Essential stories from Fast Company for the week of March 11-15

Welcome to Fast Company Digest. Essential stories from tech, design, impact and work life. Narrated by Noah App I'm Fast Company Deputy Editor and host of the new Way We Work podcast, Kathleen Davis. Here are this week's stories. First, as Congress attempts to ban TikTok in the United States, the app is fighting back by trying to mobilize its 170 million American users by sending push notifications asking TikTok users to call Congress to and opposed the bill. But it's not the first tech platform to leverage its army of users against proposed legislation. Here's what TikTok likely learned from Uber and Airbnb's similar legal battles, narrated by Noah.

Listen to more of the world's best journalism on the NOAA app or@newsoveraudio.com for NOAA. This is Michael Saitow reading from Fast Company. We're where on the 7th of March 2024 Izzy Lipowski TikTok's campaign against a ban is ripped from Uber and Airbnb's playbook a bipartisan coalition in Congress introduced a bill in March 2024 that would ban TikTok in the United States if its Chinese parent company, ByteDance, doesn't divest itself from the app. The bill's sponsors framed the legislation as critical to ensuring that America's biggest adversary campaign control one of its most dominant tech platforms. Now TikTok is using that dominance to fight back, sending push notifications to its users asking them to call Congress and oppose the bill. This legislation will trample the first amendment rights of 170 million Americans and deprive 5 million small businesses of a platform they rely on to grow and create jobs, a TikTok spokesperson said in a statement to Fast Company. In many ways, TikTok's ability to mobilize as many as 170 million of its users around a political cause is only evidence of the kind of influence the app has amassed, the very power that concerns lawmakers in the first place given the Chinese government's broad control over private enterprise. But while the stakes for TikTok may be existential, it's certainly not the first tech platform to leverage its army of users against proposed legislation. Back in 2015, when New York City was considering a cap on new for hire vehicle licenses, Uber retaliated by offering free rides to users who agreed to join a pro rideshare protest at City hall and even built a mock up in the app showing long wait times that could result from the new municipal law. Around the same time, following the successful defeat of a ballot measure that would have curbed Airbnb's growth in San Francisco. The the home sharing company began organizing its hosts into clubs that could act as mini unions to push back against other similar proposals. Academics have referred to this sort of corporate maneuvering as regulatory entrepreneurship, where well funded startups forge ahead into tightly regulated industries, then marshal their significant user bases to fight back against government interference later on. Not all companies are well loved enough by the public for this to be viable, but for those with the support of their users and stakeholders, it has proven a particularly effective tactic, wrote legal scholars Elizabeth Pullman, now of the University of Pennsylvania, and Jordan Barry, now of USC Gould School of law, in a 2016 paper. But unlike Airbnb and Uber, TikTok isn't exactly operating in a tightly regulated market. Quite the opposite, in fact. Generally speaking, social media platforms face few impediments to growth. And still, even as its user base has soared, TikTok has for years faced a perilous existence in the US dating back to 2020, when former President Donald Trump used an executive order to try to force ByteDance to sell TikTok under threat of a ban. A series of lawsuits filed by TikTok and TikTok influencers halted Trump's efforts, and when President Biden took office the next year, he revoked the ban. But policymakers at all levels of government have continued to scrutinize the platform and its ties to China. In 2023, the White House took a first step by banning the app on federal employees government devices. This is despite TikTok's efforts to assure the US government that it has walled off US users data from its Chinese parent company through through a partnership with Oracle. Just in February 2024, the company's CEO, Shou Zi Chu, declared definitively before a Senate hearing, we have not been asked for any data by the Chinese government, and we have never provided it. The bill TikTok is now opposing would prohibit US app stores or web hosts from distributing or hosting TikTok unless ByteDance divests within 165 days of the bill's enactment. While the bill is clearly intended to force a sale or ban of TikTok, it leaves open the possibility that it could also apply to other apps that are controlled by any other company the president views as a significant threat to the national security. Already, civil liberties groups have come out in fierce opposition to the bill, calling it an unconstitutional affront to free speech. Just because the bill's sponsors claim that banning TikTok isn't about suppressing speech. There's no denying that it would do just that, said Jenna Leventoff, senior policy counsel at the American Civil Liberties Union, in a statement. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the majority of TikTok's users have been resolutely opposed to such a ban. According to Pew Research Polling last fall, some 56% of TikTok users in the US oppose a ban, compared to just 16% who support it. The question now is whether TikTok can effectively rally that support to secure its own future. You are listening to Fast Company, where Issy Lipowski, TikTok's campaign against a ban is ripped from Uber and Airbnb's playbook. This article was published on 7 March 2024 and was read by Michael Saitow.

For NOAA and Next We've all been in a brainstorming meeting that's dominated by one or two of your loudest, most extroverted colle. Here are five ways to make sure that everyone's ideas are heard.

For NOAA. This is Adrienne Walker reading from Fast Company on the 8th of March 2024. Stephanie Vosa writes 5 Ways to make sure Extroverts don't Dominate Brainstorming Sessions One of the downsides of traditional brainstorming sessions is that they favor extroverts. To participate, you need to interject ideas with lots of energy and enthusiasm. Nothing quashes introverts creativity quicker than being drowned out by the louder voices in the room. Traditional brainstorming also sets the stage for one or two people to control the narrative, resulting in groupthink. If you're leading an idea session or if you're an introvert in attendance, you don't have to just shrug your shoulders and declare it is what it is. It's possible for all voices to have equal weight. Here are five ways to make sure the extroverts don't run over their colleagues during a brainstorm. 1. Assign an observant moderator Instead of letting a brainstorm become a free for all, Elizabeth Damaso, president of the New York City based ad agency Triptent, suggests choosing a moderator who knows the players and their strengths, someone who comes prepared to get each participant to voice their opinions, she says. Knowing how to get each team member comfortable in expressing themselves is as important as knowing the issue that the session is solving for. To cultivate an inclusive environment and balanced dynamics, the moderator should review meeting norms to establish psychological safety, says Jenny wu, author of 52 Essential Relationship Skills. This is especially important when brainstorming difficult topics such as turnovers, project slippage and product defects, she says. The moderator should also be able to read the room, says Damaso. You will notice shifts in body language or facial expressions that will allow you to probe what that person is thinking about what was shared by another team member, she says. This is especially helpful when you have someone more introverted or junior in the room. Pull them into the conversation in a safe way. Let them know it would be greater to hear a different perspective on what was just shared. 2. Break into groups Instead of having one big group speaking, coach Jen Whitmer recommends breaking the team into smaller groups. Extroverts are famous for out loud processing, both for good and for ill, she says. Introverts often need more quiet space to create, however engaging personality differences. And brainstorming goes beyond even those tendencies. Provide breakout rooms for different styles, such as putting all the extroverts together in one space and the introverts together in another, or combine styles and set specific times to trade, says Whitmer. 3. Switch to brainwriting Brainstorming is usually a verbal exercise where people talk through a challenge and throwing out ideas as they come. Instead, create a fair playing field by switching to brain writing, suggests Sander Kovam, co founder and CEO of Nair, a mixed reality workplace app for focused brainstorming. When you do brainwriting, you get your creative juices flowing before they're influenced by everyone else, he explains. To effectively use group time, Quvau suggests providing the problem to solve ahead of time and allowing participants to conduct their writing asynchronously. Then introduce structure to the process, such as setting a timer for 10 minutes or requesting a set number of ideas. Kavam recommends a method called Crazy 8. Everyone writes down eight ideas and presents the three best, explains Kavam. Then the other people generate another eight ideas based on what has been shared. The final idea becomes collective instead of being voiced by whoever had the best storytelling abilities. Wu recommends brainwriting, too, and says it's also a good tool for virtual meetings. When I'm facilitating a brainstorming session online, I ask all participants to type out their ideas in chat, she says. Then everyone presses send simultaneously. 4. Try affinity diagramming. If you're in a big group, Kavam recommends affinity diagramming. Participants write ideas on sticky notes that are attached to a wall. Then the group moves the notes around, linking similar themes. If the project is how to improve a bicycle, for example, you could have one section for the wheels, one about the frame, one about the material, he explains. The sticky notes that are thematically linked end up being together. Next, vote on where the group should focus its efforts. Repeat the process of voting until you get to something that is not a compromise but a shared solution built by the entire team, says Qvaum. Voting ensures that whoever speaks the loudest isn't the winner of the conversation. Once ideas are on the board, allow for a second iteration where new ideas are built on top of the proposed ideas. Often this sparks interesting conversations that allow you to add more context and information to the discussion, says Kvam. 5. Do one thing at a time People have natural tendencies to step into roles such as being critical or being positive. While it's great for some parts of brainstorming, it can also derail idea generation, says Kavam. A very important part of facilitation is being able to time the behavior to the right times, otherwise it can be very destructive, he says. For example, separate processes where a certain amount of time is only for idea sharing, another is for supporting and building upon ideas, and another is reserved for deconstructing and finding the weak spots. While critical feedback can be helpful, Damaso says it's important to stay encouraging. Be supportive of everything that is shared, she says. Brainstorming is just that, a storm of ideas coming together to be considered, examined and celebrated. People need to know that their contributions are being heard and validated and that their time was valued. You are listening to Fast Company, where Stephanie Vosa writes 5 Ways to make sure Extroverts don't dominate Brainstorming sessions. This article was published on 8th March 2024 and was read by Adrian Walker for Noah. The article you just listened to was narrated by the team at noaa. Continue listening to more great journalism on the NOAA app or by visiting newsoveraudio. Com.