President Donald Trump extended a trade truce with China for another 90 days Monday, at least delaying once again a dangerous showdown between the world’s two biggest economies.Trump posted on his Truth Social platform that he signed the executive order for the extension, and that “all other elements of the Agreement will remain the same.” Beijing at the same time also announced the extension of the tariff pause, according to the Ministry of Commerce.The previous deadline was set to expire at 12:01 a.m. Tuesday. Had that happened the U.S. could have ratcheted up taxes on Chinese imports from an already high 30%, and Beijing could have responded by raising retaliatory levies on U.S. exports to China.The pause buys time for the two countries to work out some of their differences, perhaps clearing the way for a summit later this year between Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping, and it has been welcomed by the U.S. companies doing business with China.Sean Stein, president of the U.S.-China Business Council, said the extension is “critical” to give the two governments time to negotiate a trade agreement that U.S. businesses hope would improve their market access in China and provide the certainty needed for companies to make medium- and long-term plans.“Securing an agreement on fentanyl that leads to a reduction in U.S. tariffs and a rollback of China’s retaliatory measures is acutely needed to restart U.S. agriculture and energy exports,” Stein said.China said Tuesday it would extend relief to American companies who were placed on an export control list and an unreliable entities list. After Trump initially announced tariffs in April, China restricted exports of dual-use goods to some American companies, while banning others from trading or investing in China. The Ministry of Commerce said it would stop those restrictions for some companies, while giving others another 90-day extension.Reaching a pact with China remains unfinished business for Trump, who has already upended the global trading system by slapping double-digit taxestariffson almost every country on earth.The European Union, Japan, and other trading partners agreed to lopsided trade deals with Trump, accepting once unthinkably U.S. high tariffs (15% on Japanese and EU imports, for instance) to ward off something worse.Trump’s trade policies have turned the United States from one of the most open economies in the world into a protectionist fortress. The average U.S. tariff has gone from around 2.5% at the start of the year to 18.6%, the highest since 1933, according to the Budget Lab at Yale University.But China tested the limits of a U.S. trade policy built around using tariffs as a cudgel to beat concessions out of trading partners. Beijing had a cudgel of its own: cutting off or slowing access to its rare earths minerals and magnetsused in everything from electric vehicles to jet engines.In June, the two countries reached an agreement to ease tensions. The United States said it would pull back export restrictions on computer chip technology and ethane, a feedstock in petrochemical production. And China agreed to make it easier for U.S. firms to get access to rare earths.“The U.S. has realized it does not have the upper hand,” said Claire Reade, senior counsel at Arnold & Porter and former assistant U.S. trade representative for China affairs.In May, the U.S. and China had averted an economic catastrophe by reducing massive tariffs they’d slapped on each other’s products, which had reached as high as 145% against China and 125% against the U.S.Those triple-digit tariffs threatened to effectively end trade between the United States and China and caused a frightening sell-off in financial markets. In a May meeting in Geneva they agreed to back off and keep talking: America’s tariffs went back down to a still-high 30% and China’s to 10%.Having demonstrated their ability to hurt each other, they’ve been talking ever since.“By overestimating the ability of steep tariffs to induce economic concessions from China, the Trump administration has not only underscored the limits of unilateral U.S. leverage, but also given Beijing grounds for believing that it can indefinitely enjoy the upper hand in subsequent talks with Washington by threatening to curtail rare earth exports,” said Ali Wyne, a specialist in U.S.-China relations at the International Crisis Group. “The administration’s desire for a trade détente stems from the self-inflicted consequences of its earlier hubris.”It’s unclear whether Washington and Beijing can reach a grand bargain over America’s biggest grievances. Among these are lax Chinese protection of intellectual property rights and Beijing’s subsidies and other industrial policies that, the Americans say, give Chinese firms an unfair advantage in world markets and have contributed to a massive U.S. trade deficit with China of $262 billion last year.Reade doesn’t expect much beyond limited agreements such as the Chinese saying they will buy more American soybeans and promising to do more to stop the flow of chemicals used to make fentanyl and to allow the continued flow of rare-earth magnets.But the tougher issues will likely linger, and “the trade war will continue grinding ahead for years into the future,” said Jeff Moon, a former U.S. diplomat and trade official who now runs the China Moon Strategies consultancy.
Associated Press Staff Writers Josh Boak and Huizhong Wu contributed to this story.
Paul Wiseman and Didi Tang, Associated Press
Cryptocurrency exchange Bullish has updated its stock price target ahead of its initial public offering, the company said in a regulatory filing on Monday. Here’s what you need to know about the changes to one of the most closely watched IPOs of the year.
What’s happened?
Bullish, a cryptocurrency exchange and owner of the CoinDesk crypto news site, has filed an amendment to its Form F-1 with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). In that amendment, Bullish revealed that it is upping both the number of shares it will be offering in its IPO as well as increasing its estimated offering share price.
The amendment was filed with the SEC on Monday.
In the amendment, Bullish revealed that it now plans to offer 30 million ordinary shares of Bullish stock. Previously, Bullish said it expected to issue 20.3 million shares in its IPO.
Bullish has also raised its expected IPO price. Now the company says it expects to price shares between $32 and $33 each. Previously, Bullish said its shares would be offered for $28 to $31 each.
Bullish stock will trade under the ticker BLSH.
IPO calendar websites and a number of media outlets have reported that Bullish is expected to list it shares tomorrow (Wednesday, August 13) on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE).
Fast Company reached out to Bullish for more details on the timeline.
Why is Bullish increasing its share price and offering?
In its amended Form F-1, Bullish didnt explicitly state the reason that it was increasing both its share price range and the total number of shares it is offering in its IPO.
However, whenever a company that is going public raises its share price or the number of shares it has on offer, it suggests a higher demand for its stock than once thought.
As Fast Company previously reported, Bullish originally planned a 20.3 million share offering of $28 to $31 each, which would have valued Bullish at approximately $4.2 billion. But as noted by CNBC, under its new offering, Bullish now stands to be valued at $4.8 billion.
The company is expected to raise about $990 million from its IPO.
Bullishs IPO will be closely watched
How investors react to Bullishs IPO will be closely watched by Wall Street. If Bullish has a successful IPO and shares surge after trading begins, it will suggest a growing investor appetite for initial public offerings heading into the second half of the year.
Other private cryptocurrency companies will also be watching the Bullish IPO closely. Already this year, the markets have seen a number of high-profile crypto and fintech IPOs.
Circle Internet Group, an issuer of stablecoins, went public in June and shares (NYSE: CRCL) soared a staggering 750%.
However, after eToro went public in May, its shares (Nasdaq: ETOR) briefly spiked, before falling back some. Currently, ETOR shares are up about 6.3% for the year.
Investors will be hoping that BLSH shares behave more like CRCL than ETOR.
Helsinki just went a whole yearbetween July 2024 and July 2025without a single traffic death.
Compare that to Washington, D.C., a city with roughly the same population of close to 700,000. In D.C., 52 people died in traffic in 2024, including a 12-year-old hit by a car in a crosswalk and a visiting doctoral student who was hit by a car while riding his bike.
Helsinki wasnt always as safe: the 1980s, the city typically had around 1,000 injury-causing car crashes each year, and 20 to 30 fatalities. But the city has been working to make its streets safer for decades. Heres what worked.
[Photo: George Pachantouris]
Slashing speed limits
On the majority of streets in Helsinki, the speed limit is now 30 kilometers per hour, or roughly 19 miles per hour. Thats down from 50 kilometers per hour (30 miles per hour) in the 1970s. In the early 2000s, the average speed limit dropped to 40 kilometers per hour (25 miles per hour). Since then, the city has continuously added 30-kilometers-per-hour zones, including a recent rollout near schools. Around 60% of city streets now have that speed limit.
With lower speeds, any crashes that do happen are less severe. If someone is walking across the street and hit by a car driving 30 miles per hour, theyre as much as eight times more likely to die than if theyre hit at 20 miles per hour.
The city also went farther and shrank car lanes so drivers would feel uncomfortable speeding. Reducing speed limits isnt always enough, says Roni Utriainen, traffic engineer at the city of Helsinkis Urban Environment Division. Most of its car lanes are now a little more than 11 feet wide; some are narrower. (In the U.S., lanes are typically at least 12 feet wide.) On some streets, trees are planted close to the edge of the road to help it appear even narrower. A Johns Hopkins study argues that shrinking American car lanes would also help reduce crashes.
Automated traffic camerasand fairer fines
Dozens of cameras throughout Helsinki catch speeders and send automated tickets. A study in 2023 at one enforcement site found that the cameras work well; the number of drivers that were excessively speeding dropped by more than half.
In Finland, unsafe drivers are fined based on their income. If someones driving more than 20 kilometers (about 12 miles) per hour over the speed limit, their ticket will scale with their daily disposable income. In 2023, Anders Wiklöf, a multimillionaire, was fined 121,000 ($140,000) for driving 30 kilometers (about 18.5 miles) per hour above the speed limit. (A few jurisdictions in the U.S. tested similar income-based fines in the past, but found the system too complex and politically unpopular.)
Enforcement of traffic laws is a key part of reducing fatal crashes. San Francisco has a Vision Zero goal, like Helsinki, aiming for zero traffic deaths. But while San Francisco’s goal, adopted in 2014, was to reach zero traffic deaths by 2024, fatalities actually grew in the city by more than 50%. A recent report found that lack of enforcement from the police was a key factor in the failure.
[Photo: Jose Noel Marenco/Unsplash]
Better bike infrastructure and public transit
Around a third of commuters in Helsinki now use public transit, while 36% walk and 11% bike. That outcome wasn’t guaranteed. In the 1960s, as car ownership was quickly growing, the city considered an American-style plan of razing its downtown, taking out its streetcar system, and building 200-plus-miles of highways. Voters rejected the proposal, and public transit kept growing.
The city continues to invest in public transit and recently added new tram lines. It’s also continuing to build new separated bike lanes, with a planned network from all major residential areas to the city center. “Some people don’t even need to own a car because there’s a good enough public transit system and they can walk or cycle,” says Utriainen.
With fewer cars on the road, and carefully-considered infrastructure for people walking and biking, it’s safer, unsurprisingly, to walk or bike. Plus, having more pedestrians and cyclists on the road means that drivers know that they have to look out for them.
[Photo: Julius Jansson/Unsplash]
Continuous improvement
Whenever a fatal crash happens in Finland, a team of experts investigates the incident, including traffic engineers. They look not only at what the driver and victim did, but how the environment contributed. If a particular intersection is unsafeand especially if it’s been the site of repeated accidentsthe city takes steps to redesign it.
The city continues to face new challenges. The number of large SUVs is increasing, for example, and larger cars are more likely to cause serious injuries or kill someone in a crash. “That’s something we’ll need to look at in the future,” says Utriainen.
Still, it’s clear that the overall approach is working. In 2019, Helsinki had no traffic deaths for pedestrians or cyclists; this past year was the first with no traffic deaths at all, including people in cars. And for American cities that are struggling to reach Vision Zero goals, it offers evidence that things can change.
Over the past few years, the corporate world has been reshaped by a quiet revolution: the rise of “unbossing.” Companies like Dell, Amazon, Microsoft, and Google have aggressively flattened their organizational structures, stripping away layers of middle management to boost agility and efficiency. According to Gartner, by 2026, 20% of organizations will leverage AI to eliminate more than half of their current middle management roles, fundamentally reshaping their hierarchies. A 2025 Korn Ferry Workforce survey underscores this shift, with 41% of employees reporting that their companies have already reduced managerial layers.
As Dario Amodei, CEO of Anthropic, has warned, AI could lead to a “white-collar massacre” if companies fail to adapt thoughtfully. And indeed, AI does present an unprecedented opportunity to deliver efficiency gains by automating many traditional middle management functionsfrom coordination and scheduling to data analysis and performance monitoring. Companies that fail to capture these efficiencies risk becoming bloated and uncompetitive in an increasingly lean marketplace.
Yet rushing to gut the middle management layer without careful consideration is equally dangerous. As I explored in a previous article, overzealous workforce reductions can lead to devastating losses of institutional knowledge and the elimination of crucial career development pathways. The challenge isnt whether to use AI to streamline managementits how to do so intelligently.
Reframing the Role of Middle Management
To navigate this transformation effectively, companies must shift their perspective from simply eliminating managerial layers to strategically reimagining their purpose. Middle managers have long served as the backbone of organizations, coordinating teams, overseeing operations, and ensuring accountability. Many of these tasksscheduling, data analysis, approvals, and auditsare precisely where AI either already excels or will excel once agentic AI is fully implemented. These systems can automate repetitive processes, monitor performance in real time, and provide data-driven insights with a speed and accuracy that humans simply cannot match.
This presents a clear opportunity for efficiency gains. By offloading these routine functions to AI, organizations can reduce costs and accelerate decision-making. However, this automation doesnt eliminate the need for human managementit transforms it. Notably, the evolved middle management role will increasingly blur traditional boundaries with HR functions, as managers become more deeply involved in talent development, cultural transformation, and employee well-being.
Three key functions will define the future of middle management:
Orchestrators of AI-Human Collaboration: As AI agents become integral to business operations, managers will need to master the art of orchestrating hybrid teams. This involves not only understanding how AI tools function but also knowing how to integrate them seamlessly with human efforts. For example, a manager might use AI to analyze project data and identify bottlenecks, then work with their team to devise the kind of creative solutions that AI cannot generate on its own. This shift requires technical fluency and a strategic mindset to ensure that AI enhances, rather than overshadows, human contributions.
Agents of Change: AI is a disruptive force, upending traditional business models and workflows at an unprecedented pace. Middle managers must become change agents, guiding their organizations through this transformation. This means anticipating disruptions, redesigning processes to incorporate AI, and fostering a culture of adaptability and resilience that motivates their teams to embrace change rather than fear it.
Coaches for a New Era: The rapid integration of AI is reshaping the skills employees need to succeed. Middle managers will play a pivotal role as coaches, helping their teams navigate this new reality and access the resources they need. This will involve mentoring employees through the reskilling process, whether that involves learning how to use AI tools or developing soft skills like critical thinking and emotional intelligence. In a world in which job roles are constantly evolving, this coaching function will be essential for maintaining morale and productivity.
A Strategic Road Map for Transformation
To successfully integrate AI while redefining middle management, companies must take deliberate, strategic actions. Here are four key steps to guide this process:
1. Reskill Middle Managers for an AI-Driven World: Companies must equip managers with the tools they need to thrive in an AI-augmented workplace. This includes training in AI literacy, change management, and collaborative leadership. For example, programs could teach managers how to use AI-powered analytics to make data-driven decisions or how to lead hybrid teams effectively.
First Step: AI Workflow Analysis. Tomorrow, pick one recurring managerial tasksuch as status reportingand break it into sub-steps, tagging each as Automate, Augment, or Human-Only. Capture a before/after flow, choose one AI tool to test, and run a one-week experiment based on that redesign.
2. Foster AI Literacy Across the Organization: AI is not just a tool for tech teamsits a transformative force that affects every function, from marketing to HR to operations. To maximize its impact, companies must ensure that employees understand how to leverage AI in their daily work. This could involve workshops on using AI tools for tasks like data analysis or customer engagement, as well as broader education about the strategic implications of AI.
First Step: Create an AI Use Log. Create a shared document with three columnsTask, Tool/Prompt, Result/Riskand ask each team member to add one real-world example by end of day. By tomorrow night youll have a living inventory of use cases that can serve as a start-point for an AI literacy program.
3. Redefine Hiring and Promotion Criteria: Traditional metrics for managerial success, such as years of experience or the size of a managers team, are becoming outdated. Instead, companies should prioritize skills like adaptability, AI fluency, and the ability to lead through ambiguity. For example, when hiring or promoting managers, organizations might assess a candidates ability to integrate AI tools into workflows or their track record of leading change initiatives.
First Step: Adapt Your Interview Questions. Add two questions to your next interview or promotion panel: Show a process youve redesigned with AI. What stayed human? and How do you verify outputs and handle errors? This will bring out real-world fluency, judgment, and accountability without overhauling the whole interview process.
4. Map and Optimize Workflows: To fully harness AIs potential, companies must conduct a thorough audit of their workflows to identify where AI can add value and where human judgment remains critical. This involves mapping out existing processes, pinpointing inefficiencies, and determining how AI can streamline operations. For instance, a company might use AI to automate routine approvals in its supply chain while relying on managers to negotiate strategic partnerships.
First Step: Set Decision Rights. For any workflow touched by AI, draft a mini-RACI that identifies who approves, who reviews, and which decisions must stay human-in-the-loop. Publish it to the team tomorrow so guardrails are explicit.
The Power of Thoughtful Transformation
The rise of AI represents both an imperative and an opportunity for organizational transformation. Yes, companies should embrace the efficiency gains that come from automating traditional middle management functionsthe competitive landscape demands it. But those who approach this transformation thoughtfully, preserving crucial knowledge and career pathways while reimagining the managers role, will build organizations that are not just leaner but genuinely smarter.
The choice isnt between humans and machinesits between thoughtful transformation and reckless disruption. Organizations that recognize this distinction and act accordingly wont just survive the coming changes; theyll help define what the future of work looks like.
A friend once asked me how I could be a marketing executive, a fragrance influencer with over 400,000 followers, and a paid public speaker all at once. Dont those things live in different worlds? she asked. My answer was simple: Its the only way to survive.
In todays career landscape, having just one title, one path, or one platform isnt safeits risky. We have all heard the clarion call about AI rapidly transforming the workforce. Its no longer just about skill; its about diversifying and leaning into your identity as your moat. What were living through is a strategic career inflection pointa moment where the rules of the game change so dramatically that the old playbook becomes obsolete.
When I was earning my MBA at Stanford a decade ago, one of my favorite classes was called Insight to Outcome taught by Thomas S. Wurster. To this day I think about the concept of strategic dissonance, as outlined by Michael Tushman, Charles OReilly, and Andy Grove in their legendary paper from 30 years ago, which I read as part of the class. This wisdom from 1996 is still applicable today. In a business context, strategic dissonance is what happens when a companys actions no longer reflect the changing external environmenteven if they keep doing what once worked. When applied to careers, I think of it as career dissonance: when what were doing day-to-day doesnt get us to the life we actually want because the rules have changed.
And right now, AI is the change that is accelerating that dissonance.
People are talking about AI replacing jobs and we need to focus on what to do next in a strategic way. According to McKinsey, nearly 12 million U.S. workers may need to change occupations by 2030 due to AI and automation. Thats not hypothetical. Thats an inflection point.
What to do
So how do we not crumble? We need to understand inflection points. In class at Stanford I remember learning that at every strategic inflection point, three things happen:
1. The degree of difficulty of evolving increases. Getting to your new goal gets harder. The path becomes steeper.
2. Only a few strategic actions move the needle. Not everything will work. You have to make sharper bets. Focus on what matters.
3. Resources are even more constrained. You need to think about more efficient ways to use your time and energy. If you keep doing everything the way you used to, youll burn out.
Yes, these challenges feel uncomfortable. But theyre also invitationsto focus, experiment, and grow. So what do you do in this moment of massive shift in the workplace? These are the three things Ive found that worked for me and people I admire to address the challenges brought on by the advent of this specific career inflection point.
1. Use the tools to become more of yourself
Instead of fearing AI, leverage it to ease the degree of difficulty of building your “portfolio” career. This way you can address the first challenges of strategic inflection points. When LLMs like ChatGPT and Claude dropped, I didnt use them to replace my voiceI used them to refine it. I used AI to launch my podcast (Not Just One Thing), structure my content, and sharpen my public speaking. People say AI tools kill creativity. In my case, these tools didnt diminish me. They revealed more of me.
2. Build your calendar like its your portfolio and buy back your time
Each strategic inflection point forces you to get sharper about where your energy goes. And the good news is, constraint breeds clarity. Only a few things are going to move you forward. People get stuck trying to master prompt engineering by never starting. You are better off testing, measuring, and iterating. You dont need to master every promptjust experiment out loud. Thats how you find the next version of you. When you find out whats working, focus more on that. This helps you address the second and third challenges of strategic inflection points.
You will no longer need to waste all your energy on low-impact actions. Use AI to automate your logistics. Reclaim that hour to work on your side project. Book time to journal, plan, or build a content system. According to a RescueTime study, the average knowledge worker spends just 2 hours and 48 minutes per day on productive tasks. That means youre not just fighting burnoutyoure fighting wasted energy.
In my case, I used tools to streamline my work and double down on my fragrance content. I tested ideas, launched small, and iterated fast. You can build a micro business, pitch yourself for speaking, or start developing a productall with the tools already at your fingertips.
3. Make your story your competitive advantage
One of the most powerful ideas from the strategic dissonance paper was that most companies keep expanding their existing competencies instead of evolving with the market. The same is true in our careers. We double down on what weve already done, instead of asking what will matter next. Whats the best way to do this? Whats your everlasting competitive advantage? Your real edge in this new world isnt technical. Its personal. Your personal story.
I was born in Zimbabwe and raised in South Africa. I started out in accounting, but I always knew I wanted to be a creator. I made YouTube videos. Then pivoted into tech. I joined musical.ly, which became TikTok, and spent years helping creators find their voice. I was using my own passion of wanting to be a creator and my analytical skills from my time as an accountant. This use of my authentic story allows me to stand out and build a career. People call me multi-hyphenate. I just think of it as an integrated portfolio career.
In a world built for sameness, difference is your power. I learned that from another class at Stanford that was taught by Allison Kluger and Tyra Banks. Your background is your moat. Its the thing that no prompt can generate, and no algorithm can replace.
In this new world, your hybrid path isnt a hurdle, its your blueprint to success. We are not at the end of work as many peope fear. Were at the beginning of becoming. As Maya Watson said on an episode of my podcast, Not Just One Thing: Its not about what you do. Its about who youre becoming. Thats the work. Shes right. And youre going to need more than one title to get there. Being multi-hyphenate isnt indulgentits how you stay employed, inspired, and in motion.
The people who will thrive are the ones who use the tools, manage their time like a portfolio, and tell the truth about who they really are. Thats how we build careers that are dynamic, fulfilling, and truly human.
Maybe you’ve noticed it while driving down the road. The chrome logos. The sleek sans serif fonts. It can be hard to tell one electric vehicle brand from another.
Theres a reason EV brands like Tesla, Rivian, BYD, Neta, Jaguar, and Zeekr have become a sea of sameness, and it all comes down to a single influence: Many of todays most technologically advanced cars owe their aesthetic to a decades-old vision of the future.
Most EV brands use a font that includes cutouts, slashes, or entire missing segments. This is a font style called stenciling, and if it looks inherently futuristic, thats because its most often used in science fiction media.
It’s shorthand for the future, says Stephen Coles, editorial director and associate curator at Letterform Archive in San Francisco, who also authors a blog called Chromeography about the history of car branding.
What Tesla has in common with Blade Runner
The classic 1982 film Blade Runner, set in 2019, imagined a dystopian version of Earth threatened by intelligent humanoids. It didnt get a whole lot right about the modern day, but it turns out that some of the films aesthetics were pretty spot-on when it comes to predicting the branding of EVs.
Blade Runners original poster sets the films title in a stenciled font. Stencils are typefaces with slits in their letters that make them appear as though theyve been cut, and they represent a printing technique that dates back to prehistory.
Historically, stencilings ease of replication has made it ideal for uses in the military, transportation, and poster design. But in the late 20th century, it also became a hallmark of science fiction.
[Images: Tesla, Warner Bros.]
Dave Addey, an Apple engineer and author of the book Typeset in the Future: Typography and Design in Science Fiction Movies, runs a blog where he analyzes typography in iconic science fiction films. Stenciling comes up constantly.
In Blade Runner, its used in the logo for the evil Tyrell Corporation. In 1979s Alien, it appears in the films opening sequence and on the back of Captain Dallass jacket. Later, in 1989s Back to the Future II, it pops up multiple times, including as a hypothetical logo for USA Today and in the branding of a Texaco gas station.
Back to the Future Part II, 1989 [Images: Universal Pictures]
If you look at the typography of those films, [stenciling] is something you see over and over again, Coles says.
Stenciling is so ubiquitous in science fiction media that in a blog post titled How to Make Your Text Look Futuristic, Addey includes it as one of the key steps. Rule 5: Remove an entirely pointless and arbitrary segment of the text, he writes.
Among EV brands, Rule 5 appears to have become branding gospel.
Blader Runner, 1982 [Images: Warner Bros.]
Tesla was one of the first brands to set the stenciling trend, but it was quickly followed by competitors like Chinas BYD and Neta. Jaguars new branding has a bit of stencil in it, while the luxury EV brand Rimac takes this strategy to the extreme, erasing almost entire portions of each character. It looks like it could be on the side of a spaceship in a sci-fi movie, Addey says.
[Collage: FC]
The great blanding of the automotive industry
Its no surprise that the style is pervasive, says Terrance Weinzierl, executive creative type director at the tye foundry Monotype. One of his theories for the connection between sci-fi and EV branding is that the automotive industry is really a copycat industry. Just look at the most divisive EV brand of our time as proof.
In November 2024, the legacy brand Jaguar announced that it would be shifting its focus away from gas vehicles and transforming into a luxury all-electric company. To usher in this change, the brand traded its iconic leaper cat logo for a thin, sleek, sans serif wordmark. Just a month later, Audi announced its own line of EVs in China, ditching its iconic four-ringed logo for, you guessed it, a thin, sans serif wordmark.
The general trend in graphic design logo types maybe 15 years ago was to start going more geometricthe blandification, Coles says. Theres been a move away from serifs and other kinds of expressive type, which happened in the tech industry first. It seems like the car industry is 10 years behind that. [EV branding] feels to me like it’s a second phase of that general trend.
[Photo: Jaguar]
This flattening was a precursor to stenciling. Weinzierl notes that legacy brands including Kia, Chevrolet, Subaru, Porsche, Lexus, Infiniti, Mazda, Hyundai, Dodge, Lincoln, and Acura have all opted for flattened sans serif wordmarks in recent yearsa sharp contrast from the early days of car branding, when loopy scripts were everywhere.
Just like the blanding trend of the 2010s, if one successful EV brand (like Tesla, for example) sets a certain typographic tone, others might feel compelled to follow. Coles believes that brands are also using this technique to appeal to millennial nostalgia for retro-futuristic aesthetics.
If you think of who would be buying cars now and what influenced their feeling of what is futuristic, a lot of the films that [Addey] talks about in his book are from that periodthe 70s, 80s, maybe some early 90s, Coles says.
Of course, some brands stand out as exceptions to this general rule. The EV company Scout Motors uses a wordmark that pulls inspiration from the script automotive logos of old. Other luxury brands, like Bugattis Tourbillon model, are doing something similar.
[Collage: FC]
Weinzierl says its important to remember that compared to the traditional automotive industry, EVs are still almost entirely new. As the category exits its nascent phase, we may see an increase in experimentation and brand differentiation.
What I love about the EV industry is that there’s so much innovation and so much overhaul that’s happening, Weinzierl says. It reminds me of smartphones in 2008 or 2010year over year, the products were just dramatically different, and there was so much competition and so much innovation happening really fast. I see the blossoming EV industry as a mirror image of that.
This week, Rothy’s launches a new collection unlike anything we’ve seen before from the shoe brand. There are burgundy kitten heels, stacked leopard-print booties, and comfy olive clogsall made from velvet fabric.
At first glance, you’d think the cozy-looking shoes were made of cotton or wool. But in fact, they’re made from the same recycled water bottles that Rothy’s uses for its classic flats.
When the company launched in 2016, it quickly developed a cult following for its simple ballet flats made from a textured knit material. Over the past nine years, Rothys has grown quickly, going beyond flats to create sneakers, loafers, heels, and even handbags that feature its distinct, easily recognizable recycled plastic fabric.
Now the company has a fleet of 26 stores, is profitable, and generated $211 million in revenue last year, a 17% increase from the year before.
[Photo: Rothy’s]
Rothy’s original materialthe textured, woven knitcontinues to be popular. But to keep growing, the company seeks to innovate. Its in-house team of material scientists and product designers have been tasked with developing new fabrics that meet the brands sustainability and durability standards but that look distinct in a wide range of styles.
This new material, which its calling ReVelvet, does just that. “We built our reputation on the original [recycled plastic] material,” says Heather Archibald, Rothy’s chief product officer. “But we don’t want to be limited by it. We want to be able to create any shoe you could possibly imagine.”
[Photo: Rothy’s]
An Iconic Material
In 2012, Stephen Hawthornthwaite and Roth Martin had the idea to create a sustainable footwear startup that would produce a more feminine shoe than the sneakers that were coming onto the market (think: Veja or Allbirds). They spent four years working with manufacturers to develop a fabric made from recycled plastic bottles. Then they built a factory in China that would knit the shoe uppers at scale using a zero-waste 3D knitting machine.
It turned out that all of this groundwork was well worth the effort. When Rothy’s launched in 2016, its $129 shoes were a hit. Women loved that they were comfortable, eco-friendly, and durable (the shoes are machine washable).
As the shoes became a status symbol that telegraphed the wearers values, the instantly recognizable upper became a key selling point. Rothy’s designers used the recycled material to create everything from sneakers and clogs to heels for women, and driving shoes and loafers for men.
Over the years, Rothy’s has dipped its toes into other materials. Felice Gunawan, Rothy’s lead material developer, says it is possible to create different textures by incorporating other materials into the recycled polyester.
By weaving in hemp and organic cotton, Rothy’s developed a linen-like texture for summer sandals and slides. By weaving in merino wool, it created a warmer texture for clogs and boots. But these were fairly subtle changes. “We wanted to challenge ourselves to create something that looked even more distinct,” Gunawan says.
[Photo: Rothy’s]
A Two-Year Quest
For two years, Gunawan scoured the market for textile manufacturers who were creating interesting sustainable materials. The good news is that there’s an abundance of these companies in operation. “There’s a lot of innovation happening now when it comes to sustainable materials,” Gunawan says. “It’s happening both at small startups and in large companies.”
For Gunawan, it was important to find a material that would meet Rothy’s rigorous standards. It has a lab in its China factory that is devoted to durability testing. And it also needed to work with a company large enough to produce the material at scale. Eventually, Gunawan found the material that would become ReVelvet, and ensured that the fibers would work seamlessly in Rothy’s 3D knitting machines in China.
[Photo: Rothy’s]
Archibald and hr design team then set out to create silhouettes that would work well with the ReVelvet. Since velvet can have a more formal aesthetic, they created a pointed slingback that looks nice with an evening dress, and penny loafers that pair well with office wear. And since velvet can also look cozy and warm, they created a clog style.
As it turned out, the companys timing was perfect: Velvet is having a moment. This fall, you’ll find it in blazers, evening dresses, and even trousers. “It was entirely luck,” Archibald says. “We had no way of knowing these shoes would be so fashionable right now.”
That little bit of luck has emboldened the team to innovate further. Gunawan is constantly keeping an eye out for new eco-friendly materials coming on the market that can be used in shoes. And Archibald is excited to transform these materials into new styles.
“For a while, Rothy’s was associated with a very particular aesthetic,” Archibald says. “But as we’re evolving, we want to be known as a brand that creates sustainable, durable shoes that come in all kinds textures and silhouettes. One day, we could create our own version of a leather shoe or even a satin wedding shoe.”
Feel like youre constantly yelling at your kids to get off their phones? Wondering how to rein in their sky-high screen time? Youre not alone. Parents across the country are grappling with the same challengeincluding best-selling author, viral motivational speaker, and mother of three, Mel Robbins.
Robbins is the author of The Let Them Theory, a mindset shift built on the idea that if you let the people around you do what theyre going to dowithout letting it affect youyoull thrive. Now, shes teamed up with Verizon to share practical, research-backed strategies for navigating the digital world with kids.
Last week in New York City, Robbins spoke as part of Verizons Digital Wellness initiative, which offers workshops and resources to help families navigate the digital world safely. She shared strategies for helping parentsand their childrendevelop a healthy phone-life balance.
Phones are incredible. They are the most incredible tool you can use to connect with people, to learn, to express yourself, Robbins told the crowd of 300. But the real trick is learning how to balance when youre using it mindfully versus when youre mindlessly giving it time and attention.
Here are the tips Robbins shared with the crowd.
It starts with you
Robbins began by urging parents to look in the mirror before pointing fingers. She told them to take stock of how often they use their own phones around family, and why.
You cannot yell at your kids, expecting them to police themselves and have balance, if youre not modeling it, Robbins said.
By adopting healthy screen habits yourself, she explained, you can influence the rest of your household. Her advice: Avoid mindlessly reaching for your phone, and keep it out of reach at home when youre not working.
Be curious, not controlling
Instead of trying to control every minute of kids screen time, Robbins urged parents to get curious about the bigger picturethat is, what phone use actually means to their children.
Her own perspective shifted when she stopped seeing her kids phones as simply technological devices and started seeing them as their friends. She encouraged other parents to do the same.
We look at the phone and see a waste of time, but this is your kid’s friend, Robbins said. Biologically speaking, it is age-appropriate for kids to want to be with their friends.
Let them lead the way
This is where Robbinss viral Let Them” theory comes into play. To better understand why kids spend so much time on their phones, she advises letting them take the lead in an open, healthy conversation about their habits.
For instance, if your child wakes up exhausted after a night of texting, dont immediately confiscate the device. Instead, invite them to share their thoughts on what their phone use means to them. Ask why it feels important to stay online so lateyou might learn that their friends pressure them to keep texting or that they fear how others will react if they go offline.
Youre no longer in a battle about a device or a computer, Robbins said. Youre actually in connection with your kid and talking about the deeper stuff.
Implement these 2 habits to practice every day
Robbins urged parents to start with two simple, healthy habits for both themselves and their kids.
First: no phones in bed. She cited research showing that 1 in 4 preteens sleep with their phone, a habit that often leads to less rest. If your child sleeps upstairs, she suggested, have them leave their phone downstairs to charge overnight.
Your kids might hate you, she said. Its okay. Let them. Within two weeks, she added, they may still be grouchy, but at least theyll be much better rested.
Second: no phones at the dinner table. And that doesnt just mean not looking at your devices. Robbins recommends keeping phones completely away during family meals in order to avoid distraction and temptation. You can become a family that has a meal together, and when you sit down, you can say: I am with you, she said.
She stressed that its fine to play the bad guy. Kids often want someone to blame when friends ask why theyre not online, and they may even feel relieved when a parent takes that blame.
Create a rocking family group chat
A healthy phone-life balance means more than putting the device down. Robbins also encourages using it to have fun with your family.
Many families already have a group chat for logistics, she noted. But she urged parents to become the captain of fun in those chatssending memes, GIFs, and funny stickers to their kids. Dont expect constant replies, she said, but know theyll appreciate and eventually engage with this lighter form of connection.
One of the greatest things about the phone is that its an incredible way to stay connected to people, Robbins said. There will be times where the most important thing is the thing right there on that screen. But there are a lot of times where the most important thing is the person sitting right there in front of you.”
Want more housing market stories from Lance Lamberts ResiClub in your inbox? Subscribe to the ResiClub newsletter.
Since the Pandemic Housing Boom fizzled out in the summer of 2022, some overheated parts of the countryparticularly in the West, Southwest, and Southeasthave experienced home-price declines from their peak (see this map).
While many of these markets have seen only modest drops, a few metro areas, such as Punta Gorda, Florida, and Austin have undergone what Id consider material home-price corrections, falling 18.6% and 23.0% respectively from their peaks.
These regional home-price declines raise the question: How many mortgage borrowers are actually underwatermeaning their house is worth less than their outstanding mortgage balanceright now?
To find out, ResiClub reached out to ICE Mortgage Technologyformerly known as Black Knight, before it was acquired by Intercontinental Exchange for $11.8 billion in 2023.
1.0% > The share of outstanding homeowner mortgages with negative equity (i.e., underwater) at the end of April 2025, according to data from ICE Mortgage Technology provided to ResiClub this week.*
23.0% > The share of outstanding homeowner mortgages with negative equity (i.e., underwater) at the end of September 2009, according CoreLogic/FirstAmerica.
Why, on a nationally aggregated basis, are there still not many homeowners underwater, despite home-price declines in some markets?
Nationally aggregate home prices are still pretty close to all-time highs. While many pockets of the West, Southwest, and Southeast have seen home prices decline at least some from the peak, nationally aggregated single-family prices are still pretty close to all-time highs.
Amortization of ultralow mortgage rates. Many homeowners locked in ultralow mortgage rates during the Pandemic Housing Boom. With fixed rates around 2% to 3%, those monthly payments included a larger proportion of principal repayment from the start. That means borrowers have been paying down their balances more aggressively than they would under higher-rate loans. As of Q4 2024, 54% of outstanding mortgage holders have rates below 4.0%, which has helped some borrowers build equity faster and give them a greater buffer.
Few buyers actually purchased at the peak in correction markets. Even in boom-to-correction markets like Cape Coral, Florida, or Austin, only a small share of homeowners bought at the absolute top of the market in spring 2022. Most current homeowners in those areas either bought before or after the peak. This limited exposure at the peak helps explain why negative equity, so far, hasnt been a big problem, even in some of the hardest-hit metros.
While only 1.0% of outstanding U.S. homeowner mortgages have negative equity, there are few pockets where its getting closer to 5.0%or has even slightly crossed it.
Among the 100 major metro areas for which ICE Mortgage Technology provided data to ResiClub, these 15 metros have the highest share of homeowner mortgages currently underwater:
Cape Coral, Florida > 7.8%
Lakeland, Florida > 4.4%
San Antonio > 4.3%
Austin > 4.2%
North Port, Florida > 3.8%
Jacksonville, Florida > 2.9%
Baton Rouge, Louisiana > 2.8%
Palm Bay, Florida > 2.7%
New Orleans > 2.7%
Deltona, Florida > 2.6%
Tampa, Florida > 2.5%
Colorado Springs, Colorado > 2.3%
Little Rock, Arkansas > 2.2%
Dallas > 1.7%
Oklahoma City > 1.6%
Even in markets like Cape Coral (7.8%) and Austin (4.2%) that have higher shares of outstanding homeowner mortgages that are currently underwater, thats still far off from the levels seen at the height of the Great Financial Crisis-era bust. For comparison, back in September 2009, a staggering 68% of mortgage borrowers in Nevada, 48% in Arizona, and 45% in Florida were underwater.
So far, in the down markets it’s really just the 2022, 2023, and 2024 vintages being impacted. Even in Austina metro where home prices have fallen 23% from their May 2022 peakonly 1.5% of 2021 borrowers are underwater.
Big picture: If home prices in parts of the Southwest, Southeast, and West continue to experience mild home-price pullbacks, the share of recent borrowers who are underwater in those markets will rise beyond the levels weve outlined here. However, barring a major downward shift, it still wouldnt come close to the depths of negative equity seen in 2009 or 2010 anytime soon.
Sam was barely a month into his CIO role when he saw the writing on the wall. The companys much-touted AI transformation was already unraveling.
AI had been declared the centerpiece of the companys enterprise strategy months earlier and placed under the chief innovation officers remit. But after his predecessor left, ownership splintered. Sales launched their own pilots. Marketing spun up a tiger team. The CTO declared AI strategy now belonged to his team.
By the time Sam arrived, priorities overlapped, resources were being drained by pet projects, and internal turf wars threatened the companys ability to competenot just externally, but against itself.
Sams experience isnt unique. Were living through a new era of hyper-competitionwhere the gap between AI and digital leaders, and those struggling to keep up, is widening fast. McKinsey reports the performance divide has surged over 60%, with AI leaders delivering two to six times more shareholder value than laggards.
To compete, organizations must transformnot just technologically, but operationally. That means aligning hundreds or even thousands of people across business, tech, and operations to move in sync. But too often, transformation efforts break down from within, leaving teams on the ground with whiplash.
Weve seen it firsthand. Kathryn, as an executive coach and keynote speaker, and Jenny, as an executive adviser and learning & development expert, bring frontline insights from coaching senior leaders and building systems that scale. The five strategies that follow are designed to help leaders align on what matters mostso the organization moves together, stays focused, and competes at the pace of change.
1. Reset the Executive Team Around a Shared Mission
As a new CIO, Sam didnt yet have the authority to realign the enterprise, but he had something just as powerful: insight. In his first 90 days, he listened. He tracked how AI efforts had fractured across functions and documented where resources were duplicative or misaligned. When the CEO asked him to share his observations with the executive committee, Sam presented a simple, yet revealing map of overlapping initiatives.
Crucially, he didnt catch his peers off-guard. He previewed his findings with each executive beforehand, inviting input and building trust. That transparency prompted the CEO to bring in outside support.
Together, we helped the executive team articulate a shared purpose: what only they, as the senior leadership team, could uniquely deliver for the company. They identified five enterprise-wide priorities, each with a clearly defined owner, desired outcome, and expected impact on employees, customers, and performance.
Heres how Sam approached his first 90 days combining insight, relationship-building, and clear communication to set the foundation for enterprise alignment.
Days 1-30Days 31-60Days 61-90Key ObjectivesListen and Map LandscapeSocialize and InfluenceAlign and Set the FoundationActivities Conduct 1:1s with all executive peers and direct reports to understand priorities and concerns Review previous AI initiatives to understand points of duplication or tension Use a stakeholder mapping framework to identify key influencers and relationship gaps Document where AI workstreams and ownership had fragmented Create a high-level map of overlapping initiatives Preview findings 1:1 with each peer to build trust and reduce surprises Tailor insights to reflect what matters to each stakeholder (e.g., link to their KPIs) Begin to draft what a unified path forward could look like Present synthesized observations to the CEO and executive team Recommend a reset: frame what the executive team can uniquely deliver Help the executive team align on 35 shared priorities and clarify cross-functional ownership Propose monthly progress reviews to protect alignment after the meeting ends
This first act wasnt about fixing everything. It was about creating enough clarity to stop the internal land grab, and lay the groundwork for collective leadership.
2. Make the Workand the RulesVisible
The next step: operationalize the strategy. The team mapped each enterprise priority, identified the key workstreams underneath, and assigned shared ownership. For each priority, they named what would need to changestructures, resources, meeting rhythmsto deliver on the commitment. Boundaries were clarified. Duplication was reduced. Expectations were reset.
Just as important, they agreed on how decisions would be made going forward. New governance forums were established to drive consistency across business, technology, and operations. Shared metrics were also introduced to track progress and flag misalignment early. Sam helped reframe AI, not as a stand-alone initiative, but as the enabler of every enterprise goal.
When your executive team agrees on what matters most, the next challenge is making it operational. These six questions can help you turn strategy into execution:
Ownership: Who owns each workstream, and where is accountability shared?
Decision rights: Who decides, who advises, and when?
Governance: What forums and cadences keep teams aligned?
Resourcing: Are people, budgets, and tools sufficient?
Metrics: Are KPIs aligned and visible across teams?
AI enablement: How will AI enhance, not hinder, core priorities?
A strategy that isnt operationalized is just a slide deck. Turn priorities into ownership, decisions, and habits.
3. Sequence the Work So Teams Dont Collide
Even the best strategy sessions wont fix a broken operating model. The real test of alignment is what happens after the meeting ends.
This team didnt leave follow-through to chance. They created a monthly executive rhythmnot just for updates, but to review priorities, flag bottlenecks, and refine how they worked together. The meeting became a forcing mechanism to stay focused and accountable.
But alignment isnt just about sticking to the planits also about pacing. With every departmnt eager to lead, the team had to get intentional about sequencing. Instead of launching everything at once, they assigned each enterprise priority to a lead function and a specific quarter. Each team had clarity on when to step upand just as importantly, when to support others.
For Sam, this meant aligning with his peers on milestones, outcomes, and KPIs upfront. Rather than letting Sales, Marketing, and the CTOs team charge ahead in parallel, the CIO worked with the CEO and fellow executives to establish a clear sequence:
Q1: The CTOs team built the core AI infrastructure and governance standards.
Q2: Sales piloted AI-driven prospecting tools based on that foundation.
Q3: Marketing launched AI-powered customer insights and personalization campaigns.
This staggered approach gave each function space to lead, and ensured that each phase built upon the last. Teams had space to lead, room to learn, and clarity on when to pivot. Thats what sequencing unlocks.
4. Cascade Relentlesslyand Build a Feedback Loop
Even the strongest executive alignment fails if it stops at the top. Sams team knew that priorities dont become real until theyre understoodand acted onat every level.
To make it stick, they rolled out a deliberate cascade plan. Enterprise priorities were translated into department-specific objectives, with clear owners and timelines. Managers were equipped with simple, consistent talking points. Leaders reinforced the why, not just the what, connecting daily work to the bigger picture.
Just as important, they established a real-time feedback loop. One early win came from a frontline support team using an AI-enabled tool to streamline customer inquiries. The impact was quickly elevated and scaled across other units.
If your priorities havent reached the teams doing the work, you dont have alignmentyou have a memo.
5. Build the Skills Your Transformation Demands
Sustained transformation doesnt just require execution: it demands growth. Even senior leaders need support as they shift roles, evolve mindsets, and lead through uncertainty. Thats especially true with AI, where capabilities change faster than most organizations can hire or retain.
Thats why Sams company paired their reset with skill-building. With the CEOs backing, they invested in leadership development, executive coaching, and experiential learning focused on cross-functional collaboration, strategic influence, and change management.
Sam also upskilled his own team. Once a centralized AI strategy group, they became enablershelping business units adopt AI tools effectively. That required new set skills: AI literacy, and consultative problem-solving.
Lead the Way, Then Lead Together
Transformation isnt a one-off project. Its an ongoing investment in how people think, work, and lead. In high-stakes environments, even the strongest strategies can fracture without focus, discipline, and shared purpose at the top.
Sams story is a reminder: success doesnt start with a new initiative. It begins with how senior leaders show upso that transformation becomes more than a mandate.
You dont have to do everything at once. Just make sure the most important work gets donetogether.
