Focus On Big Picture Have Clear Communication Keep The Team Organized Solve Problems Well Show Confidence Be Fair And Friendly TL;DR Glossary Do you know how to lead a team well? If people working for you don’t like your management style, they are probably looking for a new job. A study by Gallup says that half of the workers leave their jobs because of their boss. If your business keeps losing workers, you must learn better team leadership skills. Here are six easy tips to be a good team leader this year: 1. Focus On Big Picture Good leaders bring their team together with one main goal. Don ..read more

The to-do list is an inescapable, age-old productivity tool. It is our very human attempt to create order in our disorderly lives and an expression of our ability to impose self-control. Most of us, including to-do list haters, keep one, and the fact is, they can work when you find the to-do method that works for you. I don’t love to-do lists but found it odd that I still continue to use them. I sometimes worry they’re just a form of self-flagellation. Is my list-making just a futile exercise in productivity-flavored self-torture? Is the to-do list just a blunt instrument to wield in the ques ..read more

If your startup needs a dynamic communication system, daily standups might sound like a great idea. So you pitch it to your team and get everyone on board with the daily 9:30 a.m. meeting where everybody stands and gets straight to the point. Each person shares a few key updates about what they’re working on and what’s blocking them from completing important tasks. Everything is going great, and the company is growing. But as you keep hiring, the daily standup becomes a chore. The more people who have to speak, the longer the meeting lasts, and the less productive it feels. Then one day you f ..read more

The Definitive Guide to Google Snippets I knew nothing about Google Snippets before I moved to Silicon Valley. But when I was out there, I kept hearing that successful company after company — like Google, Facebook, Foursquare, Buzzfeed and more — used the snippets system to power a flat and decentralized management structure, enabling autonomy, transparency, and happiness in the company. This guide tells everything you need to know about Google snippets, from its inception at Google to how it’s used at top tech companies today. You’ll learn why snippets is so useful and how to get s ..read more

Delegation is one of the hardest management tools for leaders to learn. We all understand that micromanaging your employees isn’t good for anyone, but when you’re used to being involved in everything, it can be hard to let go. It gets easier as you hire great people and implement sound processes—watching your company grow without your fingerprint on everything is a beautiful thing. Perspective helps too. “As a recovering perfectionist, I know how hard it is to hand over control,” writes Million Dollar Women author Julia Pimsleur on her blog. It feels good to know that other entrepreneurs stru ..read more

This piece was originally published in 2015. It has been updated with new data and advice for 2023. [Image Source] Here’s how the story usually goes. Sometime in the early 20th century, British explorer Ernest Shackleton needed to hire a crew for an upcoming expedition to the South Pole. So he placed a newspaper ad: “Men wanted for hazardous journey. Low wages, bitter cold, long hours of complete darkness. Safe return doubtful. Honor and recognition in event of success.” The copywriting — and its strong, direct language — has been printed, reprinted, and talked about for decades. It’s beau ..read more

Goals are the glue that holds a company together. Setting the right business goals help all the people in a company—from customer support to sales—align around making progress and moving forward to a shared vision. They don’t just help a company’s bottom line either. Research shows that goals help increase the drive and persistence of the people who are trying to achieve them. Goals give your company the capacity to incentivize and motivate your team toward specific action. For a finance department, though, setting team goals can be extremely tricky. Other teams in a company often have clear ..read more

It’s crazy to discover there’s a deli that makes $50 million dollars a year. It’s stranger still how they’ve managed to accomplish it. Most restaurants grow their revenue by opening more locations and eventually developing a franchise model like Subway. You sell more and more sandwiches as you open more and more stores. The problem is scale — maintaining quality over a massive empire is much harder than over a single shop. Your restaurant becomes more about volume than great food and remarkable service. Zingerman’s, a deli based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, faced this fork in the road: open more l ..read more

This piece was originally published in 2016 and has been updated to include new advice for teams in 2023. What exactly does ostracism at work look like? On the exclusion spectrum, you’ll find everything from accidentally leaving someone off a calendar invite to purposefully avoiding an individual in the lunchroom. Feeling ignored at work is a silent but hurtful experience. [Source] The topic may seem trivial — “Are adults really so sensitive?” you might ask — but it’s one that can have a serious impact on your employees’ job satisfaction, performance, and happiness. A 2014 study questioned if ..read more

So you feel like you have to choose between a 401k and an IRA.  The good news is we’ll help you decide which is right for you. The better news is you have the option to contribute to both in the same year, if you choose. In this guide, we’ll help you navigate the key considerations when deciding between an IRA and a 401k for your retirement savings. Understanding the Difference Between a 401k and an IRA Who can participate? IRA: Anyone with earned income can participate in an IRA, whether employed or self-employed. 401k: Participation in a 401k is typically limited to employees whose emp ..read more