Top Female Founders 2022 According to Inc. Magazine

Here are 100 reasons women business owners rock.

One of our WPO Chicago members, Valarie King-Bailey (shown above) is featured in the list!  Congrats!

Photo credit:  OnShore Technology Group

Women Who Want to Lead

For the past 25 years, Nina Vaca has been running Pinnacle Group, an IT and staffing firm in Dallas. While she's seen the industry evolve from the birth of the internet to the introduction of the metaverse, she still hasn't seen a clear path for women who want to lead. 

Today Vaca runs PG on the foundation that people are the asset, and providing service to them is the goal. She applies this mindset to both her clients and her employees -- and anyone who wants to learn how to create a successful business. "My purpose is to improve lives through entrepreneurship, and Pinnacle's is to connect them with opportunity," she said. 

Learn more here.

Are You Quiet Firing?

As companies face tightening budgets, many may be considering trimming their workforce. But of course, outright layoffs are expensive and risky. That’s why some have turned to a subtler strategy: quiet firing, or intentionally creating a hostile work environment that encourages people to leave “voluntarily.” 

The HBR authors’ new research sheds light on how employees can tell if they’re being quietly fired, including changes to work responsibilities, compensation, and communication, and offers ten tactical steps workers can take before throwing in the towel.

Happy Halloween From WPO Chicago!

©2022 Laurel J. Delaney.  All rights reserved.

Do What You Are Afraid to Do

©2022 Laurel J. Delaney.  All rights reserved.

"Courage is doing what you are afraid to do.  There can be no courage unless you are scared." – Eddie Richenbacher

Just Like That: Our WPO CEO Is On the Front Cover of Enterprising Women Magazine

We salute our Women Presidents Organization CEO Camille Burns, and WPO Zenith member, Asma Ishaq, CEO of Modere North America, on their induction into the Enterprising Women Magazine Hall of Fame!

https://libraryenterprisingwomen.com/fall2022/

Congratulations!  We are so proud of you both!  And kudos to Enterprising Women Magazine for the great feature.

2022 Women of Color Achievement Awards (Houston)

The 100 Black Men of Metropolitan Houston Chapter, in partnership with the Women Presidents Organization (WPO), are proud to announce the honorees of the 2022 Women of Color Achievement Awards. 

A total of fourteen women were recognized for outstanding professional achievement and demonstrating exemplary community service. 

Sponsored by JPMorgan Chase Commercial Banking, the event took place on October 6, 2022, from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m., at the Texas Southern University-Jesse H Jones School of Business, 3800 Sampson St, Houston, TX 77004.

Congratulations to all honorees, especially our very own Ramal Taylor, former WPO Chicago member who recently moved to Houston.

Read the news and see the full list here.  More can be found via LinkedIn.

Screenshot source:  LinkedIn post

Turning Empathy Into Compassion

As Arthur Brooks for The Atlantic says, "In contemporary culture, empathy seems like a fairly unalloyed virtue. As virtues go, however, empathy is overrated. Used excessively and on its own, it can bring harm to empathizers and empathizees alike. Instead of striving to be more empathetic, we should all try to build on empathy to cultivate its superior cousin: compassion."

Empathy is not feeling sorry for someone in physical or emotional pain—that’s sympathy. Rather, it is mentally putting yourself in the suffering person’s shoes to feel their pain. It’s the difference between “Get well soon” and “I can imagine how much discomfort you must be feeling right now.”

As business owners who lead, learning to turn empathy into compassion is a virtue in and of itself.  Read the full article here.

Leading By Example Can Still Be Powerful

Leading by example, as in the case of Queen Elizabeth II who was no shrinking violet, can still be powerful, "and every time women or nontraditional people do something that's that important and visible, it changes our sense of who gets those jobs," says Kim Campbell, a former prime minister of Canada and the first and only woman to ever lead that country.

Queen Elizabeth II, who died 9/8/22 at age 96, was the longest-reigning woman in history and a role model for many female leaders. Her work and approach to the role has already influenced many women in politics (and in business), and some of the politicians shared how she has inspired their work throughout the years.

How Chicago-based Bluedog Design Made It to the Top, Twice

Crain's Chicago Business reports, "For the second consecutive year, Bluedog Design, a marketing and growth consultancy in Fulton Market, was ranked the top place to work by Crain's."

How did Bluedog do it?  What can we all learn from the founder and CEO of Bluedog, Michelle Hayward?

Well she certainly cuts to the chase when she addresses the reporter's first question:

If you had to name one thing as the reason you're a best place to work, what would it be?

Curious?  So was I.  So glad I read the entire interview.

(Screenshot photo courtesy of Crain's Chicago Business feature article 9/14/22.)

The Ultimate Success: 19th Annual WPO Chicago Summit on 9/8/22!

©2022 Laurel J. Delaney.  All rights reserved.

Thank you to Susan Walters-Flood, COO of The Planting Hope Company for presenting, "Grow and Scale Your Business Despite Economic Challenges," at our 19th Annual WPO Chicago Summit hosted by Foley & Lardner on Thursday, September 8, 2022.

We appreciate Susan sharing her insights on how to scale a business, take it public, and maintain a company culture.

Special thanks to Foley & Lardner, Ellen Wheeler and Lauren Loew, for their amazing assistance on this program.  We could not have done it without their help and their assistant's help.  It takes a village to put a successful program on.

Lead With Purpose

How do you lead with purpose? This is a beautiful interview with Elisa Choi, MD, an internist and infectious-disease sub-specialist, who always had an affinity for biological and life sciences.   She is the daughter of immigrant parents and a first-generation U.S.-born citizen.

Dr. Choi says:

"One way I lead with purpose is—I try very hard when I'm in a leadership role to listen as much as, and actually more than, I talk. That has taken a lot of work and I won't claim to be perfect at it. But, I do feel that is one way I try to lead with purpose because, ultimately, the best leaders care less about the title and position, and care more about being able to support and represent the people for whom they hold a leadership role." 

She goes on to say, "You can't support people unless you really understand where they're at and what they're experiencing and going through. Part of leading with purpose, in addition to trying to be as active and supportive a listener as possible, is to take a look around at the table—whether it’s the table one is sitting at, or the figurative table of one’s professional network or thinking about who has preceded me—and identify who hasn’t yet had the chance to have a voice at that table, and determine what I can do to then make sure that people who haven’t yet been represented will be in the future."

Read the full interview – you will appreciate a very sound perspective from Dr. Choi on how we can lead with purpose and achieve equity in our world.  

19th Annual WPO Chicago Summit 9/8/22: Grow and Scale Your Business

Growing As a Leader: Sandy Marsico, founder and CEO of Sandstorm

Long time WPO Chicago member Sandy Marsico, founder and CEO of Sandstorm, says:

"Ten years ago I became a member of the Women Presidents Organization to help scale my agency. Not only has Sandstorm Design gone through explosive growth, but I have personally grown as a leader thanks to Laurel Delaney and this group! 

Just this week, fellow WPO board member, Ida Abdalkhani and I interviewed each other on the impact WPO has made on our business and our life. 

The team at PNC made the entire day so much fun! And to be on camera with such a great friend made it even more memorable!" 

Learn more here.

Chapter Chairs Are the Heart and Soul of WPO

From the CEO of the Women Presidents Organization, Camille Burns:

"I always say the chapter chairs are the heart and soul of WPO. I cannot express how wonderful it was for my heart and soul to be in Denver with them at our annual chapter chair training. WPO chairs traveled from all over the US, Canada, South Africa, UK, Mexico, Turkey, Peru and Spain for 3 days of learning, sharing expertise and facilitating greatness in each other. 

I am so proud of the work these incredible women do to create a safe space for women business owners to grow and thrive. I have had countless women over the years tell me that WPO changed their life. It is with the utmost gratitude that I acknowledge our chairs for all of the lives and businesses they have changed and will continue to change."

Read her LinkedIn post here.

Policies Your Workers Value

While the Great Resignation has led employers to offer increasingly generous benefits, it can still be hard to know what policies your workers will value the most. 

Some of the creative benefits offered by companies on Inc.'s 2022 list of Best Workplaces include, but are not limited to:

• Access to parenting coaches
• Work-life balance specialists
• Handyman services

So what perks do workers want that they don't have today?  You will not believe.  Read on to learn more.

Great Leaders Are Self Aware

According to Lindsay McGregor, leaders need to inspire their employees not just to execute their jobs well, but to also find purpose within their roles. 

Great leaders are self-aware and able to objectively assess whether they’re setting a good example for the rest of the team to follow. By first modeling the behavior they want to see in their team members, leaders will be that much closer to having a fully engaged team in good times and in bad.

Here are some ways leaders can better connect with their teams, encourage collaborative leadership, and inspire team members to do their very best work.

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.

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

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.