. About 2 in 10 AAPI adults mentioned housing costs or jobs and unemployment as priorities for the government to work on in the coming year, which was generally in line with Americans overall.Balancing financial obligations has become especially challenging for people living in high-cost areas, where a steady salary may not cover a growing family. Kevin Tu, 32, and his wife recently reached two milestones buying a new home outside of Seattle in Lynnwood, Washington, and expecting their first child. The couple works full time and Tu also has a math tutoring business, but he is still nervous about what will happen after the baby arrives.“I’m trying to figure out how to balance possible part-time day care with our mortgage, with cost of living,” said Tu, who is Taiwanese American.Black, Hispanic and AAPI adults were more apt than white adults to bring up unemployment, jobs and housing costs as priorities, the surveys found.Part of what may explain AAPI adults’ increasing worry about everyday costs is the largest AAPI adult populations reside in states and major metropolitan cities with higher costs of living and higher rent, such as California and New York.While tariffs have impacted American consumers across the board, they have a particularly strong effect on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders who prefer certain imported goods such as food and clothing. Karthick Ramakrishnan, AAPI Data executive director and researcher at the University of California, Berkeley, recalls how last year, some AAPI shoppers were going to ethnic grocery stores and “stockpiling” ahead of tariffs kicking in.“When it comes to costs for Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, it’s just not cost of general market groceries but ethnic market groceries,” Ramakrishnan said. “It’s something visible to them and potentially causing anxiety and worry.”
Health care is also a priority for AAPI adults
Some 44% of AAPI adult also want the government to prioritize health care in the coming year. That’s not meaningfully different from among U.S. adults overall, emphasizing Americans’ renewed focus on the issue after a year of health care cuts.Srilasya Volam, a 25-year-old business consultant in Atlanta said that some of her family members have embarked on ” medical tourism ” trips as a result of high U.S. health care costs, a practice of traveling to other countries for more cost-effective medical procedures.“It’s cheaper for us to get a flight ticket and go to India and have a medical procedure and come back than it is to have that done here,” she said. “When I was younger, we would just go to India and we’d be like, now that we’re here, let’s do everything: the dental checkups, every checkup. It’s a lot more cost effective.”The poll found that about 6 in 10 AAPI adults are “extremely” or “very” concerned about their health care costs increasing in 2026, which is roughly in line with U.S. adults overall.
Falling confidence in the government’s ability to make progress
The survey found that AAPI adults are less confident in the government’s ability to make progress on the important issues facing the country than they were just after the 2024 election.About 7 in 10 AAPI adults say they are “not at all” or just “slightly confident” that the government will make progress on key issues, up from 60% at the end of 2024.Dissatisfaction with the Trump administration may be a factor. And while the economy is top of mind, other factors could be feeding the fear that the government won’t change things for the better this year.Ernie Roaza, a 66-year-old retired geologist in Tallahassee, Florida, is a first generation immigrant to the U.S. from South Korea, where he grew up under a dictatorship. He worries that Trump is doing “everything that dictators do,” adding, “I’ve seen it before. It’s almost laughable, but it’s scary at the same time.”He remains optimistic that the country will get through it.“This administration will make things worse,” Roaza said. “But in every administration we’ve had, there are hills and valleys. We’re in the valleys right now.”
The poll of 1,029 U.S. adults who are Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islanders was conducted from Dec. 2-8, 2025, using a sample drawn from NORC’s probability-based Amplify AAPI Panel, designed to be representative of the Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander population. The margin of sampling error for all respondents is plus or minus 4.7 percentage points.
Terry Tang and Linley Sanders, Associated Press
