Cheri Beranek

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As we push to hire a larger workforce, industry leaders must ensure it represents more groups of people.

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With community broadband, the residents themselves can take the initiative to carry their communities across the digital divide and give themselves a fighting chance to keep up. 

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Curiosity can trigger deeper, more rational thinking and more creative solutions, so work to remove all negative connotations and instead enable, encourage, and reward curiosity. 

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Instead of forcing kids to ditch college and pick a trade, we should expose them to more choices—including trade school—at a younger age so they can better identify the path that best fits their needs.

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We’ve come a long way, but where broadband is headed will change everything.

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If confidence is the belief in our own abilities to attain success without arrogance, then leaders should be hungry for a team of confident employees.

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For a happy, successful, productive team, a leader’s attitude has to model happiness, success, and productivity to the best of their ability. 

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Here's how to build business stamina and even increase alliances in uncertain times. When times are hard and business is slow, it's easy to become overwhelmed and lose clarity about your purpose and position. On the contrary, that's the time when you need to dig deeper and get creative to remind yourself, your team, and the external stakeholders who invest their time and money in your brand why you got into this industry in the first place.  Be transparent, share your story, and come up with an alternative action plan that will get others excited again, paving the way for your company to secure a brighter and sustainable future, come what may. Below, 9 experts from Fast Company Executive Board provide leaders with strategies they can implement today to satisfy their stakeholders with performance.

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With so many IT opportunities, candidates are scheduling interviews with multiple companies at once, so make the most of your time by starting with your company story.

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Technology adoption is about evolving with innovation, and starting small builds the foundation needed to keep pace and grow.

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No matter how limited your business budget is, every company should find room for these essential line items. A business’s cash flow, especially during the pandemic, can get thin at times. In these cash-strapped periods, it’s vital for executives to make shrewd money decisions based on company values and goals. While saving money should be a priority in these situations, there are some parts of the business that shouldn’t be undercut. Below, members of Fast Company Executive Board each shared one thing executives should never skimp on, even on a tight budget.

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Bringing in high-quality business leads doesn't have to cost a ton of money. A business can’t be successful without interested customers, but attracting those customers and their interest can be one of the most challenging parts of launching or maintaining a business. It can also be quite costly to generate leads, and many smaller or newer businesses may have a tighter budget to work with. Even with a reduced budget, there are still many unconventional but effective ways to create interest in your services or products. From collaborating with other business leaders to leveraging data insights, these nine Fast Company Executive Board members shared their expert tips for low-cost lead generation. 

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When it comes to successful ad campaigns, simplicity is often the most effective approach. We all know a successful advertisement when we see it. Whether we remember the ad campaign because it made us laugh, cry, smile or become angry, it made us remember, and that’s what matters most. Some of the best ad campaigns are simple and don’t work too hard to make their audience feel what they want them to feel. Below, five Fast Company Executive Board members offered their most effective tips and advice, from choosing the right sharing platforms to getting the ad timing just right. 

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Making simple but effective changes to your customer experience can make a huge difference in how your brand is perceived. When it comes to customer service, it's often the little things that make the most difference. Simple actions like using the customer's first name more often or delivering a personalized order confirmation are easy enough to automate and execute, but they can have a big and lasting impact on how a customer feels about your brand. There are plenty of opportunities to pick the "low-hanging fruit" and start improving your customer experience right away, without breaking the bank or expending tons of resources. To help you do this, 15 members of Fast Company Executive Board shared some easy ways they’ve boosted their customer experience and why it was so effective.

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Here are 16 tips to consider before your staff members dive into training for the latest software tools. Technology exists to make our professional lives a little easier. However, when department managers and their teams get too comfortable with the old way of doing business in a familiar pattern or process, it’s never easy to convince them to adapt to the latest infrastructure all at once. If your company is currently pursuing a new digital platform or service, an expert panel of Fast Company Executive Board members share 16 ideas to support each employee’s tech level and learning style.

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I think the lessons I learned from my rural upbringing can apply to other business leaders as well.