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We all know the Sunday scariesthat creeping anxiety as the weekend winds down. But what you might not realize is that leaders experience it too. As a CEO, Ive found that the best way to fend off Sunday dread is by fully unplugging. At least once a week, I do a digital detox, shutting off my devices to be fully present with my wife and kids. Sometimes, we turn on the radio and play board games; other times, we stay in pajamas and take on a new cooking or baking challenge. Its our version of sndagshyggethe Danish idea of embracing cozy Sundays with tea, books, music, blankets, and other at-home rituals. While personal rituals can help, leaders can also play a role in easing their team members back-to-work anxiety. The question becomes: How can we support employees in making that transition? While theres no silver bullet, Ive found a few strategies that make a meaningful difference. Leading with empathy When it comes to facing challenges, togetherness is one of the most powerful antidotes to managing stress. Its like heading into a storm in a rowboathaving just one person by your side, paddling with you and understanding your perspective, can make all the difference. Thats what empathy is aboutdemonstrating to others that you truly identify with and understand their thoughts, emotions, and perspectives. Empathetic leaders show they care about their employees through words and through actionschecking in with them, actively listening, and acknowledging each persons unique circumstances. The result is a workplace where employees feel psychologically safe, fostering open and honest discussions. Studies have shown that employees with highly empathetic leaders are more engaged at workand more innovative, too. When a leader listens and genuinely makes an effort to understand their teams perspective, it builds trust and fosters collaboration. Knowing that this kind of supportive, understanding environment exists beyond the weekend can go a long way toward quelling the Sunday scaries. Promoting a healthy work-life balance Respecting each employees need to maintain a work-life balance is an essential part of an empathetic work environment. That means treating employees as individuals, not just cogs in a machine. I reflect on my own experience when my wife and I had our children. For me, it was crucial to be able to delegate responsibilities and take parental leave. Each time I returned to the office (admittedly a bit tired, as newborns dont care about your sleep schedule) I was ready to dive back in. I aim to offer the same flexibility and understanding to our team members. Research backs up the idea that supporting employees work-life balance can have a major positive impact. A 2023 survey from the American Psychological Association found that 92% of workers believe its important to work for an organization that values their emotional and psychological well-being. Studies conducted by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health have shown that when managers are trained to respect work-life harmony, employee job satisfaction increases and turnover decreases. Offering flexibility based on personal circumstanceswhether that means allowing employees to fully unplug for the evening or weekend, or taking a few hours off to attend their childs soccer gamehas helped us to maintain a low turnover rate at Jotform. When employees return refreshed, they might not whistle every moment while they work, but they seem genuinely engaged and content to be back at their desks on Monday. Gamifying the workplace Its hard to explain why adding a game-like dimension to an everyday activity can fuel motivation, but it does. Why else would brands like Nike and Fitbit offer users personalized feedback, social interaction, and even some friendly competition? Knowing youll earn that badge or publicly top your personal best pushes you to clock that extra mile. Experts call it gamificationleveraging game-like mechanisms, like the ones youd find in video games, to make real-world activities more engaging. Gamification has been shown to increase motivation and engagement. It makes employees more willing to take on repetitive tasks, engage in risks, and even fail. Surveys have found that gamification provides a sense of belonging and connection in the workplace. Employees report being more productive and happier at work. In short, gamification makes work, including the occasional mundane task, more fun. When employees participate in incentivized tasks, theyre not just motivated, theyre also excited. This excitement helps counteract the Sunday scaries. Instead of dreading the workweek ahead, employees are looking forward to the challenges and rewards of gamified tasks. Whether its earning points for hitting targets or engaging in friendly competitions with coworkers, the gamified experience gives them something to anticipate. And with AI making gamification more accessible and fun than ever, theres no reason why leaders cant bring this kind of excitement to the workplace, helping employees feel energized and eager to start their weekon Monday and beyond.
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E-Commerce
The 2025 NFL Draft is next week, and the front-runner for the No. 1 overall pick, University of Miami quarterback Cam Ward, is an anomaly. In any other year, the top prospect being a journeyman who attended three schools in five years and ended his career by losing the Pop Tarts Bowl would be nearly impossible. But now it may be the new reality of the college-to-pro transition. The impact of the transfer portal and name, image, and likeness (NIL) legislation means the traditional “stay or go pro” dilemma is no longer binary. Theres now a third path: Transfer strategically, build your brand, enhance your draft value, and collect NIL checks along the wayall while staying in college. The age of player mobility and monetization For decades, college athletes were not allowed to make money in any way, shape, or form related to their sport or likeness without sacrificing their amateur status. That changed in 2021, when NIL legislation empowered athletes to sign endorsement deals, monetize their social media, and collect appearance fees, ending the era in which players could lose eligibility for something as simple as eating too much pasta at a team banquet. Now, players in marquee positions at top schools can average between $75,000 and $800,000 in NIL dollars annually. In 2024, University of Colorado quarterback Shedeur Sanders led all college football with $6.2 million in NIL dealssomething that likely factored into his decision to forgo last years NFL draft and return to Colorado for his senior season. Meanwhile, the transfer portal now allows players to transfer freely between schools without having to sit out a year, as was previously required (think free agency, but for college). Under these new rules, FBS scholarship transfers rose from 1,946 in 2021-22 to 2,303 in 2022-23, reaching 2,707 in 2023-24, according to NBC Sports. In 2023-24 alone, the total number of NCAA football players across all divisions who entered the portal exceeded 11,000. Already this year, more than 400 players have entered the spring portal since it opened on Wednesday, meaning more players are using it every year to take control of their college careers and future NFL prospects. Case study No. 1: Cam Ward Ward and Sanders, this years top two quarterback prospects, took different routes to the draft, yet are each a product of the new landscape. Ward finished high school as an unknown zero-star prospect who went to the only school that wanted him: the University of the Incarnate Word, an FCS program in Texas. Two years and 71 touchdowns later, having made a name for himself, Ward transferred to Washington State, further elevating his national profile over two seasons before declaring for the 2024 NFL Draft. The problem was that some experts didnt even consider him a top-100 prospect at the time. So with the opportunity to improve his draft stockand the promise of NIL dollarshe chose to return to school, transferring for a second time in three years, this time to Miami. As a Hurricane, Ward was a Heisman Trophy finalist and won the Davey O’Brien Award, given to the nations top quarterback. He also landed $2 million in NIL deals along the way while positioning himself as the potential No. 1 overall pick, where he is likely to match or exceed the $39.5 million fully guaranteed contract last years No. 1 pick, University of Southern California quarterback Caleb Williams, signed with the Chicago Bears. According to one NFL evaluator, had Ward stayed at Incarnate Word, as he would have in a pre-transfer portal world, he would likely be a fifth-round pick at best. Case Study No. 2: Shedeur Sanders Projected to go as high as eighth overall in the 2024 draft, Sanders, who transferred to Colorado from Jackson State before his junior year, passed on the NFL and returned to college, where he earned $6.5 million in NIL deals. The Atlanta Falcons selected Michael Penix Jr. eighth overall in that draft. Had Sanders been that pick, we can assume he would have received something akin to Penix Jr.s four-year, fully guaranteed rookie contract worth $22.88 million with a $13.46 million signing bonus. This year, Sanders has been projected to go as high as No. 3 to the New York Giants, with whom he held a private workout this week. Should that happen, he could expect to receive at least what University of North Carolina quarterback Drake Maye received at the No. 3 slot last yeara fully guaranteed four-year, $36.63 million deal with the New England Patriots (with a $23.46 million signing bonus). If thats how Sanderss chips fall on Thursday, his net gain will be roughly $13.75 million in NFL contract dollars, plus the $6.5 million in NIL money, meaning he will effectively have netted more than $20 million just for staying in school. But Sanders’s gamble carries risk. Recent mock drafts show Sanders sliding, with some analysts predicting he could fall outside the top 10. If that happens, his decision to skip last year’s draft might prove a financial miscalculation, even with his NIL earnings. This is the calculus today’s college stars faceimmediate pro security versus betting on themselves while earning NIL money. It’s a high-stakes game with career-defining consequences. Risky for players, good for the NFL NFL draft analysts project only 55 to 65 underclassmen in the 2025 draft, down from the typical 90 to 110 in previous years. The minimum base salary for NFL rookies for 2025 is$840,000, typical for late-round picks. Many of these players can, according to some NFL executives, likely achieve that in NIL dollars if they return to school. So, more mid-to-late-round picks are betting on themselves and staying in school to improve their stock while earning NIL money. This shift transforms the later rounds of the draft. Instead of raw underclassmen taking early swings based on potential, teams now find more experienced players who have exhausted their eligibility. NFL teams are embracing this new reality. The NIL and transfer portal era delivers more polished prospects with real-world business experience from managing personal brands and finances. The transfer portal creates natural experiments demonstrating adaptability across different systems and competition levels. Though scouting becomes more complex with prospects bouncing between programs, teams gain invaluable insights into character development, seeing how players handle wealth and fame before investing millions in draft capital. Beyond the NFL While NIL reshapes football’s talent pipeline, its impact on basketballparticularly women’s basketballreveals how different sport economies create vastly different career decisions. Consider Olivia Miles, who was projected as the No. 2 prospect in the 2025 WNBA draft. Instead of going pro, Miles entered the transfer portal to play one final college season, leaving Notre Dame for Texas Christian University, and taking her lucrative NIL deals with her. If Miles were selected with the No. 2 pick in this years draft, she would have signed a four-year, $348,198 deal, an average annual value of $87,050. While her NIL valuation is undisclosed, the current top earner in womens college basketball (Louisiana State Universitys Flaujae Johnson) has $1.5 million in NIL deals, far exceeding what Miles would make in the WNBA in 2025. Delaying her WNBA entry also helps Miles avoid a four-year fixed rookie contract while the league negotiates a new collective bargaining agreement. With the WNBA’s $2.2 billion media deal taking effect in 2026, players are seeking significant pay increases, and Miles is betting that rookies entering next year will receive substantially better compensation than those locked into legacy rookie contracts. Even USCs JuJu Watkins, perhaps women’s basketball’s most talented player, has no financial reason to rush her ACL recovery and enter the WNBA draft early. Her NIL deals continue during rehab, providing security that previous generations of athletes never had. Cooper Flagg is a special case The case of Dukes Cooper Flagg illustrates the stark contrast between men’s and women’s basketball. Flagg, just 18, is expected to be the No. 1 NBA draft pick after just one college season and could earn roughly $13.8 million as a rookie, escalating to $19.2 million by year four. After his rookie contract, he would be eligible for a five-year max extension worth an estimated $328.3 million, and if he makes an All-NBA Team along the way, that max extension would approach $400 million. If Flagg returns to Duke, experts estimate he could earn between $6 million and $8 million in NIL money. Given his earning potential in his rookie year and the possibility of delaying starting the clock toward a possible $400 million max extension, returning to school would be financially irrational, making Flagg an exception to what has otherwise become a popular rule among prospects. The future is now As the landscape continues to evolve and amateurism becomes more professionalized, the relationship between college athletics and pro leagues will follow suit. The traditional talent pipeline has been reengineered, and it will be on full display at Thursdays NFL draft. Ward and Sanders aren’t just prospects. They’re prototypes of a new business model. Players now operate like startups, leveraging strategic pivots (transfers) and funding rounds (NIL deals) to maximize their valuation before acquisition (the draft). Ward’s journey from zero-star recruit to potential first-overall pick represents the ultimate minimum viable product transformation, while Sanderss $6.5 million NIL portfolio demonstrates the power of calculated patience and brand development. The talent acquisition game in sports has changed forever. The only question remaining is which teams and players are creative enough to use that to their advantage.
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E-Commerce
The Trump administration is working to lift regulations on coal-fired power plants in the hopes of making its energy less expensive. But while cost is one important aspect, utilities have a lot more to consider when they choose their power sources. Different technologies play different roles in the power system. Some sources, like nuclear energy, are reliable but inflexible. Other sources, like oil, are flexible but expensive and polluting. How utilities choose which power source to invest in depends in large part on two key aspects: price and reliability. Power prices One way to compare power sources is by their levelized cost of electricity. This shows how much it costs to produce one unit of electricity on average over the life of the generator. The asset management firm Lazard has produced levelized cost of electricity calculations for the major U.S. electricity sources annually for years, and it has tracked a sharp decline in solar power costs in particular. Coal is one of the more expensive technologies for utilities today, making it less competitive compared with solar, wind and natural gas, by Lazards calculations. Only nuclear, offshore wind and peaker plants, which are used only during periods of high electricity demand, are more expensive. Land-based wind and solar power have the lowest estimated costs, far below what consumers are paying for electricity today. The National Renewable Energy Lab has found similar levelized costs for renewable energy, though its estimates for nuclear are lower than Lazards. https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/Lh38M/3 Upfront costs are also important and can make the difference for whether new power projects can be built, as the East Coast has seen lately. Several offshore wind farms planned along the Northeast were canceled in recent years as costs rose due to inflation and supply chain problems during the pandemic. Construction costs for the two newest nuclear generators built in the U.S. also rose considerably as the projects, both in the Southeast, faced delays. Reliability and flexibility matter But cost isn’t the whole story. Utilities must balance a number of criteria when investing in power sources. Most important is matching supply and demand at every moment of the day. Due to the technical characteristics of electricity and how it flows, if the supply of electricity is even a little bit lower than the demand, that can trigger a blackout. This means power companies and consumers need generation that can ramp down when demand is low and ramp up when demand is high. Since wind and solar generation depend on the wind blowing and the sun shining, these sources must be combined with other types of generation or with storage, such as batteries, to ensure the power grid has exactly as much power as it needs at all times. Nuclear and coal are predictable and run reliably, but they’re inflexiblethey take time to ramp up and down, and doing so is expensive. Steam turbines are simply not built for flexibility. The multiple days it took to shut down Japans Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant after an earthquake and tsunami damaged its backup power sources in 2011 illustrated the challenges and safety issues related to ramping down nuclear plants. That means coal and nuclear arent as helpful on those hot summer days when utilities need a quick power increase to keep air conditioners running. These peaks may only happen a few days a year, but keeping the power on is crucial for human health and the economy. In todays energy system, the most flexible generation sources are natural gas and hydro. They can quickly adjust to meet changing electricity demand without the safety and cost concerns of coal and nuclear. Hydro can ramp in minutes but can only be built where large dams are feasible. The most cost-effective natural gas technology can ramp up within hours. The big picture, by power source Over the past two decades, natural gas use has risen quickly to overtake coal as the most common fuel for generating electricity in the U.S. The boom was largely driven by the growing use of fracking technology, which allowed producers to extract gas from rock and lowered the price. https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/VRgsO/1 Natural gass low price and high flexibility make it an attractive choice. Its rise is a large part of the reason coal use has plummeted. But natural gas has its challenges. Natural gas requires pipelines to carry it across the country, leading to disruptive construction. As Texas saw during its February 2021 blackouts, natural gas equipment can also fail in extreme cold. And like coal, natural gas is a fossil fuel that releases greenhouse gases during combustion, so it is also helping to cause climate change and contributes to air pollution that can harm human health. Nuclear power has been gaining interest recently since it does not contribute to climte change or local air pollution. It also provides a steady baseload of power, which is useful for computing centers as their demand does not fluctuate as much as households. Of course, nuclear has ongoing challenges around the storage of radioactive waste and security concerns, and construction of large nuclear plants takes many years. Coal is more flexible than nuclear, but far less so than natural gas or hydropower. Most concerning, coal is extremely dirty, emitting more climate-change-causing gases, and far more air pollution than natural gas. Solar and wind have grown rapidly in recent years due to their falling costs and environmental benefits. According to Lazard, the cost of solar combined with batteries, which would be as flexible as hydropower, is well below the cost of coal with its limited flexibility. However, wind and solar tend to take up a lot of space, which has led to challenges in local approvals for new sites and transmission lines. In addition, the sheer number of new projects is overwhelming power system operators ability to evaluate them, leading to increasing wait times for new generation to come online. Whats ahead? Utilities have another consideration: Federal, state, and local governments can also influence and sometimes limit utilities choices. Tariffs, for example, can increase the cost of critical components for new construction. Permitting and regulations can slow down development. Subsidies can artificially lower costs. In our view, policies that are done right can help utilities move toward more reliable and cost-effective choices which are also cleaner. Done wrong, they can be costly to the economy and the environment. Erin Baker is a distinguished professor of industrial engineering and faculty director of The Energy Transition Institute at UMass Amherst and Paola Pimentel Furlanetto is a Ph.D. candidate in power systems at UMass Amherst. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
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E-Commerce
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