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Tag: Thought Leaders

  • How to Know When to Hire Your First Employee | Entrepreneur

    How to Know When to Hire Your First Employee | Entrepreneur

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    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    At some point as an entrepreneur, you’ll face a challenging decision: When is it time to hire your first employee? After incubating the idea of your startup. then deploying your resources and making it all happen, at some point you may realize it’s time to bring someone else in to help you achieve your vision and grow the business. It’s exciting, but at the same time, can be daunting. What if the new hire doesn’t work out? What if you hire too many people or too few?

    Entrepreneurs are inherently self-starters and ambitious, and shifting responsibilities to new workers can be difficult – but it’s a necessary step for growth. A company needs support to grow and thrive. You can’t do it all on your own, which makes hiring employees — especially the early ones — a crucial step toward entrepreneurial success. Before you do anything, though, ask yourself: Is this the right time to hire?

    Knowing when you shouldn’t hire

    Before addressing best practices for hiring, it’s vital to recognize common pitfalls entrepreneurs face when starting to grow their workforce – that starts with knowing when not to hire. Similar to making big life decisions, you should avoid hiring employees out of anxiety or uncertainty. Your choices should be deliberate and strategic. Take a step back and reconsider hiring employees if you find yourself in the following situations:

    You’re desperate

    If you have more work than you can humanly handle and you just need to get another body behind a desk, it’s tempting to find someone right away. However, a hasty decision born of desperation is rarely a good one. Take the time to find the right person for the job.

    You don’t have specific responsibilities for an employee

    Unless you have a defined set of tasks and expectations for your new hire, do them a favor and don’t hire anyone. A new hire at this stage will rightfully be confused and ineffective. You may need help, but if you don’t know exactly what that help will look like, consider hiring a coach instead of an employee.

    You’ll take anyone

    If you’re lucky, the first applicant will be an absolute rockstar who can bring your business to the next level – but that’s not the norm. You’ll learn a lot about yourself, the applicant market and your own position by interviewing more candidates. The variety of skill sets on display can also hone your focus for what your future employee will do.

    Hiring your first employee

    Hire someone too early and you could have cash flow problems, a worker who has nothing to do and the added stress of management. Hire too late, and you could be inundated with work you can’t accomplish, which could lead to missing deadlines and losing out on business.

    Finding the right moment to hire, therefore, can make the difference between a failed enterprise and a successful business. But how do you know when the time is right? The following tips can make this process a little less painful and provide options for making that first hire:

    Start with a cofounder

    If you’re a solopreneur looking to make that next step, bringing on an employee can be intimidating. Instead, hire a cofounder, or at least someone who thinks like one.When making that first hire, look for someone with cofounder potential and traits, such as complementary skills, similar values and vision, teachability, passion, emotional intelligence, flexibility and honesty. Your first employee will hopefully be one of your longest lasting and most knowledgeable.

    Ask yourself: Will these tasks generate money?

    It’s been said that the only two purposes of an employee are to: 1) make money for the business, or 2) save money for the business. If you’re confident a new hire will do at least one of those two things, go for it. In the early stage of a company, making money is more important than saving it. Typically, these early roles involve creating products (designers, developers, etc.), marketing products (growth hackers, content marketers, etc.) and supporting products (customer support, help desk, etc.).

    Know your desired skill set

    Before you search for an employee, you need to know what kind of candidate you’re looking for. It’s not enough to simply know that you “need some help” or “need a developer.” Get specific: You don’t want just a “developer.” You want a Javascript developer with GitHub experience able to create machine learning algorithms with educational applications, for example. The clearer your set of responsibilities are, the more effectively you can hire someone to fulfill those duties r.

    Delay the decision by hiring a contractor

    You may still be undecided over whether or not it’s time to hire. Don’t sweat it. Instead, test it. Try hiring a contractor with the same set of parameters you’re looking for in a full-time employee. The introductory hassle of onboarding a contractor is relatively low compared to that of hiring an employee. You can create a contract for one month, six months or a year. If it works out, you can transition this person into an official hire or look for a full-time employee.

    The differences between hiring freelancers, contractors and employees

    The major differences between freelancers, contractors and employees has to do with their relationship with the business owner. Freelancers and contractors are self-employed individuals, while employees are hired by the company. Freelancers and contractors typically set their schedules based on the needs of their clients and work out a payment schedule (typically upon completion of a job).

    Employees, on the other hand, work the schedule established by the company and receive a regular paycheck on a schedule set by the company. As a business owner, you’re responsible for tax reporting on your payroll employees. But since freelancers and independent contractors are considered self-employed, they are responsible for reporting their taxes.

    So what’s the best decision for your company? It depends on your needs, your resources and your ambitions.

    When should you hire a freelancer?

    Some people use the terms “freelancer” and “contractor” interchangeably, but there is a difference in the type of professional you are hiring. Freelancers usually work on smaller, short-term projects, while contractors work on larger, more long-term projects.

    Freelancers are great options for specific support — for example, bringing on a digital marketer to get your social media up and running. If you’re not financially ready to bring on full-time employees for whom you have to provide employee benefits, a freelance relationship may be a better setup.

    When should you hire a contractor?

    Contractors generally come with a team of expert professionals who can get you the help you need, whatever it may be. They can handle specialized projects, such as IT, remodels, design and consulting. As your business grows, financial consultants can keep you on track with your financial goals. If you need highly specialized work that requires a team, contracting a company will ensure the job gets done right.

    When should you hire an employee?

    Not every company needs a large number of employees, but if you hold frequent meetings, rent an office space or interact with customers, you’ll want reliable employees to help support the business. Remember, just because someone looks good on paper doesn’t mean they’re a good fit for your business. They must fit into your company’s culture. Consider bringing on full-time staff if they can make you more money or improve the customer experience.

    Why hiring globally might be your best move

    The growing popularity of remote work has meant dramatic growth in the pool of available talent. Don’t limit yourself to just domestic workers, though. By hiring workers outside your country, you can save money, increase efficiency and still provide customers with superior service. Consider the following benefits to hiring globally.

    A wider talent pool

    As unemployment levels drop, the demand for skilled workers rises — especially for roles in software engineering or data science. By looking past your own borders, you can grow your pool of potential employees and have access to a wider swath of workers. For example, Poland, Slovakia and India are renowned for their pool of highly qualified tech professionals available to work remotely for international companies. Tap into this talent network to find the right fit for your company.

    Cost efficiencies

    Hiring overseas means access to employees who live somewhere with a much lower cost of living, which generally means lower salary expectations. The requirements for compulsory employer contributions and payroll taxes that increase business costs also vary by country. For example, countries like Germany and Japan generally require that employers deduct a certain amount of the employee’s pay for health insurance. But Australia and New Zealand, with public healthcare systems, do not require such employer insurance contributions.

    Access to resilient international markets

    If you run a growing, ambitious business, you may be eyeing overseas expansion. One of the biggest factors in your success will be having employees familiar with that market. You have a few options for growing an international presence: set up a local entity or subsidiary (abiding by local employment laws) or use an Employer of Record (EOR) solution, in which you designate a third-party company to handle payroll, HR compliance and employee tax withholding.

    Compliance benefits

    Employer compliance can vary depending on the country, and some are more strict than others. Whether you’re concerned about at-will employment, parental leave allowance or pension contributions, you can hire from countries whose labor laws align with your needs.

    24/7 customer support

    Customers expect fast and capable support, no matter where they’re based or when they contact the company. With just 9% of customers able to solve business queries on their own, customer service channels are more important than ever. Having staff in multiple international locations and time zones ensures someone will always answer the support line and provide 24/7 support for your customers.

    Before you hire globally, though, you should look into any logistical challenges it might create. Despite the many benefits, hiring international talent can lead to internal communication challenges, scheduling conflicts across time zones, cultural differences, and discrepancies in pay scales. While these challenges can be overcome, they’re worth considering before building a continent-spanning workforce.

    Related: 10 Pros (and Cons) of Hiring International Employees

    Can college students solve your employee needs?

    Different hires provide varying solutions for business, and hiring college students can infuse your company with young energy and ambitious workers. Whether you develop an internship program or employ them part time or seasonally, college students are often more affordable to hire than full-time employees and can support your team’s specific needs.

    Creating a pipeline between universities and your business could be a worthwhile investment. Students are trying to get their foot in the door, and they can also provide your company with much-needed help. Here are a few benefits of hiring college students:

    They bring fresh perspectives and new ideas

    College students are at a unique stage in their lives and are just beginning to form professional identities. Eager to develop skill sets and apply classroom lessons in the professional world, they often bring welcome new perspectives to the table. This can be especially valuable in industries that are constantly changing or in need of innovation.

    They’re highly motivated and ready to learn

    The most ambitious college students are proactive and eager to take on new challenges — both promising traits for future employees. When you empower college workers, they’ll go above and beyond to learn and contribute to your organization. Additionally, young people are generally tech-savvy and comfortable with digital tools and platforms — a huge asset in today’s business landscape.

    They’re cost-effective employees

    Because school is the main priority, students are often willing to work for less pay than more experienced candidates; they’re also more open to part-time or internship positions, helping small businesses bring in new talent without breaking the bank. These internships can act as trial runs for potential full-time employment.

    How to attract and hire the best salespeople

    Just about any business needs persuasive salespeople. In order to sustain and grow your company, you need someone who can bring in new clients while you focus on the business itself. No matter what role someone in your company fulfills, everyone does some kind of selling on a regular basis — pitching investors or bankers, selling coworkers on a new project idea or vision, providing customer service, negotiating with vendors, etc.

    Ultimately, though, it will be your sales team that drives your company’s growth. If you want to add top-notch talent to this group and increase your revenue, keep these things in mind:

    Your mission should be exciting and purposeful

    What are you looking to achieve with your business? Most people these days are looking to join a company because of its mission — its goal to change the world in some meaningful way. According to a 2021 McKinsey study, 70% of Americans say work defines their sense of purpose. Your mission doesn’t need to save lives, it just needs to inspire workers and point to a larger goal. Find salespeople who buy into this mindset, and they’ll evangelize the company or product for you.

    Be the best salesperson you can be

    If you’re looking to hire salespeople, you should also know how to sell. You may get to a point in your business where you’re not the main person bringing in new clients, but you still have ideas you need to sell to investors, journalists or marketers — and your own team. When interviewing a potential candidate, pay attention to your own energy level. Are you charismatic? Are you enthusiastic about the position and the opportunity? When the interview is done, you’ll want the candidate to feel like they’re ready to jump on your bandwagon and get started right away.

    Know what else you can offer

    If you can’t compete in the market with a high salary, you can at least offer other incentives that attract top talent and keep your business afloat. Many employees are looking for better work-life balance. Can you offer a flexible work schedule? Consider offering profit sharing or a higher commission in the near future. If your product or services are innovative or revolutionary, that can also be an incentive, as employees are eager to join a business that’s about to rapidly expand.

    The best recruiting platforms for small business hiring

    When it’s time to hire, finding quality candidates doesn’t need to be complicated. Job search sites can help you recruit and retain talent no matter your company’s budget or size. Some companies advertise jobs across a variety of platforms, and the sites you choose will determine who applies for your open roles.

    Similar to reaching a target audience, you want to meet candidates where they already are — think industry-specific forums, alumni networks or on social media. But there’s also value in casting a wide net and posting on major job boards with millions of visitors. With so many platforms to choose from, which will best support your mission? Here are some of the top recruiting platforms to consider:

    ZipRecruiter

    ZipRecruiter allows you to post job openings and receive applications from relevant candidates, as well as organize applicants in a resume database. Applicant tracking tools, including providing candidates with notes and feedback, also help you manage the hiring process.

    LinkedIn

    LinkedIn is particularly effective for recruiting candidates in the business, finance and technology sectors. To help you find and hire top talent in — and outside of — your network, it offers job postings, resume searches and applicant tracking.

    Indeed

    One of the world’s largest job search websites, Indeed allows you to search for candidates based on their location, experience and skills. It also provides rates for sponsored listings that prioritize your job openings in the search results.

    Glassdoor

    In addition to job postings, Glassdoor features reviews from people who’ve worked at various companies. By providing insight into a company’s culture and employee satisfaction, the site can help attract candidates to your open positions.

    Workable

    With affordable pricing plans and an easy-to-use interface, Workable is a recruiting platform that’s particularly effective for small- and medium-size businesses looking to streamline their hiring process. It offers a variety of features, including job postings, applicant tracking and candidate sourcing.

    Writing job advertisements to attract remote workers

    The pandemic ushered in a widespread adoption of work-from-home policies that may be here to stay. These policies allow for more flexible working situations, and they’re an excellent way for businesses to stay competitive in the job market.

    When writing your job advertisements, keep in mind it’s still just a listing, so you need to effectively communicate the benefits of working remotely and the job requirements. Consider the following tips for writing job advertisements to attract remote workers:

    Communicate the remote nature of the job

    Specify that the job is a remote position and include details about the type of work environment and equipment that will be required. Does this person need to work certain hours or be in a certain time zone? Spell everything out. If the job advertisement doesn’t say remote up front, many people will assume that it’s not.

    Highlight the benefits to employees working remotely

    Make it clear that the job offers the flexibility and autonomy of working remotely. Mention any perks or benefits that come with the position, such as a flexible schedule or the ability to work from anywhere.

    Clearly outline the job requirements

    Your job advertisements should clearly state the skills, experience, and qualifications that are required for the position. This will help you attract the right candidates and weed out those who are not a good fit.

    Use language that resonates with remote workers

    Use language that speaks to the realities of working remotely. For example, mention the ability to work from anywhere or the need for strong self-motivation and discipline. Also mention skills necessary for collaborating remotely, such as clear and concise communication.

    Include information about your company culture

    Whether in-person or working remotely, employees place a high value on company culture. In fact, this may be even more crucial in a remote environment, where your only coworker interactions are happening in chats and on video calls. Include information about your company’s values and mission in your job advertisements to help attract candidates who are a good fit.

    It’s time to start hiring

    By following these tips, you can make the most effective hiring decisions for your business. Keep in mind: no two companies are the same. Before you make a hire — or post a job, for that matter — consider the work you need done, the kind of worker you need to complete it, and where that person should be located. By outlining your needs early, you’ll save money (and headaches) in the long run.

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    Neil Patel

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  • What the SEC’s New Climate Transparency Rules Mean for You | Entrepreneur

    What the SEC’s New Climate Transparency Rules Mean for You | Entrepreneur

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    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    Discussing sensitive topics can be challenging for business owners. This is one of the top three or four reasons I receive initial calls for public relations assistance addressing a hot-button issue. The latest confusing trend is sustainability and how to talk about it openly. Surprisingly, people need clarification about how much to talk about it, why it’s important and when to bring it up. There’s even a new word for this fear: “greenhushing.”

    The most recent bit of pressure on companies regarding eco-messaging is the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) recent efforts to enforce regulations that protect investors and maintain market integrity. Basically, the SEC has revised environmental transparency rules and introduced mandatory climate risk disclosures for public companies.

    This is the first time a sustainability mandate has emerged nationally, and it’s expected to have a notable impact. In my opinion, even for private companies, it’s a call to pay attention and stop neglecting this discussion.

    We are entering an era where climate objectives, targets and governance frameworks will become mandatory in corporate reporting. This shift also aligns with the increasing consumer demand for environmentally and ethically sustainable products — a trend that, despite its popularity, has seen many companies struggle to translate into tangible demand.

    Related: Sustainability for Entrepreneurs — Why It Matters (and How to Achieve It).

    The paradox of consumer demand and greenwashing

    Consumers’ enthusiasm for sustainable products often starkly contrasts with their actual purchasing behavior. While surveys indicate a robust desire for sustainability, sales frequently need to catch up to expectations for new, environmentally conscious products. This discrepancy is exacerbated by greenwashing — where claims of environmental stewardship are not backed by practice — further eroding consumer trust and complicating the landscape for genuine initiatives.

    I’d counsel any company today to prepare for sustainability discussions and engagement. It is now an unavoidable topic. Because I have been a fractional CMO and external public relations consultant since 2002, I’ve received many calls from companies facing these watershed moments. Here is the advice I’d give a leadership team aiming to be more vocal about sustainability.

    The imperative of transparency

    In this context, the necessity for transparency is undeniable. Beyond mere regulatory compliance, transparency is crucial for cultivating consumer trust and loyalty. Companies must now proactively measure and refine their approaches to climate change, so this journey has got to start with a comprehensive understanding of your environmental footprint, including greenhouse gas emissions, resource utilization and waste generation.

    Typically facilitated by external consultants or an internal sustainability team, this foundational assessment is critical for setting realistic sustainability goals and improvement strategies. Employing standardized tools and frameworks like the Greenhouse Gas Protocol and Life Cycle Assessment provides a methodical approach to this task and will result in data and benchmarks you can use consistently in your messaging efforts.

    Armed with this data, specific and time-bound goals can be set that meet compliance requirements (if necessary) and drive significant environmental and social improvements. Engaging stakeholders, particularly employees, at this stage, helps bring to the surface any practical concerns and integrate these insights into the goal-setting process.

    Related: 70% of Consumers Say They’ll Buy ‘Green’ Products, but Only 5% Actually Do. That’s Due to a Common Marketing Mistake By Eco-Friendly Brands.

    The role of public relations in implementation

    Public relations in the realm of sustainable messaging goes beyond just issuing press releases. PR is a strategic tool for amplifying and embedding climate-change initiatives into the corporate ethos. Compelling storytelling highlighting a company’s progress and impacts on sustainability can significantly boost its reputation and foster third-party credibility.

    Leveraging various channels — from press releases and social media to comprehensive sustainability reports — enables these stories to reach and resonate with a broad audience, sparking engagement and advancing the sustainability agenda.

    Cultivating a sustainability-centric culture internally is essential. Companies can ensure that sustainability principles are deeply ingrained in every aspect of their operation through regular educational programs, active participation in sustainability initiatives and acknowledgment of individual and team contributions. This not only reinforces the company’s commitment to sustainability among employees but also mobilizes them and other stakeholders as ambassadors of these values.

    Continuous monitoring and evaluation of sustainability initiatives and how they are being perceived in public are vital measurement points to consider when assessing progress. Like any meaningful initiative, setting and tracking key performance indicators (KPIs) allow companies to measure effectiveness and identify areas for improvement. Further, engaging with employees and stakeholders through feedback will enrich this process and provide real-world insights.

    It seems counterintuitive, but in my experience, challenge is often in partnership with opportunity. Tackling tough subjects can uncover opportunities for innovation, stakeholder engagement and corporate accountability that otherwise would’ve been dormant. Talking specifically about sustainability is not always about compliance. It is a chance to appeal to buyers and lead the market with integrity, innovation and vision.

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    Christine Wetzler

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  • This Trauma Doctor Shares How He Deals with Loss and How It Will Change Your Perspective on Failure | Entrepreneur

    This Trauma Doctor Shares How He Deals with Loss and How It Will Change Your Perspective on Failure | Entrepreneur

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    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    If you are an emergency room physician, death and the fear of failure are constant companions. A countdown timer starts when a patient arrives with a fatal wound or condition. If that timer reaches zero, the patient will die. If it is prevented from reaching zero, the patient will survive and live to fight another day.

    It is literally a race against the clock, and the role of the ER physician is to battle that timer directly through medical interventions and keep the patient alive long enough for a trauma surgeon, interventional cardiologist or other specialist to solve the issue that is killing them.

    As you might imagine, when the ER staff wins that fight and saves a life, it is a fantastic feeling, but when they fail and lose a patient, it is devastating. Worse yet is when they lose a patient who could have been saved because they either made an error or did not have the required resources to save the person. Every ER Doctor has memories of the patients that they lost. In fact, a requirement for a long and healthy career in emergency medicine is the ability to find peace with this notion.

    I recently had the opportunity to spend time with Dr. Dan Dworkis, a Trauma and ER physician, Professor at the USC Keck School of Medicine, Medical Director of the Mission Critical Teams Institute, Podcast host and the author of The Emergency Mind. Dan has spent his career working in emergency rooms. In fact, not just emergency rooms but a busy trauma center in Los Angeles.

    As you might imagine, Dan has seen it all and, as a result, carries the stories and memories that come with working at a hospital that is frequented by children who have been shot, traumatic car accidents and people with life-threatening injuries and illnesses.

    Dan has spent a big part of his career studying how we make decisions under stress, how to operate in high-stress environments and how to create a culture of continuous improvement. Not surprisingly, I learned a lot from Dan. But, by far, the most profound thing I learned from Dan was a unique way to approach failure and, in the process, open ourselves up to growth and learning.

    Related: The 5 Key Qualities of a Good Leader

    The ritual: Learning by embracing loss

    As you can imagine, trauma physicians see quite a bit of death. No matter how good a doctor you are, you will lose patients, and some of those people certainly could have been saved with different skills or different resources. It would be easy to simply block yourself off from these feelings, to harden your heart, and to put these bad experiences into a mental box that you lock away. While this might not be great for your mental health, it is certainly a seemingly easier thing than confronting these memories and feelings. Yet, Dan actually advocates doing the complete opposite, leaning into the failure and attacking it directly.

    When a patient dies, there is an awkward moment immediately afterward where the team that treated the patient must transition away from that fight and move on to another. Despite just a few minutes before waging a war to save their life, the team must move on from this person. Machines must be turned off, tubes and wires removed, and each team member must emotionally reset and get back to work.

    It would be easy at that point to block the feelings and doubts that arise, place them in a box and move on to the next task while hoping never to think about those feelings again. But that is not what Dan does or advocates. Instead, he engages in a ritual that he was taught as a young doctor, which is to gather the team at the bedside of the patient, place a hand on the deceased patient, and utter the following phrase: “Thank you for teaching me. I am sorry that all I could do for you today was learn.”

    This seemingly simple act and brief statement is more than just a ritual to clear the mind before moving on. Instead, it is a deeply profound approach to situations where we cannot succeed and lays a strong foundation for learning and growth.

    Related: 2 Phrases I Learned From a Senior CIA Officer That Changed My Leadership Style

    Embracing failure

    The first significant thing that this ritual does is acknowledge and embrace failure. Rather than moving on and pretending that something profoundly negative didn’t just happen, this ritual looks failure square in the eye and leans into the discomfort of the situation. It embraces failure and immediately triggers the learning process.

    The first step to growth is the recognition and admission that what we currently do or know is not sufficient. To learn from others, we have to accept our own shortcomings, and this practice opens the door to that and to discovering something better. If we do not admit to our shortcomings, we cannot improve, and this is precisely the point of this ritual.

    Simply look at the phrase, “Thank you for teaching me. I am sorry that all I could do for you today was learn.” By its nature, it says I failed you today, and I wish I had more to give. It doesn’t say, “It’s too bad you died,” or “Wow, rough break you got.” It says, “I am sorry.” It embraces that the team didn’t have enough to save the person (and to be fair, no one may have been able to save them), but simply that acknowledgment doesn’t go far enough. Rather, it says I “learned from you.” It implicitly says, “I will be better next time” and “I am growing and improving my skills.” It is active, not passive, and immediately takes the first step toward learning.

    Conclusion

    A profound lesson extends far beyond the medical field and this single ritual to all of us. Whether you are an entrepreneur, a business leader, or even a parent, creating a culture of learning from mistakes and continuous improvement is critical to getting better. We should never run from our errors or try to hide them. We should embrace our failures and view them as perfect opportunities to grow. By establishing a process that immediately addresses our failures or shortcomings, we also immediately focus our attention on how we can improve, where we have deficiencies and perhaps most importantly, we immediately begin the process of learning and growth.

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    Jon B. Becker

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  • How Al Capone Inspired the Launch of a 95-Year-Old Family-Run Company | Entrepreneur

    How Al Capone Inspired the Launch of a 95-Year-Old Family-Run Company | Entrepreneur

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    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    Creating our show The CEO Series has allowed me to sit down with some of the most innovative and inspiring business leaders in the world to get their insights on what it takes to launch, grow and sustain a meaningful business.

    This episode took us to Ozinga, the concrete and building material powerhouse. They’re based in Chicago and if you’re in the area, you’re surely familiar with their iconic red and white trucks. They have approximately 2,500 employees and I got to have an amazing chat with the guy who oversees it all, Marty Ozinga, the fourth-generation CEO of this 95-year-old company.

    Below are some highlights of that conversation, which have been edited for length and clarity. Watch the full video above.

    His approach to leadership

    “It’s not the people are working for you, they’re working with you. That’s the way I was mentored and taught. We all need each other. We all have different roles and responsibilities, but we’re working with each other.”

    Related: Why Notre Dame’s Football Coach Tells His Team to “Choose Hard”

    Ozinga’s 95-year history

    “Our family came from the Netherlands in 1893, the year of the World’s Fair here in Chicago. The family was always in the delivery business. Then in 1928, my great-grandfather was working with the Cook County Sheriff’s Department during Prohibition and dealing with the hazards of Al Capone and all of that. He had five kids at home and decided, “You know what? I don’t want to fight Al Capone anymore.” So he started a coal delivery business. And then around 1950, ready mix concrete became the era’s disruptive technology. Ready mixed means that it is batched for delivery from a central plant instead of being mixed on the job site. And so Ozinga became one of the first ready mix providers in the region.”

    Related: This Entrepreneur Started Making Short Videos to Share Her Passion for Cooking. Now Her Food Company Is a Global Powerhouse.

    On their iconic trucks

    “We’ve supplied concrete to iconic Chicago landmarks like Soldier Field and Wrigley Field, so it’s fun to be connected to places like that. And we’re really proud of our trucks’ red and white stripes. I think it was a combination of this keen sense of marketing, but also of national pride. But there’s also some joke that they were Dutch and very frugal and those were the two paint buckets in the garage. So I like both those stories.”

    The power of peacefulness

    “Our dispatch office is the nerve center of the business. It’s where all the orders come in from our customers, and then where we dispatch the trucks. It is intentionally very quiet inside. We’ve tried to get it as quiet and peaceful as possible because historically the dispatch office is a very intense, chaotic, loud and crazy place.”

    Building and sustaining a legacy

    “There’s an emotional connection for my family and this company. We’ve been really fortunate that we get to embed ourselves in communities throughout the Midwest. We’re committed to our employees and our customers — we want to be here for the next hundred years and longer. That’s our intention. And while change is necessary so you don’t get disrupted and die and go out of business, there are certain things that you shouldn’t meddle with. Our core principles are the foundation for who we are and why we do what we do — that should never change.”

    Related: How Personal Passions Fuel Business Success for the CEO of Vivid Seats

    Check out more profiles of innovative and impactful leaders by visiting The CEO Series archives.

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    Will Salvi

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  • CEO Mindset Quotes That Keep Me Honest and Inspired | Entrepreneur

    CEO Mindset Quotes That Keep Me Honest and Inspired | Entrepreneur

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    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    Quotations are popular for a reason — sometimes a short piece of wisdom is exactly what’s needed to inspire you, keep you honest or ground you in your values. The ones that tend to stick with you might be large ideas contained in small pieces of text or simple advice that helps you remember something important. They can feel inspiring and give us principles to remember to live by.

    I’m known to wear a variety of printed T-shirts with words of motivation on them to help me remember something important to me and to inspire others around me because I love to share an inspiring message. So here are eight of my favorite quotes for CEOs and why I think they’re useful to remember:

    Related: 30 of the Most Inspirational Leadership Quotes

    1. “If you don’t have an assistant, you are one!” — Cameron Herold, author and coach

    One of my favorite quotes that got me to take action was this one from Cameron Herold. This quote represents one of the most important lessons for an entrepreneur to learn — your time is your most valuable resource, so spend it on the tasks that are most important. That means delegating anything that doesn’t require your level of expertise. Would you pay someone your salary to do the work of an assistant? If you don’t have one, you’re already doing that!

    2. “It’s okay to admit what you don’t know. It’s okay to ask for help. And it’s more than okay to listen to the people you lead — in fact, it’s essential.” — Mary Barra, CEO of General Motors

    Strong leadership requires some level of vulnerability. Admitting when you don’t know something, asking for help and listening to your employees are markers of an effective leader. The leader who tries to do it all on their own will never accomplish as much as the leader who values the expertise of others.

    3. “All our productivity, leverage and insight comes from being part of a community, not apart from it. The goal, I think, is to figure out how to become more dependent, not less.” — Seth Godin, author and speaker

    One of the most important leadership lessons to learn is that your greatest business asset is your team. Each person brings a unique perspective and skillset, and the best innovations happen in collaboration. Your community extends beyond just your team as well — friends, mentors and family members all provide valuable, enriching relationships. Don’t neglect them.

    4. “No legacy is so rich as honesty.” — William Shakespeare

    If there’s anyone who managed to set a remarkable legacy, it was Shakespeare. More than what you accomplish, people will remember the way you behaved. And your legacy doesn’t just start after you die; it’s already in action, in the way people associate with you. A legacy and reputation as an honest person will take you far.

    Related: 15 Quotes on Success From America’s Top CEOs

    5. “You can’t use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have.” — Maya Angelou

    As the CEO of your business, your creativity is one of your most valuable skills, so it’s worth taking the time to practice it. I’m known for dedicating a day each week to creative endeavors to help keep my creative muscles in shape. And I highly encourage everyone to make intentional time for creativity, because the more often you do it, the more easily ideas will come to you.

    6. “A pessimist is one who makes difficulties of his opportunities and an optimist is one who makes opportunities of his difficulties.” —Harry S. Truman

    Stop letting your thoughts get in your way. It’s easy to adopt a pessimistic attitude under the guise of “realism,” but the reality is that it’s optimists who tend to get the best outcomes. Why? Because they’re not easily discouraged, so they’re more likely to learn from their mistakes and keep trying. As opera singer Robert Breault said, “The realist sees reality as concrete. The optimist sees reality as clay.”

    7. “What looks like multitasking is really switching back and forth between multiple tasks, which reduces productivity and increases mistakes by up to 50%.” — Susan Cain, author

    If you’re anything like the majority of entrepreneurs I know, you’re always trying to do more with your time. Time is your most valuable resource, so it’s important to use it wisely — which is exactly why multitasking is a bad idea. You’ll always get more done when you dedicate your focus to a single task and give it your all.

    Related: ‘Let’s Punch Today in the Face!’ 20 Inspiring Quotes and Sayings That Motivated Successful Entrepreneurs

    8. “The best way to drive performance in an organization is to create an environment in which information can flow freely, mistakes can be highlighted, and help can be offered and received.” — Simon Sinek, author and speaker

    Creating a productive workplace culture can seem dauntingly complex to many executives, but the core of it is collaboration, where each employee is given the resources to perform their best. And in order to have strong collaboration, you need a creative and judgment-free environment where people can bring their ideas, perspectives and expertise to the table, communicate freely, take ownership over their tasks, ask for help when needed and have the freedom to make mistakes. When you create a culture of collaboration, that’s where innovation begins.

    If you found one of these quotes particularly inspiring or helpful, write it down on a sticky note and put it somewhere you can see it regularly. Sometimes these short reminders are exactly what we need to refocus and maintain our perspective.

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    Jason Hennessey

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  • How to Be an Better Communicator in 7 Steps | Entrepreneur

    How to Be an Better Communicator in 7 Steps | Entrepreneur

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    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    Back in the late 1980s, when I was in the early stages of establishing my advertising agency, an invitation came my way to speak at a Chamber of Commerce event in Upstate New York. I turned it down. At that moment, the idea of declining might have seemed counterintuitive, especially given my aspirations to grow my business.

    The reason? I was afraid. Fear held me back from seizing an opportunity that could have propelled my agency forward. Not long after that failed opportunity, a pivotal moment arrived during a staff meeting. A few days after the meeting, my Art Director approached me with feedback that was both unsettling and enlightening. He said that everyone had been confused about a particular topic I had discussed, yet no one felt comfortable confronting me about it.

    This incident served as a wake-up call, prompting me to confront my fears and recognize the crucial role effective communication plays in business success. It was clear that if I intended to thrive as a businessperson, especially in a leadership role, mastering the art of public speaking was not just an option — it was a necessity.

    Fast forward to today, forty years later. I started and ran a very successful advertising agency for nearly twenty years. I have been speaking and training globally for over twenty years. I can say with 100% certainty that focusing on better presentation skills after that feedback from my employee was the most important career decision I’ve ever made.

    Related: The Complete, 20-Step Guide to Ace Public Speaking

    You don’t have to be a professional speaker to speak like a professional

    Throughout my career, I’ve had the distinct privilege of coaching aspiring professional speakers as well as numerous executives, guiding them toward becoming not just better communicators but compelling presenters. Whether it’s delivering a critical pitch to board members, leading a staff meeting, or captivating an audience at industry conferences, the power to communicate with both passion and precision is paramount. And by precision, I mean far more than just covering bullet points. It’s about hitting those crucial, emotionally charged points that truly connect with your audience.

    Related: What is a Keynote Speaker and Why Are They Important?

    Improving presentation skills is an ongoing process that can significantly enhance a leader’s effectiveness and ability to achieve organizational objectives. Here are seven steps to becoming a better presenter and a more effective communicator.

    1. Understand your audience: Begin by researching and understanding your audience. What are their interests, challenges, and expectations? Tailoring your message to the audience’s needs and perspectives increases engagement and impact.
    2. Master your content: Know your material inside and out. This doesn’t mean memorizing your presentation word for word but being comfortable with the content so you can adapt on the fly, answer questions, and engage in meaningful dialogue.
    3. Practice relentlessly: If possible, practice your presentation multiple times in various settings. This can include practicing in front of a mirror, with a trusted friend or colleague, or recording yourself to review your performance. The goal is to become comfortable with your delivery and refine your pacing, tone, and body language.
    4. Engage with storytelling: Incorporate storytelling into your presentations. Stories are powerful tools for making complex information understandable and memorable. Use personal anecdotes or hypothetical scenarios that resonate with your audience’s experiences.
    5. Hone your nonverbal communication: Pay attention to your body language, eye contact, and use of space. Nonverbal cues can reinforce your message or, if not managed well, distract from it. Ensure your posture is confident, your gestures are purposeful, and you maintain eye contact with your audience to build a connection.
    6. Manage nervous energy: Learn techniques to manage anxiety and nervous energy. This can include deep breathing exercises, positive visualization, or a pre-presentation routine that helps you center yourself. Recognize that some nervousness is natural and can be channeled into dynamic energy that enhances your presentation.
    7. Seek feedback and continuously improve: After each presentation, seek constructive feedback from peers, mentors, or audience members. Reflect on what worked well and what could be improved. Consider working with a coach or joining organizations like Toastmasters International to gain insights and practice in a supportive environment.

    By following these steps and committing to continuous improvement, you’ll become a better speaker or presenter and a more effective communicator, capable of inspiring and leading others with confidence and clarity.

    Related: 10 Public Speaking Hacks I Learned From My TED Talk

    Remember, effective public speaking is essential in leadership — it’s not just a skill. It’s a necessity. Now, let’s delve into the key benefits of mastering presentation skills for any leader.

    1. Influence and persuasion: Effective presentation skills enable leaders to influence their audience’s attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors. Persuasive presentations can motivate teams, sway stakeholders, and drive organizational change. A leader who is a compelling presenter can better advocate for their vision, inspire action and garner support for initiatives.
    2. Clarity and direction: Leaders often need to communicate complex information, strategies, and visions to a diverse audience. Being a better presenter helps ensure that messages are delivered clearly and concisely, reducing misunderstandings and aligning the team with organizational goals. Clear presentations help demystify complex issues and provide a roadmap for what needs to be done.
    3. Credibility and trust: Presentation skills are directly tied to a leader’s credibility. Leaders who present confidently and effectively are more likely to be perceived as knowledgeable and competent. This perception builds trust within the team and among stakeholders, which is essential for effective leadership and collaboration.
    4. Engagement and inspiration: Dynamic presentation skills help leaders engage their audience emotionally and intellectually. By being a better presenter, a leader can connect with their audience on a personal level, fostering a sense of community and shared purpose. This engagement is crucial for inspiring teams and driving them to embrace challenges and achieve goals.
    5. Adaptability and impact: Leaders must be able to tailor presentations to different audiences and situations. Effective presenters can adjust their message, tone, and delivery to suit the situation, whether they’re motivating a team, pitching to investors, or speaking at a large conference. This adaptability maximizes the impact of their communication, ensuring that their messages resonate broadly and drive desired outcomes.

    In conclusion, becoming an exceptional presenter is a personal and professional evolution, marking a leader’s commitment to excellence and influence. It’s a path that amplifies a leader’s effectiveness and elevates the entire organization. For leaders aiming to leave a lasting imprint on their teams, stakeholders, and industry, refining presentation skills is not just a strategy — it’s a mission. As we’ve seen, the benefits are clear, transformative, and within reach for those ready to embrace the challenge and harness the power of truly impactful communication.

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    Scott Deming

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  • M1 CEO Brian Barnes on Creating a Fintech Platform Built to Last | Entrepreneur

    M1 CEO Brian Barnes on Creating a Fintech Platform Built to Last | Entrepreneur

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    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    We’ve been visiting the headquarters of some of the most innovative and imaginative leaders in business for The CEO Series, learning what it takes to launch and grow a thriving brand. For this episode, our crew went to the office of M1, a fintech platform that bills itself as “the finance super app.” The powerful online investing and banking platform has raised $315 million at a valuation of about $1.5 billion and manages about $8 billion for half a million customers. I sat down with founder and CEO Brian Barnes to learn all about the platform, how it was created, and his advice to founders on running a company built to last.

    Below are some highlights of our conversation, which have been edited for length and clarity. You can watch the full video above.

    The thrill of investing

    “M1 is a personal finance platform. We started the company about eight and a half years ago. We now manage about $8 billion on the platform for half a million customers. And we are really just trying to create the best possible way for someone to manage their finances. And we do that with a lot of personalization, customization, and automation. I was fortunate to be introduced to finance at a pretty young age and I was immediately hooked. I love the idea of investing, of trying to find out what a company’s worth and how it’s operating in a complex world. As an investor, you’re making a high-conviction bet. If you’re right, you make money. If you’re wrong, you lose money. And so, you know, some people like sports gambling. For me, it is what is a company going to be worth in the next five or ten years.”

    Related: The CEO of Catholic Prayer and Meditation App Hallow Says Founders Need to Be Part of Something Bigger Than Themselves

    Doing business in good times and bad

    “We want to create a financial institution that lasts for decades. There are companies out there that have lasted for centuries. If you are around for that period of time, it’s unquestionable that you’re going to have these massive disruptions in the overall market. And so we have been trying to build the organization so that we can survive in any macro environment and not just be tailor-made for one.”

    Calm in the storm

    “I try to stay calm — on the outside. [Laughs] The entrepreneurship quote I love is that the highs are high, the lows are low and they’re ten minutes apart. There are times when you think you’re taking over the world. And then there are times where you’re like, What the hell am I doing? I took all this money, I convinced people to quit their jobs and join me, I’m competing against the Schwabs of the world. But stewing in all of that stress accomplishes nothing. I think maintaining my emotions and figuring out how I can allocate my time productively has been a good attribute that I’ve had as I’ve built the organization.”

    Related: How Personal Passions Fuel Business Success for the CEO of Vivid Seats

    The life of a founder

    “Being a founder of a tech company is more than just being a CEO. You’re both the most senior and most junior person at the company. You get to set direction and strategy and things like that, but in any area where there is not someone dedicated to that role? It’s on you to fill the gap. I would say I played CEO from 8 a.m. to 11 a.m. And then I played junior analyst from 11 a.m. to midnight every night. You’re just running around and trying to add value where you can. As you grow, you’d love to put things on pause while you figure out how to scale your team. But that’s not how it works — you’ve got to scale your team and build a product and acquire customers at the same time. There’s a little bit of chaos, but you have to sort of thrive in the chaos.”

    Related: Inside Potbelly’s Recipe for Fast Casual Success

    Legacy of leadership

    “My mom Brenda Barnes was CEO of PepsiCo and Sarah Lee. I mean, that’s a great person to learn from. She was one of seven sisters. They all shared a bedroom. They were a Polish immigrant family in Chicago. Her father was a factory worker. And so, I think she always had an insanely healthy respect for people who did the actual work at her companies. The people who bottled the cola, who loaded the delivery trucks. As a CEO, you need to respect that they know their job better than you. And the leader’s job is to set an example for what you want the values across the company to be. If you could write down all the positive attributes and values that you would want instilled throughout the company, then you better exhibit those things.”

    Check out more profiles of innovative and impactful leaders by visiting The CEO Series archives.

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    William Salvi

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  • With This LinkedIn Algorithm Change, Your Best Posts Could Reach New Readers for Years | Entrepreneur

    With This LinkedIn Algorithm Change, Your Best Posts Could Reach New Readers for Years | Entrepreneur

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    Your best LinkedIn posts could soon get a lot more reach.

    That’s because LinkedIn is developing a new way for posts to show up on other people’s feeds. It’s called a “suggested post” — an ambitious, new way of distributing content, where your best posts will be shown to targeted users for months or even years.

    “Right now, content lives and dies on the newsfeed very quickly,” says Tim Jurka, a senior director of engineering at LinkedIn. “We’re trying to collect the sum total of professional knowledge on our platform, and make sure it surfaces whenever you need it.”

    It’s the latest in a series of changes for LinkedIn, as the platform actively seeks to reward what it calls “knowledge and advice” instead of virality. In June 2023, I reported on LinkedIn’s initial algorithm shifts — recognizing when posts are based on the writer’s core expertise, amplifying posts that drive meaningful conversations in the comments, and more.

    So what’s next? In a recent conversation with Jurka and his colleague, LinkedIn editor in chief Dan Roth, we discussed many subjects relevant for anyone looking to boost their LinkedIn engagement:

    • The development of suggested posts
    • Other new tools to help LinkedIn users grow
    • The impact of the algorithm changes, and some users’ complaints that their reach has gone down
    • LinkedIn’s move away from the term “creator”
    • Why LinkedIn says you shouldn’t trust reports about how to optimize your posts

    You can hear our full conversation on my Entrepreneur podcast, Problem Solvers, or read more below.

    How the new ‘suggested posts’ work

    Social media feeds generally optimize for timeliness, showing you the most recent posts from your connections or new posts you’re likely to enjoy. But timeliness can be a problem, Jurka says, because not everyone needs the same information at the same time.

    LinkedIn isn’t doing away with timeliness, but it wants to be a more active content matchmaker — recognizing what individual users are interested in, and then surfacing relevant posts regardless of when they were created. “We really try to match content to them when a certain insight would be super valuable to them in that moment,” Jurka says.

    Here’s what that would look like.

    Let’s say you went to LinkedIn and posted a detailed lesson about beverage marketing. Typically, that post would disappear from people’s feeds within a few days or more.

    Now LinkedIn is thinking differently. It might identify your post as uniquely useful — and whenever other users show an interest in beverage marketing, it might display your post in their feed as a special “suggested post.” This means your content could actively live on for months or even years, reaching a hyper-targeted audience.

    If this works, Jurka acknowledges, it creates an incentive for users to post more useful content. The feature is being tested right now, and you may see a version of it on your feed. Jurka says he spends about 75% of his time on suggested posts right now, and that the project is in “very early days.”

    New tools to help user growth

    LinkedIn is rolling out a series of new tools on the platform, with the aim of helping users connect more effectively. These include:

    Custom button. Premium members can now create a “custom button” — a small hyperlink that appears in their profile and above all their posts. Right now, the button can only say a small number of phrases such as “Visit my website” and “Book an appointment.” Roth says more phrases are coming, including something along the lines of “Subscribe to my newsletter.”

    The verified badge. Users can now verify their identity on LinkedIn through a variety of methods. Once verified, users get a small badge on their profile. Jurka called it a “trust-builder” that helps you connect with others — but no, your posts don’t get more visibility if you’re verified.

    Thought leadership ads. Companies can now spend money to boost someone else’s post — for example, a post by someone praising its product. This is only available to organizations with a company page.

    Newsletters. LinkedIn has been developing a newsletter product for years, and says it now has 550 million professionals who have subscribed to 156,000 newsletters. The product still lacks a lot of the data and features found on newsletter platforms like ConvertKit and Substack, but Roth says that LinkedIn plans to expand the product and compete directly against other platforms in the space.

    Creator mode. For a while now, LinkedIn users have been able to turn on a setting called creator mode. It activates audience-building tools such as LinkedIn Live, audio events, and deeper post analytics. In the coming months, the company tells me, it will open those tools up to everyone, regardless of whether they turned on creator mode or not — and it will also be “investing in the tools we’ve heard in feedback that work best for sharing and building an audience.” (This wasn’t discussed on the podcast, but the company told me about it after.)

    Has the algorithm hurt reach?

    Since the algorithm changes began rolling out last year, many LinkedIn creators say their posts reach fewer people. One report, based on an evaluation of 1 million posts, said that reach dropped by 66% in October 2023, compared to October 2022.

    Is it true? It certainly seems that way. I post on LinkedIn daily, and feel that it’s harder to gain impressions and new followers. When I polled my followers on LinkedIn about this recently, they largely felt the same:

    Dan Roth, LinkedIn’s editor in chief, says he didn’t want to be “dismissive” of these concerns — but he doesn’t share them.

    “Tim [Jurka] and I have been working on this together for, what is it, a decade now?” Roth says. “I can’t think of a time when someone didn’t say it was getting harder to get reach on LinkedIn.”

    Instead, Roth said, LinkedIn takes a very different view on the value of “reach.” The company’s goal is to “connect the world’s professionals to economic opportunity,” but in their eyes, that doesn’t usually mean reaching the largest number of other professionals. Instead, they want to help users connect to the few people in their industry who can make a meaningful difference.

    By way of example, he told a story of a nurse who recently started posting on LinkedIn — which caught the attention of their employer, who recruited that person for a larger role. “That was economic success for this person,” Roth says. “The only people that he needed to reach with this post were people who worked in this hospital.”

    Yes, he acknowledged, some content creators on LinkedIn (myself included) aim to reach large audiences. But that’s a “small subset” of users. LinkedIn’s priority, he says, is building products that help the majority of its users — and those people benefit from targeted reach, not mass reach, he says.

    Why LinkedIn is moving away from the term ‘creator’

    LinkedIn spent the past few years courting “creators” — and actively using that term. It hosted programs to help creators, and Roth even wrote a newsletter called Creator Weekly.

    But the word “creator” has been disappearing from the platform. Roth even shut down his newsletter and replaced it with one called The Insider.

    Why? It’s simple, Roth says: “Our members told us that it was not something they identified with.”

    “This is on me,” he continues. “I had a team focused on using the word creator. We were approaching people and the feedback we kept getting was, ‘I’m a lawyer. Why do you keep using this word creator?’ It put them off.”

    That’s not to say LinkedIn is abandoning people who identify as “creators,” Roth says. But those people are only a subset of the company’s much larger user base.

    Don’t take optimization hacks seriously, LinkedIn says

    If you’re interested in growing your reach on LinkedIn, you’ve probably seen people posting reports about how to hack the platform’s algorithm.

    These reports usually analyze large swaths of LinkedIn posts, and then draw granular conclusions — about the optimal time of day to post, optimal length of a post, how to include hyperlinks without dampening reach, and more.

    Roth doesn’t mince words: “That understanding is often incorrect.”

    The problem is twofold, he says. First, LinkedIn is constantly adjusting its algorithms, so signals from yesterday might not reflect the product today. But the larger issue is this: “It’s a lot of causality, but not really understanding how things work.”

    He offers an example. Years ago, experts claimed that LinkedIn loved a certain style of longform writing. As a result, lots of people started writing in that long style.

    But was LinkedIn actually rewarding posts in that style? No, Roth says.

    “There was a button that said ‘read more,’ and when people clicked it, we were like, Well, this is a sign that people are getting knowledge out of this,” Roth says. But as LinkedIn would learn, that wasn’t true: The “read more” button just signaled that readers were curious about what came next — which didn’t necessarily mean that the post itself was valuable to them. “As soon as we realized what people were doing, and that we had incorrectly attributed the ‘read more’ button as a signal that people were getting some value out of [a post], we just stopped using that as a signal.”

    Of course, the authors of these reports might beg to differ — arguing that their reports are a well-sourced snapshot of trends on the platform. But for people who want to optimize their posts, Roth offers this advice: Don’t chase trends. “If you can just share knowledge into the world, I guarantee you things are going to work out,” he says. “They won’t always work out for every single post, but over the length of your posting, it is going to work out for you.”

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    Jason Feifer

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  • Terminating an Employee? Don’t Make These Legal Mistakes | Entrepreneur

    Terminating an Employee? Don’t Make These Legal Mistakes | Entrepreneur

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    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    Insubordination. IP disclosure. Misconduct. Breach of restrictive covenant.

    All of these are legitimate reasons to fire someone, but what do HR managers and business owners need to know about the legal technicalities surrounding employment termination?

    Components of a legal termination

    To avoid legal issues post-termination, it’s important to understand the main components of a lawful employment termination.

    • Make sure you identify any required paperwork to provide to the employee under state or local law. For example, in California, employees must be provided a certain form of Notice of Change in Employment Relationship as well as a pamphlet about unemployment benefits at the time of termination.
    • Check your state’s termination paycheck rules. You might have to pay your employee on the date of termination or within a certain time thereafter, despite your normal payroll cycle.
    • Identify any legal risks in connection with the termination. For example, is the employee a member of a protected class? Have they been a whistleblower?
    • If the termination is for performance or other “cause” termination, have you documented the performance issues? Has there been progressive discipline of some sort, or will this be a surprise to the employee? These are important questions because firings for performance should not be a surprise to the employee; an employee should be on notice of the performance issues and be given a chance to improve. This protects the company if the employee alleges wrongful termination. It also helps with morale; employees won’t want to stay if they think they may be terminated out of the blue.
    • Always have a witness in a termination meeting, which may benefit the company in the event of litigation. In most cases, the witness should not be a lawyer. This is to prevent that lawyer from becoming a witness in the lawsuit, which could present an issue for attorney-client privilege reasons.

    Related: How to Fire an Employee: 4 Ways to Make the Process Kinder

    What not to say during a termination

    While there’s no guidebook for all of the things to say — and not to say — during a termination, there are some guidelines that an HR manager or business owner should heed.

    Termination discussions should be short. Less is more in this case.

    Don’t ramble on about the reasons for the termination. Don’t talk about other employees; if the termination is a layoff, don’t explain whose employment status is safe or why. Don’t get into an argument or long exchange. Be respectful but firm.

    The gray areas of legal termination

    A broader, more objective view

    HR and legal professionals can have a broader, more objective view of terminations that are important to the company, which can help to mitigate risk. For example, a hiring manager might opt for layoffs or otherwise terminate some employees because those employees are having a harder time adapting to new software. However, this can often end up in terminating mostly older employees. It’s important to think about whether there’s an age discrimination issue. It’s also worth considering whether the manager needs to be counseled on how to better train these employees.

    High-risk termination situations

    It behooves HR managers and business owners to protect themselves from getting into high-risk termination situations. Therefore, it’s important to have policies in place for documenting employment issues and progressive discipline; this can serve as a written record to support termination. This is especially helpful in situations where an employee in a protected class or situation is to be terminated. For example, you need to terminate an employee who is going on maternity leave. If their performance issues are documented, and if there was a process of progressive discipline, a company will be better prepared for an employment claim.

    Effective and legal use of severance agreements

    Severance agreements can be invaluable in terms of mitigating the risk of lawsuits, but the law around them changes rapidly. Don’t reuse forms, and do be sure to work with a lawyer who knows current employment law at both the state and federal levels.

    Related: 11 Tips for Firing an Employee

    Repercussions of unlawful termination

    Failure to comply with final paycheck laws can lead to wage claims and penalties.

    Failure to comply with proper paperwork required by state and local law can lead to fines.

    Failure to document employment performance issues and engage in progressive discipline can make the company vulnerable to wrongful termination lawsuits. For example, if someone who just asked for a disability accommodation has been terminated, but the HR manager claims it’s for performance reasons, a jury is unlikely to believe the manager if those performance problems weren’t previously documented.

    Failure to identify whether there are risks to termination can lead to making nonoptimal termination decisions. If you see that there is a high chance of an employee bringing a wrongful termination claim, you can better prepare in terms of offering severance or perhaps delaying termination while establishing a better documentation process.

    The bottom line

    As a business owner or HR manager, it’s inevitable that you will have to terminate employees. Keeping these considerations in mind can help to protect you and your company in the long run.

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    Mital Makadia

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  • Elon Musk Says Tesla Workers to Sleep, Live in Texas Factory | Entrepreneur

    Elon Musk Says Tesla Workers to Sleep, Live in Texas Factory | Entrepreneur

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    This article originally appeared on Business Insider.

    Elon Musk warned Tesla workers to prepare for a challenging production ramp-up as he previewed plans to build a mass-market vehicle.

    The Tesla CEO said on the company’s Wednesday earnings call that building Tesla’s next-generation EV, set to enter production in 2025, will require Tesla workers to live and sleep on the manufacturing line at the company’s Texas factory.

    “We really need the engineers to be living on the line. This is not sort of an off-the-shelf ‘it-just-works’ type of thing,” Musk told investors.

    “That will be a challenging production ramp,” Musk said. “We’ll be sleeping on the line, practically. Not practically, we will be.”

    It wouldn’t be the first time Tesla workers have reportedly had to sleep on manufacturing lines to meet the company’s production deadlines.

    A former worker at Tesla’s factory in Fremont, California, told The Verge that employees would sleep on the factory floor after 12-hour shifts. Musk has said he slept beneath his desk while spending “three years straight” basically living in Tesla’s manufacturing facilities.

    Musk said that Tesla’s next-generation vehicle, which Reuters reported is a mass-market, affordable EV codenamed “Redwood,” is set to enter production in the second half of 2025 at the company’s Texas Gigafactory — though he admitted that he is often optimistic with timing, and could not yet predict how many of the vehicles Tesla would initially produce.

    Tesla workers could face a heightened form of what Musk previously dubbed “production hell” during Tesla’s 2017 Model 3 ramp-up.

    “There’s a lot of new technology, a tremendous amount of new revolutionary manufacturing technology here,” Musk said.

    “I am confident that once it gets going, it will be head and shoulders above any other manufacturing technology that exists anywhere in the world. It’s next level,” he added.

    The billionaire has hinted for years that Tesla plans to release a cheaper EV expected to cost below $30,000.

    It comes as the company is under increasing pressure from Chinese EV manufacturers prioritizing more affordable vehicles, with the Chinese EV manufacturer BYD recently overtaking the U.S. automaker as the world’s largest producer of electric vehicles. But BYD does not yet sell its cars in the U.S.

    Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider, made outside normal working hours.

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    Tom Carter

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  • How to Streamline Your Digital Ecosystem | Entrepreneur

    How to Streamline Your Digital Ecosystem | Entrepreneur

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    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    I vividly remember when Microsoft rolled out Windows 95. Designed to actually look like a desktop, with icons for the Recycle Bin, Briefcase, Inbox and other functions, it felt revolutionary, a boon for productivity as well as operations and logistics, and above all, user-friendly. And that innovation was market-proven: Microsoft product designer at the time, Juliette Weiss, noted in a 2017 article for Medium, “It was the most heavily user-tested product in [the company’s] history.”

    In those days, it made sense to treat a computer workspace more or less like your home or office desktop — to regularly clean and organize it just as you would its physical facsimile. But today, with cloud computing and an endless number of automated tools and apps, the digital/physical workspace analogy doesn’t quite hold up. Organizing your 21st-century ecosystem isn’t just a matter of implementing a smart filing system, but about choosing the right tools and building intuitive systems, then continually refining and updating them. Harvard Business Review summed it up well in an article published more than a decade ago: “Our job today and tomorrow,” it read in part, “isn’t to organize ourselves better; it’s to get the right technologies that respond to our personal productivity needs.”

    At Jotform, my team and I rely on a multitude of tools and platforms for personal work and collaboration and streamlining them has helped us to reduce friction, increase output and both grow and scale without a dime of outside funding.

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    Aytekin Tank

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  • Investors Warned of Mark Zuckerberg’s Love of Extreme Sports | Entrepreneur

    Investors Warned of Mark Zuckerberg’s Love of Extreme Sports | Entrepreneur

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    This article originally appeared on Business Insider.

    After a rough couple of years, Meta is flying: Revenue is growing again, profits are way up after some painful belt-tightening, and its stock is at a record high.

    What could possibly go wrong?

    Well, maybe Mark Zuckerberg, its CEO, could get hurt, or worse, in a cage match?

    That’s what Meta is suggesting in a new Securities and Exchange Commission filing out this week. In the company’s newest annual report, it told investors that Zuckerberg routinely did risky stuff for fun — and that it would be a real problem for the company if he got injured doing that.

    From Meta’s 10-K, filed under “risk factors”:

    We currently depend on the continued services and performance of our key personnel, including Mark Zuckerberg. Mr. Zuckerberg and certain other members of management participate in various high-risk activities, such as combat sports, extreme sports, and recreational aviation, which carry the risk of serious injury and death.

    Meta is presumably referring to Zuckerberg’s well-documented embrace of all kinds of brotastic fun, including mixed martial arts, hydrofoiling, and CrossFit. He has also been training to get his pilot license, The Information reported.

    And he has gotten banged up along the way: Last year, he tore his ACL in a training fight.

    Zuckerberg certainly isn’t the only tech mogul who likes this stuff. His rival Elon Musk, for instance, flies himself around all the time, and he famously challenged Zuckerberg to a cage match (which some people insisted was going to be a real thing but never panned out).

    But he may be the only Big Tech CEO who’s spelled that out as a problem for investors.

    Musk’s Tesla, for instance, simply points out that the company is “highly dependent” on his services and doesn’t mention the prospect of him crashing one of his Gulfstreams. (It does, however, say that Musk “does not devote his full time and attention to Tesla” because he’s also running SpaceX, X, and other ventures.)

    Peers such as Microsoft, Apple, and Amazon either say that their CEOs are important or don’t even mention them.

    Meta reps did not immediately respond to a request for comment. But Zuckerberg basically did, by responding to a post about the 10-K filing on Threads:

    It’s worth pointing out that while the “risk factor” section of any public company can be useful to scan, since it lays out all kinds of problems that could arise, it usually is not the kind of thing most investors care about. The point is to insulate the company from liability in case something does go wrong: “See? We told you this could happen. Now tell your lawyers to stop bothering us.”

    So while Meta does take Zuckerberg’s well-being very seriously — in 2022, it spent $15 million on personal security for him and his family — it’s unlikely it thinks he’s going to get really, really hurt. But they’re letting us it could happen, just in case.

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    Peter Kafka

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  • Who Is Succeeding JPMorgan’s Jamie Dimon? See Frontrunners | Entrepreneur

    Who Is Succeeding JPMorgan’s Jamie Dimon? See Frontrunners | Entrepreneur

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    This article originally appeared on Business Insider.

    A longtime JPMorgan executive who has kept a low public profile while cultivating a reputation as a successful trader with a talent for managing risk is emerging as a contender to succeed Jamie Dimon as chief executive.

    Dimon, the longest-tenured Wall Street CEO, has not revealed plans to retire, though the financial industry has speculated on his succession planning and the people most likely to replace him for more than a decade.

    Troy Rohrbaugh was named co-CEO of JPMorgan’s commercial and investment bank, known as the CIB, as part of an internal executive reshuffle JPMorgan announced last week. CIB is a sprawling group encompassing global investment banking, commercial banking, and other core businesses. Rohrbaugh will run the CIB together with Jennifer Piepszak, a longtime executive who industry insiders have for years floated as a possible Dimon successor.

    Wall Street already knows Piepszak, who had most recently been co-chief executive of consumer and community banking and was the firm’s finance chief from 2019 until 2021. Analysts and investors are also very familiar with Marianne Lake, another long-tenured key executive who was elevated in the reorganization announced last week and is most frequently rumored to take over from Dimon when he eventually retires.

    Rohrbaugh, 53, is lesser known to Wall Street than these colleagues. His new position through the internal shuffle has vaulted him more publicly and prominently into the most closely watched succession race on Wall Street.

    Now, the industry will watch how Rohrbaugh will guide the CIB as JPMorgan performs above analysts’ expectations even in a slumped deal market. Business Insider has tracked Rohrbaugh’s trajectory from his college days to his most recent role as cohead of markets and securities services.

    One industry recruiter noted that Rohrbaugh’s background as a risk manager could make him a powerful C-Suite contender.

    Indeed, Dimon is known for boasting about JPMorgan’s “fortress balance sheet,” or its ability to protect against financial shocks while giving its employees the flexibility to test money-making ideas. “They take prolific risk and manage it well,” this person said.

    ‘Fortunes began to change’

    Rohrbaugh arrived at JPMorgan in 2005, the year JPMorgan announced it would name Dimon, who had been president and chief operating officer, as CEO. Rohrbaugh joined the firm from Goldman Sachs, where he managed the foreign-exchange options business for North America.

    His first post at JPMorgan was global head of forex derivatives. After years of troubles in JPMorgan’s forex business, “the bank’s fortunes began to change” after Rohrbaugh joined in 2005, Euromoney wrote in 2017. He had been a “source of stability not just for JPMorgan but also for the broader FX industry during its most turbulent years,” the publication wrote. The bank then became the first to introduce the ability to trade from a mobile device, the article said.

    Rohrbaugh and longtime executive Eddie Wen, who had also joined JPMorgan from Goldman around the same time as Rohrbaugh, both had a hand in bringing quants and technologists “into the front office so that the business could take ownership of its system development rather than relying on a separate IT department,” Euromoney reported in 2017.

    JPMorgan executive David Hudson told the publication that he returned to JPMorgan after working at Nomura in 2010 “to work for Troy.” He saw how the business had “matured after five years. It was clearly much more aggressive and capable, and there was a big focus on electronic distribution as well as on risk management.”

    Though his profile is less familiar to outside observers, Rohrbaugh’s name is well-known across JPMorgan and in forex industry and advocacy groups. He had been chair of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s foreign-exchange committee and the chair of the Global Financial Markets Association’s foreign-exchange group. He’s also familiar with regulators, appearing on Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Gary Gensler’s calendar of meetings with other top JPMorgan executives in 2022 and 2023.

    Rohrbaugh’s other stops at JPMorgan have been head of global markets and head of macro markets. Before he worked at Goldman, Rohrbaugh ran the Asian foreign exchange options business for the Canadian bank Banque Nationale and started his career trading options for CooperNeff at the Philadelphia Stock Exchange.

    Rohrbaugh’s career spans the dot-com bust, the global financial crisis, and the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, that devastated so many on Wall Street who worked in lower Manhattan.

    While Rohrbaugh was at Goldman, his firm was close to the World Trade Center, and he experienced loss during the attacks. According to the New York Daily News, he was one of the last people to speak with the Cantor Fitzgerald broker Tim Soulas, who was killed. Cantor lost 658 employees in the attacks that day.

    Rohrbaugh before Wall Street

    The Baltimore native’s earliest workplace experience, though, was not in a trading pit.

    “I was 16, and I was a security guard at a condominium at the Seaside,” he said as part of a series of interviews JPMorgan published in 2015 about executives’ first jobs. “I worked in my father’s business for about 40 hours during the week, and then I worked another 36 to 38 hours from Friday night ’til early Sunday morning.”

    Rohrbaugh remains involved in his Maryland alma maters. He is on the board of trustees of Gilman School, an all-boys preparatory school that Rohrbaugh graduated from in 1988.

    In 1992 he graduated from Johns Hopkins University, where he studied political science, played football, and is now a member of an advisory board there. In a video addressing the university’s football team last year, he said “pride and poise,” a slogan the football team uses, are two traits that helped him as a player and in his career.

    He said that along with being prepared while under pressure, “you need to be calm and thoughtful and ready for when things aren’t working out.”

    He was the president of the Alpha Delta Phi fraternity while attending Johns Hopkins, where his frat brothers embraced a special tradition of throwing dozens of shoes out the window and onto a tree outside the frat house east of the college campus, the Baltimore Sun reported in 1992.

    Students would leave the house, forget something, and yell at their roommates about throwing their items out the window, Rohrbaugh explained to the paper. Once, that item was a pair of shoes, and it got tangled in the tree. “From then on, any time you wore out a pair of shoes, or your roommate had really smelly feet with a tendency to leave his shoes l

    Return-to-office tensions

    In the yearslong push and pull between what Wall Street firms’ management and wider workforces want with remote work during the pandemic, Rohrbaugh has been chronicled as a vocal supporter of in-person work. That rubbed some employees the wrong way earlier in the pandemic, according to reports.

    He is one of many finance executives who spoke publicly about their desire to have more employees working in person rather than at home.

    Bloomberg reported that in March 2020, while New York was in a state-mandated lockdown, a JPMorgan employee wrote in a note to colleagues about Rohrbaugh continuing to “want to push everyone to get back into the office,” which JPMorgan disputed at the time.

    A senior JPMorgan executive who works with Rohrbaugh recalled that time during the pandemic. This person said on Wednesday that he had managed trading operations well during Covid and took “tremendous” precautions for staff.

    Kaja Whitehouse and Alex Morrell contributed reporting.

    ying around, they’d end up on the tree,” he said.

    “You get a technique after you’ve been here,” Rohrbaugh said. “You can always tell a freshman or sophomore because he’ll miss the tree three or four times, and when he finally hits it, it won’t wrap around.”

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    Rebecca Ungarino

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  • 7 Traits Leaders Need to Attain to Visionary Leadership | Entrepreneur

    7 Traits Leaders Need to Attain to Visionary Leadership | Entrepreneur

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    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    Thomas Jefferson had a bold vision as the United States broke away from British rule. Consider his letter to John Adams in 1823, when he said, “I like the dreams of the future better than the history of the past.” Jefferson was contemplative and progressive in emphasizing his dream of a different America. He was a visionary.

    Many others have failed in dogmatic pragmatism. George H. W. Bush had several leadership qualities, such as humility and integrity, but Bush scholars universally agree that he lacked vision. His perspective on the United States was similar to Blockbuster and Kodak: let’s double down on our history and what’s worked in the past.

    Bush is even known for saying that he doesn’t understand “that vision thing.” In his inaugural address, he said there’s no need for the country to “invent a system by which to live.” All we need to do is “act on what we know.”

    There’s utility in traditional thinking, but it becomes a strength overused when you can’t do the other side of the coin — vision. Bush was a one-term president, losing to a relatively unknown Bill Clinton because he lacked an inspirational message.

    So, how can CEOs create a vision so powerful that it ignites organizational transformation?

    Related: Are You a Visionary Leader? Here are 12 Ways to Cultivate and Enhance Your Leadership Vision

    1. Vision from the heart

    In Nietzsche’s words, “Only as an aesthetic phenomenon are life and the world justified eternally.” A vision should only affect us in the way art can, revitalizing the spirit and the selves’ experience, as opposed to the task-oriented and linear nature of day-to-day goals. The executive’s vision is an aesthetic, imaginative idealization that gives meaning to the organization, like an artist moving from a blank canvas to what could be.

    2. Align with the organization’s values

    Unlike strategic objectives, which are rationally derived, visions are values-laden. They give meaning through an ideological goal. Since they are about what should be, they are, by definition, an expression of values and corporate identity.

    Thus, effective CEOs keep the vision malleable in relation to the business landscape but never change the values underneath. Not only that, but their personal values align with the organization and its vision — one reason for doing a values assessment in CEO succession.

    Related: How Great Leaders Communicate Their Vision

    3. Create the vision with others

    The best CEOs have a clear vision that’s tied to their values. It isn’t a fully democratic process because the CEO must believe passionately in it. However, it’s essential that the vision is not unilaterally imposed but rather distilled from the contributions of leaders throughout the organization. The first reason is buy-in from everyone else. The entire company needs to feel it in the heart, too. The second reason is that the organization existed before the CEO and will after the CEO, so the vision must align with the entire organization for continuity.

    Related: How to Engage Employees Through Your Company Vision Statement

    4. Make it valuable to all stakeholders

    Some of the most catastrophic events in history have been the result of a psychopath’s vision. Visions can be powerful, influential and morally corrupt — all at the same time. Conversely, real leaders create a vision that benefits the entire ecosystem, where the rising tide lifts all boats and makes the world a better place. Robert House, from the University of Pennsylvania, defined a greater good vision as “an unconscious motive to use social influence, or to satisfy the power need, in socially desirable ways, for the betterment of the collective rather than for personal self-interest.” This is using the will to power for the betterment of humanity, to shape the future, rather than as a source of ruthless evildoing.

    5. Use the vision to galvanize change

    In academia, there’s a close relationship between visionary and charismatic leadership. Consider House’s Theory of Charismatic Leadership, Bass’ Transformational Leadership Theory, Conger and Kanungo’s Theory of Charismatic Leadership, and Sashkin’s Visionary Leadership Theory. They all emphasize how the most effective visions challenge the status quo and inspire evolution. The CEO evaluates the organization and its context, such as its core competencies and competitors, and through vivid mental imagery, paints a picture of the future.

    Since vision is related to influence and change, it’s easy to understand how Kay Whitmore from Kodak and George H. W. Bush had ineffective visions. They were preventative instead of future-oriented and, therefore, neglected to become bigger, faster, stronger, and even something brand new. They were demotivating instead of galvanizing and failed to energize the organization.

    Related: What Is Transactional Leadership and How Does It Work?

    6. Ensure it’s believable

    Visionary leaders are often bold and risk-taking, as well as imaginative. Like a psychic in Vegas, they’re bold enough to think they can see the future and inventive enough to dream up a new reality that challenges today. With this psychology, the strength overused is that visionary CEOs are often alienated from reality. Conversely, the most effective CEOs are versatile enough to, as inherent in Marshall Sashkin’s theory, balance vision with operational actions. Their visions are inventive, aesthetic, imaginative, bold, and innovative but believable and achievable.

    7. Use the vision for strategic decisions

    Another benefit of vision, besides influence, is that it frames consequential strategic decisions. At Netflix, Reed Hastings could have charged ahead with being the number one DVD-by-mail company in the United States. But, as explained in the book CEO Excellence, the new direction was supported by a vision of transformation. “The big strategic moves that followed made sense in ways they would never have otherwise: moving into video streaming, betting on the cloud, creating Netflix originals, driving exponential globalization, and so on.” The vision justified a series of innovations, decisions, and where the company should focus its limited time and resources.

    In all, the CEO’s highest duty is breathing life into the organization, giving it meaning and harnessing the social forces toward a worthwhile future. Only as an aesthetic phenomenon, not one of logic, power, and control, is an organization’s existence authentic and fully realized. Art reflects life, not just beauty, and an organization’s vision reflects its identity and fulfills its purpose, without which it is lifeless.

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    Derek Lusk

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  • Walmart Store Managers Can Make $500K: Stock Grants, Bonuses | Entrepreneur

    Walmart Store Managers Can Make $500K: Stock Grants, Bonuses | Entrepreneur

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    This article originally appeared on Business Insider.

    It’s a good year to be a store manager at Walmart.

    Fresh off the announcement earlier this month of substantial pay and bonus increases, the company said Monday that it is adding annual stock grants of up to $20,000 to the store managers’ compensation packages.

    “A Walmart store manager is running a multi-million dollar business and managing hundreds of people, and it’s a far more complex job today then when I managed a store,” said John Furner, President and CEO for Walmart’s U.S. division, in a video posted on LinkedIn as the company kicks off an annual meeting in Houston, Texas.

    “We ask our managers to own their roles and act like owners,” he added. “Now, they’ll literally be owners.”

    The amount of the grant will depend on the size of the store, with $10,000 for Hometown store managers, $15,000 for Neighborhood Market or Division 1 store managers, and $20,000 for Supercenter managers. Furner said the grants will start in April.

    Walmart operates more than 4,600 retail locations across the US and employs 1.6 million people here.

    These grants are on top of a new salary and bonus structure that will kick in on Thursday, February 1, bringing the average base salary for US store managers to $128,000, up from $117,000.

    Under the plan announced on January 18, the maximum bonus increased from 1.5x annual salary to 2x annual salary — and will focus more on store profitability in addition to top-line sales.

    This means a Supercenter manager with a top-end base salary of $170,000 could earn a total of $530,000 after receiving the maximum bonus and stock grant, while the average U.S. store manager could see roughly $400,000 in compensation this year.

    Roughly three-quarters of Walmart store managers started off in hourly roles, and the company does not require a college degree to be considered for the job.

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    Dominick Reuter

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  • Inside Dude Wipe’s $120 Million Success Story | Entrepreneur

    Inside Dude Wipe’s $120 Million Success Story | Entrepreneur

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    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    CEOs carry a lot of weight. They manage businesses, people, expectations of stakeholders, and so much more. What makes these people tick and what does it take to be successful in this role? That’s what I’m on a mission to find out with The CEO Series. I’m heading to the workplaces of inspiring business leaders to learn their personal stories and gain insights into their methods for getting the best out of their employees and themselves.

    Related: Avoid These 3 Key Mistakes for Team Success in 2024

    On this episode, I visited Sean Riley, CEO of Dude Wipes. It’s a really fun brand that has outrageous marketing, but they are no joke. They’re projecting to do over $120 million in sales, and they are disrupting the entire toilet paper industry. Here are some key takeaways from that conversation. Watch the video above to hear everything Sean had to say about the dynamic growth of the powerhouse company.

    On stepping into the role of a CEO

    “Well, the first thing I did was change my title. I call myself the Chief Executive Dude because that’s more fun and that’s more who I am. And that’s what Dude Wipes is supposed to be. Just because you’re a CEO doesn’t mean you can’t be yourself.”

    The surprising truth you learn as a CEO

    “You have to kind of transition to doing less and being there more for people in a supportive way. You have to learn to let things go when you become a CEO, which maybe people don’t realize. They think, ‘Oh, the CEO does it all the stuff. Things keep piling up on their desk and they’ve got to do this, this and that.’ But that’s not what you want to do as the CEO. You want to have great people around you and have them grow and inspire them to do well. Think of Phil Jackson’s journey. You’re not taking the last shot on the court anymore. You’re not the star player. You’re stepping off the court trying to be the Zen Master. You’re trying to make sure that all of the things in all of the different parts of your business work well together.”

    Origin story

    “Our origin story is a fun and authentic one that I think a lot of people can relate to. It was me and my buddies sitting around, wanting to come up with a great business idea. And I put these baby wipes in the apartment and everyone started getting hooked on them. They were so much better than toilet paper and we started to wonder Why doesn’t something like this exist? From there it was all about figuring out how to build a brand that represented who we were at the time. Guys sitting on a couch, eating burritos, drinking beers, Googling everything. making phone calls. Who can make these wipes? How do I incorporate a company? It was just about knocking out one thing after another.”

    On the key to success

    “We made $150,000 our first year, which kind of blew our minds. But it was the emotional reactions we saw from people very early on that gave us more confidence than probably the revenue. When Dude Wipes got into people’s hands, they laughed or they passed them to other people. Making people laugh, and getting them talking was a high that kept pushing us. That belief that this will connect with people is everything. You have to believe day one this will be big. If you don’t, you won’t make it to some of these breakout moments like when we got on Shark Tank. We saw that customers liked it, so we believed we could do all these insane things and disrupt a huge toilet paper industry.”

    Hear more from Sean about running a company with a truly unique culture in the above video. And check out more profiles of innovative and impactful leaders by visiting The CEO Series archives.

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    William Salvi

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  • How Mindful Eating Can Supercharge Dynamic Thinking | Entrepreneur

    How Mindful Eating Can Supercharge Dynamic Thinking | Entrepreneur

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    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    Entrepreneurs are ever in search of ways of reducing the number of decisions they make, in part to save brain space for the “big stuff.” Some thought leaders pare down their wardrobe to a standard look (à la Steve Jobs), for example, while others optimize (and not necessarily healthfully) by eating the same thing every day.

    A novel take on this efficiency principle came in the form of a Bay Area company that marketed a product called Soylent in 2013. Tired of wasting money and energy on food, one of its founders, Rob Rhinehart, invented a “super sludge” intended to supply the body’s essential nutrients — a mixture of maltodextrin, amino acids, fiber, olive oil and other ingredients. According to a journalist from Wired, that original formula looked like pancake mix and tasted like chalk.

    After reading that article, I could grasp why the concept could be regarded as potentially dystopian (its name inspiration, after all, a 1973 movie in which humans are forced to consume reprocessed human corpses), but Soylent is still going strong. The company, now based in Los Angeles, continues to grow and innovate (now offering tastier options like chocolate and strawberry). Its success supports the notion that busy professionals will spring for convenience when it comes to their appetites.

    I’m a big proponent of simplifying as many tasks as possible. And while no stranger to the occasional lunch-replacement smoothie, I’m not sold on outsourcing meals entirely. Luckily, for food-loving entrepreneurs, there are creative benefits to thinking more about and diversifying what and how we eat.

    Related: 7 Tips for Startup Food Entrepreneurs

    Ingredients for creativity

    As something of a counterpoint to Rhinehart-esque food practicality, a 2021 literature review written by a team of researchers and academicians offered evidence to suggest that people with a view of food as simply fuel miss out on the creative benefits of eating more mindfully. Engaging multiple senses during a meal (taste, smell, tactile qualities, etc.), they wrote, can boost creative thinking in various ways, and offered the experience of wine as an example: Those who enjoy it think about taste, smell, color and mouthfeel, and might come up with descriptive metaphors for each. Creative wheels start turning. It follows that engaging with food by paying attention to analogous qualities (and any metaphorical associations) may likewise boost inventiveness.

    The authors also made a case for eating foods that result in genuine enjoyment. Creativity is enhanced, they suggest, when people feel happy, including being relaxed or moderately excited. So, to borrow a phrase from author Marie Kondo, consider foods that spark joy when you eat them. Maybe it’s your partner’s famous lasagna (which gets even better the next day as leftovers), a burrito from a favorite food truck or a big, colorful salad.

    Eating something delicious and taking the time to appreciate it can prime the brain for exploration. Better yet, certain foods can actually boost the brain’s power.

    Related: Your Poor Eating Habits Are Hurting Business

    Nutrition that sharpens the mind

    The first rule of thumb for choosing meals that give rise to sharp thinking is to think about them beforehand: to make choices before you’re ravenous. Various studies make plain that humans are far better at resisting salt, calories and fat in the future than in the present.

    Glucose, a type of sugar, is the main energy source for the body’s cells, and it’s worth keeping in mind that brain cells use the most energy. But when it comes to glucose, not all foods are created equal: Some release theirs quickly, leading to a sudden spike in energy (and an equally fast plummet). Members of this “simple carbohydrates” family include pizza, pasta, bread and sugary drinks. Others, termed “slow carb foods,” release glucose gradually, among them starchy vegetables (sweet potato, squashes, beets), whole grains, beans and legumes.

    Other foods are linked with memory and cognition. Research published in a 2014 edition of the Journal of Psychiatric Research revealed that the amino acid tyrosine (the precursor of the “feel good” hormone, dopamine) enhances cognitive performance, particularly in short-term stressful or cognitively demanding situations. So, load up on seaweed, bananas and almonds. Other research has found that the plant-based omega-3 fat, alpha-linolenic acid, which is abundant in walnuts and flaxseed, likewise improves memory and cognition, as do the antioxidants in berries. Foods high in choline and folate, like eggs, are linked to improved cognitive performance and memory. A 2014 study published in the British Journal for Health Psychiatry found that young adults who ate more fruits and vegetables reported boosted well-being, more intense feelings of curiosity and greater creativity.

    The bad news is that, in the real world, we don’t always have time to prepare balanced meals, but it’s actually a cinch to supplement whatever you’re eating with nutrient-packed options. If I have pizza for lunch, for example, I’ll add a handful of almonds for a snack. If there’s a bagel for breakfast, some olive oil seaweed chips will be added later in the morning. The goal is balance. I also automate snack selection by programming delivery orders ahead of time. That way, when my stomach rumbles, I reach for brain-boosting dried fruits rather than a bag of M&Ms.

    Related: Fueling Your Body is Key to Fueling Your Business

    As CEO of Jotform, and the author of a book on automation, I understand the inclination to optimize as many tasks as possible. If I want to carve out time for important creative work (aka “the big stuff”) and reserve more hours to spend with my family, something has to hit the chopping block. But I also believe in the tangible and intangible benefits of being thoughtful about what I eat — I would rather invest time in identifying and automating busywork than skipping a lunch with colleagues or friends. If you are what you eat, after all, then wouldn’t it simply be wise to make that food high-quality, enjoyable and creative?

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    Aytekin Tank

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  • 3 Ways to Understand and Finally Relax Your Busy Brain | Entrepreneur

    3 Ways to Understand and Finally Relax Your Busy Brain | Entrepreneur

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    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    A client of mine, let’s call her Sandra, came to me for help to handle high levels of stress in her life. She’s the CEO of a 70-employee company in a male-dominated industry. That in itself was a lot of pressure. Add the strain of balancing work from home with parenting two small children. In her words, she wanted to be able to create her own calm during the chaos.

    She felt so overwhelmed, that we needed a simple launch point to relieve her stress. I advised her to start by taking a five-minute relaxation break during each workday. I gave her solid strategies to weave it into her existing schedule right away. For example, we planned the break during regular lulls in her daily itinerary. She didn’t need to rearrange her whole life to do this. With a little back and forth, we discovered early afternoon should work best. She never scheduled meetings then and her kids usually took a nap after lunch.

    But at our next session, she confided that she was struggling. Instead of helping her relax, the downtime seemed to add to her stress. Her busy brain raced out of control. It clamored on about the meeting she just led, her afternoon agenda, what to cook for dinner, etc.

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    Leah Borski

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  • As a Teenager, Clinton Sparks Resorted to Street Crime in Order to Survive. Now He's a Music Producer Who Has Sold Millions of Records With Beyonce, Lil Jon and More. Here's How He Turned Personal Turmoil Into Triumph. | Entrepreneur

    As a Teenager, Clinton Sparks Resorted to Street Crime in Order to Survive. Now He's a Music Producer Who Has Sold Millions of Records With Beyonce, Lil Jon and More. Here's How He Turned Personal Turmoil Into Triumph. | Entrepreneur

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    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    With his inspiring journey from a difficult childhood to success in the music industry, Clinton Sparks shared valuable insights and lessons learned along the way.

    One of the key takeaways from the interview was the emphasis on relationships and building relationship capital. Clinton Sparks highlighted the significance of investing in people and causes close to him. He stressed the importance of understanding one’s own capabilities and leveraging relationships to achieve success.

    Clinton’s story of success in the music industry is a testament to his determination and resilience. Growing up in the hood, he faced numerous challenges and obstacles. However, instead of succumbing to his circumstances, Clinton used his resourcefulness to set up his own DJ equipment at home, even resorting to robbing houses and stealing turntables. This early experience taught him the value of having a plan rather than just an idea.

    Related: 4 Principles to Success According to a Former Pastor Turned Business Coach

    The interview also shed light on Clinton’s experience of being signed to a major label and then begging to be dropped. This decision was driven by his desire to pursue his own vision and recognize talent in others. Clinton’s ability to combine EDM and hip hop led to his discovery and signing of DJ Snake in 2007. Six years later, he introduced DJ Snake to Jimmy Ivy, resulting in the creation of the hit song “Turn Down For What.” This success story showcases Clinton’s keen eye for talent and his willingness to take risks.

    Throughout the interview, Clinton Sparks emphasized the importance of leaving a positive mark wherever one goes. He believes in competing with oneself rather than others, constantly striving for personal growth and improvement. Clinton’s commitment to investing in people and causes close to him is a testament to his character and values.

    When challenged by Jeff Fenster to rate himself on a scale of one to ten, Clinton hesitated before eventually giving himself a 9.9. This self-assessment reflects his humility and constant pursuit of excellence.

    Related: This Why You Should Align Yourself with the Right People

    In conclusion, Clinton Sparks’ interview on the Jeff Fenster Show provided valuable insights into the importance of relationships and building relationship capital. His journey from a difficult childhood to success in the music industry serves as an inspiration to all. Clinton’s emphasis on understanding one’s capabilities, having a plan, and accepting life’s challenges resonates with anyone striving for success. By investing in people and causes close to him, recognizing talent in others, and leaving a positive mark wherever he goes, Clinton Sparks has truly mastered the art of building relationship capital.

    About The Jeff Fenster Show

    Serial entrepreneur Jeff Fenster embarks on an extraordinary journey every week, delving into the stories of exceptional individuals who have defied the norms and blazed their own trails to achieve extraordinary success.

    Subscribe to The Jeff Fenster Show: Entrepreneur | Apple | Spotify | Google | Pandora

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    Jeff Fenster

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  • How to Network at Events Like a Pro and Watch Your Startup Soar | Entrepreneur

    How to Network at Events Like a Pro and Watch Your Startup Soar | Entrepreneur

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    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    We, as entrepreneurs, have a goal: to grow a startup — a brand — that impacts many people with our solutions and services. This entails numerous tasks, from building a product, managing and hiring a team, finding investors and establishing a client base. With that in mind, who has the time to network and attend events? And on top of that, do you know why most people hate networking at events? Because they rarely meet relevant people for them, and it often feels like a waste of time.

    Do you know why it feels like a waste of time? Because they never took the time to set their goals for the conference or meetup and define who they came to meet, and instead leave it up to luck or chance.

    I always say that no one teaches us how to network for results, and that’s why I took on the task over a decade ago to build my expertise and run workshops to teach professionals all around the world how to network — and that includes at conferences.

    To help you make the most of your next meet-up or conference, I would like to share some of my top practices. Once you do them, you will surely look at networking events as a source of opportunities rather than a time waster.

    Related: 3 Ways to Get More Business at Networking Events

    1. Remember: Networking is uncomfortable for all of us, not only you

    Why are we so uncomfortable next to strangers at conferences? Once you crack that, you can work the room so much better. I hope this info will make you feel a bit better: Based on public speaking statistics for 2020 from Orai.com research, 77% of the U.S. population feel some anxiety when it comes to public speaking, and 90% report some “shyness.” This means most people who come to the event will feel the same as you do — uncomfortable and insecure. However, in most cases, they will put a “mask” on and won’t show it.

    Various studies and concepts in social psychology and cognitive neuroscience also found that when we meet new people, our brains subconsciously assess whether they like us and whether they pose a threat. It happens in split seconds, and that’s why a positive first impression is so crucial.

    What can you do to connect well with all the people you meet? Be proactive and initiate the conversation instead of waiting for them to do so. Show them that you are open to meeting them through open body language, a smile and a warm look in their eyes. It’s so simple and non-verbal, can make a better experience for both of you and could be the beginning of a great friendship or business partnership.

    2. Set your “people’s goal”

    As said, most people don’t feel networking events work for them because they don’t set a goal for those they want to meet with. Several years ago, a global businessman I followed came to Berlin for a conference while I was there. I sent him a LinkedIn message a few days earlier, stating that I saw he would be in town and expressing my wish to meet with him. We set a time for our meeting, and when I arrived at the conference at that designated time, I met him and left. Mission accomplished — and it was short, precise and time well spent.

    Before going to a conference, check if the topic, speakers and type of participants are people in your industry whom you wish to get to know. Then try to find out who will be there and set a goal of at least two people you must meet at the conference. Make sure you do what is needed to meet them and ensure you won’t leave the room before you do so. Then, by the time you leave the conference, it should feel like time well spent. Don’t forget to follow up after and continue the conversation with those you met.

    Related: The 10 Commandments of Networking

    3. Create your “events squad”

    Usually at conferences, we may know some people from the past, meet new people and even attend with another “wingman/woman.” To meet the people you wish to get to know, you need to be everywhere and see everything. But how? By creating your own “event’s squad” that will increase the chances of getting connected to the right people.

    You can do it with a bit of planning, a lot of goodwill and two stages. It goes like this:

    Stage 1: Every person you meet, whether a new acquaintance or an old friend, at some point in the conversation, ask them: “Who are you interested in meeting at this conference? I might see/know them and can introduce you two.”

    Stage 2: Then, they may ask you the same question. If not, just say: “By the way, I’m looking to connect with people in [sector] if you come across anyone please introduce us.” They usually will say “Yes, sure!”

    Now what? If you get to meet someone they’re looking to meet as well, please introduce them during the event or after. Some of them will do the same for you, and this way, you build a team that thinks of your needs — just as you think of theirs — and increase your chances for relevant introductions during and after the conference. That’s actually what networking is all about: a mutually beneficial relationship that helps each side grow.

    Related: How to Network For Those Who Hate to Network

    In conclusion, mastering the art of networking at conferences is not only about attending events but strategically planning your moves and setting clear goals. By being proactive, initiating conversations and connecting with others, you can transform networking from a perceived time-waster into a powerful tool for professional growth.

    Remember: Everyone at the conference, like you, seeks meaningful connections. With a thoughtful approach, you can make your conference experience truly impactful. Embrace these techniques, and may your future conferences be not just events, but stepping stones toward your professional success and company’s growth.

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    Lirone Glikman

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