The transition from a purely technical expert or individual contributor position to a broader leadership role is one of the most challenging phases in a STEM career. It requires moving away from relying solely on technical excellence toward mastering systems thinking, adaptive leadership, and team alignment.

To help mid-career professionals navigate the shift, the inaugural IEEE International Leadership Conference is designed to provide attendees with practical tools to step into broader responsibility and champion an entrepreneurial mindset.

The ILC event is scheduled for 3 and 4 October in Budapest. Registration is open.

Thinking beyond technical contributions

To successfully step into a leadership role, technical professionals need to look beyond their individual output and focus on “understanding the larger system, and championing innovation by building trust and aligning new ideas with organizational goals,” says IEEE Life Senior Member Daniel Sniezek, cochair of the ILC program committee.

Because engineering decisions don’t exist in a vacuum, navigating the larger system requires recognizing how technical choices intersect with the organization’s broader business, operational, and ethical realities, Sniezek says.

By letting go of the need to be the sole technical expert and focusing instead on collaborative empowerment, he says, engineers can pivot into transformational leaders who align new initiatives with the organization’s strategic vision.

Ultimately, over the span of a career, an individual’s leadership journey evolves far beyond personal advancement to “creating a lasting legacy through the people you develop, the knowledge you share, and the innovations you inspire,” he says.

Solving the intrapreneur’s dilemma

Championing disruptive ideas within established corporate structures—sometimes called the intrapreneur’s dilemma—does not mean working against the organization. Rather, it requires emerging leaders to act like business owners instead of passive task-takers.

To begin thinking like an entrepreneur from within, professionals should shift their focus from merely executing assigned work to proactively identifying hidden areas that would create value for the company, building trust with colleagues, and presenting bold innovations as solutions to the organization’s long-term strategic goals.

That kind of self-starting entrepreneurial mindset is how leaders create opportunities out of institutional constraints.

IEEE Senior Member Deyasini Majumdar, cochair of the ILC program committee, advises professionals to exercise leadership and strategic thinking skills without being asked.

“Within the constraints of established organizational structures you can unearth a treasure trove of opportunities to innovate,” Majumdar says. “Remember: A key trait of an effective leader is to engineer solutions and lead, even in the face of difficulties.”

A multidirectional exchange

Leadership is a multidirectional exchange of ideas across generations—which is one focus of the ILC.

Although emerging leaders can gain invaluable strategic guidance from seasoned executives, the relationship is a dynamic, two-way street.

Modern leadership requires established executives to remain active learners. Addressing what senior leaders can glean from their mid-career counterparts, Majumdar emphasizes, the leaders must maintain “the openness to seek opportunities, to quickly adapt, and to learn and grow with everyone around them.”

A continuous-learning mindset is what keeps leaders agile and effective in a rapidly changing technological landscape, he says.

The mutual openness can serve as a bridge between generations.

Whether an emerging professional is making a mid-career pivot from technical expert to manager, or a senior executive is transitioning into a mentoring and advisory role, the fundamental rule of transformational leadership is similar. Success means shifting your focus from individual achievement to enabling the capability, growth, and legacy of others.

Building influence and impact

To help with the shift toward transformational leadership, the ILC is featuring sessions focused on questions professionals must ask at key career inflection points.

Rather than a single workshop, the distributed sessions aim to address diverse professional transitions, such as evaluating promotions, learning how to influence laterally, pitching innovative projects, and sustaining leadership energy.

Inflection points include evaluating new internal roles; building lateral or upward trust; pitching an idea about a disruptive project; and facing rapidly expanding responsibilities.

The questions include:

• How do I evaluate career transitions without discarding hard-won experience?
• How can I exercise leadership through credibility and collaboration, regardless of formal authority?
• How do I use an entrepreneurial mindset to create value and gain sponsorship for new ideas?
• How can I avoid the early warning signs of burnout while taking on more responsibility?

The conference is designed to equip attendees with systems thinking and communication mastery needed to cultivate influence.

Leadership is not just about reaching the top; it is also about engaging in a collaborative effort to multiply your impact across the ecosystem.

WiiM has spent the past few years making some much larger audio companies uncomfortable by offering an absurd amount of streaming functionality, connectivity, room correction, and amplification for considerably less money.

Now the company gets to make that argument inside Best Buy.

WiiM has announced its first nationwide brick and mortar retail partnership in the U.S., giving its streamers, amplifiers, wireless speakers, and expanding home theater ecosystem a much larger physical presence. Products are already appearing on BestBuy.com, while WiiM has indicated that additional inventory will begin reaching physical stores as the rollout expands.

For a company that initially became an enthusiast favorite with inexpensive little streaming boxes, this represents a significant change. WiiM now sells the Ultra network player, Amp and Amp Ultra streaming amplifiers, Sound wireless speakers, Sub Pro, and the new Dolby Atmos capable WiiM Bar.

That is not a collection of unrelated products anymore. It is an ecosystem, and Best Buy gives WiiM access to mainstream shoppers who may have never read an audio forum, watched a YouTube review, or even heard the name before walking into the store.

The opportunity is obvious. How Best Buy demonstrates all of this is considerably less obvious.

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Putting WiiM on a Shelf Is the Easy Part

The WiiM Pro Plus barely needs an explanation. Connect it to an existing audio system, open the app, select a streaming service, and you are largely off to the races.

The WiiM Amp and Amp Ultra require a better conversation.

A shopper needs to understand that these are not merely small integrated amplifiers with streaming tossed into the chassis. The real appeal is how WiiM combines amplification, HDMI connectivity, subwoofer integration, extensive EQ, multiroom playback, streaming services, and RoomFit room correction inside one platform.

That raises some rather obvious questions about the Best Buy experience.

Who is going to show customers how the WiiM Home app works? Who explains how easily Spotify, TIDAL, Qobuz, Amazon Music, or another supported service can be integrated? Who demonstrates RoomFit, shows customers where to adjust the subwoofer crossover, or explains why somebody might use TIDAL Connect instead of initiating playback inside the WiiM app?

The Amp Ultra at least gives Best Buy something visually interesting to work with. Its 3.5-inch touchscreen can display album art, playback information, and VU meters, helping it stand out from the usual collection of anonymous black boxes. But getting someone to stop and look is only half the battle. The real test will be whether the in-store demonstration shows shoppers what the Amp Ultra can actually do once it is connected to a capable pair of loudspeakers.

If the sales demonstration consists of pointing at a product card and saying, “It streams music too,” somebody has rather spectacularly missed the point.

And What Speakers Will They Use?

There is another part of the equation that matters even more.

What exactly will Best Buy connect the WiiM Amp and Amp Ultra to?

Best Buy already sells WiiM Amp packages with MartinLogan Motion Foundation B1 loudspeakers, which suggests at least one sensible direction. A proper demonstration with a capable pair of bookshelf or floorstanding loudspeakers would allow shoppers to hear that a compact streaming amplifier can anchor a genuinely good two channel system without requiring a rack full of electronics.

That matters because WiiM’s potential audience inside Best Buy is much broader than somebody already searching specifically for a network streamer.

Imagine somebody shopping for a Sonos system, soundbar, AV receiver, or pair of passive loudspeakers who suddenly discovers that one small WiiM amplifier can handle music streaming, television audio over HDMI, room correction, a powered subwoofer, and a pair of speakers.

That is the sale.

But only if somebody demonstrates it.

Connecting a WiiM Amp Ultra to mediocre loudspeakers in the middle of a noisy sales floor and letting it play Spotify for thirty seconds is not going to explain why enthusiasts have been making such a fuss about these products.

The Software Is Where WiiM Earned Its Reputation

WiiM has built its reputation partly because the company keeps improving products consumers already own rather than treating software as something finished on launch day.

The WiiM Home app has evolved considerably, adding deeper EQ controls, room correction, improved bass management, and broader system integration. RoomFit is particularly important because it gives consumers a tool that was historically uncommon on inexpensive two channel amplifiers.

We have used it extensively during our reviews of WiiM products, and it can make a meaningful difference when properly configured.

That creates both an opportunity and a challenge for Best Buy.

A customer can purchase a WiiM Amp Ultra, connect speakers and a television, add a subwoofer, run RoomFit, log into their preferred streaming services, and have a rather sophisticated audio system running without spending the afternoon studying the back of an AV receiver with a flashlight.

That simplicity is precisely what Best Buy needs to demonstrate.

Because there is a big difference between simple to use and self explanatory from across the aisle.

Best Buy Changes Who WiiM Is Competing Against

The other reason this deal matters is that WiiM is no longer competing only with Bluesound, Cambridge Audio, Eversolo, and traditional network audio products.

The WiiM Bar, Sound speakers, and Sub Pro move the company directly toward Sonos territory, while the Amp and Amp Ultra increasingly offer an alternative to conventional integrated amplifiers and receivers for consumers building compact music and television systems.

Best Buy is where all of those categories collide.

Someone buying a television might start by looking at a soundbar and end up considering a WiiM Amp with a pair of passive speakers. Another shopper considering Sonos could discover that WiiM offers a different route toward whole home audio with considerably more flexibility for traditional loudspeakers.

That type of discovery rarely happens when the products exist primarily online.

It can happen at Best Buy.

The Bottom Line

WiiM getting nationwide exposure through Best Buy is a much bigger deal than another distribution announcement. The company has grown from selling inexpensive streaming adapters into offering amplifiers, speakers, subwoofers, and home theater products that increasingly operate as one ecosystem.

But Best Buy and WiiM need to demonstrate what makes that ecosystem compelling.

Show customers the app. Run RoomFit. Connect an Amp Ultra to loudspeakers worthy of it. Demonstrate television audio over HDMI. Add a subwoofer. Let somebody connect their preferred streaming service and discover that the entire process does not require an engineering degree or three calls to customer support.

Do that properly and WiiM suddenly becomes accessible to millions of consumers who previously had no idea the brand existed.

Put the products on a shelf beside another dozen anonymous black boxes and hope somebody understands what all those logos mean?

Best Buy already has plenty of shelves that can do that without assistance.

For more information, view WiiM’s product line-up at Best Buy.

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If you spend more time on Hulu scrolling through rows of titles than actually watching anything, you are not alone. To save you from decision paralysis, I’ve put together a lineup of three underrated rom-com movies that range from a breezy London romance to a quiet drama about connection and vulnerability. Whether you are in the mood for something playful or something more reflective, there is a pick here for you. Given below are three Hulu titles worth adding to your watchlist this weekend.

We also have guides to the best new movies to stream, the best movies on Netflix, the best movies on Hulu, the best free movies, and the best movies on Amazon Prime Video.

Rye Lane (2023)

• Genre: Romance, comedy
• IMDb: 7.2/10
• Rotten Tomatoes: 98%

Yas and Dom meet in a restroom of an art gallery while recovering from brutal breakups. They end up spending an entire day wandering South London together. I know the premise sounds familiar. It has the classic walk-and-talk formula, but the specific detours these two take, including an awkward run-in with an ex, keep it feeling fresh.

I recommend this movie for its visual style. Director Raine Allen-Miller shoots the city in warm, saturated colors that make even a restroom meet-cute look vibrant. David Jonsson and Vivian Oparah share an effortless chemistry that comes through in their rapid-fire dialogue, which never feels scripted. By the end, you will want to book a flight to London just to walk their route.

You can watch Rye Lane on Hulu.

Good Luck to You, Leo Grande (2022)

Genre: Comedy, drama
IMDb: 7.2/10
Rotten Tomatoes: 94%

Nancy Stokes is a retired schoolteacher looking for the intimacy she missed during her uninspiring marriage. She books a hotel room to meet a sex worker named Leo Grande. Their scheduled hookup quickly evolves into a series of deep, witty conversations about body image and vulnerability.

I liked how this Hulu movie skillfully turns what could be an awkward premise into a gentle, funny reflection on self-acceptance. The scenes remain mostly confined to a single hotel room, yet the conversation between the two carries the entire film without feeling stagnant. Lead actors Emma Thompson and Daryl McCormack share a tender dynamic that ends up saying more about self-acceptance than most bigger movies manage.

You can watch Good Luck to You, Leo Grande on Hulu.

Palm Springs (2020)

Genre: Comedy, romance
IMDb: 7.4/10
Rotten Tomatoes: 94%

Nyles wakes up at a wedding, stuck reliving the same day over and over, and he has fully given up trying to escape it. Everything changes when Sarah, the bride’s sister & maid of honor, accidentally ends up getting stuck in the loop. Together, they bounce between chaotic antics, nihilistic freedom, and existential dread.

Even though the premise leans on a sci-fi plot, the movie focuses mostly on emotional isolation, burnout, and what two people do when consequences stop existing. I liked the chemistry and playful banter between Andy Samberg and Cristin Milioti and how funny, strange, and surprisingly tender it gets by the end.

You can watch Palm Springs on Hulu.

Bryan Kim submitted formation documents for his new venture Mido last month, according to a regulatory filing.

As first reported by the Wall Street Journal (WSJ), former partner at Andreessen Horowitz (A16z) Bryan Kim plans to raise roughly $100m for the debut fund of his new venture, Mido Capital. 

Kim submitted documentation for Mido in Delaware during July, the WSJ reported, citing a regulatory filing, and the first fund is earmarked for investment in early-stage consumer AI and other companies, according to individuals familiar with the details who spoke to the publication.  

In a post on LinkedIn three months ago, Kim announced that after five years he would be leaving A16z to start his own fund, and that it was the toughest career-based decision he had made to date. 

“I learned from the best partners and was privileged to work with incredible founders. So why leave? It is simply time to build. More to come on this. We are still so early in the AI revolution,” he wrote. 

“Abundant intelligence will fundamentally reshape what creators, consumers and coders can do, and compress the gap between individuals and institutions in ways we’ve never seen. It’s a unique moment in history and I want to be fully in it.”

He thanked his co-workers and clients before adding, “Now it’s time to paddle hard. I’ll be spending the next few days calling many of you who made my life at A16z so special. And I’m beyond excited to earn the right to work with the next generation of the most ambitious founders building for the people.”

Kim’s main area of expertise is consumer tech and artificial-intelligence deals. Among Kim’s ventures is AI company ElevenLabs, with A16z co-leading its Series A and B funding rounds. Kim has also invested in Function Health, which offers lab tests to consumers; online-invitations business Partiful; and mental health AI platform SlingshotAI.

In April of this year, Ulysses, founded in Dublin by Akhil Voorakkara, Will O’Brien, Jamie Wedderburn and Colm O’Brien, announced newly acquired funding would be used to build “the Ocean company” – its $38m Series A round was led by A16z. 

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Looking ahead: As the RAM crisis makes high-end hardware increasingly unaffordable, it’s unsurprising to hear companies float streaming as a possible alternative for gaming. Despite the technology’s past failures, the head of Grand Theft Auto publisher Take-Two is bullish on its future.

During Take-Two’s first-quarter fiscal 2027 earnings call, CEO Strauss Zelnick put a number on it: he expects cloud gaming to reach commercial, low-latency viability within three years, potentially multiplying the effective installed base tenfold. He made the comments while addressing the rising cost of gaming hardware.

Due to tariffs, rising costs of TSMC’s semiconductors, and memory shortages stemming from AI data center construction, game consoles and PC components have gotten more expensive rather than cheaper over the past several years. The Xbox Series consoles and the PlayStation 5 launched at $500, but their successors might double that price.

Zelnick believes the popularity of Take-Two’s major franchises, likely referring to Grand Theft Auto and NBA 2K, will cushion the impact of hardware price hikes, though he acknowledged the price hikes could still limit the company’s addressable market.

Cloud gaming, meanwhile, has long been floated as a route for bringing high-end games to low-cost devices, and Zelnick believes its moment is finally near.

The CEO argued that advances in networking technology and infrastructure will make cloud gaming more viable than ever for a wider swath of users, potentially growing the installed base by an order of magnitude. While he doesn’t expect revenue to climb by a similar amount, he sees it as a way to reach players beyond Take-Two’s traditional core market.

According to Zelnick, those advances are what will separate this next wave from the technology’s most spectacular recent failure, Google Stadia. The major cloud gaming players today are Amazon’s Luna, Nvidia’s GeForce Now, Microsoft’s cloud functionality for Xbox Game Pass, and Sony’s PS5 cloud streaming through PlayStation Plus Premium.

The latter two have proven that streaming can succeed as a complementary feature for games users already own, but success via other business models remains elusive.

Strauss Zelnick noted that 90% of Take-Two’s business is already digital, though he left the door open for occasional physical releases going forward, comparing the practice to the enduring demand for vinyl records.

Zelnick also weighed in on Grand Theft Auto VI’s upcoming digital-only launch and the broader industry shift away from physical disc games on PlayStation. He noted that 90% of Take-Two’s business is already digital, though he left the door open for occasional physical releases going forward, comparing the practice to the enduring demand for vinyl records.

Unlike vinyl (and music CDs), though, no single company controls the pressing of physical games; console manufacturers alone manufacture their platforms’ discs, which makes a comparable resurgence less likely.

Grand Theft Auto VI is set to launch on November 19 for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series consoles, with a PC version expected sometime later. An extended early look at the game will premiere exclusively on Netflix on August 27.