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The people of New York have spoken. In electing Zohran Mamdani mayor, they voted for generational change, democratic socialism, and joyful pop-culture politics. The historical significance of Mamdanis victory will be parsed for days, weeks, and years to come. But the people of New York did not just elect a mayor, they also voted to change the way housing gets built in one of the tightest housing markets in the United States. Voters passed three ballot initiatives designed to speed up and increase housing production by an even greater margin than Mamdanis victory. With these ballot initiatives, Mamdani also won a huge victoryone he didnt even campaign for, though he did voice his support for the measures the night before the election. These ballot measures will make at least some of his housing policies meaningfully easier to achieve, including his promise to build 200,000 low-income apartments, and his desire to spread housing construction more equitably across the city. Mamdanis victory signified voters hunger for change, especially when it comes to new approaches to reducing the cost of living. The housing ballot measures were yet another indicator of the same phenomenon. Local leaders elsewhere should take note. What New Yorkers Voted For Local media outlets like The City and The New York Times have good explainers on the ballot initiatives. Ill briefly describe the most significant updates here and how they might impact housing in the U.S.s most populous city. Ballot Measure 2 creates a new expedited review and approval process for all publicly funded affordable housing projects, turning what can be an 18-month process into a 3-month process. It also creates a new affordable-housing fast track for all housing projects in the 12 community districts (out of 59 total) that have permitted the least-affordable housing in recent years. These 12 community districts will mostly be more suburban parts of the city in eastern Queens, south Brooklyn, and Staten Island. They are, as it happens, the same parts of the city that supported former Governor Andrew Cuomo in the mayors race. (Cuomo endorsed the ballot measures.) Ballot Measure 3 creates an expedited rezoning and environmental review process for small housing projects and zoning variances. Projects allowed under this policy would generally be limited to 45 feet in height in low-density areas, or a 30% increase over allowed density in higher-density areas. This measure will allow totally new project types that are not currently built in New York, including missing middle housing in low-density zones. Larger projects that require zoning variances will now be able to get them in a quicker process through the nonpolitical Board of Standards and Appeals, rather than the City Council. Ballot Measure 4 creates a new appeals board that gives projects rejected by the City Council another chance at approval. Eligible projects would have to include affordable housing, whether through the citys local inclusionary zoning policy, called Mandatory Inclusionary Housing, or as a city-funded affordable housing project. This measure effectively ends the practice of member deference, in which a single council member can block a project in their district. In sum, these measures will make it much faster to approve all affordable housing projects and many market-rate housing projects; they reduce uncertainty for all housing proposals; they will allow new housing to be built in neighborhoods that have traditionally built very little; and they move power over development away from the City Council and to the mayor and appointed boards like the Planning Commission and Board of Standards and Appeals. Mamdanis vision for housing All of these outcomes correspond to housing policy goals that Mamdani has articulated, including the goal of constructing 200,000 new, union-built, deeply affordable housing units over 10 years. Funding that promiseespecially while sticking with union labor and very deep levels of affordabilitywill be a tall order. But these ballot measures will make achieving this overall goal more of an economic problem than a political one. Getting affordable developments built will not require project-by-project land use battles. Mamdani has also voiced his support for spreading housing production more evenly across the five boroughs, particularly to wealthier neighborhoods. Ballot Measure 2 does exactly that, through its special rules for the NIMBYest community districts, and Ballot Measure 3 moves toward the same goal by opening up new development opportunities in low-density areas. As his campaign progressed, Mamdani emphasized the importance of government efficiency and effectiveness. These ballot initiatives will allow government to act more quickly on its housing goals, spending less staff time and resources on approval processes. The newly elected mayor has also warmed to the idea of market-rate and mixed-income housing being part of the solution to the citys housing crisis. While mostly focused on 100% affordable housing projects, these measures will help market-rate projects, too, by eliminating council member deference and streamlining mixed-income projects in NIMBY strongholds. What these ballot measures will not do is move the needle on Mamdanis signature campaign promise to freeze the rent for rent-stabilized tenants. That action goes through a whole different entitythe Rent Guidelines Boardand comes with a host of legal and political questions. What the ballot measures may do, however, is set the stage for a sort of grand bargain around housing production and tenants rights. By supporting both of these policy goals simultaneously, Mamdani could build his credibility among constituents in both camps. Theres also some evidence that tenants tend to be more supportive of housing development when strong renter protections are in place, as Rogé Karma reported in a recent piece in The Atlantic. Throughout the campaign over the ballot initiatives, the largest opponent was the New York City Council, whose powers will unquestionably be diminished by these new policies. The Councils no campaign relied on the fact that the initiatives were developed by a commission appointed by Mayor Eric Adams, a highly unpopular figure in New York politics. But soon neither Adams nor Cuomo (the candidate Adams endorsed) will be in City Hall. The new powers afforded by these ballot initiatives will be held by a 34-yea old democratic socialist. How will he use them to reshape the city?
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How I spend my hours in the day is how I live. To make the most of my waking hours, I practice the one-hour rulea simple habit that helps me learn, reflect, and think. I give myself 60 uninterrupted minutes a day to try and become a little wiser than I was yesterday. I consciously take control of my growth to transform how I think, how I decide, or live. It takes commitment. But just an hour a day learning, thinking, and reflecting is helping me improve my life processes. Thats it. Sixty minutes. Five hours a week. And you are upgrading yourself daily. That means reading something that stretches you. Reflecting on what went wrong and why. Sitting in silence and letting your mind wander on purpose. The result is more clarity. Fewer regrets in life. And growth that actually sticks. One focused hour doesnt just change your day. It rewires your direction. And gives your brain time to connect, create, and course-correct. Think week In the 1990s, Bill Gates called his time away to reflect think week. He used seven days of solitude in a cabin in the forest to read, think, and write about the future.This ability to turn idle time into deep thinking and learning became a fundamental part of who I am, Gates said.The logic is timeless. Consistency beats intensity. An hour a day compounds faster than you think. One book a month, 12 a year. Twelve new mental frameworks. Twelve ways you now see the world differently. You dont have to disrupt your schedule to apply the rule. It doesnt have to be one stretch. You can use pockets of time in the day to get the same impact. An hour is long enough to change your life. And short enough to be doable. Its the sweet spot between wishful thinking and practical results. You can learn a new skill, reflect on what went well or didnt go well in the day. Or simply sit and think without your phone. The return of intentional time to learn, think, or reflect compounds in all areas of your life. The three pillars of the one-hour rule 1. Make learning an active process. Feed your brain something worth reflecting on. Your input will always determine your output. What you feed your brain determines how you decide, how you speak, and how you work. But dont just consume, engage. Reading 10 pages means nothing if youre not putting the ideas to use. Dont just collect information, digest it. If you read about negotiation, go try it on your coworker or someone who can give you feedback. Learning sticks when you take action. Try things. Fail forward. Every time you stretch your understanding, you expand whats possible for you. 2. Reflect on the new knowledge. If learning is the input, reflection is the processing system. Its how you turn experience into usable wisdom. We do not learn from experience . . . we learn from reflecting on experience, says philosopher and psychologist John Dewey. Without reflection, youre basically walking in circles. Lots of movement, no direction. What worked? What didnt? What lesson did you take from whats not working? Write it down. Youll start to see patterns. Habits that hold you back. Decisions that move you forward. Thats your personal feedback loop. Reflection turns problems into clarity. Make sense of your day. What could you have done differently? 3. Think to turn learning into wisdom. Most people are too busy reacting to life. They recycle the same opinions, habits, and ideas. Thinking is how you question your perspective on anything. Its you sitting alone with your mind, connecting dots no one else sees. Its letting your thoughts wander. And then following the interesting ones. I like to do this while walking. Something about movement untangles thoughts. Ive solved more problems in sneakers than behind my desk. Thinking gives your brain the room to process ideas. And when it does, it surprises you. Your mind starts connecting dots when you commit to the rule. You will begin to notice patterns in your own habits, at home and at work. That one-hour-a-day habit can help you handle conflict better, do your work better, or live better at home. Try it. One hour for your own transformation. Just you, your curiosity, and 60 minutes of honest focus. Do that long enough, and youll realize you were not just learning for an hour a day. You were rebuilding your entire life. One hour of learning, reflecting, and thinking daily can put you in control of the direction of your life. Thats the power of the hour. Its small enough to start today. And big enough to change your life. Its how you leap ahead.
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For years, email, texting, and messaging apps have ruled how we communicate. But one timeless human skilloften neglectedis quickly becoming a true difference-maker in the digital age. Active listening. Its both an art and a discipline, and its what separates average leaders from exceptional ones (while making them instantly likable in the process). The truth is, active listening is the foundation of effective communication and the heartbeat of strong relationships. Yet as technology consumes more of our attention, were losing touch with this skilland with it, a powerful competitive advantage in business. When you focus on your peopletheir growth, their needs, their challengesnone of it works without listening deeply first. Listen more than you talk After 25 years of coaching leaders, Ive learned that the most effective ones know when to stop talking and start listening. Few things elevate a conversation more than genuine attentiveness. When you truly listen, you show respect for people at every level, demonstrate curiosity, and practice humilitythree traits every great leader needs. I call this authentic listening. Its the ability to understand whats really happening on the other side of the conversationto sense the will of a group, help clarify it, and create alignment around it. Management thinker Peter Drucker said it best: The most important thing in communication is hearing what isnt said. Authentic listeners do exactly that. They listen intuitivelynot just for facts or responses, but for meaning. They lean into conversations with empathy, seeking to understand what matters most to the other person. This kind of listening is selfless, not self-centered. It always circles back to one powerful question: How can I help this person right now? The hard part of listening Good listening always requires humility. In my coaching sessions with executives, I make one thing clear from the start: If you want to grow as a leader, you have to embrace the humble responsibility of inviting feedbackand then have the courage and openness to truly listen to it. Thats a tall order for many leaders, especially the higher you climb up the corporate ranks. There are several approaches to successfully listening for feedback. For example: Be open. Listen without interruption, objections, or defensiveness. Be responsive. Listen without turning the tables. Ask questions for clarification. Be accountable. Seek to understand the effects and consequences of your behavior. Be self-aware. Be aware of your own emotional reactions, body language, and how youre coming across in the listening. Be quiet. Refrain from making or preparing to make a response, or trying to explain, defend, or fix. The last part of listening A lot of people think listening just means sitting quietly and absorbing what someone else is saying. But according to the authors of Radical Listening, the best listeners dont just nod alongthey ask great follow-up questions. For example: Questions that connect to the speaker. This shows youre paying attention to what was just said and engaged in the conversation. Open-ended questions. Instead of a simple yes or no, open-ended questions invite deeper insights. Questions to encourage more sharing. Great follow-up questions help people open up about their plans, emotions, and perspectives. At first, asking questions might feel like the opposite of listening. But research tells a different story. In fact, studies show that employees consistently link good listening with strong leadership, a connection that holds true across cultures and organizations worldwide. As you move forward, embrace listening by relating to others with more curiosity and intent. Treat it like a human experiment in your professional development journey, with listening as a key tool in your toolbox. Speaking of toolbox, heres a roadmap to develop your listening skills and master your interpersonal communication, with steps straight from my coaching sessions with top global clients. Like this article? Subscribe here for more related content and exclusive insights from executive coach Marcel Schwantes. Marcel Schwantes This article originally appeared on Fast Companys sister publication, Inc. Inc. is the voice of the American entrepreneur. We inspire, inform, and document the most fascinating people in business: the risk-takers, the innovators, and the ultra-driven go-getters that represent the most dynamic force in the American economy.
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