Many employers agree. One in six hiring managers hesitate to bring on recent grads due to a lack of workplace skills like teamwork and communication. Yet nine in ten educators say their grads are ready to enter the workforce.

Employers can’t afford to wait for this gap to close on its own. As retirements accelerate and artificial intelligence automates some entry-level work, they’ll have to take the lead — by partnering directly with colleges and universities to give students real-world experience before they graduate.

The pandemic widened the disconnect between employers and young workers. Years of remote learning deprived students of formative experiences like lab work and campus leadership. Many graduates now have strong academic foundations but less practice navigating unspoken professional norms. 

On top of that, many entry-level roles that once taught young professionals the basics — data analysis, coding, and report-writing among them — are disappearing as companies turn to AI. That may boost productivity today. But it prevents firms from developing the next generation of talent to lead them in the future. 

Universities and employers have grown apart, too. Curricula struggle to keep pace with rapidly evolving fields like AI or cybersecurity. Many faculty still measure preparedness for the workforce by mastery of course material. Employers, by contrast, may prize the ability to work as part of a team and to solve problems under pressure over the ability to recall facts quickly — especially given the rise of AI.

Meanwhile, with hybrid work the norm at many firms, new hires may have fewer opportunities for the informal learning and mentorship that can accelerate their competence and professional growth.

The result? Graduates entering an economy that prizes skills they haven’t had a chance to practice — and employers facing talent shortages they can’t fill. 

One of the most effective ways to close that gap is through closer collaboration between universities and industry. 

When students work directly with industry mentors — in a lab, on a factory floor, or in a startup — they learn the teamwork and communication skills that few professors can teach, no matter how collaborative or group-oriented the class. An engineer troubleshooting a real production issue can learn more about working in the “real world” in a week than in a semester of lectures.

For their part, employers get to identify and invest in talent early, developing pipelines for graduates who already understand workplace expectations. These partnerships ensure a steady flow of job-ready professionals in high-demand fields like engineering and healthcare technology, where demand for talent far outpaces supply.

Universities and employers are demonstrating how effective this model can be. 

Purdue and Eli Lilly are training biomanufacturing talent through a $250 million partnership in AI and robotics. Google’s AI lab at Carnegie Mellon gives students real-world experience before they graduate. Siemens’ new Center of Excellence at Georgia Tech immerses engineering students in digital twin and simulation projects. 

At Abbott, we’re investing in similar partnerships — linking classrooms to cutting-edge healthcare technology and helping launch careers in science and engineering. Through the HBCU Cybersecurity Industry Collaboration Initiative, we’ve joined with Microsoft and [hotlink]Raytheon Technologies[/hotlink] to strengthen cybersecurity curricula at engineering schools at Historically Black Colleges and Universities.

Initiatives like these can restore what technology has eroded. By building bridges between classrooms and workplaces, they offer students the chance to build hard and soft skills. An engineering student designing a prototype for a company gains not only technical fluency, but also the kinds of judgment and teamwork skills that textbooks can’t teach. At the same time, companies can observe how students solve problems and collaborate — insights that inform hiring and training. 

Technology is reshaping every industry. But no algorithm can substitute for sound judgment, teamwork, or the ability to communicate clearly. Those skills are the sole product of human experience. If companies want ready talent tomorrow, they need to help build it today.

The opinions expressed in Fortune.com commentary pieces are solely the views of their authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions and beliefs of Fortune.

Stablecoins, which are backed by reserves designed to peg their value to a fiat currency like the dollar, were long used by experienced crypto traders. Today, millions of ordinary people are using them too via digital wallets. All of this raises an intriguing business question: What companies are best poised to capitalize on the new stablecoin trend?

Will it be a legacy remittance player, like a Western Union or MoneyGram? Or will it be a crypto-native company, like a Kraken or Coinbase, or instead PayPal or one of the growing number of fintechs entering the stablecoin space?

While the emerging stablecoin industry is there for the taking, experts say that both legacy remittance players and newer entrants each possess their own set of advantages and challenges. 

A broken remittances system 

When people send money across borders, fees are steep. The World Bank found in a report earlier this year that the average fee for sending remittances was more than 6%. That cost can be grating over time, especially for low-income immigrants sending money back to developing countries. 

“People are spending extraordinary sums to send money abroad,” said Yesha Yadav, a law professor at Vanderbilt University who specializes in financial regulation. “This impacts how much the most cash-strapped and vulnerable people have in their pocket because some middle person is taking money for no good reason.”

This is where stablecoins could step in. Thanks to blockchain technology, these digital tokens can make international payments faster and at lower costs. The International Monetary Fund recently published an article about how this digital currency could improve payments and global finance. 

Stablecoins have also become a priority in the financial world since President Donald Trump signed the Genius Act in July. The legislation established a regulatory framework for the digital currency. Since then, major remittance players, like Western Union and PayPal, have developed their stablecoin offerings. 

The case for and against incumbents

When it comes to widespread adoption of stablecoins for remittances, traditional players, like Western Union, have the advantage of an existing customer base around the world. This type of company already has established regulation in different countries. That’s according to Nate Svensson, a senior equity research analyst at Deutsche Bank, who says that a company like Western Union has developed compliance internationally for decades, if not centuries. 

“I think [Western Union] has a lot of built in advantages relative to these nascent crypto players,” he said. 

Another analyst, Brett Horn from Morningstar, likewise suggested traditional remittance brands may hold the advantage in the race, citing their long history with clients. When asked about crypto startups who solely focus on remittances using stablecoins, he said, “A lot of times it sounds really good, but I think, frankly, [these startups] are waving away some real difficulties that they might have.”

On the other hand, crypto-native companies have an advantage in their familiarity with the technology and their ability to be nimble. The likes of Western Union, in contrast, may find it hard to move away from long-standing business practices that both the company and their customers know well. When it incorporates stablecoin transfers for remittances alongside its existing fiat transfer system, it essentially has two arms of its business competing with one another. 

“They’re competing with themselves, and that’s just a natural disincentive for things to change,” said Jessica Wachter, a professor of finance at The Wharton School, about legacy remittance players. “A startup would be basically all in on [stablecoins], whereas I’m not sure a [Western Union] would be all in on it.”

Besides legacy financial institutions and crypto startups, another kind of company is vying to win this fight—the bigger crypto companies. Kraken, for example, has an app where users can send and receive funds across more than a hundred countries. 

Regulation for this digital currency is still relatively new, as the Genius Act was only signed into law in July, and the development of the technology is still in its early stages. Yesha Yadav, the law professor at Vanderbilt University, thinks that stablecoins will become even more popular this year, as their consumer protection rules get firmed up.

“I think stablecoins have an enormous runway to expand their footprint,” she said.  

Self-made millionaire and social media star Logan Paul has little sympathy for those who don’t help themselves.

“We’re in an interesting time where everyone wants to critique, but no one wants to build,” Paul told Fortune in an interview. “They all are just armchair quarterbacks yelling from the sidelines while there are doers out there who are creating, making, building, establishing, and I am that person.”

First rising to fame as a teenager on now-defunct video app Vine, Paul has parlayed internet fame into a sprawling business empire—in part by relentlessly turning personal interests into commercial ventures. 

He built his early audience alongside his brother, Jake, then expanded beyond content creation through partnerships with fellow creators like KSI and MrBeast. He eventually used his following to launch consumer brands like Prime and Lunchly. Most recently, Paul has pushed further into the mainstream, signing on as a full-time WWE star. His YouTube subscribers now exceed 23 million, in addition to nearly 27 million Instagram followers.

But Paul insists his success has had less to do with algorithms or viral luck—and more to do with his strategic team-building over the years.

“The people that you’re putting your trust into to help build with you is probably the most important decision that you’re going to make,” he said. “Both my successes and failures have come as a result of that.”

Paul hopes to profit millions from his rare Pokémon card—an asset class that’s soaring among young investors

Pokémon has captivated fans for nearly three decades. But in recent years, the franchise’s trading cards have evolved from childhood collectibles into serious financial assets. 

Over the past two decades, Pokémon cards have posted the largest long-term increase of any major trading card category—rising 3,261%—according to data provided last year to Fortune by Card Ladder. That performance outpaces even many of the market’s hottest stocks. 

Paul has watched that shift up close. An avid collector of Pokémon cards, he turned his early childhood passion into a high-profile investment in 2022, when he purchased a rare Pikachu Illustrator card for $5.3 million—often wearing it as a necklace, both as a flex and a brand statement.

Now, alongside auctioneer Ken Goldin, Paul has put the card up for auction, betting that nostalgia, fandom, and smart dealmaking can drive outsized returns. As of publication, bidding had already topped $6.3 million—the highest price ever reached for a card at auction. Paul hopes it ultimately sells for between $7 million and $12 million.

Paul encouraged young people to consider looking more at “fun” nontraditional asset classes like art, trading cards, and even fossils over traditional stocks to combine passion with income.

“With anything you invest in, there’s always a level of risk, but young people have a significant amount of both energy and time to be able to calculate risk and then mitigate that risk,” Paul said.

Even if his card falls short of his desired range, Paul said the outcome still proves his larger point: opportunity is everywhere, if you’re willing to give it a try.

“If you’re into something and you’re passionate about it, there’s a market for it,” Paul said. “And you can build around it as long as you lean into it.”

That philosophy, he argued, is especially relevant for Gen Z navigating a rapidly changing economy.

“If you don’t adapt, you die,” he said. “You’ve got to be able to change with the times and use the technology at your fingertips. And there’s plenty nowadays to accomplish the things that you want.”

Goldin echoed that sentiment, saying career success is less about financial upside than about personal engagement.

“It’s not about how much money you’re going to make in the career,” Goldin told Fortune. “It’s about, am I going to enjoy it? Am I challenged? Am I looking forward to it?”

Business leaders like Warren Buffett have long echoed Paul’s advice: who you work with matters

From auctioning with Goldin to building brands alongside MrBeast—and collaborating repeatedly with his brother Jake—Paul’s career reflects the belief that durable businesses are built sustainably with the right people in the room.

That idea is one many business leaders have championed. Microsoft cofounder Bill Gates, for example, has offered similar advice to young professionals.

“Surround yourself with people who challenge you, teach you, and push you to be your best self,” he wrote on X.

Berkshire Hathaway founder Warren Buffett has echoed this sentiment throughout his career.

“Don’t worry too much about starting salaries and be very careful who you work for because you will take on the habits of the people around you,” Buffett said at his final Berkshire Hathaway annual shareholder meeting last year. “There are certain jobs you shouldn’t take.”

For Buffett, the importance of having the right partnerships was embodied with Charlie Munger—who served as vice chairman of Berkshire Hathaway from 1978 until he died in 2023. Buffett often described Munger as a “part older brother, part loving father,” crediting him with sharpening his thinking and challenging his assumptions. 

“Every time I’m with Charlie, I’ve got at least some new slant on an idea that causes me to rethink certain things,” Buffett said to CNBC.