Thursday 25th April 2024

Thought Leadership's Impact on Sidelined B2B Buyers

The B2B landscape is brutal. With a staggering 95 percent of businesses not actively exploring new solutions at any given time, and sales cycles stretching due to economic uncertainty, getting buyers off the sidelines is a must.

This is where thought leadership proves its advantage. It's a powerful tool that goes beyond brand awareness--it can prompt B2B buyers to rethink their challenges, sparking a first step towards considering new solutions.


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How TikTok Helped This Beauty Brand Break $100 Million in Sales

The Chicago-based beauty brand generated more than $100 million in annual revenue in 2023, a roughly 30 percent increase year-over-year, thanks in part to TikTok. Beachwaver has 1.2 million followers on the social media app, and sells products through its e-commerce platform, TikTok Shop. The company is known for its curling irons with rotating barrels, but also sells flat irons, hairdryers and plant-based hair care products.

Beachwaver CEO Sarah Potempa and her sisters Erin Potempa-Wall and Emily Potempa co-founded the business in 2010 with just $20,000, and to this day have never taken outside investment. Sarah, who was working as a celebrity hairdresser at the time, was frustrated by the miscommunications that would happen when explaining how to style hair over the phone. Eventually, she drew a sketch of a curling iron that made the process easier by using a rotating barrel. Today, the company has 12 patents and 21 trademarks across its product line.  


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Hybrid Work Demands a Refresh. Here's How Our Own Office Design Measures Up

Mansueto Ventures, the publisher of both Inc. and Fast Company, is headquartered in downtown Manhattan and currently has more than 200 employees. Since September 2022, the approximately 146 commuting employees have been required to work in the office on Wednesdays and Thursdays.  

But after more than 15 years in the space, the office needed a refresh, says Randy Davis, executive director of facilities and office services at Mansueto Ventures: "It no longer functioned to meet all of our business objectives." 


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SpaceX Worker Injury Rates Are Alarmingly High for Second Year in a Row

The rate of employee injuries at eight major facilities run by Elon Musk's aerospace company far exceeded the industry average for the second year running--and some facilities worsened year-over-year, according to Reuters. One former administrator with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration told Reuters the injuries should concern SpaceX's private and public sector partners, including NASA.

David Michaels, a former OSHA employee and current professor at The George Washington University, told Reuters that injuries can serve as "an indicator of poor production quality" and that "NASA should be concerned about the quality of the work."


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Salesforce Unveils New Feature to Boost Sales Productivity

The San Francisco-based sales software company announced on Wednesday the official launch of the Salesblazer Community, a hub for sales professionals in Slack, a common communication platform for business people--or as my friend dubbed it last night, "corporate group chat." 

Salesblazer, which already has thousands of members, and which you can join here, allows salespeople to connect with experts and one another for day-to-day questions, events, job postings, industry-specific networking, and related news. It mimics Slack's other community groups that have proved to be helpful for working professionals, like Trailblazer, a hub for broad Salesforce users.


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Small Business Week Is Around the Corner. Here's What's On Tap from the SBA

Despite labor shortages, sticky inflation, and a chilly credit environment, small business owners have persevered--and the last few years have boasted record numbers of people turning to entrepreneurship. At least 17 million new businesses applications have been filed since President Joe Biden assumed office. 

To crown the acheivements of the nation's founders, the U.S. Small Business Administration will host a series of events running through May 3. The agency announced on Wednesday that SBA Administrator Isabel Guzman will start this year's celebration with an opening ceremony in the nation's capital. The ceremony will honor those working at small businesses and supporting them. Among other honors, the SBA plans to fete the Women's Business Center of the Year and the Small Business Investment Company of the Year.


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In a Memo to Employees, Delta’s CEO Announced They Were Getting Raises. These 5 Words Stuck Out

This week, Delta's CEO, Ed Bastian, sent a memo to employees, announcing that they would be getting a five percent raise. I guess if you're going to get a memo from the CEO of your company, this seems like the one you want. After all, everyone likes getting a raise.

This, in fact, is--according to Delta--the third year in a row that the airline has given employees a raise, and is separate from the $1.4 Billion the company handed out in profit sharing. That's impressive, but there was something about the memo that stuck out to me, however. To be more precise, there were five words that caught my attention because they serve as a powerful lesson for every leader. See if you can spot them in this excerpt from the memo:


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How Burnout Became Normal -- and How to Push Back Against It

Slowly but steadily, while we’ve been preoccupied with trying to meet demands that outstrip our resources, grappling with unfair treatment, or watching our working hours encroach upon our downtime, burnout has become the new baseline in many work environments. From the 40% of Gen Z workers who believe burnout is an inevitable part of success, to executives who believe high-pressure, “trial-by-fire” assignments are a required rite of passage, to toxic hustle culture that pushes busyness as a badge of honor, too many of us now expect to feel overwhelmed, over-stressed, and eventually burned out at work. When pressures are mounting and your work environment continues to be stressful, it’s all the more important to take proactive steps to return to your personal sweet spot of stress and remain there as long as you can. The author presents several strategies.

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Managing Your Emotions During an Argument at Work

But HBR contributing editor and workplace conflict expert Amy Gallo says it’s possible to interrupt this response, stay calm, and find a path towards a more productive discussion. In this episode, you’ll learn some simple techniques that will help you manage your emotions when conflict arises at work.

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Lessons from Amazon's Early Growth Strategy

So much has been written about Amazon’s outsized growth. But Harvard Business School professor Sunil Gupta says it’s the company’s unusual approach to strategy that has captured his scholarly attention. Gupta has spent years studying Amazon’s strategy and its founder and former CEO Jeff Bezos.

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