Momentum is shifting in the Capital Region, and young professionals are leading the charge. General skepticism is being replaced with emerging optimism and a renewed energy that’s providing the catalyst for growth and innovation across our cities.  Here are the top ten young leaders we think you should be watching. They are driving the Capital Region’s evolution, and we anticipate you’ll see them at the forefront in 2015 and decades to come.

How effective are technological tools at changing the behaviors and quality of life of the people who use them? I know a lot of people who bought FitBits in the past two years and zero people who still use one. Meanwhile, our editorial team can’t even figure out how to benefit from a sleep app. 

California has long been known as the land of opportunity, but for too many residents, opportunity is receding. Inequality continues to rise even though California has one of the most progressive tax structures in the nation. Something more is needed.

Senate Bill 8 — the Upward Mobility Act — is one piece of legislation that has reared its ugly head and poses a real threat to small-business owners in California.

In the past year, Rapid Ramen has expanded into Target, Menard’s, Bed Bath & Beyond and Family Dollar — just to name a few. The little cooker has gone international, too, including distribution in Australia, India and Canada. But that’s not all…

Last year, I paid someone to relocate for a position with our company. I had the person sign a contract requiring repayment if she left before one year. At one year and two weeks, she quit. Now it’s looking like I need to recruit from out of the area again. Are there any tips you can give me for making sure that the person doesn’t run out the door? 

Investing in your community is about more than just doing what’s right; it’s smart for your business’s future — and its bottom line.

Sebastian Bariani is in heaven, standing in his family’s olive grove in the Dunnigan Hills. The winter day is mild, a blue sky caps the rolling green terrain. He reaches down and gently bends the branch of a Manzanillo olive tree to demonstrate how the trees will soon be pruned, explaining that the blossoms for the next crop can come only from new growth.

After a decade at the helm of Sacramento State’s College of Business Administration, Sanjay Varshney in late August accepted a position as a vice president and wealth advisor at Wells Fargo Bank—Wealth Management  Group. Varshney is a professor of finance at Sac State. He is also the  chief economist for the Sacramento Business Review, making him one of the region’s preeminent voices on economics, business and higher education.

Newly minted Assembly Minority Leader Kristin Olsen has developed a well-earned reputation around the Capitol as a woman on the move.

On a warm August afternoon, a small fleet of tractors are busy in what seems to be an effort to smother the American River with rubble. But what appears to be the beginning of a new development project is nothing of the sort. Rather, these machines are trying to save fish.

Carrie Clark, a former teacher, says bullies aren’t confined to playgrounds. Sometimes, they run the whole school. And they do more than demand that work get done. They threaten, humiliate or intimidate for reasons unrelated to job performance.

The Society for Human Resource Management has developed a model procedure for handling bullying complaints. Key language includes:

The invasion has begun. Don’t look surprised. This moment has been a long-time coming, with research groups prophesying 2015 as the launching point of the wearable technology takeover. 

The best wearable technology seamlessly combines fashion and electronics in a way that reflects consumer preferences. Helen Koo, assistant professor in the department of design at UC Davis, outlines six key areas that make for well-rounded wearable technology products.

There’s an old joke from the TV series “Friends”: Ross complains about how he’s torn between two women, so Chandler replies, “This must be so hard. Oh no, two women love me. They’re both gorgeous and sexy. My wallet’s too small for my fifties and my diamond shoes are too tight!” That’s the typical reaction when people hear about wealth psychology…

Stephen Lyman, owner of Fence World, has been in the family fencing business since he was a boy (on payroll since the age of 10, he says). “This is one of the decorative arts that is just limitless — the things you can’t do in wood, you can do in iron,” Lyman says with pride. “You can’t build a bridge like the Golden Gate out of wood. It has to be steel.”

Fun facts about where your money, and everyone else’s, is going.