Artificial Intelligence (AI) Act

©iStock/gopixa

The proposed legislation or legal framework brought forward by the European Union (EU), the Artificial Intelligence (AI) Act, focuses primarily on strengthening rules around data quality, transparency, human oversight and accountability. 

It also aims to address ethical questions and implementation challenges in various sectors ranging from healthcare and education to finance and energy.

Read:  The European Union’s Artificial Intelligence Act, explained

Waste-Free Mascara by Paige DeAngelo Gets Global Attention

©iStock/heckmannoleg

Because she couldn’t find a mascara product that fit the bill for quality or safety, Paige DeAngelo created her own.  And now that mascara — and her waste-free mascara story — just might be taking her around the world.

In early May, the Drexel senior will be one of 18 young people worldwide to compete in the Global Student Entrepreneur Awards (GSEA) virtual semifinals. If she makes it through, DeAngelo and her Aer Cosmetics will represent the United States as one of only six contestants in the final international competition in South Africa. 

Read on to learn how Paige is part of a growing business breed: global social entrepreneurs.

Today in Global Small Business: Loaf Like You Mean It

©iStock/fizkes

What's affecting me, my clients, my colleagues and other global small business owners:

• Leading UK sofa, beds and furniture brand Loaf has launched a major new advertising campaign, positioning loafing as a desirable pursuit, and encouraging people to really take their loafing seriously. 
• Mindshare, driving good global growth for clients.
• The future of ecommerce:  How a product becomes a purchase.
• Quote of the week: "Loafing is easy but "leisure" is difficult." – Peter Drucker
• The impact of ChatGPT on your job.
• Are you a climate "doomer?"

Chicago: Auditioning For the World

©2023 Laurel J. Delaney.  All rights reserved.

"Chicago is constantly auditioning for the world, determined that one day, on the streets of Barcelona, in Berlin's cabarets, in the coffee shops of Istanbul, people will know and love us in our multidimensional glory, dream of us the way they dream of San Francisco and New York." – Mary Schmich, Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist

Globalization Is Working Better

©iStock/Tryaging

Globalization has rallied and is even working better but a new report also acknowledges that threats to globalization are real, with today’s “turbulent environment” of geopolitical tensions and other crises not being beneficial to business and policy-making. 

Taking a Family Business to a New Level

©iStock/fotokostic

Two siblings took their decades-old family farm business and pulled off a digital transformation.

The story of Perfect Plants Nursery shows how even a decades-old, family-owned business in a historically wholesale niche can pull off a digital transformation and scale quickly. 

Discover how they became a fast-growth e-commerce success story. 

Supply Chain Costs to Normalize in 2023

©iStock/Wirestock

Last year, footwear brand Skechers's margins were clipped by high supply chain costs, despite its attempt to raise prices. 

This year Skechers expects supply chain costs to normalize as shipping prices come down, developments that will ease margin pressure and propel the brand to its goal of $10 billion in annual sales by 2026, the company’s CFO John Vandemore said at the UBS Consumer and Retail Conference on Wednesday.

“You saw 40-foot-high cube container rates go from an average of about $3,000 to $25,000. So for an average pair of shoes that took the landed embedded freight cost from something between 25 and 50 cents to $2 and $2.50,” he [Vandemore] said. “Last year quite frankly wasn’t my proudest year from a gross margin perspective, but I do believe you know a lot of those exogenous factors are beginning to abate which should lead to improvement later on.”

Read more here.

Make Your Image Tell the Truth About You Worldwide (TEDxReno)

Today in Global Small Business: Remote Work Is Here to Stay

©iStock/gorodenkoff

What's affecting me, my clients, my colleagues and other global small business owners:

• Take your global remote workforce from policy to practice.
• What's the magic number for working in-office weekly?
• The global talent pool is open for business.
• Quote of the week: "People are more productive working at home than people would have expected. Some people thought that everything was just going to fall apart, and it hasn’t." – Mark Zuckerberg 
• Oh really.  The king of Meta, Mark Zuckerberg, says engineers who joined Meta in-person perform better than those who joined remotely.  Check out his above quote. 
• What are the global workplace trends in 2023?

Keep Breathing

©2023 Laurel J. Delaney.  All rights reserved.

"I've got to keep breathing. It'll be my worst business mistake if I don't." – Steve Martin

Happy St. Patrick's Day From Chicago!

True Global Leadership: The Gail Adinamis wegg® Award for Exemplary Global Leadership®

©2023 Women Entrepreneurs Grow Global®.  All rights reserved.

True global leaders are defined not only by their worldly knowledge and connections, nor by the global opportunities they seize, but by how they contribute to the improvement and growth of others.

Find out who the wegg® winner (awardee) is when wegg announces on Wednesday, March 22, 2023 at 10 AM CT.  The celebration – The Gail Adinamis wegg® Award for Exemplary Global Leadership® – is free of charge and we welcome your participation.  Register here.