Innholdsfortegnelse for Winter 2022/2023 i Fast Company

What Is Productivity? Not long ago, the answer to that question, at least in certain quarters ofthe business world, would have included secrets to surviving (no, thriving!) on four hours of sleep, replacing solid foods with Soylent (so much faster, even more nutritious!), and an assortment of ridiculous life hacks in the manic pursuit of “crushing it” at work. Then came the pandemic and all the other chaos of the early 2020s. None of that was good, but it did have a silver lining: It made a lot of people realize they were burning themselves down to nothing at the office ... and neglecting the rest of their lives. Over the past couple years, the movement to decenter work and re-center everything else has become so prevalent that we briefly…

To cut through the advertising clutter and grab consumers’ attention, legacy food brands have discovered the power of going gross: introducing limited-edition products with taste combinations that ain’t exactly PB&J. These stunt-product campaigns tend to play out like an extended joke between brands and their stans and prompt inevitable waves of headlines a la “No One Asked for This But” and “We Tried This So You Don’t Have To.” Ashlee Humphreys, associate professor of marketing at Northwestern University, says there’s a name for these kinds of attentiongrabbing products: schema busters. “You feel the sense of cognitive dissonance and think about it because you want to resolve it,” she explains, adding that legacy brands face less potential blowback because of existing trust. In other words, users engage, and a lot of…

“MY KIDS MAKE FUN OF ME. THEY KNOW EXACTLY WHAT I’M DOING.” BEING THE CEO OF A COMPANY THAT BRINGS IN ALMOST $100 billion in annual revenue, and has over 300,000 associates—there’s a lot of complexity. What I try to do is simplify everything. I don’t have a lot of wasted time during the day. You’re not going to see me at a business lunch downtown, because that is, to me, nonproductive. That one-hour lunch turns into a threehour process. I can have a working lunch at the office and then get right back on my agenda. That’s one of the reasons why I can get out of here at 6:30,7 o’clock at night. Our home is finally an empty nest. Our daughter’s in college; our son has graduated from…

CIRCULAR FILE After a bad review, I demolished a privacy divider in the men’s room. I spent a year living in my Hyundai, chasing the McRib sandwich through all 50 states. I’ve got less than $400 in my bank account. I make liberal use of sick days. I’m a total TikTok addict. Obtuse WHY DID YOU LEAVE YOUR PREVIOUS JOB? CAN YOU FILL IN THE GAP IN YOUR EXPERIENCE? WHY DO YOU WANT TO WORK HERE? HOW DO YOU HANDLE STRESS? WHAT’S YOUR PASSION? WHAT ONE WORD WOULD A FORMER SUPERVISOR USE TO DESCRIBE YOU? TOP OF THE PILE I decided I with a developed wanted a company more highly developed infrastructure. I took the opportunity to fulfill a lifelong dream to travel the country, studying regional barbecue styles. I’m…

Most of the time, 21-year-old photographer and influencer Tati Bruening uses Instagram to post photos of herself and behind-the-scenes looks at her shoots for her 320,000 followers. But in July, she took to Instagram to clap back at it. Like TikTok, it had started pushing full-screen videos from people she wasn’t following into her feed, submerging the social aspect that had drawn her to the app in the first place. She channeled her ire into a cry that rocketed around the Instagram community when she posted it to her feed: MAKE INSTAGRAM INSTAGRAM AGAIN. (stop trying to be tiktok i just want to see cute photos of my friends) SINCERLY, EVERYONE “Everyone,” it turned out, included Instagram superusers Kylie Jenner and Kim Kardashian, both of whom shared Bruening’s plea with…

Sitting inside every pair of Apple’s recently upgraded AirPods Pro is its new H2 chip. Like all Apple products, the H2 was designed in California. But it was likely built in Taiwan, home of supplier TSMC. This design-then-outsource method has become a staple of the U.S. approach to bringing upgraded semiconductors into cellphones, defense systems, and cars. U.S. chip manufacturing is now a third of what it was in 1990. To energize the domestic market and create jobs while addressing shortages and maintaining defense systems, Congress passed the CHIPS and Science Act. Whether it’s the best investment is an open question. Where Chips Go The bulk of semiconductor supply goes to computers and cellphones. Buyback Mountain Chipmakers that will benefit from U.S. subsidies have billions on hand for share buybacks.…

TO MAKE SURE HE TACKLES EVERYTHING ON his to-do lists, Adobe chief product officer Scott Belsky has come up with a rigid system. Here’s how he gets it all done. “I use Notion to keep two to-do lists, one with everything that’s actionable (tasks that start with a verb go there), and one that has three to five things that matter most to me at any one time. The lists compete with each other, and I always make sure that I devote more time to the second list. I do a regular calendar audit to make sure I’m focusing on the right things. I don’t say yes to something that’s in three months that I wouldn’t say yes to for tomorrow. Everyone suggests that there are ‘switching costs,’ [that] when…

“BOUNDARIES BETWEEN WORK AND LIFE HAVE BLURRED.” I’M BASED IN GERMANY BUT WORK IN UKRAINE. I HAVE assignments around the world. Boundaries between work and life have blurred, and the word schedule does not exist anymore. On an intense assignment, such as a conflict ora humanitarian crisis, you’re working all the time. [At the Associated Press], we have training sessions. They include first aid, behavior in conflict zones, and negotiations. There’s a balance between the necessity to go as far as possible to get your story and safety. It takes a mental toll. It’s important not to go into denial. Humans can survive any traumatic event if they know why The hardest thing for a human being is to suffer and to not understand why. When I see terrible things,…

STARBUCKS opens a new cafe in China roughly every nine hours. This is the untold story of how a values-driven American brand has cozied up to Beijing in pursuit of explosive growth—a strategy that grows riskier every day But the coffee giant isn’t just building stores. It's boosting the Communist Party. In April, when Howard Schultz returned to Starbucks for his third and—the company swore—final stint as CEO, the company looked as if it needed coffee. The pandemic had done a number on sales. Shares had stumbled. One in four baristas was reportedly quitting before even qualifying for the company’s famous benefits. In an industry with notoriously low union representation, Starbucks cafes had steadily begun to unionize, with more than 100 of them asking to hold union elections. In response,…

Like most larger men, Bruce Sturgell has spent a good portion of his life wearing some variation on ill-fitting khakis and tentlike polo shirts. “It’s the fat-guy uniform,” says Sturgell, founder of Chubstr, a fashion blog for plus-size men. “I hate it so much.” Sturgell, who has a 46-inch waist, has struggled since his teens to find stylish clothes that fit. Many menswear brands don’t go beyond a 40-inch waist, even though the average American man measures 40.5 inches around, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Since Sturgell launched Chubstr 12 years ago, men’s fashion has become a little more inclusive, he says: Brands like Nike and Target’s private label Goodfellow & Co. now offer shirts up to 5X and pant sizes up to 42…

With colorful, two-tone removable trays and plenty of space, Bodum’s Bar Cart & Tea Trolley ($175, store.rnoma.org) is ready to roll. Fill Mosser’s Mixing Bowls ($66.50 for set, 2modem.com) with snacks—like nutritional-yeast-dusted Bjorn Qorn ($50 for30 hags, bjornqorn.com)— and show them off to bring energy to this typically utilitarian item. r. WHAT I CHECK FIRST My Daily Media Diet Evan Mock, actor, model, and skateboarder Instagram @THRASHERMAGAZINE It's a great way to keep tabs on what's going on in the skate industry. Website SSENSE.COM They have a great selection of clothes I'm into and also a cool way to discover and follow up-andcoming designers. Spotify playlist ITALIAN VINTAGE SUMMER Fitting for most, maybe all, types of situations. YouTube HOT ONES Hot Ones on Complex—I'm manifesting getting on this show sometime…

“I CONSIDER MYSELF A WISE OLD SAGE, AND I’M TELLING YOU, WHEN I PUT ON SOMETHING THAT MAKES ME FEEL HAPPY, I FEEL HAPPY, DESPITE WHATEVER IS GOING ON IN THE WORLD” BEING ABLE TO CONTROL YOUR MENTAL HEALTH by how you dress sounds ridiculous to anybody who’s not in the fashion industry. But I consider myself a wise old sage, and I’m telling you, when I put on something that makes me feel happy, I feel happy, despite whatever is going on in the world. I started making fringe pants years ago, and we still make them. I put them on—whether it’s with a T-shirt or a sweatshirt or a silk shirt—and I have a good time. Especially if I’m dancing. I love to dance—we actually just bought a…

“I WAS SCARED THAT I WASN’T GOING TO BE GOOD ENOUGH.” BASKETBALL PLAYERS CAN DO THIS job for only 20 years. So I don’t have a lot of time to accomplish what I want. Every game is a big game for me. I’m always going to find ways to make myself better, but I think it’s because I feel like I haven’t accomplished anything. I haven’t won a championship. When I got [to Florida, from Cameroon], I was 16.1 had just started playing basketball. I didn’t know English. That was the first time being away from home and having to take care of myself. I wasn’t expecting to get to the NBA. I just wanted to come to high school and get a scholarship for college. The main thing that…

“IT WASN’T THAT LONG AGO I WAS LIP-SYNCHING FOR 40 PEOPLE WHILE SOMEBODY SPILLED A TRAY OF BURGERS AT MY FEET” SOMETHING GREAT ABOUT BEING A drag queen is that we are afforded a certain amount of ego. Drag queens are supposed to think they’re the prettiest person who’s ever lived. I always feel proud to present my work, whether it’s touring live music; my YouTube channel; my podcast, The Bald and the Beautiful; my cosmetics company, Trixie Cosmetics; my motel in Palm Springs, the Trixie Motel; my gay bar in Milwaukee, This Is It! With drag you’re basically entering a business world where you’re your own product. I don’t stress out that much. Drag beat any sort of nerves out of me. It wasn’t that long ago I was…

“I JUST MAKE SURE I’M SHOWERED.” WHEN I WAS younger, I wanted to become a nun. I always feel like there’s some higher power guiding my productivity— my will ebbs and flows, and I try to listen to what it’s telling me. In terms of my work, if I’m acting, I don’t think of a part I’m playing as a role. I think of it as a world. With every project, I read the scripts and I see the world and talk to the directors and the writers and hear their vision. And if it’s a little scary or off-center, I like that. I get familiar with the people I’m working with, like the cast and crew. I try to start off with great camaraderie because you’ll be spending a…

OUT OF THIN AIR AIR COMPANY COPIES A BASIC BIOLOGICAL METHOD TO PROCESS C02 INTO USEFUL PRODUCTS. ir Company’s founding concept is elegant—mimic plant photosynthesis to convert carbon dioxide into alcohol that can yield a wide variety of products, from vodka to jet fuel. To make it happen, the Brooklyn-based startup had to build its own reactors, using a proprietary catalyst to combine carbon and hydrogen while releasing no carbon dioxide back into the atmosphere. Five years after its founding, Air Company employs 50 people and operates a carbon conversion reactor in Brooklyn with 10 times the output of its pilot facility down the street, and it plans to build an even bigger, hydropowered reactor near Niagara Falls in 2024. Long-term, the startup hopes to build facilities wherever it can…