Small business owners often struggle to offer quality jobs due to structural challenges, including complex regulations and systems designed for larger companies, according to research from the Association for Enterprise Opportunity and WorkRise. The lack of accessible infrastructure -- like pooled benefits, shared administrative tools and simplified HR systems -- means small firms often cannot afford or manage comprehensive benefits, even though they foster trust and flexibility in the workplace.

The recent US government shutdown holds many lessons for leaders, including how to spot zero-sum thinking -- where one person's gain is believed to mean another's loss -- so they can address it before it erupts into turf wars and diminished cooperation, writes Ashley Jordan, a professor of psychology at the University of Arizona. By modeling empathy and openness and building support networks of peers and opportunities for teams to share their challenges and solutions, leaders can create a psychologically safe workplace, Jordan notes.

Small and medium-sized businesses are increasingly turning to embedded finance to manage cash flow, with 58% citing inflation as a primary challenge, according to a PYMNTS Intelligence report in collaboration with Galileo. Instead of simply facilitating easy payments, embedded financial tools are now designed to give companies greater command over liquidity, capital access and operational workflows. This transition is recasting financial infrastructure as a strategic element, central to business operations rather than a peripheral add-on.

A significant shift is underway in how data centers for AI projects are being financed, with smaller companies increasingly turning to debt rather than relying on the large cash reserves that tech giants traditionally used. This new reliance on borrowing -- often in the form of convertible notes or large-scale loans from private lenders and banks -- is fueling rapid expansion but raising concerns among analysts. They warn that if projected AI revenues fail to materialize, the debt from these projects could exceed $1 trillion by 2028, echoing past financial bubbles in the tech sector.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's reworked rule on small-business data collection sharply curtails the amount of data that it would require from banks and other lenders, while the compliance deadline would be delayed until January 2028. The revised rule would define a small business as one with gross annual revenue of as much as $5 billion, compared with $1 million under the previous version. The latest proposal would apply to lenders making at least 1,000 covered loans per year, up from 100 previously.

Applying the concept of "love languages" to the workplace can enhance emotional intelligence, a skill increasingly valued by employers. Practicing the five "business love languages" daily can improve team morale and foster loyalty: words of affirmation, acts of service, gifts, quality time and appropriate physical touch.