Irina Soriano

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For new leaders and entrepreneurs, success depends not just on innovation but on adaptability, resilience, and human connection. The modern marketplace is fast-moving, tech-driven, and constantly evolving. The business landscape looks a lot different than when today's top leaders first got their start, and the lessons they've learned along the way can help inform the leadership approaches of future executives and entrepreneurs. Below, 20 Fast Company Executive Board members share their best advice for the next generation of business leaders. From embracing failure to building authentic relationships, these insights can help rising professionals lead with purpose and thrive in an ever-changing world.

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Whether you're navigating a merger, restructuring a team, or launching a new initiative, it's important to be prepared to navigate change smoothly. Big organizational changes at work can stir up just about everything—nerves, questions, and even momentum. That’s why how you lead through change matters just as much as the change itself. Without the right approach, it’s easy for you and your team to lose clarity, confidence, and productivity along the way. To help you manage change effectively, Fast Company Executive Board members share 19 real-world strategies leaders can use to keep communication flowing, maintain trust, and move through transitions with purpose.

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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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Digital and physical clutter can quietly derail focus and productivity. This season, take some time to "spring clean" your work environment. From outdated tools to bloated workflows, the buildup of unnecessary tasks and information can make it harder to prioritize what really moves the business forward. A thorough, thoughtful spring cleaning routine helps leaders streamline operations, sharpen team focus, and create space for more intentional, high-impact work. Below, 18 members of Fast Company Executive Board share some must-do spring cleaning tasks for the workplace. From cleaning up your tech stack to auditing your workflows, these activities can set your business up for success for the rest of the year.

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When external pressures force internal change, how you respond can either protect or reshape your brand, operations, and client relationships. Every business encounters moments when industry shifts demand a fast, thoughtful response. Whether it’s a regulatory change, market disruption, or evolving client expectations, adapting effectively is rarely straightforward. If you’ve faced this kind of pressure, you know how complex it can be to make operational changes while maintaining trust and continuity. To that end, Fast Company Executive Board members discuss real-world challenges companies have faced and how they’ve adjusted without compromising their brand or service quality.

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Building bridges behind your screen is easier than you think. Introverted leaders often thrive in quiet, reflective environments, but the challenge of leading remote teams may sometimes feel cumbersome. In a fully virtual company where in-person interactions are limited, creating a sense of community and connection is essential, but engagement is still incredibly difficult for those who prefer to keep their head down, letting their work speak for itself. However, when introverted leaders need to step out of their comfort zones, there are strategies they can apply to foster a stronger, interactive virtual team. If you consider yourself an introvert and are trying to establish better points of contact with your virtual team, the leaders of Fast Company Executive Board each share their best practices for building a stronger digital community, creating more deliberate, thoughtful, and personal connections on the job.

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Learn to lead with confidence and teach others to do the same. You don't need to have all the right answers to be an effective leader. It’s about fostering a work environment where your team can thrive and collaborate on discovering better solutions. Executive coaching can help leaders develop a more adaptive and insightful leadership style, enabling them to better support their team’s growth and navigate complex challenges. From refining the corporate decision-making process to improving their interpersonal skills, coaching can have a profound impact on any leader's journey.  Below, 15 thought leaders from Fast Company Executive Board each share their experiences with executive coaching, how it transformed their leadership style, and why they highly recommend it to other managers.

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17 lessons on a mind shift in strategy and the future of innovation The implementation of artificial intelligence is here to stay. For most companies, it is redefining their leadership approach to engaging in business and uncovering innovative solutions to assist customers with their pain points like never before. However, business leaders still agree that human insight alongside AI usage is still a key factor in maintaining the proper balance of ethical practices in handling data analysis and compliance updates. Below, 17 leading experts from Fast Company Executive Board each share how the rapid advancement of AI has reshaped their company's business model and what other leaders can learn from it.

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19 business leaders debate whether traditional email is outdated, or if it still has its place. With the evolution of today's digitized world, having tools like SMS and MMS text messaging, and various social media platforms at our fingertips, provides instant gratification in communication. But there is a time and space for everything—and that's where email comes in as what some leaders still consider a reliable, professional and safe method to connect.  Below, 19 experts from Fast Company Executive Board weigh in on the relevancy of email communication for business, networking, and personal purposes in 2025.

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Apply these principles to stay relevant and keep up with the care and concerns of your community of followers. There are so many daily responsibilities that an entrepreneur will need to juggle effectively if they plan to grow their business past the five-year milestone. Hiring a reliable, capable team is the first step to taking some of the load off.  To stay connected with current clients and potentially reach new ones in today's digital world, one area that companies cannot afford to sleep on is developing a regular social media presence that engages and educates consumers about the brand. Here, 18 leading experts from Fast Company Executive Board each weigh in on one best practice every busy entrepreneur must implement (and why), no matter what.

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Despite DEI rollbacks, some company leaders remain rooted in their initial choice to prioritize inclusivity for their customers and staff. Amid recent pushback on DEI policies across the federal government, private company executives are also rolling back on their organizations’ earlier commitments to invest in DEI program initiatives for employees and the communities they serve.  However, other brand leaders are determined to remain connected with a broader, stronger, and more diverse audience base to fuel company growth. And whether it relates to team functionality or delivering high-value products and services, these 10 experts from Fast Company Executive Board know just how important it is to build personalized, user-friendly products and processes that benefit all. Below,  featured members each share one way for companies to embed DEI into business design for more inclusive products and work environments.

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 Are you getting a return on your high-tech investment? Here's how to determine the best digital solutions that will benefit your clients and stakeholders. To get ahead in today's marketplace, business teams must comprehend the benefits or pitfalls of specific technology in their search to solve client and staff pain points. Keeping up with the latest software gadgets can also cost a fortune. That is why it's best for companies to investigate their options before investing in a package that doesn't serve their clients or employees at all. Below, 14 experts from Fast Company Executive Board share their time and expertise to explain their approach to managing the cost and ROI of integrating emerging technologies they may choose to invest in.

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If you’re struggling to spot disengagement, these expert strategies from Fast Company Executive Board members will help you re-engage your team. It’s no secret that disengaged employees can quietly impact a workplace's overall productivity and morale. From missed deadlines to declining enthusiasm, recognizing the subtle signs of disengagement is often the first step toward addressing the issue. The challenge lies in identifying these red flags early and employing effective strategies to re-engage your team before the problem escalates. Below, Fast Company Executive Board members share practical tips for spotting disengagement and actionable solutions to cultivate a motivated and committed workforce. Whether you’re a manager, business owner, or team leader, their advice will help you create a workplace where everyone feels connected and empowered.

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Promoting AI literacy among employees of all ages starts with building excitement around how AI stands to change their lives for the better.

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Improving and diversifying the learning opportunities presented to your employees doesn't mean you have to reinvent the wheel.

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Tracking these key measurements of customer behavior can transform your business efforts. Creating a truly customer-centric business strategy requires tracking the right metrics. Understanding specific key performance indicators related to consumer behavior can offer insights into what's working and what is not, so your company can make the appropriate adjustments. Below, 20 Fast Company Executive Board members explain which customer success metrics have provided their businesses with invaluable knowledge about their business efforts. With these measures in mind, you can make informed, strategic decisions and highlight areas that need improvement.

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Apply these strategies to leave a lasting impression. Whether you are striving to expand your personal or professional network, it's essential to create and nurture relationships that are not transactional. This is because, nine times out of ten, the majority of people will typically engage with people they feel confident around, can trust, and truly relate to in and outside of the marketplace. Here, 13 Fast Company Executive Board members each share their strategy to help industry professionals utilize networking to drive their business or individual career objectives forward, tactfully and authentically.

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13 ways to boost team morale and motivation to get the job done. When employees begin to feel burnout at work, it's not always immediately evident to others. However, employers and their leadership teams must learn how to recognize and address these symptoms sooner rather than later to prevent losing high-potential staff members.  But even if the signs were written on the wall for quite some time, it's never too late to work on increasing your employees' morale and get them enthusiastic about the company's mission and their real purpose for offering their time and service each day. Here, Fast Company Executive Board members each share one idea to motivate the cross-generational teams your company depends on every single day.

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When it comes to brand marketing, elevating your authentic story as an individual is just as important as company branding. For the past decade or longer, the term "brand marketing" has taken on a life of its own. People now realize that it's not just about a material product or service; "brand marketing" is also tied directly to the individual who is trying to launch or further themselves in the marketplace overall, and not just with any particular company affiliation. In an unstable economy with massive layoffs, it's all about the person and the next steps they want to take in life—especially as it relates to their personal passion, mission, and goals. Here, 19 Fast Company Executive Board members each share their advice with individuals who aspire to elevate their personal and professional branding to become a powerful thought leader who creates and delivers highly impactful, memorable presentations through the stories they share with others—during the workday or after hours.

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Common misconceptions surrounding the use of AI in enablement, best practices for utilization, and how it stands to drive efficiencies and revenue growth in 2024. 

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By adopting a mindset of continuous improvement and accepting that you may still have a lot to learn, you can turn your lack of confidence into a motivator for success.

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Business leaders share insights on compensation equity. Paying every employee a fair wage based on their experience and talent—not their gender or cultural background—should be a given. For many companies, treating workers equally for the time they put in at the company each day is simply a best practice. But for some organizations, wage inequality is still prevalent and is an issue that needs to be addressed.  To keep the conversation at the forefront of what's happening in the workplace, we asked 12 Fast Company Executive Board members to each provide one step that companies can take to bridge the gender and ethnic wage gap happening around the globe.

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Here's how to transition away from your current "transactional" sales approach that's getting you nowhere.  If you are feeling the pressure to help your company meet its bottom-line metrics quarter over quarter, working in a sales-driven environment is not the only way to encourage your sales team to achieve its goals. Instead, you may want to try a different approach that will also enable you to build a stronger rapport with current and potential customers. Here, 11 Fast Company Executive Board members share the best way to pivot your sales strategies and transition your team away from a "transaction now" mentality when dealing with potential clients. They also discuss how to maintain a good balance and still make the deal.

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By driving social engagement, companies can reach potential customers in far-flung places and foster meaningful connections that will empower them to expand into new markets. 

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If you're thinking about creating a content resource to serve clients and customers better, consider the following points before you move forward. Whether you are building a new brand or trying to elevate the image of a mainstay product or service that has been around for years, publishing a regular newsletter can be a great way to keep clients and customers informed and excited about what your business is working on next. However, running a high-quality newsletter alongside the daily operations of a well-oiled corporation or small business is not as easy as it sounds. Before you decide to take on any additional responsibilities or add more to your team’s plate, 20 members from Fast Company Executive Board are here to offer their take on what it means to make this type of commitment to potential audience members and the staff they’ll be expecting to lean on.

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Here are three ways you can take control of your online presence (or that of your children) and use it to your fullest advantage. 

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Here's how to embrace your confidence and skills in the workplace. Whether you're new to management or a highly regarded thought leader, the imposter syndrome continues to be a real problem as you continue to climb the business ladder. It's common to question your ability to make the right decisions that will impact your team, but it's unhealthy to feed your mind with negative thoughts and discount what led you to become a successful leader in the first place. Expert panelists from Fast Company Executive Board know all about defeating self-doubt. Here, they weigh in on their own strategies to avoid the imposter syndrome and discuss how colleagues can stop second-guessing their decision-making abilities and worrying about how other people see them.

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Apply these tips to keep employees motivated without comparing themselves. In a competitive workplace, it's important for leaders to foster an environment where employees feel safe to express their challenges as well as successes without feeling intimidated or insecure about how they measure up to other team members. Bonding over common and personal interests outside of work is another opportunity to strengthen relationships. And when employees celebrate each others' wins and learn how to support others in collaboration it enhances mutual respect and admiration for the next person. Below, 10 Fast Company Executive Board members share their best practices on how to connect with colleagues in a healthy way without comparing their own success or lack of it.