Lean Times

In the early days of the tech boom, the number of employees a startup had was seen by investors as a key metric of growth. These days, “adding talent, once a sign of surging sales and confidence in the future, now means leaders must be doing something wrong.” It’s partly AI, it’s partly a change of philosophy, it’s partly evolving views on productivity. Whatever it is, corporate America, once proud of its bloat, is now mainlining Ozempic for workforces. WSJ (Gift Article): The Biggest Companies Across America Are Cutting Their Workforces. “U.S. public companies have reduced their white-collar workforces by a collective 3.5% over the past three years, according to employment data-provider Live Data Technologies. Over the past decade, one in five companies in the S&P 500 have shrunk.” (The headcount at NextDraft has remained consistent at one. But my wife currently has me doing pilates three times a week, so even this operation is getting leaner.)

+ While workforces are getting smaller, the fortunes of many are getting bigger. America added 1,000 new millionaires every day last year.