Innholdsfortegnelse for Winter 2024/2025 i Fast Company

THE CAPITULATIONS ARRIVED ONE AFTER another, a line of white flags growing longer by the week. First Tractor Supply Co., then John Deere, then Harley-Davidson and Brown-Forman (the distillery giant behind Jack Daniel’s) and Ford, followed by Lowe’s and Molson Coors and, more recently, Caterpillar. Each publicly traded company—all of them household names— announced a retreat or reversal or outright abandonment of diversity, equity, and inclusion policies after facing online criticism from conservative activist Robby Starbuck. Starbuck has been railing against so-called wokeness for years. Up until about a decade ago, he was a music video director, working with the likes of Eve and Snoop Dogg. But his increasingly vocal conservative opinions didn’t do wonders for his career in Hollywood, so in 2019 he pulled a reverse Clampett, loading up…

Ramon Jones, executive vice president and chief marketing officer for Nationwide, was on the road when he received a late-night text from his college-aged daughter. “Hey Dad, you’re going viral,” the text read. “Good job.” This is how Jones learned that a TikTok algorithm had resurfaced a six-year-old video of Zaya Campbell, daughter of gospel singer and songwriter Erica Campbell, belting out a rendition of Nationwide’s iconic “On Your Side” jingle. Suddenly, thousands of people were viewing, sharing, and adapting the original video. “This is not just likes and thumbs-up,” says Jones. “These people were taking this viral sound and making it their own.” The financial services and insurance company responded to this unexpected and organic surge of interest in its brand by elevating it into a contest that would…

ON AN OVERCAST MORNING THIS PAST JANUARY, WORLD WRESTLING ENTERTAINMENT’S STOOD ON THE SECOND - FLOOR BALCONY OVERLOOKING THE FLOOR OF THE SPURRING THE CROWD TO THUNDEROUS APPLAUSE. DWAYNE “THE ROCK” JOHNSON, BIGGEST CROSSOVER SUCCESS, NEW YORK STOCK EXCHANGE, HE WAS THERE TO CELEBRATE HIS appointment to the board of TKO Holdings, the conglomerate that talent agency Endeavor had created four months earlier by merging two leagues under its umbrella, WWE and the mixed martial arts league UFC. To his left stood Ari Emanuel, the Hollywood agent, CEO of Endeavor and now TKO, too. To Johnson’s right was Vince McMahon, board chairman of TKO. It was a big day for WWE. That morning, the organization had announced that in January 2025, one of its signature shows, Raw, will move from USA Network to Netflix, where…

Founded in 1875, The Hospital for Sick Children started with six cots in a redbrick rowhouse in Toronto. Today, it is Canada’s premier pediatric research hospital, with 11,000 staff members and volunteers, and treats more than 130,000 patients every year. Beyond its top-notch care facilities, the hospital works to create an environment that supports patients’ families and lets kids continue to be kids. As with so many things, offering this kind and level of care costs money. “Research and the family-centered care initiatives are 100% funded by philanthropy in Canada,” says Kate Torrance, head of brand, content, and communications at SickKids Foundation. “Our single mission as an organization is to fund the amazing work of the hospital.” The Foundation’s ability to connect with donors has brought it continued success (even…

BUFFALO BILLS QUARterback Josh Allen appeared on the podcast Green Light in August to discuss his routine during the offseason, which was soon coming to an end. When host and NFL veteran Chris Long mentioned that the Bills star looked “slim,” Allen jumped in to explain. “I was eating better. I took care of myself more than I ever have in our little month-and-a-half break,” he said. “I don’t know if I should say this, but there’s a secret trick—I don’t know if it’s true or not— but I’m just throwing in a few Zyns.” Zyn, a nicotine product derived from tobacco that looks like a doll-size tea bag and comes in a range of strengths and flavors, had been appearing discreetly along the gumlines of a growing number of…

From poverty to wars to climate change, more and more people around the world are facing enormous crises. Food insecurity is on the rise, and conflicts and climaterelated natural disasters strike with greater frequency and intensity. In the face of growing global challenges, humanitarian aid is increasingly essential to saving lives and rebuilding communities around the world. CARE, an international humanitarian organization, works to save lives and defeat poverty in more than 100 countries around the world. Adopting a forward-thinking strategy to carry out its vital humanitarian and development mission has earned CARE a spot on Fast Company’s Brands That Matter list for 2024. We spoke with CARE president and CEO Michelle Nunn to learn what sets the organization apart. 1 What is CARE's unique service proposition? Almost 80 years…

Automakers around the world are racing to design and produce new electric vehicles (EVs). One problem: They’re often layering new demands over the same technologies that have existed for decades. While that process may ease the unveiling of new EVs, it also can mean missing out on big improvements in performance and costs. Instead, what if automakers could go straight to using the most cutting-edge technologies in their EVs? Enter Tau, a California-based developer of power conversion systems. Tau provides automakers with a unique technology platform that makes the process of developing EVs easier. The platform enables carmakers to rapidly design and produce EVs, firmly grounded in innovations across software, computers, power electronics, semiconductors, and manufacturing that have emerged in recent years. “Instead of having to hire a team of…

During the pandemic, most Americans who were forced to stay home had to step outside occasionally to keep from going stir-crazy. A lot of people took this opportunity to transform their backyard decks into a creative extension of their homes. They made yoga studios, party rooms, and outdoor playrooms for their kids, or man caves for watching football. “While the concept of outdoor living has been popular for decades, the pandemic only accelerated that trend, and we’re not going back,” says Samara Toole, senior vice president and chief marketing officer of TimberTech, a producer of composite deck-building materials. “Today, many people see their deck as another room of the house, where you are going to select furniture and lighting. It’s really a new design opportunity for the home.” Seizing this…

GOOGLE DEEPMIND CEO DEMIS HASSABIS USED TO GET SOME OF HIS MOST FULFILLING work done between midnight and 3 a.m. A self-described “nocturnal person,” the Londoner devoted the solitude of his overnight shift to catching up on scientific papers, coming up with new ideas, and just plain thinking. ¶ Lately, however, even Hassabis’s wee hours are in demand. Much of his team is now based at Google’s home turf in Silicon Valley, where it’s eight hours earlier. As a consequence, video meetings for him often stretch into the new day. “I had a really good routine until about 18 months ago,” he says wistfully. His cherished quiet time was disrupted by the creation of Google DeepMind, often called GDM within the company. The organization is the result of the April…

THE TALENT 1. Bron Breakker 2. Gunther 3. Jade Cargill 4. Bianca Belair 5. Liv Morgan 6. Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson 7. Akam 8. JD McDonagh 9. Karrion Kross 10. Rezar 11. Finn Balor 12. Cody Rhodes 13. CM Punk 14. Seth Rollins 15. John Cena THE SUITS 16. Nick Khan, president, WWE 17. Paul “Triple H” Levesque, chief content officer, WWE 18. Vince McMahon, former CEO, WWE 19. Brandon Riegg, VP of unscripted and sports series, Netflix  20. Mark Shapiro, president, TKO Holdings (which owns WWE) 21. Bela Bajaria, chief content officer, Netflix 22. Ted Sarandos, CEO, Netflix 23. Ari Emanuel, CEO, Endeavor (which owns TKO Holdings)…

In 2009, Ryan Simonetti cofounded Convene, a global hospitality company that operates a growing portfolio of premium meeting, event, and flexible office locations in the U.S. and U.K., after asking “ What if you ran an office building like a hotel?” He thought that by offering premium hospitality, world-class amenities, beautifully designed spaces, and chef-driven food, you could create a better experience for building tenants and organizations hosting events. Here, Simonetti reveals why infusing hospitality into the workplace is key to business strategy, employee engagement, and creating meaningful moments. How does hospitality change the workplace, meeting, or conference experience? Hospitality is the emotional delivery of a service experience and what differentiates Convene from our competition. We excel at creating best-in-class experiences for our clients because we hire amazing people—often from…

These days, consumers want to know more about the brands they buy from—and not just what ingredients are in a product, but where those ingredients come from. And they want to know whether the company uses sustainable business practices and demonstrates care for people and the planet. Clarins, an independent global provider of beauty products, has demonstrated such care throughout its 70-year history. Last year, the company added a 115-hectares domain in southern France to the land it already owns—and, within a few years, expects to grow a third of its ingredients using regenerative farming techniques that preserve and restore natural soils. Decades ago, the company already pioneered the removal of plastic shopping bags in its stores and eliminated the use of microbeads in its products. Care also goes beyond…

In 2012, New York attorney Anthony T. DiPietro received a phone call that would change the trajectory of his professional life. During the first decade of his practice, DiPietro focused exclusively on litigating individual medical malpractice cases. But the caller—a female patient—shared a much different experience with a physician. She said her obstetrician had sexually assaulted her during a prenatal appointment—and asked DiPietro to help her bring these crimes to light. Since then, more than 1,000 women (and hundreds of men) have sought help from The DiPietro Law Firm. All shared the same basic story: They were assaulted during what were supposed to be routine medical appointments with their physicians. Some of the perpetrators were prominent in their fields—including Dr. Robert Hadden, a now convicted OB/GYN with ties to Columbia…

Earlier this year, Purdue University shared some big news: SK Hynix, a Korean semiconductor company, announced plans to invest nearly $4 billion to build a chipfabrication and R&D facility at Purdue Research Park in West Lafayette, Indiana. “This will be one of the largest production facilities of a leading technology company on any university campus in the U.S.,” says Mung Chiang, Purdue’s president. SK Hynix’s commitment was celebrated as the largest single economic development deal in Indiana’s history at the time. When the facility is built, it will be a key player in what’s called the “hard-tech corridor”—a 65-mile stretch between Purdue’s West Lafayette and Indianapolis campuses that is home to business incubators, entrepreneurship centers, and large-scale public-private partnerships in sectors such as aerospace, transportation, pharmaceutical, agriculture, and manufacturing. Purdue…

AMERICAN EXPRESS ARC’TERYX BEHR C-SPAN DISNEY DOORDASH HENNESSY HERMAN MILLER LILLY LOEWE MINNETONKA NFL QUINN TONY’S CHOCOLONELY UNIVERSAL PICTURES Arc'teryx The outdoor apparel brand gets creative to promote circular materials. THE SHORT DOCUMENTARY CONTINUUM CHRONICLES the backcountry mountain adventures of six pro skiers and snowboarders. Over its 22-minute run time, the film follows the powder-drenched exploits of Michelle Parker, Elena Hight, Spencer O’Brien, Lucy Sackbauer, Robin Van Gyn, and Tatum Monod. But though the pro athletes are the focus of the film, it does more than showcase alpine athleticism. It’s also about a tent. Made from 137 unrepairable jackets, it becomes their refuge as they ski and snowboard down snowcapped peaks, glide through backcountry forests, and even get dropped by helicopter onto glacier mountaintops. Part of a film series Arc’teryx…

TRENDS IN THE LABOR MARKET COME and go, tech changes, and industries disappear. But putting an electron on the grid without harming the planet is something that will never fully go out of fashion. Indeed, despite cooling corporate enthusiasm for electric vehicles, some struggling cleantech companies, and the largely successful counterassault on corporate ESG frameworks, the demand for workers who know how to generate, sell, and trade carbon-free electricity remains strong. At the beginning of 2024, one in 16 of all new jobs was in the clean energy industry, according to E2, a clean energy trade association, and the sector grew three times faster than the job market overall in 2023. In September, LinkedIn reported that the hiring rate for U.S. workers with climate-related skills was 80% above the national…