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Ask any employer about their current workforce tribulations, and unabashedly, entitlement raises its hand as probable cause. But if your mind has gone straight to Gen Z and younger millennial employees, pause for a moment. Entitlement now pervades every generation, job function, title, and demographic. Its a behavioral contagion, akin to yawning or laughing, but with workplace effects that are anything but benign. Employee entitlement hasnt emerged independently. Its shaped by context. Post–pandemic, the workplace faced a global skills crisis. In response, organizations upped the ante. Salaries rose, perks and benefits were no longer a bonus but a prerogative, and moreso much more. Companies doled out anything to attract and keep employees. With that came the shift of power and influence. The alternative was decreased returns with increased workloads and pressure, so it made sense. Dont think of it as an employees personal flaw, but a system response. Here are some signs you may need to reset the systemand put healthier expectations in place for everyone to thrive at work. 1. Rescuing instead of supporting The shift toward more empathetic leaders is long overdue. Empathy and understanding in the right measure forges trust and deepens relationships. But with too much support, managers can fall into the trap of over-accommodating, weakening the very structure we are trying to strengthen. Before we know it, the role has morphed from manager to workplace guardian and carer. Support without boundaries enables dependency. We buffer, soften, and sometimes take over when things get hard. It removes the precious opportunity to learn and grow, instead creating a learned helplessness. When we overprotect, we underprepare. The fix: Challenge is where resilience is built. Let your team go through the tough lessons. 2. Making rules la carte Its otherwise known as inconsistent standards. You bend the rules to avoid conflict, and think you are keeping people happy. You might look the other way from repeated tardiness or dropping the ball on customer response times. You might let the team repeatedly rearrange meetings to suit personal needs while on the clock. When rules and policies are viewed as optional, other workplace expectations are also seen as negotiable. Your employees, of course, believe they are now entitled to different treatment and will resist any attempt to restore standard company rules and policies. Why wouldnt they? You havent held the line before and instead been whimsical in response. The fix: its time to communicate that expectations have become too lax as of late, and youll be (kindly) holding up firmer standards from now on. 3. Giving rewards without anchors Rewards work best when they’re anchored to behaviors and outcomes that serve the organizations actual objectives, not its moods. While moments of appreciation matter, recognition thats not tied to performance risks becoming more about emotional optics than meaningful impact. And rewards given as a thank you need a direct link to the act being appreciated. Thats because recognitions handed out without anchors cause confusion, both for those rewarded and those observing. When rewards feel arbitrary, morale doesnt rise, it fractures. And just like that, resentment takes root. Bonuses not linked to transparent, measurable goals quickly shift from recognition to assumption. It becomes a right and not a recognition for achievement. The fix: make every recognition clear for how it helped the team, the business, or the goals. 4. Over-accommodating for poor performance In this case, poor performance is explained away instead of corrected. You find a way to make it okaytheyre still coming up to speed, or the working environment is different now. After all, you have been told to be more flexible and patient, and to relax a bit on yesterdays standards. In a workplace that also calls for upskilling and training, its understandable to lessen the pressure. But too much over-accommodating shifts to, as long as you try, its okay. Or a culture of blame for underperformance being out of their control: I wasnt given enough training, time, or resources. Over time, this erodes ambition and personal agencyand its often why teams start to feel directionless. Continued poor performance is not business sustainable. Mediocrity becomes the norm, and its a downward spiral. The fix: address when an employees missed the mark, and make a plan together so they can hit it next time. 5. Taking psychological safety too far Speaking up, having a voice, admitting mistakes, and expressing yourself without fear of negative consequences are fundamental for team success and employee engagement. But psychological safety doesnt mean perpetual comfort. There are consequences for mistakes, and not everything voiced needs to be heard. Safety and accountability must coexist. A culture of shielding employees from standard workplace pressures, not receiving challenging feedback or criticism for fear of reaction or using psychological safety as a weapon becomes problematic. When discomfort is automatically treated as harm, organizations lose the ability to grow, and people lose the muscle for resilience. The fix: Reset expectations that having difficult conversations are a part of the job, then model a healthy way to have them Ending entitlement at work Entitlement is not born: it is brokered, signed in the margins of crisis. It doesnt arise from malice or laziness; it grows in the fertile ground of contradiction. We cant moralize our way out of entitlement, nor can we appease it. We need a rebalancing, a return to shared psychological contracts where contribution, growth, and recognition are earned and expected by all.
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E-Commerce
Take a quick look around the office or scan the names of your colleagues on Slack. Two-thirds of your coworkers are feeling burned out. Maybe you are, too. In a survey conducted for Moodle, an e-learning tool, 66% of workers are struggling, citing too much work, not enough resources, and a poor economy. While all these circumstances have a role in burnout, there may be an internal problem also in play, according to Jeffrey Hull and Margaret Moore, coauthors of The Science of Leadership: Nine Ways to Expand Your Impact. Your ego could be too noisy! A noisy ego describes a person who is constantly thinking about themselves, Moore says. Theyre asking Am I OK? Are they insulting me? Am I being positioned correctly? Its a self-referencing, self-oriented noise. A quiet ego is a term coined by Jack Bauer, a professor of psychology at the University of Dayton, and Heidi Wayment, a professor of psychological sciences at Northern Arizona University. It describes a personality type characterized by being mindful, emotionally intelligent, compassionate, and growth-oriented. The quiet ego is an evolved person who’s integrated all the noise, Moore explains. Theyve been through life. Its where stress turns into growth; the next stage beyond emotional intelligence of self-awareness and self-regulation. Why We Shift into the Noisy Ego The noisy ego often gets triggered during a loss of vitality. Perhaps youre not getting enough sleep or youre not eating well. This is a really important transitional moment when the ego could get really noisy and make things difficult, Hull says. Your battery is basically drained, and there’s no energy left, Moore adds. [Your prefrontal cortex goes offline], and you’ve lost your ability to control things. You can’t blame the individual for all of it. It’s an equal balance of external factors and internal factors, and you can’t get out by yourself. Being in a crisis can trigger the noisy ego since it pushes you out of the familiar and into reaction mode. It can also stir up emotions that are uncomfortable to handle. You can easily slip into feeling out of controlanxious, afraid, and hopeless. Its also common to not ask for enough support, believing you can power through. But this can quickly become a place with a lot of negativity and too little positivity, Moore says. Shifting Back into the Quiet Ego Getting yourself out of your noisy ego involves positive psychology. How do you find gratitude and inspiration? Moore asks. How do you get a little bit of upward liftby socializing or taking a break? You build those positive resources, but you also have to resolve the negative with a friend, a coach, or by journaling. A good place to start is investigating the noise. When youre coming from a place of fear, the main negatives are worry, anxiety, sadness, disappointment, and anger. Look at each of those, Moore says. If you’re angry, what are the emotions telling you that you need more? Do you need more safety or stability? Then, how do you meet the needs of those parts of you? Curiosity is a superpower, but it isn’t accessible with a noisy ego. You need to quiet that energy to be more open and receptive. When you notice symptoms of burnout, Hull recommends reflecting on a time when things were working. What did it look like? he asks. Very successful people wouldn’t be in positions of success if they had always been burned out. They had to come from a place of having done well. But that noisy ego gets in the way, and they forget the gifts and talents and strengths that got them to that place of success. Hull recommends reflecting on a resource called the resourceful past. What got you through college? What got you your first job? Or try to remember a time that was really difficult. What did you do to get through that? he asks. Those capacities are still there. The Quiet Ego Is Your Natural State Its easy to forget what it feels like to have a quiet ego because we live in an overstimulated world. We become so caught up in the noise that we no longer recognize it, seeing it as normal. But the quiet ego is our natural and normal state, Moore says. Start noticing your heartbeat and your breathing, she suggests. It is a place of quiet. Think about a time when you exhaled and felt calm and in control. This place is a state of stillness, and it can become a refuge you visit when you want to regain control of your mind, Hull says. The challenge we have in our culture is that we’ve made [stillness] wrong. We think we don’t have time for that, that its wasteful. But when you get calmer, you start to explore because your ego is not in the way. “Its not about having no ego,” he adds. “Its setting aside the noise. Its the process of becoming awake to yourselfphysically, emotionally, and mentally. Your energy shifts to a calmer place. And from that calmer place, you can access creativity, ideas, and curiosity.
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E-Commerce
With any innovation comes risk, but those risks can be managed with the right precautions. Protecting yourself online is just as important in your crypto wallet as it is in your email inbox or your banking app. According to the largest ever study of crypto holders in America, which my organization conducted, just 3% reported negative experiences with crypto, and of these, less than a third had experienced fraud or security breaches personally. Thats less than 1% total. Compare that to traditional banking scams, where 34% of U.S. adults have experienced in the last year, or online dating, where 40% of users have reported being targeted by scams. The point is that scams happen in every corner of the internet. The good news? The habits that keep you safe in other online spaces also work in Web3. Find the scams before they find you Scams can happen to anyone, anywhereno matter how smart or tech savvy you may be. By staying alert, you can avoid the hassle and heartache that comes with being swindled. These are some of the most common tactics used by online scammers: Pig butchering: Scammers build fake relationships onlineposing as a friend, love interest, or mentorbefore persuading you to invest in a cant miss opportunity. Once the crypto or money is sent, the scammers vanish. Pump and dump: A lesser-known token gets hyped up by influencers or group chats, driving up demand. The scam organizers then sell their holdings at the topleaving latecomers holding the bag. Fake giveaways: Look out for messages claiming youll receive free crypto if you send a little first. No legitimate organization or person asks you to pay in order to receive a giveaway. Impersonation scams: Fraudsters pretend to be customer service reps, government agencies, or wallet providers to get you to send funds or hand over your login details. Phishing attacks: These often come through fake emails or links on social media, asking you to log in or verify your wallet. The goal? Steal your private keys or seed phrases. Stay safe with smart internet habits Online safety isnt about paranoiaits about preparation. Governments, companies, and organizations are working to improve consumer protections so that people can use crypto securely. And while those measures can make everyday use more secure, no system is completely foolproof. But with these six simple practices, you can help protect your coins, your identity, and your peace of mind: Never share your private key. Your public wallet address is safe to share (its like your email) but your private key or recovery phrase gives full access to your wallet (its like your password). Keep it secret, and store it securely offline. Avoid clicking random links. Whether its a text, tweet, or email, always double-check the source before responding or clicking. Be skeptical of urgency. Scammers rely on pressure tactics. If someones telling you to act fast or youll miss out, take a step back. Real opportunities dont rush you. Research before you invest. Dont believe the hype or anonymous tips. Look up the project, the people behind it, and whether its widely recognized and reputable. Trust your gutand verify the details. Misspelled names, strange email addresses, or too-good-to-be-true offers are always red flags. Beware of random texts or emails. Hey I found your number in my contacts, a random How are you? from an unknown number or, other out of the blue overtures should always be treated skeptically. General rule of thumb: If it seems too good to be true, it’s probably a scam. Take control of your digital destiny Crypto gives people more control, more access, and more opportunity. But that means nothing without trust and safety. You dont have to be a tech wizard or finance pro to use crypto. You just need to be a little crypto curious. When you decide to dip your toe in, practice and a few smart habitshabits you hopefully already uselike double authentication (where your bank, for example, will text you a code). So lets build a safer digital future together. Not by avoiding whats new, but by learning how to navigate it responsibly. Stu Alderoty is president of the National Cryptocurrency Association.
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E-Commerce
In a time where almost anything you could want is just a tap awayAI-powered answers in seconds, groceries delivered within the hour, endless content streamed instantly, and real-time validation through likes and sharesit’s no surprise that we’ve come to expect that same level of immediacy from our health. GLP-1 drugs promise rapid weight loss. Telemedicine provides patient care from the comfort of your own couch. At-home diagnostic tests deliver near-instant health insights. Social media and on-demand culture have rewired our brains to crave this kind of instant gratification, trapping many of us in a dopamine loopthat endless cycle of seeking out short-term rewards at the expense of long-term well-being. The consequences of this mindset are much deeper than we realize. In fact, the ripple effect is reshaping how we view our bodies, our health, and what it means to feel good. And it’s taking a toll on our physical and mental health. The health and wellness industry, which should be offering a counterpoint to this culture, has too often played into it, promising overnight results, quick fixes, and immediate transformations. The truth is, our bodies dont operate on the same timeline as our screens. The disconnect between instant gratification and whole-body health Biological transformation is a slow and intuitive process, one that unfolds over months and years, not overnight. Yet we’ve been conditioned to feel like we’re failing if we don’t see instant results. This gap has real consequences: People abandon solutions that could meaningfully improve their health simply because they haven’t delivered fast enough. In the chasing of short-term wins, we’re ignoring the foundational systems that fuel long-term well-being: our stress response, hormone health, gut microbiome, and the delicate balance of nutrients that power our bodies. The rise of quick-fix wellness has only reinforced this cycle. The common thread? They all offer a dopamine hita fleeting sense of progresswithout addressing the root causes of why we don’t feel good in the first place. The problem is, quick wins rarely translate to lasting health. When we expect instant results from our bodies, we’re setting ourselves up for disappointment, and that disappointment breeds distrust. We start to believe that our bodies are failing us, when in reality, it’s our expectations that need recalibrating. Whats more concerning is that this mindset is compounding the very issues we’re trying to solve. Stress, fatigue, thinning hair, breakouts, brain fogthese are all signals that our bodies are out of balance, not problems to be hacked. But in the dopamine loop, we treat the symptoms, not the root causes. So the cycle continues. A new mindset: Longevity over quick fixes The most profound health transformations happen when we work with our bodies, not against them. This requires a radical mindset shiftone that prioritizes optimization over instant gratification and rewires the way we measure progress. What if the question wasnt How quickly will this work? but instead How will this support the future version of me? This is the mindset of whole-body longevitythe belief that how we feel today is deeply connected to how we’ll feel five, 10, or 20 years from now. It’s about setting your body up to not just feel good right now, but to stay strong and thrive for the long haul. As an industry, we have a responsibility to lead this shift. That means telling the truth about what it really takes to transform your healththat lasting change happens over months, not days. It means designing products that address the root causes of how people feel, not just surface-level symptoms. And it means empowering people to celebrate progress, not perfection, and to understand that feeling better is a journey, not a destination. The future of health is whole-body True wellbeing doesnt come from quick fixes; it comes from lasting habits. While treatments and medications can offer short-term relief, sustainable transformation requires a deeper, long-term commitment to how we live every day. Whole foods, regular movement, quality sleep, stress management, and mindful choices like reducing alcoholthese arent trends; theyre the foundation for clarity, resilience, and longevity. When these habits are supported by science-backed clinical tools, they create the conditions for real, lasting change. Health becomes something we cultivate, not hack. Imagine if we shifted the focus from fast results to long-term vitality. If success was defined not by how quickly we feel better, but by how well were preparing our bodies and minds to thrive for decades to come. This is the future of health: slow, intentional, science-driven, and whole-body, because no part of us functions in isolation. As leaders, aligning with this vision means building not just better businesses, but a healthier world. Giorgos Tsetis is cofounder and chairman of Nutrafol.
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E-Commerce
Recently, Google dropped a quiet but monumental announcement: Google Meet will soon support real-time translation. It may seem like a product feature update, but it’s actually a glimpse into the future of how the internet and global business will function. Were on the cusp of a world where every conversation on the internet, regardless of language, can happen in real time. And that changes everything. For B2B enterprises, this isn’t about novelty. It’s about unlocking collaboration, creativity, and commerce at a global scale. Language wont be as big of a limitation Language has long been one of the final friction points in cross-border collaboration. Even as video calls and messaging platforms brought teams closer together, they still relied on a common language, most often English, as the conduit. That created limitations on who could participate, how much nuance was retained, and how ideas flowed. With real-time translation, we move from a world of adaptation to one of direct contribution. Suddenly, a designer in Buenos Aires, a strategist in Nairobi, and a developer in Tokyo can jump into the same conversation without stopping to translate or interpret. Everyone speaks, and is understood, in their own language. This isnt just a productivity boost. Its a structural shift in how we think, ideate, and build together. Collaboration without borders What happens when you remove the communication tax from global teamwork? You get more voices in the room. More diversity in thought. More creativity, sparked by perspectives that were once hard to access in real time. Enterprise companies will be able to: Run global design sprints with fully multilingual teams Support customers in their native language with real empathy Develop cross-cultural products with richer user insights The internet becomes not just a place to publish or consume, but a space to co-create. Together. Instantly. Here comes a new kind of global enterprise This technological leap doesnt just make business more efficientit makes it more human. Companies will no longer have to localize after the fact. Theyll build global from day one, with the input and collaboration of people around the world. Imagine: Sales teams conducting live pitches in any language, without intermediaries International vendor partnerships operating in sync, not in silos Internal documentation, onboarding, and training auto-translating in real time This is about scaling relationships, not just transactions. Culture, context, and the human layer Of course, language is more than just words. It’s culture, tone, idioms, and nuance. Real-time translation won’t always get that right. And thats where intentional leadership comes in. Companies will need to: Equip teams with cultural fluency alongside technical fluency Stay alert to how AI translation might flatten or distort meaning Create norms and rituals that preserve empathy and clarity Technology can connect us instantly. But connection without understanding is just noise. The opportunity lies in blending speed with sensitivity. What B2B enterprises can do today Real-time translation is arriving fast. To stay ahead, enterprise leaders can: Audit your communication tools: Are they ready for multilingual functionality? Rethink your hiring lens: Global talent is no longer gated by English fluency Train teams to collaborate across cultures, not just across time zones Start small: Pilot real-time translation in internal meetings or support channels Be prepared for errors The future of work isnt just distributedits multilingual, multicultural, and massively connected. Real-time translation is the infrastructure that will make it all possible. Remember technology should elevate human connection, not replace it. Real-time communication, across every language, brings us closer to that vision. Not just faster meetings or wider reach, but deeper collaboration, richer relationships, and a more inclusive world of work. The internet just got a lot more fluent. Lets build what comes next. George Brooks is founder and CEO of Crema.
Category:
E-Commerce
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