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Nvidia shares grew 171% in 2024, leading to newly minted billionaires.

Tench Coxe, 66, a member of Nvidia’s board since 1993, has earned a place on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index for the first time, the publication reported on Thursday.

According to the Index, Coxe is now worth $5.4 billion. He’s Nvidia’s third-largest individual shareholder, with 32 million shares, behind Nvidia co-founder and CEO Jensen Huang (75 million shares) and fellow board member Mark Stevens (38 million shares).

Coxe isn’t Nvidia’s only billionaire board member. Stevens made the Bloomberg Billionaires Index for the first time in July 2024 and has a net worth of $9.3 billion at the time of writing. Another board member who joined Nvidia when it was founded in 1993, Harvey Jones, has a $1 billion stake in Nvidia, per Bloomberg. Huang, also a board member, is worth over $120 billion. He was first recorded as a billionaire by Forbes in 2017.

Related: He Bought Nvidia Stock in 1993. Now It’s the Backbone of His $8.8 Billion Net Worth.

Coxe, Stevens, and Jones have each been Nvidia board members for more than 30 years. According to Bloomberg, their net worth coupled with Huang’s fortune makes Nvidia’s board one of the wealthiest in the world.

^{Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang. Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images}

It’s not just Nvidia’s top brass that has benefitted from the company’s stock jump — Nvidia’s over 2,200% surge over the past five years has made long-term employees multimillionaires.

Related: Employees Who Worked at This Company for the Past 5 Years Are Now Multi-Millionaires in ‘Semi-Retirement’

A June poll of over 3,000 Nvidia employees showed that 76% were millionaires and one-third were worth over $20 million. Nvidia has around 30,000 total employees.

Even though the majority of respondents were millionaires, an August Bloomberg report indicated they were still working hard. The report unpacked the culture and expectations at Nvidia and concluded that the company had a “pressure cooker” environment.

Still, Nvidia has no problems holding onto employees. Its sustainability report for fiscal year 2024 details that overall turnover was 2.7% compared to the industry average of 17.7%.

Related: ‘Pressure Cooker’: Why Millionaire Nvidia Employees Are Still Working Until 2 a.m.

This Side Hustle Spotlight Q&A features JW Wiseman, founder of non-alcoholic craft cocktail company Curious Elixirs.

^{Image Credit: Nick Kova. JW Wiseman, founder of Curious Elixirs.}

Launched in 2015, Curious Elixirs generated $2.2 million in its first five years — and skyrocketed past $50 million in the past five years. The brand has served millions of customers in some of the best restaurants in the world, including Daniel and The French Laundry; at nightclubs like House of Yes; and in their own homes through its direct-to-consumer business. The brand is projected to do $176 million in revenue by 2030.

Responses have been edited for length and clarity.

What was your day job or primary occupation when you started your side hustle?
Helping clean food startups like Daily Harvest and Chomps get their first million customers through my marketing firm Good Business, along with opening a bar called The Whiskey Brooklyn and the nightclub OUTPUT. It took about five years before we had enough steady cashflow for me to commit full-time to Curious Elixirs.

Related: How to Start a Side Hustle With Facebook, From 4 People Who Did It and Are Earning More Than $1 Million a Year

When did you start your side hustle, and where did you find the inspiration for it?
Working in nightlife and being a huge cocktail nerd in New York City, I’ve loved hospitality for ages…and ended up drinking too much. One winter’s night in 2012, I had over 20 drinks, and the next day I didn’t even have a hangover — that was so scary. I changed my relationship with alcohol and started drinking less. But I still wanted to be social and have an elevated cocktail experience — it literally did not exist at that time. So I set out to create it.

What we did was craft complex cocktails without alcohol using the world’s best ingredients with inspiration from cocktails new and old. We collaborated with bartenders, food scientists and herbalists. And Curious Elixirs was born.

^{Image Credit: Courtesy of Curious Elixirs}

What were some of the first steps you took to get your side hustle off the ground?
Tinkering in the kitchen, reading books on herbs and taking a chance to make something that had never existed: a booze-free craft cocktail with herbs and adaptogens to help you unwind.

While working on an early hibiscus negroni recipe one Sunday morning, the name just struck me out of nowhere — Curious Elixirs — and I kept working on it until it was finally ready for testing at parties in Brooklyn and Queens.

Related: ‘Hustling Every Day’: These Friends Started a Side Hustle With $2,500 Each — It ‘Snowballed’ to Over $500,000 and Became a Multimillion-Dollar Brand

Back then, we had a hotel in Rockaway Beach called Playland Motel, and for opening weekend, I made a Curious Elixir. I didn’t even label it as non-alcoholic, but people kept drinking that far more than the booze. I knew I was on to something.

To more about the non-alcoholic space, I sought advice from hospitality pros, while also apprenticing with food scientists. I learned how to adapt bartending craft mocktails to then scaling beverage production, with clean-label ingredients of the highest quality from around the world.

Related: Has Dry January Really Lifted Non-Alcoholic Beverage Makers’ Spirits?

What were some of the biggest challenges you faced while building your side hustle, and how did you navigate them?
When Curious began as a business in 2015, many of the alcohol-free ingredient extracts that make a drink bitter or spicy — like gentian in our Curious No. 1 or ancho chili in Curious No. 2 — didn’t exist yet. Creating these extracts and blending them to make sophisticated non-alcoholic cocktails takes years of effort and experimentation.

Another challenge was filming Shark Tank in 2018, and having the segment not make the show. Curious Elixirs was ahead of its time, and the sharks just didn’t understand what a massive opportunity the non-alcoholic segment was going to become. It’s still early even though we’re 10 years in. At the time, we were often running out of product to sell, so it’s a blessing in disguise that it didn’t air.

^{Image Credit: Courtesy of Curious Elixirs}

Related: ‘I Just Hustled’: She Earned More Than $300,000 Wrapping Gifts Last Year — and It All Started With a Side Hustle

How long did it take you to see consistent monthly revenue? How much did the side hustle earn?
Because of my experience taking Daily Harvest national, we launched Curious Elixirs with a monthly subscription called The Curious Cocktail Club. People loved the drinks immediately, so we had consistency from the jump, but it was tiny from the start. During the first five years of side hustling with Curious Elixirs, we earned $2.2 million.

Curious was also ahead of the curve because we were creating the curve. It took five years before Curious could pay me enough to focus on it full-time…that was in January 2020.

When the pandemic hit we had two waves of newcomers to non-alcoholic options: Those who cut back on booze right as lockdown happened, and then a second wave of people who drank too much during quarantine and decided to get “sober curious.”

What does growth and revenue look like now?
Curious is about to turn 10 years old. Our first year we did about $176,000, and now each year we’re comfortably north of eight figures of revenue with 30% CAGR (compound annual growth rate). Curious Elixirs is proud to be just crossing $50 million in revenue in the last five years with a 20.8x brand growth rate — all without any outside investment.

^{Image Credit: Courtesy of Curious Elixirs}

Related: She Started a Side Hustle That Earned More Than $1 Million in Year 1: ‘Manifest Your Best Life’

What do you enjoy most about running this business?
Our mission has always been to transform how we drink socially, and the past few years, it has really accelerated! People are waking up to find that life with less booze can be more fun, creative and memorable.

What’s your advice for others hoping to start successful side hustles of their own?
Start today. Right now. Take five minutes and build a side hustle with small consistent actions. And always stay curious!

A saturated market presents business owners with unique challenges. It can be difficult for new businesses to break into a saturated market or for well-established businesses to increase their revenue. However, with SEO-driven content marketing strategies, you can capture more market share and add to your existing customer base.

What is a saturated market?

A saturated market has little to no new consumer demand for a product or service. This can occur for several reasons, including intense competition, lowered demand or changing trends, making certain products or services obsolete. Some examples of saturated markets include the smartphone manufacturing industry or the fast food industry.

It’s important to distinguish a saturated market from a niche market. Even though they are both extremely competitive, this competition is caused by different factors. Niche industries are competitive because they cater to a much smaller customer base with very specific needs. Saturated markets, in general, consist of a much broader consumer base that has already been claimed by established competitors.

Challenges of a saturated market

Saturated markets present several specific challenges. The lack of customer growth can make it difficult for businesses to grow or diversify their revenue streams. Saturated markets are very difficult to break into since businesses must compete against established suppliers who may have high customer retention rates due to their brand reputation.

The only way for businesses in a saturated market to grow significantly is to steal market share from their competitors. This requires innovation since companies must either increase demand by having a new product or find ways to highlight their brand’s unique selling points.

Related: The Best Strategy to Stand Out in Today’s Competitive Market May Not Be What You Think

Content marketing strategies for a saturated market

One of the best ways to stand out in a saturated market and steal market share is to update your content marketing strategies.

Start with SEO

SEO is essential if you want to gain visibility in today’s saturated markets. Having quality content will not help you if potential consumers are not finding it. Technical SEO and SEO-driven content strategies can help your content rank higher on SERPs, ensuring that your target audience is regularly seeing your content.

Using effective SEO helps you increase your brand visibility and customer base. At Outpace SEO, optimizing multiple forms of content, including images, service pages, blogs and alternate text, is one of the strategies we use to make sure that our clients are as competitive as possible in difficult search landscapes.

Do the right research

To effectively implement SEO-driven marketing, businesses need to research their target demographic, relevant keywords and competitors. For example, at my company, we conduct competitor audits for our clients to identify which topics and types of content are ranking on the first page, as well as any content gaps.

Related: Entering Into a Saturated Market? You Can Still Succeed!

Write original, high-quality content

Businesses can develop an effective content strategy based on keyword research. The content you put out should be original, creative and written by people, not AI. Updating content regularly and making sure it is accurate can also help you build authority and credibility. High-quality content published regularly will establish you as a major player in your industry, helping you build a customer base.

Optimize content structure

Content structure has the potential to boost rankings and help businesses appear in AI overviews, rich snippets and ChatGPT search results. One strategy we use to optimize our clients’ content is using long-tail keywords and high-volume search queries in the headers. Length is also important: research the average length of your competitor’s pages that are ranking in the top spots, and start creating content that is similar in length.

Embrace new platforms

What platforms are your customers using? TikTok, ChatGPT search and Instagram are just a few examples of new opportunities for content marketing. Keeping up with new platforms rather than sticking to outdated strategies can help you stay ahead of the competition and capture market share. Rather than spreading your resources thin and diluting your brand, identify the most effective platform for your demographic and use it to highlight your unique selling points.

Related: Why the Smallest Details Mean the Most in Marketing

Monitor success

Your marketing strategies should provide tangible results. If they are not, it might be time to adjust. Monitoring the right KPIs, such as engagement, click-through rates, bounce rates, rankings and conversions, can help you gain a clearer picture of which content is actually working for you. Making data-driven decisions about content marketing strategies is one of the best ways to succeed in a saturated market.

Update your content strategies to succeed

If your business is in a saturated market, scaling and increasing revenue will be especially challenging. To succeed, it’s important to optimize every aspect of your content so that it works for your business. Using SEO to inform content marketing strategies and making data-driven decisions can help you update and improve content while building brand authority. Stay competitive in saturated markets with SEO-driven content marketing practices.

How much TV can you watch in one weekend? For the first time, Apple is offering customers free two-day access to its streaming service Apple TV+.

Apple announced on Monday that new customers worldwide can tap into Apple TV+ for free for the first weekend of 2025, from January 4 to January 5. The ad-free pass includes access to award-winning shows like “Ted Lasso” and “Severance.”

This weekend, see for yourself.

Stream for free Jan 4-5. pic.twitter.com/8p6PCUYpms

— Apple TV (@AppleTV) December 30, 2024

Apple TV+ usually costs $9.99 per month with a seven-day free trial for new members. Apple increased the monthly price of the service from $4.99 to $6.99 in October 2022 and from $6.99 to $9.99 in October 2023.

Related: Is Netflix Raising Prices? Analysts Predict Yes as Company Posts Earnings

Apple TV+ is ad-free and allows up to six simultaneous streams from one account.

How to Access Apple TV+ for Free

Apple TV+ is available on the web and on the Apple TV app, which comes preloaded on Apple devices like the iPhone and Mac. To access the streaming service, you need an Apple ID to log in or you can make an Apple ID with an email address. From there, you can stream for free.

Which Titles Are Available?

All titles on Apple TV+ are available under the free two-day pass, including Golden Globe-nominated shows “Slow Horses” and “Disclaimer” and sci-fi series like “Dark Matter,” “For all Mankind,” and “Foundation.” Apple releases new original content every month.

Related: Amazon Prime Video Doesn’t Want to Be Just a Default Prime Perk. Here’s How the Streaming Service Became a Major Player.

‘Tis the season to start a side hustle. Many Americans are eager to earn some extra cash ahead of an anticipated holiday spend of $1,778, an 8% increase over last year, according to Deloitte’s 2024 holiday retail survey.

Although not quite seasonal, online freelance work is the most popular side hustle to offset holiday-related expenses, SideHustles.com revealed last month.

Related: More Than 75% of Americans Have Side Hustles During the Holidays — Here Are the Most Popular Gigs This Season

However, for those who want to take advantage of some winter-specific side gigs with lucrative potential, SideHustles.com compiled a list of the best-paying opportunities.

Side hustlers dwelling in snowy regions can cash in on the No. 1 gig: snow removal and shoveling. The work might require purchasing a snow blower or heavy duty shovel, but with a relatively high earning potential of $25 to $75 per hour, it might be worth the investment.

The next three winter side hustles with the best earning potential put a seasonal spin on year-round classics: winter event photography, winter sports instruction and winter-themed digital design, all of which typically offer anywhere from $20 to $50 an hour.

Related: How to Start a Side Hustle With Facebook, From 4 People Who Did It and Are Earning More Than $1 Million a Year

A gift-wrapping side hustle can also bring in some serious cash, with the potential to earn $20 to $40 per hour.

Last month, Entrepreneur sat down with Nifty Package Co. founder Michelle Hensley, who successfully turned her gift-basket side hustle into a full-fledged business with a strategic gift-wrap offer — one that made more than $300,000 in 2023.

“Take your time to wrap the gift,” Hensley suggests to anyone who might want to start their own gift-wrapping side hustle. “There are a lot of great gift-wrappers out there, but they do a lot of foo foo on everything. That isn’t always the most beautiful, elegant or trendy. Your quality of paper is going to make it the difference — [and your ribbon]. We use all fabric ribbons.”

Related: Easy and Lucrative Side Hustles to Try This Holiday Season for Extra Pay Amid Inflation and High Interest Rates

Holiday decorating ($25-$50 per hour), pet sitting or dog walking ($15-$30 per hour) and baking seasonal treats ($15-$35 per order) round out the rest of the highest-earning side hustles from SideHustles.com.

Looking to switch careers in the new year? You should consider working in cybersecurity, as it’s one of today’s most in-demand fields that’s expected to only continue growing. While we know jobs in IT might seem super technical or complicated, there is actually a range of opportunities available across different disciplines, and learning about them isn’t as difficult as you might think.

It’s tough figuring out where to start, but beginning with this Cybersecurity Developer & IT Super Skills e-learning bundle might be the smartest move. It offers 24 courses and a complete introduction to the field for $59.99 (reg. $936). You might just figure out what type of cybersecurity role you want to transition into in the new year.

How does becoming a highly paid security analyst sound? How about a cloud architect? Or an ethical hacker? Regardless of the position that interests you most, this bundle is designed to help you reach specific career goals, first by covering cybersecurity fundamentals like risk management, incident response, and security awareness.

From there, you might be especially interested in joining the field as an ethical hacker. You could jump to the Certified Ethical Hacker course and learn how to identify and exploit system vulnerabilities. You may just gain the skills to land a job at a top company, protecting their systems and data from cyber threats.

Check out the other roles (and course focuses) you could pursue to land your dream job—and help other businesses and organizations build, manage, and execute security protections that meet their needs:

• Cloud security specialist
• Network security engineer
• Secure software developer
• Cybersecurity or mobile security analyst
• Advanced security practitioner

Dive into a whole new world of career possibilities in the new year with this cybersecurity and IT skills online learning bundle for $59.99. No coupon is needed for this price drop, though it expires soon.

The Complete 2025 Cybersecurity Developer & IT Super Skills Bundle

Only $59.99 at Entrepreneur

StackSocial prices subject to change.

Ever wished you could achieve superhuman focus? In 2025, AI can make it a reality. In this video, I’ll show you how to use Google AI Studio to analyze your own behavior, identify your focus patterns, and unlock peak productivity. Discover how to pinpoint exactly where your focus breaks down and get actionable strategies to make it unbreakable.

You’ll learn how to feed this powerful, free AI tool your calendar data, journal entries, and even your email habits to uncover the hidden triggers affecting your concentration. I’ll provide you with the exact prompts to use, transforming Google AI Studio into your personal productivity coach. Imagine understanding precisely when you’re most productive, what tasks drain your energy, and how to structure your day for maximum impact. This isn’t just about getting more done; it’s about aligning your work with your natural rhythms for effortless focus.

Download the free ‘AI Success Kit’ (limited time only). And you’ll also get a free chapter from Ben’s brand new book, ‘The Wolf is at The Door – How to Survive and Thrive in an AI-Driven World.’

Searching for a job that doesn’t ask for a college degree?

A new report from AI interview firm Final Round AI, based on Glassdoor data, ranked the top 10 professions—from No. 1 commercial pilot to No. 7 hearing aid specialist—that don’t require a traditional degree.

Related: These Are the Best Jobs for Every Personality Type, According to a New Report

Though becoming a commercial pilot doesn’t require a degree, it is costly to obtain a commercial pilot’s license, which is required to get paid as a pilot. According to Indeed estimates, obtaining a commercial pilot’s license takes anywhere from $55,000 to $100,000.

The second best-paid job on Final Round AI’s list is a dental hygienist. Even though only 12.63% of dental hygienist jobs ask for a degree in their job postings, New York State requires a high school diploma in addition to the completion of a dental hygiene licensure program accredited by the American Dental Association. State requirements can vary depending on the profession.

So though the high-paying jobs on this list don’t explicitly require a college degree in many of their job postings, they may still have unwritten time and money-intensive requirements to meet.

Related: Looking for a Remote Job? Here Are the Most In-Demand Skills to Have on Your Resume, According to Employers.

Here are the top jobs with the lowest percentages of listings asking for a traditional college degree. The jobs are ranked by the highest average yearly salary.

1. Commercial Pilot

Average yearly salary: $176,000

Percentage of listings requiring any degree: 36.18%

2. Dental Hygienist

Average yearly salary: $169,000

Percentage of listings requiring any degree: 12.63%

3. Ship Mate

Average yearly salary: $158,000

Percentage of listings requiring any degree: 26.24%

4. Diagnostic Medical Sonographers

Average yearly salary: $146,000

Percentage of listings requiring any degree: 24.87%

5. Radiation Therapist

Average yearly salary: $125,000

Percentage of listings requiring any degree: 30.46%

6. Massage Therapist

Average yearly salary: $119,000

Percentage of listings requiring any degree: 4.04%

7. Hearing Aid Specialist

Average yearly salary: $113,000

Percentage of listings requiring any degree: 35.03%

8. Physical Therapist Assistant

Average yearly salary: $109,000

Percentage of listings requiring any degree: 32.14%

9. Aircraft Mechanic

Average yearly salary: $89,000

Percentage of listings requiring any degree: 12.99%

10. Avionics Technician

Average yearly salary: $89,000

Percentage of listings requiring any degree: 26.73%

Strategic planning, deliberation and technical know-how are no longer sufficient for leadership in today’s fast-paced, technology-driven corporate environment. Although these are essential, a new characteristic of effective leaders is their capacity to establish an emotional connection with their colleagues, build trust and face adversity with empathy. Emotional Intelligence (EQ) is useful in this situation.

A leader with emotional intelligence can strike a balance between seeing the big picture and being in the moment, which in turn fosters an atmosphere where ideas can flourish, people feel appreciated and businesses can succeed in the long run. Leaders who are able to tap into their emotional intelligence will be the ones to spearhead the transformation of their companies in the face of rising employee demands, technological upheaval and hybrid teams.

This article will go into the importance of emotional intelligence for contemporary leaders, how it relates to financial performance and how leaders may develop EQ to motivate their people and achieve more.

Related: Mastering Emotional Intelligence Is the Key to Effective Leadership and Team Building

What is emotional intelligence, and why does it matter?

The capacity to identify, comprehend and control one’s own emotions as well as to observe and impact the emotions of people around you is known as emotional intelligence, a term popularized by psychologist Daniel Goleman.

In leadership, EQ consists of five key components:

1. Self-awareness: Understanding your emotions and how they affect your actions.

2. Self-regulation: Managing emotional responses in a way that aligns with goals and values.

3. Motivation: Maintaining a drive for excellence even in challenging circumstances.

4. Empathy: Understanding and sharing the feelings of others, fostering deeper connections.

5. Social skills: Effectively managing relationships, conflict resolution and team dynamics.

In the face of complicated difficulties, leaders with high EQ are able to steer their teams through tough conversations, earn the trust of stakeholders and keep them motivated. Actually, research shows that leaders with high levels of emotional intelligence perform better than average. The fact that 90% of successful achievers have high EQ demonstrates the strong correlation between emotional intelligence and professional performance.

The link between EQ and high-impact leadership

1. Building trust and engagement

Trust is built through emotional intelligence. Workers appreciate it when their leaders are self-aware and empathetic. A high-performing team is built on trust, which allows members to freely express themselves, take calculated risks and work together without worrying about what others think.

For instance, leaders who possess a high EQ are able to identify when their colleagues are feeling anxious or uncertain throughout organizational transition and alleviate their concerns through open and honest communication. This improves team buy-in and decreases resistance to change.

2. Aligning purpose with motivation

Leaders who establish an emotional connection with their people are able to comprehend what motivates them. These executives motivate their teams from inside by showing how their work contributes to the larger mission of the company. Leaders who are EQ-driven place an emphasis on purpose rather than performance measures, demonstrating how each contribution fits into the larger context.

Consider Satya Nadella, boss of Microsoft. Redefining Microsoft’s culture to prioritize growth, collaboration and empowerment, he achieved this by integrating strategic leadership with empathy and an emotionally intelligent approach. So what was the result? A re-energized staff and a dynamic, successful business.

3. Navigating conflict and building resilience

Any organization will inevitably experience conflict. The ability to control one’s emotions and empathize with others are tools that high-EQ leaders use to constructively handle conflicts and find solutions. They help teams communicate better, calm down tense situations and advance as one.

Furthermore, leaders can benefit from EQ by developing resilience in themselves and the people they lead. A culture of tenacity and creativity is fostered when leaders demonstrate optimism and emotional regulation in the face of hardship, thereby transforming obstacles into chances for progress.

Related: 11 Signs That You Lack Emotional Intelligence

How leaders can develop emotional intelligence

The good news is that emotional intelligence is not an innate trait — it’s a skill that can be developed and refined over time. Here’s how leaders can cultivate EQ to become more impactful:

1. Develop self-awareness

• Regularly reflect on your emotional triggers and how they influence your behavior.

• Seek honest feedback from colleagues and team members to better understand your strengths and blind spots.

• Practice mindfulness or journaling to enhance awareness of your thoughts and emotions.

Example: Leaders who regularly reflect can adjust their approach in high-pressure situations, staying calm and solution-focused.

2. Practice self-regulation

• Respond, don’t react. Pause before responding to emotional situations to maintain composure.

• Manage stress effectively through healthy habits like exercise, deep breathing or time management techniques.

• Lead by example: Show consistency, reliability and fairness in your actions.

Example: A leader facing tight deadlines can manage stress through clear prioritization instead of projecting frustration onto the team.

3. Cultivate empathy

• Practice active listening. Pay full attention to team members without interruption or judgment.

• Put yourself in others’ shoes to understand their perspectives and challenges.

• Be present during difficult conversations, showing genuine concern and support.

Example: When employees face burnout, empathetic leaders recognize the signs early, offering solutions like workload adjustments or resources for support.

4. Enhance social skills

• Foster meaningful relationships by engaging with teams authentically.

• Focus on communication clarity, ensuring your message aligns with team needs.

• Celebrate team wins and recognize individual contributions to create a culture of appreciation.

Example: Leaders who build positive relationships see higher levels of collaboration, engagement and retention.

The business impact of emotional intelligence

Investing in emotional intelligence pays dividends. Organizations led by high-EQ leaders see measurable improvements in key areas:

• Higher retention rates: Employees are more likely to stay in supportive, emotionally aware environments.

• Improved team performance: Trust and open communication drive collaboration and innovation.

• Stronger client relationships: Leaders with high EQ understand client needs and build lasting partnerships.

• Greater resilience: Teams led by emotionally intelligent leaders recover faster from setbacks and adapt to change seamlessly.

The role of EQ in the digital era

The importance of emotional intelligence in the workplace is growing as a result of the digital revolution. Even though they may be physically apart, leaders of hybrid and remote teams must show empathy and connection with their teams. Emotional intelligence ensures teams stay engaged, collaborative and purpose-driven while technology powers operations.

Emotional intelligence will also be the deciding factor in which leaders stand out when AI begins to automate more and more jobs. When it comes to propelling development and innovation, empathy, imagination and emotional connection will prove to be invaluable assets.

Related: These Are the 4 Emotional Intelligence Characteristics All Business Leaders Need

Leading with EQ for lasting impact

Emotional intelligence is not a “soft skill” — it’s a core leadership capability that drives trust, engagement and long-term success. Leaders who master EQ are better equipped to inspire their teams, navigate challenges and create positive, purpose-driven work environments.

In today’s evolving business world, the most impactful leaders are those who combine strategic vision with emotional awareness, leaving behind a legacy of growth, resilience and human connection.

Whether you’re leading a startup, scaling a business or guiding an established organization, emotional intelligence is the key to unlocking your team’s full potential and achieving sustainable success.

Final reflection: How are you harnessing emotional intelligence to inspire and empower your team? The journey to high-impact leadership starts with self-awareness and a commitment to connection.

They say great minds think alike — or maybe they land on similar ideas because they are observing the same world all around them. Every year, as my team and I curate the absolute best books of the year, we discover some themes across the 1000-plus submissions we consider.

We call them themes — and they reflect a combination of the cultural zeitgeist of what’s happening in business today and the hot topics on the minds of entrepreneurs and business professionals right now. Among books published this year, we read about the importance of calm and overcoming anxiety, climate solutions, putting generosity first, reevaluating the human condition in an age of AI, the power of quiet leadership and many more. Read on to see the trends we spotted and some of our thoughts on how they might be relevant for you as we head into 2025 and beyond.

Related: 6 Books to Help You Keep Your New Years Resolution

1. Calming anxiety and burnout

After a divisive election year, a rise in anxiety and growing awareness of mental health at work, this year, there has been a slate of books focused on what to do about burnout at work. Some advocated working less, while others focused on productivity hacks. From destressing to conquering anxiety, the idea of calm in work and life became an urgent topic, and this reality was reflected through books aiming to offer desperately needed help.

2. Math mindedness

Can math explain the world? This year, math minds took center stage to offer perspectives on everything from how AI actually works to how it powers the most popular games in the world. Geography, geometry, statistics and even models of thinking got the numbers treatment as this group of books put math back into the spotlight and argued that understanding the world, making new friends and shifting our perspective all come down to better understanding math.

3. Good aging

If longevity exploded in 2023, then this year offers a correction to books focusing on how we live instead of just techniques for living longer. Alongside the longevity topic, many new books this year shifted to offering insights on how to be old successfully. From loving mid-life to living a wonderous life of purpose, the new theme around aging seems to be enjoying the time you have, whether it lasts a century or less.

4. Rethinking higher education

As the workplace shifts and the costs of higher education continue to spark debate, a range of books this year offered either a commentary on the higher education experience or a suggestion for a compelling alternative to the traditional four-year college experience. As more young people consider alternative paths to success, the college question is accelerating and will likely spark much more continuing dissent and conversation over the coming year and beyond.

5. Generosity first

Perhaps in response to a world that feels as though it rewards toxicity, several books this year put generosity and the idea of generous leadership front and center. Fostering a friendly team dynamic, maintaining hope instead of becoming cynical and living life by giving more back were all key themes that stood out this year as authors offered a more optimistic prescription for how to live and work that reminded us about the too easily forgotten power of actually caring for one another and why doing it may be the key to prosperity and happiness.

6. Saving humanity

Last year, the big theme with AI-focused books was all about designing AI in more human ways and reducing bias or other potential issues with the technology as it gains widespread adoption. This year, that trend continued, but many books took a decidedly more philosophical turn as they pondered human existence in a world ruled by AI. Will we exist or be necessary? Is our demise inevitable? As we live through a new technology age, these questions have received a renewed sense of urgency and attention as many books have helped reimagine what it will mean to be human in an increasingly automated future.

Related: 5 Books That Paved My Path to Entrepreneurial Success

7. The female lens

For the past several years, there has been a growing number of writers turning their attention to the previously neglected female perspective on many different topics. This year, that feminine lens focused on the history of women on Wall Street, memoirs from female trailblazers like Connie Chung, female-first branding techniques, and the exploration of women’s role in creating the crossword puzzle. Along with offering a gendered correction to decades of male-centered perspectives on history, this new range of books provides the stories of previously neglected female heroines from history who deserve to be remembered.

8. Finding purpose

This year, a big topic for many books focused on finding your passion and purpose. Rather than living a rudderless life, people of all ages are seeing reminders of living a life with purpose and leaving a legacy they can be proud of. Whether it was finding your passion or avoiding despair (seasonal, political, environmental or otherwise), these hopeful books offered to help you rediscover your purpose and to live it more intentionally every day.

9. Climate solutionism

In past years, many books about global warming and climate change both chronicled the problem as well as aimed to offer legislative or advocacy solutions. This year, a new perspective emerged regarding “solutionism.” In other words, many books provided the prescription for us actually to fix some of the human-created global environmental problems. At least this positivity focuses on what to do next instead of dissecting and assigning blame for how we got here.

10. The citizenship imperative

After a contentious election season, several books this past year aimed to help Americans rediscover their democracy and what it means to be citizens. From teaching young people about the latter to explaining topics like migration or free speech to more controversial calls to overhaul and rethink the Constitution itself, the idea that we all need to better understand and perhaps reimagine the fundamental beliefs of our government was a timely and urgent focus of many titles this past year.

11. Quiet leadership

In what might seem like the ultimate irony, several counterintuitive books this year focused on the quieter side of leadership. From embracing silence to increasing cultural intelligence and focusing on the softer side of management, the conclusion seemed to be that the noisier the world gets, the more effective leaders who buck this trend and embrace their quiet side might actually be.

12. The friendship antidote

A year ago, a range of books explored the loneliness epidemic and offered a dire warning of the negative health and emotional effects of isolation. This year, the antidote took the main stage in the form of encouraging people to forge and solidify more friendships. These books offered encouragement, tactics and perhaps most importantly, a reminder that having strong friendships requires investing the time to make them work.