David Lidsky's Blog, page 4

New York businesses are leasing more office space than they have in nearly a decade

During the first nine months of 2025, Manhattan businesses leased 23.2 million square feet of office space, the most since 2006.

Office work is officially back from the dead—if New York is any indication, that is. In Manhattan, businesses are leasing more office space than they have in close to a decade, in a sign that the return-to-office movement is likely to stick around. 

The pirate playbook for innovating in the AI age

These lessons from Pixar, YouTube, and Google can help any big organization move as fast as the latest AI-first upstart.

When Steve Jobs wanted to motivate his Mac team at Apple, he didn’t give them corporate pep talks or send them to management retreats. Instead, he told them they were “pirates” fighting against the “navy.” The message was clear: stay scrappy, stay rebellious, and don’t let the corporate machine slow you down.

4 strategies introverts can use to prevent burnout

Here’s how introverts can build a strong personal brand both online and offline and still stay sane.

Have you ever felt like your brain was one of those viral egg experiments, cracked open and sizzling on a bare sidewalk that was truly, much too hot? You may have been experiencing signs of burnout (and dehydration). As an introverted professional, I’ve been there as well, many times in my career. Over the years, I’ve developed healthy reflective coping methods to recharge my batteries and prevent (or at least combat) that intense feeling of overwhelm. 

Why environmental resilience is the future of home design

The Los Angeles fires taught us important lessons about how to build back better.

In January 2025, Los Angeles suffered an unspeakable wildfire tragedy, destroying at least 17,000 structures, and with tens of thousands of people forced out of their homes. Almost immediately, government officials declared a state of emergency and laid out a path to rebuild “like for like.” However, in the aftermath of such disasters when rebuilding from the ground up, is “like for like” the best way to proceed? These disasters provide an opportunity to future-proof our neighborhoods for the next generation of environmental challenges. In face of seemingly endless, floods, fires, rising temperatures, and energy crises, we must take the time to rethink our way forward.

The 3 personalities of AI adoption

Provide strategic context and human compassion for AI changes to improve success.

“We are fully committed to AI adoption,” the CEO told me, proud of the company’s recent employee training initiatives.

Don’t believe the hype about college mayhem

Data shows beyond doubt that the kids are alright.

It’s been a long, hot summer for America’s universities. Columbia, accused by the Trump administration of violating Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, settled with the federal government for a whopping $200 million, while Harvard is struggling to defend itself against allegations that it unduly favored some students based on ethnicity, in violation of the prohibition to consider race in college applications. Similar cases abound, making it seem as if our institutions of higher education are little more than heated ideological battlegrounds, offering students an uncertain future and therefore, considering the ever-rising price of tuition, a risky bet.

Why Grindr’s largest shareholders want to take the company private

The hookup app’s days as a publicly traded company could be numbered.

Grindr’s days as a public company could be numbered.  

Genomic newborn screening delivers early answers

Adding genomic sequencing to the standard newborn screening heel-prick test is changing how we diagnose kids with genetic diseases.

If you have ever welcomed a new baby into the world, you know the mix of hope and uncertainty that comes with those first days. For decades, newborn screening has been a quiet triumph of public health, catching rare but serious conditions before symptoms appear and giving families a head start on care. Now, genomic newborn screening, which includes whole genome sequencing, is poised to take this life-saving work further by screening for hundreds of genetic conditions at birth and changing the standard of care.

Can pharma trust the new wave of agentic AI?

What needs to happen for drug discovery and development to move forward with this technology

We don’t fully understand human biology. Not proteins, or cells or tissues—and certainly not how they all interact in the dynamic systems that make up our body.

Why Walmart will track its merchandise with millions of sensors starting this year

The retail giant is deploying ambient sensors on pallets to gather supply chain data from its massive network, which will feed its AI systems.

Walmart will be putting millions of sensors on its pallets across its supply chain, in a move that technology partner Wiliot is calling “the first large-scale deployment of ambient Internet of Things (IoT)” sensors in the retail industry.