Until a couple of years ago, the software running the state unemployment insurance platform in Kansas hadn’t been updated since the 1970s. Customer service agents had to keep five screens open at once while trying to help people filing for unemployment compensation; one of the tools was so old that it wasn’t even possible to use a mouse, and agents had to type commands into a command line. At night, the whole system had to shut down for batch processing, so if someone who’d lost their job tried to submit a claim at 9 p.m., they’d be frustrated to find that it wouldn’t work.

In 2018, Michael Wisler became chief information officer at M&T Bank, a now-170-year-old financial institution based in Buffalo, after spending years in technology leadership roles at Capital One. Wisler soon worked to invest in M&T’s in-house information technology capabilities and talent, reducing the bank’s reliance on outside tech contractors, speeding the rate at which the bank can respond to changes in technology and customer needs, and building more resilient systems. It was part of a transformation to treat technology, and the experts who work with it, as a true competitive advantage of the bank. 

At the tech industry event CES in January 2025, Delta’s CEO, Ed Bastian, unveiled Delta Concierge, the airline’s generative AI travel assistant. Its full rollout has happened under the watch of the new chief digital & technology officer, Amala Duggirala. As of August 2026, the tool reaches 100% of SkyMiles members to assist flyers with disruption support, self-service cancellations, and bag tracking.

Jamie Engstrom has a winning personal motto: “We reserve the right to work smarter tomorrow”—shorthand for her IT organization’s commitment to keep learning as AI advances and Caterpillar’s business evolves. As CIO and SVP, Engstrom leads a global IT team of more than 2,200 professionals across 28 countries. Though Caterpillar has used AI in some capacity for three decades, Engstrom now drives the company’s use of AI for things like advanced analytics, automation, and supply chain optimization. 

E.l.f. Beauty’s posts on TikTok and Instagram receive hundreds if not thousands of comments when they go online. Often, the comments include questions about when a product is launching, how the product compares to other E.l.f. offerings, or what type of skin or hair it’s appropriate for. To answer shoppers’ questions in real time, the company created an AI tool called E.l.f.luencer—trained on the company’s stylebook and years of human-written social comments—that autogenerates responses to comments left by consumers on social media platforms.

To create the 2026 list of Pacesetters, a team of expert Fast Company editors and writers, along with a group of external judges, sought out groundbreaking executives in a variety of industries who are using generative artificial intelligence, autonomous agents, and machine learning to find new ways to inspire and retain their customers.

Not long ago, using AI to optimize customer experience meant a chatbot, often a frustratingly limited one. Now, just a couple years later, it means a steady and constantly evolving conversation between companies and the humans they serve—one where AI agents anticipate needs, fix problems, and make decisions at blazing speed. If you have customers, this shift is affecting you.   

Ruba Borno leads AWS’s Global Specialists and Partners organization, working with companies that use Amazon Web Services to turn AI advances into business impact.

“No Black Friday. No seasonal sales. No promotional pricing.” Earlier this year, Petrus Palmér, the founder and CEO of Hem, wrote these words on LinkedIn about his decision to do away with all discounts. This isn’t the first time Hem’s business model has changed course. Palmér founded the cult-favorite Swedish brand—known for its collaborations with some of today’s most cutting-edge designers—in 2014. It launched as primarily a direct-to-consumer brand, but that has since shifted. Today, the majority of the company’s sales come from trade and wholesale, something he says he’s happy with.

A new app will let you build your own museum-worthy archive out of everyday objects and bring it with you everywhere you go.

I once worked with a senior leader who had mastered the art of playing it safe.

Have you ever had a moment where the world fell quiet—not because everything stopped, but because you did? You catch your breath, your shoulders drop, and whatever’s been gnawing at you seems insignificant.

Bad AI-designed posters have become so prolific that actual, human graphic designers are redesigning them on their own just to show the value of a living, breathing designer’s touch.

Mark Smucker probably should have taken the meeting.  

About a year and a half ago, I began deliberately deleting em dashes from my writing. It was for exactly the reason you’re thinking—because AI chatbots tend to overuse them; their presence was becoming a tell. Even if the words were 100% human-generated, I thought anyone reading might raise an eyebrow if they saw them and wonder, Is this AI?

Furniture brand Lovesac, best known for its premium cloud-like oversize beanbag chairs, is receiving backlash online after it attempted to create a cultural moment on social media. 

With the rise of dating apps, cyberstalking one’s matches before meeting them IRL, or soon after, has become a routine part of modern dating. Now, a new website is offering to save curious daters some time and effort by doing the internet deep-diving for them.

Years of psychological research show that leadership—the ability to coordinate collective human activity to turn a group of people into a high-performing team or unit—can be effective only if leaders are capable of providing people with constructive feedback. This means telling them what they need to hear to improve their performance, especially when it is not what they want to hear to boost their egos.

It’s a familiar scene: After a day of work meetings, calls to extinguish spontaneous fires, and inbox navigation, it’s finally time to sit down and think creatively for a big project.

Unfortunately, your brain is still swirling from other tasks, and out of the corner of your eye, you can see another alert from your Teams app. All the while, you know in order to do successful creative work, you need breathing room and mental clarity to reach that great idea.

In the complex and interconnected environment of today’s professional world, workdays are more prone to distraction than not. An employee only has 85 minutes each day of undisturbed focus time, according to the time-management tool RescueTime. This sort of personal time is essential to creative work that thrives off a lack of constraints.

Growing workloads also squash creativity. In a recent Gallup survey on worker engagement, respondents reported waning enthusiasm and involvement because of confusing expectations and blurred team authority. With companies frequently downsizing and subsequently leaving posts unfilled, workers easily see their plates brimming with tasks—frequently including duties outside their original job. Burnout follows easily.

To wit: When workers are expected to be creative, the need for boundaries is even more pronounced. 

Getting to a place of open-minded creativity starts with identifying the obstacles—whether external disruptions or personal biology—that sap your energy for precious brainstorming time.

During the past 25 years, I’ve helped leaders build their executive presence. I’ve seen how a strength that helped someone succeed can begin working against them when they rely on it too much.