Patrón says all the tequila it has ever made since 1989 has been free of additives. The brand is now ready to get loud and talk about it.
This week, Patrón is debuting a new additive-free marketing campaign that will run across digital, print, and out-of-home advertising in key markets including New York City and Los Angeles. The additive-free copy features lines like Our secret ingredient is that we have no secret ingredients and When tequila is this good, additives dont add anything.
Since Patróns inception, the brand says it has only made tequila with three ingredients: 100% weber blue agave, water, and yeast. The few exceptions are for the brands liqueurs, including orange and coffee flavored expressions, which always include added flavoring. But even the base spirit used to make those liqueurs only feature the three core ingredients.
Consumers are not going up to bartenders and asking for a tequila and soda and expecting to get a splash of caramel coloring or a sprinkle of glycerin, says Ned Duggan, chief marketing officer at Patrón, in an interview with Fast Company. We think that they want to know what’s in their tequila.
Patróns additive-free campaign may reignite a debate thats been swirling in the tequila industry about the use and marketing of additives. Additives are permitted if less than 1% of the weight of the tequila, without any requirement of disclosure, according to the standards set by the Tequila Regulatory Council, or CRT, a group thats backed by tequila brands, agave producers, and distributors to monitor and certify all tequila.
Common additives that are in tequila include sugars and sweeteners like fructose and aspartame, oak extract, and caramel coloring. Patrón estimates that as much as 80% of tequila brands on the shelf today use additives.
[Photo: Patrón]
Agave typically needs six to eight years before it is ready to harvest, but with a supply shortage and higher prices, brands have started to pull agave from the earth after just two to three years. That results in a bitter flavor, and some producers have begun to lean more heavily on additives to combat that bitterness. For aged tequilas like aejo and reposado, caramel is used to improve the consistency of the color and make it appear older, as if it had been aged in oak barrels for a longer period of time.
Patrón says 61% of consumers prefer additive-free liquors, citing a global survey conducted by the brands parent company Bacardi. Retailers have taken notice too, carving out shelf space that only promotes additive-free tequilas. Some mixologists prioritize crafting additive-free tequila libations.
We recognize that people are caring more and more about what they’re putting into their bodies, and also the ingredients that are in the brands that they’re putting in their bodies, says Duggan.
Among the loudest proponents of additive-free clarity is Grover Sanschagrin, who along with his wife Scarlet, cofounded an app called Tequila Matchmaker. The couple had developed a program that would certify tequila brands as additive-free and then share that information with consumers who were curious to know what was in the liquor they were drinking.
But last year, the Sanschagrins home was raided in Mexico, part of a pressure campaign he says was spurred by the CRTs anger about Tequila Matchmakers push for transparency. The Tequila Matchmaker app still exists for tequila reviews, but provides no information about additives. The Sanschagrins also created a new U.S.-based nonprofit called the Additive Free Alliance, which is angling to set up an independent process to identify and list additive-free brands, but thus far includes no tequila producers, only one agave-based vodka and a couple of mezcal brands.
Theres a void now, says Sanschagrin. Every brand is basically saying they are additive-free and now there is no way to offer proof of that.
In 2023, Patrón announced an additive-free seal, a label that was designed to appear on the brands bottles, a bid for transparency that was blessed by the CRT at the time. But that on-packaging messaging never came to fruition.
I think we were a little bit ahead of the rest of the industry and the CRT ultimately requested that we not move forward, says Duggan. But that’s why it’s been so important for us to launch this campaign where regardless of whether it’s on our bottle or not, we are being forthcoming with consumers and transparent about our no additive message.
A memo circulated by the CRT last year, obtained by Fast Company, told tequila producers that because additives are permitted under the 1% level, they believe there is no such thing as an additive-free tequila. The CRT ordered distillers to stop marketing tequila as additive-free, saying it was a false and misleading statement that could harm the spirits reputation with consumers. The CRT didnt respond to requests for comment.
[Photo: Patrón]
Sanschagrin welcomes the message that Patrón is sending with the new marketing campaign, both to consumers and tequilas regulatory body. The CRT overreached and somebody needs to check them, he says. Im excited that Patrón has decided to take this on.
The additive-free movement also reflects an evolution of how tequila is produced. When tequila sales first began to boom in the U.S. in the 1980s, most were gold tequila, or mixto, a tequila made from a minimum of 51% agave and the rest from other sugars. Patróns launch, and other tequilas that have since entered the market, popularized the use of 100% agave and that claim became the aseline that consumers look for when buying any tequila north of $20.
But the 100% agave claim became more difficult to stick to as tequila demand has soared. Tequila and mezcal sales now total $6.7 billion in annual revenue in the U.S. market, the second-most popular liquor category following vodka, according to the trade group the Distilled Spirits Council.
Dave Karraker, president of PR consultancy Raptor Communications, says the 100% additive-free claim is a way that brands like Patrón can distinguish themselves from the crowd.
How do I differentiate myself from all of these players that are adding additives, he asks. As a marketer, you’re looking for points of differentiation to lean into, that are on trend with consumers.
Riddle me this: What exactly is Trello?Despite counting myself as a heavy-duty power user of the product for well over a decade now, its a question Ive long struggled to answer. Technically, Trello has always seemed to fall into that group of apps folks like to frame as project management toolsproducts like Asana, ClickUp, and Notion that do a pinch of everything and are as much note makers, info savers, and life managers as they are project organizers.But Trello in particular has always been a bit of a chameleon. Personally, Ive used it for everything from storing story ideas to mapping out my weekly newsletters and even organizing my home workouts. Part of what makes the app so powerful is its versatility. With a flexible series of boards, columns, and cards acting as its core interface, you can shape it into serving practically any purpose imaginable for yourself or your company.It seems, though, that that very same versatility may have morphed into a challenge for the product. This week, Atlassianthe business-tech behemoth that bought Trello for $425 million in 2017 and brought it into its sprawling software empireis announcing Trellos biggest pivot to date. Its essentially a total reinvention, despite the fact that on the surface, not all that much actually seems to be changing.So, here it is: As of this spring, Trello will no longer be a project management toolor whatever else you want to call it. Itll be a personal tasks app, presented as being the best all-around hub for juggling all of your important to-do items, no matter where they may originate. Notably, too, itll now be aimed at individual users, not teams, which marks a pretty big shift from its original focus.But in an appropriately Trello-y twist, the services trademark versatility isnt going anywherefor the most part. And in spite of the official new framing and all the added elements that come with it, its still up to you to decide how you want to use Trello and what you want it to be.Outside of a small subset of early beta testers, most Trello users will see its new touches sometime in April. Thats when Trellos next era will truly begin.The Trello talefrom inception to reinventionIve been spending much of this month living with the still-under-wraps new version of Trello, and Ill share some detailed thoughts and impressions about what its all about in a moment. First, though, before we can wrap our heads around Trellos present and its future, we need to take a swift trip back to its past.Trello first entered the world as a concept nearly 14 years ago, in September of 2011the brainchild of Michael Pryor and Joel Spolsky. (Pryor stuck around to lead its development post-Atlassian-acquisition until mid-2022.)From the get-go, the pair described the app as a totally horizontal productmeaning, in the words of co-founder Spolsky at the time, it can be used by people from all walks of life:
Some people saw Trello and said, Oh, its Kanban boards. For developing software the agile way. Yeah, its that, but its also for planning a wedding, for making a list of potential vacation spots to share with your family, for keeping track of applicants to open job positions, and for a billion other things. In fact, Trello is for anything where you want to maintain a list of lists with a group of people.
That versatility and the tough-to-pin-down quality that comes with it was a key part of Trellos foundation, in other words. It may have initially been inspired by the engineer-adored idea of Post-It Notes arranged into columns on a whiteboard, but it was always meant to be everything to everyone, without any guardrails or specific definitions for exactly how it should be used.Trellos board-centric interface has long been the services calling card. [Image: Trello]Over time, that underlying elasticity never wavered. But Trello began to be positioned as more of a team-oriented toolthat whole project management thing. In the context of its ultimate home within Atlassian, a company known for collaboration software, that focus made senseeven if Trello did always overlap somewhat awkwardly with the organizations homegrown Jira offering.By 2021, Atlassian had introduced a whole series of new views that promised to transform the Trello experience and make it even more well-suited for multiuer productivity. You could switch away from the standard Trello boards and view your data instead in a spreadsheet-like Team Table View, for instance, or flip over to a Timeline View that put all your info into a year-long spectrum. You could even opt for a location-centric Map View built specifically with sales and service teams in mind.And thats exactly where Gaurav Kataria, Atlassians head of product for Trello since 2020 and a former Google Cloud executive, sees the service as starting to lose its way.Typically, everything tries to become the one tool to manage everything, like one tool to rule them alland typically, they tend come to become more complex, Kataria says. It has happened to every tool in the industry, Trello included.Kataria and his team decided it was time to step back and really think about what made Trello special, why people appreciated it, and where it should fit into our personal productivity puzzles.Meet the Trello task transformationOfficially, todays Trello announcement is about a fresh set of features coming into the servicefeatures that aim to make it easier to capture and organize all types of task-oriented info.But beyond the surface, the announcement is really more about redefining what Trello is for and how Atlassian, at least, wants it to be seeneven if you still have the power to shape it into something broader.We are taking a step back and staying that rather than trying to be that one tool, which is the project management tool for the whole team that can handle all levels of complexity and dependency and reporting, how about we focus on making the individual user more productive, Kataria says. Rather than being everything for everyone, lets be really useful to the one user thats using the product.The team behind Trello determined that the best way to do that was to shed Trellos murky project management moniker and frame the app as an all-purpose to-do hub that pulls in info from all sorts of other services and makes it exceptionally easy to organize. (The service will still offer its same generous free plan, which includes unlimited cards and up to 10 boards for individual usersalong with its existing premium and enterprise-level plans for companies that want to provide the service to larger groups of workers.)The centerpiece of that strategy is a new Inbox feature that exists as a sidebar to the left of every Trello board youre viewing. The idea is that its a landing pad of sorts for any type of task youre thinking abouta place for all that stuff to show up in Trello without any real effort and then be ready for you to drag wherever you see fit.The new Trello Inbox is a landing pad for all your incoming tasks. [Image: Trello]Today, if suddenly, a new idea pops into your head, you might have to first decide which board it goes into, which list it goes into, and does it go into the middle of the list or the top of the listso theres a little cognitive burden that you have to go through before you add something to Trello, Kataria says. We want to remove that cognitive burden.To that end, Inbox offers four integrations to start:
Emailwhere you can forward any message to a special address to have it instantly added into your Inbox
Slackwhere you can use the inbox emoji reaction () or the native Slack save-for-later feature to save any message into your Trello Inbox
Jirawhere you can click a new native menu command to pull any issues from a project into your Inbox
And Siriwhere you can simply ask your iOS device to add something into Trello to get it into that same Inbox view
The Trello Inbox integrates with email, Slack, Jira, and Siri to start. [Image: Trello]Android support is on hold for the moment because of Googles awkward Assistant-Gemini transition and the current lack of support for third-party integrations with Geminibut Kataria tells me the team is watching the situation closely and plans to add in support as soon as it becomes possible. And in the meantime, a button on the Trello Android widget can serve as an only slightly more complex way to achieve the same end result.Atlassian plans to add support for some Microsoft-specific integrations next, but beyond that, its relying on the fact that almost every external service generates notifications of some sorttypically via either Slack or emailand so it can tap into those notifications easily via its existing integrations without requiring any additional connections or data access.We dont need to build a native integration with every tool under the sun, Kataria explains.As part of its tasks-centric transition, the service is also adding in the ability to check off a card and mark it as done from any board viewsomething Kataria says has been the companys longest standing feature request.By default, when you mark a card as done, it stays in place and just gains a checkmark indication on its cover. But thanks to Trellos powerful automation systemthe feature formerly known as Butler, for any of my fellow Trello long-timersyou can take total control of that process and set the system up to work any way you like. You might create an automation rule that instantly archives any card when its marked as done, for instance, or that moves it to a special list where finished cards are stored. The power is entirely in your hands, which feels like a thoughtful blending of the traditional Trello philosophy and its newly reshaped purpose.The user is still very much in control, Kataria says.All of that aside, what makes the setup especially interesting is the way Trello is integrating AI into all of this in a similarly thoughtful and actually useful way.Trellos finer task touchesRather than cramming in the standard and often silly write/rewrite text for me or make a list for me-style generative-AI options, Trello is opting to lean on AI solely to transform whatever you add into your Inbox into a simple, task-like summarywith a succinct title for the associated card, a single-paragraph overview of the info in its description field, and then the full text and a link back to the original item for further reference.Trellos AI is all about making info easier to managenot writing or organizing it for you. [Image: Trello]It works brilliantly well, in my experience, and makes me wish every app offered something similar. And, suffice it to say, I dont at all find myself missing the option to have the service write stuff or attempt to organize stuf for meand then, in all likelihood, having to waste my time redoing and fixing what it did. That seems to be exactly the experience the Trello team is aiming to create.The reason people use Trello is because it reflects their mind, Kataria says. We want to remain really true to that spiritthat Trello is about how people see the world, not about how they follow a certain workflow or process.(If you want, you can still add cards directly to a specific board like before, by the wayand as of this week, doing so will incorporate the same AI formatting magic present in the new Inbox approach.)Ultimately, Inbox is just another list in Trello. But it lives in that special sidebar that makes it easy to access as a single starting point for any incoming itemsuntil and unless you decide to sort and file them into a board.Inbox and its AI elements also go hand in hand with another new task-oriented Trello addition known as Planner. Trellos Planner is an integrated calendar that connects to Google Calendar (with support for Microsoft Outlook on the way soon) and lets you drag and drop tasks from your Inboxor any Trello boarddirectly into that day-to-day view. That way, you can see all your tasks alongside your agenda and plan out your hours accordingly, with the full perspective of everything on your plate.You can drag cards from your Inbox or any board directly into the new Trello Planner. [Image: Trello]Its a step forward from the tacked-on calendar elements Trello previously provided, and it ties back into the newfound goal of making Trello all about the individual rather than the team.All the previous calendar views are the legacy of trying to solve project management use cases, Kataria says. With the Planner, were really thinking about planning your day, planning your week, where youre only looking at your calendar.The approach actually reminds me a lot of Akiflow, a calendar and tasks app I wrote about last fall and have been personally using ever sinceonly, for better or for worse, Akiflow is solely a calendar and tasks app. Trello, in contrast, has the advantage (or maybe distraction) of all the board elements and the broader organizational opportunities they offer.Speaking of which, for now, at least, all of Trellos legacy elements and potential use cases will continue to be supported. Kataria hinted that certain elementslike those team-centric Timeline and Table viewsmay be phased out eventually, over time (and will certainly be de-emphasized in the meantime).But the general goal seems to be to keep allowing everyone to use Trello in whatever way they see fit, even if personal task management is now the main purpose being presented. Some actions around more complex team-oriented project management uses will now lead to gentle nudges to move over to Jira for such purposesa move thats frankly surprising Atlassian has managed to resist up until now. But everything from automations to the rich ecosystem of third-party Power-Up add-ons will remain, just with the added emphasis on Trello being the place for personal productivity.Its [still] a project, but a project thats born out of your own mind, Kataria says. Trello is so well-loved as a tool that people bend it in different ways to make it whatever they want it to become.Card-mirroring is one of the smaller but still significant touches coming into the new Trello. [Image: Trello]Only time will tell, of course, if the world embraces the services new task-centric framing or if people keep treating it as the versatile productivity power-tool its known to be. Either way, its creators seem content with knowing theyre shifting the focus to individuals over teams and presenting their best vision for how Trello can help.We are really thinking about how the world is going to change over the next decade and how we can make every individual more productive, Kataria says.Be the first to learn about all sorts of interesting new productivity treasures with my free Cool Tools newsletter from The Intelligencea single eye-opening new discovery in your inbox every Wednesday!
The intense red color of classic lipstick traditionally comes from an unlikely source: crushed bugs that live on cactus plants in South America. It takes tens of thousands of the ground-up insects to make just a pound of the vivid red dye.
The red coloring, called carmine, also shows up in foodfrom red velvet cupcakes to sausages, gummy candies, and some versions of strawberry yogurt. In the cosmetics industry, major brands started moving away from carmine in the 2010s because of ethical concerns. A growing number of consumers wanted vegan makeup. (Crushing bugs also creates an allergen because of other bug parts that end up in the dye.) But because synthetic dyes don’t perform as well, carmine is still found in some high-end products, from shades of MAC lipstick and NARS blush to Chanel nail polish.
Now, a biotech startup called Debut has developed a new alternative: an exact replica of carmine thats made from fermentation rather than bugs.
[Photo: Debut]
The molecule was incredibly difficult to replicate. Its a really unique color . . . its a very complicated [chemical] structure, says Joshua Britton, Debut’s CEO and founder. Academic scientists took 15 years to understand it, he says, and it took us three to four years to work out how to make it. The company discovered two new classes of enzymes that were the missing pieces of the manufacturing process, and found a way to keep the cost of the whole system relatively affordable. The resulting product is the same as the original color, minus the allergen and gross-out factor.
Theres strong demand for a product like this in the beauty industry. Carmine is a perfect ingredient, Britton says. Its stable when it interacts with other ingredients, long-lasting, and vibrant in a way that other dyes arent.
When Spanish explorers arrived in South America in the 1500s, carmine quickly became a major trade item. In Europe, red dye was difficult and expensive to make, and red clothing was mostly reserved for royalty (or, say, the Pope). In Peru, carmine had been used to dye fabric for at least two centuries, and the explorers realized that it far outperformed European dyes. Carmine started to show up in everything from oil paintings to British military uniforms. By the late 19th century, as the cosmetics industry was scaling up, carmine was a natural choice of ingredient for red, pink, and peach products.
Right now, making the biotech version costs more than standard carmine, unsurprisingly. “The traditional bug version is at the moment cheaper, and that’s because there are 70,000 bugs hand picked off the leaf of a cactus dissolved in acid, and that’s the process,” says Britton. But the new tech is still at a pilot stage, and the company is now working with a larger company to scale up production and bring the cost down. Fermenting the product is also far more efficient than extracting it from bugs. “We typically don’t invest in molecules where we don’t think we can get down to cost parity,” he says.
The cosmetics industry is a good initial fit, he says, since only small amounts of color are needed. (A pound of Debut’s carmine could color 6,500 tubes of lipstick.) The company is already working with a handful of beauty brands in its labs to develop new formulations for products.
The food and pharmaceutical industries, which are also looking for alternatives to carmine, will come next, after the company works with the Food and Drug Administration for approvals and to figure out how the product will be labeled. Another factor is helping drive demand: the FDA recently banned Red No. 3, a common food dye, because of potential health risks. Food brands will have to phase out that dye over the next two yearsand biotech carmine could be a viable choice.
Nearly 40% of the federal contracts that the Trump administration claims to have canceled as part of its signature cost-cutting program aren’t expected to save the government any money, the administration’s own data shows.The Department of Government Efficiency run by Elon Musk last week published an initial list of 1,125 contracts that it terminated in recent weeks across the federal government. Data published on DOGE’s “Wall of Receipts” shows that more than one-third of the contract cancellations, 417 in all, are expected to yield no savings.That’s usually because the total value of the contracts has already been fully obligated, which means the government has a legal requirement to spend the funds for the goods or services it purchased and in many cases has already done so.“It’s like confiscating used ammunition after it’s been shot when there’s nothing left in it. It doesn’t accomplish any policy objective,” said Charles Tiefer, a retired University of Baltimore law professor and expert on government contracting law. “Their terminating so many contracts pointlessly obviously doesn’t accomplish anything for saving money.”Dozens of them were for already-paid subscriptions to the Associated Press, Politico and other media services that the administration said it would discontinue. Others were for research studies that have been awarded, training that has taken place, software that has been purchased, and interns that have come and gone.An administration official said it made sense to cancel contracts that are seen as potential dead weight, even if the moves do not yield any savings. The official was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.In all, DOGE data says the 417 contracts in question had a total value of $478 million. Dozens of other canceled contracts are expected to yield little if any savings.“It’s too late for the government to change its mind on many of these contracts and walk away from its payment obligation,” said Tiefer, who served on the Commission on Wartime Contracting in Iraq and Afghanistan.Tiefer said DOGE appeared to be taking a “slash and burn” approach to cutting contracts, which he said could damage the performance of government agencies. He said savings could be made instead by working with agency contracting officers and inspectors general to find efficiencies, an approach the administration has not taken.DOGE says the overall contract cancellations are expected to save more than $7 billion so far, an amount that has been questioned as inflated by independent experts.The canceled contracts were to purchase a wide range of goods and services.The Department of Housing and Urban Development awarded a contract in September to purchase and install office furniture at various branches. While the contract does not expire until later this year, federal records show the agency had already agreed to spend the maximum $567,809 with a furniture company.The U.S. Agency for International Development negotiated a $145,549 contract last year to clean the carpet at its headquarters in Washington. But the full amount had already been obligated to a firm that is owned by a Native American tribe based in Michigan.Another already-spent $249,600 contract went to a Washington, D.C., firm to help prepare the Department of Transportation for the recent transition from the Biden to the Trump administration.Some of the canceled contracts were intended to modernize and improve the way government works, which would seem to be at odds with DOGE’s cost-cutting mission.One of the largest, for instance, went to a consulting firm to help carry out a reorganization at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, which led the agency’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The maximum $13.6 million had already been obligated to Deloitte Consulting LLP for help with the restructuring, which included closing several research offices.
Foley reported from Iowa City, Iowa.
Ryan J. Foley, Associated Press
Investors in cryptocurrencies are seeing red today. In the past 24 hours, the prices of most major cryptocurrencies and meme coins have plummeted. This includes crypto heavyweights like Bitcoin, Ethereum, and XRP as well as popular meme coins like Dogecoin (DOGE) and TRUMP. Heres what to know about the biggest losers and possible reasons behind the crash.
Bitcoin drops below $90K for the first time since November
Unsurprisingly, the crypto that is getting the most headlines today is Bitcoin, which as of the time of this writing currently sits at around $89,000 per coin. Thats a 7% drop in the last 24 hours alone. It also represents of few other ignominious milestones for the cryptocurrency king as of late.
First, todays decline marks the first time that Bitcoin has fallen below $90,000 since November 2024, after Donald Trump’s election victory sparked a crypto rally. Second, Bitcoin is now also down 20% since another important Trump marker: his inauguration day on January 20.
On Trumps inauguration day, Bitcoin had hit an all-time high of over $106,000. The postelection victory and post-inauguration gains were largely fueled by the belief that a Trump presidency would be good for the crypto markets in general.
But its not just Bitcoin that is plummeting today. Other cryptocurrencies are as well. Those include (as of the time of this writing):
Ethereum, which is down almost 10% in the past 24 hours (and down over 27% in the past month).
XRP, which is down over 12% in the past 24 hours (and down over 31% in the past month)
Solana, which is down almost 12% in the past 24 hours (and down over 46% in the past month)
Dogecoin, which is down almost 11% in the past 24 hours (and down over 42% in the past month)
Official Trump, which is down almost 14% in the past 24 hours (and down over 56% in the past month)
But what exactly is causing todays crypto crash? While the digital assets do tend to be highly volatile anyway, the general consensus among crypto industry watchers is that two main events could be contributing to the plunge.
Trumps tariffs lead to macroeconomic uncertainty
While Trumps election victory was hailed as the best possible outcome for the crypto industry, it now appears that Trump could be doing more harm than good for digital currency markets.
Thats because since Trump was sworn in, he quickly set to initiating tariffsor at least threatening toagainst Americas major trading partners, including China, Mexico, Canada, and nearly every other country in the world.
Many fear these that tariff threats may lead to an all-out trade war between America and other major economies. Indeed, as BeinCrypto points out, after Trump seemed to confirm yesterday that the tariffs on Mexico and Canada would be moving ahead, Bitcoin sank and crypto markets saw almost $1 billion in liquidations.
When there is macroeconomic uncertaintylike the kind generated by potential trade warsinvestors usually seek to lock in gains where they can by selling assets that have had good returns as of late.
Larger anxieties about where the economy may be headed may be driving many crypto investors to take their profits now to buffer any losses in the future.
The Bybit hack reminds crypto investors they are vulnerable
It’s not just Trumps actions that are rattling crypto investors. Last week, the cryptocurrency exchange Bybit was hacked, leading to $1.5 billion dollars of cryptocurrencies being stolen. It is reportedly the largest crypto heist on record and is believed to have been carried out by actors in North Korea, reports CNN.
Major crypto heists in the past have rattled investor confidence, and this one is no different. Heists such as this remind investors that cryptocurrencies are more readily at risk of theft than other assets, such as stocks or properties.
To put the Bybit hack into greater perspective, Reuters reports that in all of 2024, there was $2.2 billion worth of crypto stolen. The ByBit hack signals that 2025 may be an even bigger year for crypto heists.
After 16 years of experiments to bring Photoshop apps to the phone, Adobe is launching its most convincing attempt yet. Called Photoshop Mobile and available in the App Store today, its Adobes first earnest attempt to build a Photoshop on mobile with the same unique powers that have made it so popular on desktop.This new Photoshop has been built from the ground up specifically for the phone, where it can sync seamlessly with Photoshop versions on the web and desktop. (An Android version is due this summer.) Pros will appreciate a few big technical headlines: You can have an unlimited number of layers, and there is no restriction on file sizes. (Vector drawing tools arent in this initial release, but Im told Shapes are coming soon.) Casual editors will want to know that the app is free to use, though many features will be tucked inside an $8/month subscription that comes paired with access to Photoshop on the web. Not all of Photoshop is in here, but were very confident in the foundations that we have that people are going to be able to use, says Matthew Richmond, VP of design for Creative Cloud Pro products and 3D at Adobe. A big part of this is the focus on the next-gen users, the individuals where, in a lot of cases [the phone is] their only computer.Truth be told, phones have been fast enough for Photoshop for years. The big breakthrough that made Photoshop on iPhone is beyond technical specs. Its the apps entire UX thatat least as I squinted through a webcam demolooks powerful, quick, and easy to learn. Its the first time Ive seen a permutation of Photoshop on a small screen that just seemed right, even if it looked new.A brief history of Photoshop on mobileAdobes first attempt at Photoshop on smartphones started in 2009, with a Photoshop.com mobile app. It was essentially an extension of the Camera app, and it allowed use of only the most basic controls, like cropping, rotation, and color. It was followed by Photoshop Mix (2014), Photoshop Fix (2015), and, finally, Photoshop Express, which lives on today. With all respect to Express, its not really Photoshop. You only need to load it for a few minutes to realize its extreme limitations: namely, building and managing layers and applying masks, when the app is really more focused on creating social-ready image and text layouts. Photoshop Mobile is different. Its the companys first smartphone app to take the core UX metaphor inside Photoshopof creating layers, masking out bits of images, and applying different appearances at each leveland bringing it to a small touchscreen. This approach to image editing is foundational, not just to Adobes own software but also to the very way artists and designers have constructed images for centuries. Its the fundamental framework of putting one color or cutout atop another that makes Photoshops approach to digital craft work at all. [Image: Adobe]Photoshops new Select and do UXThe brilliance of the app is that instead of drop-down menus and palettes of tools on the screen, it starts with your fingeran approach to UI that Adobe calls select and do. The idea is that you can tap on whatever part of the image you want, and youll be ushered through a workflow suggesting options for your next steps.In Photoshop desktop, and even in the tablet version, selection tools are hidden behind drop-down menus. You might even need to watch a tutorial to discover that they exist.On Photoshop mobile, youre urged to start selecting right away. A select area button sits at the bottom of the screen. Tap on that, and youre offered all sorts of ways to select (like draw a circle, or use the classic Magic Wand). You can even zoom in to the pixel level to make adjustments on what you select. But its newest option is called tap select. And it means that you can simply tap on a photos subjects (people, buses, plants) to highlight them, so editing on a phone stays easy. Richmond says it was this and related breakthroughs in touch accuracyborn from the most recent AI technologiesthat convinced Adobe that real Photoshop Mobile was feasible. Once something is highlighted, a new menu appears to help with wayfinding in the app. Adobe uses a combination of proven workflows and contextual UI to guide you to your next step. In this case, options appear to modify just this highlighted portion of the image (perhaps you want to use generative fill on that area, or change the color). Select whatever option you like, and that work becomes a new layer.[Image: Adobe]And gosh, those layers look lovely. They appear on the right side of your screen as thumbnails, always in reach. And you tap in to adjust their properties or reorder them on the stack, just like you can on a desktop. Still, the experience is specifically not the desktop. Yes, Adobes tens of thousands of fonts and Stock gradients and images are available for building new layers and masks. But no, you dont have every possible button you can imagine there all the time. And countless sub-featuresespecially appearance optionshave been left out of the mobile app. Adobe has limited functionality in part just to ship v1.0 of the product, and in part because it believes that this more focused approach to workflows can bring in a new generation of users to Photoshop, coaxing them ahead with a project to discover the power of selection tools and layering from the jump.Its figuring out how to play this kind of musical instrument, says Richmond, explaining that the notes in Photoshop are layers, selections, masks, and appearance.He adds: Weve been . . . trying to figure out if there are easier, faster ways to get started and really understand these concepts, because once you unlock them, its open-ended exploration.The business impact of Photoshop MobileMake no mistake: Adobe needs Photoshop on the iPhone to woo the majority of creators todayfrom a generation of young designers hooked on the quick construction tools of Canva to content creators who use a sea of different apps and, often, social medias own design tools to create their statement. Quite simply, it does not matter if Photoshop and the accompanying Creative Cloud is the most powerful editing software in the world on a desktop for a world hooked on good-enough production on a phone.However, the company is banking on the mobile market expanding its potential audience, because even as were nearly two decades into modern smartphones, there still isnt a perfect analog for Photoshop on phonesthe kind of ubiquitous software that allows deep-editing capability in a world reliant on filters and pre-chewed layouts.Creators, whether or not they become professionals, really have that desire to express themselves in a unique way, says Ashley Still, GM of Adobe Creative Cloud. They want to make sure that the content theyre creating is not just another template, that it represents their unique voice.Still is confident in the higher end of the mobile market after studying the publics response to Adobe photo editing program Lightroom on mobile. Originally launched in 2015, the app has been a success story for the company. Lightrooms users on mobile now outnumber its users on desktop, and Still believes the same will prove true for Photoshop in the next few years.Then, with Lightroom, Photoshop, and Express, she imagines a new creative workflow coming to the phone, where you can touch up an image in Lightroom, edit it with layers in Photoshop, then add text and other production elements in Express. Firefly image generation can sneak into this loop, too, turning ones phone into a fairly capable Adobe editing suite. In some ways, that sounds like Adobes strategy from a decade ago, when it was launching micro apps that handed off specialized functions to slice and dice media. The difference now, however, is that Adobes mobile apps are growing more capable and equivalent in scope to their desktop counterparts. Its hard to make a single app best at everything, Still concedes, noting, a lot of the magic is also going to happen with workflows across the applications. Adobe imagines that pro users, in particular, will choose to start a project on their phone but fine-tune it on a desktop. The company does not want to be prescriptive, Still insists, saying that Adobe apps wont offer complete feature parity across surfaces, but they should be optimized for where you meet them.[Image: Adobe]One of the things that I think we also didnt get quite right with [Photoshop on] the iPad is the expectation that we set within the community of the roles that these different devices play, she says.The challenge for Adobe now is, first, getting a working Photoshop app on Android, where the majority of smartphone users in the world reside. And then, second and more ongoing, figuring out how well all of its Photoshop select and do workflows really operate in the wild, while folding in the most demanded, most feasible add-ons into the product in a monthly release cadence.Theres a line in the sand where, like, we cant keep it inside the building anymore, says Richmond. We need to put it out there so we can see what happens at scale.
The surge in anti-DEI sentiment, fueled by political actions, social pressures, and legal uncertainties creates a complex environment for organizations striving to foster diverse and inclusive workplaces.
To navigate this turbulent environment and advance diversity, equity and inclusion, companies should focus on three key actions:1. Tying DEI to outcomes,2. Creating systems that focus on debiasing,3. Building cultures of accountability.
Understanding the backlash and how to defend against it
The current DEI backlash creates a complex environment for companies that want to foster diverse and inclusive workplaces. To respond effectively, organizations must first understand the three sources of the backlash:
The political backlash: The current political climate is undeniably hostile toward DEI. From executive orders dismantling federal DEI programs to legislative efforts like the “Dismantle DEI Act,” the message is clear: DEI initiatives are under attack.
Since last years SCOTUS affirmative action decision and the closing of the House Office of Diversity and Inclusion, threats to the public sector have had a chilling effect on the private sector. The social battlefield: The social backlash against DEI is just as significant as the political one. Organizations face pressure from all sides, with some stakeholders demanding more aggressive DEI initiatives while others decry them as “woke” or divisive.
Fear of alienating customers or facing boycotts can lead organizations to water down or avoid speaking publicly about their DEI efforts.
And while cessation sensationalism may provide effective air cover for quietly continuing DEI work, what happens when theres a disconnect between what a company says or doesnt say and what it does? Our brains crave predictability. When we see contradictory actions and statements, it creates cognitive dissonance, which erodes trust and engagement. In fact, alignment between what an organization says and what it does is the foundation of organizational accountability. Therefore, organizations need to think about the impact of this strategy on their employees.
The legal minefield: Although the law moves much more slowly than political and social forces, it is crucial for organizations to have a clear understanding of the legal framework governing DEI.
Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits employment discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, and national origin. However, as interpretation and application of laws are subject to change, organizations must stay informed about the latest legal developments to ensure compliance. This includes seeking legal counsel when necessary, conducting regular audits of DEI policies and practices, and staying abreast of any changes in legislation or judicial interpretation.
Organizations must be prepared to defend their DEI initiatives against government scrutiny. They can mitigate legal risk in their DEI initiatives by avoiding the three Ps: 1. conferring preferences, 2. on protected groups, 3. with respect to palpable benefits.
How companies can continue DEI work
Despite these forces, organizations cannot afford to abandon their DEI efforts. DEI is not just a moral imperative; DEI is a business necessity.
Research shows that when leveraged in the best way, diverse teams are more innovative and make better decisions, leading to improved performance and financial outcomes. According to a 2023 survey, inclusive companies are 1.7 times more likely to be innovative, and they achieve 2.3 times more cash flow per employee.,
To navigate the current landscape and continue to reap the benefits of DEI, organizations must adopt a strategic and proactive approach, focusing on three key actions:
Make the case for impact. Organizations must be able to articulate the “why” behind their DEI commitments in a way that resonates with diverse and sometimes resistant stakeholders. By articulating the why, organizations make DEI compelling, tapping into our intrinsic motivational brain networks. Research shows that adding a whats in it for me allows others to align their own individual goals with those of the initiatives, making it more likely theyll act upon them. This calls for moving beyond the moral case for DEI to prove its tangible value.
We have developed a science-based framework that outlines the tangible benefits of DEI and provides practical guidance on how to achieve them. It emphasizes the importance of prioritizing diversity and habituating inclusion to drive business success and create a more just, sustainable work environment for everyone. It provides a roadmap for organizations to measure the impact of their DEI initiatives and demonstrate their return on investment. In todays climate, where DEI is facing increased scrutiny, it is more critical than ever for organizations to articulate the business case for DEI and demonstrate its value. Embrace the power of de-biasing: Debiasing is a powerful tool for building fair and inclusive systems and processes. By removing unconscious bias from decision-making, organizations can create an equitable environment where merit matters. Thus, even those who oppose DEI from a meritocracy standpoint cannot reasonably argue against debiasing, Yoshino says.
At the individual level, this means understanding and mitigating unconscious bias. Interpersonally, it calls for changing behaviors, adopting habits of inclusion, and enabling psychological safety in teams. At the institutional level, implementing strategies such as blind recruitment, structured interviews, and standardized performance evaluations can sustain individual and interpersonal progress.
Ongoing education and training maintain and increase awareness of unconscious bias and equip individuals with the skills to mitigate its impact. Organizations can move beyond simply acknowledging the existence of unconscious bias to actively addressing it and creating a more inclusive workplace where everyone can deliver value.
Build a culture of accountability:
Accountability is the backbone of any successful DEI strategy. It’s not enough to simply have policies in place; organizations must ensure that these policies are translated into action, both for their employees and their customers. Not only does organizational accountability boost employee engagement and performance, it is also a predictor of long-term organizational performance. Inclusive leadership calls for accountability, both in modeling and ensuring inclusive behaviors.
Neuroleadership Institute research has revealed two distinct forms of accountability that can apply to how we continue DEI work. Many organizations default to a punitive form of accountability like withholding bonuses that focuses on blame and punishment, hindering progress and creating a toxic environment. Fostering a proactive culture of accountability, on the other hand, frames accountability as a challenge and opportunity for growth. For DEI work, this means creating and communicating the why behind initiatives, establishing success metrics, and sharing outcomes with employees and customers.
Proactive accountability, supported by neuroscience, drives individuals and organizations to achieve goals and own outcomes. This fosters trust among stakeholders, ultimately leading to improved results.
Inclusive leadership development can create ownership and empowerment by redefining DEI accountability as a necessity for positive business outcomes.
Looking Ahead
The road ahead for DEI is bumpy, winding, and fraught with challenges. It is also paved with opportunities. By embracing a strategic and proactive approach, organizations can withstand the present to win the future in an increasingly diverse world.
This is a defining moment for DEI. Organizations that rise to the occasion will not only reap the rewards of a diverse and inclusive workforce but also contribute to a more just and equitable society. By weaving DEI into their business goals, eliminating bias from their systems, and fostering cultures of accountability, organizations can navigate the turbulent waters ahead and emerge stronger and more inclusive than ever before.
Janet M. Stovall, CDE, is the Global Head of D&I at the NeuroLeadership Institute.
Few self-help ideas are as prevalent and widely celebrated as the advice to “just be yourself.”
Whether in job interviews, workplace interactions, or career choices, we are frequently encouraged to act “authentically”without compromise or concern for external pressures.
While this sounds comforting and empowering, authenticity as an interpersonal strategy is fundamentally flawed and at odds with hundreds of scientific studies on emotional intelligence, social skills, and career success.
As I illustrate in my forthcoming book, Dont Be Yourself: Why Authenticity Is Overrated and What To Do Instead, authenticity is not a helpful life hack, but rather a misguided notion that can easily backfire and lead to undesirable and counterproductive behaviors.
Although there is no universal definition of authenticity, at its core, mainstream conceptualizations boil down to four general rules or principles:
Always be honestwith others and yourself.
Stop worrying about what others think of you.
Follow your “heart” and values no matter what.
Bring your whole self to work.
Despite their appeal and likely good intentions, there are multiple problems with each of these rules, namely:
1. The pitfalls of honesty
The advice to always be honest assumes that truthfulness is inherently beneficial, but this is not true. For starters, we lie to ourselves all the time, which makes it rather hard to be honest with others. For all the potential advantages of self-awareness, self-deception is the norm, and humans are prewired to interpret reality in self-serving ways. There is a practical reason for this: People with an inflated sense of their abilities tend to impress others more easily.
Put plainly, bullshit is self-fulfilling: The more you BS yourself, the easier it is for you to BS others. In contrast, those who accurately assess their limitations often struggle to project confidence, for self-doubt and self-criticism are also contagious. Being honest with yourself is also rather painful: There is a reason the technical term for people who are capable of interpreting reality in accurate terms is depressive realists.
Furthermore, deceptionespecially in the form of white liesserves a practical purpose in professional settings. Job interviews, performance evaluations, and workplace interactions tend to reward those who present a polished, strategic version of themselves rather than an unfiltered one. Even when people tell you they value authenticity, they prefer you to be rewarding to deal with, which means telling them what they want to hear rather than what you think they need to hear, even if the former requires acting and faking while the latter requires truth-telling.
2. The importance of others’ opinions
The idea that we should ignore what others think of us may sound romantic, and almost smell of freedom, but it is both unrealistic and counterproductive. Humans are social creatures whose success depends on reputation, trust, and relationships. Research in social psychology highlights that other peoples perception of us is critical to career advancementhiring, promotions, and professional opportunities hinge not on how good we think you are, but on how good others think we are.
Even when it comes to authenticity, a trait that is often valued by others, what matters is not how authentic we feel, but whether others find us authentic (trustworthy, reliable, predictable, and so on). This requires not just paying a great deal of attention to how people think of us, but also making the effort to impress them, which is the exact opposite to just being ourselves.
Completely disregarding external opinions can make individuals seem abrasive, insensitive, entitled, and even narcissistic. Instead of ignoring or rejecting feedback, a more effective approach to interpersonal relations is to manage one’s image thoughtfully and carefully. Caring about what others think of you isnt a threat to your self-love, and if you decide to ignore what people think of you in order to boost your self-love, thats precisely how delusional narcissism manifests.
Our reputation is not just constructed by others, but even owned by them. The only way to improve it is to understand how others see us, which requires paying a great deal of attention to other peoples views and opinions of usthis is not a sign of insecurity, but the essential hallmark of empathy and social skills.
3. The risks of blindly following your heart
Popular culture romanticizes the idea of following ones heart, but emotions and instincts are rarely reliable guides. In fact, they are the source of impulsive, regrettable, and biased decisions, not to mention the major cause of prejudice, polarization, and tribalization. Making choices purely based on feelings can lead to short-sighted or detrimental outcomes, and it is already our default tendency: As behavioral economists have shown, we tend to think fast, which is a euphemism for not thinking at all.
Moreover, rigidly adhering to personal values without considering external factorssuch as workplace culture and social normscan create unnecessary friction. Effective professionals recognize that ethical decision-making involves nuance and compromise. Why be true to your values when you can be open to other peoples values, so you understand their perspective, feelings, and points of view? How are we meant to work together in a culture that recognizes and tolerates the rich diversity that underpins human nature, if we all stay rigidly put and fixed on our own values?
Furthermore, what if your values are toxic. For example, you may value your own selfish interests over the wellbeing of others; you may value greed, power, status, and even stepping on other peoples toes, as well as taking advantage of those who are weak, nave, or vulnerable. If that is the case, do we really want you to be true to your values? If some values are better than others, where do we draw the linehow do we know which values can be expressed, and which should be repressed? In short, it is only through having the self-critical humility and open-mindedness to question our values and their consequences, and make an effort to tolerate other peoples values, that we can truly aspire to collaborate and cooperate in a modern and civilized work culture.
4. The Myth of ‘bringing your whole self to work’
Encouraging employees to bring their “whole selves” to work suggests that complete transparency and personal expression are always beneficial. While workplace engagement improves when individuals feel comfortable being themselves, there is a fine line between authenticity and oversharing. Theres a difference between liking your job and erasing the boundaries between your professional and personal self.
Professionalism requires emotional intellignce and situational awareness. Sharing too much personal information or treating colleagues as close friends can lead to misunderstandings, discomfort, or even reputational harm. If you assume your colleagues are interested in who you truly are, let alone desperate to meet your unfiltered and uninhibited self, think again. Your whole self, which includes your eccentric, inappropriate, and opinionated self, must surely be edited in a work environment. Different workplace cultures have different expectationssome encourage personal expression, while others prioritize formality.
Being adaptable and reading social cues is far more effective than insisting on uninhibited authenticity. In the best-case scenario, your whole or true self may be someone who perhaps three or four people have learned to love. Needless to say, many people see work as just that, work, rather than a central part of their identity. This is what work has always been for the majority of people, something they do to get paid, make ends meet, and make a living. There are plenty of other sources of meaning outside ones job or career, so the assumption that people want to blend or integrate their personal and professional selves is simply nave.
In short, authenticity is often presented as a golden rule for success, but real-world interactions require a more balanced approach. If anything, you are almost always better off not being yourself. Our freedom to “be ourselves” ends where our responsibilities to others begin, and a world in which everybody is just focused on being themselves and expecting others to adapt to their uncensored or unedited self would be an antisocial and chaotic world.
Navigating professional environments effectively means knowing when to be genuine and when to engage in skillful and ethical deception to manage impressions and develop a reputation for being kind, caring, and not too authentic.
When Apple first introduced MagSafe for the iPhone in 2020, I did not fully appreciate it.
iPhones had supported wireless charging for a few years at that pointand Android phones started doing so in 2012and while MagSafe offered faster and less finicky charging, it didn’t really change how you use your phone. Over time, though, Apple’s magnetic charging and docking system has blossomed into an important piece of the Apple accessory ecosystem.
All of which makes the lack of MagSafe on the new iPhone 16e a letdown. It’s not the only compromise Apple made in pursuit of a $600 price tag: It also has just one rear camera lens, only two color options, and a front camera notch that cuts out Dynamic Island features. But to me, the MagSafe omission stands as the biggest reason to seek out other iPhone options.
Beyond the overnight charge
Admittedly I still don’t use MagSafe for overnight charging. I keep an Anker 3-in-1 charger on my nightstand, and placing my iPhone up against the vertical charging stand is simple enough. The 7.5W charging speeds are slower than MagSafe’s 15W (or 25W, on the latest version), but that’s irrelevant for an eight-hour charge session.
For me, MagSafe matters most in two scenarios:
Power banks: I have a couple of portable batteries that snap onto the iPhone’s backside for a wireless top-up. They’ve been essential on trips where I’m using the camera and mapping extensively and don’t want to have charging anxiety toward the end of the day.
Dashboard mounting: The car we use for family trips doesn’t support CarPlay, so my wife and I use a magnetic vent mount to keep one of our phones within reach for navigation and music.
Beyond that, accessory makers have tapped into MagSafe in all kinds of other creative ways:
MagSafe iPhone grips prevent you from dropping your phone.
MagSafe laptop and monitor mounts work with Apple’s Continuity Camera feature to turn your iPhone into a webcam. There’s even a freestanding mount that tracks your face during video calls.
MagSafe tripods, tripod mounts, and ring lights can help out in photo shoots.
MCON is working on a magnetic iPhone game controller that fits in your pocket.
Double magnet rings let you attach an iPhone to all kinds of surfacesincluding other iPhones.
You may be familiar with MagSafe wallets, but what about MagSafe notepads?
Meanwhile, Apple’s using MagSafe to turn iPhones into miniature smart displays using StandBy mode, which shows time, photos, and widgets when the phone is charging in landscape mode. I’m in the market for a desktop charger and will be seeking out MagSafe for StandBy in particular.
As a frequent iPhone-to-Android switcher, I’ve tried to minimize the number of pain points that arise when bouncing between ecosystems, but MagSafe is a big one. I typically go back to the iPhone while traveling just to make use my existing MagSafe accessories, and it’s odd for Apple to exclude the feature from any of its phones as the MagSafe ecosystem continues to grow.
In theory, MagSafe shouldn’t be this much of a differentiator for the iPhone. The open Qi2 standard, to which Apple was a main contributor, allows any phone to have similar magnetic attachments with 15W charging speeds, But while Qi2 has been available for more than year now, major Android device makers still aren’t building it into their phones,, so they can’t tap any of the accessories designed for magnetic charging and docking.
The work-arounds
Those who buy an iPhone 16e won’t be entirely frozen out of the MagSafe ecosystem. The phone still supports standard wireless charging, and lots of iPhone cases have built-in magnets that snap tightly onto MagSafe accessories. With a compatible caseor even just a MagSafe stickeriPhone 16e owners could still use MagSafe accessories and chargers, albeit at slower charging speeds.
Still, the lack of built-in MagSafe is an issue for anyone who prefers a caseless phone, uses a lightweight protective bumper, or has a case thin enough to support MagSafe accessories without its own magnets. Besides, Apple still markets the iPhone around caseless usefor instance, with ads that point to its durabilityso it’s probably not assuming that all of its users will have a case to use with MagSafe accessories.
Apple continues to sell the iPhone 15 for $699, which is $100 less than the iPhone 16e, but the refurbished and used markets offer considerable discounts. Back Market and Amazon, for instance, sell like-new refurbished iPhone 15 models with one-year warranties for $540 and $529, respectively. While the iPhone 16e improves on the iPhone 15 in some wayslonger battery life, newer processor with Apple Intelligence support, and an Action ButtonI’d rather have MagSafe than any of those features. At this point, it’s hard to imagine using an iPhone without it.
Competency checking is a practice that imposes extra scrutiny on Black professionals and people of color, challenging their qualifications, intellect, and ability to advance. There are three primary ways competency checking is deployed in the modern workplace.
The first is the assumption of Black intellectual inferiority and/or a lack of qualifications. This can manifest in low expectations, marginalization, and extreme micromanagement. (More simply: If someone assumes, consciously or unconsciously, that all Black people are intellectually inferior, they may question the person and their qualifications more closely during an interview and, once hired, pay much more attention to their work while looking for any mistakes.)
The second method of competency checking is the expression, particularly of surprise or unease, with open displays of Black intelligence, which can trigger requests or demands to confirm how it was acquired and whether its the result of rote memorization or actual, integrated knowledge. This can manifest as dismissal, quizzing, argument, and tokenization. (If a Black person knows something that their white coworker doesnt already know, the coworkers reaction isnt I didnt know that! but more often How do you know that?)
The third method of competency checking is activation, specifically the feeling of fear when confronted with a Black person who holds any authority, especially someone in a leadership position. This can manifest as requests for identification, undefined feelings of unfairness, anger, unease, and what I would describe as an autoimmune level rejection of Black leadership.
While competency checking can happen to other people of color and, to some extent, white women, there are specific historical and cultural reasons why Black people seem to bear the brunt of it. This book is an exploration of these methods; when, how, and why they were created and implemented; and how they continue to have an outsize impact on Black people and other people of color at work.
The idea that it is not incompetence that is holding back Black professionals is for many a foreign concept. Thats understandable, given that the narrative surrounding Black peopleand the reason the workplace looks the way it does todayis that they dont value education or that theres no one in the hiring pipeline because there are so few qualified Black people, or that Black people want special treatment. Whats interesting is that both anecdotal and empirical evidence suggests that Black workers are getting a type of special treatment, just not the type that many people think.
In 2019, the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) released research that revealed the impact of race and racism in the workplace. That year was a hot labor market, and the U.S. saw the longest economic expansion in its history, with more than 100 consecutive months of job growth and more than 21 million jobs added.
But the EPIs analysis of Bureau of Labor Statistics and Local Area Unemployment Statistics and U.S. Census Bureau data uncovered some surprising things: Per their report, Black workers are twice as likely to be unemployed as white workers overall, even Black workers with a college degree are more likely to be unemployed than similarly educated white workers. That unemployment gap, apparently, is a pattern that has persisted for more than 40 years. In fact, this 2-to-1 ratio holds in practically every state in the nation where Black workers make up a significant share of the workforce.
I believe that gap is linked, especially when it comes to new hires and leadership, to competency checking. And it starts with a name. In 2024, The New York Times reported on research from the National Bureau of Economic Research about the impact of a Black- or white-sounding name on job applications. In a 2019 study, researchers sent 80,000 fake résumés for 10,000 job openings at 100 companies.
The résumés were modified to imply different racial and gender identities, using names like Latisha or Amy to indicate a Black or white woman, respectively, and Lamar or Adam for a Black or white man. According to the resulting data, on average, candidates believed to be white received contact from employers about 9.5% more frequently compared to those thought to be Black.
This type of research is known as an audit study, and it was the largest of its kind in the United States. Ultimately, it found that the results demonstrate how entrenched employment discrimination is in parts of the U.S. labor marketand the extent to which Black workers start behind in certain industries.
Its not all doom and gloom: Some companies showed little to no bias when it came to screening applicants for entry-level positions. And while there is much to learn from the companies that got it right, we must remember that this study pertains solely to entry-level positions that do not require a college degree or extensive work experience. It also does not cover aspects of career progression or advancement opportunities within these companies, which are equally critical to understanding the full scope of how competency checking shows up in the workplace.
From the book Qualified: How Competency Checking and Race Collide at Work by Shari Dunn. Copyright 2025 by Shari Dunn. Reprinted by permission of HarperCollins Publishers.
