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Most companies operate like one-sided cubeswhat the world sees is curated and polished, but the rest remains hidden, even to the people inside. Strategy becomes surface-level. Teams chase goals without grounding. Leaders lead without alignment. In a world growing more complex and emotionally disoriented, thats not just unsustainableits dangerous. Its time for a Strategy Renaissance. We need to move beyond sterile planning cycles and rediscover the human heart of strategy. In this new era of work, meaning isnt a bonus featureits your sharpest edge. The Great Divide Between Strategy and Meaning We have long treated strategy as the realm of numbers and logic, while purpose was relegated to the marketing department or buried in mission statements no one remembers. This divide has created companies that appear aligned on paper, but feel disjointed in practice. Metrics without meaning drive burnout. Planning without purpose breeds disengagement. And when disruption inevitably hits, strategies built only on spreadsheets crumble. What endures? Shared purpose, collective clarity, and meaningful momentum. Illuminate the Whole Strategy Cube Imagine your organization as a cube. Each face represents a facet of identity: values, operations, leadership, culture, customers, and employees. Most companies only illuminate one or two sidesthe brand and the performance dashboard. The rest remains in the shadows. And when strategy reflects only the visible parts, it becomes hollow. The companies that are thriving today are the ones brave enough to illuminate the whole cube. That means surfacing the hidden brilliance within teams, reclaiming the narratives that shape culture, and embracing the messy, multidimensional nature of real human work. I advised a global biotech company whose strategy had become siloed, driven by financial targets but disconnected from employee experience. Through facilitated dialogue sessions, we helped the executive team rediscover their collective purpose. Within months, they restructured their planning process around a set of guiding principles, resulting in a 22% improvement in employee engagement scores and a renewed sense of cohesion across departments. When you bring every side of the cube into the light, strategy becomes not just alignedbut alive. Dialogue Before Direction: The Campfire as a Strategic Tool Strategy doesnt start with a spreadsheet. It begins with a story. Before defining your next bold move, gather your people around a campfirenot a literal fire (though that helps), but a space of intentional dialogue where people can share pivotal moments, hopes, fears, and what really matters. When I run campfire sessions with leadership teams, something powerful happens: People stop performing and start connecting. The surface melts, and what emerges is a collective clarity that no off-site whiteboard session can replicate. Great strategy isnt declaredits cocreated. It emerges from shared stories and is strengthened by mutual meaning. Meaning Is Your Talent Magnet Todays workforce isnt just looking for a paycheck. Theyre looking for alignmentespecially Gen Z and millennial talent. They want to know what you stand for, how decisions are made, and whether your values are actually lived. A McKinsey study found that 70% of employees believe their sense of purpose is defined by their work; however, only 15% feel their companys purpose is well-activated in their day-to-day roles. That gap isnt just culturalits costly. Meaning is no longer a perk. Its your recruitment strategy. Your innovation strategy. Your long-game success strategy. The Rise of the Multidimensional Strategist This Strategy Renaissance demands a new kind of thinking, which I call multidimensional strategy. In a world that rewards specialization, its time to embrace integration: blending creativity with analysis, intuition with logic, and personal story with business direction. We need leaders who dont just see the road aheadthey see the people walking it. They know that strategy isnt just about what to do next. Its about who we are, why it matters, and how we move forwardtogether. How to Begin Your Strategy Renaissance If you want to move from hollow plans to meaningful progress, heres a simple framework to LIGHT your wayfive ways to reclaim strategy as a human-centered practice: L Listen Beneath the Metrics. Before examining KPIs, ask: What isn’t being said? Whos feeling unseen or unheard? Strategy begins by tuning into the underlying current. I Illuminate the Whole Cube. Map the six sides: customers, employees, culture, operations, values, and leadership. Which sides are well-lit? Which are neglected? Make the invisible visible. G Gather Around the Campfire. Create regular spaces for storytelling and reflectionnot just reporting. Ask: What has challenged us? What has changed us? Connection breeds clarity. H Harness Your Hidden Brilliance. Invite diverse voices into strategic conversations, especially those of outliers, creatives, and skeptics. Often, the perspective you most need is the one least consulted. T Translate Purpose Into Practice. Move from statements to systems. How is your purpose reflected in hiring, decision-making, and how people spend their time? Dont think of this as a checklist; think of it as a shift in perspective, from a performative strategy to a purposeful design. The Renaissance was a reawakening of human potential. What we need now is no different. Let this be the moment your organization stops performing purposeand starts living it. Allow this to be the season when strategy becomes more than a plan. Let it become a story that your people want to tella movement they want to lead. When you illuminate the full spectrum of who you are as an organization, strategy becomes not just compelling but unforgettable.
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E-Commerce
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg once considered separating Instagram from its parent company due to worries about antitrust litigation, according to an email shown Tuesday on the second day of an antitrust trial alleging Meta illegally monopolized the social media market. In the 2018 email, Zuckerberg wrote that he was beginning to wonder if spinning Instagram out would be the only way to accomplish important goals, as big-tech companies grow. He also noted there is a non-trivial chance Meta could be forced to spin out Instagram and perhaps WhatsApp in five to 10 years anyway. He wrote that while most companies resist breakups, the corporate history is that most companies actually perform better after they’ve been split up. Asked Tuesday by attorney Daniel Matheson, who is leading the antitrust case for the Federal Trade Commission, which incidence in corporate history he had in mind, Zuckerberg responded: I’m not sure what I had in mind then. Zuckerberg, who was the first witness, testified for more than seven hours over two days in the trial that could force Meta to break off Instagram and WhatsApp, startups the tech giant bought more than a decade ago that have since grown into social media powerhouses. While questioning Zuckerberg on Tuesday morning, Matheson noted that he had referred to Instagram as being a rapidly growing, threatening, network. The attorney also pointed out Zuckerberg’s referring to trying to neutralize a competitor by buying the company. But Zuckerberg said while Matheson was able to show documents in court that indicated his concern about Instagram’s growth, he also had many conversations about how excited his company was to acquire Instagram to make a better product. Zuckerberg also said Facebook was in the process of building a camera app for sharing on mobile phones, and he thought Instagram was better at that, so I wanted to buy them. Zuckerberg also pushed back against Matheson’s contention that the reason for buying the company was to neutralize a threat. I think that that mischaracterizes what the email was,” Zuckerberg said. In his questioning of Zuckerberg, Matheson repeatedly brought up emailsmany of them more than a decade oldwritten by Zuckerberg and his associates before and after the acquisition of Instagram. While acknowledging the documents, Zuckerberg has often sought to downplay the contents, saying he wrote them in the early stages of considering the acquisition and that what he wrote at the time didn’t capture the full scope of his interest in the company. Matheson also brought up a February 2012 message in which Zuckerberg wrote to the former chief financial officer of Facebook that Instagram and Path, a social networking app, already had created meaningful networks that could be very disruptive to us. Zuckerberg testified that the message was written in the context of a broad discussion about whether they should buy companies to accelerate their own developments. Zuckerberg also testified that buying the company, taking it off the market, and building their own version of it was a reasonable thing to do. Later Tuesday, Mark Hansen, an attorney for Meta, began his questioning of Zuckerberg. Hansen, in his opening statements Monday, emphasized that Meta’s services are free and that the company, far from holding a monopoly, actually has a lot of competition. He made a point of bringing up those issues in just over an hour of questioning Zuckerberg, with more expected to come Wednesday. It’s very competitive, Zuckerberg said, noting that charging for using services like Facebook would likely drive users away, since similar services are widely available elsewhere. The trial is one of the first big tests of President Donald Trumps FTCs ability to challenge Big Tech. The lawsuit was filed against Metathen called Facebookin 2020, during Trumps first term. It claims the company bought Instagram and WhatsApp to squash competition and establish an illegal monopoly in the social media market. Facebook bought Instagramwhich was a photo-sharing app with no adsfor $1 billion in 2012. Instagram was the first company Facebook bought and kept running as a separate app. Until then, Facebook was known for smaller acqui-hiresa popular Silicon Valley deal in which a company purchases a startup as a way to hire its talented workers, then shuts the acquired company down. Two years later, it did it again with the messaging app WhatsApp, which it purchased for $22 billion. WhatsApp and Instagram helped Facebook move its business from desktop computers to mobile devices, and to remain popular with younger generations as rivals like Snapchat (which it also tried, but failed, to buy) and TikTok emerged. However, the FTC has a narrow definition of Metas competitive market, excluding companies like TikTok, YouTube, and Apples messaging service from being considered rivals to Instagram and WhatsApp. U.S. District Judge James Boasberg is presiding over the case. Late last year, he denied Metas request for a summary judgment and ruled that the case must go to trial. Brian Witte, Associated Press
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E-Commerce
In early April, Ikea unveiled the latest edition of its iconic Stockholm 2025 collection, marking 40 years since the original collection was released in 1985. The 96-item lineup includes a range of pieces, like bold statement sofas, side tables, and elegant chandeliers. The designs are keeping with the brands signature Scandi aesthetic, but with a twist: inspiration from the natural world. The collection is now available in stores and on the Ikea website. [Image: Ikea] At the core of the collection is a thoughtful focus on materials. Solid wood is paired with tactile surfaces and natural fibers like mouth-blown glass and rattan to create a variety of pieces, such as wooden furniture, handwoven rugs, and chandeliers, says the Ikea team. The designers selected these materials not just for their beauty, but for how they age and interact over time. [Image: Ikea] The purpose of the Stockholm collections has always been to prove that high quality doesn’t need to come at an intimidating cost, says Karin Gustavsson, creative leader for Stockholm, in a press release. We have worked to create a no-compromise kind of collection where every piece tells a story. Craftsmanship is at the heart of this project, where traditional techniques and hands-on methods have resulted in durable and beautiful design pieces that stands the test of time. Swedish designers Ola Wihlborg, Nike Karlsson, and Paulin Machado developed the collection, which was deeply rooted in its namesake city of Stockholm, according to the press release. [Image: Ikea] Two noticeably different sofas serve as the foundational centerpieces of Ikeas Stockholm 2025 collection. One of them is a wide modular sofa that was designed by Wihlborg and is available in four colors, including a striking turquoise velvet. His frustration with sofas that constantly require cushion fluffing sparked the design concept, says the designer. I wanted to create a high-quality sofa that maintains its shape and looks the same even after you stand up from sitting in it. Something that prioritizes comfort without needing extra pillows, he explains. After developing more than 30 prototypes to refine the balance between structure and softness, the final product is a sleek, boldly scaled sofa. Its modular design allows each piece to stand alone or be connected to fit a variety of spaces and lifestyles. [Image: Ikea] Karlsson took a different route with his creation. His sofa, constructed with a solid pine wood frame and soft white cushions, embraces a foam-free design made entirely from natural materials, including woven fabric, natural latex, and coconut fiber, describes the designer. [Image: Ikea] Nature was the main source of inspiration for textile designer Paulin Machado’s pieces. The collection’s lampshades have delicate leaf and mushroom motifs, and color palettes drawn from the shifting tones of Scandinavian seasons. The handwoven wool rugs in earthy greens or minimalist black-and-white echo birch tree patterns. Nature is the best designerevery colour matches beautifully in the natural world, Machado says. With its latest collection, the Swedish furniture maker brings the outdoors in.
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E-Commerce
At first, the bar association for immigration attorneys began receiving inquiries from a couple students a day. These were foreigners studying in the U.S., and they’d discovered in early April their legal status had been terminated with little notice. To their knowledge, none of the students had committed a deportable offense.In recent days, the calls have begun flooding in. Hundreds of students have been calling to say they have lost legal status, seeking advice on what to do next.“We thought it was going to be something that was unusual,” said Matthew Maiona, a Boston-based immigration attorney who is getting about six calls a day from panicked international students. “But it seems now like it’s coming pretty fast and furious.”The speed and scope of the federal government’s efforts to terminate the legal status of international students have stunned colleges across the country. Few corners of higher education have been untouched, as schools ranging from prestigious private universities, large public research institutions, and tiny liberal arts colleges discover status terminations one after another among their students.At least 790 students at more than 120 colleges and universities have had their visas revoked or their legal status terminated in recent weeks, according to an Associated Press review of university statements and correspondence with school officials. Advocacy groups collecting reports from colleges say hundreds more students could be caught up in the crackdown. Students apparently targeted over minor infractions Around 1.1 million international students were in the United States last yeara source of essential revenue for tuition-driven colleges. International students are not eligible for federal financial aid, and their ability to pay tuition often factors into whether they will be admitted to American schools. Often, they pay full price.Many of the students losing their legal status are from India and China, which together account for more than half the international students at American colleges. But the terminations have not been limited to those from any one part of the world, lawyers said.Four students from two Michigan universities are suing Trump administration officials after their F-1 student status was terminated last week. Their attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union, Ramis Wadood, said the students never received a clear reason why.“We don’t know, and that’s the scary part,” he said.The students were informed of the status terminations by their universities via email, which came as a shock, Wadood said. The reason given was that there was a “criminal records check and/or that their visa was revoked,” Wadood said, but none of them were charged or convicted of crimes. Some had either speeding or parking tickets, but one didn’t have any, he said. Only one of the students had known their entry visa was revoked, Wadood said.Last month, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the State Department was revoking visas held by visitors who were acting counter to national interests, including some who protested Israel’s war in Gaza and those who face criminal charges.But many students say they don’t fall under those categories. Students have filed lawsuits in several states, arguing they were denied due process.In New Hampshire, a federal judge last week granted a temporary restraining order to restore the status of a Ph.D. student at Dartmouth College, Xiaotian Liu. On Tuesday, a federal judge in Wisconsin issued a similar order, ruling the government could not take steps to detain or revoke the visa of a University of Wisconsin-Madison gradate student. In a break from past, feds cancel students’ status directly At many colleges, officials learned the legal immigration status of some international students had been terminated when staff checked a database managed by the Department of Homeland Security. In the past, college officials say, legal statuses typically were updated after colleges told the government the students were no longer studying at the school.The system to track enrollment and movements of international students came under the control of Immigration and Customs Enforcement after 9/11, said Fanta Aw, CEO of NAFSA, an association of international educators. She said recent developments have left students fearful of how quickly they can be on the wrong side of enforcement.“You don’t need more than a small number to create fear,” Aw said. “There’s no clarity of what are the reasons and how far the reach of this is.”Her group says as many as 1,300 students have lost visas or had their status terminated, based on reports from colleges.The Department of Homeland Security and State Department did not respond to messages seeking comment.Foreigners who are subject to removal proceedings are usually sent a notice to appear in immigration court on a certain date, but lawyers say affected students have not received any notices, leaving them unsure of next steps to take.Some schools have told students to leave the country to avoid the risk of being detained or deported. But some students have appealed the terminations and stayed in the United States while those are processed.Still others caught in legal limbo aren’t students at all. They had remained in the U.S. post-graduation on “optional practical training,” a one-year periodor up to three for science and technology graduatesthat allows employment in the U.S. after completing an academic degree. During that time, a graduate works in their field and waits to receive their H-1B or other employment visas if they wish to keep working in the U.S.Around 242,000 foreigners in the U.S. are employed through this “optional practical training.” About 500,000 are pursuing graduate degrees, and another 342,000 are undergraduate students.Among the students who have filed lawsuits is a Georgia Tech Ph.D. student who is supposed to graduate on May 5, with a job offer to join the faculty. His attorney Charles Kuck said the student was likely targeted for termination because of an unpaid traffic fine from when the student lent his car to a friend. Ultimately, the violation was dismissed.“We have case after case after case exactly like that, where there is no underlying crime,” said Kuck, who is representing 17 students in the federal lawsuit. He said his law firm has heard from hundreds of students.“These are kids who now, under the Trump administration, realize their position is fragile,” he said. “They’ve preyed on a very vulnerable population. These kids aren’t hiding. They’re in school.”Some international students have been adapting their daily routines.A Ph.D. student from China at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill said she has begun carrying around her passport and immigration paperwork at the advice of the university’s international student office. The student, who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of being targeted by authorities, said she has been distressed to see the terminations even for students like her without criminal records.“That is the most scary part because you don’t know whether you’regoing to be the next person,” she said. __Seminera reported from Raleigh, N.C., and Keller reported from Albuquerque, N.M. The Associated Press’ education 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. Annie Ma, Makiya Seminera and Christopher L. Keller, Associated Press
Category:
E-Commerce
Yes, Spotify is down. Spotify users are reporting service outages on the music streaming desktop and mobile app. As of 8:50 a.m., U.S. users started experiencing technical issues with the app, with around 323 reports. By 9:05 a.m., reports had risen to more than 20,000 outages, and are about 40,000 outage reports at the time of publishing. Technical issues are mainly reported in the U.S. and Europe, with some additional reports in Mexico, Brazil, South Africa, Australia, United Arab Emirates, and Israel. “We are aware of the outage and working to resolve it as soon as possible,” a Spotify spokesperson told Fast Company in a statement. “The reports of this being a security hack are completely inaccurate. For ongoing updates regarding this issue, please reference our @SpotifyStatus X channel.” Spotify issued an acknowledgement of the situation earlier at 8:45 a.m. via social media saying, “We’re aware of some issues right now and are checking them out!” The technical issues appear to impact the search option on the mobile and desktop app, with a message saying “couldn’t load the page.”
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E-Commerce
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