Live and on-demand video constituted an estimated 66% of global internet traffic by volume in 2022, and the top 10 days for internet traffic in 2024 coincided with live streaming events such as the Jake Paul vs. Mike Tyson boxing match and coverage of the NFL. Streaming enables seamless, on-demand access to video content, from online gaming to short videos like TikToks, and longer content such as movies, podcasts and NFL games.
The defining aspect of streaming is its on-demand nature. Consider the global reach of a Joe Rogan podcast episode or the live coverage of the SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft launchboth examples demonstrate how streaming connects millions of viewers to real-time and on-demand content worldwide.
Im a computer scientist whose research includes cloud computing, which is the distribution of computing resources such as video servers across the internet.
Chunks of video
When it comes to video contentwhether its a live stream or a prerecorded videothere are two major challenges to address. First, video data is massive in size, making it time-consuming to transmit from the source to devices such as TVs, computers, tablets and smartphones.
Second, streaming must be adaptive to accommodate differences in users devices and internet capabilities. For instance, viewers with lower-resolution screens or slower internet speeds should still be able to watch a given video, albeit in lower quality, while those with higher-resolution displays and faster connections enjoy the best possible quality.
To tackle these challenges, video providers implement a series of optimizations. The first step involves fragmenting videos into smaller pieces, commonly referred to as chunks. These chunks then undergo a process called encoding and compression, which optimizes the video for different resolutions and bitrates to suit various devices and network conditions.
When a user requests an on-demand video, the system dynamically selects the appropriate stream of chunks based on the capabilities of the users device, such as screen resolution and current internet speed. The video player on the users device assembles and plays these chunks in sequence to create a seamless viewing experience.
For users with slower internet connections, the system delivers lower-quality chunks to ensure smooth playback. This is why you might notice a drop in video quality when your connection speed is reduced. Similarly, if the video pauses during playback, its usually because your player is waiting to buffer additional chunks from the provider.
Dealing with distance and congestion
Delivering video content on a large scale, whether prerecorded or live, poses a significant challenge when extrapolated to the immense number of videos consumed globally. Streaming services like YouTube, Hulu, and Netflix host enormous libraries of on-demand content, while simultaneously managing countless live streams happening worldwide.
A seemingly straightforward approach to delivering video content would involve building a massive data center to store all the videos and related content, then streaming them to users worldwide via the internet. However, this method isnt favored because it comes with significant challenges.
One major issue is geographic latency, where a users location relative to the data center affects the delay they experience. For instance, if a data center is located in Virginia, a user in Washington, D.C., would experience minimal delay, while a user in Australia would face much longer delays due to the increased distance and the need for the data to traverse multiple interconnected networks. This added travel time slows down content delivery.
Another problem is network congestion. As more users worldwide connect to the central data center, the interconnecting networks become increasingly busy, resulting in frustrating delays and video buffering. Additionally, when the same video is sent simultaneously to multiple users, duplicate data traveling over the same internet links wastes bandwidth and further congests the network.
A centralized data center also creates a single point of failure. If the data center experiences an outage, no users can access their content, leading to a complete service disruption.
Content delivery networks
To address these challenges, most content providers rely on content delivery networks. These networks distribute content through globally scattered points of presence, which are clusters of servers that store copies of high-demand content locally. This approach significantly reduces latency and improves reliability.
Content delivery network providers, such as Akamai and Edgio, implement two main strategies for deploying points of presence.
The first is the Enter Deep approach, where thousands of smaller point-of-presence nodes are placed closer to users, often within internet service provider networks. This ensures minimal latency by bringing the content as close as possible to the end user.
The second strategy is Bring Home, which involves deploying hundreds of larger point-of-presence clusters at strategic locations, typically where ISPs interconnect: internet exchange points. While these clusters are farther from users than in the Enter Deep approach, they are larger in capacity, allowing them to handle higher volumes of traffic efficiently.
Infrastructure for a connected world
Both strategies aim to optimize video streaming by reducing delays, minimizing bandwidth waste and ensuring a seamless viewing experience for users worldwide.
The rapid expansion of the internet and the surge in video streamingboth live and on demandhave transformed how video content is delivered to users globally. However, the challenges of handling massive amounts of video data, reducing geographic latency and accommodating varying user devices and internet speeds require sophisticated solutions.
Content delivery networks have emerged as a cornerstone of modern streaming, enabling efficient and reliable delivery of video. This infrastructure supports the growing demand for high-quality video and highlights the innovative approaches needed to meet the expectations of a connected world.
Chetan Jaiswal is an associate professor of computer science at Quinnipiac University.
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
Billionaire investor Warren Buffett said Saturday that he wants to step down as chief executive of Berkshire Hathaway at the end of the year. The revelation came as a surprise because the 94-year-old had previously said he did not plan to retire.Buffett, one of the world’s richest people and most accomplished investors, took control of Berkshire Hathaway in 1965 when it was a textiles manufacturer. He turned the company into a conglomerate by finding other businesses and stocks to buy that were selling for less than they were worth.His success made him a Wall Street icon. It also earned him the nickname “Oracle of Omaha,” a reference to the Nebraska city where Buffett was born and chose to live and work.Here are some of his best and worst investments over the years:
Buffett’s Best
National Indemnity and National Fire & Marine: Purchased in 1967, the company was one of Buffett’s first insurance investments. Insurance floatthe premium money insurers can invest between the time when policies are bought and when claims are madeprovided the capital for many of Berkshire’s investments over the years and helped fuel the company’s growth. Berkshire’s insurance division has grown to include Geico, General Reinsurance and several other insurers. The float totaled $173 billion at the end of the first quarter.Buying blocks of stock in American Express, Coca-Cola Co. and Bank of America at times when the companies were out of favor because of scandals or market conditions. Collectively, the shares are worth over $100 billion more than what Buffett paid for them, and that doesn’t count all the dividends he has collected over the years.Apple: Buffett long said that he didn’t understand tech companies well enough to value them and pick the long-term winners, but he started buying Apple shares in 2016. He later explained that he bought more than $31 billion worth because he understood the iPhone maker as a consumer products company with extremely loyal customers. The value of his investment grew to more than $174 billion before Buffett started selling Berkshire Hathaway’s shares.BYD: On the advice of his late investing partner Charlie Munger, Buffett bet big on the genius of BYD founder Wang Chanfu in 2008 with a $232 million investment in the Chinese electric vehicle maker. The value of that stake soared to more than $9 billion before Buffett began selling it off. Berkshire’s remaining stake is still worth about $1.8 billion.See’s Candy: Buffett repeatedly pointed to his 1972 purchase as a turning point in his career. Buffett said Munger persuaded him that it made sense to buy great businesses at good prices as long as they had enduring competitive advantages. Previously, Buffett had primarily invested in companies of any quality as long as they were selling for less than he thought they were worth. Berkshire paid $25 million for See’s and recorded pretax earnings of $1.65 billion from the candy company through 2011. The amount continued to grow but Buffett didn’t routinely highlight it.Berkshire Hathaway Energy: Utilities provide a large and steady stream of profits for Berkshire. The conglomerate paid $2.1 billion, or about $35.05 per share, for Des Moines-based MidAmerican Energy in 2000. The utility unit subsequently was renamed and made several acquisitions, including PacifiCorp and NV Energy. The utilities added more than $3.7 billion to Berkshire’s profit in 2024, although Buffett has said they are now worth less than they used to be because of the liability they face related to wildfires.
Buffett’s Worst
Berkshire Hathaway: Buffett had said his investment in the Berkshire Hathaway textile mills was probably his worst investment ever. The textile company he took over in 1965 bled money for many years before Buffett finally shut it down in 1985, though Berkshire did provide cash for some of Buffett’s early acquisitions. Of course, the Berkshire shares Buffett began buying for $7 and $8 a share in 1962 are now worth $809,350 per share, so even Buffett’s worst investment turned out OK.Dexter Shoe Co.: Buffett said he made an awful blunder by buying Dexter in 1993 for $433 million, a mistake made even worse because he used Berkshire stock for the deal. Buffett says he essentially gave away 1.6% of Berkshire for a worthless business.Missed opportunities. Buffett said that some of his worst mistakes over the years were the investments and deals that he didn’t make. Berkshire easily could have made billions if Buffett had been comfortable investing in Amazon, Google or Microsoft early on. But it wasn’t just tech companies he missed out on. Buffett told shareholders he was caught “sucking his thumb” when he failed to follow through on a plan to buy 100 million Walmart shares that would be worth nearly $10 billion today.Selling banks too soon. Not long before the COVID pandemic, Buffett seemed to sour on most of his bank stocks. Repeated scandals involving Wells Fargo gave him a reason to start unloading his 500 million shares, many of them for around $30 per share. But he also sold off his JP Morgan stake at prices less than $100. Both stocks have more than doubled since then.Blue Chip Stamps: Buffett and Munger, Berkshire’s former vice chairman, took control of Blue Chip in 1970 when the customer rewards program was generating $126 million in sales. But as trading stamps fell out of favor with retailers and consumers, sales steadily declined; in 2006, they totaled a mere $25,920. However, Buffett and Munger used the float that Blue Chip generated to acquire See’s Candy, Wesco Financial and Precision Castparts, which are all steady contributors to Berkshire.
Josh Funk, AP Business Writer
Today (Monday, May 5, 2025) is Cinco de Mayo. The day celebrates the May 5, 1862, victory of Mexico against France in the Battle of Puebla. However, while Cinco de Mayo celebrates an important event in Mexican history, the day is widely observed in communities across America and is now frequently one used to celebrate Mexican-American culture in the United States.
Many brands in Americaespecially restaurant chainslike to participate in Cinco de Mayo by offering deals and freebies to customers. This is especially true of restaurants that serve Mexican or Mexican-American food. Here are some deals to be had today if you are up for celebrating Cinco de Mayo with your tastebuds.
Baja Fresh
Use the code CINCO at checkout to get $5.55 off your order of $20 or more.
California Pizza Kitchen
The pizza chain is offering free white corn guacamole and chips to customers who show this web page to their server.
California Tortilla
The Mexican food chain is offering a coupon for a free taco on their next visit to people who purchase something today.
Chipotle
Chipotle is offering several Cinco de Mayo deals, including $0 delivery fees when using the promo code DELIVER and free chips and Queso Blanco when using the promo code CINCO25.
The company is also giving away the chance to win one of 50,000 burritos when you play its Burrito Builder experience on Roblox. Full details of the offers can be found here.
Del Taco
Get a free burrito with any $10 purchase.
Jack In the Box
The fast food chain is giving away free Tiny Tacos of any style if you order in the app and spend at least $5 today.
Laredo Taco Company
Buy one burrito and get one free.
7-Eleven
Order Laredo Taco Company food through the 7NOW Delivery app and get 50% off the total as long as the order is $20 or more.
The narrative that women entrepreneurs receive less than 2% of venture capital (VC) funding has been widely circulated. It stems from data provided by Pitchbook, a respected research firm that delivers insights on global capital markets. However, a closer examination of their data reveals a more nuanced perspective. Pitchbook only studies investments funded by VC firms, which is a big part of the market but does not include the very substantial investments made by angel investors. Significant progress has been made in these early stages of the venture market.
Twenty years ago, a mere 3% of angel-funded startups were led by women. Fast-forward to today, and women now account for well over 30% of angel-funded companies. Researching and monitoring these shifts have been a critical part of our own investing journey as the co-CEOs of Golden Seeds, an organization that invests exclusively in early-stage women-led U.S. companies.
Back in 2004, when Golden Seeds was founded, there was a data void. Insights on women entrepreneurs and womens leadership were rarely collected because they simply werent considered important. Thankfully there is now more research into these topics. Pitchbook has been a leader in this effort, particularly as it relates to later-stage venture capital funding. But in the process of deciphering the data around female founders, a misleading narrative has inadvertently been created.
Understanding the methodology behind theseand any venturestatistics is crucial to appreciating the strides made by women in the startup ecosystem. Here are the two biggest misrepresentations worth clarifying about women entrepreneurs and their ability to secure capital.
Misinterpretation #1: Women get less than 2% of capital
Countless articles, books, and panels have cited that only 2% of VC funding goes to women entrepreneurs. However, this interpretation is incorrect because Pitchbook collects data only on company founders, which excludes women in executive leadership roles or those who might move into executive roles and hold substantial equity. These women are not included in these calculations but they play important roles in the success of their companies.
Furthermore, when including funding received by gender-diverse founding teams, the numbers reveal a more encouraging trend. In 2024, companies founded by at least one woman secured 23% of total VC capital, a considerable increase from just 9% in 2008. Additionally, the percentage of deals VCs invest in that include at least one female founder has more than doubled in the same time frame, from 12.2% to 25.4%. That number may in fact be even higher when you consider that this data excludes companies that have non-founder women in key roles who hold substantial equity.
The growing presence of gender-diverse teams signals a positive shift in the funding landscape, as startup investors increasingly recognize the benefits of diverse leadership in driving business success. It also more accurately reflects the full universe of startups seeking capital today.
Of course, the reality remains that 7580% of VC funding goes to companies with all-male founding teams (although we do not have information on the gender diversity of the management teams of these companies at the time of funding). More work is needed to get the venture industry closer to realizing gender parity. And its critical that we analyze the current data beyond just the single point of the initial founders.
Misinterpretation #2: Female founders need a male cofounder to successfully raise VC capital
One notable trend in the VC space is the increased success of mixed-gender founding teams in securing investment. While some may interpret this as a disadvantage for all-female teams, this conclusion is misleading. Founding teams form in many different ways, and most investors prioritize skill, determination, and the strength of the business over gender composition. Research consistently highlights the advantages of diverse teams, including broader skill sets, varied perspectives, and enhanced problem-solving capabilities. These benefits may make mixed-gender teams attractive to investors seeking to maximize their returns. And in our experience, founding teams are increasingly more likely to include both women and men.
Systemic biases, however, still persist within the VC industry. Historically, VCs have favored investing in industries such as software and AIsectors where women have been underrepresented. Additionally, many investors prefer to back serial entrepreneurs with prior successes, a criterion that disproportionately benefits male founders due to historical inequalities in startup funding. Addressing these biases is essential to ensuring that innovative ideas from women and underrepresented founders receive the recognition and investment they deserveand that the progress made at the earliest stages of the market continues into later stages.
Women are doing well raising capital from angel investors. They are receiving funding at a comparable yield to other entrepreneurs. (The yield is the rate at which companies seeking funding receive funding.) This trend has been growing for a long time now, as more women are actively pitching their businesses to angel investors. Forty-six percent of all companies seeking funding in 2023 were women-owned, up from 5% in 2004. In addition the growth of women angels, now over 40% of angel investors in the country, would seem to have played a significant role in increasing the share of funding.
Its worth noting that the pace of VCs funding women-led companies has also been steadily improving, as described above, albeit slower than the progress in the angel market. And remember, VCs arent the only path to later-stage capital. Many entrepreneurs, both women and men, successfully seek subsequent funding from family offices, corporate ventures, and other high-net-worth individuals.
Embracing a more empowered narrative
Transforming an industry is challenging and oftentimes frustratingly slow. For 20 years, weve tracked the trends, educated investors, and rallied the support, both financial and otherwise, that women entrepreneurs need to grow their businesses. The world is recognizing the contributions and value of women-led companies and that progress shows up in the numbers when you look closely. But progress is a continuum, and the work isnt finished. Encouraging greater diversity among investors, expanding funding opportunities in traditionally male-dominated industries, and addressing biases in investment decision-making will be crucial in leveling the playing field.
Moreover, continued advocacy and accurate representation of data are essential in shaping mindsets and initiatives that support women-led businesses. Perpetuating a narrative that overlooks the resilience and ingenuity of women entrepreneurs over the past 20 years discredits the progress weve made and subtly signals defeat. Whats needed is a nuanced understanding of the ecosystem so that a clearer picture of the barriers, progress, and opportunities of women-led companies is continually embraced and acted upon.
For a while, the comforting narrative went like this: AI wont take your job. But someone using AI will. So, all you had to do was to use AI, and even if you lost your job you could take someone elses?
The idea that you only needed to worry about AI secondhandvia another humanis in fact somewhat naive. AI is coming for your job directly. Not with fanfare or grand announcements, but through silent, pervasive creep: software agents booking meetings, writing reports, sending personalized emails, making decisions. There are even tools to send your digital clone to videoconference meetings, without people even noticing its not the real youyes, an AI deepfake of your professional self capable of intervening exactly as you would, if not more cleverly. Soon, fully autonomous agents will do entire workflows without human hand-holding.
So, if you are an ambitious knowledge worker the question is no longer whether AI will automate aspects of your job. Its whether youll have the initiative and creativity to out-evolve the automation.
The more you use AI, the more vulnerable you become
Heres the paradox you need to internalize: the more you leverage AI to become hyperproductive, the more you expose yourself to being replaced by it. Its no different from making your memory or spatial awareness redundant by relying too much on Google Maps or Waze, or abandoning any hopes of memorizing anything because you can always reach for your smartphone.
In an age where AI can handle the bulk of our cognitive labor, we risk intellectual atrophy. When Scott Galloway called AI corporate Ozempic he was onto something: a tool that suppresses the need to think, even as it sharpens our output.
Our ancestors didnt need gyms or Pilates classes to stay fit; survival took care of that. But we might soon require the cognitive equivalentstructured, even artificial, forms of mental exertionjust to keep our brains from becoming intellectually obese.
Efficiency is a trap. If your value to an organization is framed entirely in how quickly and predictably you can produce outputs, congratulationsyouve just turned yourself into a template. And templates are easy to automate. Does this mean you shouldnt use AI? Absolutely not. It means you have to reinvest your newfound time intelligently.
Most organizations havent yet figured out what to do with the massive time savings AI is generatinglargely because managers, bless their quarterly obsessed hearts, lack the imagination to redesign jobs beyond output metrics. A recent survey by Deloitte found that while 94% of executives believe AI will dramatically shift work models, only 17% have a clear plan for what that shift actually looks like.
Which brings us to the golden opportunity: you dont need to wait for your manager to reimagine your job. You can start now. Indeed, here are 10 strategies to de-risk being automated by AI:
10 Ways to Avoid Being Automated by AI
Reinvest time saved by AI into higher-value, human-centric tasks. Use automation to eliminate drudgery, but spend that freed-up time deepening client relationships, mentoring colleagues, or solving problems that require empathy or judgment.
Bridge communication gaps. Act as the translator between technical and nontechnical teams. AI still struggles with nuance, humor, and reading the emotional temperature of a room.
Combine skills in unique and strategic ways. Be a generalist with spikessomeone who blends multiple competencies across fields, forming a professional fingerprint that’s hard to replicate.
Make yourself unpredictable. Routine and predictability are blueprints for automation. Engineer variability into your tasks. Experiment. Cross disciplines. Add complexity that AI can’t model easily.
Strengthen emotional intelligence. Cultivate empathy, persuasion, adaptability, and the ability to resolve conflictscore human capabilities that are still well outside AI’s reach.
Own niche domain knowledge. Carve out expertise in verticals where context and nuance matterareas where even the best AI stumbles due to lack of real-world grounding.
Invest in your personal brand. Write, speak, and share your thinking. Visibility creates optionality. People hire (and retain) people they know, not templates they can replace.
Master AI tools in your domain. Dont compete with AIpromote it. Be the go-to person for AI literacy in your field. People who understand the tools are less likely to be replaced by them.
Be the human-in-the-loop. AI often needs human oversightediting, refining, validating. These judgment calls are increasingly valuable.
Stay curious and adaptable. Treat this era not as a tech shift but a cognitive revolution. Your ability to unlearn and relearn will be more important than any static skill set.
Evolve faster than your environment
You cant sit this out. You cant wait and see. The dodo bird strategystay passive, hope predators ignore youdidnt work out great for the dodo. Nor will it for the knowledge worker who thinks “AI-proofing” means hiding behind corporate inertia.
You need to evolve faster than your environment. That means embracing AI as a tool, even as you actively cultivate the parts of yourself AI cant touch. Learn to become a less predictable, more creative version of yourself or be ready to face automation. The choice, for now, is still yours.
So, where does that leave you? Somewhere between irreplaceable and obsolete, depending on what you choose to do next.
Since ChatGPT sparked the generative AI revolution in November 2022, interacting with AI has felt like using a digital confession boothprivate, intimate, and shielded from public view (unless you choose to share).
Thats about to change dramatically with Metas rollout of social features in its stand-alone AI app, released last week. Those quiet queriesWhats this embarrassing rash? or How can I tell my wife I dont love her anymore?could soon be visible to anyone scrolling through the apps Discover tab. If society is still grappling with how to navigate artificial intelligence, Metas changes risk throwing even more confusion into the mix.
For tech-savvy users, the shift from private to public might be manageabletheyll at least be aware its happening. But most people arent monitoring every policy tweak from Big Tech, and may have no idea that what once felt like a private conversation with AI could now become public fodder, ripe for ridicule. (Meta did not respond to Fast Companys request for comment.)
AI has quickly become a hybrid of search engine and digital confidant. Remember the embarrassment of accidentally posting a private message publicly? Now imagine that happening on a massive scale, as millions unknowingly expose deeply personal questions and experiences.
This isnt a hypothetical concern. Posts from Meta AI users are already surfacing in the apps social feed, including verbal queries asked via voice mode, like one users question about folic acid, which also revealed her age and postmenopausal status. The Discover feed is shaping up to be a slow-motion privacy disaster, as users unintentionally share raw, unfiltered pieces of their livesfar from the curated, polished image weve grown used to displaying on social media.
Meta said in a press release that its AI app aims to connect you with the people and things you care about, and calls the Discover feed a place to share and explore how others are using AI. While the company insists that nothing is shared unless you choose to post it, the app nonetheless nudges people to shareand oversharewhether they fully realize it or not.
Hello and welcome to Modern CEO! Im Stephanie Mehta, CEO and chief content officer of Mansueto Ventures. Each week this newsletter explores inclusive approaches to leadership drawn from conversations with executives and entrepreneurs, and from the pages of Inc. and Fast Company. If you received this newsletter from a friend, you can sign up to get it yourself every Monday morning.
CEOs and other business leaders are scrambling to understand how customers might respond to financial uncertainty brought on by tariffs and other factors roiling the markets. Early signs are not great: the University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index in April fell for the fourth straight month, and the Conference Boards April Expectations Index, which measures short-term outlook each month, dropped to its lowest level since October 2011.
In the travel industry, some executives are bracing for a hard landing: Southwest Airlines, American Airlines, and Alaska Air recently withdrew 2025 earnings guidance, while United Airlines took the unusual step of offering two sets of profit guidance, depending on whether or not the U.S. enters a recession.
A shipshape outlook
So, what to make of cruise company Royal Caribbean Groups rosy forecast? In late April, the company reported better-than-expected first quarter earnings and increased the midpoint of its full-year guidance for adjusted earnings by 3.8 %. (Rival Carnival Corp. also beat earnings expectations and boosted guidance, but Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings missed its numbers and signaled softening demand.) In 2024, Royal Caribbean Group reported net income of $2.9 billion on revenue of $16.5 billion.
CEO Jason Liberty says his cautiously optimistic outlook validates the consumers appetite for experiences. They treasure vacations, and theyre going to lean more [into experiences] than into buying stuff, he says.
Indeed, consumer discretionary spending on experiences, which fell dramatically during the pandemic, has reached an all-time high, according to McKinsey & Co., while spending on things, which ticked up during lockdown, is down again. (Not surprisingly, the pandemic was a low point for the travel industry; Royal Caribbean voluntarily suspended cruise operations and reported a loss of $5.8 billion in 2020.)
Experiences arent recession-proof, of course, and theyre not immune to tariff impacts. The United States Tour Operators Association, a travel trade organization, says its research arm predicts that higher import taxes will result in price inflation and declines in tourist sentiment, particularly among international travelers to the U.S.
Royal Caribbeans own data, fielded in April, found that 7 out of 10 consumers intend to spend the same or more on leisure travel in the coming 12 months, and that 9 out of 10 consumers are looking for value when making vacation plans.
Steady as she goes
Liberty is quick to point out that value is different from low-budget. Rather, he says, travelers may value the convenience of being able to access dining and entertainment in the same place, or they may appreciate being able to see multiple destinations in one trip. And Royal Caribbean, which operates cruises under the Royal Caribbean, Celebrity, and Silversea brands, is adding more experiences to its portfolio. In December, the company will open its first Royal Beach Club, an all-inclusive property in the Bahamas that its passengers can access via an island day pass thats part of a plan to grow from two to seven private destinations by 2027.
Liberty says Royal Caribbean doesnt compare itself to other cruise companies; the company aspires to measure up to travel destinations known for their dining, amenities, and activities. If you look at our Oasis Class ships or Perfect Daya private island with a water park and a zipline, multiple pools, and separate section for adults”you may ask: why did they go there? We went there to take share from Orlando, he says. Some ships have added Broadway shows and enhanced gaming activities to compete with Las Vegas, Liberty adds. And while a cruise isnt exactly for the budget-conscious consumertravelers pay $576 per person for a three-night getaway on Royal Caribbean’s Utopia of the Seas, with fares climbing to $6,350 per person for a 12-day trip around the Iberian Peninsula and Mediterranean on Silverseas Silver DawnLiberty notes that Royal Caribbean travel is about 20% cheaper than comparable land-based experiences.
If water slides, gaming rooms, and cabarets seem like a lot to fit on a ship, keep in mind that Royal Caribbeans Oasis Class ships, for example, are more than 1,000 feet long and can accommodate 5,600 guests. These are floating cities, Liberty says. Everything that can happen in the city happens on a ship. Everything you have to plan for on a city, whether its power, whether its sanitation, whether medicaland then all the experiences that take placeweve got to be able to do that.
Whats your experience?
Is your company in the experience business? Are you seeing any softness in consumer demand as a result of bearish sentiment? Or are you, like Royal Caribbeans Liberty, cautiously optimistic? Send your thoughts to me at stephaniemehta@mansueto.com. Id like to share your examples in a future newsletter.
Read more: the experience economy
The 10 most innovative live events and experiences companies of 2025
Why Airbnb, Target, and Walmart are betting on the experience economy
Read the 1998 piece that coined the term experience economy
How to get ahead in the experience economy
Performance reviews are often arduous, but they dont have to be. AI tools can enhance the process for both managers and employees, offering new possibilities for efficiency and fairness. From streamlining data analysis to eliminating bias, heres how AI is transforming performance evaluations and employee development across various industries.
AI Connects Dots for Comprehensive Reviews
AI has significantly improved our performance review process by providing managers with a clearer, more comprehensive view of their teams. Previously, we had vast amounts of data buried across various productivity toolsincluding meeting notes, shared documents, messages, and task updatesbut none of it was truly actionable. Let’s face it: No manager with a team of 10 can realistically remember everything that happened over the last quarter for each person.
Today, the way we workhow we communicate, collaborate, and deliverleaves behind valuable signals. AI helps connect the dots across that information to highlight key trends, surface individual contributions, and flag potential blind spots. For employees, it means their impact is more accurately recognized, even if they’re not the most vocal. For managers, it creates a more holistic, data-informed foundation for conversations around performance and development.
We also believe this approach can save a tremendous amount of time during review season, when so much energy is typically wasted trying to gather feedback and recall details. Equally important, it helps managers make fairer, more balanced assessments by surfacing the full scope of each person’s contribution.
Simon De Baene, CEO and Cofounder, Workleap
Streamline Reviews with AI-Generated Questions
I used AI to take a client’s company values, create performance questions around them, and then tier the reviews so they were applicable to entry-level employees, individual contributors, managers, leaders, and senior executives. It produced those products for me in minutes. HR professionals or managers who aren’t using AI are wasting time and missing out on major enhancements to their leadership.
Kerri Roberts, Founder and CEO, Salt & Light Advisors
AI Tools Enhance Review Quality and Satisfaction
We have found that managers dread the performance review process as much as employees do. Both struggle with effectively articulating KPIs [key performance indicators], achievements, and challenges in the required documents and during the review itself. This contributes to the second major shared complaint regarding the “paperwork” and workload to complete the process.
We encourage managers and employees alike to utilize AI tools to analyze KPI trends, provide tables and charts, and even draft the performance review to save time and reduce anxiety. Additionally, AI tools can suggest appropriate SMART [specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound] goals for the next period and/or recommend learning and development opportunities for the employee.
As always, useful output from AI requires good input. Furthermore, the employee and manager must carefully review and edit all AI-generated information to accurately and clearly represent reality. However, we have found AI tools have greatly decreased the workload of the performance review process, while at the same time increasing the quality and satisfaction with the results for everyone involved.
Joe Palmer, Managing Partner, Prosperity Partners Consulting
Balance AI Objectivity with Human Touch
One specific example from our organization involved the marketing team, where managers had long struggled with bias and inconsistency in performance reviews. To improve the process, we introduced an AI tool that aggregated peer feedback, performance metrics, and goal progress into clear, objective drafts. It flagged subjective language and suggested more neutral alternatives, reducing bias and saving managers valuable time.
However, a new challenge emerged: Employees described the AI-generated feedback as sterileaccurate but impersonal. This concern became especially clear during a departmental feedback session. To address it, we encouraged managers in marketing to use the AI drafts as a foundation, then add personal insights, context, and specific examples to restore a sense of authenticity.
This balance between AI-driven objectivity and a human touch made a noticeable difference. Employees received clearer, fairer, and more meaningful feedback, while managers gained a tool that streamlined the process without losing the connection that makes reviews truly valuable.
Michael Ferrara, Information Technology Specialist, Conceptual Technology
AI Creates Personalized Development Plans Post-Review
As part of my current doctoral research in learning and organizational change, I’ve been studying how HR leaders are actively using AI to enhance human-centric leadership practicesand performance reviews have definitely come up.
One high-level HR executive I interviewed shared how they used AI to create a personalized learning and development plan immediately after a performance review. The AI helped analyze feedback and skill gaps, then recommended tailored next stepswhat the employee could do now, next, and later to grow in a specific area. The employee later thanked their manager for recommendations that were on that plan, suggesting they felt supported.
Another HR executive at a global automotive company used AI-enabled project management tools to analyze team metrics that correlated with performance. She felt this helped her make more objective, data-informed decisions rather than relying solely on instinct.
In both cases, AI didn’t replace the human side of leadershipit amplified it by making conversations more personalized, fair, and focused on growth.
Bailey Parnell, Founder and CEO, SkillsCamp
Voice Notes Capture Nuanced Performance Feedback
One thing that has surprised us was how well an AI-powered voice note tool worked during performance reviews not as a replacement for feedback, but as a way to capture tone, nuance, and real-time reflection. In our own staffing agency, where many of our clients rely on private staff-like housekeepers, chefs, and estate managers, soft skills matter just as much as task completion. Managers started using short voice notes to highlight specific interactions, such as how a nanny handled an unexpected visitor at the door or how a housekeeper went above routine to solve a problem without being asked. These moments used to get lost between checklists.
On top of everything else, rather than treating reviews like a checklist, the voice notes created a space where real appreciation could be felt. A personal chef once told us that hearing the emotion behind thewords made all the differenceit felt honest, not formal. These notes turned routine evaluations into conversations that captured what often goes unseen. In our world, where intuition and quiet consistency define excellence, giving those qualities a voice brought something far more meaningful than numbers or written summaries ever could.
Brooke Barousse, CEO, Lexington Executive and Household Staffing
AI Builds Objective Benchmarks for Fair Reviews
We’re starting to use AI to build objective performance benchmarks to make our reviews more fair and impartial. Essentially, the AI analyzes key metrics and skill feedback from our own internal, anonymized data across similar roles, comparing performance among our project managers, engineers, or CNC [computer numerical control] machinists, for example.
It helps our managers get a better grasp on ratings and performance discussions, as they can use the data to more easily identify if someone is truly excelling in their specific job or spot an area where the entire group could benefit from improvement. Our employees gain a much clearer understanding of the expectations for their role and can see how they’re performing compared to others in similar positions, which can be motivating or help pinpoint areas for development.
The AI might highlight that one of our project managers consistently achieves client satisfaction scores that are 10 points higher on average than other PMs performing similar jobs, for instance. It provides solid evidence supporting positive feedback about their client skills, allowing us to go beyond mere gut feelings. Since implementing this data-driven approach, we’ve noticed that our manager calibration meetings for reviews run more smoothly and efficiently, reducing subjective debate time by 30%, because everyone is working from the same baseline comparisons to initiate the conversation.
Leon Huang, CEO, RapidDirect
AI Analysis Improves Review Conversations
We implemented an AI feedback tool that analyzes communication patterns during performance reviews. Managers upload meeting recordings, and the AI provides insights on speaking time balance, interruption frequency, and sentiment analysis.
This improved our reviews in several ways: Managers now receive data showing they dominated 70% of conversations (previously unaware), and they adjusted to achieve better balance. Employees report 40% higher satisfaction with review fairness. The AI also flags emotional responses, revealing when discussions trigger defensiveness.
Most importantly, the AI tool summarizes action items and creates trackable goals, increasing follow-through by 65%. What surprised us was how the AI revealed that our female team members were interrupted twice as often as male counterpartsan insight that led to meaningful cultural change.
The technology doesn’t replace human judgment, but it makes our performance conversations more balanced, actionable, and fair.
Kirti Poonia, Founder, Caimera
Creative Performance Profile Tracks Progress
We’ve always found it challenging to review the performance of roles that aren’t tied directly to strategic goals, like our graphic designer. They don’t set quarterly targets or lead major initiatives. Their work is reactive, based on tasks assigned to them, which makes it hard to define clear goals or track measurable progress. Feedback often felt generic, and improvement was tough to gauge other than informal good jobs.
To change that, we set up an AI-enhanced performance tracker using tools we already had access to. We connected Asana to Google Sheets through Zapier, which allowed us to automatically track things like task volume, turnaround time, and revision frequency. We also pulled in feedback from Slack, where a lot of real-time collaboration was happening. Using OpenAI, we ran sentiment analysis on both task comments and relevant Slack messages, which described how work was being received and the tone of the day-to-day communication. Together, this gave us a monthly snapshot we called the Creative Performance Profile. It helped spot progress over time and gave our designer real insights they could reflect on during their review, without needing a complex dashboard.
In one case, we saw our designer’s average turnaround time improve by 22% over the quarter, while revision rates dropped by 35%. That led to a great discussion around how they were proactively clarifying briefs earlier in the process, something we wouldn’t have uncovered from the numbers alone.
What’s been most valuable is how this gave us a new way to talk about progress in roles where goal-setting has always felt forced. It’s not about ranking team members against each other, but helping them see how their efforts translate into measurable growth. For the first time, our designer walked into their review with stats that reflected their day-to-day work and was able to explain where they could show improvement over the coming year. Not only did this help them grow their individual performance, but oddly, they expressed that it made them feel more part of the team in our planning and goal-setting discussions. It was just an overall win.
Kyle Senger, Founder and Lead Strategist, Unalike Marketing
AI Triggers Timely Check-ins Between Reviews
AI is a powerful tool not only for performance reviews themselves, but also for pre-review and post-review check-ins. Instead of just standard calendar pings, we’ve experimented with systems that trigger automated reminders based on actual work data. For example, a manager could get a nudge to schedule a check-in if an employee’s key goal from the review isn’t progressing on track or if feedback indicates a challenge or bottleneck arising. This way, managers can intervene early and potentially prevent problems rather than waiting months for the formal review.
From the employees’ perspective, it means they receive more regular support and feedback throughout the year. When the formal review time does arrive, it feels less like a big reveal because progress and any issues have already been discussed along the way. Traditionally, employees’ biggest complaint about reviews is that they feel like a pointless, arbitrary exercise. However, with AI reminders, it’s easier to take real action and create an ongoing conversation rather than forgetting about reviews a few weeks later until the following year. This approach is more supportive and more productive.
Fineas Tatar, Co-CEO, Viva
Automated Tools Spot Patterns and Reduce Bias
AI has really changed performance reviews for the better. It’s made a huge difference in how managers view the work of their teams. Two tools that I absolutely love are Lattice Analytics and Betterworks.
Lattice is useful because it tracks all the performance data automatically and spots pattrns that might be overlooked. It has cut down prep time and helps craft feedback without bias. Betterworks, on the other hand, is useful for picking up wins that people usually forget to mention themselves by analyzing project work and communication.
These tools can be game changers for efficiency when implemented, since they focus on actual data instead of just opinions. I know there are a lot of tools out there, but I think it’s best to find one or two that align with your organizational goals and leverage them for maximum benefits.
Jacqueline Twillie, Leadership Officer, ZeroGap.co
AI Promotes Equitable and Actionable Feedback
As a former senior HR leader at a global tech company, I have observed how performance reviews can either foster growth or reinforce inequity. The thoughtful use of AI tools has begun to shift that balance when used intentionally.
One impactful example: For a recent client in Big Tech, we introduced AI to support managers in writing more objective, bias-aware feedback. Performance reviews often contain vague or personality-driven comments, especially for women, people of color, and LGBTQ+ professionals. Research from Stanford and McKinsey confirms this disparity.
We asked managers to run their draft feedback through an AI tool trained to flag vague, nonactionable phrases and suggest more equitable alternatives. For example, “Indira is a pleasure to work with” might prompt: “Consider elaborating on Indira’s specific contributions or business impact.” This helped leaders offer fairer, more actionable reviews and also created powerful learning moments around unconscious bias.
Crucially, we do not see AI as a replacement for human leadership, but as a collaborator. Tools like ChatGPT or Gemini cannot grasp context or individual nuance, and they reflect the bias in their training data. However, they can help standardize fairness, sharpen awareness, and prompt better conversations.
Used well, conversational AI can encourage leaders to ask, “Am I being fair? Am I being specific? Am I giving everyone the same chance to grow?” In a system where performance reviews shape careers and compensation, those questions matter. And AI, used wisely, can help us answer them better.
Manuel Schlothauer, Founder, HeyManuel.com
Since before he took office, President Donald Trump made his disdain for the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) clear. Now, hes leaving survivors of severe thunderstorms and tornadoes in Arkansas without any federal aid.
After large swaths of the South and Midwest were hit by deadly thunderstorms and tornadoes in March and April, Arkansas Republican Governor Sarah Huckabee Sandersa frequent supporter of the presidentrepeatedly wrote to FEMA asking for support in her state. The sheer magnitude of this event created disastrous amounts of debris, extensive destruction to homes and businesses, and resulted in the death of three citizens, and caused injuries to countless others, Sanders wrote in her initial request. (Since that letter was sent, 40 people in the path of the storms were killed.)
After reviewing Sanders pleas, which went on to describe the extent of the hazardous weather and hundreds of thousands of dollars in damage, the Trump administration ultimately wrote back that it had determined that the damage from this event was not of such severity and magnitude as to be beyond the capabilities of the state, affected local governments, and voluntary agencies, and that it therefore would not provide supplemental federal assistance. In contrast, in 2023, former President Biden granted Arkansas’ disaster declaration request following a deadly tornado within 48 hours.
Given that Arkansas is a red state that voted for Trump in the 2024 election, many were shocked that the president denied Sanders request for aid. But this isnt the only time that Trump has turned down appeals for federal help after severe weather eventsand, while disappointing, the administrations insistence that states should help themselves during times of crisis is in line with its larger efforts to dismantle federal disaster mitigation infrastructure.
Several states are denied support from FEMA
Since January, Trump has denied several other FEMA requests that have surprised state lawmakers.
In March, North Carolinas Democratic Governor Josh Stein wrote to ask for 180 days of extended FEMA support for recovery costs related to Hurricane Helene, which was denied by the Trump administration in April. That same month, Washingtons Democratic Governor Bob Ferguson requested FEMA support for repairs after a bomb cyclone windstorm last November that caused an estimated $34 million in damages. His appeal was also denied.
There are very clear criteria to qualify for these emergency relief funds. Washingtons application met all of them, Ferguson said in a statement on April 14. This is another troubling example of the federal government withholding funding.
Most recently, in early April, Trump did approve a FEMA disaster declaration in Virginia to help the state recover after severe flooding. However, he refused Republican Governor Glenn Youngkins request for hazard-mitigation money as part of the disaster-aid packagea step that no president has taken in nearly 30 years.
The Hazard Mitigation and Grant Program (HMGP) is overseen by FEMA and allocates funds to help communities protect infrastructure from future damage after severe weather, like by elevating flood-prone homes or strengthening buildings in earthquake zones. According to Politico, the program has allocated nearly $18 billion to states to safeguard 185,000 properties.
Its an extremely important program for hazard mitigation, Anna Weber, senior policy analyst for climate adaptation at the Natural Resources Defense Council, told Politico. Instead of just rebuilding, were building resilience so were preventing future damages, deaths and injuries.
Historically, presidents have paired HMGP funds with FEMAs overall recovery efforts, accounting for about 15% of overall costs for any given disaster response. But, since early April, Trump has stopped approving allocations from the program.
A larger plan to dismantle federal disaster response infrastructure
This scaling back of HMGP runs parallel to a larger effort within the Trump administration to potentially shut down FEMA altogether.
On the 2024 campaign trail, Trump repeatedly spread misinformation about FEMAs response to Hurricane Helene. In office, hes already cut hundreds of staff from the agency, leaving its remaining staffers concerned about their ability to handle upcoming severe weather, like tornado and hurricane seasons. The administration has also withheld FEMA aid to migrant shelters, suggesting that they may have violated a law used to prosecute smugglers. Funding reductions have further resulted in FEMA canceling programs like federal fire training academy courses.
In March, Kristi Noem, secretary of Homeland Security, reportedly said that her department planned to eliminate FEMAa notion that Trump has also echoed. And last Monday, Trump named 13 members to a council tasked with recommending potential overhauls at the agency, though its still unclear how significant those overhauls might be.
Experts have repeatedly warned that scrapping FEMA would result in a dark future for disaster relief. Now, several statesincluding some that voted for the presidentare getting a first glimpse at that future.
Johann Pauwen and Michaele Simmering founded their furniture design business, Kalon, in Los Angeles in 2007. At the time, the U.S. was entering a major recession with many industries headed for total implosion. Pauwen and Simmering, committed themselves to finding local manufacturing relationships and logged countless hours looking for factories that could deliver on their solid wood designs within the United States. It wasnt an easy process, and the founders had to write their own playbook as they went.
We really had to beat the streets and find these places on our own, says Simmering. Sometimes literally youd drive past an open roller door, see certain machines or materials, and say, Oh my God, theyre making X, Y, or Z and thats how wed find them.
Now, nearly 20 years in, all of Kalons products, except for its baby crib, are made in the U.S. The profitable business supports their family as well as those of their five employees. From the outside, it might appear that Kalon is entirely insulated from the roller-coaster tariff storyline unfolding every day here in the U.S. And to some degree they are: Simmering and Pauwen say their supply chain is strong and reliable and they have few doubts about their ability to deliver their product to customers as expected.
Still, the pair is pretty stressed. Theyve noticed that many of their peers in the industry are losing business and, in some cases, carrying out layoffs. Kalon itself marked its worst sales month in history in April, on the heels of Trump tariff news. I cant believe we built this healthy business out of nothing in a really inhospitable industry: two collapses, a pandemic, and multiple wars, says Pauwen. And, a move to domestic manufacturing freaks out the consumer so much, no one will spend money. Maybe that will kill us, even though were U.S.-produced.
[Photos: Courtesy of Kalon]
Its been an emotional roller coaster
Pauwen and Simmering represent an ecosystem of founders whove invested the time and money to make and sell things in the U.S. Theyve cultivated relationships with mom-and-pop manufacturing outfits. Theyve created jobs in the local economy. Theyve made it work in the name of sustainability and community. And now, as the Trump administrations wildly shifting tariff policy has shaken the foundation of how so many small and midsize designers do business both abroad and at home, these founders of American-made brands dont feel any more at ease than their counterparts who sit at the helm of globally produced supply chains.
[Photo: Courtesy of Kalon]
Whats coming next is truly anybodys guess, and many designers in positions similar to Pauwen and Simmering say theyre just bracing for the next jolt, whether thats due to consumer insecurity, price swings in raw materials, a dearth of manufacturing options, or something else theyve not yet considered or experienced.
Its been an emotional roller coaster, says Clare Vivier, founder, CEO and creative director at leather handbag brand Clare V. Viviers company, which is based in Los Angeles, sits at the nexus of Trumps tariffs. She works with five separate manufacturers in L.A., along with 17 manufacturing partners across India, Europe and Asia. The leather and hardware used to make Clare V. bags, says Vivier, come from Italy and Asia respectively. Were a great case study of whats going on, she says. Seventeen years into this company, we have 14 stores and are sold in close to 200 shops around the world. Fifty percent of our product is made in L.A. and the other 50 overseas.
[Photo: Courtesy of Clare V.]
Vivier says shes structured her business this way out of necessityto tap into different forms of workmanship. We dont have the options to make woven leathers and basket bags here in the U.S. she says. Those artisans arent here. If they were, says Vivier, shed already be using them. These types of skills and jobs, she says, went away years ago, as the industry was retooled for less hands-on, more mechanized manufacturing methods. In other countries, though, artisans (and the infrastructure to train new talent) are still a part of local economies. These are not widget-producing jobs, says Vivier. These are artisans who are trained for many years.
[Photo: Courtesy of Clare V.]
Vivier has considered bringing more of her manufacturing in-house. One of the manufacturing partners she works with in Burbank, California, is family-owned and run, and the owners are looking for a succession plan as retirement nears. But for Vivier, its just not in the cards. We arent in the position to be a manufacturing business, she says, likening the endeavor to the knowledge jump a writer would have to make in order to suddenly buy and run a printing press. This is a highly specialized industry you cant expect companies to just jump into. . . . My husband is French and we have a place in France. Vuitton has opened a huge training facility outside of our town thereto train artisans. I think, wow. We just arent doing that in the U.S. It would be amazing.
[Photo: Courtesy of Clare V.]
For Simmering and Pauwen, theyve decided to relocate their crib manufacturing to the United States. And while the decision aligns with their ethos to manufacture in their own communities, it presents a tough balance and some hard decisions around quality and cost. Producing in Germany is roughly on par with the U.S. in terms of material and labor costs, but the level of craft and know-how is significantly higher there, which means the end product is often of superior qualitya failure of America’s industrial policy, says Simmering. The U.S. partner were working with [on the crib] was surprised by the quality of our Eastern European production and acknowledged that matching it would be a challengeand at a much higher cost, at least 150% more.
The long game of factory building
Some businesses, like East Fork Pottery in Asheville, North Carolina, have built out a manufacturing arm to their business from the start, which has helped hedge the pile-on effect happening with tariffs. Cofounder and potter Alex Matisse says that East Fork makes more than 650,000 pieces of pottery per year in its two factories. We are relatively insulated, says Matisse. Our material supply chain is domestic. Clay isnt expensive, but we put value into it. Our greatest fear is that if we do slide into a recession, it will impact us all. Building factories takes a long time. Its hard to think about when confidence is so unsure.
Tyler Hays, artist and founder at furniture maker BDDW, which owns two of its own manufacturing facilities, says hes grateful he made the decision to keep all pieces of his business under one umbrella so many years ago. We have always had the slow business approach, he says. And we are patting ourselves on the back a little bit. But the way this is happening is bananas, with no plan. This should have been a five-year-plan. There should have been funding for small businesses; its reckless. One way Hays has been able to thrive during this time is via an auction platform thats allowed BDDW to circumvent traditional retail altogether, offering up pieces at a discount. Hays says thats kept consumers engaged and buying: Its becoming more popular, but we have seen a 5% reduction in closing price at auction.
Still, even with the confusion and chaos around tariffs, many of these founders remain deeply passionate about being American-made and revel in the spirit of community and localization it can foster. For CEO Bill Banta at Decked, being American-made is just baked into his companys brand. Decked designs, makes and sells organizational systems that fit on the beds of pickup trucks. Theres nothing more American than a pickup truck, says Banta. Its core to the customer and theres a lot of expectation that comes with an American-made product. Plus what we make is big and heavy and hard to ship.
[Photo: Courtesy of Decked]
Banta says some of the machines used to make Decked products are as heavy as 737 aircraft, and that as the company has grown, so has its manufacturing capabilities. The business, which is based in Idaho, Utah, and Ohio, now accounts for close to 400,000 square feet of manufacturing space and tens of millions of investment in injection molding.
We are seeing volatility in raw materialssteel, resin, he says. Theyve been all over the place for four or five weeks. Bantas focus has been working with suppliers to stabilize pricing as best as possible so the price for a Decked system is the same when customers initially consider it, as when they actually buy it a month later. Additionally, as consumer insecurity dips, so do truck sales, which is directly tied to the Decked value prop. If that binds up and the automotive supply chain gets whacked by tariffs, well feel that, too.
[Photo: Courtesy of Decked]
A wholesale shedding of small businesses
For now, says Simmering, its too soon to guess what any of this means. It comes down to the mindset of the consumer, she says. Will consumers, at the end of the day, feel it’s more valuable to invest in American-made products? Will the tariffs last? There isnt clarity. Industrial retooling is expensive and a lot of independent businesses wont be able to hang in there to see how it shakes out.
One pivot the Kalon founders have made is to offer consulting services to other American businesses looking to make things here, too. Their goal is to help other founders navigate the complexities of local sourcing, supply chain restructuring, and sustainability-first practices with insight grounded in our two decades of experience, says Simmering. From the beginning, part of Kalons mission has been to model a different way of doing thingsto build a values-based business that responds to the realities of our time: the global environmental crisis, mass overconsumption, and wasteful production. This feels like a natural extension of that original intenttaking this as an opportunity to help others navigate this shift and continue working toward transformation from within the industry.
And while the dust of tariff swings begins to settle, says Pauwen, larger, big box businesses have the resources to relocate their operations to the U.S., pushing smaller companies out of their manufacturing relationships in one swift movement, able to promise bigger manufacturing runs and longer contracts. At first blush, when the government is saying, Were in this for the Americans, thats a great impulse, says Simmering. I see that we cant all be titans of industry. We want to have national resources and jobs with integrity and meaning. But the way this seems to be executed, its a land grab and happening at the highest levels. There is a wholesale shedding of independent business.
