Wishing You a Merry Christmas and Joyful 2017!

©2016 Laurel Delaney.  All rights reserved.

How to Translate Your Vision Into Concrete Actions

How do you translate your vision into concrete actions your people can identify with and get excited about? Here are seven proven techniques for building a solid team.

One of the most insightful tips I [Nido Qubein] learned about leading others is that people do things for their reasons, not for your reasons or for mine. So the goals, the plan of action and the strong conviction have to be communicated in a way that directly answers the question, “What’s in it for me?”

7 Ways Leaders Can Inspire Commitment to Goals

Unlocking Entrepreneurial Potential in Women

Women entrepreneurs face significant obstacles to growing and scaling their businesses, especially with accessing capital, education and resources.  They don't always have the same opportunities as men.  This is why Tory Burch started the Tory Burch Foundation, which empowers women entrepreneurs and provides programming designed to level the playing field.

Read more:  TB's Top Business Advice for Women

Screenshot courtesy:  Tory Burch Foundation

Effecting Change and Inspiring Others

Our U.S. election has been simultaneously inspiring and deeply challenging for women.

Chicago Inno reached out to several women founders, tech executives, and organization leaders to hear their reactions after the election. While many expressed frustration and fear, women also expressed resolve to push forward, and the importance of entrepreneurship and tech as a means to equality.

Here's what they had to say.

Entrepreneurs: The New Face of the Uninsured

Read the story of a 58-year-old entrepreneur who, over the past 20 years, had two bouts of breast cancer, is now cancer-free, but due to the change in the health exchange marketplace, is in a position of being wary as to who will insure her next.

Learn more:  Are entrepreneurs the new face of the uninsured?

It Ain't Easy Growing a Business Past the $1 Million Mark

According to Small Business Trends, entrepreneurship among women is on the rise. Women own 36 percent of all businesses. Yet, women get 33 percent less capital for their ventures.  Those numbers are according to the American Express report.

Women who start and run businesses, especially past the $1 million mark, do not let roadblocks get in the way.

Learn more:  The Truth About Women-Owned Business

How to Overcome Your Biggest Challenges

There are three (possibly four) primary lessons for small-business growth.  It starts with how to stay in business and revitalize the communities around you.  In addition:

1. Know your numbers
2. Engage in smart marketing.
3. Ask for help.

Read more:  Robert Herjavec's 3 Lessons for Small-Business Growth

Should I Stay or Should I Go?

You're a CEO.  How do you decide whether to give an employee a raise or lay them off?  The article below reveals the arithmetic companies typically use to access employees' value.  Just remember, value and compensation are inextricably connected.

Read more:  I'm a CEO -- Here's How I Decide Whether to Give You a Raise or Lay You Off

In Building a Business, Keep It Honest

Jessica Alba (pictured), founder of The Honest Company, may have earned her first fame and fortune on TV and in blockbuster films over the past decade, but her true talent seems to lie in building a business.

Unilever started to express interest in buying The Honest Company, Alba’s five-year-old purveyor of plant-based diapers, organic dishwashing detergent and other “green” household products, but ended up acquiring Alba's rival Seventh Generation for as much as $700 million.

But the fact a multinational conglomerate would consider buying Honest is being cheered as a victory for women entrepreneurs. After all, Alba and her company may have turned down a 10-figure offer for their baby.

Read more:  Billion dollar baby:  Jessica Alba's Honest Company is her real entrepreneurial star vehicle

Where the U.S. Candidates Stand on Business Ownership Issues

Karen Kerrigan (pictured), president & CEO of the Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council, says:

"Entrepreneurs are critical to getting the economy back on a strong growth track, and successfully starting and growing a business is an important path that helps individuals achieve financial security and prosperity. Small businesses are responsible for the bulk of job creation, and their innovation and dynamism is what makes our economy so unique from the rest of the world." 

In the article below, she outlines the candidate's known or new positions on taxes and tax reform, health care reform and Obamacare, regulation and regulatory reform, trade, immigration, and energy.

Read more:  So, where do the candidates stand on small business issues?

Why Diverse Teams Perform Better

According to Harvard Business Review, "diversity — both inherent (e.g., race, gender) and acquired (experience, cultural background) — is associated with business success."

Find out why.  Diverse Teams Feel Less Comfortable -- and That's Why They Perform Better

Follow Your Heart For Your Next (Ad)venture

Birchbox co-CEO Hayley Barna (pictured) decided to walk away from the influential beauty-subscription-box startup that she cofounded in 2010 (she remains on the company’s board).  Why? She says:

"I loved it, but it turned out the beauty industry is not my lifelong passion. It’s [exploring] innovative business models."

You never know where your next adventure will take you.  Follow your heart.

Read:  Birchbox Cofounder Hayley Barna On New Ventures, Glamping, and Her Filthy Fridge

13th Annual WPO Chicago Summit a HUGE Success

We were delighted to have the following speakers at our 13th Annual WPO Chicago Summit held on Thursday, September 8th and hosted by Foley & Lardner.

• Paul Leinwand, PricewaterhouseCoopers Advisory
• Sandy Marsico, Sandstorm Design
• Joanna Sobran and Karen Burneister, MXOtech

This year's theme was Create a Winning Business Strategy and all speakers knocked it out of the park on substance and delivery.

Thank you to all who participated and until next year's Summit, keep growing!

Photo credit:  ©Laurel J. Delaney.  All rights reserved.

From Homelessness to Running a Multimillion Dollar Enterprise

For more than a year Arlan Hamilton (pictured) had been pursuing her dream of starting a venture capital fund focused on female, minority, and LGBT entrepreneurs. But she realized early on that it is tough to get a fund going when you don't have any money to invest.

For months, she'd been homeless, making ends meet in whatever away possible, when she finally got the oxygen she needed:

"I'm in," read the text from Susan Kimberlin, a tech veteran who made a name for herself at Salesforce and PayPal. Kimberlin was ready to bet on Hamilton to bring more diversity to tech--and her check was the lifeline Hamilton needed to get Backstage Capital up and running.

Read more:  How This Woman Went From Homelessness to Running a Multimillion-Dollar Capital Fund

More Women of Color Are Starting Businesses

It's time for all women to see themselves in a new light.  Consider the following:

For every 10 women-owned businesses launched since 2007, eight were started by women of color, according to the 2016 State of Women-Owned Businesses Report. In the past nine years, there’s been a 137% increase in Latina-owned businesses, a larger rise than that among any other demographic group in the U.S., the report found. (3.5 million women-owned businesses were founded during that period, according to the report, compared to 1.6 million firms owned by men.)

Read more:  Why More Women of Color Than Ever Are Starting Their Own Businesses

Join Us: 13th Annual WPO Chicago Summit (9/8/16)

Reshaping the Contemporary Global Economy

The drive to produce more women-owned enterprises is not just to develop women from an economic perspective, but the bigger picture of reshaping the contemporary global economy. This is the case for South Africa.

“Women are underestimated powerhouses of an economy. This is not a fact that is relevant only to South Africa, but it is a global phenomenon. South Africa needs to not only build entrepreneurship, but to encourage and develop female business owners. 

WPO operates four vibrant chapters in South Africa managed by Anni Bodington (bottom) and Miranda Isaakidis (top).  We are well on the path of helping women business owners grow there.

Learn more:  Small Business Friday aims to produce more women-owned enterprises

Pathways to Success

According to Javier Palomarez, President and CEO of the United States Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, women are leading in corporate America, not only in title or position, but also through collaborative, purposeful actions that influence the state of women in America and around the world. When it comes to commerce, it’s clear that women are good for business.

Here's a look at a few (e.g., one is Ursula Burns, CEO of Xerox, pictured) who are changing the landscape of corporate America for the better.

Read:  10 of the Most-Influential Women in Corporate America

How To Bring Your Best Selves to Work

If you haven't discovered HBR Press at Harvard Business, now's the time to take a moment to learn about their Insight Center, “Building Resilience."  They explore how you can bring your best selves to work and how you match the demands on your time with your ambitions to succeed.

Tin addition, they look at motivation, work-life balance, and knowing when you're approaching your burnout thresholds.  All good and important stuff.

Here's a sampling on some of the articles featured at "Building Resilience:"

1. 5 Ways to Boost Your Resilience at Work
2. Resilience Is About How You Recharge, Not How You Endure
3. Battling the Physical Symptoms of Stress

Innovative and Tenacious Women Entrepreneurs

In addition to WPO members the world over, there are other innovative and tenacious women entrepreneurs.  The producers of ABC’s hit business reality show Shark Tank hunted down 12 of them below who are under the age 30 who’ve pitched on the show. They all share a talent for finding niches of unmet needs and an unabated drive to succeed.

Take a look.  If they are not already WPO members, they will be, soon.

12 Of The Most Promising Women Entrepreneurs Under 30 from Shark Tank