Asad Khan

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From setting expectations to fostering collaboration, department leaders need solid strategies to negotiate freelance contracts that drive mutual success. Freelancers and contractors have become essential contributors to today’s flexible workforce. But managing those relationships requires a different playbook than hiring full-time staff. Department leaders must strike the right balance of collaboration, structure, and adaptability to build high-performing partnerships. To help, 13 Fast Company Executive Board members each share their best advice for negotiating freelance and contract-based work arrangements. Here's how they recommend handling your department's contractor agreements for mutual success.

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To thrive through disruption, leaders must develop cultures grounded in trust, communication, and purpose. Uncertainty is inevitable in today’s business landscape, thanks to economic volatility, leadership changes, and global disruptions. But while instability can rattle even the strongest organizations, resilient cultures rise above the noise. The foundation for resilience is laid long before a crisis hits through clear values, transparent leadership, and strong interpersonal trust. To understand how today’s executives create adaptable, cohesive, and confident teams in unpredictable times, 20 Fast Company Executive Board members share their top strategies for cultivating resilience across their organizations.

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Should your organization invest in test observability? Here's what leaders need to know.

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When it comes to social media engagement, what matters most is creating the kind of connection people want to respond to. As social media platforms evolve, brands aren’t just posting to be seen; they also want to connect more meaningfully with their audiences. Engagement now hinges less on polish and more on presence, personality, and participation. Rather than pushing one-sided content, the most effective strategies invite people in, spark conversation, and create space for genuine interaction. To that end, 17 Fast Company Executive Board members share creative ways to drive social media engagement and why these approaches are so effective.

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If given the chance to start over, these are the moves seasoned entrepreneurs say they’d make to build their businesses differently today. Hindsight can be a powerful teacher, especially for entrepreneurs who’ve weathered the highs and lows of building a business from the ground up. From financial decisions and branding strategies to selecting the right partners and saying “no” sooner, many business leaders have learned what they’d do differently if they had the chance to start fresh. To that end, Fast Company Executive Board members reflect on those hard-earned lessons and share the changes they’d make if they were launching their companies today. Here's how they've used what they've learned as a valuable roadmap for building stronger, more resilient companies.

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When your CEO shares your mission, you can focus on growth knowing the company is in good hands. Hiring the right CEO means finding someone who’s not just capable but deeply aligned with what your company stands for. You’re handing over the reins to someone who needs to lead, and lead like you would—with full conviction in the company’s mission and the clarity to drive it forward. It’s a high-stakes decision that can either strengthen or unravel your foundation. To help you make the right call, nine Fast Company Executive Board members share how they’ve identified and retained CEOs who are mission-driven, reliable, and ready to take the reins. Below, they offer practical ways for finding a leader who can build on your vision while giving you the freedom to focus on what’s next.

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If you're looking to build a successful loyalty program, these practical tips can help you make it worth your customers’ while—and yours. For businesses, loyalty programs are a great way to encourage repeat purchases and strengthen customer relationships. Yet, launching a successful one takes more than offering discounts or points. The best programs are designed with the customer in mind—what they value, how they interact with your brand and what makes them feel genuinely appreciated. To help, 15 members of Fast Company Executive Board discuss what it takes to build a loyalty program that drives not only sales, but genuine customer engagement.

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Here are 10 key strategies for brand rebuilding that will elevate the company's credibility and regain consumer trust. Going through a difficult experience like bankruptcy can damage a company's public profile initially, but acknowledging its shortcomings and creating a transparent action plan to turn the situation around also provides the business a unique opportunity to reinvent itself during the downtime. Forward-thinking leaders spend time reassessing their product offerings, customer service strategies, and market positioning to better align with current consumer expectations.  Taking a proactive approach to get back into the public's good graces ensures past and prospective stakeholders that the company is not only recovering from a bad season of missteps, productively, but it's also evolving for future success. Below, 10 Fast Company Executive Board members each share an action step company leaders can take to restore confidence among former stakeholders and supporters after their recovery and reflection period.

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AI-native testing is a fundamental reimagination of quality assurance (QA) at scale.

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Apply these creative steps to find a resolution when the status quo doesn't cut it. In an era where complex business challenges often defy conventional solutions, leaders must think outside their comfort zones and consider alternative approaches to overcome their business obstacles. By fostering a mindset that embraces ambiguity and encourages experimentation, they can unlock innovative solutions to problems that don't fit the mold.  Here, 20 Fast Company Executive Board members offer insight to help other leaders become more creative in addressing problems that require more than a standard answer.

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Looking to boost business with a client rewards program? Keep these factors in mind to ensure it's a success. Incentive and rewards programs can encourage repeat business from loyal customers. However, simply offering points or perks won't necessarily drive long-term loyalty. To have a real, lasting impact, your program needs to be thoughtfully designed around what truly motivates customers and delivers mutual value. With this in mind, the members of Fast Company Executive Board share key factors to consider when developing a client rewards program and why it's so critical to get these details right.

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Regardless of your industry, any company can benefit from forging deeper connections with its target audience. In a noisy digital world, engaging with your target audience online is the key to standing out and staying relevant. While different engagement tactics may work best for different industries, you can't go wrong by building strong relationships with the people who support your business. To help you do this, 20 members of Fast Company Executive Board share their most effective go-to engagement strategies and why engagement is so important. From leveraging employee voices to creating personalized experiences, these hands-on tactics have helped them build deeper connections and drive measurable growth.

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As inflation continues to challenge industries across the board, businesses are being forced to make difficult decisions about how to manage rising costs without sacrificing customer trust or long-term growth. An organization's ability to adapt in the face of ongoing inflation — whether through adjusted pricing strategies, increased operational efficiency, or added value for cost — can mean the difference between losing market share and maintaining a loyal customer base. Navigating these challenges takes more than short-term fixes; it calls for thoughtful, industry-specific solutions that meet both business goals and customer needs. To help, Fast Company Executive Board members share how their brands are addressing inflation in their respective industries. Here are the steps they’re taking to reduce the impact of economic challenges, both internally and externally.

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AI is a powerful tool—one requiring strong guardrails to ensure responsible use. CISOs play a key role in making this happen. As artificial intelligence becomes more integrated into daily operations, the need for strong governance grows alongside it. For many companies, that responsibility increasingly falls to the Chief Information Security Officer (CISO). But effective AI governance isn’t just about risk mitigation—it’s about building systems that are transparent, secure, and aligned with business and regulatory expectations from the start. Below, the members of Fast Company Executive Board share how CISOs can help shape compliant, ethical AI adoption without stifling business innovation.

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The faster your organization adopts AI, the more important it becomes to understand—and proactively manage—the cybersecurity risks that come with it. AI is moving quickly from experimentation to core business operations, but that speed brings a new layer of security concerns. From data exposure to adversarial attacks, the risks tied to AI are evolving just as fast as the technologies themselves. If you're leading AI initiatives, it's critical to understand where the vulnerabilities lie and how they could impact your business. To help, Fast Company Executive Board members outline the key cybersecurity risks that come with rapid AI adoption, along with practical steps you can take to reduce exposure.

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Retailers today are selling experiences, and those experiences are defined by how well their digital platforms perform under real-world conditions.

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Does your management style foster collaboration and trust? Behind every successful leader, is a great team, but finding the right people to support your mission and move your company forward is not always so easy to achieve—especially if you are just starting in business. At its core, a reliable, high-performing team is rooted in trust, collaboration, and clear communication among its leaders and team members. In addition, managers who consistently support, respect, and value their direct reports are more likely to create a work culture environment that builds better relationships and motivates people to contribute their very best each day.   The leaders of Fast Company Executive Board understand what it takes to put the right team in place because it's also essential to them being able to focus on other areas of the business and worry less. Below they each share one best practice for building a high-performing team that can drive innovation and creativity across the organization.

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13 tips to elevate your brand reputation with clarity and confidence.  Whether you are a new business owner in the industry or you've been at it for years, managing public relations can often feel like a balancing act—especially when your company is either unveiling a new product or handling a crisis. When hiring a professional PR team is not in the current budget, there are still several strategies you can implement to ensure your messaging remains effective and your brand’s reputation stays intact.  Here, 13 leading experts from Fast Company Executive Board each explore one best practice that can be immediately applied to elevate your brand's PR efforts.