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Without fanfare, something remarkable has happened. The noxious practice of aborting girls simply for being girls has become dramatically less common. It first became widespread in the late 1980s, as cheap ultrasound machines made it easy to determine the sex of a fetus. Parents who were desperate for a boy but did not want a large family—or, in China, were not allowed one—started routinely terminating females. Globally, among babies born in 2000, a staggering 1.6m girls were missing from the number you would expect, given the natural sex ratio at birth. This year that number is likely to be 200,000—and it is still falling.

The fading of boy preference in regions where it was strongest has been astonishingly rapid. The natural ratio is about 105 boy babies for every 100 girls; because boys are slightly more likely to die young, this leads to rough parity at reproductive age. The sex ratio at birth, once wildly skewed across Asia, has become more even. In China it fell from a peak of 117.8 boys per 100 girls in 2006 to 109.8 last year, and in India from 109.6 in 2010 to 106.8. 

In 2010 an Economist cover called the mass abortion of girls “gendercide”. The global decline of this scourge is a blessing. First, it implies an ebbing of the traditions that underpinned it: parents need a son to look after them in old age.  Such sexist ideas have not vanished, but evidence that they are fading is welcome.  Second, it heralds an easing of the harms caused by surplus men. Sex-selective abortion doomed millions of males to lifelong bachelorhood.  Others linked the imbalance to a rise in violent crime in China, along with authoritarian policing to quell it, and to a heightened risk of civil strife or even war in other countries. The fading of boy preference will make much of the world safer.

In some regions, meanwhile, a new preference is emerging: for girls. It is far milder. Parents are not aborting boys for being boys. No big country yet has a noticeable surplus of girls. Rather, girl preference can be seen in other measures, such as polls and fertility patterns. Among Japanese couples who want only one child, girls are strongly preferred. Across the world, parents typically want a mix. But in America and Scandinavia couples are likelier to have more children if their early ones are male, suggesting that more keep trying for a girl than do so for a boy. When seeking to adopt, couples pay extra for a girl. When undergoing in vitro fertilisation (IVF) and other sex-selection methods in countries where it is legal to choose the sex of the embryo, women increasingly opt for daughters.

People prefer girls for all sorts of reasons. Some think they will be easier to bring up, or cherish what they see as feminine traits. In some countries they may assume that looking after elderly parents is a daughter’s job.  However, the new girl preference also reflects increasing worries about boys’ prospects. Boys have always been more likely to get into trouble: globally, 93% of jailbirds are male. In much of the world they have also fallen behind girls academically. In rich countries 54% of young women have a tertiary degree, compared with 41% of young men. Men are still over-represented at the top, in boardrooms, but also at the bottom, angrily shutting themselves in their bedrooms.

Governments are rightly concerned about boys’ problems. Because boys mature later than girls, there is a case for holding them back a year at school. More male teachers, especially at primary school, where there are hardly any, might give them role models. Better vocational training might nudge them into jobs that men have long avoided, such as nursing. Tailoring policies to help struggling boys need not mean disadvantaging girls, any more than prescribing glasses for someone with bad eyesight hurts those with 20/20 vision.  In the future, technology will offer parents more options.

Nonetheless, it is worth pondering what the consequences might be if a new imbalance were to arise: a future generation with substantially more women than men.

US President Donald Trump’s “America First” policies have cut into travel worldwide. The simmering trade war, the crackdown at the border and the rollback of LGBTQ rights—capped by a ban on visitors from a dozen countries announced on June 4—have led to tens of thousands of canceled trips. With travelers choosing alternate destinations, the American economy will lose out on $12.5 billion this year, according to the World Travel & Tourism Council—which will widen the trade deficit, because economists count spending by visitors to the country as an export.  The toll the president’s policies have taken on travel in 9 profound ways.

1. Visitor Deficit.  Foreign arrivals to the US by air have fallen 2.5% so far this year through April from a year ago, according to the US International Trade Administration. The biggest drop—10%—came in March, after Trump announced tariffs on Canada, China and Mexico. Trump’s policies have prompted a travel boycott from Canadians, the largest group of visitors, and anti-American sentiment is on the rise in Europe. Although the US hasn’t yet released data on land entries from Canada, that country’s statistics bureau said trips across the southern border fell 15% in April, the third straight month of decline. Air France, British Airways and Lufthansa are all cutting flights to destinations such as Atlanta, Las Vegas, Miami and New York, website AeroRoutes reports.  Before Trump took office, analysts expected 2025 to be a bumper year for US tourism, with almost 79 million foreign visitors—approaching pre-pandemic levels. But given the political turmoil, research company Tourism Economics has scaled back its forecast to 66 million as global travelers increasingly choose alternate destinations.
2. Sluggish Recovery.  Foreign tourism in the US has bounced back from the pandemic more slowly than in many other places, and this year for the first time since 2020, the gains have reversed. Spending by overseas visitors in 2025 will fall 7%, to less than $169 billion, according to the World Travel & Tourism Council. Of the 184 economies the WTTC tracks, the US is the only one expected to see tourism revenue decline this year, and the group says it won’t return to its pre-Covid-19 level before 2030.  
3. America the Avoidable.  The changes vary dramatically, and some places—Argentina, Brazil, Israel, Mongolia and Russia among them—have logged gains in arrivals. But 11 of the top 20 markets for US visits have fallen this year through April, according to US and Canadian government data. If the trend continues, a forecast from the US National Travel and Tourism Office released in March—predicting a 6.5% increase in overseas visitors this year, including more Canadians, Mexicans and Europeans—may prove ambitious.
4. Enter at Your Own Risk.  At least a dozen countries have advised their citizens to exercise caution on visits to the US.  
5. Bookings Downdraft.  Global air bookings to the US from May 1 to July 31 are 11% lower than a year ago, according to Tourism Economics.  
6. The Hardest-Hit US Cities.  Of the 20 American cities that raked in the most spending by foreign visitors last year, 18 will see declines, Tourism Economics predicts.
7. Corporate Retreat.  Given the combative rhetoric on trade emanating from the White House, business confidence is plummeting. The Global Business Travel Association, an industry group, initially predicted corporate travel spending would climb to a record $1.63 trillion this year. But an April survey of global travel managers showed almost a third expect a decrease in company spending as a result of recent US government actions, which could mean a 5% drop, to about $1.55 trillion. The number of western Europeans entering the US on business visas fell 18% in April, according to US government data.
8. Fewer US Jet-Setters.  Some 18% of Americans plan to take a vacation overseas within the next six months, 6 points below the level in December, according to the Conference Board, an economic analysis group. In an April survey by Future Partners, a research company that polls American travelers monthly, almost 70% of respondents said they’ve made at least one adjustment to their vacation plans based on economic concerns, with 14% nixing pricier overseas journeys for domestic trips instead.

Some new research suggests that people with heart conditions have better outcomes when they are more hopeful and optimistic. Hopelessness, on the other hand, is associated with a significantly higher risk of death.

The findings build upon decades of fascinating research into the phenomenon of the placebo effect. Our beliefs and expectations about a medicine (or a sham treatment) can change the way it works. The placebo effect’s “evil twin,” the nocebo effect, is just as powerful—negative thinking has been linked to real symptoms.

Researchers are still trying to understand the connection between body and mind, and how our thoughts can influence our physiology. In the meantime, many are developing ways to harness it in hospital settings. Is it possible for a doctor to prescribe hope?

Alexander Montasem, a lecturer in psychology at the University of Liverpool, is trying to find an answer to that question. In his latest study, Montasem and his colleagues focused on people with cardiovascular disease.  The team reviewed all published research into the link between hope and heart health outcomes in such individuals.  Montasem’s team found 12 studies that fit the bill. All told, these studies included over 5,000 people. And together, they found that high hopefulness was associated with better health outcomes: less angina, less post-stroke fatigue, a higher quality of life, and a lower risk of death. The team presented its work at the British Cardiovascular Society meeting in Manchester earlier this week.

It’s obvious our thoughts and beliefs can play an enormous role in our health and well-being. What’s less clear is exactly how it happens. Scientists have made some progress—there’s evidence that a range of brain chemicals, including the body’s own opioids, are involved in both the placebo and nocebo effects. But the exact mechanisms remain something of a mystery.

In the meantime, researchers are working on ways to harness the power of positive thinking. There have been long-running debates over whether it is ever ethical for a doctor to deceive patients to make them feel better.  A more ethical approach might be to find ways to build patients’ hope, says Montasem. Not by exaggerating the likely benefit of a drug or by sugar-coating a prognosis, but perhaps by helping them work on their goals, agency, and general outlook on life.

Some early research suggests that this approach can help. Laurie McLouth at the University of Kentucky and her colleagues found that a series of discussions about values, goals, and strategies to achieve those goals improved hope among people being treated for advanced lung cancer.  These approaches could also be helpful for all of us, even outside clinical settings.  Setting and pursuing our personal goals are one of the ways to remain hopeful.  The minute we give up [on pursuing] our goals, we start falling into hopelessness.

Resilience is critical in today’s organizations, given the state of uncertainty and permacrisis in which most teams and individuals operate. Yet McKinsey research suggests that many leaders and organizations aren’t spending enough time building that resilience. A full 84 percent of leaders report feeling underprepared for future disruptions, and 60 percent of board members say their companies are not ready for the next major event.

According to the authors discussions with global CEOs reveal that most remain focused on addressing acute and unexpected situations affecting their businesses. These include big crises such as changes in global trade policy, conflicts in Europe and the Middle East, and other ideological and geopolitical disruptions that end up having downstream financial and operational consequences. They also include smaller disruptions such as stock price fluctuations or product flaws.

While time is always a constraint for CEOs, they must nevertheless be intentional about investing in and building resilience, which we define as the ability to prepare for, respond to, and take advantage of disruption. Research shows that nearly half of a company’s performance is tied to the CEO’s leadership.  And while other leaders also contribute to the development of organizational resilience—including the chief risk officer, the CFO, and the chief HR officer—only the CEO has the holistic perspective to assess the level of resilience in the organization, increase it, and integrate it into the organization’s DNA.

According to the authors in their view, there are four core types of resilience—financial, operational, organizational, and external—and CEOs must understand all of them to strengthen their resilience muscle effectively.  With a greater understanding of these different dimensions of resilience, CEOs can take five actions to make their institutions stronger and less susceptible to shocks. 

1. Embed resilience in the company’s vision. Create an inextricable link between the organization’s strategy and its levels of resilience.
2. Build full-body resilience. Pay attention to all the resilience dimensions in an organization and assess how and where they compensate for and reinforce one another.
3. Force decisions with senior leaders when resilience is on the line. In the most critical moments, intervene directly, emphasizing the importance of resilience in daily decisions and strategic initiatives—even forcing the issue where needed.
4. Cultivate a gritty team and invest in individual resilience. Hire and develop people who show adaptable traits and behaviors, are open to challenges, and commit to these characteristics and practices—then serve as a role model for them yourself.
5. Create deeper relationships with a diverse set of external stakeholders. Anticipating future disruption, build strong partnerships that will allow the organization to rely on external stakeholders for support when that change occurs. These alliances can be particularly critical when companies are exploring bold shifts in strategy in response to internal or external events.

According to the author, they believe CEOs who prioritize these five actions and champion resilience in their organizations can more easily capture near- and midterm opportunities for growth—and are much more likely to build lasting, future-ready businesses.

According to Kaspi.kz CEO When I stepped in to run the company that would become Kaspi.kz in 2007, it was a bank with no online presence that had been struggling to survive amid a global financial crisis. Today, it is the most widely used platform in Kazakhstan for financial and government services, payments, and e-commerce. It serves 75% of the population and generates $2 billion in annual net income on revenues of just under $5 billion. The U.S. equivalent might be having PayPal, Amazon, Capital One, Booking.com, and Instacart all in one app. How did we effect such a dramatic transformation? With an unwavering focus on creating and delivering more value to customers.

There’s no better illustration of this than our decision to create a single superapp to house all our services. At the time, marketing experts told us people wouldn’t want to hold savings or checking accounts with the same brand they bought kitchen appliances and clothing from. IT experts told us we needed different interfaces for each business because different online activities required drastically different user experiences. But was it best for customers to download multiple apps and deal with numerous passwords and log-ins? Or to get everything they need to manage their lives in one place?

The answer was clear. Our mission was and still is to improve people’s lives through innovation, making everything we touch cheaper, faster, and more convenient. We knew the superapp was the best way to do it.

And in the years since, we’ve been proven right. Not only do we have the greatest penetration in our home market of any technology company, we have the highest engagement too. Seventy percent of the people who use our app do so daily—something no social network can boast. Our customers conduct an average of 73 transactions per month—more than PayPal sees from the average North American user in a year. And we process more than 10 billion transactions annually—four times what Visa and Mastercard do in Kazakhstan combined.

We’ve watched the development of superapps in other geographies—most notably China—with interest. But having designed our organizational culture, structures, processes, and incentives to prioritize customer needs, we believe we have a unique story to tell. Now, as a Nasdaq-listed company expanding into Türkiye, we’re keen to share insights into our business model with the rest of the world.

The IBM Watson Research Center in Yorktown Heights, N.Y., is a midcentury modern marvel of sweeping curves and soaring glass. Designed in the early 1960s and nestled in rolling hills north of New York City, the building was the final project of the visionary architect Eero Saarinen, known for futuristic designs that captured the spirit of technological advancement, like the Gateway Arch in St. Louis and the TWA Flight Center at JFK airport.

The iconic architecture is a striking reminder of what IBM once represented: relentless innovation, industry-shaping technologies, and undisputed dominance. This was the birthplace of the punch card, the magnetic-stripe credit card, and the personal computer. It made towering mainframe computers that were indispensable to banking and health care.

But by the time CEO Arvind Krishna strode into the building in November 2021 for the company’s annual Global Technology Outlook briefing, the building was in danger of becoming a relic of corporate history—as was IBM itself.

The venerable company had barely half the revenue it generated at its 2011 high-water mark. In recent decades, it had ceded the personal computer market to Microsoft while becoming, for many, a symbol of rigid management and bloat. Even more famously, IBM had face-planted in artificial intelligence, as the much-hyped Watson platform failed to live up to its initial promise. By April 2020, when Krishna became CEO, IBM was the only one among the 17 U.S. tech companies valued at $100 billion or more to have lost market value over the previous eight years.

Krishna did not want to preserve a dusty legacy. He needed to reignite Big Blue’s drive to turn breakthrough technologies into compelling products. That’s why he listened intently at the leadership briefing as IBM’s head of AI research, Sriram Raghavan, made a presentation about a new approach to building AI: large language models pre-trained on massive datasets.

Chart shows IBM ranking on the Fortune 500 list.

It was a full year before OpenAI would unveil ChatGPT and make generative AI famous. The presentation was dense and technical; Raghavan urged the gathered IBM executives to bear with him. But Krishna, a PhD engineer with decades of research experience, instantly recognized a game changer—and a huge opportunity. Once these models were mature enough, he realized, they would be able to help businesses handle everything from customer service to chemistry equations to climate modeling with unprecedented scale and efficiency—creating powerful new products for IBM to sell.

Energized and electrified, Krishna immediately made a big bet on IBM’s future. He gave his management team the green light to steer billions in R&D money into new AI “foundation models” and the infrastructure to support them. He also pushed the company to prepare for the rise of AI by updating its hybrid cloud platform—data-storage technology that Krishna had championed as the head of IBM’s cloud division.

The pivot exemplifies the qualities that analysts and colleagues say make Krishna the right CEO at the right time. The 62-year-old is IBM’s first-ever CEO with a research and engineering background, while his 35 years at the company have helped him develop a formidable product and business acumen. As IBM works to shed its vintage image, Krishna has zeroed in on three pillars he believes are crucial to its revival: AI, cloud computing, and a bold, multi-decade bet on quantum technology.

IBM’s AI strategy today looks radically different from that of competitors like OpenAI, Meta, and Google. Rather than chasing flashy, consumer facing applications focused on massive, general-purpose language models, IBM has doubled down on the less-sexy side of generative AI.

Its flagship offering, Watsonx, is optimized for relatively niche business functions like financial services, supply-chain optimization, and IT operations, and IBM aims to embed the technology into the critical infrastructure of its corporate clients.

IBM’s recent rebound rests on two factors: A big commitment to AI and the hybrid cloud; and a faster-moving culture that emphasizes autonomy and rapid iteration.

Krishna’s innovations follow a long and often painful pivot. Over the past decade, IBM has shed headcount as it reoriented itself around new technologies. At the end of 2024 it had about 100,000 fewer employees than in 2015. It has abandoned or spun off business lines that no longer feel “core.”

But Wall Street finally likes what it sees. Since Krishna took over as CEO, the company’s share price has doubled, climbing through a string of record highs since last August. Generative AI bookings have reached $6 billion since June 2023—a meaningful sum at a company with $63 billion in annual revenue in 2024—and IBM’s increasingly streamlined software business is growing rapidly. Former IBM CEO Lou Gerstner, who famously revitalized the company in the 1990s, titled his memoir Who Says Elephants Can’t Dance? Today, some would argue that Krishna has the IBM pachyderm prancing with more agility than it has in decades.

It’s easy to equate vulnerability with sharing your own anxieties. But for leaders, the point of vulnerability is to meet your people where they are and let them see that you can relate to how they are feeling. They won’t trust you to lead them if they don’t think you understand them.

Vulnerability is powerful only if it fosters connection and shared learning. Some leaders are innately unflappable, and it’s a challenge for them to connect with their team’s anxieties. If you’re feeling some of that anxiety, celebrate your humanness — it’s what enables you to connect! The challenge for you is to be disciplined and intentional about what you do with that connection. How are you going to ferry them (and yourself) from that point across to hope and possibility?

Consider how you are trying to boost morale. If you are a relentlessly positive “rock” who hides your own worries, you may invalidate your team members’ feelings about difficult realities — and also lose credibility with overly optimistic reassurances. But being vulnerable enough to admit that you, too, are anxious, and acknowledging concerns, sets you up to rally others. The kind of optimism they need is your confidence that by coming together as a team, you can collectively solve problems. When you admit that you don’t have all the answers, you can frame that as an invitation for others to contribute their ideas.

Being honest about tough situations makes it easier for your team to be frank about what they observe. After all, it’s hard to speak up about problems if your boss minimizes negative news. But in difficult times, it’s critical to have a culture that surfaces problems quickly. Without honest feedback, you will have a harder time getting ahead of your challenges.

You can also be a steadying influence by remembering to call out the good things you see. No matter how strong the headwinds in your business, there will be small wins and moments to celebrate. These can be examples of how well your team members cohere, or of how they support and back one another up. Be on the lookout for those moments. You can also remind people about how the team succeeded at other difficult times, and how they were able to build resilience and use their creativity. Those memories are proof points that they can prevail in the face of challenges.

Optimism is a choice you can make amid your vulnerability and honesty about challenges. You have to choose to believe that a positive outcome is possible, or you have already lost. You can’t develop a solution if you don’t believe one exists. Your job with your team is to connect with vulnerability and empower them with the energy, optimism, and analytical discipline needed to turn that potential for good into reality.

Serving on a nonprofit board can be a meaningful way to apply your expertise outside the walls of your business, but finding the right opportunity and making the most of it requires more than good intentions. From aligning with an organization’s mission to understanding its board dynamics, preparation is key to serving effectively and sustainably.  Here, 20 Forbes Coaches Council members share practical tips for identifying meaningful opportunities and stepping into them with a real sense of purpose.

1. Focus On Mission Alignment, Not Career Advancement.  Do not think of joining nonprofit boards as a means to gain access to corporate boards. While networking can be a benefit, your primary motivation should be a genuine desire to support the organization’s cause. Aligning your impact and values as a nonprofit board member can help you make a tangible difference personally and professionally.
2. Clarify Your Motivations For Serving.  Ask yourself why you want to sit on a board. Does it align with your values or create a springboard for other board memberships? Do you possess the expertise to meet the nonprofit’s needs? If so, then board membership may be a good fit. By giving back to the community, one benefit of joining a board is providing junior executives with an executive mentor to help grow their visibility and careers.
3. Evaluate The Board’s Culture And Leadership Style.  Consider the culture in which board members operate. Do they express openness to fresh thinking, or do they represent a legacy mindset? Too often, boards say what they are looking for but don’t allow it to come about. Assess the fundamental drivers of the board members. Are they growth builders or system protectors? Are they risk-averse or risk-takers? Are they change-resistant or change-forward?
4. Build Your Governance Knowledge.  Serving on a nonprofit board is a fantastic way for leaders to support a cause they are passionate about while providing oversight and expertise. Increase success by enhancing governance knowledge and creating board bios and résumés; determining the nonprofit’s cause and advisory versus fiduciary board preferences; and using networking as the primary sourcing method, as it has a consistently high hit rate.
5. Choose A Cause You’re Passionate About.  Serving should be about passion. Find a nonprofit that matters to you and allows you to expand your leadership skills and tackle challenges different from those at work. Allow a nonprofit to give you both personal fulfillment and community engagement while expanding your network both personally and professionally.

The other advices are:  Tap into your network, define the value you bring; Do your due diligence on the organization’s health; Make sure both the mission and team are a fit; Know how governance and management differ; Ensure the mission aligns with your broader life goals; Use board service to strengthen underdeveloped skills; Join boards where your expertise meets their needs; Prioritize strong leadership as much as the mission; Start with purpose, not prestige; Leverage existing affiliations; Ask boards about their unsolved challenges; Embrace board service as a unique leadership space; Approach board work as a growth opportunity; Volunteer first to assess fit; and Look for where your skills can fill a gap.

How a business owner describes his or her company, along with their products or services, is a pivotal choice—one that can help or hinder a brand as it tries to stand out on shelves, online, and increasingly in the responses that generative AI spurts out.  Inc. spoke to nearly a dozen founders of fast-growing startups to ask how they approach product descriptions. Here are their most effective strategies. 

1. Stay simple.  This principle is especially true for consumer packaged goods.  “People don’t have a lot of capacity to read anymore,” says Carter, whose company is based in Hillsdale, New Jersey. “The front of the pack has to communicate really quickly, really clearly.”  Focus on the two most important selling points.
2. Avoid jargon.   Bulletproof Coffee was built on on the idea of biohacking, but the functional coffee brand, which is sold in more than 10,000 stores nationwide, including Whole Foods, Kroger, Target and Sprouts, recently dropped the word from its product descriptions and labels, because chief commercial officer Andy Van Ark says that target audience was too niche. “We knew it wasn’t working,” says Van Ark. “A lot of terminology went right over the heads of your average consumer.” His team underwent a six-month process of data analysis and consumer surveys before settling on a more simplified message around great-tasting, functional coffee aimed at everyday coffee drinkers, not the biohacking community.
3. Tailor different descriptions to different platforms.  Omnichannel brands should not limit themselves to one set product description, founders say.  Prime Roots co-founder and CEO Kimberlie Le says how she describes her plant-based deli meat company varies, depending on the platform. “If someone’s coming to our website versus shopping online on Instacart, in-store, all those descriptions for us have to differ and to optimize for various metrics,” she says.
4. Counter against incumbents.  For startups entering crowded categories, founders advise using product descriptions to explicitly counterprogram against the competition.
5. Play with tone.  Don’t be afraid to experiment with tone as well.  Still, that tone needs to feel authentic to the brand and the founders behind it. Consumers can “sniff out” when a brand is “trying a little too much.
6. Keep iterating as you grow.  Don’t be afraid to keep reiterating and refining product descriptions. Bubble Skincare founder and CEO Shai Eisenman says her company’s language has grown up with its consumers over the past five years. The New York company originally launched as a Gen Z-focused brand in Walmart, but Eisenman kept hearing the same questions from older shoppers: Can I use these products if I’m not a teenager? “Our community just started getting broader,” says Eisenman.  Bubble changed how it spoke to consumers. The brand dropped all its teen language and references. Speaking with “a much more broader perspective, versus just targeting a specific cohort” helped the brand double revenue last year, says Eisenman.
7. Don’t forget regulations.   When thinking about wording, some founders will need to keep regulation in mind. That’s the case for startups in the growing functional food industry, like Essential Candy, which manufactures functional hard candies infused with organic plant botanicals. To keep up with changing regulations, the Easley, South Carolina business, which sells its functional candies in about 300 stores, has revised its product descriptions about ten times since launching in 2018.  “It’s a constant evolution,” says co-owner Dean Ernst. “It’s hard to keep up.”  Still, regulations can be turned into an advantage.
8. Keep Gen AI top of mind.  Entrepreneur Francesca Pittaluga is helping consumers save time by having generative AI read and analyze the product descriptions. The founder of Los Angeles-based marinara sauce brand Ciao Pappy built a Pappy bot on her website that can tell customers which of the company’s red sauces are best for them. Prefer spicy? Allergic to garlic? Picky eaters? Looking for a healthier option? The AI agent, built by fellow startup L.A. startup Pickaxe, can tell that customer without them having to click through each sauce’s specific landing page.

One sales conversation goes 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?  

Many founders tell the author and his team 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.  The good news? You don’t have to be a high-pressure closer or a natural-born negotiator to succeed. You just need a simple shift in mindset and a few proven techniques to put you in the driver’s seat.  These five steps will work with even your toughest clients.

Step 1: Don’t negotiate too early.  One of the biggest mistakes small business owners make is negotiating before the prospect is sold on the value of the solution.  Consider negotiation as the final step in achieving an agreement, rather than the starting point. If you start negotiating before the client is fully convinced that you’re the right solution, you may end up giving away discounts, setting yourself up for scope creep or agreeing to unfavorable terms without receiving much in return. Even worse, you’ll appear uncertain, and uncertainty kills deals.  Instead, wait until you’ve qualified and engaged your prospect and you have demonstrated clear value for your offering. That’s your cue to shift the conversation toward finalizing the deal, rather than defending your worth.

Step 2: Define a “win-win” outcome before you talk numbers.  Most founders want to be flexible and collaborative in negotiations, but that only works if you know what you need from the deal.  Before any negotiation, get clear on:  What’s non-negotiable (e.g., your minimum price, legal terms, scope boundaries).  What’s flexible (e.g., payment terms, timelines, minor add-ons).  What a “win” looks like for both sides.  A win-win outcome means both parties walk away with value. That might mean agreeing to a slightly lower price in exchange for upfront payment (a trade-off) or offering an extra revision round at no cost (an embellishment) to sweeten the deal without hurting your margins.  Being prepared gives you confidence and gives your client clarity.

Step 3: Don’t let personality hijack the process.  Negotiation is emotional, but it doesn’t have to be personal.  If a client challenges your pricing or scope, they’re advocating for their business, not attacking yours. Detaching emotionally lets you respond strategically. Instead of reacting to tone or attitude, stay grounded in the value of your offer and the structure of your deal.

Step 4: Use the power of trade-offs, embellishments and compromises.  Every negotiation involves three variables:  Deliverables.  Terms and conditions.  Price.  The key is to balance all three without caving on what matters most.  If you do need to compromise, do it intentionally and not reactively. Find the middle ground that protects your business while still moving the deal forward.

Step 5: Know when to walk away.  No one likes losing a deal. However, chasing the wrong deals or closing them on bad terms can be even more damaging.  If you’ve qualified the prospect, demonstrated your value and offered reasonable flexibility — and they still demand more than you can give — it’s okay to walk away. It’s often the smartest move you can make.

Negotiation should never be a battle. Instead, view them as a conversation about alignment. When you focus on solving your client’s problems and the value you bring to the table, you stay centered, credible and in control.