Business
Looking for positive and inspiring business stories? From green operations to employee rights, from innovative corporate structures to diversity and inclusion, the Business section at The Optimist Daily has got the latest innovative solutions from the corporate sector.
This healthy convenience mart aims to take on 7-Eleven
If you’ve been on a road trip, you know the deal: You stop at a gas mart, where you’re presented with a dizzying array of gummies, sodas, and overcooked pizza slices. If you desire something mildly nutritious, options are limited–it’s either nuts or beef Read More...
Want to travel and work? This approach makes doing both possible
In this day and age, you don’t have to wait until you retire in order to travel. Thanks to the internet, intermixing travel and work is completely feasible. From remote jobs and freelance life to entrepreneurship, here’s how to take your job anywhere in the Read More...
Ikea sets new climate goals to tackle unsustainable consumption
The world’s largest furniture retailer pledged to use only renewable and recycled materials in its products as part of a plan to have a positive impact on the world’s climate by the end of the next Read More...
North Face is cutting waste by selling refurbished old coats
If you buy a jacket from a just-launched pilot collection from The North Face, someone else might have already climbed a mountain or run a marathon in it. Called The North Face Renewed, the products are sourced from returns or defective items, cleaned and repaired to the quality of a new piece of Read More...
A new startup is showing how to make batteries cheaper—and safer
Christina Lampe-Önnerud has been called the “Queen of Batteries.” She’s a Swedish chemist and entrepreneur who built one battery company (called Boston Power), sold it, and then founded another, Cadenza Innovation. She is now focused on making batteries cheaper and Read More...
Peter Drucker's virtuous firm vs. 'the world's dumbest idea'
For much of human history, the proposition that the purpose of a business is to make money for itself was as self-evident and universally-accepted as the notion that the Sun revolves around the Read More...
Hiring refugees isn’t simply a political statement. It’s smart business
Hamdi Ulukaya, the owner of America’s top-selling brand of Greek yogurt, says an essential part of the success of his company was hiring refugees. Ulukaya doesn't hire refugees for cheap labor; he doesn’t believe in this notion. Instead, he hires refugees because they are so keen to provide for Read More...
Dozens of fashion brands ditch mohair wool
Some of the world's biggest fashion retailers have vowed to stop selling clothes made with mohair wool. Over 80 retailers, including H&M, Zara, Gap, TopShop, UNIQLO, Banana Republic, and Anthropologie, made this announcement in response to a video that PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment Read More...
First study shows that hiring refugees makes economic sense for US employers
When a company like Starbucks pledges to hire 10,000 refugees globally by 2022, as it did two years ago, or when WeWork announces plans to recruit 1,500 refugees by the same deadline, the decision is often cast as morally driven. Refugees, the companies are saying, deserve opportunities in their Read More...
This startup is repurposing life jackets to raise awareness about refugee crisis
Perhaps nothing personifies the global refugee crisis more than the life jacket: a poignant symbol of floating to hope and a painful reminder of what’s been left Read More...