Paul Fitzgerald

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In business, as in life, there are times when conformity is an asset, but in others, embracing your individuality, inhabiting your rebellious spirit and being a true trailblazer are what lead to success.

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Numan’s career and his odyssey back from near obscurity to another career high hold various lessons for business owners about self-belief and sticking to your principles.

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Beyond the surface-level cold water shock of the film’s brashness lies a story of societal problems writ large and a meditation on the dangers of conformity.

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The ability to walk away when the time is right can be just as valuable as sticking with something and seeing it through.

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In both the content of Apocalypse Now and the process of making it, there are lessons to be learned for business owners, entrepreneurs and brands about the importance of clarity in mission.

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Tarantino films can teach business owners and entrepreneurs about harnessing their passions and finding inspiration to create something entirely new.

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Here's how to manage stress and burnout even when you're thriving. Success in business often comes at a cost to the people who achieve it. Long hours, high stakes and relentless pressure can take a toll on even the most driven entrepreneurs and leaders. Because burnout and stress can significantly impact decision-making, team dynamics and the future of your business, it's important to proactively address these feelings and manage them effectively. To help you do this, the members of Rolling Stone Culture Council share their tried-and-true tips for dealing with the stress that can come with success.

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Gilmour’s project serves as a roadmap for the benefits of going solo, even at the height of success.

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When business passion fades, these strategies can provide some much-needed inspiration. When you’re a leader in the culture space, it's easy to get burned out when trends change as quickly as they emerge. The constant pressure to innovate and adapt can make it challenging to stay connected to the passion that drives your work. To help you keep that spark alive, the members of Rolling Stone Culture Council offer their tried-and-true strategies for reigniting your enthusiasm. From focusing on your mission to seeking out new challenges, these approaches can help you maintain your passion and avoid burnout in this fast-paced industry.

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Employees who take ownership often feel more valued, motivated and connected to company goals. Many companies often struggle with employee engagement. Employees may be “phoning it in,” not taking initiative or failing to do more than is required of them, and company leaders can’t figure out how to get them more invested not only in their own success, but in the success of the company as well.  One solution is to build a culture of ownership. When employees feel they have control over their work and their future, they’re more likely to be productive and step up with ideas to benefit their team, as well as feel generally happier about their work. So what’s the key to creating such a company culture, and what steps can leaders take to build one? Here, business leaders from Rolling Stone Culture Council draw on their own experience improving employee engagement and offer up 10 strategies they’ve found to be most effective in empowering employees to take ownership of their roles and future success. 

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By looking at these moments in This is Spinal Tap, brands can learn that adaptability, risk management and thinking outside the box are key to staying ahead.

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Businesses can find the extraordinary in the ordinary and explore new and innovative avenues to success so long as they stay true to their core principles.

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These strategies can make it easier to break through productivity blocks and accomplish more during your workday. With the constant barrage of emails, meetings and distractions, finding real focus and productivity in your workday can be challenging. Many professionals struggle to maintain momentum long enough to finish a project. However, the right techniques can help boost concentration and productivity on even the busiest of workdays. Here, 15 Rolling Stone Culture Council members share their favorite techniques for staying on track and explain why these strategies work so well in a busy work environment. From using time-blocking methods to taking strategic breaks, these tactics can help boost focus and efficiency, even when you're in a productivity slump.

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Unity and conflict navigation are foundational paradigms that business owners will find themselves navigating in the choice between what is right and what is easy.

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The support and experience of others may just be the solution you need. Success is often not a straight line; it’s full of ups, downs and plenty of surprises. In entrepreneurship, the path to success comes with obstacles you’ll need to overcome if you want to continue on. Many entrepreneurs share similar obstacles, and some may be more unique to specific situations or people. However, when all is said and done, it’s the way an entrepreneur solves each problem that can serve as a guide for others to solve their own. Below, 11 members of Rolling Stone Culture Council each share one major struggle they've faced as an entrepreneur, the steps they took to overcome it and how other entrepreneurs might learn from their journey. 

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What stemmed from the production of 2112 is embedded with timeless lessons for brands about sticking to your guns, or perhaps 2112-era laser pistols.

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Building the brand image you want starts with smart PR moves. In business — and especially the culture space — what the public thinks of your brand is everything. Do they find you trustworthy and reliable? Do they think of you as innovative, cool or luxurious? Controlling the narrative around your brand is key to ensuring you create the image you’re after — and to ensuring you’re reaching your desired target audience.  However, public relations is an art as much as it is a science, and many businesses that don’t have experience in this particular area can end up making mistakes that could damage their reputation in the short and long term. To avoid these same blunders, consider this list of common mistakes as outlined by the business leaders of Rolling Stone Culture Council. Below, they detail why these mistakes can be detrimental to your brand goals and advise what actions you should take instead.

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This isn’t to suggest your next brand crisis can be solved by the CEO shredding a solo in the boardroom, although it couldn’t hurt to try.

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You can tackle more than you think — as long as you plan properly. After finding success in one business, entrepreneurs will often dip their toes in one or more other businesses, either as the founder, a board member or in another leadership capacity. While this can be very rewarding to do, it can also be the cause of a lot of stress if not managed properly. Overlapping schedules, a bursting to-do list and not nearly enough time for everything that needs to get done can quickly turn a rewarding endeavor into an overwhelming one. So how do serial entrepreneurs do it? According to the business leaders of Rolling Stone Culture Council, the secret lies in the following 12 tips. Here, they expand on each one, offering up their best advice for any aspiring entrepreneur on how to juggle multiple businesses and responsibilities at the same time.

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In music, and in business, it pays to be the trailblazers, the ones who define the zeitgeist, whose very wake is what shifts the waters. 

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Introverts bring a unique set of skills to the table that other leaders may not possess. When frequent networking, public speaking and an outgoing personality are so often praised as necessary for effective leadership, it can be difficult for introverts to see themselves running a business. But extroverts aren’t the only ones who have great ideas to share with the world, and it’s just as important for introverts to have their voices heard in the business space. By honoring their strengths — like listening and empathy — introverts can not only be effective leaders but great ones as well. Below, the business leaders of Rolling Stone Culture Council offer their best tips to introverts looking to lead a successful business in the culture space and explain why they can do it just as well as anyone else can.

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The film’s journey, tales from its production and enduring cult status can all impart lessons to business owners.

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If you’re feeling nervous about a media appearance, consider these tips to help you prepare. Not all business leaders are natural speakers, but they often need to promote their businesses on TV, the radio, podcasts or other media channels. For the inexperienced speaker, this can be a terrifying prospect. After all, the impression you make as a leader will be the first impression many viewers or listeners have of your business. As experienced business leaders themselves, the members of Rolling Stone Culture Council have a few tips to share that can help you prepare for your first media appearance. Follow one or more of their suggestions to not only nail your interview but impress potential customers as well.

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In the realm of business, the pursuit of perfection can yield remarkable highs or lead to a downward spiral with charred wings.

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If you want more customers, you have to ensure they feel represented in your marketing first. No matter whether they’re marketing a product or a service, companies have to appeal to what their audiences want. In today’s world, that means diversity. Customers like to see themselves in advertising, as it allows them to envision themselves using the particular product or service and to understand how it might benefit them specifically. But customers can’t feel represented if marketers aren’t considering diversity in the first place. While many companies have gotten on board with diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) in their marketing, many others are still struggling to make the right changes. As business leaders in the culture space, the members of Rolling Stone Culture Council have advice to share when it comes to DEI. Here, they discuss eight ways business leaders can ensure they're being thoughtful about diversity, equity and inclusion in their marketing and why it's so important to do so.

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Succeeding in business often means turning your fears into opportunities for growth. While it’s necessary to be confident in order to run a successful business, that doesn’t mean business leaders never have feelings of self-doubt or fear. Operations may be running smoothly one day and hit a major roadblock the next. An investor could turn down your pitch, or sales could suddenly take a turn for the worse. Any of these moments would naturally cause leaders to feel anxious about their abilities, but the best leaders know how to overcome those feelings and forge ahead. At times, the business leaders of Rolling Stone Culture Council have had their own doubts and fears to contend with. Here, they share how they tackled these feelings head on and how they became better leaders for having done so.

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If you’re planning a return-to-office mandate, it may not be easy to get everyone on board. Companies are continuing to mandate a return to the office — including, controversially, Zoom itself — and many employees are not happy about this push. For many employees, the work-from-home policy they enjoyed during the pandemic gave them the much-needed ability to balance their work and personal lives, and many found they were more productive at home than in the office. These benefits they hoped would continue into the future, so companies calling employees back to the office are naturally receiving some pushback.  To help get employees on board, company leaders will need to reconsider old policies and procedures and update their offices to suit the needs of employees today. Here, the leaders of Rolling Stone Culture Council outline these steps and discuss the importance of turning unhappy employees into happy ones.

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A tracklist becomes a reminder for entrepreneurs navigating the winding path of success.

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Wherever you fall on the work-from-home debate, and there is evidence on both sides, success ultimately comes from what you put into it.

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Consider these pivotal factors when partnering up for a campaign. Partnering with the right creative agency can be the difference between a lackluster campaign and a resounding success. As businesses seek to captivate audiences in more innovative ways, the selection of a suitable agency becomes a critical decision. But how does one discern the ideal match amid a sea of options? Here, Rolling Stone Culture Council members explain the crucial factors that demand your attention when evaluating potential creative agency partners. From a track record of creativity and adaptability to a shared understanding of the brand's vision, navigating these considerations can pave the way for fruitful and inspiring collaborations.

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Every brand has its fifth Beatle moment — an opportunity lost that could spell your ending, or the start of a new chapter.