Donna Marie Cozine

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Engage seasoned professionals can empower aspiring individuals and foster lasting impact through mentorship, internships, education and networking. To maintain success, it is not only essential for leaders to focus on the present but also to invest in the future by empowering the next generation. By sharing knowledge, providing guidance and offering opportunities, experienced professionals can play a vital role in helping young talent thrive. Below, 17 Newsweek Expert Forum members explore various ways in which successful business owners and leaders can reach out and give the next generation a leg up. By actively engaging with and supporting the next generation, business leaders can foster a culture of innovation, inclusivity and continuous growth while leaving a lasting positive impact on future generations of professionals.

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To attract and keep customers coming back for years to come, businesses have to maintain their human essence. As the old adage goes, "People buy from people." In today’s technologically-driven business landscape, entrepreneurs now have a multitude of ways to engage with current and potential customers across the world.  While changes like automation can increase employee productivity, streamline operations and boost the number of interactions that lead to sales, many businesses focus so much on the efficiency aspect that they don’t recognize the potential of losing the human touch, which is what initially entices customers to purchase and keeps them coming back. As experts, the members of Newsweek Expert Forum have experience making their brand more appealing to customers. Below, 16 of them share concrete ways any business can humanize its product or service offerings and why these actions are essential to building long-term relationships with customers.

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An exceptional customer experience is the key to keeping current customers coming back as well as enticing potential customers to purchase. Many entrepreneurs tend to consider their products or services the most important part of their business. As a result, a significant amount of time, effort and money goes into developing what people may need or want.  However, the utility or desirability of an offering is only a small part of what actually entices customers to buy. Rather, a top-notch customer experience can be the differentiating factor that convinces current customers to keep purchasing and potential customers to give a business a chance. Luckily, making changes to a business’s customer experience can be a simple process. To help entrepreneurs ensure they are properly taking care of their customer base, 17 Newsweek Expert Forum members share “low-hanging fruit” ways for businesses to effectively improve their customer experience.

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Seeking out and actively encouraging employees to share their opinions is critical to making the right business calls. Businesses of all sizes are constantly making decisions that have a considerable impact on the entire organization. The gravity of these decisions as well as the chances of conversations sparking disagreement and sowing team division may cause some leaders to limit discussions to a select few. Fortunately, safeguards can be put in place to add employees at all levels into the conversation, effectively limiting conflict, keeping discussions respectful and allowing individuals to offer insight without fear of negative consequences. To help businesses create space for various perspectives and set boundaries, 15 Newsweek Expert Forum members share approaches leaders can leverage to encourage vigorous, yet respectful debate in their organizations.

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Focusing on how a potential offering makes sense for the business as a whole can help guide efficient product development. Before any new product or service is rolled out on the market, entrepreneurs put a considerable amount of thought into the process. From considerations regarding the effective use of resources to discussions of whether the offering will resonate with the target audience, these are just a few of the factors that impact decision making. While entrepreneurs strive to proceed with care, some still make the fatal mistake of getting too far into the development process without having a clear understanding of where this offering fits into the bigger picture. To prevent businesses from wasting limited time, effort and money, 13 Newsweek Expert Forum members each share one question leaders should ask to determine whether a prospective product or service is in line with their company mission and goals. 

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To continuously drive business growth, leaders have to be more willing to lean on their employees and ask for help. At times, leadership can be a heavy burden. For some, being a strong leader means subscribing to the idea that a leadership role entails bearing the pressures of the position alone. And while this belief can and has led to gains, shouldering every aspect of a business on one’s own will only work to a limited degree of success. Instead, learning how to build, manage, delegate and lean on your team can positively impact the entire team and the business. To help, 14 Newsweek Expert Forum members offer strong leaders tips for successfully managing their staff to drive business growth.

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To set first-time leaders up for success, organizations have to create processes that offer support and flexibility. Whether a first-time leader has been promoted or is newly hired into the organization, the systems a business has in place are critical for that leader to overcome the obstacles they will inevitably face. As experts, the members of Newsweek Expert Forum are familiar with business procedures that can help new leaders feel supported. Read on as 13 of them offer recommendations on what organizations should do to build systems that help first-time leaders succeed in their roles.

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Adopting practices like mindfulness can be a great way to reduce stress and take back control of one's life. Between managing employees, monitoring the market and setting and achieving business goals, leaders have a lot of pressure on their shoulders. All of these responsibilities and expectations undoubtedly contribute to making stress a routine and ever-present part of the job for many leaders. While leadership and stress can go hand-in-hand, pursuing practices like mindfulness could help leaders better manage their stress and take back control. To help leaders prevent stress from negatively impacting their productivity and morale, 14 Newsweek Expert Forum members offer advice for how leaders can adopt or practice mindfulness on a regular basis.

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Before addressing any activism in the workplace, leaders need to have a well-developed approach. With racial justice protests, labor shortages, a global pandemic and a budding “quiet quitting” movement, the workplace of the past few years has undergone many changes. While it may have been easier to draw distinctions between one’s professional and personal beliefs in years past, it is growing increasingly difficult for leaders to keep these boundaries in the work environment in place as employees now expect leadership to stand for their values and take a side.   If leaders do decide to take action, it’s best to prepare beforehand with a well-thought-out strategy. To help you determine the best approach, 14 Newsweek Expert Forum members offer recommendations on how leaders can respond to growing employee activism in the workplace.

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Creating a culture that actively encourages employees to generate and share ideas is a great way to keep your company competitive in the market. Once an employee has been in an organization for enough time, the fresh perspective they brought with them may start to dwindle. Learning more about the organization and the clients it serves as well as becoming entrenched in already established systems can make it difficult to branch out, especially if leadership isn’t open to making real changes that impact the business in significant ways. Contrary to popular belief, the best ideas don’t necessarily always have to come from the top, and devising ways to keep employees part of the conversations happening within an organization can only lead to business wins. To help leaders create a workplace culture that fosters innovation, 12 Newsweek Expert Forum members share methods they've adopted for keeping their teams curious and innovative.

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By establishing boundaries, prioritizing tasks, growing their teams, scheduling important events and practicing self-care, leaders can effectively lead while still leading the lives they deserve.

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Rather than let the idea of change hold them back, business leaders can see change as a way to increase their chances of future success. When a habit shows success, it can be difficult to adopt different practices, even when success is limited or comes at a cost. This is a common occurrence in business when leaders become so dedicated to doing something the way it has always been done that they are unintentionally sabotaging their future success.  Knowing where to start when making changes isn’t easy, but one of the first steps leaders can take is simply committing to the act of making changes for the better. Below, 10 Newsweek Expert Forum members share further advice on what leaders should do to address and break their own bad habits.

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Industry credibility and brand recognition are critical if you hope to optimize your business for its target market. With major competitors vying for the top spot in any industry, making a name for your business and improving the market can be a difficult journey. As a new business owner, this means you’ll need to dedicate plenty of time to learning and researching the industry to understand where your business can offer improvements.  As business leaders, the members of Newsweek Expert Forum have dealt with the challenge of breaking into the industry and gaining credibility and recognition. Below, they offer 15 tried-and-true tips for entrepreneurs attempting to optimize the market.

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As burnout continues to negatively impact employees on all levels, it's essential to build in processes to mitigate it. Accepting a leadership role comes with the recognition that managing others will not be an easy endeavor. Between ensuring business goals are continually being set and met and taking care of the personal and professional needs of the employees working with you, being a manager can take a heavy toll. Combine these duties with the stress of the last few years and you’ve got a recipe for manager burnout. To help these leaders tackle and manage their burnout, 12 members from Newsweek Expert Forum each offer advice on how managers can reduce the stress and successfully get back in the game.

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Think of the acronym IDECIDE when going through your decision-making process.

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  In business, a “leader” is typically defined as the person in charge. This can range from executives at the top down to the managers who preside over individual departments or teams. However, having an official leader position isn’t what makes someone a good–or even an effective leader. Great leaders are those who are able to balance the big picture of the company mission with the finer details of how employees contribute to the achievement of business goals. Developing that balance means leaders need to actively acquire and refine their skills. As experts, Newsweek Expert Forum members know that refining those skills is an ongoing process, so below, they each share one skill every manager needs to effectively lead and coach employees.

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For a business to succeed, entrepreneurs have to know how to effectively pitch and get stakeholder onboard with every new initiative. No matter how good a business idea may seem, every new initiative will not have complete buy-in from stakeholders at the start. No matter whether it’s investors, employees, partners or consumers, the onus is on the entrepreneur to present a worthy pitch, gain support and address concerns that may arise from the audience.  While this process may seem straightforward, the challenge lies in devising a plan to put any and all doubts from stakeholders at ease. As leaders, the members of Newsweek Expert Forum know that full support for business ideas is critical to success. To help, they offer strategies entrepreneurs can use to approach changing someone's mind and gaining buy-in from stakeholders.