The association's Ignite Others initiative, launching next year, aims to demonstrate how members can use their skills and expertise to uplift their local communities.

Lead generation might be the lifeblood of your business, but money is the oxygen. Without it—and a keen understanding of how your money is working—your business can't breathe.

Eliminating diversity, equity and inclusion from marketing budgets has cost U.S. businesses $5.4 trillion, per Kantar, and brands incorporating DEI in marketing easily stand out as only 60% of consumers can identify the top inclusive brands without prompts and 65% don't feel well-represented. Kantar found nearly 7 in 10 Hispanic people reported experiencing routine discrimination in the past year, and Kantar's Valeria Piaggio adds, "A lot of people feel either ignored or judged, or have experiences of discrimination that are a lot more common than what marketers think."

Leaders must support employees to successfully navigate the uncertainty of organizational change and can do so through empathetic listening, acknowledging feelings of vulnerability and offering coaching to enable workers to take advantage of new opportunities, writes Notion Consulting's Christine Andrukonis. "You can influence how people react based on how you appeal to the heart and the mind together," Andrukonis advises.

Meet the people on the front lines of the real estate market who are pushing for changes to make housing more accessible for everyone.

Designer Alex Kalita's willingness to buy a small living space opened up options for her in New York City. After a year of searching with her REALTOR®, Kalita chose a 475-square-foot co-op apartment, and her design for it maximizes the space.

A ransomware attack on data services company Rapattoni has left many real estate pros unable to update listings. Rapattoni reported a system outage last week that affected multiple regional MLS providers.

One innovative approach marketers can take with generative AI is the "mega-personas prompt," a technique that uses the technology to create hundreds, thousands or even more consumer personas that can form the basis for research, surveys or testing, writes AI expert Lance Eliot. Eliot provides an in-depth guide to creating mega-personas prompts, offers his own case study and highlights the pros and cons of this cutting-edge technique.

A Consumer Financial Protection Bureau report says consumers with household income lower than $75,000 received 74% of reverse-mortgage direct mail advertising volume in the last two years. "This suggests direct mail advertising disproportionally targets low and moderate-income households since only 53% of households headed by an older homeowner have incomes below $75,000," the report says.

Global household wealth declined last year, the first decrease since the financial crisis, according to a report by UBS and Credit Suisse. Net private wealth declined 2.4% as the economy grappled with higher inflation and other factors. However, wealth inequality also declined, and global median wealth, which the report deems "a more meaningful indicator of how the typical person is faring," increased 3%. Global wealth is expected to increase 38% during the next five years, with benefits felt mostly by middle-income countries.