At one point in my career, after I’d started, grown and sold a couple of businesses, I thought I knew everything there was to know about making good decisions. After all, I was a success! But it took me a few years to realize that, in many respects, I still had a lot to learn about making the best calls.

Many small-business owners seek to ape the strategies of their bigger cousins, looking toward the future in every aspect except one: culture. But what these small-minded leaders fail to realize is that, prior to hiring the best employees possible and having them do their best work, prior to nearly everything else, culture must be considered, because it’s the driving force that makes successful businesses tick.

Being an effective leader requires more than tracking employee performance and guiding your team to success. You need to create a business environment that enables your team to function at their highest potential.

In “Boundaries for Leaders,” Dr. Henry Cloud breaks down seven “leadership boundaries” that are crucial to maximizing productivity and success throughout your organization, from facilitating employee focus on what matters most, to identifying ways for your team to take ownership of projects in order to drive results.

Most small and midsize business (SMB) owners exist in a bubble of blissful ignorance. They focus on the day-to-day operations of their organization, driving growth, facilitating hiring and guiding marketing, without a single thought given to the security of the computer networks these processes depend on.

To Truly Succeed, You Need To Change The Game To survive, most companies don’t need to follow the pattern of disruptive innovators, inching into a miniscule portion of market share each quarter. Instead, they should look to what they’re already good at and amplify their skills, while keeping an eye on potential applications for the future.

Today, the security of your home is more important than ever before. Lawbreakers are constantly getting bolder, and as our technology advances, they switch up their tactics. With that in mind, all of us should be on the lookout for a security camera that’s difficult to spot, is intelligent about the footage it collects, and grabs high-quality footage to identify burglars.

By Robert Stevenson

Professor and leadership expert James O’Toole once said that “95% of American managers today say the right thing… 5% actually do it.” I’m confident this is more true today than ever before. When I look around at the current business landscape, I see poor leadership destroying companies from the inside out.

You’re in the car on the way home from Starbucks, basking in the glow of your triple-shot, low-foam, extra-hot pumpkin spice latte when you suddenly realize your laptop has gone missing. You drive back to the store like a caffeinated lunatic, only to discover no one has turned it in.

Reconsider what you put online. This goes beyond social media posts. Even sharing your telephone number with a store associate can come back to bite you later.
Use password managers. This way, you can use different, randomized passwords for all your sites without losing track of them.

In today’s fast-paced marketplace, so many of us are caught up in the endless daily grind, causing our passion to fade. While this may be the case for you or a few members of your team, it doesn’t have to be. In The Fred Factor by motivational speaker Mark Sanborn, he tells the story of Fred, a mail carrier who invests himself fully into his career.