Ward Off "Brain Fry" From Use of AI

AI can accelerate productivity across your organization – but if you’re not careful, it can also lead to what researchers call “brain fry.”

Read on to see how you can manage AI-induced "brain fry," redesign work for human and AI collaboration, set clear expectations about workload and more. 

Succession Planning: Build the Bench Before Anyone Knows You Need It

When Steve Jobs handed the CEO role to Tim Cook in August 2011, Jobs died six weeks later. Cook inherited one of the world’s most valuable companies with almost no runway—no public transition, no overlap, no road map. The succession worked only because Cook had quietly been running operations for years at Apple. The handoff was an emergency dressed up as a plan.

Recently, Tim Cook will step down from Apple and John Ternus – Apple's 51-year-old head of hardware engineering and a 25-year veteran will take over.

The transition, Apple said, follows “a thoughtful, long-term succession planning process” and was approved unanimously by the board.  

Do you have a thoughtful, long-terms succession plan in process at your business?  Most leaders avoid it.  The reason leaders avoid this conversation isn’t laziness. It’s ... read on.

Why Keeping Bad Clients Could Be Costing You

Business owners realize some revenue comes with a cost that does not show up on a P and L.  It shows up in your team, your culture and your ability to focus.

Being willing to let go of relationships that no longer make sense is a smart business decision.  Because real growth begins when you stop asking how to keep every client and start deciding which ones are actually worth keeping.

2026 WPO Entrepreneurial Excellence Forum (EEF) May 7-8

Are you attending?  I will be along with a dozen WPO Chicago members and hundreds more of WPO members spanning globally.

WPO's signature annual event – 2026 WPO EEF – brings together hundreds of extraordinary women business leaders from around the world for two days of inspiration, collaboration, and growth.

Designed to give women entrepreneurs a transformative experience away from daily operations, the 2026 Forum will feature inspiring keynote speakers, interactive breakout sessions, peer-to-peer learning, and unmatched networking opportunities. Attendees will leave with actionable insights, renewed energy, and strategies to elevate their businesses.

The Forum will also celebrate the remarkable achievements of women-led enterprises, including the annual recognition of the 50 Fastest Growing Women-Owned/Led Companies, honoring the innovators driving business growth and industry transformation.

Join us for this unparalleled gathering of women entrepreneurs shaping the future of business. Click here to register.

Dressing Like the Powerful Woman You Are

Love this article!  If I only practiced what they are preaching. Crafting a wardrobe for the C-suite (or for Women Presidents Organization members) can be tricky.  

If you are thinking about changing your look to command respect but still show your personality, this is the article to read.  Seven women discuss cracking the code.  So many great tips and resources are mentioned.

Four Rules for Dressing Like a Boss, According to Powerful Women

Women Statistically Outperform Men

Women are statistically outperforming men in various categories, but this has not always been the case. For centuries, boys seemingly held the upper hand in various facets of life like academics and careers. 

Women now account for 50.7% of the college-educated labor force, having surpassed men as of 2023. According to a McKinsey & Company study, companies with female leaders demonstrate higher success rates in organization and financial performance. Regarding college acceptances throughout the country, women have been proven to have higher acceptance rates compared to their male counterparts. 

Read on to discover women’s profound success in the workforce that can be largely attributed to changing social norms. 

This Woman Shares Her Secrets For Getting the Most Out of AI at Work

Formerly the global head of machine learning for startups and venture capital at Amazon Web Services, Allie K. Miller is among the busiest AI consultants and influencers in the industry, with more than 1.6 million followers on LinkedIn alone. 

Allie says, "By the time you wake up, your AI should have already been working for you for hours.” 

Is that so?  

In an interview with Inc., Miller says that nowadays, she largely works out of Claude Code, the agentic coding system developed by Anthropic. She keeps multiple instances of Claude Code running simultaneously in separate terminals. Because these Claude Code instances have access to Miller’s filesystem, they can autonomously complete work on her behalf. 

Learn how she does this.

Companies Are Rethinking Their Compensation Strategies

Across industries, workers are finding that the relationship between performance and pay has quietly shifted. 

Take Dominique Fields who had every reason to believe she’d receive a promotion. The 32-year-old digital marketing manager in Nashville discussed internal opportunities with her manager multiple times. But with each conversation, she says, “the goal posts moved.” Then, in May 2025, she was laid off.

Fields was caught off guard. She’s not alone.  Learn why.

Business Growth Strategies That Work

Just about one in seven companies has outperformed in the past five years. This latest installment of our landmark series for CEOs highlights business growth strategies that work.

Do you think of Walmart as a media or technology company?  Discover where more than half of its operating-income growth comes from.  

Better yet, learn how leaders get ahead and stay ahead by implementing these business growth strategies that work. 

What Is Business Stress About?

Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon, doesn’t believe stress comes from having too much to do. Instead, he believes it comes from not doing something soon enough. 

Bezos’ net worth hovers around $234 billion. But despite decades of scaling one of the largest companies in the world, he said his experience with stress hasn’t fundamentally changed. 

According to Fortune, Bezos has said stress tends to surface not when he’s overloaded, but when he’s avoiding something.

Find out how stress is really a symptom of something, as Bezos feels.

Positioning Your Business for Growth

Nearly half of American workers are employed by a small business. These companies have been called the heart of the American economy, and data supports their longevity and success. In fact, a 2024 report from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce indicates that 67% of small business owners say their business has enough cash flow right now, and 65% say their business is in “good health.”

Here are the strategies that small businesses are trying and succeeding with, as well as where to expect growth for the rest of 2026.

Run Your Business Like You Only Get One Take

Running a company means your audience is always watching. You can’t do anything new or noteworthy if you don’t put yourself out there in spite of the possibility of failure. Even a launch that underperforms provides clarity, momentum and direction. 

Learn what great business leaders performers share, and how it helps them seize opportunities instead of missing out.

It gets back to running your business like you only get one take. This is not a dress rehearsal. Real progress requires (calculated) risk.

Success On Her Terms: Empowering Journeys of Women Who Built Multi-Million Dollar Businesses

Women Entrepreneurs Grow Global (wegg) is a partner to the Women Presidents Organization.  In wegg's latest new series, Success On Her Terms, both of the multi-million dollar woman business owners in Episode 1 and Episode 2 are former WPO Chicago members.

Listen to the conversations and take note of key insights on discovering your true North and what truly matters in business and in life.

Success On Her Terms is hosted by Women Entrepreneurs Grow Global and powered by Merrill, the Baldwin Marcovici Group.

Scaling a Business Requires a New Mindset. Here’s What Might Be Holding You Back

Many founders can get their companies to $1 million in revenue, but very few successfully push through to $10 million.

The reason? They often rely on the same strategies that got them to $1 million without realizing that what worked in the early days can hold them back in the next growth phase.

Here are five common mistakes founders make that keep them from scaling to $10 million. But luckily, it’s possible to overcome them. Here’s how to scale a business the right way. 

Photos: Massive Winter Storm Sweeps Across the U.S., Including Chicago

©2026 Laurel J. Delaney.  All rights reserved.  (Chicago, 1/25/26)

An extreme winter storm is underway impacting two-thirds of the U.S. Starting Friday, 1/23/26 and expected to last through Monday, freezing rain, ice, and dangerously low temperatures will stretch from New Mexico to the Northeast.

Thousands of flights have been cancelled and power outages are of catastrophic concern especially for the southern states.

Take a look. 

Do What Works

This might not be the first piece of advice you’d expect from a wildly successful business coach who helps entrepreneurs expand their businesses. But you don’t hire Amy Porterfield to help you throw spaghetti against a wall and figure out what to try next. You hire her to tell you what works. 

Learn more about how this works and Amy's tips for transformation in 2026.

How to Rethink Leadership in 2026

The World Economic Forum’s Global Future Council on Leadership is setting out to initiate a global leadership lab to facilitate dialogue, collaboration and action with the aim of opening up new leadership futures that will create better outcomes for people and the planet. 

In its latest report, Next generation leadership for a world in transformation: Driving dialogue and action, the council outlines a holistic approach to addressing what appears to be a systemic rather than a purely human failure: The structures and institutions, the assumptions and traits that have long shaped how leadership is defined and exerted, are under unprecedented pressure. 

The report emphasizes four interlinked, but independent variables that shape the leadership cycle regardless of sector or region:

1. How leaders are selected
2. How they are trained
3. How they take decisions and action
4. How they are incentivized to manage their succession and long-term legacy.

Read on to learn more.

The Case For the Curious Leader in 2026

Leading others is difficult. Whether managing a team of five or hundreds of thousands of employees, leadership at any organization comes with demands and burdens that can buckle superiors. 

Discover how curiosity helps leaders thrive through uncertainty, spark creativity and build resilient teams in a rapidly changing world.

Make 2026 be the year you have an edge from being a curious leader.

Own Your Destiny in 2026

©Laurel J. Delaney.  All rights reserved.

"Here's hoping your business funds your dreams (reflects who you really are) and enables you to own your destiny in 2026.  Happy New Year! – Laurel J. Delaney, WPO Chicago Chapter Chair

Happy Holidays 2025 from WPO Chicago!

©2025 WPO Chicago.  All rights reserved.

"On behalf of the Women Presidents Organization Chicago chapter members, may the gift of happiness be yours this holiday season!" – Laurel J. Delaney, WPO Chicago Chapter Chair