Top 12 Leadership Traits You Need to Thrive in Tough Times

Trying to grow your business in this sluggish economy is a little like trying to swim through Jell-O. Ineffective or uncertain leaders definitely need not apply.

So what does it take to lead a small business through this ongoing economic mess? The blogosphere is humming with ideas lately. Here's a roundup of the important traits for entrepreneurs in 2012:

1. Listen. Tune in to what workers and customers are saying, and you'll find great ideas for how to move forward.

2. Give credit. Workers love leaders who acknowledge their ideas.

3. Be yourself. In our age of sound bites and phony smiles, tell your story honestly. It's rare and refreshing, and makes workers feel like they know you -- and want to help you succeed.

4. Communicate. So much company dysfunction can be prevented with clear communication. Otherwise, workers are in the dark. And soon, they won't care.

5. Don't be trendy. Avoid the "strategy du jour" problem. Choose a course and stick to it.

6. Beat anxiety. Stop worrying and turn your negative emotions -- regret, fear, sadness -- into teachers that help shape your character.

7. Be service-oriented. Leaders can be sort of self-involved, forgetting that they are in a position of leadership. To serve customers, shareholders and workers stay focused on others.

8. Be accountable. Define the results you want, and acknowledge when a screw-up is your fault.

9. Use empathy. Demographic changes have foisted more and more women into the workplace. Make sure your communication and leadership style is a fit for today's workforce.

10. Share the big picture. If your workers don't know the company's overall goals, it can be hard for them to solve problems. That leaves you having to micromanage every problem instead of being able to delegate and offer guidance.

11. Keep your cool. The days when being a screamer worked are long gone. If workers are worried about whether you're in a good mood today or not, little gets done.

12. Think like an immigrant. When you arrive on new shores, you often see the business world with fresh eyes. Use your unique perspective to spot opportunities others are missing.

Top 5 Tools for Social Entrepreneurs

Social entrepreneurs use business ventures as a means to solve the world’s most complex problems.

These days, a growing number of social entrepreneurs are building for-profit business models, bypassing government association and the confining structure of the nonprofit classification. In a number of states, including California and New York, entrepreneurs can now form so-called B Corporations, which allow company directors to weigh social missions over financial returns.

As a result, more tools are popping up to aid the socially conscious business owner. Here are five resources designed to help do-good entrepreneurs get their enterprises off the ground and into the black.

1. B Lab’s “Impact Assessment Tool”

The nonprofit B Lab, founded in 2009, provides a host of information on its site and certifies companies as B Corps for an annual fee (the amount varies, based on a company’s revenue). Its free Impact Assessment Tool helps companies assess their social or environmental impact and improve their performance, regardless of whether they ultimately seek certification. Examples of completed B-Reports are accessible on B Labs’s site to help guide you in the creation of your own socially sustainable business. To date, there are 488 certified B Corps in existence.

2. Ashoka.org

Ashoka, founded in 1980, strives to make social entrepreneurs competitive in the global marketplace by granting fellowships to business leaders focused on social and environmental progress. Ashoka Fellows receive a living stipend, allowing them to work full time on their social enterprise. In recent years, Ashoka’s budget has grown to $30 million, and the nonprofit has granted more than 2,000 fellowships. Along with its active work, Ashoka’s site supplies free information and aggregates media from blogs to radio feeds.

3. New York University’s speaker series

NYU’s Catherine B. Reynolds Speaker Series focuses specifically on social entrepreneurs, and hosts some of the most successful public and private sector “change-makers” from around the world. If you’re in the New York City area, the series is free and open to the public; if you’re not able to make the event in person, past series are accessible via video download on iTunes free of charge. Past speakers include Seth Goldman of Honest Tea, John Mackey of Whole Foods Market, and acclaimed writer and Nobel laureate Elie Wiesel, representing the Elie Wiesel Foundation for Humanity. A number of universities host similar programs for entrepreneurs, including Northeastern, Cornell, and Stanford universities.

4. Skoll Foundation’s SocialEdge.org

The Social Edge, founded in 2003, is a global online community for social entrepreneurs and is sponsored by the Skoll Foundation, which invests in social entrepreneurs. The site is an information hub featuring live discussions, blogs, forums, job listings, expert advice and other resources helpful to social entrepreneurs in all stages of development. For those ready to take their social enterprise to the next level visit the site’s “opportunities” section for information on fellowships, competitions and incubation programs.

5. UnreasonableInstitute.org

The Unreasonable Institute, founded in 2009, partners with more than 20 impact-investment funds and foundations. The institute picks 25 entrepreneurs through a rigorous screening progress and puts them through a six-week training and mentoring program, designed to take their ideas from the concept phase to operation. Check the Institute’s site for “Unreasonable.TV,” currently in its second season, which follows participants as they develop their social enterprises. There’s also a video interview section, profiling experts in the social business world, including Hewlett-Packard’s Phil McKinney, social venture capital firm Ennovent's Charly Kleissner and investment firm Good Capital’s Jane Anderson.

Five Tools for Naming a StartUp

Think about it: Most customers will hear your business name before they know anything about your products or services.

Like all first impressions, you only get one, so you better make it count.

Leonard Green, professor of entrepreneurship at Babson College, suggests that a name be quick, unique and easy to remember. “You have 10, 15, 20 seconds to catch people’s attention,” he says. “Just get in there and do things differently than what everybody else is trying to do, because that’s where the home runs come from.”

That sounds simple, but the job of naming a business can be complicated. While there’s no formula to follow, here are five tools that can ease the creative process.

1. Google 

If you aren’t familiar with the acronym G.I.A. (“Google It Already”), you should commit it to memory. The search-engine behemoth has a number of applications that are perfect to kick off your startup name search. Google Adwords’ Keyword Tool provides detailed information about the popularity of certain words and terms, including specific traffic numbers associated with them. Google also provides a patent search function that searches the entire U.S. patent database.Google Trends allows you to search through current and past search trends, so you can see when and why people have searched for your proposed business name. Most importantly, Google as a whole is a tool that gives you a macro view of the words and images associated with your idea. See what happens when you run your proposed business name through Google images, videos and even its translator.

2. Free worksheets

The Internet is a penny pinchers’ nirvana. You can find plenty of branding companies willing to dish out a little free advice for the opportunity to serve your company in the future. Companies like Wow Branding, Brandings and Brands For The People offer worksheets and e-books aimed at helping you brainstorm, focus your ideas and create a stellar brand name.

3. Your community

After you have come up with some ideas, turn to those you trust. Your friends and family make a great initial test group. Organize your potential ideas, present the concept and create a survey to keep the resulting feedback organized. Andy Smith, principal of Vonavona Ventures, an early stage enterprise consulting group and co-author of The Dragon Fly Effect, a book about brands, advises against long surveys that will turn off friends. “Make it focused and ask the bare minimum number of questions,” he says. “Take the extra step to make it interesting and fun somehow.”Pop Survey and Survey Monkey are two free websites where you can easily create your own professional online surveys.

4. NameChk.com, Domain Registries

Once you have narrowed the field to a few potential names, it’s time to start researching availability. NameChk.com is a tool that can save hours of research time. Just plug in some potential names into the search box and it will simultaneous check almost 100 different online networks and communities, giving you instant feedback on username availability. You might even find a few helpful networks you’ve never heard of before. Also check domain registries, such asGo Daddy, Register.com and DomainRegistry.com, that will allow you to check availability and secure your URL.

5. The Government

One of the last steps in the naming process is making your entity official. Searching the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office database will reveal if your name is already in use (something you should have already Googled, remember?). If there’s a similar name registered, information will be available regarding what products it’s associated with, and if the company holding ownership is still active. Make sure to follow the trademark process outlined on the USPTO website and consider legal counsel before submitting an application. The cost associated with filing an online trademark application varies depending on the class of product, but generally falls in the $275 to $325 range.