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.
Obama’s four rules for persuading people and effecting real change
During the inaugural Obama Foundation Summit in Chicago this week, the former president gave a speech in which he presented a set of four rules he encouraged everyone to follow. Rules that, he believes, can help elevate civic culture and bring change into our everyday Read More...
Is the sharing economy working?
Not long ago, I moved apartments, and beneath the weight of work and lethargy a number of small, nagging tasks remained undone. Some art work had to be hung from wall moldings, using Read More...
Uber will now let you add multiple stops to your route
Uber has added a new feature that will solve a challenge almost every rider, at some point, has faced: the difficulty with picking up friends along the route to your destination. That’s because, until now, Uber has only allowed you to request a ride from point A to point B. That now changes with Read More...
Airbnb is bringing in huge sums of money for Africans
In 2012, Airbnb hosted around 22,700 guests in Africa. That number has swelled since then, with the room rental giant reporting that 1.2 million people stayed in Airbnb listings across Africa in the past year. That translates into $139 million generated for local hosts in just a year’s time, Read More...
NHS to pilot Airbnb-type scheme for patients recovering from surgery
Untrained members of the British public could be paid up to £1,000 a month for renting their spare rooms to patients recovering from surgery under an Airbnb-style model the NHS is piloting. The scheme aims to offer an alternative to hospitals and care homes for patients who have had minor Read More...
This sleepwear company gives your sheets a dignified afterlife
Fashion has made us use to regularly changing and renewing our clothes. Today, “fast fashion” encourages people to think of clothes as disposable items that you chuck out at the end of the season, much like you might throw out used paper plates after they’ve served their purpose. The trend is Read More...
In the fight against poverty, work is our most powerful weapon
Fourteen years ago, I left suburban Los Angeles to teach English in rural Ghana. I’d expected, like so many young people with bleeding hearts and big dreams, to make a difference by donating my time as a schoolteacher for six Read More...
Google is pledging $1 billion to those who will lose their job to Artificial Intelligence
While Artificial Intelligence will certainly benefit a plethora of industries, it will also take many jobs away from the labor market. That’s why Google has pledged $1 billion to its new “Grow with Google” initiative that will help re-train people who are about to lose their jobs to AI. As a Read More...
Airbnb’s next step: an apartment complex designed for home sharing
Airbnb may have found a way to make landlords, tenants, and possibly even lawmakers happy. The home-sharing platform has teamed up with Florida developer Newgard to create Niido, a concept apartment building designed to support home Read More...
3 surprising ways that gratitude works at work
A couple of summers ago, I traveled to the steamy cauldron of central Florida to speak at the WorkHuman conference. Nearly 1,500 human resource professionals were in attendance, eager to hear from luminaries like Arianna Huffington and Rob Lowe (probably more than they wanted to hear an academic Read More...