Weathering The Internet Storm

Report From the Futurist

The CEO of iMotors.com wants to use the Web to sell his customers exactly the used car they want at a no-haggle price. But first, in a brutally harsh climate for dotcom retailers, he has to sell his strategy. Do you buy his model?

Picks from the VP of Teenage Research Unlimited.

Easy listening.

Brad Hill is teaching rank-and-file workers in tough jobs how to devise incentive plans. In the process, they're being rewarded with things that money can't buy -- more dignity and a greater sense of purpose.

Consultant Debunking Unit

"Change takes guts. It takes imagination. It takes commitment," declares John Taylor of General Motors's APEx team. APEx is designing radically new concept cars -- and changing the concept of change inside GM.

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SEI Investments became a financial-services juggernaut by helping banks and mutual-fund companies rethink and automate their operations. Now it is up to Judith Tschirgi to rethink SEI's success -- and to migrate the company to the Web.

The wireless Web is going to be huge, right? But how much of its promise will actually materialize? Are we in the early stages of the next Internet fad? Here's how the most serious players around separate sense from nonsense.

What's Your Problem?

The BPL's youth wing has been transformed into a spiffy haven for neighborhood kids.

What the new economy needs now is a good chat, says Oxford University professor Theodore Zeldin, who wants us to have conversations about the emotional, intellectual, and cultural dimensions of work.

My Smartest Mistake

A stocking-stuffer-worthy gadget.

A cooking thermometer that's great for seasoned pros and nervous novices alike.

Meeting I Never Miss

Picks from the CEO of UniversityAngels.com

Career Move

Hard up for some last-minute gift ideas?

Looking for IT talent? An obscure part? The bigger the Web gets, the harder it is to find what you're looking for. The solution: a human search engine powered by bounty hunters.

A Spy in the House of Work

The startup revolution is as much about the democratization of capital as it is about the creation of new technologies. So why do women-led companies still receive only 4.6% of all venture funding?

These days, most Internet startups are hoarding their cash and downsizing their dreams. Not Cogent Communications. The company is on a 12,000-mile dash to build a new network for high-speed Internet access.

Job Titles of the Future: Roya Zamanzadeh

Your stock price is down 80%. All of a sudden, that ".com" at the end of your company's name feels like a four-letter word. Life in the Internet economy can't get much worse, can it? Be afraid. Be very afraid.

Job Titles of the Future: Ned Lilly

One Click Faster

"Who or what is killing the great women of the corporate world?"

Interact with the companies whose products and services are advertised in Fast Company.

"If you work 20 hours a day, your product will be crap."

"The future of the auto industry is building your own car over the Net."

"Why are we willing to tolerate bullies?"

Flight delayed? Catch up with friends.

A letter from the founding editors.