The Kowloon Motor Bus Company, which my grandfather William Louey Sui-Tak founded in 1921, has always believed in investing in human capital as a priority. His commitment to staff welfare is what I believe has fuelled the success of our business. It’s a dedication that has consequently spurred my own passion and interest in health and wellness.

My father passed away at the age of 49, and my grandfather and uncle also passed away in their 50s, which exacerbated my concern that I too would die young. This sudden realization of my mortality made me acutely aware of my own health and even more dedicated to my family business.

Many family businesses struggle to survive beyond their second generation of inheritors. While the business founders are credited for being the pillars of the company, the second generation is often feared to be passive inheritors who can make or break a business. As a fourth-generation businessman, I strive to encourage the company to embrace change, especially in an age where green technology is becoming more important than ever for business viability in my industry.

Related: Is it Possible to Balance a Career and Personal Wellness? 26 Entrepreneurs Share Their Own Tips

Health is wealth

A business leader who focuses first on their health and wellness will be fit enough to carry their responsibilities and inspire their management teams and staff members. New data released by Babble in 2024 — a survey of 500 business leaders in the UK — showed that 76% of business leaders wanted to strengthen their own physical, mental and ethical fitness in order to succeed.

Following these three pillars of fitness, according to the report, means that business leaders can be more focused and be equipped with the ability to inspire teams. Physical fitness is of paramount importance, as shown by Howard Schultz, the Starbucks CEO who is keen on cycling challenges. He believes that pushing his physical limits can develop both mental strength and the discipline one requires to lead by example.

CEO burnout

Overexertion, whether it be physical or mental, can lead to burnout that will harm your overall efficiency. Many business leaders suffer from this. A 2022 research by Deloitte showed that 82% of senior leaders in Canada, Europe and the U.S. have experienced burnout symptoms such as stress, depression and extreme exhaustion. Of 1,100 respondents surveyed for the research, 96% of those who reported exhaustion also showed that they also experienced a decline in their mental health.

An over-exhausted, sleep-deprived leader is also more likely to be a less effective negotiator, less capable of empathy and understanding different viewpoints and is not able to drive innovation and change within the company. This combination of effects will surely drive the organization’s overall performance down.

In fact, there is evidence showing that poor CEO health is correlated with poor business outcomes. Moreover, poor health will often result in long-term illnesses that result in unwanted absences from the company, hampering its progress and creating greater uncertainty among staff and shareholders.

A decline in company performance will also worsen a business leader’s health and well-being. Another study by the National Bureau of Economic Research conducted in 2021 also shows the devastating longer-term effects of senior executives’ declining health and wellness. The study found that CEOs whose companies declined looked older and lived two years less than their counterparts.

Related: Watch What Happens When You Invest in Employee Wellness

A healthy work culture

The fate of a company weighs heavily on the business leader being fit and healthy. A leader should set a good example for their team members to follow suit, with physical and mental performance being no exception. By doing this, a business leader has the power to shape the entire company culture, and a healthy leader will surely instill more health and well-being-focused programs to create a better work environment for employees, too.

A company culture that focuses on overall health and wellness will eventually increase staff retention, which ultimately contributes to the longevity of the business. Two-decades-long research into the predictors of company longevity conducted by McKinsey & Company revealed that healthy organizations, particularly those that not only have an efficient operational ability but also an emphasis on the health and wellness of its people, are more likely to perform better on a long-term basis.

Healthy companies are also those that are better equipped to manage downside risk and are resilient. During the Covid-19 pandemic, it was found that healthy companies were 59% less likely than unhealthy organizations to reveal signs of financial damage.

Related: Inspire Wellness in Your Workplace, and Watch Productivity Soar

It is becoming clearer than ever that the future of a company depends on the overall health and wellness of its workforce and its visionary leader. Organizations that realize this are better equipped for the challenges ahead and are more likely to survive in this ever-changing and increasingly volatile global business environment.

According to the data from the National Retail Federation and consumer research firm Prosper Insights & Analytics, 183.4 million people in the U.S. will shop (in-store and online) from Thanksgiving through Cyber Monday. Meanwhile, Black Friday alone is expected to see 131.7 million shoppers.

But where, how, and why are consumers spending their cash? Shopify’s 2024 holiday retail survey examined trends for the holiday season by looking at responses from 2,000 consumers in the U.S. and another 16,000 in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Spain, and the U.K.

Here are some key details about consumer behavior this holiday season:

Related: 5 Black Friday Strategies to Turn Holiday Browsers into Instant Buyers

What Is the Outlook for Black Friday?

In the Shopify survey, young adults (25-34) reported that they will be increasing their Black Friday spending, with 28% planning to spend more this year and 55% aiming to finish their shopping by the end of November.

For those who aren’t shopping on Black Friday, 65% reported doing most of their holiday shopping between October to December, while 23% percent were found to start shopping for the holidays in June.

Related: Shoppers Spent $17 Billion on Small Business Saturday Last Year. This Expert Says It’s Not Too Late to Make It a Huge Day for You This Weekend.

What Shoppers Care About

A notable trend included how valuable “free shipping” was to shoppers. The perk would influence 47% of consumers if offered, according to the report, much higher than when a company provides “a great customer experience” (31%) or “loyalty schemes” (20%).

Related: The Bold Moves That Drive This Family-Run Company’s Success

27% of people surveyed said they will wait for the big sales to start shopping, and spend time comparing prices at different retailers.

Of the 35 to 44 age group, 85% reported having clear brand preferences. Younger shoppers ages 18 to 24 were more influenced by recommendations on social media.

The report found that conscious shopping was important with 26% of shoppers planning to shop more sustainably this year. One in five (22%) surveyed said they were looking to buy from independent brands.

The report found that 60% of consumers use a “hybrid shopping” approach to the holidays, buying small items online and larger ones in-store. There was also a “shift towards in-store product discovery” among younger shoppers. Shopping and recommendations on social media were still popular—55% of shoppers surveyed reported being active on Instagram and TikTok.

Related: This Is the Most Important Part of Starting a Business, According to Daymond John, an Entrepreneur Worth $350 Million

In increasingly competitive markets, small business owners and founders must have an edge, and for many, it’s their intellectual property (IP). Often considered your most valuable assets, your IP is your idea(s) and invention(s) in legally documented form.

Your IP is pivotal to your founding and growth journey, allowing you to establish your company’s market position, differentiate from other product offerings and protect yourself. But the global IP landscape today is hyper-complex, with more than 15 million active patents registered and hundreds of thousands of organizations holding those patents.

For the tech-savvy entrepreneur, artificial intelligence (AI) means you can work smarter, not harder, when it comes to sharpening your edge. Leveraging AI as part of your IP strategy is an effective and affordable way to accelerate innovation, streamline processes and proactively manage your assets.

IP-specific applications of AI are increasingly common these days. Buyers must be discerning and ask themselves, is this tool secure? Is it accurate? Is it cost-effective? Solutions like Patlytics are leading the charge of unburdening businesses from complex administrative work, accomplishing many IP workflows in minutes instead of months.

Here are five strategies for how to use AI to drive significant IP wins for your small business.

Related: Top 5 Intellectual-Property Challenges Businesses Face

1. Accelerate comprehensive patent searches with AI

Conducting a thorough prior art search is a prerequisite to the patent application process. According to the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), nearly half of all patent applications face rejections due to prior art. By confirming the uniqueness of your idea, you increase the chances of your application being approved.

To prove uniqueness, you must search and compare. But try this with 15 million registered patents, and you won’t be done for years. Traditionally, patent searches are labor-intensive and time-consuming. AI is enabling deeper, faster and more accurate searches. Through machine learning algorithms, AI-powered patent search tools quickly sift through vast databases to identify relevant patents and highlight potential overlaps or opportunities. For small businesses, this means a faster path to securing patents and reduced risk of infringement from the start.

2. Stay ahead of the competition with AI

Always stay one step ahead of the competition. This is particularly meaningful in the IP sector, where similar products are constantly invented. It’s also particularly hard to do, given the potentially hundreds of millions of different products, patents and companies to stay ahead of.

Use AI to quickly and continuously scan for infringing products. Diligently monitor the market with an AI-powered infringement detection tool to identify potential products that may infringe on your innovation — and therefore represent a threat or opportunity — and help you find the evidence you need to take action. This intelligence enables timely, winning decisions and successful asset protection.

3. Use AI to transform patents into profit

Patent licensing offers small businesses the opportunity to monetize their inventions without shouldering the costs associated with production. But this can be a guessing game. According to many IP experts, most patents are worthless — perhaps even more than 95% never recoup their filing costs. How do you know which big bets to make compared to your competitor’s products, the market landscape and your own patents’ strengths?

AI introduces much-needed precision by eradicating guesswork from complex comparative decisions. It allows small businesses to pinpoint their most valuable assets and make informed decisions based on competing products, the market landscape and their own MVPs.

Related: 5 Ways To Create Value From Your Intellectual Property

4. Build a strong and diverse portfolio with AI

Consider the portfolio strategy of building strong patents around your core innovations. Holding multiple related patents can create a patent thicket, making it harder for competitors to challenge or work around your IP. Also, consider the strategy of diversifying. Diversifying your patent portfolio can protect against industry shifts and technological advancements. Having patents across sectors gives you multiple revenue streams and the ability to adapt to market changes with agility.

Both portfolio strategies assume a baseline understanding of your current portfolio. This may seem basic (shouldn’t we all know our own patents?), yet once scaled to hundreds or thousands of patents, how do you surface meaningful intelligence points at a glance, such as invention sector, jurisdiction, value or expiry? An AI classification tool can auto-tag your assets and triage which patents to action on.

5. Simplify the drafting process with AI support

Proper documentation is vital. Developing detailed notes, sketches, and descriptions of how your invention works and why it’s unique is required for your patent application and also serves as evidence if legal issues arise. But gathering all this information from various groups and compiling it can be painstaking and often takes over a year. That’s a year when your idea is not yet fully protected, enforced or monetized. Leverage an AI patent drafting tool to help you discover and capture your inventions faster, reducing your time from idea to file and making the journey from idea to patent approval considerably easier.

Related: 5 Benefits Patent Management Software Must Deliver

The stakes and constraints of IP challenges compel small business owners and founders to adopt smart, efficient methods to maximize successful IP outcomes. Now leveraging new AI for IP tools, they can secure their place in the market better and faster than ever before. Your IP is the driver of innovation and business growth. We hope these strategies and tools will help accelerate your success.

Email is a goldmine for businesses: people who make purchases via email tend to spend up to 138% more than those who don’t. During key shopping days, like Black Friday and Cyber Monday, email campaigns can significantly boost your last-quarter revenue. But sending a few random emails to your list isn’t enough to make a difference. To see results, you need to be strategic in how you reach out to your prospects.

Here are nine hacks to improve your holiday email marketing strategy and drive more sales.

1. Get your holiday marketing emails ready now

“It’s later than you think.” It’s one of my favorite quotes from the show “Mad Men.” Although the character of Roger Sterling was referring to “the finite nature of life” and urging us to enjoy every day more, I often think about this quote as it relates to my business. It also applies so well to holiday email marketing.

Many business owners underestimate the effort it takes to create effective email campaigns. Nearly 46% of consumers start their holiday shopping before November due to delivery concerns, so you don’t want to launch your emails too late. Give yourself enough time to decide on your offers, audiences and email sending cadence.

Related: Want to Boost Sales This Holiday Season? Here Are 5 Tips to Make Your Holiday Email Campaign a Success

2. Slowly increase your email volume

Your sending rhythm has a dramatic impact on your email deliverability. Depending on how often you’ve been sending emails in the past few months, start increasing your cadence slowly. Any sudden spike may trigger spam filters, so pace your volume to avoid having your emails go to spam. It’s natural to send more emails during the holidays, but in the meantime, reach out to your list regularly to build trust with email service providers.

3. Offer exclusive holiday deals

People love feeling special, especially during the holidays. So, think about how you can reward your email subscribers for being part of your club. For 40% of consumers, email is a discount treasure trove — they check their inboxes looking specifically for brand deals. During the holidays, your prospects may be even more inclined to shop via email, so show up with relevant offers to boost engagement and sales.

4. Give your email list a scrub

The junk folder is the last place you want your holiday emails to land, but a messy email list can cause that. High bounce rates and spam complaints may make you look like a spammer, so your campaigns will fail to reach the inbox.

Use an email verification service to weed out obsolete contacts and ensure your email list is healthy. With Google deleting dormant accounts and Yahoo also tightening sending rules, your data must be fresh for your campaigns to be effective.

5. Make the most of automation

Automation doesn’t just save you time; it can also increase your holiday email conversion rates. Nearly 40% of people who click on an automated email go on to make a purchase, so if your resources allow it, set up the right emails to go out at the right time. Welcome messages, back-in-stock and cart abandonment emails see the most engagement. Automating them now means you won’t leave any money on the table.

6. Ensure a smooth experience across devices

Your emails can look great on desktop, but do they render properly on phones and tablets? The 2024 holiday shopping season will be “the most mobile of all time,” Adobe predicts, with a record $128.1 billion spent through mobile devices.

A broken image or poorly formatted text can turn your customers off, so remember to test every email before you send it. You don’t want a small mishap to prevent someone from making a purchase. Plus, it leaves a poor impression of your brand, and it may cause your future emails to fall flat or get deleted.

Related: 3 Tips and Tricks You Can Use to Drive Email Deliverability During The Holidays

7. Create a sense of urgency with your subject lines

During the holidays, inboxes are so packed that your subscribers may just scan subject lines, so you have to make each one worth clicking. It’s smart to avoid overused, spam-trigger words like “free,” “buy” or “urgent,” and find other ways to convey the value you offer and instill a sense of urgency. Calls to action like “last chance” or “don’t miss out” perform well for my business. Feel free to experiment with less common approaches.

8. Consider a countdown timer

Countdown timers add even more urgency to your campaign, so test them this holiday season and measure their performance. Add them to your website and marketing emails to give people a quick visual representation of your offers and build anticipation.

9. Monitor metrics and adjust quickly

Finally, don’t just set your holiday email campaigns and forget about them. Instead, monitor your performance metrics in real-time. Track open rates, click rates and conversions, and be ready to adjust if results are weak. You can always tweak your offers, improve your copy and test different send times to make your campaigns resonate more.

Berkshire Hathaway Chairman Warren Buffett, 94, is making more changes to his philanthropic plans.

The iconic investor, who is No. 7 on Bloomberg’s billionaire list with around $150 billion as of press time, announced new donations and provided details about how he plans to continue to give away his fortune in a letter to Berkshire shareholders on Monday. Buffett is donating 99.5% of his wealth to a charitable trust that will be overseen by his children (his daughter and two sons) after his death.

Buffett continued his Thanksgiving tradition of giving away Berkshire stock with a new donation of $1.14 billion to his four family foundations (Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation, the Howard G. Buffett Foundation, the Susan A. Buffett Foundation, and the NoVo Foundation).

Related: Warren Buffett Just Changed Up His Will and Locked Out the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

“Father time always wins. But he can be fickle – indeed unfair and even cruel – sometimes ending life at birth or soon thereafter while, at other times, waiting a century or so before paying a visit,” Buffett wrote. “To date, I’ve been very lucky, but, before long, he will get around to me. There is, however, a downside to my good fortune in avoiding his notice. The expected life span of my children has materially diminished since the 2006 pledge. They are now 71, 69, and 66.”

Buffett’s children will have about 10 years to give away his remaining wealth after his death. Disbursement requests must be unanimous.

“Wealthy friends have been curious about the extraordinary confidence I have in my children and their possible alternates,” Buffett notes. “Hence, the ‘unanimous decision’ provision. That restriction enables an immediate and final reply to grant-seekers: ‘It’s not something that would ever receive my brother’s consent.’ And that answer will improve the lives of my children.”

Related: Why One Prominent Investor, ‘Britain’s Warren Buffett,’ Is Staying Away From Nvidia Stock

But due to everyone’s ages, Buffett announced that he named three potential successor trustees to oversee the foundations should his children pass away before giving away all the money.

“Three potential successor trustees have been designated. Each is well-known to my children and makes sense to all of us. They are also somewhat younger than my children,” Buffett wrote. “But these successors are on the waitlist. I hope Susie, Howie, and Peter themselves disburse all of my assets.”

The successors were not named.

In the letter, Buffett also talks about how the world has changed in his almost 100 years on the planet and offers a hopeful outlook for the future. Despite the changes, Buffett did not step down from any work-related responsibilities.

Berkshire is a $1 trillion conglomerate.

Read the full letter, here.

Despite most of Gen Z thinking that their jobs could be replaced with AI in the next decade, the vast majority are still using AI to help complete office tasks — and they’re open about it.

A new survey released on Monday from Google assessed the AI habits of 1,005 full-time U.S.-based knowledge workers aged 22 to 39. Google called the group “young leaders” because they’re currently in leadership positions or aspire to hold one at work.

The survey found that 93% of Gen Z respondents from 22 to 27 years old are using two or more AI tools like ChatGPT or Google Gemini AI per week. In comparison, 79% of millennials ages 28 to 39 indicate that they’re doing the same.

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

These AI users are utilizing the technology to take meeting notes, write emails, and overcome language barriers.

They aren’t secretive about talking to ChatGPT either: More than half of them share AI-fueled insights and experiences with their coworkers. Three in four have even recommended AI tools they have had positive experiences with to their peers.

“Rising leaders are not only advocating for AI—they’re deploying this technology in meaningful ways, from improving communication with colleagues to freeing up time for strategic work,” said Google Workspace VP of Product Yulie Kwon Kim in a press release.

Related: Google’s CEO Says AI Is Now Responsible for 25% of ‘All New Code’ Created at the Company

AI’s writing abilities appeal to Gen Z and millennial workers who use it in the workplace. 70% of the survey respondents said that they have used AI to help draft an email response, while 88% said that AI can help them find the right tone when they write.

AI also brings out leadership potential and carries promise. About four in five respondents want to use AI to become better managers and better lead teams. Half say AI carries great potential to automate repetitive tasks so that they can focus on strategic work.

These emerging leaders “are not simply using AI as a tool for efficiency, but as a catalyst to help grow their careers,” Kim stated.

While AI can help grow careers, it also has the potential to replace jobs. Another survey released earlier this month by tech education firm General Assembly showed that 62% of Gen Z believed AI would replace their jobs within the next 10 years while a separate study from Duke University found that 61% of large U.S. firms plan to use AI to automate tasks previously carried out by humans within the next year.

Related: Google’s AI Is Now Appearing in Gmail and Docs

In today’s business environment, companies often rely on subscriptions as a key driver of revenue. Whether in the form of consumer-facing subscription boxes or SaaS platforms, many companies have recognized the value of setting up systems that deliver consistent, recurring revenue from their customers. In fact, the subscription economy is expected to reach $1.5 trillion in 2025.

Of course, just like any other business, subscription-driven companies must be able to effectively track their revenue to identify growth opportunities and challenges — and one of the best ways to do that is by looking at their annual recurring revenue (ARR).

Related: 5 Essentials for Building a Subscription Business Customers Won’t Quit

What is ARR, and why does it matter?

Annual recurring revenue is a key metric in the subscription economy that measures the recurring revenue that the business gets from its subscriptions during a single calendar year. ARR is based solely on subscription revenue and doesn’t account for one-time purchases or fees.

ARR is often calculated on a per-customer basis — dividing the total value of a subscription contract by the number of years in the subscription contract. Adding up the yearly subscription value of each customer provides the total ARR.

As the Corporate Finance Institute explains, ARR is a valuable metric for subscription-driven companies because it helps them quantify growth, evaluate the success of the subscription model and forecast future revenue. With ARR, organizations are able to gauge the overall health of their business and whether current subscription revenue (and subscription growth) is in line with the organization’s goals.

1. Introduce multiple pricing options

For organizations trying to increase their number of customers so they can subsequently grow their total ARR, introducing multiple pricing options can be a savvy strategic practice. This has become especially prevalent in streaming, where practically every streamer has introduced multiple subscription tiers, largely divided by ad-supported and ad-free content.

For example, after introducing its ad-supported tier a little over 18 months ago, Netflix’s ad-supported tier now allegedly accounts for over 45% of new signups — a clear indicator that offering a lower-priced plan made its offerings more appealing to budget-minded consumers.

Offering multiple tiers or pricing options certainly isn’t limited to streaming. Many SaaS businesses also successfully use this model, with pricing tiers based on factors like the number of users who have access to an account, the amount of available storage or bandwidth and other factors.

Quite often, many of the most desirable features are locked behind a higher-priced tier, which encourages subscribers to opt for the more expensive option. However, by giving your audience multiple price points to choose from, you can grow ARR by becoming more desirable to both budget-minded and feature-focused audiences. Price scaling can also make your core service tier more attractive, further fueling subscription and revenue growth.

Related: 5 Tips for Growing Your Subscription Business

2. Be strategic with price promotions

One common technique used by subscription-driven businesses is to offer a price promotion, typically getting users to sign up at a steeply discounted price for the first year before reverting to the standard price in future years. Though discounts are effective at driving signups, they can be even more powerful when backed by a strategic campaign.

Penned by co-founder, Iman Gadzhi, a case study from Flozy demonstrates how effective promotions can be driven by much more than an attractive price point. In the buildup to the company’s first Black Friday, their team created a significant amount of educational content to go alongside the Black Friday campaign.

As a result, when the Black Friday campaign launched with a significant discount on the company’s yearly plan, it was further supplemented by free educational content and live events with the founding team. This strategic approach that went beyond a simple price promotion resulted in a 1,000% increase in revenue — and helped demonstrate the subscription’s underlying value right from the start.

3. Ensure you have the necessary systems and support in place

As valuable as growth-oriented strategies are, retention cannot be ignored. If you have high levels of subscriber churn, then you don’t truly have annual recurring revenue. Instead, your subscription-based business will be operating more like a traditional business model, in which you must repeatedly pursue sales with new customers.

Because of this, businesses that have ARR as a key performance metric must invest heavily in customer satisfaction and retention efforts. In the Flozy case study cited earlier, after the company’s initial growth, implementing 24/7 support and daily customer service sessions that offered real-time assistance played a key role in helping satisfy existing customers while also spurring new monthly growth increases when the company reintroduced marketing.

Businesses must regularly evaluate pain points that are causing customers to cancel their subscriptions and focus on the processes and practices that affect these areas. Correcting deficiencies and finding ways to increase the value you offer to your existing subscribers is key to keeping them around in the long run. Such actions can also make potential price increases more palatable, as long as subscribers still feel like they are getting good value.

Related: How to Improve Your Subscription Business Churn Rate

For subscription-driven business models, few metrics are ultimately more important than ARR. By prioritizing this metric as part of your acquisition and retention process, you can identify initiatives and processes that will help you build a loyal customer base that drives dependable revenue for years to come.

For too long, business success has been defined solely by profits and growth. Increasingly, however, entrepreneurs are realizing that true success also includes leaving a legacy of positive impact on society. In real estate, an industry that directly influences communities, there is a unique opportunity to leverage business for social good. Through sustainable developments, support of local initiatives or health-focused designs, the real estate sector plays a crucial role in fostering community transformation.

Real estate isn’t just about buying and selling properties; it shapes neighborhoods, impacts the environment and influences people’s lives. By integrating social responsibility into business strategies, real estate professionals can build stronger, more connected communities, enhance their brand reputation and drive long-term growth. This approach moves beyond philanthropy, positioning real estate firms as leaders in sustainable and community-centered practices.

Related: Why Should Your Business Care About Social Responsibility?

Creating positive impact through real estate

The intersection of business and social responsibility opens numerous doors for real estate professionals to make a meaningful difference. One way to do so is by developing projects that address community needs, with a focus on affordable housing or environmentally sustainable buildings. However, the opportunity for impact extends further when developers consider health-focused design elements, support local economies and engage communities in the development process.

Health-focused building designs:

With an increasing emphasis on well-being, health-focused building designs have become essential. Developers are now incorporating features like advanced air filtration systems, abundant natural lighting and open-air communal spaces to promote healthier living environments. These elements not only benefit residents but also enhance property value by setting a higher standard at a time when health consciousness is a priority.

Biophilic design, which integrates natural elements into the built environment, has also gained popularity. This approach, which includes features like indoor greenery, water elements and nature-inspired aesthetics, is shown to reduce stress and improve productivity, mental health and overall well-being for occupants. These health-oriented features reflect a profound commitment to resident wellness and align with the growing demand for sustainable, health-conscious living spaces.

Supporting local economies through real estate:

Real estate development can drive economic growth in communities beyond creating jobs during construction. Supporting local economies involves working with local suppliers, sourcing materials regionally and prioritizing local contractors and vendors. These choices not only stimulate economic growth but also strengthen social trust and goodwill, fostering a sustainable model that benefits residents, local businesses and the environment.

When projects use locally sourced materials, they reduce environmental impact by minimizing transportation distances, thus reinforcing a commitment to sustainability. This strategy of investing in local economies helps establish reciprocal, long-term relationships within communities, supporting local industries while laying a foundation of trust and collaboration. These practices are especially powerful in real estate, where community connection can be as valuable as the development itself.

Community engagement in the development process:

Real estate development is about more than just constructing buildings; it’s about creating spaces that reflect and enrich the community. Genuine social responsibility in real estate includes a commitment to true community engagement from the earliest stages of planning. By involving community leaders, residents and local organizations, developers ensure that their projects align with local needs, values and the area’s unique character.

Community engagement can take many forms, from holding public forums and conducting surveys to establishing partnerships with local groups, chambers of commerce, local non-profits and volunteer organizations. These efforts provide valuable insights into what a community needs in the form of parks, accessible transportation or cultural spaces, and can result in a development that resonates deeply with residents.

When community-driven features are incorporated, projects are more likely to gain support, fostering pride and long-term value for all stakeholders. Moreover, community involvement can streamline project approvals and ensure smoother integration of the development into the local fabric.

Related: 5 Ways Entrepreneurs Can Enhance Local Communities

The business benefits of social responsibility

Integrating social responsibility into real estate brings numerous tangible benefits. A strong commitment to social causes can enhance a company’s reputation, build client loyalty and attract top talent. Research from Deloitte shows that 86% of millennials believe business success should encompass more than financial performance, highlighting the growing importance of values-driven companies.

In an industry where relationships are vital, being known for community-focused initiatives can be a differentiator. Clients increasingly seek out companies that align with their values, and having a track record of social impact can build trust and generate referrals. Businesses that prioritize social responsibility often find they attract employees passionate about making a difference, leading to higher engagement and satisfaction within the team.

Integrating social impact into your business

For entrepreneurs looking to incorporate social impact into their real estate business, it starts with identifying causes that align with their core values and mission. For instance, a company committed to sustainability might focus on eco-friendly building practices, while another might prioritize affordable housing or educational initiatives for underserved communities.

Collaboration with local organizations amplifies your impact and strengthens your connection to the community. Partnering with non-profits or supporting grassroots efforts is an effective way to make a positive difference while building your brand and demonstrating authentic commitment to the communities you serve. Volunteering time, offering resources or sponsoring local events are additional ways to make an impact, creating a positive reputation and fostering long-lasting ties.

Related: Sustainability for Entrepreneurs — Why It Matters (and How to Achieve It).

By incorporating thoughtful, health-conscious, economically supportive and community-engaged practices, real estate professionals can create lasting change in the neighborhoods they touch. Prioritizing social good in real estate is not just about philanthropy; it’s a strategic approach that fosters loyalty, enhances brand reputation and builds stronger, more connected communities. Real estate, at its core, is about people, and when businesses prioritize social impact, they contribute to a future where communities and companies thrive together.

Earlier this week, Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos got into a public disagreement on X, the platform Musk owns, about comments Bezos allegedly said about President-elect Donald Trump. Though Bezos denies making the remarks.

“Just learned tonight at Mar-a-Lago that Jeff Bezos was telling everyone that @realDonaldTrump would lose for sure, so they should sell all their Tesla and SpaceX stock,” Musk wrote on Thursday in a post viewed more than 44 million times (according to X) at the time of writing.

Related: Billionaires Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk Are Oldest Children. Firstborns Often Have 2 Leadership Traits That Help Them Succeed in Business.

Bezos replied to the post, stating “Nope. 100% not true” to which Musk responded, “Well, then, I stand corrected.”

Nope. 100% not true.

— Jeff Bezos (@JeffBezos) November 21, 2024

Musk and Bezos are two of the most powerful people in the world, with a combined net worth of over half a trillion dollars. Bezos is the second-richest person in the world with a net worth of $226 billion while Musk takes the top spot with a net worth of $331 billion.

But that hasn’t stopped the two tech titans from squabbling it out on social media.

^{Musk (left) and Bezos (right). Photo by BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI,MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images}

Musk leads space exploration company SpaceX and Bezos is the head of rival firm Blue Origin. Since 2004, the two companies have gotten into patent battles, spats over talent, and arguments over which one accomplished space feats first.

For example, Bezos shaded Musk’s ambition to colonize Mars in a private lecture in 2019, while Musk called him a copycat the same year for his plans for internet satellites.

Musk said in a 2021 interview with the Financial Times that Bezos “does take himself a bit too seriously” and “does not seem to be willing to spend mental energy getting into the details of engineering.”

Related: Elon Musk Makes Fun of Bezos on Twitter, Purposely Spells His Name Wrong

Musk also publicly criticized Bezos’ project “The Rings of Power,” a Lord of the Rings adaptation released in 2022, tweeting “Tolkien is turning in his grave.”

While the power dynamics between Musk and Bezos may shift after Trump’s win, this most recent exchange proves that the dynamics between the two richest people in the world remain contentious.

Trump recently appointed Musk a co-lead of the new Department of Government Efficiency to help downsize the U.S. government.

You probably already know this in your gut, but not backing up your phone is a recipe for chaos. It takes just one drop in the toilet to lose critical project files, client contact information, or messages you’ll never get back. Apple’s iCloud offers an easy way to back up your phone, but you’ll pay monthly. Try AnyTrans instead.

With a lifetime subscription, you only have to pay once to back up an iOS device. During this early Black Friday sale, use code FESTIVE30 to get AnyTrans® for $20.99 (reg. $79.99). That’s an unbeatable price.

iCloud vs. AnyTrans

AnyTrans is kind of like the old days of hooking your phone up to iTunes, except it helps you consolidate all of your files between devices in a similar way to iCloud. For example, you could add your iPod and iPad as devices and see all of your photos, videos, music, messages, books, voice memos, and more in one place.

From there, you might use AnyTrans to:

https://www.youtube.com/embed/yq3mYi1C2I0

Besides the price, what’s the biggest difference? While iCloud updates your phone’s backup in real time, AnyTrans won’t. So, if you back up your phone and then save a project file, it won’t be part of the backup.

If you drop your phone in the toilet or lose it on the train, rest assured that your data and business correspondence are backed up with AnyTrans. But you have to make the move now before it’s too late.

Get this cloud-free iOS backup tool for $20.99 with code FESTIVE30 during this early Black Friday sale (reg. $79.99). You won’t find a lower price anywhere else.

AnyTrans® One-Stop Content Manager for iOS: Lifetime Subscription

See Deal

StackSocial prices subject to change.