Tag: Business

• I was a stay-at-home parent for 12 years, and after my divorce, I reentered the workforce.
• I have my three kids half-time, and juggling parenting and rebuilding my professional life is tough.
• It's forced me to rethink my relationship with work and how I see success.

After 12 years as a stay-at-home parent, my divorce forced a reckoning: I had to learn how to support myself and rebuild a professional life from scratch. I had become pregnant with my first child in my early 20s before I'd established a full-time, steady career, and after years out of traditional paid work, I struggled to see the value in what I had done. Questions about what I "do for a living" began to feel haunting.

Before, my days were structured around the rhythms of the household and the endless invisible labor that made life feel seamless for everyone else. Now, I have my three kids — a teen, a tween, and a preschooler — half-time, and the precarious balancing act during this life transition is exhausting.

The mosaic career I've been able to piece together is a patchwork of projects, day job shifts, and side hustles. I write and edit essays in the spaces between hockey practices and dance rehearsals, research podcast guests from the laundromat at 9 p.m., and chase creative ideas that might grow into income streams as I try to fall asleep, furiously typing into my notes app, hoping none of my kids wake up in the middle of the night vomiting.

This time period has reframed how I think about work

And I'm far from alone. Across the US, millions of workers are piecing together multiple income streams, whether through gig work, freelancing, or side projects, to make ends meet and pursue meaningful work on their own terms. Between 25% and 43% of US workers have taken on some form of gig or nonstandard work. And about one in 10 people rely on freelancing, temporary, or contract work as their main source of income.

Knowing so many others are navigating work this way helped me reframe my own interrupted career ambitions. Every day, I make an effort to shift my perspective and view a nontraditional trajectory not as a setback, but as part of a larger shift in how people, especially mothers, manage work, ambition, and income.

Somewhere in the midst of this rethinking, I came across Neha Ruch's book, "The Power Pause," which helped me find the words for what I'd been feeling: time spent outside the workforce doesn't silence ambition, it just changes its rhythm. Still, reclaiming my professional identity and laying the foundation for financial independence meant facing another truth: the work I'd done as a stay-at-home parent had been largely invisible and undervalued.

I started reaching out to other moms who had made the transition from staying at home to working outside the home, asking how they thought about their time at home in hindsight and what strategies had helped them balance their careers and families. I read books, watched Instagram Reels, joined online communities, and listened to podcasts. In the end, shifting how I thought about work meant seeing my own experience as a resource, not a liability, in the life I was building.

I'm also rethinking what success looks like

This untangling and restructuring process in my late 30s hasn't been tidy. Most days, I feel a mix of doubt, exhaustion, and guilt. But the work feels meaningful because it's mine, shaped on my terms.

I used to think success was a salary or a title that sounded impressive on paper. Now, it's messier than that, nothing like I imagined. A successful day might mean I got some writing work done, remembered to drink water, put in the hours at my day job, and got all the kids to their extracurriculars on time. A successful week is when all of that happens without me feeling like I'm about to spin out completely.

While it's exhausting to manage all the moving parts, it's also liberating, and I feel proud because my kids have had a front row seat to watch me build things from scratch, to see ideas take root and grow. Because I want my kids to see me working hard, being creative, and following my intuition. My plan for the future is to keep adjusting, learning, and making space for both work and life in ways that feel sustainable and meaningful.

• Ari Emanuel wants to host UFC fights featuring Elon Musk's Optimus humanoid robots.
• Emanuel floated the idea after witnessing the "unbelievable" progress of Optimus, which is still in development.
• The TKO CEO said Musk showed him robots capable of punching and kicking.

The man behind some of the biggest televised fights ever wants to see humanoid robots in the ring next.

Ari Emanuel, the entertainment boss overseeing the WWE and UFC as CEO of TKO Group Holdings, went on the "Invest Like the Best with Patrick O'Shaughnessy," where he spoke about the future of live events. Emanuel was also asked about his friendship with Elon Musk.

"I believe in Elon Musk," Emanuel said.

Emanuel said he's seen the progress of Tesla's Optimus humanoid robot firsthand. Specifically, its hand movements.

Musk has previously said that Tesla has spent a lot of effort trying to develop human-like hands for Optimus, calling it "an incredibly difficult engineering challenge." Emanuel said the progress in hand movements between generations was "unbelievable."

It also gave him an idea.

"I came up to him, and I said, 'I want to do UFC fights with the robots,'" Emanuel said.

It doesn't sound like Musk dismissed the thought. In fact, Emanuel said, the billionaire showed him robots that could throw punches and kicks. He floated the idea of a fight between Chinese and American robots, which podcast host and investor O'Shaughnessy said "everyone in the world would watch."

Emanuel made it clear that he's no expert in the algorithms and data centers that make AI possible, but he does know entertainment. He said he knows how to create "really great live events" and monetize them.

In 2023, he led the merger of the WWE and UFC owner Endeavor Group Holdings.

In a new era of AI-generated content, Emanuel is leaning hard into live experiences, like food and art festivals and sporting events. Still, he praised Musk for his work on the long list of innovative and AI-powered companies he leads.

"If I'm a betting man, I'm betting on that dude," Emanuel said.

• Dell has delayed the launch of 'Project Maverick,' its secret project to overhaul its IT sprawl.
• An internal memo shows it has been pushed back by three months.
• Dell wants to simplify its nearly 5,000 applications, 10,000 databases, and 70,000 servers.

Dell's ambitious bid to overhaul its internal systems for the AI era — a secretive, multi-year effort codenamed "Project Maverick" — has run into delays.

Project Maverick's mission is to simplify and modernize the company's complex IT sprawl, a step that's seen as "critical" for Dell's AI strategy and future success, according to internal documents first seen by Business Insider in September.

Dell's plan was to decommission most backend systems in one of its two main divisions on February 1, with the second main division to follow in May.

Those plans have been pushed back to May and August, according to an internal memo sent by Jeff Clarke, Dell's vice chairman and chief operating officer, last Thursday.

"After reviewing our readiness assessment, we've made the decision to launch 1.0 in May and 1.1 and 1.2 in August," Clarke said in the memo, which was addressed to all execs, people leaders, and key people working on the project.

Of Dell's two divisions, the client solutions group, which handles hardware like PCs and monitors, will get the new systems first, the memo shows. Three months later, the infrastructure solutions group — which provides servers, storage solutions, and other IT infrastructure — will see the changes.

Clarke, who took on a more active role in the day-to-day leadership of Dell's slowing CSG division in July, said in the memo that a readiness assessment showed that the new system works, but was "not yet ready to scale to Dell's global business."

When asked about the delay, a Dell spokesperson told Business Insider: "While we're not going to discuss the specifics of our internal processes, we prioritize innovation and service to support our team members, customers, and partners."

In the memo, Clarke said the company needed "more time to test and confirm the system performs consistently under the kind of load Dell will put on it every day."

One Dell employee working on Project Maverick told Business Insider that it was "slightly disappointing" the launch had been pushed back, but that it would be impossible to go ahead with numerous core functions not operating properly.

"We are replacing like two plus decades of tools and processes in about two years. I have no reference for how long this would take in another similarly sized company, but even when pushing the launch back a quarter, it seems like we are doing pretty well," the person said.

What is Project Maverick?

According to a Project Maverick onboarding presentation, Dell's existing operations are supported by approximately 4,700 applications, 70,000 servers, and over 10,000 databases. That environment that is "holding us back," Dell said in the presentation, because it is so complex and expensive to maintain.

In November 2024, the company began work on Project Maverick to replace its complex system architecture with a standardized, modern system.

The project was a tightly kept secret — staff working on it have signed NDAs warning them not to mention it by name — and a team of Deloitte consultants was brought in to advise.

These kinds of transformations are "inevitable" as companies implement AI, Joe Depa, the global chief innovation officer at the Big Four professional services firm EY, previously told Business Insider.

"Implementing AI isn't about dropping a tool into old workflows — it requires rethinking processes, systems, and even business models through an 'AI-first' lens," he said.

As the launch delays show, for legacy giants like Dell, which has over 100,000 employees and a four-decade history as a company, modernizing for the AI future is a challenging feat.

Committing to launch in May

"We won't shift this timeline again," Clarke said in the memo, encouraging teams to continue working at the "unprecedented velocity" they have achieved so far.

"We need one set of books by the end of FY27, which means we need six months between the 1.0 launch and December. Compressing that window isn't an option. And losing momentum between now and May isn't either," the chief operating officer said.

Tasks that teams working on Project Maverick still need to tackle before the May launch date include wrapping up development, testing of new systems, scaling them up, and training staff on their use, Clarke wrote.

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This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Anastasia Soare, the 67-year-old founder and CEO of cosmetics brand Anastasia Beverly Hills and author of "Raising Brows." She immigrated to the United States from Romania in 1989 and now lives in Los Angeles. The following has been edited for length and clarity.

I opened my first salon in Beverly Hills in 1997 based on my "Golden Ratio" eyebrow method, and launched my line of makeup three years later.

Now, I run the global company, Anastasia Beverly Hills, from my home in Los Angeles.

Here's what a day in my life is like.

I get out of bed at 7:30 a.m.

Most days, I wake up before my alarm, but I force myself to stay in bed until 7:30. I start working immediately, checking emails and social media even as I lie there.

My life is largely focused on work, but I've learned to find pleasure in it. Sometimes, I'll do a weather forecast for my Instagram or TikTok audience in the mornings, and everybody loves it, but I don't always have time.

Then I have my long black — I only have two coffees a day, and maybe a cup of Kusmi's Anastasia tea later in the day — as I continue responding to emails.

I exercise at 8:30 a.m.

By 8:30, I'm exercising with the weight machine that's in my bedroom. If I have time, I'll run on the treadmill, but I'm often bombarded by early Zoom meetings.

My morning skincare routine includes a lot of products, and I change them often, sometimes every week. I feel like you get better results. Then I do my makeup — my foundation, my brows, my blush, and everything else. I use a lot of my own products.

I don't plan out my clothes each day, but I have an impressive closet. I'm a bit of a fashion addict, and I have pieces from many designers, from Chanel to Yohji Imamoto.

Back-to-back Zoom meetings can start at 9 a.m.

I like to stay informed about the latest developments in the fashion world, so I read The Business of Fashion, Bloomberg, and geopolitical news that may impact our shipping operations.

A lot of my day is spent on Zoom. I try to do my weight exercises in between calls.

On Fridays, we have more strategy Zooms, and I'll train the field team on new products by doing my makeup on camera. I want to teach them myself. I'm pretty involved in every aspect of the business.

My desk is filled with makeup products, bills, and print-outs of my schedule. We don't have an office anymore, and I kind of miss those days.

At home, though, I play music all day. I'll play classical in the morning and Pink Martini, a band with happy, European-style music, later.

I eat lunch around noon

I practice intermittent fasting, so my first meal is around 12 or 1 p.m., depending on my Zoom schedule. Usually, I make a salad with grilled chicken or fish, or maybe a soup. I don't snack during the day.

I don't really get stressed. There will be problems the moment I open my email — small, big, and extremely important problems. Business is about finding solutions.

Around 4 or 5 p.m., I'll take a walk around my neighborhood

After a walk, I drive five minutes to my 92-year-old mom's house most days around 6 p.m. She's not very active anymore, so we usually just sit and talk.

I'm usually home by 7 p.m., and if I'm going out to dinner or an event, I'll shower, style my hair, and apply my evening makeup.

If I'm staying in, I'll cook dinner, which usually consists of a small piece of steak with vegetables, or Alaskan fish with rice and a variety of spices. I spend a lot of the night doing research on social media or in magazines.

I don't watch TV during the week, as I struggle to stop after just one show. I'll watch brainless shows until 3 a.m., and that's a no-no, so I only log into Netflix on Sundays.

Some nights I'll do flower arranging, but I usually save that for the weekends. I love all flowers, especially roses and orchids, and the arranging relaxes me.

Hair care is crucial

When it's time for bed, I remove all my makeup and apply a face mask. I've also recently become obsessed with Jennifer Lopez's eye patches. I take great care of my hair — using masks, conditioners, and anything else to keep it healthy.

There's a red light therapy bed in my bathroom, and I try to use it for 20 minutes at night to reduce inflammation.

I go to sleep around midnight

With social media, I'm lucky if I read even a few pages at night. When I lived in Romania, I read constantly. There was nothing on TV except for Communist propaganda, and we didn't have computers or much of anything else. Reading was the best way to learn.

I still love history and business books. Right now, I'm reading "The Power of Action," "Scrambled or Sunny Side Up, and "Cartier: The Untold Story."

On the nights I stay in, I'm asleep by midnight.

• In 2019, Keaidy Bennett and her then-husband bought a large home in Fort Worth, Texas.
• But when their relationship ended, they decided to sell it during their divorce.
• Now, with home prices soaring, Bennett says she regrets selling and wishes she'd kept the house.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Keaidy Bennett, a 36-year-old who sold her marital home in Fort Worth, Texas, in 2021. The interview has been edited for length and clarity.

In 2019, my ex-husband and I purchased our first home in Fort Worth, Texas, for $222,000. We were able to buy our home with down payment assistance available to veterans.

Our starter home had four bedrooms and three bathrooms, and was an almost 3,000-square-foot home. I had my own garden, an office, and all three of my children had their own rooms, as well as an upstairs playroom. We were also in a really great school district. The home really was a dream come true.

Unfortunately, by 2020, our marriage was coming to an end. When you're breaking apart a life you once built, it just feels like everything is crashing down. Eventually, I moved in with my mom.

When I finally filed for divorce, there wasn't much conversation about it — we just decided to sell the house. It felt like our life together was over, so that was over, too.

I wish we hadn't sold our house

Once I finally got to a point where I was ready to divorce, my emotions were so heightened that all of my common sense kind of went out of the window. I can't speak for him, but in that moment, I wasn't thinking about the long-term vision.

During the divorce, he agreed to take whatever he had, and I agreed to take whatever I had. The only real sore spot was the house. We both felt strongly about wanting to keep the house.

I assumed I'd stay at home with our children, as we were within walking distance of their school.

Still, I hired a real estate attorney to help with the sale process because I was overwhelmed. In the end, we sold it and split the proceeds.

Looking back, it was the wrong approach. I wish we had taken some time to really consider the future for our children — and how keeping that asset could have benefited everyone in the long run.

It's more difficult to become a homeowner now

When we purchased our home in 2019, it was the perfect time in the real estate market — everything fell into place: A low mortgage rate and a reasonable home price. However, today it's a very different story; the housing market just isn't what it used to be.

When we bought back then, we had more leverage. I remember walking into certain places and saying, "I don't like this," and they'd be agreeable to making changes. But now, the prices of everything have gone up.

My children and I now live in a townhome in Central Florida that I'm renting. It's been four years since we moved, but my children still make comments about missing their old playroom or the scenic view they had from their bedroom.

I pay $1,598 for my townhome, and with extras like internet and the in-unit washer and dryer, it comes to almost $2,000 a month. It's more than our previous mortgage of $1,738.

The last time I checked, our old home's value had also almost doubled since we purchased it. Instead of selling and losing that asset, I wish we could have found another solution that would have had a more positive financial impact on us and our children.

Don't let emotions rule your finances

Fortunately, my ex-husband and I are on great terms.

Still, if I had known then what I know now, I would have found a way to cohabitate. I'd say to my ex, "Let's just keep the house. When it's your time, I'll leave — and vice versa."

Honestly, I think that could have worked for us if we had slowed down and really thought the process through.

I don't think anyone gets married expecting to get divorced, but if I were to go through a divorce again, I'd definitely be more of an adult about it. I'd also have those tough discussions upfront — like, if anything were to happen, this is how we'd handle it.

Editor's note: Bennett's ex-husband declined to comment.

• The Sam Altman-founded startup, Tools for Humanity, had some hardcore messaging for its workers.
• "If you should care about something else, and if you want something else, you should just not be here," CEO Alex Blania said in January.
• The company's "team values" also included working weekends.

The Sam Altman-founded company behind the "Orb," a volleyball-sized metal sphere that scans irises to prove people's humanity, had a message for employees: work weekends and ignore anything outside your job — for the good of humanity.

During a January all-hands with employees of the startup, Tools for Humanity, CEO Alex Blania laid out his expectations.

"We will neither fail, nor will we be an average outcome, and that's what we want and that's all I care about every day and all you should care about every day, and nothing else should matter," Blania said, according to a recording reviewed by Business Insider. "If you should care about something else, and if you want something else, you should just not be here. It's as simple as that."

He said that the company exists solely to achieve its mission and that anything else is a distraction.

"We don't care about politics, we don't care about DEI, we don't care about anything, we just care about how can we achieve the mission through merit, performance, and excellence," said Blania, who also told staffers he had recently attended President Donald Trump's inauguration in Washington, DC.

Several "team values" displayed on a television screen in the start-up's now-former San Francisco office echoed Blania's messaging, a February video viewed by Business Insider shows.

"We are very (very) hard working. We believe this is a once in a lifetime project and that success is important for humanity," one read. "Therefore, we work weekends, we're always on call, and we push as hard as our circumstances allow us to. As a result we defy the odds, get to escape velocity and succeed on the mission."

Other values included a warning that the company doesn't "tolerate slowness and comfort," as well as the idea that "we have no place for talkers, ideology, or politics. We don't have time to worry about each other's feelings; we say what needs to be said."

The values were written by Blania, according to a former employee.

"The organization's transparency about its values and operating principles has resulted in building a team that is passionate and focused on its increasingly urgent mission of ensuring every human benefits from the age of AI," a Tools for Humanity spokesperson told Business Insider.

The core values currently include optimism about the project, individual responsibility, and clear thinking.

Embracing a hardcore culture

The company's philosophy reflects a broader corporate trend toward hardcore culture.

John Stankey, AT&T's CEO, sent the company's managers a frank memo about a return-to-office policy earlier this year, and Business Insider previously reported on Amazon's "hardcore culture reset."

During the January meeting, Blania said that the company aimed to deploy an additional 3,000 Orbs to verify 30 million users by the end of the quarter, and that it wanted 100 million verifications by the end of the year.

He has described the company's overarching goal as reaching a billion users. Business Insider previously reported that, so far, Tools for Humanity has verified around 17.5 million people — a little under 2% of its target.

Employees were also encouraged during the January meeting to use artificial intelligence to boost productivity.

"We're here as a company that's trying to solve problems in the AI world," said Damien Kieran, whose LinkedIn describes him as the company's chief legal and privacy officer. "We also probably don't use AI as much as we should."

To address this, he said, the IT team was negotiating a new deal with ChatGPT Enterprise — the large language model sold by Altman's OpenAI. Business Insider has reported that there were also discussions around integrating Tools for Humanity's cryptocurrency World project with OpenAI to verify those using its services.

OpenAI didn't respond to a request for comment.

ChatGPT wasn't the only artificial intelligence tool being employed by Tools for Humanity. Staffers were told that another AI model — which directly competes with Altman's flagship venture — would soon be accessible.

"Gemini Enterprise will also be available by the end of the month to everybody," Kieran said. "All of the Gemini AI stuff that Google has to offer will be available to folks."

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• Daniel Walton landed a creative strategist role at Meta after 20 years in advertising.
• He balanced agency work with travel breaks to prioritize work-life balance and personal growth.
• At Meta, Walton utilizes AI tools and helps brands leverage platforms like Instagram and Facebook.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Daniel Walton, a 43-year-old creative strategist for Facebook's Creative Shop based in Singapore. It has been edited for length and clarity.

I've wanted to work in advertising since I was a teenager. When I was 13, my aunt, who worked for an advertising company, said, "You like design, you should be an art director." She explained that it involved drinking coffee, coming up with ideas, and going on photo shoots. I was like, "Wow. That sounds amazing."

I studied graphic design and did everything I could to get an internship at an ad agency. I'd leave direct mailing pieces in the foyers of multinational agencies to try to catch the attention of creative directors and land an internship.

During my final year of university, I worked as an unpaid intern at McCann-Erickson in New Zealand.

From 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., I'd split my time between college and the advertising agency

In the evenings and on weekends, I'd work as a bartender, waiter, or barista to earn some money. I was working long hours, but I felt lucky to be working at such a big agency.

During my internship, I put forward an idea for a Coca-Cola TV ad. The client loved it, and they even asked me to act in it because they liked my long-haired, dishevelled look.

I suddenly was getting a check for starring in the ad, and I thought, "This is pretty good."

After I graduated in 2002, I got a full-time job with McCann-Erickson

Over the next three years, I advanced to junior art director, and then I was headhunted to join Blue Hat Advertising. The money was twice the amount I was getting at McCann.

I then moved to London to freelance for ad agencies before I returned to Sydney in 2008 and got a job at BMF. They had some amazing projects and people, but when you're working 80 hours a week, all parts of your life take a dive.

I had a trip planned to go to the Himalayas, but a beer ad shoot scheduled for the same date forced me to cancel my trip. I left the company a few months later.

I had an early midlife crisis

I quit my job, left my apartment, and bought a one-way ticket to the Himalayas. It started a tradition that I still follow today. Every birthday, I do something I've always wanted to do. I'm now a huge advocate for work-life balance.

For the next two years, I traveled around the Himalayas and worked with one of my former colleagues in Africa before returning to New Zealand.

In February 2012, I began working at the social media agency Contagion as a deputy creative director. Following a move in 2015 to Clemenger BBDO in Sydney, where I worked for 18 months, I decided to go traveling again.

I loved the people, but I worked crazy long hours, so I wanted to take another break, which some might call a micro-retirement.

I was next encouraged to apply at Meta

My plan was to take six months off and travel around South America. I was just about to leave Sydney when an old boss, now working as a creative strategist at Meta, took me out to lunch.

He said I should apply for a creative strategist role. I explained I was about to go traveling, but he said that was fine, as it'd take me about six months to get the job.

While traveling, I had nine interviews with various staff members. I was nervously waiting for my final interview on the last day of my trip when I received a call from HR stating that no further interview was necessary.

I was hired at Meta in May 2017

I would be based in Sydney, but I had to attend a boot camp at the campus in SF. I was given an airplane ticket to San Francisco and watched Zuckerberg do a Q&A session right in front of me. It was quite a shift.

I was excited because I knew it was the beginning of something quite different. It wasn't like going to another advertising agency. I'm still at Meta now.

My role is to showcase the creative potential of various platforms, including Instagram, WhatsApp, Facebook, Meta Quest, and Ray-Ban Meta. I show brands how they can be utilized for modern storytelling and brand building. I act more as a consultant, working closely with the brands' creative teams to help them navigate the platform.

Everything at Meta changes so rapidly

You also don't follow a traditional advertising promotional route. For instance, at an ad agency, you'll move from a junior creative to a midlevel creative, up to a creative director. If you get a promotion at Meta, you could be an IC6 versus an IC5, and that doesn't mean anything to someone outside the company.

Since I joined, AI has become an integral part of everyone's world. Meta offers Meta AI integration and Gen AI tools in the ad creation process. I'm very excited about the road map the company has for the future rollout in this space.

I'm using AI in my role in many ways

In-house at Meta, we use the AI tool Metamate for anything from writing emails to creating presentations. It's incredible for efficiencies, but I'm still trying not to use AI for idea generation.

AI will always be quicker than I am, but I believe there's so much to be gained by generating an idea. Whether it's writing copy or taking a photo, there's a real sense of fulfilment from that. I worry it'll be something that'll be eroded.

I use the Meta Ray-Bans. They're phenomenal. As they're hands-free, I use them when riding my motorbike to make calls, get directions, or play music.

I moved to Singapore with Meta

After six years with Meta in Sydney, I applied to work in Asia as a creative strategist, and I'm now based in Singapore, working across eight markets.

My favorite part about working for Meta is that I've found a company where I can truly embrace my work-life balance. I could never have done my birthday tradition in traditional advertising agencies.

I had my Mad Men days, but I've learned to prioritize.

• Zoe Hawkins, a content marketer in Arizona, said she's seeing traces of AI in the work she edits.
• She tells the people she manages that it's fine to use AI, but that they still have to think.
• "If I wanted slop, I would generate it myself," Hawkins told Business Insider.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Zoe Hawkins, 40, who lives in Anthem, Arizona, and is the director of content marketing and thought leadership at Sumo Logic, a software company. The following has been edited for brevity and clarity.

In the last year or so, some of the content coming across my desk for edits has started to slip in quality. I began seeing stuff that didn't fit. I would be like, "Did you write this?" They would say, "Well, I helped write it."

I recently had someone hand in a piece of content that they had been sitting on for weeks. Before that, I had asked about it. "Oh, I'm working on it. I'm just sitting with it." I said, "OK, take as much time as you need."

Then I got the draft, and thought, "This was written in three minutes with AI." I went through the version history of the document, and I could see that it just was copy-pasted in one go. Then, I could see the AI tells being edited out. There were things like weird mixed metaphors and a perfect three bullets for every example.

I thought, "This is not OK." I am not going to wait for something and then I get slop. If I wanted slop, I would generate it myself.

I use AI, and I'm a believer that AI can be great and accelerate all sorts of good work. As managers, we need to figure out how to take people who give us slop and not just say, "You're fired." Because if we did that to everybody, we'd have no employees or agencies left.

How do you coach people on how to use AI effectively? We have to work with the humans who are working with AI to get better results, or we're just going to lose our minds.

Did you read this?

I'm definitely seeing people lean on AI much more. I will sometimes get a document to review, and someone will say, "This looked really good to me." And I'm like, "Did you read this before you gave it to me?" They'll say something like, "Well, I had AI summarize it for me." So, someone had AI write it, and you had AI summarize it. Am I the first reader of this document, including the writer and this reviewer?

As long as the thinking is still done by a human and isn't outsourced, some of the grunt work can be done by an AI. You still need someone to read the final version and say, "Yes, that's what I meant."

I can Slack all day, but ask me to send an email, and I get anxiety. So, I'll have AI read my email and I'll ask, "Did I say anything awkward in here? Does this read OK?" Often, it'll just be like, "You're good to go. Hit send." All I needed was a hype-AI.

Sometimes the AI will say, "You could adjust this to sound more professional." But it doesn't seem like me. AI is always going to suggest things to sound more like bland autocorrect — what it thinks is the average or the normal. You still have to have a moment where you say, "No, this is my voice. These are my thoughts."

If I'm coaching people on using AI, I'll say, "Talk me through your thinking." That often makes them realize, "Oh, I didn't actually think here." Then they might reassess, "If I were to be writing this from scratch, what would be the things I would want to include?" I'm like, "Great. Let's include that in your prompt."

It's really encouraging people to reclaim their own thoughts because otherwise, we all sound the same, and it doesn't serve the business. I'm not creating blogs or case studies for fun. I'm doing it because there are goals and KPIs, and we're trying to build a connection with our audience.

Learning new ways to give feedback

If I just said no AI across the board, people would be like, "Yeah, yeah, OK," and then do it anyway. It's really about saying, "We accept the fact that you have a tab open with your AI of choice. Let's make sure you're either using one with an approved model or one that has our brand guidelines built in."

There needs to be a human in the loop at some point in the drafting stage and at some point in the editing stage.

I spent much of my career learning to give feedback to people's fragile egos about writing. Now, everybody is super confident that they're great writers because the AI wrote it. It's a new skill to learn how to give feedback to people when their content was written by AI, or when their planning was from AI.

I'll say, "I could ask ChatGPT myself. I want to know what you think." Probably what will change the most in the coming years is how to manage people who are relying on AI.

Do you have a story to share about your career? Contact this reporter at tparadis@businessinsider.com.

• Indeed reports a sharp decline in tech job postings, especially in data and analytics.
• There are 40% fewer data and analytics job postings compared to before the pandemic boom.
• Rising applications and generative AI make this part of the job market highly competitive.

Indeed, the world's largest job site, just released its big annual study. The data on tech jobs is pretty gruesome. The outlook for data and analytics jobs is particularly grim.

Let's start with the overall job market. This chart, which includes Indeed's Job Postings Index, shows a steady decline in available jobs since the pandemic boom of 2022.

Dig deeper, and you can see that the tech job market has done a lot worse than some other sectors. Indeed's Tech Job Postings Index peaked above 200 in 2022 and has since plunged to 67.

Data and analytics jobs really stand out, though. This sector had a Jobs Posting Index of 60, the lowest of all sectors Indeed tracked as of the end of October. That means there are 40% fewer data and analytics job openings than before the pandemic.

Even worse: There is still a rising number of applications per job in this sector, according to Indeed.

These types of roles include business analyst, data analyst, data scientist, and business-intelligence developer. Indeed's data shows a clear mismatch between employer demand and worker supply here. Years of investment in data-science training have left a glut of skilled candidates just as hiring appetite cools.

"Workers who received that training are likely to continue to look for jobs that match their skills, regardless of the pullback in postings, because it is often difficult, costly, and time-consuming to change careers," said Cory Stahle, a senior economist at Indeed.

The pullback in data & analytics jobs has been more dramatic than in other occupations. Employers went on a hiring spree during the post-pandemic boom. Since then, many firms simply haven't needed to replace these workers as much.

Adding to the chill: the rise of generative AI, which is making it easier for more people to analyze data with less formal training.

"AI is not yet capable of replacing workers, but it may be helping workers and businesses do more with less," Stahle said.

For job seekers, that translates into a fierce market.

"This combination of fewer postings and more applications suggests that the market is competitive," Stahle warned. "Finding the right job may take some time, and your wage growth is likely to be weaker than it was a few years in these roles."

Sign up for BI's Tech Memo newsletter here. Reach out to me via email at abarr@businessinsider.com.

• Harry Beller worked for Jeffrey Epstein for 22 years as a personal accountant.
• His large cash withdrawals were the subject of at least four JPMorgan Suspicious Activity Reports.
• Congress and lawyers in civil lawsuits want to know about Beller's role in Epstein's financial life.

Harry Beller isn't one of the boldfaced names who can be found all over Jeffrey Epstein's social calendar and emails, like former Barclays CEO Jes Staley, Bill Clinton, Donald Trump, or Prince Andrew.

But for years, Beller was entrusted with managing some of the most delicate parts of Epstein's financial life.

Beller was part of a tight-knit team working for Epstein, who killed himself in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex-trafficking charges. He worked under the direction of Richard Kahn, Epstein's top in-house accountant.

Congressional investigators interested in how Epstein made and spent his money — and whether banks ignored red flags that should have alerted them to sex-trafficking — now have Beller in their crosshairs.

In lawsuits involving Epstein, Beller comes across as something of a financial Forrest Gump — turning up repeatedly in the paper trail. He hasn't been named as a defendant in any of the lawsuits, but his name crops up on incorporation papers for Epstein's web of companies, on Ghislaine Maxwell's tax forms, on checks, and on cash withdrawal records for Epstein's bank accounts, which for years were held by JPMorgan Chase.

Civil lawsuits say HBRK — a company owned by Epstein and managed by Beller and Kahn — facilitated Epstein's sex-trafficking operation, although they do not name him or the company as defendants. Beller's name is on corporate records and tax documents entered into evidence at Maxwell's criminal trial, at which she was convicted of trafficking girls to Epstein for sex and later sentenced to 20 years in prison.

Democrats on the House Oversight Committee want to subpoena banks for their financial records about Beller and other people who did business with Epstein. Sen. Ron Wyden asked both the Treasury Department and JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon to produce records from Epstein-related accounts, including those opened by Beller.

Beller hasn't been accused of any crimes and there is no record of a federal agency pursuing an enforcement action against him. Through his attorney, Jonathan Sack, Beller declined to comment for this story.

A foot soldier in Epstein's financial life for 22 years, Beller could help shed light on Epstein's vast fortune — how he amassed it, and what he did with all his money.

The 69-year-old accountant personally handled some of the cash withdrawals from Epstein's account, which became a catalyst for Epstein's messy breakup with JPMorgan years after the financier pleaded guilty to sex crimes in 2008.

Those cash withdrawals should have been a bright red flag for potential financial crimes, such as money laundering, according to Martin Sheil, a former IRS criminal investigator. Beller's perspective might help explain what Epstein was doing with the money, and what JPMorgan may have known about it at the time.

"Rich folks generally don't deal in cash, and banks know that," Sheil told Business Insider.

The cash withdrawals

When JPMorgan decided to cut ties with Epstein in 2013, bank officials said they were concerned with the predator's frequent cash withdrawals.

Beller was often the person who physically withdrew the cash from Epstein's accounts, recently unsealed court records show.

He worked for Epstein between 1992 and 2014, and his withdrawals of large amounts of cash from Epstein's accounts with the bank were the subject of at least four federally mandated Suspicious Activity Reports, or SARs, for concerning transactions. The earliest SAR was filed in 2002 — long before Florida police began investigating Epstein's abuse of girls.

Banks are typically wary of large cash transactions, since they can exchange hands without clear oversight. "Know Your Customer" rules require financial institutions to monitor where clients' money is going to ensure it's not tied to fraud, money laundering, or human trafficking.

Internal JPMorgan communications and copies of the SARs the bank filed with the Treasury Department's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network show that Beller sometimes withdrew tens of thousands of dollars at a time.

Since JPMorgan believed Epstein was a financial advisor for billionaires, those cash withdrawals should have raised more severe alarms, according to Sheil, the former IRS criminal investigator.

"His business is to provide tax or investment advice to rich, wealthy clients," Sheil told Business Insider. "And to have this account come in to make these large cash withdrawals? Well, what's the basis for that? That's not normal business for an investment advisor."

In the flagged transactions, Beller always went to the same JPMorgan location: 270 Park Avenue, the bank's headquarters, which CEO Jamie Dimon recently razed to the ground and replaced with a new office tower for employees.

The repeated visits to the same JPMorgan location should have also raised questions within the bank, said Sarah Krissoff, a former Manhattan federal prosecutor.

"The first time something happens, or the second time, it is going to draw less scrutiny," said Krissoff, now a white-collar defense attorney at Cozen O'Connor. "As something becomes a pattern, it should be raising more red flags."

JPMorgan's SARs became public last month in a now-settled lawsuit between the US Virgin Islands government and the bank.

In the 2002 report, JPMorgan flagged for the Treasury Department that Beller had withdrawn substantial amounts of cash over the span of about three months. The report shows the bank was concerned the withdrawals from Epstein's accounts could be part of a money laundering operation.

According to the 2002 report, Beller made 16 different cash withdrawals of about $9,800 each (the maximum allowed was $10,000) and cashed one $40,000 check from one of Epstein's accounts.

Beller — but, not Epstein — was the subject of the 2002 SAR, which a former FBI special agent hired by the US Virgin Islands to analyze the report flagged as unusual.

"If the intention on the part of JPMC was to adequately report the activity, then the SAR would have been filed against Jeffrey Epstein himself, not only against Beller," the former FBI agent wrote. "Beller was Epstein's accountant."

Court records show JPMorgan taking issue with Beller's cash withdrawals a decade later. An email exchange between bank employees in 2012, obtained in the lawsuit, shows them expressing concern over $100,000 in cash withdrawn from Hyperion Air, a corporate entity that held Epstein's private jet.

Beller signed the checks for the withdrawals, one employee said. In response, a JPMorgan executive wrote that Epstein said the cash was taken out to pay for fuel in foreign countries, and that the bank ought to check that with Beller.

"Perhaps the next best step is for us to speak with Harry, who we know, and ask Harry about the cash withdrawals," John R. Duffy, then the CEO of JPMorgan's private banking division, wrote. "Agree? Concerns?"

It's not clear from the court documents whether any of the JPMorgan employees ultimately spoke to Beller about the transactions. A separate 2023 report, commissioned by the US Virgin Islands and written by a forensic accountant with access to internal JPMorgan documents, said there's no evidence the bank ever asked for receipts or other documentation to say the cash was used for fuel.

JPMorgan filed three additional SARs after cutting ties with Epstein in the wake of media reports about the pedophile. In 2015, the bank flagged transactions between 2006 and 2007, the years Florida law enforcement investigated his sexual abuse of teenage girls. The bank filed two other SARs in August and September of 2019, after Epstein's arrest on federal sex-trafficking charges and death. They covered transactions between 2003 and 2019 in accounts belonging to Epstein as well as several of his associates, including Beller.

"We regret any association we had with the man, but wouldn't have kept him as a client had we known of his heinous crimes," JPMorgan Chase spokesperson Patricia Wexler told Business Insider. "The Federal government had much more information on his activities that they did not share with us at the time."

Following a Truth Social post from Trump on Friday, Attorney General Pam Bondi announced that the US Attorney's office in Manhattan would investigate JPMorgan's relationship with Epstein, along with several prominent Democrats with ties to the pedophile.

Epstein's money man

A pair of lawsuits filed earlier this year by Epstein victims against banks allege Epstein used HBRK to set up fake companies, send hush money and other illegal payments to his sex-trafficking victims, and "otherwise develop false schemes to protect the operation and control the victims."

The suits say HBRK stands for Harry Beller and Richard Kahn, its "founding members" and longtime Epstein accountants. Like Beller and HBRK, Kahn is not named as a defendant in those lawsuits.

Kahn has managed the affairs of the $630 million estate Epstein left after his 2019 death, along with the financier's longtime personal lawyer Darren Indyke. An attorney for the co-executors didn't immediately respond to Business Insider's request for comment for this story.

Beyond Epstein's operations, testimony from Beller could give the public a glimpse of the kind of financial advice Epstein gave to his handful of billionaire clients.

Those clients, including former Victoria's Secret CEO Les Wexner and ex-Apollo CEO Leon Black, have said Epstein provided valuable services to manage their own fortunes. Epstein's work for Black helped the billionaire save as much as $2 billion in taxes, for which Epstein was compensated around $170 million.

On his LinkedIn page, Beller described his time working for Epstein — which is listed as from 1992 to 2014 — as work for "New York Strategy Group LLC." Court records describe the company as Epstein's money management firm. On Beller's LinkedIn page, it's described as "a financial advisory firm servicing high net worth individuals with assets in excess of 1 billion dollars." Beller, who retains a CPA license and lives in upstate New York, now works at a small NYC-based accounting firm.

Sigrid McCawley, an attorney at Boies Schiller Flexner who brought the lawsuits against the banks on behalf of Epstein victims, said Beller was someone who "knows the inner workings" of how Epstein used the financial system.

"He was the accountant part of that enterprise, with Khan, whose hands are all over this," McCawley told Business Insider. "So I do think he is a significant person of interest in this."

Beller was forced to testify last year in a deposition in another lawsuit brought by McCawley, against Indyke and Kahn.

When asked about HBRK, he "invoked the Fifth Amendment instead of responding to document subpoenas or substantively answering questions," McCawley wrote in one court filing.