Evan Nierman

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The time you invest in media relations and media outreach will produce lasting relationships that can potentially make or break your business in times of crisis.

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It's easy to help your company do its part to create a more sustainable planet. It doesn't have to break the bank. Global environmental change, and the sustainability of our Earth, continue to be a rising topic of conversation in our personal and professional lives. If business owners, in particular, are looking for affordable ways to save the planet, they can start by assessing their company's carbon footprint beyond their walls and implementing small steps to improve their efficiency to make a better impact in their own community, first, and eventually worldwide. Below, 13 Fast Company Executive Board members share one easy, economical suggestion for business leaders who want to invest more of their time and resources into a "green-first" philosophy so they can cut waste as a company at-large.

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In a world where social media and “fake news” often distort the truth and skew facts, it’s more important than ever to tell your own stories and make sure the information you share is accurate.

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Tune out the industry naysayers and lean into solving your target market's pain points. When you're a brand disruptor who aims to provide innovative solutions in an established "business as usual" marketplace, your company and its leadership are bound to ruffle some feathers. To overcome any negativity, continue to stay above the fray and let the data speak for itself. By proactively educating the underserved market of consumers and staying truthful about your business intentions, you'll mobilize a community of ambassadors in no time, who are willing to support your organization's potential and share their personal testimonials.  As you begin to strengthen your client base, remember to put their needs first. But it's also imperative to build bridges by keeping your competitors even closer. At the end of the day, feedback, whether good or bad, fuels inspiration and innovation. This puts your company in a much better position to address concerns, defend its own progress, and defeat the status quo mentality of other colleagues in the field. Below, 16 Fast Company Executive Board members share tips to maintain your clients' confidence in your new establishment and develop loyal partnerships that will last a lifetime.

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Knowing what qualities will serve your business best is important to understand before you select a public relations agency to help with crisis preparation planning.

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Deciding where you want to work is a monumental decision, so weigh your options carefully and remember that not all benefits are tangible.

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Sometimes, the simplest daily habits can have the most significant impact on your overall productivity and mindset. Happy and healthy employees can help enhance a team's overall productivity. The more productive and collaborative your team is, the more successful your business will be. As a leader, part of your role is to model good habits to increase productivity, whether it's by making time for self-care routines or by creating the perfect organizational system that works for your team. Below, 15 Fast Company Executive Board members shared the unique habits they believe can help both the personal and professional productivity of leaders and their teams.

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Whether cancel culture on social media is meant to hold people responsible for their actions or punish someone for a perceived wrong, the results can be unexpected.

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Communication in today’s hybrid and remote workplaces requires more thought and attention than the traditional in-person office. Employers can no longer assume that workers are getting the message or will “catch on.”

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Creating a crisis plan before you need one gives you time to select the right people for the right jobs and figure out the best plan of action. It also gives you time to practice your emergency response so when a real emergency occurs, you are ready to hit the ground running.

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Difficult questions can be jarring, but a professional media coach can teach you interview techniques that will help you retain control of the narrative and tell your story on your terms.

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14 points to consider when you're reviewing a job candidate's resume. As the nature of how and why people work continues to evolve, hiring managers will benefit from learning to understand the whole person, before jumping to conclusions about a significant employment gap on the applicant's resume. Instead of flagging previous time lost on the job as a deficit, focus on the potential new hire's passion, aptitude and eagerness to tackle new career challenges ahead and how the personal time off may be a sign of maturity to thrive at the current job opportunity and contribute to the mission of your organization in the long term. Below, Fast Company Executive Board members provide 14 additional ways to approach this conversation during the interview process and help you make the best decision to find the right fit for your department's needs.

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Allowing every challenge to serve its purpose will strengthen your company's reputation in the long term. Whether it's the impact of a prolonged global health crisis or a mismatched partnership that was all wrong from the beginning, operating an organization on a daily basis, supporting your team, and meeting client expectations, through the good times and the bad, does not come without obstacles. What sometimes seems like a series of unforeseen challenges to test your tenacity, build stronger community relations, and demonstrate credibility on the core values your company represents can actually strengthen your company.  Below, 16 Fast Company Executive Board members reflect on how their companies have been able to rise up and revamp a sticky business situation into something good.

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13 questions to ask before you sign up with a public relations firm. If your startup business is growing by leaps and bounds and you're ready to enhance your brand name and services beyond social media, then consider partnering with a public relations agency that can build on your company's current success. Before you sign an agreement, however, you'll want to make sure that the firm can produce the results you are looking for and is able to put your latest achievements in front of the appropriate decision-makers that will bring you to that next crucial level in your specific industry. To give you further guidance on how to find the right PR agency that is fit for your business, below 13 Fast Company Executive Board members explain questions to ask that are just as important to consider during the selection process.

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Organizations with leaders who exhibit emotional intelligence will go far because their employees have an added layer of confidence.

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If there is negativity attached to your brand, you need to address it quickly and take control of the narrative.

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If you're outsourcing your content creation efforts, it's important to ensure your brand "voice" is consistent. Successful businesses have clear, powerful messaging that lets customers know their values and what they stand for as a brand. The messaging these companies use doesn’t differ on each social media platform, either: It stays consistent, whether you read about the brand on Instagram, LinkedIn or other sites. Sometimes, when companies outsource their consumer-facing content, the messaging and voice don’t appear consistent. To ensure this doesn’t happen to your business, 15 Fast Company Executive Board members shared their tips for maintaining a consistent tone of voice, regardless of the channel. 

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The business world demands constant innovation, but when is the right time to unveil your "latest and greatest" ideas? Company innovation is an important part of a company’s growth. Without innovation, sales may become stagnant and customers may lose interest in seeing the same products or services offered after a long period of time. To ensure your business seems relevant and continues to excite your customers, adding new products or services becomes imperative. But when is the right time to introduce a new product? When should you launch that new marketing campaign? Here, 15 experts from Fast Company Executive Board shared their best advice for gauging whether now is the right time.

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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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It’s easy for managers to develop false ideas about the type of company culture they have fostered.

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Good communication skills are an essential key to success for any professional, but especially so for leaders. The art of communication is an essential skill for all leaders. They must learn to communicate effectively with various people, whether they're offering feedback to team members, sharing information with stakeholders, or pitching their organization's services to potential clients or the public at large. To get a message across effectively, leaders must be able to adapt as necessary to each situation. Of course, building this skill comes more easily to some people than it does to others, but it should be actively nurtured by anyone in a leadership position. Fortunately, there are several ways a leader can refine and improve their communication skills. Below, 16 members of Fast Company Executive Board share their best strategies for doing so.

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Do you have a crisis plan in place and does it cover a wide range of circumstances and scenarios?

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A conversation with an underperforming employee is a delicate situation that must be handled with care. As a leader, it's important to be able to have tough but necessary conversations with employees. When an employee isn't performing to their full potential, leaders must guide them the best they can and work with them to find the root of the problem. It's certainly a challenge to have these conversations, which can be uncomfortable and awkward for both parties. And if they're not executed properly, your conversation could hurt your relationship with the employee, causing further damage to their morale and performance. To help you have constructive conversations with employees who need some coaching, 16 members of Fast Company Executive Board have shared one thing a leader should never say or do when meeting with an underperforming employee.

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The instant nature of social media can be a double-edged sword.

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Gut instinct, research, a reliance on core values, and a few leaps of faith will serve you well.

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Gauging engagement can be difficult when you’re meeting remotely, so it’s even more important to keep an eye out for telling signs of distraction. When the COVID-19 pandemic turned our homes into offices and classrooms, it also ushered in the era of video meetings. While the ability to meet remotely via Zoom and other applications enabled businesses and schools to function in difficult times, it hasn't always been an easy adjustment. When you're meeting with colleagues, clients, or students via a video call, it comes with unique challenges—including effectively "reading the room." When you're leading a video meeting, it’s can be hard to get a sense of how engaged participants are. You can't see everyone at once, and you can't hear the signals of straying attention, such as shuffling feet, creaking furniture, and sighs. Participants are often more reluctant to speak during remote meetings, and it's easier for them to quietly multitask. And presenters can't control the distractions that might pop up in participants' individual meeting spaces. Because of all this, it's important for those who frequently lead video meetings or presentations to be aware of the ways in which participants might be signaling their engagement (or lack of engagement). To help, nine members of Fast Company Executive Board share some audience cues to watch for in your upcoming video meetings.

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Business owners who resist remote options without valid reasons are likely to face employee pushback.

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Customer retention may be cheaper than new lead generation, but you need the right strategies to successfully earn repeat business. One of the first lessons business owners learn is that it’s cheaper to retain an existing customer than to engage a new one. However, that doesn’t mean it’s easy—and failing to retain current clientele can lead to detrimental consequences for an organization. Fortunately, there are several simple strategies that businesses can use to help retain and engage their existing customers. Not sure where to begin? Start with these 13 tried-and-true tricks shared by the members of Fast Company Executive Board.

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Success in the modern business world depends on developing an authentic, genuine brand that makes customers feel understood and appreciated. Today there are so many established and new businesses—together offering a staggering array of products and services and easy to access online—that a company can no longer simply lean on their service offerings as their main point of attraction. Consumers want to support brands that they see as authentic and that share and practice their values. That’s why business leaders need to focus on creating a brand that encourages genuine connections and loyalty. Developing a brand is both a creative venture and a journey of discovery. Below, 15 members of Fast Company Executive Board share their top secrets to help you build an authentic brand that truly connects with your customers and audience.

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Anticipating challenges rather than just reacting to them puts you a step ahead in overcoming them. With every problem—whether it’s personal or professional—you’re given a choice to respond either proactively or reactively. A proactive approach allows you to get in front of the issue before it escalates, while a reactive approach is usually focused on cleaning up the aftermath. It's easier for business leaders and their teams to overcome challenges when there's a plan in place even before they appear. To help you develop a proactive mindset and business culture, 16 members of Fast Company Executive Board share their experience and the strategies that work for them.

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Growth is a primary goal for almost every business, but if you don't have the right strategy for scaling up, it may hurt your business in the long run. Scaling up is an exciting period for business leaders. It's easy to get swept up in the possibilities presented by rapid growth opportunities, but it's essential to manage that growth with the right strategies. Otherwise, you may scale too quickly and struggle to keep up. The members of Fast Company Executive Board know firsthand what it takes to sustainably and properly grow a business. Below, 10 of them share some common mistakes entrepreneurs may make when trying to scale up and how to course-correct.