These outdated strategies and rules from the old economy are slowly stifling success. These are the reason good companies go bad.

As technological advances have altered the velocity of business and created structural changes in the environment, policies and practices within many companies have not changed. There are mental models woven into our minds and corporate cultures which have not kept pace with modern times as the new economy boots up. Many of these practices are also barriers to change and quickly become legacy symbols. It is impossible to list every one of them here but let us examine a few broad areas.

1. Hiring obsession with cultural fit

Hiring only for culture fit is an outdated recruitment strategy that will cost top talent. When like-minded individuals are hired instead of those with different perspectives, opinions or views on how things need to be done, the company's culture stagnates and declines over time because they have no folks to challenge the status quo or drive creativity and innovation.

Everyone will learn to work at the company in the legacy environment and navigate the status quo skillfully. While hiring people who get along with the team and share vision and values is essential, they need not look, feel or behave similarly to you, only adding to the groupthink mandate disguised as the cultural fit mandate.


2. Measuring in-office presence

Work is an activity, not a place anymore. In a virtual workplace environment, employees can be productive from anywhere. This is an opportunity to provide more convenience for workers and increase productivity by leveraging their skills across separate locations, time zones and cultures. But leaders often have the mindset that if they don't see you in person, your efforts aren't fruitful or productive! Manage for outcomes and, if needed, for milestones. Trying to manage tasks driven by physical presence will not fly in the modern workforce. Exceptions may exist, but the norm has changed.


3. The annual performance evaluation chore

The annual performance review is outdated and ineffective. Business moves quickly, so your feedback should too! To give employees a sense of continuity in their work environment, they should receive continued guidance and coaching from you as close to real-time as possible — make improvements easy by focusing on multiple short and effective coaching or feedback sessions and not one big administrative chore at year-end. Performance management must adapt to business velocity and reality by going agile.

4. Hierarchical leadership

Command-and-control leadership was once a highly effective way to produce material goods in the industrial age. However, it is now important for individuals and teams to operate under collaborative conditions where knowledge-based production rather than physical product creation takes center stage; this requires shared responsibility among team members working toward defined goals and coordinating efforts with minimal disruption, confusion or conflict. A modern-day workplace invests, nurtures and grows people with team member voices considered in day-to-day activities.

5. Consensus and input-based culture

Management in large companies used to be all about consensus and agreement. However, trying to get agreement from everyone can slow things down and stifle voices that disagree. Getting people's input does not equal building consensus. Given the velocity of business, one cannot afford to align to the speed of consensus. It is time for spirited discussions, quick debates, fast decisions and rapid execution. Organizations must optimize for speed and agility than let consensus consume decision-making or cause inclusion suffering.

6. Formal dress codes

The last century was about enforcing formal attire like suits, skirts and ties. As the new century unfolds, professional-looking and casual dress codes are accepted, and it is assumed that one does not win business or create value based on what one wears. Allowing people to be comfortable helps drive a free and positive environment. The meaning of well-dressed may have changed; it is time to rethink the old economy attire too!

7. Optimizing to withstand change and risk

In the old economy, one was taught to build organizations that resisted change and risk. But market dynamics today demand the opposite thought process from that era. Managing through excessive controls to mitigate risk creates agility risk and stifles innovation. To stay current and relevant, one must keep their industry, country and business in context to assume calculated risks.

Concluding thoughts

We are undergoing a significant shift in work, business velocity and workforce demographics. Much of the practices designed from the industrial era may not hold but have seeped into our work practices and self-created mental models around appearance, professionalism, productivity, and a false tie-in to results. It is time to shed the baggage!



​Source: https://www.entrepreneur.com/

By utilizing these tips, women business owners can alleviate some of the stress of entrepreneurship and find balance while also managing a financially successful business.
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

For many women entrepreneurs, success seems to come at a higher price — with more time, effort and sacrifices than men might have to make. If you feel that way, you're not alone. In fact, the majority of women small business owners say they have to work harder for the same level of success as their male counterparts, according to the latest report on small business owners from Bank of America.

While the climb might be steeper, that hasn't deterred millions of women from starting a business. Women have been driving record levels of small business creation since the pandemic began in 2020, and according to Fairygodboss, women are now starting 1,200 businesses per day. There's plenty we can learn from those who've been down the road before. Acknowledging that everyone's path is different, here are three strategies to help women business owners overcome common hurdles:

Crack the code on accessing capital

While access to capital for women has improved over time, our report found that more than a quarter of women entrepreneurs believe they'll never have equal access to capital. It's evident that we still need to overcome systematic barriers, but there are strategies that can help women business owners right now.

Time and time again, I've seen many women entrepreneurs feel like they need to have the perfect plan before going to a bank. The truth is, you don't have to wait until things are 100% polished to talk to a specialist. Don't let fear of rejection stop you from seeking critical advice from professionals who assist a wide range of businesses every day and can help fine-tune your plan and provide guidance around the most appropriate source of funding and next steps.

And there are alternatives to consider. Community development financial institutions (CDFIs) are a great resource for those who may not qualify for a traditional loan, for example. Also, today, there are more and more venture capital funds run by — and focused on — funding women. At Bank of America, we are making strategic investments in funds like Chloe Capital and Coyote Ventures, because they're so good at empowering underrepresented women entrepreneur talent.

Find your people

Entrepreneurship can feel lonely, but you don't have to go it alone. And you may not know it, but just by being a woman business owner, you already have a groundswell of support from a huge and passionate community of fellow women entrepreneurs. There are so many organizations, programs, events and circles of support that you can join.

Take, for example, the National Association of Women Business Owners — a group that started in 1975 with 12 women that's now 5,000 members strong with 60 chapters across the country — which provides a whole range of benefits to propel your business growth and fuel personal and professional development.

NAWBO is one of the gold standards, and there are plenty of other great communities to consider as well, from global to more local in focus, bigger to more tight-knit: Vital Voices, Female Founder Collective, HerAgenda and BizWomen, to name a few. Take a look at what's local to you, too, and there might be a physical space for you to network and work. For example, NYC-based Luminary is a global professional networking organization and non-traditional co-working space specifically designed for women entrepreneurs.

Find the group that clicks with you and where you feel most comfortable — depending on the type of resources you need, the conversations you want to have and who inspires you. You can use those networks to find a mentor, and better yet, an advocate who can vouch for you and help you along your journey.

Shared experience can be really helpful here, too. Through networking, you might meet someone who has faced similar challenges. Maybe that's staffing problems, supply chain disruptions or managing customer expectations. You can get practical advice and solutions this way.

Build your confidence, and be kind to yourself

Women's professional confidence is down, according to research from Fairygodboss and Dress for Success, which found that one in two women don't feel self-confident at work right now.

One of the best things I always remind myself to do is to "own your chair." Whether you feel like it in the moment or not, you deserve to be seated in the room and have your voice heard as a decision-maker — so, own your chair, and don't be afraid to ask for what your business needs.

A powerful way to learn how to own your chair and build self-confidence is to arm yourself with knowledge. The more you know, the more confident you'll feel as an entrepreneur. Tap into the many (free) educational resources out there. A few that I'd recommend are our Small Business Resource Center and SCORE.

Also, it's easier said than done, but don't put too much pressure on yourself. Running your own business can be unpredictable and stressful. Both in business and life, women tend to be harder on themselves than men.

Entrepreneurship is not an easy path and can be very mentally taxing, so be kind to yourself. Prioritize mental health, and do your best to make sure your life is well-rounded and not all work, all the time.

When you can, try to make time for yourself — whether you go for a walk, cook a meal, read a chapter of a book or do whatever it is that helps you unwind. You might feel you're falling behind on work by stepping away, but just the opposite can be true: You come back recharged and better equipped to lead. By utilizing these tips, women business owners can alleviate some of the stress of entrepreneurship and find balance while also managing a financially successful business.



Source: https://www.entrepreneur.com/

On a basic level, a successful business is one that generates enough sales to turn a profit every year. However, if business owners want to maintain that success over a long period of time, one strategy that’s often helpful is creating a positive community around your product, service or business. Doing so offers your customers a place to interact with each other as well as with you and your team, and fosters loyalty and passion within your fan base. 

However, building a community around your business doesn’t happen overnight, and it will take time and a well-thought-out plan to achieve.  To help, 10 members of Young Entrepreneur Council share their best tips for building a community—online or otherwise—and why doing so is so impactful for your business.

1. Create An Open Space For People To Connect

The term “community” is used a lot these days, but one thing is clear: If you're not creating meaningful connections between people, you don't have a community, you have an audience. It's important to create an open space for your members to talk, and to encourage an open dialogue that doesn't always involve you or your business setting the tone. Also, remember that, at its core, a community is a basic human need—people naturally want to belong and feel that they belong. Regularly let your community know that they are valued. Remember that there is no substitute for in-person connection. Online communities are a great starting point for ideas and new friendships, but real-life conversations are where those relationships become real. - Greg Ashton, GROW

2. Rally Around

A CauseIt is easiest to build a community around a social cause related to your product or service. For example, if you're in the business of manufacturing or selling beauty products, you can start a community where participants share their favorite makeup looks and build each other’s self-esteem. When there is a common social cause, people respond to it and uplift each other. You can start building this community within your work family. Encourage your team members to interact with your online audience. They have to believe in the cause to be able to sell the brand to the community. Be patient. It takes time and effort to establish community connections. Share educational and impactful content within your shared space, and soon enough, more members will be encouraged to share their own stories. - Bryce Welker, Crush The GRE

3. Leverage User-Generated Content

One piece of advice I have for building both an online and offline community around a product, service or brand is to source content from real customers. The cost of creating content from scratch can be debilitating for new brands, especially with the ever-increasing demands of content frequency. Paying for professional photography on every social media post is simply not viable for the vast majority of businesses leveraging these marketing channels. Instead, have someone in the organization with a good eye for design and storytelling curate content from real customers. Tons of folks post high-quality content on social media about brands. Reposting is usually welcome, helping to not only build brand loyalty with the creator, but also show customers the brand truly connects with them. - Richard Fong, Disability Help

4. Solve A Problem Without Selling

Most businesses these days strive to build communities to gain traction from their respective audiences and promote their products or services. This is a common mistake you must avoid. Engagement is the prerequisite for creating a powerful community. Whether it's people assisting others or businesses helping users find fitting solutions, the core objective of a community is to solve the problems of its members. So, if you strive to build a community, create one that helps people seek the answers they're looking for—not one that advertises how great your products or services are. This will help you create a community that people will gladly want to be a part of. - Stephanie Wells, Formidable Forms

5. Appoint A Dedicated Community Manager

The most important thing you can do when building a community around your product, service or business is to hire the right community manager. This is someone who will be responsible for fostering relationships and driving engagement within the community. The right community manager will have a deep understanding of your product or service and be passionate about its success. They will also be able to effectively communicate your vision for the community and rally others around it. Furthermore, they will be skilled in managing difficult conversations and be able to resolve conflicts quickly and efficiently. An effective community manager will be the glue that holds the community together and ensures that it is a positive, supportive environment for all. - Abhijeet Kaldate, Astra WordPress Theme

6. Turn Customers Into Brand Ambassadors

Create a dedicated brand ambassador program and encourage your loyal customers to join. Brand ambassadors are passionate about your product and can help spread the word about it. They can help promote your product on social media, at events and through word-of-mouth, as well as build a community by creating an online forum or Facebook group where people can ask questions, give feedback and share tips and tricks. All of these need to happen to build an interactive community around your product. Create a website or blog and offer exclusive content for members only. This will give people an incentive to join and become active members. You can also hold events and meetups for members to get together and interact in person. - Candice Georgiadis, Digital Day

7. Encourage Customers

To Interact And ShareI believe the best way to build a community is to encourage others to share their thoughts and experiences. People are looking for brands to help with their problems, but they also want a place for open discourse. I recommend sharing interactive posts that encourage your audience members to speak their minds. For instance, you could ask a probing question, share a startling statistic or invite users to share their experiences with others. - John Brackett, Smash Balloon LLC
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8. Be Genuine

The first step to building a community is to be genuine. I've seen a lot of people try to leverage the power of social media to grow their businesses and build their brands, but they don't seem to understand the importance of authenticity. They just post generic messages, or they try to be too clever by half. But if you're not being honest, who's going to trust you? The best thing you can do is simply be yourself and share what you love with the world. People will feel connected with you because they can see that there's a real person behind the product or service—and that person cares about what they're doing! - Brian Greenberg, Insurist

9. Provide Educational Resources

As business owners, we can’t only focus on the here and now. We must focus on disrupting the industry, effecting change and offering products and services that stand the test of time. What better way to do this than to build a community that supports and believes in what we’re selling? This is why it’s incredibly important to create advisory and educational services to help customers develop and refine their strategies using industry best practices. Whether you do this through online events, free assets or online forums is up to you. What’s important is knowing that being a successful entrepreneur is sometimes less about selling something and more about sharing your industry knowledge to help our communities achieve more. - Riccardo Conte, Virtus Flow

10. Find The Right Platform For Engagement

First, find a way to distinguish your brand. The more you set your company or product apart from your competitors, the more interest current and potential users will take in it. Then, set up the building blocks for your community. Target social media platforms or marketing channels that are interactive and allow you to dive deep—and allow your users to dive deep with you. It could be Twitch, Discord, Pinterest, a branded podcast and so on. Lean into channels that your audience already uses or that seem to work well for your competitors. - Andrew Schrage, Money Crashers Personal Finance



Source: https://www.forbes.com/​

Great leaders come in many shapes and forms, but one trait they all appear to share in common is their ability to motivate and inspire others. Though this should go without saying, motivation and inspiration within the ranks offers organizations a very useful byproduct: the increased potential for business growth.

When employees are inspired by and engaged in the mission of a company, they’re more than willing to take action and find creative ways to achieve their goals. However, the 2021 Global Leadership Forecast found that only 11% of HR leaders say they have the leadership talent they need to grow their business—an all-time low. Many believe the reason has a lot to do with the unpredictability of the challenges a business might face.

While organizations could still be preparing the next wave of leaders to step up as previous generations retire, there are things you can do to take control of your own leadership development in the meantime. Even if you’re currently in a leadership role, you should explore opportunities to further develop your skills to encourage business growth.

Here are just a few ideas to get you started:

1. Surround yourself with fellow leaders to help each other problem-solve.

Making learning a priority can certainly help you grow as a leader. Leadership training is generally a solid investment. If dedicated training isn't for you, then even just 15 to 30 minutes a day devoted to reading a book, perusing an article, or listening to a podcast on leadership can build your knowledge of different processes and procedures. Sometimes, you'll need an outside perspective to accelerate your development.

“Business leaders can have tunnel vision at times. Working at one firm, or in one industry, for many years can breed outdated industry norms," says Greg Alexander, founder of Collective 54, the first mastermind community for professional services firms. "By working with peers in a mastermind community, business leaders get exposed to different ways of thinking and innovative solutions. After all, peers are not vendors, or sponsors, looking to monetize a relationship. Rather, they’re seeking to learn from one another in a safe environment.”

Leaders need other leaders to challenge their assumptions and push the boundaries of what to expect from themselves. It’s all about finding the right circle of influence to truly understand what you’re capable of.

2. Get better at receiving feedback.

It’s no secret that feedback can be valuable, as it offers you a unique opportunity to learn and increase your self-awareness. Whether on the giving or receiving end, however, it isn’t always a comfortable scenario. The mere thought of feedback can make even the most seasoned of professionals feel a bit anxious. Both parties are in a vulnerable position.

Getting better at receiving feedback takes more than merely asking someone, “How am I doing?” Such an open-ended question leaves too much room for interpretation. Even if you’ve been working with a mentor or participating in a mastermind community, you may hear nothing more than broad strokes about your performance as a response. You need to be more explicit and specific in your request for feedback.

It's also important to make clear that you want to hear honest feedback, and then express the reason for your request. Perhaps you want to learn more about your effectiveness in holding a meeting or whether your approach to a challenge was the most logical.

It all comes down to the art of listening. Should you feel yourself becoming defensive, take a step back and ask yourself why. Remember, you are in control of your response. This is meant to be constructive and cordial. After hearing the feedback, turn your attention to what you can improve upon. What was said that you can put into action?

3. Establish a time for reflection and strategy.

Reflection is often thought of as looking back on where you’ve been. While a part of the practice, it also entails taking stock of where you are currently and where you want to be in the future—and is an essential component of leadership growth. Without reflection, you would be hamstrung when trying to set benchmarks for yourself and your team. You’d also lack the means to truly assess your performance or that of employees.

Reflection doesn’t happen on its own. You need to set aside time for it. You also need to create a process for such an act. If you need to put pen to paper, do so. If you need a quiet spot, find one. Once you’re ready, start asking yourself questions: “What have I learned so far? Did I reach my learning goals? Did I use what I’ve learned? What do I want to learn next? How do I want to learn it?”

One thing to keep in mind during times of reflection is to never compare yourself to others. Only then can you really make a realistic plan or strategy for further leadership growth. Use all those questions you’ve asked yourself to develop some new goals, and then figure out the best means for reaching what you want to achieve. Get into the weeds—detailing all aspects of your strategy (i.e., learning opportunities, next steps, potential obstacles, timeframe, and so on). From there, it’s all about putting the plan into action by dedicating time to achieving each goal.
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Being in a leadership role, you likely know that the best form of training and development is one that’s personalized to the individual. It only stands to reason that you should tailor your personal leadership training through self-reflection and constructive criticism from peers in similar positions—making it really about your abilities and experiences. It’s just a matter of setting aside the time not only for learning but for finding opportunities to enhance your skills.



Source: https://www.forbes.com/
Image Credit: Getty