Worcester Business Journal

wbjournal.com | March 4, 2019 | Worcester Business Journal 27 10 T H I NG S I know about . . . ...Establishing thought leadership By Heather Caouette Heather Caouette is principal of Auburn integrated marketing communications firm RAE Communications. She can be reached at heatherc@ rae-communications.com. 10) Credibility. Done effectively, thought leadership builds credibility and trust in your business. It positions you as an authority and go-to person for that topic. 9) Marketing results. Thought leadership fuels compelling content because it offers a clear perspective and has inherent trustwor- thiness. This drives inbound marketing. 8) Identify goals. Are you looking to drive awareness of an issue? Is the purpose to ed- ucate customers, partners or regulators? This will help determine the right audience. 7) Discover what your audience wants to know. Determine the pain points of your target audience and address how to overcome these challenges in an educational way, with- out mentioning your product. This goes back to building your credibility as a resource. 6) Offer a unique perspective. There is a difference in your approach or offering from others in the field. Take what sets you apart and use it. This is your value proposition, and people want to hear it. 5) Champion a cause. Find a broader issue speaking to a hurdle your customers or part- ners face and take a stand to help fix it, even if your solution alone does not do the trick. 4) Knowledge surpasses catch phrases. People tend to purchase goods and services from those they believe understand their concerns and can address them. Become that expert, and educate others openly. 3) Be yourself. First instinct is sometimes to control every minor detail, which can make you appear over-rehearsed. Take a deep breath and relax. Readers or viewers prefer your authentic, approachable self. They want to experience getting to know you. 2) Share freely. Start a tweet chat and develop videos, articles or blog posts people can easily access, addressing a particular issue and offering a solution. This shows the transparency of your business. 1) Gift that keeps giving. Thought leadership requires new content, although there is no need to recreate the wheel. Done correctly, you can turn that whitepaper or case study into an article, blog post or infographic to create new avenues to reach your target market. K N O W H O W Tax reform, one year later 10 1: S T R U G G L I N G E M P L O Y E E S T he U.S. Tax Cuts and Jobs Act was signed into law by the president on Dec. 22, 2017. It represented a major legislative achieve- ment for the current administration and is our country's most significant tax bill in more than 30 years. e TCJA was not without controversy; it was passed entirely on party lines with not one Democratic vote. e bill was rushed through the House and Senate. As a result, numerous details were not addressed, and draing errors need correcting. For most calendar year taxpayers, the tax law changes were effective for 2018, requiring a quick response to comply with the new changes. For cer- tain taxpayers with foreign subsidiar- ies, there was a requirement to include the repatriation tax with their 2017 tax filing, necessitating an even more timely response. Many of the corporate-related tax law changes are permanent in they are part of the Internal Revenue Code and would require an act of Congress to change. Other changes, such as reduced individual income tax rates, increased child tax credit, and new deduction for pass-through income, as examples, expire aer 2025. In order to get the bill passed and through scoring, certain provisions needed sunsetting provisions to meet bud- getary requirements. In 2018, there was some initial discussion about Tax Reform 2.0, a proposed plan to make permanent the tax cuts for individ- uals and pass-through entities (such as S-corporations and partnerships). In the fall, the House passed a bill to make these changes, which passed mostly along party lines. e bill stalled in the Senate where Republi- cans were reluctant to take up a bill they felt could not get the 60 votes required for passage. e Treasury Department and the Internal Revenue Service started issuing guidance beginning in the first quarter of 2018. Initial guidance relat- ed to the repatriation tax came earlier, since taxpayers had to address this with their 2017 tax returns. Treasury and IRS have issued and continue to issue proposed or final regulations to provide assistance for taxpayers and practitioners relative to filing 2018 tax returns. Having had a government shutdown occur early in filing season was certainly not helping. To date, hundreds of pages of regula- tions have been issued. Much more guidance is still required. Proposed regulations issued on Nov. 26 provide guidance on a provision of TCJA lim- iting the business-interest deduction for certain taxpayers. ose proposed regulations are 439 pages long! Other proposed regulations issued in July of last year provide guidance on the new 20-percent deduction on qualified pass-through income. ose regula- tions were only 184 pages long. Lawmakers in Washington will have to address technical corrections need- ed in the tax reform bill. Issues oen arise aer legislation is enacted, and Congress can pass technical correc- tions to make the law accurately reflect Congressional intent. e TCJA is no exception. Wording in the bill makes certain types of capital investments called qualified improvement property worse off in terms of cost recovery for tax purposes, solely because of a draing error. Although a lot of progress has been made over the past year in terms of what Treasury and IRS have issued for guidance, there is clearly still much more work to be done. Happy tax season! BY ALAN OSMOLOWSKI Special to the Worcester Business Journal BY SUSAN SHALHOUB Special to the Worcester Business Journal T he problem might be productivi- ty levels, or hitting goals, or even time management. Whatever the issue, managers have to deal with strug- gling employees who may drag down the rest of their team – and the sooner the better. Root out the cause. Narrow down the employee's problem specifically. at will go a long way in implementing a successful solution. Are they staring into space all day? Coming in progres- sively later and leaving earlier? Maybe their overall attitude and ambition has taken a dive. e employee may not even realize their work has waned. But as their supervisor, you need to have a frank conversation. "You can honestly say you aren't getting involved in his personal life, but because the quality of his work has declined (cite examples), you need to know what's happening," writes Entrepreneur.com contributor John Rampton. en, listen, without feeling pressured to respond or react right away. Determine what's next. Aer speaking with the employee, plan out all scenarios, advises Employee-Per- formance.com. What will you do if the employee improves dramatically? Is there an award program in place so they stay engaged? If they are still struggling, can you shi them to a more suitable position or provide training? And if you decide to terminate them, do you have documentation in place to support it? Cut through the clutter. Inc.com's Lee Colan says addressing the problem of an under-performing employee can be broken into four steps to ensure all bas- es are covered: Explain, ask, involve and appreciate. Explain to the employee why things need to change and how to get there; ask if they are sure they are clear on the goal; involve them in solutions and appreciate them when progress is made. Holden resident Alan Osmolowski is a tax partner at the regional CPA firm Blum Shapiro. He can be reached at aosmolowski@ blumshapiro.com or 508-868-1086. W W W

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