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In the months following Elon Musks $44 billion acquisition of Twitter in 2022, my experience with the platform (and perhaps yours too) got quickly, dramatically worse. My algorithmic timeline, better known as the For you tab, devolved into a broken fire hydrant of tweets from blue-checked engagement farmers, shameless meme thieves, clout-chasing Republican politicians, and pseudonymous YouTubers posting weird, uncanny rage-bait. For a brief period, X even made For you the default setting, nudging users toward this slurry of boosted content and away from a simple chronological feed of posts from the accounts they chose to follow. As a result of these changes, anytime I opened the app and neglected to select the chronological feed, I was not really experiencing Twitter as Id previously experienced it, or wanted to experience it; I was using a new and different version of Twitter that a reactionary billionaire thought I ought to see instead. Eventually, I stopped using the site, which Musk rebranded as X, because I perceived the platform (whatever the name) as feeding me a steady diet of right-wing slop, and I did not want to upset my stomach any further. Today the site’s basic mechanics remain weighted toward feeds that incorporate some form of algorithmic input. The For you tab still appears to over-index on Musk’s posts and perspectives. The Following tab defaults to ranking posts by their popularity, which can make it very challenging to try and follow breaking news stories on the app. Finally, a dropdown menu allows users to adjust the Following tab to display more recent posts first, which, of the available options, most closely approximates the Classic Twitter experience. A recently published study from a team of researchers in Europe attempts to measure the degree to which Xs algorithm is poisoning the brains of those who continue to use it. The study, which took place in 2023, randomly assigned around 5,000 X users to view either their algorithmic or chronological feeds over a seven-week period, and then measured the effects on users political attitudes and online behavior. For anyone who does not have a vested interest in the financial success of X, the findings are pretty grim. The researchers found that the For you tab shifted users political opinions toward more conservative positions on certain issuesfor example, the then-ongoing criminal investigations into President Donald Trump, and Russias invasion of Ukraine. They found that the algorithmic feed increased user engagement, promoted conservative-coded political content, and demoted posts from traditional news sources, which appeared in users algorithmic feeds 58.1% less often than they did in users chronological feeds. Finally, and maybe most troublingly, the researchers found that these effects were asymmetricthat although turning the algorithm on changed users views, turning it off did not move views in the other direction. After the study, the chronological feeds of participants the study exposed to the algorithm contained 60% more posts from conservative accounts and 28% more posts from conservative political activists, relative to the chronological feeds of study participants who did not use the algorithmic feed. The researchers attribute these results to the types of accounts that users encountered in the For you tab and eventually chose to follow, thus adding those accounts to their chronological feeds, too. In other words, once the X algorithm moves you to the right, you probably stay there. And if you use the X algorithm long enough, even on those occasions when you decide to peruse the Following tab, you will probably see more conservative-coded content than you would have if you had never checked out the For you tab in the first place. The researchers noted that the algorithms persuasive effects were stronger among self-identified Republicans and independents than among Democrats, whose views the researchers describe as largely unaffected by the experiment. But even if Xs design choices are not turning unwitting liberals into brainwashed MAGA dead-enders overnight, the implications for democracy remain, to say the least, troubling. A 2024 Pew survey found that among social media platforms, X had the greatest proportion of users (59%) who said they used it to keep up with politics. Another Pew survey from the same year found that about two-thirds of X users utilized the platform to follow the news, and that half said they got news from X regularly. Again, X stood out from its competitorsTikTok, Facebook, and Instagramas the only platform for which a majority of users listed keeping up with news as a reason they used the site. Against this backdrop, the results of the study suggest that the segments of Xs user base that are more open to conservative ideas are also likely to be in the market for political content when they doomscroll. Similarly, depending on which tab they decide to browse, X users looking for news might be less likely to encounter news reported by actual journalists, and more likely to encounter mendacious agitprop designed to make them angry at Democrats, afraid of immigrants, and/or sympathetic to Donald Trump. Part of the reason influential conservatives so loudly profess their trust in X these days is that right-wing echo chambers make them feel comfortable: Xs algorithm amplifies content that soothes their egos, affirms their priors, and inexorably pushes them further to the right. Around the time that Musk was taking over at Twitter, he said he wanted to build a maximally trusted and broadly inclusive platform on which a wide range of beliefs can be debated in a healthy manner. In the time-honored fashion of conservative culture warriors masquerading as principled champions of free speech, he also said that the platform must be politically neutral, which, he noted, would entail upsetting the far right and the far left equally. The reality was simpler and much more grotesque: Musk, who dove headlong into Republican politics shortly thereafter and remains the platforms most-followed trafficker in conspiracy theories embraced by white supremacists, wanted the platform to both reflect and promote his worldview. The study helps quantify the success of this effort: Over the past four years, Musk has transformed X into a disinformation-ridden radicalization machine that occasionally spits out AI-generated nonconsensual pornography, too. If those are things you want from your social media experience, X is serving your interests more capably than ever. If theyre not, X is doing its best to change your mind every time you give it a chance.
Category:
E-Commerce
The town halls didn’t work. The twelve month wellness program didn’t work. The pricey motivational speaker definitely didn’t work. Your team looks busy, but is still very, very stuck. What looks like apathy is almost never laziness. What looks like resistance is rarely defiance. What youre actually seeing is a nervous system in threat mode because change fatigue is fear fatigue. The fact is, the human brain just isnt wired to fully distinguish between a physical threat and an organizational one. According to Gallups 2025 State of the Global Workplace report, half of employees in the U.S. and Canada reported significant daily stress, which is higher than all other global regions surveyed. Thats not a motivation problem. Thats a nervous system crisis happening at scale. Our amygdala, the brains fear center, doesnt have the ability to differentiate between the danger of a rampaging rhinoceros and a reorg. It sees experiences as either safe or deadly. Once in threat mode, attention narrows, the prefrontal cortex (the brains center of creative solutions and collaboration) shuts down, and self protection protocols are engaged. The pattern Heres the pattern I see in nearly every organization navigating significant change: 1. A trigger hits. This could be anything from new leadership, a reorg, constantly shifting priorities, or an AI rollout. 2. The nervous system activates a fear response: freeze, fawn, fight, or avoid. To a fear aroused brain, it feels safer to outwardly resist change (fight), conserve energy and wait things out (freeze), tell you what you want to hear, but refuse to execute change (fawn), or just flee altogether with quiet or outright quitting. 3. The person finds short-term relief by disengaging, delaying, or deflecting and they stop performing at their peak. 4. Over time, that protective behavior hardens into an identity story: Why bother? Nothing I do matters here anyway. During times of intense uncertainty, this is a completely normal response for the human brain, but it doesnt have to hinder success; teams just need better tools to navigate periods of rapid change. Here are a few of my favorite neurohacks that have proven especially impactful with enterprise technology teams in my workshops, helping them decrease fear (aka stress) in seconds, not weeks. Pinch the Valley Using the thumb and forefinger of your right hand, pinch the meaty area of your left hand where your other thumb and forefinger meet. Then massage for thirty seconds. This activates the vagus nerve, downshifting the stress response almost immediately. The best part? Nobody in the room knows youre doing it. Simple, but powerful. The Near & The Far Hold a pen or your finger about six inches from your face and focus on it. Slowly move it out to arm’s length, keeping your eyes locked on it as your focus shifts. Then bring it back in until it touches your nose. Repeat two or three times. When your visual system shifts between near and far focus, it signals your nervous system to downregulate, and I use this one constantly before every keynote. Bravery Bites This one surprises people: your brain stops feeling fear while youre eating. This provides powerful, albeit temporary, relief and works best with very crunchy things. My favorites are ice, corn nuts, and frozen blueberries. Essentially, your amygdala understands that if your environment is safe enough for you to eat, its safe enough to return to a sense of calm. Sour Jolt When a fear spiral has fully taken hold, or you find yourself thinking in never-ending worry loops, pop something intensely sour into your mouth. This can be a lemon or a sour candy (bonus points if you can combine the sour and chewy from Bravery Bites). That sudden, intense taste is such an unexpected signal that your brain has to redirect attention away from the internal thought spiral and toward the sensation in your mouth. Keep a few sour candies in a mug you actually enjoy looking at on your desk, clearly visible, so it can double as a gentle reminder that you have tools at the ready when a fear spiral hits. The most expensive mistake a leader can make right now isn’t a bad hire or a missed quarter. It’s looking at a team in threat mode and calling it a performance problem. Your people aren’t broken. Their brains are doing exactly what brains are supposed to do when the environment feels unsafe: protect. When you reduce threat and increase agency, you don’t just get compliance, you get creativity, speed, and ownership back, with the biggest shifts happening when leaders stop trying to motivate people past their fear and start helping them move through it. Our biology wont change. But how you lead through it can.
Category:
E-Commerce
For years, companies have been told to prepare for the future by chasing youth, digital fluency, and technical skills. They have been urged to bet on high potentials and to focus on the next generation. At the same time, they have spent years overlooking one of the most strategic talent pools already available to them: women over 50. This blind spot now looks increasingly dangerous. The future of work is arriving amid inflation, oil crises, wars, and all sorts of geopolitical tensions, economic anxiety, demographic aging, climate disruption, and the destabilizing effects of AI. In such a world, organizations need people who can handle ambiguity, navigate transitions, sustain relationships, and make sound judgments under pressure. That is one of the reasons women over 50 matter so much. They are among the most underused sources of resilience, intelligence, and practical capability in the labor market. If companies are serious about survivingand growingin an age of volatility, here are nine reasons why they need to stop overlooking them. {"blockType":"mv-promo-block","data":{"imageDesktopUrl":"https:\/\/images.fastcompany.com\/image\/upload\/f_webp,q_auto,c_fit\/wp-cms-2\/2026\/01\/PhotoLVitaud-169.jpg","imageMobileUrl":"https:\/\/images.fastcompany.com\/image\/upload\/f_webp,q_auto,c_fit\/wp-cms-2\/2026\/01\/PhotoLVitaud-11.jpg","eyebrow":"","headline":"\u003Cstrong\u003ESubscribe to Laetitia@Work\u003C\/strong\u003E","dek":"Women power the worlds productivity its time we talked more about it. Explore a woman-centered take on work, from hidden discrimination to cultural myths about aging and care. Dont miss the next issue subscribe to Laetitia@Work.","subhed":"","description":"","ctaText":"Learn More","ctaUrl":"http:\/\/laetitiaatwork.substack.com","theme":{"bg":"#2b2d30","text":"#ffffff","eyebrow":"#9aa2aa","subhed":"#ffffff","buttonBg":"#3b3f46","buttonHoverBg":"#3b3f46","buttonText":"#ffffff"},"imageDesktopId":91472264,"imageMobileId":91472265,"shareable":false,"slug":""}} 1. Demography is on their side The first reason is demographic reality. In aging societies, women over 50 are an expanding part of the population and, increasingly, of the available workforce. Women live longer than men, often work longer than previous generations, and represent a growing share of experienced talent. Yet they remain underrepresented in hiring pipelines, in leadership tracks, and in strategic workforce planning. Companies speak often about talent shortages while ignoring one of the biggest reservoirs of talent in plain sight. 2. They are veterans of career transitions Women over 50 are often veterans of career transition. Long before everyone started talking about the end of linear careers, a majority of women were already living that reality. Their working lives have frequently included interruptions, pivots, reinventions, periods of part-time work, freelance activity, caregiving, and reentry into employment. What traditional employers have too often interpreted as instability is, in fact, a deep familiarity with change. In a world where careers are less and less predictable, those who have already navigated multiple transitions have a head start. 3. They know how to learn This leads to a third advantage: They know how to learn. In the age of AI, the most valuable workers are not simply those who possess knowledge, but those who can update themselves continuously. Women over 50 who have had to change sectors or rebuild confidence after setbacks often develop a powerful capacity to learn, unlearn, and relearn. They are used to adapting. They are used to having to prove themselves again. They are often much more agile than employers assume, precisely because life has not allowed them the luxury of rigidity. 4. They bring judgment in an automated world A fourth reason is judgment. AI is very good at generating text, summarizing information, and automating routine cognitive tasks. But organizations do not thrive on information alone. They thrive on discernment: the ability to read a situation, understand context, weigh trade-offs, and anticipate consequences. These are not purely technical skills. They are human ones, and they tend to deepen with experience. Women over 50 often bring a kind of seasoned judgment that becomes especially valuable when the environment is uncertain. They are more likely to have seen management fashions come and go, to recognize false urgency, and to distinguish between real innovation and empty hype. 5. They bring emotional intelligence to organizations As work becomes more digital, more hybrid, and more fragmented, organizations depend even more on people who can create trust, resolve tension, and keep teams functioning. Women over 50 often bring strong interpersonal skills forged not only through formal work experience but through years of invisible labor: coordinating, listening, mediating, caring, anticipating needs, and managing relationships. These capacities are still routinely undervalued because they are associated with femininity and because they are difficult to quantify. Yet they are central to organizational performance. In chaotic times, the people who can keep human systems working are indispensable. 6. They strengthen intergenerational workplaces Many companies now employ several generations at once, but few know how to turn age diversity into an advantage. Too often, the focus remains fixated on attracting younger workers, as though experience were a burden rather than an asset. Women over 50 can play a crucial role here. They can mentor younger colleagues without reproducing rigid hierarchies. They can transmit knowledge, stabilize teams, and provide historical perspective. They can also help bridge cultural and professional differences between generations. In organizations where everyone is encouraged to learn from one another, this is a strategic asset. 7. They are often deeply motivated to contribute Contrary to cliché, many women over 50 are not winding down. Quite the opposite. Midlife often brings a sharper understanding of ones strengths, limits, and aspirations. Many women at this stage are more interested in meaningful contribution than corporate theater. They know what they care about, what they are good at, and what nonsense they no longer wish to tolerate. This often makes them highly effective. They may be less ready to play status games, but they are frequently deeply motivated by usefulness, autonomy, and impact. In a period when so many organizations are struggling with disengagement, that matters. 8. They are agile in times of crisis With an oil shock, economic turbulence, and geopolitical instability loomingor already unfolding depending on where you sitcompanies need people who know how to operate when the script no longer works. Women over 50 have often spent years adapting to scarcity, uncertainty, and institutional dysfunctionwhether at work, at home, or both. They know how to do more wth less. They know how to reprioritize, improvise, and keep going when systems fail. They are often pragmatic rather than ideological, flexible rather than brittle. In an economy shaped by repeated shocks, that kind of agility could be a growth strategy. Companies looking for new sources of resilience and invention should start betting on those who have already learned how to survive upheaval. 9. They help companies understand the society they serve Finally, women over 50 help organizations understand the world they actually operate in. Consumers are aging. The workforce is aging. Families are changing. Needs around health, finance, care, mobility, and everyday life are increasingly shaped by midlife and older adults, especially women. And yet these women remain strikingly absent from leadership teams, innovation departments, media representation, and product design. This makes companies less intelligent. It narrows their imagination and weakens their ability to serve real markets. Hiring women over 50 is therefore a way to become more lucid about society itself. These are some of the reasons why they are (and should be) the future of work. The conditions of the coming economy favor the kinds of strengths they have too often been forced to develop in silence. Sci-fi author Ursula K. Le Guin captured this idea beautifully in her essay The Space Crone. Asked to imagine whom humanity should send to represent itself to extraterrestrials, she proposed not a president or a great scientist, but an old womanbecause she alone has lived through the full arc of the human condition. She has known youth, change, loss, reinvention, and resilience. In many ways, the same logic applies to the workplace (albeit with older women rather than old women). In an economy defined by disruption and transformation, the people who have already navigated the most change may be the ones best equipped to face what comes next. Women over 50 are guides to our future. {"blockType":"mv-promo-block","data":{"imageDesktopUrl":"https:\/\/images.fastcompany.com\/image\/upload\/f_webp,q_auto,c_fit\/wp-cms-2\/2026\/01\/PhotoLVitaud-169.jpg","imageMobileUrl":"https:\/\/images.fastcompany.com\/image\/upload\/f_webp,q_auto,c_fit\/wp-cms-2\/2026\/01\/PhotoLVitaud-11.jpg","eyebrow":"","headline":"\u003Cstrong\u003ESubscribe to Laetitia@Work\u003C\/strong\u003E","dek":"Women power the worlds productivity its time we talked more about it. Explore a woman-centered take on work, from hidden discrimination to cultural myths about aging and care. Dont miss the next issue subscribe to Laetitia@Work.","subhed":"","description":"","ctaText":"Learn More","ctaUrl":"http:\/\/laetitiaatwork.substack.com","theme":{"bg":"#2b2d30","text":"#ffffff","eyebrow":"#9aa2aa","subhed":"#ffffff","buttonBg":"#3b3f46","buttonHoverBg":"#3b3f46","buttonText":"#ffffff"},"imageDesktopId":91472264,"imageMobileId":91472265,"shareable":false,"slug":""}}
Category:
E-Commerce
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