9 Entrepreneurial Lessons You Never Learned in School

Many things have not been taught in school and learning is through our everyday life.

“A day without learning is a day with breathing” – Robin Sharma

I practice sharing what I have learned and what I have achieved today before I go to bed. The achievement might be small however recognised it makes you feel great and always looking forward to a better day! 

School doesn’t prepare you to be an entrepreneur. Actual in-the-trenches experience does. These nine super successful businesspeople, and members of The Oracles, share the No. 1 skill you need to succeed in the world of entrepreneurship that traditional schooling never taught you.

1. The indomitable will to succeed.

The most important trait you won’t learn in school is to get out there and try 100 things to build a business and get over the fact that 98 of them won't work. And then get right back out there and try another 100.

—Barbara Corcoran, founder of The Corcoran Group and Shark on Shark Tank

2. Failing is OK when aiming big.

School punishes those who fail, so kids don’t push through their comfort zone to the next level. In the real world, there are no participation awards or grade inflations. From my experience at Draper University, I’ve learned that team-based teaching is extraordinarily effective. People work harder to make sure they don't let down their team. And we teach these teams that failing is OK if they try something big.

—Tim Draper, founding partner of DFJ

3. Question everything.

I wish school had taught me to question everything. As an entrepreneur, you’re always looking to find some basic assumption about the business that other people are following—but that you can question and use to gain insights into your business. For me, it was the thought that once you are pigeonholed as a TV writer, you can’t break into film. So I wondered why. Writing is writing. When I realized there was a basic assumption about how a TV writer is supposed to behave versus a feature film writer, I was able to erase the distinction in my own mind and in the industry’s mind. Today, it is commonly acknowledged that the best material is on TV. Question all assumptions.

—Roberto Orci, Hollywood producer and screenwriter whose movies and TV shows have grossed over $5 billion worldwide

4. Creativity and people management.

No. 1, school should teach creativity as much as multiplication tables. Entrepreneurs need to be innovative. Maybe your new company makes $10,000 a month. What will you do when it makes $10 million a month? The process of thinking about this ahead of time will help you prepare correctly.

No. 2, school should teach how to manage people. No one was born with that skill, but you need a team to scale your business. You need persuasion skills so awesome people will work with you. And you need people reading skills to spot those who are not high quality or have big personality flaws that will derail your team.

—Tai Lopez, investor and advisor to many multimillion-dollar businesses who has built an eight-figure online empire; connect with Lopez on Facebook or Snapchat

5. How money and cash flow work.

Learning about money and cash flow, and how to handle it, should be a required course in grade school. No one teaches us how to manage debt, and why we should or should not have debt. We also don’t learn how to handle investments and create wealth for ourselves. As a result, most people today die broke.

—Jay Georgi, founder of Nadvia and operations/management/profits-retention coach

6. How to be your own boss.

No teacher in school ever taught me about how to be your own boss.

1. Learn time management skills.

2. Focus on your strengths and hire for your weaknesses.

3. Find a mentor who has already been at the top of the mountain you want to reach and  made many of the mistakes that you will inevitably make.

— Gary Nealon, president of Nealon Solutions and The Rox Group; five consecutive years on the Inc. 5000

7. Never, ever give up.

The No. 1 thing I wish schools taught is to never, ever give up. No matter what. Have so much freaking confidence that there’s no way you can fail; just learn the wisdom to make adjustments and keep your head on straight. I learned that in the school of hard knocks, not the formal education system.

—Steve Griggs, founder and CEO of Steve Griggs Design; designs and builds custom residential backyards for affluent clients who want fast results

8. Success without happiness, love and service leads to emptiness.

Although information, competition and achievement are critical to success, they’re not enough to create a fulfilling life. Success is the sweetest when it is built with heart, purpose and passion, but you’ll never learn that in school. Money, power and fame by itself will never bring you true happiness.

—Nafisé Nina Hodjat, founder and managing attorney of The SLS Firm

9. Who you know to me is more important than what you know.

Learn to network and meet others. As an employer myself, not only would I allow a young person to be mentored, but I would pay them something as well. And so will many companies who admire the courage it takes to network and ask for the opportunity. Who you know to me is more important than what you know.

—Craig Handley, co-founder and CEO of ListenTrust

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9 Answers You Need About Yourself Before Starting Your Own Business

90% of people wanted to own a business, however, only 10% make it. Why?

Ask yourself some of the questions below to find out the reasons?

I would like to share the below article to get yourself be prepared and make it happen if you are looking forward to becoming one.

1. How much responsibility can I take on?

You will be responsible for not only yourself and your business but everyone that has a vested interest in it. This includes employees and their families, investors, business partners, clients and the community in which you run your business. It’s one thing to put your own fortune and reputation on the line; it’s another when you get other people and their livelihoods involved.

I am responsible every day to the BRIC Language Systems team in NYC, China, Brazil and Mexico -- as well as every one of our language learners, interns and business partners. Being your own boss sounds nice, but you’ll realize quickly just how much weight your shoulders can hold. Make sure you know you can handle it, for your own sake and theirs.

2. What am I willing to sacrifice in order to make this work?

There are tremendous sacrifices involved in starting up a business. Those sacrifices will include sleep, hobbies, exercise, relationships, vacations and your own personal freedom. A lot of these sacrifices are the result of realizing who you’re responsible to (see above). Be ready to sacrifice a lot in order to succeed and ask yourself if those sacrifices are worth the potential reward? More importantly, and more realistically, ask yourself if it would still be worth it if all of that sacrifice results in failure?

I lived in China for eight years. I sacrificed going to best friends weddings, the births of their children, my health, college football Saturdays and so much more. So far, it is well worth it, not only because BRIC is doing well, but even more so because of the experiences and friendships that developed out of my time there. If BRIC blew up tomorrow -- which I don’t expect nor want -- I can honestly say that it was worth it.

3. Can I remain calm amid constant chaos?

Batton down the hatches! You’ll be dealing with a storm of confused emotions and organizational chaos. How you relieve stress is incredibly important. Make sure that you have the mental fortitude to deal with an incredibly stressful environment and that you know how to decompress. Whether it’s exercise, meditation, yoga or whatever else -- make sure that you know how to relieve stress.

During my time in Shanghai I took kungfu classes at Longwu Kungfu, tried Taichi, and ran the Bund in the mornings. This helped me get through an otherworldly amount of stress and chaos that only expats living in Shanghai will understand. No matter where you are, stress relief is one sacrifice you can’t afford to make.

4. Can I make a decision under pressure?

When you start a company, you will be dealing with issues that you could have never imagined. You’re involved in every decision and every detail. This means everything from legal to hiring, accounting, marketing, sales, IT and design. You need to be able to calmly, rationally and quickly assess a situation and act. You’ll need to be decisive.

As Brian Tracy says “decisiveness is a characteristic of high-performing men and women. Almost any decision is better than no decision at all”. Be able to make the decision, move on, and deal with the results. We all make bad decisions at some point, I know I’ve made a lot of them in getting BRIC up and running.

5. Am I able to back down when I realize I’m wrong?

Leadership is as much about being able to accept when you’re wrong and listening to your team, as it is about being right. No one likes a boss who can’t admit when their wrong. If you’re leading the team in the wrong direction and people are pointing it out to you, as a leader you need to accept that fact and change course.

Being able to listen to your team and heed their advice is a hallmark of a good leader. I’ve been lucky in every leadership situation that I’ve been in to have either had a good team handed down to me or built a good team from the ground up. Those teams are why I’m where I’m at today.

6. What are my own weaknesses?

Being self-aware isn’t a prerequisite for being a good leader, but it should be. You need to know how what you think, say and do are perceived by others. This is far different from being self-conscious. Being self-aware allows you to understand others and effectively motivate, discipline and lead them. It’s recognizing not only where you’re strong but also where you’re weak -- and using that to build a team that compliments those weaknesses with strength.

7. Can I manage a diverse group of people?

You are going to be responsible for putting a team together that will inevitably have different political, social and economic backgrounds. They will have different attitudes, personalities and viewpoints. These differences are to be celebrated, but they will also need to be managed and lead towards a common goal.

Can you, as a leader, bring your team together when they don’t see eye-to-eye and are at each other’s throats? It will happen, you need to be able to help them forward as a team. Sometimes these differences are impossible to overcome and change needs to happen.

8. Can I let someone go, including someone close to me?

A lot of startups involve friends. Those friends may come from the neighborhood, university or a previous job. Sometimes those friendships get in the way of good business judgement. If anyone, including a friend, is dragging down the business despite repeated attempts to motivate them and having given them a fair chance, they need to go. This is part of your responsibility to everyone on the team who is executing, as well as all of the others mentioned in no. 1 above. 

I’ve had to let people go in all kinds of circumstances. Some of them were close to me. I’ve had people break down in tears, and I’ve broken down in tears myself, but we were able to have the conversation and get through it. It's not easy, so ask yourself whether or not you can handle that type of situation?

9. What are my reasons for starting this company?

Is it to make money, change the world, disrupt an industry, work for yourself, passion, pride? There are a lot of reasons people start companies. Make sure you know why you’re starting your company and that the reason is sound. 

Be realistic if you’re setting out to change the world. Change doesn’t come easy. Make sure that change is wanted or necessary when trying to disrupt an industry. Be self-motivated if you want to work for yourself, and make sure that passion and pride are both in check.

Once you’ve answered these nine questions, get ready for a whirlwind. You’ll feel extremes of every emotion from exhilaration to sorrow, success to failure, anxiety to serenity, doubt to certainty and anger to pleasure. You’ll feel many of those conflicting emotions at the same time and sometimes for the same reason. It’s a wild ride, and if you’re ready for it take the gloves off and come out swinging for the fences, it’s totally worth it.

Lastly, don’t overthink it. If you ask yourself too many questions, you’ll never get them answered and wind up never starting anything at all.

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7 Reasons the CEO Should Get Outside to Exercise

Dear CEO out there,

Try this! See what happen!

The majority of CEO’s spend their time inside, behind a desk, on a plane, in a car, on the phone or otherwise inside. It is easy for them to become overwhelmed with stress and fatigue turning to quick fixes such as caffeine, nicotine and now psych meds to give them the decrease in stress and boosts in energy they are looking for. They can develop a certain laziness with these quick fix solutions, believing they do not have the time to add exercise into their daily routine for fear of not accomplishing what needs to get done during their day. However, all people, especially CEO’s, would perform their jobs much better in taking some time to get outside and nurture their health. To follow are seven benefits to exercising outside.

1. Fresh air.

Offices are full of stale, regurgitated air so why leave the office and go to a gym that has the same feeling? Get outside and allow yourself to deeply and soulfully breathe in large doses of fresh air. It is amazing what fresh air does for the mind, body and spirit. Fresh air cleanses the lungs and brings more oxygen into the cells which increases the energy you need to do what you need to do. It also brings clarity to the brain by improving blood pressure, flow and heart rate. Feeling a deep sense of clarity produces a significant shift in mood from negative to positive.

Exercising outside leaves you feeling relaxed and refreshed, which is essential in strengthening your immune system by decreasing your stress. When you stress your breath becomes shallow, bringing less oxygen into your cells. With increased oxygen to the cells your body works more efficiently to destroy bacteria, viruses and germs, keeping you healthy and missing less days of work. When you truly take care of your body the impact this will have on your overall productivity will increase dramatically.

2. Sun exposure.

The sun is your friend. Exposure to the sun increases the levels of Vitamin D in your body which helps to optimize your hormones. Serotonin is your happy hormone. Being stuck indoors in artificial lighting can cause sluggishness and depression. In addition to natural light exposure, the intensity of the light you're exposed to is also important. Bright light entering through the retina of your eyes is also known to stimulate serotonin production. A great way to get a dose of natural sunlight is to exercise outside. You kill two birds with one stone; you decrease negative mood states, while also getting into peak performance physical and mental condition.

3. Outdoor beauty.

Human evolution occurred, for most part, outside. We lived our lives outside, therefore, there is much evidence to support that esthetically pleasing environments raise serotonin levels which helps you feel good physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually. As serotonin increases it has an incredibly powerful influence over your mood, emotions, memory, and even the craving of carbohydrates.

Further, increases in serotonin provide you with feelings of positive self-esteem, it increases your pain tolerance, decreases your appetite, helps your sleep cycle, digestion and body temperature regulation. All of this from being outside in fresh air. It is an immediate stress relieving, feel-good cure. Being outside reminds you there is more to life than work, which is refreshing in itself. It helps you to find the gratitude for the small and more natural parts of life.

4. Triggers the primal regions of the brain and psyche.

Physiologically, outdoor exercise has been shown to inspire a greater commitment to an exercise program. Through this, you trigger the more primal regions of your brain and psyche. Exercising outdoors increases mental and emotional well-being by way of increased energy, regeneration, positivity, gratification, satisfaction, pleasure, self-esteem, liveliness, passion, and a sense of accomplishment, while ridding your psyche of feelings of pressure, unhappiness, stress, confusion, anger and exhaustion.

With a greater variety of options: walking, swimming, paddle boarding, surfing, running, isometrics, hiking, skiing, and far more, you are more likely to stay focused longer, less likely to get bored, and more likely to repeat and return for your workout. Going to a gym can feel like going to another office for another meeting, while exercising outside feels like complete freedom from the confinement of an enclosed space.

5. Sensory stimulation.

Being outdoors creates increased sensory stimulation, connecting all five of your senses. Outdoor exercise can be more strenuous, different and unique, challenging both your mind and body far more than an indoor workout. Factors such as weather shifts, changes in landscape, even running downhill, can challenge different muscle groups, even ones not often used. The more strenuous the exercise, the more energy is expended, the more fat and calories are burned.

It also serves to exercise your mind. When exercising outside your mind becomes aware of the changing terrain. Whether you use the hills, the sand on a beach, a wave, or a winding path, your mind has to focus differently than it would on a flat gym floor. It makes you think about the now, what is right in front you. This is a great way to achieve a true break from the mentality of work. It puts you in the moment allowing you to maximize your workout as a true and complete escape from your day.

6. Positive mood.

Outdoor fitness has many physical benefits but aside from those, the mental benefits are equally as impressive. Being outside and raising your heart rate is revitalizing. It clears your mind of wasteful thoughts and emotions. It allows you to put stress to the side as you focus on being in the zone. It is also a great opportunity to socialize with others and create lasting relationships and pride in your surroundings or to special landmarks in your area. There is no expensive gym membership, and no age limit, which allows you to exercise as a family, or with friends; everyone is welcome with outdoor workouts, and exercising with others is a great way to stay accountable and succeed. This helps you maintain the important relationships in your life that may otherwise fall to the wayside due to your work schedule or stress levels. Work is important but you need to have a life.

7. Spiritual connection.

Many would argue that connecting with your soul and nature is surely one of the greatest benefits to experiencing exercise in the great outdoors. Walking, running, swimming or hiking amid this Universe’s magnificent creations can certainly make you connect more closely with your soul in the most beautiful of ways. Whether it is a meditative state of being one with nature, time alone to think through your deepest thoughts, or time in silent prayer, exercising outside is an optimal way to connect with your spiritual side and get to know yourself, your faith, and your surroundings far better than ever before. It is a great way to metaphorically and figuratively find the deeper answers and solutions to your stressors and problems.

If CEO’s can get in touch with having a life outside of work and a life outdoors they will have a more complete experience of living, loving and working. The time it will take to get outside and workout can only improve their work performance. The time it takes to take care of themselves will be well worth it. When life is lived more fully, CEO's will achieve levels of Peak Performance that can only make them more successful.

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9 Easy Ways to Stay Mentally Sharp

Practice makes perfect!

1. Avoid sugar.

While short-term increases in sugar can temporarily improve brain function, chronically elevated sugar levels will impede your memory. In one study, people had their sugar levels tested and were asked to memorize 15 words and then repeat them 30 minutes later. Those with higher blood sugar levels remembered, on average, two fewer words.

2. Get fishy.

Eat 18 ounces of salmon or another fatty fish each week or take DHA omega-3 supplements every day. A study showed that when individuals 55 and older who were starting to lose their memory ingested 900 mg of DHA omega-3 each day, their brains were about three years younger.

3. Manage stress.

Stress is one of the greatest causes of memory loss—brain inflammation caused by stress weakens old memories and makes new connections for establishing memories more difficult.

4. Have buddies.

Data shows friends do more than help you cope with your problems. They can also keep you motivated and hold you accountable for activities such as exercising or learning new skills together.

5. Work it out.

You should engage in physical activity for 45 minutes three times a week. New data suggests intense exercise for 20 seconds three times in a 10-minute period may be even better.

6. Don’t shortchange sleep.

When you’re busy, it’s easy to sacrifice ZZZs. But you need sleep because it primes your brain for optimal learning, problem-solving and memory retention.

7. Learn something new.

Although diet and exercise changes are important, learning a new skill, taking up a new hobby, playing video games or even trying to find a new route (without a GPS) to a place you regularly visit can also help minimize your risk for memory loss.

8. Get those vitamins.

Take in enough magnesium, folate and Vitamins B-12, B-6 and D-3. Magnesium ensures strong links between your brain cells, which can help you solve problems. Try eating brown rice, almonds, hazelnuts, spinach, shredded wheat, lima beans and bananas. Vitamin D-3 is also important—aim for 1,000 IU daily from a supplement until you have your number measured.

9. Avoid toxins.

These include tobacco, mercury and excessive alcohol, among others. Tobacco and other toxins such as mercury from swordfish and tuna can cause inflammation, which can impair your mood, memory and cognition

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Courage is the ultimate productivity hack.

Courage is the most important than the knowledge? or mostly equal? I do come across people who are subject matter expert, however, lack of courage does not bring them to anywhere. So today article has stress on courage which is a good sharing.

Courage is the ultimate productivity hack.

As I’ve continued to study successful people and meet individuals I respect and admire, I've learned that courage is undeniably the biggest differentiator. 

Most people lack courage because they fail to make the distinction between real and perceived risk. If we perceive a high cost of failure, we say, "It might not work." That scares us, and we hedge. Instead of focusing, we split our attention among different projects, not giving any one the attention it needs to succeed.

There's a well-known evolutionary reason behind this behavior. Picking the wrong project -- the one that might not work -- used to be a devastating proposition. Imagine you're part of a hunter-gatherer tribe and you decide to try a new way of hunting. There's an 80 percent chance your method will make it easier and faster to hunt large animals for the rest of your life. The impact would be huge. But the downside is fatal. If it doesn’t work and you miss the herds that season, you'll starve. 

Our ancestors did only what they knew would work, and they survived. People who tried projects that weren’t guaranteed to work, died. That’s no longer our world. If your side hustle doesn’t take off, it’s not fatal (except maybe to your ego). 

Many people say they can’t commit to a single project because they have lots of interests or too many ideas. But how does that truly affect our unwillingness to focus? We all like lots of different foods, yet we always manage to pick something on the menu for dinner. The perceived risk of picking the wrong entrée is low, so we make the best decision we can at the time. The most productive people don’t do this only with dinner -- they do it with everything.

By attempting to do too many things at once, we guarantee none will get the time and energy it needs to succeed. We must realize that committing to many things commits us to failure. Our very search for the sure thing actually sabotages our chances. 

Our choice is clear: Dedicate our attention to one thing and make success more likely, or commit to many things and make success less likely. If we seek to be more productive, we must accept the proper order in which to organize our resources: courage first, then wisdom and finally labor.  

Committing to a single focus and being willing to fail will pay off more than adding another 20 hours to our week or learning another productivity hack.

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7 Daily Practices That Power Your Motivation

How to accomplish something that you really want? Read the below article, I found it is very helpful to keep me motivated in whatever I committed to.

1. Have clear goals.

The journey to create success in your business has to start with a plan and that plan is created by the goals you set. Your goals are your why and the reasons you’re on this journey. They should be clear, actionable, and have a definite timeline. They should be written down either in a note on your computer or phone, or on something like a vision board. Know what you want from your life and how your goals can help you get there.

2. Create a plan the night before.

We’ve already established that goals get accomplished with a plan. In addition, to have a clear finish line in each major area of your life, you should take time the night before to plan your days. A lot of times people get frustrated from a lack of organization. Spend a little time each night setting priorities and then secondary goals that you’ll get to if you accomplish all of the priorities.

3. Get enough sleep.

A major reason you may lack motivation is because you’re not getting enough sleep. What the proper amount is will be different for each person reading this, but you better believe in the importance of a good night’s rest. It’s easy to sacrifice sleep in hopes of getting more accomplished. You tell yourself that the goal is too important—it is, but being rested is just as important.

4. Have some “you” time in the morning.

Technology has been amazing in helping us create success in our lives, but we need a break at times. Your morning should be yours—you should have some time away from technology to collect your thoughts and refocus. That time could be spent meditating or simply closing your eyes and tuning out your hectic schedule. Spend a little bit of time each morning getting mentally prepared for all that you’ll battle each day.

5. Avoid things you know will distract you.

To stay focused and motivated, you have to avoid the things that will get you off course. We’ve talked about technology and the Internet—they can help and hurt your progress. You should also avoid people that aren’t trying to get ahead in life. Their negative words and actions will feed into your self-limiting beliefs and hurt your motivation. Surround yourself with people who inspire you to be more in life.

6. Schedule “inspiration” time.

In your daily planning, set aside time to get motivated and inspired. Read a good book; listen to an inspiring interview with someone you admire. Watch a video that helps you see life and your goals in a different light. A daily dose of inspiration will help you keep those self-limiting beliefs at bay.

7. Remind yourself that time is precious.

Life is short. Conceptually we know this, but too often we don’t live our life that way. When you view life and time as precious, you tend not to waste it. You’re accomplishing these major business goals to create a life of freedom—always remember your why.

The best way to accomplish any major business goal is to break it down into bite-size daily goals. The reason you want need to stay motivated each day is because focusing on one day at a time is the best way to achieve success. You want to have a general plan, but the daily execution is what helps you make progress.

You have everything you need to make changes and accomplish major goals. You can do things that too many people believe are impossible if you believe and then take action. Use these tips to stay motivated each day. 

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5 Things the Best Leaders Do Every Day

Many people are leaders however good leader are rather few. As usual, we can hear people complaining day in and day out about their boss. So real leaders are few and try to make a change to be one of them.  "Be the difference"

Start by recognising your staff members for their good work. And do it in public. - will you do it?

1. Praise often -- and in public.

Most leaders understand the importance of employees, but only the best openly show their appreciation.

Employees aren’t seeking handouts in expensive gifts but rather want to know leaders see their hard work and determination. In fact, a January survey by OfficeVibe found that 82 percent of participating employees said they thought of recognition/praise as better than a gift.

After hearing employees speak highly of spouses’ employers who publicly praise employees, Stephen Twomey, founder of Traverse City, Mich.-based digital branding company MasterMindSEO, took the hint and applied it to his own company culture. Twomey said he finds one thing employees did exceptionally well the previous day or week and praises them in public for their work.

Engaging his team with different forms of praise keeps everyone inspired and motivated, he said. “Sometimes it’s in a group email, a shout-out on our social media, or a simple high five that everyone can see," Twomey said.

And, he said, it works. "Work productivity has increased by 30 percent," he said. "I don’t hear grumbling about being underappreciated, and no one is asking for a raise like they normally would around the beginning of the year. It turns out, people really want to be inspired and led -- not managed.”

2. Send employees out with a road map.

Effective communication and motivation go hand in hand. Employees who are unsure about their daily tasks rarely get the opportunity to go above and beyond. If their everyday tasks are unclear, how can they focus on improving them?

Ensuring employees are on the same page and know they’re part of a team boosts company morale and productivity. That’s why Jordan Scheltgen, co-founder and managing partner of content marketing company Cave Social in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., opens every day with a new process to help employees focus and achieve their goals.

“We started a program that we call ‘Attack the Day,’" he explained to me. "This is both a mindset and process. It starts with a 20-minute meeting every morning. Teams break off and list what they want to get accomplished for the day. Then, team members are encouraged to jump in and offer assistance to other staff members on tasks they can provide value on.”

3. Capture feedback -- and actually use it.

Keeping track of employees’ feelings -- especially when one of them is frustration -- is a difficult task. This is an even bigger challenge to tackle as businesses and technology expand. However, without attempting to understand your employees' feedback, your ability to retain employees and improve your company processes may become nearly impossible.

During a time of rapid growth at his own business, Benjamin Snyers, managing director and partner at New York City-based social agency Social.Lab, knew he needed to keep a close eye his team members’ weekly pulse. Using Butterfly, a personal management coach, Snyers said he discovered his team was feeling stressed and overworked. As a result, he formally communicated his gratitude to his team members for their hard work, recognized their sacrifices and explained why their efforts were not in vain.

After hearing feedback from employees and actively listening, Snyers said, he understood his team’s frustrations and was able to show them that the company leadership was 100 percent behind them.

4. Cultivate a positive workplace culture.

Motivating employees to reach the height of their potential is every company leader's job. Addressing motivational issues only once every quarter -- or worse, once a year -- drains employees’ productivity and passion for their role.

At advertising and marketing agency Gavin Advertising in York, Penn., CEO Mandy Arnold empowers and engages employees every day by creating a positive workplace culture.

“We incorporated ‘We Culture’ team shoutouts," she told me. "Every Monday, we take five minutes for teammates to thank someone -- out loud -- for doing a great job. It could be a nod to the effort behind a great media placement secured, or an SEO specialist who went above and beyond to solve a client issue on a tight timeline."

Frequent positive reinforcement, like the kind Arnold implements in her culture, brings out the best in employees. So, ensure the best talent stays and grows at your company by proving to those people that their company leaders are invested in bringing the team together and helping them reach their greatest potential.

5. Ask for feedback -- and prepare to be surprised.

Miscommunication doesn’t happen solely when employees don’t understand a leader’s expectations. It also happens, and leaves a lasting negative impact, when leaders aren’t fully aware of employees’ needs.

After feeling he wasn’t performing at his best, motivational speaker Sean Douglas of Goldsboro, N.C., realized he was giving employees feedback but wasn’t asking for it in return.

“I decided to ask for their feedback and I was very surprised by their response," Douglas said. "I thought I was awesome but was actually lacking in some areas. Now, I am personable with them. I ask for their needs, and I also ask for feedback on how I'm doing as leader and mentor."

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