Travis Schreiber

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Balancing global strategy with local nuance isn’t easy, but it’s essential for leading across cultures effectively. For managers overseeing teams across multiple countries, striking the right balance between global consistency and local autonomy can determine whether your team feels aligned or alienated. It requires clarity on what must remain uniform—brand values, strategy, success metrics—as well as the flexibility to adapt delivery, communication, and leadership styles to local norms. Leaders who master this balance can minimize friction while creating environments where innovation, trust, and performance thrive across borders. To that end, 17 members of Fast Company Executive Board share their top strategies for navigating this complex but critical dynamic.

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A successful product launch doesn't happen overnight. Take the time to get it right. In today's fast-moving world, it takes a spark of creativity to develop a unique product or service that will have a profound impact in the marketplace. But without a clear vision and structured path to take an idea from inception to execution, it won't make it across the finish line. However, breaking down the innovation process into manageable stages can help companies systematically develop solutions that address real-world pain points and create true value for every stakeholder involved. Here, 15 leading experts from Fast Company Executive Board each list the common mistakes some companies make when trying to innovate, and why these practices should be avoided.

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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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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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Want to build stronger, more enduring client and customer relationships? Start by leading with the values that make people want to work with you—not just buy from you. Strong client and customer relationships are critical to business growth, retention and reputation—but they don’t happen by chance. They’re built over time through consistent leadership, clear communication and a deep commitment to the partnership. For leaders, that means modeling the behaviors and principles that earn trust and foster long-term connections. To help you foster strong, lasting relationships with your clients and customers, the members of Fast Company Executive Board discuss the leadership principles that guide each and every interaction.

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Leadership isn't just adapting to technology—it's being redefined by it. Technological advancements continue to push digital transformation forward and change the way businesses operate. In response to this, leadership styles and best practices are shifting toward greater agility, collaboration and real-time decision-making.  To help you navigate these shifts, the members of Fast Company Executive Board share practical tips for leading successfully in a technology-driven landscape. Here's how they recommend guiding innovation, balancing digital tools with human insight and building more flexible, connected organizations.

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Learn how to build strong, effective partnerships with virtual assistant agencies to support your business’s long-term growth. As the demand for virtual assistants grows, many companies are turning to VA agencies to access skilled support without the overhead of traditional hiring. However, building a strong, effective partnership with these agencies requires work beyond just hiring the first service provider you find. To help leaders establish the right foundation, Fast Company Executive Board members share their best practices for partnering with a virtual assistant agency. Their insights offer practical strategies to encourage clear communication, align expectations, and create a productive relationship that supports your business’s growth.

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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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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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For local businesses, this is a wake-up call: Your Google reputation isn’t just vulnerable, it’s actively under attack.

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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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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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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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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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Consider these workplace solutions to enhance your business productivity, security, and innovation. Owning and operating a small business is not for the faint of heart—it's often overwhelming. However, placing the right industry tools at your fingertips will simplify the daily workflow and set the business up for long-term success.   Digital technology can help small business executives automate their tasks, enhance productive collaboration, and prioritize their goals in the grand scheme. Here, 14 leading Fast Company Executive Board experts share their business hacks to streamline their department responsibilities, improve work-life balance, or increase industry growth and knowledge.

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From data exposure to hindered skills development, poorly supervised AI use can put companies at considerable risk.

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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.

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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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Apply these 9 strategies to stay agile in the face of trade and regulatory shifts. In today’s increasingly interconnected world, business leaders constantly navigate a complex landscape shaped by global tensions, trade disruptions, and shifting regulatory requirements. With geopolitical uncertainties and fluctuating policies creating added obstacles, staying ahead of the curve is difficult but crucial.  To operate successfully through turbulent times, adaptability and strategic foresight are the key ingredients for business health. Here, nine experts from Fast Company Executive Board offer their insights on how to thrive amid these everchanging international dynamics and ensure long-term success despite the challenges.

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Industry leaders discuss the latest initiatives to drive a company's success in today's competitive marketplace. Advertising campaigns in business can be hit or miss because it's sometimes hard to gauge the pulse of potential customers in a digital world laced with short attention spans. Between the evolution of technology, platforms, and social media strategies constantly emerging, it's difficult to pinpoint exactly which trends are worth investing in. Every so often, a new solution stands out to demonstrate its potential to deliver a smarter approach. Below, eight members from Fast Company Executive Board discuss one advertising trend they are excited about trying or a tried-and-true method they have found success with and why.

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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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If you're looking for a different approach to attract and retain customers, apply these tips from leading experts. It's essential for growing businesses to play the long game if they want to compete successfully in today's uncertain economy. Developing a strong and consistent digital media presence, with a pulse on the trends and shifts, will also enable brands to anticipate their current and future customers needs in order to offer a better solution to their challenges. Here, 13 leaders from Fast Company Executive Board each explain their complete digital media process to build and keep their business thriving.

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18 leaders each discuss their company's mission statement and how passion plays a positive role in business branding overall. Launching and maintaining a successful business is not for everyone, but if you do decide to go for it, make sure it's a space that you are willing and able to put your heart and soul into for the long haul.  Whether you simply want to pay it forward and give back to the next generation of leaders based on your experience and knowledge, or there is a void to be filled in an underrepresented community, there are plenty of good reasons to add your brand's voice to the mix as a viable industry solution to address the latest client and customer pain points. If you're second-guessing your decision to be in business and your ability to make a real difference, 18 experts from Fast Company Executive Board explain what inspired their business ideas and mission statements. The passion these leaders demonstrate for what they're doing is motivational and plays a huge role in their approach to branding.

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Here’s a closer look at what’s happening, how it affects businesses, and what you can do to stay ahead.