Innholdsfortegnelse for Summer 2025 i Fast Company

FAST COMPANY HAS BEEN COVERING A SEA CHANGE in American business over the last 15 years or so. Companies big and small have embraced the idea that they ought to be accountable not just to shareholders but to all stakeholders—including workers, customers, communities, suppliers, and the planet. Some refer to it as “stakeholder capitalism.” Others like “conscious capitalism.” And for those of you who prefer “woke capitalism,” hey, thanks for joining us. But then, within the last year or two, it all fell apart. Even before Trump retook the presidency, CEOs had begun shuttering DEI programs and climate initiatives, and clamming up about the “greater good” they were pursuing. What happened? How did a megatrend that transformed boardrooms and C-suites unravel so rapidly? That’s the big question we asked James…

IN HEALTHCARE, ACCESS IS EVERYTHING. BUT FOR MILLIONS OF PATIENTS recovering from orthopedic surgery or cardiac events, traditional rehabilitation may be out of reach. Insurance limitations, lack of time and nearby rehab facilities, and mobility challenges can all prevent patients from accessing care needed during a critical recovery window. ROMTech aims to close that gap with its in-home, data-powered rehabilitation device, PortableConnect. The device draws on predictive analytics and provides clinical oversight as patients rehab from their own home while staying connected to their physician. This approach to redefining accessible healthcare has earned ROMTech a spot on Fast Company’s list of the world’s Most Innovative Companies. Eliminating barriers PortableConnect is a motorized, stationary, clinician-controlled telerehabilitation therapy system that patients can use at home. It’s designed to help those who are…

LAST YEAR, MAJOR LEAGUE Baseball helped shine a spotlight on Birmingham, Alabama’s historic Rickwood Field, which for decades was the home of the Birmingham Black Barons, a Negro Leagues team where Willie Mays got his start. The event was designed to celebrate the ballpark’s storied past and honor the history of the Negro Leagues. The event’s centerpiece was a regular-season matchup between the St. Louis Cardinals and San Francisco Giants. Getting the relatively tiny—and not particularly modern—park ready for primetime took plenty of work. Enter BaAM Productions. “Creativity is at the heart of what we do,” says Annemarie Roe, president of BaAM, “[whether that’s] making an idea real or creating a concept that we can build on with our clients.” BaAM is no stranger to such high-profile events. In the…

THE NIGHT IS YOUNG WHEN BILT REWARDS FOUNDER AND CEO ANKUR Jain steps inside Manhattan’s ABC Cocina restaurant on a Monday in early spring. Vintage chandeliers glint overhead as the 35-year-old Jain, in jeans and sneakers, makes his way through the crowd, shaking hands, his winsome smile comfortably affixed. We’re here for a recurring comedy show that’s offered to members of Bilt, the loyalty program and payments platform for renters that Jain founded in 2019. As usual, the show sold out—through a combination of dollars and Bilt points—in minutes. As we find our seats, Jain disappears, briefly, reemerging with martinis. Over the next hour, a half dozen comedians take the stage to deliver their takes on politics, parenting, dating, and more. Jain joins in on the biggest laughs, slapping the…

“C apitalism as we know it is dead.” ¶ Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff made that proclamation at the TechCrunch Disrupt conference in 2019. “We’re going to see a new kind of capitalism,” he went on. “IF YOUR ORIENTATION IS JUST ABOUT MAKING money, I don’t think you’re going to hang out very long as a CEO or a founder of a company.” Benioff’s remarks were striking, but not shocking. He was merely articulating what had become the conventional wisdom among business leaders in that moment. After decades of serving shareholders alone, CEOs were now embracing the idea that they should also be concerned about stakeholders—employees, customers, suppliers, local communities, and even the planet. This notion of “business for good” had become mainstream. Silicon Valley giants like Google and Facebook rose…

COMPUTING REVOLUTIONS ARE SURPRISINGLY RARE. DESPITE EXTRAORDINARY TECHNOLOGICAL PROGRESS FROM THE FIRST GENERAL-PURPOSE DIGITAL COMPUTER— 1945’S ENIAC—TO THE SMARTPHONE IN YOUR POCKET, BOTH MACHINES WORK THE SAME FUNDAMENTAL WAY: BY BOILING DOWN EVERY TASK INTO A SIMPLE MATHEMATICAL SYSTEM OF ONES AND ZEROS. FOR DECADES, SO DID EVERY OTHER COMPUTING DEVICE ON THE PLANET. Then there are quantum computers—the first ground-up reimagining of how computing works since it was invented. Quantum is not about processing ones and zeros faster. Instead, it runs on qubits—more on those later—and embraces advanced physics to take computation places it’s never been before. The results could one day have a profound impact on medicine, energy, finance, and beyond—maybe, perhaps not soon, and only if the sector’s greatest expectations play out. The field’s origins trace to…

Liz Shuler has a tough job. It’s not just tough to do. It’s tough even to define. AS THE PRESIDENT OF THE AFL-CIO, a 70-year-old federation of 63 national and international unions representing more than 15 million workers, she is the leader of the American labor movement. But “labor” is not a monolith. She represents NFL players, government workers, Hollywood writers, hotel janitors. Shuler, who became the first woman to run the AFLCIO when she was elected in 2021, doesn’t negotiate pay rates or mediate disputes between workers and management. Her mandate is much broader: Grow the ranks of unionized workers across industries, lobby policymakers to pass pro-worker guidelines and remove barriers to unionizing, make the labor movement more inclusive to all people, and stand up to powerful anti-union forces…

MERE WEEKS INTO HIS NEW ROLE as CEO of Starbucks, Brian Niccol joined an earnings call with investors and trumpeted an iconic brand. But it wasn’t Starbucks. “Bringing the Sharpies back to our baristas,” Niccol declared last October, will “give them the opportunity to put that additional human touch on every coffee experience” by writing each customer’s name or an inspiring note on their cup. “We’re tracking down the Sharpies,” Niccol later told CNBC, estimating the company would need about 200,000 of them. The comments drew attention-Starbucks even followed up with a TV ad featuring baristas jotting on cups—but in a way, they revealed more about Sharpie than they did about the coffee giant. Sharpie defines a category. It’s simultaneously universal and personal, instantly recognizable, and ubiquitous. It’s such a…

CARDIOVASCULAR DISEASE affects 315 million people globally and is the world’s leading cause of death. For the past quartercentury, it has been standard practice for heart surgeons to treat this by inserting small, mesh tubes called stents to widen or unblock patients’ coronary arteries to restore blood flow. Unfortunately, many of those patients experienced additional issues—from blood clots to heart attacks—within years, sometimes months, of the procedure. That’s where DynamX bioadaptor, a new vascular technology from Elixir Medical, comes in. Like traditional stents, the bioadaptor is minimally invasive and expands arteries to promote blood flow, but its unique design also allows it to restore arteries’ natural defense mechanisms, helping patients avoid life-threatening events or costly and dangerous repeat procedures. The technology’s promise to allow cardiac patients to heal more completely…

IF YOU’VE SPENT ANY TIME ON THE KIDS’ BIRTHDAY PARTY circuit in the past few years, you’ve likely logged more than one Saturday at a trampoline park amid packs of children freed from the tyranny of indoor voices. Parents of yore in search of movement-focused venues had to settle for Chuck E. Cheese or the ball pit at McDonald’s. Today, chains like Sky Zone, Altitude, and Urban Air are competing to earn the loyalties of energetic children everywhere. With a mix of acrobatics, rock climbing, and foam pits, these venues prioritize exercise over technology—and their recent success challenges common assumptions about modern parents’ tolerance for risk, if only for the length of a children’s party. Or perhaps they’re just thrilled by the absence of smartphones. “We hear a lot from…

REWARDS CREDIT CARDS American Express opened the door for rewards cards three decades ago. Today, legions of perk-promising cards compete for a place in shoppers’ wallets, from Chase Sapphire Reserve and Capital One’s Venture X to airline and hotel co-branded ones. And card-issuing platforms like Marqeta now help companies offer even more niche cards. HOUSING PAYMENTS A handful of companies offer payment-processing services to property owners, but none have rewards programs at Bilt’s scale. Meanwhile, housing-focused rewards startups have been gaining popularity, including Mesa, a credit card that grants points for monthly mortgage payments, and Piñata, which offers rewards to more than a million renters nationwide, with a focus on mid-market properties. MULTI-BUSINESS LOYALTY PROGRAMS Every neighborhood coffee shop has a rewards program. The harder trick is tying these programs…

1973 Climbing activist Yvon Chouinard starts a company called Patagonia that considers the environmental toll of its products. 1982 1982 Paul Newman cofounds a salad dressing company called Newman’s Own. When it comes to profit, he decides: “Let’s give it all away to those who need it.” 1985 Ben & Jerry’s begins diverting ice cream proceeds to local community services. 1991 Starbucks offers all employees shares of the company, known as Bean Stock. 1999 Stanford’s business school opens its Center for Social Innovation. 2003 Tesla launches. Elon Musk becomes CEO in 2008, establishing electric vehicles as highdesign, aspirational objects. 2006 An Inconvenient Truth hits theaters, raising public consciousness about the connection between individual behavior and global warming. B Lab is founded by Stanford grads wanting “to make business a force…

1. PULSE TUBE COOLERS As signals move toward the computer’s core, things get chillier. Here begins the first stage of cooling, via the thermodynamic heat transfer of helium gas, to 4 Kelvin. 2. THERMAL SHIELDS These layered plates act as heat blockers, isolating each successive, increasingly cold layer from external heat. 3. COAXIAL CABLES These lines carry microwave pulses down to read the quantum chip’s amplified output then back out. Their gold plating helps reduce energy loss. 4. MIXING CHAMBER The mingling of two helium isotopes—gases in the atmosphere but liquids here—provides the final blast of cooling power, bringing the temperature of the chip to 15 millikelvin. 5. QUANTUM AMPLIFIERS These components amplify the chip’s weak quantum signals of its qubits’ states while minimizing noise. 6. QUANTUM PROCESSOR About the…

THE EXCLUSIVE THREE-DAY EVENT brought together a diverse array of innovators and leaders across various industries who engaged in insightful discussions, interactive experiences, and networking opportunities exploring the future of business, technology. and creativity. The Fast Company Grill featured a record number of partners including presenting sponsor Canva, as well as Purdue University, Audible, Texas A&M University, Lumen Technologies, and more. Among the featured speakers who took to the stage were executive producer and actress Carey Mulligan; bestselling author Malcolm Gladwell; award-winning writer. producer, and director Kenya Barris; director and producer Paul Feig; actor and producer Joe Manganiello: The Honest Company CEO Carla Vernón; Mozi cofounder Ev Williams; Inventor Dean Kamen; "Me Too Movement" founder, Tarana Burke; and many more. Happy hours at The Fast Company Grill showcased live musical…

GEORGE ARISON IS TELLING ME ABOUT A HOOKUP. Arison, the 47-year-old CEO of the LGBTQ+ dating app and social network Grindr, recounts a story about an encounter with a man who ranked low in physical chemistry—“it was in my bottom quartile of hookups,” he says, as if reviewing a spreadsheet of them—but high in intellectual compatibility. That bottom-quartile hookup is now a good friend of his. To Arison, the story illustrates how big relationships can grow from the random connections Grindr facilitates. And if Grindr’s short time as a public company is any indication, solid financials can too. It’s been a rough stretch for dating apps. Match Group, which owns Tinder and Hinge, among others, commands roughly 42% of the dating services industry, according to market research firm IBISWorld. But…

DOLORES BALLESTEROS, A MEXICO-BASED MOTHER OF TWO, WAS getting desperate. Her 6-year-old son kept hitting his brother, age 3, and seemed angry at her all the time. No matter what she did, she couldn’t get through to him. At her lowest moments, she says, “I really thought he was acting like a psychopath.” Last Mother’s Day, she asked her husband for outside help: a subscription to the Good Inside parenting app and its AI chatbot. Ballesteros began using the chatbot to coach her through her son’s temper tantrums in real time. It encouraged her to ask him about his feelings and embrace the most generous interpretation of his actions. “That was really good for my relationship with him,” she says. It also reminded her to set aside time for herself.…

DESIGN JOBS OVERALL GENERATIVE AI—AND THE VELOCITY of its evolution—is forcing every breed of designer to contemplate a future without them. Will Midjourney and Dall-E eliminate the need for graphic designers? Will Claude and Gemini obviate the UX lead? What happens to motion artists in a world where Sora supposedly becomes the newest auteur? We’re no sages. And we’re certainly not clairvoyant. But we can comfortably say that even if an AI-driven design industry apocalypse is coming, it hasn’t arrived yet. Our second annual report on the state of the design industry draws from a dataset of 176,000 listings we’ve gathered on Google for Jobs (which consolidates hiring posts from across the internet, including Indeed, LinkedIn, and regional job boards) from October 2023 to February 2025. They span several design…

ON MONDAY MORNING, JANUARY 29, 2024, CHRISTINA Vittas posted a nine-word tweet: “Elmo is just checking in! How is everybody doing?” Apparently, not so great. Vittas had been managing the social accounts for the beloved Sesame Street superstar since the end of 2020. She hadn’t anticipated that Elmo’s friendly question would tap into a deep vein of national angst: a looming presidential election, inflation, conflicts in Gaza and Ukraine. CHRISTINA VITTAS Social media manager AARON BISMAN Senior vice president of marketing ROSEMARIE TRUGLIO Senior vice president of curriculum and content ELMO Three-and-a-half-year-old furry monster Christina Vittas I thought, Strategically, when is the best time for Elmo to post this? Monday morning, right? People are getting back in. “How are we doing?” is a question that a friend would ask. I…