Fast Company Podcasts look back on 2023
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I'm Casey Finey, host of Creative Control. I'm Kathleen Davis, host of The New Way We Work. I'm Yasmin Gagne, host of Most Innovative Companies.

And I'm Josh Christensen, executive producer of Fast Company Podcasts and co-host of Most Innovative Companies. And you are listening to Fast Company's 2023 in Review, a special end-of-year episode with each of our podcast hosts.

Today, we're going to talk about some of the biggest stories of the year from Fast Company, highlights from each of our podcasts, and some New Year's resolutions. But first, I want to start by asking, how was your 2023, everyone? Kate, let's start with you.

I feel like every year you ask this and every year I probably give the same answer, which is as best as to be expected. Like, really? I mean, I can't complain. You could. You're just choosing not to. And we thank you for that. Actually, I always say I always can complain, but I will choose not to. You're right. Fair enough. Yaz, what about you? High highs and low lows. I got married, which was sick. Hey. Hey. Hey.

Oh, so sick. I was going to say that. Devoting my love to someone. I know what you meant, but it's kind of like when it comes to marriage, it's like, did it make you sick? Yeah. Well, I got married, which was sick. And then I like actually. I assume. Yeah. And then things sort of went like swiftly downhill for me because then I like actually got sick. Wow. So that's been my 2023. Josh, how was your year?

Pretty great, actually. You know? Overall, pretty good. I mean, you know, everyone has ups and downs in their years. Everything's stressful, but I'm trying to practice, and we'll get to this more in our New Year's resolutions, more gratitude and more positivity because I'm a very lucky person overall. And everything was great. We launched a new podcast, I guess, and I host six months ago, so that was a good thing. Never heard of it. Your year...

It's true, actually. Making the podcast has been really fun. So work-wise, this year has been great. Your year can't be that good because your in-laws moved to the same apartment building as you. Yeah, that's true. That's another thing. I did not realize that. Oh, God. Listen, there is a whole saga with my in-laws in there. You know what? I'm entering the sandwich generation. I'm entering my caretaker era, as the kids would say. Are the kids saying that? Yeah.

No, they're not because their parents are still healthy. No, my in-laws are, you know, we move them out of their apartment on the Upper West Side into my apartment building in Upper Manhattan. So they're closer to us and, you know, they're getting on in age and, you know, they need some care. And so actually it's my in-laws are close to me, which is nerve wracking, but also they're closer to me. So there's some peace of mind for my wife and I. And that's a good thing. Again, practicing gratitude.

But for some lack of gratitude, Casey, how was your year? Wow. What is that supposed to mean? I'm just assuming. Yeah, that's rude. What does that mean about me? Listen, actually, my year was actually pretty good. Thank you so very much. God. No, it's been an interesting year because I can't remember if...

uh and that's a theme for this year and all years is just not remembering what you did last year but um i believe on one of these year-end uh podcasts i made a comment about this this this epiphany that i had like a maybe like two birthdays ago where i told myself i want to be more assertive in going after the thing and going after things that i want because throughout my career a lot of

amazing things have just happened to me and I work very hard but it kind of feels like luck has been on my side in many ways you're saying your success is down to hard work and a little bit of luck hey well kind of but then it's like I feel I I me just like I lost all this wake from hard work and dedication and not an injection once a week no here's the thing because like for in my head I'm thinking that yeah I know I work hard but then I'm very self-deprecating shocking uh

And I usually think, oh, it's just luck. Oh, it's just that. And so for me, I thought like, what would happen if I actually, instead of waiting for things to happen to me, I go after something that I want. And I did that with my new role as executive director of editorial programming. Like when our editor in chief, Brendan, made the position available, I went from thinking, I know I can do this, I want to do this. And so I kind of got out of my way and threw my hat in the ring 'cause he didn't approach me for the job. I went to him with it.

And then here I am in this position, which... Voila. So you are like a case study in everything we talk about on The New Way We Work and in work life. Like one, oh, it's just down to luck. That's how I got everything I got. Classic imposter syndrome, like classic downplaying of your...

and confidence and skills. And then you decided to lean in. But you do not hear mediocre white men being like, I only got here because of luck. Like, no, they got there, you know. Oh, no, I fully acknowledge I only got to where I am because of luck. I was just going to say, Josh was like, oh, yeah, this year's been lovely. Oh, oh, oh.

Let's ask the mediocre white man on the podcast. But then the other thing that's like classic that we cover is the like you don't get what you don't ask for. Like I and I did that for so long, too, of like, I'll just wait for them to ask me. I'll just wait. And it's like, you know, and then when you got that position, I will tell you that everybody at Fast Company was like, oh, my God, he's perfect for it. Like everybody was thinking it, but like it wasn't going to happen until you like helped make it happen.

I appreciate that. And just, I mean, this, it just reminds me of that meme of Big Bird sitting at a table of executives. And it's like, this is my imposter syndrome. And I feel like that's how I feel. That's how I felt my whole career. But yeah, so the 2023 was good. I feel like this was, this kind of was kind of like a, like a jumpstart to me continuing to go after the things that I want.

But for our podcast, I mean, it's been a fantastic year. So Kate, what are some of your favorite moments from 2023 on The New Way We Work? I mean, honestly, when I first started putting my favorite moments together, it was so long that Josh cut it in half. But there was a lot.

But yes, we started the year off talking to Jessica Gross, who I love. She's a New York Times opinion writer. She had this great book called Screaming on the Inside, which is a great title, The Unsustainability of American Motherhood. And we talked a lot about that. But we also talked about this concept that

like she gave a name to that I was like, yes, called The Hour Between Babe and Hag, which is like, right? It's like the... What is that now? The Hour Between... We'll get into it. Yes, The Hour Between Babe and Hag is like the brief window of a woman's career where she is taken seriously at work. Wow. I don't know what you're talking about. I'm going to be a babe forever. Yeah, your current...

You're in your full babe phase and I'm entering what I like to call the power crone phase. We do have a clip from Jessica Gross that I'm going to play right now.

So we're screwed. Yep. We're too late. Yep, I'm 41. So yeah, I was like, ooh, I'm in the like 15, 90 seconds before like the doomsday clock. I'm like 90 seconds before age discrimination. Yeah. Right. I mean, they might as well just push me out on the ice floe already. It's too late for me at 40.

I want to come back to Power Crone. I have to say, I wish I came up with that. I definitely read it somewhere. I really wish I coined that, but I did not. As funny as that is, please love yourself more. I think Power Crone is loving yourself. It's the crone that I'm hung up on.

But no, but... Crone's a great word. It is. But that, I mean, I think crone's a nicer word than hag. But, I mean, it really does... What she was getting at, and she wrote a really thoughtful piece about it, is that, yeah, women are... When they're too young, they're not taken seriously at work. We actually did a follow-up article

episode later in the season where we talk to two women on either kind of side of that when you're too old and you're not taken seriously or you know you you're viewed as too old you're too young you're not taken seriously and there's this like really brief window in your 30s usually where you're you can do all of your career things but p.s hope that doesn't collide with like starting a family

Okay. And what else did you get into this year? Power crone extraordinaire. Yes. Well, so we talked a lot about the future of hiring this year on the show. And we had a great episode in the fall with LaFawn Davis, who has been on the show before. She's from Indeed. She talked about the repeal of affirmative action and kind of the opportunity that it opens up for the future of DEI, both the challenges and the opportunities that it opens up.

I actually don't have any doubt that companies will be next. Public companies first, then private companies. In order to stop this ever-changing space and world where people just want it to be

more equitable. The laws that we have in place around equality are so far off. Equality is like the end state. We are all equal as humans, but our societal norms dictate that we're not.

And I feel like that is what the political landscape is going after now with the anti-wokeness. Anything that looks like it's providing opportunities to those who haven't had it, there's going to be an attack. And so I think companies have to like, no, we're standing strong because we're actually committed to having a more equitable workforce and an equitable society.

LaFawn is one of my favorite guests that we've had her on what three, four times on the new way we work at this point. And she always comes on with like such a great mix of like very practical. This is where we are. This is what's happening. This is why it sucks. This is what we can do. But then like great optimism for the future and the work that she's not just slacking.

saying she thinks will happen is actively working towards making that happen in her capacity as a leader. Totally. And that's something that's like whenever I talk to people in the DEI space, I always feel so discouraged and they're always so optimistic and then they end up giving me hope that it's like,

actually we can move in the right direction. And she was talking there about a lot of legislation and threats that have happened since the repeal of affirmative action. And then like how companies can fight back. And she also talked really interestingly about like different tactics, you know, since she works at Indeed, different tactics that employers are using to open up their talent pool, getting rid of that BS pipeline excuse. One that I really liked that she talked about and we've covered a couple of times on the show is

Removing degree requirements, which was another. Our colleague Christopher Zara came on the show to talk about his book Uneducated, about not having a college degree in a professional world. She mentioned that a lot as another way to kind of open up the talent pool in the wake of affirmative action being repealed. But yeah, she's a great guest. Well, something that's probably less hopeful is maybe the biggest story of the year, which is AI. And you had a number of conversations this past year, as we all have,

in regards to that particularly, how it's going to affect work life. Yeah, that's like the biggest story for Fast Company this year, I feel like.

And we covered it on a lot of different angles on The New Way We Work. We had two episodes in March, one just kind of like how AI will change our jobs. I had a great one with Dr. Tomas Chamaro-Premizik, who's been on the show also a few times. He's really fantastic. And he talked about what kind of the human's place in the AI future of work is and kind of what skills AI can't replicate in knowledge work. ♪

Humans will always crave human affection, human understanding. And even though, again, Chuck GPT has given impressive signs of faking empathy, because if you upset it or you say your answer was rubbish, you said, oh, I'm sorry that you didn't like it. But it doesn't really feel sorry in the way a human can. So what's going to be with us for a while is deficits around emotional connectedness.

and emotional intelligence. So ironically, even though we're going to be in a very geeky age where data and machines are going to play an even more important part of our lives and jobs,

That actually means that the value that humans will have in our USP or differentiating angle will be to develop and cultivate our emotional intelligence, our social skills, and our ability to feel what others feel and connect with them on a humane degree. ♪

So yeah, I mean, that sounds like a, you've had a very productive year at the new way we work. But I'd love to switch gears. I know. Thank you. You got it. If you know, you know. I told you you're not mediocre, Josh. Slightly above it. But I want to switch gears a little bit and talk about our newest podcast, the most innovative companies podcast that Josh, you and Yaz started this past year in May. So what's

What were some of your favorite moments from this brand new podcast? This bouncing bundle of joy of a podcast. We met Issa Rae. You talked about how a Black person could never pitch something like Seinfeld, like a show about nothing. And I'm curious whether you think the environment or expectation for Black creators has changed or not really. I think it's regressed. Really? A thousand percent post-strike. They're going to do less shows and...

in that way where we could appeal to niche audiences before. Like, I don't think that that'll be the case. So I stand by that statement now because everything has to be super high concept that's going to be made. I mean, I don't know if I as a writer-creator will be able to make stuff that's a bit more grounded and low concept, but time will tell. Like, I'm still going to write things that speak to me. She came on the show to pitch her Prosecco brand and it got a lot deeper. Yeah.

It is delicious Prosecco. Hashtag not sponsored. It is good, yeah. But I love the fact that Easton and I have the same laugh. That was not even planned at all. I love the like, a Black person could never pitch a show about nothing. Like, ooh. Yeah. Well, she said that in a previous interview. Was that with you, Casey? Yeah.

Maybe. I haven't talked to her in a very long time. That's why I was so jealous when you were like, oh yeah, I'm talking to Issa today. I was just like, oh my God. Because obviously, you know, love her as a creative, but she is so insightful about everything that she does. And I feel like she's created a really interesting blueprint of making sure that she...

is taking on projects and starting endeavors that really mean something not only to her but to the community at large like she's very aware of the weight that her work carries so yeah it was a really good interview so snaps to you snaps to you yes love that love that she's also just super cool i know she's got so much riz i know yeah it's a word of the year god

I need the dictionary folks to stay off TikTok. But what else? Which is efficiently calling, I'm sorry, this is a digression, saying being the Oxford word of the year is the epitome of not having Riz. You know what I mean? That's not Riz. Wow. We've got Boomer Energy with Josh and a Power Crone with Kate. Yaz. What else did you talk about? Boomer, I am 33 years old. You can still have Boomer Energy. You can still have Boomer Energy. Oh.

Boomer Kennergy. I'm sorry. It's 2023. This is the word white men are using now. Yes, please pivot. Please pivot away from this. Please tell us more about the MIC podcast. I need to. Yeah, I know. I feel like I need to define my brand more. That's what I've learned. But a great moment actually from this year was our interview with Jens Greed. He's the CEO of Skims. And we also loved interviewing his wife separately, who's the CEO of Good American and chief product officer of Skims.

I actually, this is no lie, I had a dream last night that I was crashing at their pool house with their kids. That's pretty cool. Mega weird, but truly two of my favorite people to talk to. We did. We have another clip here of the interview with Jens with kind of one of my favorite moments or favorite quotes from the year.

In my view, Kim Kardashian is the Michael Jordan of the influencer generation. Going back a couple of decades, about 20% of American teens wanted to be a professional athlete. Today, 20% of American teenagers wants to be a creator. It's pretty obvious that she has been a huge part in shaping that culture over the past decade and a half. I don't think he's wrong.

Not wrong, but as someone who covers the creator economy, hair flip, I would say that it's not wrong. She, I think Kim Kardashian, from a celebrity influencer standpoint of sort of bridging that gap between, because for the longest time celebrities and still, I mean, not anymore really, but celebrities were looking down upon like being present online and doing all these types of things. And so, yeah, she definitely was that bridge, but

She came into it with star power. So for me, it's like I, you know, I would like add that little caveat. Like kind of, but I do think social media has been so integral to almost building that star power as well. That like, it's like,

almost a chicken and egg situation, if that makes sense. No, truly. And yeah, I just think about all the creators that I have interviewed that have never had a platform as big as she had, even going into it, just being a Kardashian, being part of this legendary family. And yeah, there's plenty of influencers that have a name or the child of a billionaire or something like that. But

I do think that's a really interesting area to explore. And he's not wrong. You know, I was like, oh yeah, I would give that to her. The Michael Jordan of influencers. Yeah. You know, because she's been there for so long. Well, he was comparing launching Skims to Michael Jordan launching Air Jordan. And the fact that that brand is so iconic. And even though Michael Jordan is not playing basketball professionally anymore, that association lives on. Other people can be the face of Air Jordan. Like the brand stands on its own. And that's kind of what he was talking about with Skims, where it's like,

She quit the influencer game. It's also an interesting company as well. This is kind of adjacent to this, is that Skims has built a really successful brand doing something that is incredibly hard to do, which is displacing a...

household name in Spanx that is synonymous with shapewear in the way that Kleenex is synonymous with tissue. Skims is kind of surpassed Spanx. Like people use Skims as a synonymous. I'm wearing Skims. Yeah. Or is at least getting to that angle where it's at least move Spanx off of from like catch all to product name again. It's interesting. That's difficult to do in branding and that's to the

and influencer game of Kim Kardashian, really. Does anyone know what Skims originally was called? No. That's a fun trivia. No. Guys, this... Clearly none of you listen to most innovative companies, which sucks. Yeah.

because we actually brought that up in the interview. It was originally called Kimono. Jens talked about how and why that was problematic and also went into how the brand sort of overcame that. Yeah. I remember because I wrote a piece for Fast Company on that, and I was just like, oh, Lord, because people already have... It was bad. Kim is a very divisive figure. At the time, it was like, is this brand dead in the water? Yeah, exactly. And look at them now. I mean...

This is a topic for another time, but I think the concept of shapewear is problematic. Well, you know what? It is and it isn't. And I feel the same way about Kim Kardashian, where it's like she promotes super unrealistic body standards on one hand. On the other hand, Skims has like one of the most extensive size ranges out there and caters to people with like a lot of different skin colors. I think it's like the modern day corset, basically. And it

feels you know do you think so because I kind of feel like I look at shapewear I kind of disagree with that actually I wonder if shapewear is more so just about getting sort of just like kind of smoothing things out and not necessarily like tucking things in because like they make shapewear for men to where if like you know you want to you want to just sort of it's never going to like snatch you in all the way I've worn shapewear yeah yeah it's like I do too sometimes you just want a little like smooth

I will stand alone on this, but I'm not a fan. Yeah, I mean, maybe it's not about sucking yourself in. Maybe it's about not having like VPL. You know what I mean? Because they sell so many different

product you know what I mean like I get it there's two sides of every conversation about like fashion or how things are is that there is like the pressure that like this is how people should look or we're trying to achieve different standards but the other side of that is providing products that make people feel good in their skin and in their bodies and in their clothes which is another thing entirely which comes back to how are you marketing it how are you talking about

this? And that's an open question, certainly. And has Skims always towed that line correctly? I don't know. I don't have the answer to that. But it is an open conversation. But it does, to go back to this idea of influencers and

sports athletes and the evolution of the creator economy. You, Casey, had some really interesting moments this past year. And one that I know you have because it's in our script here is about a company that has been in the news in the past few days.

but you did a really interesting interview in the past week. You had to bring this up, Josh. Oh, I had to bring it up. I had to bring it up. But Casey, I'll let you take it away. This is your moment to shine. Well, no, first of all, I love the fact that I never thought in 2023 we'd have a Skims debate, and I love it. A Shakespeare debate.

But yeah, I mean, this kind of ties into a little bit of what Kate was talking about, just in terms of like AI, and it's been top of mind for, you know, everybody in every industry. And the creator economy is certainly part of that because, you know, last June, I spoke with Cameo co-founder and CEO, Stephen Galanis, and he was talking about how the platform is changing.

incorporating AI, which they do with the Cameo Kids because they have, you know, licensing agreements with like Sesame Street to where you can order a Cameo from a Cookie Monster or someone and it's AI generated. And I actually ordered one for a friend of mine who's obsessed with Cookie Monster. So she'll be getting that. I thought you were about to reveal that you ordered one for me and from Cookie Monster because you know...

Listen, I know. And now I will reveal it on the show. Can you imagine? Yeah. What does it cost? $25, right? Exactly that. I nearly ordered a cameo recently of a certain someone. The less said about that, the better. I mean, it's not as if I've, who knows? One could be on the way. But he was also talking about getting into using AI for celebrities, possibly.

I believe people like Drake are themselves going to be IP. And I would not be surprised if you start to see people like that, that talent, that caliber of talent, licensing themselves out, right, to a trusted AI provider. And, you know, there will be chatbots that are

People like Drake or AI version of Cameo or Drake can wish you happy birthday on demand, but he doesn't have to go do any work. So again, this is where I think it's going to be really interesting to see how those lines get drawn. And so much of the AI stuff that we've seen have been companies like not...

getting permission to use, like we all saw those Drake AI music videos, like they didn't have Drake's permission and then they get taken down. But some company, they will get the talent to sign on and they will go build these tools. And not every talent's going to do it, but some are going to say yes, right? And that's going to be really interesting to see how that evolves. So will that company be Cameo? Yeah.

The same technology that we use for Cameo Kids is exactly the... We're not out there pumping our chest to talk about AI that we're doing, but it's the same exact technology that we're using for Cameo Kids to bring the animated characters to life in a scalable way. That could be used for people that would love to offer another SKU, maybe a cheaper SKU that gets 100% fulfillment and can be just as dependable as getting a GIF on the internet.

It's worth noting a couple things here. One, everyone's pivoting to AI. Also, I don't really think getting an AI clip is the same or as cool. I agree. But two, didn't Cameo have a shit ton of layoffs? They did. They did.

Is this a Hail Mary for them? In a way, yeah. How many I need to look up? Oh, they're rolling in it now. They've got that George Santos money coming in. Oh, Jesus. I'm going to stop medging, I swear to God. Don't do that. Cameo now has fewer than 50 employees, a major shift from the nearly 400 employees

they had when the business was booming. So yeah, they need to figure out their strategy. And obviously pivoting to AI is probably also a way of attracting investors. But I think I agree because I kind of feel like what would you want an AI generated clip from Drake knowing good and well that you can make it yourself. Honestly, you can get it.

Drake to do that. It's what you said, yes, it's like the opposite of what cameo is supposed to be. It was kind of contradictory because that's what they said in that whole interview is that like Stephen Gillas was talking about like cameo is all about authenticity. Authenticity. Well, what's less authentic?

than an AI-generated person. Yeah, it's interesting because I know that I'm fascinated by this space of, particularly when we're talking about celebrities that are deceased. Because I think, like you mentioned, Drake, but then also I think in that interview, he brought up what would it be like to get a cameo from Elvis or something like that. And we've seen a lot of these celebrities' estates of these big names who have passed.

It's a recent article, actually, that Bert Helm wrote about the fact that KISS is stopping touring but is being replaced by AI Holograms. Oh, they're Holograms, yeah. And the Beatles releasing a song of, like, yeah. And that's what I find interesting, because there was a boom in the Hologram concerts, and I did a piece about Bass Hologram. They're the ones behind the Roy Orbison one, Maria Callas, Whitney Houston. And then now we're seeing AI kind of step in in this as well, because Warner Music just announced in November that

Like there's going to be an Edith Piaf like animated biopic of her, which is going to be using her voice. So we're definitely in this era of how these, particularly these celebrities of States, like how are you going to bring them back to life? And that opens up a whole different conversation. But I think, yes, to get back to your point, I fully agree that, you know, for a platform like Cameo, the whole basis of it was these personalized messages from these big names that,

you lose that if it's AI generated. So it's fascinating. It's definitely something. And we talked about Cameo being in the news lately, which that's another thing they need to figure out, how not to be a machine for propaganda, which they've been in that position before anyway. So anyway, but kind of on another corner of the creator economy, I also...

this past year did a fantastic interview with uh samara joy who is a two-time grammy award-winning artist and when i interviewed her i think it was like maybe two weeks before the grammys a couple weeks before the grammys and of course she was being super humble super i'm not gonna win but when i first saw her on tiktok where she actually got her big break on facebook of all places but

I first noticed her on TikTok and I was like, oh my God, like that. I, people always try to get your attention, be like, stop scrolling and watch this video. She didn't have to do anything, but like crack open that mouth of hers and that voice coming out. So yeah, it's, I, I love what part of what I like, why I love doing what I do is like when, you know, you get to talk to people that you are genuinely a fan of sometimes. And I just want to play a quick clip of this conversation.

January is like maybe we should record a new record. I've already been like integrating some new songs into my set, like into the show. Some from the first record, but some not just to try stuff out. And so March of 2022, we recorded the second album in like two days. In two days. In two days.

In two days. I think I did like seven of the songs in one day and like another five in the next day. Okay. See, what we're not about to do is a whole like, oh my God, I don't know if I'm talented or not. We're not about to do that because you recorded. All right. All right. Hold up. You recorded Lingerwild in two days. Yeah.

All right, continue. I just wanted to pause for a second. I just wanted to just pause and linger a while on that fact that you recorded this album in two days. Continue with your story. It's fine. It's fine. It was March of 2022. I was like, okay, this is going to be the same kind of rollout as... I mean, I don't know. I was...

I did touring and stuff in the midst of the pandemic. So the idea of like what it is now, it just didn't really occur to me. I was like, okay, so we're kind of, you know, going to be under some form of lockdown still, you know, there'll be COVID restrictions when it comes to traveling and stuff, you know, but with the vaccine, I guess it's gotten better. But yeah, I was just like, you know, we're recording an album. We want to present it to major labels this time around because on the first go round, they said, no, you know, it's like, we don't want to take the risk.

of a new artist when we don't have anything really, you know, everything is up in the air, you know, as far as like festivals, as far as shows and like live performances. We're still doing live stream gigs and stuff. So that's why I'm grateful to Whirlwind for like taking that chance on me, you know? Of course. ♪

Just a delightful human being and an amazing talent. I love myself for that joke, linger a while. I'm so sorry. I forgot that was in there. I laughed all over. It's pretty good. But no, I mean, I just, I adore her as a musician and just, you know, someone who is obviously at the top of her game and there's really nowhere to go but up for her. So I love that.

And, you know, in addition to talking about the creator economy, another facet of it was we did a miniseries on fandom where we were looking at sort of like the ups and the downsides, the very sometimes dark downsides of fandom. And my fantastic producer, Avery, was the one who spearheaded this because she is our resident expert in fandom. And yeah, I kind of want to play this clip of her talking about her own leap into this world.

Before we play this clip, I just do want to shout out, and this is a great time at the end of the year, to shout out all of our producers on this show, the team that makes this happen. Avery Miles, who did this program, and then also involved in this fandom series with Julia Xu and Blake Odom from our team as well, who do an amazing job, and Nicholas Torres, who does all of our mixing and sound design. So this was very much

You know, our producers drove that this series and did a wonderful job. It's got great reporting, great hosting, and then some kind of silly moments like this one.

My first journey into fandom was through Titanic when I was 10 years old. That tracks. I can actually see that. I mean, you and every other girl that age, I mean, and some boys, but like, I remember when that movie came out and it was like, I don't ever recall that kind of collective lust, pre-adolescent lust that people had. I was kind of obsessed with the ship itself. Okay.

that tracks even further. Yeah. You know, Avery, God love her fully thought she was about to like launch into her love affair of, of Leo, but no, she loved the ship. So, you know, Oh,

Oh my god, yeah. It was a great series. Kavri went on to tell stories about how she used to draw the ship over and over and over. It's a whole thing. You should go back and listen to it, and you should go back and listen to all of these episodes from all of our podcasts. There's great stuff. You can find it on the New Way We Work feed, Creative Control, and the Most Innovative Companies feeds on Apple Podcasts. Where you're listening to this right now, if you're not already a subscriber to the other shows, listen to it. They're all great. They're all wonderful. But

It's time to get a little silly. A little more silly than we already have. Where have you been in this conversation? You might be over... Because the game that we're about to play is not... My game is not very silly. I'm a very serious person here. Oh, we'll make it. Hey, why are you trying to ruin the party? I'm trying to bring it down for you.

Power crone era. For some homework. Let's go. You're going to be tested. All right. Sorry, Josh. Yes. Kate's got our first game. We're going to have a few of these games for the end of the year. And the first one is starting with a guess the FC headline game. So, Kate, I'll let you take it away. You're the deputy editor of FastCompany.com. So you know the headlines more than us. So you'll be leading this game.

as you had a little bit of an unfair advantage. Yeah, because I picked the headlines. I kind of know the right answer. Yeah, exactly that too. I feel like I should have gamed it and been like, see, look, I'm just that good. But I have a lot of confidence that you will get all of these right. What do we get if we win? Uh,

bragging rights. Can we expense a cameo from Cookie Monster congratulating the winner of this game? Sure. It's not going to be Cookie Monster. Yeah. Thank you, Josh. I'm glad we're on the same page. Elmo? Who do you want? The original actor behind Big Bird, George Santos.

Kate, go on. Go on, please. You just took all the air out of the room with that one, Jess. I knew it was coming and I was going to not let them talk and then you encouraged them. I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry. Please continue. Okay. Now we're getting serious. Okay. So I am going to give you four headlines.

Three of them are not from Fast Company and one of them is from Fast Company. You have to say which one is the Fast Company headline. The first is sports news. You know, we cover sports so frequently at Fast Company. This should be easy. The first headline is Kate Middleton has awkward Wimbledon ball girl moment with Roger Federer.

Frederick. You know. Ferrero Rocher. Yep. That guy. Roger Ferrero Rocher. He's a drag name. The second headline is, in the land of football, a cricket oasis rises outside of Houston. The next headline is, a backyard accident led this dad to design a new bat that is changing Major League Baseball. And the last headline is, shattered nerves, sleepless nights, pickleball noise is driving everyone nuts. Which...

which is the Fast Company headline? I'm between option C and D, the bat or the pickleball noise, because both of those feel very Fast Company to me. No, I think it's the bat. Sorry, I don't think we're cool enough. What was the one before the bat again? In a land of football, a cricket oasis arises outside Houston. We've all crossed off Kate Middleton. I mean, we covered the...

No. It's either the cricket or the baseball bat one. I'm going with the pickleball one. I'm going with the... Okay, Josh says pickleball. Casey says... I'm going to go with the cricket. I think it's the bat. Okay, well, Yaz is right. We wrote in September. We wrote about Paul Mueller wrote a long read for us about Cheney.

Changing Innovations in Design of a Major League Baseball Bat. Our next category is another area that we do not cover that frequently on Fast Company. This is Porn Industry News.

Oh, here we go. Here we go. This is my beat. Go on. I'm not even being creepy. The porn industry is fascinating. This is my beat. Sounds wrong. Yep. It's your time to shine here, Casey. Go on. Well, then maybe for you, I should make you say which publication each of these articles appeared in since you know this. It's probably going to be all Vice, but go on. The first headline is Inside the Last Porn Theater in Los Angeles. Oh, I just read that.

But it wasn't at Fast and Furious. Oh, well, way to give it away. So we're going to cross off A. All right. Yes, it's beat two, apparently. Okay. The second headline is, the future of porn is in your living room. Sounds like it maybe knows Casey too well on that one. The third is, a simple law is doing the impossible. It's making the online porn industry retreat. And the last is, my 70-year-old mother's...

Oh, God. I'm sorry. My 70-year-old mother spends too much on porn. What should I say? It's D. I'm going D. Even if it's not, we should have written that article. That sounds very on brand for us, doesn't it? I think we've eliminated, Yaz eliminated the first one. I'm eliminating the last one. I'm going to go with the future. We love a future title. That's true. I'm going to go with that one seriously as well, though.

What do you say, Yaz? I think it's like the before last one you read. A simple law is doing the impossible. It's making online porn industries treat. It sounds very newsy, very straightforward. However, Casey and Josh were correct. It's the future of porn is in your living room. All tied up. All tied up. I don't want to be super rude here to whoever edited that, but the present of porn has been in people's living rooms forever. Yeah.

We're all tied up with one more. Is there one more to go? This is for all of the nothing. The stakes couldn't be lower. All the marbles. This is all for the cameo. I've got some marbles. I want a cameo after when I win this. Go on. All right. Psychology is the category. And here are the headlines. The weird reason we're afraid of clowns. I'm 53 years old, but I'm 36 in my head. Should an abnormal MRI excuse a psychopath from murder?

Our five ways to read someone's mind. Five ways to read someone's mind. Five ways. Yeah. I think it's going to be five ways. What if it wasn't though? Yes, it was. It's five ways to read someone's mind. We all win. We all get cameos. Woo. Josh, we'll go 50-50 on that.

Oh, God, I would love that. Yeah, we could do that. I don't understand the fear of clowns. I love clowns. Nope. I hate clowns. I love the quote from Jennifer Lawrence and her Vanity Fair lie detector test. And she was just like, are you afraid of clowns? She's like, no. I was like, yeah, you're telling the truth. She's like, yeah, I'm just afraid of how much fun I'm not going to have. Yeah.

I personally don't like how clowns, because they're deemed scary, have been co-opted for Halloween, like creepy clown decorations. Like Halloween has enough. We have skeletons. We have witches. We have, you don't need to bring clowns into it. That's the hell I'll die on. Clowns should not be. Clowns and shapewear. Clowns and shapewear. A clown in shapewear. Yep.

Clowns did it to themselves. Like John Wayne Gacy was a clown. Yeah. You know, it's like when you're pointing the finger, uh, one way, three fingers are pointing back at your creepy painted face. There's like a history of creepy clowns existing. We didn't invent. This is such a millennial thing, but does anyone remember the clown episode of Kenan and Kel? Uh,

back in the day. No, no one remembers that. Anyways, look at it. It's a thing. It's a thing. I don't like clowns. I'm not a fan of clowns. But separate and apart from clowns, that was not a Fast Company headline, but all the ones that were, you can go and read on fastcompany.com. And also because we got to promo our stuff, subscribe to Fast Company Premium. Read some great stories out there. Yas just had a premium story come out.

But let's jump to one more game before we get to our New Year's resolutions. And this one I'm going to run. And this one, you're not competing against each other. You're going to team up to put these news stories in order. We have so much news that happens year over year that it's hard to keep it straight in your mind, especially on when it happens. So that's the point of this game. I'm going to give you three news stories, and you're going to have to tell me which one came first, second, and third.

chronologically in 2023. Everyone understand the rules? How are we teaming up? We have to agree with each other? You have to agree with each other. It's been a problem thus far, but okay. Well, this is what 2024 is all about. Teamwork makes the dream work. All right, let's do it. So prompt number one, here are your three news events. The Silicon Valley bank failure.

The Chinese balloon incident, that was when the Chinese surveillance balloon started being tracked over the western United States. And Trump is indicted over hush money payments to adult film actress Stormy Daniels. Did that happen this year? No.

Oh my God. Yeah, all of these happened this year, which came first, second, and third. Here's the thing I just want to point out is that we're all very honest because we're sitting in front of computers and we could have Googled any of this. No, we're all very fun. Definitely the bank failure because that happened in March because that happened in Southwest. I was going to say that happened in early spring. But the balloon, wasn't the balloon early? The balloon, I feel like was, I'm going to say, actually in the order that Josh presented it,

Well, that's the thing. The indictment, when the indictment was first brought about. When the indictment was actually filed. So when the indictment actually happened. The Trump things are the hardest to keep track of. I know. Because it's like, when did the news come out? When did he get indicted? When did the trial? Yeah. You know. I think maybe it's Balloon Bank Trump. But I don't know. Yeah, you know what? I think I agree with that. Final answer? Balloon Bank Trump? No. Yeah. I think it's Bank Trump Balloon. What if they all happened on the same day? Oh.

Oh, who knows? I'm going to stick to my guns and say... Casey does not want to do this together. No, no, no, listen. Listen, let's go with this answer with what you all said. And then if I'm right, then I'm right.

In hindsight. So the correct order. You really got over that imposter syndrome. The correct order of news events was Chinese balloon incident on February 2nd, Silicon Valley bank failure on March 10th, and Trump indictment on March 30th. So Casey. Good work. You were wrong, but good work team. I'm going to give Kate credit here because honestly, I would have gone along with literally anything she came up with. Honestly, I can eat crow.

Do you remember that episode of Wendy Williams where she ate crow? No. No. No. I miss that show. Literally ate crow? She ate crow. Because she was talking about the fact that Kim and Kanye's marriage wouldn't last. And she's like, if it lasts past a certain amount of days, I'll eat crow on the show. And she kept updating. It was such a great bit because she kept updating. Be like, day 13, they're still together and I will eat crow. And then she had a chef prepare crow and she ate it on the show. Icon legend.

I miss Wendy Williams so much. I hope she's doing okay. Yeah, so anyway, if you have crow to prepare, I will eat it. So you're right, Kate. Snaps to you, snaps to you. Let's go to number two. Okay, these are the three news events in question number two. So Montana bans TikTok on all personal devices.

Bed Bath & Beyond files for bankruptcy and Fox settles lawsuit with Dominion Voting Systems for $787.5 million in defamation suit. What order did these events happen in? I do believe the Fox thing was first.

Wait, the Fox one was like, say it again? Fox is the settlement happened. That feels so recent to me. Kind of recent. Yeah, that's how I feel too. I'm going to guess. The other two were Bed Bath & Beyond, Bankruptcy, and Montana Manning TikTok. That happened like in May-ish, I feel. I think they may be in order. You think? Unless Bed Bath & Beyond came first. The Bankruptcy was in the summer, I do believe. Ah.

Yeah, so I think it's in order. The bankruptcy was in the summer, and we're saying the TikTok ban was in the spring? I'm going to say, yeah, Bed Bath & Beyond...

And then the settlement you think was last? Montana and settlement, yeah. I feel like the settlement was first, but I don't know. I was right before, but who knows? Can lightning strike twice? Exactly. So we're going to go with Montana ban, Bed Bath & Beyond bankruptcy, and Dominion Fox settlement. That's your final answer? Yeah. All right. Part of me feels like

Go on. Sure, sure. Okay, that's your final answer. Ooh, I'm sorry, that's incorrect. The events happened in this order. On April 14th, Montana banned TikTok. On April 18th, Fox settled its lawsuit with Dominion. And on April 23rd, Bed Bath & Beyond filed for bankruptcy. So it was like all in one week. All really close together. Yep, that was a nine-day ban. You missed on April 22nd, I had my birthday. Okay.

Happy birthday, Kate. Thank you. See, thank you. You're welcome. So one, one for two right now, let's move on to our final prompt for this, uh, prompt number three. So the events are metal launches threads, the, uh, X competitor, uh,

SAG-AFTRA goes on strike. They officially start their strike. That's the date that we're looking for. And Donald Trump is indicted for attempts to overturn the 2020 election and the January 6th attacks by special counsel Jack Smith.

So I remember that Threads launched on a day that I was on vacation because I came back and like looked at Slack and like everybody was talking about Threads and I was like, oh, I better sign up for this. And then like by the next day, no one was on Threads anymore. Threads launched in the summer around the time of our first podcast because we had Max on. Yeah, it wasn't too far. To talk about it. So it was like,

a little more than six months ago. It was Threads, Trump. Didn't the SAG strikes start in the spring? Like in April-ish? I'm gonna... No.

I feel like it was over the summer. I feel like SAG came after Threads. I just don't know where to put Trump. Well, first you need to answer which lawsuit was it? Because there's been four indictments. Yeah, overturn the election. You know what? The strike, I think, came before Threads because when they were auditioning me to run the podcast, we talked about it. I think the strike came before Threads, too. I think it was strike...

and then who knows about Trump. Sure. But then it was like the writer's strike might happen. I just don't remember when it actually... I say maybe Trump writer's strike threads. I can co-sign that. Sure. Final answer, Trump writer's strike threads? Mm-hmm. The correct order was on July 5th, Meta launched threads.

July 14th, SAG-AFTRA goes on strike. And on August 1st, Donald Trump was indicted for attempts to overturn the 2020 election and the January 6th attack. See, I knew I was on vacation. It was like the 4th of July. I was on vacation when threads happened. There we go. And that's the point of the game is that these are a lot of things that happened all in a very short period of time. There was a lot of other... It's so fun to be a journalist.

Isn't it? These are some of the stories that I didn't mention just to run through the things that we couldn't get to. So we had Fox News firing Tucker Carlson. WAGA goes on strike. Chipmaker NVIDIA is valued at over a trillion dollars, being the first chipmaker to make that stand. We had two other Trump indictments that we didn't mention, not to mention his civil lawsuit that happened recently. We had Barbenheimer we didn't mention. We had the...

UWA strike against the big three automakers. We had the strikes ending. We had Kevin McCarthy being ousted as speaker. We had the whole slew of people who failed to be elected as speaker. We had Mike Johnson being elected as speaker. We had the time when we learned that Mike Johnson had a Noah's Ark themed amusement park.

WeWork filed for bankruptcy, SAG ended its strike, and Sam Altman was fired, then rehired, and then whatever's happening now. So here's to a past year of a lot of news stories, a lot of some fun, some tragic, some in the middle, and we'll be covering all the stuff to come in 2024 on all of our respective podcasts. Okay, well, pulling us out of this rapid state of entropy with all those headlines, I'm glad.

The dark hole that Josh just pushed us into with this allegedly fun game. Let's bring the show to a close. Please. Yeah, it's the end of the year, y'all. Please. We all need a vacation, clearly. Listen, I mean, every year these end of the year podcasts get more unhinged and that's why I love it. But I would love to end this particular episode the same way that we ended every year by sharing our New Year's resolutions. So, uh,

God, I guess I'll go first. Yeah, do it. Honestly, my New Year's resolution, I'm going to keep it the same as one I had in 2023, which is to do a creative project every single day. I remember that's what I mentioned on the show last year, and it's something that I was pretty successful at. I think the thinking is to just be less precious with creativity and just get more stuff out there and not even anything that I want to turn into anything. It's just having the fulfillment of

doing creative projects and just having an outlet outside of work. So yeah, I think I want, I want to keep, I want to keep that train going and, and just try to do one creative thing every single day. I love that resolution. I remember that you had that resolution and I, when we were talking about the show, I remembered that and I was like, Oh, I wonder how Casey did on that. Oh yeah.

Yeah, I did pretty well. Did you like, if you like got to, you know, like 1130, were you like, I'm going to brush my teeth in a crazy way? Performance art. It was even like, if I was like, if it was dead tired, I was just like, write a really stupid, shitty poem or even just open that Apple's version of Canva. There's a free form or whatever it's called. And then just like, just do some, just something, just kind of let my, my, my creativity just like vomit on the page. Um,

And so, yeah. And to be honest, even doing something, a small exercise like that, I loved it. I felt like it just helps me shake loose and not be so scared to put pen to paper or brush to canvas or whatever the case might be. So this year had me doing a lot of things. Like I'm working with clay, UV resin. I'm doing a lot of things that like I haven't really worked with before. And it's just for the fun of it. It's just for the fun of creativity. I love that. And there's a lot of like research behind the project.

brain building, you know, reason to do that. It makes me think of my grandmother who was a beautiful painter, but just did it as a hobby. And she told me that she used to wait for my grandfather to come home from work and would just like paint a little watercolor and then just throw it away. And I was like, why did you throw it?

you throw them away? But it was just like, oh, I'll just do something creative. Right. Oh, I love that. Well, Kate, what's your resolution? Well, inspired by you, Casey, I was like, what should I do? I have two kids and they do a lot of things and I'm

You know, they're trying gymnastics and piano and like all of these things. And so I want to try something new. And so for 2024, I'm going to try something new and I'm going to stick with it for the whole year and see what happens. Wait, what's the new thing, though? I don't know. I'm going to take a ballet class. I might...

So my son's taking piano and I'm like, ooh, maybe I want to take piano. That'd be cool. I think it's going to be so much harder. You know, there's like, it's harder to learn as an adult than as a child. But yeah, so I'm thinking piano, ballet. We'll see. I love the creativity theme. No, the creativity themes are great because I think that's just so, it's just motivating too. And it's good for your mind. Well, since you piped up, Josh, what are your resolutions?

My New Year's resolution is a little more simple and it's more about, it's a little bit more about gratitude and it's a little bit more about like not focusing on more positive things. And it's very simple. And actually I'm stealing this from Bowen Yang who talked about this on the Lost Culture Rhesus podcast.

which is, it's not a Fast Company podcast, but if you want to listen to it, it's a good listen. But my New Year's resolution is to not say I'm tired anymore in conversation with other people. And I think it's for some reasons. One, it's not additive. It's not interesting in a conversation. And two, like, yes, you get tired, you do things, but I get to do a lot of cool things like this.

these podcasts like working for a media company like playing with my dogs and caring for my dogs and and and helping my wife with her theater company that she runs a lot of things that I really enjoy doing and yeah they make me tired but I'm lucky to do them so I'm gonna be more grateful for the things that make me tired and not bore anyone around me by saying oh I'm so tired in conversation anymore

Saying you're so tired in conversations is also like a version of like one-upmanship with hustle culture. Like, oh, yeah, I also am very tired. Like, so we shouldn't humble brag about not having good work-life balance. As someone who frequently says he's tired, I'm doing it not because I want to prove that I'm hustling, but I just believe in giving an honest response. If somebody asks how I'm doing, chances are. That's fair. Yeah.

Yeah, that could be a really great New Year's resolution is because how many times it's like, and we've written articles about this of like, how are you doing? I'm fine. How are you? I'm good. I always hated that. What is the purpose of saying these words if we just say the same thing? And how refreshing would it be, though, if someone is like, actually, I'm not having a great day. And here's why. And then you have like... I do that all the time.

I think context matters here. You know, when you're like at a coffee shop and you're like, oh, how are you doing to the server? If they were like, I'm having a bad day and let me tell you why it would be like. I used to do that when I was a barista. You know, it's like social. But to me, it's like that kind of conversation is like social lubricant. Whereas if you're talking with somebody you know super well. But then like.

Don't ask a question you don't really want an answer to. I literally did that when I was a barista and that actually let, it would usually, it would always lead to them being like, oh my God, they would laugh a little bit about it and be like, oh my God, yeah, I'm having kind of like a rough day too or whatever. It kind of broke down that wall and we could honestly have like,

I can see that. I think another thing around this is there's better ways to talk about how you are. I do think context matters. I do think like, you know, there's a lot of times, like it's a default where we ask them like, how are you? And I mean, I'll be honest, I don't know. You don't actually want to know. I don't really care. You don't actually want to know. And nor does the person need to tell me. But if like my wife asks me how I'm doing, there's going to be different ways. But like I should find different ways to talk about it that is more productive. I'd be like, I'm stressed about this thing. This thing's weighing on me. And I'm like,

actually build it as an opportunity to like solve an issue rather than just complaining about the effect of these issues on me. And it's ultimately for me, since this is my resolution. No, we're just telling you what your resolution should be.

It just it ultimately just comes back to appreciating what I have the opportunity to do and and being more specific about the the pitfalls and the problems that I need to address. I love that. Yes. Bring us home. What's your resolution for 2024? Yeah, I would say to the first is I've been working on a project for a long time and to finally get it done. Show it to someone.

What realm is the project in? I can't say. No, because I think when you talk a lot about a project that you have and you haven't actually worked on it, you feel like you're productive. You haven't actually done anything. Agree 100%. Another school of thought is like you're holding yourself accountable. Like if you say to everybody, I'm going to write a novel and then people are like, how is your novel going? And you haven't actually done it, then it will give you the push to actually do it.

Yeah, totally. It's just not my school of thought. Yeah, I love that. Okay, so this mystery project, I love it. Yaz goes to a private school of thought. I wasn't accepted, clearly. What's your second? So right now, once a week, I go to Barry's Boot Camp, which is a difficult workout class because I love having abs. And I'm getting an operation.

Must be nice. Must be nice. And so I'm having an operation in late December and it's going to be like a pretty long recovery. So my goal is by December,

September of next year, I will be in a Barry's Bootcamp class. Like that's like my physical goal, you know, get back to it. That's great. Yeah, that's it's true. I mean, I think that's a really good goal to set. I mean, I went through a pretty serious surgery and like my core section a few years ago, and it really was tough to not feel physically yourself.

for a long time but like setting a goal like I set a goal for myself that I would do a 20 mile hike by you know a certain time and that really pushed me through so that's a good resolution to have so that's it not as creative no but still I mean the mystery project might be who knows exactly right I love that aww guys I think this is like probably one of our best end of year episodes next year my resolution is gonna be like be okay with giving up laughing

I support that. You laugh, but that's actually a really good one. Yeah. Yeah. Say no more. Yeah. We've written articles about like why you should make a list of anti-resolutions, like things you don't want to do anymore. Right. Ah, well, this has been, I think, one of our best end of year episodes that we've done.

That's going to do it for us. We, of course, will be back in the new year with more great podcast episodes for you. But before we go, we asked some of our colleagues at Fast Company to record their resolutions as well as some from their families. So we're going to leave you with those. And as always, thanks for listening this past year. And thanks to everyone here at Fast Company who makes each of these shows possible. Happy holidays, everyone, and have a happy new year. ♪

My New Year's resolution is to get through my candle collection without buying more candles. New year, new me. To learn a new language. To ideally every month do a project that I'm objectively bad at, but do it anyway. Be more active with my creative ambitions and creative projects.

My last year's New Year's resolution was to go to the dentist. My 2024 New Year's resolution is to go to the dentist because I didn't go last year. The bravery. The bravery of admitting. New Year's.

To say no more. Sometimes the best thing you can do for your job and your co-workers is to say, no, I can't do that and not disappoint people and protect your peace. To get back into running. To actually do my expense reports on time so that I don't have a big pile of receipts that keeps growing that's sitting on my desk.

which is how I'm ending 2023. In 2023, I deactivated my last social media account. In 2024, my resolution is to stay off of social media. My New Year's resolution is inspired by Shonda Rhimes, who said yes to everything for a year and changed her. I'm going to consume only media that I hate and see how it changes me as a person. And my New Year's resolution is to murder a podcast producer. Oh, God. Oh.

To try and be outside within the first 30 minutes of waking up and actually seeing the sunshine. That's a terrific resolution. Thank you. New year, new me. To stop texting my ex-situationship when I'm sad because 2024 is a year of growth. To finally finish my book. I keep saying this is going to be the year, but this time I want it to be true. To like finally nail fermenting water kefir and heal my gut. Please give applause. New year, new me.