You are constantly getting feedback from others about your performance at work. A client may be happy with their interaction. A colleague may walk away from a meeting upset. You get comments on a report you have written, an email discussing a presentation, or thoughts on the way you interact with colleagues.
In the best of worlds, the feedback you get is clear and easy to understand. Good feedback has three characteristics.
It specifies the behavior you engaged in.
It provides a clear and accurate assessment of the consequences of that behavior.
It suggests actions you may take in the future that would be better suited to the occasion.
The further that the feedback you get deviates from this formulation, the harder it may be to understand the feedback or to recognize how it applies to you and what you should do about it.
When you get feedback you dont understand, it is often valuable to get more information in order to ensure that you are able to learn from the experience and improve. Ill dig into how to address the three components of good feedback in a moment, but first a word about asking questions related to feedback.
It is important to start any questions by pointing out that you are asking for clarification. Do not argue that the feedback wasnt warranted. There is no easier way to ensure you never get feedback again than spending your time trying to convince someone that you did nothing wrong in the first place.
1. Ask about what went wrong
Sometimes the feedback you get is difficult to process because it is not clear about what you did wrong. That can happen because someone assumes you already know.
More often, though, it happens because someone criticizes your motivation rather than your actions. They will talk about your attitude or intent. Typically, when people try to assess your motivation or intent, they get it wrong, and so the description of the feedback doesnt ring true for you.
Rather than arguing about your motivation or the situation, ask for a clearer description of what you did. To the extent that you believe your motivation or intent was different than what was described to you, it is okay to clarify your motivation, but you should start with a phrase like, I can see how you would think I was trying to . . . when discussing your motivation, so that youre not trying to make the other person feel like they completely misread the situation.
2. Ask about the impact
At timesparticularly early in your careerunderstanding the consequences of an action can be the most important part of the feedback you get. You may have done something that you thought was going to lead to a different outcome, but you are getting feedback that was clearly not the case.
In addition to understanding the consequences of your action, if youre talking to a more knowledgeable colleague, it can also be helpful to get their sense of why the action had the impact it did. In order to get better at predicting the impact of your actions, it is important to understand the relationship between what you do and what happens next.
3. Ask about the future
You may have a clear sense of what you did and what happened as a result, and still feel like the feedback has not given you knowledge of what you should have done instead. Sometimes the person giving feedback simply hasnt been clear about their recommendations for future actions. Other times, the person giving you feedback also does not know what should have been done instead.
When you are confused about what you should do differently in the future, you may go back to the person who gave you feedback for advice. However, you might also find a trusted mentor to review the situation and help you walk through other ways that you could have handled it. Often, someone further removed from the specifics (and perhaps someone with more experience than the individual who gave you feedback) can give you clearer advice on better alternatives for the future.
Pharma stocks took a fresh hit on Friday following a report in The Washington Post that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration reportedly plans to link COVID-19 vaccines with the deaths of 25 minors.
Moderna shares fell 7.4% Friday to their lowest level since March 2020. The drop brought the drugmakers year-to-date slump to more than 44%. The Cambridge, Massachusetts-based company is one of two manufacturers of approved mRNA coronavirus vaccines.
The other mRNA COVID-19 vaccine maker, Pfizer, saw its own shares fall 3.9% on Friday. Shares of its partner on the shot, BioNTech, tumbled 7.3%, while stocks in another vaccine maker, Novavax, were down 3.6%.
The pharma companies stock slump stands in contrast to the market as a whole, with the S&P 500 rising more than 12% this year.
FDA officials reportedly plan to present the data at an upcoming vaccine advisory panel meeting, according to the Post. The panel makes recommendations to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as it sets vaccine schedules and guidance, and its recommendations have historically guided insurance coverage for vaccines and state policy.
The data is apparently based on self-reported adverse events collected in a federal database called the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS). The database contains unverified reports and is not designed to conclude that a vaccine caused a death. The FDA didnt immediately respond to Fast Companys request for comment.
Vaccine policy in U.S. shifting under new administration
U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. fired all of the members of the vaccine advisory panel, which is known as the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP). Kennedy installed seven new members who have criticized vaccines in the past. Kennedy is reportedly considering appointing seven more members to the committee who share his skepticism of COVID vaccines or the pharmaceutical industry, Politico reported. And last month, the FDA imposed new eligibility restrictions on COVID-19 vaccines that critics say has severely limited who can get the shot.
ACIP is due to meet on September 18 and September 19, and the committee is expected to discuss vaccines for COVID-19, as well as hold votes on recommendations for vaccines for measles, mumps, rubella, and varicella (MMRV) and hepatitis B, as well as COVID-19.
Pharma companies criticize restrictions on shots
Modernas CEO Stéphane Bancel said at a WIRED health summit that recent changes in U.S. vaccine policy represented a step backward.
Moderna, in a statement to Barrons on Friday, noted that the safety of its COVID-19 vaccine is rigorously monitored by the company, the FDA, and regulators in more than 90 countries. Those safety systems have not identified any new or undisclosed safety concerns in children or in pregnant women, the company said.
And in a statement to Bloomberg, Pfizer said that extensive data supports the safety and effectiveness of its COVID-19 vaccine, and cited its successful administration to more than one billion adults, adolescents, and children.
Both drugmakers didnt immediately respond to requests for comment from Fast Company.
The Trump administration on Friday announced that it plans to stop requiring more than 8,000 polluters to report greenhouse gas emissions.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agencys proposal would see industrial facilities like coal-burning power plants, oil refineries, and steel mills no longer have to track and report the amount of carbon dioxide, methane, and other emissions they emita requirement that had been in place since 2010.
The agency said that U.S. businesses could save as much as $2.4 billion in regulatory costs over the next decade as a result of the change. Some experts have argued that the societal costs of emissions from companies in the U.S. could run into the tens of trillions by 2050.
The EPA in its release said that requiring facilities to report emissions had no material impact on improving human health and the environment. It comes after months of work by the Trump administration to dismantle various federal programs designed to combat climate change and cuts to research funding to study the phenomenon.
The administrations efforts to pull back on climate change is at odds with the broad scientific consensus that human-driven warming is linked to extreme weather and health risks. A study published in Nature this past week, for example, showed that 180 of the worlds biggest fossil fuel and cement producers made 213 extreme heatwaves between 2000 and 2023 more likely and more dangerous.
What does greenhouse gas reporting do?
Since 2010, the greenhouse gas reporting program has collected emissions data from about 8,000 of the largest industrial facilities in the U.S. from 47 different source categories. In turn, this information has historically been shared with the United Nations, but for the first time in nearly 30 years, the Trump administration missed an April deadline to submit data on U.S. climate emissions.
As part of the 2015 Paris Agreement, the United Nations has required industrialized countries to reduce their emissions to combat climate change. U.S. President Donald Trump announced on his first day in office that the U.S. would withdraw from this agreement for the second time (Trump pulled the U.S. out of the agreement during his first term).
The Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program is nothing more than bureaucratic red tape that does nothing to improve air quality, Lee Zeldin, the EPA administrator, said in a statement. Instead, it costs American businesses and manufacturing billions of dollars, driving up the cost of living, jeopardizing our nations prosperity and hurting American communities.
Unlike other mandatory information collections under the Clean Air Act, the Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program is not directly related to a potential regulation and has no material impact on improving human health and the environment. By reducing the overall regulatory burden, current regulated parties will be able to focus compliance expenditures on actual, tangible environmental benefits, an EPA spokesperson told Fast Company in a statement.
Certain oil and gas facilities will still be required to report emissions data as part of the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act, although the EPAs proposal would allow these facilities to suspend reporting until 2034.
Critics point to cost of losing data
Environmental advocates criticized the proposal as hampering future policy making.
With this move, theyre taking away the practical and material capacity of the federal government to do the basic elements of climate policymaking, a former EPA official under the Biden administration told The New York TImes.
The proposal would eliminate data that the public, states, and local policymakers have depended on for more than 15 years, leaving Americans in the dark about where pollution is coming from, David Doniger, a senior strategist at the Natural Resources Defense Council, an environmental advocacy group, told The Associated Press.
Before this proposal is finalized, the EPA will hold a virtual public hearing and accept public comments for 47 days after the proposal is published in the Federal Register.
This week served up a sampler platter of business stories with a little bit of everything: food recalls that had shoppers double-checking the fridge, a high-stakes immigration raid that spilled into international diplomacy, and a splashy fintech IPO testing investor appetite. Housing data hinted that the balance of power is (slowly) tilting back toward buyers in parts of the country, while a blue-chip tech veteran reminded Wall Street that AI demand can paper over a messy quarter. Overseas, Argentinas markets were whipsawed by politicsagainunderscoring how quickly sentiment flips when reform agendas wobble.
Theres a common thread running through it all: resilience under pressure. Food companies are racing to pull risky products before they cause harm; automakers and suppliers are navigating the fine print of U.S. work visas; and growth-hungry firms are courting the public markets even as valuations come back to earth. At the same time, nonprofits are turning into content studios to build community (and revenue), builders are using incentives to keep homes moving, and investors are trying to separate real AI tailwinds from hype. Its a reminder that business isnt just earnings and chartsits people, policy, logistics, and timing. With that, lets dig into the biggest moves and what they could mean next.
Cheese recall over Listeria fears
The Food and Drug Administration flagged multiple cheeses from both Middlefield Original Cheese Co-Op and Sunrise Creamery this week after listeria was detected on finished product and cutting equipment. Impacted items range from Gouda and Swiss to pepper Jack and shredded blends, with some sell-by dates stretching into 2026. No illnesses have been reported, but consumers are asked to return or toss affected products and check pantries for long-dated packs.
ICE raid at Hyundai battery site sparks a diplomatic scramble
On September 4, roughly 300 South Korean workers were detained during a Georgia raid tied to a $4.3 billion Hyundai-LG Energy battery project, the largest single-site action of its kind by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Seoul arranged a charter flight to return the workers to South Korea and is pushing for smoother U.S. visa pathways for technical staff. The incident could complicate trade ties and serves as a cautionary tale for foreign firms staffing fast-moving U.S. projects.
Frozen foods salmonella recall widens
Chetak LLC expanded its voluntary recall to dozens more Deep-brand frozen veggies and fruits after a positive salmonella test. The outbreak has sickened 11 people across 10 states and led to four hospitalizations. Its part of a broader run of salmonella alerts this season; retailers are urged to pull impacted lots immediately.
NYC Marathon nonprofit launches a content studio
New York Road Runners is spinning up East 89th St Productions to capture the marathons built-in drama and community. First up: Final Finishers, a documentary premiering at Tribeca that celebrates those last epic hours at the finish line. Beyond storytelling, NYRR sees content as a way to diversify revenue and deepen ties with runners and donors.
Housing tips toward buyers in 14 states
Active listings are up year over year, and in 14 states inventory has climbed back above 2019 levelsgiving buyers a bit more leverage. Sunbelt and Mountain West markets that ran hot during the Pandemic Housing Boom are seeing softer pricing as builders dangle incentives. Nationally were still below 2019 inventory, but the trend is moving away from sellers complete control.
Klarna finally listsat a slimmer valuation
BNPL heavyweight Klarna priced its New York Stock Exchange debut at $40 a share, above guidance but well below its 2021 peak valuation. The company is profitable again, but investors will watch whether growth can continue without fueling consumer debt concerns. For the IPO market, its another data point that public is open, just not at 2021 prices.
Argentinas markets stumble after local election shock
A big loss for President Javier Mileis party in Buenos Aires sent the peso to new lows and hammered stocks and bonds. The setback clouds the path for reforms in the South American country and raises questions about its foreign exchange policy ahead of national midterms. With International Monetary Fund support in the backdrop, investors are bracing for more currency and debt volatility.
Oracle pops on AI cloud optimism
Austin-based Oracle Corp. missed on earnings and revenue in its first quarter, but shares ripped higher on September 10 thanks to eye-popping AI-driven cloud bookings and long-term revenue targets. CEO Safra Catz touted multibillion-dollar deals with marquee AI names and a massive jump in remaining performance obligations. Investors shrugged off recent layoffs, focusing instead on the growth runway through the decade.
Ford recalls ~1.5 million vehicles for backup-camera glitch
Ford issued yet another recall this week. This one, announced September 9, is due to a faulty rear-view camera that can display a blank or distorted image across a wide range of 2015 to 2019 Ford and Lincoln models. The company will inspect and replace cameras at no charge; regulators cite 18 accidents and no injuries. Owners will get mailed notices with service instructions.
A lot of the Cool Tools we feature here are about maximizing productivity, but this week, lets focus instead on a way to budget your precious downtime.
As someone who watches the streaming TV space closely, Im well aware of how many choices exist when you sit down in front of the TV. Between Netflix, HBO Max, Hulu, Disney+, Peacock, and more, there are endless things to watch, and not nearly enough time to get through them.
So before you commit to a new show, heres a resource to figure out how many hours (or days) of total watch time youre in for. After all, theres nothing worse than being stuck on a cliffhanger.
This tip originally appeared in the free Cool Tools newsletter from The Intelligence. Get the next issue in your inbox and get ready to discover all sorts of awesome tech treasures!
Estimate watch times the easy way
To see how long itll take to get through the next show youre streaming, check out a resource called Bingeclock.
Bingeclock is a free website that lists the total runtime of any TV series or movie.
Looking up a show takes just a few seconds; theres no login or registration required.
To find a total watch time, just type the name of the show or movie into the search box.
Directly on the search results page, youll see how many days, hours, and minutes itll take to watch. You can also hit the Cut credits button to see what the watch time would be if you skipped that part of the presentation.
Precise streaming planning is never more than a few clicks away.
Clicking on a show title leads to a page with more options, including a handy Daily planning button that asks how many episodes you intend to watch per day. Choosing a number will update the watch time, showing how many days youd need to get through the entire series.
Bingeclock lets you get incredibly nuanced with mapping out your streaming schedule.
While you dont need an account to use Bingeclock, creating one unlocks some interesting extra featuresincluding a watchlist, a log of your past binges, and a way to plan Marathons of multiple movies or TV shows. (You can also head to the Leaderboards tab to see popular Marathons from others, like the two-day Marathon of every Godzilla movie.)
Streaming marathons, in stylethanks to Bingeclock’s intelligent estimates.
The site has a few other charming oddities. The Bingerdie game is essentially Wordle, but with terms from popular TV shows, and the Are We Trek Yet? subsite shows how many fictional Star Trek advancements have become reality.
And if all this leaves you feeling even more indecisive about what to watch, just head to the Your Antennas menu. Here, youll be given a virtual tube TV with dozens of seemingly random streaming channels to flip through, from Grateful Dead concert footage and Disney theme park walkthroughs to recent robotics demos.
You never know what you might find in Bingeclock’s on-demand “channels.”
Its nice to know that while Bingeclock can help meticulously plot your TV time, it can help you waste it as well.
Bingeclock is completely web-based and will work in any browser, on any device, without any downloadsthough the service does also offer an Android app and a beta-level, TestFlight-requiring iOS app if youd rather go that route.
Its completely free to use without any limitations.
And you dont have to provide any personal info whatsoever to use itthough if you do opt to create an account, the < href="https://www.bingeclock.com/privacy/">sites privacy policy is pretty standard and straightforward about how it does and doesnt use any associated details.
Treat yourself to all sorts of brain-boosting goodies like this with the free Cool Tools newsletterstarting with an instant introduction to an incredible audio app thatll tune up your days in truly delightful ways.
Theres been a lot of conversation around the role of managers in the age of AI . Weve all seen the clickbait: AI is coming for your job.
That tagline is lazy and dangerous. The bigger truth is that AI will expose managers who play it safe, cling to spreadsheets, and ignore what makes them truly human. The best managers don’t get outmaneuvered by AI, they use it as a force multiplier. And that doesnt necessarily mean leaders who are fluent in technical jargon. It means managers who double down on what machines cant replicate: judgment, trust, and wisdom.
The myth vs. reality of AI and jobs
Managers everywhere need to stop panicking about robots stealing their jobs. They do, however, need to evolve with it.
Companies have poured tens of billions into GenAI. Still, according to a recent study by MIT’s Project NANDA, 94% of generative AI pilot projects fail to deliver real business value. The study also found that only about 10% of job tasks are fully automatable. AI isnt wiping out managers. Its just redistributing grunt work.
The smarter question for leaders is, what parts of my role are uniquely human, and what parts am I wasting time on that AI could handle?
Heres a case in point. I once worked with a tech leader who was drowning in status reports. She was wasting 30% of her week. After AI dashboards took over, she shifted to skip-level check-ins. Engagement scores jumped 18% in one quarter. AI didnt replace her. It ended up making her indispensable.
Where AI belongs (and where it doesnt)
You can use AI to leverage automation to enhance speed and efficiency by streamlining workflows. Its also helpful to handle repetitive noise tasks like scheduling, setting reminders, and tracking progress. This approach helps to identify patterns and insights, which allows for the detection of potential burnout, dips in engagement, or strategic blind spots. You can get a quick summary of trends and synthesis of data.
Where AI isnt helpful is when it comes to providing feedback, performance reviews, or conflict resolution. This requires empathy, trust, connection, accountability, and a personal touch. Thats not something that technology can provide. AI cant look someone in the eye and say, Ive got your back. It cant model resilience. It cant see you and your people through the chaos.
AI, ultimately, is the amplifier. Youre the signal. If you outsource humanity, you dont have a leadership edge; you have a countdown clock.
The human + machine playbook
The best leaders I know dont compete with AI; they partner with it. The strategy is simplethey let the machine handle noise and spend their reclaimed time on connection, coaching, and clarity.
Stats back this up. MIT Sloan research found that managers who combine AI insights with human judgment make better, faster decisions 85% of the time. Plus, their teams trust them more, not less.
What employees actually want in the AI era
For most people, AI isnt necessarily what they fear. What they fear is losing leadership thats present and real. They want leaders who stay human while using AI to remove friction.
Today, 58% of workers report using AI intentionally at work, with nearly 27% using it weekly. However, theres a significant trust gap. According to KPMGs recent study, 57% of respondents hide their Gen AI usage from managers, and 66% dont verify AI outputs for accuracy. Fewer than half (47%) have received training. That mismatch isnt about tools but trust, leadership, and literacy.
The managers edge in an AI world
The next decade wont reward the manager who resists AI. But it will reward those who use it wisely. That means someone who knows how to judge and interpret the data that AI can spot. AI might be able to flag burnout trends, but only people can say, Lets talk and fix this.
Consider the scale: 78% of organizations already utilize AI in at least one business function, and 91% report saving administrative time, saving more than 3.5 hours per week.However, teams still trust humans more than machines. While 75% of employees say AI agents can be teammates, only 30% are willing to accept an AI boss.
AI wont replace managers. But to thrive in the future, managers need to double down on what only humans do best: trust, empathy, and vision. If they choose not to do this, organizations will replace themnot with a robot, but someone who knows how to stay human.
AI can reshape workflows, but managers are the ones who shape outcomes, including trust. This isnt about humans versus machines. Its about humans using machines to unlock what makes us powerful. AI wont replace managers, but managers who pretend its not here? Theyre replacing themselves with irrelevance. The leaders who thrive in the next decade wont be the most technical. Theyll be the most human.
The five teens who make up The Breakfast Club struck a major chord with its Gen X audience, earning the film over $50 million on a $1 million budget when it was released. John Hughes created characters who felt like real teenagersand he cast five young actors who did a bang-up job portraying these realistic kids with emotion, dignity, and humor. It felt like we were watching real people overcome their prejudices together.
Which raises an interesting question: if these were real people, what might they be up to 40 years after that fateful day in detention?
Lets imagine what retirement might look like for the former members of the Shermer High School Breakfast Club:
Brian (portrayed by Anthony Michael Hall): Trying to rebuild his nest egg for the third time
After attending Stanford for a degree in Mathematics, Brian has had a successful and lucrative career as a data analyst. Unfortunately, just like when he was a teenager who thought it was a good idea to take shop to boost his GPA, Brian has continued to try to find shortcuts to reach his financial goals.
It started in the late 1990s, when an old college friend who had become a dotcom millionaire invited him to invest in Pets.com, which was guaranteed to take off. Brian talked his wife Alanis into cashing out their retirement accounts, arguing that the 10% penalty theyd pay for accessing money from their IRAs and 401(k) plans would be more than offset by the surefire gains theyd earn. Alanis was not happy when they had to pay the penalty and lost everything.
By 2008, Brian and Alanis had partially regained their financial footingmostly because Brian was no longer in charge of family investing decisionsbut the recession hit just as their kids were starting college. Brian and Alanis took distributions from their IRAs to help pay for their kids tuition because they could avoid paying the 10% early withdrawal penalty. The IRS allows you to take a penalty-free withdrawal from your IRA but not from your 401(k) for qualified higher education expenses. Though Brian and Alanis avoided the penalty, their retirement account balances were already diminished because of the recession, so they locked in their losses by taking those distributions.
By 2021, with their retirement accounts finally looking pretty solid again, Brian became enamored with NFTs. Without telling Alanis, Brian liberated a decent chunk of his retirement accounts (and again paid the 10% early withdrawal penalty because he was six years away from the minimum withdrawal age of 59) and bought himself some bored apes.
He congratulated himself for about a year on making a great financial decisionuntil the NFT bubble burst. Now Brian is not sure whether hes more worried about the state of his nest egg or his marriage when he finally comes clean to Alanis.
Andrew (Emilio Estevez): Quietly amassing several million dollars
Andrew settled down back in Shermer after attending the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign on a partial wrestling scholarship. He took a job selling insurance and he attends every Shermer High School reunion.
What very few people know about Andrew is that his background as an athlete taught him how to be an effective investor. Specifically, he learned that your habits make you who you are. So Andrew maxed out his retirement contributions starting with his very first paycheck. Once sales commissions and bonuses started coming in, Andrew made sure that 50% of each one went toward retirement, too.
Molly Ringwald, Judd Nelson and Emilio Estevez, on-set of the Film, “The Breakfast Club”, 1984. [Photo: Universal History Archive/Universal Images Group via Getty Images]
But Andrew didnt just settle for contributing to his retirement accounts. He also wanted to optimize his performance, just like he had as an athlete.
In the mid-1990s, Andrew learned all he could by watching CNBC and trying to read The Wall Street Journal. Eventually, he went to see Larry Lester, his old bullying victim, who had become a financial planner in Chicago. Despite Larrys understandable wariness, he helped Andrew craft an investment strategy to fit his goals, temperament, risk tolerance, and timeline.
By following Larrys plan, Andrew has built a portfolio worth nearly $4 million. He has no immediate plans to retire, since hes only 57, and part of him would love to see if he can get his portfolio up to $5 million.
He buys Larry a beer every time he sees him.
Allison (Ally Sheedy): Worrying about Social Security
After the events of The Breakfast Club, Allison put together a portfolio and received a scholarship for the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Once she received her BFA, Allison spent a number of years living with friends, making art, and only working sporadically. She and her friends lived hand-to-mouth and worked for cash under the table when they needed to pay rent. Her artwork was relatively successful, and she had several shows in Chicago galleries, but money was never a priority.
When Allison was in her late 30s, her mother became ill. Despite their long estrangement, Allison went back to Shermer to take care of her mother and help her apply for Social Security benefits. Forced to take a retail job while living at home, Allison started thinking about her own future for the first time as she navigated the Social Security system for her mother.
Allison learned that Social Security retirement benefits are based on your 35 highest-earning years in your career and if you have less than 35 years of work history, the calculation uses zeros for the nonearning years to create the average. At the age of 39, Allison realized she didnt have any work history, at least according to the Social Security Administration. She also hadnt put any money away for retirement.
At that point, Allison got a steady job as a graphic designer. She contributes to a 401(k) when she remembers, but shes worried about the fact her work history starts at age 40. She knows shes going to have a tiny Social Security benefit, but she tries not to think about it too much.
She still paints when she has time. She hopes she might sell a piece for a huge payday someday.
Claire (Molly Ringwald): Taking distributions from an inherited IRA
After finishing college, Claire moved to Chicago and set some firm boundaries with her manipulative parentsbut they continued to remind her that they held the purse strings. Eventually, Claire decided to make her own way without her parents money or influence.
Her father passed away earlier this year, which is when Claire learned that she was the beneficiary of his IRA, which has a balance of over $2 million. In addition to reigniting her mothers resentment of her, the inheritance has also been logistically tricky for Claire.
Claire inherited the IRA after the SECURE Act, which means she must empty it within 10 years of her fathers death. She could take the entire balance as a lump sum, but since this is a traditional IRA, it would be considered taxable income.
The other option is to take distributions every year for 10 yearsbut first Claire would need to determine if her father had already been taking required minimum distributions (RMDs) before he died, in which case she would have to take the RMD her father owed this year if he hadnt yet satisfied it. No matter what, her taxable income is likely to go up by at least $200,000 per year for the next 10 years.
Claire, who still keeps in touch with John Bender, made the mistake of complaining about this situation the last time she talked to him. He said, Boo hoo! Queenie has too much money.
Bender (Judd Nelson): Intending to retire on the proceeds of his dispensary
Despite his determination to prove the malicious Breakfast Club villain Mr. Vernon wrong, John Bender struggled to graduate from Shermer High School. With nowhere to go after graduation, Bender got a job at the local bowling alley. The job stuckdespite his best effortsbecause the owner knew what Bender Sr. was like and didnt hold Johns behavior against him.
Over time, Bender learned marketing, accounting, and inventory from the owner of the bowling alley, and he realized he understood some aspects of running a successful business better than his boss. He just needed a business that he cared about more than bowling.
In the 2010s, Bender paid close attention to the states legalizing marijuana. He started putting together a business plan well in advance of Illinois decriminalizing weed in 2019 and was ready to open a dispensary in Shermer almost as soon as the law passed. It turned a profit its first year and continues to do excellent business. Although it took until he was in his early 50s, Bender finally found work he loves.
Like many other Gen Xers, Benders entrepreneurial endeavor will help fund his retirement in Latitude Margaritaville, where he hopes to devote himself full time to pickleball.
Mr. Vernon (Paul Gleason): Retired in 1994 on his teachers pension
Nobody hated breakfast club detention more than vice-principal Richard Vernon, who no doubt would have taken early retirement as soon as he was eligible. The Illinois teacher pension system (currently) provides full retirement benefits as of age 67 after at least 10 years of service, but allows educators to retire as early as age 55 with reduced benefits. The full benefit amount is equal to 2.2% of the teachers highest average salary during their final 10 years, multiplied by the educators total years of service.
We know that Vernon earned $31,000 per year in 1984 (as he brags to Bender). Assuming a 4% pay increase per year, his final salary in 1994 would have been approximately $45,700. From there, we can calculate his highest average salary for his final 10 years of teaching as approximately $40,118. If Vernon started teaching at age 22, his full pension would be equal to:
2.2% of ($40,118 x 33 years) = $29,126 per year
Of course, by taking his pension 12 years early, Mr. Vernon permanently reduced his benefit, so he has to live on significantly less than $29,126 per year.
Somehow, hes decided its Benders fault.
Dont you . . . forget about retirement
Your retirement requires more than seeing things in the simplest terms and the most convenient definitions. When planning for retirement, remember these lessons:
A brain may make terrible financial decisions.
An athlete may understand the importance of habit and incremental improvements.
A basketcase may not always recognize when freedom becomes constricting.
A princess may feel burdened by the rules of wealth.
And a criminal may live long enough to become respected.
Want more housing market stories from Lance Lamberts ResiClub in your inbox? Subscribe to the ResiClub newsletter.
Over the past year the supply-demand equilibriummeasured by shifts and levels in active housing inventory and months of supplyhas shifted directionally in favor of homebuyers. That doesnt mean buyers have all the leverage, or that the picture is the same in every market. Directionally, however, homebuyers in most markets have gained leverage compared to the 2024 housing market.
Among the nations 200 largest metro-area housing markets:
62% saw home prices rise year over year from July 2024 to July 2025
38% saw home prices fall year over year from July 2024 to July 2025
Thats the highest share of housing markets with falling year-over-year home prices since October 2012when the housing market was starting to rebound following the 2007-2011 housing market crash.
Most housing markets are still seeing rising home prices on a year-over-year basis; however, the share of markets with falling year-over-year home prices is ticking up.
Using forward-looking data, ResiClub expects that the share of housing markets with falling year-over-year home prices could rise a bit more in the coming months. For evidence, just look at the seasonally adjusted month-over-month data.
Click here to view an interactive version of the chart below.
Seasonally, home prices in most housing markets experience the most upward pressure between February and July, and the most downward pressure between September and January. To remove the seasonal noise and better observe the real trend, its helpful to look at seasonally adjusted month-over-month home price changes.
Among the nations 200 largest metro-area housing markets:
44.5% saw seasonally adjusted home prices rise month over month from June to July 2025
55.5% saw seasonally adjusted home prices fall month over month from June to July 2025
Without seasonal adjustment, U.S. home prices rose 0.3% month over month from June to July 2025a seasonal window that has averaged a 0.9% month-over-month increase since 2000. When seasonally adjusting the month-over-month change from June to July 2025, U.S. home prices fell 0.1% month over month.
Click here to view an interactive version of the chart below.
We should point out that the 2025 burst of housing market softening has lost some momentum in recent months: From April to May 2025, 71% of the nations 200 largest metro areas saw a month-over-month, seasonally adjusted home price decline. From June to July 2025, that share was 55%.
On Monday, Apple will release the iPhones next operating system, iOS 26, to the general public. The new operating system features the most radical redesign of the iPhones software in over a decade. Gone are iOSs flat, minimalist interface elements, replaced by a new transparent design language called Liquid Glass.
But iOS 26 is offering iPhones more than a facelift. The new operating system is also packed with new features, including more advanced AI tools, a revamped calling experience, an all-new Games app, and dozens of enhancements to major apps, including Maps, Photos, Messages, and more.
If you plan on upgrading to iOS 26, however, there are a few steps you should take before installing the iPhones new operating system. Heres how to get your iPhone ready for iOS 26.
Make sure your iPhone will run iOS 26
First, be sure your iPhone can actually run iOS 26. The great news is that the new OS supports a ton of older iPhone modelsmore than two dozen. The bad news is that if your iPhone was released before 2019, it wont be capable of running iOS 26.
With the release of iOS 26, Apple is dropping support for three iPhone models that can currently run iOS 18: the iPhone XS, the iPhone XS Max, and the iPhone XR. All three models were released in 2018, and none will support iOS 26, likely because they dont possess the graphics or processing power to run the new Liquid Glass design adequately.
Yet Apple has still managed to offer iOS 26 support on iPhones that first came out six years agoand every model since. Here are all 30 models of iPhone that can run iOS 26:
iPhone 17
iPhone Air
iPhone 17 Pro
iPhone 17 Pro Max
iPhone 16e
iPhone 16
iPhone 16 Plus
iPhone 16 Pro
iPhone 16 Pro Max
iPhone 15
iPhone 15 Plus
iPhone 15 Pro
iPhone 15 Pro Max
iPhone 14
iPhone 14 Plus
iPhone 14 Pro
iPhone 14 Pro Max
iPhone 13
iPhone 13 mini
iPhone 13 Pro
iPhone 13 Pro Max
iPhone 12
iPhone 12 mini
iPhone 12 Pro
iPhone 12 Pro Max
iPhone 11
iPhone 11 Pro
iPhone 11 Pro Max
iPhone SE (3rd generation)
iPhone SE (2nd generation)
If you have any of these iPhones, youll be able to install iOS 26 onto them. However, note that some features, such as those powered by Apple Intelligence, will require more recent iPhone models, including the iPhone 15 Pro and above.
Make sure your iPhone is already running the latest iOS
When upgrading to a new OS, the installation processincluding carrying over all your data without a hitchtends to run more smoothly, some believe, if the iPhone you are upgrading is currently running the latest iOS.
Whether this advantage is actually true is a matter of debate. Still, it doesnt hurt to ensure that your iPhone is running the latest operating system before upgrading to iOS 26. As of the time of this writing, the latest operating system for the iPhone is 18.6.2.
To upgrade to the latest iOS (before iOS 26 is released), do the following on your iPhone:
Open the Settings app.
Tap General.
Tap Software Update.
Your iPhone will then check to make sure it is running the latest operating system, and if it is not, it will prompt you to upgrade by tapping the Update Now button.
Free up your iPhones storage space
Our iPhones often get cluttered with apps we dont use, games we dont play, and documents and photos we no longer need. All this leads to excess data on our phones, which takes up valuable storage. And when installing a major new operating system, the most critical thing you need for the installation process is enough storage space.
Depending on which iPhone model you are upgrading, you may need 10GB or more of free storage space on your device. If you dont have it, then your iPhone wont be able to download the new OS’s installer files.
Usually, the biggest storage hogs on iPhones are games and media files. If you need to free up a lot of storage space quickly, consider deleting any unnecessary types of this kind of data, with the caveat that you should always keep a backup of the files you will be deleting, so you can recover them later if needed.
If you need help discovering what may be hogging the most space on your iPhone, you can do so by doing the following:
Open the Settings app.
Tap General.
Tap iPhone Storage.
From this screen, your iPhone will even recommend which files and apps may be able to be deleted, allowing you to free up storage space.
Back up your iPhone
There is one more crucial thing you should do before upgrading your iPhone to iOS 26: back up your device. By backing up your iPhone first, youll ensure that you have a copy of your iPhone data in the rare instance that the iOS 26 installation process goes horribly wrong and you lose all your data.
Apple allows you to back up your iPhone through several methods, including creating a backup on your Mac or PC. However, the easiest way to back up your iPhone is to use the iCloud Backup feature. iCloud Backup stores your iPhone data in the cloud, where Apple keeps it safe. You can use this data to restore an older iPhoneor a brand new onewith all your data.
To back up your iPhone using iCloud Backup before installing iOS 26, do the following:
Open the Settings app.
Tap your Apple Account ID.
Tap iCloud.
Tap iCloud Backup.
Tap Back Up Now.
You can view Apples instructions for all available iPhone backup options here.
Apple will make iOS 26 available to the general public on Monday, September 15.
For over two decades, businesses have chased the elusive goal of improving employee engagement, yet the results have been lackluster. Gallup data shows U.S. engagement languishing at 31%, virtually unchanged since their landmark 2013 study.
Annual or semiannual surveys conducted as perfunctory exercises fail to capture the fast-changing dynamics of todays workplace. Their delayed resultsoften taking months to reach managersrender them largely unactionable, leaving employee concerns unaddressed.
Moreover, few leaders in organizations, including line managers who most directly influence engagement, have ever been held accountable for improving their leadership effectiveness and team engagement. As a result, employees, perceive their employers efforts as insincere, grow jaded, frustrated, and cynical, paradoxically becoming even less engaged.
Instead of using outdated engagement surveys, organizations should use pulse-surveysshort, frequently administered questionnairesto gauge how employees are feeling, and then administer fixes to improve well-being. In my new book, The Power of Employee Well-Being: Move Beyond Engagement to Build Flourishing Teams, I posit that employee well-being drives thriving workplaces. Emerging research shows employee well-being has a profound influence over productivity, retention, and true workplace vitality.
And, as the adage goes, you dont know what isnt measured.
Pulse Surveys: A Smarter Approach
Pulse surveys are concisetypically 15 questions employees can complete in minutesthat capture employee sentiment in real time, enabling workplace managers and companies to swiftly respond. Phil Willburn, vice president of People Analytics, Insights, & Experiences at Workday, an HR technology company specializing in workforce analytics, so strongly believes in their data-driven impact, his company has pulsed its own employees weekly for over seven years. In 2022, it’s pulse surveys identified workload issues during a hybrid work transition, leading to policy adjustments that reduced stress by 15% and enhanced team belonging.
Bobby Melloy, regional director of People Science at Culture Amp, an HR technology company focused on employee experience, emphasizes the pulse survey’s adaptability: As the rate of change increases, the importance of frequent pulsing grows. Culture Amps client Canva used monthly pulses in 2023 to improve collaboration during rapid growth, boosting employee commitment by 18%.
Designing Effective Pulse Surveys
Strategic design is critical for pulse surveys to enhance well-being, and to meaningfully inform leadership decision-making. Melloy of Culture Amp advises, Pulse survey items should be dynamic, measuring things that will change over time, such as, ‘Do I feel a sense of belonging on my team?’ or ‘Does my manager show appreciation for my work?'”
Questions about meaningful work are also vital. Willburn of Workday highlights his favorite: Is the work I do is meaningful to me? He explains, you can overcome so much distraction or pressure workload if you really believe in your work.
Both Willburn and Melloy agree, employing a five-point scaleStrongly Agree to Strongly Disagreeis best for pulse surveys. Its intuitive, familiar design minimizes fatigue, ensures nuanced feedback, and supports frequent pulsing.
Finally, surveys should be concise and conducted weekly, monthly, or quarterly to balance actionability with trust. Melloy cautions, survey only as often as you can act on that data . . . you dont want to sacrifice participation rates by getting people to become cynical about your pulses.
Driving Accountability and Trust
Once data is collected, managers should receive the feedback and respond by holding team discussions and creating actionable plans to address concerns like morale or stress.
Melloy emphasizes: Unaddressed feedback breeds distrust. Without follow-through, pulsing risks eroding the psychological contract with employees.
Senior leaders should also monitor all survey scores to swiftly identify managers who prioritize performance over well-being. Managers with lower scores should receive coaching.
A Call to Action
Pulse surveys empower leaders to make transformative decisions and prioritize employee well-being. Phil Willburn told me that Workdays weekly pulses uncovered collaboration gaps during a critical global product launch, prompting leadership to form cross-functional task forces. The informed intervention led to a 20% increase in project delivery performance. Bobby Melloy highlighted a client whose pulse data revealed that some employees felt highly unsupported by their managers. This led to the firm launching targeted coaching programs that remedied the friction.
These vivid examples highlight how pulse surveys provide real-time employee insights, and empower leaders to act swiftly, build resilient cultures, and create workplaces that inspire loyalty and attract top talent. Pulse surveys also drive well-being by empowering employee voices, ensuring people work for supportive and effective managers, feel connected to their teamand have all the support they need to do their jobs.
Phil Willburn said it best: Pulse surveys give leaders the pulse of their people, turning challenges into opportunities for support.
