A typical three-bedroom house in Austin, Texas, can sometimes rack up monthly utility bills of $200 or $300 in the summer. But in new homes under construction in a nearby suburb, residents will owe little beyond the basic utility connection fee.
The homes, built by Habitat for Humanity, tap into a shared geothermal system in a fully geothermal neighborhood. Heat pumps in each house connect to pipes that loop hundreds of feet underground, making use of the earths steady temperature for heating and cooling. The houses are also built to use as little energy as possible, with features like deep eaves that shade the interior and reduce the need for air-conditioning. Solar shingles on the roofs produce enough power to match each homes expected electricity use.
Our goal is to make sure that they have a very, very low energy bill at the end of the day, says Billy Whipple, chief impact officer at Habitat for Humanity’s Austin office.
The nonprofit, known for working with volunteers to help lower the cost of construction, sees affordable housing holistically. Its not enough just to have a low monthly mortgage payment; homes also need to be designed to have low maintenance and utility costs, especially as energy bills keep rising.
[Rendering: courtesy Austin Habitat for Humanity]
A 100% geothermal neighborhood
The houses are part of Whisper Valley, a larger development that was designed to rely on geothermal energy. This type of geothermal technology, also known as a ground-source heat pump, isn’t new. Habitat for Humanity has used the tech itself in other developments. But it’s still fairly uncommon because of the cost. Depending on the house, some systems can cost as much as $45,000. Building a connected network for the neighborhood, rather than adding the technology home by home, helps make it more affordable.
EcoSmart Solution, a company that builds geothermal infrastructure, drills boreholes on each lot that connect to a larger energy system. “It allows us to implement the geothermal heating and cooling system at a fraction of the cost of doing it on a home-by-home basis,” says Chris Gray, EcoSmart’s CEO. “We bring it as a service. We do all of the drilling, all of the piping, all of the network connecting to each lot before the builders ever take over the lot.”
Taurus Investment Holdings, the original developer behind the property, had a vision of making sustainability mainstream. “They were looking at what we can do to really create sustainability, but in an accessible, affordable way that can be approachable for the mass market,” Gray says.
[Photo: EcoSmart Solution]
The first homes began construction in 2017, and hundreds are now in place. Ultimately, the neighborhood is projected to have around 7,500 homes built by a variety of developers, along with businesses and around 700 acres of green space. Houses currently listed for sale range up to $465,000. Habitat for Humanity’s three-bedroom and four-bedroom homes, available for families earning 60% to 80% of the area median income, are much more affordable, at $230,000 to $245,000. (That’s also well below the average cost within the city of Austin, where the median sales price was around $575,000 last month.)
The nonprofit budgeted around $33,000 per house to add the solar and geothermal systems, according to Whipple.
Ultra-efficient homes
To minimize energy use, Habitat’s homes are well-insulated with an extra-tight building envelope. “When [homeowners] heat and cool, they won’t have to do it as frequently,” Whipple says. The houses also use passive design techniques, like deep overhangs on the windows that provide shade on sweltering Texas days.
Inside, the appliances are Energy Star certified. The homes also use LED lighting, smart thermostats, and heat pump water heaters. While it’s impossible to predict how much energy a particular family might useif they like to crank up the AC especially high, for examplethe size of the solar system installed on the roof was calculated to cover all typical usage.
That obviously makes a difference for residents on tight budgets. Skyler Korgel, one future resident who will be a first-time homeowner, says that she currently pays between $35 and $70 a month on energy bills in her apartment. “Having that jump to $200 to $300 per month, or unpredictably more during the summers, in a traditional home would be financially unsustainable for me,” Korgel says.
“Between the geothermal heating system, rooftop solar panels, smart energy management systems, high-efficiency appliances, and a tight building envelope, I am hopeful that I can reach energy usage of effectively zero, eliminate my energy bill for some months, and even be able to provide power when the electric grid is strained,” she says.
A model for future development
Habitat for Humanity is building 48 homes in the neighborhood, including 25 that will be constructed in October by volunteers in a five-day sprint. (Skilled construction workers are handling more complex tasks like connecting heat pumps to the geothermal system.) But it’s also considering using the solar-and-networked geothermal approach for future homes. That may include more houses at Whisper Valley.
EcoSmart is working with other developers to plan new projects across the country, from single-famiy homes to multifamily buildings. Others are also turning to geothermal. In Brooklyn, for example, a 463-unit apartment building that recently opened uses hundreds of geothermal wells for heating and cooling. An even larger all-geothermal apartment complex is opening in another part of Brooklyn.
In some cases, existing neighborhoods are also moving to geothermal. Near Boston, one neighborhood has been testing a shift from gas heat to geothermal heating and cooling over the last two years. In Ann Arbor, Michigan, the city is building a geothermal district system in a neighborhood where 75% of residents are low-incomeboth as part of the city’s work to reach climate goals and to help residents significantly cut energy bills.
The most common email messages I receive these days are obviously AI-generated pitches for guests to appear on my podcast. They all begin the same way, with a praising reference to one of my recent episodesusually the second-to-last posted show. Your recent interview with so-and-so was penetrating, and got to the heart of the problem of x or y. Then comes the crucial pivot: John Doughs work takes that problem even further . . . And then the pitch for John Dough to be on the podcast.
The problem is not just that the publicist used AI to shotgun the known universe of podcasters with pitches artificially customized to their shows. Its that the comparisons and connections are really bad. Your guest spoke so passionately about being a death doula, I think you would be so interested in an artist who makes Halloween napkins festooned with skeletons, which are usually of dead people.
So what do I do? I blacklist the sender. The human publicist ends up losing credibility because the one thing I might trust her to doto accurately assess the appropriateness of my show for her guesthad been surrendered to a machine whose job was to make that connection by any means necessary.
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She was using AI in the fashion of an Industrial Age factory owner to increase her productivity, but simultaneously ignoring the human process that defines her expertise.
I see the same thing happen with AI-generated reports and presentations. Someone gets some speculative idea and then asks Chat to justify it with a few case studies. On the surface, the case studies may sound like theyre supporting the premisebut if you look any deeper, they dont really relate at all. Theyre analogous, but not truly relevant. Worse yet, theyre sitting in what looks like a fully realized Powerpoint presentation. Concepts that could have been interpreted as half-baked, speculative, or open to discussion now appear finalized. They seem inappropriately unrealized for how elaborately they have been rendered, and make the presenter seem foolish. (That is, if the recipient is even reading the work rather than having their AI summarize it.)
Deskilling ourselves
By using the AI to do the big stuffby outsourcing our primary competencies to the machines instead of giving them the boring busyworkwe deskill ourselves and deprive everyone of the opportunity for AI-enhanced outputs. Too many of us are using AI as the primary architect for a project, rather than the general contractor who supports the architects human vision. (And even many of the general contractors functions are attributable to the human relationships they have developed over the years.)
People are treating their chats as if they were fully realized (but as yet nonexistent) AGIs, and letting them do big stuff rather than treating them like tools that can do lots of little stuff. When facing a new seemingly gargantuan project, they turn to the AI first rather than digging in and doing some researchperhaps even using the AI as a research tool instead of relegating the whole project to it all at once. The output looks good to the user, less because it is good than because the Chat has been programmed to make the user feel good about their query. Thats an insightful project idea, Douglas! Ive managed to flesh out an entire proposal at three different price points. The positive feedback loop reinforces the user behavior, until the threshold for asking the Chat to do the project is lower and lower. In the name of getting more product out there, the user loses touch with their own processtheir core competency.
No shortcuts
The only ones who win in such a scenario are the AI companies, who effectively commoditize the users and their companies. Without any core competencies, the only competitive advantage a user has left is the robustness of their service contract with the AI company. The fast, slapdash results are not worth the cost in human expertise.
As the researcher behind MITs study This is Your Brain on ChatGPT explained at a recent ANDUS event, when people turn to an AI for a solution before working on a problem themselves, the number of connections formed in their brains decreases. But when they turn to the AI after working on the problem for a while, they end up with more neural connections than if they worked entirely alone.
Thats because the value of the AI is not its ability to create product for us, but to engage with us in our process. Working and iterating with an AIdoing what we could call generative thinkingis actually a break from Industrial Age thinking. We focus less on outputs than on cycles. Less on the volume of short-term results (assembly line), and more on the quality and complexity of thought and innovation.
AIs dont have to replace our competencies or even our employees. Thats less an opportunity for success and scale than it is a recipe for deskilling, commodification, and eventual disappearance.
Adopting AI as a partner in process and enhancer of competencies requires developing a new kind of culture around technology and innovationone that centers the human ingenuity at the core of a company, and supports the ways that new, intelligent technologies can foster that living resource.
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Prior to becoming the CEO of Lyft, David Risher didnt post much on social media.
That began to change just before his first day on the job, when Risher decided to sign up on the ride sharing platform as a driver.
I had no plan, he says. I just wanted to get in the car and see what it feels like to drive for Lyft and hear the riders story, but also experience it from a driver’s perspective. At the end of that first outing, Risher revealed to the passenger who he was, and requested a selfie. He posted it on his personal LinkedIn account. I drove for a couple more hours and I didn’t tell anyone at Lyft I was doing this.
Since then, Risher has made a regular habit of getting behind the wheel and sharing the stories (and selfies) he gathers from the road on his personal LinkedIn and X accounts, which have since added about 25,000 followers.
Part of a CEO’s job is to be an external spokesperson for the company. The thing that I get the most consistent positive feedback on is my social media posts, particularly around driving, or pulling back the curtain on what it’s really like to run a company, Risher says.
People trust individuals more than they trust institutions so I think it is important for Lyft. I kind of just want people to know CEOs are just people.
As the personal brand of CEOs becomes increasingly tied to the brand of the companies they lead their voice, their interests, their faces more and more top bosses are taking pages out of the books of influencers. But is the expectation to whip out a phone and lead a TikTok Live changing the way these leaders function, and is it too much for a role thats already all-consuming?
In this paid Premium story, youll:
Learn whats driving this new expectation for chief executives
Hear more from Lyft CEO David Risher
The risk of turning your CEO into an influencer
The age of the Chief Promotional Officer
Risher isnt the only chief executive blurring the lines between business leader and social media influencer. According to author, personal branding expert and the founder and president of Sterling Marketing Group, Karen Leland, CEOs are under increased pressure to have an active online presence.
People don’t just look at the company, they look at the brand of the CEO and the executives. They want to know how that person is putting themselves out there, she says. The CEO becomes almost like the chief promotional officer.
Not only are potential customers interested in the CEOs online presence, according to Leland who has helped hundreds of Fortune 500 and Inc. 1,000 CEOs develop their online personas but so are prospective employees and investors.
In a 2020 survey of global executives, 59% said their CEOs should have an online presence. In another, 74% of employees said customers associate their company with its executives. Other studies suggest that a positive CEO reputation can significantly improve an organizations ability to attract and retain investors, and can even positively impact their market value.
To some degree, this isnt a novel idea. CEOs have been the faces of organizations for decades. But recently, stakeholders are expecting more, encouraging business leaders to fashion an authentic persona to connect with audiences the same way influencers do on YouTube, TikTok or Instagram.
CEO branding as a discipline is fairly new, says Leland. Only in the last couple of years has it really gained traction.
Leland even says its now common for CEOs to work with publicists to develop a personal narrative that is relevant to but distinct from the brand they represent. That could, for example, take the form of thought leadership, advocating for causes they care about, behind-the-scenes perspectives, and even personal interests and hobbies.
Sir Richard Branson, for example, has long maintained a public persona closely connected to, but still distinct from, that of his companies, making frequent media appearances and posting on social media. Though Branson used to be the outlier his strategy has recently become the norm.
Like Risher, many tech CEOs in particular have jumped on the branding bandwagon. As he transitioned from the COO of Shopify to CEO of Opendoor, Kaz Nejatian began posting on social media, sharing internal memos, and building his brand online. CEOs like Bumbles Whitney Wolfe Herd, Microsofts Satya Nadella, JPMorgan Chases Jamie Dimon, Ciscos Chuck Robbins, Best Buys Corie Barry, and many more have follower counts in the hundreds of thousands, or millions.
CEOs as attention merchants?
It may be inaccurate to group CEOs in the same camp as YouTubers or Twitch streamers, though. Influencers arent necessarily thought leaders, Leland says. But CEOs who do this right are establishing themselves as thought leaders in a particular domain.
Recent media or conference appearances, product announcements, site visits, conversations with customers and employees, and other day-to-day responsibilities have all become fodder for a CEOs online content. I think today, it is a core responsibility, says Leland. If a CEO makes a lengthy, thought leadership-style post on LinkedIn that goes viral, its a huge branding opportunity for their company.
But while there may be benefits to a strong social media presence for some CEOs, others may have more to lose than gain from the added visibility. Just as influencers get canceled for posting bad takes or faux pas online, so could more CEOs (and thus companies) who are following this influencer-ization model.
There is this concomitant risk that goes along with it, says Jerry Colonna, an executive coach, author, and CEO of Reboot.IO. If they make a personal misstep, which every human being does, it’s not just the person who’s canceled it’s the brand.
Colonna explains most people couldnt name the CEOs of most Fortune 100 companies, often because well-established organizations have the luxury of letting their products speak for themselves. At the same time, he says others Apple, Microsoft or Patagonia were more successful because of the public personas of their leaders than they could have been otherwise.
As long as you’re doing it in an authentic way, then you’re probably doing good for your company, says Risher of Lyft. I think this is true for social media influence as well as for CEOs: if it feels forced, I don’t think you’re fooling anyone.
While he has seen the pressure on CEOs to be more present on social media growing in recent years, Colonna who has gained a reputation as The CEO Whisperer for coaching countless prominent business leaders says the impact of their online presence has its limits.
It can be really, really helpful, but it doesn’t solve the long term, build-the-business problem, he says.
Because no matter how many likes and subscribes your CEO drives: You still have to deliver high quality products.
Its not always fun to look your finances in the eye, but it can unlock a rewarding path forward. These five books make tackling personal finance approachable, clear, anddare we say itan enjoyable journey.
Rule Breaker Investing: How to Pick the Best Stocks of the Future and Build Lasting Wealth
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The Almanack of Naval Ravikant: A Guide to Wealth and Happiness
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Naval Ravikant is a legendary investor, entrepreneur, and founder in Silicon Valley. Beyond his business acumen, he is known for the distilled wisdom that he shares on living a rich and meaningful life. The Almanack of Naval Ravikant compiles his most powerful ideas about achieving wealth and happiness. Listen to our Book Bite summary, read by author Eric Jorgenson, in the Next Big Idea App or view on Amazon.
All the Presidents Money: How the Men Who Governed America Governed Their Money
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The money dramas that plague us today are tales as old as time. We share all the same personal financial issues of the present with Americans of the pastincluding presidents. History is filled with relatable stories of money management (and mismanagement). How do your wealth-building skills compare to those of our nations presidents? Listen to our Book Bite summary, read by author Megan Gorman, in the Next Big Idea App or view on Amazon.
Robin Hood Math: Take Control of the Algorithms That Run Your Life
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The Wealth Ladder: Proven Strategies for Every Step of Your Financial Life
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The optimal wealth strategy varies based on your financial starting point. Depending on where you sit on the Wealth Ladder, the best approach to getting more money shifts. Its not necessarily about hard work but rather picking the correct place to focus your time and energy based on your current situation. Listen to our Book Bite summary, read by author Nick Maggiulli, in the Next Big Idea App or view on Amazon.
This article originallyappeared in Next Big Idea Club magazine and is reprinted with permission.
Tell me: Do things like this ever happen to you?
You have clarity of purpose. You know what you need. You walk into another room to get it. Then, distraction hits, and you forget entirely what prompted you.
Or else, you search the house for your car keys or your glasses, or your wallet. A good 10 minutes later, you realize theyve been with you the whole time.
You sit down to write an article about an intriguing study having to do with memoryif only you could remember what it was.
Yes, these are highly personal anecdotes. But like all the best stories, I hope theyre simply the unique expression of universal truths.
Perhaps second only to the fear of death itself, the one thing Ive heard business leaders admit that they fear most is the idea of losing their memory.
And thats why Ive latched on with gusto to a recent study out of Harvard University, among other institutions, that suggests a simple, straightforward way to improve cognitive health.
A Mediterranean-style diet
Writing in the journal Nature Medicine, researchers from Mass General Brigham, the Broad Institute of MIT, and yes, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, say that making a simple dietary change can influence key metabolic pathways that protect memory and cognitive function.
The strategy: Make a conscious change to switch to a Mediterranean-style diet.
More on the nose, according to a summary:
People following a more Mediterranean-style diet had a lower risk of developing dementia and showed slower cognitive decline.
Theyre not the first to tout the benefits of this diet; heck, Ive written about other studies here before.
But this team analyzed data from two studies, including a total of 5,705 men and women from two longitudinal studies: the Nurses Health Study, followed by the Health Professionals Follow-Up Study.
And, by studying three factors: long-term dietary patterns, participants inherited risk for Alzheimers disease, and the incidence of new cases of dementia, they were able to make some striking conclusions.
Help reduce the risk
According to the studys first author, Yuxi Liu, PhD, a research fellow in the Department of Medicine at Brigham and Womens Hospital, a founding member of the Mass General Brigham healthcare system, and a postdoctoral fellow at the Harvard Chan School and Broad:
These findings suggest that dietary strategies, specifically the Mediterranean diet, could help reduce the risk of cognitive decline and stave off dementia by broadly influencing key metabolic pathways.
Before I forget (ironic, right?) we should ensure that weve established what a Mediterranean-style diet actually entails. It includes a few factors:
First, the primary fat source is olive oil, as opposed to higher saturated fats that are sometimes seen in Western diets.
Second, whole grains. Lots of them. Plus, vegetables and fruitsprobably four servings per day.
Third, lean proteins. Think fish, chicken, turkey, and eggs.
Fourth: Very limited red meat intake.
Finally, lots of fiber from a variety of plant sources.
My favorite kind of study
Honestly, this makes it fall into the category of frankly quite pleasurable things I might do anyway, even without the study.
Which therefore makes it my favorite kind of study.
Short version? Do something Id normally do almost without prompting, and get an unexpected benefit? Im on board with that.
Barely even need a reminder.
Bill Murphy Jr.
This article originally appeared on Fast Companys sister publication, Inc.
Inc. is the voice of the American entrepreneur. We inspire, inform, and document the most fascinating people in business: the risk-takers, the innovators, and the ultra-driven go-getters that represent the most dynamic force in the American economy.
When I first ventured into self-employment a few years ago, I received a lot of advice from fellow freelance writers: Know your worth. Dont take low-paying work.
The advice was valid, as too much low-paying work is a recipe for burnout. But to the newly self-employed, I would say: Know your worth. And also, there are very valid reasons to take low-paying work, if it can help launch your business.
You can open the right doors without selling yourself short.
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The project is good for your portfolio
Potential clients will expect proof that your work is goodespecially if its the type of work that can be displayed in a portfolio (design, video, writing, or other creative work). Portfolios dont grow overnight. One good client at a lower rate will lead to a better client who pays more.
Even now, several years into freelance writing, Ill still take projects below my normal rate if I think the work will be a standout in my portfolio. The payoff comes when clients approach me and say, I saw your work for XYZ companyI love that publication!
Sometimes projects can earn you far more in the long run than your short-term payout.
The project will connect you with important people
Some of my best clients are referrals, even when the original project was low-paying, boring, or short-term. Ive even had clients rehire me when they move on to their next gig.
Youll quickly learn which people in your industry are movers and shakers. By working with them, you could get a glowing recommendation or countless referrals.
You can also say yes to speaking on panels, podcast appearances, and writing guest posts for publications if you feel like the work will get you in front of the right audience or make good industry connections. These are often a much lower lift than a full-blown paid project and can have a similar impact.
You can learn new skills
If you need it, heres your permission to say yes to a project thats slightly outside of your skill set. Slightly being the operative word. You need to be confident that you can meet the clients expectations. But its also an opportunity to try something new and get paid for the work.
Dont ever, ever overpromise and under-deliver. However, sometimes the only way to gain new skills as a solo business owner is to take on the work, wow the client, and get the project into your portfolio so you can take on future projects that require the same skill set.
Its OK to say no
For many self-employed people, money is a primary factor in accepting projects. But just like there are valid reasons beyond money to take on new work, there are also valid reasons for declining workeven if the money is good.
Bad clients can cost you. They can absorb too much of your time and mental energy. You may also reach a point in your business where you dont need the money, even if you have the bandwidth.
One of the best things about running your own business is that you get to make those decisions. When you work for an employer, youre forced onto projects or stuck with colleagues youd rather avoid. Self-employment is different. Taking on clients is a business decisionand you should get comfortable basing your decisions on factors other than money.
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Lets circle back when we have the bandwidth to touch base on whether we need to hop on a call to tackle the low-hanging fruit.
(If this corporate buzzword bingo sent a shiver down your spineapologies.)
In the world of professional communication, business jargon is often a necessary evil. Email clichés: love em or hate em, we all use em.
Many of us are trapped in a terminal cycle of reaching out and circling back to make sure were aligned. Recent analysis from email verification company ZeroBounce looked at more than one million real work emails to find out which overused email phrases are the most common offenders.
To no one’s surprise, reaching out is the reigning champ with 6,117 appearances, shortly followed by follow-ups of all kinds (to follow up, following up, will follow up) with 5,755 mentions.
Nearly 3,000 emails also started with a version of hope: Hope youre doing well, Hope this finds you well, or Hope all is well.
Other honorable mentions include Happy Friday (as well as the slightly less popular Happy Monday). Touch base, hop on a call, bandwidth, and low-hanging fruit were commonly identified by researchers..
Language habits are some of the hardest to change, Liviu Tanase, founder and CEO of ZeroBounce, told Fast Company. Despite nearly one in four employees now using AI to help write emails, the language hasnt moved with the times.
Even with smart AI tools embedded in our inboxes, people still fall back on familiar phrases because they feel safe and sometimes, we dont know what else to say.
She added: Maybe its time we all circle back to sounding human again.
Here, Gen Z is leading the charge. Young workers have no qualms including memes, emojis, slang, and abbreviations in their emailsjust as they would text in a group chat with friends.
Around 71% of people surveyed by the U.K. bank Barclays in 2023 said they believed Gen Z was changing the formality of language in the workplace. What worked in formal business correspondence just a decade or two ago, can be received as cold or even rude among todays digital natives.
For those looking to refresh their email etiquette, ZeroBounce offered a few easy swaps to test out in your next correspondence.
Rather than penning hope this finds you well, you could ask, how’s your week going? Or open with, Good morning quick one.
The ubiquitous just checking in or following up can be replaced with something more direct: What are your thoughts on the proposal? (Many of us default to using softer language to our detriment, anyway.)
For those looking to shake things further and take a leaf out of Gen Zs playbook, one TikTok creator offered some suggestions to inject more mystery or foreboding in the workplace.
I hope this email finds you, he suggests. This kind of implies that everyone thinks youre missing and they dont know where you are. This is something really good to send to your remote coworkers.
Disclaimer: use at your own risk. But if you want to use a safer work email cliché, you can always just ask them to ping you.
Every year, Audience Audit publishes a study on what agency clients really wantand the 2025 edition revealed a stat that should stop any agency leader in their tracks: 77% of clients say theyre more likely to hire an agency thats a recognized AI expert (not just self-proclaimed). But only 32% believe their current agency fits that description.
Heres whats more telling: When asked what they expect from their agency when it comes to AI, clients didnt say efficiency or cheaper deliverables. They want new ideas, sharper analysis, and real guidance on how to use AI themselves. In other words, theyre not just looking for agencies that use AI. They want partners who know how to think with it.
At Quantious, being AI-fluent isnt a role, its a team standard. Every producer, strategist, and designer is expected to not just keep up, but lead. And we dont just talk about it in pitches, we practice it every day.
Want to build real AI fluency across your team? Here are five ways weve made it part of our everyday work.
1. Invest in professional development like its our job (because it is)
Professional development isnt a once-a-year checkbox here, its a cultural value. We budget for AI courses, certification programs, and conferences because we believe time spent learning is time well spent. Weve encouraged team members to tackle everything from AI marketing bootcamps to building apps with vibe-coding tools like Replit, Lovable, Replay.io, or Base44 (Seriously, one project lead with no coding background just built his own app!).
We believe in fostering a culture of experimentation, and to some, our approach looks a little risky. When we invest in our team members professional development, we know its not always going to instantly translate to value for our clients. But guess what? Innovation stems from learning and exploring, and thats exactly how our teams end up ahead of the trends, every time.
2. Host team-led AI workshops
Our favorite AI tipsters are each other. When a team member cracks a new use caselike building out a personalized GPT, or using AI to develop complex Excel formulasthey host internal workshops to share what theyve learned. Weve had workshops on everything from AI product image generation to deepfake identification. We document our processes, record quick tutorials of what weve learned, and aim to keep knowledge moving fast.
3. Encourage experimentation on live work
We dont treat AI like a lab project. We build with it every day. Designers test layout variations with image generation tools. Marketing producers use AI to pull research for brand sentiment audits or to map out user journeys. Copywriters turn notes into outlines, organizing their thoughts before drafting. Weve learned how to craft meaningful prompts, how to develop our own agents, and how to build out some seriously complex spreadsheet formulas using AI. We automate time-consuming processes, using Bluedot, Slack, and Limitless to transcribe company meeting notes in real time. We use these tools with our brains, not instead of them.
In every aspect of our work, we remember that AI is a collaborator, not a replacement for hard work and creativity. Say it with me: You cannot just check out and have AI do it all for you. (Just ask Randy Marsh of South Park; it doesnt end well!)
4. Treat AI safety and usage guidelines as a living document
AI is moving fast, and so are the conversations around safety, security, and ethical use. Thats exactly why we treat our AI guidelines as a work in progress, instead of a static rulebook. Leadership actively invites input from across our team to flag new risks, suggest safeguards, and share best practices.
AI responsibility is a shared approach we take, and we want to ensure everyone has a role to play in mitigating data privacy and bias. This has led us to embrace a smarter, safer, and more thoughtful AI practice that evolves along with the tech.
5. Help clients navigate the AI maze
AI tools are evolving dailyand most of our clients are trying to make sense of whats worth their time, whats secure, and what actually works. The real value lies in making AI feel less overwhelming, and more actionable.
Thats why its vital to not just use AI to drive internal efficiencies, but to help clients make it work for them in their own workflows. Whether its creating custom GPTs, mapping out automated content workflows, or guiding teams through prompt strategy, we treat AI as a collaborative layer in the client relationship.
And were transparent about it. When AI plays a role in our work, we explain how, why, and what it means for the outcomes. That clarity builds trust and helps future-proof our clients teams.
Our job isnt just to use AIits to help our clients understand it, apply it responsibly, and stay ahead of the curve. Thats where the real value is.
The future of creative work isnt going to be driven by opening up a browser tab and launching ChatGPT. Its going to be driven by humans who can automate a tedious quality assurance process, use AI to spot brand inconsistencies across campaigns, or extract insights from raw customer feedback, safely. Because knowing when not to use AI is just as important as knowing how.
Lisa Larson-Kelley is founder and CEO of Quantious.
What if, instead of working toward an exit strategy, we built companies for longevity?
Thats the question at the heart of employee ownership. Its not just a perk to lure talent. Its a fundamentally different way of building a business, and one that might just be the key to long-term resilience.
Ive spent nearly my entire career inside a 100% employee-owned architecture, engineering, planning, and interiors design firm. Today as CEO, I lead its 1,800 employee-owners. Ive seen firsthand how this model changes everything, from how team members treat clients to how the organization is able to weather change. But this isn’t a story about just one company. It’s about a mindset shift that could help more companies build lasting value instead of just quick wins.
RETHINK OWNERSHIP: BEYOND THE CAP TABLE
When most people think of ownership, they picture equity grants or stock options. But real employee ownership is more than a line item. Its a structure that changes incentives, yes, but also culture, leadership, and accountability.
Being 100% employee-owned has shaped how we make decisions, collaborate, and deliver work. When you know your colleagues have skin in the game, you trust them differently. You lead differently. You take responsibility in a way that doesnt hinge on hierarchyit stems from care rooted in real ownership.
And when your clients know theyre dealing with employee-owners, not just employees, that builds trust in return. Clients can feel the difference. Its not always easy to define, but its palpablein the commitment, the deep sense of shared responsibility, the pride people take in the outcome.
WHY IT’S SUSTAINABLEAND SCALABLE
One of the most compelling reasons to explore employee ownership is its long-term viability. When a company is built around shared responsibility instead of individual power, it becomes more resilient to leadership changes. I once spoke to a CEO who said he wasnt sure his company would survive without him and his fellow majority owners. I cant imagine building something without knowing that it would endure for future generations.
The companys legacy shouldnt rest on any single person. Our founding partners built the company on the idea that if you invest in the company, the company should invest in you. That spirit helped guide our transition to full employee ownership decades ago.
Shared ownership encourages leaders to think beyond the present moment. In my experience, it also invites more people into that conversation. When ownership is broad-based, strategic planning becomes a collective effort, not just a top-down mandate. Teams are more likely to align on long-term goals, and more willing to adapt when circumstances change, because theyve helped shape the direction.
Ownership changes the timeline youre working on. You stop optimizing for the quarter and start asking bigger questions: What will serve our team, our clients, and our communities for the next 5, 10, 15, or even 50 years?
INNOVATION THROUGH INCLUSION
One possibly unexpected benefit of employee ownership is what it unlocks creatively. When people feel a genuine sense of agency, they collaborate differently. Our firm uses a matrix leadership model that gives different types of experts the chance to lead depending on the problem at hand. That level of collaboration always brings its own challenges, but more importantly, it creates room for new ideas and cross-disciplinary solutions to emerge.
Ownership doesnt just empower decision making; it encourages experimentation. We support things like personal development grants that allow employee-owners to pursue research projects outside their day-to-day work. One grant led to a neuroinclusive design exhibit featured at a major international architectural showcase. These kinds of initiatives dont just enrich culturethey advance innovation.
WHAT LEADERS SHOULD ASK THEMSELVES
Employee ownership isnt right for every company. But its a model worth serious consideration, especially for leaders thinking about employee engagement, long-term value creation, or succession.
If you’re a founder or executive, ask yourself: What will happen to your company when you step away? Will the culture, vision, and value you’ve built live on? Or does everything rest on the shoulders of a few people at the top?
Ownership changes that equation. It puts real sustainability at the core of how a business operates.
Ive seen what happens when people arent just asked to think like owners, but actually are owners. It creates a different kind of business: one thats more resilient and more invested in the long term. In a world full of companies built for the exit, we need more that are built to last.
Steven McKay is the chief executive officer of DLR Group.
In business, theres one skill no leader would dare neglect: the financials. Financial literacy, like understanding a balance sheet, cash flow, or P&L, is one of the foundations for decision making. As climate change rewrites supply chains, consumer demand, and regulation, another fluency is becoming just as essential.
Climate literacy will protect business growth and resilience, while leaders who ignore it are being left behind. But mastering it means more than knowing that emissions are a problem. Its about being able to read, question, and apply environmental data the way a CFO interprets financials. Leaders must be able to ask, and know the answer to, questions like:
Where are our biggest emissions risks?
Which investments deliver real impact reductions versus a marketing spin alone?
How do we balance short-term targets with long-term resilience?
Are we measuring the ROI of ongoing sustainability initiatives?
OUT OF THE SILO AND INTO THE BOARDROOM
Sustainability data is not just for sustainability teams. Instead of climate data living in a silo, it must become embedded in decision making across the business, reflecting how financial data is key to core business decisions and has many applications beyond the finance team.
Were already seeing the shift in action. Retail teams are not only generating science-based impact data with Vaayu, but actively using it across functions. Their product design teams are testing and adjusting materials, logistics teams are optimizing deliveries, and marketing teams are building carbon data into how they communicate.
One example is the intimate apparel brand Triumph, which carried out nearly 1,500 product-level analyses. The footprints revealed clear hotspots across categories, from suncare (which averaged just 2.18 kg COe per item), to make-up, where end-of-life impacts were highest. They pointed to the urgent need for stronger circular solutions and better disposal practices.
Taking a different approach to applying impact data, Vestiaire Collective assessed its avoided emissions through its resale platform, enabling them to show customers that second-hand luxury can actually outperform fast fashion on cost. The unique cost-per-wear metric found that buying pre-loved luxury items was around one-third more affordable over time than purchasing new fast fashion, challenging the assumption that luxury must always come at a higher price.
Far from being only about sustainability, these insights ultimately help leaders drive decisions that lead to reduced costs and risks while also enhancing brand credibility, trust, and even ROI among key audiences. Companies that fail to act arent just missing an opportunity; they are falling behind competitors who are already speaking the language of sustainability and turning climate action into business advantage.
CROSS-INDUSTRY APPLICATIONS
The cross-industry lesson is simple. Every sector, from finance to healthcare, will need to treat carbon literacy like financial literacy. Just as leaders once learned to parse revenue streams and liabilities, they must now understand emission scopes, avoided versus created impact, and the trade-offs between compliance and innovation.
The companies that invest early in building this fluency will be the ones prepared for investor scrutiny, regulatory shifts, and, perhaps most importantly, customer trust.
TURN COMPLIANCE RISKS INTO REWARDS
Implications extend into mandates, too. Regulatory momentum remains. Even with delays, climate disclosure frameworks like the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive are still on the horizon. Leaders need to act now to build internal processes and data systems ahead of when rules kick in, making carbon illiteracy a genuine liability in addition to being a blind spot.
And regardless of policy shifts, market expectations persist. Investors, customers, and talent continue to demand a credible climate response. The workforce itself is becoming a change driver. Younger generations increasingly choose employers that align with their values, and companies that fail to embed carbon literacy risk losing talent to more forward-looking competitors. In this sense, climate fluency is growing into a defining marker of resilience, credibility, and long-term growth.
Carbon literacy is fast becoming a source of risk mitigation and competitive edge. Companies that understand their products true impact can redesign them with lower footprints, communicate that data with transparency, and stand apart in crowded markets. This not only appeals to climate-conscious customers but also builds loyalty and trust at a time when greenwashing is under greater scrutiny.
Now, climate data is not a specialists job but a leadership skill. No CEO would admit to not understanding a balance sheet, but soon, no leader will get away with not understanding their companys climate impact, either.
Namrata Sandhu is founder and CEO of Vaayu.
