expert panel

When business growth slows or remains stagnant, there's often an important lesson to be learned. Most leaders strive for business growth and equate growth with success. While it's true that business growth means an increase in profits and customers, that growth can be hard to achieve, especially at first. If your business isn't growing as fast as you'd hoped, there may be a deeper reason for it — and uncovering that reason might lead to a valuable lesson. To that end, a panel of Rolling Stone Culture Council members share 11 things you can learn from slower business growth and why these are such important lessons to absorb.

expert panel

Any employee who interfaces with customers should have the right skills to properly and effectively represent your brand. Hiring for any position is rarely an easy task, and it can be even more difficult when you're filling a customer-facing role. Not only does the person you hire need to be a match for your company culture, but they also need the right personality and skills to effectively represent your brand to the general public. Below, a panel of Rolling Stone Culture Council members share 10 specific skills or traits they look for when hiring for a customer-facing or public role, and explain why each of these qualities is so essential to an employee's success in this type of position.

expert panel

The key to modern employee retention really isn’t a secret at all. At a time when employees are leaving their jobs en masse, it can be challenging to maintain your top workers. Employees today are more comfortable quitting a job in search of something better, so if your business doesn't meet their expectations, you might be struggling to fill several suddenly open positions. Having committed, long-term employees helps with overall production speeds and cultivates a positive work environment. So with advice like listening to employee feedback and creating individualized success plans, 11 Rolling Stone Culture Council members share their "secrets" to employee retention and why these strategies work so well.

expert panel

Before you commit to a business partner, make sure they bring the right skills and traits to the table. As in any other partnership, a business partnership can bring incredible value -- as long as it's the right fit. If not, the relationship could become detrimental to the success of the company. That's why entrepreneurs must carefully consider whether a prospective partner will complement their leadership style and the business, or whether it's best to find another solution. If you're seeking a new business partnership, make sure your potential collaborator has these 10 critical essentials, as recommended by members of Rolling Stone Culture Council. 

expert panel

Before you hit that "go live" button, make sure you have a plan in place for a successful social media live stream. Whether it's on Instagram, Facebook or other social media platforms, live video content provides fun and welcome variation to your social media strategy. It allows for more connection between your brand and your customers, and may even introduce a new audience to your company. But there is an art to doing live videos well, and it's important to understand the basics before you start streaming. To help, a panel of Rolling Stone Culture Council members share their best practices for a successful social media live stream — from ensuring added value to advertising in advance — and how to adapt these practices to your own strategies.

expert panel

The key to differentiating yourself in the market is identifying and developing a strong brand identity. The way you position and identify your brand has a huge impact on the way you're perceived, from the business opportunities you’re offered to the type of customer who purchases your products or services. Developing this brand identity often begins by asking a series of introspective questions: What does your company stand for? What issues do you care about? What gap in the market do you fill? These are important questions to answer and reevaluate often as a business owner, but they're far from the only ways to conceptualize your brand. Below, 11 Rolling Stone Culture Council members offer their best advice for finding your brand's identity and explain why each step is so important.

expert panel

If innovation is your goal, you need creativity to flow freely throughout your organization. Industries that rely on constant innovation need leaders who are able to foster creativity among their teams. However, it can be difficult to feel creative all the time, especially in an office setting. Getting out of the office, meeting new people and sharing ideas with others are just a few ways that team members can find that creativity again. Below, 11 Rolling Stone Culture Council members share these strategies and more that have helped them effectively encourage creativity among their employees.

article

We’re seeing more and more women entering Web3, investing in cryptocurrency and leading NFT projects from top to bottom.

expert panel

The definition of what a leader should be has evolved over the years. With so much shifting in terms of “how,” “when” and “where” we work post-pandemic, special attention must also be given to the way in which we lead. New environments and new expectations make way for new challenges, and in order to overcome them, managers, business leaders and entrepreneurs alike must reconsider what it means to be a “modern leader” in today’s ever-evolving professional climate. Below, a panel of Rolling Stone Culture Council members share their insights on what it means to be a “modern leader” today and the kinds of traits they expect to see if leaders want to succeed in today’s business world.

expert panel

Starting off in these locations can give businesses a better chance at success. While many businesses are moving online, there are many others that thrive by being location-based. Those in the culture space especially — businesses centered around media, food, music, fashion, art and more — can benefit from planting roots in a particular environment or local hot spot, whether it’s to plug in to the existing culture or to gain a certain customer base.   Below, the members of Rolling Stone Culture Council discuss where they would get their start if they were opening new culture-based businesses today and why they recommend others consider these ideal locations too.

expert panel

Speed is key in today’s job market. Finding the right talent can be an exhausting process. Writing the job description, finding the best places to post it, screening resumes, conducting multiple rounds of interviews and more can eat up a lot of a company’s resources and potentially waste a lot of time.  In today’s job market, speed is key when it comes to finding top talent, which means streamlining your hiring process is essential. To help, the members of Rolling Stone Culture Council offer their best recommendations for streamlining your hiring process and making it easier on everyone involved.

expert panel

A mentor’s advice can change the way you view yourself and your business. For those lucky enough to find one, a mentor can be an invaluable ally when starting a business. Their expert guidance and leadership can help provide you with the tools and knowledge you need to push past obstacles and build something truly sustainable. The members of Rolling Stone Culture Council have each had their own role models and mentors throughout their business journeys. Below, they each share the top lesson they learned from their mentor and how that lesson impacts the way they lead their businesses now.

expert panel

The key is to address the overwhelm early and to find manageable solutions. No entrepreneur is immune to burnout, and when the stressors of work and leading a business get to be too much, it’s important to find healthy ways of coping. Without these methods, it’s all too easy for your business to become overwhelming, which can lead to a loss of passion for your work or even poor mental health. As busy business leaders themselves, the members of Rolling Stone Culture Council have dealt with their fair share of overwhelming situations. Below, they offer up some of the methods they use to cope and explain why they recommend these methods for any burned out business leader.

expert panel

Advertising isn’t the only way to get your event noticed. If you’re a new business trying to drum up awareness or an established business just trying to expand your reach, pop-up events are a great way to get your brand in front of more potential customers. Because of their temporary nature, they’re perfect for creating a sense of urgency and mystique that will draw in curious minds. But how can businesses best capitalize on these events? To help answer that question, a panel of Rolling Stone Culture Council experts weigh in with their best tips on how to run a successful pop-up event and generate buzz for your business.

expert panel

Diversity isn't always visible, but the way you support it should be. Diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) has always been a topic of concern in the world of work, but it has recently become a major priority for many organizations, with about 79% of them stating they’re planning to dedicate more of their budgets to DEI efforts in 2022. However, it’s likely that these companies will approach DEI in different ways. There are a myriad of ways to support diversity, equity and inclusion in business — especially as a business leader. To help give you some ideas of where you can start, 11 members of Rolling Stone Culture Council share the ways in which they’re working to create and encourage more diversity in their particular business niche or industry and why that’s so important to do.

expert panel

It's 2022, and employees' expectations have changed with the times. As the world has changed in the past couple of years, so too have employees’ expectations about their work. Employees are putting their personal fulfillment and work-life balance first, which for many has meant changing roles, jobs or even entire career paths. But as the exodus of employees continues, many companies are left wondering how to retain their employees or attract new ones to take their place. Below, a panel of Rolling Stone Culture Council business leaders offer a list of perks they believe companies will need to offer if they want to improve their employee retention and gain the interest of new talent.