Revolutionary France may seem like a strange place to find a life hack, but in the 1790s, the French satirist Nicolas Chamfort offered some stark advice to cope with our daily travails.
One should swallow a toad every morning, so as not to find anything disgusting for the rest of the day, he wrote. In other words, start with the thing you dread most, and the following obligations will feel far more pleasant.
Chamforts name has largely been forgotten by the English-speaking world, but his unsettling phrase has endured as a popular productivity mantra: Eat the frog. The idea has even inspired a best-selling self-help book from the 2000s. But does it actually work?
It is only within the past few years that scientists have investigated the strategy, and they have found that “eating the frog” can be surprisingly powerful, boosting our satisfaction, motivation, and performance in the workplace, while helping us to begin our evenings feeling more refreshed. We just need to gird our stomachs and get on with it.
Biased expectations
You may be skeptical. The very idea of eating the frog runs against the widespread intuition that we should ease ourselves into a job with the simplest possible task. Most of us think that we can build up confidence as we progress, but it turns out to be completely wrong. Rachel Habbert and Juliana Schroeder at the University of California, Berkeley, first exposed this bias in 2020.
In a series of experiments, the researchers first asked participants to consider different word games, and to say which order they would like to tackle themwith the vast majority of people opting to work their way up to the hardest challenges. They seemed to believe that this would allow their confidence to grow.
To test whether those preferences were justified, Schroeder and Habbert then asked the participants to perform the tasks in order of either ascending or descending difficulty. Contrary to their predictions, the participants who started with the most demanding task ended up feeling considerably more confident than those who worked the other way. Eating the frog at the beginning of the task, it seemed, had allowed them to finish on a high.
The “easy addendum effect”
The results chime with a later finding by Edward Lai, an assistant professor of marketing at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University. He was inspired, in part, by the peak-end rule. Put simply, this is the principle that our memories of an experience are biased by its most intense moments, and by the way it endswhile neglecting its overall duration.
In the original experiments describing this phenomenon, the late Daniel Kahneman, Nobel Prize-winning psychologist at Princeton University, asked participants to plunge one of their hands into unpleasantly cold14°C (57°F)water for 60 seconds. After they had dried off, they then plunged the other hand into water of the same temperature for the same length of time, followed by a further 30 seconds at 15°C (59°F)before being asked which trial they would like to repeat. The logical answer would seem to be the first, but most went for the second, since it ended on a more pleasant note.
Lai and his colleagues wanted to test how this might apply to our work.
They tasked some participants with common administrative jobs, such as filing books alphabetically or answering customer inquiries. Some of the participants were given a single block of tasks, while others were asked to complete the same number of jobs while also taking on a second block of easier tasks. (The people answering customer queries were given a few extra emails asking for straightforward clarifications, for example.)
Despite doing more work overall, the people who had been given the additional problems felt that they had made less overall effort than those who had simply tackled the core task, and they were more satisfied as a result. They also showed greater persistence.
They were less likely to want to take a break, and more likely to opt in to additional tasks, and actually complete them, Lai says.
To double-check that the sequence mattered, they also tried placing the simpler tasks at the beginning, or at the middle of the sequence. But the only way that people felt happier and more satisfied was when we put the easy ones at the end, he saysleading the researchers to call it the “easy addendum effect.”
We can only conclude so much from laboratory experiments, but the finding has since been replicated in real-life companies.
In one weeklong study, Chen Zhang, an associate professor in leadership and management organization at Tsinghua University in Beijing, and his colleagues encouraged 83 knowledge workers at an IT company to change their schedules so that they focused on the days biggest challenges during the morning.
As Schroeders and Lais findings would have predicted, they ended the day more positively, with less fatigue as they left work. A second survey at an e-commerce company found that this approach could also increase productivity. The participants supervisors reported that they were more likely to go above and beyond their everyday responsibilities after completing their most daunting tasks first, for example.
Reflection and planning
Putting all this into practice will take a little forethought. In Zhangs study, the participants spent the first moments of each morning rating the difficulty of each task before deciding on their schedule. In some cases, there will only be one logical order to do things. Whenever we have a bit of flexibility, however, we can choose to tackle the biggest challenges as early as possible. I frequently apply this strategy myself. Ive just started writing a new book, for instance, and some of the more technical sections will require particularly heavy lifting. Knowing about the easy addendum effect, I focus on these more demanding tasks before lunch and spend the afternoon working on the connective tissue and the personal anecdotes, which are often far more pleasurable to write, before spending the final hour revising what I have written. I arrange work calls and meetings in a similar manner, placing those with the potential for conflict in the first half of the day, and friendly catch-ups toward the evening.
Simply categorizing your emails can make a real difference, Lai says. Clearly, some will need to be answered urgently, but once you have prioritized those that need immediate attention, you can eat the frogs first and leave the quickest responses until last.
Lai is sure this simple habit has enhanced his own happiness. If I do that, I feel like it hasnt been such a bad day when I walk out of the office, he says.
Nicolas Chamfort, we can guess, would heartily approve.
Imagine the scene: Your plane just landed late. Youve barely got enough time to catch your connection, but first youve got to convince the other passengers to let you off before them.
Good luck.
Recently, though, a Delta Air Lines flight attendant flipped the script, according to Kathrin Peters. Peters, co-founder of consulting firm Withiii Leadership, says a recent flight taught her one of the best real-life lessons shes ever seen in generating instant connectivity.
After confirming the planes late arrival, the flight attendant asked passengers to raise their hand if they were ending their journey in Salt Lake City, the flights destination. After most of the hands in the cabin went up, he continued.
Now, everyone who has their hands up: Imagine the anxiety youd feel if you had to catch another flight tonight and werent sure youd make it. Put your hands down. And now, those connecting to San Francisco, Palm Springs, and Denver, raise yours!
Everyone, look around, the flight attendant requested. These are the people wholl be sprinting off the plane tonight as soon as we land. Look at them, and imagine this was you.
The flight attendant then implored everyone in the cabin who didnt have a connecting flight to stay seated and give the other passengers space to get out as quickly as possible.
If we all play our part, they can make it, the flight attendant said. Thank you so much for your consideration and help. Every one of those guys appreciates you for it.
Peters said the energy in the cabin completely shifted.
Everyone suddenly shared the same mission, Peters wrote in a LinkedIn post. We all knew who the people were that needed to hustle now. And we were all in it with them, feeling their adrenaline in our veins.
When the plane landed, says Peters, only connecting passengers stood up. Others helped them with their bags. Afterward, the remaining passengers patiently got up, grabbed their things, and exited calmly.
The whole plane was rooting for them, Peters said.
What this flight attendant did was brilliant, namely, motivating others to resist the urge to act in their own self-interest, and help instead. Its a case study in emotional intelligence, which includes the ability to empathize with others and build connection.
Why did the flight attendants technique work so well? And how can you use this lesson to help you become a better leader? To answer those questions, lets take a closer look at the quality of empathy. (Sign up here for my free email course on emotional intelligence.)
The three types of empathy
Empathy is the ability to understand and share the thoughts and feelings of others. But according to psychologists Daniel Goleman and Paul Ekman, there are actually three types of empathy:
Cognitive empathy: the ability to understand another persons thoughts and feelings
Emotional empathy: the ability to actually share or relate to those feelings
Compassionate empathy (or empathic concern): the ability to take action in an attempt to demonstrate empathy
Interestingly, while we all want others to show empathy to us, we often fail to show it to others.
There are several reasons for this, but it basically boils down to the fact that showing empathy is hard. The first two types, cognitive and emotional, take mental energy. And the third type, compassionate empathy, takes physical energy, too.
But the flight attendant was able to inspire passengers to exercise all three types of empathy, by gently guiding everyone through the process, each one building upon the other.
After identifying who was in a position to help, he helped them exercise cognitive empathy by prompting them to imagine the anxiety theyd feel if they were the ones trying to catch another flight. Then, he helped them build connection with emotional empathy, by pointing out who on the plane was in that exact situation and asking them to imagine they were the ones in it.
Finally, he motivated them to take action, by encouraging positive peer pressure and inspiring the group to work together. This was no longer a disconnected group of people, they were a team with a single mission: Get those passengers to their connecting flights.
How can you use these lessons in your workplace?
If youre a leader, look for ways to help your people exercise all three types of empathy. Identify whos in a position to help, and who needs help. Then, use questions and phrases similar to that flight attendants.
For example:
How would you feel if . . .?
Imagine this were you . . .
How can you help?
If we all play our part . . .
Thank you for your help.
Also, remember to gently guide everyone through the process, step-by-step. Because empathy takes time and effort, and thats a challenging journey to ask of others.
But if you use principles of emotional intelligence like that flight attendant, youll inspire people not just to feel empathy, but to act on it.
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Justin Bariso
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.
If youre order number 67 at In-N-Out, dont expect to hear your number called.
The fast food chain has reportedly removed the number from its system, after viral videos show teens responding with wild celebrations after waiting around just to hear the number called. Imagine explaining this to someone in the future, one commenter wrote.
Employees confirmed the number hasn’t been used for orders for about a month, according to a report from People magazine. After order number 66, the next order jumps straight to number 68. The chain has also removed the number 69, for good measure.
The two digits, pronounced six, seven, not sixty-seven, have also been wreaking havoc in classrooms over the past couple months. Vice President JD Vance even took to social media and called for the numbers to be banned.
He wrote on X, Yesterday at church the Bible readings started on page 66-67 of the missal, and my 5-year-old went absolutely nuts repeating six seven like 10 times. He continued, I think we need to make this narrow exception to the First Amendment and ban these numbers forever.
Others have adopted an “if you cant beat em, join em” approach. In November, both Wendys and Pizza Hut added a 67-cent Frosty deal and 67-cent wings” to their respective menus, paying homage to the meme in the hope of enticing teens. Domino’s also launched its own promo deal, offering customers one large pizza with one topping for $6.70.
The trend has, somewhat unbelievably, reached the house floor. Utah Republican U.S. Rep. Blake Moore, while reporting the ayes and nos for a vote on a joint resolution in the U.S. House of Representatives last month, joked the results were about 6-7 while doing the juggling hand gesture.
“6-7” officially cemented its status as the choice for Dictionary.com‘s word of the year. “Perhaps the most defining feature of 67 is that its impossible to define, wrote Dictionary.com. Its meaningless, ubiquitous, and nonsensical.”
For those still lost, the numbers can be traced back to a song called Doot Doot, released by hip-hop artist Skrilla in late 2024, in which he raps, 6-7, I just bipped right on the highway (bip, bip). From there, a video of a boy yelling 6-7 into the camera at a basketball game went viral.
Since then, its taken on a life of its own.
Organizations often describe change as a technical exercise: Adjust a workflow, update a reporting line, reorganize a process or two. On paper, it all looks relatively contained. But the lived experience of change rarely aligns with the tidy logic of a project plan.
Recently, I worked with a team in the midst of what leadership kept referring to as a small restructuring. And technically, it was. The core work wasnt shifting, no ones job was threatened, and the strategy made sense.
Yet the emotional climate thickened almost immediately. One manager became more reserved than usual, answering questions with careful brevity. Another grew unusually fixated on minor details. A third found herself more irritable, though she couldnt articulate why. Nothing dramaticjust a low hum of unease moving through a group of otherwise steady professionals.
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What struck me was how quickly this supposedly minor adjustment stirred up deeper questions for people. Thats the part of change we tend not to acknowledge. Even modest shifts can unsettle the psychological architecture we rely on to feel competent, grounded, and connected. The disruption isnt about the logistics of the change; its about the quiet, internal recalibration that follows.
The Psychology Beneath Transition
In both coaching and clinical work, clients often describe this experience in vague terms: I dont hate the change. Something just feels . . . off. That feeling isnt superficial. Its a signal that the change is brushing against something importantidentity, capability, belonging, autonomy, the sense of who we are in relation to the work and the people around us.
Most reactions to change are not reactions to the actual change. They are reactions to what the change is interpreted to mean.
A new workflow can raise doubts about whether ones skills remain relevant. A shift in reporting lines can evoke questions about trust or status. A more efficient structure may unexpectedly trigger fears of being left behind. Even when the change is welcome or long overdue, it can still destabilize the sense of continuity that makes daily work feel predictable.
When these emotions arent acknowledged, they tend to surface indirectlyas tension, withdrawal, hypervigilance, or that familiar sense that the team is slightly out of sync without being sure why.
A Leaders Turning Point
I saw this play out with a director who couldnt quite understand why her team seemed anxious. Were not changing their jobs, she said. Why is this causing so much stress?
She was looking at the content of the change rather than its psychological implications. So I asked her, If you were sitting in their chair what might this change symbolize?
She thought for a long moment. Probably that Im losing control, she said quietly. Or that leadership thinks our judgment isnt strong enough.
Once she recognized that meaning-makingnot mechanicswas driving the reaction, she changed her approach. Instead of doubling down on explanations of the strategy, she met individually with team members to ask how the transition was landing for them. These werent troubleshooting conversations; they were opportunities for people to articulate the emotional subtext of the change.
Over the next two weeks, the atmosphere settled. People began to reengage. The same plan, once met with tension, now felt workable. The difference wasnt procedural. It was psychological.
What Effective Leaders Actually Do
Leaders often assume that smooth change management depends on clear plans and well-communicated timelines. Those matter, of course, but theyre not what ultimately determines whether people adapt. The leaders who navigate transition well understand that the emotional environment carries more weight than any formal framework.
1. They acknowledge the wobble
Effective leaders dont pretend everyone is fine, nor do they treat every raised eyebrow as a crisis. They simply name whats happening in a way that feels matter-of-fact and compassionate: This kind of shift can throw people a bit. If youre feeling unsettled, youre not alone.
The acknowledgment isnt performative; its grounding. It signals that disorientation is expectednot a personal failing or a sign that someone is resistant. When the leader names the wobble, the team doesnt have to expend additional energy hiding it.
2. They offer predictable touchpoints
In times of transition, people instinctively look for something steady to hold onto. Leaders who understand this create simple, reliable anchors: a weekly check-in that doesnt get rescheduled, updates that arrive when theyre promised, a shared understanding of what will happen nexteven if what happens next is simply another conversation.
Predictability doesn’t remove uncertainty, but it gives people a rhythm they can orient themselves around. It restores a sense of temporalityI know where we are, and I know when Ill hear something againwhich has a surprising regulating effect on the nervous system.
3. They reinforce continuity
One of the most destabilizing parts of change is the fear that everything is up for grabs. Leaders who navigate change well remind people of what isnt shifting: the teams shared values, their collective purpose, the norms that shape how they work together, the relationships that predate the change.
This isnt about offering false reassurance; its about locating the throughline. People need to know what they can still rely on so they can make sense of what is genuinely new. Continuity is the psychological counterweight to upheaval.
4. They return a sense of agency
Change often creates a feeling of being acted upon, which is why even small choices can make a disproportionate difference. Leaders who understand this invite their team to help in decision-making in thoughtful, bounded ways: How should we sequence this work? What would make the new process feel more workable? Which aspects should wetest first?
Its not about democratizing every call; its about restoring a sense of authorship. When people have a hand in shaping even a small part of the transition, the experience shifts from something happening to me to something Im participating in.
5. They make room for emotion without absorbing it
Every change process brings emotion along for the ridefrustration, anticipation, grief, relief, confusion. Strong leaders dont pathologize those reactions, nor do they try to rescue people from them. They stay steady enough to listen without absorbing the emotional charge, and curious enough to understand what the emotion is pointing to.
When they respond, they dont personalize the feelings or interpret them as pushback. They treat emotional reactions as datainformation about needs, fears, assumptions, or blind spots in the transition. That stance alone often lowers the temperature.
Final Thought
Change will always involve more than new workflows or org charts. It touches peoples sense of competence, identity, and place in the systemand thats where the real work of leadership happens. When managers pay attention to the emotional experience of changenot just the operational rolloutteams stay steadier and transitions land more cleanly. The leaders who succeed arent the ones with the perfect plan; theyre the ones who help people find their footing as the ground shifts.
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Electronic gifts are very popular, and in recent years, retailers have been offering significant discounts on smartphones, e-readers, and other electronics labeled as pre-owned. Research I have co-led finds that these pre-owned options are becoming increasingly viable, thanks in part to laws and policies that encourage recycling and reuse of devices that might previously have been thrown away.
Amazon, Walmart, and Best Buy have dedicated pages on their websites for pre-owned devices. Manufacturers like Apple and Dell, as well as mobile service providers like AT&T and Verizon, offer their own options for customers to buy used items. Their sales rely on the availability of a large volume of used products, which are supplied by the emergence of an entire line of businesses that process used, discarded, or returned electronics.
Those developments are some of the results of widespread innovations across the electronics industry that supply chain researcher Suresh Muthulingam and I have linked to Californias Electronic Waste Recycling Act, passed in 2003.
Recycling innovation
Originally intended to reduce the amount of electronic waste flowing into the states landfills, Californias law did far more, unleashing a wave of innovation, our analysis found.
We analyzed the patent-filing activity of hundreds of electronics firms over a 17-year time span from 1996 to 2012. We found that the passage of Californias law not only prompted electronics manufacturers to engage in sustainability-focused innovation, but it also sparked a surge in general innovation around products, processes, and techniques.
Faced with new regulations, electronics manufacturers and suppliers didnt just make small adjustments, such as tweaking their packaging to ensure compliance. They fundamentally rethought their design and manufacturing processes to create products that use recycled materials and that are easily recyclable themselves.
For example, Samsungs Galaxy S25 smartphone is a new product that, when released in May 2025, was made of eight different recycled materials, including aluminum, neodymium, steel, plastics, and fiber.
Combined with advanced recycling technologies and processes, these materials can be recovered and reused several times in new devices and products. For example, Apple invented the Daisy Robot, which disassembles old iPhones in a matter of seconds and recovers a variety of precious metals, including copper and gold. These materials, which would otherwise have to be mined from rock, are reused in Apples manufacturing process for new iPhones and iPads.
How do consumers benefit?
In the past two decades, 25 U.S. states and Washington D.C. have passed laws requiring electronics recycling and refurbishing, the process of restoring a pre-owned electronic device so that it can function like new.
The establishment of industry guidelines and standards also means that all pre-owned devices are thoroughly tested for functionality and cosmetic appearance before resale.
Companies deeper engagement with innovation appears to have created organizational momentum that carried over into other areas of product development. For example, in our study, we found that the passage of Californias law directly resulted in a flurry of patents related to semiconductor materials, data storage, and battery technology, among others. These scientific advances have made devices more durable, repairable, and recyclable.
For the average consumer, the recycling laws and the resulting industry responses mean used electronics are available with similar reliability, warranties, and return policies as new devicesand at prices as much as 50% lower.
Suvrat Dhanorkar is an associate professor of operations management at Georgia Institute of Technology.
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
AI coaches are everywhere. Theyre training marathoners and coaching leaders, and even billionaires Ray Dalio created an AI clone to serve as a digital mentor. In the past few months, searches for AI coaching have gone through the roof.
And its easy to see why. AI coaches are available 24/7, cost less than a gym membership, and can recall every word youve ever said. Research even shows they can match human coaches in helping people reach their goals. Ironically, people often tell AI things theyd never tell another person. Studies show chatbots reduce our fear of judgment, making them surprisingly effective at uncovering whats really going on.
And with 94% of employees saying theyd stay longer at a company that invests in their growth, AI coaching seems like the perfect solution, at least on paper. Im a coach and I use AI.
But after a decade of coaching more than 4,000 people, heres what Ive learned: AI moves the needle 90%, sure. But for the life-changing 10%, you still need a human.
Why AI coaching falls short
Last month, a client told me she wanted to readjust her focus. If shed asked an AI coach, she wouldve gotten a list of productivity hacks. But when I heard her say it, I noticed something felt off.
Did you notice how your energy dropped when you said that? I asked. That question opened the real issue. She wasnt struggling with priorities; she was afraid of leaving her comfort zone. Changing her focus was a protective strategy that wouldve kept her stuck.
Thats the 10% AI cant identify.
Science backs this up. Our brains sync through mirror neurons, a process called emotional contagion. Its how a coach can sense when your energy dips, even before you speak.
Humans also co-regulate each others stress responses, a process thats essential for change. Thats why, in psychotherapy, the relationship itself predicts outcomes as much as any treatment method. The same holds true for coaching.
Finally, clients often tell me they chose to work with me because of my story. Im the child of immigrants who became a Princeton-trained engineer before walking away from corporate life. Im also an introvert whod rather watch Netflix than network. That shared humanityseeing someone whos been where they arebuilds trust and makes them realize: If she can do it, maybe I can too.
The smarter way forward: 3 ways to use hybrid coaching
Still, Im not saying AI coaching doesnt work, because it does. But the smartest coaches and clients wont choose between humans and AI. Theyll use both.
Heres how to combine them for the best results:
1. Be consistent
Use an AI tool like ChatGPT to stay accountable every day. Prompts like Based on my reflections this week, what patterns or habits keep showing up? or Highlight one recurring theme in my journaling that might be holding me back help you track growth between sessions.
2. Dig deeper
AI can help you surface patterns faster. One of my clients uses AI to journal every morning. By the time she shows up to our call, she has already identified her blocks, so we can focus on getting results faster. Try prompts like: How would an executive or business coach advise me on this?
3. Define actions
After each session, use an AI transcription tool like Otter.ai to turn coaching insights into concrete steps. Use prompts like: Based on this call, what actions do I need to take in the next week/month? and Turn this call into a simple weekly action plan. Thats how AI helps you move fasterwhile your human coach makes sure you move in the right direction.
Happy Friday is ranked as one of the worst ways to begin an email and it is also one of the worst ways to end a piece of correspondence.
While Happy Friday may seem like a friendly send-off to colleagues as they approach the weekend, it can easily offend for many reasons.
Here are three excellent reasons never to use this expression.
#1: IT CAN BE ANNOYING
This expression may be used by people who are trying to lift the spirits of a colleague or make the recipient feel relieved that the workweek is coming to an end.
But your colleague may be involved in working hard to complete an assignment, or be involved in a project that needs to get done. If so, your Happy Friday will be irritating. His or her reaction might be to feel this writer knows little about the pressures of work or completing assignments.
According to a study a full 69% of employees say their mental health has worsened over the past year, so theres a good chance your colleague is not having a happy Friday.
#2 IT CAN BE INSENSITIVE
Beginning or ending your email with Happy Friday presumes that everyone is having a great day. But how do you know?
I get emails from people I dont even know wishing me a Happy Friday. I was in the hospital when a few of these came, and I was not having a happy time. It is presumptuous to wish someone a happy day when she could be sick, tired, or overworked.
In such cases, the words Happy Friday will only deepen the recipients misery. According to a study by the American Psychological Association, half of adults in the United States reported feelings of emotional disconnection, isolation from others (54%), left out (50%), or lacking companionship (50%).
So wishing someone Happy Friday may elicit a deeper sense of loneliness, with the recipient feeling bad to be left out of the happiness circle.
#3 IT IS A CLICHÉ
If you are still tempted to use this expression, dont succumb to that temptation because it is a cliché that gives rise to other clichés.
In some of the emails I get Happy Friday is followed by wishing you a lovely weekend and hoping you had a great week, and hoping you are well.
Happy Friday also gives rise to Happy Monday, Happy Tuesday, or Happy [any day of the week, or any season].
I am much more likely to read and respond to emails that dont begin or end with this awful expression. Give it up!
Instead, you might begin your correspondence by mentioning your last communication with that person. For example say thank you for following up with me or I loved your thoughts about . . . . And conclude with action, such as Ill look forward to hearing from you regarding next steps. In short, use your opening and closing to frame the subject matter of the correspondence.
Year-end giving can be a moment of reflection, but for businesses and philanthropy alike, it should also include looking forward and asking the question, whats next?
One throughline from this past year is uncertainty. Uncertainty has rewritten how we work, live, and lead. Yet, one thing that still holds true is we share a responsibility to keep systems strong so no one is left behind, especially children.
Ive seen firsthand how instability isnt just economic, its deeply human. Ive seen it in a mother whose babys survival depended on something as small as a packet of therapeutic food. In that moment, you understand that systems created as large scale solutions change lives.
GO DEEPER ON PURPOSE
Purpose has become one of the most overused words in business, but the leaders who will define whats next are treating it differently. Theyre going deeper.
The smartest changemakers are cutting through tokenistic giving and refocusing on whats core to their mission. Theyre aligning personal and corporate philanthropy not around optics, but around outcomes that truly matter like health, equity, sustainability, and opportunity.
STRENGTHEN WHATS STABLE, TO WITHSTAND WHATS NOT
If recent years have taught us anything, its that the systems we depend on are only as strong as the most vulnerable people within them.
Business leaders understand this intuitively. A 2024 survey showed that 45% of global CEOs expect significant business model disruption within three years. Social trust and resilience are key to future competitiveness. Trusted companies can be worth up to four times more than their competitors and 89% of business leaders identified resilience as a major priority in their organizational strategy.
Put simply, future-proofing your business means building stronger systems that will support future generations. Your future workforce, customers, and investors are todays children and adolescents. When children thrive, societies stabilize and markets follow.
NOT JUST A NUMBER
When global supply chains break down, its not just balance sheets that suffer; the livelihoods of entire communities feel the impact. Too often, those disruptions get reduced to numbers on a page like drops in GDP and productivity losses, but whats really at stake is livelihoods.
And sometimes the clearest illustration of why stability matters comes down to a single moment.
When I was a new mom, I met a Sudanese mother in a refugee camp in Ethiopia near the Sudan border. The woman was holding her baby, who was severely underweight but just beginning to show signs of alertness. She was feeding her child a small packet of ready-to-use therapeutic food, a peanut-based paste that treats severe acute malnutrition. Its a simple, scalable solution with life-changing impact.
Malnutrition remains one of the most pressing yet solvable challenges in global health. Addressing it requires the kind of smart, forward-leaning, systems-level innovation UNICEF and its partners are scaling across the world.
MAKE GENEROSITY A YEAR-ROUND STRATEGY
Uncertainty shouldnt stop you from leading or giving.
Support from the private sector can be pivotal for nonprofits, but the greatest impact requires relationships, not just transactions. It requires companies that cocreate with nonprofits, sharing expertise, networks, and long-term commitment to help unlock lasting and innovative solutions.
WHATS NEXT
The future will be shaped by those who act now. Heres how to do that.
Invest in stability. Give toward systems that protect children and strengthen communities. These are the same systems your business relies on for a stable workforce, market, and future.
Collaborate with intention. Align your business and your values. Strategic giving builds trust, reinforces brand purpose, and connects you with the partners and consumers who share it.
Give forward. Treat generosity as leadership strategy. Its how you future-proof impact for your company, your community, and the world your business depends on.
As you take a moment of gratitude during this holiday season, give to whats urgent now and what will define whats next.
Michele Walsh is executive vice president and chief philanthropy officer of UNICEF USA.
OpenAI on Thursday released its answer to Googles impressive Gemini 3 Pro modelGPT-5.2and by the looks of some head-to-head benchmark test scores, it looks like a winner. The new model took the highest score on a number of benchmark tests covering coding, math, science, tool use, and vision. (Benchmarks should, of course, be combined with real-world use to tell the whole story. But still . . .)
OpenAI says GPT-5.2, which is a reasoning model, achieved expert-level performance scores on its own GDPval benchmark, which evaluates performance on 44 real professional tasks including things like spreadsheet creation, document drafting, presentation building, and more.
GPT-5.2 topped Gemini 3 Pro on the SWE-Bench Pro benchmark (software engineering tasks) with a score of 55.6% (versus Gemini 3 Pros 43.3%). It achieved an 86.2% on the ARC-AGI-1 abstract reasoning benchmark, compared to Gemini 3 Pros 75% score. It scored a 92.4% on the GPQA Diamond benchmark (science questions), compared with Gemini 3 Pros 91.9% score.
The new model comes in three variants. GPT-5.2 Instant is good for seeking information and how-tos, skill-building and study, and career guidance. GPT-5.2 Thinking is good for harder professional tasks like spreadsheet formatting and slideshow creation. GPT-5.2 Pro, the company says, takes longer to generate answers but is its smartest and most trustworthy model for generating accurate answers in complex domains like programming.
For the many developers that are now developing agents, OpenAI says GPT-5.2 with reasoning is its strongest offering yet, bringing significant improvements across general intelligence, long-context understanding, agentic tool-calling, and vision.OpenAI reportedly pushed to release GPT-5.2 before the end of the year so that it could counter the release of Googles Gemini 3. The company released GPT-5 in August, heralding it as the next major leap forward in its AI research. GPT-5 was a system of models, using a router to direct the right queries to specialized models. Its referring to GPT-5.2 as a unified system that automatically chooses how to respond based on task complexity.
The GPT-5.2 models increased capacity for processing and reasoning about multi-modal input (audio, video, images, text, etc.) is significant, because Google Gemini 3 does this very well. For example, the new model was asked to analyze the features of an image of a circuit board and then identify and label all the small components. OpenAI says GPT-5.2 did this with far more detail and accuracy than its earlier GPT-5.1 model could. When reasoning is introduced, the model may be able to diagnose problems in mechanical systems by recognizing the visual signs.
All three variants of GPT-5.2 are available in ChatGPT today, starting with paid subscribers and available to developers through the API. Microsoft, a major investor in OpenAI, says its bringing GPT-5.2 to Microsoft 365 Copilot and Copilot Studio users worldwide today.
In related news, OpenAI also announced that it had struck a licensing deal with Disney that will allow Sora 2 users to use Disney characters in images they generate and share using the app. In addition, Disney will make a $1-billion equity investment in OpenAI, with an option to purchase more equity in the future.
A quiet shift is reshaping the trajectory of wealth in America, but it isnt happening in the boardrooms of Wall Street or the halls of Silicon Valley. Its unfolding in neighborhoods, driveways, and home offices across the country, powered by teachers, software engineers, nurses, military families, and small-business owners who never expected to become real estate investors at all.
As the cofounder and CEO of a rental technology company that supports independent property owners (and as an investor myself), I see this transformation every day. What starts as an unexpected ownership moment often turns into a thoughtful plan for long-term financial stability.
Many investors simply kept a first home when they moved for work. Some inherited a property from aging parents. Others bought a place for a college-age child and discovered the economics made surprising sense. While these beginnings may have been accidental, rental owners are discovering that, with support from intelligent technologies, theyre able to operate it with a level of clarity, confidence, and professionalism.
They are becoming strategic wealth builders and redefining what small-scale investing looks like in America. And theyre doing it with intention: leaning on smart systems rather than putting in extra hours, to operate their investments with the kind of discipline, insight, and confidence historically attributed only to large institutional players.
THE RISE OF THE MODERN, SMALL-SCALE INVESTOR
Across the country, independent property owners are already operating with a sophistication level once limited to professional firms. Theyre using technology to streamline operations, reduce friction, and gain clarity. What once required a stack of paperwork and late-night phone calls now lives inside simple, reliable systems that elevate the investors role from administrator to strategist.
Smart investors are no longer scaling effort; theyre scaling insight, spending more time understanding the story the numbers telland less time performing the manual tasks that used to consume nights and weekends.
This shift is happening every day, in homes someone once lived in, inherited, or never intended to treat as a business. These properties are becoming the foundation of long-term financial wellbeing because their owners are operating with intention, clarity, and professional-level structure.
A NEW PATH TO FINANCIAL FREEDOM
What stands out to me is how everyday investors are redefining the American dream itself.
Financial freedom is no longer tied exclusively to stock options, venture bets, or legacy wealth. Its being built one smart, well-run property at a time by people who value resilience over speculation. And because investors are managing their assets with data and systemsrather than instinct alonetheyre achieving a stability that once seemed to be reserved for much larger players.
Small investors now own more than 90% of single-family rental housing in the United Statesa sign of just how central theyve become to the countrys housing infrastructure. This isnt a fringe pocket of the market or a niche economic group. Its one of the most significant forces shaping communities and stabilizing local economies.
WHEN ACCIDENTAL INVESTORS BECOME INTENTIONAL OPERATORS
When the operational burden lifts, strategy takes its place. Thats exactly whats happening as more independent investors adopt smart systems.
Accidental investors are building predictable experiences for their residents, strengthening the predictability of their own financial outcomes. Rent collection is a good example. Smart operators are using automated reminders and autopay to keep cash flow consistent, and the impact is striking. Our data shows that residents enrolled in autopay pay on time 99% of the time, compared with 88% for those not using it, giving investors far clearer monthly stability.
Maintenance coordination is often the most dreaded part of owning a rental property, but smart investors are already turning it into one of the most manageable systems. Shared portals with in-app chats keep everything organized, and residents submit issues the moment they notice them (often with a photo or quick video) so investors understand whats happening before a small problem becomes a big one. Work orders stay orderly, responses stay timely, and the entire process remains calm and predictable on both sides.
This level of operational clarity matches the professionalism that accidental investors bring from their careers. Whether someone is balancing shift work, teaching classes, running a business, or logging into a late-night deployment, the systems supporting their properties keep everything moving smoothly so they can stay focused on the bigger picture.
Accidental investors are discovering that thoughtful, system-supported management creates opportunities that simply werent available when everything depended on manual effort. Theyre building stability in a way that fits into their lives.
DEMOCRATIZE WEALTH CREATION
What stands out most is how accessible this path has become. With the right tools, even one well-managed property can serve as the foundation for long-term financial wellbeing. And as these investors gain confidence, many expand their portfolios.
This approach is democratizing real estate investing. Its giving more Americans the chance to build multigenerational stability without needing to become full-time operators or navigate complex financial strategies. Its turning ordinary life events into opportunities for resilience.
THE NEXT ERA OF THE AMERICAN DREAM
The next era of American wealth is being built quietly and steadily. Its unfolding in spare bedrooms, inherited duplexes, starter homes, and small multifamily buildings. Its being shaped by everyday investors who are thoughtful, organized, and forward-looking.
These are people who might never describe themselves as real estate people, yet are operating their investments with impressive savvy. They are wealth builders who are transforming accidental beginnings into intentional, long-term advantage, creating financial stability that grows with them, supports their families, and strengthens their neighborhoods.
The shift isnt loud, but its powerful. And its redefining the American dream for new generations.
Ryan Barone is cofounder and CEO of RentRedi.
