• Alexis Ohanian shared three books that shaped his career in 2024.
• Ohanian cofounded Reddit with Steve Huffman and currently serves as founder of 776 VC firm.
• He said "Unreasonable Hospitality" is a must-read for anyone trying to build a brand.

Alexis Ohanian has been recognized as an innovator since cofounding Reddit in 2005 and selling it a year later to Condé Nast. That sale was reportedly between $10 to $20 million.

In the 20 years since then, Ohanian has vastly multiplied his wealth and business portfolio with investments in tech, sports, and other innovative ideas.

The tech founder and investor, who launched his venture firm Seven Seven Six in 2020 after officially leaving Reddit's leadership team, shared with Business Insider the top three books that shaped his career in 2024.

Ohanian said these are his must-reads for various reasons. His quotes have been edited for clarity.

"Creativity, Inc.: Overcoming the Unseen Forces That Stand in the Way of True Inspiration" by Ed Catmull and Amy Wallace

My founding partner at 776, Katelin Holloway, helped produce "Creativity Inc." based on her time at Pixar. This book informed a lot of how we turned around Reddit and how I'm building 776.

"Never Split the Difference: Negotiating as if Your Life Depended on It" by Chris Voss with Tahl Raz

Zachariah Reitano, the founder/CEO of Ro — one of my 776 investments — recommended the book "Never Split the Difference: Negotiating as if Your Life Depended on it." It's a must-read for anyone, not just CEOs and founders. I re-read it every year to refresh my memory.

"Unreasonable Hospitality: The Remarkable Power of Giving People More Than They Expect" by Will Guidara

Maggi from the 776 team recommended "Unreasonable Hospitality," written by Will Guidara who achieved fame as former coowner and leader of Eleven Madison Park. EMP is one of my favorite restaurants. The methods and mindset here are imperative for anyone trying to build an exceptional brand, even outside of food and hospitality.

• Aprajita Anand has been a life coach for children of the ultrawealthy for more than a decade.
• Anand says most clients come to her after failing to find success with traditional therapy.
• She emphasizes the importance of taking action, shifting motivations, and contributing to others.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Aprajita Anand, 41, a life coach in New York City. It's been edited for length and clarity.

I've been a life coach for children of the ultrawealthy for 12 years. I started on this career path very organically. I was working as a tutor in New York City, largely supporting wealthy students, and I found them to be emotionally struggling in profound ways.

Society often dismisses them as spoiled rich kids who are perhaps unworthy of sympathy, though I think this assumption makes them a strangely underserved population.

Therefore, I pivoted into life coaching and dedicated my career to helping my students —teens and young adults — navigate the core issues their wealth brings.

Most of my clients have the same story

Problems typically arise when the child encounters rejection, failure, or a struggle that cannot be solved with money.

Many of these problems are social in nature, such as a breakup or excommunication from a friend group or even more systemic issues like racism.

This shock response is commonly followed up by a withdrawal from academic, social, or family life in which they numb themselves with social media, video games, drugs, online shopping, or another behavior of choice.

The parents' first response is often to send their child to a therapist or psychiatrist. I'm a huge believer in therapy, but in some cases, these children end up feeling even more lost and despondent because they're sitting in their feelings and don't know what to do with them. They may wonder how they have every advantage in the world yet are still unable to escape from difficult emotions, which can cause them to sink deeper into their numbing behaviors.

This is often the point when parents bring their children to me.

3 steps to overcoming the 3 biggest issues

In my experience, much of traditional talk therapy is about processing feelings and breaking down thinking patterns. I use some of those elements as a life coach, but I emphasize taking action. I've developed a curriculum to guide young people through three core problems with three core actions.

1. Shift to an internal point of control

Many of my clients fall into a victim mindset, believing they are at the mercy of an unkind world. I empower them to understand they can choose how they respond to any situation.

I had a student who didn't get into her first-choice college, which was difficult for her because it was possibly her first major rejection.

She begrudgingly went to her second choice but refused to engage in freshman orientation or socialize with her peers, and locked herself in her room, numbing herself with social media and Netflix. She was causing unnecessary suffering by sitting in a victim mindset.

When we began working together, I focused on helping her take back her locus of control by taking action, any action. The action she wanted to take was to mount a transfer application to her first-choice school. I agreed to support her if she engaged in a mindset shift, which is step number two.

2. Find internal motivation

Our culture generally equates success with relatively superficial trappings like grades, prestigious colleges, flashy jobs, and lots of money.

However, I assumed someone raised in a wealthy environment would feel unburdened by money and free to live a life of indulgence, free from expectation. To my surprise, my students feel the opposite. They live in an environment that reinforces the idea that money and status are their source of worth.

So, in my client's case, going to a very good school instead of a great school was a complete failure.

While she waited to hear back about her transfer applications, I encouraged her to tap into positive things in her current environment and engage in things that brought her joy. She reluctantly started attending an interest-based club and started going to her professor's office hours just to talk about big ideas on her mind. Slowly, she began to feel like a member of the campus community.

At the end of that year, she got accepted into her first-choice college and ultimately rejected the offer. She had changed her motivation from external to internal and decided the personal reward was greater than the status.

3. Contribute to someone else's well-being

Many of my clients have never had to work, clean, or think about anyone other than themselves. But the amount of time they spend thinking about themselves can be exhausting.

I advise my students to find a way to contribute to someone else's life, such as volunteering with a professional organization or simply helping with chores around the house.

In the case of the student, she took a leadership position in her sorority and ended up loving her role of helping recruits settle into the community.

Contributing to something greater is a positive, healthy way to put down personal problems and find joy in helping someone else. I make sure they understand it's not to pad their résumé or check off a box; it's necessary for building a meaningful life.

If you work with children of the ultrawealthy and would like to share your expertise, please email Tess Martinelli at [email protected].

• Greg Mansell says some employers are scrutinizing accommodation requests amid rising RTO mandates.
• Mansell says the process can be stressful for disabled employees, leading to some job resignations.
• Mansell advises employees to use their primary care doctor instead of a specialist to file requests.

This as-told-to article is based on a conversation with Greg Mansell, 40, an employment lawyer based in New York City. It's been edited for length and clarity.

Requesting an ADA health accommodation should be a collaborative process between the employer and the employee in which the main goal is to provide a medically necessary accommodation that doesn't place an undue burden on the employer.

With the rise of RTO mandates and the subsequent increase in work-from-home accommodation requests, some employers are elongating the process and scrutinizing requests more thoroughly. I believe this is to ensure employees aren't abusing the system.

Unfortunately, increasingly drawn-out and laborious processes can put added stress on disabled employees and, in some cases, may influence them to walk away from a job.

As an employment lawyer of 15 years, here are my tips for employees to overcome four hurdles in the accommodation request process.

1. Don't wait for your specialist

After an accommodation is requested, employers may ask the employee's medical provider to fill out an accommodation request detailing the underlying impairment, the restrictions it imposes, and the requested accommodation.

The employer may want the request filed by a specialist if the patient sees one, but these doctors can be hard to get a hold of. I remind people that their primary care doctor has access to all medical records and can provide the same information. It doesn't have to come directly from the specialist's mouth.

2. Prepare the request for your doctor

Some doctors simply don't like dealing with the employment process, so it can be helpful to take the burden off them in any way possible. It may be useful for the disabled employee to prepare their own accommodation request and present it for their doctor's review.

The doctor may approve it or change it for accuracy, but it makes the process significantly less taxing for the doctor.

3. Consider consulting a lawyer

The Americans with Disability Act is one of the most complex employment laws, so employees and medical professionals may make mistakes that lead to a wrongfully denied accommodation request.

For example, the medical professional may not specify the medical condition and, instead, state only that an employee needs an accommodation. This does not give the employer sufficient information to determine if the accommodation, or some other accommodation, is medically necessary.

Employment lawyers understand the process and can make sure an employee provides everything needed and hold the employer to the ADA's requirements. The downside, of course, is that this is a time-consuming process and the attorneys' fees can become quite expensive.

4. Document everything

If you consult a lawyer, it's helpful to have as much documentation of the accommodation request process as possible. Documentation helps us determine whether the employer followed the proper procedures.

You can't force an employer to have a conversation through email, but you can and should follow up any virtual or in-person meetings with the bullet points of what you discussed as a way to memorialize the conversation.

If you're going through the accommodation process amid your company's RTO mandate and would like to share your story, please email Tess Martinelli at [email protected].