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Theres a new epidemic sweeping companies worldwide: unhappiness. According to recent research, only 51% of employees frequently feel happy at work. Being happy is not just a “nice to have” in the workplace. The same research found that happy workers are 42% more likely to feel productive or motivated, meaning that employee happiness is directly linked to business outcomes. While many organizations have introduced initiatives such as “duvet days,” mindfulness classes, and wellbeing apps, recent research from the University of Oxford has shown that these have no discernible effect on employee mental wellbeing. So, what is the answer to curing this unhappiness epidemic? It lies in your management approach. Unlocking happiness with questions As a manager, you play a crucial role in your employees’ happiness and mental well-being. Gallups State of the Global Workplace 2025 report found that those who work in companies with poor management practices are nearly 60% more likely to be stressed than those in companies with good management practices. Add to this the fact that managers have the same impact on peoples mental health as their partners, doctors, or therapists, and you can see that staff happiness, perhaps unsurprisingly, is contingent on how theyre managed. Implement effective people management, however, and the results speak for themselves. If workers feel seen and understood, and believe that their strengths, values, and contributions are noted and celebrated, engagement, trust, and retention all improve. Once an employee is empowered by their manager to know and use their strengths daily, theyre nearly six times more engaged. Businesses with highly engaged staff experience 78% less absenteeism and significantly lower turnover rates. When employees feel that managers care about their well-being, theyre 73% less likely to feel burned out and 53% less likely to be actively seeking a new job. If youre a manager wondering how you can better motivate your team and reap these benefits for your organization, its time to consider a new style of management called Operational Coaching. Practitioners of this new approach learn to use an enquiry-led approach, asking purposeful questions intended to engage others’ thinking. At the heart of developing an Operational Coaching style is learning to apply the STAR model in everyday situations: Stop: When an employee comes to you with a problem, as their manager, you must learn to stop, take a step back, and overcome your natural inclination to step in and solve the problem for them. Think: This gives you the space to think about whether the situation an employee has presented offers a coachable moment. Ask: Mastering the art of asking powerful, thought-provoking questions and then actively listening to your employees allows you to ditch the “fix and solve” response and instead presents the other person with a learning opportunity to become independent, solution-driven problem solvers. Result: Work with the employee to secure commitment to an action from this coachable moment, that theyll see through. You may need to ask a few more questions to agree on the appropriate follow-up, increasing the likelihood that action will be taken and providing a future opportunity to give appropriate feedback. By learning how to ask purposeful questions and actively listening to what your team members are saying, youre supporting them on a journey of continuous performance improvement. Enabling and empowering employees to take action establishes a more equitable relationship and advances their skills, capabilities, and prospects. An important part of Operational Coaching is also offering appreciative feedback to your staff. This is crucial for motivation, which, as weve already established, is whats needed to banish workplace blues, boost morale, and ensure employees feel valued. Learning to apply the STAR model also has benefits for you as a manager. Chances are, your responsibilities already mean youre overstretched. In fact, you may be one of the 82% of people who have ended up as an “accidental” manager on top of your actual role. So learning to use an Operational Coaching style of management enables you to have “in the moment” daily coaching conversations with your employees and achieve great results, without the need for lengthy coaching-style sessions that drain your time and energy. This means youll likely be happier and have improved morale, too. Reframing the purpose of management The benefits of Operational Coaching in action have been clearly established. A large-scale randomised controlled trial, funded by the U.K. Government and conducted by the London School of Economics (LSE), showed statistically significant results across 62 organizations in 14 sectors. Managers who undertook the STAR Manager program went on to spend 70% more time coaching their team members in the flow of work than before adopting an Operational Coaching style of management. Intervention group organizations also recorded a sixfold improvement in employee retention, and 48% of reported successes were related to increased engagement and productivity. The robust results of the study show the benefits that await managers who learn how to adapt their management style to an enquiry-led approach. It clearly demonstrates that when managers are better trained to handle the people side of their roles, everyone feels happier and more motivated. By reframing management’s purpose and intention to enable others to develop, empower them to act, an motivate them through appropriate appreciative and developmental feedback, you can ensure your organization is a place where employees feel motivated, supported, and able to grow. And this is exactly the type of workplace we desperately need in the U.S. and around the world.
Category:
E-Commerce
Three weeks into her new role as VP of operations, Maria got an 11:47 p.m. Slack from her COO: Where are we on the Q3 supply chain numbers? She had sent him those numbers that morning. She sent them again. By 6 a.m., Marias boss had changed the entire project scope based on a board conversation she didnt know had happened. By noon, hed ccd the CEO on a complaint about delaysdelays caused by his own shifting priorities. Maria didnt push back: She absorbed the burden. She reframed his abrupt messages before forwarding them to her team. She stayed late recalculating projections to match his latest mandate. She deflected her teams frustration with careful explanations about strategic pivots. The work was exhausting, and it was invisible. Her team saw a supportive leader. Her boss saw smooth execution. No one saw the toll. Many managers find themselves in this position: absorbing friction from above while protecting those below. Gallup research finds that managers account for at least 70% of changes in employee engagement, yet many of those same managers report feeling crushed by contradictory demands from their own bosses. McKinsey research confirms that the quality of the relationship with a direct manager is the single most important factor in employee satisfaction. The message is clear: The friction you absorb doesnt just affect you. It reverberates through everyone below you. In my executive and team coaching work with senior leaders, I see this pattern repeatedly: A C-suite leader creates destructive organizational friction through a chaotic style, lack of personal accountability, and unchecked reactivity. And managers are left to absorb it. Its an unsustainable dynamicbut one managers can counteract. Here are four strategies for navigating friction without burning out or compromising your effectiveness. 1. Name the Friction, Then Decide Whats Worth Absorbing The first step is getting honest about which type of friction youre dealing with. Constructive frictiona boss who raises the bar, questions your logic, or forces you to confront underperformanceis uncomfortable but valuable. This is what I call healthy friction. If your boss is pushing you to eliminate inefficiency or rethink a flawed process, thats worth leaning into, not absorbing. Destructive friction is different. Its energy lost to misalignment, rework, and emotional labor. Stanford management professor Bob Sutton identifies several types of destructive friction: unnecessary complexity that adds steps without adding value, ambiguity when goals keep shifting, emotional volatility that forces you to manage up constantly, and micromanagement that erodes autonomy. Liz Wiseman, author of Multipliers, calls leaders who create destructive friction diminishers. They drain capability through behaviors like jumping in with answers or involving themselves in every decision. To separate signal from noise, seek to understand whether this unnecessary interference is actually your boss managing real constraints you dont see. A sudden pivot might reflect CEO pressure. Increased scrutiny might follow a compliance issue. Research on the hidden realities of leadership shows that senior leaders frequently operate under pressures that are invisible to their teams. Use these criteria to assess the situation: Comprehension: Have you had a candid, vulnerable conversation with your boss to understand the origin of the friction? What specific behaviors create it? Duration: Is this temporary or chronic? You can absorb friction during a crisis. You cant sustain it indefinitely. Impact on outcomes: What is your role in creating or enabling the behavior? Does absorbing the friction improve results or just create an illusion of progress? Cost to you and your team: What does it cost in time, energy, and team morale? Are you protecting your team or just delaying the impact? If talented people are leaving, youre not absorbing effectively. Marcus, chief of staff at a healthcare startup, learned this the hard way: I spent three months resenting my CEOs constant questions about our hiring pipeline. I thought he was micromanaging. Then I learned we were six weeks from running out of runway, and he was trying to slow spending without panicking the team. I wish Id asked, What are you seeing that Im not? sooner. 2. Create Systems That Reduce Friction Once youve diagnosed the friction, build systems to reduce itsystems that dont require you to be the constant intermediary. The instinct is to work harder, absorb more, and hope conditions improve. But research consistently shows that individual effort cannot compensate for structural dysfunction. A Deloitte study finds that when productivity tools and ways of working lack clarity, they create more work rather than less. And Gallups engagement research shows that only 46% of employees clearly understand what is expected of them, a 10-point drop from 2020. When the system around you generates confusion, the solution is not to absorb faster. Its to redesign the system. Four structural changes can reduce your role as the constant go-between. Establish clear decision rights. Much friction comes from unclear ownership. When roles blur, decisions stall and accountability weakens. Bains RAPID framework (recommend, agree, perform, input, decide) can help. When Maria finally had this conversation with her boss, they discovered he wasnt trying to micromanage. He genuinely didnt know she had authority to approve vendor contracts under $500K. Create predictable communication. Random check-ins create constant interruption. Your operating rhythm is a signal of how you leadit sets the tempo for decision-making, collaboration, and accountability. One director of product management I coached solved her bosss just checking in problem by instituting a Friday afternoon dashboard: three metrics, three decisions pending, three risks. He stopped asking because he knew hed get answers Friday, she said. Document and share context. When priorities shift, capture the change and its rationale. A simple decision log helps everyone see how you got here and why yesterdays plan changed. Build buffers into your processes. If your boss routinely changes direction, dont commit your team to immovable deadlines. Build in review points. Use phased rollouts. 3. Have the Conversation Sometimes systems arent enough. You need to name the pattern directly. Your boss likely doesnt see themselves as creating friction; they see themselves as ensuring quality or responding to pressure from above. Research on managing up suggests framing it as a shared problem, not an accusation. Try the following scripts: Frame it as shared: I want to make sure Im giving you what you need without overwhelming the team. Can we talk about how decisions are flowing right now? Come with data: Weve reprioritized three times this month, which has added about 40 hours of rework. I want to understand whats driving these changes so we can build more flexibility into the plan. Focus on impact, not intent: When requests come in after 9 p.m., the team feels like they need to respond immediately, which is creating burnout. Can we establish core hours for urgent communication? Propose experiments: What if we tried a two-week sprint where priorities stay locked unless something is genuinely on fire? Andrea, a senior director at a media company, used this approach when her bosss conflict-avoidant style created constant mixed messages. I told him, I think we both want the same thing: happy clients and a sustainable pace. Right now, were getting requests from three stakeholders who think they are all top priority. Can you help me understand how to sequence these? He didnt love the conversation, but he did start having clearer conversations with stakeholders. 4. Know When to Stop Absorbing, And Protect Your Own Leadership Sometimes friction stops being fuel and becomes rot. Drawing on insights from organizational psychologists like Adam Grant, you can watch for three warning signs that conflict has crossed into dysfunction: Its chronic rather than tied to specific crises, its driven by ego or insecurity instead of real business concerns, and its starting to show up in exit interviews and the loss of your strongest people. At that point, continuing to quietly absorb the damage is not noble leadership. Its enabling a toxic culture. You have three options: Escalate. Share what youre experiencing with a skip-level leader or HR business partnernot as gossip, but as a risk flag. Weve lost three senior people in six months, and the exit interviews all mention the same concerns about unclear priorities. Set boundaries. Let some friction flow downward or upward. If your boss demands weekend work for nonemergencies, say no. If they change priorities daily, push back: I need three business days to reallocate resources. If its truly urgent, tell me what were deprioritizing. Leave. If the friction is chronic, youve tried to address it, and nothing changes, staying may be costing more than its worth. Make an exit plan. James, former VP of Sales at a SaaS company, eventually chose to leave. After two years, I realized this is the job. And the job was making me someone I didnt want to be: short-tempered with my team, anxious on Sunday nights, too tired to be present at home. Leaving felt like giving up. Six months later, I can see it was the smartest thing I did. The bigger risk, though, is what happens if you stay and dont change course. Deloittes research on leadership sustainability shows that burned-out leaders transmit their stress directly to their teams, creating a cascade that damages performance at every level. You become reactive instead of strategic. You model anxiety instead of steadiness. You teach your team that success means managing up rather than delivering value. The Fallout from Friction With time, Maria also realized this. I thought I was being a good boss by shielding my team. But I was teaching them that last-minute fire drills were normal. When one of my best people resigned, she said, I just want to work somewhere that feels calmer. I wasnt absorbing the friction. I was transmitting it. So as you navigate friction from above, ask yourself regularly: What kind of leader am I becoming? What norms am I creating? What am I teaching my team about how work should feel? Being a buffer matters. But being a buffer shouldnt require you to lose yourself in the process.
Category:
E-Commerce
Last year was full of talk about tariffs. Are they coming up or going down? On which products and countries? How could businesses handle all the uncertainty? But while there was a lot of discussion of these fees, paid on imported goods and raw materials, there wasnt actually that much evidence of their price impact at stores. According to Amazon CEO Andy Jassy, thats about to change. Tariffs had a modest impact on prices in 2025 Tariffs are a tax on businesses, which means youd expect that if tariffs go up, so do prices. But the effect of President Trumps ever-changing but always aggressive tariff policies didnt cause the huge price hikes and widespread economic damage many feared in 2025. Economists offer several likely explanations. One is all the exceptions and carve-outs the government made after announcing the tariffs. What Trump threatens and what ends up being charged are often very different. The actual tariffs are much lower than what were announced, and that is one of the reasons why the effects have not been as big as feared, Harvard economist Gita Gopinath told The New York Times. Another big reason is timing. Trump hasnt been shy about his love of tariffs. That means many people got ahead of the new taxes by stockpiling goods before they came into effect. Consumers and business time very-short-run purchases to try to minimize tariffs, according to the Budget Lab at Yale University. This can reduce the amount of imports of higher-tariffed goods and countries for a time. But Jassy says this tactic to keep prices down may have reached its expiration date. Amazons CEO warns of big pricing changes to come Jassy spoke to CNBCs Becky Quick at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, and said that so far, Amazon has seen some of the tariffs creep into some of the prices, some of the items. He continued: And you see some sellers are deciding that theyre passing on those higher costs to consumers in the form of higher prices, some are deciding that theyll absorb it to drive demand, and some are doing something in between. But the days of these modest impacts may soon be over. I think youre starting to see more of that impact, he continued. Many sellers simply dont have much of a choice but to pass on the cost of tariffs. At a certain pointbecause retail is, as you know, a mid-single digit operating margin businessif peoples costs go up by 10%, there arent a lot of places to absorb it, the Amazon CEO said. You dont have endless options. No white knight is riding to consumers rescue No matter what you might hear coming out of the White House, realistically, those options do not somehow magically include getting foreign suppliers to shoulder the cost of tariffs. A new study by the Kiel Institute in Germany found that a whopping 96% of the costs of tariffs are passed on to U.S. importers and consumers. Nor can smaller businesses that are already squeezed keep shielding consumers indefinitely. When large retailers raised prices, smaller firms said, were going to try to not raise prices, giving them a competitive edge, Kyle Peacock, founder of Peacock Tariff Consulting, explained to Harvards Institute for Business in Global Society. But, he continued, they can only absorb it for so long. Jassys comments suggest that the breaking point for many sellers is fast approaching. The Amazon CEO is far from the only business luminary issuing such warnings. On a recent investor call, Nike cautioned tariffs could add about $1 billion in costs during its 2026 fiscal year. Mattel warned it may need to raise prices on toys, while Walmart likewise said it may be forced into selective price increases on imported goods. Add to these existing pressures Trumps latest threats to slap further tariffs on European countries if they fail to go along with his weird neo-colonialist demand that they hand over Greenland, and the picture looks worrying. Economists fret Amazons CEO is right The Peterson Institute for International Economics worries all this could spell higherrather than lowerinflation this year. The pass-through of tariffs to consumer prices has been modest to date, suggesting U.S. importers have been absorbing the bulk of the tariff changes. That will change in the first half of 2026, Lazard CEO Peter Orszag and PIIE president Adam Posen predicted. The many reasons for the lagged pass-through include businesses pricing based on when their inventories arrived (and have since run out) and concerns around being seen as raising prices too rapidly (so they are instead gradually increasing them). This wont last, they continued. Of course, who knows what Trump might do in the end. His track record has, to put it mildly, been inconsistent and changeable. But if he doesnt chicken out and change course, many economists clearly fear Amazon CEO Andy Jassy is right. Hard-pressed U.S. consumers are hopin life gets more affordable in 2026. Theyre likely to face the opposite. Jessica Stillman This article originally appeared on Fast Companys sister website, Inc.com. Inc. is the voice of the American entrepreneur. We inspire, inform, and document the most fascinating people in business: the risk-takers, the innovators, and the ultra-driven go-getters that represent the most dynamic force in the American economy.
Category:
E-Commerce
A year ago at the Munich Security Conference, Vice President JD Vance accused Europe of using ugly, Soviet-era words like misinformation and disinformation to justify restricting dissent, and warned that its speech rules posed a greater threat to democracy than Russia or China. Now the Trump administration is acting on that belief. Earlier this month, as Secretary of State Marco Rubio addressed this years conference (in a far more conciliatory tone), the U.S. government launched Freedom.gov. For now its just a landing page, but it is reportedly planned as a way for Europeans to duck content bans, including restrictions on hate speech and terrorist propaganda. Officials have discussed incorporating a built-in virtual private network (VPN) function that would make users internet traffic appear to originate in the U.S., effectively routing around European content restrictions. The project is overseen by Sarah Rogers, under secretary for public diplomacy; Edward Coristine, a former member of Elon Musks Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), is reportedly working on the sites design. The backdrop is escalating tension over tech regulation. European and U.K. authorities have tightened enforcement on social media platforms, recently opening investigations into X and its AI chatbot Grok over alleged rule-breaking and harassment. These moves have angered Trump administration officials, who see them as attempts to criminalize American companies and suppress speech. Proponents might argue that it is merely the modern-day version of Radio Free Europe, which broadcast unfiltered news across the Iron Curtain, says Anupam Chander, an expert on global tech regulation at Georgetown Law. Thats likely how the Trump administration sees it: Officials have framed Freedom.gov as a champion of digital freedom and emphasized the State Departments long-standing support for the proliferation of privacy and censorship-circumvention technologies like VPNs.” But others see it as interference. Democratic countries are likely to see the American portal as improper interference with domestic laws, says Chander, who believes countries might respond to the American freedom portal by ordering their internet providers to block it. Paul Bernal, a professor of information technology law at the University of East Anglia in Norwich, England, expects the EU would simply block the site. Under laws like the Digital Services Act, Europe can bar platforms that attempt to evade its rules. I can’t see how the Americans are going to stop them effectively blocking access, he says. Web-blocking capabilities exist. We do it for child sex abuse material. We do it for copyright. The result could become a kind of cat-and-mouse thing where the U.S. puts something up the EU blocks, then the U.S. puts it up somewhere else, and so on. Bernal also rejects the administrations framing. There is no question to anyone who knows about free speech that Donald Trumps regime are very much anti-free speech, he says. Theyre closing down their enemies wherever they can, theyre taking over platforms like TikTok and TV stations like CBS in order to ensure they toe the line over political things. In his view, the dispute is fundamentally about geopolitics rather than about freedom of speechand about Europe trying to limit the influence of American tech companies on its politics.
Category:
E-Commerce
Roger Sauerhaft thought he had done everything right. The 38-year-old PR consultant had been running his solo practice in New York since 2021, paying $1,189 a month for what seemed like good health insurance through his states individual marketplace. In late 2023, he developed a medical issue that required a specialist, and started calling doctors’ officesonly to be turned away again and again. The closest in-network specialist was an hour away in Long Island. One medical administrator was honest with him: His plan’s network was too restrictive. He needed broader coveragebut that wasn’t available to him. “When you’re a solopreneur, your health is your business,” Sauerhaft says. “When you have a problem, you need to get it fixed really quickly. That requires access.” Approximately 16.5 million Americans were self-employed as of January 2026, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. MBO Partners 2025 annual survey puts the number at 72.9 million, counting not just full-time self-employed workers but also part-time and occasional independent earners. For solopreneurs and small-business owners across the U.S., individual marketplace plans are predominantly HMOs, or health maintenance organizations, which have narrow networks and require referrals to see specialists. PPOs, or preferred provider organizations with broader access, are available on marketplaces in only a handful of states or through employer-sponsored plans. Most solopreneurs across the U.S. get their insurance from Affordable Care Act marketplaces. Premiums, deductibles, and out-of-pocket costs can eat up a significant portion of their income, and many plans restrict access to care through narrow provider networks. This gap leaves many paying high prices for plans that dont meet their needs, forcing them to choose between their health and their businessor find creative work-arounds to access better coverage. Making it work For Sauerhaft, HMOs were the only plans available on his states ACA marketplace, complicating his search for a nearby specialist. He looked at options from the Freelancers Union, but couldnt find anything better and began questioning the future viability of his business. I thought about folding the business at that point, he says. Instead, he expedited his wedding by a few months so he could join his fiancées employer PPO plan. He had gone independent to chart his own path, but the system had basically taken it away from me, he says. Liang Zhao, 38, was able to set up her own independent PR practice in 2019, in part because she had access to health coverage through her husbands employer. But in September 2025, her husband was laid off. Their premiums for a family of three jumped from around $700 to $3,000 per month under COBRA (the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act, a federal law that ensures individuals and their families are able to maintain access to healthcare coverage during certain life events, such as job loss). “We’re literally one layoff away from an entire family losing coverage,” Zhao says. Historically, this country has set up a system where health insurance has been distributed through employers, so the whole system benefits larger employers who are able to negotiate better rates for their employees. Solopreneurs who can’t rely on a spouse’s coverage have to get more creative. For Bob Christie, an independent consultant based in New York who travels across the country for his work, having nationwide coverage is a prioritybut the state marketplace offers plans that work only in New York, or other states in an emergency. A broker connected Christie with Iron Health Benefits Partners, a Nebraska-based company that works with independent contractors. He technically became their employeefilling out a monthly questionnaire for token paywhich gave him access to their Blue Cross Blue Shield of Nebraska group plan with nationwide PPO coverage. His premium: $1,321 a month. Barriers to growth When it’s time to expand, health insurance can be a formidable obstacle. Alvin Carlos, 34, a financial planner in Washington, D.C., built his solo practice into a five-person firm and knew he needed to offer coverage to attract and retain talent. But when he explored group plans for his five employees across five states, a broker’s quote came to $8,010 a monthmore expensive than individual coverage. His solution was to turn to a Health Reimbursement Arrangement, or HRA. Carlos reimburses employees $300 to $1,000 monthly depending on whether they’re single or have a family, covering premiums, copays, and deductibles. HRAs are a tax-advantaged benefit that gives employees flexibility to choose their own plans. Hes increased the reimbursement once in 2026 due to premium spikes. “Our health insurance system is broken,” Carlos says. “It is so expensive and it is so complicated.” Navigating the rules Sole proprietors and companies with few employees have to wade through a patchwork of state-specific rules, shifting eligibility standards, and premiums that keep going up. Theyre in a very precarious position right now, says Jesse McDonald, a health insurance broker based in Milford, Connecticut. U.S. healthcare costs keep escalating, so the insurance that’s covering it gradually escalates. Its been a problem thats been getting worse and worse. McDonald said enhanced premium tax credits during the pandemic briefly eased the burden for many independent workers, lowering monthly premiums and expanding eligibility. But those enhanced subsidies expired at the end of 2025. Jennifer Chumbley Hogue, a Dallas-based health insurance broker, says 22% of her clients qualified for subsidies in 2025. Of those clients, about half went without coverage in 2026 after losing that support. Still, she cautions solopreneurs not to assume theyre out of options, recommending they consult brokers with extensive knowledge of their local market and rules. Fixing the access gap For Sauerhaft, the barrier isnt cost but breadth of coverage. “Even if I had to pay $2,000 a month for a PPO, I would have done it,” he says. “It wasn’t about affordabilityit was about getting access.” He believes his states marketplace could better serve solopreneurs if it offered more middle-ground options between restrictive HMOs and PPOsor allowed people to pay more for greater provider choice. Sauerhaft, whose own coverage crisis nearly derailed his business, sees the pain as a catalyst for change. The more people who get caught in this broken system, the more awareness there will be, and hopefully pressure to fix it, he says. I am heartened by the fact that things are already much better today than they were 20 years ago, but progress can be slow.
Category:
E-Commerce
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