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Tag: Collaboration

  • Free Webinar | April 12: Return to the Office: 4 Ways to Make Both Managers and Employees Happy | Entrepreneur

    Free Webinar | April 12: Return to the Office: 4 Ways to Make Both Managers and Employees Happy | Entrepreneur

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    The return to the office has been far from seamless. While we all dreamed of a day when we could get off endless Zoom calls and back to “normal,” the truth is that many leaders are facing employee resistance, resignations, quiet quitting, and a loss in diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives as they attempt to bring workers back to the office.

    But it doesn’t have to be this way. In this engaging, interactive, and entertaining presentation, Dr. Gleb Tsipursky will walk leaders through four proven strategies and tactics that companies can use to meet the needs and concerns of their employees, while simultaneously better serving their businesses.

    Don’t miss it! Register now and join us on April 12th at 3:00 PM ET.

    About the Speaker:

    Dr. Gleb Tsipursky helps leaders use hybrid work to improve retention and productivity while cutting costs. He serves as the CEO of the boutique future-of-work consultancy Disaster Avoidance Experts. He is the best-selling author of 7 books, including the global best-sellers Never Go With Your Gut: How Pioneering Leaders Make the Best Decisions and Avoid Business Disasters and The Blindspots Between Us: How to Overcome Unconscious Cognitive Bias and Build Better Relationships. His newest book is Leading Hybrid and Remote Teams: A Manual on Benchmarking to Best Practices for Competitive Advantage. His cutting-edge thought leadership was featured in over 650 articles and 550 interviews in Harvard Business Review, Forbes, Inc. Magazine, USA Today, CBS News, Fox News, Time, Business Insider, Fortune, and elsewhere. His writing was translated into Chinese, Korean, German, Russian, Polish, Spanish, French, and other languages. His expertise comes from over 20 years of consulting, coaching, and speaking and training for Fortune 500 companies from Aflac to Xerox, and over 15 years in academia as a behavioral scientist at UNC-Chapel Hill and Ohio State. A proud Ukrainian American, Dr. Gleb lives in Columbus, Ohio.

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    Entrepreneur Staff

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  • The Founder of This Snack Brand Totally Messed Its Name Up. Here’s How He Fixed It. | Entrepreneur

    The Founder of This Snack Brand Totally Messed Its Name Up. Here’s How He Fixed It. | Entrepreneur

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    Turns out, most of us don’t want to be reminded that we’re eating a chip made out of a bird.

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    Jason Feifer

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  • The Benefits of Creating an Employee Communication App | Entrepreneur

    The Benefits of Creating an Employee Communication App | Entrepreneur

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    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    As the winter of 98′ drew to a close, a stormy night ensued. There was a crash among the trees. It was windy to the point where it was howling. I was tucked into bed and startled awake by a noise. A sound that altered the course of history. When I finally beat my dad’s 6110’s snake game, I couldn’t believe it.

    And there, ladies and gents, is how I first began my trip into the world of app interaction.

    While apps have been around for some time, they are thankfully one of the few things that will not be going away any time soon. Over time, they’ve figured out how to reliably become a part of our routines and earn their place as an indispensable part of society. Didn’t see the game last night? YouTube is your best friend. Do you need a taxi? Uber’s got your back. Have you run out of food? Fresh Direct is here to deliver it.

    Related: #4 Go-to Apps to Boost Your Company’s Internal Communication

    Exploring the communication-ship

    Remember when a friend suggested you create an internal communication app for your company, but you thought the suggestion was too cliche and decided not to act on it?

    Think again: He was correct.

    Don’t mind me, I just wrote that in my diary last night. However, allow me to explain why he was correct.

    Communication is key. I’m sure we can all think of situations in our own lives where better communication would have prevented undue stress and friction. If you’ve come to that conclusion, then you’ve successfully onboarded the ship for better communication. But don’t just stand on the deck, let me show you around the ship’s various chambers, the most crucial of which is the engine room.

    Why you should consider getting an internal communication app for your company

    It facilitates easier access to data:

    All information should be readily available, simple to comprehend, and most importantly, delivered to its target audience. Can you think of a situation when someone didn’t “get the message” and hence failed to follow instructions? It doesn’t matter where you are or what time it is, you can always get to your apps using your mobile device. With just a few taps, you can reach all of your employees and convey whatever message you choose. You can see who received, opened and responded to your announcement, and you can return to it at any time.

    Time is saved, information is provided more efficiently, and employees have less trouble carrying out their work because of how smoothly the process flows.

    Boost your capacity to bond with your staff:

    If sending an email is like sending your child out to play with his friends, then sending an employee a direct message is like taking your child out for a game of catch, just the two of you. It creates a bond, fosters trust and takes you closer to the recipient. It will boost their confidence and self-esteem, which will ultimately benefit you. Your staff can immediately respond to your posts by liking, commenting or replying.

    Deskless workers are on the Rise

    Do you realize that about 80% of workers don’t have their own office? I know! That’s a rather big sum. The number of people working in healthcare, transportation, manufacturing, education, food service, emergency services, and building and maintenance makes this a logical conclusion. Making an employee communication app is a no-brainer if you work in agriculture, education, healthcare, construction, hospitality or transportation — all of which rely heavily on effective communication.

    Related: Why Effective Internal Communication is Critical to an Organization’s Well-Being

    Why do employers stray away from the idea of an employee communication app?

    It’s not exactly a secret why: Creating an app is time-consuming and expensive. But here’s the catch: No, it doesn’t need to be that way! For the simple reason that the no-code movement is also growing in popularity these days. Because of the advent of no-code platforms, nowadays, it’s possible to build a fully functional native staff communication app for your company in under an hour for under a hundred dollars, with all the hard work of programming already completed for you.

    No work can be done without employee communication; using a third-party app to do so when you can build your own staff communication app is analogous to renting a duplex when you have enough money to buy your own. With no-code app builders, you can create a communication app with a few clicks and less than a hundred dollars, so what’s your excuse?

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    Omar El Bahr

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  • How Dogpatch Games Wrote the Rulebook for Tabletop Gaming Customer Service? | Entrepreneur

    How Dogpatch Games Wrote the Rulebook for Tabletop Gaming Customer Service? | Entrepreneur

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    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    Behind the Review host and Yelp’s Small Business Expert, Emily Washcovick, shares a look at this week’s episode of the podcast.

    Growing up, Shannon spent countless hours playing board games with his family, a core memory he wanted to help others recreate, especially during the pandemic when people were feeling largely disconnected. From that, Dogpatch Games was born—a board game store in San Francisco that, soon after opening, became more than just a place to buy games.

    “One of our key tenets or touchstones that we try to focus on is inclusivity,” Shannon said. “It’s this idea that there is a seat for everybody, and there’s a game for everybody. This game may not be for you, but this game is, and you just haven’t found it yet.”

    Shannon’s approach to entrepreneurship was to start slow, giving the business a chance to grow in the neighborhood. He started with a soft opening, in which the business was only open a few hours of the day. Even with limited hours, curious customers still trickled in, giving Shannon the opportunity to wow them.

    One such customer was Yelp Elite reviewer Jenny X., who saw the store when she moved to the area. Before entering, she thought Dogpatch would be a one-time visit. To her surprise, it ended up being a memorable experience she couldn’t wait to tell her friends about.

    “I definitely entered being really skeptical. I [thought], we’re just gonna pop in and leave. This is not going to be somewhere we’re going to spend a lot of time,” Jenny said. “Just seeing how much passion the owner had for games, I let my guard down a little and [decided] to not be skeptical for a second here and let him try to convince us.”

    To make Dogpatch more than a store, Shannon goes the extra mile to make customers feel comfortable. Similar to Jenny’s experience, he frequently offers to teach customers how to play different board games and asks questions to figure out which games they’ll like best.

    By easing customers into the business, Shannon was later able to introduce a membership model for return customers, which provides a stable stream of revenue for the store. In deciding prices for different membership levels, Shannon prioritized accessibility for all customers.

    “We were trying to find a price that feels fair but recognizing that this is a premium game space,” Shannon said. “We want to have our community members feel like they’re getting enough value for their membership, where they’re getting the premium service, but they’re getting enough of a discount for it and getting invited to these extra things so that they don’t want to give up their membership.”

    As part of the membership model, Dogpatch hosts exclusive events and game nights for members. It also hosts events open to any community members, such as Dungeon & Dragons tournaments and Ladies’ Nights, to help customers meet each other and form new connections.

    Moving forward, Shannon hopes to integrate Dogpatch even more into the community by partnering with local businesses, such as his “Parents’ Night Out” initiative with local restaurant Gilberth’s Latin Fusion, where parents can drop their kids off at Dogpatch and receive a discount on their meal out.

    “The kids are here for two hours playing games. We got them—you go have your date night and then come back and pick them up,” Shannon said. “We’re trying to create a little neighborhood community with other establishments in our neighborhood because we’re all in this together.”

    Other small businesses can learn effective strategies from Dogpatch’s playbook, such as:

    • Considering a soft opening model. A soft opening can be a great way to garner excitement for your business and get the word out organically without a high resource investment.
    • Building a solid pricing model. Creating profiles of your ideal customers can help you decide on a pricing model that’s right for your business and accessible to customers.
    • Integrating your business in the community. Host community events open to all, and partner with other local businesses to help each other grow.
    • Giving customers an experience to talk about. Prioritize customer service and help customers feel comfortable with unfamiliar experiences to keep them (and their friends) coming back.

    Listen to the episode below to hear directly from Shannon and Jenny, and subscribe to Behind the Review for more from new business owners and reviewers every Thursday.

    Available on: Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, and Soundcloud

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    Emily Washcovick

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  • Is a Hackathon Right for Your Company? | Entrepreneur

    Is a Hackathon Right for Your Company? | Entrepreneur

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    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    Mention “hackathon,” and the image that might come to mind is of a bunch of computer geeks competing to devise some brilliant yet obscure programming solution.

    There’s some truth to that, but the hackathon has come a long way from its original incarnation and deserves more attention from businesses. I would argue that almost every company should be thinking about how they can use hackathons to unlock innovation and bolster teamwork — especially now. The practice is a powerful way to retain and attract good people in the post-pandemic world where employees are demanding more value and purpose at work. It’s also a major morale booster, offers the opportunity for important professional development and creates new relationships that span business verticals.

    The modern hackathon isn’t just about coding, though tech often plays a big role in the ideas that result. I like to think of it as an ideas meritocracy. It breaks employees out of their usual work-a-day structure, allowing them to focus on innovation to solve problems.

    The world’s most transformative companies have woven this approach into their cultures, ensuring that employees take regular time for blue-sky thinking that doesn’t necessarily yield immediate results. Google’s “20 percent rule,” allowing employees to take one day a week to work on side projects, famously led to the development of Gmail and Google Maps.

    Related: Microsoft Announces Hackathon For Future Ready Apps

    Innovation ‘flywheel’

    The hackathon culture can come in many different forms, from a tightly structured one-day event to a looser arrangement like Google’s. The key thing is that it establishes a network of new, organizational connections and gives teams the freedom to think big and fail. It needs to be part of a broader culture of innovation within a company, rather than a one-off event that compensates for a lack of innovative work the rest of the time.

    Done well, this can create a virtuous flywheel of innovation, helping make your company a place where people feel engaged and excited to work. So, it’s surprising that many companies still don’t do it. Many leaders — especially CFOs — may resist allowing employees to have “free time” that doesn’t contribute to the bottom line in an immediate or easily measurable way.

    How to get your executive team on board

    Step one for instilling a successful hackathon culture is to ensure buy-in from the entire executive team, particularly financial leaders. Start small, using funds from an existing budget to minimize the costs and risks. This gives you the opportunity to prove the concept and win over skeptics who will get a first-hand view of the excitement and energy that a good hackathon creates. We gave our CFO a seat on the judging panel, a not-so-subtle way to get them personally invested in the event.

    Hackathons shouldn’t just tolerate failure; they should actively celebrate it. The goal isn’t to come up with incremental improvements; it’s about sparking the kind of transformative, 10x ideas that would be unlikely to arise in the normal course of work. When teams are aiming that high, failure needs to be accepted and encouraged as part of the process without fear of negative judgment. Today’s flop could contain the seeds of tomorrow’s success. At the University of Phoenix, we’ve introduced an Icarus prize to our quarterly two-day hackathons to recognize the idea that flew closest to the sun before bombing.

    It’s important to take steps to ensure that the hackathon spirit doesn’t end with the event. It should become part of an overall innovation framework. I encourage companies to keep hackathon communication channels open throughout the year — perhaps via Slack. They should also continuously encourage innovative proposals and collaboration.

    Related: How to Cultivate a Culture of Intrapreneurship

    Not a free-for-all

    Participants should have a high degree of freedom to attack problems, but it’s a good idea to have a theme for the event which imposes structure. How to choose? Perhaps identify the type of problem teams need to focus on solving or specify an area of technology, such as AI and machine learning. We once ran a special hackathon with the goal of optimizing our data infrastructure, resulting in an API-based solution to cull thousands of expensive virtual servers. The concentrated focus, free from the usual distractions, allowed engineers to challenge entrenched assumptions and find creative workarounds.

    While participants need to figure out the big problems on their own without frequent check-ins, that doesn’t mean they shouldn’t have any support to complete their visions. Teams should be given access to resources such as tech infrastructure services and user experience expertise to help them avoid running into ditches.

    Organizers should also consider throwing the hackathon doors open to external participants. So long as potential intellectual property issues can be surmounted, this can benefit an organization by exposing problems to fresh thinking and acting as a recruiting tool for those who do good work and are attracted to an innovative culture.

    Lastly, don’t forget to bring the fun! Some of the most powerful effects of a hackathon are the contagious enthusiasm and team-bonding they can drive, so it’s counterproductive to run them in a sterile, dry atmosphere. Organizers should lay on lunch, crank up the music and even encourage teams to unleash their inner geek!

    So, stop looking outside your organization for solutions to your biggest tech problems. The solution is probably working for you right now.

    Related: It’s Not Just About The Tech: How Hackathons Foster People Skills In Its Participants

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    Jamie Smith

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  • Why Are So Many Companies Afraid of Generative AI? | Entrepreneur

    Why Are So Many Companies Afraid of Generative AI? | Entrepreneur

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    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    The release of ChatGPT in November of 2022 prompted the fastest public adoption of any new technology we have seen in a long time — perhaps ever. Many businesses, however, are largely taking a “wait and see” approach, which will only make it harder to keep pace as the technology evolves.

    In recent months, generative AI tools like ChatGPT, Jasper, Midjourney and Rowy, and others have demonstrated incredible breadth. For the first time, language models are passing Google’s hiring test for engineers, Wharton’s MBA exams, and Minnesota University’s Law School exams.

    Perhaps even more impressive, however, is how quickly creative fields once thought to be the sole domain of the human brain — like art, music and poetry — are being disrupted by automated systems capable of creating original works. And this is only just the beginning. Generative AI tools are improving at such a stunning rate that it won’t be long before we consider these early versions of the technology primitive.

    The quality of these generative AI systems is mainly due to the incredible breadth of data and computing they’re built on. However, developing this kind of sophisticated generative AI model takes a significant amount of data and money — the kind only available to a handful of the world’s largest and most powerful technology firms. While there are interesting reports of companies finding innovative applications for generative AI platforms, most companies have largely remained on the sidelines as they grapple with legitimate concerns regarding intellectual property, security and overall quality.

    While it’s important for organizations to fully consider the implications of disclosing their intellectual property to these third-party systems and be aware of ongoing quality concerns yet to be addressed, they also can’t afford to ignore such important technological breakthroughs. Though the concerns are valid, it’s also important to recognize that they will likely be addressed soon. The technology is only getting more sophisticated, and the longer they wait, the harder it will be to catch up.

    Related: ChatGPT vs. Bard: A Modern Day David and Goliath Story. Who Will Win?

    We’ve seen this pattern play out plenty of times; an innovation is unveiled, businesses widely acknowledge its disruptive potential and then refuse to engage with it due to some valid but ultimately — in the grand scheme of things — misplaced concerns.

    For example, I can still recall when concerns regarding intellectual property, security and privacy discouraged many organizations from using third-party email servers, who instead devoted significant resources to developing and operating in-house email. The same happened when personal mobile devices were initially banned from the workplace or when cloud technology was introduced, then widely avoided. Now every company has a cloud strategy.

    For large, legacy companies with significant investments in in-house, non-cloud native applications, the costs and challenges of starting the journey to the cloud were so daunting that they pushed it off. It’s been years since AWS, Azure and GCP have been available, and yet there are many Fortune 500 companies in still just the early stages of adapting and strategically leveraging these services.

    Related: It’s Time to Prepare for the Algorithmic Workforce

    For those making significant investments now, it obviously would have been cheaper, faster, and better if that journey had started years ago. Ultimately, time wasted yields competitive ground to the leaner startups that embraced the cloud and can move more quickly.

    Today, companies are once again faced with a game-changing technology and yet have similar concerns regarding intellectual property, ownership, security, legal and compliance. The difference this time, however, is that the scale, sophistication and openness of the new AI models are even more advanced, and the technology is expected to evolve at an even faster pace than we have seen in the past.

    While the need to address these concerns is valid, and quality issues with these platforms are real, we’ve overcome such challenges countless times over; we can expect they will be solved in this instance. In the meantime, I firmly believe at least some small investment should be dedicated to understanding the art of the possible and its limitations and working through the intellectual property, security, and legal issues.

    Throughout history, countless inventions have improved human productivity. Software engineers today are more productive than engineers from decades ago. What changed? It certainly wasn’t the capacity of the human brain. Instead, our heightened productivity is thanks to new software engineering frameworks, platforms, and tools. AI tools represent the next major leap in this journey. Just imagine what an AI engine that can pass college-level exams can do when it’s purpose-built to help software engineers write code.

    While there are risks associated with the technology in its early stage, the most significant risk most tech companies face is waiting too long and allowing the competition to onboard the technology first.

    Related: 5 Fears All Entrepreneurs Face (and How to Conquer Them)

    Start-ups are in a particularly advantageous position, as they have much less to lose and much more to gain by taking a bold risk on early AI adoption. However, large enterprises can begin dabbling with generative AI by finding low-risk use cases. They should also ensure that this is considered a top priority for legal and security teams and adequately communicate the significant stakes.

    While the applicability of these technologies is broad, I recommend finding a pragmatic, simple area to begin experimenting and learning, then expand from there. Perhaps even host an in-house hackathon to see all the creative solutions your teams think up.

    There are countless opportunities to experiment with generative AI across marketing, engineering, customer service, and many business functions. While being conscious of the risks and taking steps to mitigate them, it makes sense to start small. However, getting started is important; otherwise, you may risk getting left behind.

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    James Barrese

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  • What’s on Entrepreneur TV This Week | Entrepreneur

    What’s on Entrepreneur TV This Week | Entrepreneur

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    Entrepreneur TV’s original programming is built to inspire, inform and fire up the minds of people like you who want to launch and grow their dream businesses. Watch new docu-series and insightful interviews streaming now on Entrepreneur, Galaxy TV, FreeCast, and Plex.

    This week be sure to watch episodes of:

    Chicago CEOs (Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday)

    This Week’s Featured Show!

    CHICAGO CEOs, have you sat down with Chicago’s top CEOs as they discuss what brought them success?

    Episode 101: Sit down with the CEOs of the Chicago Bulls, White Sox, Cubs, personalized video app Cameo, healthy food producer Simple Mills, and the Wintrust Financial Corporation.

    My Stories (Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday)

    MY STORIES The life stories of Roshan Brown, former D1 Basketball player.

    Episode 101: This moment of my life was an eye-opener and put me on my current path. Your current situation is different from your destination. Always keep striving for more!

    Celebrity Business Tips (Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday)

    CELEBRITY BUSINESS TIPS showcases actors, athletes, and entrepreneurs as they share their best business tips to help you get started and find success with some humor and heart.

    Episode 101: Actors, athletes, and entrepreneurs alike all share their best business tips to help you get started and find success with some humor and heart.

    Habits and Hustle (Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday)

    HABITS AND HUSTLE host Jennifer Cohen brings thought leaders and notable game-changers into thought-provoking conversations identifying effective techniques and ideas to help listeners level up their physical and mental capabilities.

    Episode 151: Amanda Knox is an exoneree, writer, and NYT bestselling author. We discussed topics like stoic meditation, negative visualizations, and the creative mental exercises she used to get through this hellish period. It’s imposing hearing Amanda’s ability to try to empathize with the people who had wronged her and the professional way she carries herself, especially after having every reason to be resentful.

    That Will Never Work (Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday)

    THAT WILL NEVER WORK’s lively conversations showcase Marc’s unique combination of analytical skills and tough love, with a healthy dose of humor to provide actionable advice that will benefit founders – and would-be founders – at every stage of their business journey.

    Episode 304: Have you ever wondered what people do with the advice that Marc gives them on the show? David Silberman, the co-founder of PingPod, is here to tell you just that.

    Burt’s Buzz (Monday, Wednesday, Friday)

    Our featured film BURT’S BUZZ looks at the world of Burt Shavitz, the face, and co-founder of Burt’s Bees.

    Movie: Journey into the remarkable double life of Burt Shavitz, a reclusive beekeeper who reluctantly becomes one of the world’s most recognizable brand identities.

    Action and Ambition (Monday, Wednesday, Friday)

    ACTION AND AMBITION Andrew Medal goes behind the scenes to learn the world’s most ambitious people’s backstories, mindsets, and actions.

    Episode 102: Brothers John Resig and Leo Resig founded Chive Media Group and its flagship site, theCHIVE.com, in November 2008 with no capital and much hustle. With backgrounds in digital publishing and financial backing from partner Doug Schaaf, John and Leo were able to turn a three-person project into the nationwide, 170-employee entertainment digital media company that Chive Media Group is today.

    Elevator Pitch (Monday, Wednesday, Friday)

    On ENTREPRENEUR ELEVATOR PITCH, entrepreneurs have 60 seconds to pitch a business idea to a boardroom of investors.

    Episode 803: They say to dress for the job you want. So why did one contestant show up without a shirt? Watch to see if going a little risque was worth the risk, and take in the lessons of other pitches on an episode that scored the most deals in show history.

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    Entrepreneur Staff

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  • Why Your Whole Team Needs to Be Involved in Company Change | Entrepreneur

    Why Your Whole Team Needs to Be Involved in Company Change | Entrepreneur

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    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    Heraclitus, an ancient Greek philosopher, said that change is natural and constant. Nowhere is this adage more alive than in the business world; the entrepreneur’s origin story is built on change.

    Recently, Frontier Airlines enacted a change by removing its customer service phone number. This leaves customers to find solutions through digital channels. With this change, the customer experience will transform entirely, creating a significant difference in the organization. This approach will allow Frontier Airlines to uncover insights that might inform, validate and challenge its strategy.

    Making a bold choice such as this can be difficult, which is why many leaders and founders struggle with change.

    Related: Would You Rather Change or Let Your Business Die?

    Why is change so hard for a growing business?

    Many businesses insist on leaving transformational leadership in the hands of a small group of senior leaders or change managers rather than making it part of their team’s mission. Maybe because change is so crucial at the beginning of a venture — the scrappy entrepreneur needs to disrupt, innovate, sell their home and live in a basement. Then a company’s relationship to change changes.

    A familiar disappointment for company leaders is the feeling of getting slower as they grow. The profile of people who start and join a small company is vastly different from those who join as the company grows and becomes more stable. Stability becomes the preference and inertia the enemy.

    The demands of a company’s growth stage can reveal individuals’ unproductive relationships to change. These relationships can be put into three categories. Receivers of change believe change is being done to them. Resistors to change believe they can wait out the change, and controllers of change ultimately believe they can plan and manage their way through it. Being big doesn’t have to mean being slow or putting change on the back burner, and entrepreneurs can overcome these unproductive attitudes.

    Organizations growing most sustainably continue to disrupt at all stages of growth. The ability to continue to adapt and outpace the changes of the external environment requires change-ready leaders at all levels.

    What are the benefits of a change-ready organization?

    Companies with change-ready teams can tackle and rise above the challenges of their environments more easily than teams that rely on top-down change management. Companies that insist on only entrusting change to a select few leaders are bound to find a lack of change, engagement, diversity and connection with customers. We’ve already established that change is constant, and leadership needs to reflect that in order to have a change-ready culture.

    Here’s what sets change-ready leaders apart:

    • They’re more engaged. They understand that emotional agreement precedes strategic alignment, so they seek to bring everyone’s voices to the table.
    • They’re more adaptable. They are open to their teams’ conflicting views and assumptions and can adapt to the increasing rate of change in the environment.
    • They lead with a mutuality mindset. They know that diverse teams generate even stronger ideas that consider key risks and ensure their teams think from customers’ perspectives.

    Perhaps the most important benefit of developing change-ready team members is that researchers believe that “employee attitudes to change are key predictors of organizational change success.” People who see change as a constant and necessary source of opportunity are best positioned to turn change into positive forces for their organizations.

    Related: How to Better Manage Corporate Culture During Times of Transition

    How can leaders nurture change readiness?

    Instead of managing change from the top down, leaders could find that a more sustainable way of staying change-ready is to engage the whole team. How can leaders begin to cultivate a change-ready mindset among team members? Here is a playbook of initial strategies to try:

    1. Accept that change isn’t linear

    Change is messy. It progresses one day and falls back the next. Many leaders operate under the notion that periods of change in their companies will be followed by periods of calm or that change will eventually end. This is a misconception; business is change, and creating conditions of change readiness will be more enduring than making temporary preparations to handle a specific change.

    Therefore, leaders should adapt their mindset around change in their companies. At BTS, we know that change is no longer an individual sport but a team sport. Rather than a few elite surfers trying to conquer the waves, we see change more like white water rafting, where everyone must work together to make it through the waves.

    2. Build awareness of your own relationship to change

    Before you can successfully lead anyone through change, you need to heighten your own self-awareness of your productive and less productive responses. This starts with a biological reality: Although change is coming at us faster and more frequently than ever before in human history, biologically, we are wired to respond to change as a threat. In the past, threats to our existence were lions, tigers and bears; in the modern change-filled world, threats are things such as looking bad, being wrong or losing control.

    The first step any organization can take to build more change readiness is to help every leader understand their beliefs around change and offer them new tools and approaches to be more effective. This is the approach we took with a Fortune 200 company that, in anticipation of significant structural shifts for the organization, equipped all 50,000 employees with new tools and techniques to build resilience and change readiness.

    Related: 5 Key Ways to Create an Innovation Culture

    3. Engage your team to take ownership of change

    Identify the pivotal moments your organization faces in leading change and align on what change-ready behaviors look like in each moment. Cultivating a team of change-ready leaders will mean engaging team members in what change means. Share the targets and outcomes of strategic direction meetings, allowing time to hear all perspectives and test different ideas on the front line. Invite people to tackle those challenges themselves in their roles so that they feel ownership over the pivotal moments where change occurs in a day.

    To support this team-level ownership, shift behavior in the smaller moments that matter most. Back this up by creating the social networks and support structures that enable a wholescale mindset, giving each level and department a chance to own its change readiness.

    Change is constant, and it is a team sport. No one leader or manager can author change by themselves and expect it to serve the whole organization and a whole world of customers. Sustainable, successful change comes from a collective of people who feel positively about change: a team of change-ready leaders.

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    Anne Wilson, Kevin Bronk, and Kelsey Raymond

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  • 6 Powerful Brand Storytelling Tips For Marketers | Entrepreneur

    6 Powerful Brand Storytelling Tips For Marketers | Entrepreneur

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    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    Storytelling is a powerful tool that marketers use to engage their target audience and create a connection between the brand and the customer. In today’s fast-paced world, it’s becoming increasingly important for brands to stand out from the crowd and capture the attention of potential customers.

    Research has shown that stories impact the brain more than dry, straightforward information. A good brand story captures customers’ attention and creates an emotional connection that stays with them long after the initial interaction. In this article, we will dive deeper into the world of brand storytelling and share six powerful tips for marketers to create compelling stories that will impact your bottom line.

    1. Know your target audience

    Before you start telling your brand story, it’s important to know who your target audience is. Understanding demographics such as age, gender, location and income will help you tailor your brand story to your target audience’s interests and needs. It’s also essential to identify the customers’ needs and desires and what they seek in a brand. This information can be gathered through market research and surveys.

    Once you clearly understand your target audience, it’s time to create a hook that will grab their attention. A hook is a sentence or two that will make people want to know more about your story. For example, if you’re a fitness brand, your hook might be, “Are you tired of feeling sluggish and unmotivated? Discover how our workout program can transform your life”.

    Related: 6 Ways to Get Customers Hooked and Raving About Your Brand

    2. Create a compelling story

    A compelling story is essential for engaging your target audience and creating an emotional connection. Your brand story should be unique and stand out from your competitors. A good story has a structure with a beginning, middle and end. It should also have a clear and concise message that is easy to understand.

    Some key elements of a compelling brand story include its origin story, mission and values and what sets it apart from its competitors. You should also include real-life examples and customer testimonials to give your story credibility and make it more relatable. People are more likely to connect with a story they can relate to.

    Consider using characters in your brand story that your target audience can identify with. For example, if you’re a travel brand, your story might revolve around a young couple seeking adventure and seeking an escape from their busy lives.

    3. Use emotional storytelling

    Emotions play a powerful role in brand storytelling. They create an emotional connection between the customer and the brand that is much more powerful than just a simple transaction. By tapping into the emotions of your target audience, you can create a story that resonates with them and stays with them long after the initial interaction.

    Examples of emotional storytelling include telling a personal story about the brand founder, highlighting how the brand has helped customers in the past and showcasing the brand’s impact on the community.

    Related: 5 Ways to Get to the Heart of Emotional Marketing

    4. Utilize visual storytelling

    Images and visuals are an important part of telling your brand story. They can help bring your story to life and make it more memorable. Use images that are powerful, emotional and relevant to your story. For instance, if you’re a food brand, you might use images of fresh, healthy ingredients and happy families eating together.

    There are several types of visual storytelling that you can use, including infographics, videos, images and illustrations. When using visual storytelling, it’s important to ensure that the visuals are high-quality and relevant to your brand story. You should also ensure the visuals complement the story and not overpower it.

    5. Inspire action with your story

    Stories are not just about capturing your audience’s attention; they’re also about inspiring them to take action. Whether you want to drive sales, encourage sign-ups or promote a particular cause, the key is to make your story actionable.

    • Communicate your call to action: Your story should have a clear and compelling call to action that inspires your audience to take action.
    • Show the benefits of taking action: Highlight the benefits of taking action, whether improving their life, solving a problem or experiencing something new.
    • Make it easy to take action: Make it easy for your audience to take action by providing clear instructions, links and other resources.

    6. Incorporate storytelling into your marketing strategy

    Once you have created your brand story, it’s essential to incorporate it into your marketing strategy. This can be done by integrating storytelling into your campaigns, such as email marketing, social media and advertising. It’s also important to measure the success of your storytelling efforts to ensure that they resonate with your target audience. This can be done by tracking engagement, shares and conversions.

    Continuously refining your storytelling strategy is also important to ensure it stays relevant and engaging for your target audience. This can be done by regularly conducting market research, tracking metrics and making tweaks to your story as needed. People are more likely to share stories that they can connect with and that impact them. Ensure your brand story is shareable by making it easy for people to share on social media and other channels. Encourage your audience to share your story by including a call-to-action in your story.

    Related: How to Use Storytelling to Sell Your Brand and Vision

    Remember, the most important aspect of brand storytelling is to be authentic to your brand’s values and mission. This will ensure your story resonates with your target audience and creates a lasting impression.

    These tips will help you create a powerful brand story that connects with your target audience and differentiates you from your competitors. Remember to reflect your brand values and not be afraid to take a stand on what is important to your brand. Good luck with your brand storytelling journey!

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    Murali Nethi

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  • 4 Ways M&A Can Transform Your Company | Entrepreneur

    4 Ways M&A Can Transform Your Company | Entrepreneur

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    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    Not all mergers and acquisitions (M&A) end well. In fact, 70-90% fail, primarily because of an inability to identify appropriate fits for acquisition or the best ways to integrate them.

    Maybe this is why we hear such horror stories: A corporate takeover where people from the acquired company wait for the other shoe to drop. I understand that perspective. One company takes over another and holds its employees’ livelihoods in its hands — their careers, culture and security— with a high risk of failure.

    But I also know how being acquired by another company can result in amazing outcomes for professional growth. I am a living example of that.

    Over the last couple of years, my company acquired a series of companies in different regions to accelerate our growth, each with its client portfolio, industry expertise and merger timelines. Integrations have many moving parts but are rich with learning opportunities for the next integration. My experience on both sides of M&A has taught me that each company must deeply understand the other company’s values, culture and decision hierarchy. Just as important are the people who are part of the integration team. Those “in the kitchen” need to be open to building trust as soon as possible to ensure the integration goes as smoothly as possible.

    Related: Why Prioritizing Company Culture Is the Key to a Successful Acquisition

    1. Align values

    I joined CI&T six years ago when they acquired my company. I was the HR Director for a small ad agency with many clients in financial services. We had been courted over the years by companies interested in acquiring us, but they were not the right fit as they were more interested in our client relationships than our people. Our CEO believed in putting our people first, and it was important to him that I be close to those conversations.

    When we met CI&T, they were intriguing — even though they were headquartered in a different country. They instantly blew us away with their realness, honesty and transparency. We felt their values in every interaction and could tell that joining them would improve us.

    Related: Are You a Leader Loyal to Your Values? Here’s How to Align Your Leadership Style With Your Values

    2. Transparent communication

    Communication is how we keep everyone aligned and involved. We have a meeting every Wednesday with each acquired company led by the integration leader from “their side” to provide updates on progress on various fronts — such as the integration timeline, brand, benefits, new swag, etc. On “our side,” we give shoutouts to people who have been instrumental “in the kitchen.”

    Even if the news is the same as the week before, we affirm things are on track, and if things are delayed, we explain the dependencies. If we are waiting on something, we simply say so. We aim to ensure people are in the know every step of the way. Total transparency is key.

    Related: This Unique Leadership Model Will Transform Your Business and Ensure Success

    3. Understand culture

    Understanding a company’s values takes more than a motto — we need to understand the lived behaviors that reinforce the values that make up the culture daily. How do they hire, reward and recognize people? How do they make decisions? What programs or rituals reinforce them? Where are they on a Friday afternoon? If they say they promote from within, what’s their average tenure? How do they celebrate people and milestones? What’s the banter on their internal chat channels? What are their D&I metrics? Who’s on their leadership team? What is their T&D budget?

    In most M&A due diligence, many processes overlook corporate culture. It’s understandable: Culture isn’t seen on paper, and CEOs of acquired companies may not describe it objectively. Let’s face it — they are not the ones to ask. But not understanding the other company’s culture makes it easy to get wrong. Like dating the wrong person — those little things we ignore early on turn into bigger deals in time. Before too long, we can’t get past what we used to overlook.

    Not to say both cultures need to be identical for M&A success, but we should understand the differences and how to address them intentionally. For example, At CI&T, our culture is a learning environment, which means we bring many people to our meetings on a day-to-day basis so they can listen and learn. It’s not unusual for a meeting to have over ten people, but only half actively contributing.

    At first, this confused one of our acquired companies. Their hiring philosophy was to hire only experts and bring the necessary people to meetings. When we explained our culture, we decided together which meetings would have more bandwidth for our approach. Yes, we discussed and agreed together on how to integrate their approach with ours. Flexibility to change is a good sign of a smooth transition.

    Related: 7 Deadly Sins of Merger and Acquisition Negotiations

    4. Bring in the right people

    Understanding a company’s values and cultural differences from the beginning makes it easier to put together the right communications plan and approach an integration. Including the right people must be more than an afterthought. They should be an integral part of the M&A process.

    HR often has a better touch on the pulse of an acquired company’s people and can provide a more realistic and objective picture of its values and culture. Ideally, the HR leaders from both sides are willing to “get real” real quick.

    Perhaps many M&A efforts fail because understanding deeper aspects of a company, like values and culture, requires the right people involved — not business people, not salespeople, but “people” people. Even on the acquiring end, HR has a role to play in upfront discussions — even more for me as an acquired employee who has found success in my new role. I can assure new acquisitions, “Hey, you can trust these people.” I’ll be honest that the process won’t be easy, but these are good people and working through those challenges together makes us all the better.

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    Victoria Maitland

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  • How This Entrepreneur is Transforming Workplaces for Women Worldwide | Entrepreneur

    How This Entrepreneur is Transforming Workplaces for Women Worldwide | Entrepreneur

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    Tiffany Pham says her grandmother is the reason why she started her company, Mogul. “She was such a mogul herself. She was this incredible woman who ran businesses in Asia and was always looking to provide people in need with opportunities.” When her grandmother passed away, Pham made a promise to herself that she would follow in her grandmother’s footsteps. Today, her global diversity recruitment company is transforming workplaces for women around the world. She sat down with Jessica Abo to talk about how Mogul works and her advice for aspiring entrepreneurs. To watch the full interview, click on the video above.

    Jessica Abo: Tiffany, tell us about Mogul and how it works.

    Mogul is a global diversity recruitment company that is made up of three parts. The first part is our talent ecosystem. That’s where we support women, minorities, veterans and people with disabilities. We really nurture them and cultivate them to reach their greatest potential.

    Then, next, we have our talent solutions. That is where we provide Fortune 1000 companies and many of the world’s leading startups, scale-ups, IPO and companies with software solutions and services to help them transform their workplace.

    And then the third part of Mogul is our social impact. Everything that we do internally and externally aims to give back towards global good. We aim to provide diverse talent in need with educational opportunities and economic access to enable them to reach their greatest potential and help the world to grow to its greatest potential.

    What kind of support does Mogul provide?

    Mogul supports women and diverse professionals by providing them with a platform at OnMogul.com/join where we enable them to join and provide their information — and then from that information, provide them with access to industry leaders, access to opportunities and ultimately access to learning that is going to enable them to accelerate their skill sets and themselves.

    Does someone need to be at a certain level in their career to benefit from Mogul?

    Mogul supports at all levels. So you can be entry-level, mid-level, senior-level, at the board level, and we’ll still be able to help you no matter what, be able to achieve that next step in your career, be able to accelerate yourself to grow to, again, your greatest potential.

    What are some of the services that you offer?

    Mogul offers our Diversified Search Services, which is essentially us using our own technology to place roles on behalf of our clients. Our clients are turning to us because they believe either they have a lack of capacity on their end, or that our methodologies are superior, leading to better results. Using our own technology, we’re able to be more comprehensive and thus inclusive in our efforts. And as a result, the right person is being selected for the role.

    And what I love about this is that it is creating true change in our clients’ workplaces. It means that at the board level, for example, more women are being placed, more people of color, more veterans and people with disabilities.

    Given your experience, what advice do you have for aspiring entrepreneurs?

    In these times of turmoil, always trust your instincts. Throughout childhood, throughout your teen years, throughout your 20s, your 30s and onwards, these experiences have all shaped your intuition, your knowledge of what’s meant to happen, what’s meant to be for yourself. And as a result, always trust it.

    As an executive, as an entrepreneur, for example, over time, a lot of incredible team members have joined you and they’re helping you and they’re supporting you in this journey that you’ve undertaken to build this company that’s creating impact. But from time to time, something will strike you, something will hit your gut, and you should speak up. You should trust that gut. If something’s not sitting well with you, it’s probably not right. Speak up. Trust your gut.

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    Jessica Abo

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  • Instantly Build Rapport With Your Clients Using These 5 Hacks | Entrepreneur

    Instantly Build Rapport With Your Clients Using These 5 Hacks | Entrepreneur

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    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    Building a good relationship with a client, built on mutual trust and respect, can take a long time. However, there are ways to kickstart the process and create a rapport far more quickly. That rapport can then be the foundation on which your years-long working relationship is based. How do you connect quickly with someone you’ve just met?

    When it comes down to it, your client wants most to know that you’ve heard and understood what they’re saying to you. The quickest way to demonstrate that you’re on the same page is to reiterate what they’ve said. There are a few good ways to do that.

    Related: If You Want Your Clients to Truly Value You, You Need to Be Their Trusted Advisor. Here’s How.

    1. Reflecting

    In reflecting, you pick a few critical words your client has said and use them in your reply. For instance, say your client wants to expand their business and branch out to different cities. They might say to you, “I feel like we’re stagnating where we are. I hear there are great markets in Chicago and St. Louis, and I want to explore that.”

    You might reply, “I’ve heard the same thing about Chicago and St. Louis. If you feel you’re stagnating, then the time has probably come to explore those options and see what new opportunities you can find.”

    It seems simple, but it’s a proven technique for fostering a connection. This was demonstrated in a study conducted in Holland with waitstaff at restaurants. It was found that when servers repeated a customer’s order back to them before bringing it to the kitchen, they earned nearly twice as much in tips, on average, than when they didn’t repeat it. Reflecting a client’s needs back to them shows that you understand what they want and are on the same page.

    2. Paraphrasing

    Reflecting is an excellent technique for shorter conversations, but the longer you talk, the more noticeable it becomes if you’re repeating the same things your client is saying back to them. That’s where paraphrasing comes in.

    Paraphrasing is similar to reflecting, except instead of picking out keywords and repeating them, you restate the client’s basic ideas in your own words. This helps to show them that you’ve been listening and understand what they’re saying.

    It’s most effective if you phrase it as a question. So, your client says, “I don’t want to spend too much money, but I do want something that’s going to last me a while.”

    You might respond, “So, if I understand you correctly, you want something reasonably priced but not of poor quality that you won’t have to replace right away?”

    Phrasing it as a question shows that you’re actively engaged in the conversation. You’re not telling the client what they want. You’re listening and making sure that you’re on the same page. This makes them feel heard and shows them that their opinion is valued, which brings me to the next method of developing a rapport with your clients.

    Related: The 7 Stages Of Customer Relationship Management

    3. Identify and acknowledge your clients’ emotions

    If your client is angry or frustrated, your first instinct will likely steer them away from those emotions. You don’t want angry clients; you want happy, satisfied clients. However, trying to steer or maneuver a client’s feelings to a specific place can seem insensitive and unempathetic. Instead, if you want to build a rapport with your client, it’s important to identify those emotions, acknowledge them and validate them.

    4. Meeting people where they are

    Meeting someone “where they are” means bridging the gap between your own expectations and where the other person is coming from. It means intentionally listening to understand their values, needs and what they are really saying. Buddhists have a saying, “holding the space,” which means the same thing. It’s about being truly present in the moment.

    Having a simple chat with someone can sometimes reveal what a person really needs if you have the patience to just observe them. Be mindful of their body language; their behavior may tell you everything you need to know. And it’s also meeting them where they are, in a way.

    Dealing with clients and their emotions requires a delicate hand. If you make them feel like they’re not allowed to feel a certain way, they can come to resent you. Instead, you need to meet them where they are. If someone is happy, celebrate that happiness with them. If someone is angry, let them be angry for a little bit and show that you understand why they’re angry. This will help your clients to feel seen and help you connect with them better.

    5. Identify the root of their emotions

    In identifying your clients’ emotions, it’s essential to try to understand what’s causing them as well. If it’s someone brand new you’ve had little or no interaction with before, and they’re angry right out of the gate, then you’re likely not the cause of their anger.

    Maybe they’re frustrated by the problem they’ve come to you to solve. Maybe they spent a long time on hold before you got to them or they had difficulty parking on their way up to see you. If you talk to them for a bit, without judgment, they might open up and tell you what’s happening or at least provide clues you can use to get the gist.

    Once you’ve identified their emotions, you need to validate them — even before identifying the cause. You can use a few phrases to help show you care. However, there are also a few pitfalls to avoid.

    Related: The 5 Secrets of a Validating Apology

    “I’m sorry you’re angry” or “I’m sorry you feel that way” can sound condescending to some people. Like when people apologize by saying, “I’m sorry if you were offended.” It puts the onus on the one being apologized to rather than you as the one making the apology. Instead, try, “I’m sorry that happened to you,” or “I can see how that would be frustrating.”

    Once they’ve had a chance to get their emotions out, your next step is to fix things. Not fix their emotions, but fix the root cause, whatever it may be. If it’s something your company has done, ask how you can rectify it. If it’s about the problem they’ve come to your company to solve, show the exactly how your company can help them. If it’s something outside your control, offer them something you can control: a glass of water, words of encouragement, a minute to catch their breath, etc.

    You can quickly build an authentic connection by showing your client that you understand them and empathizing with them. Then once you’ve built that connection, it can lead not just to one good sale but a years-long professional relationship.

    They may even recommend you to their friends as someone who can be trusted and depended on to help them with their needs. It doesn’t take much effort to connect with clients in this way, but the potential benefits can be exponential.

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    Shashank Shekhar

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  • 5 Tips To Networking at Conferences as an Introvert | Entrepreneur

    5 Tips To Networking at Conferences as an Introvert | Entrepreneur

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    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    Let’s be honest, networking can be an awkward experience for almost anyone, but if you’re the type of person that identifies as an introvert, then you probably understand that struggle better than anyone. Just the thought of meeting new people at a networking event can be enough to trigger knots in your stomach. I can relate to that feeling of dread because I too am an introvert and have had to build a complete mental plan when I attend large networking events and tradeshows.

    However, there are so many benefits from networking and attending conferences that it is well worth the awkwardness. Networking events can help you advance relationships in hours that may take years online to develop. When I have forced myself to attend events, I was able to forge new strategic partnerships and even create lifelong friendships.

    Creating a plan of action before you attend the conference is key to a successful networking experience. Here are my top five tips I use each time I attend a conference:

    1. Create a specific goal for the number of people you want to meet at the event

    If the event is for two days, don’t be overzealous and expect to meet 50 people. As introverts, we much prefer having fewer interactions that are deep and meaningful. I usually set an intention to meet three to five amazing people each day that I think will become long-term connections. If I only connect with two that day, but they were meaningful conversations, I don’t beat myself up with a missed opportunity. On the contrary, I reward myself for having the courage to have conversations with two strangers.

    Related: 6 Ways Introverts Can Avoid Feeling Shy at Conferences

    2. Break the ice before you attend

    Once you set a specific goal to meet others at the conference, do some initial research online and send each person an introduction via email or message before you meet them in person. Generally, I will review any information on the conference’s website, including specific booth numbers.

    In addition, I research the attendees’ profiles on LinkedIn so I can understand their backgrounds and interests. To break the ice, I always create a personalized video and forward it to their email or through LinkedIn messaging.

    Here is an example of my video script “Hey Lisa, I am eager to connect with you at the National Cybersecurity Conference next week. After viewing your LinkedIn profile, I am even more impressed at your commitment to healthcare security. I would love a 15-minute chat at your booth #225 to learn more about your initiatives for 2023 and share our current cybersecurity strategy in the healthcare space. Do we need to schedule a time, or can I just stop by and introduce myself?” In most cases, cold calls, emails and messages receive very few responses. However, the video messages I send have a 70% success rate because of the personalized approach and the immediacy of the upcoming conference.

    3. Come prepared with three key points to share in the conversations

    When meeting people at networking events, make sure you come prepared with ideas for what you want to share. At times, you may only have five minutes, so you have to treat it as if was an elevator pitch. Consider the three critical points you would love for them to remember. One of those points should be a story or impactful statement that will leave them wanting to learn more about you and your company. Here is an example of a three-point approach. “Lisa, thank you for taking a few moments today at the cybersecurity conference. Two years ago, our team cracked the code on eliminating 98% of ransomware threats within 8 seconds of detection. We would love to have you test out our software and see if it can be an addition to your security process. How is your team currently navigating ransomware threats with your prospective customers? This can help set the stage for a meaningful dialogue and get the conversation off to a strong start.

    Related: Even Introverts Can Excel at Networking by Following These Steps

    4. The person that talks the most loses the deal

    The adage that most people prefer to talk about themselves or their interests is true. Therefore, I usually focus on 70% of the conversation being led by them. As they are talking, I am taking mental notes on anything that is interesting or relevant and can be used in responding with purpose. In fact, I rarely prepare a full conversation agenda because the agenda is improvised during the conversation. In this way, it allows the discussion to be authentic and spontaneous as opposed to rehearsed with canned responses. This can help you stay focused and engaged with the actual topics being discussed as opposed to the topics you assumed would be discussed.

    5. Always find your anchor

    One of my first goals at any conference is to find my anchor. An anchor is someone that you can converse with throughout the conference and they will help support introductions or make suggestions on specific conference workshops. I rarely know the anchor prior to the event. However, I always know when I have met my anchor because they are easy to connect with and able to open doors to situations that may be uncomfortable for an introvert. Finding my anchor is essential, or else I may feel so uncomfortable and I will either hide in a corner or go back to my hotel room. Honestly, I have done both many times at conferences.

    Final words

    Networking is well worth it, and it can help you open many doors in your business. For introverts connecting and networking in large crowds may always feel a bit awkward. However, with some key tips, you will find that networking can be less stressful and more fun. Good luck!

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    Kedma Ough, MBA

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  • How to Create a Relationship with Anyone You Meet | Entrepreneur

    How to Create a Relationship with Anyone You Meet | Entrepreneur

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    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    As a business owner, one of the most powerful resources you can build is a network. The stronger your relationships with people around you, both inside and outside of your field, the more opportunities you’ll have.

    Life becomes truly powerful when you understand this concept. Connections are what allow you to get anywhere in business. You can’t navigate the world solo, and the stronger your net of relationships is, the easier life will become. They are your biggest piece of leverage.

    When you meet someone new, there are two possible reasons for doing so: You need them to help change your life, or they need you to help change theirs. Those changes can be major or minor, but they are always important. Every interaction has the potential to have a lasting impact on either you or them. So, when it comes to building relationships, it’s important to keep a sense of curiosity about the other person to determine how each of you may be able to assist the other. Then be as generous as you can with your time, resources and knowledge.

    The benefits that come to you as a result of these efforts not be immediately apparent, but trust me: They pay back in multiple ways — perhaps soon, perhaps at some point in the more distant future. So, mentor generously, and give generously. Be curious about people… listen to them — all will make people remember you and say positive things about you.

    Whether or not relationship-building comes naturally, just about everyone could learn to do it better. One trick to finding out how you can help each other is asking thoughtful questions. These are the foundation of communication and are the method through which you control a conversation and build connections.

    When you meet someone new, here are a few things to keep in mind to ask excellent questions.

    1. Express care to establish trust

    To create any kind of connection, trust is necessary. You cannot have open communication without some level of it, and the key to establishing trust quickly is expressing care. That often means engaging in small talk, which plays an important function in relationship building: It gives us safe ground on which to learn about each other and helps determine whether we want to continue a discourse.

    Communication, of course, requires an exchange of information, and it’s important to do so with relatively equal sensitivity, and participation. If you give away something extremely personal too early on, for example, it can make a conversation partner uncomfortable. This can be applied the other way around, too: someone might divulge something personal early on to project vulnerability. Be careful when this happens, because without doing the groundwork of establishing trust, interconnections built too quickly easily fall apart.

    Instead, find points you have in common and offer information that’s personal, but not overly revealing. It’s also important to express that you care about the other person’s comfort by being nonjudgmental.

    Related: If You Want Your Clients to Truly Value You, You Need to Be Their Trusted Advisor. Here’s How.

    2. Learn what’s important to people, and what stands in their way

    After you’ve established trust, things can begin to deepen. At this point, the best questions will help identify what’s important to someone, including what their pain points or problems are. Ask about their goals, plans and perhaps (to a degree) about their personal life. Pay attention to displayed energy: What do they focus on? What makes their eyes light up or what do they go on about at length? By paying attention to verbal cues and body language, it’s easier to grasp the essentials.

    When you’ve identified what’s important to someone and the problem they need to solve, you’ll begin to see areas where you may be able to help, or how they may be able to help you. Remember, in this process, that you must offer something in exchange, and without overly drawing the conversation toward yourself. Perhaps what you can offer, for example, is simply information, and/or connecting them with someone in your network.

    Related: How to Meet Customers At Their Pain Points

    3. Embrace curiosity

    There is always something you can learn from every person, and you’ll gain the most out of every interaction by simply being curious. This requires a sense of humility, but by focusing on others rather than yourself, you’ll build connections more quickly and learn more than you thought possible.

    4. Keep asking questions, even when you think you know the responses

    Oddly enough, people who think they have all the necessary information are often those who know the least. By continuously asking questions, even when you think you know the answers, you’ll dig deeper into topics and find underlying motivations, problems and other factors at play in any situation. The takeaway will be arriving at solutions you never would have thought of otherwise.

    When you learn what motivates someone, it gives you the unique power to steer a conversation more easily. While questions may focus the conversation on your partner, they also put you in the driver’s seat — giving you the chance to steer the topics.

    Related: The 4 Keys to Asking Better Questions

    5. Give information and help generously

    Through asking great questions, you’ll be able to internalize the problems, interests and motivations of those around you, but don’t stop there. Offer help whenever you can, and think of ways of connecting a new contact with other people in your network. By doing this consistently — being open, curious and generous — you’ll become known as a helpful and kind individual, and people remember that.

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    Jason Hennessey

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  • How to Develop B2B Partnerships That Grow Your Business | Entrepreneur

    How to Develop B2B Partnerships That Grow Your Business | Entrepreneur

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    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    I understand what it takes to build a successful B2B partnership. My company’s rollout to B2B was a planned business development step accelerated by Russian military aggression in Ukraine, where our largest research and development center is located — and where Parimatch, my company was born in 1994.

    To step into B2B, we analyzed the market and competitors, highlighted the strengths of our products, identified the pains of potential partners, rebuilt the company, decentralized the marketing department and identified a B2B department.

    Here are some notes that guided us in our successful B2B rollout.

    What are the key features of B2B partnerships?

    • A limited contact pool: In B2B, the number of possible partners is often limited, and the more complex your niche, the fewer potential partnerships you will find. For this reason, you will need to learn how to work especially well with those who are already interacting with you or who are present on the market.

    • Endurance: Companies seek stable partners for the long term, especially in specific industries, so searches are approached thoroughly. If you provide a quality product, your partner will not be interested in third-party offers, and you will likely develop side-by-side for years.

    • A potential partner could be the expert in your industry: In B2B, cooperation is not based on personal preferences or rash decisions. You will need to prove the value of your product or service step by step. For example, my company has partners who know their markets and industry trends well but still need a high-quality online platform to operate — or vice versa. Your potential partner could have ready-made operations and technologies but without a bright, well-developed brand.

    • The decision-making process takes longer: It can be months before you start cooperating, and during that time you need to remind a partner about your product and the value a partnership will bring.

    • The need for delegation of authorities and duties: You will need internal experts who know the industry, your product, the business models of potential partners and the challenges you may face in the future.

    • Strategy: Any B2B partnership should have a plan to track the results of the collaboration.

    Related: Business Development: 4 Ways to Avoid the Formula Trap

    How to find B2B partnerships

    Search channels for partners are highly dependent on the industry. These include LinkedIn pages, thematic forums and business platforms, etc. It could also be the result of implementing digital and content marketing tools. To this list, you can add conferences, symposiums and events organized by industry media. In any case, the primary purpose of these activities is to find decision-makers.

    In B2C, customers are often driven by emotions and make decisions on impulse because it is no big deal to spend money when it is not critical. In B2B, however, the price can amount to millions, and further business development depends on partnerships, so decisions are made cautiously. The number of decision-makers is also increasing, so be prepared to showcase your product strengths from different angles, depending on the expertise of whomever you are addressing.

    The virtue of research

    Before starting communication activities, create a portrait of a partner that best suits the business objectives. The next step is to study the sample of potential customers and filter it based on the necessary criteria. The goal is to arrive at a list of the top 10 or 50, depending on the niche of the business and the number of potential partners. Working with a small segmented list will bring more value than a broad unfiltered audience.

    This approach also fits super-complex niches: we analyze all potential customers and evaluate compliance with the portrait of our ideal partner. Based on the results, we compile a top Х with a brief description of the main aspects of interest.

    The next step is to add each possible partner to the database, collect data about the company and its turnover and look for all available information. This will remove unpromising options, leaving only the target audience. Another advantage of this approach is that you’ll learn many details about potential partners in the process, which will help identify decision-makers, set up contacts and develop a cooperation strategy.

    Related: Market Research: What It Is and How to Conduct It

    The importance of in-person meetings

    We live in an online world. Hundreds of employees at my company work productively from different parts of the world, meeting only on online calls. But to build long-term B2B relationships, it’s essential to meet partners in person, especially in a semi-formal setting because one personal meeting works better than five perfect commercial proposals, which the manager will send your partners by mail.

    Know your partner’s end customers

    It’s a big mistake if a B2B company doesn’t know its partners’ end customers — those who directly use the product or service resulting from your cooperation. And if your offer has any issues or is underdeveloped, you will find out about it from them.

    Our expertise in product development is based on almost 30 years of experience in the entertainment industry. We know the end customers of our services because the teams interview them regularly: We know what they like, what interests them and what they appreciate about our products. To increase demand, we develop new product features, for which we are simultaneously developing the platform’s functionality.

    Knowledge of end customers and experience interacting with them will give you an additional competitive advantage.

    Related: 5 Ways PR Wins at Generating B2B Sales

    Why you need a B2B department

    A dedicated B2B department’s primary functions are communicating with partners, presenting product and development strategies and building cooperation with internal departments, and it deals with operations ranging from strategy to lead generation. The main activity of this team is communication… lots of communication.

    To close one particular deal, a B2B manager must work with representatives from different departments and several decision-makers. Sometimes, companies hire third-party B2B teams because their marketing department doesn’t have enough time, resources or experience to build B2B interactions with partners competently. These teams create the strategy, prepare a detailed roadmap and are sometimes involved in its implementation.

    Related: Here’s What Really Builds Customer Loyalty in the B2B Industry

    What a B2B manager will need to do

    Among the many critical tasks of this managerial role is diving into the specifics of several products and projects at the same time, including:

    • Looking for those business functions that potential partners cannot maintain themselves.
    • Understanding the specifics of the industry and the desires of end customers.
    • Building communication with partners and between company departments.
    • Creating a transparent offer (including a partnership strategy) and presenting it to decision-makers.

    What can you consider a ready-to-go strategy?

    The ready-to-go strategy is a step-by-step guide to action for the long-term partnership. Your strategy could consider delegating some points to your partner, to be implemented together or by your company only.

    • Gathered studies: Carried out for partnership strategy, which may include market analysis, partner business performance indicators and your offer.
    • A complete presentation: This can be a 200-slide “mother presentation” from which the B2B department managers will choose the main slides relevant to each decision-maker. (You will likely use the entire presentation for internal use only.)
    • A project roadmap: A detailed development plan describing all crucial milestones.
    • Price: This should also be included in your project roadmap — the partner must understand exactly what steps are involved and how much it will cost.

    The strategy shouldn’t be just a regular document — it should consist of streamlined processes, budget assessments, presentations and accompanying documents.

    Final words

    If you step into B2B, there is still a possibility that you will spend millions on building your brand and won’t get the results you expected. An issue here could be the difference between B2B and B2C: businesses don’t close deals based on subjective preferences or emotions, as it could be in B2C.

    B2B customers should be offered something they cannot produce on their own. It is crucial to initially find out the client’s actual goals and ensure maximum transparency of your offer.

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    Maksym Liashko

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  • How to Bridge The Gap Between In-Person and Remote Meetings | Entrepreneur

    How to Bridge The Gap Between In-Person and Remote Meetings | Entrepreneur

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    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    With the right technology and facilitation, hybrid meetings can provide the best of both worlds: the benefits of in-person meetings, such as nonverbal communication and spontaneous collaboration, combined with the convenience and cost-effectiveness of remote meetings.

    But to truly take advantage of the benefits of hybrid meetings requires overcoming our intuitions and gut reactions about how to manage meetings and investing in quality AV technology, developing new meeting norms, and training participants on using this technology and following these norms. Otherwise, hybrid meetings can be a miserable experience for both in-person — especially remote attendees, as I’ve seen in consulting for 21 organizations on how to implement hybrid work arrangements.

    Related: What Is the Best Way to Run a Highly Effective Hybrid Meeting?

    Importance of excellent meeting AV technology

    One of the most critical elements of a successful hybrid meeting is having excellent audio and video (AV) technology that allows all participants to see and hear each other clearly.

    Many conference rooms are long and narrow, and cameras are typically located at one end of the table so that those at the far end are not easily visible on video. That creates a problem for remote attendees since they can’t see clearly the body language and gestures of the in-person attendees. Similarly, remote attendees need to be able to hear the points made by everyone in the room, but the typical narrow meeting rooms are not set up to pick up audio well for all participants, just for those at the head of the table.

    Remote participants need to see the person who is speaking at any given time. To do so requires a camera that tracks and focuses on whoever is speaking at the moment. They also need a second camera that shows the whole room to catch the nonverbal cues of their in-person colleagues. After all, the point of a meeting is not simply one-way communication by the speaker; it’s also observing the reaction of the meeting participants to the speaker. Finally, they need a third camera showing the PowerPoint and/or whiteboard.

    In-person participants, in turn, have to be able to see remote attendees clearly. That means, ideally, having them sit on one side of the table and on the other side having a big conference room screen with the remote attendees. Then, the natural focus of the in-person attendees goes to the remote participants, not to each other.

    Separate facilitation for remote attendees

    Another important factor in successful hybrid meetings is having a separate facilitator for remote attendees. Team leaders serve as the traditional meeting facilitator, and they already have their hands full managing the in-person portion of the meeting and the agenda while also being a participant.

    Instead, the team leader needs to appoint an in-person attendee as the remote facilitator. This person’s role is to ensure that remote attendees are able to fully participate in the meeting and that their contributions are heard and acknowledged. They can also help to manage any technical issues that may arise. The remote facilitator should solicit the feedback and input of remote attendees, and interject on their behalf as needed. They also need to read out loud chats typed by videoconference attendees who ask the remote facilitator to make a point on their behalf.

    Related: Making Hybrid Models Work Is No Longer a Luxury – It’s a Necessity

    Expressing yourself through emojis or chat

    Remote attendees need to collaborate with the remote facilitator and advocate for their perspective and full-fledged participation in hybrid meetings. They need to express themselves in reaction to what people are saying through reaction emojis or chat.

    The challenge is that you can’t see the responses of remote participants to what the speaker is saying, so remote participants have to be more deliberate about their responses. Fortunately, by using chat or reaction emojis, they don’t have to interrupt the speaker or impede the conversation flow. It’s much easier to use such features, especially for introverted participants, making them more likely to shine as remote participants in hybrid meetings.

    And since there’s someone in the room whose job it is to make sure remote participants are heard — the remote facilitator — that person will interrupt the speaker on their behalf. For example, a remote participant may indicate that they have a question or comment in the chat. If that happened in the room, the speaker could see that someone had a frown or confused look. But they can’t see that easily for remote participants. However, the remote facilitator can interject on behalf of the remote attendees, addressing their confusion and making sure the remote participants can make their contribution.

    Norms of behavior for in-person participants

    In-person participants have to pay attention to remote attendees and make an effort to include them in the discussion. This can be done by signing into the meeting on their laptops or phones and tracking the responses of remote attendees through chat or emojis. In fact, they can contribute to the conversation if they sign into the meeting, and make sure they don’t miss the valuable subtext in the chat.

    Likewise, in-person attendees have to overcome their intuitive and natural temptation to prioritize other in-person attendees. They need to pay attention preferentially to remote attendees and encourage other in-person attendees to do so as well. That’s why it helps to sit facing the remote attendees, not fellow in-person attendees.

    Training meeting participants

    To achieve this change of norms and address cognitive biases requires training both the in-person and remote meeting facilitators and also the attendees, including in-person and remote ones. The new norms will seem artificial and uncomfortable at first because everyone will have to address their miscalibrated intuitions, but it will help maximize everyone’s participation and address the problems with typical hybrid meetings. Training — which should involve practice and role-playing — will help overcome the initial discomfort and ease alignment with the new norms.

    Part of the required training involves setting up feedback systems for continuous improvement. Thus, especially as teams are starting to figure out their new meeting norms, they need to measure and get feedback on the quality of the hybrid meeting experience, for in-person and especially remote attendees. As you’re making these transitions, survey participants on various aspects of the meeting, such as their overall evaluation of their meeting experience, how well they were able to hear and see others, how well they think others heard and saw them, how much they were able to participate in and impact the meeting, how well the in-person participants accommodated remote participants, how well the facilitator accommodated remote participants, how effectively were features like chat and emojis like “raise hand” used, what could have been done better to improve their experience and impact, and related questions. Particular feedback needs to be provided to the meeting facilitators, including watching recordings with a coach who can point out specific moments the facilitator performed well, and other areas where they may need improvement.

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    Gleb Tsipursky

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  • Entrepreneur | How I Completely Transformed My Company’s Culture on My Own Terms

    Entrepreneur | How I Completely Transformed My Company’s Culture on My Own Terms

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    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    A few years ago, most of us leaders had certain ideas about how an office and team should work: Namely, that we as a team should be together in an office, working 8- to 12-hour+ days every Monday through Friday and weekends as well, broken up only by the standard two weeks of vacation and occasional holiday or sick day. In my company and many others, there wasn’t a lot of flexibility to do it differently — this is what we knew and grew up thinking was correct. It’s how we conformed to the ideals of other leaders and mentors before us. But then the world shifted, and suddenly, remote work was our only viable option. Once lockdowns were lifted, we were still initially encouraged to keep our distance, and schools remained online, which meant parents needed to generally still be home, too.

    Eventually, though, schools reopened and we started gathering again. And for many of us, it’s made sense to bring our work teams back together again, too. I have. And it feels great to have that dynamic energy return. But — I’m proud to say — it’s different now.

    Covid helped us all wake up. It helped me wake up. We learned that our previous level of inflexibility was unnecessary.

    Related: 5 Ways to Turn Your Company Culture Around

    How I transformed our culture

    During the pandemic, I had to lean into some trust — that my previously all-in-person team could be remote, and we could still produce amazing work and get everything done with the same quality our clients expect from us. And guess what? With the right structure and expectations set, we absolutely did. And in learning to trust more and make the changes I had to, I gave myself permission to make further changes. As we returned to the office, and I started to take stock of things, I realized that I had evolved — and I could bring our culture forward instead of just reverting to the old normal.

    And now, I’m seriously ready to move on from Covid and also from tired excuses, barriers, fears and limitations that stop us from doing business how we want to. So, now I ask, what do I want? And what do my employees need?

    I realized I wanted to build in more time for rest and recharge — to sometimes go slow to then be able to go faster. I also knew my team, now a mix of in-office and fully remote employees, would benefit from continued flexibility around where they worked and when. And I’d learned that with a solid structure and clear expectations and goals, people did well with the space to make more decisions for themselves.

    So, in 2022, we made some big changes. We rolled out unlimited vacation and PTO days. We instituted daylight savings hours, where we all take a break around 3:30 p.m. to either drive home while it’s still light out and finish out the day from the comfort of home, or for those working remotely, pause and pick up their kids from school, take the dog for a walk or move and stretch before coming back refreshed. During summer, we now have shorter working hours on Fridays and also keep work light between Christmas and New Year’s. We’ve also started planning quarterly gatherings to connect and get to know each other better outside of work.

    Besides making a positive impact on my team members’ daily lives, these changes encourage me as a leader to take time off that I probably wouldn’t have otherwise. And I’ve proven to myself I can do it — without everything burning to the ground.

    Now as we move into 2023, I am making more shifts to build deeper productivity, foster the growth of my team and further evolve as the leader I want to be. After seeing how well things went over the past year, we are adding another benefit in addition to unlimited PTO: Two defined weeks off when we shut down the office, one in the summer and one in the winter, both at times that are naturally slower around seasonal holidays.

    Making these changes requires planning and organization, but it’s worth it — for my team and for myself as a leader. As I’ve slowed down myself, I’ve been able to get my own oxygen mask firmly in place. I’ve learned I don’t always need to go 100 mph. In fact, slowing down can be incredibly helpful. It’s the perfect time to look around, challenge our long-held perspectives and grow. It’s the perfect time to build more intentionally, from the inside out.

    Related: Great Company Culture Isn’t Magic — Take These Steps to Create It

    How you can transform your culture

    Being willing to change my perspective as a leader and build culture in new ways has been an incredible gift to myself and my company. If you want to step into a cultural rebirth of your own in 2023, I encourage you to do it. Here are a few tips to get you started:

    1. Honor the team culture that feels right to you — don’t be afraid to center around your personal goals as a leader and lead according to your own North Star, instead of what you may have been “taught” in the past. You aren’t beholden to any old-school way of doing things.

    2. Take it slow, make changes when it feels right, and retract when it doesn’t. Accept that trial and error will happen; changes often won’t be perfect at the first rollout. It’s OK to recalibrate, as you continually move toward what’s best for your company and team.

    3. Don’t think of these changes as handouts to appease your team or to keep up with other leaders. While you might be ready to make some changes, each should be instituted when you feel the time is right, rather than acting from a sense of pressure. Otherwise, you could easily feel resentful if your team doesn’t show the gratitude you might have expected.

    4. Give your team the responsibility to uphold the culture and grow it. They have a very big part in making sure what you are instituting works, too. For example, give them transparency around who is taking a vacation and who isn’t. Having an open PTO policy that allows peer oversight helps those who take a little more be aware and those who don’t take enough self-manage.

    5. Recognize the role your energy plays in your company’s culture. Lead by example. Do the personal work to figure out what helps you bring your passion to your company every day —then do more of that. Be the mentor you maybe never had as you lean into your own strengths. This will show up in the cultural framework you create for your team to uphold.

    We don’t need a new year to change—but it’s as good a time as any.

    Related: What Makes a Great Company Culture (and Why It Matters)

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    Taja Dockendorf

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  • Entrepreneur | Charlie Eblen of Single Tree BBQ on Becoming the

    Entrepreneur | Charlie Eblen of Single Tree BBQ on Becoming the

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    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    Just Do It. For Charlie Eblen, founder of Single Tree BBQ and host of Single Nation Podcast, that famous slogan is both a motto and rallying cry.

    “We really believe that we can be the “Nike of Barbecue.” says Charlie Eblen to Restaurant Influencers host Shawn Walchef of CaliBBQ Media.

    The motivation behind that mission is not to be the top-selling BBQ restaurant and corner the market. Instead, the entrepreneur credits his push to a more noble cause; he wishes to use BBQ to impact the community.

    Eblen has turned to technology to increase his digital hospitality. Taking steps, like implementing an upgraded POS system, is done with the customer in mind.

    “We went with Toast to be able to start doing stuff like having a loyalty program,” says Eblen of the change. “Being able to tell our loyal fans of Single Tree Barbecue that we’re opening a brick and mortar, that we’re going to partner with Heroes Den (a local live music restaurant in Murfreesboro, TN) and we’re going to have live music and we’re going to have a great bar. We’re going to have an amazing barbecue.”

    In addition to technology upgrades, Eblen has dove head first into the new media world of podcasting with the Single Tree Nation podcast. After a push from Digital Media Guru Shawn Walchef, he wasted no time putting ideas to action and broadening the scope of Single Tree’s impact.

    “The purpose of my show is really that it doesn’t have anything to do with Single Tree BBQ. It has everything to do with our community and helping build our community through barbecue, digital hospitality, and online storytelling.” explains Charlie Eblen of the weekly podcast.

    The most apt description of Eblen’s growth as a restaurant influencer is summed up in his own words: “It’s been amazing.”

    ***

    ABOUT RESTAURANT INFLUENCERS:

    Restaurant Influencers is brought to you by Toast, the powerful restaurant point of sale and management system that helps restaurants improve operations, increase sales and create a better guest experience.

    Toast — Powering Successful Restaurants. Learn more about Toast.

    Restaurant Influencers is also supported by AtmosphereTV – TV to Enhance Your Business. Try AtmosphereTV.

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    Shawn P. Walchef

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  • Entrepreneur | What’s on Entrepreneur TV This Week

    Entrepreneur | What’s on Entrepreneur TV This Week

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    Entrepreneur TV’s original programming is built to inspire, inform and fire up the minds of people like you who are on a mission to launch and grow their dream businesses. Watch new docu-series and insightful interviews streaming now on Entrepreneur, Galaxy TV, FreeCast, and Plex.

    This week be sure to watch episodes of:

    Never Settle (Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday)

    This Week’s Featured Show!

    NEVER SETTLE is a critically acclaimed production that has been recognized with an Emmy Award win for “Best Interactivity,” an Emmy Award Nomination for “Best Program Host,” a Digiday Publishing Award nomination for “Best Use of Facebook Live,” a Webby Honoree Award for “Social: Experimental & Innovation,” and an award for “Best Live Show” from the International Academy of Web Television Awards. Mario combines entertaining information and interviews with actionable advice and takeaways for creators to propel forward with their personal and professional goals.

    Episode 201: Have you ever wondered what you could do to ensure you’re bringing value to your community? Have you ever thought about how you could improve your community engagement? And what do you think about your branding? How can you market and monetize your brand? Today, we’re joined by Nicky S, and she’s here to shed light on all your questions regarding personal branding!

    Episode 202: The personalized T-shirt industry is growing exponentially. In this episode of the Never Settle Show, I talk to Kalilah Wright, CEO of Mess In A Bottle, about how to monetize your merchandise, grow your apparel business, find the right talent to work with, and how shoot your shot.

    Episode 105: Life is a hustle. We live on automatic 24/7. We’re all doing so much more with a lot less, but somehow we’re getting it all done. But instead of living in our lives, we’re living in the hustle—the chaos, the craziness. But we can find balance by embracing the MINDFUL HUSTLE. It’s a whole new perspective on living your life.

    Uncensored Crypto (Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday)

    UNCENSORED CRYPTO delivers information about Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, Web3, the blockchain, DeFi, NFTs, and more. Host Michael Hearne interviews the disruptors at the forefront of the crypto revolution shaping our economic, financial, and political future.

    Episode 101: How the carnage of the 2008 financial crisis birthed a new type of monetary system and how this revolutionary new system works for you.

    Start Up (Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday)

    START UP offers its viewers an up-close and personal look into the world of the modern American entrepreneur.

    Episode 601: Daniel Rose wanted to help people, so he left health care, found a plot of land in northeast Tulsa, Oklahoma, and opened Grassroots Ranch. Daniel and his wife Maria provide old-fashioned, all-natural foods using sustainable farming methods.

    Chicago CEOs (Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday)

    CHICAGO CEOs, have you sat down with Chicago’s top CEOs as they discuss what brought them success?

    Episode 101: Bigger than the internet? Why Bitcoin’s underlying technology was as disruptive to the web in 1995 and how it will transform almost every aspect of society, whether you invest or not. A simple breakdown of the Blockchain and why it’s the only way to restore our freedom and our sovereignty and escape “surveillance capitalism.”

    Burt’s Buzz (Monday, Wednesday, Friday)

    BURT’S BUZZ looks at the world of Burt Shavitz, the face, and co-founder of Burt’s Bees.

    Movie: Journey into the remarkable double life of Burt Shavitz, a reclusive beekeeper who reluctantly becomes one of the world’s most recognizable brand identities.

    Mindvalley Talks (Monday, Wednesday, Friday)

    MINDVALLEY TALKS brings you the best personal growth video content from the most brilliant minds on the planet.

    Episode 102: How can you take the message you have and present it to your community (be it in your personal life or business) in a way that allows them to connect and engage with what you have to share?

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    Entrepreneur Staff

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  • Entrepreneur | How to Hire, Retain and Optimize Gen Z Talent

    Entrepreneur | How to Hire, Retain and Optimize Gen Z Talent

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    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    As the oldest members of Generation Z enter the workforce, business leaders are faced with a new set of challenges in attracting, hiring and retaining this demographic. Gen Z is expected to make up 20.7% of the workforce by 2025 and 33.4% by 2030. This generation represents a highly diverse and well-educated cohort with unique needs and values that differ significantly from those of previous generations.

    In order to successfully recruit and optimize Gen Z talent, business leaders must have a clear understanding of this demographic and its unique characteristics. Below are some insights on Gen Z and a few tips on how to recruit and retain Gen Z talent:

    Related: 7 Things to Know Before You Manage a Gen Z Team

    Who is Gen Z?

    To effectively understand Gen Z, it is important to recognize the unique experiences and values that have shaped their worldview. Born between 1997 and 2012, Gen Z is the most diverse, tech-savvy and educated generation to date. Gen Z is characterized by a strong sense of individuality and a desire to make a positive impact on the world. They are socially conscious and politically aware, and they value diversity and equality among different groups. They are also more entrepreneurial and are more likely to start their own businesses compared to previous generations.

    Members of this generation have grown up in a world of rapid technological change and globalization. They have also experienced a number of significant cultural and economic shifts, leading them to be practical, financially savvy and resourceful. They are highly connected, informed and inclusive, with a deep commitment to social and environmental causes. Additionally, Gen Z is characterized by a high level of ambition, drive and entrepreneurial spirit.

    Related: What Gen Z Wants Their Managers to Understand in 2023

    Recruiting and hiring Gen Z

    When it comes to attracting and hiring Gen Z talent, it is important to understand the key factors that are important to this demographic. These include:

    1. Flexibility: The older Gen Zers had just begun entering the workforce when the global pandemic hit in 2020, so these individuals have a very different idea of a “normal” work schedule than that of older generations. Gen Z is highly interested in finding a job that allows them to balance their work and personal lives, which means offering flexible work arrangements, such as remote and hybrid work, and even less traditional work hours.

    2. Technology and innovation: Gen Z is highly tech-savvy and values the use of technology in the workplace. Companies that are able to incorporate the latest technologies and encourage innovation will be most appealing to this demographic.

    3. Purpose and values alignment: As mentioned, Gen Z is highly motivated by the desire to make a positive impact on the world. Therefore, they value employers who provide opportunities to be involved in the community and support various causes. Companies that prioritize sustainability, diversity and inclusion will be most successful in attracting this demographic.

    4. Growth and development opportunities: Most Gen Zers in the workforce have never held a job prior to the one they are at. A first job is mostly about gaining experience and building skill sets so that they can move up the corporate ladder. Gen Zers seek opportunities for personal and professional growth when it comes to finding a job and want to know there is room to grow.

    Related: Gen Z Is Looking For These 5 Things in a Job and Career

    Retaining and optimizing Gen Z talent

    Once you have successfully attracted Gen Zers to your workplace, it is important to create a culture that supports their continued growth and engagement. To retain Gen Z talent and make the most of their contributions, business leaders must:

    1. Foster a sense of purpose and connection: Appeal to Gen Z’s desire to make a positive impact, and establish an inclusive workplace culture that emphasizes their values. Gen Zers want to know and feel like they are a valuable part of an aligned team, and that their contributions are appreciated. Companies should actively seek out ways to connect their employees with the purpose and impact of their work, including embodying the company’s core values into daily motivations.

    2. Provide opportunities for growth: Gen Z values personal and professional growth and seeks out employers who provide opportunities for learning, development and advancement. Companies should invest in employee training and development programs, as well as provide opportunities for professional advancement.

    3. Encourage collaboration and innovative thinking: Gen Z values collaboration, as well as being encouraged to think outside the box. Companies should foster a culture of teamwork, encourage open communication and provide opportunities for employees to share their ideas and insights. It’s also important to understand and take into account different communication styles and how they affect a team’s ability to work together.

    4. Prioritize work-life balance: In addition to initiatives such as flexible schedules and paid time off, companies can do more to prioritize work-life balance. Gen Zers value mental health and well-being, and they are especially fond of workplaces that have procedures in place to support them. This can be as simple as checking in with employees regularly for honest, non-work-related discussions, encouraging and showing interest in their hobbies outside of work and giving praise for a job well done.

    Business leaders who understand how to optimize Gen Z talent will be well-positioned to succeed in today’s rapidly changing business environment. By recognizing the unique characteristics of this demographic and leveraging their strengths, businesses can build a talented and engaged workforce that will help drive their success for years to come. To be successful, business leaders must have a deep understanding of Gen Z and its unique needs, values and preferences, and they must be proactive in creating a workplace culture that supports and nurtures this demographic.

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    Doug Walner

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