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Q: People often talk about what kind of leader they are — but as a first-time founder, I don’t really know. How do I figure that out? – Liza, Oklahoma City, OK
You shouldn’t copy most things — like product ideas, marketing copy, or someone else’s homework. But you can copy leadership techniques.
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Adam Bornstein
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There’s no question: More of us are working with a disability or a limiting condition for a longer period than ever before. This means we must change our perspective on our own productivity and be willing to see ourselves leading with a limitation. Disabled people must be ready to reach for the brass ring as they make up more of the executive team.
In the era of the “big quit,” employers are more willing than ever to hire diverse candidates with exceptional needs and limitations. The reason? Many people with disabilities have already proven they can go above and beyond expectations in their personal lives — and on the job.
But are you ready to take the next big step and leverage your strengths gained through adversity to aim for a leadership role? Here are four mindsets you need to take the leap of faith and expand your vision beyond the invisible barriers holding you back.
Related: How Physical Disability Helped Me Become a VC-Backed Tech Founder
There’s no greater opportunity to demonstrate your creativity than the journey through progressive visual impairment, multiple sclerosis or autism spectrum disorder. Whatever your limitation, finding creative solutions is the key to every closed door, every blocked opportunity and every unaccommodating venue.
Many disabled people get up much earlier than workers without limitations; for a person with multiple sclerosis, getting dressed can take more than twice the time most people would need. A legally blind manager must listen to emails read through speech recognition technology, whereas most people would visually scan the most important messages and easily toss out the rest.
Since you’ve found creative solutions to navigate obstacles in your personal journey, you can take this creativity to the next level. If you’ve been considering competing for a leadership role, use your creative side to uncover new methods and embrace innovation. Your adaptability and willingness to explore new technology will propel you to a new level of efficiency. You can be a beacon for others who want more from their careers. You’re a hurricane of inspiration; you’ve learned to meet change with confidence rather than fear.
Related: How to Be More Creative in Your Business
Now that you’ve proven that your limitation doesn’t define you, it’s time to capitalize on the level of mindfulness you have gained through your journey. Your natural mindset is an awareness of staff members’ stress as they go about their day. There will be decisions as to how work will be done. Accessibility and accommodation are already part of your wheelhouse. You will come into a leadership position with an edge. Look around your workplace and see what needs redefining. Can small changes make a big difference in how team members work together?
Perhaps living with a disability has taught you how to leverage strengths and weaknesses for maximum output. You can spot hidden potential and get the most productivity out of others because you have overcome the obstacles in your own life. You have learned to complement your team members’ traits, learning to demand more of yourself while stepping back to let others shine when the time is right. This is the essence of leading with empathy, guiding people toward accepting one another’s gifts and working with each other’s shortcomings. You will be the first to admit that we are all a blend of both. Other executives will want to study your leadership style when you take the next step.
Part of living with a limiting condition is learning to advocate for yourself and discovering strength in your vulnerability. You will excel in negotiations and motivating people because you can relate and empathize with those struggling and celebrating their victories.
You may think sharing your journey through disability or chronic illness might bring unwanted attention or put you in a weakened position in the eyes of others. If you’re aiming for a leadership role, you may fear that telling your story could risk everything you’re working for. What is intriguing is how often a person’s journey weighs heavily in hiring decisions. The ability to move people with your struggle and connect authentically with others who have walked through adverse circumstances is often the deciding factor when company executives are looking to fill leadership roles. Most important, you will be a source of inspiration for people of all levels in the company. Finding your voice is vital to relate to employees and help them feel a part of the corporate community.
For you, “speaking up” could be asking for the role you want or advocating for your ideas. Learn to talk your worth and make your mark on the team. Finding your voice is the best way to position yourself for opportunity. You should be able to explain why you should get the job, why your idea will succeed, and why your story is important.
Related: Need to Negotiate? Here’s the Best Way to Advocate for Yourself for Maximum Impact.
What is your legacy in your workplace? Are you known as an overcomer, an advocate, or a leader with a fresh perspective? You can gauge your worth to your workplace by taking stock of the impact, the “footprint” you have made in your company, no matter how large or small the business may be. It’s never too late to change your legacy. Perhaps, in the beginning, you were getting your feet under you, discovering your resourcefulness. Now, it’s time to expand your vision and think about how you can leave your mark in business and life. This is a chance to live what you have learned and be mindful of the legacy you leave for the future.
Think about how you can make a difference and become a force for good when you finally land in an expanded role. It’s good practice to mentally prepare to step into leadership. You’ve served and observed, taking notes and promising yourself that if you ever rose to a powerful position, you would advocate for those who needed it. Your tendency to recognize others’ strengths despite their vulnerabilities will allow you to comfortably take charge with a heart of compassion toward those who may also wish to rise above their circumstances and see their dreams come true.
If you’re aiming for a position in leadership, let your confidence shine. After all, you’ve gone up against greater foes than unmotivated employees or a sluggish sales report. You’ve battled for your life and come out on the winning side. Go into your new role with the same strength and bold attitude you showed everyone, the positive outlook that helped you stay in the ring, refusing to let pain, anxiety, or frustration take you out. The culture is shifting as businesses learn to celebrate exceptional people while they honor diversity in the workplace. As a disabled worker, you can lead confidently, charting a new course and breaking new ground for all those who dream of overcoming adversity and rising to new horizons in leadership.
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Nancy Solari
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Let’s face the hard truth: We are never fully equipped with adequate information to predict — for sure — what will happen in the next couple of days. For businesses, this could be an interrupted cash flow when an investor pulls out of a deal. It could be a lockdown that stalls your plans to advertise your new brand at the next regional convention. Who knows?
When unexpected events happen, a business must adapt quickly or risk going under. Interestingly, the fate of a business — especially a startup — lies mainly on the shoulders of the founders.
How founders respond to unanticipated events varies. Some are reactive. Others are proactive. While the latter is better, we all have limits. Frequent exposure to the unknown can cause anxiety and other psychological strains that can be your business’s undoing.
How many unexpected and unpleasant events can you endure, and how quickly can you navigate through them? That’s a difficult question to answer, I know. Here are five ways that you can prepare yourself.
Related: How to Prepare for an Unexpected, Unwanted and Unwelcome Business Setback
As founders, you’ve had to wear many hats in your company. You’ve assumed the roles of HR, operations and even finance. You’ve developed skills you never knew you had the abilities for.
All these experiences can spark the belief that you’re single-handedly capable of handling anything that comes your way. Although this confidence in your abilities is good for entrepreneurs, it could lead to the Dunning-Kruger Effect, which is defined as “a cognitive bias whereby people with limited knowledge or competence in a given intellectual or social domain greatly overestimate their own knowledge or competence in that domain relative to objective criteria or to the performance of their peers or of people in general.”
Successful entrepreneurs have accurate knowledge of themselves and their capabilities. They also understand the people they work with and have great confidence in their abilities.
By quickly realizing that your capabilities are not suited for an unanticipated event, you will be better disposed to seek help from those that are better suited for the situation at hand.
Running a business is all about making plans, setting deadlines and pursuing them. Things don’t often go to plan, and deadlines are missed. These are quite expected, but at times, things may spiral in the wrong direction, and chaos could ensue.
To avoid chaos, founders need to keep their heads high and remain on top of the situation. One way to do this is to create buffers.
You can start by surrounding yourself with social buffers — familiar individuals that make you feel very comfortable. These could be family members, buddies or close colleagues. Having them around when events take a wrong turn can reduce your chances of acting impulsively out of anxiety or fear.
Time buffers are very helpful, too. When the unexpected happens, business operations are expected to continue. As you set deadlines, you should consider increasing the timeline of each milestone by about 20%. This will provide enough time to navigate unexpected events without threatening upcoming processes.
Related: 4 Ways to Make Sure Your Business Survives the Unexpected
When quick, unpredicted market changes threaten business survival, founders often seek assistance from outside their organization. Most times, founders seek out other founders in similar situations to help themselves figure things out.
Many M&A deals during the Dot Com bubble burst — one of the most challenging times in our recent economic history — happened between founders within the same network. The relationship between Elon Musk and Peter Thiel is a typical example.
Your network may not be there for only M&A opportunities. Sometimes, you need to assess your direction against theirs from time to time. If your industry is volatile and moving in a new unforeseen direction, it will do you a lot of good to know how your colleagues are going about it.
Founders must recognize that unexpected events can be a good thing. It brings opportunities. Paradoxically, being fazed by the challenges that come with the unexpected can blind you to those opportunities.
It’s best to paint a big picture of your business. Clearly define your grand mission. And keep an open mind as to how that mission can be accomplished. Things don’t always have to work out the way you planned them. But they will work out.
Just like road trips, a wrong turn of events can make you reconsider your route. It could take a little longer to reach the destination. As long as you have a clear big picture, you will be more likely to stay in control of the situation.
Related: 4 Ways to Prepare Now so Your Business Survives the Unexpected Later
Unpredicted changes in your business or industry may create new challenges. Sometimes, we are required to solve these challenges. But what can you do if you neither have the capabilities nor resources to solve them?
You can simply accept the issue and commit to other things within your resources and capabilities. Studies have shown that acceptance and commitment can reduce your chances of acting anxiously when you’re fazed by a fortuitous event.
Also, the challenges created by the occurrence of these events may not be yours to solve, even though you have the skills and resources. You have to accept this, too.
Founders must learn to use resources efficiently. If there is an already existing solution that could be creatively used to solve a problem, you should try that out first before committing to creating a solution. This will save you lots of time and resources.
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Judah Longgrear
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We’ve all been told that “patience is a virtue.” Our parents admonished us when we incessantly asked, “Are we there yet?” Our teachers scolded us when we requested our grades back mere minutes after we finished the test. And even though we have now (hopefully) aged out of our restless childhoods, it is still just as important that leaders practice patience in business.
Businesses are under immense pressure to produce results at break-neck speed in today’s fast-paced world. However, more often than not, the best, most sustainable results take time to achieve. What’s more, business results require the efforts of fallible, imperfect humans — people will miscommunicate, get sick and disagree. Month-long projects stretch into years, and rockstar employees fall behind. Patience is a critical yet undervalued element of great leadership — but how do leaders know when to be patient and when their patience has become inaction to resolve a long-term issue?
Related: Why Patience And Kindness Need To Be At The Center Of How You Run Your Business
In our business, we spend millions of dollars a month and we have precise guidelines for the amount and speed at which we expect to see returns on our investments (ROIs). We closely monitor ROIs and know how to recalibrate when our returns are lower or slower than expected. However, these fine-tuned metrics become much more nebulous when investing in human capital.
We invest in our employees with the expectation that they will return that investment with tangible business results. For example, if we hire a team of developers at a specific yearly rate and they help our company make five times that rate within a year, we know we’ve made a solid investment. But what if that year turns into two or three years?
Patience in business does not mean we let everything slide, twiddling our thumbs as we invest more and more into never-ending projects. Rather, it means we monitor our investments closely, knowing when patience is required and when it is time to step in and recalibrate our approach.
Related: Patience Is the Secret to Boosting Your Profits
Movies have been made about impatient leaders who terrorize their employees with impossible expectations. However, leading with too much patience, though not as obviously harmful as too little, can hurt everyone in the end. Patience can quickly morph into avoidance or inaction; employees may lose faith in or take advantage of their leader, and business growth will stall. We must balance extending patience to our employees while also holding them accountable. We don’t want to become Meryl Streep in The Devil Wears Prada, but we don’t want to be Steve Carrell in The Office, either.
In my role, I aim to lead with a growth mindset and I have faith that most people can develop into productive team members. But when employees are not meeting expectations, have a toxic attitude or their behavior negatively affects team morale, it’s a pretty easy call to put them on a performance plan. If they don’t improve, investing their resources in a new, more positive employee is often the next step.
On the other hand, some underperforming employees are a great fit for our culture and want to improve. When this happens, we can extend a greater degree of patience. In the past, I offered a promising but underperforming employee two options: leave today and accept six weeks’ severance or work to improve, but if they showed no improvement in a timely manner, they would only receive two weeks’ severance. They decided to stay and have become one of our highest-performing employees.
Remember, “It’s not what you preach; it’s what you tolerate.” We cannot tolerate a toxic or underperforming employee just to appear patient — not only will it hurt the business, but it could also hurt other employees. But we shouldn’t be so quick to fire that our employees live in fear. Leaders must balance how much patience they offer to create a supportive, productive and safe workplace.
Related: How to Harness the Power of Patience to be a Better Leader
When deciding how much or how little patience to extend to a struggling employee, there are three questions to ask:
This last point is a tricky one. I hope all employees will thrive and create fair value for the company. Since I have a growth mindset, I believe people can learn and improve. However, we need to weigh how much time it will take an employee to improve against how much it will take to replace them. We can generally hire and train a new employee to be productive in three to six months. So, if we’re not certain an underperforming employee can improve in that time, should we replace them or should we be patient? The right answer isn’t always immediately clear.
Take the time to consider each employee’s unique situation before making a decision. Companies that hire and fire fast may lose employee trust and create a negative atmosphere. Give employees the chance to step up to the plate before making the drastic choice to fire them — nobody wants to work in an office where they are always afraid of the chopping block. At the same time, no one wants to work with co-workers who don’t do their fair share and drag down the company’s performance.
Patience can make or break a company. With too little patience, the workplace may become toxic, leading to employee burnout and high turnover rates. With too much patience, growth will stall, projects will get delayed and businesses will miss out on the growth that allows employees to see increases in compensation and responsibility.
Patience is an art, not a science. There is no magic formula to tell you whether a project is worth waiting for or an employee worth keeping. Aristotle said, “Patience is bitter, but its fruit is sweet.” To taste the fruit, we must find the right balance of patience to build a company that allows employees to thrive, customers to be happy and shareholders to prosper.
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Daniel Todd
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It’s no secret that emotional intelligence is a valuable skill for business leaders. However, many CEOs struggle to cultivate it within their team. Read along as we discuss the benefits of emotional intelligence in the workplace and how to develop it to enhance your leadership skills and business strategy.
Shivendu Jauhari | Getty Images
Emotional intelligence is “the ability to perceive, interpret, demonstrate, control, evaluate and use emotions to communicate with and relate to others effectively and constructively. Some experts suggest that emotional intelligence is more important than IQ for success in life,” (Verywell Mind).
Utilizing emotional intelligence can help facilitate open communication and strengthen relationships between executives, managers and employees, creating an improved work culture overall. It’s important for leaders to not only know how to foster emotional intelligence within themselves but how to encourage it from their team as well.
Related: 5 Ways Emotional Intelligence Will Make You a Better Leader
In his bestselling book, Emotional Intelligence, psychologist and author Daniel Goleman crafts a framework in which leaders can leverage five key traits to successfully implement emotional intelligence in the workplace. These traits are influenced both by experience and intuitiveness. The five pillars are:
1. Self-awareness:
Our emotions do not only affect us, they affect those around us as well. The ability to recognize your own emotional state and its impact on others is a skill that can be developed over time. For example, employees may be reluctant to ask for help if they can see that their boss is already stressed out with other tasks. While you should not hide your emotions, it’s important to be cognizant of how they come across to others.
2) Self-regulation:
Though we can’t always control our emotions, we can control the way we react to them. Self-regulation (impulse control) is critical to maintaining good relationships in the workplace. Leaders who are able to check themselves before reacting are better able to handle difficult situations and are more respectable.
Self-regulation also promotes accountability as it helps create a clear set of expectations for how to act in the workplace.
3) Motivation:
Goleman writes, “Leadership is not domination, but the art of persuading people to work toward a common goal.”
Motivating your employees is perhaps the most important action toward achieving alignment within your team. When all team members are motivated and focused on the same goal, you are more likely to hit your targets. Motivate your employees by setting clear objectives, celebrating wins and victories, and recognizing individual contributions.
4. Empathy:
Empathic leaders are able to put themselves in other people’s shoes and act with fairness. They are generally well-liked by employees, as they are more understanding and able to relate on a personal level. Having empathy does not just mean caring about others — it means being able to recognize others’ emotions even when they are not forthcoming and being able to conduct conversations appropriately with the other person’s emotional state in mind.
A study by the Center for Creative Leadership found that “managers who practiced empathetic leadership toward direct reports were viewed as better performers by their bosses.” Empathic leadership is not restricted to C-suite executives — managers and other level employees can benefit from practicing empathy at work.
5. Social skills:
Social skills like active listening and verbal/nonverbal communication will lead to stronger trust among a team. Leaders with social skills are better communicators and know how to work with different types of people. Effective communication is one of the most important skills for a leader to have and proves useful when addressing issues or tough topics. Having good social skills also makes leaders appear more approachable to their team members, enabling positive working relationships and an effective feedback loop.
Related: Use These 7 Emotional Intelligence Tips to Be a Better Leader
Exhibiting emotional intelligence in your business can lead to countless improvements, from enhanced performance to a better culture. We’ve outlined a few of the main benefits below:
Team alignment: Rally your team members around a common goal. This creates cohesiveness across the board and helps ensure no boxes in your strategic execution are left unchecked.
Increased productivity: Employees will work harder and faster with the right motivation. They will be encouraged to ask questions for clarity and explore new ideas as they work toward the specified company goals.
Increased transparency and accountability: Emotional awareness is a desirable trait among leaders when it comes to the way employees see them. This prompts them to be more open and truthful with their team, creating opportunities for increased transparency in the company. By being upfront about certain initiatives, metrics and company information, leaders gain trust and understanding from their team. Establishing this kind of transparency and accountability helps fill in gaps and ensures that the right people are working toward the right goals.
Better communication: Communication is king when it comes to getting anything done as a team, and it’s easier to communicate when you know how you feel. Emotionally intelligent leaders are able to effectively express what is needed in a way that can be understood by others. They are also good listeners and know how to get a point across while also taking into account the other person’s viewpoints and opinions. This ties into the pillar of self-regulation, as being able to control impulsive responses is another important part of effective communication.
Related: How to Cultivate Higher Emotional Intelligence in Your Employees
It’s no coincidence that the five pillars of emotional intelligence are also key traits of a good leader. It’s important for leaders to not only exhibit traits of emotional intelligence but also to recognize and celebrate them within their team. So, how can leaders cultivate emotional intelligence?
1. Show appreciation:
It’s easy for executives to overlook the importance of employee appreciation, even though the smallest gestures can make a huge difference. When employees are happy, the whole business benefits. Research has shown that having happy employees increases productivity, sales, employee retention, employer net promoter Scores (eNPS); the list goes on.
Remember to give praise for a job well done and ensure your employees know their hard work does not go unnoticed. This can be as simple as a shoutout in your all-hands team meeting or a handwritten “thank-you” note. When employees receive praise, they feel valued. And when they feel valued, they are more motivated to work hard and deliver exceptional results.
2. Practice what you preach:
Respectable people lead by example. This includes making an effort to exhibit the positive traits that you expect to see from your team and acting in solidarity with them. In order to be effective, a team must be unified from the top down. Actions like giving thanks, admitting to wrongdoings and having an open-door policy will help create a healthier environment.
3. Get to know yourself:
Understanding yourself is the foundation of emotional intelligence. Self-awareness and reflection involve understanding one’s emotions, strengths, weaknesses, needs and drives. It’s a major factor in emotional regulation, as it helps provide insight into one’s emotional reactions and makes it easier to control them. Make an effort to be mindful of how you react in different situations, and get comfortable with the idea of self-reflection. This kind of reflection is not just good for enhancing your leadership skills, but for the soul as well.
4. Get to know your people:
You know it’s important to establish good working relationships with your coworkers, but establishing good personal relationships goes a long way, too. Knowing your employees on a personal level means being able to better understand them and their emotional states and allows you to determine how to best work with them.
Don’t underestimate the importance of one-on-one time between CEOs/managers and team members. Having frequent and consistent 1:1 meetings helps drive performance but also provides opportunities for open communication and relationship-building. Team members are more likely to provide truthful and constructive feedback if they feel like they are being heard.
5. Provide training:
As mentioned, emotional intelligence is a skill that can be developed and improved with practice. It’s important to invest in emotional intelligence training and development programs if you want your team to be successful. This includes both emotional awareness and emotional regulation, as well as communication skills, decision-making skills and more.
Developing emotional intelligence requires practice, but it can have a huge impact on the success of an organization. By recognizing emotional intelligence within your team and investing in emotional intelligence training, you can create a better working environment that leads to improved performance and higher morale.
Emotional intelligence is not something that can be forced on people or taught overnight. It takes time and commitment from leaders, but it can have a positive and lasting impact on the team as a whole when practiced and supported regularly. It’s a valuable tool that can help business leaders be more effective, improve communication and increase trust.
By investing in emotional intelligence, your business will be able to reap the rewards of a better-connected workforce that feels appreciated, respected and motivated to succeed.
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Doug Walner
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Anything less than full throttle is not an option for any business leader, but when you’re running the company with a disability, it takes something more than overcoming a lack of confidence or changing perceptions in the boardroom.
It’s already tough to get to the top, let alone run your own business. When you get there, taking a day off is not an option; neither is calling in sick. If you require special accommodations, your biggest fear is that corporate heads will put someone else in your role — someone without the need for doctor’s visits, work accommodations, or even surgeries.
Leaders with limitations often push themselves to prove to stockholders and CEOs that they can thrive in a stressful environment, outperform others gunning for the top role, and do everything themselves. But this is an unrealistic and dangerous way of thinking; this mindset is often responsible for deteriorating health and well-being as leaders put off important medical visits, forego physical therapy or miss medications.
There is a way to take control of your health and wellness, but it takes a proactive, intentional approach. You can run your personal healthcare strategy the way you run your company — using the skills that brought you your current success. Here are three ways to take back the reins and manage your health.
Related: How Hiring People With Disabilities Will Make Your Business Stronger
You may feel you don’t have time for your condition, but if you intentionally plan your medical visits, you can take control of every facet of your personal health care by choosing when you see health care providers. You can decide the time of day and, most often, the frequency of visits to physicians and therapists.
Think about which appointments are taxing and which help you and your mindset; in other words, which visits work with your day rather than against it. Some physical therapy sessions, for example, might look like a gym routine; for others, therapy might be more relaxing, such as massage or meditation. Think about where in the day your medical visit would best help your productivity — and plan accordingly.
If therapy relieves you, schedule it early in the day, perhaps at the beginning. You can choose your medical professional based on availability in the morning. But if you’re going through something that puts you in a negative mental or emotional state, save it for the end of the day or even the weekend.
Business leaders with limitations often complain that they don’t like leaving work, where they feel most confident and take pride in what they do, to walk into a doctor’s office feeling helpless and out of control. If you’re in corporate leadership, you may feel that the negativity you experience going to the doctor goes against the positive mindset you need to motivate others and run your company effectively. But the skills you employ daily running your business can take you far in planning and managing your healthcare needs.
Related: Why Leaders with Disabilities Bring a Secret Weapon to the Negotiating Table
As a leader, you’ve been hired to solve the tough problems for your company. You can apply this same know-how to your healthcare by assembling a team of positive, upbeat and effective healthcare providers to help you achieve your wellness goals. So often, we accept assigned healthcare workers or doctors on referral. We don’t look past the general requirements of insurance policies to ask questions that could help us find the right individuals to form a healthcare team to support our needs.
Find like-minded people to care for you. If you need a physical therapist with a “coach” mindset, do the research, read the reviews and find one. If you need a counselor for talk therapy to help you cope with your condition, keep digging and asking questions until you find the right person.
Since you’re giving up a large portion of your day to attend to your health needs, use the same mindset you have for hiring people at the workplace. Does each person on your team have a positive mindset? Do you feel uplifted when you leave the clinic, even if all the news isn’t good? Does each member of your healthcare team listen to your needs and help you find solutions? Why would you sacrifice your health by accepting unvetted practitioners if you don’t accept inferior performance at work?
Don’t accept “No,” for an answer, and don’t listen when someone says that a much-needed treatment is not covered by insurance. Often, a little self-advocating can go a long way. You will eventually find a person willing to help you get answers. Using your leadership skills to advocate for yourself and how you stand in the gap for your company is important.
Related: Employers Need Workers. Now They’re Realizing The Untapped Talent of These People.
If you’re in a leadership role, you may not hire employees directly, but knowing who to trust in your workforce is central to managing your company if you have a disability. You’ll need a “go-to” person to step in for you. Find the person who can keep the home fires burning, take that person under your wing, and bring them up to speed on the specific needs of your role in the company. Share with them how you do things, especially the daily schedule, the “musts” of your job, and where to find important information.
You can simplify this for others if you learn to embrace technology. Invest in researching tech that keeps you in the loop, even if you’re in physical therapy or recovering from surgery. Look for training on iPhone or Android technology that can help you see spreadsheets, scan reports, analyze productivity or go over profit and loss figures, all from your phone.
Thriving at work is essential; however, managing your time is key to taking control of your wholeness. Your well-being is as vital to the company as it is to you and your loved ones. There’s always time to invest in a healthier and more productive future. You can turn the tide on your health needs using the know-how that brought you to lead in the first place.
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Nancy Solari
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2022 was the first year of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion accountability for inclusive leaders. Our future will be filled with increasing expectations from employees, customers and business partners, looking for us to step up and courageously respond to societal needs and problems across human differences. It won’t be easy, but it will be good.
Let’s bring some substance into our learning of how to lead more inclusively. Here’s a deeper dive into four crucial concepts and skills for inclusive leaders in the coming year.
I’m unsure when or why we permitted kindness to become a sign of fragility or ineffectiveness. We have a nauseating array of “leaders” who demonize people who disagree politically with them, call names, refuse to care and instead foment the pain of trans people. The examples of meanness and cruelty are simply too long to list. Kindness is often seen as a weakness in the workplace. There’s an epidemic of giving into the self-obsessed impulse to make ourselves right and make others wrong, almost for the insidious sport of it. That is a way to shred relationships. And we see massive malice on social media.
Kindness is respecting another person’s dignity in ways that help them be happy, comforted, heard or whole.
Inclusion can be defined in the same way. As an inclusive leader, how do you ensure that your colleagues know that you care about their psychological safety, day-to-day struggles and ambitions? Choose kindness and equip others to be alright, not wrong. Prioritize relationships.
Related: Why Kindness Is A Crucial Quality For Leaders
Inclusive leaders think critically, use credible data and make decisions on that basis. They include their teams and peers in decision-making. This is not an argument for cold-hearted objectivity — inclusive leaders take the complexity of human identities into account and seek to factor in the emotions of all involved. Evidence, facts, truth: whatever words you use, the idea is central for effective and inclusive leaders.
Inclusive leaders must reject conspiracy-based opinions without evidence, excessively emotional pleas that are more about advocacy than the business you’re there to conduct or unending deliberations or analyses that claim to be ‘inclusive’ at the expense of actually making a good and timely decision.
Diversity, equity and inclusion should be a source of rigor in your leadership work. Build a healthy definition of ‘evidence’ (and emotions are one kind of evidence), and stay in the game by making inclusive decisions.
This is not a complicated point: we cannot prepare ourselves and our children for the future if we are afraid of our collective past. No committed inclusive leader will accept a law, a policy or a practice to censor history because it makes someone uncomfortable. We need to say this plainly: it’s pure fear and unproductive denial to pass laws that “protect white people from discomfort” when solving the ongoing impacts of racism or antisemitism, or homophobia.
Such a stance stifles learning, refuses to prepare all our children for the multiracial and otherwise diverse reality of the world we already live in, and directly supports the forms of systemic bias that real patriots fight every day. Suppose your school district or government has passed such laws or policies as an inclusive leader. In that case, you should consider how to change such decisions with powerful education and insistent kindness.
Related: Don’t Let Fear Conquer Your Greatness
The multicultural future has already arrived. Maybe even our families have evolved: babies of color have been the majority of children born for six years, and interracial marriages are now commonplace. Study the 2020 Census, and you will realize our population has been diversifying for generations. The identity mix of your customers and employees is completely profound right now. The way to learn about diversity is widening: neurodivergence, working across generations, navigating languages and cultures to grow globally, understanding the impact of spirituality and religious differences, etc.
Demographics cause us to consider how our future is already here and coming close. And the elements of DEI will only expand ‘in the future.’ All this change is pushing on your business model: where you source product and talent, how you manage differences with customers and reach new ones, how you work with suppliers and regulators, how DEI equips you to measure what matters in your unit, why you invest in a market or a merger. Inclusive leaders engage demography, so we have the chance to thrive.
These are some profound challenges for inclusive leaders in the coming years. I encourage you to pursue these Four C’s: choose kindness, commit to evidence-based decision-making, center a future on the realities of the past and champion demographics.
And a final thought: leading with these challenges in view will help you mend and tend to family relationships during the holiday season and beyond. We can listen to build trust and practice inclusive leadership wherever we go.
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Chuck H. Shelton
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If you don’t foster this skill, you’ll fall behind the pack financially and professionally in 2023.
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Ben Angel
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Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
Can you feel it? The tides of the workplace norm are quickly shifting. Which side are you on? Are you stuck in the past where traditional plug-and-play marketing methods are fading away as the revenue runs dry? Or are you sinking into your more empathetic side to support a lean team through every ebb and flow of the business world?
Melodramatic maybe, but true nonetheless. Without a doubt, the business market evolved, and the typical consumer avatar shifted in the past few years. No industry was safe from this drastic change.
Clients know they deserve more when it comes to the customer journey, and they’re not afraid to keep searching until they find a company that is willing to make good on their investment. Right now, you need to ask yourself one simple question … Are you that company? Better yet, are you that leader?
The answer to these questions, among other factors, lies in your ability to empathize with both your clients and your team.
Related: Why Empathetic Leadership Is More Important Than Ever
To create a meaningful customer experience, you have to know how to read people’s nonverbal cues, understand their verbal language and see the world from their perspective — not just your own.
It takes a high level of emotional intelligence to truly comprehend what others are experiencing and then be able to adjust your words or actions accordingly. This is the empath’s gift. Being an empath doesn’t mean you are a pushover.
We both know you can’t let others run over you if you desire to be a true titan of business. That being said, your team members need to know that when they come to you with concerns, you’ve got their back — always.
On the other hand, clients need to feel confident in your abilities from the start. They also need to know without a shadow of a doubt that you’re always working on their behalf and in their best interest. When they feel this connection with you, they’ll be much more likely to remain a customer for life.
So, ask yourself again … are you that company? That leader? If not, it’s time to start developing your empathy skills so you can be. Here are a few actions you can take to get started:
The ability to empathize is a crucial business strategy that all leaders should master to be successful. Empathy allows you to connect with your team members and customers on a deeper level, understand their needs and wants and create a more meaningful customer experience.
In a world where traditional marketing methods are beginning to fade away, empathy can be the key to differentiating your company from the rest.
In its simplest form, an empath is a person with the ability to understand and feel the emotions of others. It goes beyond being able to put yourself in someone else’s shoes; an empath experiences the world of others as if they were living it themselves.
If you’re not an empath, reading the sentence above probably left a large question mark in your mind. How can anyone feel exactly what someone else is feeling at any given moment? What an enlightened question. Here’s the science behind it.
Every human has what’s called a mirror neuron system. This system is responsible for our ability to understand the emotions and intentions of others by simulating their feelings in our own brains. In other words, we can feel others’ emotions because our brain is wired to do so.
Some people have stronger mirror neurons than others, which makes them more empathic. These individuals are typically more in tune with the emotions of those around them and can easily read nonverbal cues. They’re also quick to build relationships and trust because people feel understood when they’re around them.
It doesn’t matter whether you’re an empath or not; the most important thing is that you understand how empathy works and why it’s such an important business tool. The first step to using empathy in business is to understand the different types of empathy. There are three main types:
Cognitive empathy: This type of empathy allows you to understand how someone else is feeling by putting yourself in their shoes and seeing the world from their perspective. It’s the ability to see things from multiple angles and understand another person’s point of view.
Emotional empathy: Emotional empathy is the ability to feel what another person is feeling. It’s different from cognitive empathy because it doesn’t require you to put yourself in someone else’s shoes; you simply feel their emotions as if they were your own.
Physical empathy: Physical empathy is the ability to understand and respond to another person’s physical sensations. This includes both pain and pleasure. For example, if someone is telling you about a difficult time they’re going through, you might physically mirror their expressions or body language to show them that you understand what they’re feeling.
Related: How Understanding the Power of Empathy Makes You a Better Leader
Yes, we’re all humans, but we probably all know that one person who is stone-cold all the time. And not in a good way. If you’re that person, do you truly believe your employees are going to enjoy working for you?
Being unapproachable and unwilling to listen causes low employee retention rates and low company morale. Everyone comes to work knowing they have to walk on eggshells because their boss isn’t going to understand that an unexpected family emergency is the real reason why the assignment was a day late.
As the leader of a team with varying emotional needs, you must step up to the plate and develop your empathetic side. Empathy is a crucial quality for any leader who desires to build trust, rapport and understanding with their team.
Empathetic leaders are also able to see situations from multiple perspectives and make better decisions as a result. When leaders can empathize with their team, they create a safe and supportive environment where people feel comfortable sharing their thoughts and ideas.
Once you tap into this side of yourself, you’ll quickly start seeing a shift in your team’s dynamic. Here’s how:
Try to put yourself in other people’s shoes: This means trying to see things from their perspective, without judgment.
Pay attention to both verbal and nonverbal cues: What are they saying? How are they saying it? What is their body language telling you?
Be present in the moment: This means being fully focused on the other person and what they’re saying or doing.
Practice active listening: This means not only hearing what the other person is saying but also trying to understand the meaning behind their words.
Remember, empathy is a skill that takes time and practice to develop. The more you do it, the better you’ll become at it.
To scale your business with sustainable systems that succeed, your employees need to feel free to open up and share their thoughts and feelings. You hired each and every person on your team for a reason — that reason being that you see a creative and innovative spark in them that presents itself as an incredible asset to your business.
Why shut down their creative flow before they have the room to flourish? Your business’ next big breakthrough could come from the mind of one of your talented team members. Imagine how much impact and income you could miss out on by silencing your team member with a billion-dollar idea they’re too afraid to share.
Related: The Future of Leadership is Empathy—And Companies are Better for It
Empathy is a critical business strategy because it allows you to:
Develop deeper relationships with your clients
Build trust and rapport
Create a safe space for sharing
Understand needs and how to best support them
Generate new ideas
What is a business without its strong employee-client relationships? If clients can’t trust your brand, they’re not going to purchase your products or services. That’s simply a fact.
Being authentic and showing clients that there’s an emotionally intelligent human behind your well-oiled machine helps you fully understand the needs of your target market and create products and services that meet those needs. When you have empathy, you’re able to see both the big picture and the smaller details. Soon, you’ll be making informed decisions that benefit everyone aligned with your brand.
Maybe you’ve run a successful operation by being that cold, calculating business person. But what if you’re missing out on something phenomenal by not opening yourself up to the power of empathy? Sure, it might be a little out of your comfort zone at first, but that’s how growth happens. By stepping outside of what’s familiar and exploring new territory, elevation is inevitable.
Empathy is a learned skill that takes time and practice to master. But it’s well worth the effort because it will make you an impactful leader, an effective communicator and an enlightened human being.
When you’re able to see the world through the eyes of others, you gain a greater understanding of the human experience. And that is a powerful tool that can be used to make a positive impact in the world. The bottom line is that empathy is essential for both personal and professional success. If you want to be an awe-inspiring leader that invites loyalty, you must first master the art of empathy.
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Shaan Rais
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Recently I decided it would be a good idea to participate in a Kidnapping Survival Course. During the course, I would become trained in handling a real-life kidnapping, interrogation and being hunted for a day by professional bounty hunters.
It sounds nuts, I know. So, why did I do this?
One reason — to learn critical performance and stress management mindset and skills.
I believe that mindset is everything. It can be the difference between success and failure. It can determine whether a business will grow from five figures to six figures, to seven figures and beyond. Mindset is essential for your success.
I learned this specifically when I picked up my first business book in 2002 by Robert Kiyosaki. His timeless must-read book “Rich Dad Poor Dad” completely shifted the way I thought and changed my life trajectory. Since then, there have been numerous books, classes and workshops that I have invested in spending over $100,000 in education to upgrade my mindset.
And that is precisely why I decided to take a kidnapping survival course. Realistically, I don’t think I will get kidnapped anytime soon. Still, I thought to myself, if I can learn to survive a kidnapping, being trained by the same people that train Navy SEALS, the CIA and the FBI, then I can control my emotions when a major crisis happens in my business. I can control my communication when working with customers, clients and my team.
What did I learn & how does it apply to business?
Related: 4 Leadership Lessons I Learned From a Marine Corps General
All entrepreneurs need preparation. Without preparation, you become more vulnerable. To survive a kidnapping, you must first be mentally prepared. To survive the ups and downs of business, preparation always helps us get one step ahead. No matter if we are preparing a pitch deck to ask for investment or if we are preparing our tasks for the week. You can’t control when you get kidnapped or oftentimes what is going to happen in business, but you can control your reaction and be prepared is essential to making that easier.
As mentioned before, being prepared is essential, and planning is an important part of that. To survive a kidnapping, one must plan to evade those trying to capture them. Choosing undercover personas that blend in well with the environment and don’t stand out is essential. This is also essential in business. Robust plans can make our business operations run more smoothly and keep us operating more effectively. The more you can create an educated and detailed plan, the better your chances of success.
This is the most simple underestimated lesson we learned. When a Navy SEAL gets kidnapped, they are trained to manage their breath. Why? Because breathing will manage your brain’s stress response. When you fear something, your amygdala reacts. Your heart rate and the levels of adrenaline and cortisol start to increase. If you can learn how to slow your breath down, it will control your heart rate and begin to wash away the stress hormones. It also improves brain functioning so we can focus better and make better decisions.
Related: How to Find Clarity Through the Conscious Breath
During our kidnapping simulation, we stayed undercover the entire day while bounty hunters searched for us. We had to change clothes regularly to blend in. We had to hide when we were spotted and run when we were being chased. We had no control over when we would be under stress and had to react instantly. We were taught to remain completely adaptable. This is very similar to business. I can’t tell you how often entrepreneurs (myself included) get stuck on resisting change. Often it is the main reason why most businesses fail. It is important to plan well and follow your plan, but it is also essential to know when to adapt and shift.
Related: Why Resisting Change Will Only Hurt Your Business
Throughout the kidnapping simulation, we worked in teams of three. We had 14 missions we needed to complete throughout the day while avoiding being caught by the bounty hunters. We did this without phones, the internet or money. The only thing we had to rely on was our training, our plan and our team. My team decided to start by planning who would work on each mission and how.
The missions included getting someone to give us money for a bus ticket, translating a phrase into Russian or Portuguese and finding a free food and water source to survive. Like in business, we discussed a plan to accomplish each task to the best of our ability. All companies have some team and need to make daily decisions on what that plan will be and who will work to accomplish the mission.
Related: Here’s Why Teamwork and Collaboration is a Must For You
While undercover, if a bounty hunter spotted us, they captured and handcuffed us to a bench or a pole. We then had to escape from the handcuffs in a downtown area while people were awkwardly staring at us. After being trained for a week to survive a kidnapping, I had my mind set on not getting caught.
Toward the end of the day, my team was walking through an outdoor mall when a bounty hunter spotted us. We looked at one another and went on a dead sprint through the mall. This took us on a chase through the back rooms of various stores, racing through a parking lot and running circles inside a Macy’s department store. As you can imagine, the pedestrians thought we were running from the police. All of our team went in different directions. I thought I was in the clear and started to walk when a bounty hunter came around the corner at that exact moment. I began to sprint as fast as I possibly could. I turned another corner and dove behind a pillar of a building. Unfortunately, as the bounty hunter walked by, he saw my reflection in the window and captured me. He then handcuffed me to a bench and walked away with a smile. I spent the next few minutes embarrassingly picking the handcuffs while people were walking by and giving me the most awkward looks.
Business is very similar. There are deadlines you will have to hit even when you don’t want to. You will often need to push your limits to accomplish impossible things. You will need to flat-out sprint and hustle with everything you have got, and the more prepared you are for these moments, the better you will be able to handle them when they happen.
Related: 5 Comfort-Crushing Tips to Reach Your Goals
The last lesson was that all things are possible. If goals are dissected into a simple step-by-step process (make a plan), it is much simpler to take each hurdle and obstacle that comes your way. It seems nearly impossible to be kidnapped, handcuffed, blindfolded, duct taped, waterboarded, shocked by a stun gun, escape from bounty hunters and accomplish 14 missions in one day that most people would struggle with working on only one. But we did it, and we did it because we were prepared, planned, worked as a team, were adaptable, remembered to breathe and ran as fast as we could when needed.
I firmly believe that anyone can build a business if they believe in themselves and their dreams. Learning to survive a kidnapping was just one way to reassure me that anything is possible if you believe.
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Chris Reynolds
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Once upon a time, my wife Jenna and I and our three kids under ten moved from San Francisco to Los Angeles, had another baby, and bought our first house together. This, we thought, is the perfect time to quit our jobs and start a business! [eyeroll]
The idea of our company, Be Courageous, was born during the facilitation of a client session when the team was at odds with each other while exploring the future of their business. This quote from George Prince was on the wall: “Another word for creativity is courage.”
I realized many of us stay trapped in old thinking and actions when we lack the conditions to be creative and courageous.
A question emerged for me, “What would a world with an abundance of courage look like? How can I help create it?”
With my experience in marketing, strategy and facilitation, and Jenna’s in psychology, human resources and operations, we founded our business consultancy, Be Courageous. Every year we’ve grown. Every year our impact has expanded. Every year we’ve learned.
Here are some of our biggest learnings for those of you on your entrepreneurial journey.
Related: The 7 Business Lessons You Should Learn by 30
As any reader here knows, starting and running a business is a piece of cake. Ha!
For real, here is what we learned, having grown our U.S. business of two to a worldwide organization with dozens of clients and 35+ network partners while positively impacting nearly 1 million people in 82 countries.
One of our most in-demand programs with Fortune 500 companies this year has been our training on agile leadership. When you own your own business — the unexpected will happen. A successful entrepreneur adapts to new challenges and situations and creates lemonade from lemons.
We have created programs we never thought we would in response to what the world has needed from us.
Have a solid plan, but be flexible.
Related: These Are the Core Elements Needed to Successfully Pivot Your Business
We aim to activate courage in companies worldwide and align them with a planet-beneficial future. Yours might be to improve humanity’s mental health or lessen people’s stress by building an easier-to-use product. Whatever your purpose is, make sure you’re deeply passionate about it and that it fuels your actions.
Use the strength of your purpose to courage through challenges.
We found more success when we identified and focused on our greatest strengths. We aligned our strengths with our values and the services we wanted to provide to our clients to solve a problem they faced.
For example, my superpower is guiding businesses to realize their potential and future. My kryptonite is getting tripped up in the micro-details of spreadsheets. That’s where Jenna comes in. She leads operations with her superpower of keeping our company financially stable, growing and on the ground. I’m the visionary, and she makes it possible.
Align your superpowers with your business goals and values. Find people who have superpowers you lack.
Related: Find Your Flow Through Deep Work and Unlock Your Superpower
In an exponentially-changing world, having an open mind is the key to running a successful business. Be curious about skills you don’t have and new ways to solve problems. Challenges will arise, but if your curiosity remains peaked, you’ll always get to the solution positively. Ask, “What is the courage needed in this situation?”
Curiosity may have killed the cat, but it feeds company growth. (We’re a dog company, anyway, no offense to cats.)
Create a team that feels safe, strong, empowered and able to share and receive ideas. When you foster personal connections with your team and your clients (yes, business is personal), you will thrive beyond competitors who are only in it for the buck.
Develop a positive company culture to unlock the full potential of your team.
Related: 4 Ways Leaders Can Create Award-Winning Corporate Culture
While you don’t want to get bogged down in systems and processes, your business won’t thrive without a solid operational foundation. Get an understanding of legal, financial and team infrastructure.
Stay pragmatic and, as we like to say, “aggressively conservative.” We make leaps, but only with a net.
Develop systems to streamline your business, so you can focus on serving your customers.
Many people make empty promises, which erodes trust over time. It’s far better to over-deliver on your word. Pay what you say you will, earlier than you say you will. We’ve established deep, trusting relationships with our clients. We foster community.
We get callbacks five years after doing one program with a client because we don’t burn bridges; we build them.
Show up with your heart, don’t be a jerk, and honor your word.
Related: Understanding the Burden of Trust for Business Leaders
Never doubt what you can achieve, yet don’t be disillusioned. Approach everyone you can as a holistic human being, putting aside bias. Presume positive intent and look for positive solutions. Expect people to be their best until proven otherwise. And even then, be graceful about terminating any relationships.
Work and live from a place of abundance, not scarcity.
Be thoughtful about who you bring into your organization.
We hire a type of person — not only for the exact level of expertise we need. We hire people in love with our vision. A person who can be adaptive and learn with us. Who is willing to put in the work for a shared purpose.
Hire the right puzzle piece for your vision, not just how they look on paper.
Related: Why Kindness Should Be Part of Your Hiring Process
Owning your own business isn’t for the faint of heart. It’s an ebb and flow of successes and learnings. But 20 years from now, if you look back, would you regret not doing something about your big and burning idea?
Fear will never go away, but when the desire to fulfill your purpose outweighs the fear of risks involved, that’s when you know you’re made to be an entrepreneur.
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Kyle Hermans
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It’s not all that shocking that with the rise of social media and big data, CEOs can hide many activities that would otherwise cause consumers to stop purchasing their products or services. What is shocking is just how many CEOs have been lying or deceiving the public and shareholders about the health of their companies.
An HBR study showed that over one-third of executives believe CEOs should be held legally responsible for being dishonest or misleading regarding topics like sustainability and ethical business practices, but this still doesn’t stop them from doing it.
The collapses are based on throwing out age-old wisdom to fleece millions with new-age Ponzi schemes.
Related: The Future of Work: 4 Ways Companies Can Evolve to Usher in the Future of the Workplace
A false narrative is when CEOs and executives of a company create and propagate a story to their stakeholders and the public that misrepresents the actual situation of the business. This can be done in different ways, including making false claims about the company’s profitability and success, hyping up faulty prospects of future growth, and more.
Unfortunately, this false narrative often results in people investing their hard-earned money into companies with inflated expectations, only to find out too late that the company executives have deliberately misled these expectations.
In addition, a false narrative is often used to justify irresponsible spending and excessive bonuses for top executives. This practice has become too common recently, with many high-profile corporate scandals coming to light.
It’s estimated that billions of dollars have been lost by investors who have fallen prey to the false narrative spun by CEOs, leading to a massive collapse in trust in companies.
Ultimately, a false narrative from companies can be highly damaging and should be guarded against at all costs. Companies need to take responsibility for their actions and ensure they only share accurate information with their stakeholders and the public.
When companies fail to do this, they risk damaging not just their reputation but also the trust of their customers, which can be challenging to regain.
The false narrative being spread by CEOs of companies and, at times, promoted by large media institutions is leading to a collapse in trust among their consumers, shareholders and the public. It’s no secret that the actions of a company’s top executive can have an enormous impact on how their organization is perceived.
When a CEO makes bold statements not backed up by reality or presents a false story about the company’s performance or direction, it can lead to a crisis of trust between the company and its stakeholders.
When a CEO pushes a false narrative, it can create serious doubts about the integrity of their promises or statements. This can be seen in recent examples from corporate America, such as Volkswagen’s CEO Martin Winterkorn, who resigned after admitting to having lied about the company’s emissions scandal.
This is just one case of how the false narrative of a CEO can create mistrust in the company they represent.
Related: Why Everyone and Everything on Social Media Is Fake
In recent years, the world has seen several high-profile cases of false narratives being peddled by CEOs. One of the most well-known examples is Elizabeth Holmes and her now-defunct health technology startup, Theranos.
She sold a story to the public about revolutionary new blood tests and technology that would revolutionize the healthcare industry. In reality, the company was based on inaccurate and false statements about its products and services.
Related: What the Theranos Story Teaches Us About the Dark Side of Personal Branding
Another example of a CEO peddling false narratives is Adam Neumann, CEO of WeWork, before his ouster in 2019. His narrative was that WeWork was an innovative tech startup and a revolutionary business model when it was built on a shaky foundation of inflated valuations and poor management decisions.
Finally, there’s Samuel Bankman-Fried, the founder of FTX, a cryptocurrency derivatives trading platform. Despite the revolutionary nature of cryptocurrency and blockchain technology, Bankman-Fried painted a misleading picture of how FTX worked by claiming that its underlying technology was more secure and reliable than traditional financial services. In reality, this wasn’t the case.
These cases highlight how important it is for investors and customers to vet any company and CEO before investing or signing up for services. By doing due diligence, you can avoid becoming victims of false narratives peddled by unscrupulous CEOs.
First and foremost, it’s essential to ensure that CEOs remain accountable and transparent with their statements. They should also be encouraged to make decisions based on facts rather than speculation or hype.
Additionally, CEOs should focus on building relationships with stakeholders through open and honest communication, as this will help create trust between the company and its stakeholders.
Furthermore, companies should encourage a culture of questioning and critical thinking within the organization. Ensuring that employees are questioning the decisions being made and challenging the status quo will ensure that decisions are made based on sound judgment and that any potential false narratives will be uncovered quickly.
Finally, companies should ensure that their employees are regularly trained in ethics, so they understand the importance of ethical behavior when making decisions. This can extend toward ensuring that any false narratives are quickly identified and addressed.
By implementing these steps, companies can help build a more trustworthy relationship with their stakeholders and eliminate false narratives before they impact the organization.
Related: The Importance Of Honesty And Integrity In Business
The false narrative by CEOs has been causing a collapse in trust in companies, resulting in a lack of confidence from both the public and shareholders.
With the reputation of businesses taking a hit, CEOs need to realize that honesty and transparency are crucial to sustaining trust. Only by communicating openly and accurately can leaders hope to rebuild the trust necessary for any successful company.
Taking responsibility for their words and actions will go a long way in reinstating trust in companies and the people who run them.
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Jon Michail
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The best resumes have comprehensive lists of desirable key skills to make employers look twice and choose one candidate over another.
If you want to ace your next job interview and make your job application stand out from other candidates, you need to put the best details possible on your resume to impress a prospective employer right from the get-go.
But what job skills should you write down? This article will break down 19 of the best skills for a resume that any hiring manager will love.
So-called “soft skills” are usually people-focused, generalized or applicable to various industries and situations. Nevertheless, employers like to see plenty of soft skills in their candidates.
Related: How to Make a Resume That Gets You the Job
Leadership skills have always been in demand, and that’s even truer today. Anyone can be a good worker, but only a few employees can successfully run and manage teams, especially when the time comes to knock out complex projects.
If you have successfully led teams in the past, note those experiences on your resume and explain what exactly you did, your responsibilities and other relevant factors.
The more leadership skills you can mark down on your resume in the skills section, the more attractive a candidate you will be, even if you aren’t expected to lead anyone soon. This is true even if a job description requests more technical skills.
Leadership skills make you a better choice for potential management positions or promotions in the future. Because many companies hire long-term candidates, not just short-term workers, listing leadership skills can make you stand out relative to your competition in a big way.
Communication skills are also critical. You need to be able to communicate with your fellow team members and workers to get along well at your new company. This might seem like a waste of space to put down, but don’t discount it.
Both can indicate that you are an excellent potential hire for an open position. Good interpersonal skills, like demonstrated emotional intelligence or active listening skills, are even more critical if you apply for an administrative or management job posting.
Sometimes, they’re better than computer skills or other specific skills, such as graphic design.
Related: 9 Best Practices to Improve Your Communication Skills and Become a More Effective Leader
Writing skills are an essential subcategory of communication skills, which are in demand for many new jobs.
Specific jobs in marketing and communications value writing skills highly, and (an added plus) you can explicitly demonstrate your capabilities in your resume writing. Using polished, engaging and succinct language in your resume will support your inclusion of writing in your list of skills.
General problem-solving skills can also be good to put down on any resume. In most jobs, you’ll need to solve complex problems at one point or another, either because you run into an unexpected situation or because employer policies and procedures don’t cover all possibilities.
Good problem-solving, therefore, is seen as a must-have skill for many organizations and industries. Be sure to put this on your resume no matter the job or industry you apply.
It shows that you can think critically (and critical thinking skills are just as essential) and that you’re not afraid to face a challenge. It’s also an indicator of adaptability: another relevant skill ideal for any job search.
Try not to put down problem-solving and critical thinking skills simultaneously. There’s a lot of overlap between these two types of skill sets, so just put one or the other.
Organizational skills reflect your ability to handle lots of resources and moving pieces. It’s an important skill to put on your resume when applying for a leadership or management position, but it’s good to put it down regardless just because it shows you are a hard worker and won’t be overwhelmed by many things on your plate.
Time management skills are wise to put on your resume, whether you are applying for an entry-level or management position.
Good time management is a much rarer skill than you may think, particularly in this day and age where there are ample digital distractions in people’s pockets at all times.
By them noting that you have good time management skills, your employer will feel more confident about letting you work on your own and unsupervised. This is important since it means they can focus on other aspects of running a business instead of worrying about your productivity.
Solid teamwork skills are must-haves for most positions and workers these days. Being able to work with others is crucial if you are to become a part of any new team, so be sure to note that you have strong teamwork skills regardless of your prior work experiences.
If you need to be specific, write down some anecdotes about how you were an excellent team member on your cover letter. You should tie that experience into a moment when you overcame a challenge or solved a problem.
Add people skills to your resume skills section, and you’ll be a more successful job seeker overall.
Related: How to Acquire Soft Skills and Measure Them Successfully
Good customer service skills are necessary for any industry — especially if you apply to a service industry or entry-level position. Basically, if your job requires you to interact with the general public frequently, you must have good customer service skills.
Mention any specific skills or tools you may have used to this effect.
For instance, if you previously worked at a call center, note that your customer service skills came from learning to speak to dozens or hundreds of people over the phone and provide meaningful assistance, no matter their problems.
It is also wise to put down any marketing skills on your resume. Good marketing skills are highly desirable for specific marketing positions and general employees.
Marketing skills can involve using particular tools or tactics or just understanding how to phrase things to make products seem more appealing to customers.
This is closely related to sales experience; put down either sales experience or marketing experience if you are applying to a sales or commission-based job.
Related: 5 Skills Every Marketer Should Have on Their Resume When Applying to Startups
Hard skills are technical, specific and usually related to a specific skill or talent instead of being generalized. Here are some of the most in-demand hard skills to consider putting on your resume.
Related: Technical Skills Interviewers are Looking for in Job Candidates
Project management skills are incredibly in demand and closely tied to leadership skills. Many organizations have complex projects they need to be headed by talented individuals.
If you can accurately claim that you have successfully led other projects through your management style, you’ll be well-positioned to take open job positions from other candidates.
Project management skills can be particular and reflect proficiency in specific programs and processes. For instance, scrum project management may make you a perfect choice for an IT company.
Data analysis skills are also highly in demand these days and for good reason. Many companies must analyze the data they collect from their customers and clients.
You’ll be a desirable candidate for many industries and companies if you can do this, both generally and with specific programs and equations.
Be sure to reference specific data analysis experience and techniques you are familiar with when listing this on your resume. The more specific you can get, the better; most hirers and recruiters will know what exactly to look for if they are trying to fill a data management or data analyst spot.
Enterprise resource planning skills, or ESP skills, are good to put on any resume, especially if you’re applying for a closely related position. ERP is crucial for large-scale organizations to not waste valuable equipment, time, people or other resources.
As with many other hard skills, be specific regarding your prior work experience and whether you know certain tactics, tools or techniques.
Generalized computer proficiency is now expected in a majority of positions. After all, everyone should know how to use computers to a basic degree.
However, you can take this a step further and break down other types of computer proficiencies, such as
This skill can be beneficial both in non-computer-related industries and in the computer industry itself.
Related: Coding in the Classroom: Learning the Future Language of Business
However, keep in mind that mere computer proficiency will only be desirable to employers in the IT industry if you can get more specific about what exactly you do and the value you can provide to a company.
Program proficiency is any proficiency you can list with a specific program. Don’t be humble or think too little of yourself; even proficiency with Microsoft Office 365 is valuable, particularly when many people don’t know how to use those collected programs to their maximum effectiveness.
If you are applying to a job that requires the use of specific programs, such as AWS, mention that. Be clear about your proficiency and mention times when you have used the tool or program effectively for business goals.
Also nice to put on your resume are programming language proficiencies in languages like C++, CSS, Python and HTML.
The more language proficiencies you can list, the better positioned you’ll be to take a job in the IT or programming and web development industries. It may be wise to research what programming languages are most in demand for a specific position before listing them on your resume.
SEO or search engine optimization proficiency is highly valued in many professions, especially social media and marketing managers.
Note that this proficiency doesn’t just mean you understand what SEO is or how it works. It also means you know how to use related SEM tools, like SEMrush, to research keywords and understand how to leverage them for maximum content effectiveness.
Related: 7 Reasons Why SEO Matters for Every Startup
Customer relationship management (CRM) software proficiency means you’re proficient in using popular CRM software platforms like Salesforce. This skill is most desirable and essential for marketing and customer relationship positions or fields.
If you have experience using budgeting software or running budget teams — mention it, and, as always, be specific about the kinds of tools or software platforms you previously used to get the job done.
Like the above, if you have bookkeeping skills using programs like FreshBooks, QuickBooks and similar platforms, mention that on your resume.
Note any educational accounting experience or licenses you may have acquired, like certificates or degrees. You can list these experiences and certifications in a dedicated section, usually toward the bottom of your resume. This is most important if you apply for a financial or accounting-related position.
Related: Why Skills Shouldn’t Be Just a P.S. on a Resume
Specific web development skills, such as using web development tools to outline pages, make frames and place widgets, are vital for many jobs in the IT sector.
However, it’s desirable in any field because most companies have online sites. They may want to know whether you can help them improve those websites and experiences for their customers.
Now you have 19 top skills to put on your resume, provided you have the real-life aptitude to back them up. Remember to tweak the description of each skill based on the job or industry you’re applying for to make them seem as relevant as possible.
Check out Entrepreneur’s other articles to present yourself as effectively as possible the next time you sit for an interview
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Entrepreneur Staff
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Laying the foundation for a powerful leadership team starts with a business assessment and a self-assessment. What does the business need to achieve, and how can our leadership teams get us there?
I tend to look at things globally, but while I can see things in a micro way to determine the next steps, I like to lean on my teams to dig down into the details as they come up with a knock-out marketing and sales strategy, stellar creative, rock-solid and accurate financials and innovative thinking that are all informed by five guiding tips.
Related: 22 Qualities That Make a Great Leader
When determining the base needs of the business, you have to look at who’s already on your team. Here’s a good example. I have a person in a manager’s seat right now, but I’m mentoring him to be a director because what I’ve identified in him are many of the key personality qualities that a leader and a leadership team need.
Intelligence is key. I refer not only to business intelligence but also to emotional intelligence. This includes understanding how to interact with people and the business requirements. They are two different things, but both are required of a leader. You need to be organized, and you need to have really good communication skills.
You also need to be able to say no. I want my leadership team to be strong enough to know the difference between what we should say yes to and what we should say no to because I’m relying on them to run their parts of the business and then report to me. Therefore, I need to have trust that they understand what it means to say no — and they can only know that if they understand the business as a complete operation.
For example, if there’s a need for someone to jump in the warehouse and pack boxes, then so be it. The fact that my warehouse leader was packing orders on a Monday shows the rest of his team and me that he’s not going to ask anyone to do something that he’s not willing to do himself.
Related: Setting Measurable Goals Is Critical to Your Strategic Plan (and Your Success). Here’s Why.
Do they get it? Do they want it? Do they have the capacity to do it? And then there are measurables that give us an idea if they are meeting those criteria. We’re a little obsessed about this, but it’s important.
One thing that guides a strong leadership team foundation is the establishment of core values. What does the business stand for, and what are those values?
In our business, one of the things that we really believe in is customer relationships built on trust. Another one is minding the small details. Little things matter. This can be the little nuances of contract manufacturing or providing more service to our customers.
You want to go out and find a leadership team that lives the core values every minute of every day that they are in the building, hybrid or remote — because it is through their leadership, their belief in those values, and how they exemplify them that provides the blueprint of how an employee should act.
Remember that every employee, not just leaders, builds a company’s reputation and goodwill.
Related: As a Leader: Never Compromise Your Core Values
If you’re going to be in business and think things are going to stay the same, you’re not in the right field and should do something else. There’s an excellent quote that I read recently from Jeff Bezos, where he said that “every day needs to be day one.”
He said that day one is when you’re entirely customer-obsessed and constantly looking to grow the business. On day one of a business, you’re asking what we can do to wow our customers. How can we provide value? You never want to leave day one because, once it becomes day two, it’s now on a path to stagnation.
I agree with that. Part of day one thinking is understanding that things change. It’s being resilient enough to change course, evaluating things on the fly, knowing what’s working and rapidly driving resources to what’s working.
How do you bring the best out in your teams? In baseball, it’s catchers that have a unique perspective. They’re managing the pitcher and see the game from a perspective only they can see.
They’re watching the game unfold in front of them. Nine innings, 162 games a year for 20 years, or however long they’re behind the plate. They’re great leaders in the sport because they understand the game at a level that other players can’t.
I think that that’s a big part of when you’re looking to develop a quality leadership team. Those are the kind of skills that you want to see.
Be like a catcher.
What I believe in is that you want to give people smart authority. You want to let them understand the guardrails within their sphere and encourage people to own things. You give people a chance to accept responsibility, take full responsibility for something and give them goals for what you want them to accomplish. Then set them free to go out and do it.
When they make mistakes, they learn something. It’s through honest mistakes that real learning happens. We grow up in a culture where everything has to be mistake-free and perfect. In reality, however, the best and most successful entrepreneurs are founded out of risk. If you remove the risk from your business as you’re operating it, how can you ever grow? How can you ever move to the next level?
You want to allow your team and leaders to grow and make what I call “smart mistakes” — honest mistakes that are not due to carelessness or recklessness. It’s okay to make a mistake when you’ve gone through the process of making a good decision.
I also believe in “smart risk,” — where you think more outside the box. Smart risk is, for example, taking a reasonable chance on a well-thought-out opportunity.
In marketing, there’s the whole theory of test and rest. Try something, give it a time frame, and look at the results. Did it work? Yes, then throw more at it. If not, what did we learn, why didn’t it work and what could we tweak?
Related: 7 Mistakes Leaders Make When Managing a Remote Team
The best example that I can give is a hockey team. There are usually four lines on a hockey team, and traditionally, you have the top six that score. You have two lines of forwards that go out there, and their job is to generate offense and control the puck in the other team’s zone. But if you have four lines like that, then who’s playing defense?
So, you complement those lines with somebody who’s maybe a bit more physical, somebody who likes to agitate. While you certainly need to score goals, you also need the passers, the players who keep the team spirits up, and the enforcers where necessary.
Same thing in business. You have to have a leadership team that’s not an echo chamber. In echo chambers, there are no divergent views or solutions. When you look at things like marketing and sales, you want different opinions so you have the best chance to make a decision that helps the business move forward.
Related: Ensuring Diversity Is Not a Distraction to Leaders
While values can be shared, talents should be unique. People should be able to work together and respect each other’s aptitudes and viewpoints because I believe that creates a high tide in which all boats can float.
My feedback about our vice president of sales from her employees is that “She is the best manager I ever worked for because she empowers me to own things and do the best job I can.”
That’s what I call great leadership.
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Vincent Tricarico
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Most of us want to be great communicators. Many of us pride ourselves on it. However, it’s easy to fall into common traps that confuse our audience and set us back.
Being an exceptional communicator means that we’re constantly considering how we come across to others, especially those dissimilar to us. If you’re leading a team or looking to progress in your career, it’s important that your words don’t unintentionally alienate or offend others. Here are a few examples to avoid.
Related: 9 Best Practices to Improve Your Communication Skills and Become a More Effective Leader
Sometimes, when we like a popular sport or movie, we’ll make the mistake of assuming everyone does. Then we’ll make references to this thing, without noticing that we might be losing some of our audience.
Sports references are especially prevalent. Phrases as simple as “we should punt on that decision,” “we’re in a holding pattern on this project,” or “I don’t want that meeting to be a no-hitter” might make total sense to us, but not everyone. Especially in large groups, outstanding communicators speak in ways that everyone can understand.
In corporate settings or any kind of mixed group, it’s important to recognize that not everyone will understand your sports or movie references, even if they are from popular movies such as Die Hard or The Godfather. Those who don’t can easily end up feeling lost in the conversation because they simply aren’t familiar with the terminology.
When with friends or a homogenous group, where you’re sure everyone is familiar with your reference, that’s one thing. But making references to our favorite movie, show, celebrity or sport without recognizing that not everyone in the room will know what we’re talking about. When this happens, you run the risk that an audience member will feel ignorant or unworthy, then disengage or check out because they don’t feel included in the conversation. Find literal ways to say what you mean.
Related: 4 Expert-Backed Strategies for Improving Your Communication Skills
As a society, we love to generalize. We’ll say things like “this happens a ton,” “everyone feels this way,” or “she’s acting crazy.” If you’re using a word that’s open to interpretation, find a better word. Generalizations are rarely helpful or accurate.
If you’re trying to estimate how long something will take, try to narrow it down to a specific amount of hours, days or weeks. If you want to discuss how commonplace something is, find data on how many people are actually affected by it. If you’re describing someone’s behavior, see if you can detail it in a specific and objective way, instead of a subjective way. Don’t just call something a terrible experience — describe what specifically made it so terrible.
Words like “a ton,” “a lot,” “everyone” or “crazy” have different meanings to different people. When we can report data and discuss situations with language that’s specific and measurable, it’s less likely that our words will be misunderstood or misinterpreted. Our problem statements, pain points or proposed solutions become factual and based on data, not just “gut feel.” True professionals and mature adults communicate this way, so there’s never any confusion. People respect it far more, too.
Related: The Biggest Communication Mistakes Entrepreneurs Make
Analogies and metaphors have a place in speech, especially if you’re confident that your audience will understand. When you insert an analogy or metaphor into a conversation, it should serve a purpose. This is the case when you draw a comparison of something that’s well understood to something that’s less well understood.
However, the overuse of analogies and metaphors can be distracting. Each time you make one, you’re asking your audience to travel somewhere else in their minds, which takes them away from what’s going on at the moment. Those who constantly liken one thing to another also run the risk of avoiding simple and straightforward communication.
If you’re always finding the need to compare and contrast things for the sake of explanation, then there’s a chance you don’t understand the current situation well enough or feel comfortable talking about it directly. This can be especially dangerous when comparing two people together. Saying “Rick is just like Sarah” might sound innocent enough, but Rick is not Sarah. He’s his own person, and chances are, they’re not exactly alike. Saying two people or things are the same is a great way for us to ignore and really appreciate what makes them different. Valuing differences is such an important part of leadership and teamwork.
Related: 7 Leadership Communication Blunders That Could Make or Break Your Company
Buzzwords are a great way to say something without really saying much at all. We’ll insert them into conversation regularly, saying “I don’t like any of these proposed solutions; let’s think outside the box” or “You can’t talk to John about this; he’s been drinking the Kool-Aid.” There’s almost always a more illustrative or descriptive way of describing something. Saying “think outside the box” conjures up imagines of being more innovative or creative, but it doesn’t really address what’s wrong with the proposed solutions.
For most, especially if you have a diverse group, it would be more helpful to say: “I’m worried that these ideas are focused on the short-term, and they center on things we’ve already done. What if we took a totally different approach with this strategy by focusing more on how we expect our clients to shift their use of digital technology over the next five years?”
Saying “drinking the Kool-Aid” probably implies that John is very dialed into the status quo or current direction, but it doesn’t address why or what should be done about it. For most, it would be more helpful to say: “I know he’s very supportive of the current initiative, especially since he was here for the pilot. Let’s try to explore alternatives with him by asking him some open-ended questions, especially about the risks of this approach and what could go wrong.” Now, you’re actually communicating how you feel, what you think and what you’d like the future to look like, instead of allowing everyone to draw their own conclusions.
Remember, when you’re communicating, it’s for the benefit of your audience, not yourself. Avoiding these four parts of speech help you from alienating, losing or confusing others whose brains work differently than yours. That will allow you to be more effective with your message, which is what we all want.
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Amy M Chambers
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82% of all survey respondents have higher job satisfaction if they can work from anywhere, according to a new survey by VMware of 5,300 HR, IT, and business decision-makers and employees. Of those participants who work in a hybrid or remote modality, 56% say their teams have increased creativity and 55% report increased collaboration since before the pandemic. No wonder that 74% of U.S. companies are adopting a permanent hybrid model, according to research by Zippia.
Yet middle managers are feeling the strain. A Future Forum survey shows that 43% of middle managers report burnout, more than any other group of workers. The particularly large burden on middle managers stems, in large part, from the burden of implementing company policies on hybrid work and the return to office. What happens typically, from my experience of helping 21 companies transition to hybrid work, is that executives decide on policies and leave it up to middle managers to implement them.
That approach works well with clear, straightforward policies that managers know how to implement well based on prior experience. But managers have no experience with making the transition to hybrid work and then managing hybrid teams. Naturally, they try to shoehorn what they know — office-centric management methodologies — into hybrid-centric work. Then, they feel burned out when the results don’t measure up to expectations.
Related: How Middle Management Can Drive Your Business Into the Ground
Instead, to excel in the hybrid work transition and hybrid team leadership, managers need to adopt the five keys to hybrid management success, which differ markedly from office-centric management. These keys are intentionality, not automaticity; trust, not paranoia; autonomy, not micromanagement; connection, not presence; finally, accountability, not facetime.
It’s easy for managers to go on autopilot and do what they always did in the past. After all, why change something if it worked in the past, right? This conservative strategy works well — most of the time. The problem comes from the times when the context changes, such as the transition to hybrid work.
A context shift requires a transformation from automaticity to intentionality. Instead of doing the same thing as before on autopilot, managers have to recognize the need to intentionally change their management style to fit the new context.
Unfortunately, our brain is poorly suited to making such intentional changes, due to cognitive biases, which are mental blindspots that lead to poor decision-making.
One of the biggest problems for effective management in hybrid work is the status quo bias, a desire to maintain or get back to a situation our brains perceive as comfortable and appropriate. This bias helps explain why managers are trying to turn back the clock to January 2020, a time when they were comfortable and in control.
A related cognitive bias that poses a challenge for hybrid work management is called functional fixedness. When we have a certain perception of how to function, we ignore other possible ways to function, even if the new ones would offer a better fit for a changed situation. That’s why so many managers try to shoehorn office-centric management methods into hybrid work, despite the obvious problems with doing so.
Addressing this set of problems requires middle managers to recognize when the context shifts, and then shift from automaticity into intentionality. They need to figure out the best methods to manage in this new environment while accepting that they will be uncomfortable and not know all the answers in doing so. Having helped 21 organizations make the transition to hybrid work — ranging from mid-size nonprofits such as the University of Southern California’s Information Sciences Institute to Fortune 500 giants such as the high-tech manufacturer Applied Materials — I can attest that the discomfort that stems from the sense of losing control and confidence in their abilities poses the biggest obstacle for middle managers in effective hybrid management.
Microsoft released a new study, where it found that 85% of leaders say that the “shift to hybrid work has made it challenging to have confidence that employees are being productive.” This lack of trust in worker productivity has led to what Microsoft researchers termed productivity paranoia: “where leaders fear that lost productivity is due to employees not working, even though hours worked, the number of meetings and other activity metrics have increased.”
This failure to trust their subordinates to be productive remotely goes squarely against the evidence. Extensive research — in the form of surveys, employee monitoring software and the gold standard of randomized control trials — conclusively demonstrates that employees are on average 5-10% more productive working remotely, especially on their individual tasks. And given we’re talking about hybrid work, employees can do their collaborative tasks in the office: that’s the best use for the office.
However, middle managers have difficulty trusting that employees who they aren’t observing are being productive. Such a focus on having employees be visible in the office speaks to a highly traditionalist leadership mindset, underpinned by the illusion of control. This cognitive bias describes our mind’s tendency to overestimate the extent to which we control external events. The tendency is especially prevalent in executives who want to micromanage their employees. They believe that having employees present in the office guarantees productivity.
In reality, research shows that in-office employees, even high-performing and productive ones, work much less than a full eight-hour day. They actually spend anywhere from 36% to 39% of their time working. The rest, according to these studies, is spent on other activities: checking social media, reading news websites, chit-chatting with colleagues about non-work topics, making non-work calls and even looking for other jobs.
Middle managers need to learn to let go of their false beliefs that “when the cat’s away, the mice will play.” In fact, people will live up to your expectations: If you expect them to perform, and show you trust them, they will live up to your expectations, by and large. Moreover, the research clearly shows they will outperform when working from home on their individual tasks.
The desire of many middle managers for control is not simply emphatically unrealistic. It also goes directly against a principle that we know is critical for productivity, engagement and innovation for office-based workers: the desire for autonomy.
Studies show that we do our best work through intrinsic motivation, which involves autonomy and control over our work as a fundamental driver of effectiveness. Employees are most engaged, happy and productive when they have autonomy. A study of 307 companies finds that greater worker autonomy results in more innovation. And a recent survey by Metis indicated that 80% of respondents said they either prefer independence with moderate oversight (45%) or require a high level of independence at work (34.5%).
For middle managers, a key component of autonomy in the post-pandemic environment involves giving workers flexibility and self-control of where and when they work, rather than trying to shoehorn them into the pre-pandemic “normal.” The best approach involves giving such flexibility to a whole team and having them determine their own approach to flexibility. When it comes to hybrid work, 46% of employees reported being engaged when their team determines their own policy of when to come into the office, according to a recent Gallup survey. By contrast, 41% of respondents are content to make the decision individually, and just 35% reported being engaged if leadership determines the top-down policy for everyone.
One of the biggest challenges for remote work involves addressing weakening connections among staff members. But only specific types of connections grew weaker. In fact, according to a recent survey by Covve, 67% report their overall relationships with colleagues grew stronger.
Diving deeper, it’s the connections between team members that grow stronger when teams work part or full-time remotely, as research by Microsoft found. The problem comes from the decrease in cross-functional connections between teams, which weakens with remote work. Such “weak ties” are valuable for the kind of cross-disciplinary innovation that can drive growth, which might be hampered by remote work, according to an MIT study.
In office-centric roles, weak ties form naturally from people on different teams being present in the same office. Yet in hybrid contexts, effective middle managers need to cultivate such weak ties intentionally.
One way that managers can facilitate weak bonds involves in-person events that bring members of different teams. Middle managers can organize social events, such as happy hours, escape room trust-building events or group volunteer activities. Or they can offer in-person training that deliberately involves members of different teams interacting together. They can also consider remote social activities that help build weak ties, such as video game sessions or virtual escape rooms.
Another tool of doing so: Scholars discovered that connecting junior staff with different senior staff as mentors offered a very effective way to extend the network and build the weak ties of junior staff. An added benefit: such pairings help junior staff gain on-the-job training and become integrated into the organization.
The traditional means of managers evaluating staff and holding them accountable relies on facetime: Seeing and talking to their subordinates throughout the year and giving them an annual review. In the hybrid work environment, this facetime approach is vulnerable to proximity bias, in other words, managers will value more highly those subordinates that they see more often.
Indeed, a Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) survey of more than 800 supervisors found that 42% admitted they sometimes forget about remote workers when assigning tasks. This may explain why remote workers get promoted less often than their peers, despite being 15% more productive on average.
Yet equating facetime to accountability is not only unsuitable for hybrid work; it also didn’t work well in the in-person environment, given that office-centric employees only spent 36% to 39% of their time working. Effective hybrid managers focus on meaningful goals and outcomes that advance their team’s business objectives, rather than the amount of time someone spent working.
Doing so can be as easy as integrating a performance evaluation element into the weekly one-on-ones that many middle managers already schedule with their supervisees. At each weekly meeting, the manager and supervisee would agree on three to five key goals for the employee to achieve. Then, at the next meeting, the supervisee would report to the manager on how they did on the goals. The manager can coach the supervisee on solving any problems encountered, and provide a weekly performance evaluation. That way, all team members would know where they stand and any areas they need to work on to improve their performance. The meeting would end with the manager and supervisee agreeing on the three to five goals for the next week.
Related: You Can’t Return to The Office Without Defeating These Four Major Battles
Intentionality, trust, autonomy, connection and accountability represent the five keys to turning a traditional office-centric manager into an effective hybrid manager. Abandoning office-centric methods requires acknowledging that we’ll never return to the past; the pandemic accelerated the existing trends toward hybrid work, and with ever-improving technology, the future will involve more time working remotely, not less. Still, the office represents a valuable place to gather, collaborate and socialize, and hybrid managers need to learn how to manage their teams effectively both in the work office and the home office. By understanding what kind of activities are best done where, and adopting managerial methods well-suited to hybrid work, modern managers will help their teams thrive in the increasingly-disrupted future of work.
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Gleb Tsipursky
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The year was 1980. I sat in the august anteroom of one of the nation’s leading private foundations waiting to meet its CEO, a man who possessed the resources to provide much-needed financial resources to the small, nonprofit art and design college I’d recently founded. With barely 100 students at the time, SCAD was a scrappy, young startup and needed all the financial support we could get. Even to have landed an appointment with this powerful man was, in its own way, a victory. Every year, his foundation contributed millions of dollars to other nonprofit art organizations and institutions of higher learning. I had a strong case to make for SCAD and the evidence to back it up, including our first SCAD catalog, which I’d written and published myself.
I believed SCAD would change the world and transform higher education in the process, with our mission to prepare students for creative professions and rewarding lifelong careers. The term “creator economy” would not be coined for many decades yet, but I already saw this idea clearly in my mind and hoped to share that vision with this powerful man. Unfortunately, the meeting did not go as planned. I had been in his office for fewer than 10 minutes when he curtly informed me our conversation was over — and promptly ushered me out.
Related: 8 Steps to Move Away From the Past You Need to Leave Behind
I learned many valuable lessons from that brief encounter, including, for example, that established institutions, even those that claim to champion progress and innovation, are quite often threatened by startups. And I learned that grudges do not serve leaders. I privately forgave the powerful CEO for his obvious antipathy and resolved to move on, emboldened to build our young startup into the most innovative and creative university on the planet.
“Don’t get sad, get even,” Taylor Swift croons on Midnights. She cuts a mean pop hit, but resentment has no place in business. “Truly transformational leaders are acutely aware of the cost of animosity,” notes business writer Manfred Kets de Vries. “[H]olding grudges holds people back.”
Where would Apple be now, had Steve Jobs felt spite against the company that fired him in 1985 and then begged to hire him back 12 years later? Jobs might have enjoyed hurling a rotten Granny Smith in the faces of his detractors when they made the comeback offer. Instead, he chose to move forward and saved thousands of jobs, created new products as revolutionary as Gutenberg’s press and revived an iconic brand into what is now the world’s most valuable company.
Related: Why Forgiveness Plays a Huge Role in Stress Reduction
On a more practical level, studies have shown that in the workplace, letting go of grudges (i.e., forgiveness) highly correlates to increased productivity. “There is an enormous physical burden to being hurt and disappointed,” says Dr. Karen Swartz, director of the Mood Disorders Adult Consultation Clinic at Johns Hopkins Hospital. Forgiving and moving on from recent (and not-so-recent) hurts has been linked to a lower risk of heart attack, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, anxiety, depression and stress. Forgiveness often cures what Big Pharma cannot.
“Forgive and forget,” the old adage says. Forgetting possesses its own special power. Wallowing in one’s mistakes serves little purpose. While a glut of recent commencement speeches focus on the power of failure, I recommend the precise opposite. Forget failure — literally. Jettison bad memories! Focus instead on past successes. Where did you choose rightly? When did you nail a pitch? What big bets have paid off? Duplicate and amplify those victories. Leaders who look backward and see only failure fail to prepare for the challenges ahead.
Speaking of forgiving and forgetting … this lesson can also help you build a brilliant team. Over the years, I’ve seen a few of our most talented leaders and professors resign and take jobs with competing universities. How easy it would have been to take these departures personally! But when good people leave, I always make it clear that they’re welcome back to SCAD any time. According to LinkedIn, “boomerang” hires, as they’re now called, accounted for nearly 5% of all new hires in 2021. In the last year alone, SCAD has recruited and rehired no fewer than 20 former employees — a veritable host of familiar faces who know our culture, our policies and our mission on day one.
Related: What Being Embezzled Out of $5 Million Taught Me About Forgiveness and Moving on
No leader in world history has ever been served by resentment. Clearly, that foundation president from so long ago held his own grudges and found great pleasure in dismissing me from his office so unceremoniously. He wanted to discourage me, to dishearten me. For the sake of our 53,000 alumni, 16,500 students and 2,000 employees, I’m glad he didn’t.
Today, SCAD operates three accredited university locations and four world-class museums on two continents and proudly proclaims a 99% employment rate for our graduates (for five years straight!). Antipathies do more than slow you down: they take you backward. Let go of hurts, keep your heart open, and watch your company go where I’ve been looking all my life: up, up and up.
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Paula Wallace
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As we approach 2023, there is a ringing sound of uncertainty, amplified by foreboding headlines that warn us of a looming recession, or, as it’s described in one article, “a big reset,” — a term used to describe widespread layoffs across the technology sector. The latest report by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics just adds to the collective discourse that we’re, well, doomed, stating that 263,000 new jobs have been added to the workforce — more than what was expected — yet the hiring economy remains extremely tight.
The reality is that uncertainty hasn’t actually risen — it’s always been there. What is rising, in fact, is our fear of uncertainty. And we, as company leaders, try to do everything in our power to mitigate it, analyze it and wish it away. But the truth is, uncertainty will always be there. We may shore up our supply chain, reduce inflation and vaccinate ourselves against Covid-19, but a new health scare may hit, a war might break out or a natural disaster strike.
As we kick off 2023, entrepreneurs have the opportunity to develop a relationship with uncertainty and get more comfortable with its existence. In fact, according to the Kauffman Foundation, a staggering 57% of Fortune 500 companies were started during a recession, so despite the fear of what’s to come, there can be a path to success. Here are seven ways to harness the unknown and find opportunity within that uncertainty:
No matter how much we plan, research and analyze, there will always be forces that are out of our control. Instead of obsessing about ridding ourselves of these circumstances, we must analyze our challenges and categorize them according to what we can and cannot control. For those we cannot control, we should be aware of them but also not dwell on trying to predict their outcomes. No one could foresee the effect a pandemic would have on their individual business. However, we can now think about the lessons learned, appreciate the innovation that occurred and reflect on how we can operate more nimbly in the future.
Our tendency, as entrepreneurs, is to correlate uncertainty with a negative outcome. We don’t know whether we’ll raise the amount of capital we need, we don’t know whether our product will find market fit once launched, we don’t know whether our company will survive. The truth is, we also don’t know whether we’ll scale beyond our wildest dreams, an out-of-scope event will come our way that opens a new door, or an unidentified need for our product or service will emerge. As Steve Jobs once said, “You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backward. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future.” Uncertainty can be your biggest advantage.
Related: How to Protect and Retain Control Over Your Business
Many times, we as entrepreneurs feel a strong sense of uncertainty or fear about areas that affect us personally — meaning we are particularly sensitive to those topics that elicit a sense of fear-based bias resulting from our own life experiences. If you once had a poor experience living in a different city, state or country, for example, and are years later offered an opportunity to expand there, chances are your uncertainty bias will impact you. Perhaps you had raised money from a venture capital firm at one point in your career and that situation didn’t turn out well. You may be skeptical the second time around, potentially hindering an opportunity for a constructive investment relationship.
There’s an old Yiddish proverb: “We plan. God laughs.” Many entrepreneurs kick off their ventures with their own definition of success in mind, and they become married to it. Any deviation is a failure. However, to properly navigate the reality of our futures being uncertain, we must detach from our own definitions of success — removing the ego from the outcome — and be open to what may unveil itself along the way. The uncertainty of such is also the joy.
There is a bigger world out there, and it is important that we have perspective. Take a walk in nature and realize those things we obsess about are things in our own small universe. Uncertainty is inevitable, and it is foolish for us to believe that we have the power to control so much that goes on. Your life will not depend on the success of your venture. Today is a moment in time and we are but specks in a massive universe. Perspective is imperative.
The human brain was formed over millions of years. We have an innate survival instinct that comes from the early days of being cavemen/women. For example, scientists have postulated that our need to be accepted by others stems from the previous reality that if the group were to kick us out, we’d be away from the fire and prone to attack by predators. This level of uncertainty held an entirely different scope at that time. Yet today our brains are still wired with the same survival-based fight-or-flight framework.
Related: Many People Are Burdened by Fear. Here’s How I Embrace It.
Our lives are all made of unique experiences that are individual to us. These experiences make up the lens through which we view the world. A toddler will not be afraid of the stock market crashing. However, s/he may be fearful of being alone or not having food. As entrepreneurs, we need to remove our biases and retrain our minds to approach our ventures with the wisdom of past experiences but also a sense of youthful naivety.
As we kick off 2023, we, as entrepreneurs, have an opportunity to redefine our relationship with uncertainty. There is an opportunity to partner with the feeling of uncertainty by acknowledging its existence, asking what it is trying to tell us and being comfortable setting our own boundaries with its partner: fear. Uncertainty can serve as the pavement for our future path to success. We just have to become friends first.
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Kalon Gutierrez
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Do you know what it takes to be a top tech CEO? In short, top tech leaders need a clear vision, a sharp focus on execution and consistency amid business pressures and challenges. A tech leader also bridges the gap between business and engineering, guiding the team to achieve a shared goal. Below are a few other abilities one needs to be considered a leading technology executive today:
Apart from managing people, DevOps tech leaders solve challenging engineering problems while seeing the bigger picture. They also deeply understand how their decisions impact the team’s success, and ultimately, the IT business.
Apple’s Tim Cook, Microsoft’s Satya Nadella, Adobe’s Shantanu Narayan,and Google’s Sundar Pichai are great examples of the world’s most influential and respectable CEOs. And they have a few things in common; they are effective listeners, savvy data analysts, and have a strong instinct that makes them successful business people.
Related: 6 Success Secrets From the Most Influential Tech CEOs
Top CEOs are passionate about seeking new methods to reduce their workload efficiently, while at the same time, trying as much as possible to improve how well they meet and satisfy the demand for their products and services. While labor shortages are the highlight of the economy during the pandemic, robots are quickly filling this gap with better outcomes, too.
First, they do more jobs with more speed and efficiency. Secondly, they are diverse and are usable in multiple industries, including manufacturing, agriculture and construction. Business leaders who are labor-constrained should consider employing robots in their activities to boost productivity and enhance their daily operations.
Top leaders are naturally curious and eager to learn to expand their mindset. Tech leaders should always embrace continuous learning to understand the fast-changing nature of the industry to adapt quickly, grow their skills and effectively manage their teams. Top tech leaders also mentor junior engineers to help them advance in their careers and be more responsive to market demands.
Businesses that sell products or services online, including flights, rental real estate or books, offer purchase insurance at checkout. And such online insurance could expand to new industries like shipping, car sales, construction and financial services.
New insurance carriers could emerge soon to offer industry-specific insurance coverage. Tech leaders should explore the benefits of partnering with such carriers, or better still, create their own.
Successful leaders inspire their tech teams by leading from the front. Giving their recommendations to their IT teams is essential, but it’s even more effective to practice what they believe in, even if it means they have to dive deep into the code.
Inspirational CIOs also collaborate actively, encouraging teamwork and enforcing the belief that no problem is unsolvable. Working beside your team goes a long way in showing your resolve to achieve a common goal.
Related: 6 Crucial Characteristics of an Effective Tech CEO
One of the best ways to share a leader’s vision is by using software simulations to map out the company’s activities to identify loopholes and pinpoint growth opportunities. Simulations can also solve technical challenges like supply chains that rely on a single provider.
While most organizations could lack an in-house function to set up such simulations, exploring the possibilities is critical. There are powerful tools you can use to envision significant improvements, even if it means outsourcing.
Many of your customers may not be tech-savvy and may not understand some technical issues and possible solutions. While a company can hire customer service and human resources to attend to online queries, some may struggle to hire and retain these critical staff.
Top tech leaders explore the alternative: virtual deepfakes, which are digital videos of human replicas that help to offer customer service, entertainment or gaming. The applications are endless and can help to streamline your business operations.
Predictive software uses data to predict your next word or phrase, which is how search engines such as Google work. But in this sense, the software indicates the code likely to come next, thereby helping in faster development to help you boost productivity. This functionality is invaluable, especially where there’s a labor shortage, and tech leaders should explore the possibilities of such predictive software.
When IT teams acquire ownership of a project, they play an integral role in the overall IT firm’s vision. But take care not to micromanage IT teams and their leaders. Instead, allow them to lead, run their businesses and grow as leaders.
Inspired employees are happier and more productive, and in turn, they make the clients happy as well. Top tech leaders allow their employees to buy a share of the software and apps they develop, making them more loyal to the company’s values, vision and goals.
An inspirational leader takes a firm stand on critical issues, especially regarding major decisions for your firm. Successful tech leaders believe in the company’s mission and goals and communicate them to all IT teams. The goal is to lead by example instead of being reactionary.
Related: How This Tech Leader Found Her Voice and Took the Reins of a Major Company
An effective leader assembles highly skilled teams to support the company’s ability to stay on top of its game in the highly competitive IT and software market. But to remain relevant and consistent in the industry, regular training and retraining are necessary to equip your teams with new skills and refresh the existing ones.
To gain a competitive edge, the most successful tech leader is one who will incorporate software solutions to streamline business and facilitate team activities. These solutions could be applicable in marketing, offering customer care and predictive software for faster development of apps.
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Steve Taplin
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[Sensitive content: This article discusses gun violence]
A gun was pointed a few inches from the center of my forehead. It was small. Maybe 22 calibers. Time slowed. Fight or flight kicked in, and I saw everything in my peripheral vision clearly. A couple of people were looking at us through a plate glass window from their table at the restaurant I had just left. My friends were a few feet away, wide-eyed and scared.
You might be wondering how I ended up in this precarious situation, to begin with. Well, moments before, I was walking out of a restaurant. It was late, maybe 1 am. I had felt this kid staring at me. At this point, I decided to walk over to his car and ask him, “what’s up?” Did I need to do this? No. Was it provocative? Yes. And now we all know how this questionable decision could have cost me my life.
It goes without saying that this encounter has had a lasting impression on me. It has helped shape who I am, the decisions I make and who I am striving to become. You might, however, be surprised to hear that this pivotal moment didn’t mark the end of my abrasive behavior (that came later), it did, however, serve as the most poignant reminder of how conversations can go sideways — fast.
Over the years, I learned that the use of empathy, in such precarious situations — or even less volatile ones — has tremendous power to turn situations around to create positive outcomes. Especially in business.
Related: What Is Empathy, and Why Is It So Important for Great Leaders?
While many in the business world fixate on data, analytics and technology, they should spend as much time analyzing and understanding the motivations, emotions and varying perspectives of people. I am, of course, talking about prioritizing one’s emotional intelligence. The most gifted leaders out there understand how their actions and words affect those around them. They excel in social awareness and practice empathy.
This did not come naturally to me. Early in my career, I was willing to achieve my goals at any cost, no matter how my actions affected others. Case in point: If someone from another department was blocking or slowing down my project, I’d leapfrog over them and exert downward pressure by looping in their manager. It always worked. My project was magically sped up or unblocked almost instantly. I justified my actions because they were in the best interest of the company.
But the company is made up of people. People with feelings. And, when that type of downward pressure is applied to someone, it sours your relationship with them. They know you bypassed them. They feel belittled, pressured and then forced into compliance. And you’re the source of those feelings. Not only does this ruin your relationship, but it also adds friction to future projects because that person (and their team) won’t be invested in working with you. The end doesn’t justify the means. As the late, great Maya Angelou once said, “…people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”
Instead of exerting pressure, applying leverage or coercing peers to comply, I could have gained their buy-in and inspired them to help out voluntarily. I could have taken them out for lunch or coffee. I could have asked about their challenges. Asked what they were dealing with and how I could help them. People are smart. They will see what you’re trying to do, but most will appreciate it. It might take more time in the short term, but overall, you’ll strengthen the relationship. Plus, your project will be completed faster and at a higher level of quality. And who knows — maybe you’ll pick up some ideas you wouldn’t have come up with on your own.
Related: Why Empathy Is a Crucial Entrepreneurial Skill (and How to Develop Yours)
An overwhelming amount of research suggests that empathy and personal interest increase employee loyalty and trust. In Harvard Business Review’s Emotional Intelligence Series on Empathy, Emma Sappala writes how kindness and optimistic communications have more impact on performance than the number of zeros on an employee’s paycheck. The author explains in another article that responding with anger or frustration erodes loyalty.
A study by Jonathan Haidt of New York University shows that employees become more loyal when leaders tap into empathy more deeply. Neuroimaging research confirms that our brains respond more positively to leaders who use empathy compared to those who do not.
As with any other skill, practicing empathy can be developed, though it takes time. Every person is different, so we all have to discover the triggers that inspire and motivate us.
Here are a few tips for practicing empathy:
Bottom line: Understanding your employees builds trust, which in turn improves performance. Congratulate yourself on trying to understand them. Even when you fail.
I’ve come a long way since that moment I was held at gunpoint. Luckily for me, the situation de-escalated quickly and I got another chance to reassess my ways — both personally and professionally. Having worked on my emotional intelligence and practiced empathy, I now know how to “read the room,” and connect emotionally with people around me. I can safely say, you’ll not catch me walking up to any lone stranger in the dead of the night asking provocative questions. Ultimately, being self-aware and understanding the risk factors presented before you is what makes business leaders great.
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Louis Camassa
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