Helping others is one of the fastest ways to build trust at work. The colleague who always says yes becomes the reliable partner, the dependable problem-solver, the person everyone turns to when deadlines loom. Yet what begins as a strength can quickly turn into a liability. Professionals who are too generous with their time risk being stretched thin, overlooked for advancement, and quietly resentful of the very culture they helped create.

True leadership isn’t about what you achieve. It’s about who you become.

Two decades of coaching leaders and developing myself as a leader have taught me a key lesson: Leadership isn’t a destination. Just when you think you’ve reached the top of the mountain, look up—you’ll see another peak waiting.
The truth is, there’s no secret sauce for leading yourself or others. Leadership is an ever-evolving process of learning and growing. The best leaders never stop evolving.

Sales that turn into cash fuel your business. Without sales, a business cannot generate the funds needed to cover expenses such as payroll, rent, inventory, and marketing. Sales also fuel growth, enabling businesses to invest in new opportunities, expand offerings, and improve their infrastructure. Sales are crucial for sustaining daily operations, ensuring financial stability, and driving long-term success and competitiveness in the market.

However, while celebrating high sales volume is understandable, it’s crucial to remember that sales without profit is a dangerous red flag.

If you're a founder, freelancer or small business owner, chances are you've had at least one sales conversation go sideways — and maybe more than you'd like to admit. After presenting your offer enthusiastically, the client counters with a laundry list of demands, challenges your pricing or continues to push for more without giving an inch in return.

Sound familiar?

In our work delivering sales training for entrepreneurs and small business owners, we encounter this scenario all the time. Many founders tell us the same thing: "I didn't start my business to be in sales." And yet, selling and negotiations are critical to your business's growth and survival.

Sales professionals today face mounting pressure to close deals quickly, often at the expense of profitability. Buyers come armed with data, competitors undercut prices, and procurement teams push for discounts as a default. But savvy negotiators know that price isn’t the only lever – and rarely the most important one.

The good news: You don’t have to drop your price to close the deal. With the right strategies rooted in preparation, persuasion, and partnership, you can win deals without compromising your worth.

Hour by hour, how we spend our time adds up to how we spend our lives — and for many of us, the sum can feel unsatisfying. Cultural attitudes embedded in adages like “time is money” spur us to prioritize efficiency and to look for ways to condense and consolidate to maximize how much we can get done. But which activities should we really prioritize if we want to craft our best lives at work and in life? We lack a way to assess our time spent from the perspective of the value we personally derive from it. We need such a measure if we are to make the best allocations of our time and build more satisfying lives.

A recent study by MIT reveals a concerning statistic: 95 percent of AI pilot projects fail. This alarming rate highlights significant challenges in transitioning AI from experimental stages to successful implementations within organizations. Understanding the root causes of these failures is crucial for businesses aiming to leverage AI effectively.

Key reasons for the failure of AI pilots
A lack of clear, well-defined objectives. Many organizations embark on AI pilot projects without a precise understanding of the problem they aim to solve or the specific business value they expect to gain. This often leads to projects that are technically sound but fail to deliver real results. Ultimately, this makes it difficult to justify further investment or time.

That was the start of my call with a chief human resources officer (CHRO) at a reputable nonprofit recently. They reached out looking for resources to support what seemed like a rapidly declining workplace culture. Teams weren’t working together as well as they used to, employees weren’t performing at their usual level, and managers were at a loss about what to do. Something was off.

I reminded the CHRO that they’ve been here before. The culprit? Uncertainty.

CEOs spend their careers mastering performance metrics: revenue, EBITDA, market share, retention, and more. They train for scaling, handling crises, navigating disruption, better leadership abilities, managing public relations, and much more. But there’s one leadership moment few prepare for: stepping down.

Succession arrives for every leader. And the end of a tenure isn’t just an operational shift; it’s an identity shift. The stimulation, challenges, and constant decision-making that defined daily life for years suddenly disappear.

AI sales tools are changing how vendors offer products. So are human sales pros still needed? You betcha! The next SAP Insights newsletter explains.

Salespeople in the time of AI: Sales is in the “is AI going to take my job?” category. AI tools for sales are helping companies craft customized product plans—see: the rise of consumption-based pricing—to help customers get the most out of their investment. So, who needs people, right? Your customers do, that’s who! They, too, love a good AI tool, but they also love a salesperson who they trust, who knows their company, and who gets them.

When does the sales cycle end?
Many sales professionals believe that a signed purchase order is the be-all and end-all of the sales process. However, in the buyer’s mind, a signed purchase order is the beginning – a tentative step toward the ultimate goal: value realization.
That’s the essential element of both buyer-first and value-based selling: elevating interactions above the transactional and focusing on building long-term relationships with buyers to enable their success.

Depending on what you sell, you may be experiencing a period of stagnation. Some of my clients are finding that their customers are delaying buy decisions, often choosing a “wait and see” approach. Why? In most instances, there is no urgency for them to invest, so their preference is to wait until some point in the future. The good news is this can create pent-up demand, which will need to be filled at some point soon. However, that doesn’t help you close sales right now.

Management professionals have a challenging but rewarding job, leading their employees to new heights and encouraging their growth. The best management books for managers and leaders can help these supervisors improve at and excel in their jobs. From offering actionable ways to inspire employees to reminding managers that they don’t know it all, these works can open doors to promotions and boost productivity. Anyone who aspires to achieve bigger things needs a game plan. This list of books for managers can help you create your plan and execute it to perfection while motivating your employees to bring their own A games to work.

Steve Jobs often talked about different traits that lead to success, if only because he was so often asked. One was being willing to ask for help. Another was taking an unconventional path, and doing things other people typically don’t—or won’t—consider. Another was collecting a wide variety of experiences so you could solve problems in unique ways. But the Apple co-founder reserved special attention for perseverance. As Jobs said:

I’m convinced that about half of what separates successful entrepreneurs from the non-successful ones is pure perseverance. It is so hard. You pour so much of your life into this thing. There are such rough moments … that most people give up. I don’t blame them. It’s really tough.

In our chaotic and fast-paced world, emotional intelligence keeps us grounded. It helps us be successful in our work and remain satisfied with our lives. Often we focus on what it means to be emotionally intelligent, and what actions emotionally intelligent people take. However, we rarely ask what things emotionally intelligent people don’t do.

Here are seven habits emotionally intelligent people avoid at all costs.

This article sounds like a beast, but it’s one of the shortest I’ve ever written. My backup title was Adventures in Account Management, but I didn’t want to get too cute. Here we go!
I was at the optometrist’s office, waiting for my broken glasses to be fixed, when SHE walked in.
She approached the receptionist and said, “I’m the new rep for [an eyeglass frame company], and I stopped by to introduce myself.”
She handed over her business card and bolted out the door.
Are. You. Kidding. Me?

The rollout of Google’s AI search function has led to a significant decline in Web traffic, making it even more challenging for businesses to manage their online presence. The rise of large language model AIs is transforming how internet users discover information, forcing organizations to reorient their digital approach towards truly owning their relationships with their customers and visitors.
For decades, organic search has been a somewhat straightforward – albeit constantly evolving – discovery tool: users Google a question, click links and land on a site. Search engine optimization strategies could improve a website’s ranking in search results, and a wide web funnel helped convert customers.

If you’ve ever tried canceling an internet subscription or disputing an unexpected charge, you know the drill: Hold music, chatbot loops and long wait times. For consumers, it’s often a friction-filled experience. For companies, it’s both a cost center and a branding liability.

In 2024, Qualtrics XM Institute reported that poor customer experience was putting $3.7 trillion in global sales at risk. And while many companies have deployed AI assistants to handle routine tasks, those tools typically stop short of full resolution.

The 10 biggest risks facing companies today underscore an important reality about preparing for the next crisis—the nature of the risks that can trigger a crisis are always subject to change.

The top threat that is now confronting companies is disinformation that is often driven by polarized political agendas, according to the latest quarterly Reputation Risk Index that was conducted by the Global Risk Advisory Council. Compare that risk to the Council’s Index for the first quarter of the year, in which the misuse of AI was the top-ranked threat.

Micromanagement gets a really bad rap. The word itself makes team members cringe and leaders bristle. But what if I told you not all micromanagement is bad? In fact, when done right, it’s not about control; it’s about clarity.

I have a fresh take on micromanagement for you: it’s all about improving your micromanagement of outcomes, not individuals. This approach isn’t about hovering over someone’s shoulder and scrutinizing every little detail. It’s more about being dialed in to what truly matters—vision, expectations, communication, and feedback. When a leader is clear, present, and informed, teams thrive. When a leader checks out, confusion follows.