Get Better at Cross-Generational Communication

Respect. It’s a word Aretha demands, and most people hope to get … but it can be tough to navigate in a modern workplace when the word means different things to different people. This is especially important to remember as a younger business leader managing older employees. Yes, you’re the boss, but you’re still young, and they are coming from a very different generational mindset. In this regard, not knowing what you don’t know can come back to bite you.

4 Ways to Standout as a Young Executive

The big promotion always comes with a couple of things to carefully consider. First, it is always an exciting time and any young executive should feel good about their accomplishments. Second, however, is the reality that as a young executive, you have to deliver. The results you produce will make the difference between an adequate performance and a great career. Here are some things to keep in mind.

Squirrel! How to Keep Your Focus in a World Built on Distraction

Ask any serial entrepreneur, and they will likely admit to being a bit easy to distract. That’s because, to be a successful business builder, you need to have a bit of a horizon focus, always looking for something new or better or different to chase after. Some business owners who are also managers struggle to bring this impulse to heel when they need to buckle down and build where they’re at.
In many cases, leaders get excited and miss the early signs their focus may be slipping. Because they have failed to set up fail-safes in their business lives, they travel too far down the road to distraction, ending up with too much going on and not enough of themselves to go around to give any of it due attention. Here are a few ways you can protect your focus and keep yourself from being spread too thin.

Deliver Criticism That Gets Results

It can be tough, but at some point, you will have to offer someone constructive criticism. I say constructive criticism because the other versions are easy. It can be simple to lose your temper and beat someone up verbally when you feel irritated or frustrated. It’s much more difficult to use it as a teachable moment, to inspire someone to get better. However, it’s exactly this latter approach that will have the biggest positive benefit for your team and your organization.

The foundation for this approach is in the bone-deep understanding that you are not just correcting behavior, you are helping a person grow and become a better version of themselves. Remember, you hired them for a reason. Don’t allow a mistake to obscure that.

Has your nonprofit answered these key questions?

Markets always change, that’s the real constant. And those shifts, whether they be motivated by economics, consumer moods or another factor, impact nonprofit organizations as well. Sometimes, these factors hit charity organizations sooner … and harder. So, what questions should you ask to set yourself up for success and protect your place in the market when change is always coming.

How’s your cash flow? Cash should not be a dirty word in nonprofit work. You need to be able to make your bills and still have enough in reserves for slow times, marketing, PR, and business-building. Doing administration and doing it as it should be done is worth what it costs.

Top Tips to Energize Your Startup

When you are planning a startup, you know you want to come out of the blocks at a sprint, to start fast and get that cash flow up as soon as you can. Step two is to build to sustain, to keep growing but also protecting your gains. New CEOs must keep both in mind at all times, or they will start the race quickly, only to crash and burn just as fast. You need to energize your startup and build it to last. Here are some tips to help you make that happen.

Top 3 Finance Books for Millennials

If you are looking to learn more about financial topics such a creating a budget, paying off debt and saving for retirement, there are some important books to add to your reading list. These three books offer advice all millennials should take into consideration when mapping out their financials.

Champion Surfer Commoditizes His Dream

For decades now, there has only been one “face” of professional surfing. Even if you don’t follow the sport, you are probably familiar with the name Kelly Slater. The Florida native is, without question, the world’s most-recognized surfer, and now Slater is trying to turn that name recognition into a promotional force behind something that used to be anathema to surfers: the man-made wave.

How Governmental Regulations on Lyft & Uber Are Affecting Other Rideshare Companies

Once young upstarts in the ridesharing community themselves, companies Uber and Lyft have in recent years seen a wave of backlash directed at them. Originally and primarily from taxi companies, they've also seen a rash of government enforcement of regulations that have effectively crippled the ridesharing services' ability to offer rides to people in certain communities. In the city of Austin, Texas, for example, both Uber and Lyft ride-sharing services have stopped operating after voters in the usually liberal city rejected a ballot measure that would've allowed the companies to regulate themselves. The vote had 56% supporting tighter regulations, with 44% opposed. Austin's mayor had this to say on the matter:

 "The people have spoken tonight loud and clear. Uber and Lyft are welcome to stay in Austin, and I invite them to the table regardless. Austin is an innovative and creative city, and we'll need to be at our most creative and innovative now."

Make It a Great Place to Work!

Hey manager, your office can be a great place to work, but it’s up to you to turn that “want” into reality. Every person in your organization is in a key position to be a positive or negative influence on your office morale, but you are the center of that dynamic. You control all the levers and buttons to put things in motion. It is absolutely up to you to set the standard and create the expectation that leads to a dynamic, positive working environment. Here’s how to make it happen.

First, change the dialogue. You don’t have “tasks” that must be accomplished. You have “opportunities” that you get to achieve. It may sound corny and cheesy and, it is a little. But it’s also effective. Because it’s not just about changing the verbiage. It’s about changing the approach. These shifts have to be reflected in more than the language. They have to be apparent in the how and the why.

How Big Data Delivers Answers Without All The Work

 

Big Data is a complex science growing ever more complex. And that’s true. But that doesn’t mean it can’t be set up to deliver more accurate results with much less work. To compete at any level, businesses need good data.

7 Things all Entrepreneurs Should Do on the Weekend

 

As an entrepreneur, you may find it difficult to put your work aside for the weekend. Though, it's hard to believe, even the most demanding business ventures can wait until Monday. However, you can prepare yourself for the upcoming week by following these 7 steps.