We were supposed to be finished with files by now.
For years, tech companies (well, certain tech companies) tooted their horns about a future in which files didnt matter. You dont even need a file manager of any sort, they told usand, in fact, we wont even let you see the file system on your devices at all. Just tap-a-tap-tap, dont worry, be happy. Right?
Yeahnot so much. Here in the year o 2025, files absolutely still matter. Whether youre saving a PDF or document, wrangling an audio or video file, or trying to get that weird image format your iPhone-totin friend sent you into some reasonably standard state, files are an inevitable part of our digital lives.
And dealing with em, suffice it to say, can be a real pain in the patootieespecially when it comes to the timeless act of converting something from one format to another.
With the tool Ive found for you today, though, that tired tech task wont be a groan-worthy chore anymore.
Get ready for the quality-of-life upgrade you never knew you needed.
Unearth all sorts of little-known tech treasures with my free Cool Tools newsletter from The Intelligence. A spiffy new discovery in your inbox every Wednesday!
File conversion, minus the headache
Ordinarily, when I find myself facing a daunting file conversion taskbe it moving an image file from one format to another, converting some awkward audio file into a more standard MP3 setup, or even freeing a document someone sent me from its silly DOCX shacklesI end up searching for a free online conversion tool.
And the site I stumble onto is inevitably slow, overloaded with ads, and at least slightly questionable when it comes to security. Oh, and it also usually has some sort of arbitrary-seeming limit on the size or number of files I can process before it starts trying to charge me some exorbitant fee.
No more.
My fellow frustrated file wrangler, allow me to introduce you to a nifty new site called Vert.
Vert is a completely free and open-source online file conversion tool. It processes most files locally in your browser, almost shockingly fast and efficientlyand without any limits or any ads.
Itll take you 20 seconds to start using:
Just pull up the Vert site in any browser, on any device youre using.
Click the big Drop or click to convert box to select a file from your deviceor drag and drop a file from the device into that area of the page, if youd rather.
One click or a drag-and-drop is all it takes to get going with Vert.
Vert will then show you a confirmation screen where you can see your file, select your end format, and consider a few other simple options.
Select your desired file type, and Vert will handle the rest.
And thats pretty much it: Just click or tap the Convert all button, and within a split secondyes, really that fast!youll see the downward-arrow download button turn into a solid color.
Your converted file will be ready to download in a matter of seconds.
Thats your indication that the file conversion is finished. And all thats left is to click or tap that button to download the final result.
Told ya it was easy, right?!
Vert runs entirely in your browserno downloads or installations whatsoever.
Its completely free to use, with optional donations to aid the development.
And the app performs almost all of its processing locally on your own device, without any data ever being seen by anyone else. The one exception is a video file, which does get uploaded to a server. But Vert promises that video files always are deleted after exactly one hour. (And since the entire tool is open source, anyone with the right know-how can see exactly what it isand isntdoing to confirm.)
Ready for more productivity-boosting goodness? Check out my free Cool Tools newsletter for an instant introduction to an exceptional audio appand another off-the-beaten-path gem every Wednesday!
Want more housing market stories from Lance Lamberts ResiClub in your inbox? Subscribe to the ResiClub newsletter.
Zillow economists use an economic model known as the Zillow Market Heat Index to gauge the competitiveness of housing markets across the country.
This model looks at key indicatorsincluding home price changes, inventory levels, and days on marketto generate a score showing whether a market favors sellers or buyers.
Higher scores point to hotter, seller-friendly metro housing markets. Lower scores signal cooler markets where buyers hold more negotiating power.
According to Zillow:
Score of 70 or above = strong seller’s market
Score from 55 to 69 = seller’s market
Score from 44 to 55 = neutral market
Score from 28 to 44 = buyer’s market
Score of 27 or below = strong buyer’s market
Nationally, Zillow rates the U.S. housing market at 55 in its May 2025 reading, published this week.
That said, Zillows reading varies significantly across the country.
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Among the 250 largest metro area housing markets, these 10 are the HOTTEST markets, where sellers have the most power:
Rochester, NY 145
Buffalo, NY 110
Syracuse, NY 100
Charleston, WV 99
Albany, NY 97
Hartford, CT 89
Lansing, MI 85
Anchorage, AK 83
Springfield, MA 82
Manchester, NH 81
Among the 250 largest metro area housing markets, these 10 are the COLDEST markets, where buyers have the most power:
Macon, GA 23
Jackson, TN 24
Brownsville, TX 27
Gulfport, MS 27
Naples, FL 27
Longview, TX 27
Daphne, AL 29
Punta Gorda, FL 29
Beaumont, TX 30
Cape Coral, FL 31
Does ResiClub agree with Zillows assessment?
Directionally, I believe Zillow has correctly identified many regional housing markets where buyers have gained the most powerparticularly around the Gulfas well as markets where sellers have maintained (relatively speaking) somewhat of a grip, including large portions of the Northeast and Midwest.
Based on my personal housing analysis, I consider Southwest Florida the weakest/softest chunk of the U.S. housing market. Not too far behind are pockets of Texas, Colorado, and Arizona markets where theres built up unsold spec inventory.
In my view, many West Coast markets are softer right now than Zillows analysis suggestsin particular, the areas that have recently seen big jumps in active inventory for sale.
What did this Zillow analysis look like back in spring 2021 during the Pandemic Housing Boom? Below is Zillows May 2021 readingpublished in June 2021.
While not everyone bought a camper van during the COVID-19 pandemic, we all probably know someone who did. As people with money suddenly found themselves with time on their hands and no particular place to be, sales of compact but full-featured Class B camper vans soared, increasing 91.5% from 2020 to 2021, according to the RV Industry Association (RVIA). Van life became a hashtag, a lifestyle, and an aspiration. While sales have settled back down to pre-pandemic levels, the market for high-end vehicles remains strong, with manufacturers tempting new and returning buyers with an array of new models that push the limits of performance, luxury, and price.
And then there are all the new rugged details. Not content to stick to the pavement, the latest cohort of van owners wants to get off-road, tooor at least look like they do. You may have spotted an increasing number of Mercedes-Benz Sprinter vans bedecked with all manner of racks, ladders, spare tires, and fuel cans, traction boards, and outdoor gear. These are the overlanders.
The overland category includes a variety of vehicle typesfrom 4x4s accessorized with trendy rooftop tents, to burly Class C camper trucks (see EarthRoamer.com), to all-terrain adventure vans that combine the comforts of much larger campers with the off-road performance of an expedition vehicle. The promise is appealing: get to wild places that others cant, and sleep comfortably (and maybe stream some Netflix) when you get there. With massive fuel reserves, freshwater tanks, and arrays of solar panels and lithium-ion batteries, todays top-of-the-line adventure rigs are designed to support days or weeks of self-sufficient off-grid exploration.
[Photo: courtesy Overland Expo]
This blend of comfort and adventure is exactly the draw for overlanders, who are largely an affluent, middle-aged bunch. According to the RV Industry Associations 2025 RV Owner Demographic Profile, 13% of current RV owners cite the ability to camp off-grid, or boondocking, as a primary motivator in their vehicle purchase. The biggest U.S. overlanding event, Overland Expowhere owners come to camp out and would-be owners come to check out vehicle builds, has grown from one event with 800 attendees in 2009 to five regional events in 2025. (The inaugural Southern California event this March had 19,000 attendees and 303 exhibitors. Subaru is the first-time lead corporate sponsor.) The 2024 event series attracted more than 80,000 attendees, up 35% from 2021. More than 12 million Americans are expected to overland in 2025, up from 8 million in 2024, according to the Overland Expos new 2025 Overland Industry Report.
Here’s a look at that vanguard of compact RV innovation as we roll into the summer of 2025.
[Photo: Storyteller Overland]
An overlander from Alabama
The brand that might best embody the luxury overland zeitgeist of 2025 is Birmingham, Alabama-based Storyteller Overland, which launched in 2018.
Now in its second year of production, the hulking 2025 GXV Epic is the sort of thing you would choose to caravan across the Australian Outback while being pursued by zombies. The 30-foot-long turbo diesel 4×4 has an 1,800-mile range and comes equipped with a 200-gallon freshwater tank, an 18 kWh battery capacity (enough to power a small home for a whole day), and expansive solar panels for recharging. It can be yours for about $800,000. It takes 2,500 man hours to complete each Epic buildsince the vehicles launch in May 2024, the company has built roughly one per month.
[Photo: Storyteller Overland]
Storytellers GXV Hilt is another adventure truck that came to market last yeara deluxe camper capsule bolted to a Ram 5500 thats been upfitted with a liquid spring smart suspension system, a proprietary no torsion subframe system that allows the capsule to move independently from the chassis, and a heavy-duty spray-on coating to protect it from scratches. With a 52-gallon diesel-fuel capacity, 16.8 kW lithium-ion battery storage, solar panels, and 120-gallon freshwater hold, the Hilt is built for long hauls, but not for roughing it. Its got a full bath and kitchen, and two queen beds. Storyteller can build the $499,000 trucks at a rate of about one per week.
[Photo: Storyteller Overland]
But Storytellers bestsellers are its line of Mode camper vans. Built on the tall, boxy Sprinter chassis, the 2025 models cost between $185,000 and $250,000, depending on features. The premium Beast Mode XO boasts all-wheel drive, nubby off-road tires, and a heavy-duty suspension systemplus an expandable 90 W solar panel, onboard batteries, and a 21-gallon freshwater tank to live off-grid for days or weeks. The muscular exterior sports a front grille brush guard, a safari-style roof rack, side-mount ladder, rear cargo box, and high-intensity LED lighting. The cabin, insulated with sheeps wool, has air conditioning and diesel-fueled heating, a galley kitchen with refrigerator, sink, microwave, and induction cooktop, and a full bath with toilet and hot shower.
[Photo: Storyteller Overland]
Employing about 215 people at its Birmingham headquarters and at a production facility in Missouri, Storyteller has built more than 2,500 of its vans to date. Its sales are strongest in the Westwhere vast publicly owned lands provide ample off-grid camping opportunitiesbut are growing through the South, Midwest, and Northeast, as well. The company took a significant investment from private equity group L Catterton last year to accelerate product development, invest in manufacturing, and grow its dealer network, it said.
Storyteller doesnt have a monopoly on adventure campers. Its success seems to have inspired old-school RV players such as Winnebago and Thor Industries to up their overland game. Adding to its existing line of Class B campers, last year Thor launched the Palladium and Talavera, built on the Ford Transit Trail chassis with all-wheel drive and off-road capabilities, starting at $110,000. This year, Winnebago launched its Revel Sport, a lighter, lower-priced version ($210,570 base price) of its popular Sprinter-based Revel 44E adventure van (base price, $245,463). If none of the off-the-shelf options fit the bill, conversion specialists including Campo, Ridgeline Van, Cascade Van, Papago, Tommy Camper Vans, and Sequoia + Salt offer custom builds featuring designer finishes, artisanal woodwork, advanced electronics, and morefor a van-included price of about $150,000 to $300,000.
Changing demographics, endless upgrades
Storyteller says that its customers include preppers, early retirees, and younger families, with the typical buyers being men over 50. Thats a decade or so younger than the consumer base for giant Class A RVs, and reflects a broader shift in RV ownership. According to the latest RVIA surveywhich covers owners of all types of campers and trailersthe median age of RV owners has declined from 53 in 2021 to 49 in 2025. (To get a sense of “overlanding” spectrum, check out van-focused We’re the Russos, started by traveling couple Joe and Kait Russo in 2018, and truck-focused TrailRecon, created by U.S. Navy veteran Brad Kowitz.)
The new overlanders often come into van ownership via outdoor recreation, and use their vehicles as home base for other active pursuits. According to the RVIA, the leading hobbies while RVing are fishing (47%) and hiking (44%). The most popular recreational equipment hauled along on RV trips are bikes and kayaks, but the list for a well-prepared overlander could also include skis, surfboards, and more. Not surprisingly, accessories for carrying gearbike carriers, surfboard hooks, Alpine boxes, and safari-style roof racksare popular add-ons. But thats just the start.
Even buyers who start with fully loaded adventure van soon find themselves wanting more.
The 2025 Overland Industry Report found that nearly 80% of overlanders plan to make upgrades in the next yearwith a focus on durability, lighting, and storage. The aftermarket accessories industry has been surging: the number of eBay Motors overlanding listings for things like rooftop tents, swingout tire carriers, and winch kits increased was up more than 3,500% in 2023 compared to 2019.
Online sellers that focus on the upscale adventure van setincluding Owl Vans, Main Line Overland, and Flatline Vansell everything from racks, ladders, bumpers, and awnings to lighting, lift kits, skid plates, and wheels. DIYers can even build out a full camper van interior with modular componentsbeds, tables, cabinets, and kitchen unitsfrom companies such as Portland, Oregon-based Adventure Wagons, or flat-pack style conversion kits made of natural plywood from Simi, California-based VanLab or Timber Van Kits, in Boulder, Colorado.
For the current wave of adventure campers, being off-grid doesnt mean being offline. In the 2025 RVIA survey of van owners, 54% of those who work remotely do work from their RV. Companies such as Brooklyn Campervans have seen increasing demand for vans as remote offices, complete with Starlink antennas, solar panels, advanced energy storage systems (see Battleborn, Renogy, and Volta), and USB ports for devices. Starlinks ROAM program explicitly targets RVers and van lifers and its marketing leans in to the overlanding zeitgeist (if you can ignore the Cybertruck). To be sure, taking a Zoom meeting from the middle of a desert or a remote beach site is a particular kind of flex.
[Photo: Peacevans]
The future of van life is electric, and increasingly female
Fully loaded camper vans canweigh as much as 5 tons, and theyre gas guzzlers. In optimal conditions, a diesel Sprinter-based model might get 25 mpg or so. In addition to being hard to parallel park, theyre not ideal for running errands around town.
While Trammel at Storyteller says that interest and sales in its vehicles are still good, the broader category has continued cooling even after the pandemic spell wore off. According to the RV Industry Association, sales of so-called Class B camper vans last year were 30% below 2023, and were slightly down year over in March 2025.
[Photo: Peacevans]
There are people who want to spend $200,000 on a really high-quality camper van, and [companies] satisfying that need, says Harley Sitner, a former senior product manager at Microsoft and now owner and manager of Peace Vans in Seattle. Is it starting to wane a little bit? Yes, absolutely. His shop focuses on a different segment of the market, specializing in dual-purpose small vans suited to daily driving and the kind of modest adventuring that most people are actually up to. You don’t want a dedicated camper van that sits idle in your driveway a hundred nights a year and your neighbors laugh at you, says Sitner.
Until recently, his shopwhich employs 27 people, including contractorsspecialized in custom conversions of the Mercedes Metris van, a smaller-platform vehicle than the Sprinter, which was discontinued at the end of 2023. We did over a thousand of those, and we could have done another thousand if they kept making them, says Sitner. Starting this year, they began doing custom buildouts of Volkswagens new EV van, the ID Buzz (as well as converting older VW camper vans to EVs).
[Photo: Peacevans]
Long-term, all vehicles are moving to electric, although its not yet practical for real overlanding. The Mercedes eSprinter, for example, introduced in 2023, has a top range of just over 200 miles, a lower payload capacity than the diesel version, and no all-wheel drive option. But, the current ID Buzz, with a range of about 230 miles, is just right for Sitners customers, who want to go on two- to three-night camping trips, or have a comfortable place to chill between surfing sets.
We’re not going to compete with Storyteller or Winnebago or all these custom builders, says Sitner. Were going to focus on the small niche and get most of it. Its not a $100 million market, but it’s a pretty big market.
[Photo: Peacevans]
For a full camper conversion, Peace Vans pulls out both rows of rear seats, replacing them with a foldout bed, and adding a kitchen unit with a sink, stove, and refrigerator. A small van, Sitner says, is like a boat. Every inch counts. Youve got to be really, really thoughtful about it. Peace Vans can also add a rear kitchen box, leaving more space inside for people and gear. And this fall, it will offer a new pop-top tent optiona beloved feature of vintage VW camper vans.
The nostalgia factor is not to be discounted, says Sitner. Almost every one of our customers had a VW van in the day. Theres this innate organic demand. The customer demographic skews more female than the Big Van market; Sitner estimates that some 40% of his customers are single women over age 55. The ID Buzz is very yin. You’re not going to go stomp nature. You’re going to go hang out with nature.
Sitner expects to work on 400 to 500 vehicles this yearat prices, vehicle included, ranging from about $80,000 to $120,000. The impact of Trump tariffs are a wildcard. He thinks that Volkswagen would absorb a percentage of increased costs, but he says that because of tariffs, we’re not going to scale as quickly, and its a bummer. The good news for us is our customers are not price sensitive.
Thinking about your own death is not something most people enjoy doing. However, if you plan to pass on savings or assets, like a home, having a will is important in ensuring those items end up in the right hands. Still, according to a new survey, most Americans don’t have a will.
The data, which comes from a Western & Southern Financial Group survey of 1,007 U.S. adults, showed that only one in four Americans has a will. Understandably, the likelihood of having a will differs widely between generations. Baby boomers were the most prepared with nearly half (47%) having a will, while only 23% of millennials did and 20% of Gen Zers.
But astonishingly, nearly a third (30%) of respondents have never even discussed end-of-life plans with their family at all. And, according to the research, that’s highly problematic, because often, the death of a loved one can cause more than grief. It can cause financial distress. Over half of respondents (51%) said they struggled financially after a death of a loved one and 14% described those challenges as being significant.
The number one reason most said they’ve never discussed financial plans is due to discomfort (54%). But that discomfort can lead to a lot of confusion. The data showed 38% of people were not confident in their understanding of their parents’ finances. That was especially true when it came to financial arrangements between siblings. Fifty-five percent of Americans felt uninformed about how finances would be distributed with millennials and Gen Zers most in the dark (57% each).
A staggering number of those surveyed38% overallhad not done any preparation either for their own passing or the passing of a loved one. However, nearly half of Gen Zers said the same was true (49%).
It makes sense that Gen Z may be the least financially prepared for death (given they’re the youngest working generation), however, it could also be due to the broad fears, spanning the generations, that there won’t be much leftover to pass on. A previous Western & Southern survey found that nearly half of Americans (49%) were not confident in their ability to retireever. Gen X was the most concerned (52%), followed by millennials (50%) then boomers (47%). But the youngest generation of workers, who have the most working years left, were not confident about retirement either: 41% of the group said they worry they may never retire.
While there are many reasons why writing a will can be intimidating, there are plenty of online resources that can help. Writing a will does not require an attorney and online will writing services can cost between $0 and $300.
Do you receive login security codes for your online accounts via text message? These are the six- or seven-digit numbers sent via SMS that you need to enter along with your password when trying to access your bank accounts, health records, online photos, and more. This type of security is known as multifactor authentication (MFA) and is designed to keep your account secure even if someone knows your password. Without the additional security code, bad actors cant gain access to your data. Or at least thats the idea.
It’s increasingly becoming evident that security codes sent by text message may leave our data less secure than we thought. Fortunately, there are other, more secure ways to keep your accounts safe. Heres why its probably a good idea to stop using SMS for your security codes, and what you can use instead.
An opaque security code industry
You may think that the text message you receive with the code you need to log into your account is coming from Amazon, Google, Meta, or whoever provides the service you are logging into. But its probably notand therein lies the security risk.
Bloomberg and Lighthouse Reports just released an alarming report revealing that some of the most prominent tech companies recommending that users enable multifactor authenticationincluding Amazon, Google, and Metahave used third-party companies to send their security codes to users via text.
Some of these third-party companies have been linked to institutions in the surveillance industry and even government spy agencies. Additionally, some of the security codes that these third-party companies were responsible for transmitting have been associated with data breaches of individuals accounts. Worse: the intermediaries operating in this space do so with little oversight from their tech giant clients or regulators.
And Bloomberg and Lighthouse Reports piece isnt the first to warn about the vulnerability that texted security codes expose users to. In December, the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) issued a warning to the public, urging people to migrate away from receiving security codes via text. Do not use SMS as a second factor for authentication, the CISAs memo warned. SMS messages are not encrypteda threat actor with access to a telecommunication providers network who intercepts these messages can read them.
But this vulnerability in texted security codes doesnt mean you should revert to using merely a password to access your accounts. Instead, you should consider a superior form of multifactor authenticationor upgrade to passwordless logins entirely.
Get your security codes from an authenticator app instead
Some websites and services are stuck in the past when it comes to multifactor authentication. That is, these websites do offer their users MFA, but only give the option of receiving security codes via text messagesomething the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency now warns against.
Thankfully, plenty of websites offer a more secure way to receive security codes: via an authenticator app.
Simply put, an authenticator app is an application that resides on your phone or computer, storing all the various security codes for your online accounts that have multifactor authentication enabled. The code for each account in the authenticator app is unique, and it changes every 30 seconds.
When you need to log in to a site that you have set up with multifactor authentication, youll be prompted to enter your security code, which can be found in your authenticator app. And since these authenticator app codes always reside on your device, they can never be intercepted in transit, because they are never sent to you in the first place.
Regardless of whether you use Windows, Mac, iPhone, or Android, you have numerous authenticator apps to choose from. These include Apples own Passwords app, Google Authenticator, Microsoft Authenticator, LastPass Authenticator, and more.
Even better, start using passkeys
While authenticator apps are vastly more secure than text messages for getting your security codes, the safest login method no longer relies on codesor even passwordsat all. Im referring to passkeys, the passwordless login technology spearheaded by the FIDO Alliance, a consortium of tech companies including Amazon, Apple, Dell, Google, Meta, Microsoft, NTT, Samsung, and others.
Passkeys are cryptographically complex from a technology perspective, but easy to use from a consumer perspective. When you add a passkey for one of your online accounts, you get one digital key, saved to your device, and the website gets a matching key. When you log into that website, the passkeys must match; otherwise, you wont get access to the account. You verify that you are the true holder of your passkey by confirming your identity with your biometricsa facial or fingerprint scan, right from your phone or laptop.
Passkeys cant be phished or guessed. And if one of your passkeys were stolen and put on someone elses device, it wouldnt work either. That’s because the thief couldnt fool the passkey into thinking they were you since they dont have your face or fingerprint. And because passkeys dont require any alphanumeric input authenticationsuch as security codestheres no code you need to worry about either. Passkeys are also synced to the cloud via your device’s password manager, so if you lose your device, you can quickly regain access to all your passkeys from your, for example, Apple or Google account.
The only drawback to passkeys is that not all online accounts support them. Still, each month, more and more sites are offering users the option for passkey logins.
However, if your accounts dont support passkeys yet, you should still enable multifactor authentication. Just remember to opt to receive your security codes via an authenticator app rather than a text message.
Zach Mercurio is a researcher who specializes in purposeful leadership, mattering, meaningful work, and positive organizational psychology. He works with hundreds of organizations worldwide, and some of his clients include the U.S. Army, USA Wrestling, J.P. Morgan, Delta Air Lines, Marriott International, the government of Canada, and the National Park Service. He also serves as one of motivational speaker, author, and business consultant Simon Sineks optimist instructors.
Whats the big idea?
When we think about what makes an impressive leader, we often color it in terms like inspiring, courageous, or even heroic. But research shows that, when asked about great leaders in their own lives, people dont talk about grand actions or noble qualities. More likely than not, people point out small interactionsmomentswhen a leader helped them feel seen or heard, illuminated gifts they didnt know they had, or provided affirmation. Psychologists call this sense of significance mattering, and the best leaders have trained in and practice the skill of showing people their value.
Below, Zach shares five key insights from his new book, The Power of Mattering: How Leaders Can Create a Culture of Significance. Listen to the audio versionread by Zach himselfin the Next Big Idea App.
1. Were facing a mattering deficit.
Let me take you back 10 years to a hospital room. I was meeting my newborn son. I remember looking down at this tiny crying human, and he tilted his head, locked eyes with mine, and reached his arms out frantically. When I reached back, he gripped my index finger and wouldnt let go. His crying stopped, and his whole body calmed.
I was experiencing 6 million years of fine-tuned programming. Scientists call that grip I felt the grasp reflexan automatic action we take to secure our first caring relationship. From your first breath, survival depended on mattering to someone. None of us would be listening to or reading this if, at some point, we hadnt mattered enough to someone so theyd keep us alive.
As we grow up and go to work, the survival instinct to matter evolves into the psychological need to feel seen, heard, valued, and needed. When this need is met, we experience mattering. Mattering is distinct from belonging or inclusion. Belonging is feeling part of and connected to a group. Inclusion is being able to contribute to a group. Mattering is knowing youre significant to individual members of that group.
When we experience mattering, we flourish. Were more motivated and grittier and experience greater well-being. But when we feel that we dont matter, we languish and either act out in desperation or withdraw.
Imagine the absolute panic of a child reaching out and finding no one. In a way, thats whats happening today. Too many of us are experiencing the same stress of feeling insignificant. In January 2025, Gallup reported that employee engagement is at a 10-year low. If we were an organization, seven out of 10 of us would be emotionally uninvested in our work. Thats despite services to improve engagement becoming a $1 billion industry.
The average adult sends 30 to 40 text-based messages daily and spends more time in meetings than everyet were still lonely.
So, whats going on? Two data points stand out: Just four out of every 10 employees in the Gallup sample group felt that someone at work cares about them as a person, and only 30% believe their potential is invested in. Last year, a different poll showed that 30% of people felt invisible at work, and repeated surveys reveal that six out of 10 people feel underappreciated.
Were not facing a disengagement crisis. Were facing a mattering deficit. The most glaring symptom of this deficit is loneliness. The advice to solve this has been to connect more. The result has been that were in more meetings and on more platforms. The average adult sends 30 to 40 text-based messages daily and spends more time in meetings than everyet were still lonely.
Research shows that the quantity of interactions doesnt matter much when it comes to reducing loneliness. The quality does. To have a quality interaction, people need to experience what researchers call companionate lovereceiving the interpersonal behaviors of attention, respect, and affirmation.
The opposite of loneliness isnt having more people around you; its feeling like you matter to the people around you. Thats why just putting down our phones wont reduce disconnection; what we do after we put down our phones will. The solution isnt to connect more; its to relearn the skills to connect better by showing people they matter to us.
2. Mattering happens in moments.
Think about when you most feel that you matter to others. How many of you are thinking about getting your direct deposit, or when you won Employee of the Month? If youre like most people we posed this question to, youre thinking about small interactions. Mattering happens in moments.
Jane is a custodian at the university where I do research. She was part of a study we did on how frontline service workers experience meaning. She told me she only took the job because she was nearly homeless and needed to put food on the table. Her friends kept telling her cleaning was a dirty job, and she started internalizing that. She told me that during her first month, she would clock in, clock out, and continually think: Why couldnt I have done something more with my life? She said, I felt useless and worthless.
But then, she described to me how a couple of minutes changed everything. A supervisor noticed she was struggling. He invited her into a training room, handed her a dictionary, and asked her to read the definition of custodian: A person responsible for looking after a building and everyone in it.
Thats you, he told her.
She looked at me and said, That was the first time in my life someone made me feel worthy and important. Realizing she was responsible for a building and its people changed her beliefs about herself and her job. Shes been there for 18 years. Thats the power of a moment of mattering. The best leaders tend to turn regular interactions into moments of mattering.
3. Theres a difference between knowing someone and noticing them.
Theres a difference between knowing someone and noticing them. You can know your best friend but not notice that theyre struggling. You can know a team member but not notice that they feel unheard. Janes supervisor noticed she was struggling and took action.
Noticing is the deliberate act of paying attention to the details, ebbs, and flows of others lives and offering an action to show them were thinking of them. Noticing takes time, attention, and practice.
You can know a team member but not notice that they feel unheard.
In one distribution ceter where I worked, there were 20 teams that all scored low on employee engagement surveys, with one extreme outlier that consistently showed high engagement. When I met with that team, they all told me some version of: Its our supervisor. She just gets us. Wed do anything for her. So, I asked her what she did. She pulled out a black Moleskine notebook. Every Friday, she wrote down one thing she noticed about each team membernerves about a meeting, a struggle on a task, a child starting a new sport. Then on Monday, she reviewed her notes and scheduled micro-check-ins, starting with, I remember last week. She said to me, You know, Zach, theres magic in being remembered.
Weve come to call it her noticing notebook. She also asked her team two questions every week: What would you do if you were me? and What are you struggling with, and how can I help?
Leaders who are great noticers tend to do these three things:
They have a process and practice for observing the details of peoples work and lives.
They note those details, which is a powerful way to retrain our attention.
They share back what they observed.
Noticing others creates understanding and understanding creates trust.
4. Affirmation can be more powerful than appreciation or recognition.
When Janes supervisor defined custodian, he provided her with indisputable evidence of her significance. Thats what makes affirmation different and more powerful than appreciation or recognition. Appreciation is a form of gratitude for who someone is. Recognition is a form of gratitude for what someone does. Affirmation reveals how someones uniqueness makes a unique difference.
One way to affirm someone is to give more meaningful gratitude. Any time you say, Thank you or Good job, go one step further and show people the difference they make and exactly how they make it.
First, name peoples unique gifts. Everyone offers us four unique gifts every day:
Strengths: what they love and theyre good atPurpose: the impact they makePerspective: how they see the worldWisdom: what only they can teach us from living their life
Second, show them vividly the unique impact they make. For example, a facilities manager I worked with at the National Park Service would take photos of park visitors using projects his team worked on. He had a process of emailing them every Friday and attaching the pictures. He simply wrote: Look what you did. Thank you.
He gave them indisputable evidence of their significance.
5. When people feel replaceable, they will act replaceable.
To feel that we matter, we must feel needed. In 1913, the French agricultural engineer Max Ringelmann had groups of students pull on a rope as hard as possible. The rope was attached to a device called a dynamometer to measure force. Then, he had the same students pull the rope as hard as they could as individuals. He added up the force readings. Who do you think exerted the most total force: groups or individuals? It was the individuals. Why? Because they knew they and their effort were indispensable.
To feel that we matter, we must feel needed.
When people feel replaceable, they act replaceable. But when people feel irreplaceable, they tend to act irreplaceable. When I interviewed people and asked them when they most felt that they mattered, people frequently mentioned some version of these five words being said to them: If it wasnt for you
Think of someone you rely on. Now think of the last time youve told them, If it wasnt for you If you say these words to them, youll see and feel the power of mattering, and youll be putting into practice a skill that sets great leaders apart from the rest: showing people how they matter.
This article originally appeared in Next Big Idea Club magazine and is reprinted with permission.
Caregiving is often viewed as a personal duty separate from our professional lives, instead of another layer of that life, one that can strengthen and improve how we live. Caregiving has strengthened my skills rather than detracted from my role in the C-suite, providing a masterclass in how to lead.
Caregiving is core to my success on my corporate leadership path. It doesnt exist on the sidelines of my career but has played a significant role in my growth. In every aspect of my life, from being global inclusion officer at Ogilvy and cofounder of several ventures, to motherhood, marriage, and even hosting my podcast, I lead in spaces that demand empathy and strategy. The lessons learned from sleepless nights, navigating healthcare decisions, and balancing emotional labor alongside executive duties have been instrumental in shaping the way I lead. Its taught me resilience in times of uncertainty, adaptability in rapidly changing environments, and a deepened sense of empathy that transcends into the workplace.
Ill never forget the day we discovered my daughter had a severe allergy. Shed accidentally eaten something at school, and we had to drop everything and rush to the ER. In the middle of a packed workday, I notified my team, shifted priorities, and once she was safe at home, I used the evening to catch up. That moment reinforced that caregiving teaches daily resilience, focus under pressure, and the ability to lead with heart.
In a world where corporate cultures increasingly demand human-centered leadership, caregiving is not a detour from executive growth but a path that fortifies it.
4 tangible ways caregiving strengthens leadership:
Resilience becomes your foundation: At its core, caregiving is a daily exercise in resilience. It is about showing up even when exhaustion looms, problem solving under pressure, and finding patience in moments of chaos. These very qualities mirror the demands of leadership. When leading global initiatives, the resilience Ive honed through caregiving becomes my anchor. The silent strength propels me to navigate complexities with grace and confidence.
You adapt in real time: Schedules shift. Emergencies happen. Caregiving builds the muscle of agility. That skill becomes invaluable when leading through crises, managing cross-functional teams, or responding to evolving market conditions. When we scaled initiatives into Latin America, the ability to flex, listen, and adjust quickly allowed us to lead with both strategy and cultural awareness.
Empathy becomes a leadership superpower. Caregiving in tandem operates similarly to vulnerability. This proximity to real-life challenges fuels empathy, a quality often discussed but rarely practiced in corporate corridors. You learn how to read between the lines, anticipate needs, and lead with patience. These qualities build trust in teams and drive inclusion that is not performative but lived. During intergenerational conversations in Asia-Pacific countries, deep listening shaped how we created space for everyones voice to matter.
You prioritize people, not just productivity: Imagine if corporate cultures embraced the principles learned through caregiving: resilience, adaptability, empathy. What would change? In my work with The Brotherhood Program and the 30for30 initiative, Ive witnessed firsthand how integrating these values reshapes team dynamics, strengthens organizational trust, and drives sustainable impact. Caregiving doesnt just inspire leaders to be better, but it compels us to build better environments for those we lead.
How leaders can practice care inside their companies
According to a 2025 KPMG survey, 76% of working parents believe that becoming a parent has increased their motivation at work. Furthermore, 83% of C-suite executives who are working parents report that their companies encourage open discussions about the challenges of managing work and parenting. These statistics underscore the deep connection between caregiving and leadership resilience and the importance of organizational cultures that embrace these dual roles.
Leaders can develop and practice these principles at work, by following these tips.
Check in with genuine curiosity. Replace Do you have bandwidth? with How are you managing today?
Lead by example. Show your team that you take mental health and out-of-office time seriously.
Give flexibility that matters. Let employees shape the way they work based on real life.
Normalize asking for help. Encourage vulnerability by being open about your own needs.
Identify caregivers on your team. Offer mentorship and resources that reflect their reality.
Caregiving is not a detour from professional growth; it is a crucible for it. The leadership skills honed through caring for others are needed in todays evolving corporate landscape. For those of us balancing both, its a testament to our strength, adaptability, and unyielding commitment to leading with heart and purpose. Authentic leadership, after all, is just another space to extend the resilience, empathy, and adaptability we practice daily.
Tope Ajala, global inclusion and impact officer at Ogilvy, and host of podcast Life to a Teee.
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of light, it was the season of darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair.
Those words written by Charles Dickens are surprisingly on point, despite the author being dead for well over a century. We continue to live in febrile and perplexing times with many of us expecting to see all four horses of the apocalypse over the horizon at any time.
Confidence, so central to peoples willingness to spend, is at best fragile.
Our two biggest global economiesthe United States and Chinaare on the back foot and were all feeling the impact. As consumers, were increasingly resentful, angry, and ready to withhold our hard-earned cash.
Not only has peoples trust in many institutions diminished in recent years, according to a recent study conducted in 28 countries, a staggering 61% of those surveyed hold grievances against government, business, and the wealthy due to perceived inequalities and unfairness.
The list of causes for peoples concerns is growing fastfrom geopolitics to the cost-of-living crisis, misinformation and disinformation, bad actors, and the dizzying speed of technological change, including the rapid rise of AI, to name just a few.
Also growing is the need for a marketplace response, specifically from the brands and organizations that are the primary drivers of action, and in which consumers still invest a degree of trust.
What brands need to do
Brands should listen, empathize, and demonstrate, not just with words, but with tangible actions that they understand their customers and can support them in achieving what they want.
However, in todays challenging climate this might not be enough.
When consumers are feeling so aggrieved, I see three actions that can help brands move consumer sentiment in a more positive direction.
Make the first move, however small
In challenging times, an entrenched position can seem appealing. Yet an Im right, youre wrong, you dont understand defensive mindset often brings inertia. When the company makes the first move and bends a little, it can be easier to move things forward.
For example, in 2018, KFCs UK operation almost collapsed when it ran out of chicken. The companys FCK campaign made international news; to make amends, KFC ran an apology ad rearranging the letters of its name to spell out FCK on a chicken bucket. This response, which harnessed humility, humor, and honesty, was well-received and showed how timely communication and gestures can make all the difference.
Contextual adaptability is more valuable than ever, especially as younger audiences gravitate toward brands rooted in community and co-creation. Transparency matters, but what truly sets brands apart today is how they respond and adapt once the reactions start kicking in. That is where real connection and loyalty are built.
Duolingo recently faced backlash over its new AI-first policy, which clashed with the human touch users expect from the category, and especially from such a personality-driven brand. While transparency was a good start, their responsedeleting posts and posting a tone-deaf attempt at humorcame off as insincere and dismissive. What was missing was genuine openness and willingness to adapt. By listening to feedback and engaging with users concerns, Duolingo could have turned criticism into a chance to build trust and further strengthen their cult-like following.
Demonstrate you understand what matters
A key pillar of conflict resolution is demonstrating that you understand what matters. Its also a central component of brand buildingand one thats even more important at a time when customers are rife with anger and resentment.
Showing empathy in difficult times does more than offer immediate reassurance, it creates a powerful ripple effect. Seen optimistically, it is a rare opportunity for brands to earn lasting customer loyalty and brand resonance.
Today, technology enables an unprecedented array of ways to leverage greater customer personalization to demonstrate a brands appetite to serve and move things forward in audience-relevant ways.
IKEA, for example, leverages data and consumer research to support their customers through the cost-of-living crisis. They actively work to make products more affordable to match local and individual tastes. They also track visits and clicks on their online store to ensure they manage the price reductions while keeping an eye on their own long-term financial sustainability.
In addition, their knack for quickly bringing trends like dopamine décor, kidulting, and bed-rotting to life in their stores helps them connect with their audiences, providing them with some much-needed joy and comfort, while times feel bleak.
Create a sense of togetherness
It takes time to ease frayed nerves, misconceptions, and mistrust. Great storytelling and tone are tangible markers of a companys commitment to its customers.
Volvos recent EX90 For Life ad, which imagines how an unborn childs future could be erased without the brands groundbreaking safety technology, is a human story universally relatable, yet directly brand-relevant.
It powerfully demonstrates how finding and cultivating points of connection with your customer are the secret to building, maintaining, and energizing any productive relationship with consumers.
Engaging, uniting, and connecting is central to us as humans and necessary to build and re-build trust. The same applies to brands and the businesses behind them.
Geopolitics and economic volatility are beyond any single businesss control. Yet, in the current climate, brands that bear down on each interaction and experience at every touchpoint will move consumer sentiment onto more positive ground.
Sairah Ashman is global CEO of Wolff Olins.
It turns out eliminating the paper or plastic question through plastic bag regulation is effectively reducing the number of bags found in shoreline litter across the United States.
A new analysis of shoreline cleanup data finds that areas with plastic bag bans or consumer fees have fewer bags turning up in their litter. The research offers some of the strongest evidence yet that regulating plastic bag use makes a difference in reducing the amount of plastic waste in marine ecosystems.
A heightened threat to marine wildlife
We find, largely, that all the regulations do show a decrease in plastic bag litter as a share of total litter on these shores, says Kimberly Oremus, co-author of the research paper and an assistant professor of marine science and policy at the University of Delaware. The total reduction ranged between 25% and 47%, the study found.
About 20 metric tons of plastic end up in the environment each year, estimates the International Union for Conservation of Naturethat amounts to over 2.4 kilograms of plastic for each person on Earth.
Plastic bags are particularly prevalent in marine ecosystems. They are very difficult to recycle and, because they are lightweight and have a large surface area for wind to catch, they blow out of the trash and into the environment at higher rates than other plastic items, says Erin Murphy, the ocean plastics science and research manager at the environmental advocacy nonprofit Ocean Conservancy, who was not involved in the research. She added that in 2024 alone, the conservancys International Coastal Cleanup volunteers gathered up more than a million plastic bags.
In addition to getting into the environment at high rates, plastic bags also pose a heightened threat to marine wildlife. Wildlife can become entangled in or smothered by these bags or can mistake them for food, like jellyfish, a favorite among many species. These interactions with plastic can lead to the deaths of endangered and common animals alike and can even contribute to broader population declines.
Counting the plastic bags
One big challenge in studying the effects and regulations of plastics is actually measuring this pollutant in the environment, says Anna Papp, co-author of the research paper.
To overcome this challenge, the study used crowd-funded data from beach cleanups. The data was collected by the Ocean Conservancy as part of their Trash Information and Data for Education and Solutions (TIDES) project. Nearly 19 million people have participated in the data collection worldwide.
The study also examined plastic bag policies at various geographical scales between 2017 and 2023. The earliest plastic bag policies in the U.S. were implemented around 2007, researchers say, but an uptick in the mid-2010s more directly led to the policies analyzed in the study.
While the data provides insight into how the share of plastic bags found among shoreline litter has changed due to policy measures, an important caveat remains: Plastic litter has been increasing overall. Plastic production doubled from 234 million to 460 million tons between 2000 and 2019and without mitigation, it is only expected to rise, according to a recent report from the French-based Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).
Some regulations are better than others
Still, the researchers noted that not all regulations worked equally well. Total bans and consumer fees resulted in greater decreases than partial bans, which still allow businesses to use thicker, potentially reusable plastic bags. The researchers also found that regulation was most effective in places that had a high baseline of plastic bag litter before the bans or fees went into place.
The study data seems to indicate that consumer fees were the most effective option for mitigating plastic bag litter, though the paper’s authors say more research is needed to confirm this finding.
These policies are effective, but theyre not a panacea for all plastic litter, Oremus said. Anyone whos looking at regulations for plastic broadly needs to think beyond just the consumption side of plastic.
If your anxiety before a big test or a high-stakes presentation has ever kept you up at night, you can rest easier knowing that scientists are trying to get to the bottom of matters.
A new study published this month in The Journal of Neuroscience explores how stress interferes with sleep, causing cascading negative effects on memory and other cognitive processes. By pinpointing the specific neural mechanisms involved in stress-related memory problems and sleep disruptions, scientists hope to figure out stress-zapping treatments in the future.
A group of researchers from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicines Chronobiology and Sleep Institute simulated human stress in lab mice, restraining the animals so they couldnt move. They then observed the animals neural activity while they slept and gave the mice a spatial memory test. Much like a human who gets stressed out before a big test, the mice slept poorly and showed memory deficits.
The researchers went on to simulate the effects of the stress scenario without actually restraining the mice. By activating neurons that release the stress hormone corticotropin in a specific part of the hypothalamus known as the paraventricular nucleus, the research team stressed out the mice and later observed the same sleep and memory issues as if the animals had actually been restrained.
When they blocked the same stress hormone-releasing neurons during the stress-inducing event, the mice slept a little better and had significantly less trouble during their spatial memory testa hopeful clue in helping to understand how to mitigate the problems that stress creates in the human brain.
The researchers called the findings on the pathways of corticotropin-releasing hormone neurons in that region of the hypothalamus an important step toward improving sleep and ameliorating cognitive deficits associated with stress-related disordersa conclusion that anyone tired of having that one same stress dream can definitely get behind.
