Amid fresh inflation data, rising interest rates and renewed tariff battles, small business owners are under siege. From higher input costs to shifting consumer demand to new regulatory fees, the financial pressure is mounting on multiple fronts. Confidence among small businesses has dropped to its lowest point since the 2008 financial crisis, underscoring how fragile survival feels in today’s volatile economy. Against this backdrop, the difference between businesses that flourish and those that falter will come down to one thing: adapting and implementing strategies that turn challenges into opportunities for resilience and growth.

The era of relentless corporate expansion has ended, exposed by rising interest rates and technological disruption—a shift that’s undermined the growth-at-all-costs mentality that shaped corporate America over the last decade. Survival now demands that companies ruthlessly prioritize profitability, strategic focus and sustainable financial management over blind expansion, changing the rules for successful CEOs.

To the list of threats facing American businesses, add this one: populism.

Increasingly, civil-led protests and actions are disrupting business operations. If leaders don't give them as much attention as economic risks such as highe...

CMOs were long the punching bags of the C-Suite. Woody Allen once said, "Humorists always sit at the children's table." And for many years, it seemed that marketers were seated right there beside them.

Then came the pandemic. An...

In January, Shopify decided it was in drastic need of a meeting cleanse. A bot was used to wipe calendars company-wide of any recurring meeting with three or more people. Total time savings: 320,000 hours, the equivalent of hiring 150 new people....

Artificial or not, what's most important is that intelligence be useful. Which is why there's a better name for what businesses need right now: Useful Intelligence or what I call UI, or a tool that filters out bad or even dangerous informatio...

Many CEOs have once again spent earnings season focused on the past-and often on the defensive.

Yet the best ones use moments like these to go on the offensive. They see them as opportunities to change the discussion from the past t...

The key to boosting employee motivation and spurring innovation at a critical time is hidden in plain sight - tucked into wallets, hanging around necks or attached to a belt lanyard.

It's time for the humble employee badge to have...

There's nothing like the anticipation of a new hire, and the expectation of infusing fresh experience, talent and drive into your workforce. Too often, however, those expectations go unmet. The data has long made it clear that external hires co...

Colleges need to rethink how we prepare students for successful careers. The current approach is to provide some minimal support to students towards the end of their undergraduate years. Once students graduate, colleges and universities tradition...

The past couple years have shown that learning in a fully remote environment leaves a lot to be desired compared with in-person learning. Among school-age students, for instance, remote learning has been associated with lower test scores and has...

CEO job security isn't what it used to be. A rash of high-profile oustings, including Disney's Bob Chapek, Under Armor's Patrik Frisk and Gap's Sonia Syngal, have underlined how top executives are on particularly shaky ground as we emerge...

When companies as widely recognized and well established as Boeing, Walmart, and IBM start moving in a similar direction on something, it's safe to say the idea has legs.

In this case, companies are looking towards skills-based hiri...

You may have a great team, but the acumen of yesterday may not be enough for the challenges of tomorrow. Here are the critical skills that will measure success in 2023 and beyond.

Persistent inflation, a nascent recession and even tri...

As markets gyrate and uncertainty abounds, keeping top talent is more important than ever. Here's how to do it.

Identifying your strongest candidates for department head, director or other top management positions is tough at the be...

With the job market as tight as it is, and set to remain so, companies can't simply hire their way out of trouble anymore.

As the skills crunch continues to challenge many industries, employers are trying something new to get people...

If you think the last few years were bad for cybersecurity breaches, take a deep breath before you consider what's coming in 2023. Our existing defenses may not be ready for what's in store.

Bad actors are honing their existing at...

Today's C-Suite leaders have high expectations of data. They want to be able to whip out their smartphones and bring up beautiful visualizations of trends that give them actionable insights into the business at a granular level.

Tha...

The supply-chain crisis has prompted endless commentary about how long the disruptions will last before we get back to the pre-Covid normal. Analysts have resorted to poring over shipping container rates, checking heat maps on Shanghai area manuf...

M&A is surging, but as many CEOs are learning the hard way, announcing a deal and then making it work can be two very different things.

Deals that look great on spreadsheets can still hit severe obstacles when companies struggle t...