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wbjournal.com | March 21, 2022 | Worcester Business Journal 19 prospective tenant and determine what additional backstops, such as security deposits, letters of credit, and personal or corporate guarantees, might be necessary. Don't overlook matters of administration. Leases usually include many critical timeframes for delivering and responding to notices. Each party should ensure the lease contains realistic requirements so that neither inadvertently forfeits a crucial right or breaches the lease. Consider your surroundings. Landlords may benefit from the right to relocate tenants within the property or from requiring tenants to operate continuously throughout the term. Tenants may want to ensure a competitor doesn't open next door or an anchor tenant remains at the property. Protect your exit. For landlords, the ability to sell the property is almost always crucial. For tenants, the ability to assign the lease as part of a merger or acquisition is oen crucial. In either case, parties should carefully consider the provisions that impact the ability to pull off a potential deal. Don't ignore those final articles. It's easy to run out of steam reading a lease, but even those provisions tucked away at the end of the document hold real-world importance. Consider, for instance, the impact force majeure articles have had during the COVID-19 pandemic. Clarity is kindness. A landlord and tenant might feel like they're on the same page when they sign a lease, but over time, questions may arise and having a clear answer in the contract helps avoid disputes. C reate a clear process for getting off the ground. e lease must create a roadmap for the landlord delivering possession of the premises in an agreed-upon condition and for the tenant beginning to pay rent. If the tenant's use of the premises requires initial permitting or improvements, the lease needs to address what happens if things don't go according to plan. Consider the end at the beginning. Issues relating to the state of the premises at the end of the term represent a common source of disagreements. e lease should make it clear what alterations, installations, and improvements the tenant must remove. Figure out who fixes it. From minor items like lightbulb replacements to major expenses like a new roof, the lease should leave no ambiguity about who must perform the necessary work and how the parties must allocate the costs involved. Tenants benefit from flexibility. While tenants routinely negotiate for options to extend the lease term, they oen neglect other possible rights that could improve their ability to adapt to changing circumstances, such as options to expand or contract the premises, options to terminate the By Michelle Drolet Drolet is CEO of Framingham IT services firm Towerwall. Reach her at michelled@ towerwall.com or (774) 204-0700. 10) Cyberattacks can severely dam- age your business. 60% of small and midsized businesses shut down within six months of an attack. Customers want to patronize businesses they trust to protect personal data. 9) Start with a cybersecurity plan. How much risk will you tolerate? Risk manage- ment is about prioritizing risks; document and communicate risks to all stakeholders to gain buy-in and raise awareness. Build- ing a security playbook is essential. 8) Invest in user awareness training. Cybersecurity is the responsibility of everyone, not just the IT team. Invest in refresher training to remind users of email-phishing fraud. Use phishing simu- lation tools to raise awareness. 7) Secure IT infrastructure. Maintain an inventory of every network device, user, and application. Automation tools exist to help manage. Perform regular updates. 6) Use threat detection and vulnera- bility management strategies. Perform regular scans of your infrastructure for weak applications and devices. Plug these vulnerabilities ASAP. 5) Protect your perimeter. Deploy fire- walls and intrusion detection to safeguard internal networks and monitor activity. Prevent any direct connections to your own network. Filter out unwanted applica- tions and websites. 4) Deploy zero-day protection. Secure your endpoints and servers. Run scans to check for malware. Extend protection to all removable and mobile devices. 3) Tighten your grip on sensitive data. Review user accounts from creation to modification and deletion. Limit privileged access to select users. 2) Extend security policy for home. Work from home exposes organizations to risk. Train users on using mobile devices securely. List acceptable use of device types, information types, applications, encryption, and incident reporting in your security policy. 1) Establish an incident response plan. Conduct regular tabletop exercises to test your plan and know when to escalate. K N O W H O W Key tips for an effective commercial lease E xecutive Coach Joshua Miller says there is a stigma out there, one that's holding back C-Suite leaders and in turn, their teams, from reaching true potential. e stigma is that to be empathetic as a manager is a weakness, when in reality, it's a strength. But in today's intense, competitive business environment, empathetic managers are seen as so. It's a concept, he says on LinkedIn, that is slow to change. Here are some other points about empathy in leadership. It's good to ask what employees need. Nicole Lipkin at Forbes warns against jumping in and trying to solve all problems for a team member, which can drag a leader down. Asking what they need does not mean you are the one to necessarily deliver the help, either. Perhaps you refer them to someone who can assist, by making an introduction, for example. "Maybe it involves a coach or helping them seek counseling, or creating a workplace group where people can talk to each other openly about what's going on in their lives," she says. It increases engagement. Dr. Helen Riess, director of the Empathy and Relational Science Program at Massachusetts General Hospital, says there are real benefits to empathy. Having an empathetic leader "energizes a team, makes them want to come to work, and makes people feel like they're all in it for the good of the company or the good of the mission," she tells TrainingIndustry.com. A particularly troublesome area: Scheduling. Miller, the executive coach, says employees are particularly sensitive to staff scheduling. It's an area where empathy is particularly needed. "Employees will be especially sensitive to anything that they perceive as unfair," he said. It's important to balance company deadlines with the value of each individual employee, maintaining engagement and peak productivity. 1 0 T H I NG S I know about... ... Securing your business BY SUSAN SHALHOUB Special to WBJ 101: E M P A T H E T I C L E A D E R S H I P BY SPENCER HOLLAND Special to WBJ W W W lease early, or rights of first refusal to purchase the property – just to name a few. Landlord remedies are only as good as the ability to collect. Landlords need assurance that, in the event of a tenant default, they will be able to recover damages. ey should carefully assess the creditworthiness of a Spencer Holland is an associate in Worcester law firm Mirick O'Connell's land use and environmental law group and the public and municipal law group. The focus of Holland's practice is representing clients buying, selling, financing, and leasing commercial real estate.