Bracing For the Economic Fallout

What do you do when the people who have been your customers are now the people whose actions and decisions could very well determine your future? Nationally, everyone is bracing for the economic fallout, and with the backdrop of a the worst national economic contraction since the Great Recession, all business becomes local.

Here are the stories of five local Washington business owners (three being female and one is a WPO member) yet their tales resonate with every business owner.

When the Future Is Uncertain, Talk

During the coronavirus pandemic, how can you be candid about the possibility of pay-cuts and layoffs without demoralizing your team? And, during this period of uncertainty, how can you offer assurance without giving people false hope?

Discover what the experts say.

Introverts Versus Extroverts during COVID-19

This says it all:

While memes are hailing introverts as those best equipped to deal with shelter-at-home mandates, some introverts don't agree. "It’s exhausting. I've taken to sitting in my car for a while in the evening if I just need quiet," says Katie Schmidt Murray, a freelance photographer and graphic designer in Silver Spring, Maryland. 

Read the article and challenge the notion whether it is easier for introverts to stay home versus extroverts.

The New Normal: Social Distancing

As social distancing becomes the new normal, some famous women business owners are offering encouragement to social media followers.

What are they saying about the novel coronavirus and its effects on our everyday lives?

Learn more from women entrepreneurs who offer levity and lessons during covid-19.

Women Leading in the COVID-19 Response

Solving health emergencies like COVID-19 demands the best minds the world has to offer – in health systems strengthening, therapeutic R&D and more.  We know diverse teams lead to more innovation, and neglecting half the talent pool, such as women, limits our ability to make life-saving choices.

Already, women comprise the bulk of the world’s frontline health workers, shouldering the burden of strenuous work, while increasing their own risk of infection. With the novel coronavirus, women have played a central role: take China, where 90 percent of the nurses and nearly half the doctors are female.

We must build the systems to support women’s leadership in global health before the next disaster strikes.  Read on to learn why we need women's leadership more than ever in the COVID-19 response.

Help Flatten the Curve

When it comes to fighting COVID-19, enabling staffers to work from home is just the start.  Employers should be doing more to protect their workers’ well-being as the COVID-19 outbreak continues.

Here are 5 ways employers must help flatten the curve (provided by a doctor).

Before Announcing Deep Layoffs, Read This

Many business owners are considering layoffs to ensure they make it through the COVID-19 crisis — and a recent survey found that a vast majority of corporate leaders are considering some sort of financial action as a result of the pandemic.

To be sure, a cost-cutting reflex is understandable. Leaders are obligated to make responsible decisions to keep their companies afloat. But those who manage the economic effects of this crisis in a clear and compassionate way create more value for their companies and will come out of this pandemic stronger than ever before.

So before announcing deep layoffs, we recommend that you consider these five measures first.

1. Communicate openly
2. Share the pain
3. Crowdsource ideas with employees
4. Review all options
5. Have "Ice in the Belly"

Read more:  The Coronavirus Crisis Doesn’t Have to Lead to Layoffs

How to Quarantine and Chill During the Coronavirus Outbreak

The hashtag #QuarantineAndChill is actually a thing having to do with the intense cycle of anxiety-inducing news about Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19), and it could be a nice distraction from a lot of the uncertainty we’re currently facing at the moment.

More people will be working from home over the coming weeks, which could lead to a lot of stir-craziness.

How you quarantine and chill is up to you, but the internet has lots of advice for how to make the most of your time indoors.

Go forth and socially distance yourself!

Julia Hartz: The Birth of Eventbrite (Podcast)

As Guy Raz from NPR's "How I Built This" podcast says:

In the early 2000s, Julia Hartz was helping develop TV shows for MTV and FX Networks, and seemed headed for a promising career in television.

All of that changed in 2003 when she went to a wedding and found herself sitting next to a serial entrepreneur named Kevin. They started dating, and Julia eventually quit her job and joined Kevin in the Bay Area. In 2006 they married, and co-founded the online ticketing service Eventbrite out of a warehouse closet. 14 years after launch, Eventbrite is a publicly-traded company with 1,100 employees and offices around the world. 

Listen to the podcast here.

Mark Your Calendar for March 8 to Celebrate International Women's Day!

Mark your calendars for March 8, Women’s International Day 2020 (#EachForEqual)!

This annual event was first held in 1909 to honor a New York garment worker’s strike. More than 100 years later, we are still uplifting women.

Here are ten ways in #Chicago you can celebrate International Women’s Day by supporting women-owned businesses and women-focused events.

25 Quotes to Honor Black History Month

In celebration of Black History Month, here are 25 quotes – from Rosa Parks to Harriet Tubman – that touch on success, humanity, gratitude and resilience.   These people paved the way toward equality for each of us and will forever be in our grateful hearts.

Congrats to These Top Women Entrepreneurs

Monica Smiley, publisher, and CEO of Enterprising Women magazine has announced the winners of the 2020 Enterprising Women of the Year Awards, an annual tribute to the world’s top women entrepreneurs. Honorees will be recognized at the 18th Annual Enterprising Women of the Year Awards Celebration & Conference, to be held from Sunday, March 29 to Tuesday, March 31 at the Wyndham Grand in Clearwater Beach, Florida.

The Enterprising Women of the Year Awards is widely considered one of the most prestigious recognition programs for women business owners. To win, nominees must demonstrate that they have fast-growth businesses, mentor or actively support other women and girls involved in entrepreneurship, and stand out as leaders in their communities. Many of the honorees also serve as leaders of the key organizations that support the growth of women’s entrepreneurship.

Congrats to all the award winners and finalists! We are happy to see so many WPO Chicago members and other Chicago women business owners come out winners!

Read more:

ENTERPRISING WOMEN MAGAZINE ANNOUNCES
2020 ENTERPRISING WOMEN OF THE YEAR AWARD WINNERS

How to Sniff Out Bad Behavior on Your Mobile Phone

A new Android app called Seudo is a potential gold mine of insights for those who are curious about what our mobile apps are doing behind our backs,

While it’s not the only app that uses a VPN to sniff out bad behavior—Guardian Firewall and Lockdown are other examples—Seudo goes a step further by trying to explain in detail what each app is doing. Using AI, the company identifies keywords or identifiers in the data it’s deciphered, then turns it into a description for users.

Good info to determine which of your apps are sharing way too much info and are suspect.

Whipping Up an Ad Blitz for Your Business At Super Bowl LIV

The Super Bowl has long been the event where large companies pull out all the stops. Smaller companies, however, are learning how to nab some of that limelight without paying for a TV ad.

From advertising around the event to working with host cities, the NFL, or even official vendors, here's how some founders are finding craftier and cheaper ways to make Super Bowl LIV pay.  This could be you!

Great Success in Business Starts with One Tiny Seed

There’s no “magic pill” that effortlessly launches you out of your cubicle confinement and into the free world of entrepreneurship. For some, the dream to be your own boss grows for a long time, even years, before it finally comes to fruition.

The truth is, great success in business grows from just one, tiny seed.

The folks at CreativeLive Blog asked some of their favorite women entrepreneurs to share how they got their start in business. Their answers revealed the deep motivators and personal qualities that drove them to make their big idea a reality.

Read more about how successful women entrepreneurs got started.

Innovations Don't Need to Be Flashy to Be Impactful

When people think about innovation, they often associate the word with products like Samsung’s Ballie—breakthrough technological marvels that are novel and impressive. These innovations excite the imagination, push boundaries, and set a new standard for what is possible.

However, innovation, according to Lincoln Wilcox for the Christensen Institute, doesn’t need to be flashy in order to make a big impact.

Learn more – there is a sweet solution.

How to Get and Stay in Front of the Pack

New research shows that market leadership is increasingly temporary. The challenge for companies no longer lies in just getting to the front of the pack — it’s staying there.

How do you get and stay in front of the pack?

Strategy has always been about defying averages — doing something exceptional that earns a company correspondingly exceptional rewards in the market. Today, that is still true, but the relentless churn and volatility in the business environment mean that simply outperforming the average is not enough.

The true test of leadership is continuing to outperform over time. Think you've got what it takes?  Read more.

Enterprising Women​ Magazine Announces 2020 Enterprising Women of the Year Award Winners

Monica Smiley, publisher and CEO of ​Enterprising Women​ magazine, has announced the winners of the 2020 Enterprising Women of the Year Awards, an annual tribute to the world’s top women entrepreneurs. Honorees will be recognized at the 18th Annual Enterprising Women of the Year Awards Celebration & Conference, to be held from Sunday, March 29 to Tuesday, March 31 at the Wyndham Grand in Clearwater Beach, Florida.

Background information:

The Enterprising Women of the Year Awards is widely considered one of the most prestigious recognition programs for women business owners. To win, nominees must demonstrate that they have fast-growth businesses, mentor or actively support other women and girls involved in entrepreneurship, and stand out as leaders in their communities. Many of the honorees also serve as leaders of the key organizations that support the growth of women’s entrepreneurship.

Read the full press release, here.  Visit Enterprising Women magazine.

From WPO Chicago Happy New Year!

©2019 Laurel J. Delaney.  All rights reserved.

Happy Holidays From WPO Chicago!

©2019 Laurel J. Delaney.  All rights reserved.

How to Support Women Entrepreneurs

There is much discussion and debate about how to support female entrepreneurs — and rightly so.

Currently, women-led businesses are less likely to survive, despite evidence that their startups are often highly successful. New analysis by Boston Consulting Group (BCG) shows that if women and men around the world participated equally as entrepreneurs, global GDP could ultimately rise by approximately 3% to 6%, boosting the global economy by $2.5 trillion to $5 trillion.

So how do we support women entrepreneurs?  Three areas:  improve access to credit (financial capital) or provide training to help women build new skills (human capital) and give them access to networks.

Read more about the trillion-dollar opportunity in supporting female entrepreneurs.

Standing Out From a Sea of Dudes

Nicole Kendrot turned a problem into a business opportunity. In her case, the problem was student loans–not just the amount of debt, but managing the payments. Her solution: to design a mobile app to track multiple loans and gamify the payback process so users can earn cash incentives. And like many startup founders before her, Kendrot came up against two more hurdles: time and money.

Here are a few ways women entrepreneurs, like Ms. Kendrot, say they’ve tackled the particular challenges they face in the startup world.

Take a Break and Then Get Back At It This Holiday Season

This past Black Friday was expected to once again be the largest shopping day of the season, followed by the last Saturday before Christmas.  And this year, there is a mad scramble between Thanksgiving and Christmas — but with six fewer days.  So that means customers will have less time to shop and retailers will have less time to woo them.

For busy business owners like you, it also means you better grab your break and then get back at it.  Besides, you deserve a break!

Read more about how this year we have less time to spend this holiday season.

How Women Business Owners Grow Their Businesses

Many women business owners never think their business will become a million dollar company.

“I never really thought I would be,” confessed Kahn, whose company [North Shore Children's Therapies] achieved that milestone in 2017. “I am more on a passion driven mission to helping kids and I don’t think that, for me, there is any sort of number to get to with that.”

Learn what other business owners said about running a million dollar company.   Oh, and an interesting fact:  the fastest growing businesses are run by women and people of color.

Product-based business? Service-based business? Try experience-based business.

Most of us know the difference between a product and a service-based business.  But what about an experience-based business?  What's that about?  Think of producing a product or providing a service but making it memorable.  Got it?

In a 1998 Harvard Business Review article, “Welcome to the Experience Economy,” authors B. Joseph Pine and James H. Gil­more identified experiences as an entirely distinct economic category. “An experience is not an amorphous construct; it is as real an offering as any service, good, or commodity,” they wrote.

According to a McKinsey study of U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis data, experience-related spending in recent years grew more than four times faster than spending on goods.

Find out why and what this means for your business.

Raise Your Game in 2020 By Reading Business Books!

©2019 Laurel J. Delaney.  All rights reserved.

At strategy+business, they "believe one way to stand a little higher than your peers is to spend some time mining insights from the large number of business books that are published each year. Whether they are distillations of theory or detailed playbooks, heavily documented historical investigations or futuristic manifestos, a stack of good books (or a queue of e-books on your reader) can provide a boost."  They go on to say, "Reading tests your priorities and exposes you to new ideas. And, because business books in particular tend to focus on best practices and phenomenal success stories, they spur us to think about how we can raise our game."

Here's to great reads and raising your game in 2020!

Best Advice for Overcoming Failure (Video)

Holly Whitaker, founder of online recovery school Tempest, and Kate Ryder, founder of health care company Maven, share their advice on what helped them succeed through failure, self-doubt, and countless business challenges.

Watch video.

Always Be Willing to Learn

Five women business owners talk about what inspired them to start their business, lessons they thought would have been beneficial at that time, and maintaining a healthy work-life balance.

A common theme among their answers and advice for up-and-coming entrepreneurs is to never stop learning.  Always be willing to learn.

We Just Aren't Cracking the Glass Ceiling

The good news is that there are more women in top-level positions at U.S. businesses than at any other point in history. But a study has found that many women face the biggest obstacle to reaching the top of the corporate ladder early in their careers, with fewer women than men getting the opportunity to take their first step into management.  [I believe that is why a lot of women start a business, to avoid being held back.]

There are still big problems getting there, and the biggest, according to a new report from McKinsey & Co. and Lean In, isn’t even breaking through the final “glass ceiling.”

Making Time Management Your Organization's Priority

To stop wasting a finite resource, companies should tackle time problems systematically rather than leave them to individuals.  That's according to Frankki Bevins, a consultant in McKinsey’s Washington, DC, office, and Aaron De Smet, a principal in the Houston office.

They go on to say:

While executives cannot easily combat the external forces at work, they can treat time as a precious and increasingly scarce resource and tackle the institutional barriers to managing it well. The starting point is to get clear on organizational priorities—and to approach the challenge of aligning them with the way executives spend their time as a systemic organizational problem, not merely a personal one.

Read the entire time management article here.

New Board of Directors for the Women Presidents' Organization

The Women Presidents' Organization (WPO), a peer advisory group for leaders of multimillion-dollar companies, has announced new members to its Board of Directors and Advisory Board, each for a two-year term.

Board of Directors

• Kerrie R. Heslin, Esq., Partner, Nukk-Freeman & Cerra, P.C. Employment Attorneys, Chatham, New Jersey
• Cardiologist Dr. Barbara Hutchinson, M.D., Ph.D., FACC, President of Chesapeake Cardiac Care, Annapolis, Maryland
• Sandy Marsico, Founder and CEO of Sandstorm Design®, Greater Chicago area
• Hetal Parikh, President, Rangam Consultants, Inc., Greater New York City area
• Nicolette A. Jacobs, Director/Partner – Financial Services Assurance, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Cape Town, South Africa

Advisory Board

• Dawn O'Connor, Master Productivity Ninja for Think Productive North America, and Facilitator WPO Canada, Calgary I and II
• Mindy C. Meads, LPC Holdings LLC, and Facilitator WPO Zenith I Group (average annual revenue $246 million, aggregate annual revenue $4.4 billion)
• Jayne H. Huston, MBA, LPBC, Business Coach/Vice President, ThistleSea Business Development, LLC, Facilitator WPO Harrisburg and Lancaster Chapters
• Linda Graebner, Managing Partner, LSG Associates, Oakland CA, and Facilitator WPO East Bay

Congratulations to all!

Bounce!

When you run a growing business, some days are good and some days are awful.  The key to achieving success is developing resiliency or the ability to bounce, no matter what comes your way.
To bolster your spirit and boost your inner strength, give these resilience quotes a read—and then carry on, or bounce :-)!

The Desire to Build a Female Internet

The serial dating entrepreneur, Bumble CEO Whitney Wolfe Herd, wants nothing less than to “change thousands of years of behavior” between men and women. But first, she has to get a lot more women (and men) to see things her way.

She says:

“We’re not one of our competitors that’s just trying to hook people up,” says Whitney Wolfe Herd, the 30-year-old CEO of Bumble, the online dating platform where women have to initiate potential interest. “We’re trying to say, ‘Let’s change thousands of years of behavior. Globally.’ Do you see why this is so challenging?”

See how Whitney wants to change the world or at the very least, create equality.

16th Annual WPO Chicago Summit 2019 on Artificial Intelligence Rocked!

There are so many people to thank who contributed to the success of our 16th Annual WPO Chicago Summit 2019 on "Artificial Intelligence:  What It Is and Why It Matters for Your Business," and if I fail to mention anyone, please pardon my oversight.

WPO Chicago Steering Committee Members:

• Chaoran Jin, Keystone Capital
• AJ Goehle, Luci Creative
• Teri Sharp, American Precision Supply
• Xza Higgins, Parent & Co.
• Ralph Jacobsen, IBM

Speakers:

• Sue Hallen, IBM
• Ann Yeung, Northwestern Mutual
• Dale Miller, Visionati

Other important people who contributed to our winning program:

• Sally Roessler, IBM
• Laura Fairman, Blue Canvas Inc.
• Tomi Jane DeTorres, Women Presidents' Organization
• All our sponsors, especially IBM for hosting our event in their magnificent Innovation Center!
• All our members who participated in the program!

We look forward to seeing everyone again at next year's 17th Annual WPO Chicago Summit!

Photos courtesy:  ©2019 Laurel J. Delaney.  All rights reserved.

Are You (Unintentionally) Sabotaging Your Business?

The following article by Stefan Theme, William Barclay Harding Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School, is complicated (5-minute read) yet it is insightful when it gets to the 10 points that can lead to sabotaging your business.

1. “Insist on doing everything through ‘channels.’ Never permit shortcuts to be taken in order to expedite decisions.”
2. “Make ‘speeches.’ Talk as frequently as possible and at great length. Illustrate your ‘points’ by long anecdotes and accounts of personal experiences.”
3. “When possible, refer all matters to committees, for ‘further study and consideration.’ Attempt to make the committees as large as possible — never less than five.”
4. “Bring up irrelevant issues as frequently as possible.”
5. “Haggle over precise wordings of communications, minutes, resolutions.”
6. “Refer back to matters decided upon at the last meeting and attempt to reopen the question of the advisability of that decision.”
7. “Advocate ‘caution.’ Be ‘reasonable’ and urge your fellow conferees to be ‘reasonable’ and avoid haste, which might result in embarrassments or difficulties later on.”
8. “Be worried about the propriety of any decision — raise the question of whether such action as is contemplated lies within the jurisdiction of the group or whether it might conflict with the policy of some higher echelon.”
9. “To lower morale and with it, production, be pleasant to inefficient workers; give them undeserved promotions. Discriminate against efficient workers; complain unjustly about their work.”
10. “Hold conferences when there is more critical work to be done.”

The lesson here, says Theme, is that some of the biggest threats to organizational performance can and do come from within.

Could that be you at your firm?  Read the entire article at MIT Sloan Management Review.

What's Your Victory Hour?

Do you have a particular hour when you wake up and feel more energized and productive?  Robin Sharma thinks we all do and the earlier we rise the better to find your victory hour.

I [Scott Bedgood] blazed through his [Robin Sharma's] newest book, The 5 AM Club, in a few days before speaking with him. Told in parable form, the story features four central characters: The Spellbinder, The Homeless Man/Billionaire, The Artist, and The Entrepreneur. Through the course of the book, the Artist and the Entrepreneur go through a complete life change due to the teachings of The Spellbinder and Billionaire characters. The main point of their lessons is, of course, that the two should get up at 5 a.m. and structure their days according to Sharma’s formulas.

For a lesson or two on how to exercise, reflect, and grow, study up on whether joining the 5 AM Club will change your life.

Are You a Spanning Leader?

According to Wanda Wallace, a spanning leader is a manager who, rather than leading from deep expertise, are adept at managing outside of boundaries.

Ms. Wallace has learned that specialist employees can resist a boss who knows less than they do. But working through a pain point can turn things around.

For example, maybe you are a sharp finance CEO working with a team of creatives.  Or, perhaps your strength is marketing but you must manage a group of engineers to get a client project off the ground.

So when employees cry out for expert leadership but you as spanning leader know you can’t provide it, how can you make things work?

Read on to find out.

REMINDER: 16th Annual WPO Chicago Summit 9/12/19

16th Annual WPO Chicago Summit 2019

Please join us for our exciting 16th Annual WPO Chicago Summit on Thursday, September 12 on "Artificial Intelligence (AI):  What It Is and Why It Matters for Your Business" and hosted at IBM (71 S. Wacker Drive) from 1:30-7:30 p.m. Central Time.  This event is a private event for members and sponsors only.  We have a great lineup of outstanding speakers:  Sue Hallen, IBM, Ann Yeung, Northwestern Mutual, and Dale Miller, Visionati.com.

Special thanks to our dynamic Steering Committee members highlighted in the graphic for their assistance on this program and to our wonderful sponsors to WPO!

To find out whether your business qualifies for WPO membership, visit here.  If you are interested in becoming a WPO Chicago chapter member, send me [Laurel Delaney] a LinkedIn invite and we'll get the dialog and process going.

Mia Allen Moves the World and Helps Others

Rose Pallets Vice president and co-owner Mia Allen (pictured) joined the Women Presidents’ Organization (WPO Chicago) and the International Association of Women (IAW) because she felt a need to connect with growth-oriented women execs and business owners. Through her involvement, she is able to share business expertise and learn from fellow women business leaders.

She recently sat down with Guy Gruenberg to discuss her participation in these organizations and how it has benefited the company, her employees, and her customers.

Read the interview:  How Women Executives Move the World and Each Other

Fav program through WPO Chicago?

"I really enjoyed the Women Presidents’ Organization Chicago Summit last fall at Radio Flyer’s home office on Chicago’s west side. The program was focused on building a great company culture. All of the women in attendance were there with the same purpose—to learn from each other and gain ideas to foster employee happiness for better company performance.  And, I must admit, it was pretty cool to get a behind-the-scenes glimpse into the making of one of childhood’s most beloved icons—the Little Red Wagon."

What It Means to Be a Female Entrepreneur in Today's Digital Environment (Video)

Women Entrepreneurs Who Dominate the World

A look at a whole new era of businesswomen from around the world.

Today, women are sitting side by side and establishing their businesses as household names in a variety of industries, including publishing, technology, fashion, broadcasting and beauty.

Here are 15 women business owners worth noting and to be inspired by.

If You Could Only Sense How Important You Are

©2019 Laurel J. Delaney.  All rights reserved.

Once in a while I stumble upon a book that absolutely turns my mind around when I least expect it.  In this case, it's The World According to Mister Rogers and by Fred Rogers who helped a lot of people lead the most remarkable life they ever imagined.  So many wonderful stories, anecdotes, and insights that we can all learn from, especially this one:

"If you could only sense how important you are to the lives of those you meet; how important you can be to the people you may never even dream of. There is something of yourself that you leave at every meeting with another person."

That's exactly how we feel about our WPO meetings.

Do You Battle Impostor Syndrome?

What is imposter syndrome? It's having unproductive thoughts about yourself and your capabilities.  Here's what Kat Ambrose at Fast Company wrote after she had reached a milestone in her freelance writing career:

Seemingly out of nowhere, negative thoughts and voices popped up. You don’t deserve this. You had someone help you. This doesn’t count. You don’t know what you’re doing. You’re not a writer.

Ambrose was experiencing impostor syndrome, the belief that one is inadequate, a failure, or a fraud despite proof of success.  She goes on to say that impostor syndrome shows its ugly head in three different facets of entrepreneurship—in client work, when growing business, and in professional development.

See what else she unearthed and determine whether you fall into any of these gnarly traps.

Entrepreneurship Can Be Tough; Here's How to Simplify the Journey

David Bayer sets out to help you see that creating a successful business isn’t mysterious.

You want to create more impact, more income, more joy and a business and life you love? It turns out there’s an algorithm for that.

Read more about David's fundamental principles that underlie every successful business.

Photo by Gaelle Marcel on Unsplash.