Gen Zs latest online fixation is the so-called ‘millennial optimism’ era. The TikTok trend sees users posting early-2000s throwback snaps set to The Middle Easts 2009 song Blood. Think moustache tattoos, Apple Photo Booth selfies, and owl-print tops paired with galaxy leggings.
For those too young to experience it firsthand: the 2010s were a simpler, happier time. As one TikTok creator posted: “Millennial optimism era really had me thinking I could make a living as a part-time barista and live in a six-bedroom house with all my friends.” As one commenter confirmed: Tbh this was actually possible in 2012.
In another clip, one Gen Zer wrote: “Every day I’m faced with the sad reality that performative millennial hipsters from 2005-2012 really did have it so much better.”
It was a time where Barack Obama was president. Instagram was still for uploading grainy images of nights out and snapshots of your coffee. One Direction was formed. Life was good.
Right?
In case you may not remember, in 2010, millennials were just starting out in the workforce and unemployment was as high as 10% in the wake of the Great Recession. Many are still carrying the economic baggage well over a decade later, with research showing that those who graduate during a recession could see stagnation in financial growth for up to 15 years.
In the 2010s, college tuition also more than doubled since the 1980s. Wages were suppressed and many millennials struggled to get their careers off the ground (sounds familiar, Gen Z?). In the US, student loans were staggering.
Those who lived through this period have stepped in to set the record straight online. One millennial suggests the TikTok trend is “missing the mark in only the way a TikTok trend can.”
He explained: “I assure you that during the early 2010s-late 2000s, I was the most pessimistic that I’ve ever been in my life.”
Other millennials agreed in the comments, with one writing: “The music was great, the times were hard.”
Another added: “Only the millennials living in New York, in poverty, back in 2010s, fresh out of college and post financial crisis, would understand how far back my eyes rolled when I saw this trend.
They added: we hustled and had 4 different jobs for a decade and were dead inside.”
For millennials at the time, optimism was simply a survival strategy.
So much music that has been deemed millennial optimism is upbeat but has devastating lyrics, a third commented. Which mimics how I felt in my twenties, smiling or partying through severe hopelessness.
Chelsea Fagan, a millennial writer, dubbed the early 2010s “the last era of sweet delusion” earlier this year.
Objectively, things were tough. And yet, despite these hardships, there was still an enduring belief among millennials that if you worked your way up the ladder, you would be rewarded with a house, a car, and a comfortable life, with an employer who would return your loyalty.
The early 2010s were full of a general sense that everything would just work out, Fagan wrote.
Was it a little delusional? Absolutely.
Today? Recent graduates seem to have no such delusion.
Want to visit the U.S.? Be prepared to cough up your social media history.
The U.S. Customs and Border Protection filed a legal proposal today that will make it mandatory for many tourists to submit the last five years of their social media history as part of the application required to visit the country. The public has 60 days, until early February, to submit comments to this proposal.
The social media requirement, if enacted, would apply to any visitor from the 42 different countries in the Visa Waiver Program. Rather than applying for a visa, these tourists must submit an application to the Electronic System for Travel Authorization and pay a $40 fee for visits of 90 days or less. That list includes many countries with close ties to the U.S. and whose citizens regularly visit, such as the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia, Italy, France, Germany, Japan, and Australia.
If enacted, this requirement could strike yet another blow to international tourism. Through October, more than 9.3 million tourists have visited the U.S. from five countries that would be affected by this proposalthe United Kingdom, Japan, Germany, France, and South Koreaand the number of overseas visitors more broadly has fallen 2.5% compared with the same period in 2024, according to figures from the International Trade Administration.
NEW HIGH VALUE DATA FIELDS
The social media requirement isnt the only proposed change for tourists visiting the U.S. The Trump administration also wants to add several other high value data fields to the ESTA application. These include telephone numbers used in the last five years, email addresses used in the last 10 years, and biometrics information that include fingerprints, DNA, and a photo of the iris.
Customs and Border Protection didnt immediately respond to a request for comment from Fast Company. There was no information in the legal filing about how the U.S. plans to enforce this proposed change, particularly given how many tourists visit from the affected countries.
The changes to the requirements for non-visa tourists are being proposed to comply with one of the executive orders President Donald Trump signed in January, related to protecting the country from foreign terrorists. The latest proposal is similar to a new policy that the State Department announced in June requiring that applicants for certain U.S. visas would be instructed to set their social media profiles to the public setting to facilitate the vetting process.
A PARADIGM SHIFT
Such moves are relatively unprecedented. Americans visiting the European Union currently dont have to submit any sort of application if their stay is less than 90 days. That will change once the EU implements a travel authorization requirement, but a social media history isnt part of that vetting process.
And the administrations latest proposal could prove to have a chilling effect on tourism, opponents argue. In 2024, tourism spending produced $2.9 trillion in economic output, according to figures from the U.S. Travel Association.
This proposal marks a paradigm shift of how the government is approaching social media by scrutinizing online speech and using that information to potentially deny travel based on discretion and policy about what the person said, Bo Cooper, a partner at Fragomen, told The New York Times. Itll be interesting to watch the tourism numbers.
Whats more, the proposal sends a worrying message to potential tourists, who should not have to fear that self-censorship is a condition of entry,” Sarah McLaughlin, senior scholar for global expression at the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression told Axios.
“This is not the behavior of a country confident in its freedoms,” she said.
Charli XCX is making a trip to the Sundance Film Festival in January. The pop singer-songwriter appears in three films premiering at the 2026 festival, including a mockumentary that she produced and stars in. Programmers on Wednesday unveiled a lineup of 90 feature films set for the festivals last hurrah in Park City, Utah.
The slate includes documentaries on basketball great Brittney Griner, Nelson Mandela, Salman Rushdie, Courtney Love, and Billie Jean King. There are starry features with the likes of Natalie Portman, Jenna Ortega, Seth Rogen, Channing Tatum, Danielle Brooks, Olivia Colman, DaVine Joy Randolph, Alexander Skarsgrd, and Ethan Hawke. Olivia Wilde directs her first feature since Dont Worry Darling, in The Invite. Judd Apatow chronicles comedian Maria Bamfords mental health journey. And Gregg Araki will be back in Park City with a restoration of his 2004 coming-of-age drama Mysterious Skin and a new film as well.
Its a broad, eclectic and bold program, Sundance public programming director Eugene Hernandez told The Associated Press. He said the lineup for the festival’s final year in Park City really honors that well with this mixture of new, exciting voices paired with some really, really great familiar faces from Sundances past that I think will create a great alchemy for this really unique edition in Utah.
Ever a festival of discovery, of the 90 features culled from 4,255 submissions, 40% are from first-time directors. The programmers laugh when they hear people say things like thats a Sundance movie, as if its one, easily categorizable thing.
I look at the films in this program and say, You tell me what a Sundance film is because theyre so different, said programmer John Nein.
Three Charli XCX movies
Charli XCX plays a rising pop star prepping for her first arena tour in the mockumentary The Moment, which Hernandez said is like her version of This is Spinal Tap. She also appears in Arakis I Want Your Sex, in which Cooper Hoffman plays an intern who gets wrapped up in the world of an artist and provocateur (Wilde). And shes among the ensemble of The Gallerist.
Theres a sense of humor that she has about herself and her work, but also a creativity and a star quality that is apparent. I mean, she is magnetic on the screen, Hernandez said. Its great to have someone who represents sort of a next generation of creativity embracing the world that we inhabit.
Some great comedies
This years slate includes more than a few exciting comedies in unexpected places. Cathy Yan directed and co-wrote The Gallerist, a satirical look at the art world and attempting to sell a corpse at Art Basel Miami, with a large ensemble including Portman, Ortega, Sterling K. Brown and Zach Galifianakis. David Wain also has Gail Daughtry and the Celebrity Sex Pass about a woman out to even the score after her fiance uses the free pass, starring Zoey Deutch and Jon Hamm.
Programmer Kim Yutani said she thinks Wicker, about a woman who asks a basket maker to weave her a husband, starring Colman and Skarsgrd, will be a big crowd pleaser.
Other standouts are Jay Duplasss grief-themed See You When I See You, with Cooper Raiff and David Duchovny, Ha-Chan, Shake Your Booty! set inside Tokyos ballroom dance scene and Wildes The Invite, about a crumbling marriage in which she stars alongside Rogen.
They are finding comedy in some of the toughest places, Nein said.
In the Midnight section, theres Buddy, from Too Many Cooks creator Casper Kelly, about a girl who has to escape a kids TV show. There are some quirky, humorous documentaries too, including Joybubbles and John Wilsons The History of Concrete.
Timely documentaries at Sundance
Sundance has become famous for its documentary programming, many of which go on to be nominated for and win Oscars. This year is likely to be no different.
Across the board, both in the U.S. and internationally, you have a program that deals with the world where it is right now, Nein said. These documentaries, they’re incredibly sophisticated, theyre very mindful of how complex world issues are, and they bring you into that process.
One that might make waves is When A Witness Recants, in which author Ta-Nehisi Coates revisits the case of the 1983 murder of a boy in his Baltimore middle school and learns the truth. American Doctor follows three professionals trying to help in Gaza. All About the Money looks at heir-turned -communist Fergie Chambers. Daniel Roher and Charlie Tyrell take on artificial intelligence in The AI Doc: Or How I Became an Apocaloptimist and Sentient is about animal testing.
A lot of them are sort of optimistic in one sense, in that theyre about people power, Nein said. Its about the power of community to affect change, the power of one person who you havent heard of necessarily.
Those include Jane Elliott Against the World, about an Iowa schoolteacher who taught anti-discrimination in 1968, and Seized, about the police raid on the Marion County Record in Kansas.
Ones to watch at Sundance 2026
New talents often emerge from Sundance, like Eva Victor last year with Sorry, Baby. This year programmers noted several gems in the lineup, including Beth de Araújos Josephine, about an 8-year-old who witnesses a crime, with Tatum and Gemma Chan.
TV veteran Molly Manners Extra Geography, about boarding school friends in England, is one that Nein said is one of the funniest, most sophisticated debut features that hes seen from the U.K. in years.
He also spotlighted LADY, a first feature from Nigerian filmmaker Olive Nwosu about a cab driver in Lagos, as well as the queer genre film Leviticus.
As in years past, the Sundance competition titles will also be available to watch online. Yutani said her go-to recommendation for the remote audience is the world dramatic competition title Levitating, from Indonesian director Wregas Bhanuteja.
Its set in this community where theres these trance parties, Yutani said. It is a thrilling film.
This years festival will also honor its late founderRobert Redford with legacy screenings and serve as a celebration of its 40+ years in Park City before it relocates to Boulder, Colorado in 2027.
The 2026 festival kicks off on Jan. 22 and runs through Feb. 1.
Lindsey Bahr, AP film writer
The automatic door has been reinvented. The home-focused tech startup Doma just announced its first product line: a set of residential doors capable of opening and closing automatically at the sight of an approaching homeowner. Packed with sensors, motors, and facial recognition technology, Doma Intelligent Doors bring automatic functionality and programmable controls to a home’s front doorall without clunky and unsightly equipment.
[Image: Doma]
Doma is led by founders Jason Johnson and designer Yves Béhar, who previously founded and later sold the smart door lockcompany August Home. The two joined forces again after sharing a frustration with the state of smart home technology. Despite more than a decade’s worth of smart home gadgets like the Nest thermostat, Ring doorbells, and robotic vacuums, the ideal of an integrated, Jetsons-esque automated home has never quite materialized.
“It’s a lot of little devices that are peppered around the outside of your home, inside of your home, but nothing that really goes from products and apps to something that’s within the walls, within the systems of the home,” Béhar says. “We decided to move forward from this notion of the smart home, which didn’t really happen, to the intelligent home.”
[Image: Doma]
Doma Intelligent Doors aim to streamline one of the most common interfaces in the residential environment. But for how often people open and close their front doors, the process has always been manual. A relatively light lift in terms of effort, the simple act of opening and closing a door is not without its challenges. Particularly for people who are living with disabilities or limited mobility, automatic doors can be hugely beneficial. But even those who can open a door easily, a little help can sometimes be handy.
“It’s amazing how often you actually have your hands full,” says Johnson. “At least me personally, I always have things in my hands and it’s really nice to have the door open for you. And just as nice as that is, it’s really nice to have the door closed for you.” Doma’s goal is for this type of automation to spread throughout the home.
[Image: Doma]
Doma’s doors work by recognizing a home’s residents and opening the door when they approach. A doorknob-sized circular screen on the exterior of the door contains the facial recognition sensors that allow the door to open as a resident approaches.
Aside from facial recognition, Doma designed the system to operate in five other ways, including Bluetooth, ultra-wideband positioning sensors, access by a scannable QR code, password access through a keypad, or via the internet. A larger screen on the interior side of the door functions as a control panel for locking, unlocking, and temporarily holding the door open, and also functions as an oversized peephole with a live video feed.
[Image: Doma]
Doma’s motors and closures are integrated inside the door itself, making them compatible with conventional door frames. On the hinge side, the closure attaches to the door frame at a single point, and the system is hard-wired into the home’s electricity. All the door’s components, including a backup battery that can run for up to 30 days, are accessible from the edge of the door.
Johnson says this approach was part of the reason he and Béhar started the company. They wanted, he says, “to make technology more blended into the surfaces of the home and disappear as much as possible.”
[Image: Doma]
The technology behind the opening and closing of Doma’s automatic door was key focus during the design process. “One of the things we really don’t like about existing motorized openers is when you don’t expect it to be to be closing. It starts closing on you and you go to touch it and it and you feel that motor, like it fights you,” Johnson says.
The company invented a mechanism using highly sensitive millimeter wave radar sensors that stop the door’s motor the moment it sees a human in its path. They’ve also created what they call an electronic clutch that immediately disengages the motor if the door is pulled or pushed manually. “It operates just like a normal door without any friction or resistance,” Johnson says. “The technical term is motor drag. We have no motor drag and that is something we’ve filed a patent on and we’re very excited about.”
[Image: Doma]
For its automatic doors, Doma has already partnered with six major door manufacturers: Kolbe Windows & Doors, GlassCraft, MasterGrain, Doors & More, Artema, and Liberty Openings. By the time sales officially launch in summer 2026, the company expects to have another six partners to broaden its offerings. Doma claims its doors will have costs “equivalent to the price of a premium entry door, hardware and electronics purchased separately, depending on style, materials, and configuration.”
In early 2026 the company plans to announce a second product line featuring smart windows. Sales are expected to begin in the fall. Using the same open and close technology and a similar approach to automation and user control, the windows are seen as part of a comprehensive package for improving a home’s security, air quality, and climate control.
The idea behind Doma is that by connecting various parts of the home to these controls, the technology can automate simple but repetitive tasks, saving effort while also optimizing the interior environment. With windows and doors that can open and close on their own, Béhar and Johnson suggest, a home can react in teal-time to the needs of its users without their having to ask.
In conjunction, it’s a closer approximation of the kind of smart home Béhar and Johnson had in mind when they made their first smart device. “Doma really represents a shift from device-centric thinking to environment-centric thinking,” Béhar says. “So it’s not a product you install, it’s really a living system that you inhabit.”
Mega billionaire Elon Musk, in a friendly interview with his aide and conservative influencer Katie Miller, said his efforts leading the Department of Government Efficiency were only somewhat successful and he would not do it over again.
The Tesla and SpaceX CEO, who also owns the social media platform X, still broadly defended President Donald Trump‘s controversial pop-up agency that Musk left in the spring before it shuttered officially last month. Yet Musk bemoaned how difficult it is to remake the federal government quickly, and he acknowledged how much his businesses suffered because of his DOGE work and its lack of popularity.
We were a little bit successful. We were somewhat successful, he told Miller, who once worked as a DOGE spokeswoman charged with selling the agency’s work to the public.
When Miller pressed Musk on whether he would do it all over again, he said: I don’t think so. … Instead of doing DOGE, I would have, basically, built … worked on my companies.
Almost wistfully, Musk added, They wouldn’t have been burning the cars” a reference to consumer protests against Tesla.
Still, things certainly have turned up for Musk since his departure from Trump’s administration. Tesla shareholders approved a pay package that could make Musk the worlds first trillionaire.
Musk was speaking as a guest on the Katie Miller Podcast, which Miller, who is married to top Trump adviser Stephen Miller, launched after leaving government employment to work for Musk in the private sector. The two sat in chairs facing each other for a conversation that lasted more than 50 minutes and spanned topics from DOGE to Musk’s thoughts on AI, social media, conspiracy theories and fashion.
Miller did not press Musk on the inner workings of DOGE and the controversial manner in which it took over federal agencies and data systems.
Musk credited the agency with saving as much as $200 billion annually in zombie payments that he said can be avoided with better automated systems and coding for federal payouts. But that number is dwarfed by Musk’s ambitious promises at one time that an efficiency commission could measure savings in the trillions. Miller has not responded to an Associated Press request for comment.
Bill Barrow, Associated Press
As the year winds down to a close, with just three weeks left on the calendar, Nextdoor may be the next, last, big meme stock of 2025. Here’s why.
What happened?
On Wednesday, Nextdoor Holdings Inc. (NXDR) shares rose 49% in early trading, the most in over four years, according to Bloomberg.
The gains come on the heels of a series of posts on X on Wednesday morning by investor Eric Jackson, founder of EMJ Capital hedge fund, who described the neighborhood-focused site as one of the most misunderstood platforms in the market” and touted its AI potential: “Nextdoor isnt a social network. Its a neighborhood operating system with AI-native revenue,” as well as its large membership (100 million households in 10 countries).
At the time of this writing, Nextdoor was holding steady, up over 17% in midday trading.
What is a meme stock?
A meme stock is when a company’s stock gains popularity in online forums, often on social media. This can happen when a discussion thread on, say, Reddit, X, or Facebook kicks off a conversation about a company, often leading to the buying, selling, or shorting of shares.
A meme stock starts when investors gather on discussion boards and chat rooms, such as Reddit’s r/wallstreetbets, to swap tips and ideas of unconventional stocks they are going to “bet” on. And the efforts of those individuals, collectively, often end up influencing the stock’s share price, either up or down: “Meme stocks can become overvalued relative to fundamental technical analysis,” according to Investopedia, often causing large price swings in either direction.
Is Nextdoor the next GameStop?
GameStop (GME) is generally considered the first real meme stock. However, it remains unclear whether Nextdoor will be able to sustain today’s double-digit rise.
Paired with high-deductible healthcare plans, health savings accounts help ease healthcare costs. HSAs are a triple tax-advantaged vehicle in the tax code, allowing for pretax contributions, tax-free compounding, and tax-free withdrawals for qualified medical expenses. However, few owners fund their HSAs to the maximum, and even fewer invest their HSA dollars outside a savings account.
Most consumers likely dont fill their HSAs because they lack the financial means; critics note that the HDHP/HSA combination can be less beneficial for lower-income workers. But even wealthy consumers may decline to fully fund their HSAs. Many HSAs charge account-maintenance fees and extra costs for investing in long-term assets.
Unlike 401(k)s, where participants are typically captive in employer plans, HSA savers can move money from one HSA to another via transfer or rollover. Below, how to know if your HSA is subpar, and what to do if it is.
Valuable tax advantages may come at a price
HSAs appear preferable to other tax-advantaged savings vehicles, especially for investors expecting out-of-pocket healthcare expenses. Even in a worst-case scenariousing HSA funds for non-healthcare expensesthe HSA is at least as good as a traditional tax-deferred 401(k) or IRA.
Yet HSA expenses and/or investment shortcomings can erode their tax benefits, particularly for smaller HSA investors. Flat dollar-based account-maintenance fees (say, $45/year) hit smaller HSA investors harder, and interest rates for smaller HSAs may be lower. Its worthwhile to conduct due diligence on your HSA, assessing the following:
1. Setup Fees: A one-time fee imposed at account opening, sometimes covered by employers.
2. Account-Maintenance Fees: Monthly or annual fees for maintaining your account, also sometimes covered by employers.
3. Transaction Fees: Dollar-based fees that may be levied when paying for services using the HSA.
4. Interest Rate on Savings Accounts: For people using the HSA to fund out-of-pocket healthcare costs (or taking a hybrid approach), its particularly important to monitor your savings rate of return. Many HSAs offer higher interest rates on larger balances; that argues for building and maintaining critical mass in your HSA.
5. Investment-Related Expenses: Investors may face mutual fund or ETF expense ratios, sales charges, and dollar-based fees for maintaining investment accounts.
6. Investment Choices: Assess the investment lineup on offer to make sure it aligns with your investment philosophy.
How to switch out of a poor HSA
If your employer-provided HSA is lacking, you have three choices.
Option 1: Contribute to an HSA on Your Own
If youre enrolled in a HDHP, you can choose a different HSA provider and deduct your HSA contributions on your tax return. Thats more cumbersome and requires more discipline than payroll deductions, so forgoing payroll deductions is usually not the best option.
Option 2: Transfer the Money from Your Employer-Provided HSA Into Another HSA
Your HSA contribution comes directly from your paycheck and goes to your employer-provided HSA; you can then periodically transfer some or all of that balance into your preferred HSA provider. There are no tax consequences on HSA transfers, and you can conduct multiple transfers per year. You can have more than one HSA, so this approach can work well for employees whose captive HSAs feature decent savings but less-compelling investment options.
Option 3: Roll Over the Money From Your Employer-Provided HSA Into Another HSA
This is similar to option 2. You contribute to your employer-provided HSA via payroll deduction, then roll over the money to your preferred HSA provider.
There are two key differences between a rollover and a transfer. In a transfer, two trustees handle the funds. In a rollover, you get a check that you must deposit into another HSA within 60 days, or it counts as an early withdrawal, and a 20% penalty will apply if youre not yet 65. Multiple transfers are permitted between HSAs, but only one HSA rollover is allowed every 12 months.
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This article was provided to The Associated Press by Morningstar. For more personal finance content, go to https://www.morningstar.com/personal-finance.
Christine Benz is director of personal finance and retirement planning for Morningstar.
OpenAI said Tuesday it has picked Slack CEO Denise Dresser as its first chief of revenue, a message to wary investors that the ChatGPT maker is serious about making a profit from its artificial intelligence technology.
OpenAI said Dresser will oversee global revenue strategy and help more businesses put AI to work in their day-to-day operations.
Dresser had already spent more than a decade at Salesforce when the software pioneer announced in 2020 it was buying work-chatting service Slack for $27.7 billion. She helped integrate Slack into the software company before Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff picked her as CEO in 2023.
Salesforce said in a statement that it was grateful for Denises leadership during her 14 years at Salesforce. Rob Seaman, Slack’s chief product officer, will take over her responsibilities on an interim basis.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman earlier this month set off a code red alert in an internal email to employees to improve its flagship product, ChatGPT, and delay other product developments.
OpenAI first released ChatGPT just over three years ago, sparking global fascination and a commercial boom in generative AI technology and giving the San Francisco-based startup an early lead. But the company faces increased competition with rivals, including Google, which last month unleashed Gemini 3, the latest version of its own AI assistant.
Altman has said ChatGPT now has more than 800 million weekly users. But the company, valued at $500 billion, doesnt make a profit and has committed more than $1 trillion in financial obligations to the cloud computing providers and chipmakers it relies on to power its AI systems.
The risk that OpenAI wont make enough money to fulfill the expectations of backers like Oracle and Nvidia has amplified investor concerns about an AI bubble.
OpenAI makes revenue from premium subscriptions to ChatGPT, but most users get the free version. OpenAI introduced its own web browser, Atlas, in October, an attempt to compete with Googles Chrome as more internet users rely on AI to answer their questions. But OpenAI hasnt yet tried to sell ads on ChatGPT, which is how Google makes money from its dominant search business.
Even in an age when it is rather common to invite people, including leaders, to bring their whole self to work, what is actually rewarded at work is being our best self, in the sense of trying to be at the best of our behaviors, and fulfill as much of our potential as we can, as often as possible.
Importantly, many if not most people still compartmentalize their personal self as something separate from their work persona or professional self, even if both can co-exist as salient, albeit different, dimensions of their self-concept. Indeed, this aligns with the science of self-complexity, which basically shows that we inhabit multiple selves, in the sense that our identity is composed of different roles, habits, and adaptations which are activated as the situation demands, in response of each pertinent or particular environmental requirements.
So for instance, even if you adore your boss, it would be unwise to mistake them for your spouse: just because they give you feedback doesnt mean they want to hear about your weekend argument over who forgot to buy toilet paper, nor should you expect them to give you a gold star for behaving like a functioning adult for eight consecutive hours. Likewise, no matter how warm, empathetic, or inclusive your team may be, your colleagues are unlikely to respond well if you treat a project review like bedtime routine: for example, nobody wants to be tucked in after a PowerPoint or be asked whether they brushed their teeth before updating the CRM.
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The science of transilience
And yet, there are actually some pretty clear benefits in applying certain skills or dispositions from one of your identity dimensions to others, and that includes the surprising potential for transferring parent skills to both management and leadership skills. In fact, there is a powerful but largely unknown science of transilience, the process of extrapolating aspects of one of your roles or self-concept dimensions to others.
Recent empirical research validates this intuition with hard data. A study found that leaders who are supportive parents produce measurably better outcomes in their teams: higher employee performance, more voice behavior (employees voluntarily sharing ideas), and greater willingness to cooperate. The mechanism? Experiences of care and emotional support inherently developed in parenting roles transfer directly to leadership effectiveness.
Parenting skills, translated
Here are five ways in which parenting skills may come in handy to boost your leadership effectiveness:
1. Patience as a performance multiplier: Parenting teaches you very quickly that progress rarely unfolds on your preferred timeline. Toddlers dont walk when you want them to, teenagers dont reply to messages when you need them to, and nobody in between ever hurries because you said please. Good leaders internalize the same logic. Teams learn at different speeds, projects require repetition, and people need space to make mistakes before they improve. In both domains, impatience is the illusion that reality will adjust to your mood; patience is the skill of adjusting your expectations to reality.
Developmental psychology introduces the concept of “scaffolding”: building temporary support structures that help someone achieve just beyond their current level[1]. Good parents instinctively identify their child’s “zone of proximal development” and provide calibrated support. Transformational leaders do the same: they identify where each person is ready to grow, provide coaching without doing the work for them, and gradually step back as competence develops. This requires the same calibrated attunement that parenting demands.
2. Clear boundaries create psychological safety: Parents know that children thrive with consistent expectations and predictable guardrails; ambiguity breeds anxiety and chaos. The same is true at work. Teams feel safer when the rules of engagement are clear, when no really means no, and when leaders enforce boundaries reliably rather than arbitrarily. A boundary at home might be a bedtime; a boundary at work might be a deadline. In both settings, structure reduces stress, and consistency builds trust.
Our own research in attachment theory predicts that both parents and transformational leaders fulfill two critical functions: they provide a “secure base” from which people can explore confidently, and a “safe haven” to return to when difficulties arise. This isn’t about creating dependency. Studies show that when people feel psychologically secure – knowing support is available if needed – they actually become more autonomous, creative, and willing to take risks. The leader’s availability enables independence, not dependence.
3. Listening beats lecturing: Every parent has learned the hard way that lecturing a child rarely produces enlightenment; it mostly produces eye rolls, resistance, or creative reinterpretations of your instructions. Leadership isnt much different. People follow more readily when they feel heard, understood, and included in the problem-solving process. Just as a good parent listens to what a child is trying to say, a good leader listens to the concerns behind employees objections – because you cant influence what you havent first understood.
4. Modeling behavior is more powerful than mandating it: Children copy what you do, not what you say; telling them to share nicely while you shout at traffic sends a very different message. Adults are not immune to this principle. Teams take behavioral cues from leaders: if you stay curious under pressure, they will too; if you treat others with dignity, so will they; if you panic, micromanage, or blame, the contagion spreads instantly. Parenting teaches you that you are always on stage; leadership simply gives you a bigger audience.
5. Encouragement fuels growth more than criticism: Parents quickly discover that reinforcing effort not just outcomes keeps children motivated and resilient. The same dynamic applies to adults: people double down on behaviors that are noticed and valued. A leader who acknowledges small wins, progress, and perseverance cultivates a culture where people want to stretch themselves. Think of encouragement as the organizational equivalent of the proud look what you built! moment with a child – a small gesture that accelerates confidence, capability, and engagement.
The bad parenting connection
Perhaps more obviously, there are some clear parallels between bad leadership and bad parenting. Here are some rather striking similarities:
1. The Because I said so manager: Just as authoritarian parents shut down questions with rigid commands, authoritarian leaders mistake obedience for alignment. They confuse compliance with commitment and then wonder why nobody shows initiative.
2. The inconsistent rule-setter: Parents who punish a behavior one day and ignore it the next produce anxious, confused children. Leaders who do the same create cultures where people waste more energy interpreting the bosss mood than doing their actual job.
3. The distracted, phone-addicted caregiver: A parent who nods absentmindedly while scrolling sends a clear message: Im here, but not really. Leaders who multitask through meetings, check emails while someone speaks, or listen with one AirPod in convey the same emotional absenteeism.
4. The praise-inflation expert: Some parents shower children with empty praise to avoid conflict; the workplace equivalent is the leader who never gives honest feedback, inflating performance reviews until they become meaningless. In both scenarios, reality eventually delivers the correction the adult avoided giving.
5. The helicopter micromanager: Just as hovering parents undermine a childs autonomy and problem-solving skills, micromanaging leaders suffocate initiative. Both end up producing dependency, resentment, and a deep fear of making mistakes, which ironically reinforces the very behavior they complain about.
A rich laboratory
In the end, parenting offers an unusually rich laboratory for understanding human behavior, motivation, and development, precisely the same ingredients that make leadership effective. What parents learn through necessity, leaders can apply with intention: patience, boundaries, attentive listening, behavioral modeling, and encouragement are not soft skills but core mechanisms for eliciting growth in others. And the darker sides of parenting (inconsistency, distraction, micromanagement, avoidance) map almost perfectly onto the classic derailers of bad leadership. The parallels arent coincidental; they reflect universal principles of how humans respond to authority, structure, and care.
Multiple streams of research now converge on this point. Studies demonstrate that parenting and transformational leadership share core psychological processes: both develop through creating secure bases for exploration, both transfer caregiving orientations across domains, and both produce similar developmental outcomes in their “followers”, whether children or employees. The science is clear: this isn’t metaphor, it’s measured mechanism.
This is why transilience matters: the ability to draw on one dimension of the self to enrich another is a feature, not a flaw, of our complex identities. Rather than pretending our roles exist in sealed compartments, we are better off asking what each role teaches us about being more effective, more humane, and more self-aware in the others. Parenting doesnt make you a leader, but it can make you a better one if youre willing to notice the patterns, learn from the mistakes, and apply the lessons where they matter most: not just at home, and not just at work, but across the full constellation of selves that make you who you are.
That doesnt mean, of course, that the next time you interview for a leadership role you should brag about being a parent, or showcase the number of children you have as evidence of managerial brilliance. Most people are still unaware of transilience and the value of transferring skills from one identity domain to another, so the connection will likely be lost on them. Still, the real advantage lies not in announcing your parental status but in internalizing the lessons it quietly teaches: managing emotions under pressure, nurturing growth, setting boundaries, and modeling the behavior you hope to inspire. These are not résumé lines; they are capabilities that, when consciously activated, enhance your effectiveness as a leader far more than any abstract leadership competency model ever could.
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Rejoice, New Year’s dieters: Oreos are getting a sugar-free option.Mondelez said Tuesday that Oreo Zero Sugar and Oreo Double Stuf Zero Sugar will go on sale in the U.S. in January. They’re a permanent addition to the company’s Oreo lineup.It’s the first time Mondelez has sold sugar-free Oreos in the U.S. They’re already sold in Europe and China, the company said.Mondelez said consumers are increasingly seeking what it calls “mindful indulgence,” and the new Oreos will fill an existing gap in the market for sugar-free sandwich cookies.
[Image: Mondelz International]
Others have also noted the trend toward healthier snacks. In a report earlier this year, the market research company Circana found that a majority of Americans are seeking out snacks they consider “good for them.” Conagra Brands, which makes popcorn and Slim Jim meat snacks, said in a recent snacking report that Millennials and Generation Z consumers, in particular, are seeking portion-controlled and wellness-focused snacks.Coca-Cola Zero Sugar, which was introduced in 2017, saw sales jump 9% last year, while original Coke sales grew just 2%. Mondelez is also facing competition from Hershey, which sells zero sugar versions of Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups and other candies, and Voortman, a sugar-free wafer cookie brand.Mondelez said it spent four years developing no-sugar Oreos so it could ensure the cookies still tasted like the originals. For sweetening, the Oreos contain maltitol, a type of sugar alcohol that’s also found in some fruits and vegetables; polydextrose, a soluble fiber; sucralose, a sweetener derived from sugar; and acesulfame potassium, a synthetic sweetener.Comparing the nutrition data on Zero Sugar and regular Oreos is tricky, since the serving sizes differ.A serving of Oreo Zero Sugar cookies, which is defined as 22.6 grams, has 90 calories, 4.5 grams of fat and 16 grams of carbohydrates. A serving of regular Oreos, which is defined as three cookies or 34 grams, has 160 calories, 7 grams of fat and 25 grams of carbohydrates.The biggest difference: a serving of regular Oreos contains 13 grams of added sugars, or 26% of the recommended daily amount. Zero Sugar Oreos contain none.
Dee-Ann Durbin, AP Business Writer
