If you’re sitting on a pile of old phones, tablets, or computers, now is the best time to sell them for cash.

Technically, this is always true, because used electronics depreciate in value over time. But refurbishes say the ongoing chip shortage has increased the value of certain hard-to-find electronics, particularly iPads and Apple Watches, raising the price they’ll pay even for older models.

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Refurbished electronics pioneer Back Market is breaking our addiction to new gadgets

This story is part of Fast Company’s Most Innovative Companies of 2022. Explore the full list of companies that are reshaping their businesses, industries, and the broader culture.

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Explore the full 2022 list of Fast Company’s Most Innovative Companies, 528 organizations whose efforts are reshaping their businesses, industries, and the broader culture. We’ve selected the firms making the biggest impact with their initiatives across 52 categories, including the most innovative media, design, and consumer goods companies.

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Good communication skills are an essential key to success for any professional, but especially so for leaders.

The art of communication is an essential skill for all leaders. They must learn to communicate effectively with various people, whether they’re offering feedback to team members, sharing information with stakeholders, or pitching their organization’s services to potential clients or the public at large. To get a message across effectively, leaders must be able to adapt as necessary to each situation.

Of course, building this skill comes more easily to some people than it does to others, but it should be actively nurtured by anyone in a leadership position. Fortunately, there are several ways a leader can refine and improve their communication skills. Below, 16 members of Fast Company Executive Board share their best strategies for doing so.

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With such a vast pool of potential respondents, researchers can use social sampling to reach any audience—niche or broad, B2B or B2C—anywhere in the world.

With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the use of social media as a crucial communication tool for information generation, dissemination and consumption has tremendously accelerated. As a result, marketers and businesses of all verticals have had to rush to meet consumers who spend a big chunk of their time scrolling through their feeds.

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Don’t buy new gadgets. Used or refurbished is just smarter - and greener

A couple of years ago, I made a conscious decision to stop buying new phones. While I used to always stay on the cutting edge when choosing a new iPhone or Android phone, I realized that buying used or refurbished devices made more sense. These days, one- or two-year-old phones aren’t much different from the latest models, and buying them second-hand lets you save money without getting locked into long-term wireless carrier contracts.

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Society’s obsession with new gadgetry has wreaked havoc on the environment: Close to 50 million tons of toxic e-waste are generated each year, and the mostly Africa-based supply chains for cobalt and rare earth metals used in components are riddled with human rights violations and planet-damaging mining practices.

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