James Jones

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Over the course of their entrepreneurial journey, leaders will encounter numerous obstacles that help them grow personally and professionally. Running a business long term is never as easy as it looks. For every goal achieved and milestone met, business leaders must also expect to encounter obstacles. These can range from hiring challenges, market instability and an increasingly competitive business landscape to name a few common setbacks entrepreneurs can expect.  Still, despite the problems business leaders will inevitably encounter, it is still possible to stay the course and succeed with the right preparation, support and coping strategies. Below, 15 Newsweek Expert Forum members each share one specific action or practice they rely on to maintain their resiliency.

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While failure does come with significant downsides, actively encouraging employees to take risks can be worthwhile. “Failure” has a complex meaning in business. On one hand, failure can mean unimaginable loss ranging from the waste of limited resources to the loss of one’s livelihood completely. On the other hand, failure can also be a harbinger for great personal and professional growth.  No matter how one feels about failure, the truth of the matter is that business is all about leveraging the lessons that come out of failure to innovate. Taking risks, building on failure and encouraging your employees to do the same is the key to becoming a major player in your market.  As experts, the members of Newsweek Expert Forum have directly experienced the benefits of cultivating a workplace environment that supports experimentation. Below, 15 of them share how leaders can encourage and foster a culture of innovation within their organization.

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Devising simple ways to make the customer journey more seamless can keep customers coming back long term. In today’s competitive business landscape, the devil is in the details. With so many businesses competing for customers in both online and brick-and-mortar spaces, setting a business apart boils down to the customer experience strategy. If done incorrectly, businesses risk inadvertently driving away current and potential customers and ruining their reputation for good.  However, if done with care and regard for the needs of customers, businesses can rise above their competitors, even if they are offering similar products or services. To help leaders create a competitive advantage, 17 Newsweek Expert Forum members discuss how leaders can improve their company’s customer experience.

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By providing ongoing support, leadership can ensure that a manager has the tool and resources to succeed. Great managers are critical to the success of an organization. These managers sometimes step into the role already possessing innate traits and experiences that will help them succeed as leaders, but management as a skill should also be taught. If an organization builds systems to develop and shape the skills of their talent on an ongoing basis, leadership decreases the chances of creating and perpetuating bad management behaviors that negatively impact the culture and operations of the business.  To help leaders ensure managers are performing at their best, 13 Newsweek Expert Forum members share specific actions they can take to increase the effectiveness of their managers.

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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.