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In what might be the most up-front leave request of the year, a Gen Z employee emailed his boss asking for 10 days off to recover from a breakup. I recently had a breakup and havent been able to focus on work. I need a short break, they wrote in an email that was recently screenshotted and posted to X. Entrepreneur and CEO Jasveer Singh shared the unusually candid request on social media, captioning it: Got the most honest leave application yesterday. Gen Z doesnt do filters! (Singh just so happens to be the cofounder and CEO of Knot Dating, a dating app. Coincidence?) Whether the email was genuine or a clever PR stunt, it gained nearly 14 million views since it was posted Tuesday, sparking the debate: should heartbreak qualify as a legitimate reason to take time off work? Workplaces are generally sympathetic to time off for illness or family emergencies. But when it comes to a messy breakup, that empathy tends to dry up quickly. Across the U.S., heartbreak leave isnt standard policy. Telling your boss you need a few days because a parent is sick sounds reasonable. Admitting youve had a fight with your partner and are currently crashing on a friends sofa? Not so much. Often, workers might take personal days for such events, but theres certainly no widespread PTO policy around breakups. Yet in other countries, the idea isnt as far-fetched. In Germany, employees can take leave for liebeskummer, which translates to love grief. Other companies allow for heartbreak leave under the guise of well-being days or mental health days. Studies show that our brains register emotional pain in the same way as physical pain, and in some cases, it can even lead to broken heart syndrome, which literally affects the hearts ability to pump blood properly around the body. From a bosss perspective, emotionally checked-out employees can cost companies just as much as absenteeism. A 2022 University of Minnesota study found that 44% of people going through divorce said it negatively affected their work. Many reported struggling to focus, sleep, or control their emotions. That leaves employees either telling white lies to secure the necessary time off to heal, or powering through . . . likely with regular breaks to sob in the bathroom before returning to their desk swollen-eyed and puffy-faced. In recent years, following the pandemic-era trend of more power to the workers, people have pushed more for additional benefits beyond just the ability to work hybrid or remotely. In the U.S., some states offer bereavement leave for pets, a trend thats gained momentum. Menstrual leave has also entered the conversation, as has gender affirmation leave. Not everyone will want or need heartbreak leave, mind you. Some people prefer to throw themselves into work as a distraction. But acknowledging the end of a relationship as a valid source of suffering could go a long way toward building a more empathetic workplace. As for the Singhs heartbroken employee? Leave approved without any questions, he confirmed.
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E-Commerce
Moving into a new leadership role is a big moment. But in todays rapidly shifting environmentwhere change moves faster than everyou dont have the luxury of slowly assessing your team and making gradual adjustments. The pace of technology and AI, hybrid work, low employee engagement, evolving strategies, and shifting workforce dynamics demand that you assess your team quickly and confidently. Gone are the days of observe and wait. Youre expected to deliver results fast, and your team needs to be plug-and-playand that means quickly understanding who on your team is ready to move with you, who might need support, and where changes might be necessary. Here are five traits or “now must-haves” to look for in your first three months to assess whether your team is equipped to meet the momentand the future. 1. Goal Alignment Are they rowing in the same directionor pulling against the current? Misalignment can be quiet but costly. One tech executive we worked with noticed a team member constantly questioning her strategy in meetings. Eventually, she had a candid conversationand made the call to part ways. The rest of the team felt relieved as the lack of alignment had been slowing everyone down. Ask yourself: Do they support the strategyor challenge it without solutions? Do they identify their mutual dependencies? Are their actions reinforcing the companys direction? As a new leader, the ability to detect early misalignment and address it decisively is critical. If ignored, it can sabotage your goals. 2. Sound Judgment Can they make good decisions with limited information or time pressure? You cant make every decision yourself. Thats why judgment matters. One CEO that Melissa coached asked her sales lead to evaluate a complex strategic shift. His response wasnt just a yes or noit was a thoughtful breakdown of risks, trade-offs, and stakeholder implications. She knew immediately she could trust him with big decisions. Similarly, a leader Frans worked with asked his new team to identify their number-one issue to be solved within their circle of influence. The leader organized a session with a clear goalfor the team to develop two alternative solutions to the issue. The discussion that ensued exposed, very clearly and quickly, who was able to provide a sharp assessment of and solutions to the problem. Ask your team members: Describe a situation where they had to make a decision with incomplete and/or ambiguous information How did they manage the uncertainty? What did they consider most difficultand why? Watch how they weigh risks, not just outcomes In these times of exponential change and uncertainty, leaders must make decisions with limited information and under pressure, making sound judgment crucial. 3. Adaptability How resilient are they in terms of recovering from pivots and stress? Do they adjust fastor resist when things shift? Change isnt the exception anymoreits the norm. Asking about how team members have handled past challenges is telling. One leader Melissa worked with joined a company right after a failed reorganization. During one-on-ones, he asked team members how theyd handled past disruptions. Some responded with solutions; others stayed stuck in old complaints. That distinction helped him begin to identify who could thrive in the new culture. In addition to asking about how team members have navigated past obstacles, observing and assessing how team members navigate real work challenges is also critical. A newly appointed leader that Frans worked with oversaw a five-person leadership team where each leader managed an independent production facility. Due to a ban on a country involved in a war, one facility lost over half of its demand. The teams initial response was to lay off a large portion of the workforce, creating negative sentiment. When the team realized that another facility was severely understaffed due to strong growth, an aging workforce, and high turnover, they decided to transfer staff from the struggling plant to the growing one, with plans to reverse the transfer once the ban was lifted. Observing how team members navigated this scenario gave Franss client invaluable information about their levels of adaptability. In fact, assessing team members by watching them tackle real or simulated challenges is often more reliable than relying on spreadsheets, quotas, or even a predecessors notes, as it reveals their actual behavior and true capabilities in context. Ask yourself: How do they respond to sudden pivots? Do they stay focusedor get flustered? Are they looking for whats nextor longing for what was? Adaptability is a skill that grows through recovery, not resistance. And, in uncertain times, the best strategy is adaptability. 4. Tech Fluency Do they lean into digital toolsor avoid what they dont understand? Being tech-savvy isnt about coding. Its about confidence with data, digital tools, and AI-enabled processes. One of Melissas clients, an operations leader, asked her team, What tools did you use to make this decision? Some had solid answers; others didnt know. That helped her see who needed coachingand who was ready for more responsibility. Watch for: Comfort using key platforms or dashboards Proactive use of AI or automation tools Curiosity about how tech improves outcomes Tech fluency and digital intelligence are no longer nice-to-haves. They are becoming the baseline for modern leadership. 5. Growth Mindset & Risk Tolerance Are they playing to winor playing it safe? One team leader started asking a new weekly question: Whats something you tried that didnt work? And what did you learn from it? It became a signal of who was learningand who was hiding. The people willing to share, reflect, and adjust were the ones he tapped for bigger opportunities. Look for: Openness to feedback and experimentation Energy around learning and developingnot fear of failure Willingness to take smart, calculated risks Leaders must have a growth mindset and actively practice strategies to build a bold, learning-oriented culture in order to get their teams to take more risks. Clarity now beatscleanup later and theres no grace period for leaders anymore. Your first three months set the tone. By assessing these five traits earlyalignment, judgment, adaptability, tech fluency, and growth mindsetyou can lead with clarity, set expectations, and make confident decisions about the team around you. In a world of constant change, speed matters. But the real advantage? Knowing whos ready to change with you. And how well the five essential traits are distributed among your team. And, when all else fails, try Franss go-to question when he was CEO: Would I rehire this individual if building this team from scratch today?
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E-Commerce
As more than 19 million U.S. college students prepare to wrap up their fall semester and begin looking ahead to securing internships and jobs next spring, its natural for themand their familiesto worry about the fate of the job market in the age of AI. Indeed, Anthropics CEO predicted this summer that within the next five yearsand maybe even sooneradoption of AI could reduce entry-level hiring in white-collar professions by 50%. The impact is already being felt: postings for early-career corporate jobs are down 15%, while applications have spiked 30%. A separate Stanford study found that AI displacement, at this point, seems to be disproportionately affecting younger workers. To be sure, these changes are unsettling. Butdespite current, often overheated rhetorictheyre not unprecedented. Of course, weve heard about the lamplighters and horseshoe makers. A hundred years ago, they were displaced by electricity and cars, and the economy soldiered on and they found something else to do. But the internet bubble 25 years ago, when we were first launching our own careers, is an even more salient example. Discourse around the emerging information superhighway also sparked dystopian predictions that tens of millions of people would lose their jobs to internet-enabled automation, leading to the end of work. The job displacement, in some cases, was real. One of us (Dorie) began her career as a journalist at a weekly newspaper and, only a year into her first job, was laid off when the economics of the ad-supported paper faltered. But Dorielike most of usmanaged to adapt, finding new jobs in politics and nonprofit management before becoming an entrepreneur. And the overall economy did just fine, with a current unemployment rate of just 4.3%, compared with 4.9% in 2001, when Dorie lost her job. The pattern is also clear in terms of individuals lived experience. Alexis, along with her coauthor Nancy Hill, has researched Harvards Class of 1975, examining generational differences and patterns. Her surprising conclusion is that the experience of todays college students is remarkably similar to that of students 50 years prior. Despite changing external circumstances (whether its campus protests about the Vietnam War or Gaza, and the political realities of a Nixon or a Trump administration), students professional hopes and worries remain fundamentally the same. Can I find a career that feels interesting and meaningful? What are the best skills to cultivate, and where should I focus my professional development? Can I support myself, and eventually a family, in changing economic conditions? Soin the midst of these real, but familiar, concernswhat advice can we share about how to prepare for the age of AI without panicking? 1. Use AI as a competitive advantage First, take advantage of the fact that theres no incumbency advantage in AI use now. If youre a newly minted law school graduate, a senior partner with 30 years professional experience and connections will almost always hold an advantage over you in their knowledge of case law and ability to land clients. But no professional outside academia has 30 years experience in AI, so young professionals have just as much of an opportunity as anyone to gain knowledge, expertise, and professional stature through their deployment of AI in their jobs. Indeed, AI is especially valuable for young adults, as studies show that AI usage is most beneficial for employees with the least experience. 2. Focus on developing a transferable skill set Second, focus on developing broad, transferable skill sets. We saw what happened when conventional wisdom (from politicians to business leaders) converged on the idea that everyone needed to be trained in software coding. Now, in the wake of layoffs at major tech companies and slowed hiring, newly minted software engineers are struggling to find jobs. If professional reinvention will be necessary for most of us throughout the course of our careers, we need to cultivate skills that can apply in multiple domains. For instance, when Dorie lost her job as a journalist, she applied her writing experience and knowledge of politics (the beat she covered) to pivot to her next job as a campaign spokesperson. 3. Build relationships Finally, lean into interpersonal relationships, becauseunlike youAI cant go to the watercooler. With enough data about meetings and emails, its true that it can analyze professional networks and see webs of influence within organizations. (Though many organizations are a long way from being able to fully deploy and capture the power of that analysis.) But, at least for the time being, AI wont be able to pick up on whats not captured in writing, from breakroom gossip and speculation to whispered advice and traded favors. Of course, were not suggesting that you become a Machiavellian operator, wielding insinuations and demanding reciprocity. But, in all of the discourse about what AI can and cant replace, it seems clear that interpersonal connections – and the deep-seated principles that govern them, such as the general desire to reciprocate good deeds that others have done for us – are likely to persist. Investing in understanding other people and trying to help them where possible still seems like a worthy bet in the age of AI. In the past, young professionals could and did adapt to the new technological reality and find ways to make it their own. We believe this will happen againand perhaps this might even take some of the pressure off the college experience, as students realize no one can predict the future and therefore, theres no right answer to be had as we navigate life choices.
Category:
E-Commerce
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