New York Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers reflected on the team’s close loss to the Los Angeles Rams on Sunday and how the team stays focused on the final two games of the regular season.
Rodgers had 256 passing yards and a touchdown pass as the Jets fell to the Rams, 19-9. He was asked about how the team will keep a positive mindset with the season nearing its end and New York out of contention for the playoffs.
"I think we’re kinda past the ‘keeping it positive’ thing," Rodgers said, via SNY. "I think it’s just about perspective. Perspective informs your truth and your truth makes your reality.
"So, the reality of the situation is what it is, but your perspective is what you can change every single day. So, what you’re focusing on is the most important thing now. It’s not to change the reality of the situation – being 4-11, out of the playoffs, going into an unknown offseason."
Rodgers then spoke about what the next two weeks will mean in terms of building for the future of the organization.
"You gotta figure out what it means to be a professional," he said. "That's an important part of building culture. The last two weeks we can really see who's on board moving forward and who is ready to get out. It’s just part of the game. I’ve been on a couple of teams who were out of it, and it’s interesting to watch the practice habits, the preparation habits.
"Hopefully, we’ll do the right thing, and it means a lot because everybody’s watching, and it’s a who-you-know business. There will be interesting conversations in the next couple of weeks, but just focus on the relationships we have with each other and try to finish this thing out like a pro."
The Jets underwent dramatic changes during the season, from the dismissal of their head coach and general manager to a major trade for Davante Adams.
The team could see more changes as Garrett Wilson has been noncommittal about his future with the team.
Nebraska's Republican Gov. Jim Pillen was injured and transported to a hospital on Sunday after he was bucked off a horse.
Pillen, 68, is expected to be hospitalized for several days.
The first-term governor was riding horses with his family when he was thrown off a new horse and suffered injuries, according to the governor's office.
Pillen was rushed to Columbus Community Hospital in Columbus, Nebraska, before he was transported, out of an abundance of caution, to the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha.
"The Governor is alert and is in continuous touch with his team," Pillen's office said.
Pillen's office did not detail what injuries he suffered or the severity.
The GOP governor was elected in 2022, running in the gubernatorial election that year because former Gov. Pete Ricketts, also a Republican, was term-limited.
Pillen then appointed Ricketts to the U.S. Senate to fill the seat vacated by former Republican Sen. Ben Sasse, who resigned in 2023 to become president of the University of Florida. Sasse has since stepped down as the university's president.
Pillen worked as a veterinarian and owned a livestock operation before he was elected as governor.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, a Democrat, has ordered the firing of more than a dozen prison staffers in connection with the fatal beating of an inmate earlier this month.
Hochul said in a statement Saturday that she has directed the state's corrections department commissioner to begin the process of terminating 14 workers involved in a Dec. 9 incident at the Marcy Correctional Facility in Oneida County that led to 43-year-old Robert Brooks' death the following day at a hospital.
Brooks had been in prison since 2017 and was serving a 12-year sentence for first-degree assault.
The governor's office said the decision came after an internal review, but did not offer details on the circumstances leading up to Brooks' death.
"The vast majority of correction officers do extraordinary work under difficult circumstances, and we are all grateful for their service," Hochul said. "But we have no tolerance for individuals who cross the line, break the law and engage in unnecessary violence or targeted abuse."
The corrections department provided a list of 13 employees, including corrections officers, sergeants and a nurse who have been suspended without pay. It also included another corrections officer who resigned.
State Department of Corrections Commissioner Daniel Martuscello III condemned the staffers' involvement and said the suspensions are "in the best interest of the agency and the communities we serve."
"There is no place for brutality in our department and we will vigorously pursue justice against the individuals who committed this senseless act," he said in a statement to The Associated Press. "These investigations are ongoing and additional suspensions may be issued."
Brooks' family said in a statement from their lawyer that they are "incredibly shocked and saddened" about the death, according to The Times-Union in Albany.
"We are grateful that Gov. Hochul is taking swift action to hold officers accountable, but we cannot understand how this could have happened in the first place," the family said. "No one should have to lose a family member this way."
State Attorney General Letitia James, a Democrat, said her office is also investigating the use of force by corrections officers that led to Brooks' death. She said her staff has obtained video of the incident and it will be made public after Brooks' family has seen it.
"Law enforcement professionals must be held to the highest standards of accountability, and I am committed to providing New Yorkers with the transparency they deserve," James said in a statement.
The author did typical touristy things while on a solo trip in London.
Courtesy of Terri Peters
Recently, I visited London for the first time, armed with a list of touristy things I wanted to do.
From eating in Borough Market to seeing Big Ben, I did so many quintessentially London things.
I have no regrets about spending my three days in the Big Smoke in total tourist mode.
I'm a frequent traveler, but until recently, I'd never been to London. The Big Smoke has long been on my bucket list, so I planned a solo visit full of touristy activities like visiting Big Ben and touring the London Tower Bridge. While I wished my family could have gone along, my husband is often unable to take time off work and my teenagers have busy schedules of their own. I knew it would be a while before I could visit if I didn't take a solo trip.
Armed with a list of things I wanted to do, like visit a London pub and shop for quilted jackets in Notting Hill, I booked a flight and hotel and started packing. Here's what it was like to play tourist in London for three days, and why I have no regrets.
I went to London for the first time with a list of touristy things I wanted to do
The author saw the Olympic swimming pool built for the 2012 Summer Games.
Courtesy of Terri Peters
While I knew I'd be doing touristy activities like snapping photos in a red telephone booth and riding a double-decker bus, I tried to balance the trip with some off-the-beaten-path things, too. I made a rule that I wouldn't eat at chain restaurants, and instead of booking pricey tours, I'd walk the city on my own and really dig into exploring everything I wanted to see.
I stayed in London's Stratford neighborhood because it was within walking distance of a major tube station and near Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, home of the 2012 Summer Games. In fact, I spent my entire first day in London exploring the Olympic Park, grabbing lunch inside, and checking out the Olympic-sized swimming pools used during the Games, along with other structures.
I had Indian food on Brick Lane, saw Big Ben, and went to Notting Hill for shopping
While in London, the author ate Indian food.
Courtesy of Terri Peters
Indian food is my all-time favorite cuisine, and when I told friends I was going to London, each of them said I had to try the Indian food there. "Curry in the UK hits different," said one. And they were right. I spent my first evening on Brick Lane, home to many curry restaurants, and it was pretty empowering to wander out to dinner in a new city on my own and explore a bit.
I had other things on my London to-do list, too, like seeing Big Ben, shopping in Notting Hill, and eating the TikTok-famous chocolate-covered strawberries from Borough Market. Going into the trip with a list helped, and I was glad I'd done my research in advance.
Yes, British pubs are as much fun as they sound, even if you're sober
The author found non-alcoholic options at British pubs.
Courtesy of Terri Peters
I haven't had any alcohol for the last year, but British pubs are such a fabled part of the culture in London that I knew I had to check a few out. To my surprise, pubs in the UK had just as many alcohol-free beer options as bars in the US. I could walk in, order a booze-less beer, and feel right at home while checking out the scene.
And yes, British pubs are as much fun as they sound. I loved watching everyone gather in beer gardens, cheers'ing with their friends, and laughing. There were live bands at some, and DJs at others. All of the pubs were thriving, full of life, and just as much a part of the culture as they sound in all the chick-lit I've read. Sober or not, seeing something I've heard about my entire life was very cool.
I spent time sightseeing and have zero regrets about behaving like a total tourist
The author checked plenty of things off her London bucket list.
Courtesy of Terri Peters
I toured London's Tower Bridge, took photos in front of Big Ben, and visited Shakespeare's Globe Theater. Yes, much of what I saw in London was touristy, and I'm OK with that. As someone who woke up early with her mom to watch Princess Diana's funeral and grew up hearing about the Royal Family and their lives, it was surreal to see so many places I'd only ever seen on a news broadcast or movie screen.
I felt the most out of my element when I attended an evening show of Abba Voyage, an AI-generated Abba concert that makes the band members appear as if they are much younger and actually performing onstage. The show was an incredible and unique experience, but I realized I was not nearly as much of an Abba fan as the locals when I was among a crowd of young women, dressed up in sequins and belting out the words to "Mama Mia" with gusto.
I can't wait to go back and cross more things off my bucket list
The author is looking forward to visiting London again.
Courtesy of Terri Peters
I'm so glad I took the time to spend a few days in London, and touristy or not, my itinerary was truly the stuff my dreams were made of. With some online research, I created a full list of must-see items for my trip before I went, and I did it all. But there's so much more I want to see.
London is such a bustling city, and while I think I got a lot done for a first-time visit, I cannot wait to go back and do more. Next time, I hope to take my family along, and because I've spent so much time checking out parts of the city, I'm excited that I'll be able to play tour guide when they do visit.
Goldsmid advised thinking two jobs ahead instead of one.
Courtesy of Deel
Aaron Goldsmid, head of product at Deel, has previously worked for Facebook, Amazon, and Twitter.
Early in his career, Goldsmid said he over-indexed on emulating senior leaders.
He also said he focused more on hitting OKRs than investing in relationships.
This as-told-to essay is based on a transcribed conversation with Aaron Goldsmid, a 44-year-old from San Francisco about mistakes he made early in his career. Business Insider verified his previous employment at Microsoft, Facebook, Twitter, and Amazon with documentation. The following has been edited for length and clarity.
I had a somewhat atypical journey into tech. My parents were Broadway performers, and I was the first person in my family to go to college.
I became interested in computer science in high school and broke into tech straight after studying computer science at Columbia.
Through the college recruiting process, I got a job at Microsoft in 2002 and spent nearly six years there, largely working in the security space.
During the 2010s, I held tech roles at Amazon from 2011 to 2012, Facebook from 2012 to 2014, and Twitter from 2014 to 2015, as well as working at several smaller companies.
I've been fortunate to work at some of the most iconic tech companies during interesting periods. I've taken tools from each opportunity and now apply them to my current job as the head of product for Deel, a payroll and HR platform.
Because my parents didn't have 9-to-5s, I sometimes struggled to determine how to succeed in the corporate world. I didn't have anyone telling me about things like checking boxes to get to the next level in my career and how frictional relationships can impact the workplace.
Now that I have two decades of career experience under my belt, I understand how to avoid some of the mistakes I made early on and plan a career more intentionally.
Mistake 1: Thinking one job ahead instead of two
When I informally coach folks about careers, I usually advise them to think two jobs ahead.
Instead of thinking about what you dislike about your current job and whether your next role will solve that, think two jobs ahead. I tell early career techies to ask themselves how their next role will get them to the role after that.
After leaving Microsoft, I moved from Seattle back to New York, where I grew up. I wanted to secure a job in the city, and because the tech scene wasn't as mature in New York in the early 2000s, I took a role at NBCUniversal, helping build their video streaming service.
I did good work in that role, but I'm not sure it necessarily advanced my career. I then joined a startup because they gave me a very fancy title, but I ended up leaving before completing one year because I felt there were problems at the company, and I realized I'd chased a title instead of thinking things through.
As I advanced in my career, I knew I needed to focus on the skills I needed to acquire rather than the prestige of a position.
When I joined Kiva, a microfinance nonprofit, in 2018, I didn't view it as a permanent job. I took the job to gain skills outside a product and engineering capacity.
During my time there, I learned about business development and communicated with UN officials and central bank leaders. Not only did I get to experience the challenges faced by other teams, but I also got to know different contours of the product, business, and customer experience.
When I moved into my next role, a general manager at the communications company Twilio, I had a broader scope of experience and could operate more effectively.
You can accelerate quickly into a senior role, but taking a less fancy role and diversifying your experience might mean your upside long-term is much higher. If you're thinking two jobs ahead, evaluate what opportunities will help you more in the long run. It's a marathon, not a sprint.
Mistake 2: Not investing in relationships
Early in my career, because I didn't know how corporations worked, it was easy to think that everyone in a company was aligned and felt the same way, which is foolish.
When I worked at Twitter on their growth team, my job was to play in other people's sandboxes and tweak things. The company was having a difficult growth time, and we had to be hyper-focused on hitting our OKRs. This sometimes came at the detriment of my team's relationship with the rest of the product engineering org.
We had to step into other team's territories and move quickly. I felt I needed to hit a goal at all costs, and the problem was "at all costs." We often weren't on the same page as that team and had to go back and repair relationships afterward. In hindsight, I needed to do a better job of explaining why we were doing something from the outset.
Not everyone is trying to achieve a company's mission in the same way, and so by investing in relationships, you can more clearly communicate how you align with others in a company. Even if they don't align with you, they'll respect your process.
Mistake 3: Over-emulating senior leaders
Early in my career, I didn't have a role model in the corporate environment, so I questioned what "good" looked like and how I should show up.
Folks who are early in their career will often look at people who they think are successful and think, "I want to be just like them."
But sometimes, early-career workers have a hard time distinguishing the reasons for a person's success from their bad habits. They might not know things that the company has been willing to work around or that hold that person back.
Early in my career, I over-indexed on emulating senior leaders. For example, I'd see some of them making sweeping statements like "This is the future, or, this isn't the future." They can get away with that because they've proven themselves, but I'd do the same, and it would fall on deaf ears. I hadn't yet earned that level of credibility and still needed to "show my work" before I earned that trust.
As a senior leader at Deel, I'm very conscious about how I present myself to early career folks. In larger meetings, I remind myself that there will be people on the call who view my role through a limited set of interactions. I don't want to pass on any bad behavior or shortcomings for them to emulate.
Do you have a career story you want to share with Business Insider? Email [email protected]
The TikToker Charles Smith is facing felony charges after he posted a video in which he sprayed pesticide on produce in an Arizona branch of the store.
A leading construction industry body has warned the prime minister that measures unveiled in the budget will "fatally undermine" family-run companies in the sector, adding to the business backlash facing the government since the end of October.
The Biden administration launched a new probe into legacy Chinese semiconductors that may go into everything from cars to household goods and defense systems.
X has substantially raised the price of its top-tier user subscription in multiple regions to help bolster the platform’s creator payouts. The increase for Premium Plus came into effect on December 21st according to X, raising prices in the US from $16 per month to $22, or from $168 to $229 for annual subscriptions.
Many European countries like France, Germany, and Spain are impacted by a similar increase, taking monthly prices from €16 to €21. Monthly subscribers in Canada (currently paying $20), Australia ($26) and the UK (£16) will also see pricing increased to $26, $35, and £17 respectively. The higher pricing is immediately applicable to new subscribers, with existing users grandfathered into their current rates until January 20th. X’s basic subscription tier remains unaffected.
The pricing changes for US subscribers are the highest increase introduced since Elon Musk purchased the social media platform in 2022. X gave several reasons to justify the price hike, citing that Premium Plus is now completely ad-free — which it described as a “significant enhancement” to the current user experience.
X also references changes made to the X revenue sharing program in October, saying that subscriptions “now more directly fuels” creator payouts to “reward content quality and engagement rather than ad views alone.” Premium Plus subscribers will additionally receive priority user support, access to additional features like X’s Radar trend monitoring tool, and higher limits on the platform’s Grok AI models.
