Whether you're liked, trusted and respected in the workplace affects how far you can advance and how much influence you can have, writes Steve McIntosh, founder of CareerPoint. McIntosh offers five ways to constructively play office politics and increase your influence.

Leaders can hold people to higher standards while remaining "tenderhearted" by focusing on strengths, kindness and honesty and noticing when people's passions are sparked, writes Dan Rockwell. "People learn about themselves when you say, 'Your eyes just lit up. What's going on for you?' " Rockwell writes.

Increase the number of diverse company leaders by partnering with job sites that look for underrepresented populations, giving diverse leaders more authority in hiring decisions and providing leadership development to minority employees, HR leaders say. "What type of education, learning, coaching, mentoring do they need, and really tailor outreach and initiatives to that population," says Vaishali Shah, vice president of workforce diversity and inclusion at Randstad Sourceright.

In the world of architecture, there's no shortage of mind-bending aesthetic innovation. But in today's market, there's a major emphasis on pairing unorthodox design with sustainability. Google's new campus in Mountain View, Calif., accomplishes that through "dragonscale" photovoltaic panels, curved roofs and the largest geothermal system in North America. The goal is for Google to run on nonstop, 100% renewable power by the end of the decade.

The swift decline in venture funding has forced many startups to undergo mass layoffs this month, as well as introduce plans to scale back hiring as "the slide in venture capital is here to stay for the foreseeable future," writes Kenrick Cai. "The startups that are in the trickiest situation are growth-stage startups with unicorn-type valuations, a high burn rate, good but not great metrics, and 12 months of cash," says Firstmark partner Matt Turck.

Goldman Sachs has launched a worldwide "flexible vacation" scheme, in which managing directors and partners can take as much time off as they wish, and all employees will be required to take at least three weeks away from work including a minimum of one week's worth of consecutive days, starting next year. The plan, which follows an investigation last year that found junior Goldman staffers complaining of excessive workloads, is relatively common in tech firms but virtually unheard of in the banking industry.

The idea that big cities can be hubs for communities of soccer players isn't revolutionary if you think about the sport's popularity outside the US. But in the US, that culture is lacking. Enter Street FC: A burgeoning "flashmob" community for pickup soccer that is looking to bridge the divide between digital and real-world gaming while promoting accessibility. It's also encouraging folks to play in public and concrete spaces you don't normally associate with soccer.