Don’t let too much sitting at your desk harm your health

by
Entrepreneur

@FortuneMagazine

3:32 PM EST

This post is in partnership with Entrepreneur. The article below was originally published at Entrepreneur.com.

By Jay Cardiello, Entrepreneur.com

It is not unusual to find entrepreneurs and executives at their desks for 10 to 12 (and even more) hours a day, determined to create, grow and sustain their businesses. While hard work almost always leads to business success, sitting at a desk all day can also have negative consequences.

Recently, several studies have pointed to the dangerous effects of prolonged sitting. A study by German researchers found that sitting too much is the new smoking — raising your risk of diabetes, heart disease and even some cancers. And the risk actually increases with each two-hour period of sitting time.

Another review recently published in The Journal of the National Cancer Institute confirms that sitting can be fatal, with too much sitting being associated with a 24 percent increased risk of colon cancer, a 32 percent increased risk of endometrial cancer, and a 21 percent increased risk of lung cancer. The really bad news? Not even exercise can reverse the harmful effects of sedentary behavior.

Business owners can either let this information scare them, or make some simple changes and do something about it. My mantra has always been, “change your life, not your lifestyle.” Successful business owners are never going to close up shop, or start working less. They have a business to run! Instead, it’s about finding ways to incorporate health and fitness into what we already do every day.

Movement is the key. Our bodies were never made to sit hunched over a desk or computer all day. The negative effects on our circulation, respiration and posture show up in the statistics of how many people suffer from diseases and back problems from sitting. When you combine this with poor nutrition and obesity, the effects are even worse. Add to this the mental aspect: a lack of movement increases fatigue, reduces focus, adds stress and lowers productivity.

Below are some of my top tips for incorporating movement into your day:

1. Change the way you sit

A new way of sitting called motion seating can help you keep moving and burning calories while you work. Swopper chairs allow for bouncing, moving, perching and rocking, while also helping maintain proper posture. Moving while sitting every day vs. sedentary sitting has a profound cumulative effect on health while also improving mood, mental clarity, focus and increasing energy levels. The new muvman chairs are perfect for the modern workplace.

2. Walk while you talk

Take conference calls while you walk around the office. This is not only good for fitness, but it helps manage stress and fires up creativity.

3. Move every hour

Every hour at work, have a little ringer go off from your cell phone, or set yourself a computer reminder to take a stretch, walk to the nearest copy machine or grab water.

4. Take 10-minute exercise breaks

It can be hard for business owners to find time during the day to get in a full 30-minute workout or hit the gym. Instead, try exercising at your desk in various 10-minute intervals. This could include simple things such as 50 stand-ups, squatting into your chair; 100 arm rolls forward, 100 backward; 10 to 15 desk push ups and wall squats.

5. Alter your behaviors

Find ways to move without really trying or without changing your activities. Park near the back of the parking lot and walk. Take the stairs instead of the elevator, stand up to visit the file cabinet instead of rolling your chair or go see a co-worker in person instead of emailing them.

Related from Entrepreneur:

5 Unhealthy Workplace Habits to Break in 2015

What’s Really Killing You (and It Isn’t Ebola)

Cubicles Were Originally Designed to Set Us Free and Now They’re Slowly Killing Us

‘Light Girls’ producer Stephanie Frederic on colorism and her Hollywood success

by
Entrepreneur

@FortuneMagazine

January 23, 2015, 7:40 AM EST

This post is in partnership with Essence. The article below was originally published at Essence.com.

By Charreah K. Jackson, ESSENCE

Bill Duke’s new documentary Light Girls shares the stories of lighter-toned women. Producer Stephanie Frederic knows the impact of colorism firsthand and considers the film the hardest project on her 150-film resume. See her career journey and advice for healing colorism.

Name: Stephanie Frederic
Title: CEO of FGW Productions
Location: Los Angeles
Hometown: Alexandria, LA

The gig: I am the producer of the documentary Light Girls which will premiered on the Oprah Winfrey Network January 19th. I am the CEO of FGW Productions, we produce footage and trailers for movies, television and documentaries to market to multicultural communities. I have worked on 150 movies including Ride Along 2 and The Princess and the Frog.

The journey: I started my career as a television news reporter for years with the intent of becoming a news anchor. When I moved to Los Angeles, I started interviewing celebrities and covering movies. I was approached by someone from a studio for an opportunity to help out on a little project for Disney DIS . That was Toy Story. I continued to work with Disney and created my company in 1997. My company transformed into this business of helping to market movies to communities of color, which make up 51% of the box office.

The making of Light Girls: This documentary was the toughest thing I’ve ever done. Colorism is a tough conversation that Black women have been running from for a long time. When you touch a nerve, you find out there’s shock, there’s hurt and there’s pain. We interviewed over 250 men and women for this documentary. That’s six times more than what you would normally do, but there were so many stories. Every interview was emotional. I’m a light-skinned girl from New Orleans and I feel that this documentary was my family’s story. I wanted to be a part of it even though I tried to turn Bill Duke down because I knew it wasn’t going to be easy. It kept nagging at me, and I came back and told him yes.

Her Light Girls epiphanies: We have celebrities, business executives and everyday women from around the country, South Africa, Japan and the Caribbean. It was the everyday women that made the documentary. I don’t know how many celebrities would say, “I’m a light-skinned girl, because my mother was raped” or “I was involved in sex trafficking because they preferred light women, so they kidnapped me.” A lot of people think lighter skin gives you preference and privilege, but we have women that tell a totally different story.

Healing colorism: As Black women we’ve been cultured to compare and not connect. When it comes to the healing, we need to have honest conversations. We need to say to one another, “Hey. You know what? I was jealous of you” or “I didn’t like you” or “I so wish my skin was as beautiful and brown as yours.”

Being a Black woman in film: There’s power in sisterhood. Imagine what would happen if we all came together. I’m working with a group of women right now. We’re starting a women’s film fund, so we can start funding films and tell African-American and women’s stories.

Her biggest lesson learned: People matter. I’m good at what I do, but it takes a team for us to do what I do. You’ve got to make sure your people are taken care of and treat them right. I go by what Maya Angelou says, “People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”

Her stress reliever: My big thing now is marathon training. I run with a group of women. We’re called Thoroughbreds, because we’re over a certain weight and over a certain age.

Her work-life strategy: I think you can make time for what you want. Work balance is something that has always been a challenge. I take little mini-breaks, so I’m not exhausted at the end of the day. I also call my family and they always ground me.

Her superpower: My daily grind. I stop at nothing. That comes from my days as a reporter. You just keep going.

Her boss accessory: It’s all about the suit. I’ve got a couple power suits. I may go cheaper on the blouse, but not on the slacks or the jacket. It’s about the fit. I prefer Boss suits in navy.

Her career highlight: I interviewed Nelson Mandela right after he was elected president. The network I was working at didn’t want to pay for the trip, so I paid my own way on a credit card to Johannesburg. I’ve got a nice photograph with him and he autographed his election poster for me. That’s priceless.

Her tech must-haves: I love Uber and TaskRabbit. I’m a single woman, so every once in a while I need somebody to help me with things around the house. I no longer have to call that ex that I shouldn’t be calling.

Every week, connect with a different woman making moves in a dynamic career. Sign up for the ESSENCE Network Newsletter.

The algorithmic CEO

@FortuneMagazine

January 22, 2015, 7:06 AM EST

The single greatest instrument of change in today’s business world, and the one that is creating major uncertainties for an ever-growing universe of companies, is the advancement of mathematical algorithms and their related sophisticated software. Never before has so much artificial mental power been available to so many—power to deconstruct and predict patterns and changes in everything from consumer behavior to the maintenance requirements and operating lifetimes of industrial machinery. In combination with other technological factors—including broadband mobility, sensors, and vastly increased data-crunching capacity—algorithms are dramatically changing both the structure of the global economy and the nature of business.

Though still in its infancy, the use of algorithms has already become an engine of creative destruction in the business world, fracturing time-tested business models and implementing dazzling new ones. The effects are most visible so far in retailing, creating new and highly interactive relationships between businesses and their customers, and making it possible for giant corporations to deal with customers as individuals. At Macy’s, for instance, algorithmic technology is helping fuse the online and the in-store experience, enabling a shopper to compare clothes online, try something on at the store, order it online, and return it in person. Algorithms help determine whether to pull inventory from a fulfillment center or a nearby store, while location-based technologies let companies target offers to specific consumers while they are shopping in stores.

Now the revolution is entering a new and vastly expansive stage in which machines are communicating with other machines without human intervention, learning through artificial intelligence and making consistent decisions based on prescribed rules and processed through algorithms. This capability has rapidly expanded into potential connections between billions and billions of devices in the ever-expanding “Internet of things,” which integrates machines and devices with networked sensors and software, allowing the remote monitoring and adjustment of industrial machinery, for instance, or the management of supply chains.

Take, for example, General Electric GE , which has already turned itself into a math house. It has assembled a staff in Silicon Valley to provide customers with advanced analytics that do such things as predict when equipment maintenance is due. As of the middle of last year, this quintessential industrial company had about two-thirds of its $250 billion backlog in orders from services based on its mathematical intellectual property.

Machine-to-machine communication and learning also help managers increase their capability and capacity and the speed of their decisions. The potential uses have barely been scratched, and the growth opportunities of this bend in the road can be immense for those who seize them.

The companies that have the new mathematical capabilities possess a huge advantage over those that don’t. Google GOOG , Facebook FB , and Amazon AMZN were created as mathematical corporations. Apple AAPL became a math corporation after Steve Jobs returned as CEO. This trend will accelerate. Legacy companies that can’t make the shift will be vulnerable to digitally minded competitors.

One of the biggest changes the algorithmic approach brings for both businesses and consumers is a rich new level of interactivity. The customer experience for many legacy companies is often secondhand or thirdhand. A company’s offerings are, for example, bought by distributor X, which in turn sells to retailer Y, which sells to an individual—so the actual user is not the purchaser. In today’s online math houses, by contrast, actual users are increasingly interacting directly with the company—buying and giving feedback without any intermediaries. The companies can track and even predict consumer preferences in real time and adjust strategies and offerings on the run to meet changing demands, which gives consumers leverage they never had before. The data accumulated from these interactions can be used for a variety of purposes. A company can map out in extreme detail all touch points of a user or buyer, gather information at each touch point, and convert it to a math engine from which managerial decisions can be made about resource allocation, product modification, innovation, and/or new product development. The data can also be used as a diagnostic tool—for example, it can reveal signals and seeds of potential external change and help identify uncertainties and new opportunities. It can point to anomalies from past trends and whether they are becoming a pattern, and help spot new needs or trends that are emerging and could make a business obsolete.

Indeed, the math house is shaping up as a new stage in the evolution of relations between businesses and consumers. The first stage, before the Industrial Revolution, was one-to-one transactions between artisans and their customers. Then came the era of mass production and mass markets, followed by the segmenting of markets and semi-customization of the buying experience. With companies such as Amazon able to collect and control information on the entire experience of a customer, the math house now can focus on each customer as an individual. In a manner of speaking, we are evolving back to the artisan model, where a market “segment” comprises one individual.

The ability to connect the corporation to the customer experience and touch points in real time has deep implications for the organization of the future. It speeds decision-making and allows leaders to flatten the organization, in some cases cutting organizational layers by half. A large proportion of traditional middle-management jobs (managers managing managers) will disappear, while the content of those jobs that remain will radically alter. The company’s overhead will be reduced by an order of magnitude. In addition, performance metrics will be totally redesigned and transparent, enhancing collaboration in a corporation—or its ecosystems—across silos, geographies, time zones, and cultures.

To some degree, every company will have to become a math house. This will require more than hiring new kinds of expertise and grafting new skills onto the existing organization. Many companies will need to substantially change the way they are organized, managed, and led. Every organization will have to make use of algorithms in its decision-making. The use of algorithms will have to become as much a part of tomorrow’s management vocabulary as, say, profit margins and the supply chain are today. And every member of the executive team will need to understand his or her role in growing the business.

Ram Charan is a veteran adviser to many Fortune 500 companies and co-author of the bestselling book, Execution.

This story is from the February 2015 issue of Fortune.

Admire Elon Musk all you want, but please don’t manage like him

by
Entrepreneur

@FortuneMagazine

January 21, 2015, 5:13 AM EST

Elon Musk roared into the Detroit Auto Show last week and made plain that it’s not only his Tesla TSLA electric cars that are expected to meet the very highest performance standards, gunning from zero to 60 miles per hour in a McLaren-like 3.2 seconds. He rides his employees awfully hard, as well.

“If you are fighting a battle, it’s way better if you are at the front lines,” Musk told the Wall Street Journal, describing himself not as a mere micromanager but as something far more intense—a “nano-manager.”

Indeed, Musk makes no apologies for what the Journal described as “a hands-on obsession with the tiniest operational and car-design details at Tesla.” It’s safe to say that his domineering style doesn’t differ at SpaceX, the rocket company he founded and runs.

Musk is the envy of many—and why not? He’s a billionaire. He was married (twice) to a beautiful actress. He has plans to visit Mars someday. He nonchalantly tosses around the word “Hyperloop.” Heck, he’s the model for Tony Stark, the swashbuckling genius played by Robert Downey Jr. in the “Iron Man” films.

But before legions of executives start trying to be nano-managers, here’s a note of caution: This is a terrible way to get the most out of your people.

Workers perform best when they’re in what Paul Zak, my colleague at Claremont Graduate University, describes as a “high-trust environment.” By looking at some 5,000 employees at about 50 companies, Zak and his team at the Center for Neuroeconomics Studies have found that those in high-trust situations are 19% more productive than those in low-trust workplaces. One crucial aspect of being in a high-trust setting, Zak explains, is having “the freedom to take on projects the way you choose to.”

When people’s autonomy in the workplace is sharply curtailed, they feel as if they’ve lost control—and, in turn, their brains react as if they’re being threatened. That raises their level of stress, which often causes them to perform poorly. “Feeling in control, even if it’s an illusion, is key to … cognitive ability staying intact,” Amy Arnsten, a professor of neurobiology and psychology at Yale, has pointed out.

Great managers have always known the trouble with dictating to employees. Successfully motivating employees “involves teaching rather than telling,” William B. Given Jr., the president of American Brake Shoe Co., wrote in his 1949 classic Bottom-Up Management.

This dynamic is especially important in today’s fast-moving world, when organizations need everyone, from top to bottom, to continually come up with fresh ideas. “The tighter the controls you enforce, the lower the innovation,” says F. Asis Martinez-Jerez, a business professor at Notre Dame. In a 2011 study, he and two colleagues studied casino workers under different degrees of management oversight. Their conclusion: “Employees in ‘tightly monitored’ business units face strong implicit incentives to experiment less by deviating less often from explicit decision guidelines.” As a consequence, they “have fewer opportunities to learn” new ways to serve their customers.

There are, of course, instances where a by-the-book culture is appropriate. Tasks in which safety is a paramount concern may demand a tighter leash, for example. Managing during a crisis may also require a heavier hand.

More generally, all employees need direction. The antidote to micromanagement is not to abdicate all management and disappear. Rather, the ideal is to offer employees what former Gucci Group CEO Robert Polet liked to call “freedom within the framework.”

The best leaders set “extremely high standards when it comes to things like the customer experience and the design of the product,” says Chris Yeh, general partner at Wasabi Ventures and co-author with LinkedIn Chairman Reid Hoffman and Ben Casnocha of The Alliance: Managing Talent in the Networked Age. “They provide detailed coaching and actionable feedback.”

Jim Harter, Gallup’s chief scientist for Workplace Management and Well-Being, agrees. His research shows that employees are most engaged when it’s been made clear to them what outcomes they’re responsible for—and are then put in an optimal position to use their strengths to achieve those results.

The trick is to not push it too far—to not “over-manage,” as Harter puts it. The Journal reported that at Tesla, “some high-level managers quit or were fired after clashing with the chief executive over Mr. Musk’s insistence on doing things his way.” This jibes with Zak’s studies: High-trust companies, he says, boast 70% greater job satisfaction and 69% higher job retention than low-trust ones.

In the end, a manager’s role is to find that sweet spot between Iron Man and Invisible Woman.

Rick Wartzman is the executive director of the Drucker Institute at Claremont Graduate University. Author or editor of five books, he is currently writing a narrative history of how the social contract between employer and employee in America has changed since the end of World War II.

Learn more about the latest Tesla news from Fortune’s video team:

Starbucks’ COO Alstead taking ‘extended unpaid leave’

by
Entrepreneur

@FortuneMagazine

January 9, 2015, 4:01 AM EST

Starbucks Corp SBUX said late Thursday its Chief Operating Officer Troy Alstead, who as finance chief helped lead its extensive restructuring a few years ago, is taking an extended unpaid leave to spend more time with his family.

The announcement comes amid concerns on Wall Street that Starbucks later this month could report disappointing results from the holiday quarter, traditionally its biggest for sales.

In October, Starbucks said the early re-launch of its popular Pumpkin Spice Latte seasonal drink failed to heat up business at its U.S. cafes in the quarter that ended Sept. 28.

Last month, Starbucks announced it would add beer and wine, lunch and evening food selections and roll out mobile ordering in a bid to jolt U.S. traffic.

“My expectation is that the company will miss the (fiscal first) quarter, which will be the second quarter in a row, and Troy is taking the heat for that,” said Hedgeye Risk Management analyst Howard Penney, who is bearish on Starbucks.

Penney said traffic to Starbucks cafés has decelerated as the chain’s food menu has expanded. McDonald’s Corp MCD , which has not posted growth in sales at established U.S. restaurants since October 2013, also is struggling with bloated menus, he said.

“I want to be clear that Troy’s decision to take his Coffee Break/Sabbatical and suggestions that his departure is somehow linked to his health or our financial performance last quarter are false, off-base and irresponsible,” CEO Howard Schultz wrote in a memo to employees that was seen by Reuters.

Alstead has been with Starbucks for 23 years, the company said, and his last day in his current role will be March 1.

“The next year is for my wife and children, to give them my dedicated time and attention,” Alstead said in an employee memo that was obtained by Reuters.

Starbucks spokesman Jim Olson said Alstead had planned to take a similar break in 2008 but delayed it at the urging of Chief Executive Howard Schultz, who asked the then-CFO to help turn around the company after the recession sent Starbucks business into a swoon.

Starbucks said Alstead and Schultz will detail transition plans on the company’s quarterly earnings call, scheduled for Jan. 22.

GrubHub CEO gives himself a performance review, after a whirlwind year

by
Entrepreneur

@FortuneMagazine

January 6, 2015, 1:37 PM EST

Online food ordering company GrubHub entered 2014 on the heels of a merger with competitor Seamless, executed an initial public offering, and bid adieu to co-founder Mike Evans, all in the first half of the year. To say the company tackled a lot is an understatement.

“There were a lot of balls in motion at the same time, so managing and choreographing that dance over the year was pretty challenging,” CEO Matt Maloney tells Fortune.

So far, it seems like GrubHub GRUB and Maloney have managed to keep pace with all of the change quite well. The company’s stock is up by a little over 9% since its April 2014 IPO, and its revenue increased by 51% in the third quarter of 2014, compared to the same period in 2013.

To pull off such growth in 2014, though, Maloney says he had to change the way he worked. “Building relationships and putting more trust in my team was a key area of growth for me in 2014. With so many changes over the last year, I’ve had to continuously assess how I need to shift my roles and responsibilities.”

After making it through the last 12 months, Maloney says he feels confident that GrubHub can handle whatever else comes down the pike. “How has that changed me as a manager and a leader? It’s given me a lot of confidence, but I really can’t take all the credit,” he says.

In the first big challenge of the year, GrubHub needed to complete its merger with Seamless, making sure that both companies’ values and cultures were represented in the combined company. “We redefined aspects of who we believe we are and we did that in a shared way,” Maloney says.

Senior leaders invited employee teams to pitch ideas for improving the business in a “Grub Tank,” modeled after the “Shark Tank” television show. The company is acting on all five of the proposals that ended up as finalists.

“One of the most daunting challenges was, how do you bring these abstract values to life in the context of everything else that’s going on with the company?” he says. For instance, the company relies heavily on restaurant and user research, and the physical experience of the food business. Now, the GrubHub’s Chicago and New York offices have an in-house restaurant called Slice, where employees package and serve their co-workers cake.

“It is a way for our dev and product teams to really experience what it was like to be a delivery restaurant team,” Maloney says. “That’s absolutely in line with some of our values … to really give people a tactile physical experience.”

It was important to keep a focus on the factors that would prepare GrubHub for long-term success. “I didn’t want the positive emotions around a successful IPO to just blow out these values, which are more fundamental and resonant to a long-term culture than just a splashy IPO,” he says.

At GrubHub, the past year was all about balancing several demanding priorities. Maloney says that it was challenging to work on the IPO—meeting with lawyers, bankers, board members, and new investors—while tending to the day-to-day needs of the company.

Most companies accomplish half as much as GrubHub did in 2014, without having to contend with the effects of a merger.

For 2015, Maloney says he will focus on putting trust in the team he’s put in place and to be a good listener. “Leadership is about guiding and supporting and listening and modifying. I don’t have all the answers and I never have. But I’ve had good hunches, and I’ve talked to a lot of smart people. And I’m able to refine those hunches into clear direction and communicate that,” he says.

It was bittersweet to see his co-founder Mike Evans leave the company, but Maloney notes that his departure had been planned for some time as the company matured and Evans grew interested in pursuing other things. “It was fun to see Mike every day. It was fun to solve problems with him collaboratively,” Maloney says. “Our friendship hasn’t gone away. We still see each other and we still talk. He’s still a significant shareholder, as he likes to remind me.”

Maloney’s leadership style has changed in the decade that GrubHub transformed from a venture-backed to a publicly traded company. “When we were venture backed, we had a smaller group of investors who were more involved in the business. Now, we have to think about how we communicate more broadly with a much wider audience of investors,” he says

“I’ve changed over the years to adapt to the needs of our organization. What the company needed from me when we were a team of two in 2004 to today when we have 800 employees across three offices is very different.”

Microsoft releases diversity stats: How the tech giant sizes up

by
Entrepreneur

@FortuneMagazine

January 5, 2015, 5:28 PM EST

Microsoft’s CEO Satya Nadella kept his promise and released the tech giant’s federally-mandated diversity numbers to public scrutiny.

In mid-December, Microsoft MSFT quietly released its EEO-1 form, a federal filing that outlines employment data by race and gender according to job type. While Microsoft has diversity in its highest ranks, including an African-American board chairman, an Indian CEO and a female CFO, the overall statistics are less flattering: the company is 60.6% white and 71% male, according to its EEO-1 form.

Under the Civil Rights Act of 1964, every company is required to file file an EEO-1 form, listing employment data by race/ethnicity, gender and job category. The federal government is prohibited from making any of the compliance surveys public.

Learn more about diversity in tech from Fortune’s video team:

A host of tech companies have revealed their diversity numbers in the last year, although some big name firms have remained stubbornly silent, including Amazon AMZN , IBM IBM and Oracle ORCL .

At Microsoft’s annual meeting on Dec. 3, Nadella vowed to publicize EEO-1 numbers after Rev. Jesse Jackson called on the tech industry to improve its diversity. Microsoft had released only certain diversity data points since 2006.

So, how does Microsoft compare to other tech companies?

Fortune.com examined the data released so far, which includes 10 tech companies’ federal EEO-1 filings, some company blog posts and annual corporate reports. That means there could be slight differences to how the information was collected and categorized. It’s not an entirely parallel comparison, but it does provide some insights.

Here’s how Microsoft stacks up.

10 ways to say ‘no’ that won’t damage business or relationships

by
Entrepreneur

@FortuneMagazine

January 2, 2015, 8:47 PM EST

This story is in partnership with Entrepeneur. This post was originally published at Entrepreneur.com

Martin Zwilling, ENTREPRENEUR

Every entrepreneur I know can’t find enough hours in a day to do the good things they want, and yet they often find themselves saying yes to new requests. Perhaps because they are optimists by nature, or they just hate to disappoint others, they end up hurting their health, credibility and effectiveness by not being able to deliver on everything they promise.

In addition to saying yes too often, some entrepreneurs under pressure say no poorly, by attacking the requestor or by avoiding any definitive response. Either of these approaches always make a difficult situation worse, often leading to guilt or a later accommodation.

A successful entrepreneur must be accountable for all commitments, and manage expectations to make this possible. So here are some tips I have learned over the years from strong leaders that can help you say no without damaging current business relationships or future opportunities:

1. Establish boundaries and honor them for all to see

Let your constituents know your priorities and limits. Don’t continually break your own rules about when you are available or what requests are acceptable. Your actions must match your words, so don’t say yes when you mean no.

2. Ask for time to check your calendar

It’s an acceptable business practice to review your schedule or converse with other principals before committing to an answer. Don’t respond with a quick yes that you can’t deliver, or a quick no that will ruin a relationship. In all cases, it’s important to commit to a date or time for a final yes or no.

3. Give credence to your initial instinct

Recognize that your brain and your body often register information that is more accurate than an optimistic emotional reaction, or a negative reaction after a long hard day. Take a deep breath, clear your mind of any external distractions, and analyze your gut reaction before providing any answer.

4. Voice both the pros and cons to a trusted cohort

Speaking the considerations out loud will help you make sure you understand the full implications of either a yes or a no answer. Every yes answer increases your workload, and every no answer may cut off an opportunity you need down the road. Talking it out also buys you time.

5. Explore the possibility of a reciprocal favor

This will help the requester understand the impact of the request, and potentially reconsider. In other cases, you may actually get back more than you give up. Every yes should be a win-win proposition, just like strategic partnerships can bring huge growth to both businesses, despite the work.

6. Explain your constraints before saying no

Rejection without giving context implies an unreasonable request or a problem with the requestor. People making a request may not understand your budget limitations, current workload or competitive pressures. In this context, you can also make an encouraging statement about future requests.

7. Say yes to the person and no to the task

Make sure the requestor understands first how positively you feel about them, despite the fact that the requested task cannot be accommodated in your current workload, strategy or other boundary. Requestors are then less likely to be left with the impression that your rejection is a personal affront.

8. Sandwich your no between two positives

Make your answer more palatable with a positive explanation. For example, if your partner asks you to cover a conference, but you have development deadlines at risk, explain these commitments (first yes), how they lock you in town (no), and finish by confirming your focus to an on-time product (second yes).

9. Defer the decision to a better environment

Ask for the opportunity to discuss the request when you can give the requestor your full attention. When you are in the normal chaos of the startup day, both parties can be easily misinterpreted. Pay attention to body language and tone that often make the negative response more difficult to receive.

10. Make sure your words are non-defensive but clearly stated

No one wins when a requestor reads your softly spoken no as a yes or a maybe. Long, detailed explanations are usually read as defensive or confrontational. The answer should be strong and non-emotional. Just say no clearly, and smile as you say it.

You don’t have to be viewed as a yes person to be viewed as a leader. In fact, if you look at the leaders around you, they are not afraid to say no to the conventional wisdom, and they gain respect for doing it. They have learned the art of saying no with the same conviction and passion they use in saying yes. That’s the best way to change the world and save yourself, so start today.

7 holiday traditions that are practical and profitable all year long

by
Entrepreneur

@FortuneMagazine

January 2, 2015, 12:19 PM EST

This post is in partnership with Entrepreneur. The article below was originally published at Entrepreneur.com.

By Dixie Gallaspie, Entrepreneur.com

Here we are at the beginning of a New Year. The revelry of the holidays is behind us, and it’s time to get serious and get back to work. But before we get too deep into goals, strategies, tactics and financial projections, let’s take a look at how you can turn some traditional holiday practices into greater profits in 2015.

1. Celebrations.

My clients and I use the phrase “Pop a cork!” as a cue to stop and celebrate. Why? Because sharing a toast does two things; it recognizes progress and potential. It says, “Wow, something great happened, and here’s a toast to having more of it!”

That’s the kind of energy we need to keep us moving all year long, so don’t save your celebrations for the beginning of 2016, find a reason to pop a cork (real or virtual) at least once a month.

2. Gratitude.

We’re reminded, during the holidays, of how much we have to be grateful for. Expressing gratitude can be a powerful exercise in business as well. Take stock of all the things you have to be grateful for in your professional life. All the people you’ve connected with, all the experience you’ve accumulated, all the clients you’ve served. Guess what you’ve done. You’ve inventoried your resources. And you’ve probably uncovered a few that are undeveloped; people you’ve neglected, talents and skills you haven’t leveraged, testimonials you haven’t asked for. Develop those resources, and you’ll have more reasons to say “Pop a cork” and even more to be grateful for the next time you take stock.

3. Sending cards.

Right now it’s probably easy to remember the last time you received a physical card, with a stamp and a handwritten address. But by March you’ll probably have to think back three months to remember how it felt knowing someone took the time to think of you.

If it’s true for you it’s probably true for some people who are important to your business. They may be prospects you haven’t worked with yet, referral sources you haven’t talked to for a while, or even ex-employees who’ve gone on to bigger things but might be your best source of talent and clients if you keep the relationship fresh. Anyone who showed up on your gratitude inventory should probably go on your “just because” greeting card list.

4. Giving gifts.

Do you know when you’ll find the most sugar in your dentist’s office? You got it, between Thanksgiving and New Year’s. That’s because general dentists refer business to dental specialists. So every year they get an avalanche of gifts from the practices who have received their referrals. And, as ironic as it may be, most of those gifts are sweets.

Gifts are sweet any time of year. In fact, they’re even sweeter when they aren’t anticipated, or expected. You don’t have to give big gifts, it might just mean spending a little extra time with a client or making a small contribution to a cause you know an employee holds dear. It’s more than the thought that counts, but it’s the thought that counts the most in building meaningful relationships with your referral partners, prospects, employees and friends of the business.

5. Parties.

Not the drink until dawn kind of parties. With the exception of a few industries, those probably won’t do much for your reputation. But during the holidays we take more time to reconnect, see people we haven’t seen for a while, and hang out with no agenda except catching up or getting to know each other a little better. Anyone can put together a networking event, the real key to building business relationships by hosting get-togethers is to let go of the agendas and simply connect.

6. Reflection.

Each year as we say “goodbye” to the old and “hello” to the new, many of us have made a practice of reflecting on the year past. But in business we usually go straight into analysis mode. What a SWOTT analysis of the business won’t tell us is our own strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats and trends. Yet, the greatest strengths and opportunities, as well as the greatest weaknesses and threats, aren’t going to be found in looking at operations, or profit margins, or sales funnels or market trends. You’ll only become aware of them by looking at leadership. And that begins with you.

7. Resolutions.

Most people have “failed” on their New Year’s resolutions so many times they’ve given up on making them. That’s because most people don’t really make sure they have the resolve to do what they say they’re going to do. Even more people don’t realize that resolving isn’t a onetime activity, it’s a daily practice that becomes easier with repitition. Keep resolving, on New Year’s Day and the 364 days that follow, and you’re likely to find a lot of your problems resolved by this time next year.

More from Entrepreneur:

4 Motivating TED Talks to Help You Keep Your New Year’s Resolutions

For Entrepreneurs, The Gift-Giving Season is Year Round

5 Simple Ways to Express Gratitude Every Day

CEO gives back bonus, says he doesn’t deserve it

by
Entrepreneur

@FortuneMagazine

December 18, 2014, 2:50 PM EST

Well, here’s something you don’t see too often. Or maybe never…

Rick Holley is CEO of Plum Creek Timber Co. PCL , a Seattle-based real estate investment trust that owns and manages around 6.8 million acres of timberland in 19 states. Today Holley disclosed, via a regulatory filing, that he has returned 44,445 restricted stock units back to the company because “he does not believe that he should receive such an award unless Plum Creek’s stockholders see an increase in their investment return.”

At today’s opening price of $41.80 per share, Holley’s giveback would work out to more than $1.85 million.

To be sure, it’s been a rough 18 months for Plum Creek shareholders, in part due to low levels of new home construction. The stock hit an all-time high of $54.04 per share on May 12,2013, before falling as low as $39 per share on October 1, 2014. Revenue has also been nearly flat over the past two years, while net income is expected to fall in fiscal 2014. That said, it’s hard to remember the last time a CEO voluntarily gave up stock as a sort of apologia to disappointed investors.

Holley has been president and CEO of Plum Creek since 1994, before which he was its chief financial officer. He began his career at General Electric GE in 1974.

Here is the full statement from Plum Creek’s filing:

On December 12, 2014, Rick R. Holley, chief executive officer of the company, returned an award of 44,445 restricted stock units that were granted to him by the Compensation Committee of the Board of Directors of the company on February 3, 2014. Disclosure of the award was made by the company under Item 5.02(e) of its Current Report on Form 8-K filed on February 6, 2014, which report is incorporated herein by reference.

The award, which would have vested entirely on February 3, 2017, was made to Mr. Holley as incentive for him to remain in his position as chief executive officer for the next several years. However, in light of prevailing economic conditions, Mr. Holley elected to return the restricted stock units because he does not believe that he should receive such an award unless Plum Creek’s stockholders see an increase in their investment return. Nonetheless, Mr. Holley remains fully committed to Plum Creek and intends to lead the company through this challenging and prolonged economic cycle.

Holley tells Fortune that the board was “surprised” when he informed them of his decision. “I told them I wasn’t asking for their approval. They had given these to me and I appreciated their confidence in me, but I didn’t feel comfortable taking them… This has been a year where total shareholder returns are down 10% or more. It just wasn’t the right thing to do.”

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