Chris Heller

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Before we dive into factors that drive success, let's re-consider the multi-faceted concept of success.

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If showing up is half the battle, you certainly want to show up prepared.

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Even the most experienced of leaders can struggle when it comes to managing several different priorities. Between catering to the needs of customers, ensuring employees are engaged, remaining true to the values of the organization and staying compliant on changing laws, running a business naturally requires entrepreneurs to balance several different priorities all at once. No matter how experienced a leader is or how top-notch their juggling skills are, any person would struggle with these responsibilities. Stepping outside of the mindset that they have to handle everything alone is a key first step for many leaders. Below, 12 Newsweek Expert Forum members each share one additional approach leaders can take when managing multiple projects and priorities.

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Creating an engaging workplace culture is all about putting structures in place to meet company goals and address employee needs. For a business to succeed today, an engaged workforce can make all the difference. With the workplace being more distributed across geographical areas than ever, establishing and maintaining a company culture that effectively engages all employees is a growing challenge. That’s why it is essential for leaders to adopt practices that balance the needs of the business with the desires of employees. Before making any internal changes to how the company operates, determining the best way to create an environment that supports employees is a great first step for ensuring employees feel valued. Below, 15 members of Newsweek Expert Forum provide tips for business leaders interested in keeping their employees engaged with the culture of the company.

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It's easy to choose a path based on preconceived notions, but business leaders must be as objective as possible when making decisions that impact their company. Objective decisions are vital to the success of a business. Sometimes, leaders have to make tough choices that may feel personal, like letting an employee go or hiring one candidate over another. Leaders may also be too close to the business to see a problem that needs to be fixed or a solution that might work better than a system already in place. These decisions and considerations contribute to a business's bottom line and are therefore important to carefully consider. Below, 15 Newsweek Expert Forum members give their best advice for making sure leaders let go of assumptions about their business and make decisions more objectively. 

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Keeping a close eye on customer behavior can help businesses stay on top of changing trends. Trends can come and go in the blink of an eye, and if a business isn’t paying close enough attention to its customers, leaders run the risk of losing current and future customers. Rather than waiting for new customer behavior trends to hit the company’s radar, being more proactive about learning and leveraging each trend in real time can give an organization an edge over its competitors. As business experts, the members of Newsweek Expert Forum are familiar with just how quickly customer behavior can change. Below, they offer advice on how leaders can effectively leverage customer behavior trends as they gain more ground.

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To remain in business long term, entrepreneurs have to get comfortable making difficult choices. Business decision making can sometimes be a difficult process, with each decision potentially impacting employees or customers in a negative way. That potential to harm stakeholders may cause some leaders stress, even to the point of delaying decisions until they’re absolutely sure of the possible outcomes. Learning how to understand and see fear as a natural part of doing business is key if entrepreneurs want to last long term. As leaders, the members of Newsweek Expert Forum are all familiar with the challenges of making decisions. Below, they share advice for fellow leaders to be able to embrace fear and make difficult business decisions with confidence.

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The key right now is to lean into a deep, personal connection.

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Focusing on developing the skills of employees can also benefit employers. Organizational leaders have the unique position of driving business goals, but employees are the true lifeblood of an organization. A successful business meets those business goals by providing needed products and services to customers, but if employees aren’t motivated to do their best, the chances of true success are slim to none. Managers that place an emphasis on catering to their employees’ needs and developing the skills of their workforce are more than likely to create an environment that produces and retains top-notch employees. To help leaders bring out the best from the employees working with and below them, a panel of Newsweek Expert Forum each share tips on how to build a supportive work environment.

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Without focus on providing employees with clear communication, leaders risk company goals being not achieved.  As a company grows, it’s critical that everyone from the top down has a thorough understanding of what objectives the entire organization is working toward. A leader who prioritizes communicating the vision and goals is essential to ensuring that employees truly feel connected to the work they are doing. However, determining the most effective way to communicate company objectives can be difficult. Below, nine Newsweek Expert Forum members share their perspectives on the best way for a leader to clearly communicate the vision and goals of the company with current and potential employees.

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Actively seeking to connect with your target customer base can create real opportunities for authentic engagement. With the Internet now widely serving as a social space, society as a whole continues to move toward a culture that seeks shared experiences with peers over those with expertise. This means that consumers these days are no longer limited to experts when it comes to seeking advice on products and services.  Developing an effective way of authentically connecting with customers can bring more business opportunities, but the challenge lies in finding the right strategy for engaging and interacting with these consumers. To help, 10 Newsweek Expert Forum members share tips for companies interested in creating more shared experiences with current and future customers.

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Consumers will always need advisors and always need counsel, especially when it comes to huge, emotional and pricey decisions like buying a house — likely the largest transaction they’ll ever make in their life. 

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Making customers happy doesn't have to require a lot of resources and effort; the simplest strategies can sometimes be the best. A business's customer experience is an important indicator of its overall success. Your customers are the cornerstone of your company, and they should be treated as such. If they aren't satisfied with their experience, they'll likely take their business elsewhere. Thankfully, you don't have to break the bank or hire tons of customer service reps to appease your customers. Below, 12 members of Newsweek Expert Forum shared some low-effort but effective strategies for improving your customer experience.

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In a lot of ways, the modern worker now finds themselves working in a similar manner to a real estate agent, either by choice or by necessity. 

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Relying more on the help of others can reduce the strain entrepreneurship places on leaders. Business leaders carry the weight of their organizations on their shoulders. In addition to ensuring ideas come to fruition and customers are satisfied, executives also have the added pressure of ensuring employee needs are being met. These priorities can place a considerable strain on a leader even in times when a business is fairing well. Rather than accepting that burnout may be an ever-present downside to entrepreneurship, leaders can begin shifting the operations of their businesses to move out of that mindset. Relying more on the people who help run the business can help, but executives have to be ready to make active changes in their lives. Below, the members of Newsweek Expert Forum offer expert advice on how executives can begin moving in the right direction again after feeling burned out.

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Determining the right amount of equity to offer non-tech hires in the early stages of the business can have a direct impact on the business's future. It takes a workforce with a variety of skills to build and sustain a successful business. Even in the tech field, non-tech professionals such as those in sales or marketing are necessary components of the team, especially in the early stages of the business. Equity compensation is one way leaders can reward these early-stage hires for their commitment to the business’ growth; however, each offer must be made with consideration. Determining the right amount of equity to offer depends on several factors, including future business implications and what each employee brings to the team. Below, a panel of Newsweek Expert Forum members detail what leaders should remember when deciding how much equity to offer early-stage, non-technical hires in a tech company.

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Leaders that are unable to keep up in a changing business world are at risk of falling behind. The business world moves fast, and companies that aren’t able to keep up run the risk of falling behind. Building a sustainably successful company requires that leaders understand just how much the business can and will change over time. While leaders are well aware that flexibility is a key part of doing business, it doesn't mean that they will be able to tap into that ability the moment they encounter a business challenge. To help, a panel of Newsweek Expert Forum members share strategies leaders can use to develop their ability to adapt quickly and ensure that flexibility is built into the foundation of their organizational culture.