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The workplace is changing faster than most leaders can keep up with. Were seeing changing expectations around work-life balance, the rise of burnout, and the prevalence of economic pressures leading to the rise of generative AI. This leaves little time to adapt, let alone rethink how we engage and inspire our teams. This shift has impacted the workforce. According to the latest Glassdoor Worklife Trends 2025 Report, 65% of employees feel stuck in their current jobs. But when it comes to managing and motivating people, some things never change. Employees want to feel valued, supported, and integral to something bigger. Trust, human connection, and purpose remain key to any companys success, no matter how fast technology evolves or how much the workplace shifts. Fostering these values requires more from management than just hiring the best people. Its about creating an environment where workers thrive. This means they take ownership, contribute ideas, and collaborate. While strong leadership is vital for setting the companys vision and strategy, real energy and innovation emerge when those ideas come from the workforce. Employees who align with the companys broader goals drive innovation in ways that no algorithm or technology can replicate. Fostering a culture that explicitly values and empowers staff leads to creativity and allows companies to tap into the true potential of their workforce. This approach invites employees on every level to emerge as leaders and innovators. The great detachment from momentum Were witnessing a massive evolution in the workplace. When Amazon announced its return-to-office policy for 2025, the backlash was swift and unsurprising. Weve all seen this coming. Employees have found new ways to create an impact that doesnt fit the traditional office-bound, 9-to-5 mold. Gen Z is poised to outnumber baby boomers. And the impact will go beyond their numbersmany of them have a different way of working and what they expect from the workplace compared to previous generations. They grew up during the pandemic when remote learning and hybrid environments became the norm. Gen Z employees are comfortable contributing in flexible, nontraditional waysworking in bursts of focus or sending deliverables at midnight. For them, the emphasis isnt on showing up to the office but on the impact of their efforts. However, a recent Gallup poll indicates an alarming trend of employee detachment, particularly among those under 35. This raises a critical question: Is your company still focused on activity? Are you measuring for actual impact? RTO mandates alone wont change the culture or drive performance. Real progress happens when we trust our employees to experiment, share, and make meaningful contributions. Empowering staff from the bottom up means prioritizing outcomes that create value and drive our businesses forward. Businesses can no longer rely on traditional productivity. Continuing to think in outdated ways will not position companies to keep pace with competitors with a workforce that is more flexible, innovative, and thriving. As leaders, we must create space for impact and let go of outdated performance metrics that hold us back. Listen to your experts Leaders have the power to set the tone. Consider asking yourself,what do you need to learn or unlearn, and who can teach you this? Remember that its not your job to know everything. Thats what experts are for. Lean on them, trust them, and empower them. Elevate viewpoints from employees at all levels and champion their wisdom. Nurture a learning environment where you welcome candid conversations, and employees can exchange ideas without fear of judgment, blame, or backlash. Promote teamwork and collaboration. This requires removing obstacles and providing opportunities for talent that break down organizational silos and give life to new ideas. Create a collective spark Collaboration fuels creativity and impact. Leaders can foster this by creating space for employees to share ideas through brainstorms or reverse mentoring programs. They also need to find ways to empower employees to tackle challenges to encourage trust, innovation, and fresh thinking. These moments of connection and cocreation spark momentum that drives meaningful engagement and impact. The questions you ask shape the culture you create. Ask yourself, What steps can you take to empower leaders and employees to foster a sense of community? Who speaks freely, and who remains silent? Who receives credit, and who gets overlooked? Which employees get to create culture, rather than just to follow it? Create an environment where employees can influence processes. Encourage open conversations and employee input to simplify processes and make improvements that truly work for the team. This allows employees to sharpen their critical thinking, problem-solving, and leadership skills while contributing to meaningful outcomes. Create an empathetic culture Today’s employees are overloaded with information, juggling constant communication, evolving expectations, and endless demands. Leading with empathy is essential to fostering an environment that truly supports employees. A high say/do ratiowhere you consistently align your actions with promisesis critical to building trust and modeling the behavior you want to see. Your organizations culture is its most significant competitive edge. It can drive or hinder exceptional results, inspire a willingness to learn or a fear of failure, promote teams poised for problem-solving or riddled with distrust and toxicity, and encourage inclusivity or exclusion. Effective leadership isn’t about perfection; its about being present, intentional, and empathetic. When leaders intentionally tend to culture, they demonstrate to their employees what matters and is possible.
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E-Commerce
The color of the summer is here, and it started with a chocolate bar. Pistachio (both the food and the color) is all the rage right now. The nut entered the limelight over the past several months after various food creators on TikTok popularized Dubai chocolate, an indulgent chocolate bar filled with pistachio cream, tahini, and shredded phyllo dough. This spring, Dubai chocolate officially made its way into the mainstream, appearing as a cookie at Crumbl, a shake at Shake Shack, a chocolate bar at Trader Joes, a donut at Krispy Kreme, and a returning latte flavor at Dunkin. [Photo: Patislove] Demand for Dubai chocolate has spiked so high that pistachio producers in Iran exported 40% more nuts to the United Arab Emirates in the six months leading to March 2025 than they did in the entire 12 months before. Some stores have had to limit sales of the bars due to disruptions of the global pistachio supply chain. But it turns out that for customers in the U.S., theres a bonus to the trend besides an influx of tasty treats: The nut is relatively shielded from potential tariffs. Come what may, chances are that its about to be a very nuttyand very greensummer. A mechanical shaker harvests pistachio nuts on a farm in Californias San Joaquin Valley. [Photo: Ed Young/Design Pics Editorial/Universal Images Group/Getty Images] America dominates the pistachio market The U.S. is the top producer of pistachios globally, accounting for about 75% of the worlds supply, according to Zachary Fraser, president and CEO of American Pistachio Growers (APG). The second-largest producer is Iran. The 2024-2025 U.S. pistachio crop harvest, Fraser says, was 1.1 billion pounds in-shellthe third-largest harvest in the history of the industry. So far, Fraser reports, the Trump administrations tariffs have not had an immediate impact on the nut’s production. The industry is closely monitoring tariffs as the situation evolves, and we are active in the conversations with government officials to stay on top of the changing dynamics, Fraser says. Continuing to invest in market development and new countries to drive demand is part of that strategy. From APGs perspective, theres been a marked rise in interest in pistachios over the past several months. Recognizing the trending Dubai chocolate bar, its been exciting to see the popularity of pistachios grow across many other food and beverage products, Fraser says. Were seeing pistachios incorporated across baked goods, spreads, snacks, ice cream and more. [Photo: Shake Shack] Pistachio goes beyond the bar Pistachios arent staying confined to sweet treats, either. As the nuts flavor profile has risen into stardom, so, too, has its signature sage-green hue. In the past two months or so, pistachio green has exploded from the chocolate wrapper to fashion runways, mood boards, and even interior design. In March, Homes & Gardens called the hue designers go-to color for spring and summer 2025. In May, Harpers Bazaar noted that the gastronomic shade defined recent fashion shows by Miu Miu, Prada, Alexander McQueen, Gucci, and others. The average American is also becoming enamored with the color. According to Pinterest global data from January to March 2025, searches for pistachio chocolate bar surged 1,989%, while searches for pistachio outfit ideas jumped 361% and those for pistachio green weddings were up 285%. Sydney Stanback, global trends and insights lead at Pinterest, says pistachios are “having a major moment” on the app, noting, What started in the kitchen is now spilling over into style, with this earthy green inspiring everything from homemade desserts to intentional fashion choices.”
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E-Commerce
Antonia Saint Dunbar, cofounder of the period underwear brand Thinx, loves the way she feels when she’s wearing heels. “It has a divine geometry,” she says. “It creates a perfect pitch for your body, elongating your leg, creating an anatomical architectural balance.” Saint Dunbar isn’t alone: Even as society has become more casual, making sneakers and Birkenstocks acceptable to wear in more situations, many women still love the way they look and feel while wearing heels. But sometimes this means compromising comfort for style. While running Thinx in heels, Saint Dunbar says she often had to scan the room for a place to sit because her feet hurt so much, and took cabs so she wouldn’t have to walk. Part of the reason that heels are so uncomfortable is that many early shoe designers were men. They designed heels they believed would make women look attractive, but had no idea how the shoes would feel on the wearers feet. Today, women aren’t willing to compromise on comfort. This is particularly true after the pandemic, Saint Dunbar says. Stuck at home, women stopped wearing heels and turned to more comfortable footwear. Now painful heels feel even more unacceptable. The good news is that there’s a new generation of shoe brands focused on designs that make them more comfortable, including Sneex, Nomasei, and Marion Parke. Saint Dunbar herself is among these founders. In 2016, while still running Thinx, she launched Antonia Saint NY, which creates more comfortable heels. She’s taken the silhouette of a classic stiletto and added a layer of padding inside to provide better arch support and toe cushioning. She’s just relaunched all of her shoes with a slimmer version of the padding to offer the same level of comfort with less bulk. As we head into summer, we’ve been testing out the most comfortable shoes for everything from weddings to company outings. Here are five we love. [Photo: Antonia Saint NY] Antonia Saint NY Vicki DOrsay, $286 This shoe has a 2-inch heel that gives you just enough lift. Its outfitted with an updated padding system called SoftSurround. There is a layer of cushioning within the entire upper, with a special focus on the toes and the back of the heels. There is also a rubberized outsole for better traction. The outer is made of a soft Nappa leather. It’s designed to help you get through a full day without any pain. [Photo: Sézane] Sézane Gloria Sandals, $215 These strappy sandals offer the vintage aesthetic that Sézane is known for, featuring an elegant circle design. They’re versatile, since they can be dressed up or down, looking just as nice with jeans as with more formal summer dresses. With a 2.75-inch heel, they offer height without leaving you with achey legs or calves. [Photo: Margaux] Margaux City Sandal, $375 As their name implies, these shoes are designed for pounding the pavement. They feature a 2.5-inch block heel that is very walkable, and crisscross straps that are placed to make your feet feel supported. The insole features foam padding for cushioning. They come in a wide range of colors to match your outfits. [Photo: Nomasei] Nomasei Baghera, $450 Founded by former shoe designers at Chloe, Nomasei wants to bring comfort to the luxury shoe experience. The brands Baghera sandals are meant to provide all the leg-lengthening effects of a high heel, bu in a much more comfortable silhouette. They feature a 2.3-inch wide block heel, with an insole made of memory foam, lining made of goat leather, and an outsole made of calf leather. [Photo: Rothy’s] Rothys Knot Sandal, $189 If you’re concerned about the environment, Rothy’s is a good option. The brand was first known for its flats, but it has expanded into new silhouettes, including heels. These sandals are made of eight ocean-bound plastic bottles that have been recycled into a knot material. With a 2-inch block heel and a plush footbed, they’re designed to be worn all day. And as a bonus, theyre machine washable, which extends their life.
Category:
E-Commerce
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