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When I entered the workforce, I remember trying to appear constantly available to my bosses. It was the height of hustle culture, back when phrases like Ill sleep when Im dead actually sounded cool. Prioritizing work above all else felt like a prerequisite for climbing the corporate ladder. It was also a fast-track to burnout. Now, as the CEO of my own company, I appreciate when employees and candidates are honest about their boundaries. To me, it signals a well-rounded person who is more likely to thrive and stick around. Im more interested in how they think, whether theyre solution-oriented, and what kind of energy they bring to the team. For a long time, putting in more hours was the unspoken rule for proving your commitment to your job. But thats changing. Todays workplace increasingly values outcomes over hours. The always-on era is giving way to something very different. Employees are prioritizing a holistic sense of well-being, and I think thats a positive shift for individuals and organizations alike. Heres why. Looking busy doesnt equal productivity The rocks, pebbles, and sand metaphor is a useful way to rethink how we measure productivity, for ourselves and for our teams. The rocks are the priorities: the high-impact tasks that inspire employees and energize them. For me, the rocks are writing and strategizing how to simplify our users lives through automation. The sand, on the other hand, is the low-value busyworkthose draining tasks that clutter the day without moving the needle. Think: expense reports, invoicing, unnecessary meetings, or chasing status updates. Its easier than ever to fill our calendars with sand and convince ourselves were being productive. But when our teams are overloaded with the trivialthe sandtheres no room left for meaningful work. Leaders are tasked with protecting time for the rocks, in our own schedules and across organizations. That means setting an example about clearly and regularly outlining priorities, encouraging employees to streamline or eliminate busywork, and valuing outcomes over hours. Just because someone is still online at 6:30 p.m. doesnt mean theyre being effective. And just because someone has to cut out early doesnt mean they havent had a productive day. Create a culture that values deep and smart work, and youll see not only better results but also more energized employees. Focusing on outcomes encourages efficiency Constraints often spark creativity. Deadlines, for example, force us to figure out the most efficient way to get something done. If youve ever pulled off a last-minute project under the gun and surprised yourself with how quickly you accomplished it, you know the power of time pressure. You might have even thought afterward: If only I could always work with that kind of momentum. By contrast, when organizations focus on hours worked, with face-time requirements and mandating that employees be on for a certain number of hours each day, tasks tend to expand to fill the time available. Thats the antithesis of true productivity. Consider law firms, where clients are billed by the hour. Lawyers must track every minute of their day. Those who work quickly and efficiently are often penalized, with fewer hours to bill. Its a system that rewards time spent over value delivered. When leaders shift the focus to outcomes, employees are naturally motivated to work smarter, not longer. This requires setting clear expectations for what success looks like on a project or task, beyond just the time spent. As Georgia Dawson, senior partner at global law firm Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, puts it: It would be ideal for the industry if we can start to move toward more of a focus on outputs and the value that is being delivered by lawyers. That supports a drive toward efficiency, a drive toward the use of technology, and it can help to support a better focus on mental health, well-being, and diversity in the profession as well. The same logic applies beyond law. Outcome-oriented environments lead to smarter work, better tools, and healthier teams. An output-focused culture resonates with Gen Z Recent research from Deloitte shows that younger generations, especially Gen Z, highly value flexibility in when, where, and how they work. But many arent experiencing that flexibility in practice. Instead, they report high levels of anxiety about work-life balance, with long hours being a significant contributor to that stress. Adopting a more outcome-focused approach helps bridge that gap. When employees are trusted to deliver results rather than log hours, they gain the autonomy to structure their schedules around their lives. That flexibility supports higher levels of well-being, stronger performance, and boosted engagement. It creates the kind of work atmosphere that younger employees gravitate toward. Ive seen firsthand how Gen Z thrives with more flexibility, and it benefits our company too. Theyre tech-savvy and automation-minded. Give them a goal, and theyll often find faster, smarter ways to achieve it. When leaders focus on outcomes instead of hours, they unlock that productivity potential.
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E-Commerce
AI is gobbling up journalism for many of the same reasons humans do: to develop a concrete understanding of the world; to think critically; to differentiate between what is true and whats not; to become a better writer; and to distill history and context into something accessible. But what happens to AI when our journalistic institutions crumble? Upon what foundation of truth will it answer everyones questions? Write their emails? Do their jobs? Because while the alarm bells have been ringing for journalism for decades, the so-called end of search feels like the potential death knell. What does that mean for AI, and for us as we try to make sense of an increasingly confusing world? In our rush to integrate generative AI into every corner of our lives, weve ignored a fundamental truth: AI cannot function without a baseline of verified facts. And, at the moment, that baseline is built and maintained by so-called traditional journalism (the kind with fact checkers and editors). As AI threatens to upend search, media monetization, and news consumption behaviors, its also undercutting the very industry that feeds it the facts it depends on. A society cannot function without objective journalism, and neither can AI. Loss of accuracy Recent Apple research says that, It doesn’t take much to cause generative AI to fall into ‘complete accuracy collapse. It goes on to show that generative AI models lack strong logical reasoning, unable to function beyond their complexity threshold. I immediately thought of a recent piece from The New Yorker, in which Andrew Marantz weaves together various examples of autocracy, set against thousands of years of history, to (attempt to) make sense of what is happening in America right now. I imagined AI trying to do the same, essentially short-circuiting before being able to form the salient points that make the piece so impactful. When asked to think too hard, the AI breaks. An even more damning report from the BBC reports that AI cant accurately summarize the news. It asked ChatGPT, Copilot, Gemini, and Perplexity to sum up 100 news stories and asked expert journalists to rate each answer. As well as containing factual inaccuracies, the chatbots struggled to differentiate between opinion and fact, editorialised, and often failed to include essential context, says the report. Almost one-fifth of the summaries included false facts and quote distortions19%! Theres more, of course. This study from MIT Sloan shows that AI tools have a history of fabricating citations and reinforcing gender and racial bias, while this Fast Company article argues that AI-driven journalisms good enough standards are accepted because of the revenue these tools create. And that, of course, is the less human reason AI is gobbling up journalism: the money. None of that money is going back into funding the journalistic institutions that power this whole experiment. What happens to our society when the core pillar of a true and free press collapses under the weight of the thing that has sloppily consumed it? Our AI lords must place real value on fact-checked reportingright nowto ensure its continued existence. Josh Rosenberg is CEO and cofounder of Day One Agency.
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E-Commerce
Life360 has named Lauren Antonoff as its new CEO to succeed cofounder Chris Hulls. The move, which has been in the works since Antonoff joined the company in 2023 as chief operating officer, was announced Monday along with second-quarter earnings results for the San Francisco-based developer of popular family safety apps. The company reported today another quarter of record subscribers, now totaling approximately 88 million monthly active users, up from nearly 71 million one year ago. As the company explores further growth opportunities ahead, including expanding its reach in international markets and adding new offerings, Hulls will stay on as executive chair of the Life360 board and continue working very closely with Antonoff. We both have a vision for it becoming a much bigger company, Antonoff tells Fast Company in an exclusive interview. We see ourselves as the family super app, making everyday family life better. Opportunity for growth The company is more-than halfway toward reaching one of its long-term strategic goals of 150 million monthly active users, though its not as far along in achieving annual revenue that exceeds $1 billion. In addition to adding new subscribers, and particularly in markets outside the U.S., Life360 wants to serve those customers in new ways, such as expanding its focus on aging parents, Antonoff says. Our opportunity is really unlimited, she adds. We are still very early in our journey, and we have a ton of value to create. Founded in 2008, in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, Life360 offers both a free and paid service that allows users to track the locations of their family and friends in real time via a smartphone app. It acquired Tile Bluetooth trackers in 2021 and users can now keep tabs on the locations of pets and other valuables, while it has built upon an advertising program last year that includes targeted ads based on the real-world behavior of users. The company has been making good progress toward these long-term goals, Antonoff says, and stock market investors seem to agree. Since its initial public offering in June 2024, Life360 shares (Nasdaq: LIF) have nearly tripled in value. What’s for dinner? Antonoff came to Life360 after rising the ranks at GoDaddy to president of the U.S. small business segment and a nearly 20-year career at Microsoft. One commonality between her days at Microsoft and Life360, she says, is that the people who are paying for the products may have differing priorities than the users. At Microsoft, that was the IT department, at Life360, thats overwhelmingly moms. The only way for Life360 to be successful for families is if teenagers also get something out of the experience, Antonoff says. And one testament, she says, is that many children opt to return to the app after turning 18 because they also like to know where their parents are. You have to make a product everybody feels good about using, otherwise you dont get the adoption, she says. Even though shes not a big worrier, Antonoff has found more use cases for the apps than she ever would have imaginedit makes something as simple as picking someone up much easier. Knowing where your people are makes life better in 1,000 ways you didnt expect, Antonoff says. Often, Im just checking when my husband is bringing home dinner. Family focus Antonoff has been key to the companys expansionincluding adding tracking pets and things, along with the launch of its ads platform. Looking ahead to some of the goals for her first year in this new role, she says one thing users can expect is a richer app experience. Following last years integration with Uber, she says Life360 will look for additional integration opportunitiesall in an effort to better serve the needs of everyday family life. More tech companies are vying to provide location services to its users. Instagram recently debuted a location-sharing Map feature that has raised privacy concerns and prompted many users to turn it off. Meanwhile, Apple has for years offered a free location app. And yet, people still opt for Life360 because it provides the answers people want, faster, and more reliable and family-oriented. Despite more competition, users still opt for Life360s services, even as other companies explore location-based services. Theyre not investing in family the way that we are, Antonoff says.
Category:
E-Commerce
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