David Lidsky's Blog, page 198

Communal saunas are on the rise in the U.K. Here’s why

Around the U.K., the number of public sauna sites has jumped from 45 in 2023 to 147 so far this year, according to the British Sauna Society.

It may be winter and there may be a biting chill in the air, but the dozen men and women who have packed this small sauna room in east London are happily sweating away in their swimwear.

A Meta tell-all memoir is soaring on Amazon’s best-sellers rankings after legal efforts to quash it

‘Careless People,’ which contains unflattering portrayals of Meta executives, is getting a sales boost despite attempts to stop its promotion.

A new memoir that paints Facebook’s parent company and its executives in a negative light is rising on Amazon’s Best Sellers rankings faster than you can ask a Meta AI assistant to define “Streisand effect.”

Try these hybrid tools for thinking on paper

From reMarkable to Rocketbook, here’s how you can combine analog and digital tools to capture ideas, stay organized, and avoid distraction.

This article is republished with permission from Wonder Tools, a newsletter that helps you discover the most useful sites and apps. Subscribe here.

How to elevate midcareer workers’ potential

In this age of AI, here are three ways to ensure workers 45 and older are considered and upskilled.

Two powerful forces are dramatically reshaping the current world of work—artificial intelligence and an aging workforce. While we can see that the way we work is changing, we need to move quickly to effectively cope with both. 

What’s needed to create future-facing brands?

Mindset to disrupt the status quo is just one of the elements.

With the advent of generative AI and other advanced technologies like quantum computing, we are entering a period of massive innovation. It is likely we are about to see more future-facing products and services than we witnessed in the past 25 years. These companies will disrupt current industries and change the way we work, live, and play.

Beyond content syndication

The new channel mix marketers should embrace.

In B2B marketing, content syndication has long been a staple for reaching decision makers, filling the sales pipeline, and accelerating leads. But in an increasingly fragmented digital landscape, relying solely on a single channel strategy could mean missing out on other high-impact channels. Today’s buyers are consuming content in new and varying ways—they’re tuning in to podcasts during commutes, streaming their favorite shows via connected TV, and gaining business news from social media platforms. To engage prospects effectively, marketers need to test and expand their digital toolkit with a diversified channel mix that can be anchored in tried and true syndication but complemented with a mix to optimize results.

The choice of personal sovereignty

In the strife around world events, we’ve forgotten the most important principle: We alone control our life experience.

In today’s fast-paced world, it’s easy to feel that external circumstances dictate our existence. We attribute success and failure to factors beyond our control—the economy, the government, societal expectations, or unforeseen events. 

The pivot playbook: How product cuts saved Honest Company and Aloha

Aloha and Honest Company needed a reset, and that meant cutting products, rethinking strategy, and betting big on employees.

Within three months of becoming CEO of the Honest Company in 2023, Carla Vernón slashed 25% of its eco-friendly goods. That seems tame in comparison to what happened when Brad Charron joined Aloha as CEO in 2017: He killed off every product category.

EPA likely to further limit federal protections for wetlands

The announcement builds on a Supreme Court decision two years ago that removed federal protections for significant areas.

The Trump administration on Wednesday announced it will reconsider the reach of the nation’s bedrock clean water law and likely further limit the wetlands it covers, building on a Supreme Court decision two years ago that removed federal protections for significant areas.

Government study aims to understand ultra-processed foods’ impact on health

The study relies on 24/7 measurements of patients to investigate whether ultra-processed foods cause people to eat more calories and gain weight, potentially leading to obesity and other well-documented health problems.

Sam Srisatta, a 20-year-old Florida college student, spent a month living inside a government hospital here last fall, playing video games and allowing scientists to document every morsel of food that went into his mouth.