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American statesman and polymath Ben Franklins legacy includes inspirational quotes on frugality, honesty, and hard work. Hes less frequently thought of as an icon of successful aging. But as doctor and author Ezekiel Emanuel recently pointed out on Big Think, At a time when the average age at death was under 40, he lived to 84, fully mentally competent all the way to the end. That makes the founding father a worthy source of advice on aging well. Whats the biggest lesson we can learn from him. Unsurprisingly, given he lived at a time when dentures were made out of wood and surgery was done without anesthesia, Franklin cant teach us anything about the latest aging breakthroughs. But he can remind us of a fundamental truth thats thoroughly backed up by modern science, but still frequently forgotten: Staying useful is as important to aging well as any fancy new drug, fitness routine, or diet plan. Ben Franklins secret to healthy aging Ben Franklin was 70 when he signed the Declaration of Independence, and he churned out inventions into his eighties. (Those include inventing bifocals to solve his own issues with failing eyesight). That might leave you with the impression that he was a work-until-you-drop kind of guy. But Emanuel points out thats not actually how Franklin understood his own life. Franklin invented retirement for working-class people, Emanuel insists. He made enough as a printer that he could retire at 42, and he said, Im going to live a life of leisure. That means everything that followed the ending of Franklins career as a printer, including much of his work helping to found the University of Pennsylvania and the United States, were technically retirement hobbies. His golden years didnt look anything like the golf, pickleball, or Caribbean cruises many of us dream about today. But that, Emanuel stresses, is the central wellness lesson we take from Franklins long and exceptionally productive life. Leisure, for Franklin, didnt mean going to the Jersey Shore. It meant that he didnt have to worry about business and making money. He could focus on doing good, and for him, doing good was science and social improvement activities, Emanuel says. Not contributing to society is not good for the soul. You have to be useful. You have to try to make the world a better place. Thats key to wellness, too. What modern psychology says about purpose and aging About 275 years ago, when Franklin stepped away from his first, moneymaking career, he understood that the key to aging well was to find purposeful ways to use his newfound leisure time. Thats a simple enough insight. But research suggests that even today a great many of us fail to remember it. Research out of Insead, the European business school, shows that many successful entrepreneurs struggle after exiting their businesses with big paydays. It is perfectly normal to discover that life post-financial freedom isnt as happy as one might have expected it to be, the researchers noted. The most common reason for these problems is a sense of aimlessness and boredom. Studies of retired Japanese salarymen and personal commentary from many who have pursued the popular Financial Independence Retire Early (FIRE) movement point in the same direction. Many of us dream of wide open days after leaving the world of work. But when confronted with the reality of long stretches of unstructured time, unless people have many explicit plans to stay useful, they tend to spiral. And not just emotionally. Neuroscience research has found that a sense of purpose helps delay dementia. Its absence, on the other hand, can speed cognitive decline. Meanwhile, an absolute mountain of studies testified that one of the best ways to look after your own wellness is to find ways to help others. A Google founder and the Governator agree It can be tempting to think of retirement in terms of numbers. If you have enough saved, your later years will be comfortable and stress free, and therefore healthy and happy, too. But even billionaires seem to flail in retirement unless they, like Ben Franklin, figure out how to continue to contribute to society. Sergey Brin is worth a cool $200 billion or so. He unretired and went back to work at Google because, he says, I was just kind of stewing and . . . not being sharp. Bill Gates is another guy with no financial constraints, but he, too, has written about how post-work life presents a lot of time to fill and that people need a reason to get out of bed in the morning. On the other hand, action star turned Governator Arnold Schwarzenegger credits his peace of mind at the age of 78 to a simple life motto: Stay busy. Be useful. Thats basically Ben Franklins whole approach to aging well boiled down to four snappy words. Healthy aging wisdom thats stood the test of time So if youre in the market for some good advice on how to stay mentally and physically health for as long as possible, you could look to wellness influencers and tech bros chasing immortality. But all their dubious routines probably wont buy you nearly as many healthy years as Ben Franklins straightforward 275-year-old wisdom. If you want to age well, stay useful. By Jessica Stillman, Contributor, Inc.com This article originally appeared on Fast Companys sister website, Inc.com. Inc. is the voice of the American entrepreneur. We inspire, inform, and document the most fascinating people in business: the risk-takers, the innovators, and the ultra-driven go-getters that represent the most dynamic force in the American economy.
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The fleeting nature of the Olympic Winter Games makes them all the more alluring. The scarcity is almost sacred. Competitors work their whole lifetimes for one shot at glory that takes place over a period of just a few weeks. To celebrate every athletic achievement at the XXV Olympic Winter Games, the closing ceremony will take place Sunday, February 22. Heres everything you need to know including how to tune in. Where will the Milano Cortina Olympic Closing Ceremony take place? Just like William Shakespeare intended, its fair in Verona where we lay our scene. The Milano Cortina Closing Ceremony will be held at the Verona Arena, which many historians believe predates the Colosseum. Unlike the opening ceremony, which took place in multiple venues, this is the sole location. Verona lies about halfway between Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo, the two cities where the majority of the competitions took place. What is the theme of the Winter Olympics Closing Ceremony? The theme of the closing ceremony is Beauty in Action. While exact details of the two-and-a-half-hour event are always kept under wraps for the element of surprise, it is known that the event will celebrate the host country, Italy. It will also convey climate changes impact on the games and the future challenges this brings. Elements such as music, dance, film, design, and technology will all be utilized to tell these stories and celebrate the games. Who is performing at the Winter Olympics Closing Ceremony? The first performer announced was ballet star Roberto Bolle. He is a principal dancer at La Scala Theatre Ballet and frequently performs as a guest artist around the world. Joining him is singer-songwriter Achille Lauro. He made a name for himself in the hip-hop world but also excels in other genres of music like pop and rock. Actress Benedetta Porcaroli will also take part in the closing ceremony. She is best known for her work as Chiara in the Netflix series Baby. Additionally, her film credits include Immaculate, The Leopard, and The Kidnapping of Arabella. DJ Gabry Ponte is planning on dropping some sick beats. He gained prominence as a member of the group Eiffel 65. He even has his own record label, Dance and Love. Who is hosting the 2030 Winter Olympics? Another important part of the closing ceremony is handing over the flag to the next host. The 2030 Winter Olympics will take place in France. The French Alps are already planning for another spectacular competition that will be here before we know it. How can I stream or watch the closing ceremony? The ceremony takes place on Sunday, February 22. If you want to catch the action in real time, turn on NBC or the streaming service Peacock at 2:30 p.m. ET. If that time doesnt work with your schedule, there will be another chance to see the pageantry during prime-time, beginning at 9 p.m. ET. You can watch NBC for free if you have an over-the-air antenna or a traditional cable subscription. Peacock is a paid subscription service, but if it’s not part of your streaming arsenal, you can turn to a live-TV streaming service that carries NBC. YouTube TV, Hulu + Live TV, or fuboTV carry NBC in most areas. Just make sure to double check before you sign up to account for regional differences.
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AI is transforming how teams work. But its not just the tools that matter. Its what happens to thinking when those tools do the heavy lifting, and whether managers notice before the gap widens. Across industries, theres a common pattern. AI-supported work looks polished. The reports are clean. The analyses are structured. But when someone asks the team to defend a decision, not summarize one, the room goes quiet. The output is there, but the reasoning isnt owned. For David, the COO of a midsize financial services firm, the problem surfaced during quarterly planning. Multiple teams presented the same compelling statistic about regulatory timelines, one that turned out to be wrong. It had come from an AI-generated summary that blended outdated guidance with a recent policy draft. No one had checked it. No one had questioned it. It simply sounded right. We werent lazy, David told us. We just didnt have a process that asked us to look twice. Through our work advising teams navigating AI adoption, Jenny as an executive coach, learning and development designer, and Noam as an AI strategist, we have seen a clear distinction: there are teams where AI flattens performance, and teams where it deepens it. The difference isnt whether AI is allowed. Its whether judgment is designed back into the work. In good news, teams can adopt practices to shift from producing answers to owning decisions. This new way of thinking doesnt slow things down. It moves performance to where it actually mattersand protects the judgment that no machine can replace in the process. 1. The Fact Audit: Question AIs Output AI produces fluent language. Thats exactly what makes it dangerous. When output sounds authoritative, people stop checking it. It’s a pattern often called workslop: AI-generated output that looks polished but lacks the substance to hold up under scrutiny. In contrast, critical thinking strengthens when teams learn to treat AI as unverified input, not a final source. David didnt punish the teams that got the statistic wrong. He redesigned the process. Before any strategic analysis could move forward, teams had to run a fact audit: identify AI-generated claims and validate each one against primary sources like regulatory filings, official announcements, or verified reports. The mandate wasnt about catching mistakes, but building a reflex. Over six months, the quality of planning inputs improved significantly. Teams started flagging uncertainty on their own, before anyone asked. The World Economic Forums 2025 Future of Jobs Report reinforces this: in high-stakes decisions, AI should augment, not replace, human judgment. Embedding that principle into daily work isnt optional. Its a competitive advantage. Pro tip: Start with three. Dont overhaul the whole process at once. Ask each team member to flag three AI-generated claims in their next deliverable and trace each one to a source. Keep it lightweight; the habit matters more than the volume. 2. The Fit Audit: Demand Context-Specific Thinking AI defaults to best practices. Thats by design. But generic advice rarely wins in a specific situation. The real test of critical thinking isnt whether an answer sounds smart, but whether it fits. Rachel, a managing partner at a global consulting firm, noticed it immediately. Her teams were leaning on AI to draft client recommendations, and the output was consistently competent, but painfully interchangeable. Improve stakeholder communication. Build organizational resilience, she told us. It could have been written for anyone. It was written for no one. She introduced a simple checkpoint. Before any recommendation could move forward, the team had to answer one question in writing: Why does this solution work here, and not at our last three clients? They had to map every suggestion explicitly to the clients constraints, the firms methodology, and the real stakeholder landscape. The shift was immediate. Teams started discarding generic AI language and replacing it with reasoning that was theirs. Client presentations became sharper. Debates replaced consensus. Gallups 2025 workplace data supports why this matters at scale. While nearly a quarter of employees now use AI weekly to consolidate information and generate ideas, effective use requires strategic integration, not just access. Managers are the ones who set that standard. Pro tip: Make it verbal. While written fit audits are good, ask a team member to explain their recommendation aloud, in a five-minute stand-up or a quick team check-in. Misalignment disappears fast when people cannot hide behind polished text. 3. The Asset Audit: Make Human Contributions Visible Heres what most managers miss: even when employees are thinking critically, that thinking is invisible. If its not surfaced, it doesnt get recognized, and it doesnt get developed. Marcus, a VP of strategy at a technology company, started requiring a short decision log alongside every quarterly business review. Not a summary of what AI produced. A record of what the team decided to do with it. The questions were simple: What assumptions did you challenge? What did you revise? What did you reject, and why? One regional manager used it to flag something the AI had missed entirely: the tension between short-term revenue targets and long-term customer retention. She rewrote the analysis framework to surface that trade-off. The review became a strategic conversation instead of a status update. It changed what we looked for, Marcus said. We stopped evaluating the output. We started evaluating the judgment. McKinseys research confirms the stakes: heavy users of AI report needing higher-level cognitive and decision-making skills more than technical ones. As AI handles routine work, the human contribution becomes the entire competitive edge. Making it visible isnt just good management. Its a strategy. Pro tip: Keep the log short, at just three to five bullet points. What was the AI input? What did the team change? What was the final call and why? The goal isnt documentation for its own sake: its making thinking something the team can see, discuss, and learn from. 4. The Prompt Audit: Capture How the Team Thinks Critical thinking deepens when people can trace their own reasoning: not just the final output, but the process that shaped it. Without it, every deliverable starts from scrach. With it, the team builds institutional knowledge. Sarah, a partner at a professional services firm, started requiring a brief process outline before every client presentation. Not a recap of the finished product. A trail: which prompts were used, which sources were checked, where the framing shifted, and why. After each presentation, team members wrote a short individual reflection: Where did my thinking change during this process? Over time, the artifacts became a shared learning resource. Teams could see which prompts produced shallow output, which revisions added real value, and how collaboration shaped the final judgment. It turned experimentation into something reusable, Sarah told us. Before, every project felt like starting over. Now, we build on what we have already figured out. The result wasnt just better deliverables. It was a team that got sharper and faster together. Pro tip: Create a shared tracker. Keep it simple: a shared doc, a Notion page, or even a Slack channel. Log what prompt was used, what worked, what didnt, and what you would try next. No slides, no pressure. The goal is to normalize small bets and shared learning in real time. Thinking Critically with AI AI is only as powerful as the people who use it with intention. The best teams arent winning because they have the fastest tools. They are winning because they have built habits that keep judgment in the loop. They question what sounds right. They demand context over consensus. They make their thinking visible, and they learn from it. Managing critical thinking in the AI era doesnt require banning tools or lowering standards. It requires clarity about where thinking lives. Drawing that line, between what AI should handle and what must stay human, is one of the defining responsibilities of leadership right now. AI changes how work gets done. Management shapes how people think while doing it.
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