These are some of the business decisions you may need to make as the date to implement practice changes approaches.

Talent assessments can help hiring managers determine if salespeople have the necessary strengths to succeed, advises Beth Sunshine from Up Your Culture. "By leveraging a validated talent assessment, you're taking the guesswork out of a very tricky process and investing in both the long-term success of your people and your organization," Sunshine writes.

Boosting efficiency shouldn't be the only focus of salespeople, advises David Brock, author of "Sales Manager Survival Guide," because sending more emails that nobody reads or more phone calls that aren't returned doesn't boost sales. "Our jobs are not to be efficient for efficiency's sake," Brock writes. "Our jobs are to produce the outcomes we need to grow and scale."

Businesses and consumers will perpetually be locked into the economy's changing cycles, and organizations seeking to succeed with long-term transformation efforts are wise to make the capacity to motivate change a priority among the people they hire and those who lead, writes Josh Bersin. Being able to lead effectively amid change "is quite complex, learned over time, and massively important at the moment," writes Bersin.

The premier commercial real estate event of the year is preparing to take over South Florida in September. The C5 + CCIM Global Summit, hosted by NAR and The CCIM Institute, will feature a robust lineup of industry speakers, thought leaders and networking and education opportunities for commercial practitioners. Pro football Hall of Famer Dan Marino will deliver the closing keynote address. Here's a preview of the conference.

High demand and limited new construction due to financing constraints and zoning restrictions have driven down the national retail real estate availability rate, which was 4.7% in the second quarter, the lowest since 2005, according to CBRE. High-growth cities, including Raleigh, Nashville and Seattle, have particularly tight markets at less than 3% availability, and this scarcity has led to increased competition and rising rental rates.

Today's technology solutions can help build trust and value and change the way transactions are executed to deliver better outcomes for customers. Read more at NAR's Emerging Technology blog.

Leaders must educate themselves about what drives their business and also be aware of the challenges their teams will face and do all they can to help them succeed and build trust by being "down to earth and approachable," says Jeff Weinstein, co-founder and CEO of TranscendAP. "Set an example by the actions and work ethic you have for the business ... be a role model by demonstrating effort, workmanship and respect you have for others," Weinstein says.

The Biden administration and a group of Senate Democrats are pressing the Federal Home Loan Banks to increase funding for affordable housing and community development. Lawmakers have criticized the FHLBs as providing limited contributions to affordable housing and high executive compensation. Treasury and Federal Housing Finance Agency officials have called for at least 20% of FHLB profits to be directed toward housing programs.

A July report showed slower hiring in the U.S. as the unemployment rate rose, and some experts say that contributed to the stock market's sudden drop on Monday. However, some economists say the market was overreacting to the job news, as other aspects of the economy remain solid amid falling inflation.