Monday, July 25, 2022

Building An Inquiry Driven Culture

Pia Lauritzen for strategy+business says that having worked as an advisor to executives for 18 years, she has never come across another theory, method, or tool that in two minutes helps leaders make up their mind about what’s important, take other people’s situations into account, and think of their input in light of their company’s or team’s common goal. 

So, what is it about asking questions that makes leaders spontaneously do so quickly what no carefully designed manual or process manages to do? Go with Pia's train of thought and take a look at the ideas that make up the magical question triangle – and in the process learn about building an inquiry-driven culture.

Six reasons successful leaders love questions.

Monday, July 18, 2022

Luci Creative is Exclusive Design Partner for the New Adams Presidential Center

We love sharing positive news about our WPO Chicago members. This one is about AJ Goehle, President of Luci Creative and her amazing team.

Luci Creative, the award-winning experiential design studio, is delighted to announce its selection as the exclusive exhibition design partner for the new Adams Presidential Center to be built in Quincy, Massachusetts. Luci Creative has distinguished itself as a developer of award-winning interactive, state-of-the-art, and dynamic exhibitions and spaces that allow visitors to connect to an organization's purpose.   

Read all about it.

Screenshot source:  Luci Creative

Monday, July 11, 2022

Do You Have Consistency of Interest and Perseverance of Effort?

Inspired by the research of psychology professor Angela Duckworth, grit is widely considered an important predictor of success and performance. It has two main components as defined by Duckworth and Quinn in 2009: “consistency of interest” and “perseverance of effort.”

It’s not just about being “resilient in the face of failure, but also about having deep commitments that you remain loyal to over many years,” says Duckworth.

The idea that grit is fundamental to long-term success sounds sensible enough. Keep doing what you’re doing, stay on task, be passionate, don’t give up and you will ultimately be rewarded.

Read on though to see how you can change your life from time to time to achieve a greater chance of success.

Monday, July 04, 2022

Explosive Growth By WPO Chicago Member Shital Daftari

The cover spotlight of Enterprising Women (EW) magazine's Summer 2022 edition features our very own WPO Chicago member Shital Daftari, founder of SNT Biotech.  Congrats Shital. We are very proud of you!

Learn more here and while you are at it, sign up for EW's upcoming conference.  An event you won't want to miss. 

Monday, June 27, 2022

Friction Sharpens Creative Ideas

Barry Fiske, for Fast Company, says that big companies have a big creative advantage over smaller companies because the very natures of creative invention, experience design, and product development have changed. Below, he recently explored this topic with several of his colleagues, and here are the advantages that he discussed.

My personal favorite is:

1. GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE

One thing we talked about is how in big companies, you often get to collaborate with global team members who may bring a very different perspective from your local team. And when you’re working with people from Amsterdam and London and Boston and Bangalore, these varied perspectives can certainly create friction. And friction sharpens creative ideas.

Monday, June 20, 2022

Creating Equity and Sustainability Starts with Deep Work

Lou Elliott-Cysewski, co-founder and CEO of Coolperx, the first climate-neutral brand merchandise company in the world says:

I am not just a founder of a company working to create equity and sustainability in corporate procurement. I am also someone who grew up in a low-income household with a single biracial mom, and I experienced firsthand a harmful level of competition among people in need.

Further:

Legitimate empowerment starts with deep work—the kind that doesn't come with hashtags. Ensure your organization has the courage to do the work and bring truly viable solutions to your community.

Monday, June 13, 2022

Take a Break to Strategize

When Destiny Snow first started her online business SnowGlam Collection with $600 at fifteen years old, she found little success. She was anticipating that her friends and family will rush to buy what she was selling. However, that wasn’t the case. And the lack of support discouraged her at a time.

Two years later she is still running her online company and generating more than a $1 million in revenue.

How did things change?  Instead of giving up, she took a break to strategize. This she did by watching several videos of entrepreneurs and reading business articles.  Had she found WPO, she would have grown faster but nevertheless, she made it to a million.

Read on to discover how she won the hearts and mind of total strangers to grow her business.

Monday, June 06, 2022

Pay Your Employees to Quit?

Sounds counter intuitive to pay your employees to quit yet these founders did just that in a tight labor market.  See what they created but fair warning, it's not cheap.

Monday, May 30, 2022

Peer Coaching At Your Business

Do you have peer coaching offered at your business to help employees build friendships?  The reason I ask is because even before the COVID-19 pandemic, many organizations faced a difficult challenge they were unequipped to solve: increasing isolation and loneliness among their staff.

Amid the current challenges, there are steps organizations can take to facilitate and encourage the formation of work relationships. One of the key methods for empowerment is peer coaching, a process in which two colleagues help each other reflect on experiences, offer support, build skills, and match their work to their sense of purpose.

It has been reported that the loss of work friendships is likely one reason so many people are choosing to leave their jobs.

To build the kinds of relationships that strengthen an organization—especially in an era of remote and hybrid work—businesses must be proactive.  As the authors of the article for strategy+business says, "By giving employees the tools to develop relationships on their own, businesses can reap tremendous benefits—and build a stronger long-term future."

Monday, May 23, 2022

Own Your Power

Want to fully honor your ambitions and reach your business goals?  The author states:

As women entrepreneurs, don't we at least want to be successful? Don't we also want to achieve our goals? Having some power sounds good, too. Isn't that why we became entrepreneurs — to have success, be empowered and achieve our goals — just like our male counterparts?

Here's some powerful advice for new women entrepreneurs desire to become multimillion dollar business owners.

Monday, May 16, 2022

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.


Monday, May 09, 2022

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.

Monday, May 02, 2022

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.

Monday, April 25, 2022

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.

Monday, April 18, 2022

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.

Monday, April 11, 2022

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."

Monday, April 04, 2022

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.

Monday, March 28, 2022

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.

Monday, March 21, 2022

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.

Monday, March 14, 2022

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.