Fast Company Media Bias for Past 90 Days

Walmart says it will spend an additional $350 billion on American-made products over the next decade

labour

The move will support more than 750,000 new American jobs and help avoid an estimated 100 million tons of CO2 emissions. Walmart has announced that it will spend an additional $350 billion on products made, grown, or assembled in America over the next ten years. The company says the move is a strengthening of its commitment to U.S. manufacturing.
Fast Company     Mar 03, 2021

This beautifully designed deck of playing cards honors Black icons, from MLK Jr. to Oprah

This 22-year-old graphic designer wanted a way to keep the conversation going beyond Black History Month. When Kearra Johnson redesigned a card deck for a school project in the fall of 2019 at the University of Missouri, she immediately loved the result. She didn’t realize that lots of other people would, too.
Fast Company     Mar 03, 2021

Online pharmacy Ro is now vaccinating seniors at home

health

Ro, which is known for selling sexual health products, is moving into home healthcare. Ro, an online pharmacy that got its start prescribing sexual health products, is now offering to vaccinate seniors at home in New York. The company is working with the New York Department of Health as well as local organizations on the effort.
Fast Company     Mar 03, 2021

Employee expectations are changing. Here are 5 ways to keep up

labour

Organizations must evolve their HR services to recruit and retain the best employees who, because of the WFH revolution, have more options, says this workforce management exec. Even before the pandemic disrupted life as we know it, the human resources department was feeling the pressure to evolve. Due to the ease of use of consumer apps and websites, employees simply expect more. The need for a better way to connect with colleagues and improved accessibility of core people systems and services was rising. Being “at work” was no longer an excuse for digital “not working.”
Fast Company     Mar 03, 2021

Study: Eco-friendly car owners are undermining environmental gains by buying second vehicles

environment, weather and energy

A new study in The RAND Journal of Economics finds that owners of eco-friendly cars tend to spring for a second vehicle that is much less eco-friendly Ruh-roh. An inconvenient truth: Fuel-efficient vehicles may not be saving the environment as much as you thought.
Fast Company     Mar 03, 2021

Staying creative in extreme isolation: Lessons from Japan’s ‘hikikomori’

Artists and designers can learn from the different ways people who withdraw from society have navigated experiences of isolation. The Japanese word hikikomori translates to “pulling inward.” The term was coined in 1998 by Japanese psychiatrist Tamaki Saitō to describe a burgeoning social phenomenon among young people who, feeling the extreme pressures to succeed in their school, work, and social lives and fearing failure, decided to withdraw from society. At the time, it was estimated that around a million people were choosing to not leave their homes or interact with others for at least six months, some for years. It is now estimated that around 1.2% of Japan’s population are hikikomori.
Fast Company     Mar 03, 2021

A founder has an identity mini-crisis after a corporate breakup

economy and finances

Yes, you’re still a founder, Maynard Webb reminds an entrepreneur who split with a cofounder a year ago. Editor’s Note: Each weekMaynard Webb, former CEO of LiveOps and the former COO of eBay, will offer candid, practical, and sometimes surprising advice to entrepreneurs and founders. To submit a question, write toWebb [email protected]
Fast Company     Mar 03, 2021

Are you microdosing psychedelics? The benefits might be a placebo effect

social issue

Insights from the largest-ever placebo-controlled study of microdosing. You know how taking small doses of a psychedelic drug every few days is all the rage among a certain set of affluent types with good drug dealers? See: Ayelet Waldman’s book, A Really Good Day: How Microdosing Made a Mega Difference in My Mood, My Marriage and My Life.
Fast Company     Mar 03, 2021

Kind Snacks founder explains his “3 Cs of Entrepreneurship”

First introduced on ‘Shark Tank,’ these steps will ensure that creativity gives way to the tenacious scrutiny needed to build a differentiated, winning enterprise. On last season’s Shark Tank, the judges heard pitches from two impressive entrepreneurs who struggled to articulate the key attributes that differentiated their product. They could not explain how their offering stood out from those of their competitors. It struck me that that they may have skipped a critical step along an entrepreneur’s journey: the part where we become our own worst critics.
Fast Company     Mar 03, 2021

Facing a $40 billion shortfall, U.S. transit agencies jump into real estate

economy and finances

Ridership is down 79% nationally compared to pre-pandemic rates. So transit agencies in Silicon Valley, Atlanta, and beyond are getting creative. The pandemic has been devastating for public transit. According to the American Public Transportation Association, transit ridership in 2020 was down 79% nationally compared to pre-pandemic rates. And though no public transit agencies in the United States get all their revenue from ridership alone, the shortfall of riders is putting many transit agencies in a bind. Agencies face a collective budget shortfall of nearly $40 billion through the end of 2023.
Fast Company     Mar 03, 2021

These are the hidden challenges of onboarding in a remote environment

environment, weather and energy

Now that most white-collar employees are joining remotely, the process of welcoming new workers is more and more complex. When you are the newest employee of an organization, the experience can be both awkward and terrifying. Once we figure out where the bathroom is located and how to use the copier, the real work begins—namely, figuring out “how things are done around here,” otherwise known as an organization’s culture.
Fast Company     Mar 03, 2021

Humans before hype: This investing method would make VC more inclusive

social issue

Investors need to stop investing based purely on a company’s momentum, and instead look for founders with true conviction. The question I find myself asking founders the most often is a simple one: “Why are you the right person to solve this problem?” One of the least inspiring (but increasingly common) responses I hear is “I’m really excited for the entrepreneurial journey and I see an opportunity here.” That’s valid. Some incredibly talented people are motivated more by the thrill of the build than by solving a specific problem. And there are plenty of investors who, inspired by their momentum, are eager to get on board. Sometimes I’m one of them. But I also know firsthand that one shouldn’t always trust and follow the hype.
Fast Company     Mar 03, 2021

These new fragrances will be made from carbon captured from the atmosphere

environment, weather and energy

Beauty giant Coty is using a new source to make the ethanol in its perfumes: carbon emissions. Soon you may be able spritz yourself with a perfume made with alcohol that started out as pollution. Beginning next fall, the ethanol used in some fragrances made by beauty company Coty, which produces the fragrance lines for luxury brands like Dolce & Gabbana, Gucci, and Calvin Klein, will be made from recycled carbon emissions.
Fast Company     Mar 03, 2021

This new Ulta Beauty platform sells beauty products in reusable packaging

lifestyle and leisure

The cosmetics industry creates an enormous amount of unrecycleable waste. Now you can send back your used containers. Anyone who likes beauty products is familiar with the mountain of packaging waste they create, from tiny jars to shampoo bottles, mascara tubes, cellophane wrappers for face masks, compacts for blush or foundation, and pump bottles that once held lotion. By one estimate, the cosmetics industry makes more than 120 billion units of packaging every year. Much of it either can’t be recycled, or isn’t.
Fast Company     Mar 03, 2021

Luxury brands once shunned resale sites. Now, they’re embracing secondhand

The parent company of Gucci, Balenciaga, and Alexander McQueen just poured $216 million into the French secondhand marketplace Vestiaire Collective. The resale industry is growing explosively, with sales accelerating during the pandemic, and luxury brands have mixed feelings about it. Chanel, for instance, has sued TheRealReal and What Goes Around Comes Around, claiming secondhand stores are “piggybacking on [its] reputation.” Forward-thinking luxury brands aren’t resisting or ignoring resale, though—they’re embracing it.
Fast Company     Mar 03, 2021

What Milton Glaser reveals about the absurdity of rational design

art and culture

Designers have become too reliant on focus groups and previous successes, rather than drawing inspiration from the world around them. Today, design is more integrated into the world than ever before. Our profession is ubiquitous, permeating industries, companies, and organizations. This is a great thing for designers—we are needed! We are wanted. We are valued. And the world is benefitting. However, we have to ask ourselves about the unintended consequences of our work. What does it mean for us, as designers, who are often asked to create something new, but always reference what has been done before? What does that mean for how we think and what we make?
Fast Company     Mar 03, 2021

Old buildings are inefficient: This prefab kit makes it easy to retrofit them

environment, weather and energy

The footprint of our built environment needs to shrink. This solution means it could happen faster. Buildings have a giant carbon footprint: Generating the power needed to run lights, heat, and air conditioning is responsible for more global emissions than the entire transportation sector. New buildings perform better, but most of the buildings that will exist in 2050—when humanity’s carbon footprint needs to shrink to zero—already exist now. That means that each of those buildings will have to be renovated to become more efficient.
Fast Company     Mar 03, 2021

Weed is still illegal in states where sex with farm animals isn’t

New ads from Monogram, Jay-Z’s weed brand, point out the absurd hypocrisy in U.S. cannabis laws. In so many ways, laws are what keep society together. The rules that mark order. But they can also be deeply problematic. Consider that in some states bestiality is still legal, but smoking a joint isn’t.
Fast Company     Mar 03, 2021