Recent data showed Americans spend an average of 13 hours disputing a purchase or resolving a problem with customer service. Some of the companies with the most-hated customer service are also the most profitable.

Design thinking is embraced by leaders as a way to deal with the complex and competitive 21st-century workplace. But there are critics who say the process can be misunderstood or misused by those who don’t complete the required deep dives to arrive at new and profound solutions.

Investors — aside from having a propensity for ostentatious cars — can play a key role in a startup’s success. Beyond a financial contribution, they can have an affect on other facets of the business too.

Giving days are catching on throughout social media, and many communities and specific causes, have created their own smaller-scale giving days to raise much-needed money.

The idea of open-space offices has been with us since the start of the tech revolution. It seems we are under the mistaken belief that the early technology companies — such as Google, Wikipedia, eBay — were onto something when they tore down office walls, removed cubicles and allowed workers to float in a sea of open access. Teamwork became the goal.

For advertising to be effective and resonate with its intended audience, it must strike an emotional chord. Activations take this one step further by immersing the consumer in an experience that’s often sensorial or physical.

Amid the clatter of machinery and the beeping of forklifts, workers wearing white hair nets tend their stations around the assembly line in the warehouse-like production kitchen of Mad Will’s Food Company on the outskirts of Auburn.

Operated by two brothers and their father, Franklin Pictures is one of the premiere video production companies in the region. The company pays such attention to detail that its promotional videos not only capture an image, but tell a story and evoke an emotion.

A group of public and private sector leaders in Sacramento are working to craft a protocol for self-driving vehicles that could be replicated in other municipalities across the country.

Art is often dismissed as “nice to have,” a tougher pill to swallow than funding public safety agencies. But culture has been shown to make a city more desirable — and that can have a booming effect on a local economy.