APCO's Margery Kraus Offers Top Strategies for Women Founders

Margery Kraus (pictured), a globally recognized master storyteller and communications innovator, is the founder and executive chairman of APCO, a global advisory and advocacy consultancy headquartered in Washington, D.C.  She is also the former WPO Board Chair.

She has deep expertise in providing strategic counsel on issue-based communication, crisis management, market entry and corporate reputation across diverse industry groups.

Margery founded APCO in 1984 and transformed it from a company with one small Washington office to a multinational consulting firm in major cities throughout the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia.

Read the interview with Margery conducted by Vanessa Ogle at Medium.  Rich in detailing and incredible insights are shared.

From Succession Planning to Building a Leadership Factory

Leading a global organization in today’s fragmented world is difficult—perhaps more difficult than ever.  Difficult times demand great leaders.

Here’s an overview of traits and practices required to succeed as a leader today and a look at the factory model that can help aspiring managers ascend.

What to Do When You Have to Deal with a Toxic Employee?

We often talk about how difficult it can be when you have a toxic manager. At Fast Company, they've shared plenty of advice on how to handle a micromanager, or what to do when your boss is absent or neglects to give you important feedback.

But bosses, too, can face their own share of challenges navigating tricky relationships with people they manage. So what do you do when you have to deal with a toxic employee?

Read on.

Be There Fast, Be There First, and You Win. WRONG.

©2024 Laurel Delaney.  All rights reserved.

From thought leader Jim Collins:  "I recently [2000] met with the CEO of a hot Internet company who described his concept for competing on the Web: “It’s a big land rush,” he explained. “It’s all about being the first to build critical mass and create a brand name.” Then, in a bizarre twist, he admitted that his company’s Web site didn’t work all that well and that customers might be disappointed by their early experiences. “But it doesn’t matter,” he said. “The whole game is to stake out your territory.” His strategy hinged on one simplistic idea: be there fast, be there first, and you win."  

When Jim asked to explain what would protect his company from the inevitable assault by huge companies with deep pockets and vast preexisting customer sets, he said: “Inertia! Our competitive advantage is their inertia. By the time they wake up, the game will be over, and we will have won.”

WRONG.

Jim states:  "It doesn’t really matter who gets there first, so long as you figure out a way to produce a better solution, doggedly persist in bringing that solution to the world, and continually improve. And if you happen to have the misfortune of being first, of being the early leader in market share, then keep in mind that someone—right now—is learning from your mistakes."

Read the full article here for context and understanding.

What Happens When You Always Want to Look Perfect?

“I had this crazy idea,” says Kim Kardashian. “My stylist is always like, ‘Don’t wear a bra!’ and I’m just like, ‘I can’t.’ I want to feel comfortable and secure. What if one boob’s over here and I’m dancing, you know?” she said with a laugh. “I just always want to look perfect.”

Thus the creation of the Nipple Bra, which the company released alongside a campy faux-educational climate video starring Kardashian, and a pledge that a one-time donation of 10 percent of sales would go to the charitable network One Percent for the Planet. The then $62 bra went viral and sold out in less than a month.

This is how you come up with an idea and launch.  Mind you we are not Kim Kardashian but we can still come up with great ideas and execute them.  Why just look at all the successful WPO members!

Read the entire article here.

Ensure Your Team Can Meet Challenges Head On

How do you ensure your team is prepared to meet challenges head on or even before they happen?

Here are four lessons leaders can take to guide their teams when disaster strikes.

How to Create Value Consciously For All Your Different Stakeholders

Whole Foods founder John Mackey said Whole Foods should have died in its first year due to a once in a hundred-year flood at his first store, and he didn’t have the words for it back then, but now he does: the stakeholders saved him. His customers, his team members, his suppliers, his investors, the bank, the community that he was a part of didn’t let him die.

He goes on to say, "I realized that we were an interdependent network of relationships. And they cared about us. They didn’t want us to die. It changed Whole Foods forever, because from that point onward, we began to take seriously each one of these different relationships and to try to do right by them, to create value consciously for all these different stakeholders."

Read the full interview here.