Japanese video-game maker Nintendo on Thursday reported a 43% decline in profit for the fiscal year through March, but promised a turnaround as its Switch console upgrade goes on sale in June.Nintendo Co.’s profit for the fiscal year through March totaled 278.8 billion yen ($1.9 billion), down from 490 billion yen the previous fiscal year.Annual sales slipped 30% to 1.16 trillion yen ($8 billion) from 1.67 trillion yen, according to the Kyoto-based maker of the Super Mario and Donkey Kong games.The fortunes of game companies tend to decline somewhat as time passes after a new game machine goes on sale since many people have already bought the machine, although new hit software helps boost the results.Much anticipation has been building over the rollout of the so-called Switch 2, which goes on sale June 5.Nintendo said it expects to sell 15 million Switch 2 consoles for the fiscal year through March 2026.Demand has dwindled for the current Switch, now in its eighth year after its debut. The number of Switch players around the world remains above 128 million people, according to Nintendo.Nintendo said attractive software was coming for the Switch 2 later this year, including “The Legend of Zelda” games, a Pokemon title and a Kirby game, as well as offerings from outside software companies.Also adding to the momentum is the opening of a Nintendo store in San Francisco and the Super Nintendo World amusement facility opening in Orlando, both set for this month, according to Nintendo.Nintendo is projecting a 300 billion yen ($2.1 billion) profit for the fiscal year ending in March next year, a nearly 8% improvement from the fiscal year just ended, on sales of 1.9 trillion yen ($13 billion), up 63% on-year.
Yuri Kageyama is on Threads: https://www.threads.com/@yurikageyama
Yuri Kageyama, AP Business Writer
Pope Francis left a lasting legacy, not least his appreciation for art. In his 2025 biography, Hope, Francis spoke of his admiration for the Baroque painter Caravaggio. He recalled that during his travels to Rome as a cardinal, he prayed in front of the painting by CaravaggioThe Calling of Saint Matthew.
The painting is found in the chapel dedicated to St. Matthew in the Church of San Luigi dei Francesi. The donor of the chapel was a French cardinal, Matthieu Cointerel, who died in 1585. This was the first commission for Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, who was hired in July 1599. A year later, The Calling of Saint Matthew and The Martyrdom of Saint Matthew, depicting the beginning and the end of the apostle Matthews ministry, were installed.
The motto that Francis selected for his papacy, miserando atque eligendo, translated as looking at him with mercy, he chose him, is directly connected with this painting. The words miserando atque eligendo come from a sermon on the calling of Matthew written in the eighth century by the celebrated monk and historian Bede the Venerable. It is used in the readings for the Feast of St. Matthew on September 21.
The Calling of Saint Matthew [Image: Caravaggio]
The Calling of Saint Matthew
Matthew is described in the Bible as a tax collector, viewed at the time as a highly dubious occupation. In the painting, Christ enters the room from the right. We see only his silhouetted head and outstretched arm pointing in Matthews direction.
Light from the window behind Christ, which aligns with the actual light from the window in the chapel, falls on a group of men, including some handsome youths in fancy clothes, counting money. Matthew, the bearded man in the center, makes a gesture that suggests, Who, me?
Matthew became one of four disciples of Christalong with Mark, Luke, and Johnwhose accounts of Christs life, called Gospels, are included in the Bible.
Francis and Jesuit training
Franciss thinking about this painting was shaped by his training as a Jesuit, a Catholic order that he entered in 1958. Jesuits practice something called a process of discernment. The painting represents God calling to Matthew to show him his will for the future, one that requires discernment. The founder of the order, Ignatius of Loyola, stressed a humble but vigorous effort to understand Gods will for each individual, as part of this process.
Ignatiuss own life demonstrated this search for Gods will. His initial career as a soldier ended when he was gravely wounded in the battle of Pamplona in 1521, permanently damaging his leg. He subsequently tried to follow the life of a hermit, meditating in solitude, and then tried to become a missionary to the Holy Land.
At the age of 33, he entered a university in order to become a priest, ultimately initiating the most influential transformation of religious education since the Middle Ages. Jesuits became a great teaching force, stressing individual study and debate over memorization. Ignatius was named a saint in 1622.
Inspiration of Saint Matthew [Photo: Caravaggio]
The Inspiration of St. Matthew
The central painting in the chapel, Inspiration of Saint Matthew is Caravaggios third painting, which was put in place in 1602. The patrons originally planned to install statues at the center, but upon their arrival they rejected the idea and commissioned Caravaggio instead. This painting also shows the saint searching to understand Gods directions.
In this painting, Matthew is in conversation with his symbol, a winged man. Each of the four evangelists are represented in art through symbols. The winged man symbol for Matthew refers to the beginning of his Gospel that records the genealogy of Christ.
The angel-like figure, resembling one of the young men depicted alongside the saint in Caravaggios The Calling of St. Matthew, appears to hold his left index finger with his right hand, as if to signal that this is the first and most important point. Matthew seems careworn, even distracted, struggling to write while leaning his knee on a bench.
Francis remarked in his biography that Caravaggio increased viewers empathy by using contemporary figures from the artists own time. The figures in the painting are dressed in clothes worn in Italy in the late 16th century, so that the viewers in Caravaggios time could see themselves in the painting.
Viewers come to art with different perspectives derived from their own experiences and challenges. Francis, too, connected to art through his own experiences.
Virginia Raguin is a distinguished professor of humanities emerita at the College of the Holy Cross.
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the a href="https://theconversation.com/why-the-calling-of-saint-matthew-by-caravaggio-was-pope-francis-favorite-painting-an-art-historian-explains-255577">original article.
Human-caused climate change intensified deadly rainfall in Arkansas, Kentucky, Tennessee and other states in early April and made those storms more likely to occur, according to an analysis released Thursday by the World Weather Attribution group of scientists.The series of storms unleashed tornadoes, strong winds and extreme rainfall in the central Mississippi Valley region from April 3-6 and caused at least 24 deaths. Homes, roads and vehicles were inundated and 15 deaths were likely caused by catastrophic floods.The WWA analysis found that climate change increased rainfall intensity in the storms by 9% and made them 40% more likely compared to probability of such events in the pre-industrial age climate.Some of the moisture that fueled the storms came from the Gulf of Mexico, where water temperatures were abnormally warm by 1.2°C (2.2°F) compared to pre-industrial temperatures. That warming was made 14 times more likely due to climate change, according to the researchers from universities and meteorological agencies in the United States and Europe.Rapid analyses from the WWA use peer-reviewed methods to study an extreme weather event and distill it down to the factors that caused it. This approach lets scientists analyze which contributing factors had the biggest influence and how the event could have played out in a world without climate change.The analysis found a rainfall event of April’s intensity could occur in the central Mississippi Valley region about once every 100 years. Even heavier downpours are expected to hit the region in the future unless the world rapidly slashes emissions of polluting gases such as carbon dioxide and methane that causes temperatures to rise, the study said.“That one in 100 years is likely to go down to once every few decades,” said Ben Clarke, a researcher at the Centre for Environmental Policy at Imperial College London and the study’s lead author. “If we continue to burn fossil fuels, events like this will not only continue to occur, but they’ll keep getting more dangerous.”Heavier and more persistent rainfall is expected with climate change because the atmosphere holds more moisture as it warms. Warming ocean temperatures result in higher evaporation rates, which means more moisture is available to fuel storms.Forecast information and weather alerts from the National Weather Service communicated the risks of the April heavy rain days in advance, which the WWA says likely reduced the death toll. But workforce and budget cuts made by the Trump administration have left nearly half of NWS offices with 20% vacancy rates or higher, raising concerns for public safety during future extreme weather events and the upcoming Atlantic hurricane season that officially begins June 1.“If we start cutting back on these offices or reducing the staff the unfortunate result is going to be more death. We’re going to have more people dying because the warnings are not going to get out, the warnings are not going to be as fine-tuned as they are today,” said Randall Cerveny, a climate professor at Arizona State University who was not involved in the study.
The Associated Press’ climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.
Isabella O’Malley, Associated Press
In honor of its 25th anniversary, the Gates Foundation made a major announcement. On Thursday, chair Bill Gates said he would give away most of his fortune over the next two decades.
“People will say a lot of things about me when I die, but I am determined that ‘he died rich’ will not be one of them,” Gates wrote in an announcement on GatesNotes.
The statement continued, There are too many urgent problems to solve for me to hold onto resources that could be used to help people. That is why I have decided to give my money back to society much faster than I had originally planned.”
Gates explained that he would give away practically all of his fortune over the next 20 years, estimating about $200 billion in spending will occur in an effort to save and improve lives. The businessman and Microsoft cofounder said the exact amount will depend on the markets, as well as inflation.
A news release from the Gates Foundation called the plan “the largest philanthropic commitment in modern history” and said it will wind down operations circa 2045.
In his post, Gates shared that on December 31, 2045, the foundation will cease all operations.
An accelerated timeline for a world on fire
Gates noted that the plan is a major shift away from the foundation’s original plan to sunset 20 years after his and his ex-wife Melinda Gates’s deaths.
Post-divorce, Melinda French Gates has given away a hefty share of her own wealth, pledging over $1 billion to organizations supporting women and girls.
In Bill Gates’s statement, he also outlined three major goals for the accelerated spending plan:
“help end preventable deaths of moms and babies”
“ensure the next generation grows up without having to suffer from deadly infectious diseases”
“lift millions of people out of poverty, putting them on a path to prosperity”
“The Gates Foundations mission remains rooted in the idea that where you are born should not determine your opportunities,” Gates wrote in his statement Thursday. “I am excited to see how our next chapter continues to move the world closer to a future where everyone everywhere has the chance to live a healthy and productive life.”
The federal human resources agency at the heart of billionaire Elon Musk’s efforts to slash the federal workforce is poised to roll out software to speed layoffs across the U.S. government, two people familiar with the matter told Reuters.
The software could turbocharge the rapid-fire effort to downsize the government at a time when a number of larger federal agencies are preparing to execute plans for mass layoffs of tens of thousands of workers.
Some 260,000 government workers already have accepted buyouts, early retirement or been laid off since Republican President Donald Trump returned to the presidency in January, according to a Reuters tally. The process has been far from smooth. Some workers were mistakenly fired and had to be rehired.
The software is an updated version of a decades-old Pentagon program, known as AutoRIF, that had been little used in recent years.
Under direction from Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), software developers at the U.S. Office Of Personnel Management (OPM) have created a more user-friendly web-based version over the past few months that provides targets for layoffs much more quickly than the current labor-intensive manual process, four sources said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
The program is poised to be rolled out to the agencies by OPM just as Musk steps back from DOGE, which has driven the downsizing effort, to focus more on Tesla and his other companies.
AutoRIF’s name comes from “Reduction in Force,” a term used to describe mass layoffs. The revamped version has been given the more benign-sounding name “Workforce Reshaping Tool,” three sources said.
With the software revamp now complete, OPM will lead demonstrations, user testing and start adding new users in the coming weeks, one of the sources said.
DOGE, OPM, the White House, Pentagon and Musk did not respond to requests for comment.
Wired magazine was first to report on the revamp effort. But Reuters is reporting for the first time on the completion of that revamp, the capabilities of the new program, rollout plans and its new name.
JOB-CUTTING SCYTHE
Trump established DOGE to modernize government software, cut spending and drastically reduce the size of the federal workforce, which he complains is bloated and wasteful.
DOGE has said it has saved more than $160 billion through cuts to federal contracts and staff, but it has given few details publicly about what it is doing to modernize technology to make the government more efficient.
The update of the Pentagon software, which DOGE has not publicly confirmed, is the only known example of that effort bearing fruit.
Currently, most federal RIFs are done manuallywith HR employees poring over spreadsheets containing data on employee seniority, veteran status and performance, three sources told Reuters.
The new software is being rolled out just as larger agencies such as the Department of Veterans Affairs are set to move forward with plans to eliminate some 80,000 jobs. The Internal Revenue Service has said it wants to slash its payrolls by 40%, according to media reports.
The tool will allow agencies “to remove a massive number of federal employees from their positions,” if it works, said Nick Bednar, an associate professor of law at the University of Minnesota who has been tracking the government layoffs.
“What DOGE has started is going to continue without Elon Musk,” Bednar said.
AutoRIF was developed by the Pentagon more than a quarter century ago. It pulled data from its HR system, sifted through firing rules quickly and produced names of employees eligible to be laid off.
But it was difficult to migrate it to other agencies, whose workers had to manually input data on potential candidates for dismissal, a cumbersome process that is subject to errors. The program, described as “clunky” by a 2020 Pentagon HR newsletter, also would allow only one employee to work on a RIF, two sources said.
The upgrade makes it web-based, easing employee access to the tool while enabling multiple people to work on a mass layoff, three sources said. It also allows for the upload of employee data for analysis, freeing HR workers from having to manually input personal records of possible targets for dismissal.
While speed is a clear advantage, the software could pose other challenges, according to Don Moynihan, a professor at the University of Michigan’s Ford School of Public Policy.
“If you automate bad assumptions into a process, then the scale of the error becomes far greater than an individual could undertake,” Moynihan said.
“It won’t necessarily help them to make better decisions and it won’t make those decisions more popular,” Moynihan added.
Trump’s drive to downsize and reshape the government already has led to the gutting of entire agencies such as the U.S. Agency for International Development as well as the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which seeks to protect Americans from financial abuses.
The government overhaul has led to numerous lawsuits that seek to block the Trump administration from moving forward with some of the planned dismissals.
Alexandra Alper, Reuters
The price of Bitcoin is nearing the psychologically important price point of $100,000 this morninga level the cryptocurrency has not seen since early February.
As of the time of this writing, one Bitcoin is currently trading at over $99,800. Thats up nearly 3% in the last 24 hours and only $10,000 lower than the all-time high that the token reached earlier this year.
Heres what you need to know about Bitcoins most recent approach to six figures.
Bitcoin nears $100,000again
Bitcoin is currently trading at less than $200 shy of $100,000 per coin as of the time of this writing. The cryptocurrency king hasnt traded at levels this high since early February, and it has not surpassed the $100,000 mark since the first few days of that month.
While a $100,000 price point of Bitcoin doesnt have any underlying meaning on a fundamentals level, the passing of the six-figure barrier again will likely signal an important psychological threshold in many investors’ minds.
In late January, just a day before President Trump was sworn in for his second term, Bitcoin traded at an all-time high of over $109,114 per coin. The coin had first crossed the $100,000 threshold back in December 2024, shortly after then-president-elect Trump announced the crypto-friendly Paul Atkins as the new Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) chair.
Atkinss appointment was seen as signaling a much more friendly regulatory environment with the new administration. In the days leading up to Trumps inauguration, Bitcoin continued to rise.
But then came Trumps Liberation Day tariffs in Apriland along with the crash of global stock markets, Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies crashed too. Last month, Bitcoin was trading at less than $75,000 per coin.
Todays nearly $100,000 price, then, marks a staggering turnaround for Bitcoin from just over 30 days ago. It is up over 30% in the past month and up over 4% in the past five days alone, with the price of the digital asset up nearly 3% in just the last 24 hours.
But what is the reason for Bitcoin’s flirtation with the $100,000 mark today? Trade deals.
Hopes of trade deals boost Bitcoin
Investing.com notes that Bitcoin’s rise to nearly $100,000 in the past 24 hours can be attributed to one main factor: trade deal optimism.
Yesterday, President Trump teased on Truth Social that today there would be a big news conference detailing a major trade deal with a big country. It was the president’s first firm sign that one of his many promised trade deals was actually imminent.
If the United States actually starts signing trade deals with other nations, investors will likely feel less uncomfortable about the state of the global economy and the economic uncertainty that Trump’s tariffs have unleashed within Americas borders and across the world.
Then, early today, Trump took to Truth Social to follow up on his earlier post, announcing that the U.S. has entered into a full and comprehensive agreement with the United Kingdom.
While Trump didnt specify that it was a trade agreement, that is the most likely type of agreement he is talking about. The president added, Many other deals, which are in serious stages of negotiation, to follow!
Details of the U.S.-U.K. agreement are expected to be announced at a press conference at 10 a.m. ET today, reports CNBC.
Anticipation of the U.S.-U.K. news further buoyed earlier optimism that, after nearly a month of uncertainty, major countries were closer than ever to working out new economic frameworks with the United States.
Other cryptocurrencies are also on the rise
Bitcoin isnt the only cryptocurrency to rise on trade deal optimism. As of the time of this writing, other major coins are also up, including:
Ethereum: up 6.2%
XRP: up 3.1%
Solana: up 4.2%
Meme coins are also up, including:
Dogecoin: up 5.8%
Shiba Inu: up 4.7%
Of course, it’s worth noting that cryptocurrencies are more volatile than more traditional assets, so theres no guarantee that Bitcoin will indeed cross the $100,000 threshold again.
However, todays move closer to that mark will surely please jittery investors who have been forced to watch the crypto king decline by tens of thousands of dollars over the past several months.
The United States and Britain are expected to announce a trade deal on Thursday that will lower the burden of President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs and deliver a political victory for U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer.Trump posted on his Truth Social platform that a deal due to be announced at 10 a.m. EDT (1400 GMT) will be a “full and comprehensive one that will cement the relationship between the United States and the United Kingdom for many years to come.”It’s the first bilateral trade deal announced since Trump began slapping tariffs on U.S. trading partners. He said: “Many other deals, which are in serious stages of negotiation, to follow!”Starmer’s office said the prime minister would give an “update” about U.S. trade talks later Thursday.“As you know, talks with the U.S. have been ongoing and you’ll hear more from me about that later today.” Starmer said at a defense conference in London.The agreement is likely to fall short of a full free trade deal, but will provide tariff relief to certain sectors.The president has imposed a 10% tax on imports from Britain, as well as 25% tariffs on autos, steel and aluminum on the premise that doing so would foster more factory jobs domestically.A major goal of British negotiators has been to reduce or lift the import tax on U.K. cars and steel. The U.S. is the largest destination for British cars, accounting for more than a quarter of U.K. auto exports in 2024, according to the Office for National Statistics.Britain has also sought tariff exemptions for pharmaceuticals, while the U.S. wants greater access to the British market for agriculture products. Starmer’s government has said it won’t lower U.K. food standards to allow in chlorine-rinsed American chicken or hormone-treated beef.The British government will see a deal it as a vindication of Starmer’s emollient approach to Trump, which has avoided direct confrontation or criticism. Unlike the European Union, Britain did not announce retaliatory tariffs on U.S. goods in response to Trump’s import taxes.A trade deal with the United Kingdom would be symbolically important, and a relief for British exporters. But an agreement would do little to address Trump’s core concern about persistent trade deficits that prompted him to impose import taxes on countries around the world.The U.S. ran a $11.9 billion trade surplus in goods with the U.K. last year, according to the Census Bureau. The $68 billion in goods that the U.S. imported from the U.K. last year accounted for just 2% of all goods imported into the country.The U.S. is much more important to the U.K. economy. It was Britain’s biggest trading partner last year, according to government statistics, though the bulk of Britain’s exports to the U.S. are services rather than goods.Trump has shown a desire to strike a trade agreement with the U.K. since it voted in 2016 to leave the European Union. Yet as recently as Tuesday, Trump showed no awareness of the possible terms of the deal when asked about its possibility.“They’re offering us concessions?” Trump told reporters. “I hope so They do want to make a deal very badly.”Trump has previously said that his leverage in talks would be U.S. consumers, but he appeared to suggest that the U.K. would also start buying more American-made goods.“I think that the United Kingdom, like every other country, they want to . . . go shopping in the United States of America,” he said.A trade deal with the U.S. is one of several that Starmer’s government is seeking to strike. On Tuesday, Britain and India announced a trade after three years of negotiations. The U.K. is also trying to lift some of the barriers to trade with the EU imposed when Britain left the bloc in 2020.
Jill Lawless reported from London. Josh Boak contributed to this report from Washington.
Zeke Miller and Jill Lawless, Associated Press
After filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection for a second time this week, Rite Aid is already planning to wind down operations at underperforming locations in at least nine states, court documents show.
The long-suffering drug store chain, which is scrambling to sell parts of its business less than one year after emerging from bankruptcy the first time, has identified 47 locations that it will initially close as is negotiates with potential buyers and moves through the Chapter 11 process yet again.
Rite Aid has 1,277 pharmacies, three distribution centers, and more than 24,000 employees across 15 states, and its hoping to sell many of its locations to preserve jobs, minimize the impact on customers, and extract the most value out of its business operationsespecially its prescription files, which it sees as its most vaulable assets.
However, it saw little or no value in the initial stores that were marked for closure in this weeks filing, and so it has either started the process of closing the stores down or will do so soon.
Fast Company has reached out to Rite Aid for more details about the timeline of these store closures.
Will all Rite Aid locations eventually close?
Some news outlets have falsely reported that Rite Aid is already planning to close all of its locations, but the company has made no such announcement.
While many stores will no doubt shutter as the bankruptcy process unfolds, others could be sold to new owners. Which stores will be sold and how many is unclear. What is clear is that this will be a fast-moving process, as Rite Aid believes time is of the essence.
Why is this process moving so quickly?
This is not Rite Aids first time at the Chapter 11 rodeo. The company knows from its bankruptcy in 2023 that the longer it takes to secure deal with buyers, the more pharmacy customers its going to lose.
That’s because people who get their prescriptions from Rite Aid are increasingly likely to transfer them elsewhere the more they read about the companys bankruptcy in media reports. A substantial customer exodus will make Rite Aid’s business less attractive to buyers.
“The timeline proposed for the contemplated sale process is, in the Debtors business judgment, essential to preserving value and facilitating an orderly sale process, Rite Aid wrote in a court filing. Based on Rite Aids prior experience selling similar assets, the longer the sale process takes, the greater the value erosion through attrition in the meantime. This risk is entirely one-sided and to the Debtors detriment.
Which locations are closing soon?
According to this weeks filing, the following 47 locations are set to close and may already be in the process of doing so. (Based on a search of their Yelp pages, some may have already closed.) Rite Aid says it chose the locations based on factors such as underperformance and lack of proximity to competitors that might be willing to buy the locations.
California
211 East 17th Street, Costa Mesa, CA 92627
1331 Wilshire Boulevard, Santa Monica, CA 90403
446 East Washington Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90015
23 Peninsula Center, Rolling Hills Estates, CA 90274
3300 East Anaheim Street, Long Beach, CA 90804
1203 West Imola Avenue, Napa, CA 94559
1550 Hamilton Avenue, San Jose, CA 95125
501 South Gaffey Street, San Pedro, CA 90731
4840 Niagara Avenue, San Diego, CA 92107
32450 Clinton Keith Road, Wildomar, CA 92595
720 Sutton Way, Grass Valley, CA 95945
34420 Yucaipa Boulevard, Yucaipa, CA 92399
2751 Del Paso Road, Sacramento, CA 95835
1038 East Colorado Boulevard, Pasadena, CA 91106
6150 Van Buren Boulevard, Riverside, CA 92503
220 West East Avenue, Chico, CA 95926
1534 East Florence Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90001
4774 West Lane, Stockton, CA 95210
4920 La Sierra Avenue, Riverside, CA 92505
Connecticut
56 Rubber Avenue, Naugatuck, CT 06770
113-115 Mill Plain Rd., Danbury, CT 06811
180 Main Street, Cheshire, CT 06410
Massachusetts
10084-02 1031 Main St., Clinton, MA 01510
New Hampshire
354 Winchester Street, Keene, NH 03431
19 Wilton Road Ste 1A, Peterborough, NH 03458
75 Portsmouth Avenue Unit 1, Exeter, NH 03833
New Jersey
75 South Main Street, Neptune, NJ 07753
403 Sicklerville Road, Sicklerville, NJ 08081
New York
55-60 Myrtle Avenue, Ridgewood, NY 11385
8222 18th Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11214
5901 Bay Parkway, Brooklyn, NY 11204
50-15 Roosevelt Avenue, Woodside, NY 11377
60-26 Woodside Avenue, Woodside, NY 11377
Oregon
2521 South Sixth Street, Klamath Falls, OR 97601
700 S.E. 3rd Street, Bend, OR 97702
514 NE 181st Avenue, Portland, OR 97230
1400 West 6th Street, The Dalles, OR 97058
Pennsylvania
304 Market Street, Harrisburg, PA 17101
23 North Elm Street, Kutztown, PA 19530
3773 Peters Mountain Rd., Halifax, PA 17032
843 Rostraver Road, Belle Vernon, PA 15012
400 West Second Street, Berwick, PA 18603
1039 2nd Street Pike, Richboro, PA 18954
10941-01 Pittsburgh Intl Airport, Pittsburgh, PA 15231
209 Atwood Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15213
Washington
248 Bendigo Blvd S, North Bend, WA 98045
250 Basin Street SW, Ephrata, WA 98823
Last week marked Trump’s first 100 days in officeand when it comes to climate policy, things are already pretty grim. In just three months, the president has elevated fossil fuels, pulled back billions from green investments, and implemented tariffs that make it harder to import renewable infrastructure. And that’s just the start.
But despite Trumps relentless attacks on the environment, there are still some bright spotsfrom climate startups, from cities and states, and from nonprofits that are taking these actions to court.
In a recent conversation, Fast Company senior editor Aimee Rawlins and executive editor Morgan Clendaniel discussed some of Trump’s most significant attacks on the environmentas well as the ways that people are pushing back.
If you missed the subscriber-only event, you can catch the whole conversation in the video above.
At a recent fundraising event, I stood backstage with a young woman waiting to give a speech in front of 550 people to honor her alma mater. She was visibly nervous; I watched as she paced, taking deep breaths to calm the adrenaline that was flooding her body, twisting her hands, and looking toward the stage door as if she might try to make a run for it.
As a charity auctioneer who has spent more than two decades on stages around the world commanding rooms filled with thousands of people, I know that feeling. There were so many nights in the beginning of my career when I felt the same way. But spending 1,000-plus nights onstage has given me plenty of practice to learn what it takes to cultivate confidenceand keep itin my professional and personal life.
Here are two easy mindset shifts that anyone can use to boost their confidence walking into any room.
Find Your Strike Method
Every time I walk onstage as the auctioneer, I bring a small gavel to bang down three times to get the attention of the crowd. After many years of hearing the gavel crack three times against the podium, I associate the habit with the most confident version of me. On nights when I forgot my gavel, I started to use anything within reach to mimic the motion and sounda saltshaker from the table, a tube of lipstick, even a hockey puck when I was taking an auction at a hockey arena.
I also found I could use this offstage as well. Whenever I am about to step into a difficult meeting or a big presentation and find my confidence starting to recede, I visualize the gavel strike. The familiar method reminds me to throw my shoulders back, put a smile on my face, and walk in like I own the room.
For my book The Most Powerful Woman in the Room Is You, I interviewed professional athletes, CEOs, and people at the top of their industry and realized that most successful people have their own version of a strike method. Whether it be a mantra, an action, or a physical item, there is something that helps them conjure strength and confidence in the moments when they dont feel it.
To cultivate confidence, spend time thinking about the moments when you feel your most powerful. Come up with your own mantra or action that you can use anytime you arent feeling your most confident, and let your strike method empower you to move forward.
Nail Your Sales Pitch
When it comes to shifting your confidence mindset, inner work is as important as anything you do in your personal or professional life. You may dream about building the biggest business in the world and spend hours designing your dream life, but if you havent mastered your sales pitch, you will always find yourself fumbling when asked a question about yourself.
Sit down with a piece of paper in a quiet place and write down a list of everything you want people to know about you: what you are good at, what you do, where you are headed. If you find that you have written about things that you no longer want to be known for, simply cross them off the list.
Once that list is complete, spend some time writing a 30-second sales pitch that describes these key details: who you are, what you are doing, and, most importantly, where you are headed. Articulating this vision and putting it into a concise sales pitch will put you in control the next time someone asks, So tell me about you.
A few minutes before the nervous young woman stepped onstage, I walked over and gave her an unsolicited hype speech to help her own the moment. You are going to rock this speech, and everyone in the audience is ready to watch you command the stage. I saw her stand up taller, still nervous but now ready to take up space on the stage.
Confidence ebbs and flows, so dont forget to surround yourself with people who believe in youand give you a hype speech on the days when you arent feeling the most confident.
