September 2024

Webinars have become a popular presentation tool for many businesses. They allow a company to educate clients and promote products or services to an online audience. However, some businesses do not use webinars to their fullest advantage. Here are some tips for utilizing webinars that may not be as commonly known to help companies build their reputation as experts and sell more value to customers.

Provide real value without directly selling

When people sign up for a webinar, they want to learn something useful without feeling like they are being sold to. You need to focus your content on providing real value to your attendees through helpful tips, strategies, case studies or data they will find useful. You can do this without directly pitching your products or services. This will build credibility as an expert people want to learn from. Later in the webinar or in the follow-up, you can discuss how your offerings can help them implement what they learned.

For example, if you are in web design, your webinar could provide tips for improving website usability without a sales pitch. Later you may explain how your web design services can apply those usability best practices. Attendees will be much more open to your solutions after first benefitting from the helpful content.

Related: Why Webinars Should Be a Key Part of Your Business’s Online Strategy

Ask compelling discussion questions

One main thing you can do is pause during your webinar to ask open-ended questions that encourage discussion and interaction in the chat box. Questions like “What challenges have you faced with this” or “How could these tips apply to your situation” get people engaged and thinking deeper about the content. It makes the webinar feel more like a conversation than a one-way presentation. Compelling questions also help reinforce the key ideas since people need to process them to answer.

Share relevant case studies and examples

Nothing sells better than real-world examples. Look for case studies from customers or public case studies about how other businesses leveraged the strategies or tools in your webinar topic successfully. Discuss the challenges they faced, the steps they took and the results they achieved. Attendees can more easily imagine applying the ideas to their own situations when backed by specific examples. Make sure to get permission to share any customer stories or to only share what is publicly available.

Record and distribute the webinar later

Many people sign up for a webinar with the intention to watch it live, but real life gets in the way and they miss it. Others may discover the valuable topic after the live date passed. By recording your webinar, you give it longer legs and an opportunity to reach a wider audience. You can upload the recording to your website, share it on social networks or send the link in follow-up emails. It becomes a piece of evergreen content promoting your expertise for months afterward.

Offer a valuable downloadable resource

Along with sharing the webinar recording, also provide attendees with a downloadable workbook, checklist, template or other takeaway resource they can reference later. This could be a compilation of the webinar discussion questions, key stats shared or a planning guide for implementing the strategies. By giving them something immediately useful they can apply, it leaves them with a positive experience of your webinar and brand.

Related: 12 Steps for Creating the Perfect Webinar

Ask for interactions during the live session

To keep people engaged when attending your live webinar, frequently ask questions for poll questions or type answers in the chat. Questions like “Type A if you’ve faced this challenge or B if not” or “Rate your confidence on a scale of 1 to 5” make people active participants instead of passive listeners. You can even have everyone introduce themselves in the chat to create connections. Interaction makes the webinar experience more engaging and impactful.

Follow up consistently after the event

Just because the session ended does not mean your contact with attendees should end. In the days following, you could send at least 3 follow-up emails thanking people for attending, recapping the key takeaways, and offering additional support or resources. You may also want to send a survey to collect feedback on your webinar experience. Consistent follow-up is important here!

Promote your upcoming webinars in advance

Don’t just publish a webinar signup link the day it will happen. Promote your upcoming webinars well in advance, whether on your website, blog, in emails or on your social networks. Using emails enables you to inform your customers about your next session. This is important because you need to give attendees time on their calendars and generate early interest and commitment through teasers about the topic and speaker. You may even do an early bird discount for those who register several weeks before to encourage this. This advance promotion will spread the word wider and will lead to higher registration numbers.

Related: 7 Practical Steps to Host Webinars That Drive Sales

Consider a webinar series

Instead of one-off webinars, you can even plan a webinar series around a specific topic or set of related topics. This could work greatly — it could be a monthly webinar series like “website optimization tips” or a multi-part series like “social media marketing mastery.” A series approach will allow you to go deeper into the content over time and build community around the topic. It will also give your attendees a schedule to look forward to.

While getting started with webinars requires some planning and preparation up front, putting these strategies into action can start generating positive results for your bottom line over time. Good luck!

Running a business is a huge undertaking, especially if you are a woman entrepreneur. Despite progress in gender equality among most sectors of society, women-owned businesses still face unique challenges in the marketplace.

A 2023 Bank of America survey found that 31% of women business owners said they have had difficulty accessing capital, while 31% felt they do not have the proper information or qualifications to feel confident applying for capital.

Another persistent challenge for women-owned businesses is the ability to earn consumer trust. Even though about 40% of all small businesses in the United States are owned by women, 46% reported experiencing gender bias while operating their businesses.

One way to overcome these obstacles is through customer-facing business certifications. These independent, third-party evaluations can boost your credibility with potential lenders and customers alike.

Just like seeing an A+ health rating in a restaurant’s window can encourage first-time customers to try a new restaurant or help retain regular customers, earning third-party certifications can help women-owned businesses build customer and lender confidence in their offerings.

Today’s certifications cover various areas, including environmental impacts, ethical business practices and supplier diversity. These certifications can help define your place, values and ethics, as well as those of other businesses in the market. And while some certifications are harder than others to obtain, doing the required work can pay off in the long term with many benefits that can boost your business’ bottom line.

Related: Grow Your Business and Strengthen Your Entrepreneurial Mindset — 3 Key Strategies for Women Entrepreneurs

Enhancing your brand story

Business certifications help to share and tell the store of your company’s values. They show customers what you stand for and what matters most to your business. When customers see your business has a certification badge, they understand that it meets certain standards and requirements. This helps to enhance your brand story.

Building trust through transparency

Customers will appreciate the transparency and commitment to the standards that certifications require and the efforts made by your business to meet them. By undergoing the certification process, your business is committed to the respective certification requirements and goals. This builds consumer confidence, as they know they are supporting a business that adheres to high standards.

Joining a community of like-minded individuals

Business certifications can give business owners access to a network of other businesses that share similar values. By joining a certified network, you gain access to events, forums and partnerships that can help your business grow and thrive with like-minded individuals. This community can be an invaluable resource for support, collaboration, mentorship, new opportunities and growth.

Boosting business development

Businesses with the same certification are more likely to do business with you because they share the same values and missions. This can lead to new partnership and collaboration opportunities, and as a result it can increase a business’s customer base.

Raising visibility, awareness and association

Having business certifications can make your business more attractive to companies and customers looking for partners or suppliers with similar values. Business certifications are a great way to stand out in a marketplace flooded with many consumer options. It also doesn’t hurt to have your business associated with other well-respected certified companies.

When choosing the best certification for your business, it may be helpful to keep in mind Simon Sinek’s Golden Circle model, which consists of three concentric circles: why, how, and what.

He emphasizes the importance of starting with “why” when communicating a brand’s value proposition. According to Sinek, the “Why“ represents the core purpose, beliefs and values of an organization. It’s the emotional driver behind what they do. The “How” describes the unique approach or process that sets the organization apart. And, the “What” refers to the tangible products or services offered by the organization.

People are inspired by shared purpose, causes and beliefs. Customers don’t just buy products or services; they buy into the underlying purpose and values. By obtaining certifications in keeping with your own vision and values, you are effectively communicating your “why” to your customers, attracting loyal brand evangelists who believe in your mission.

Related: What if Women Entrepreneurs Actually Got What They Needed for Their Businesses?

Top certifications to consider obtaining

Women Owned Certification

This certification verifies that a business is at least 51% owned, controlled and operated by a woman or women. It helps customers and other businesses support women-owned businesses. For women-owned businesses, this network can be empowering as it offers a networking opportunity to connect with other women, share experiences and support each other in navigating the challenges they face.

Certified B Corporation

Certified B Corporations meet high standards of verified performance, accountability, and transparency regarding factors such as employee benefits and charitable giving, supply chain practices and input materials. This certification is ideal for businesses committed to positively impacting society and the environment. Having a certification like B Corporation shows your audience that your business is not just about making a profit but also cares about making a positive impact on the world.

Climate Neutral Certification

The Climate Neutral Certification demonstrates that sustainability is part of your brand’s core values. This certification proves your commitment to reducing, and even eliminating, carbon greenhouse gas emissions, and mitigating climate change. This is a popular and well-recognized certification that can attract eco-conscious customers to your businesses.

Fair Trade Certification

This certification is for businesses that are committed to ethical sourcing, ensuring products meet rigorous social, environmental and economic standards. It’s a powerful way to demonstrate your commitment to fair trade practices, especially to female and minority workers.

Getting business certifications is not just about adding a badge to your business; it is about enhancing your brand story, building consumer trust, joining a supportive community, boosting business development and increasing visibility. For women-owned businesses, these certifications can help them overcome the unique challenges and barriers they face in their business journey.

The number of college students in the U.S. majoring in computer science hit 600,000 last year — a 40% increase from five years ago. Meanwhile, it’s simultaneously getting harder for these graduates to find work as they compete with career changers and fluctuating demand.

A new study from software company Finoit aimed to understand the job market by finding the most in-demand skills across tens of thousands of job postings in the U.S. The findings can help job seekers discover which technical points to highlight on their resumes and give career switchers an idea of which skills to learn first.

Related: Worried About AI Stealing Your Job? A New Report Calls These 10 Careers ‘AI-Proof’

The researchers started with a list of tech skills, pinpointed exactly how many listings required them, and then matched the skills to average salaries from Indeed. They found that traditional programming languages like Java and C++ came up often, while emerging areas like quantum computing and blockchain didn’t make the list.

Still, that doesn’t mean job seekers should neglect to study emerging fields.

“The tech landscape is constantly evolving,” Finoit co-founder and CTO Mukesh Choudhary said, in a statement. “While developing expertise in high-demand areas like Python and SQL is crucial, it’s equally important to keep an eye on emerging trends and be ready to upskill accordingly.”

Related: The AI Job Market Is Surging and Paying Up to $300K a Year. Here’s How to Snag a Role.

Python and SQL, both used for data science, came up the most — with each named in about 24,000 job listings.

Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Azure, with average salaries above $140,000, are also on the top 10 list, indicating that cloud computing skills are in demand. Robotics, a vaguely worded skill, ranked fourth.

“Robotics’ high ranking is particularly intriguing,” Choudhary stated. “While it’s clear that companies are investing heavily in this area, the broad nature of ‘robotics’ as a skill set may lead to some confusion. Hiring managers and job seekers alike need to be more specific about the exact robotics skills required for each role.”

Here are the top ten tech skills that employers list on job postings.

1. Python

Number of jobs containing the search term: 24,000

Average salary: $126,673

2. SQL

Number of jobs containing the search term: 24,000

Average salary: $92,457

3. AWS

Number of jobs containing the search term: 16,000

Average salary: $140,733

4. Robotics

Number of jobs containing the search term: 15,000

Average salary: $117,234

5. Linux

Number of jobs containing the search term: 13,000

Average salary: $84,939

6. Java

Number of jobs containing the search term: 11,000

Average salary: $92,177

7. JavaScript

Number of jobs containing the search term: 9,000

Average salary: $111,620

8. Azure

Number of jobs containing the search term: 9,000

Average salary: $140,733

9. C#

Number of jobs containing the search term: 8,000

Average salary: $122,372

10. C++

Number of jobs containing the search term: 8,000

Average salary: $126,129

The iPhone 16 may have been the focal point of Apple’s Monday event, but Apple had another announcement to pair with its new $799 smartphone — a free update to the $250 AirPods Pro 2, which Apple refreshed last year, to make the earbuds double as hearing aids.

“We’re really excited to announce that this fall, AirPods Pro will have a clinical grade, over-the-counter hearing aid feature,” Dr. Sumbul Desai, vice president of health at Apple, said at the event, specifying that the feature addresses mild to moderate hearing loss.

Related: FDA Finalizes Rule To Make Hearing Aids Over-the-Counter

After a software update this fall, anyone with a pair of AirPods Pro 2 and an updated iPhone will be able to access a five-minute, at-home, clinically validated hearing test. All they have to do is tap their iPhone screen in response to auditory cues. Based on the results of the hearing test, Apple promises that the AirPods will become personalized hearing aids sensitive to their needs.

Apple also added an “on by default” for everyone hearing protection mode, which actively filters out loud background noise, like the sound of a lawn mower, for hearing health.

Around 20% of the world’s population, or about 1.5 billion people, experience hearing loss, according to the World Health Organization. In the U.S., about 36 million people have mild to moderate hearing loss, while 1.8 million people experience severe hearing loss.

Related: Why Investing in the Accessibility Space Is a Smart Business Move

Hearing aids can be expensive, priced anywhere from $2,000 to $7,000 per pair, though some over-the-counter devices can cost as little as $30. The price variation arose in 2022 after the FDA passed a rule allowing for over-the-counter, lower-cost hearing aids. Though the quality and fit of over-the-counter options may be less satisfactory than prescription options, “very few” insurance policies cover the cost of prescription devices. So over-the-counter could be the affordable alternative.

^{The Apple AirPods Pro 2. Photographer: Nic Coury/Bloomberg via Getty Images}

Apple isn’t the first to offer affordable hearing aids. Sony has multiple self-fitting, FDA-cleared hearing aids ranging between $799 and $1,099, with its first two options released in 2022. Sennheiser introduced its own over-the-counter hearing aids in August 2023 and priced them at $999.

Apple differentiates the AirPods Pro 2 by saying that the device’s hearing updates form “the world’s first end-to-end hearing health experience.” About 100 million people around the world use AirPods, emphasizing the broad reach of hearing updates Apple could roll out in the years to come.

The AirPods Pro 2 has been available since 2022 but the company refreshed the product last year with USB-C charging and adaptive noise control. The earbuds did not get any hardware changes this year; Apple announced this free software update instead.

Related: 5 Ways ChatGPT Is Empowering People with Disabilities

Transitioning from a founder to CEO is a delicate dance. On the one hand, founders have vision, passion and a deep understanding of their business — after all, they did create it.

But the qualities that make a successful founder don’t necessarily translate to the next phase. History is littered with examples of entrepreneurs who held on too tight, unable or unwilling to relinquish control even after it became clear it was time. Some especially dramatic examples from recent years include Uber’s Travis Kalanick and WeWork’s Adam Neumann, both of whom clung to power with misguided ferocity and were eventually ousted.

What separates a successful founder-turned-CEO from a failed one? As someone who remains the head of my company, Jotform, after founding it nearly 20 years ago, I’ve got some insight into what it takes to make the leap.

Related: 8 CEO Mindset Quotes That Keep Me Honest and Inspired

The benefits of bootstrapping

The data shows that founder-CEOs can be wildly successful. Among the unicorns founded in the last 15 years, 65% have retained their original founder as CEO, writes Ali Tamaseb in his book Super Founders: What Data Reveals About Billion-Dollar Startups. Of those that were acquired or had an IPO valuation of more than $1 billion, 73% were founder-led at the time of acquisition.

But problems can arise for founders who find themselves suddenly beholden to VCs. Exponential growth and rapid scaling often don’t leave founders with the time they need to learn to be good CEOs — and believe me, becoming a good CEO doesn’t happen overnight. For evidence of this, look no further than the catastrophic meltdown of Groupon founder Andrew Mason, an undeniably smart guy whose product rocketed to popularity (and nearly unprecedented funding levels) faster than he was prepared to handle.

Bootstrapped founders have the advantage of growing slowly, which gives you much more time to learn the CEO ropes. In many ways, bootstrapping can be seen as a masterclass in leadership. I was a coder when I started Jotform and had zero skills in management, marketing, business, accounting, sales — the list goes on. But as my company grew, so did I. Having my hands in so many facets of Jotform’s operations helped me understand my own weaknesses and what I needed in a team to help it flourish.

Related: How Mindset Plays a Role in Your Entrepreneurial Success

Staying on vs. stepping back

Of course, any founder, bootstrapped or not, can fail to become a good CEO. In his book The Hard Thing About Hard Things, Ben Horowitz argues that effective CEOs have to understand not only what to do, but how to get their companies to do those things. The second part tends to be more challenging, especially as a business grows and its operations become more complex. After all, tasks like streamlining operations, lowering costs and balancing the management of employees, products and services bear little in common with the skills required to launch a successful startup.

In a data analysis for Harvard Business Review, Bradley Hendricks, Travis Howell, and Christopher Bingham determined that while founder-CEO leadership is associated with nearly a 10% higher company valuation at IPO, the value of having a founder at the helm rapidly deteriorates afterward. Furthermore, they found that the value added by a founder-CEO “essentially dwindles to zero” three years from the time the firms go public; after that, they actually detract value from the company.

The authors note that these are only trends, and it’s not hard to conjure a list of founder-CEOs who have excelled. But I believe there’s value in simply being aware of the differences between the two roles. A caterpillar who emerges from a cocoon as a butterfly can’t expect to continue living life as a caterpillar, crawling around plants and munching on leaves. That just isn’t what butterflies do. Acknowledging that your day-to-day as a CEO will look fundamentally different from your day-to-day as a founder is step one.

Whether you should stay on or step back is a question only you can answer for yourself. What aspects of the CEO role actually appeal to you? Are you staying on because you have the desire and dedication to become a great CEO, or because you’re convinced no one else can possibly lead the company successfully?

Related: 3 CEO-Level Mindsets That Create Freedom and Financial Independence

Establish your priorities

Being a CEO doesn’t mean you can handle every aspect of operations. Nor should you want to — not only is it impractical and a poor use of your time, but undoubtedly, there’s someone else who can do it better.

Instead, assess what aspects of your business interest you most, and where you can add the most value. Once you’ve established your high-level priorities and figured out what you — and you alone — are best suited to do, it’s time to delegate.

I agree with the take of Rich Barton, co-founder and CEO of the Zillow Group, who said that becoming a “leader of leaders,” rather than merely a “leader of a team,” takes a growth mindset, humility and hard work. In a rapid growth situation, responsibilities outgrow capabilities, and it’s a CEO’s job to recognize this — even as it applies to the CEO role itself.

“Leaders will need to be up-leveled and supplemented with outside talent,” he says. “Founder/CEOs who are not able to do this will ultimately be up-leveled themselves.”

It’s also essential to be open to advice and feedback. Of course, your stable of resources should include other CEOs, books and podcasts, but I think it’s also valuable to talk to peers who can relate to your challenges but also offer you a different perspective to counterbalance your own.

There is no one-size-fits-all approach to becoming a great CEO. But you do have to be honest with yourself about whether it’s a job you really want, and moreover, whether you want it for the right reasons. If you do, you have to prepare to establish your priorities, adopt a growth mindset and challenge yourself to do what’s best for your business.

In a press release published online last week, the “Big Four” accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) said it is upping its in-office requirements for partners and staff from “two to three days” in the office or with clients to now 60% of their time, or three days a week.

And in a different memo seen by CNN, and sent to the company’s 26,000 UK employees, PwC shared how they would be monitoring the new rule — through location data.

Related: Remote Walmart Employees Question Return-to-Office Policy, Some Opt to Quit Instead of Relocating

“We will start sharing your individual working location data with you on a monthly basis from January as we do with other data such as chargeable hours,” the memo reads, per CNN. “This will help to ensure that the new policy is being fairly and consistently applied across our business.”

The new policy takes effect January 1, 2025.

“Face-to-face working is hugely important to a people business like ours, and the new policy tips the balance of our working week into being located alongside clients and colleagues,” said Laura Hinton, managing partner at PwC UK, in a statement. “This feels right for our business and right for our people, given our focus on client service, coaching, and learning and development. At the same time, we continue to offer flexibility through hybrid working.”

Some experts, though, wonder if the move could bring down morale and make workers wary of their employers.

Related: C-Suite Executives Secretly Hoped Employees Would Quit After Implementing Return-to-Office Mandates, According to a New Survey

Kelly Tucker, the founder of HR Star, a consultant firm, told HR magazine that maintaining trust is the key to making this policy work.

“Employers should regularly review the necessity of tracking, and ensure it doesn’t erode trust,” Tucker told the outlet.

Still, PwC is hardly the first company to track employees’ return (or not returning) to the office. Amazon made the term “coffee badging” mainstream earlier this summer when it was reported the company is tracking how often employees swipe and how long they stay in the office. Salesforce is also reportedly tracking swipes.

Meanwhile, at Dell, and Amazon, remote employees are no longer eligible for promotions.

While PwC did not add more specifics on enforcement, a spokeswoman for PWC told CNN: “If the monthly data shows someone is consistently breaching the policy, we’d first want to understand the reasons why.”

Apple just announced its first AI-centered iPhone.

Apple introduced its new iPhone 16 lineup on Monday, with the usual Plus, Pro, and Pro Max variations, highlighting that the phones are compatible with AI-powered features like AI writing to help draft emails and texts. The phones include a new physical Camera Control button, right below the power button, to make taking pictures easier.

Related: Here’s Why Apple’s Slow and Steady Approach to AI Could Be Beneficial

Visual Intelligence is also a standout feature. iPhone 16 users can take pictures with Camera Control to capture details from a flyer, for example, or to learn more about a local restaurant.

The phones also have “a big boost in battery life” and better performance thanks to a new chip, Kaiann Drance, Apple’s vice president of Worldwide iPhone Product Marketing, said in a press release. Pre-orders start on Friday; the phones start to ship out on September 20.

^{iPhone 16. Photo by Nic Coury / AFP}

Social media had humorous, adoring, and dismissive takes on the new iPhone. Some users praised the iPhone’s new user interface, especially the camera button and visual intelligence, while others took issue with Apple making changes they deemed incremental.

The new Apple iPhone 16 Pro starts at $999, and the iPhone 16 Pro Max starts at $1,199.

Related: Apple Adds AI Writing Tools to the iPhone 16. Here’s Why That Could Be a Problem.

Here are some of the immediate reactions:

Here it is! The new iPhone 16 and we’ve got a REALLY NICE PINK COLOR!!

It’s got a new action and camera control button to slide your finger to control features. #AppleEvent pic.twitter.com/h6U26k7Tzl

— iJustine (@ijustine) September 9, 2024

Apple just keeps making the same products over and over again thinking their customers will keep buying them.

-Sent from my new iPhone 16 Pro Max

— Douglas A. Boneparth (@dougboneparth) September 9, 2024

Apple just announced its new Visual Intelligence for iPhone 16.

It looks insane ? pic.twitter.com/JijqilD84S

— Alvaro Cintas (@dr_cintas) September 9, 2024

I’m holding the iPhone 16 Pro Max. #AppleEvent pic.twitter.com/fT59VQHFbA

— Lance Ulanoff (@LanceUlanoff) September 9, 2024

This UI interaction ? #AppleEvent pic.twitter.com/xeHDQOrGDO

— Ilya Miskov (@ilyamiskov) September 9, 2024

this apple event is doubling as an ad for san francisco pic.twitter.com/XVCFYIklO3

— “paula” (@paularambles) September 9, 2024

How to turn your iPhone 15 Pro Max into an iPhone 16 Pro Max:

✅ Change the Wallpaper
✅ Change the phone name to “iPhone 16 Pro Max”
✅ Be Confident

And that’s it, your new iPhone 16 Pro Max is ready to use. pic.twitter.com/9rUNT6Qr1G

— Alvin (@sondesix) September 9, 2024

AI can write emails. AI can write songs. AI can suggest writing improvements that go beyond spelling and grammar to word choice.

As big tech companies like Google, Microsoft, and Apple roll out their latest AI features, one use case of AI keeps coming up: AI can write. It’s sometimes so good that job seekers have asked it to write their resumes and cover letters, and new technologies have rolled out to detect AI’s presence.

Related: These 4 Words Make It Obvious You Used AI to Write a Paper, According to New Research

Easier writing is a key selling point of Apple’s AI, Apple Intelligence, featured in the new iPhone 16 released Monday. Apple Intelligence is “built into your iPhone, iPad, and Mac to help you write, express yourself, and get things done effortlessly” according to its product page.

Apple said the AI can help upcoming iPhone 16 users draft emails and texts.

^{iPhone 16. Credit: Apple}

Apple isn’t the first to focus on writing as an AI use case: Google ran an ad at the Olympics last month about how its AI could write a fan letter from a child to her Olympic hero — sparking conversation about what would happen when the Olympian held a stack of fan letters that sounded the same.

“As more and more people rely on AI to generate their content, it is easy to imagine a future where the richness of human language and culture erode,” Shelly Palmer, professor of advanced media in residence at Syracuse University’s S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications wrote in a July 28 blog post.

Though Google ended up pulling the ad after public backlash, the future the ad portrayed — of young people turning to ChatGPT instead of puzzling through how to say something themselves — is fast becoming a reality.

ChatGPT has over 200 million weekly users, over 60% of which are under 34 years old. Nearly one in three users are under 24 years old.

Related: Can ChatGPT Help Start a Business? I Tried the Latest Version, GPT-4o, to Find Out.

Research published earlier this year shows that university students who rely on ChatGPT experience poorer academic performance and memory loss. A separate study found that the top uses of ChatGPT were creating content, responding to emails, writing cover letters and resumes, and coming up with ideas.

AI opponents point out AI’s writing abilities may be based on copyrighted works used by big tech companies without credit or compensation awarded to the people who wrote these works.

“To add insult to injury, the bot is being trained on pirated copies of my books,” author Margaret Atwood wrote in a 2023 article for The Atlantic last year about the issue. “Now, really! How cheap is that? Would it kill these companies to shell out the measly price of 33 books? They intend to make a lot of money off the entities they have reared and fattened on my words, so they could at least buy me a coffee.”

AI supporters say that the anti-AI group is “classist and ableist.” The organization behind National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) defended AI writing last week, for example, by saying that “not all brains have [the] same abilities” and some need “outside help or accommodations” to write. Disabled writers took issue with the remarks, as well as NaNoWriMo sponsors, and the organization has since changed the wording of its stance and apologized.

Related: Klarna CEO Says AI Could Help Reduce Company Headcount By 50%

Then there are more neutral issues with AI, like estimates that AI systems could run out of free training data within the next two years, leaving open the question of what kinds of data to use next.

AI-generated content has steadily risen to the top of Google searches, doubling from about 7% in June 2023 to 14% in June 2024.

In an effort to expand a business, it’s easy to miss the less obvious elements that can hold things down. As someone who has always been deeply involved in pushing my company ahead, I’ve seen that even well-intentioned leadership can have blindspots — areas where your approach, despite your best efforts, may impede success.

These aren’t just minor oversights. When you’re too focused on the bigger picture, sometimes critical areas are left unaddressed and can stand in the way of actual growth.

I’d like to highlight three leadership blind spots that may be boxing you up.

1. The product-driven blindspot

I have always been a product-focused CEO. My personality tends to be very bullish, and I am never satisfied with a product being “good enough.” I am always pushing the product to be better. When people tell me something can’t be done, it kicks me into overdrive to find a way to prove them wrong. I also regularly take in feedback from our customers about what improvements they want to see with our products. Over time, this led to an ambitious list of product enhancements that didn’t have a clear roadmap behind them. While this didn’t have a negative impact on revenue growth, it impacted efficiency and adoption because we were rolling out so many new products at once, sometimes even before they were fully tested.

Our Chief Technology Officer was constantly shifting priorities and focus to accommodate my growing list of product ideas. One of my best decisions yet was promoting one of our VPs to Chief Product Officer. Once he stepped in, we were able to refine our product development processes and ultimately improve our speed to market. Our product roadmap is better prioritized, and product releases have become more evenly spaced out. This strategy provided more time to properly educate our team before releasing to our clients. As a result, our product rollouts have been more successful with higher adoption rates.

Related: Stop Ignoring Your Blind Spots — Start Embracing Them Instead

2. The feedback-ignorance blindspot

Every successful company is driven by a strong, collaborative team. Our company lives by our core values — TEAMS, which stands for Teamwork, Empower, Accountability, Mutual Respect, and Serves. We are a very team-oriented company, and I value my team’s feedback and advice. As a CEO, it’s just impossible and unsustainable for me to be involved in every detail of the organization. So, I had to learn to trust my team to provide me with thoughtful feedback and attainable solutions. These insights should always be objective and in alignment with our long-term goals. When I see a decision made or an initiative going in a direction that I wouldn’t have necessarily chosen, that’s when it becomes my job to step in and guide the team back to the charted course, even if it’s unpopular.

Any CEO’s obligation is to shape decisions, not necessarily make every call. One of our company’s fundamental principles is to “empower,” and I believe it is crucial that our leaders have the authority and confidence to make critical decisions. I look for leaders who fully understand the company’s vision and can be trusted to make judgments that I can support.

Related: What Makes a Great Leader vs. a Great Manager?

3. The change-resistance blindspot

Change may be frightening, and humans, as we are, have a natural tendency to resist it — especially when everything appears to be operating well as usual. I’ve observed that waiting too long to implement critical changes can be just as damaging as changing too often.

Businesses are like living, breathing organisms; decisions or strategies that worked in the past may no longer be effective as the company grows and evolves. That is why leaders should welcome change rather than avoid it. A recent example in our own business is our support model. We had the same support model for years, and for a long time, it worked really well. In the last two years, we have released several new products and nearly doubled our client count, so we realized we needed a different structure to better serve our clients.

This pivot required a reasonably significant reorganization, which was met with resistance. Not only did we implement a new support structure, but we also opened a new support center, which carried a hefty price tag. Delaying didn’t necessarily slow our growth, but implementing the change led to noticeable improvements in efficiency, retention and overall client satisfaction.

The blindspot here is the fear of disrupting the status quo. Change will always be welcomed with raised eyebrows and incongruity, at least in the initial implementation. Change, whether good or bad, is resisted with equal intensity. However, as leaders, we must be prepared to anticipate the need for change, recognize the indicators, and act before the situation compels us to. It’s a tricky balance — you change too frequently and you’ll disrupt the team; delay too long, and you miss out on opportunities.

Related: 4 Financial Blind Spots That Could Be Preventing You From Making More Money

Staying close to your customers

One last blind spot worth mentioning is leaders or business owners getting too far away from their customers. Sometimes, we tend to have layers and layers of people between us and the end customer. However, you must remember that remaining deeply connected to your customers is critical. In our company, we have an executive sponsor program where every executive is assigned to a group of clients to provide an additional layer of support that elevates the customer experience.

Although the executive sponsors aren’t responsible for ongoing account management, having that relationship with the customer provides invaluable insights that could otherwise get lost. Additionally, customers feel more valued when they know that top leaders at our organization are actively involved and genuinely care about their business.

Overcoming blindspots

Leadership blindspots are often overlooked, yet they can substantially impact a company’s progress. Business owners and leaders must be able to spot and fix these blindspots right away, whether it’s balancing product innovation with a clear execution plan, acknowledging team feedback, accepting change, or maintaining the connection with their consumers.

This discernment and proactiveness can open up fresh possibilities for your organization and the team’s development and growth, ultimately leading to even greater success.

Finding the perfect hire for a senior executive position can take months of searching and interviewing — but that’s only half the battle.

Without an effective onboarding strategy, you may end up repeating your search in 12-18 months. Whether you let them go for failing to hit their target or they leave out of frustration, the result is the same.

When that happens, you’ve not only wasted time and effort, but you’ve also lost a substantial chunk of your budget. Gallup research shows that it costs one-half to two times an employee’s salary to replace them — and a senior executive’s salary is substantial.

Their departure also leaves a hole in your leadership structure that can impact team morale and productivity.

Therefore, hiring and retaining senior executives requires a flexible onboarding process that strategically integrates them into their new roles and the company as a whole.

Related: How to Create a Strategic Hiring Plan

1. Start before their first day

Expecting new hires to “hit the ground running” doesn’t make much sense. Why would you want them running before they know where the goal line is? They may end up heading in the wrong direction.

It’s much more effective to give them a map of the territory and let them get their feet under them. Prepare all the information they’ll need and have it ready before they walk in the door for the first time: key stakeholder names, organizational charts, a background on their department and team, etc.

That’s not to say you should dump it all on the new executive all at once. To avoid overwhelming them, gradually provide the information over their first two or three weeks.

You can also start adding essential activities to their calendar before day one. Meaningful engagements might include meetings with board members, executive teams, and subordinates. Team or one-on-one lunches are a great way for them to get to know their direct reports and other leadership team members — and all the local lunch spots.

Related: How to Breathe New Life into Your Formal Onboarding Process

2. Set clear expectations from the beginning

When onboarding a senior executive, carefully assess their experience and determine which strategies align with your company culture. They may be eager to bring what they know to your table but respectfully decline it upfront if they propose an approach that isn’t a good fit.

Likewise, develop a 30-, 60-, or 90-day plan with the new executive to establish realistic goals and create a definition of success. This gives them a target to shoot for and allows you to determine where they may need extra coaching.

Be careful not to make this plan seem punitive. Be clear that the goal is to align them with the leadership team’s long-term vision. They should understand that it’s a way to ensure success, not punish failure.

Related: 5 Ways to Keep Your Vision and Mission Intact as Your Team Grows

3. Foster a supportive environment

Success thrives in supportive environments, but what does a “supportive environment” look like for a newly hired senior executive? There’s no magic formula, but some elements could be assigning them a mentor or coach, creating opportunities for feedback and open communication, and scheduling regular sync-ups with the leadership team.

Mentors fulfill a different role for executive-level hires than they do for entry-level employees. At the entry-level, mentors help hires adapt to the general corporate culture, learn new skills, teach them how to network, etc. Senior executives do not need that level of coaching but may value help assimilating into the company’s unique culture, methodologies, and processes.

Communication is the foundation of a supportive environment. It helps build trust and rapport. Unfortunately, many businesses struggle with maintaining open lines of communication, especially at scale. They turn to bots and software automation to help bridge the gap, but this can come off as faceless and impersonal.

Nothing replaces regular meetings and informal gatherings for allowing new executives to engage in candid discussions about roles, expectations, and team dynamics. Maintaining continuous communication and regular sync-ups with the leadership team go hand-in-hand.

One-on-one meetings create opportunities for open dialogue, allowing new executives to discuss their progress, challenges, and ideas. These check-ins help the flow of communication and strengthen team relationships, and they also provide opportunities for course corrections, if needed.

4. Build a flexible runway

Onboarding programs aren’t “one size fits all.” Everyone adapts at their own pace, and some need a little more runway than others. Some fit into their new role in a few months, while others can take up to a year. It doesn’t mean the latter is wrong for the role; there could be any number of reasons why it takes them a little longer.

For example, if they’ve relocated for the role, they’re not just adapting to a new job and company culture. They’re also adapting to a new city, a new house, new schools for their kids, new healthcare providers, etc. They have a lot eating up their mental bandwidth and energy. Given time to sort all that out, however, they might become one of the strongest leaders in the company.

As part of your onboarding runway, make ongoing leadership development programs available. Even senior executives look for opportunities for personal and professional growth within the company. On the flip side, they may be able to draw from the well of their experience to add to your leadership training efforts.