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When I recently needed to find a last-minute place to stay for a week in Palo Alto, I picked one of the cheapest options on Airbnb: a 13-by-13 foot tiny house. Inside, the main living area was smaller than a parking space. Still, it had room for everything you might find in a typical studio apartment. Along the back, a tiny loveseat disguised a Murphy bed that could be pulled down from the wall; the coffee table was exactly the right size to move to the opposite side of the room when it was time to use the bed. On the other side of the house, there was a minuscule kitchen with a tiny fridge, a two-burner stove, and a sink, next to a semi-normal-sized bathroom with a shower. [Photo: courtesy Kithaus] The home is the smallest ADU, or backyard house, made by a prefab company called KitHAUS. (The company also makes even smaller units, without kitchens or bathrooms, that can be used as home offices or art studios.) The size makes it more likely to be used as a guest house. But its also one example of an ADU that could be built relatively quickly and affordably to help tackle the housing crisisincluding in L.A., where the city needed hundreds of thousands of new units even before the fires destroyed thousands of homes. The 169-square-foot version of the house starts at only $80,000, and can be built in around a week. Adding a foundation and doing the other prep work needed to install the prefab building adds another 15% to the cost. In total, the size makes it less expensive than building a typical ADU. View this post on Instagram A post shared by kitHAUS (@kithaus) The company also makes larger (and pricier) versions with one or two bedrooms. In L.A., they could be used in two ways. It could be a temporary spacein the Palisades, if someones going to rebuild their home, we may be able to have a prefab building like a KitHAUS in the burn areas, says Tom Sandonato, cofounder of the company. The units are made from aluminum and other fire-rated materials, which makes them safer in a wildfire, though not completely fireproof; some ADUs that the company previously built in Altadena and Pacific Palisades were lost in the recent fires. Like other ADUs, the designs can also be used to quickly add new backyard units in cities like L.A. that dont have enough apartment buildings. [Photo: courtesy Kithaus] The version that I stayed in was a tight squeeze. But that was partly because of the furniture and layout. The combination bed-sofa that the owner had chosen was difficult to wrangle: Since all of the cushions had to be removed from the sofa to pull down the bedand the bedding had to be taken off to fold the bed back onto the wall to unveil the sofaI didnt end up bothering to switch it back and forth. The bed took up most of the floor space. But as I perched on a tiny chair and surveyed the room, I could envision how different furniture could have made the space more functional; a regular bed would have worked better than a Murphy bed, for example, despite the fact that the Murphy bed was designed to save room. I was working remotely from the tiny cottage. But for someone who spends long hours at a job somewhere else and often goes out at night, its possible to imagine that 169 square feet could be enough space. At the property where I stayed, there was a a private patio that was larger than the tiny house itself. Thanks to the fact that Palo Altos weather is 70 degrees and sunny for much of the year, it was effectively an extra room. [Photo: courtesy Kithaus] L.A. has been trying to push residents to build more backyard houses for a decade, with help from state laws that loosened zoning restrictions. Last year, more than a third of the new houses built in L.A. County were ADUs. Current ADUs are already helping house some Angelenos who lost their homes in the fires. Now, Sandonato is hoping that the city will help streamline permitting more to make ADUs even easier to build. One of the KitHAUS designs, for example, could potentially be pre-permitted to speed up the process.
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E-Commerce
I didnt know what to say, so I avoided him.” Thats what a leader confessed to me during a coaching session, his voice low with shame. One of his team members had just lost a child, and instead of reaching out, he kept his distance. What could I possibly say to make it better? he asked me. I was terrified Id make things worse. Its a moment many leaders face but few talk about. When employees are dealing with loss, crisis, or personal hardship, the instinct to avoid, to stay in the safe zone of tasks and deadlines, can be overwhelming. But leadership during hard times isnt about having the perfect wordsits about having the courage to show up. The Emotional Weight of Hardship Hardship can take many forms: a natural disaster, economic uncertainty, a significant organizational change, or even the loss of a beloved team member. These situations disrupt normalcy, destabilize routines, and often leave employees carrying emotional burdens into the workplace. But hardship isnt just personalits collective. When one persons world is shaken, the ripple effects can touch entire teams. For example: A team grappling with layoffs may experience anxiety and survivors guilt. An employee returning to work after a family emergency might struggle with focus or emotional exhaustion. A department affected by a major project setback could feel disoriented or demotivated. Ronald Heifetz, a pioneer in adaptive leadershipa practice of mobilizing people to tackle tough challenges by addressing underlying behaviorsteaches that hardship disrupts more than just routines. It challenges identities and certainties. A leaders role is not to mask this discomfort but to create a holding environmenta safe space where people can process emotions, confront challenges, and begin adapting to new realities. Creating a Holding Environment: Practical Steps A holding environment is both a physical and psychological construct. Its a spaceliteral or metaphoricalwhere people feel safe enough to express vulnerability and work through challenges. Heres how leaders can create one: 1. Be present without trying to solve everythingLeaders often feel compelled to jump in with solutions, but during times of hardship, this instinct can feel dismissive. Instead, focus on listening deeply and acknowledging the complexity of what your team is experiencing. For instance, if a team is navigating the loss of a major client, recognize their efforts and express understanding, rather than rushing to push them toward the next target. 2. Establish safety through boundariesEmployees need to feel that sharing their emotions wont jeopardize their professional standing or team dynamics. Create structured opportunities for open dialogue, such as team check-ins or one-on-one conversations, and set clear boundaries to ensure these spaces are respectful and constructive. 3. Model vulnerability and humanityLeaders dont have to have all the answers. Showing your own humanitywhether its sharing how youve navigated setbacks or admitting youre also finding the situation challengingbuilds trust and normalizes vulnerability. For example, a leader might say, Im also struggling to see the bigger picture right now, but I know well figure it out together. 4. Encourage reflection and meaning-makingHardship often leaves people searching for meaning. Encourage employees to share their stories or lessons learned. Even simple gestures, like celebrating the resilience a team demonstrated during a tight deadline or acknowledging the effort it took to navigate a tough quarter, can help employees feel seen and valued. When Leadership Misses the Mark Even well-intentioned leaders can stumble in their responses to hardship. Heres what to avoid: 1. Over-optimism: Efforts to keep the mood upbeat can feel tone-deaf if they dont acknowledge the gravity of the situation. Avoid platitudes like, This will all blow over soon and instead validate what your team is experiencing.2. Delegating empathy: Empathy cant be outsourced to HR or managers alone. Leaders need to show up authentically and engage with their teams directly. Theres no exact right way to do this, and sometimes naming your own discomfort or uncertainty is the act of courage that will connect you more deeply. Leaders sometimes hesitate to do this out of fear, and are surprised how relieving and even inspiring it proves to be.3. Inconsistency: Providing initial support but failing to follow through can erode trust. Ensure any commitmentswhether flexible schedules, extra resources, or emotional supportare sustained for as long as needed.4. Ignoring the bigger picture: Focusing only on individual employees can mean overlooking team dynamics or cultural shifts that also need attention. Loss creates a wake that needs its own acknowledgement. The Cost of Neglecting Hardship When hardship is left unaddressed, morale drops, productivity suffers, and turnover increases. Stress and grief, if ignored, can escalate into disengagement or even conflict. Ive worked with organizations who talk about these events as if they were yesterday only to find out they were many years in the past. To those carrying them into the present, they still felt relevant because they went unaddressed or unprocessed. This sets up a divide of the people who want to move on and those who feel left behind or unheard. The very thing that many leaders avoid, naming and acknowledging the losses, is in fact, what Heifetz offers as the leaders greatest opportunity. Intentional leadership during challenging times can strengthen bonds, build trust, and foster a culture of resilience. For instance, a leader who supports an employee through a personal crisis by adjusting their workload or connecting them with resources creates goodwill that extends far beyond the immediate situation. Adaptive Leadership for Lasting Impact Navigating hardship requires adaptive leadershiphelping individuals and teams bridge the gap between current realities and future possibilities. This often means asking tough questions: What do we need to let go of? What can we salvage? How do we move forward together? The process isnt easy, but the results are profound. By meeting hardship with empathy, openness, and authenticity, leaders can transform challenges into opportunities for growth and connection. In a world that is constantly changing, great leadership isnt about avoiding adversityits about creating more space to meet it with courage, compassion, and clarity.
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E-Commerce
During his first week in office, President Donald Trump withdrew from the Paris climate agreement, declared an energy emergency, renewed his vow to drill, baby, drill, and began dismantling American climate policy. That has left environmental advocates looking to states to lead the nations efforts to burn fewer fossil fuelsand a report released Wednesday shows there is much more they can do. One of the most powerful tools at each states disposal is the ability to work with utilities to encourage energy efficiency. But the report from the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy, or ACEEE, details how only 26 states, along with the District of Columbia, have established a so-called energy-efficiency resource standard, or EERS. These targets, set by legislators or utility regulators, require utilities to implement programssuch as weatherization or rebates on appliancesthat cut energy consumption by a certain amount each year. There is more work that needs to be done, said Jasmine Mah, a senior research analyst at the Council and an author of the report. Since 2012, just three states have added such a standard, while New Hampshire, Ohio, and Iowa repealed theirs in favor of less-ambitious or scaled-back programming. Arizona is also pursuing a rollback. Mah says the report is aimed at state policymakers and regulators, who could shift that tide. We hope that highlighting the positive impacts of having an EERS in place would encourage states to pass a policy, she said. An earlier ACEEE report found that as of 2017, states with an energy-efficiency resource standard saw four times the electricity savings as states without one. In 2023, states with such a plan accounted for about 59% of the U.S. population but 82% of the savings. States arent doing this just because of climate change, said Barry Rabe, a political scientist at the University of Michigan who studies energy and climate politics. There is an economic advantage. Fossil-fuel-friendly Texas, Rabe noted, was the first to adopt an EERS in 1999. But efficiency can become less of a priority when energy supplies are abundant and costs are stable. The decline in interest, Rabe said, has in some degree coincided with the massive increase in natural gas use in the U.S. Still, the Council also found that many states have gone beyond baseline policies and implemented what the report dubs next-generation initiatives that aim to lower greenhouse gas emissions, spur electrification, serve lower-income populations, and reduce consumers financial energy burdens. All but 4 of the 27 states (including D.C.) with an energy-efficiency resource standard have implemented at least one such effort, but only 9 have adopted all of them, leaving plenty of room for growth. We found that low-income targets are the most common complementary goal related to efficiency standards, said Mah. [But] not many states had provisions for energy affordability. The report spotlights five states that have been particularly effective at employing these programs. Illinois has targeted using only clean energy by 2050. Massachusetts aims to install half a million heat pumps by 2030. Michigan mandates that utilities dedicate at least 25% (electric utilities) and 35% (gas utilities) of their energy-efficiency funding to programs serving low-income customers. Utilities in New York and Minnesota have capped the portion of a customers income that can go toward utility costs at 6% and 4%, respectively. President Trumps push to repeal the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act, or IRA, likely wont impact state EERSs because they are generally funded through fees added to utility bills. We see that as probably the best way to bring significant funds, said Justin Brant, the utility program director at the Southwest Energy Efficiency Project. Critics of Arizonas EERS, which was adopted in 2010, point to the $3 billion cost to customers. Utilities should select the most cost-effective energy mix to provide reliable and affordable service, without being constrained by government-imposed mandates that make it more expensive for their customers, said Arizona Corporation Commissioner Nick Myers in a statement last year. But the states largest electric utility found that in 2023, EERS investments reaped about twice as much in returns as was spent. Were saving money for all customers, even those who arent participating, said Brant. The IRA does provide nearly $9 billion for energy-efficiency and electrification programs, almost all of which is distributed via states and could be used on next-generation programs, like those serving low-income households. That money has already been awarded. But the Republican-controlled Congress could roll back federal tax credits for energy efficiency and electrification, which indirectly make it easier for states to achieve their energy-efficiency resource standard and next-generation goals. Brant says he would add another policy to the Councils next-generation wish list for states: programs that encourage customers to spread out the timing of their daily energy use. Lower peak demand means power plants dont need to be as large. And that, he said, will be especially critical as renewable energy becomes an increasing part of the countrys electricity mix. Time shift is not something that this report looked at, he said. I think thats another piece that needs to be prioritized. This article originally appeared in Grist, a nonprofit, independent media organization dedicated to telling stories of climate solutions and a just future. Sign up for its newsletter here.
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E-Commerce
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