Dan Sorensen

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In today's competitive economy, a little marketplace disruption may be just the formula a company needs to stand out among its competitors and make some noise. Over the years, some of the best innovators were able to create their own categories in the marketplace. If you think about how some of the most popular brands have achieved as household names, it takes more than just hiring a creative marketing team to come up with great ideas. From a mobile app on the latest smartphone that tracks your steps on a daily walk, to a digital shopping cart at the grocery store designed to cut your time in half, launching an item that lands right with potential customers also requires the company to identify the "it" factor that solves to a consumer's biggest concerns.  At the end of the day, it's essential to establish how to make work and home lifestyles easier for their target consumers. Ten leading experts from Fast Company Executive Board each offer their tips to build a loyal customer base that will strengthen your business. 

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Apply these best practices to expand the lifetime value of what customers have come to expect. Technology continues to be the solution to helping brands and their customers elevate their business and personal experiences. One key indicator to assessing a client's satisfaction with a particular device is to gain access to their existing daily habits and how the product impacts their life. Once that information is determined and measured through a combination of data analytics and real-time user feedback, the brand can work on modernizing its product to make it better. The most important predictor of satisfaction and long-term stickiness for devices such as wearables is how well they fit into existing lifestyles and habits. Careful assessment of the users' existing habits is essential. A device must not rely on the formation of new habits for success. Rather, it should make existing habits easier or automate as many steps as possible.  Below, 12 experts from Fast Company Executive Board each offer one suggestion to help other brand leaders and creative UX designers adapt their product designs for new and evolving wearables, smart home devices, and other Internet of Things devices.

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Customers will thank you kindly for putting their design needs first, leaving non-essential product bells and whistles at the door. It's an exciting time when a company is preparing to launch a new app or feature on one of its existing products. However, before introducing an updated design or functionality on the current model, it's important to gather as much feedback as possible from the end users and other stakeholders to give them what they want, so you can add meaningful value to their journey with the brand.  Creating an overcomplicated design will waste time and budget, so remember that less is more. Below, 10 leaders from Fast Company Executive Board weigh in on how to help creative UX teams develop visually appealing and functional designs. Implementing these best practices will ensure that aesthetic choices do not compromise product usability, and customers are satisfied with their experience.

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With the right structure, sharing business knowledge in the classroom can benefit seasoned working professionals and their students. Here's how to stay organized and energized while mentoring the next generation. If you are a business leader who is extremely passionate about your 9 to 5 duties, you may want to consider using your positive influence to encourage future professionals through an adjunct professorship role.  One of the biggest challenges—whether teaching in person or online—is how to avoid burnout from working all day and teaching after hours. But when it comes to managing work responsibilities and personal lifestyle, the experts from Fast Company Executive Board have got you covered and know how to strike the right balance. Here are 16 tips to make the experience less stressful and more rewarding.  

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The right talent acquisition strategies can help ensure your company’s long-term success. Every successful company needs a strong talent acquisition strategy. Whether you're focused on building a robust pipeline, streamlining your onboarding process, or leveraging analytics to predict future needs, the right approach can drive sustainable growth and keep your organization competitive.  Below, Fast Company Executive Board members share how their talent acquisition strategies are shaping the future of their organizations. Here's what they've found to work well and how you can apply these insights to your own talent acquisition efforts.

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Here's why sharing your expertise as an adjunct professor with the next generation of leaders can be rewarding but challenging. Taking on an adjunct professor role offers leaders a special opportunity to share hard-earned insights with the next generation. This role can be incredibly rewarding, as it allows you to shape future leaders while leaving a lasting professional legacy. However, translating industry experience into an academic setting comes with its own set of challenges, particularly in adapting to different learning styles and expectations.  Below, Fast Company Executive Board members share their thoughts on the benefits and hurdles of stepping into this educational role.

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Business owners must carefully evaluate key factors to ensure their brick-and-mortar locations are set up for long-term success. For any business owner, securing the right real estate for a brick-and-mortar location is a critical decision that requires careful consideration of several market factors. Decisions made during this process can have a long-lasting impact on a business’s success.  Below, Fast Company Executive Board members offer valuable tips to help you make informed decisions when selecting a physical location for your business. From understanding current market trends to evaluating the long-term potential of a location, here's how these key elements can make or break the success of the business. 

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Online platforms like LinkedIn provide opportunities for career professionals to gain a foothold while transitioning to new industries. Many professional skills translate well from one industry to another. For job seekers who are looking to change industries, it's important to be specific about how their professional experiences will help them be successful in their new chosen field. One way to do this is to leverage online platforms to showcase your expertise and transferrable skills. To help, 20 members of Fast Company Executive Board share strategies for translating existing skills into new career paths to stand out to potential employers. Follow their advice to build your professional network, showcase past projects, and provide thoughtful commentary on relevant topics to establish yourself in a new industry.

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6 cybersecurity business solutions to protect every stakeholder's sensitive information. With the uptick in cyberattacks, business leaders must remain proactive to ensure that the data of every stakeholder engaged with their brand is tightly secured at all times. In the new normal, breaches are inevitable, so company leaders must plan accordingly for the worst. Essential software communication platforms like Office 365 or Google Workspace are typically where global hackers strike first.  Any lapse in judgment or naivety about how best to protect a company's bread and butter puts the organization at risk. It may also destroy the confidence level, trust, and brand loyalty that clients once had. To protect a company's most valuable asset, six Fast Company Executive Board members each offer one practical tip to secure their employee messaging environment.

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Ignore your inner voice of self-doubt—you got this. Here's how successful thought leaders can start writing today, and keep going. For thought leaders who have solidified their reputation in a particular industry (or are looking to do so), one next step to build up credibility among colleagues and followers is to broaden their credibility by publishing a book. Doing so can help elevate trust and loyalty among your current audience. It may also bring in a new base to keep the momentum thriving in the future. If you've got plenty of ideas but don't think you have the time or patience needed to realistically get the job done, think again—11 experts from Fast Company Executive Board are here to help. They each share some tried and true best practices for a thought leader or influencer who wants to share their knowledge through book publishing for the first time. Here's how new writers can get their thoughts down on paper and expand their reach.

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Your brand may be selling itself short by remaining socially distant. Here's how to reconnect with customers and maintain their loyalty. As the virtual e-commerce system continues to evolve, brand leaders can no longer afford to sit on the sidelines if they want to see their companies thrive. That is why it is so important to actively engage with current and potential customers in the digital spaces they rely on to keep them informed about how your business can make a difference in their lives and meet their needs. If you're beginning to feel a disconnect between your audience and want to reestablish a stronger bond by elevating your efforts in brand awareness, here are 14 strategies from Fast Company Executive Board members to help start you off. You may need to catch up in some areas, but by applying these tips of the trade, you'll learn to be better engaged in the digital community and drive business impact to its highest capacity.

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Here are 12 reasons why equity and inclusion methods must move up another notch (the C-suite level) to reach desired outcomes and develop trustworthy employer-employee-consumer relationships. One of the reasons well-intentioned DEI initiatives often fall by the wayside in some work environments is because of the lack of full resources, expertise, and support that is required to keep them on the top of a company's agenda.  Introducing new strategies to address DEI shortcomings may sound good on paper during the initial push, but if the leadership team is unwilling or unable to provide the proper expectations, communications, and training as it relates to the company's core values and objectives, their efforts will continue to come up short.  To ensure DEI is given the attention it needs, 12 experts from Fast Company Executive Board each share their thoughts on why equity and inclusion efforts should be moved out of the HR department and elevated to C-level decision-makers instead.

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Consider these next steps to achieve a smooth job transformation in a new industry of choice. When it comes to making a drastic career transition in life, it's something that can be obtained in time, no matter how difficult it may seem at first. Learning to communicate your professional goals clearly and authentically is one of the first steps to gaining the trust and credibility that will turn your career aspirations into reality. To help steer business professionals in the right direction and contemplate their next moves, below, 12 Fast Company Executive Board members each discuss their strategy for translating existing job skills to new industry standards and leverage digital platforms for job hunting, ensuring that candidates stand out in a competitive employment landscape.

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Encouraging your team to be problem solvers is a better way to build trust and keep them engaged in the process. Unleashing your full potential as a leader begins with having the willingness to embrace your own humility and enable others to shine. Empowering others to find the right solutions when they are faced with business challenges is an essential part of delegating responsibilities and building stronger teams. When it comes to helping direct reports develop decision-making strategies at work,16 experts from Fast Company Executive Board agree that it is much better to "coach" people rather than "manage." This is how potential successful leaders continue to grow.