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Think back to the shifting tech landscape of 2015. Uptown Funk was blaring on digital music outlets, Snapchat filters were laid over every selfie, and hoverboards were all the rage. At the same time, marketing teams were facing an uphill battle to prove ROI as new digital marketing opportunities, like the rise of video content marketing and the shift towards mobile, led to changing tactics, and budgets came under more scrutiny. Now, a decade later, human resources teams are facing similar circumstances. Just like marketing leaders had to establish their digital campaigns values, HR pros now need to demonstrate how their tech-forward people programs drive business results. The good news? Marketing teams have already nailed this shift and their journey can offer a blueprint for HR leaders facing the same pressures. The rise to power Going back to 2010, digital marketing was the latest innovation and became the fastest path to rapid growth for companies. Later, the advent of new marketing tactics and an increased focus on social channels thrust marketers into the spotlight in a way they hadnt been before. These new channels gave marketers new access to real-time data, requiring more resources to be successful and leading to increased scrutiny of how they were using those resources. And the results mattered more than ever. Along with the pressure, that limelight also brought opportunity. In 2009, when I worked at Gaps newly formed digital division, the finance team set benchmarks for success in e-commerce. There were a lot of conversations around the right metrics to track, which gave us a say in how to measure our results. This was crucial at the time. Asking marketing about metrics versus handing down an answer that didnt match expected outcomes meant we could better align our goals with actual business priorities. In recent years, HR has faced a similar opportunity. In 2020, when COVID hit, people became the scarcest resource for many companies, and HR became the most powerful function overnight. For the first time, HR had a real seat at the table. All of a sudden, employee safety, well-being, and retention at all costs were part of HRs already heavy workload. Now, in 2025, the impact of AIs rapid advancement and employee skills gaps due to demographic shifts have put HR leaders front and center once again to drive workforce transformation for their businesses. As with the rise of marketing a decade earlier, leaders should be asking how they can most effectively track success. The measurement reckoning 2015 marked the year of ROI as a key determining factor of success for marketing leaders. This was when delivering on goals no longer felt like a nice to have, but a career make-or-break. Marketing overhauled how the organization viewed them. With increasing numbers of data and channels, there were limitless ways to target customers, and lots of wrong answers. The C-suite started expecting quantitative results from campaigns that they couldnt do before. Today, HR teams are taking on more: driving workforce transformation, keeping pace with AI, employee wellness, and a general imperative to do more with less. Similar to its marketing predecessor, HR now needs to report results tied to business objectives in concrete ways that were previously unquantifiable. Increased scrutiny over cost efficiency is putting HR pros under the microscope, and results are no longer only about a vibe check and building company culture. When HR leaders think about the outcomes theyre driving for the business, they should think of stakeholders as paying customers that matter to their organizations bottom line. Employees are as important as customers in this regard, and need the KPI treatment in todays era. In 2025, the employers who align their people investments with business objectives are the ones who will stay competitive and build future-proof talent pipelines needed to evolve and advance their organization. The rebalancing Today, successful marketing programs require a blend of coordinated strategies for maximum impact. Brand building efforts, technology solutionsincluding AIand targeted campaigns must work in tandem to influence growth. Tomorrow, HR leaders will need to employ a similar symphony of tools, measurements, and experiences to create the cocktail of appropriate conditions for their people to thrive and maximize their potential. Just as marketing evolved from simple advertising to a sophisticated, data-driven industry, HR is transforming from personnel management to truly owning its C-suite seat. The future demands an integrated approach where technology augments teams capabilities, where analytics inform but don’t make decisions, and where employee experience is crafted with the same intention as customer experience. Luckily, smart business leaders now realize that it takes a mix of art and science to get it right. Striking the perfect balance will generate strong business results, and be the element that separates thriving companies from surviving companies. Throughout my career, I’ve learned that growing a business isn’t about one magic solutionit’s about mixing different marketing approaches that work together, a true portfolio approach. By learning from marketing’s journey and combining data-driven insights with human-centered approaches, HR leaders can build the foundation for organizations to thrive. The Fast Company Impact Council is a private membership community of influential leaders, experts, executives, and entrepreneurs who share their insights with our audience. Members pay annual membership dues for access to peer learning and thought leadership opportunities, events and more.
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In March, women are at the forefront of the cultural conversation. Recently, on March 8th, International Womens Day was recognizeda moment that originally sprung from a movement to fight against child labor and sweatshop working conditions. This years theme was accelerating action, and I feel fortunate in my role as chief philanthropy officer at UNICEF USA, that I can support girls around the worldour future leaders, scientists, engineers, mothers, entrepreneurs, and more. What are the barriers standing in their way? And how do we accelerate action? Right now, its estimated that we wont see full gender parity until 2158. I dont want to wait for my great-great-great grandchild to live in a world where girls have a fair shot at life. As a mother of three girls, this is also personal. We need the next generation of girls and women everywhere to be catalysts for lasting change. Female genital mutilation still occurs Last month, I traveled to Senegal to see UNICEFs work firsthand. I visited a program that provides emergency assistance to young victims of violence and abuse, I met with a womens teachers network that champions education for girls, and I visited programs equipping girls and young women with skills in leadership, communication, and entrepreneurship. At an adolescent training center in Kolda, we met Khadidiatou D. Khadi, who performed a slam poem about female genital mutilation (FGM), a dangerous procedure she underwent as a child. Khadi uses what shes learned at the center to advocate with local leaders and parents to prevent other girls from experiencing the mental and physical suffering due to FGM. We also spoke with Sally S., who learned skills to support herself and her family. She makes and sells dyed cloth, sanitary napkins, and soap from local plants like moringa, lemon, and aloe vera. In addition to running her own small business, Sally pays it forward by training girls in Kolda who have disabilities like her. Sally’s disability is the result of FGM, which over 2 million girls and women in Senegal have experienced. Before joining the adolescent center, Sally was hesitant to even leave her house because of the stigma of her disability, which she thought would prevent her from joining the center. When the head of the center asked her to join, she was surprised to be invitedmuch less encouragedto join. Address root causes of exclusion My time in Senegal reminded me that championing gender equality requires us to address root causes of exclusion. Violence like Khadi and Sally enduredas well as child marriage, lack of menstrual hygiene, and teenage pregnancyare some of the barriers girls and women around the world face. Sobering data from other regions illustrate the prevalence of gender-based violence. For example, our new report shows that 221 rape cases in Sudan against children have been recorded since 2024 began. Total cases are likely higher, as survivors and their families often dont come forward due to challenges accessing services or out of fear of retribution. But there is hope. A recent report issued by UNICEF, Plan International, and UN Women indicates that FGM is declining. Nations like Burkina Faso and Liberia are cutting the share of girls subjected to the practice over the last 30 years by half. This progress is promising, but we need to go 27 times faster to entirely meet our 2030 target FGM eradication goal entirely. Education is vital We must protect girls. But protection is not enough. They need opportunities to learn and pursue their goals. An estimated 129 million girls are not in school, globally. In some cultures, families favor sons over daughters when investing in their childrens education. In Afghanistan, girls are barred from high school and college classrooms due to national restrictions. Around the world, girls aged 10-14 are twice as likely to spend excessive hours on household chores than boys of the same age; often fetching water from faraway sources because of poor water and sanitation systems. Unpaid work all too often falls to girls and women, pushing education farther out of their reach. Despite challenges, we are making progress in Senegal and all over the world. In Senegal, the government increased resourcing for FGM elimination in 2023 by 50%. Further, FGM in Senegal hit its lowest point in 2023. And progress is possible when it comes to education as welltoday, 50 million more girls are in school globally compared to a decade ago and completion rates have ticked up too. These encouraging results, and what I saw in Senegal, gave me not only hope but the energy to continue to advocate and steward support for programs that will truly change the lives of girls and young people who simply want a chance at living a life they dream about. Milestones like International Womens Day allow us to take a moment to stop and see how far weve come, and remind us how far we still have to go. Philanthropy exists to advance pathways to opportunity. Progress is possible; but a future of possibility for girls like Khadi and Sally exists only if we remain steadfast in doing our part to break down barriers and accelerate action. Michele Walsh is executive vice president and chief philanthropy officer of UNICEF USA. The Fast Company Impact Council is a private membership community of influential leaders, experts, executives, and entrepreneurs who share their insights with our audience. Members pay annual membership dues for access to peer learning and thought leadership opportunities, events and more.
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In hindsight, NATO was an unnecessarily confusing acronym for a trade organization representing movie theater owners. For 60 years, the National Association of Theatre Owners has promoted interests of movie theaters, from the biggest chains to the one-screen mom and pop shops. Theyve also regularly gotten mail and phone calls intended for the other NATO, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. But the theater owners organization is looking to the future, with a new name and a refocused mission. The group will now be known as Cinema United, president and CEO Michael OLeary told The Associated Press Tuesday. It can be a little complicated having the same name as a multinational military alliance, OLeary said. We felt that it was time to look at our name and do a rebrand. They wanted the new name to reflect the passion and energy of the people that run theaters, OLeary said, and to put the focus back on the exhibitors and movie theaters. Cinema United represents more than 32,000 movie screens in the U.S. and more than 30,000 screens in 88 countries. Their job, OLeary explained, is to promote and support theatrical exhibition. Moviegoing, the new tagline reads, is their mission. Weve had a challenging four or five years. But with each passing day, we put those challenges in the rearview mirror a little bit more. Our focus right now is on the future, OLeary said. I think that we stand on the precipice of the next great era of cinema. An Oscars rallying cry for moviegoing Just a few weeks ago, Anora filmmaker Sean Baker made his own case for theaters on the national stage. In accepting his best director Oscar, he used his time at the podium to make a battle cry for the theatrical experience for filmmakers to keep making movies for the big screen and for studios to keep releasing them there. People were ecstatic about it, OLeary said. He has earned the unyielding allegiance of theater owners all around the world for his strong support over the years, and certainly at the Oscars. Movie theaters big and small were hit hard by the pandemic many closed and never re-opened. Last year, they also faced a depleted release calendar due to the Hollywood strikes. Its all resulted in a depleted domestic box office that has yet to reach pre-pandemic levels. In 2024, the industry finished just over $8.7 billion, down 3.3% from 2023 and 23.5% from 2019. A fuller release schedule is expected this year, but currently the box-office total is down about 5% from where the industry was last year at this time. Its really important that we not put too much emphasis on a single year like 2025. We need to constantly be building and growing and moving forward, OLeary said. Despite challenges, it remains an all-ages and affordable entertainment pasttime. A recent study from the National Research Group said 76% of the American population ages 12 to 74 attended at least one movie in 2024. Highlighting movie theater upgrades And though theater closures often make headlines, like the E Street Cinema in Washington D.C., where Cinema United is headquartered, theres also been a spate of investment and refurbishment in theaters around the country, some spearheaded by famous filmmakers and actors. Jason Reitman along with more than 30 directors including Steven Spielberg, Christopher Nolan and Bradley Cooper last February acquired Westwoods Village Theater in Los Angeles, which dates back to 1931. Patrick Wilson also purchased and helped restore an historic theater in New Canaan, CT, joining big screen disciples like Francis Ford Coppola, Martin Scorsese and Quentin Tarantino who have all invested in movie theaters. Last fall, the eight biggest theater chains in the U.S. and Canada announced that they planned to invest more than $2.2 billion to modernize 21,000 movie theater screens over the next three years. This includes anything from projectors, lighting and sound to features in the concessions area. But upgrades in theaters are nothing new, OLeary said, theyre just helping to draw attention to it. The entire membership reinvests in their theaters on a regular basis, OLeary said. Part of the reason we made that announcement was because I dont think its obvious to people that theater owners are constantly in the process of reinventing themselves and reinvesting. Gearing up for 2025’s summer movie season The announcement comes just over a week before some 6,000 movie theater employees from around the world convene in Las Vegas for the annual CinemaCon conference, which Cinema United hosts. All the major Hollywood studios, including The Walt Disney Studios, Warner Bros. Pictures, Universal Pictures and even Amazon/MGM will be making big, starry presentations on the main stage at Caesars Palace where executives and stars will show off new footage and trailers to make the case that they have the goods to get audiences in the theaters. Showcasing that many theaters are small businesses NATO was coined in 1965, a merger of the nations largest movie theater trade organizations: The Theater Owners of America, itself a product of a merger dating back to 1948, and the Allied States Association of Motion Picture Exhibitors, which goes back to the 1920s. Those at Cinema United like to say that “were not a Hollywood industry. Were a Main Street industry. At the end of the day, the vast majority of our members are small businesses, so they feel the same pushes and pulls that other small businesses feel throughout the United States and around the world, OLeary said. The headquarters of our biggest members are not in Los Angeles or New York. Theyre in Knoxville, Dallas and Kansas.” Lindsey Bahr, AP film writer
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