How Leaders Can Inspire Their Teams to Think Bigger Your team has big ideas. To unlock them, you must first build an environment of support and encouragement.

Q: I hired a lot of big thinkers, but I don't feel like I'm getting the most out of them. How can I? — Leslie, Peoria, Ill.

You're thinking the right way about your business — not only about the importance of ideas from your team but the role you need to play to encourage them.

When I first started hiring people, an entrepreneur I knew gave me terrible advice: He said that my team would be happy as long as the business was successful. If only job satisfaction were that easy! I learned that people are the heart of any business, and they require (and deserve) management that inspires both growth and creativity.