• Sheldon Yellen, CEO of the property-restoration company BELFOR Holdings, Inc., hand-writes birthday cards to each of his 9,200 employees as a way to say thank you.
• He travels with a suitcase full of stationery. He also pens handwritten notes for thank-yous, anniversaries, and other occasions.
• Researchers and career experts say the most successful corporate managers are those who can thank their employees and give them words of encouragement.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

If you happen to sit next to Sheldon Yellen on your next flight, chances are he'll be writing birthday cards — lots and lots of them.

Yellen is the CEO of BELFOR Holdings, Inc., a disaster-relief and property-restoration company. And since 1985, long before Yellen was chief executive, he has written a birthday card to every employee of the company every single year.

Today, as CEO, he says he handwrites 9,200 cards annually — one for every employee.

"There is an inside joke with acquisitions that I ask prior to closing: 'How many more people?'" he told Business Insider's Chris Weller in 2017— meaning, How many more birthday cards do I have to write? — "since I am constantly calculating that in my mind rather than 'What is the EBITDA [earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortization]?'" 

Read more:The Fed made one key recruitment change to hire more women and minorities, and it's a model for any company struggling to diversify

Yellen started the practice in 1985. He says he started doing it after he was hired by his brother-in-law, since many of the current employees felt he was being given special treatment. If nothing else, the birthday cards would encourage people to stop by his desk to say thank you, he thought.

"And it worked," he said. "It got people talking, we started to communicate more, and I like to think it helped me earn respect within the company."

The importance of workplace gratitude

Fast forward to today, and Yellen is now bringing suitcases full of stationery with him on every plane trip he takes.

But the practice isn't just for the thank you — Yellen writes thank-you notes, anniversary cards, holiday cards, and writes to his employees' kids when they are sick, company director of marketing communications Alexandra Gort told Business Insider in 2019.

Yellen has found taking the time to write out a card for each and every person has created a culture of compassion through the whole company.

"It's also something that doesn't have to cost a thing," he said. "When I learn of random acts of kindness being performed in the field, I take it upon myself to again, reach out in writing, and send a thank you card so that person can know they are appreciated and that their efforts don't go unnoticed."

Yellen has a point: career experts say the best managers are ones who often dole out positive reinforcement to hard-workers. Workers told Business Insider that the traits they admire in their bosses are when they can call attention to career accomplishments, and expresses genuine interest in their well-being.

Survey research even indicates good employees will quit their jobs if they aren't recognized enough for their efforts.

Yellen, for one, said his gesture made for a more compassionate, gracious workplace. Some managers have even taken up the habit themselves to write cards for their team members, clients, and loved ones.

Other CEOs may consider the gesture frivolous or a waste of time, but Yellen is quick to disagree. He said his experience has taught him that the value keeps coming back in spades.

"When leaders forget about the human element, they're holding back their companies and limiting the success of others," he said. "Focusing only on profit and forgetting that a company's most important asset is its people will ultimately stifle a company's growth."

Chris Weller contributed to a previous version of this article. 

SEE ALSO: The Wing's cofounder just became the first visibly pregnant CEO featured on a business magazine cover

Join the conversation about this story »

Hello,

Welcome to this week's edition of Trending, the weekly newsletter highlighting the best of BI Prime's tech coverage. I'm Alexei Oreskovic, Business Insider's West Coast Bureau Chief and Global Tech Editor. 

As always, I'm eager for your feedback, thoughts, and tips — you can email me at aoreskovic@businessinsider.com. And if you like this newsletter, please tell your friends and colleagues they sign up here to receive it.

This week: A season of change in Silicon Valley

All is not well in the world of startups. 

The warning signs have been flashing brighter every month, as a succession of hyped IPOs, from Uber to Peloton, fizzled after their market debuts. And once celebrated startup founders like WeWork CEO Adam Neumann, have been pilloried for presiding over businesses brimming with hubris but bereft of profits.

It may not be a full-fledged panic yet. But Silicon Valley recognizes there is a problem. Some venture capital investors say that faux tech companies are to blame. Others point the finger at Wall Street bankers. As Megan Hernbroth reports, a search for answers, scapegoats and solutions is now underway.

Dozens of the top venture capital firms gathered for a special "summit" last week to discuss a fashionable IPO alternative known as the direct listing. And last week's TechCrunch Disrupt conference in San Francisco — long a showcase for cutting-edge startups and products — sometimes felt like a therapy session for shell-shocked techies.

If you're not yet a subscriber to Trending, BI Prime's tech newsletter, you can sign up here.

Direct listings were discussed in at least three major panels throughout the first two days of the Disrupt conference.

"As someone who invests in companies that are upending the status quo, there is something innately appealing about a financial vehicle, an instrument, that is upending how things have been done for a long time," Spark Capital's Megan Quinn said during a panel.

Stay tuned for a Business Insider special report later this week that will take a closer look at the changes sweeping Silicon Valley and how it's upending the relationships between VCs and startups.

In the meantime, read Megan's full story here:

The flopping of the IPOs: Tech's biggest investors came to San Francisco for a major startup conference, and one topic stole the show

Keep calm...and stay paranoid

As Silicon Valley rethinks some long-held principles, a little perspective can be good. 

That's something you see right away with Juniper Networks CEO Rami Rahim, who lived through the dot-com boom and bust, and recently talked to BI Senior Reporter Benjamin Pimentel. As an engineering graduate of Stanford University, Rahim joined Juniper in 1997 when it was a still a stealth startup with the crazy mission of taking on networking giant Cisco. Some people tried to talk him out of it, but he says he took a leap of faith.

He hung on in the years that followed as the dot-com bust devastated the economy, and eventually rose to be the CEO of Juniper, which has grown into an $8 billion company.

Now the Lebanese-born Rahim is navigating a new set of challenges including the industry-wide shift to cloud computing and the unpredictable US-China trade war.

"There have certainly been ups and downs in my career here at Juniper," Rahim told Benjamin, noting that he approaches everything the company does with a certain amount of paranoia, while also recognizing that only certain things are within his control. 

Read the full story here:

The CEO of Juniper Networks joined up in 'a leap of faith' during the dot-com boom. Here's how he plans to lead it through the era of cloud computing and tougher competition with Cisco.

Bonus: Listen to the wild WeWork story

If you haven't had a a chance to read last week's 4,000-word investigation into what it was like to work at Adam Neumann's WeWork, we've got another solution for you: listen to it!

We've created a special audio version of the story, so that you can listen to it while you're on your commute to work, going for a jog or maybe even riding on your Peloton.

Listen: Employees inside Adam Neumann's WeWork talk about the nonstop party to attain a $100 billion dream and the messy reality that tanked it

Other recent tech highlights:

• Oracle is hiring 2,000 people for its cloud business after laying off untold thousands earlier this year, and an insider explains why it's a smart strategy
• Here's the pitch deck payments-automation startup Tipalti used to raise $76 million from investors, including former top Twitter execs Adam Bain and Dick Costolo
• WeWork cofounder Adam Neumann personally invested $30 million in a startup and loaned money to its CEO. Then the CEO got fired over alleged gross misconduct.
• VMware CEO Pat Gelsinger explains how the 'traumatic' decision to work with Amazon Web Services led to it becoming a secret superpower in the cloud wars
• Here's the cover letter that landed a former MySQL and Sun Microsystems executive the top job at a $331 million startup

And more from across the BI newsroom:

• How Refinery29 bootstrapped for 8 years, caught fire, and raised $133 million — only to end up selling to another struggling startup, Vice Media, for mostly stock
• Meet 2019's Rising Stars of Wall Street shaking up investing, trading, and dealmaking
• The SEC is hiring a chief data officer as the regulator aims to keep pace with Wall Street's obsession over information
• JPMorgan has a complex relationship with WeWork. Here's a sneak peak at what Wall Street analysts will be asking when it reports earnings.

Thanks for reading, see you next week,

Alexei

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: How Area 51 became the center of alien conspiracy theories

• Once you get to business school, what can you expect from the experience?
• Well, if you don't want to wait to find out, we asked 22 graduates from top institutions such as Harvard Business School, Stanford Graduate School of Business, and Columbia Business School the best advice they got from their MBA programs.
• Some of the biggest lessons that came out of the classroom include getting good at saying no, believing in yourself enough to take risks, and seeking out and learning from diverse individuals.
• Click here for more BI Prime stories.

After investing up to $200,000 and two full years in your business school education, what exactly will you have learned when you emerge at the other end of the experience?

We asked 22 MBA graduates from some of the top institutions who have gone on to launch their own successful companies to share the best advice they received in business school. Here's some insight into what it means to be a successful founder or employee once you emerge from the classroom.

SEE ALSO: BUSINESS SCHOOL PREP: The ultimate guides to getting into the top MBA programs in the US

READ MORE: 10 grads from America's top MBA programs reveal the best advice they picked up from professors, classes, and mentors — and how those lessons led to successful careers

1. Ask your customers for their opinion before forming a product

"The most important advice I received while studying entrepreneurship at Miami University was: 'Ask your customers.' I was taught that when you have an idea, a new product, or a unique solution, take it to the market. Let the people tell you if it's something they struggle with, if the product solves their problem, and if they'd be willing to buy it. You'll also be able to learn new features to add and some to get rid of. From there, you can confidently launch a product that you know they want."

— Megan Moran, wardrobe stylist and owner of The Style Foundry and graduate of Miami University's Farmer School of Business

2. Don't prioritize salary in your first job

"It is very unpopular to tell a new graduate that ... they need to not care about finding a job that pays a lot of money. Nevertheless, this is the best piece of advice I received at business school. Do not care about salary at your first job. The most effective way to get ahead is to learn about the industry at any cost, even if that means working for free or for very little money."

— David Reischer, attorney and CEO of LegalAdvice.com and graduate of City University of New York Baruch College's Zicklin School of Business

3. Get good at saying no

"Something I learned during my MBA was to be very good at saying no to things. It may sound counter-productive, but when you say no to something, you avoid spreading yourself too thin, and you're freeing up time to put your full attention towards something else. This 'something else' can be work-related or not — making sure to set aside personal time and reconnecting with yourself has immense value!"

— D'vorah Graeser, CEO and founder of KISSPatent and graduate of the University of Missouri's Trulaske College of Business

4. Take ownership of your failures

"The best advice that I received from business school was to see yourself for who you are. For one class, my professor lined up several speakers whose business startups had all failed. Each speaker had reasons for why their businesses had not yet succeeded, and all pointed blame at outside circumstances that frankly had nothing to do with their business venture ... After class, I approached my professor to ask the reason for this strange lecture. He responded [that] he wanted us to see founders that did not succeed because they were unwilling to admit ownership to their business challenges, which prevented them from overcoming these challenges and eventually succeeding."

— Bryce Bowman, founder of People First Planning and graduate of Washington University's Olin Business School

5. Join the conversation

"Professor Linda Hill, my leadership professor at Harvard Business School, gave me the best advice: 'Nice to see you join the conversation. You earned your way here. Keep talking.' It was my third week at HBS. I was nervous, but at HBS if you don't talk, you don't pass. The same goes for starting a business; if you don't believe in yourself, if you don't talk, no one will buy your product, fund your business, or even give you advice. So, join the conversation — and/or lead it — to get to where you want to be."

— Renee Fry, CEO of Gentreo and graduate of Harvard Business School

Read more:Here's exactly what it takes to get accepted into Harvard Business School, according to 5 grads and the managing director of admissions

6. Choose a cofounder whom you can grow with

"In several of my classes, professors stressed the importance of a startup's team, especially the cofounders. We studied multiple cases, heard multiple cases, and witnessed several promising startups fail due to problems between the cofounders. Think of finding a cofounder as marriage — there are going to be significant ups and downs, growing pains, and more. In order to succeed, you both need to work on the relationship, learn to support and motivate one another, and always trust that you have each other's back."

— Theo Lee, cofounder of KPOP Foods and graduate of UC Los Angeles' Anderson School of Management

7. Fix your problems rather than complain about them

"The best advice I received in business school was from my roommate. We were talking about jobs with another student, and the guy was complaining about his job. My roommate's advice was: 'Quit complaining and find another job.' That always stuck with me — we're not powerless, we're not indentured servants, and nobody likes to hear others complain. Go fix it if you don't like it."

— Craig Walker, CEO and founder of Dialpad and graduate of Georgetown University's McDonough School of Business

8. Build relationships with others; don't just network

"One invaluable piece of advice that I picked up at business school was to build relationships; don't network. Building relationships with others results in more authentic and genuine relationships where each person is truly [in]vested in the other person's success, and there is more give and take. On the other hand, networking tends to be more superficial and can come across as self-serving. As a founder, this advice has been instrumental; by building sincere relationships with others, I have been able to grow my business and in turn, have been able to help others grow theirs."

— Shaifali Aggarwal, founder and CEO of Ivy Groupe and graduate of Harvard Business School

9. Quit early when something's not working

"Harvard Business School Professor Deepak Malhotra delivered this impactful message to my graduating class in 2012, and it's a mantra I continue to reference. Having the strength and courage to walk away from what's not working — whether it's a job, project, or personal situation — frees up room for positive opportunities. It's a strong reminder that time is our most precious resource."

— Cynthia Samanian, founder and CEO of Hidden Rhythm and graduate of Harvard Business School

10. Don't wait for perfection before moving forward

"I learned this early on from one of my website building professors. She said, 'Don't make good enough the enemy of perfect.' There is absolutely no perfect when starting a business. Get to good enough, and then launch the business, idea, website, blog post, social media plans, product development, etc. Don't make perfect the enemy of good enough to launch." 

— Abby Sparks, CEO and founder of Abby Sparks Jewelry and graduate of the University of Denver's Daniels College of Business

11. Stay true to your principles

"While getting my MBA at Harvard, I attended a lecture by Professor Clayton Christensen. He advised [us] to stay true to [our] principles 100% of the time because it's actually easier than staying true to your principles 99% of the time. For me, building a business has meant making a lot of hard decisions. There have been times at EverlyWell where we could have taken an easier or faster route at the expense of our principles. But we never did, and that pays dividends in the end."

— Julia Cheek, founder and CEO of EverlyWell and graduate of Harvard Business School

12. Trust your gut

"The best advice I got at Stanford GSB is to act on a dream. Everyone can have a dream, but only the ones who can execute can eventually win. To summarize, 'If not now, then when? If not you, then who?' [I learned this from] Steve Blank and Jeff Epstein who taught the Lean Launchpad class. It taught me life cannot wait and sometimes we have to trust our gut feeling and take a chance on ourselves." 

— Siqi Mou, cofounder and CEO of Hello Ava and graduate of Stanford Graduate School of Business

Read more:Here's exactly what it takes to get accepted into Stanford Graduate School of Business, according to 6 grads and the assistant dean of admissions

13. Test-drive your idea before investing in it

"The best advice [I received in business school] was to test your idea concretely. You should test the idea in a small context even before writing a business plan or trying to raise capital or finding an incubator. After trying it, you'll see if it works and what things must be changed according to feedback and findings. This gives you an understanding of your product's utility for different stakeholders, but also a great way to understand how much capital you need and what you need it for specifically."

— Brian Pallas, founder and CEO of Opportunity Network and graduate of Columbia Business School

Read more:Here's exactly what it takes to get accepted into Columbia Business School, according to 3 alumni and the director of admissions

14. Believe in yourself enough to take risks

"MBA founders have over-analysis issues. [The best advice I received is that] you just need to believe in your ability to react to obstacles. Professor Borghese, who teaches Legal Aspects of Entrepreneurship at Wharton, is a proponent of entrepreneurship. He thinks MBA students should take more action and less time analyzing scenarios. Before we launched Mansa Tea, we had different scenarios of what this company could be. We thought Mansa could be a health tea company at one point. It was not until we talked to our customers and tested different ideas that we began to formulate a more concrete plan forward to work with Michelin-starred restaurants and five-star hotels. Had I been sitting in front of my computer running Excel models, we would not have gathered such insight. In reality, inaction causes more risk by avoiding the risk than accepting the risk. Rather than overestimating the probability and the impact of bad outcomes, we should assume that we will fight to the death to make sure the business succeeds or learn from mistakes."

— Ashley Lim, founder and CEO of Mansa Tea and graduate of the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School of Business

Read more: Here's exactly what it takes to get into Wharton's MBA program, the No. 1 business school in the world

15. "Manipulate" your organization to success

"[The best advice I received was] in a leadership class. One of my professors commented that manipulation isn't bad, and a four-hour debate ensued. It's our job as leaders to manipulate our organizations to behave and perform in a way that is consistent and aligns with the corporate mission. The critical question is, are you manipulating your organization in an honest, ethical, and productive manner? Or, are you manipulating your organization in a way that is ultimately detrimental to its success and to society?"

— Bo Bothe, cofounder, president, and CEO of BrandExtract and graduate of Rice University's Jones Graduate School of Business 

16. Practice "divergence and convergence" brainstorming

"Some valuable advice I received in business school relates to brainstorming in a business setting. The common notion of brainstorming — a group freely tossing out as many ideas as possible and seeing what sticks — isn't nearly as effective or productive as letting individual group members first work alone to narrow down best ideas, then bringing those best ideas to the larger group. I've used this 'divergence and convergence' technique many times in my own business to great success."

— Ben Gold, founder and president of QuickBridge and graduate of California State University at Fullerton's Mihayo College of Business and Economics

17. Be willing to make decisions without perfect information

"My two years at Harvard Business School were instrumental to leadership development and decision-making. Using the case-study method, the MBA program develops the skill of quickly filtering relevant information, determining the most pressing issue to solve, and formulating (and defending) a position based on the relevant facts. [So the best advice was that] most of business leadership decisions need to be made without perfect information, and without a clear right or wrong answer. The most important takeaway for me from my time at Harvard Business School is the ability to make a decision and build a persuasive case through confident and articulate communication."

— Justin Joffe, founder and CEO of HENRY The Dentist and graduate of Harvard Business School

18. Control your destiny

"One of my professors told me a story about his first fishing trip with his father. He was thrilled to finally catch a fish, which flopped and shimmered in the well of their little boat. He told me how his father grabbed a dull gray metal pipe from his tackle box and brought it down on the head of the fish with a heavy, final thud. My professor said, 'When you get out of here, remember to be in control of your destiny — and don't be that fish.' This story stuck with me as I exited business school, into an environment in which a PowerPoint deck was sufficient to raise a couple million dollars. I took a different path with Peach & Lily. I figured if we couldn't sustain ourselves organically, we might end up like that fish, beautiful, glistening, but gasping for air and waiting for the pipe. Seven years later, we have two of the fastest growing skincare brands in the industry ... and we are thriving on our own ecommerce platform and at major retailers ... But we still haven't taken on institutional funding, and we are still guided by our original discipline to control our own destiny."

— Alicia Yoon, founder and CEO of Peach and Lily and graduate of Harvard Business School

19. Seek out and learn from diverse individuals

"One important lesson, that I value to this day, is to not only expect a diverse world but learn to benefit from its diversity. At Flow, when we market to consumers around the world, we adopt a highly differentiated approach as they respond to very different cues, messages, and offers. Similarly, we have intentionally recruited for high diversity in our team at Flow, and reap the benefits with results generated by individuals who have different experiences, approaches, and perspectives."

— Rob Keve, cofounder and CEO of Flow and graduate of Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management

Read more:Here's what it takes to get accepted into the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern's MBA programs, according to 6 graduates, the senior director of full-time admissions, and a former admissions officer

20. Tailor communications to various personality types and prune your business as needed

"One of the most impactful learning experiences was in the first week at Stanford [where] we did a group business simulation exercise called 'Cardinal Cards.' Everything was physical — we actually hand-cut greetings cards. Two top lessons stuck out years later ... First, business is made up of people, not just strategies, theories, and moving physical things. Effective communication for different personalities is crucial to creative collaboration amongst teams. People have their own perspectives, information, and motivation ... Moving people around and getting the right people in the right positions enables success and happiness. Second, an effective business requires focus and constant pruning, not just adding. In fact, more value often gets unlocked by removing — be it steps in a production process, or counterintuitive options for customers. Many people will resist this."

— Gavin Delany, founder and CEO of Stride Travel and graduate of Stanford Graduate School of Business

21. Don't leave the room without more names

"[My cofounder and I] had a professor advise us on our fundraising strategy and he said no matter who[m] you are meeting with, make sure you leave the room with the name of someone else to meet with. Not everyone will be an investor, but in the early stages it's especially important to network with a lot of people, because they could become not only investors but advisors, mentors, or even connections to employees one day!"

— Kirsten Saenz Tobey, cofounder and chief impact officer of Revolution Foods and graduate of UC Berkeley's Haas School of Business

22. Just get stuff done

"My most significant 'aha' moment was when [I was] doing the final culminating project of my MBA program. It was an eight-month-long strategy field study. We were a team of six or seven ... Our trategy field study business was a technology startup still looking for a break-through product. ... We spent countless hours in team meetings bouncing ideas, getting nowhere ... Then, one of the advisors asked us: 'Guys, what do you think the best strategy field study project is?' ... Then, the advisor told us: 'The best strategy field study project is a finished strategy field study project.' We stopped going in circles and got an A for the project a few weeks later. From that point on, I always strive to just get stuff done."

— Anna Belov, author and founder of 50doors and graduate of York University's Schulich School of Business

• Most employees give their managers two weeks' notice when moving on from a job. Others, however, quit their jobs a little more theatrically.
• We asked readers to share their most dramatic quitting stories.
• One worker quit after their boss tried to hit them with a chair, while another made himself a pizza before walking out.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Conventionally, people looking to leave their jobs give two weeks' notice and then clear out.

However, sometimes workers are simply pushed to their breaking points.

Read more: 6 tips to quit your job with grace

We asked readers to tell us the most dramatic way they'd ever quit a job, and the responses will shock you. From throwing heavy objects to filing lawsuits to simply walking out, these employees demonstrated some of the more theatrical ways to quit your job and never look back.

Here are 27 of the most dramatic stories we've ever heard about quitting a job.

Some answers have been edited for clarity.

SEE ALSO: We asked and you answered — here are 12 of the worst summer job stories we've ever heard

This pizza shop employee flipped over a stack of breadsticks in the middle of the Friday rush hour.

"I flipped over a tray of breadsticks on a crowded line in a pizza restaurant during their Friday rush hour. I was told repeatedly to clean the breadstick trays, but they rebuked me in a way entirely incommensurate with my errors. So I flipped over a stack of their stinking breadsticks, removed my gloves, extended both middle fingers, and went home."— Alexander, New York

This former employee sued their boss — and won.

"I quit by filing a lawsuit against my employer. And I won it. The employer went bankrupt a month later due to it."— Anonymous

This employee made it crystal clear they wouldn't be coming back.

"I was working at [a sandwich chain] in the food court of our local mall. I was 16 years old with a great work ethic, and I didn't really have anything to lose. My manager started taking advantage of the position by placing all of his duties on me as he walked around the mall socializing for the majority of his shift.

"The day I quit, we were pretty busy. When we finally slowed down that day, I decided to take a break around two hours into my shift. I talked to a friend at the counter. My manager had finally arrived back from doing who knows what.

"He asked about how things were going and about the food prep. I told him we were getting on it soon and that we'd been busy. He then ordered me to cut some onions. Seeing the expression on my face, a newly hired employee jumped in and offered to do this. As she went to the back, I decided to continue the conversation with my classmate at the counter. A minute later, my manager made the same request — this time with more emphasis: 'Didn't I say to cut onions?'

"My aggravated response was, 'Didn't you hear the trainee say she'd do it?' The last thing I remember was his exact response: 'Boy, don't play with me.'

"At this moment I blanked out, said a few choice words I can't quite recall, stormed through the back, threw my apron across the counter, and made it known that the next and last time he'd see me was when I'd return to pick up my check."— Anonymous

This former employee was shorted on their paycheck, so they took money out of the register and left.

"I was 19 years old and got my first job as a waitress. No one showed me how to use the coffee machine or mix drinks for customers. I was left on my own. Customers actually helped me to get a hang of it.

"After one month, I was supposed to get my first paycheck. They gave me only half of the money and said that they needed the rest for paying their other bills. They even smirked about me for asking for the money they promised me.

"Two weeks later, they gave me some more money, but they acted angry that they had to pay me.

"The next day, I had a good shift. I finished it up, counted out the money that they owed me from the register, gave the boss what was left, and said that I wouldn't be coming in ever again.

"I walked out, leaving my boss standing there, mouth open. My legs were shaking, but I also felt extremely free."— Anonymous

This former employee found out their boss slept with their wife — and got revenge in the end.

"My boss slept with my wife at the company's Christmas party. I slept with his daughter. It was filmed and sent to him in an email."— Greg, Austin, Texas

This worker told off the owner of the business in front of the vice presidents.

"I told off the owner of the business in front of all the vice presidents and the most important customer — in a classy way.

"Backstory: The owner (let's call him Joe) had inherited the business from his much-loved father and mistreated the still loyal and highly capable workforce. A big job was coming up for a personal friend of Joe's, so a top installer and I worked 12-hour days in the field for several days beforehand to complete an existing order.

"At six in the morning on the big day, Joe shows up in the alley behind the big job and starts tearing into me. I simply listened to Joe as he carried on and on, as I couldn't get a word in edgewise.

"Nobody deserved to be treated with the lack of respect that Joe had for all of his employees. After that, I walked around to the main entrance, where I found Joe, the customer, and three vice presidents shooting the breeze. I told Joe that I needed to talk to him.

"He said that it wasn't a good time. I said it was as good a time as it had been out back 10 minutes ago. Then I calmly told Joe that it was inappropriate to dump on any employee like that, and it was especially terrible to treat his loyal employees that way, as was his habit.

"For years after that, Joe's employees and I would cross paths in traffic, and they always honked, whooped, and waved."— Scott, Northern California

A former employee threatened to hit his boss with a sledgehammer.

"This concrete business owner and I argued over my salary for one full year. Every time he spoke, he reduced what my raise was to be. He suckered me into working for him for an entire year, always promising to raise my salary. Eventually, I walked up to him and threatened to hit him with a sledgehammer as he sat in his car. Then I quit."— Anonymous, Illinois

This former employee texted their boss right before going on vacation.

"I planned a vacation to the Bahamas that I didn't tell work about. Right before I boarded my flight, I texted my boss that I wouldn't be coming back. Then I turned off my phone for the entire trip."— Anonymous

This former employee was betrayed by the people they worked with.

"The global housing crash was in full swing in 2009. I was 'back-channeled out' of a leadership role that was promised to me. 'A nice guy' who was also on track to be promoted to managing director needed a new key account to justify his promotion. This was the last straw in a string of things I had tolerated as we 'managed costs throughout the difficult economic time.' No more.

"I walked in on the weekly managing director leadership meeting, flying in from a project site in the Midwest. I told almost all of them that I knew they betrayed me. I told them I was irreplaceable (at that very critical point in time, also true).

"I reminded them that I had accepted salary reductions while they continued to give themselves increases. I reminded them that they had to teach their rookie favorite (who was also in the room at that point) how to sell and keep his foot out of his mouth at client sites. I reminded them that I never received a rating below a one (which is the highest you can get) ever in my mid-year or annual review in 12 years I'd been with the firm.

"Then I proceeded to let them know that they were a 'dozen bridges I want to burn to the ground then pulverize into nothingness' because I will never tolerate that kind of betrayal after being so loyal to them and the logo. I was out of the company about two weeks later with no job in the middle of the housing crash, and it felt great.

"Since that day, every person in that meeting room who was on the receiving end of my speech has offered me a very lucrative job on more than one occasion. They were all rejected. Writing this helps me relive that day, and it feels good."— Anonymous

This employee quit after being told they shouldn't sit with subordinates at the holiday party.

"I walked into my boss' office for what was supposed to be our one-on-one session. Instead, I handed in my resignation and walked out.

"There was too much favoritism and micromanaging going on. During the holiday party, my boss didn't want me to sit with my subordinates. I knew I was not happy with the company culture. So I decided to quit.

"My boss called after me, saying that if I didn't give a two weeks' notice, I couldn't be rehired by the company. This was fine with me.

"I was unemployed for four months. This week was my first week back to work at my new place. So far so good. They even gave me a welcome lunch."— Chris, Brooklyn, New York

This employee was paid late, so they quit.

"I was not paid on time and then repeatedly insulted over something that was no fault of mine. So I patiently waited for the payday — on that day, I took the money and picked my bag up, hugged my friends, and just left the office! Later, I drafted a very nasty email to the boss and CC'ed everyone in that organization. I called it 'QUIT.'"— Arnobi De

This former pub employee was bullied by not one, but two, people working there.

"I was working in a pub and was being bullied by one of the chefs. During one tough weekend, the pub landlord went away and said chef reduced me to tears.

"My Monday shift rolled round. I was due to be in the kitchen waitressing, but my bully was covering a shift that particular day. I asked a friend at the bar if she would switch with me just so I could let the events of the weekend settle down. She agreed.

"I went in for what was now my bar shift. About 30 minutes into my shift, the landlord came down and asked why I was on the bar. I explained what had happened over the weekend and told him that my friend and I had switched for this one shift to let things settle down.

"Normally this would not be an issue. People swapped shifts all the time. For some reason, the landlord got a bee in his bonnet about it and started having a go at me. In the end, he told me to get in the kitchen and do my normal shift or go home.

"I promptly grabbed my bag. I looked him dead in the eye. I said 'see ya' and walked out."— Anonymous

Their boss was forcing them to work overtime every single day, without pay.

"I just packed my things, left the office with tears streaming down my face, and never returned again. I had only been working there for a week, but it was a nightmare.

"It was a small startup with only five or six employees, but the boss was forcing us all to work overtime every single day, without pay.

"I would start work at 8:30 a.m. and not finish until late in the evening. He was very passive-aggressive and didn't provide any training whatsoever.

"The whole thing was just a mess, and he was threatening to find other people if we didn't work overtime for free. After one particularly unpleasant conversation where he made me cry, I just packed my stuff together and left. Luckily I found a nice job right after, where I still work today!"— Anonymous

This worker was yelled at during a training session.

"I quit during a company training session. The trainer had no idea what we were actually doing. He was jumping around, screaming and treating 30- and 40-year-old people like they were still in kindergarten. It was my first company training and the last one. After that, I went straight to HR and resigned the same day. No more."— Anonymous

This veterinarian tested her employee every day.

"I worked at a small veterinary hospital and the head vet, who happened to own the practice as well, made my life a living hell.

"She would tell blonde jokes to clients as I assisted her with the animals in the exam room. (I happen to have blonde hair.) She would make me take daily 'tests' to prove my knowledge of animal medicine.

"One day, I burst into her office and told her that nothing was ever going to make her happy and that up until then I had never in my life been made to feel so low and useless at a job.

"I told her that it was her fault that I was quitting and that I hoped she remembered this day forever. I stormed out and never looked back. Three months later, I heard she quit and sold her practice."— Anonymous

This former employee quit during one of the busiest times in finance.

"I told my boss how horrible of a boss she was and how she never believed in me or challenged me. Then, before she could even get a word in, I told her I quit. I quit during one of the busiest times in finance."— Anonymous, New York, New York

This hotel worker quit after their boss attempted to hit them over the back of their head with a chair.

"I quit after my boss attempted to hit me over the back of my head with a chair. I had told him to 'go f---' himself.

"Background: I worked at a hotel. My boss threatened to fire me when I called him to say I needed to leave the office and he needed to come in because my grandfather was sick. While I sat and waited for five hours for him to arrive, he was off having a nice round of golf with his buddies.

"Meanwhile, he knew my grandfather was on his deathbed. I was four hours too late to say goodbye. All because my boss wanted to play a round of golf."— Mark, Los Angeles, California

This former employee ripped off a piece of a marketing poster and wrote their resignation letter on the back.

"My favorite job while I was in college was working at a local nutrition store. It had great hours, solid commissions, and a truly receptive client base. My boss, though, was the worst. She couldn't think more than a few steps in advance, often coming in on her off days to complete tasks she couldn't finish and to micromanage how we sold products.

"One day, she came in when we had about 15 people in the store. (It was a tiny store.) Before she showed up, I was the only one helping everyone. Instead of helping, or even enlightening our customers that she was off the clock and that couldn't ring anyone up, she decided to ignore everyone.

"What could have been a top sales day for the region instead turned into an average day. After confronting my manager about this, because I was truly upset, she proceeded to tell me that I was wrong and that customers knew she was off the clock.

"She even went as far as to say, 'Oh I know those guys, they never buy! They always browse!' I lost it.

"I ripped out a chunk of a marketing poster we had hanging up behind the counter, proceeded to write a letter of resignation on the back, and walked out of the store.

"It was absolutely unprofessional, and I wish I went about it in a better way, but as a very passionate and emotional 20-year-old, that wasn't going to happen."— Jay, Glenview

This employee turned to technology to make their boss pay up.

"I was working as a contractor for a startup tech company in Boston. After I finished designing a website, the owner refused to pay me. His reasons? The cost was 'too high' and I had done 'work he didn't ask for.'

"Through some legal bull----, he tricked me into signing a termination contract that gave him the rights and would technically force him to pay all of the money owed, but — through a loophole — he wouldn't have to do it for nearly two months.

"I was super pissed at this point because now he had the files I made, was developing off of them, and I had to wait another two months to get paid. That sucks when you're a young designer living in an expensive city and you're already extremely undercharging for work.

"So I had a friend help me write an AppleScript that used iMessenger to send one message per second, as well as bypass the blocking on the phone by spoofing the iMessage account.

"If you run the program for a certain length of time and send large enough files, eventually it will cause the phone's cache to overload and shut it down.

"So I ran that for about four days (the file was a 200 MB image of a political cartoon depicting a pig in a suit shoveling money down his throat) until he eventually forked up the cash."— Anonymous

This former employee quit after a coworker accused them of sending a love letter to her husband.

"I was in a meeting with my boss and a coworker. The coworker blamed me for sending a love note to her husband. She was quite upset and positive I sent the love card to her husband in the mail.

"I had only been at this job a year. It was a very stressful experience because of this one employee who told everyone I was 'hitting' on her husband. So in this meeting, the boss let me know that she could fire me over this issue. So I did not say a word at all during the whole entire meeting.

"Then, after I asked if they were done, I stood up, slammed my chair and the door, and quietly said 'I quit.'

"I went to my cubicle to get my things and then walked toward the door. My boss pushed me aside and tried to stop me for my badge. I threw my badge to the floor and, raising my voice, said, 'Get your hands off of me and let me leave,' then I went home.

"Not my best moment, but it fits here."— Anonymous

This former pizza delivery worker made themself a free pizza and stormed off.

"I was delivering pizza on the side. (I also had a full-time job.) On weekends, I worked on call, meaning I sat at home, pretty much doing nothing all day, waiting to get a text or call for a delivery.

"This one Saturday, I got none. No big deal — it happens. When I went in to finish my shift during the dinner rush (not on call) I realized that there had actually been eight deliveries. Instead of texting me, the manager left the store with only one employee and delivered everything himself. (He was even out on delivery just then, when I arrived.)

"So he basically made me sit at home, waiting around for six hours, while he took all the delivery payment and all of the tips that should have been mine.

"Since he was out, I made myself my complimentary personal pizza. Then I waited.

"When he came back, I confronted him, told him he stole from me and owed me all the money he made from my deliveries. I told him to go f--- himself before storming off, knowing full well that he didn't have another driver on shift that night.

"Felt pretty good, and I still got free pizza."— Anonymous

This former employee threw a loading pallet at their boss.

"At age 18, I Frisbee-threw a loading pallet at my indiscriminately abusive manager."— D, Boston, Massachusetts

This employee quit after their manager was fired.

"I've always wanted to understand why the younger generation does not have the same loyalty to companies and organizations as we had when we were younger. I discovered the reason while working at [a popular coffee chain]: It's the management.

"The manager of the store was awesome, but the district manager was unbelievable. The day the manager of the store was fired was the day I quit. Sadly, she was fired for not being able to get her job done, but she had literally no support from the district manager.

"The district manager was gunning for her and to get rid of her. This manager was one of the best I had worked with and for. She had been a longtime employee and she loved her job.

"So the day she got fired, I got up the next day and arrived at 4 a.m. just to look the new manager in the face and say 'I quit.' The best part was that this was the busiest day of the year for the store. I told her if the manager is no longer there, then I am no longer needed. The new store manager (who was very young) said I was being childish. I replied that that was her opinion.

"And I walked away smiling while holding my head high. It felt good to just walk away from stupidity."— Anonymous, Calgary, Alberta

This employee quit by writing a book.

"I quit by writing a memoir about my job."— Matt, Florida

This marketing director quit unexpectedly.

"As a marketing director at a national trade show in New Orleans, I fired an incompetent marketing associate back in the Chicago office who had cost my budget $20,000 at the show and lied about it.

"My supervisor thought I was wrong and said all I wanted to do was embarrass her. I said, 'If you feel that way, then you have my immediate resignation, and I'll clean out my office when I return.'

"I then left the convention floor."— Steven London, Chicago, Illinois

This former employee filed a lawsuit after their job was moved to another city.

"My former employer moved my job to another city. They knew full well they had absolutely no grounds to fire me, but, as a recently single father starting over, they also knew that I could not move.

"They were offering me a 'generous severance package.' So I told my boss he was a real piece of work, to which he responded, 'I am?'

"I replied with, 'Yeah, and you can go eff yourself, too.'

"I then informed the head of HR (who was there at the time) that they could expect to hear from my attorney and walked out with my head held high. I won my lawsuit. I received an even better severance, and they had to pay my lawyer's fees and a fine."— Anonymous

This former resort employee told their boss that he was a "short, fat, balding, loser."

"Luckily I was able to get the theatrics out of my system before I started my professional career. I was young and working as a bartender at a resort in Montauk, New York (a small summer beach town in the Hamptons, for those unfamiliar).

"The resort was beautiful — multiple pools, spas, restaurants, dock slips (it was on the harbor) — so it attracted a very interesting and affluent crowd. Unfortunately, I got stuck working the indoor bar every night from noon to close (roughly 4:30 a.m.) that got very little traffic (so no tips).

"I was living for a short time in what could best be described as tenement-style housing provided by the resort at the cost of a monthly $700 deduction from my paycheck. I was essentially netting around $100 a month, which is not sustainable for living in the Hamptons for a summer.

"On top of all this, management was terrible. I was the only bartender at the indoor bar. Instead of hiring more staff, my manager decided to take it all out on me, calling me inept, an idiot, yada, yada, yada. Nothing constructive and nothing was done to improve the situation.

"Luckily, my friend moved out for the summer and let me live with him at his family's beach house. Once the arrangements were made, I quickly found a better-paying bartender gig with better hours and better management.

"I told the general manager that I was quitting and explained why. Things ended amicably. I was saying goodbye to the other workers when I ran into the indoor bar manager. I was greeted swiftly with a 'why the f--- are you not working?' to which I responded that I was quitting. Then he said, 'Well then, get the f--- out of my bar.'

"I realized that this guy had zero influence on my career prospects anymore, present or future. So I told him that he was a short, fat, balding, loser, that he could go f--- himself, and that his bar and menu were terrible (this is in front of multiple staff and guests, mind you).

"He stood there speechless.

"I turned around and said goodbye to a few more friends and actually got some applause from some of the guests.

"It gets even better. About a week later, this guy got fired. The resort felt so bad about my mistreatment that, despite my quitting, they gave me a comped weekend stay at one of their suites (which I gave to my mom and her friends to use for her birthday in July).

"Glad I got this out of the way before entering the real world!"— Kyle, Ridgefield, Connecticut

• Read more:
• 10 things I realized after I quit my job without a plan
• 50% of millennials have left a job for mental-health reasons, a new study found — and it speaks to some of the biggest problems plaguing the entire generation
• I quit my corporate job and don't regret it. Here are 3 things that helped me succeed, and 2 I wish I'd known
• I'm a mom who quit my job, sold my house, and invested every dollar I had into launching a company that's grown 2,000% in 5 years

• WeWork has at least one promoted ad on LinkedIn offering to advise employers on how to reinvigorate "lagging team morale." 
• Former WeWork employees have called out the startup for its chaotic company culture, which involved partying, long workdays, and high turnover. 
• Most other LinkedIn ads promote renting the office's co-working space.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

WeWork, the embattled co-working platform, wants to help LinkedIn users suffering from low company morale.

A WeWork ad on LinkedIn appeared to promote ways experts can help bring offices "back to life" from disengaged employees and lagging team morale:

On its website, LinkedIn states it targets ads to different audiences, so only a fraction of users saw the ad on their page. Most other ads listed under the company's LinkedIn page promote the company's co-working space in multiple languages, given WeWork's presence in 29 countries.

Read more:Sex, tequila, and a tiger: Employees inside Adam Neumann's WeWork talk about the nonstop party to attain a $100 billion dream and the messy reality that tanked it

The promoted ad advising on "lagging company morale" comes as many WeWork employees have called out the startup's chaotic work culture. Business Insider reached out to WeWork for comment.

Former and current employees — from cleaners to higher-up managers — spoke of the company's tequila-fueled party culture and long work days. Employees told Business Insider's Julie Bort and Meghan Morris of alleged sexual harassment from company executives, resulting in at least one employee lawsuit for gender discrimination. 

Other WeWork employees spoke of the "truly, truly insane" company turnover. Three former employees said every new month they received a new manager.

The company's reputation has soured employees so much, many worry having WeWork on their resume is a "black mark against them." 

The WeWork posted their ad on lagging team morale to LinkedIn two weeks ago, following its botched IPO filing and around the time news reports began detailing the CEO Adam Neumann's idiosyncratic management style.

Even before the recent company controversy, at least two Twitter users complained of seeing too many WeWork sponsored ads on LinkedIn:

"Every day I report to LinkedIn that I do not want to see another ad about WeWork, and the next day, if not the next hour, I am bombarded with WeWork sponsored posts again," Eric Di Benedetto, a private investor, tweeted in January. "What a stupid use of VC money!!!" (Di Benedetto declined to comment for this article).

"Hey @WeWork. Ever hear of frequency capping? Your starting to SPAM your best source of leads with @LinkedIn ads," Troy Norcross tweeted in 2016.

On its website, LinkedIn states its sponsored ads are meant to target specific audiences on the site to promote a business or product. LinkedIn states its audience has double the amount of buying power as the average web audience, presumably given the white-collar professionals that use the service. 

The cost of putting ads on LinkedIn depend on how much engagement your ads get and which audiences you want to target. Companies "bid" to put ads on the site in an auction where the highest offer gets to place their content.

Per its advertising policy, LinkedIn will remove ads that are "offensive to good taste," meaning hateful, vulgar, sexual, or violent. Posts that are initially approved can be later taken down as LinkedIn "updates its policies to reflect new laws."

SEE ALSO: Governance sank WeWork from the start, a VC and Stanford lecturer says. Here's what any founder can learn from Adam Neumann's cautionary tale.

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Ray Dalio shares what he's learned from his succession plan at the world's largest hedge fund

• As part of World Mental Health Day, Business Insider looked into the state of millennials' mental health.
• Depression and "deaths of despair" are on the rise among millennials, many of whom suffer from loneliness, money stress, and burnout in the workplace.
• But millennials are changing the way people look at mental health by being more open about their issues and destigmatizing therapy.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Millennials are changing the way people look at and talk about mental health.

As part of World Mental Health Day, Business Insider took a look at the mental-health state of millennials (defined by the Pew Research Center as the cohort turning ages 23 to 38 in 2019). It doesn't look pretty — depression and "deaths of despair" are both on the rise among the generation, linked to issues such as loneliness and money stress.

Millennials also feel that their jobs have an outsize role in their overall mental health. Because of longer work hours and stagnant wages, millennials suffer from higher rates of burnout than other generations. Many of them have even quit their jobs for mental-health reasons.

While some millennials can't afford to get help, they're more likely to go to therapy than previous generations, destigmatizing the concept in the process.

Here are 11 ways mental illness has plagued the millennial generation.

SEE ALSO: Brokest, loneliest, and richest: Here's how the world sees American millennials in 2019

DON'T MISS: Your vacation is stressing out your millennial coworkers, and social media is only making it worse

Depression is on the rise among millennials.

According to a report analyzing data from the Blue Cross Blue Shield Health Index, major depression diagnoses are rising at a faster rate for millennials and teens compared with any other age group.

Since 2013, millennials have seen a 47% increase in major-depression diagnoses. The overall rate increased from 3 to 4.4% among 18- to 34-year-olds.

The most prominent symptom of major depression is "a severe and persistent low mood, profound sadness, or a sense of despair," according to Harvard Medical School.  

These findings were underscored by an additional Blue Cross Blue Shield report on millennial health. It analyzed the data of 55 million commercially insured American millennials, defined as people ages 21 to 36 in 2017. It found that major depression had the highest prevalence rate, or the likelihood of a person having a disease, among health conditions affecting millennials.

Read more: Depression is on the rise among millennials, but 20% of them aren't seeking treatment — and it's likely because they can't afford it

"Deaths of despair" are also on the rise.

More millennials are also dying "deaths of despair," or deaths related to drugs, alcohol, and suicide, Jamie Ducharme reported for Time in June, citing a report by the public-health groups Trust for America's Health and Well Being Trust.

While these deaths have increased across all ages in the past 10 years, they've increased the most among younger Americans, Ducharme said. They accounted for the deaths of about 36,000 American millennials in 2017 alone, according to the report. Drug overdoses were the most common cause of death.

The report cites a few reasons behind these upticks — young adults are more inclined to engage in risk-taking behaviors, comprise the highest number of enrolled military personnel, and disproportionately live in "high-stress environments" like correctional facilities.

Read more: 'Deaths of despair' are taking more lives of millennial Americans than any other generation

It's partly linked to money stress.

But there are other structural factors at play behind the uptick in "deaths of despair," according to the Trust for America's Health and Well Being Trust— namely the myriad financial problems millennials are facing: student-loan debt, healthcare, childcare, and an expensive housing market.

These four costs are part of The Great American Affordability Crisis plaguing millennials that's putting them financially behind.

Studies have found a correlation between people with debt and mental-health problems. While this research, by its nature, can't identify causality, the likelihood of having a mental-health disorder is three times higher among those with unsecured debt, according to a meta-analysis, or study of studies, in the Clinical Psychology Review. People who have died by suicide were eight times more likely to have debt.

Money stress isn't just contributing to millennials' mental health — it also means not everyone can afford to seek treatment.

While millennials are more likely than previous generations to attend therapy, one in five diagnosed with major depression doesn't seek treatment, according to the Blue Cross report. That might be because of rising healthcare costs.

Healthcare is one of four key costs plaguing millennials. In 1960, the average annual health-insurance cost per person was $146 — in 2016, it hit $10,345. When adjusted for inflation, that's a ninefold increase. Costs are expected to increase to $14,944 in 2023.

In fact, more millennials than baby boomers have declined medical or dental treatment because it was too costly, according to an Insider and Morning Consult survey.

Read more: How teen friendships shape your mental health as a young adult

Millennials are also lonely.

Millennials don't always have someone to share their mental burdens with — they're less likely to have social support than other generations, as they're marrying later and less connected to political or religious communities, according to Ducharme.

In fact, YouGov called millennials "the loneliest generation" based on a survey that polled 1,254 US adults. It found that millennials were more likely to feel lonely than previous generations. Of survey respondents, 30% of millennials said they always or often felt lonely, compared with 20% of Generation X and 15% of boomers.

More millennials also reported in the survey that they had no acquaintances, friends, close friends, or best friends.

And they're dealing with burnout in and out of the workplace.

Cases of burnout have been increasing at an alarming rate in recent years, Ivan De Luce previously reported for Business Insider. The World Health Organization recently classified burnout as a "syndrome," medically legitimizing the condition for the first time.

It's a growing problem in today's workplace because of trends like rising workloads, limited staff and resources, and long hours.

But millennials have reported they suffer from higher rates of burnout than other generations; in a January BuzzFeed article that went viral, Anne Helen Petersen coined the term the "burnout generation."

Peterson attributed the generational phenomenon to millennials' upbringings, the economic environment they grew up in, social media, and the anxiety of easy, straightforward tasks, like running errands.

Many millennials dealing with mental-health problems at work say their office does not provide adequate support.

Over half of the workers polled in a new survey from the human-resources company Paychex said their jobs were negatively affecting their mental health. What's worse, about 56% of the employees in the survey rated their company's mental-health benefits as either "fair" or "poor."

Many surveyed employees also said they didn't get mental-health insurance from their jobs, and 45% of supervisors never received any mental-health training. 

Paychex surveyed active employees and supervisors using an online survey. The respondents included people from high-paying industries, like medicine and finance, and lower-paying industries, like retail and manufacturing.

Employees who work outside a traditional 9-to-5 are particularly vulnerable to depression, as are women, LGBTQ people, and racial minorities.

Some workers are more prone to depression than others.

Millennials working outside a full-time corporate office are particularly vulnerable to depression, according to a University of Exeter review of 28,438 worker reports on mental health. The review found people working irregular hours and the night shift were 33% more likely to develop a mental illness than the general population.

This is especially true for first responders and healthcare workers, who tend to be "on call" during inconvenient hours. A recent HuffPost article detailed how EMTs and paramedics have higher rights of PTSD, depression, and suicide — conditions that persist even after retirement. 

Harassment and bullying at work can also cause mental-health problems, according to the World Health Organization, issues that tends to plague female, racial-minority, and LGBTQ workers more often.

Globally, workers say discrimination because of a mental illness is more prevalent than other forms of workplace bias.

In a separate study, Kantar, a UK-based data firm, found just over half of workers worldwide don't think their workplace does enough to respond to mental-health concerns. Kantar surveyed 18,000 workers in 14 countries.

The lack of resources can even result in discrimination and bias over their mental illness. About 38% of respondents said they felt "discriminated against based on their condition," making them the most discriminated workplace group.

In contrast, 26% of workers said they felt discriminated against because of their age, and 12% felt they were discriminated against because of their sexual orientation or identity, the survey found.

Nearly half of millennials have left a job for mental-health reasons.

That's according to a study conducted by Mind Share Partners, SAP, and Qualtrics and published in the Harvard Business Review. The study, which looked at mental-health challenges and stigmas in the US workplace, polled 1,500 respondents ages 16 and older working full time.

That was significantly higher than the overall percentage of respondents who said they had left a job for mental-health reasons, 20%. This indicates a "generational shift in awareness," the authors of the report, Kelly Greenwood, Vivek Bapat, and Mike Maughan, said.

"Mental health is becoming the next frontier of diversity and inclusion, and employees want their companies to address it," the authors wrote.

Read more: 50% of millennials have left a job for mental-health reasons, a new study found — and it speaks to some of the biggest problems plaguing the entire generation

For all their mental-health issues, there's a bright side — millennials, known as "the therapy generation," are helping to destigmatize therapy.

Peggy Drexler called millennials "the therapy generation" in an essay for The Wall Street Journal earlier this year. They're cognizant of their mental health, and this awareness is helping to destigmatize therapy.

"Raised by parents who openly went to therapy themselves and who sent their children as well, today's 20- and 30-somethings turn to therapy sooner and with fewer reservations than young people did in previous eras," she wrote.

She cited a 2017 report from the Center for Collegiate Mental Health at Penn State University that found the number of college students seeking help for mental health grew from 2011 to 2016 at five times the rate of new students starting college.

Millennials, she said, see therapy as a form of self-improvement — and they also suffer from a desire to be perfect, leading them to seek help when they feel they haven't met their expectations.

If you're struggling with depression, get help.

If you or someone you know is struggling with depression or has had thoughts of harming themselves or taking their own life, get help. The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline (1-800-273-8255) provides 24/7 free, confidential support for people in distress, as well as the best practices for professionals and resources to aid in prevention and crisis situations.

• America in the 1950s was a very different place than today.
• To get a sense of how the economy has changed over the last seven decades, we used Census data to find 20 industries that used to be huge employers in 1950 that are a fraction of their size today.
• Many of the industries are in manufacturing.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

America in the 1950s was a very different place than today.

Pop culture as we know it was just beginning to emerge with widespread adoption of TV. The US had been on the winning side of World War II, and had a much higher share of the global economy than today, with much of the rest of the industrialized world in ruins.

American society was much different in an era before the Civil Rights, gay rights, and feminist movements opened opportunities to wide swaths of the population traditionally denied those opportunities.

The US economy has dramatically changed since that time as well. To get a sense of how much things have changed, we found 20 jobs that employed hundreds of thousands of people in 1950 that are only a fraction of that size today.

Using data from the 1950 Census and the 2017 American Community Survey assembled by the Minnesota Population Center's Integrated Public Use Microdata Series project, we looked at what industries had the biggest percent drops in employment between then and now, among industries with at least 100,000 employees in 1950.

For our analysis, we used industries as classified by the Census Bureau in 1950. Entirely new sectors of the economy, like the modern information technology industry, have emerged since that time as new inventions have taken hold.

Most of the industries on the list are in manufacturing, a sector that has radically transformed over the last 70 years. Other areas, like agriculture, have seen huge changes through technological development, leading to much lower employment.

Here are the industries, along with the number of employees in 1950 and 2017:

20. Agricultural machinery and tractor manufacturing: 177,522 people were employed in 1950, falling to 108,392 in 2017 (a 39% drop).

What the industry does: Manufactures tractors and other agricultural equipment.

19. Rubber products manufacturing: 243,401 people were employed in 1950, falling to 147,759 in 2017 (a 39% drop).

What the industry does: Manufactures products made of rubber.

18. Petroleum products wholesale trade: 166,488 people were employed in 1950, falling to 94,992 in 2017 (a 43% drop).

What the industry does: Sells petroleum products at wholesale to other businesses.

17. Farm product wholesale trade: 114,685 people were employed in 1950, falling to 62,695 in 2017 (a 45% drop).

What the industry does: Sells raw materials produced on farms at wholesale to other businesses.

16. Primary non-ferrous metal manufacturing: 235,856 people were employed in 1950, falling to 118,779 in 2017 (a 50% drop).

What the industry does: Produces metal alloys and materials that don't include iron.

15. Fuel and ice retailing: 172,841 people were employed in 1950, falling to 85,806 in 2017 (a 50% drop).

What the industry does: Sells fuel and ice to consumers.

14. Private household services: 1,713,352 people were employed in 1950, falling to 847,769 in 2017 (a 51% drop).

What the industry does: Employs workers like butlers, housekeepers, and cooks in private households.

13. Agriculture: 7,088,904 people were employed in 1950, falling to 3,429,844 in 2017 (a 52% drop).

What the industry does: Produces food and other crops.

12. Logging: 187,314 people were employed in 1950, falling to 80,998 in 2017 (a 57% drop).

What the industry does: Produces lumber from forestry activities.

11. Laundering, cleaning, and dyeing: 696,742 people were employed in 1950, falling to 295,395 in 2017 (a 58% drop).

What the industry does: Cleans or dyes clothing.

10. Blast furnaces, steel works, and rolling mills: 691,184 people were employed in 1950, falling to 270,367 in 2017 (a 61% drop).

What the industry does: Produces steel and iron alloys and materials.

9. Water transportation: 212,979 people were employed in 1950, falling to 74,362 in 2017 (a 65% drop).

What the industry does: Moves goods and people over bodies of water in ships.

8. Primary iron and steel industries (other than blast furnaces, steel works, and rolling mills): 282,922 people were employed in 1950, falling to 88,234 in 2017 (a 69% drop).

What the industry does: Covers activities involving producing steel or other iron alloys and materials outside of the blast furnace, steel works, and rolling mills industry.

7. Apparel and accessories manufacturing: 1,006,386 people were employed in 1950, falling to 207,023 in 2017 (a 79% drop).

What the industry does: Manufactures clothing and accessories.

6. Tobacco product manufacturing: 104,689 people were employed in 1950, falling to 20,286 in 2017 (an 81% drop).

What the industry does: Manufactures tobacco products like cigarettes.

5. Railroads and railway transportation: 1,436,681 people were employed in 1950, falling to 254,836 in 2017 (an 82% drop).

What the industry does: Transports goods and people over railroads using trains.

4. Yarn, thread, and fabric manufacturing: 897,266 people were employed in 1950, falling to 107,607 in 2017 (an 88% drop).

What the industry does: Produces yarn and other textiles.

3. Footwear manufacturing: 277,639 people were employed in 1950, falling to 32,577 in 2017 (an 88% drop).

What the industry does: Produces shoes and other footwear.

2. Coal mining: 537,702 people were employed in 1950, falling to 62,536 in 2017 (an 88% drop).

What the industry does: Mines coal for power generation or other industrial processes.

1. Knitting mills: 208,863 people were employed in 1950, falling to 18,074 in 2017 (a 91% drop).

What the industry does: Manufactures knit clothing and other goods.

• We went behind the scenes of "Disney on Ice" to find out what it takes to perform in the show. 
• Senior video correspondent Graham Flanagan spent a day with the cast and crew ahead of the debut of "Road Trip Adventures," which is currently on tour in North America.
• Many of the cast grew up in the world of competitive ice skating, a world that the show's director of talent said the company scouts for potential cast members.
• "Road Trip Adventures" goes beyond skating, requiring the cast to learn challenging choreography that incorporates aerial work and gymnastics.
• The show incorporates characters from recent Disney properties like "Toy Story 4,""Aladdin," and "Mary Poppins Returns."
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Following is a transcript of the video.

Narrator: This is "Disney on Ice." But as you can see, there's much more to the show than skating.

Bryan Santiago: One, two, three and four. Three, turn, five, six, crossover, seven, eight.

Narrator: We got to meet some of the show's principal performers. Like Nelson Sanchez Leemet, who plays the role of Woody. Maria Starr, who plays Elastigirl. And Nathan Miller and Sophia Adams, who star as Aladdin and Princess Jasmine. We went behind the scenes.

Nelson Sanchez Leemet: I feel like I'm a gymnast, not gonna lie.

Narrator: To find out how these athletic performers push themselves to limits they didn't even know were possible.

Maria Starr: Honestly, six weeks ago, I don't think that I could do these, and now I could do them and talk to you.

Narrator: This is what it takes to perform in "Disney on Ice." We caught up with the cast and crew of "Disney on Ice Presents: Road Trip Adventures," the brand's newest show, just days before the company set out on a two-year, 67-city tour of North America.

Cindy Stewart: Take a break. [clapping]

Narrator: The show is created here, at Feld Entertainment Studios in Ellenton, Florida, about 40 miles south of Tampa. Inside the 580,000-square-foot facility, the cast and crew have spent roughly a year putting the show together, rehearsing and training six days a week, for eight hours a day, in a full-size rink complete with lights, props, and high-end LED screens.

Stewart: We're in our final rehearsals before our first preview show. And we're just tying up loose ends and making last-minute changes.

Narrator: On the day of our visit, friends and family of Feld Entertainment employees filled the arena to witness a special preview performance of "Road Trip Adventures." Along with familiar faces like Mickey, Minnie, Donald, and Goofy, the new show features segments from recent Disney movies, like "Aladdin,""Toy Story 4," and "Mary Poppins Returns."

Nicole Feld: We partner with the Disney Company to understand what's in their content pipeline. What's new and different, what's coming out. And from there we pick out the moments that we feel like are gonna resonate the most with audiences.

Graham Flanagan: You use these skates for a long time, or?

Starr: I never have them more than 11 months. It's, like, always 10 or 11 months.

Santiago: All right, so, "Trip a Little Light Fantastic." The number overall is looking really great, but there's three sections I really wanna clean up today. Five, six, seven, eight. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight. One and two.

Narrator: The "Road Trip Adventures" cast features 53 performers.

Santiago: Much better.

Narrator: Feld Entertainment wouldn't share details about their salaries but did say that they are provided with healthcare.

Judy Thomas: Most of the skaters here have grown up skating, from young children through competitions. And we really do recruit and go out and really search the talent through competitions as they're coming up through the different levels.

Santiago: One, two, three, and four. Good. So, Nelson, just make sure that you're heel together, lean back, lean forward.

Leemet: I was born in the Dominican Republic, so, no winter, no snow, no big rinks. Never even thought about figure skating until I was 10 when I moved to Canada. I didn't really like the competitive side of skating, I was more performing and letting the audience enjoy the performance. So when it got too competitive, I kinda took a step back and I looked at "Disney on Ice." So I was like, I have to do that, it's my turn now. And here I am today.

Starr: I skated competitively and did that until I graduated high school. And then I just applied for "Disney on Ice," sent in a skating résumé and, like, video of my skating. And I got offered a job. And I was here a month later. And I've been on the road, this'll be my 10th year.

Nathan Miller: I've actually been skating for about 25 years now. When I was a kid, I lived in Oklahoma City, and "Disney on Ice" always came through at the state fair. And that was, like, a big highlight for me as a child. And I always as a kid wanted to skate alongside Goofy, and, I mean, here I am, now eight years, and I still get to do it.

Flanagan: Was meeting Goofy everything you'd hoped it would be?

Miller: Oh, it was everything I hoped it would be. It was so much fun.

Sophia Adams: I was just a competitive skater for the US. I've been training for my whole life. I've been to Nationals, I've done the whole thing. But I really wanted to travel, I really wanted to earn a living off of what I do as a career. I've been with the company for about five years. I've traveled around the world, almost on every tour possible. But what is also extremely great about this particular show is I actually get to fly.

Narrator: While the show is called "Disney on Ice," some performers spend a bulk of their time in the air. In addition to skating, the show features complex aerial choreography.

Miller: Do the arabesque death spiral release, and then we'll stop here.

Narrator: This requires collaboration between the performers and crew members in charge of operating the cables connected to their harnesses.

Danica O'Neill: A lot of the people that we have have never really flown before or done any aerial work because they are naturally skaters. So where they've started and where they are now has grown so much. So we are able to do more the more that they are comfortable with and can do.

Turner: So, we actually have to have a close relationship with our operator when we're learning this process because, you know, there's only so much I can do. Like, I can't even come up to you yet, because I've, you know, I'm kind of on a leash. And so you have to get together with our operator to give you more slack, less slack, and tension. And help me spin and fly. So instead of just working with a partner, you're also working with another partner.

Narrator: Along with aerial work, the show's cast must develop other skills that go beyond skating.

Leemet: This is called a rollup. And it uses a lot of abs and upper-body strength. It really works your back and all these muscles that we never really use as figure skaters. But we have to use it now.

Narrator: Nelson's upper-body strength is put to the test during the "Mary Poppins" segment of the show.

Leemet: Being able to hold on for grip for so long up there, all my weight's in my hands for the first time ever. You know, we're used to being on skates on our own body; it's all upper-body now.

Narrator: The "Mary Poppins" segment also combines feats of upper-body strength with aerial work, which occurs when the lampposts suddenly take flight.

Leemet: We always have communication; it's the most important part. If something goes wrong, we have a few little waves, thumbs down means down, you know, feet like this also means down, like an emergency exit, in case something goes wrong. At first we started low, but the higher we started going, it's definitely a little scary.

Narrator: Not every role in "Disney on Ice" requires quite the same level of athletic ability. But each part contributes to the overall experience.

Santiago: Especially figure skaters, it's a very solitary sport. We don't grow up always working with, like, a large group together. Getting them to see the bigger picture, know that it's not yourself out on the ice by yourself, you're a part of a huge unit that's performing in front of thousands of people. So, it's kinda getting the mindset of your everyday figure skater into the mindset of a professional athlete. They've grown a really close bond, and they've become really good friends, and they support each other. It's a really good group of people that we have here.

Leemet: When I go out there and I see the audience react so well to us, and all these families come together and share such a beautiful moment, it gives me so much joy. Makes me miss my family, but they're proud of me. I know they're proud of me.

Join the conversation about this story »

• Dick's Sporting Goods CEO Ed Stack sat down with Business Insider to discuss his new book "It's How We Play the Game," which chronicles the rise of the retailer, along with Stack's relationship with his father and predecessor, Richard "Dick" Stack.
• Stack also spoke at length about his company's decision to move away from gun sales. Dick's dropped AR-15-style weapons from its hunting specialty stores after last year's Parkland massacre, and had previously dropped them from its big box stores. It destroyed $5 million of the guns it pulled.
• Stack called out Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, saying that he wished the Kentucky Republican had the "guts" to bring a bill establishing universal background checks to a vote. He also advocates for the renewal of the Federal Assault Weapons Ban that lasted between 1994 and 2004.
• The CEO talked about the business's renewed focus on private label brands, its recently shaky partnership with Under Armour, the best leadership lesson from his dad, and why he always looks for "left tackles" when hiring.

• Visit BI Prime for more stories.

Last year, Ed Stack made a decision that instantly made him both a hero and villain across America.

Stack, the CEO of Dick's Sporting Goods, said he'd stop selling AR-15 rifles and guns like it. His retailer also began limiting all gun sales to customers 21 and older. This was a big deal: Dick's had 732 big-box and 35 hunting specialty stores at the time, with more than $8 billion in sales, making it by far the United States' largest sports retailer.

As mass shootings increasingly became a regular part of the news cycle, the debate in the country over gun-control grew fiercer than ever. By picking the side that limited access to high-powered weapons, Stack knew that even in the best circumstances, it would hurt his business in the short term — but he decided it was necessary for the integrity of his company.

In an interview with Business Insider around the debut of his book "It's How We Play the Game," Stack explained why he went forward with his plan, and how he's dealt with the blowback in the year-and-a-half since.

Stack told us why he believes stepping back from the gun business is a "blessing in disguise." And because his new book is part memoir, we took the opportunity to ask him about his take on the sports retailing industry, as well as his evolution as a leader after taking over the business from Dick's namesake founder, his father Richard "Dick" Stack.

The following interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Why he destroyed $5 million worth of assault weapons

Feloni: The book opens with the idea of having a responsibility to community, especially how it's impacting kids affected by gun violence. When you were making that decision to get rid of the AR-15s, is this what was also going through your mind, its relationship to the community and the children in it?

Stack: After Sandy Hook, we took the assault-style rifles out of the Dick's stores. We didn't make a big deal out of it. There was a lot of pressure on us to make a statement and we just said, "Out of sympathy for the victims and their families, we're suspending the sale of assault-style rifles." We said we're suspending them, but we never put them back in.

During that time, we had spent about two years developing a concept called Field and Stream, which was an outdoor retail concept around hunt, fish, and camp. We had a pretty vigorous debate as to whether we would put those guns in those stores. We ultimately decided to put those in those stores. After Parkland, we came out and said we're taking them out everywhere.

Áine Cain: One striking moment in the book is when you destroyed $5 million worth of guns. Talk me through the decision-making behind that.

Stack: We didn't know what we were going to do with the inventory. We had a fair amount invested in these guns. Are we going to sell them back to the manufacturer? They buy them back at a discount. We would get maybe 80%, 85% of what we sold.

Do we just discount them and get them out of the stores? And we're in this meeting and I said, "We can't do that." We stood up and said, "We think these guns should be outlawed. We think the ban that was in place between 1994 and 2004 should be reinstated."

If we give them back to the manufacturer, they're going to end up back out on the street. If we try to sell them and just liquidate the inventory, they're back on the street. I said, "The only thing we can do with them is destroy them."

And so that's what we did.

Taking a hit for the sake of alignment with purpose

Cain: Obviously, that got a lot of praise and criticism. Do you think boycotts and "buycotts" actually affect your bottom line, though? That online chatter and online anger?

Stack: The boycotts did. The buycotts were really nice and we appreciated it, but they were kind of short-lived. We really appreciated the people stepping up and acknowledging what we did.

But the the boycotts, it's been pretty well chronicled that we expected that we would take about a quarter of a billion dollar hit in sales by doing this, not just from the hunt business, but from people who would say, "You know what? I'm just not shopping with you anymore because I am so angry with you." By the time we got done, it was about a quarter of a billion dollars.

Feloni: When you're trying to communicate with shareholders, how do you convey, 'I'm making this decision that might hurt in the short term, but this is critical to the mission of the business?'

Stack: We've always been just straight up. We said we're discontinuing the modern sporting rifle, which was the name of it. We're not going to sell a gun to anyone under 21 years old. We're not going to sell any high capacity magazines. Based on this, we're lowering our guidance by roughly 3%, which was $240 million. We were surprised that the stock didn't react too negatively, and it's been up since we made the announcement.

What was surprising is we didn't have any shareholder that I'm aware of, who called up and said, "You know what, based on what you did, I'm selling my shares. Just wanted to let you know." Conversely, though, we didn't have anybody there call up and say, "Hey, we love what you're doing. We're going to buy your stock."

Calling for political action

Cain: We've seen consumers increasingly expect the retail industry to take the lead on gun-control measures. Do you think we're at the peak of that phenomenon, or do you think that there's more to be done at this point?

Stack: I think there's more to be done, and I think that more will be done. There's just not much leadership coming out of Washington. The country is looking for leadership and they're getting it from the private sector right now. The house passed HR8. I'm one of the CEOs who signed on, encouraging background checks and red flag laws. It's sitting on [Senate majority leader Mitch] McConnell's desk right now. I wish he'd have the guts to bring it to a vote.

I don't understand why anybody would be concerned politically about background checks. Ninety percent of the public feels there should be background checks. I don't know how you can cerebrally think about guns and say, "Yeah, we don't need to have a background check. It's OK." Basically, anybody who's old enough can buy a gun. There are "private citizen to private citizen" and gun-show loopholes. I don't know how anybody can say, "Yeah, that's fine." There should be a background check for anybody that buys a firearm. And I don't know that McConnell will bring it to the floor. I hope he does.

Cain: You mentioned that there is more to be done in the private sector, at least. Do you have any insights on what that might be looking forward?

Stack: We've got to just keep this conversation going. After we made our announcement, we were invited down to meet some of the families from Parkland, which I talk about in the book. My wife and I went down and with a couple of other people from the company. It was one of the most emotional days I've ever had, to listen to these parents talk about what happened to their son or their daughter. When I left, I asked them, "What would you like me to do?" And they said, "We'd like you to keep the conversation going." And so part of the reason behind this book was to keep that conversation going. I thought a lot about this. I think in the country today so many rational people argue their position irrationally. Rational people argue their position irrationally.

Sitting down with those families in Parkland, they didn't say we should ban all guns. Basically what they said is, "We need to have common-sense gun reform so what happened to my family — my son, my daughter — never happens to anybody else." And as I thought about that, if there was ever a group of people who had the right to argue their position irrationally, it was them. And they didn't. That's why I can't understand why Congress argues their positions on gun control irrationally. After those families said, "We don't really think all guns should go away. We just think we need common sense reform." I thought, "If these families who've just gone through this feel this way, clearly Washington is going to get the message and do something."

And we went and we lobbied and we spent a lot of time in Washington talking to them. It was split right across party lines. I was just disappointed, surprised, and fill-in-the-blank about how people in Washington can't argue this in a rational way and come together with the intent to solve a problem. I just don't understand. It's not a political hot button any longer. Ninety-plus percent of the people feel we should have universal background checks. I don't know what McConnell's afraid of.

Adapting the business to meet a 'blessing in disguise'

Feloni: If you have to make a move like this, where one side who might not be happy with it, is it always thinking, too, of how do we adjust the business to adapt to it? You took a customized inventory model to stores like the one in Boston, where you removed guns and brought in more market-specific bestsellers like outerwear. Is that compensation something you had to communicate to shareholders?

Stack: We decided that we didn't want to sell that firearm anymore. We found out that we sold [Parkway gunman Nikolas Cruz] a shotgun two months before. When that happened I said, "This system is broken. This kid should never have been able to buy a gun." So we started to make these decisions, knowing they would have an impact. Then we said, "OK, it's going to have an impact here. Where can we try to drive the business forward to make up for that?"

Last year in the fourth quarter, we took all hunting inventory out of 10 stores to see what would happen. We were pretty clear right from the beginning that the hunt business is not as profitable as some other businesses. It's 1700 basis points below the balance of the chain from a profitability standpoint.

So we knew we wouldn't have to replace all of the sales to have the same profitability. Those 10 stores have significantly outperformed the rest of the company. In the spring, we've taken it out of another 125 stores. And so we actually think this is going to be a bit of a blessing in disguise.

We took a lot of blowback from the NRA. A number of brands that we did business with said they weren't going to sell us anymore. So we said, "OK, if this is the way it's going to go, how do we re-engineer our business?" We're pretty happy with the way things are going right now. We just sold eight of our Field and Stream stores off to Sportsman's Warehouse. It's going to be just fine.

Taking a look at the state of the sporting retail industry

Cain: In the past couple of years, there has been talk about how Under Armour's distribution expansion has caused problems on your end. Is it causing you to rethink things with Under Armour?

Stack: We've re-engineered what we're going to do with Under Armour.

Under Armour business was down for probably five quarters in a row after they made the changes in their distribution strategy. We've gone back to them. We made a big presence on Under Armour around The Rock, Dwayne Johnson, which has been great; it has really helped re-energize the Under Armour brand in our stores. We're on pretty solid footing with Under Armour now.

Cain: How do private label brands like Calia and DSG fit in with your strategy going forward?

Stack: We think private label is extremely important. We look at it as a way to differentiate our business. We're trying to do that by building brands. So for the Calia brand, we've got Carrie Underwood working with us there.

The Calia brand in five years has become the number two women's athletic brand in the store. So that's been really big.

The DSG brand we just launched has been great. We own the Top Flight brand. We own the Max Flight brand. We've got licensing agreements with Adidas, we make their baseball product; gloves, bats, all of that kind of stuff. The private brand business continues to be something that we're very aggressive on.

Feloni: What do you think is the future of youth football in terms of participation in the sport?

Stack: There's just so many parents who just don't want their kids to play football any longer because of the concussion piece. A couple of areas that are really picking up that participation are baseball and soccer. Fall baseball has gotten to be really significant. A long time ago when a lot of us were younger, there weren't many fall ball baseball leagues. But it's really gotten big. Football has really got to do something. I think they're making some good strides with what they're doing from a flag football standpoint; having kids start tackling later than they do now. Hopefully, they'll figure it out. But from a participation standpoint, they're in structural decline.

Learning leadership from his dad, the founder

Feloni: Something that is a presence in the entire book is your relationship with your father, and there's so much there. If we could just kind of even distill it down, what do you think would be the greatest business lesson that he left you with?

Stack: It would clearly be the conversation, "You have to do right by and be involved in the community," which is something that we've honored and kept really fundamental to everything we do. Whether that was around youth sports, whether it was around the Get Involved program, around the Sports Matter Foundation, the gun piece. Right from the beginning, it's always been around kids and around the community.

Feloni: How did he communicate that to you? How did you absorb that?

Stack: He talked about it a little bit, but it wasn't so much talking as how he demonstrated it. In Binghamton [New York, where he grew up and where the company started] there was the North side, the South side, the East side and the West side, but there was only one Little League team in each side of town. He just didn't think that was the right thing to do. And so he got together with his friends, insurance agents, the local grocery store, car dealerships, and had four teams on each side of town. So now instead of 60 boys, between nine and 12 being able to play organized baseball, you had 240, plus the farm league. So you have 400 kids being able to play organized baseball.

It was just that demonstration that you need to be involved in your community. If a team needed something, he sponsored a team. If somebody needed something, he made sure they somehow got it. We never sat down and talked specifically about that. My father was a complicated guy, but he had a simple philosophy. He got out of school by the skin of his teeth, got out of high school by the skin of his teeth. We didn't have these deep cerebral conversations about it. He just kind of led by example.

Feloni: And how do you see your evolution as a leader in terms of growing the company? I would think that writing a book gives you a good chance to look back at your own evolution. How do you see that? How did you grow into being a leader and what did your leadership style end up as?

Stack: Early on in the business, you do everything. My brother-in-law Tim Myers and I would buy the merchandise, we'd go meet with the reps after hours, we'd work the sales floor, we'd do the cash deposits at night — you just did everything. As we started to build the business to start to delegate some of those responsibilities, it was hard. You always did everything, you wanted to do everything. Over the years I've gotten the ability to be able to delegate more, to make sure that we've got really great people.

I always knew that we needed to have smart people around us. The first thing I did when we bought the business from my father was put together a board of directors. My uncle, the guy from E.J. Korvette shoes, and another guy in the media business; we put together this group of people, advisers that really helped us a lot.

Somewhere along the line, I realized you can't do it all yourself. You really need to build a team around you to be able to do that. Right now I think we have the best team we may have ever had in the business.

How he finds his best deputies

Feloni: What are you looking for in an executive when you're hiring someone?

Stack: When I interview someone today, my primary point that I'm trying to determine is, are they a good cultural fit?

I'm going to make the assumption that they're talented, or they wouldn't have gotten to where they've gotten in the interview process.

We did what we loosely call the DNA study, a number of years ago. We didn't take any hair follicles.

Feloni: Metaphorical DNA.

Stack: We took 50 people who we thought were our most successful people and had them talk to an industrial psychologist.

And he came back, and he said, "You know what? This might be the most competitive group of people I've ever met. But the difference is, they understand that competition is out there, the competition isn't the person who is sitting next to them on our management team."

He said, "In this team, all they want to do is win. And they really don't care what position they play as long as they win." We use a lot of sports analogies in our business, as you can imagine. So maybe the most important position in an NFL team is your left tackle. Because that's who's protecting the quarterback.

But you can't name three left tackles in the NFL. And the conversation was, "They're OK if they play left tackle as long as they win. If you boiled this down to an NFL player, this team would be a lot more like Emmett Smith."

When he scored a touchdown, he dropped the ball in the end zone, or he flipped it to the official, and he went back to the bench. That's his job. As opposed to some other players, who would catch a 12 yard pass at the second play of the game and think that they won the Super Bowl.

So we want really humble people that just want to do their job.

I talk to everybody who I interview. I say, "If you need to be the smartest person in the room on every single subject, this is not the place. If you need to have a pat on the back every time we have a good quarter or something good happens that you're a part of, and you want everybody to think that you were the one who made the play, this is not the place."

We've had enough people who say they can, but they really can't. And then the organization just rejects them. We want to make sure that we don't have much organizational rejection.

Taking a family approach

Feloni: As you elevated Dick's into this giant corporation with so many moving parts, you were also able to keep it under family control. Is that your intention, to always keep it within the family, if things go according to plan?

Stack: Yeah, we'd like to. You just never know. That's the intent, to be able to keep it controlled by our family. Having it controlled by our family, we can do the things that we think are right. We're not really concerned about a proxy fight based on how the capital is structured. It was probably a little easier for us to do what we did with the gun piece than maybe some other companies.

We went public with the two classes of stock. And if we hadn't had the dual classes of stock, we wouldn't have gone public. That was a prerequisite to be able to go because you've seen so many other companies, especially in retail, who either owned by private equity lever up too much., don't invest in the business, are worried about one quarter to the next, whether a public company or a private equity firm that's trying to, we'll say re-engineer the business and it doesn't usually work out well. And we always wanted to make sure that we had the ability to do what was right for the business longterm at any point in time. And that's what we've done. And I think that's one of the reasons why we've survived when so many other sporting goods retailers have not.

The fact that we're able to make the decisions that are right for the business longterm and not trying to manage quarter to quarter or trying to re-engineer financially, re-engineer business from a, we'll say, a cashflow standpoint.

Feloni: And has that been just through the way that you've communicated to investors from the beginning?

Stack: They knew we had the two classes of stock. I think at times it's actually been a positive from the value creation. They know we're going to do the right thing long term. Now, sometimes I may say, "OK, this is going to have a short-term impact," similar to what we did with firearms, but they're pretty confident we're not going to go do something that we shouldn't to try to goose the stock for a couple of quarters.

SEE ALSO: Dick's Sporting Goods destroyed $5 million worth of assault weapons — and its CEO tells us the gun industry's blowback has been 'a blessing in disguise'

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Blackstone CEO Stephen Schwarzman said his firm's rough early days taught him why every entrepreneur should be prepared to be in 'psychological pain in a way you haven't before'

• Half of US workers don't have mental health insurance, according to a new survey from the HR company Paychex.
• Paychex surveyed active employees and supervisors from industries like medicine, manufacturing, finance, and retail using an online survey.
• Workers who have irregular shifts or work the night shift are at greater risk for mental illness.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

American companies aren't providing adequate mental health resources, workers say.

Over half of workers say their job is negatively impacting their mental health, according to a new survey from HR company Paychex.

Despite getting depressed or anxious from work, employers do little to combat the issue: 56.2% of employees rated their company's mental health benefits as either "fair" or "poor," and about half of workers said they don't get mental health insurance. Plus, 45% of supervisors say they never received mental health training at work.

Paychex surveyed 996 active employees and 383 active supervisors using an online survey. The respondents ranged from high-paying industries like medicine and finance to lower-paying industries like retail and manufacturing.

The lack of resources might be causing workers to leave their jobs. About half of US millennials and 75% of Gen Zers have left a job because of mental health reasons, according to a recent study. 

Suffering from a mental health problem leads to lower job performance and productivity, according to the CDC. Depression is associated with higher rates of unemployment, and it interferes with a person's ability to complete physical tasks about 20% of the time.

Read more:Suicides among nurses are on the rise. Here's why one of America's fastest-growing jobs is facing a major crisis.

Why work is causing mental health problems

The risk for getting depression from your job is especially high for people who work outside the typical 9-to-5. People who work irregular hours or the night shift are 33% more likely to have depression, according to a University of Exeter review of 28,438 worker reports on mental health.

The risk for mental health issues is especially hard for first responders and healthcare workers, who are expected to be on call at a moment's notice during nights, said Ann Rogers, a professor at Emory University's School of Nursing and sleep researcher.

A recent Huffington Post article detailed how EMTs and paramedics have higher chances of PTSD, depression, and suicide — conditions that persist even after retirement. 

"Being a healthcare worker can be a high-stress job, but working the night shift, by being awake when you're supposed to be asleep, makes it even harder," Rogers told Business Insider.

Harassment and bullying at work can also cause mental health problems, according to the World Health Organization, issues that tend to plague female, racial minority, and LGBTQ workers more often.

Rogers said there aren't medicines aside from sleep aids to help shift workers get better rest, though experts now say driving home at night wearing strong sunglasses or making dietary changes can help. Without enough mental health resources at work, WHO finds workers can't adequately complete tasks — which could be why they leave their jobs.

"At this point we still have a lot of questions and we don't have good treatment," Rogers said.

SEE ALSO: 7 things you should never say to a coworker who just got laid off

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Sharks aren't the deadliest creatures on Earth. Here are the top 10.

It's not easy to get a job at a top hedge fund or prestigious bank. Usually, it involves several rounds of superday, group, and one-on-one interviews. For students, a Wall Street career often starts with a summer internship, which is an extended interview in and of itself.

But getting a full-time offer is just the beginning. Once inside, you'll need to get up to speed on complex products and markets, make the networking rounds, and stay competitive in your peer group.

Business Insider asked this year's Rising Stars of Wall Street to give us their best career advice for those just starting out.

Here's some of the top insight that we got.

Subscribe here to read our full list of the Rising Stars of Wall Street shaking up investing, trading, and dealmaking.

Adam Parker of Center Lake Capital: Do what you're passionate about

Adam Parker made a decision that he said his parents didn't necessarily understand when he was leaving college a little over 10 years ago. 

After interning at Lehman Brothers the summer before, Parker had a chance to return to the then-massive investment bank as a full-time employee after graduation. But he wanted to get into investing, having caught the bug after he and few friends sold a Grubhub-like company while undergrads. 

So he joined little-known Force Capital, a hedge fund, because that's what he was passionate about doing. The decision now — 10 years after Lehman collapsed, and with Parker running his own fund — appears to have been a prescient one. 

Evan Feinberg of Tiger Global: Being smart isn't enough

Wall Street is full of Wharton grads and Harvard MBAs.

Evan Feinberg of Tiger Global has realized that intelligence is the thing that opens the door for you in finance — but what puts you over the top is work ethic. 

Samantha Tortora of BlackRock: Solve problems and do things outside the office that energize you

Samantha Tortora is one of the youngest heads of investor relations in the industry. She started as the first official employee on the company's investor-relations team, a role she sought out to do something entrepreneurial. Even at a firm with 15,000 employees, she recommends seeking out opportunities to likewise create something new.

"We just had our analyst-orientation program. I said, 'Look around you. When you run into a problem, or something you think could be done better, don't take it for granted — solve it.' People reward you for that and won't stop you from solving it. That's why I am where I am. I also feel like there are a lot of really smart people here. Listening and absorbing very early on was very important to me."

Tortora also recommends finding interests outside work to recharge. She prioritizes health and wellness by going to spin classes at Soul Cycle consistently. "That helps me push myself physically to my limits, which then translates to what I'm able to do at work — push beyond the boundaries." 

Food, wine, cooking, and travel sustain her off the spin bike. 

"This is another thing I stress the importance of with my team: It's so important to have an appreciation for what gives each other energy and motivation so when we're here and we're on, we're ready and prepared to do it. Indulge when you can; have a routine. That's what I do." 

Becky Baker of Fidelity: Have a different view than everyone else

As a stock picker, the most important thing Becky Baker learned is to have a view different from the consensus opinion. 

"If you can build a case that the outlook is a lot better or worse than everyone thinks, the stock is going to go up or down a lot," she said.

It helps to have domain expertise. While she acknowledged some people do well in a diversified analyst role, she said getting into the fundamentals of an industry gave her confidence in her opinions.

"That's helped me have conviction that leads me to be confident in making recommendations," she said.

For anyone in finance, not just portfolio managers, she recommended finding mentors and involving them in her process, not just checking in occasionally.

"I found as an equity analyst, PMs would much rather hear an idea where I'm not sure about what it means for the stock and talk to them about where I'm stuck and what I'm hung up on, rather than present a view that I'm really sure of. Then they might not realize how much uncertainty there is. To involve people in your process as an investor can help you learn more and help you get to more correct outcomes." 

Alexandra Wilson-Elizondo of MacKay Shields: Have an off-site with yourself.

A mentor gave Alexandra Wilson-Elizondo some advice that she still uses: take the time to plan your goals. 

"She said, 'Every year, have an off-site with yourself, even if it's in your one-bedroom apartment downtown where you have no space. Plan, because those who fail to plan, plan to fail — and know what you want.'"

Wilson-Elizondo advises not to turn down opportunities because they seem scary. 

"There are so many things that I've done where I thought, I am not really sure I can do this, but I'm going to give it my best shot. Those were the best opportunities that I had."

She cautioned that while mentors are important, advocates, who work to pull you up within an organization, are even more critical for career advancement. The portfolio manager also said she thinks about her trajectory like picking a stock for the long term. 

"Find firms that invest in you. MacKay sponsored me to get my executive MBA, and I don't think there's that many firms out there that do that kind of thing anymore. They want you to be here to celebrate your 30th anniversary. You want to find a place where you could see yourself growing to have an entire career."

Just like in stock picking, research helps in this process.

"Ask: 'What is the reputation of the firm on Wall Street?' When you're interviewing, what kind of questions are they asking you? Are they concerned that you would want to stay here for the long term? Do they have a career planned out for this? Do your research on senior leadership within the organization. Are they active in the community? I think that tells you a lot.

"My job is to analyze companies every day. What you're doing to research if you should buy the bond, you should be doing for your own career." 

Henri Pierre-Jacques of Harlem Capital: Listen to mentors — but trust your gut

Henri Pierre-Jacques took a familiar finance path out of college, moving from investment banking to private equity to a top-tier business school. Then, he did something different: Instead of working at a venture-capital firm to gain experience and a track record, he cofounded his own. But if he had listened to some of his closest mentors, his parents included, he might not have gone that route. 

"Often there are different mentors and advice at different levels and stages of your career in life," he said. "My mom is a big voice for me, and I do take her opinion very seriously. But I wouldn't be doing what I'm doing if I listened to my dad because he's a doctor and said, 'You should be a doctor because it's stable.' That's what I've learned: listening to my voice and having a real confidence of thought." 

Jennifer Lee of Edison Partners: Pay it forward

Jennifer Lee is the first to admit she was lucky to have a people in her life who were great at giving her advice. 

The vice president at the growth-equity firm Edison Partners said in various stages of her career she had the benefit of having people who served as sounding boards and championed for her. 

As a result, she's always had the mentality of paying that back to others who are looking for help early in their careers.

"Personally, I have benefited so much from people who were willing to take the time out of their busy schedule," Lee said. "I don't think anybody is ever too busy to do that."

Justin Zhen of Thinknum: Find something you are insanely passionate about and work your ass off

How much does Justin Zhen love his job?

When Zhen, the cofounder of the alternative-data provider Thinknum, goes on vacation, he still actively looks to set up work meetings. 

With passion like that, work seems less like a job and more like you're just simply doing what you love. 

For Zhen, who started his company in 2014, when using the unique datasets were hardly the norm on Wall Street, it's about spreading the "gospel" that is alternative data. 

Ivan Brown of NYSE Group: No one has a monopoly on good ideas

When you've risen in the ranks as fast as Ivan Brown, it might be easy to dismiss outside opinions. 

However, Brown, who serves as the New York Stock Exchange's head of options, prides himself on being surrounded by smart people who think and view the world differently than him. 

The NYSE lifer said he enjoys working with people who challenge him and his assumptions. 

"Ultimately, that dialogue results in better outcomes," Brown said. 

Matthew Alfieri of Centana Growth Partners: There are no shortcuts to success

Matthew Alfieri knows exactly what it means to take the road less traveled. 

As a graduate of the State University of New York at Albany, Alfieri didn't have the benefit of attending a school that is typically targeted by the elite Wall Street firms. However, he still managed to secure an internship, and as a result, a full-time position at Goldman Sachs after graduation.

For Alfieri, who now serves as vice president of the growth-equity firm Centana Growth Partners, it was a combination of a few things.

"I've learned that a strong work ethic, positive attitude, and passion to learn and evolve as a professional goes a long way in positioning you for a fun and fulfilling career," Alfieri said. 

Ashley Serrao of Tradeweb: Invest in yourself

For Ashley Serrao, it's all about continuing to learn. 

When joining the electronic marketplace Tradeweb in 2017, he got some firsthand experience in the importance of that sentiment. Serrao, who had spent nearly a decade as an analyst at Credit Suisse, quickly needed to get caught up on the ins and outs of the complex fixed-income market. 

"You can never not know too much," Serrao said. "The details really matter. And ultimately, the details are what will hopefully differentiate you one day."

Peter Yongvanich of UBS: Surround yourself with good people

"Best piece of advice I've received — surround yourself with good people, keep them happy and challenged, and the success will come," Peter Yongvanich said.

Amanda Deckelman of Bank of America Merrill Lynch: Always be aware that people could become your client someday

"Truly working as a team in a team environment, and for the good of the team and platform, is super important," said Bank of America's Amanda Deckelman said.

"You're going to always see people back in the market, and you should always be aware that people could become your client someday. Which was really good advice because I've seen it play out that way several times."

Chloe Duanshi of Rockefeller Capital Management: Career growth is like gardening

Like others, Rockefeller Capital Management's Chloe Duanshi highlighted the importance of mentorship — but cautioned not to force the mentoring. 

"A mentor told me that if you care and are ambitious and driven, people take notice. My mentor told me, 'Don't let the first bus that comes pick you up.' This has worked."

Outside work, Duanshi enjoys gardening, which she said has parallels to how she thinks about her career. She planted climbing roses, for example, that seemed to do nothing for two years. 

"This year it blossomed," she said, underscoring how necessary patience can be. "If you believe in your thesis, ultimately you stand to harvest. It's worth it to be patient and have conviction." 

Gal Krubiner of Pagaya: Don't worry about looking silly

Gal Krubiner heeded his father's advice to start young as an entrepreneur, which he said was the most important advice he's been given.

The Pagaya cofounder also advises that budding entrepreneurs mess up in meetings early. 

"Everyone has the very early embarrassing meeting," he said. "For me, it was an embarrassing silence. For my other partner, he threw a Fanta can all over the place. Everyone is starting with these embarrassing moments, so do it quick. Do it early. Do it even before you think you're ready because you're not ready. The only way you're going to learn if you're ready or not is by you doing that."

He also cautioned that no one wants to steal an idea — the trick is in the execution. 

"Show the world you alone can do it and they will come. Tell them why you need them to work — it will never happen."

Once entrepreneurs have businesses up and running, Krubiner said the key was adaptation: Leading a company with under 100 employees is much different from leading one with 3,000. 

"Try to learn to love what you can in what you do and to stop doing whatever you don't," he said. "Change is a way for you to reposition yourself in a better situation, and that's a gift."

Jonathan Bailey of Neuberger Berman: Learn from bad managers

Having a bad manager can teach budding leaders some leadership skills, said Jonathan Bailey, Neuberger Berman's head of environmental, social, and governance (ESG). He knows from experience. 

"It can be quite de-motivating, even if you are in an environment where you care about what you're doing," he said. "What I've tried to do over the years is to think about, 'What can I still learn from this?'" 

While Bailey felt frustrated with a past manager at the time — not at Neuberger Berman — he said the experience ultimately gave him some visibility into better team management. 

"It helped me work out what type of manager I wanted to be and how I could avoid setting up some of those similar dynamics for my team."

His other piece of advice is specifically for those taking the Chartered Financial Analyst examinations. The grueling series of three tests, which takes years, has a high failure rate and is often required for certain positions. 

Bailey is studying for the exam right now, on top of his job and parenting a baby. He recommended starting slightly earlier in your career, having a supportive partner, and doing "lots" of practice questions.

Lucy Dobrin of Providence Equity: Choose to be around great people

Providence Equity's Lucy Dobrin says the biggest factor of a successful career is the people you choose to surround yourself with. 

Several mentors provided Dobrin with responsibilities early in her career to help execute a number of big transactions.

This included the acquisitions of the ad-tech company DoubleVerify and a large investment in the data company EdgeConneX. She is now a director at both.

Outside learning from mentors, Dobrin says it's important to like who you work with.

"The trick to loving your career is being around great people," she said. 

Sachin Bavishi of Blackstone: Develop a specialty, defend your point of view, and make bold decisions

"Become an expert in a few key areas versus trying to do everything. Be able to defend your point of views and be willing to make bold decisions. That's how you differentiate yourself, become indispensable to your team and have fun along the way doing it," said Blackstone's Sachin Bavishi.

Wilson Handler of Apollo: Ask questions early

Don't hide your ignorance, Wilson Handler said. 

Instead, the principal at Apollo Global Management suggests that recent college graduates in new roles should ask many questions early on.

"A lot of people come into jobs in investment banking or consulting — whatever their first job out of college is — and think they are expected to know everything out of the gate. I think the expectation is the opposite."

By seeking guidance, Handler said, junior finance professionals can develop a good rapport with their managers. 

"People are good at teaching," he said. 

Sam Powell of Gamut Capital: Place good bets

"Do things that have a limited risk of downside but high upside opportunity. If you do some of those things every day, some bets will end up very good, and you'll have great rewards. That's not possible if you don't take risk," said Gamut Capital's Sam Powell.

Ben Pike of Ares Management: Develop an expertise through loads of research

As an energy investor at Ares Management, Ben Pike says it's important to hone an expertise by devoting years of work.

Pike is a "huge fan of the 10,000 hour rule," which says that anyone who wants to be great at something needs to spend at least 10,000 hours doing it, as detailed in Malcolm Gladwell's "Outliers." 

"In other words, anybody who is consuming all the information they could be getting, the people who get into the weeks and learn it all," tend to be successful, he said.

• Elon Musk is the founder of SpaceX and the CEO of Tesla.
• He's also known for recommending science fiction books.
• He's praised the "Foundation" series by Isaac Asimov time and time again, and even launched the series into deep space.
• Click here for more BI Prime stories.

SpaceX founder and Tesla CEO Elon Musk is a bookish billionaire — as we've reported before, he has a love of all things science fiction. 

He's actually tweeted about a favorite book that's helped clarify his galactic ambitions.

"Reread Asimov's Foundation series,"he said. "Brilliant."

In interviews, Musk has reiterated that statement, saying that "Foundation" by Isaac Asimov is "one of the best books" that he's ever read. He loved it so much that SpaceX's Falcon Heavy rocket, which launched in January 2018, included a copy of each of the books in the trilogy. 

The books tells the story of an intergalactic empire that falls to pieces, with a dark age waiting on the other side.  

"Foundation" is a "futuristic version of Gibbon's 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire,'"he told the Guardian, referencing the famous history that followed Rome from its breathtaking heights to the fall of Byzantium.

From "Foundation," Musk learned that every civilization — including our own — will one day falter. 

"The lessons of history would suggest that civilizations move in cycles," Musk told the Guardian. "You can track that back quite far — the Babylonians, the Sumerians, followed by the Egyptians, the Romans, China. We're obviously in a very upward cycle right now, and hopefully that remains the case. But it may not. There could be some series of events that cause that technology level to decline." 

And when that happens in our case — when humanity hits its own dark age — what's the best thing we can do to make sure it's as short as possible?

By having the human race become, to use Musk's favored terminology, interplanetary.

Thus the need for SpaceX, the privatized space exploration company that Musk started back when only nation-states were trying to launch rockets out of Earth's atmosphere.

"Given that this is the first time in 4.5 billion years where it's been possible for humanity to extend life beyond Earth,"he said, "it seems like we'd be wise to act while the window was open and not count on the fact it will be open a long time."

SEE ALSO: The 12 books Elon Musk says shaped his worldview and led him to business and personal success

Join the conversation about this story »

• Y Combinator is an acclaimed startup accelerator founded by Paul Graham. 
• Since its inception in 2005, just over a fifth of the companies YC has helped grow has a female founder.
• Elpha was one such company in the summer 2019 batch. 
• Cadran Cowansage, co-founder and CEO of Elpha, answered Business Insider's questions about her company's involvement in YC. 
• Click here for more BI Prime stories.

Elpha, a startup that aims to support the women who make up 26% of tech employees within the US, spent three months shaping up. The co-founders moved to the Bay Area, attended dinners once a week with leaders in the startup world, and then pitched to over 1,000 investors at the end of the three months. 

That's part of the program at Y Combinator. 

Elpha got accepted into the summer 2019 batch of YC, the Silicon Valley accelerator that funds and supports early-stage startups.

To date, more than 20% of the companies founded through the accelerator have a female founder, and YC reports that this average is increasing. In the summer 2019 batch of YC, which started in June and ended in August, 28% of the companies had a female founder. One of those female-led startups was Elpha, which is part message-board, part networking site, and part Reddit — all by, and for, women in tech. 

The company joins the ranks of YC-backed companies, which include Airbnb, Reddit, Dropbox, and DoorDash. YC has a track record of success; it claims that the combined valuation of the portfolio is over $100 billion. YC is also exclusive: an acceptance rate of 1.5%, comparable to Harvard or Stanford. Elpha's example is useful for founders thinking about applying to YC, both in terms of how the founders got in and what benefits they were able to derive so far.  

Elpha's co-founders include Cadran Cowansage and Kuan Luo, and its first users were women who worked at YC and within the alumni network. Now the platform has 7,500 active members, who are able to ask questions and interact directly with inspirational women in tech, like Emily Weiss, founder and CEO of Glossier. By providing this online space, where women in tech can learn and contribute their own experiences, Elpha supports professional development.

YC not only helped reach users, it was also a source of support for the co-founders.

"The YC batch is an intense time that pushes you to make incredible progress in a very small amount of time," Cowansage told Business Insider. "And the YC alumni network is a powerful resource for finding customers and seasoned founders to talk to."

The unique perspective that the co-founders brought as women in a male-dominated industry allowed them to relate to their audience. That was essential to helping them get into YC. They each have over 10 years of experience creating digital products at companies like Y Combinator, MongoDB, Etsy and Cockroach Labs. 

At Elpha, they're focused on scaling while making sure that the online community Elpha provides is a high-quality place for women. The site is organized by topics like career growth and venture capital, with posts that users can directly add comments  — and emojis — to.

As more and more people join, Cowansage emphasizes keeping that core community culture in place: Elpha's software and culture are designed and written by women, and the Q&As with top women entrepreneurs, operators and VCs on the site are also available for everyone.

"We are building Elpha with the belief that the world would be a better place if women were given equal access to opportunities and resources in the workplace," Cowansage said. "We're redefining community from the ground up."

SEE ALSO: Governance sank WeWork from the start, a VC and Stanford lecturer says. Here's what any founder can learn from Adam Neumann's cautionary tale.

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Amazon is reportedly seeking a new space in New York City. Here's why the giant canceled its HQ2 plans 5 months ago.

• A self-published author selling his book on Amazon added a message to its cover urging Amazon workers to unionize.
• The author says he has effectively tricked Amazon into printing and distributing union materials to its own employees.
• Every time someone orders the book, an Amazon worker will pull it from a shelf and package it, potentially reading the pro-union message.
• The effectiveness of this strategy remains to be seen — it's been reported that Amazon workers typically spend about a minute total pulling and packaging an order before moving onto the next one.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Mike Monteiro believes Amazon workers should unionize. Last week, the self-published author realized he could get Amazon to print and distribute unionization materials to its own workers — all he had to do was print them on the front of his book.

Monteiro's book, Ruined by Design, is for sale on Amazon, which provides a platform for authors to easily self-publish books by printing as many copies as users order online.

After first publishing the book in March, Monteiro realized he could change his book cover by uploading a new PDF, he told The Verge.

"ATTENTION AMAZON WORKERS: You have the right to decent working conditions. You have the right to bargain collectively. You have the right to form a union," the new message on the book's cover reads, followed by a link to the AFL-CIO's site.

Monteiro suspects that Amazon will take action to remove the cover soon. However, the cover had to be approved by an Amazon quality assurance check before being finalized, he told The Verge. 

Amazon workers have repeatedly protested the working conditions in the company's shipping warehouses, where workers have reportedly been pushed to forego bathroom breaks and work to the point of exhaustion. Employees across the globe protested Amazon's refusal to recognize unionization efforts during Prime Day this summer.

The effectiveness of Monteiro's strategy, however, remains to be seen. Aside from the question of how many people will actually order the book, it's been reported that Amazon warehouse workers typically spend around a minute total pulling and packaging an order before moving onto the next one.

In a statement to Business Insider, an Amazon spokesperson defended the company's treatment of its workers, touting its $15/hour minimum wage and benefits for employees, saying that these offerings amount to what unions typically request.

"We encourage anyone to compare our overall pay, benefits, and workplace environment to other retailers and major employers in the community and across the country. For us, it will always be about providing a great employment experience through a direct connection with our employees and working together as a team to provide a world-class customer experience, and respecting rights to choose a union," the spokesperson said.

The book cover does not violate any of Amazon's policies. The online retailer does not intend to remove it from circulation, The Verge reported.

SEE ALSO: The undercover author who discovered Amazon warehouse workers were peeing in bottles says the culture was like a 'prison'

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: If you want an emoji that isn't available, you can create it. Here's how everyday people send their submissions.

• I once dated a coworker, and though it worked out for us, office romances can be a very tricky thing to navigate.
• Working with your significant other can have a serious impact on your career (and your relationship!), so you need to tread carefully.
• We talked to experts to compile all the rules for dating a coworker.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Despite all the warnings, I once dated a coworker. 

Here's the thing: We didn't meet on the job.

Tyler and I had been dating for almost four years before we started working together (which, by the way, wasn't planned … long story for another time). But for about 11 months, we sat three cubes apart from one another and kept our relationship under wraps.

That's right. Nobody knew we were a couple.

"Nobody knew?!""Wasn't it hard to hide?""Isn't that illegal?"

Those are questions we're frequently asked when we tell people the story of our office romance.

Our answer to all three: Nope...because we followed "the rules."

The truth is, office romances can be very tricky and generally not recommended. But they happen all the time, and when they do, there are three possible outcomes: The relationship turns sour and your reputation and career take a beating; it ends, but you're both mature and cordial and don't let the breakup affect your work; or things work out.

A CareerBuilder survey from last February revealed that nearly 36% of employees admitted to having a romantic relationship with a coworker, and one-third of office relationships result in marriage. (Remember that coworker I dated? We're approaching our fourth wedding anniversary.)

It's up to you to figure out whether pursuing an office relationship is worth the possible consequences, good and bad. If you decide it is, there are a few "rules" you'll want to follow to ensure things don't go awry:

1. Take it slow.

My situation was unique because we were already a couple before we started working together — but generally that isn't the case, and Lynn Taylor, a national workplace expert and the author of "Tame Your Terrible Office Tyrant: How to Manage Childish Boss Behavior and Thrive in Your Job," suggests you try being friends inside and outside the office before you make any moves.

People sometimes act differently at work than they do in their personal life. Before you risk hurting your reputation at work, find out if this person is someone you'd want to spend weekends with.

2. Know the formal policy.

Check the company handbook to find out if there are any policies related to interoffice relationships. 

Even if there are no explicit policies against it, find out how upper management feels about office romances. If they're common and happen in your workplace all the time, great. If not, maybe that's something to consider. 

3. Avoid your boss or direct reports.

If you're thinking about pursuing an office romance, consider your rank or position, as well as theirs. Dating your boss or your direct report can be particularly dangerous for a variety of reasons.

4. Keep things quiet early on.

No need to send a blast email with "the news" of you and your cube-mate's new relationship. People either don't care, will think it's obnoxious or inappropriate, or will get jealous.

"Be discreet about the news," Taylor suggests. Once you have a sense that this might have a future, talk to your partner and decide how and when you want to disclose your relationships to your colleagues.

If the rumor mill goes into high gear, that might be the right time. If nobody seems to notice, there's no reason to share.

5. Get on the same page.

You and your new partner need to agree on some ground rules and come up with a plan for how you will keep it professional and stay within written or unwritten rules. "What will be your plan 'B' if the heat is on from a supervisor, from gossip, or if things go awry?" Taylor asks.

6. Be professional at all times.

"You may have the burden of overcompensating with professionalism and keeping an artificial distance, which can be an awkward strain," says Taylor. "Better to overcompensate than to constantly test the limits of workplace etiquette while hoping for the best."

7. Be sensitive and respectful to others.

Focus on work and do your job — especially if you want to mitigate gossip. 

"No one wants to hear about how deeply you're in love with each other or where you went last weekend or the fight you had in the car this morning," she explains. "Save it for your family or friends outside work."

Talking about the relationship can be distracting or make colleagues feel uncomfortable, so don't do it.

8. Keep love quarrels out of the work fray.

Again — nobody wants or needs to know about what's happening with your love life. 

"It's hard enough today to concentrate with open office spaces, a plethora of technology devices, frantic deadlines, multiple bosses, and so on," says Taylor. "Add to that two lovers fighting over doing dishes in the next cube and you have one unhappy coworker, who you may catch sauntering to HR."

Also, it's entirely unprofessional to complain about your personal relationships at work, whether you're dating a colleague or not.

9. Don't let disagreements affect your work.

This may be one of the hardest rules to follow.

What happens at home or in your personal life (no matter who you're dating) almost always affects your attitude, which affects your work — it's just a fact of life. 

But try your hardest not to let your disagreements with your partner affect the decisions you make or how your treat others at work.

10. Remain ethical.

The same way you shouldn't let disagreements with your partner affect the decisions you make or how you treat others at work — you can't let your adoration for them drive your decisions, either. 

It's unfair and unethical to give your significant other's work more attention and to make decisions that ultimately benefit them. So while it may be tempting, stop yourself before you get yourself into trouble.

11. Remain focused on your work.

"Spend your time as if you are not dating this person," advises Taylor. Don't get caught up in long conversations, two-hour lunches, IMing, or emailing with your partner when you should be working on projects or preparing for meetings.

12. Know the potential legal pitfalls.

"Employees are generally encouraged to report incidents of sexual harassment or events that create a hostile work environment," says Taylor. "Since the sensitivities of the workforce are varied and subjective, there's always a risk of offending someone. One complaint to HR for PDA, showing preferential treatment, or using words of endearment in public will at the very least trigger an investigation."

13. Go easy on flirtatious texts and emails.

"Be careful what you text or email to each other, not just because Steve in accounting might fall off his chair when he mistakenly receives it — but also because it could ultimately be used as evidence in a legal case in termination or sexual harassment," she warns.

14. Don't talk about work at home

This one is more for the well-being of your relationship.

You'll want to do what you can to keep work and your personal life separate.  

Since you're in the same office, you know all the same people and may even be working on similar projects — so it's easy to go home and talk about those people or those projects.  You'll be tempted to chat about the latest office gossip over dinner — but don't.

If you do, your whole life will be about work ... which isn't good for your relationship, or your career.

Come up with some rules together. For instance, maybe you decide that it's okay to discuss work on your car ride home, but as soon as you get there, it's off-limits.

15. Consider what you'd want to do if things do work out.

As a relationship becomes more serious, oftentimes one person will decide to leave the employer completely, because the more involved you are, the greater the likelihood of the relationship interfering with your job. "That's why so many companies have policies against nepotism, which applies to married couples and relatives," says Taylor. This is something to think about early on and to keep in mind as you move forward in the relationship. 

"The bottom line is, you need to tread carefully," she adds. "If, however, love happens to strike at work, don't make a concerted effort to fight it at any cost. Just know the risks."

Your decision not only affects you, but the other person, both of your careers, and those around you. "A word to the wise: If you take the leap, go into it with your eyes wide open," Taylor concludes.

• Read more:

The psychological reasons why you fall in love with your colleagues

A quarter of people would consider quitting their job if their 'work spouse' left the company

20 things you should never say to your coworkers

• I met my husband on Tinder — here's what everyone gets wrong about online dating

SEE ALSO: 8 things to consider before you start an office romance

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: 8 things you should never say in a job interview

• Emotional intelligence is more important than ever. It's one of the top 10 in-demand work skills, and it's only going to become more prominent.
• However, many "frontline leaders" fall short on communication abilities, which usually come with high emotional intelligence.
• You can gauge your emotional intelligence, and work on deepening it, by asking yourself these 11 questions.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

To prepare for the workplace of the future, workers should start thinking about building up their emotional intelligence now.

According to the World Economic Forum's The Future of Jobs Report 2018, emotional intelligence (EQ) is currently a top 10, in-demand work skill desired by most employers globally (coming in at No. 7).

By 2022, EQ will see a particular increase in demand relative to its current prominence today. However, not everyone is prepared. Research by Development Dimensions International (DDI) found that more than 50 percent of "frontline leaders" fell short in their communication abilities.

While a leader's cognitive ability (IQ) is required for the intellectual traits of the job, EQ paves the way for the communication skills necessary to successfully drive execution and inspire people to better outcomes. And many leaders are not ready.

The future of work is human and relational. And the bigger opportunity for leadership development lies in teaching future leaders that soft-skills are now the real hard-skills required to move forward in the age of machine learning and artificial intelligence.

11 questions to gauge your emotional intelligence

Whether you're a front-line worker in a customer-facing role or in any managerial capacity, you may want to know where you stand against the high bar of emotional intelligence.

Answer the questions below to evaluate yourself in relation to eleven chosen behaviors of high emotional intelligence.

SEE ALSO: 5 meaningful examples of emotional intelligence at work

1. Empathy

Do you have the capacity to understand or feel what another person is experiencing from within his or her frame of reference?

2. Self-awareness

Do you seek honest feedback from others in a caring, trusting environment?

3. Curiosity

Are you driven to want to be your best by learning new things, growing, and improving?

4. Focus

When things around going wrong, are you able to differentiate between real problems and distractions in order to stay focused on what really matters?

5. Belief

Do you believe that the people and things in your life are there for a reason — that everything will ultimately work out for good?

6. Optimism

Do you choose to live each day by having a positive outlook and seeing the glass half-full?

7. Adaptability

Are you able to recognize when to stay the course, and when it's time for a change? In other words, when one strategy is not working, do you evaluate and determine if something else will work?

8. Servant-leadership

Besides focusing on your own success, do you also maintain a strong desire for wanting to see the people around you succeed?

9. Confidence

Are you comfortable with who you are, regardless of whether anyone is stroking your ego?

10. Forgiveness

When others have wronged you, are you able to forgive and forget, and move on?

11. Commitment

Do you keep agreements make a habit of keeping your word — in things big and small?

• Michael Horvath cofounded Strava, a fitness app, with the idea of motivating and connecting people around exercise.
• But when he and fellow founder Mark Gainey got Strava started, they weren't totally confident things would work out, so they decided to fund the company using their personal credit cards.
• To this day, Horvath follows the same money principles they introduced at the outset of Strava.
• They include spending to prove a concept, investing in ideas that align with your core values, and not being afraid to spend money, period.
• Anyone can apply these principles to their life, career, or business.
• Click here for more BI Prime stories.

For cofounder Michael Horvath, Strava started with an idea that seemed crazy: connecting people online in an interactive way around exercise and fitness. Horvath first had the idea for this sort of "virtual team" platform in 1995, the year he and his cofounder, Mark Gainey, graduated from college. During school, they'd both been on the rowing team and enjoyed the motivation of working out together. But after college, it was hard to find reasons to train.

They took the idea of a virtual locker room to several companies. "I remember they said, 'You can't do this,'" Horvath said. "There was no Facebook yet. We wanted to develop something interactive when websites were static."

So Horvath and Gainey created something else: Kana, a software company that was later acquired by the customer engagement and cyber intelligence analytics company Verint. In 2006, both entrepreneurs were free agents again and went back to their original idea. This time, they were determined it could work.

Today, Strava is a popular social network that connects millions of runners, cyclists, and other athletes through a mobile app and website. The company has raised about $70 million to date, according to an internal source, and employs over 200 people worldwide. Pitchbook estimates the company's post-money valuation is $365 million.

But at Strava's inception, Horvath and Gainey were less confident in its future. So they decided to fund the company using their personal credit cards. If things didn't work out, it was all on them.

"There's an early phase for a lot of companies where the founders are starting something and they haven't taken outside capital," Horvath said. "There isn't a bank account with the company's name on it, and for a finite period of time, you're trying to learn if this is an idea that has legs … Plus, no bank is going to give you better credit than you can give yourself."

Obviously, things worked out for the best, and the company quickly took off, but Horvath told Business Insider that Strava's business principles were still influenced by the founders' personal spending theories and strategies, especially those they introduced at the outset. Here are a few of those important principles.

You have to spend money to prove a concept

In the beginning, Horvath said he and Gainey made some costly business moves that weren't in line with how they thought Strava would function in the long run — and this turned out to be a good thing. Even today, Strava spends between 40 and 45% of its total operating costs on research and development.

"Spending money to prove a concept is worth it when it means getting your product in the hands of your customer early on, to start getting real feedback," Horvath said.

For example, during the company's inception stage, Horvath and his cofounder heard that Costco had 300 inexpensive Garmin cycling computers, all older models of GPS tablets that mounted onto bikes, sitting in a warehouse. The retailer wanted to get rid of them quickly.

One of Strava's biggest barriers to entry was getting people to sign up for the community and buy a device that would track their activities.

"At the time, those devices were expensive," Horvath said. "Battery life wasn't good enough on mobile phones to track multihour bike rides … so you needed to invest in GPS unit to use service, and we realized that was a high barrier to participate. Even though it didn't scale, we found a connection at Costco and … we said, 'We will pay you.' It was $30,000, so it wasn't cheap for us, but then we gave the devices to people and said please try Strava. It was the fastest way we could think of to build a community on Strava to see how people would behave when presented with this way to work out. If we hadn't done that, it would have taken so much longer to get going."

The computers provided much-needed feedback about Strava's usefulness early on, Horvath said, adding that he started by handing out the devices to friends, family, and influencers, with the goal of building communities in certain areas. This early investment led to a community of 5,000 athletes that would eventually power investments and business growth.

Horvath also remembered that early on at Strava, an employee had to build every new user account. Obviously, that approach didn't scale, but the early feedback was valuable enough to justify the extra work, he said.

You have to spend money on projects and opportunities that align with your values

Horvath emphasized that you should spend money in alignment with your values, a concept he has etched into Strava's core from the first moment of the company's launch in 2009.

"The culture of spending at a company should definitely be determined by the company's values," he said. Strava's values — authenticity, balance, craftsmanship, commitment, and camaraderie — are central to the way the company functions and the way it allocates its funds.

For example, they don't cater lunch and dinner every day but instead focus on big events where employees can spend quality time together. There's also a focus on quality and productivity to make sure the company's craftsmanship improves at all times.

"We prioritize the right kind of spends," Horvath said. "It's not frugal, but it's intentional."

You have to be flexible and prepare for the worst

While Horvath knows it's less than recommended by financial advisers, he said he liked to think in the nearer term when it comes to business and personal decision-making and spending — often only about 10 years ahead. This allows him to remain agile and resilient, no matter what comes up.

"Making plans is helpful, but the plans themselves are often useless" when life throws you curveballs, he said.

Horvath also said he sees a danger in building a lifestyle that extends beyond your means, especially once you advance to a higher level in your career. Instead, he recommended that founders and entrepreneurs create a frugal personal life that gives them what they need — and save the rest.

"You have to build resiliency and flexibility into your lifestyle because what would happen if this all goes away? It's not having a less extravagant lifestyle that hurts. It's going from high to low expectations," he said.

You have to not be afraid to spend money, period

"When I was a kid, my dad made a really big impression on me," Horvath said. "Not because he was frugal or extravagant … but because he said money belongs to the person who spends it."

For Horvath, the power of money is always in the hands of the person making the spending decisions. He maintained that money is all about spending, not earning, since that's what you have control over.

This belief trickles into his business but is also important in his personal life. Horvath has four kids in their 20s, and he said they often control his money because of things like school tuition, travel, and family vacations.

"But this is a commitment I made when I had them," he said.

Jenni Gritters is a Seattle-based freelance journalist who covers health, psychology, business, and travel. You can find her bylines in The Guardian, Wirecutter, Outside magazine, 538, Mindbodygreen, and beyond. When Gritters isn't working with words, she's teaching yoga and mindfulness; hiking, camping, and snowshoeing in the Pacific Northwest mountains; and running with her husband and puppy.

SEE ALSO: I built a multimillion-dollar business in two years. Here are 3 templates I used to make my first $10,000 in 3 months.

READ MORE: A 29-year-old female founder who's raised $2 million for her retail company believes that leaders need to remove emotion from the hiring process to avoid bad hires

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: The Navy has its own Area 51 and it's right in the middle of the Bahamas

• Clint Proctor recently quit his day job and became a full-time freelance writer. His wife, Kendall, stays home with their two boys, Landon and Connor.
• Except for the mortgage on their home in Daytona Beach, Florida, they don't have any other debts, which frees up cash flow to spend on things that they enjoy.
• For Business Insider's "Real Money" series, Proctor tracked his family's spending during a typical week. They spent $1,175 on their mortgage, food, and some business expenses.
• Want to share a week of your spending? Email yourmoney@businessinsider.com.

My wife and I have always taken budgeting very seriously. For the first several years of our marriage, we budgeted carefully out of sheer necessity. Out of college, I chose a career in ministry. 

And that choice put a fairly low ceiling on our household income. We were both OK with that but we also knew that we'd need to find creative ways to save. 

So we followed a strict budget and researched all the savings hacks we could find. And all the work paid off. Even on a limited income, we were able to live quite comfortably. By saving my wife's income during our first few years of marriage, we were able to save up for the down payment on our home in Daytona Beach, Florida.

After our first son was born, my wife decided to stay home with him. So, all of a sudden, we were now down to one income and budgeting became vital once again.

In June of this year, I launched out as a full-time personal finance freelance writer. For the first time in my life, I don't have a salary and we're dealing with an inconsistent income. So seven years into our marriage, budgeting has once again become a major focus.

Here's a peek at what our "normal" monthly spending looks like.

Thankfully, the freelance writing business has done well and my income has actually increased since leaving my day job. But we still strive to be conservative with our spending.

We also don't have any student loans and our cars are paid off. Those are two big expenses many families deal with that we don't need to worry about. Also, since my wife stays home with our two boys, we don't need to pay for childcare.

Third, we have a low mortgage payment— under $650. I realize that in some areas, it would be impossible to find housing that is so affordable. But it definitely helps us keep our budget low.

Fourth, freelance writing happens to be a business with low overhead. I don't work in a profession where I need to rent office space or buy inventory. 

However, I do have a few business expenses  for things like invoicing and accounting software, email and cloud file storage, and web hosting for my personal blog, The Wallet Wise Guy. And it just so happens that I had an unusual amount of business expenses this month (more on that later).

Some of our expenses like insurance, home improvement, car repairs, and vacations aren't necessarily spent every month. For instance, if we don't have any car repairs, we simply move the full $150 we budgeted for to a dedicated savings account. That way when a repair pops up, the money is sitting there waiting to be used.

This week we spent $1,175 — roughly 29% of our monthly budget.

One of the reasons the percentage was so high is because our mortgage happened to hit this week.

We also had a few unusual business expenses and our restaurant cost was a bit higher than normal as well. Here's how it all went down.

On Monday, we decided to find out what the Popeyes chicken sandwich buzz was all about.

I was working away on an article on Monday morning when my brother sent me a link to an article about the Popeyes chicken sandwich craze. 

I'm a huge chicken sandwich fan, and I happen to like Popeyes too. So even though we typically don't eat out on Monday, we simply couldn't resist the temptation to check things out. And we didn't regret the decision! Yes, I am firmly in the camp that believes the Popeyes chicken sandwich is the best (don't even try to convince me otherwise).

Other than our impromptu Popeyes visit, our only other expense was my life insurance premium ($20.91).

On Tuesday, my wife convinced me to upgrade my business wardrobe.

As a personal finance writer and blogger, there's only one main business conference that I attend each year, called FinCon, and it just happens to be in September. So one of the common themes you'll notice throughout this week's diary is that we had several expenses that were related to my upcoming trip.

One of those expenses took place on Tuesday. My wife was insistent that I needed to buy some new business pants for my trip. My current slacks and khakis were pretty old and faded so she convinced me to do some clothes shopping (something that I typically resist like the plague). 

We went to Belk and bought two pairs of pants ($35.38). Although my business trip was the motivation for buying the pants, we placed the expense under our "clothing" budget.

After that, we headed home and tried out a new orange chicken recipe, which was super yummy. Then we put the kids down for bed and hunkered down for some Netflix and chill time.

On Wednesday, we enjoyed a long walk in the neighborhood with the kids.

You don't have to spend money to have fun. For example, one of our neighbors that's about a 15-minute walk away from us owns a horse. Our boys love to walk down to see the horse and feed him carrots and celery. 

The whole experience typically takes about an hour, it's completely FREE, and the kids love it! After we finished with the walk, we ate leftover orange chicken for dinner.

Thursday included another business expense to help me prep for my trip. I knew I was going to need to order some business cards. But beforehand, I wanted to update my website logo.

Design work is totally out of my domain. So I asked a personal friend of mine who has experience with design if she'd be willing to come up with some ideas and she did an awesome job! I happily sent her $100 via Venmo for her work.

The only other money we spent on Wednesday was for gas ($27.45) and the monthly phone payment on my wife's phone ($30.00).

On Thursday, I spend the majority of my workday at Starbucks before hitting the gym.

As a freelance writer, I spend a lot of time at coffee shops. 

I especially love going to Starbucks because I get free refills when I pay using their app. I'll get two or three refills per visit, which helps me get my money's worth (and makes me feel less guilty about how much money I spend each month on coffee). This particular morning I didn't have enough money left on my app to buy my coffee, so I added $10.

After work, my wife and I headed over to our gym. And it just so happens that our gym membership fee hit on Thursday as well. 

Our membership fee is a little high at $70. But the reason we're willing to pay that much is that childcare is included. So our kids get to play on inflatables while we work out, which is awesome. After our workout, we picked up a few ingredients at Aldi and headed home for dinner.

On Friday, my wife and our son enjoyed a mommy-son day at Sea World.

We live about an hour away from Orlando. So, in June of 2018, we bought 15-month passes to Sea World. We had a blast with them but they were finally set to expire on the coming Monday. 

We wanted to use them one more time for they expired. But we had made prior commitments for Saturday and Sunday and I had too many assignments due on Friday. So we decided that my wife would go with our 4-year old, Landon, while our 2-year old, Connor, spent the day with Grandma. 

Landon and Kendall had never had a "mom-and-son-only day" at Sea World before, so he was uber-excited. They had a great time. And, since park entrance was free, it was actually a pretty affordable day-trip. They hit McDonald's on the way up ($6.47) and ate in the park once as well ($19.43). She had to fill up the gas tank once too ($32.93).

Meanwhile, I worked at Dunkin Donuts in the morning ($2.29) went to Mickey D's for lunch ($5.64). We ate dinner together at home later that night. Speaking of our home, our mortgage came out on Friday as well ($643.83), which was our largest expense of the week.

On Saturday, I helped my brother move and spent some quality time with him.

My younger brother received a job promotion that required him to move to Colorado Springs. 

Up until his move, our entire extended family still lived in the same town. So, while we were happy for him, we were also sad to see him leave. On Saturday, several family members and friends gathered at his apartment to help load his furniture into the U-Haul. 

Later on that night, we were able to spend some quality "brother time" together and I treated him to dinner at one of our favorite wing joints ($18.11). Other than that, my only other expense was my new business cards ($80.68).

On Sunday, we went to church and spent time with family.

On Sunday, we went to church in the morning and then spent the rest of the day at my parents' house. The boys had a blast playing tag with my dad and jumping in the pool for an hour or so. And we were able to spend some more time with my brother before he moved on Monday.

So we basically spent no money at all ... until the very end of the night. My wife and I were settling down at about 8:45 p.m. for an evening TV show when we realized something terrible — we were out of coffee! 

This simply would not do. I rushed off to Aldi and bought a bag of coffee before they closed. I picked up a gallon of milk while I was there too ($7.40).

If you're wondering why we didn't have more trips to the grocery store during the week, here's why: We try to buy most of our grocery items in bulk. We make one big trip to Sam's Club at the beginning of the month and do our best to make things last. Things will still pop up here and there, but we've found that bulk grocery shopping helps us avoid overspending throughout the month. 

Although we spent less than $10 the entire day, Sunday was one of the most enjoyable days of our week. It served as a healthy reminder that quality time with family is what brings us the most joy in life. And that's something that all of us can enjoy to the fullest, regardless of our incomes or budgets.

• Read more from our Real Money series:
• My family of 4 is financially independent thanks to passive income from real estate. Here's what we spend in a typical week.
• My wife and I are saving half of our $160,000 income so we can leave our corporate jobs in 5 years. Here's what we spend in a typical week.
• My husband and I live in Seattle and save almost half our income so we don't have to work by 40. Here's what we spend in a typical week.
• I retired as a millionaire at 36 to stay home with my kids. Here's what my family spends in a typical week in San Diego, California.

• More savings and retirement coverage
• How to retire early
• How to save more money
• Are CDs a good investment?
• When to save money in high-yield savings

• Melissa Petro is a freelance writer, teacher, wife, and mother living in New York City.
• She accepted a teaching position when she was pregnant with her first child. When she told her employer the news, she was told that returning within three days wouldn't be soon enough for their demanding student body — and that maybe it wasn't the right time to take the job.
• Working in the gig economy often means insecurity and financial risks, she writes.
• A senior staff attorney at the ACLU's Women's Rights Project describes pregnancy discrimination as "distressingly common," and says it remains the ACLU hotline's top complaint.
• In the end, Petro kept her teaching position — but found herself checking in on the class three hours into labor and responding to students' emails from the maternity ward.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.  

The issue of pregnancy discrimination was thrust into the spotlight earlier this week when media outlets began questioning Democratic presidential hopeful Elizabeth Warren's claim that she was fired from her first teaching job in 1971 for being pregnant. 

Reporters like Kaylee McGhee of the Washington Examiner say there's no evidence the Senator was unfairly dismissed as result of her pregnancy, concluding that she's "playing the victim card and crying sexism." 

But as someone who's negotiated pregnancy and motherhood, I have little trouble believing Warren's claim. After all, the situation occurred seven years prior to passage of The Pregnancy Discrimination Act in 1978, the federal law which prohibited employers  from discriminating on the basis of pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions. It was commonplace then, as it is now — 40 years after the passage of the PDA. 

SEE ALSO: My husband paid me $15 an hour to be a stay-at-home mom. Here's what I learned.

Come back ‘another time’

Certainly, it was still an issue two years ago, when I was pregnant with my first. I was an experienced teacher by then, assigned to teach an online class for a new-to-me employer. Fearing it would be a consideration, only after confirming I'd gotten the teaching assignment did I mentioned the fact that I was pregnant, and due to go into labor halfway through the term. I assured the hiring personnel it wouldn't be an issue, and promised that I'd be back online within three days of giving birth. But no, the director of the school described the fact that I was pregnant as a "concern," and said my returning within three days wouldn't be soon enough for their demanding student body. She closed the email by suggesting I teach for them at another time.

Maybe this employer was right, and the weeks just before and after the birth of a child weren't an ideal time for me to be teaching. But, like 59% of Americans who live paycheck to paycheck, so long as my family needs to eat, I need to work. 

Such is my plight as a freelance writer and writing instructor, one of a growing number of people participating in the "gig economy." This is the term used to describe workers such as myself, self employed and hired on demand for single projects or assignments.

The good and bad about the gig economy

For anyone — but for pregnant people and working mothers, in particular — there are obvious advantages to this approach to earning money: Theoretically, I have the freedom and flexibility to take projects that interest me, and work when I want. I can refuse work, and take off hours, days, or even weeks at will. 

But in reality, working in the gig economy often means insecurity and financial risks. As a gig worker, what one earns is proportionate to how hard they work. Sometimes, no matter how hard I hustle, I find myself between jobs. And a lot of my labor — including the hard work of finding work — goes unpaid. 

Above all, working in the gig economy means I'm afforded few to none of the rights and protections offered traditional workers, including those rights outlined in the PDA, which only protect "employees," not "independent contractors" (aka gig workers like me).

Sure, state by state, you may find additional protections. For example, in New York City, where I live, it's against the law to fire or refuse to hire or promote employees because they are pregnant, and employers are required to provide reasonable accommodations.  But a law's existence doesn't necessarily mean enforcement. A report by the National Women's Law Center and A Better Balance, for example, found over 40% of low-wage workers who are pregnant report that their employers don't permit them to decide when to take their breaks; three-quarters of these workers aren't able to choose start and quit times; and roughly half report having very little or no control over the scheduling of hours.

What's more, according to the law, there's an expectation that employers initiate and engage in a "cooperative dialogue" with pregnant employees, so that pregnant employee's needs are met. Pregnant or not, one of the biggest challenges of gig employment is developing relationships and managing multiple employers. The year prior to my becoming pregnant, I had over a hundred different bosses sign my checks. Each of these employers worked differently but I'd describe few, if any, as "cooperative." 

After nearly a decade of freelancing, I know how it works: I either make their lives easier by giving them what they want when they want it, or next time, they hire someone else. 

Pregnancy discrimination remains a top complaint

Gillian Thomas, senior staff attorney at the ACLU's Women's Rights Project, describes pregnancy discrimination as "distressingly common," and says it remains the ACLU hotline's top complaint. Speaking to NPR's marketplace, Thomas said they range from blatant examples to more subtle forms of discrimination, including "sex stereotyping" that happens when someone announces a pregnancy. "Suddenly you're not sent on that big business trip that you were going to be on, because your employer thinks oh, you'd rather be here at home; you'd rather be resting; it's not safe for you to travel." 

In some circumstances, she says, employers mean well, "but they take it upon themselves to decide what is healthy for a woman and her pregnancy." This, says Thomas, has a major impact on women's careers. 

We don't necessarily have evidence of the challenges, but trust me when we say we feel them. With more workers moving towards nontraditional forms of employment, I fear it will only get worse. The fact that women are still the primary caregivers— for children, aging parents and ailing relatives — is a reason we drop out of workforce. Taking time off to give birth and raise infants results in gaps in our employment, and is another reason why women make less money than men. I love my work, and am relatively successful at it. But pregnancy — and, later, motherhood — has taken a toll. 

In the end, I advocated for myself and managed to hold onto that teaching gig. Still, the victory felt bittersweet when I found myself checking in on the class three hours into labor, and leading online discussions and responding to students' emails from the maternity ward. 

• There are currently 18 major candidates vying for the Democratic presidential nomination — and they all come from markedly different financial backgrounds. 
• The net worth of 2020 candidates ranges from Mayor Pete Buttigieg, whose net worth was estimated at around $100,000, to Rep. John Delaney who was estimated to be worth $232 million in 2015, and billionaire financier Tom Steyer.
• Here's everything we know about the net worth and personal finances of every 2020 Democratic presidential candidate.
• Visit Busines Insider's homepage for more stories.

There are currently 18 candidates vying for the Democratic presidential nomination — and they all come from markedly different financial backgrounds.

Mayor Pete Buttigieg, who is estimated to be worth about $100,000, gave up a comfortable consulting job for a life in public service. He and his husband have been also been open about being among the ranks of millennials still paying off student loan debt. 

Other contenders, like billionaire Democratic activist Tom Steyer and former Rep. John Delaney are extraordinarily wealthy from success in the private sector. And most other candidates fall somewhere in between. 

Read more: Bernie Sanders has made more than $1.75 million from book royalties since 2016 — here's what we know about his wealth and assets

The Democratic candidates who have recently run for federal office or served in Congress or another federal government position have filed personal financial disclosure forms listing their assets and liabilities.

But because members are only required to report those figures in wide ranges, we don't know the exact net worth of most of the candidates.

And for others who haven't recently filed any formal financial disclosures or released tax returns, we only have limited information about their salaries and assets.

Here's everything we know about the net worth and personal finances of every 2020 Democratic presidential candidate, thanks to data collected by Forbes, the Center for Public Integrity and the Center for Responsive Politics.

SEE ALSO: The Obamas are worth 30 times more than when they entered the White House in 2008 — here's how they spend their millions

SEE ALSO: How to calculate your net worth so you can track your financial progress

South Bend Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg left a comfortable job at McKinsey & Company to serve in the US Naval Reserves. He now earns an annual salary of $104,000, and has an estimated net worth of $100,000, according to Forbes.

Sources: Indy Star, Center for Public Integrity, Forbes

Read more about Pete Buttigieg's campaign

In 2015, the Center for Responsive Politics estimated that Rep. Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii had a net worth of $208,504. More recently, Forbes has placed her net worth at $500,000.

Sources: Center for Responsive Politics, Forbes

Read more about Tulsi Gabbard's campaign.

Ohio Rep. Tim Ryan's latest personal finance disclosures, filed in 2017, report assets between $85,000 and $276,000 and liabilities between $215,000 and $500,000. Forbes has placed his net worth at $500,000.

Sources: Center for Public Integrity, Forbes

Read more about Tim Ryan's campaign.

According to former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julián Castro's January 2017 financial disclosures, he and his family have between $138,000 and $470,000 in assets. Forbes places his net worth at $700,000.

Sources: Center for Public Integrity, Forbes

Read more about Julian Castro's campaign.

Andrew Yang's 2016 tax returns showed he earned an annual salary of $285,000 as CEO of Venture for America. Forbes estimates he's worth about $1 million.

Sources: Center for Public Integrity, Forbes

Read more about Andrew Yang's campaign.

When spiritual guru, self-help author, and Oprah Winfrey pal Marianne Williamson first ran for Congress in 2014, her personal disclosure revealed assets worth $957,000 to $4.5 million. Now, Forbes places her net worth at about $1.5 million.

Sources: Center for Public Integrity,Forbes

Read more about Marianne Williamson's campaign.

Sen. Cory Booker's most recent financial disclosures place his net worth between $600,000 and $1.3 million. Forbes estimates that between the value of his house and investments, he's worth about $1.5 million.

Sources: OpenSecrets, Forbes

Read more about Cory Booker's campaign.

According to tax returns released in 2016, Gov. Steve Bullock and his wife earned $1.6 million between 2005 and 2014. Forbes estimates he's worth about $1.5 million.

Sources: Great Falls Tribune, Forbes

Read more about Steve Bullock's campaign.

Sen. Amy Klobuchar's 2018 financial disclosures place her net worth somewhere between $836,000 and $1.9 million.

Source: Center for Public Integrity 

Read more about Amy Klobuchar's campaign.

Sen. Bernie Sanders earned more than $2 million from book sales in 2016 and 2017 alone and reported a little over $560,000 in income in 2018. Forbes places his and his wife Jane Sanders' net worth at $2.5 million.

Sources: Business Insider, New York Times, Forbes

Read more about Bernie Sanders' campaign.

Former Texas Rep. Beto O'Rourke — whose mother ran a successful business for decades — and his wife Amy, heiress to a real estate fortune, are estimated to be worth at least $4 million, according to Forbes.

Sources: Newsweek, Center for Public Integrity, Forbes

Read more about Beto O'Rourke's campaign.

Sen. Kamala Harris of California and her husband Doug Emhoff — a high-powered entertainment lawyer — are estimated to be worth $6 million by Forbes.

Sources: Los Angeles Times, Forbes

Read more about Kamala Harris' campaign.

Former Congressman Joe Sestak of Pennsylvannia, who spent 31 years serving in the Navy and one term in the House, is worth $6 million, according to Forbes.

Sources: OpenSecrets, Forbes

Read more about Joe Sestak's campaign.

Former Vice President Joe Biden and his wife Jill Biden earned $15.6 million in income between 2017 and 2018 from book royalties and paid speaking engagements, according to financial disclosures. Forbes estimates their net worth at $9 million.

Sources: OpenSecrets, Bloomberg, Forbes

Read more about Joe Biden's campaign.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren's 2017 financial disclosures placed her net worth between $4.6 and $10.6 million. Now, Forbes places her and her husband Bruce Mann's combined net worth from the value of their properties and retirement accounts at $12 million.

Sources:Center for Public Integrity, Forbes

Read more about Elizabeth Warren's campaign.

Sen. Michael Bennet made himself a fortune working as a top executive at the Anschutz Company before going into public service, and is estimated to be worth $15 million.

Sources: OpenSecrets, Forbes

Read more about Michael Bennet's campaign.

Rep. John Delaney was ranked the 3rd wealthiest member of the House of Representatives in 2015, with an estimated net worth of over $232 million.

Sources: Center for Public Integrity, OpenSecrets

Read more about John Delaney's campaign .

Democratic activist Tom Steyer made a fortune managing a hedge fund, Farallon Capital, for over two decades. As of 2019, Forbes estimates his net worth at $1.6 billion.

Source: Forbes

Read more about Tom Steyer's campaign.

Read more: 

A flight attendant saved 25 times her cost of living and plans to retire at 44. Here's how she did it.

The top 20 millionaire-producing US colleges where most of the ultra-wealthy alumni are self-made

Mark Cuban just revealed he has nearly $1 billion in Amazon stock. Here are all the ways the 'Shark Tank' investor made and spends his $4.1 billion fortune.