How Leaders Can Navigate Difficult Situations

In business, leaders are facing a perfect storm.  Talent wars, actual war, the pandemic’s disruption to business, and inflation are just some of the issues troubling businesses today.

So who can help executives navigate these difficult situations? The author, Brad Broken, says:

I’ve come to the conclusion that having a second-in-command on a team, no matter the team’s size, was a defining feature of a mission’s success.

Read on.

50-Fastest: Congratulations SNT Biotech Founder Shital Daftari!

Congratulations to all the winners of the 50 Fastest-Growing Women-Owned/Led Companies of 2022 from the Women Presidents Organization (JP Morgan Chase & Co.).

In particular we like to congratulate our WPO Chicago Chapter I member, Shital Daftari, founder and President of SNT Biotech (DBA Saris and Things) for her No. 6 position in the list out of 50.

Shital is an inspiration to us all with her drive, smarts, fast-growth mindset, and willingness to be a great leader.

From all your WPO sisters in Chicago, we salute you and wish you continued success.

We All Want Our Lives Back

A worthy goal! And there are so many ways to pursue it.

Rather than pushing to develop and deploy new technologies and approaches, many people are still focused on questioning the wearing of masks, a debate that intensified recently as a federal judge struck down the Biden administration’s mask mandate, freeing airplane, train, bus, and other public transportation passengers to travel unmasked.

Read on to determine whether we are putting our lives at risk and how to protect yourself and your people going forward.

25th Annual WPO Conference May 4-6, 2022 in Montreal

We are celebrating the Women Presidents Organization’s Silver Anniversary by honoring the values that make the women entrepreneurs in our network unique: curiosity, tenacity, and community.

Experience the understanding, support, and counsel of entrepreneurial equals and benefit from their collective wisdom as well as the wisdom of renowned speakers and thought leaders.

The WPO Annual Conference is the premier gathering of women entrepreneurs who lead multi-million-dollar businesses. Over three days, attendees build relationships, foster connections and learn new ways to grow and thrive both as an individual and as a leader.

Join us May 4-6 in Montreal, Québec at Fairmont The Queen Elizabeth.

Start Early with Retirement Plans

A lot goes into preparing for retirement, developing estate plans and keeping them current. So, start early and get the help you need from experienced professionals. The more thorough your planning (e.g., exit strategy for your business), the more control you’ll have over your future.  

Here are 4 key issues to consider.

When You Sell, Do You Use the Word "We?"

"We do this."  "We do that."  "We can do that, too."  Guilty.  Yes, I do it, too, to ensure it's not all about "me."  But get over it. How many times should you use the word we?  According to this article, none.

Customers don't care about "we" or "you."  They care about themselves and what you can do for them.

The key in mastering sales is switching statements about you and how great you are and what you do, to statements about them, and how great they are, and how they will produce more and profit more from ownership of your product or service. 

Start eliminating "we" and "I' and go for:  "How they will win." "What's in it for them."  "Why they will soar in their business by XYZ."

Treating the Bullies At Work

Linda Rodriguez McRobbie, contributor for strategy+business, says that trying to get a sense of the prevalence of bullying in the workplace—the adult version of the playground—is difficult.

But researchers agree that bullying is an understudied and widespread problem; the data we do have seems to show that bullying, in the US at least, is on the rise: according to a January 2021 survey by the Workplace Bullying Institute (WBI), 30% of US workers reported being bullied, up from 19% in 2017.

Read on to learn how the pandemic has encouraged some bad behaviors that leaders need to look out for in the new hybrid world of work.

Why the Future of Work is Hybrid

Surveys show that almost two-thirds of all U.S. workers worked remotely during the pandemic. Moreover, two-thirds to three-quarters of surveyed employers intend to have a mainly-hybrid schedule after the pandemic.

It's time to adapt our work culture to the "excellence of anywhere" strategy.  This reframes the conversation to help everyone focus on pulling together to achieve shared business objectives and prioritizing deliverables.

Read on to discover more.

Teaming Is Hard Post-Covid

As more companies release formal policies around hybrid and remote work, leaders are telling us that remote work has made working together, or teaming, difficult and has frayed the culture of their organizations.

The question becomes:  What is a team?

Teams don’t exist simply because someone puts some names in boxes on an org chart and assigns a leader.

Read on to learn how to collaborate, where you can avoid the worst of both worlds: a bloated team-in-name-only with vague and unclear expectations.

Don't Underestimate the Complexity of Scale

The level of complexity for operations at scale is what people unknowingly and arrogantly overlook.

Do not mistakenly assume that understanding the end product equals understanding how to produce that product at scale. For example, brewing a cup at home requires some tools: a machine (or a filter), some ground beans, and some water. But, it is far more complex than that at scale. 

If you are going to build a business, solving a problem that can be scaled is vital for success.

How Women of Color Can Drive New Power in Corporate America

Deepa Purushothaman was one of the youngest people and the first Indian American woman to make partner in Deloitte’s history.

In her new book, The First, the Few, the Only: How Women of Color Can Redefine Power in Corporate America (Harper Business, 2022), she explores her own experience as a “first,” shares stories from a host of women of color about their work experiences, and provides insight and guidance on how leaders can drive equity in their organizations.

Read the interview Deborah Milstein, associate editor at MIT Sloan Management Review conducts with Deepa Purushothaman about her book and her work.

From Burnout to Boundary Violations

Studies link burnout to boundary violations, such as work consistently intruding on personal time.

In addition to lost productivity and poor performance, it is also contributing to the record number of employees leaving their jobs in what has become known as the “great resignation.” By contrast, when employees believe their voices are heard and their boundaries respected, they become more engaged with their organization.

Have you taken steps to identify, set, and maintain healthy boundaries at work, for your employees and your managers to build trust, improve resilience, and contribute to a higher-performing environment for everyone?

The WPO's "50 Fastest"

The WPO’s “50 Fastest” creates an opportunity for women to be recognized among peer entrepreneurs at the top of their game. 

The Women Presidents Organization and JPMorgan Chase will be sharing the 15th annual “50 Fastest Growing Women-Owned/Led Companies” ranking.

Founded in 1997, the WPO is the premier peer advisory organization connecting women who own multi-million-dollar companies, with more than 2,000 members across 11 countries.

WPO CEO Camille Burns says, "Recognition plays an important role in helping to improve the environment for today’s women entrepreneurs and level the playing field for future leaders. The 50 Fastest ranking showcases and celebrates women who are leading some of the fastest-growing businesses around the globe, and provides significant brand exposure."

Read the full Forbes interview here.  Applications to apply are due by February 25, 2022.

EAM = Emotionally Aware Manager

The new position that will be necessary at every firm during and post-COVID?  According to Dorie Clark, Emotionally Aware Manager (EAM).

Accountability Matters

All leaders say they want accountability, but actually getting it embedded in the culture isn't as easy as it looks.

In his HBR article entitled “The Best Teams Hold Themselves Accountable,” Joseph Grenny suggests that the worst teams have no accountability, mediocre teams rely on the boss for accountability, and the best teams hold themselves accountable.

What happens to teams without accountability?  Find out.

Giving Feedback As a Leader

Giving negative feedback is a critical component of effective leadership — but while the benefits of receiving constructive criticism are clear, it’s less obvious how giving such feedback impacts leaders. While some leaders enjoy giving negative feedback (I'm not one), one survey found that 44% of managers find it stressful or difficult. 

Here are several strategies for organizations to better support both high- and low-empathy leaders, including encouraging more-empathetic leaders to take breaks after giving negative feedback and training less-empathetic leaders on techniques for delivering feedback more compassionately.

Summing Up 30 Years of Insights Studying Corporate Culture

Harvard Business School professor emeritus James Heskett, now 88, is still making the business case for corporate culture.  He's summeds up the insights he’s gleaned in more than 30 years of studying corporate culture in his new book, Win From Within:  Build Organizational Culture for Competitive Advantage.

“Strategy is hard; culture is soft,” Heskett writes, beginning a list of common misconceptions. “The impact of a strategy on growth and profit can be measured, but that of a culture cannot. If you get the core values shared by everyone right, the rest will take care of itself. A strong culture helps assure good performance. To change an organization’s culture requires a long time. All of these assertions have been passed around in management circles over the years. And all of them are essentially wrong.”

Heskett’s thesis:  most leaders don’t devote nearly enough time to managing the culture of their companies, and the time that they do spend on it is often wasted.

Is that you?  

Follow Heskett's lead and "live the culture."  Because meaningful change, like many things, begins at the top.

Asynchronous Work and What It Means

Companies are waking up to the current problems with distributed work and see the need for more flexible solutions.  A veteran Googler, Kenzo Fong, who founded messaging app Rock maintains that operating asynchronously lets work get done on time. People are less stressed and it allows for a wider talent pool, too.

Fong says that asynchronous, in short, is when work happens for different people on their own time.

Work gets done on time, people are less stressed, and it allows for a wider talent pool. With an asynchronous work style, companies can hire literally from anywhere in any time zone and are not limited by geography.

Read:  The future of work is asynchronous to rethink how we work.

A Growth Mindset Will Make a Difference in 2022

Julia Pimsleur believes that some women meet their goals and become successful while others get in their own way and stop themselves in their tracks.  Why is that?  "It is all about one word – mindset," explains Pimsleur, a trained mindset coach.

Read on to see if you have the right growth mindset for success in 2022.

Embrace 2022 With Productivity Tools and Tips For Hybrid Teams

Have you decided to make your hybrid office a permanent protocol? Now, how should you adjust your online setup? Are you using Slack too much or not enough? Should you replace Miro with MindMeister, or vice versa? So many tools, so little time. 

Learn what Nick Wolny over at Fast Company has to say about all this.  He provides a few foundational processes to streamline for the coming hybrid year.