CEO Monthly Jan 2018

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Wellness is a Lifestyle - Sahara and Company LLC Test Automation That Works - Froglogic

January 2018

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Pawsing for Thought We profile pawTree® and speak to Roger as we look to find out more about its services and its future.

We speak to CEO, Dr. Matthew Man, as we look to find out the secrets behind his and the company’s success.

AMAC’s Group Executive Chairman & Chief Executive Officer, Kadri Muhiddin speaks to us about the firm and some of the service it provides.

Welcome to the first edition of CEO Monthly for 2018! Casting a light on the latest news and updates from across the globe, spanning every major industry and sector.

Gracing the cover of the January issue of CEO Monthly Magazine, is Founder and CEO of pawTree®, Roger Morgan. pawTree® is a novel company he established in 2014, which currently has over 1,000 sales reps providing customised nutrition for dogs and cats, delivered right to pet parent’s door. We profiled the business and spoke to Roger as we looked to find out more about its services and its future.

Also in this edition, Megasoft Limited, trading as “Myndar”, is a leading IoT (Internet of Things) technology company, based in the Hong Kong Science Park. Recently, we sat down with the firm’s CEO, Dr. Matthew Man, as we seek to find out the secrets behind his and the company’s success.

Speaking of success, froglogic is a software tool vendor located in Hamburg, Germany. Their main two products are the Squish GUI Tester and Squish Coco, which are used to automate software tests and measure the coverage, and therefore quality of software tests. Taking time to discuss the company is CEO, Reginald Stadlbauer who kindly provides us with an insight into the success of froglogic.

Lastly, starting out in the market as a premium looseleaf tea company, Sahara & Co has risen from humble beginnings. We spoke to President of the company, Yvonne Robertson as we look to find out more about her company and her own success.

Here at CEO Monthly Magazine, we hope that you enjoy reading this month’s edition, and we look forward to hearing from you soon.

Jessie Daykin - Editor AI Global Media, Ltd. (AI) takes reasonable measures to ensure the quality of the information on this web site. However, AI will not assume any legal liability or responsibility for the accuracy, correctness or completeness of any information that is available through this web site. If errors are brought to our attention, we will try to correct them.

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Contents 4.

Pawsing for Thought

6.

Test Automation That Works

8.

Dr. Matthew Man: A Valuable Asset to a Valuable Company.

10. Swiss Excellence in Business Aviation 12. Wellness is a Lifestyle 13. Joseph Pacini: A CEO on top of his Game 14. Sound of Success 16. Perfecting the Art of Cell Recovery 18. CEO Optimism Booms Despite Increasing Anxiety Over Threats to Growth 21. Resilient Employees Start with The Right Recruiting 22. The Benefits of Business Leadership Executive Coaching 24. Sitel Group Names Philippe Riveron Chief Ventures Officer 26. Altify Revolutionizes Account Planning with the Launch of Winter ‘18 28. The Future of Online Marketing 30. Companies That Pay Their CEO Modestly Perform Better

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Pawsing for Thought Roger Morgan is the Founder & CEO of pawTree®, a novel company he launched in 2014 that now has over 1,000 sales reps providing customized nutrition for dogs and cats, delivered right to pet parent’s door. We profiled pawTree® business and spoke to Roger as we look to find out more about its services and its future. pawTree® operates in the $69 billion pet industry within the U.S.A. The company possesses an amazing concept where the team provides customized nutrition for dogs and cats. Its flagship product is its pawPairings® Superfood Seasoning. People do not like to eat the same thing every single day, and neither do pets. However, many people feed their pets the exact same thing every single day. With pawTree® pawPairings, the parent pet can add variety at each meal by simply shaking on one of the seven varieties of pawPairings.

Pets absolutely love it, and it is extremely healthy for them, offering vitamins, minerals, superfoods and antioxidants.

The other unique aspect to pawTree’s business model is that they do not sell their products in retail stores. They sell only through word of mouth, through people they call, “petPros”. petPros share pawTree® products with others within their social circles, and then earn a commission each time an order is placed. They call it, “Social Selling” and it’s part of the $38 billion direct selling industry within the U.S.A. It’s a perfect opportunity for stay-at-home entrepreneurs who love pets and want to earn a part-time or fulltime income.

Pet Products Association (APPA), while having formerly served on the boards of directors of PetSmart Charities and the Pet Industry Joint Advisory Council (PIJAC). Additionally, Roger holds an MBA from Harvard Business School, and a B.S. in accounting with a minor in music from Brigham Young University, graduating summa cum laude.

Roger provides us with an overview of the market that pawTree® operates in, as well as the company itself. He discusses how the company makes a difference to both pets and people, and that the emphasis is on improving lives, something which Roger feels the company is succeeding in with its aims.

“Some people mistakenly think pawTree® just sells pet nutrition.

While it’s true, we do offer amazing pet food, treats, and supplements for purchase, that’s actually not ‘what we do’ and it’s certainly not what inspires us.

What we do is make a difference in the lives of pets and people, as well as share and promote happiness. Our vision and our mission are packed full of purpose. Our vision is to create a world filled with unconditional love, where pets and their people thrive. As for our mission, it is to make such a profound difference in the lives of pets and their people that they can’t imagine going back to the old way.

Interestingly, Roger has recently served as Chairman of American

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“This is vital for us to show to others that we are not just selling pet nutrition, we are changing lives. Throughout the industry and the company, we are literally changing and improving the lives of pets and people. How do we do it? It all starts in the heart.

This is a story of unconditional love, the love that pets give us so willingly and unconditionally, and the opportunity we have to give back to our pets, in ways that they cannot provide for themselves.”

Walking us through his career milestones, Roger tells us a little about his education, his qualifications and how he has come to thrive in his role as CEO. “From a young age, I knew I was going to be an entrepreneur. If there was something that could be sold door to door, I most likely tried it. As a young boy, I started mowing lawns in my neighborhood. Eventually in my late teens, I had built a business which involved mowing 50 lawns each week. This helped put me through college where I got a degree in accounting because I was taught that accounting is the language of business.

Knowing that I wanted to run my own company one day, I felt that knowing the language of business would be important.

“A major inflection point in my career was getting my MBA from Harvard, where the education was fantastic. For two years, I

honed my business problemsolving skills. The relationships were equally rewarding, from classmates to professors, some of my closest and fondest relationships were formed during those two years. After Harvard, I joined the Boston Consulting Group (BCG), where I gained business strategy experience and during my tenure at BCG, I optimized growth strategies for multi-national consumer goods and retail organizations, including nearly two years working abroad in Paris, France. I left BCG to join Retail Products Group (RPG), a pet products company where I served as President and CEO for seven years and more than doubled the business.”

Thriving as founder and CEO of pawTree®, Roger explains more about his responsibilities as CEO, alluding to the fact that as CEO, he likes to lead by example and create a company culture in which employees are encouraged to reach their potential, and are happy to come to work.

“One of the greatest responsibilities I have as the founder and CEO, is to create a culture that will outlast all of us. This starts with hiring the right people, and then doing my best to lead by example to live the values that drive our culture.

Also, I do my best to inspire each team member to perform to their highest potential. I think of myself like the conductor of

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the orchestra. Most of the time I don’t play an instrument; rather, I motivate, empower, and inspire others to play their respective instruments to the absolute best of their abilities. Importantly, I must add that we have an extremely talented team.”

Having been selected CEO of the Year by CEO Monthly, Roger tells us how it feels to be featured and comments on what attributes he believes he possesses, which have contributed to him being recognized in this role. It is his friendly and loving leadership style which has caught the eye, as well as his caring nature about both people and pets, in which he genuinely tries to make a difference.

“To be featured in this magazine and named CEO of the Year, I am honored and honestly feel so blessed and grateful to the many mentors and friends who have taught me and helped me to become the person and leader I am today. At pawTree®, we have five core values in our company that define our culture.

The first of those values is ‘Love’.

Of course, we love pets, and we also love people. The team genuinely cares about people and treats all people with love and respect.

“In my experience, love is a longer-lasting and ultimately more powerful motivator than fear; however, love-based leadership does not mean it is always laughs and smiles or that people are not held accountable, but we stick together and help each other out. I genuinely try to base all my actions in love, and I try to reward, discipline, hold people accountable, and communicate all with love as my primary motivator.”

Commenting on what he attributes to his own success, Roger explains what advice he would give to someone looking to make success similar to his own, while also giving a touching tribute to a mentor who inspired to him to succeed in business.

“Regarding what advice I would give to someone else looking to create a successful career, I

Pawsing for Thought

would say surround yourself with great people; great mentors to help you continually learn from those who have gone before you.

Also, surround yourself with a great team who you can depend on through the ups and downs of building a business.

“One of my greatest business mentors is a man named Bart Schillaci. He touched my life profoundly and I wrote a business leadership book based on the principles he taught me.

The book is called ‘One Man’s Influence’.”

In his concluding comments, Roger predicts what the future holds for both himself and pawTree®. He tells us what plans and projects are in store for the company, citing potential growth all over the U.S.A, while keeping an eye on potential developments in other countries which may see pawTree® expand.

“Lastly, in the first four years of business we have more than doubled nearly every year and

we have over 1,000 petPros (sales reps) in all 50 states in the U.S. Plus, as a company, we still have enormous growth potential in the U.S. and also have plans to launch in many other countries. At the moment, we are at the beginning of a very exciting journey to build this incredible vision. We are literally changing the lives of pets and people, and that’s very important to me at this stage of my life and my career because I strive each day to live a purpose-driven life, and I intend to dedicate the rest of my life to helping people find more love in their life. That’s what we do at pawTree® every single day—help people feel love, which I believe is the key to happiness.

Company: pawTree® Contact: Roger Morgan Contact Email: support@pawtree.com Address: P.O. Box 92902, Southlake, Texas, 76092, USA Web Address www.pawtree.com

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Test Automation That Works froglogic is a software tool vendor located in Hamburg, Germany. The company’s main two products are the Squish GUI Tester and Squish Coco, which are used to automate software tests and measure the coverage, and therefore quality of software tests. We spoke to CEO, Reginald Stadlbauer who gives us an insight into the success of froglogic.

Reginald Stadlbauer is the successful CEO of froglogic, and he is always open to learn and listen to others and their ideas and opinions, before providing an honest view on these ideas. Constantly looking to improve, Reginald has successfully run the company and enabled it to adapt and produce a variety of successful solutions and outcomes for clients. He talks to us about the typical clientele that the firm works with.

“Offering a variety of services, our customers are software developers or software testers across many industries such as automotive, medical, financial, IoT, aerospace, visualisation, oil and gas and many more. Pretty much any company which develops software, for internal use or for sale, is a potential customer for us.”

Starting out at University, Reginald began working actively as a software developer on the open source project, KDE. At the time, this was very exciting as Linux was transforming into a more professional environment. He explains how this helped him to gain experience and improve as a person and a professional.

skills, but also to learn how to work in larger, distributed teams. The challenges of not seeing the people you work with are often under estimated, and I believe being exposed to such a distributed, international environment very early on has helped me a lot for my future, professional career.”

Citing this project as a vital part of his education and subsequent improvement, Reginald went on to further his career at other companies, before successfully founding and launching froglogic.

“After university, I joined a company in Norway called Trolltech as a software developer.

Trolltech is the company behind Qt, a cross-platform library for developing user interfaces.

“In my four years at Trolltech, I took on many responsibilities on the development side leading different development projects.

While at Trolltech I also learned what it is like to work for a company which received VC funding with the goal to do an IPO. This certainly influenced my decision to found froglogic.

In 2003, I left Trolltech on good terms to found froglogic alongside Harri Porten, who I worked with at Trolltech.”

“Working on KDE allowed me to not only improve my coding

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Giving him the inspiration to establish froglogic, Reginald is very complimentary of his time at Trolltech. Telling us about the current state of froglogic and its humble beginnings, Reginald explains that the company is still growing and these are exciting times for the firm.

founder Harri. While we both come from a software engineering background, I am focusing more on the business and sales side of the company, and my main responsibilities are to run the sales and marketing organisation and also to form the product vision for the future.

“Having moved on from Trolltech, we decided to bootstrap froglogic which is still growing today.

Today, we are a team of just over 30 people and are doing very well. We are happy that we have chosen this path instead of going for investments and being controlled by others. This has provided us with a lot of freedom.

“Integrating all of our staff and ensuring they feel comfortable working here, we are a company with very flat hierarchies and empower our employees to take on responsibilities. I strongly believe that people are most successful when you allow them to take their own decisions and also to make their own mistakes.”

“In the early years at froglogic, all of us did pretty much everything.

Over the years, I have started to focus more and more on the business side of the company, and this has become an important part of my role as CEO at froglogic.”

Contributing to the success of the company is the working environment at froglogic, and the internal culture is vital to making firm what it is today. Reginald is of the belief that people working well together is the sign of a good company, and he makes sure that there is real cohesion amongst staff members, resulting in the best outcomes often being produced.

These aspects have been vital in contributing to Reginald’s subsequent success as CEO. He describes his responsibilities as CEO to us, commenting on his leadership style and what techniques he uses to get the best out of his staff.

“As one of the two founders of froglogic, I have split responsibilities with my co-

“Throughout the company, we try to provide a relaxed environment.

Given that everyone spends a significant amount of time at work, we want to ensure everyone likes being in the office. This includes

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the possibility to take a break by playing a round of ping-pong, table football, pool or darts.

“Ensuring that everybody gets on well with each other, we all eat lunch together, and this is provided by our company every day in our large conference room.

Additionally, we regularly go out for a company dinner. Alongside having a relaxed environment, we also ensure that everyone can concentrate well at work. For this reason, we never have more than two people sharing an office.”

Furthermore, Reginald believes that an open office is counterproductive, and he is aware that his employees work better in a quiet office, and they find this much more enjoyable.

Listening to his staff and putting certain methods in place are key aspects in the success of Reginald as CEO, and he states that he

wants his staff to approach him confidently, meaning that he can quickly deal with any issues or challenges which may arise.

“Finally, I try to be always available for any problems and complaints to ensure that if there is an issue, we can find a solution soon instead of allowing an issue to become a big problem.”

Reginald is excited to have been selected as 2017 CEO of the Year in Germany, and of course feels honoured. This is a recognition of his achievements as CEO, and he shares with us what advice he would give to someone looking to make a success similar to his own.

“Regarding my success, we started the company because we saw a challenge for which there was no solution. This is something we continued and now we listen to

our users and try to find solutions which really help. By following that approach, success will just happen. Success is nothing one can plan for.”

Moving forward, Reginald predicts exciting times ahead for froglogic.

He tells us that the market will change and continue to be volatile, but the team will adapt accordingly, particularly when it comes to Artificial Intelligence, leading to a brighter future for froglogic thanks to the extensive research procedures it already has in place.

“Looking ahead, our market is certainly changing very quickly and it is very important to recognise and adapt to changes.

Currently, there is a lot of hype about A.I. in our market and how it can be applied to test automation.

This will lead to big changes of how test automation will be done

in the future and which role test tools will play.

“Ultimately, it is important to understand the real impact and challenges. Nevertheless, one also needs to differentiate hype from real value. We, as a company have started our research on this topic a while ago and will have our first A.I. powered testing products available in 2018. It will be very exciting to see how the market will react to this and how the competitive landscape will change.”

Company: froglogic Contact: Reginald Stadlbauer Address: froglogic GmbH, Gasstr 18 Haus 1, Hamburg, 22761, Germany Phone: 0049 4078897137 Website: www.froglogic.com Website: squish.froglogic.com Website: coco.froglogic.com

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Dr. Matthew Man: A Valuable Asset to a Valuable Company.

Megasoft Limited, trading as “Myndar”, is a leading IoT (Internet of Things) technology company, based in the Hong Kong Science Park. We spoke to its CEO, Dr. Matthew Man, as we look to find out the secrets behind his and the company’s success.

Myndar has developed over 90 patented technologies that have been developed specifically for various industries, including the Jewelry & Watches, Critical Logistics and Healthcare markets. The company’s disruptive technologies have totally transformed traditional companies into IoT digitalised enterprises, enabling automation to be built into their processes, the usage of cloud based platforms for real-time interactions, and the analysis of big data to enable better decision making.

Boasting a global presence, Myndar is truly an international company with established offices all over the globe including offices in New York, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, China, USA and Europe. The firm’s vision is to be a local innovator with a global market reach.

As Founder, President and CEO of Megasoft, Dr. Man has a variety of responsibilities, all of which are divided into four major areas; Sales & Marketing, Research & Development, Corporate Finance/Investment and Product Design and Manufacturing. Dr. Man explains

more about his role as CEO as well as his leadership style.

“In my role as CEO, I strongly believe that the company needs to innovate constantly to stay ahead of the market and make our competition become irrelevant. By practicing the “Blue Ocean” strategy into our business development and innovations, I have cultivated an internal culture of Dare to Win throughout our organisation.

“Creating an open and honest culture, I encourage my staff to take risks, to try new ideas, new tools and new technologies that are changing and evolving every day. I accept that there are bound to be mistakes and a learning curve with any new ideas, but we have a high tolerance towards mistakes, as long as staff use these as learning opportunities and make good progress, transforming an idea into an authentic, original and innovative project that has great potential.

Creativity and Productivity are one of the key performance indicators to measure individual performance. As far as I am concerned, we cannot rest on our laurels. If staff are not taking risks or trying something new then they are not innovating. There

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are huge opportunities for staff to push past their boundaries and grow as individuals and expand their professional knowledge; this not only benefits them personally but also benefits the company as well. As a leader, it is my responsibility to provide a safe and secure environment for staff to grow professionally by being comfortable to take risks, to try new things and to develop new technologies.”

Having alluded to the open and honest culture amongst staff, Dr. Man discusses which aspects of his business really impress clients. He is always monitoring trends and other situations, believing his company’s ability to differentiate itself from its competition and stay ahead of potential developments as key factors in its success. Dr. Man believes that strong leadership is vital to a successful company.

“Keeping up to date with developments, I talk to my senior staff every day whenever I can, and closely monitor the progress of our Research and Development. I am very much a hands-on leader and love to engage with our customers to understand their needs and requirements, and ensure the quality and innovation of our

products are meeting their demands. As a lifelong learner, I enjoy attending conferences worldwide to stay abreast of market trends and to gain insights into technologies for the future.

“Essentially, I strongly believe that in order for our company to be able to survive and grow requires strong leadership with a clear vision and mission. We are constantly looking for new ideas and new solutions to address the business problems and needs for our existing and future potential customers.

“Thinking outside the box and being a “Dare to Win” company, we always impress our customers with our new innovations, which brings us job satisfaction, professional recognition and financial reward.”

In the eyes of Dr. Man, another of the major attributes which makes him a strong leader is his innovative nature. He believes that gaining a true understanding of the client’s requirements and expectations, and staff putting his ethos into practice has contributed to the success of both himself as CEO and Myndar as a company.

g Dr. Matthew Man: A Valuable Asset to a Valuable Company.

“Quite simply, I think the key to mine and the company’s success is innovation. One of our key attributes is the ability to put ourselves into our customer’s shoes, and to gain an in-depth understanding of our customer’s problems and their vision. Other qualities we possess as a company include the capability to deliver a product or a solution beyond our customer’s expectations and imagination. Lastly, we aim to provide excellent service and support; to lead by example; and importantly, to work extremely hard but always celebrate each success.”

Innovation, openness and honesty are all characteristics of a CEO at the top of the industry.

Dr. Man, however, is also willing

to take risks if it means finding the best result and producing the best outcome. He acts instinctively, placing a focus on taking a chance rather than analysing and thinking and importantly he is never afraid of failure. The ability of Myndar and Dr. Man to constantly innovate helps to make the competition become irrelevant, alongside the ethos of staff and management to never stop learning and never give up.

With regard to people looking to make a successful career similar to his own, Dr. Man provides us with some advice that he would give to someone looking to be a CEO in any industry.

“Importantly, a person must take a realistic look at the demands

there will be on themselves and the personal sacrifices they will need to make in order to start, grow and sustain a business.

You will need to be a strong leader with a clear vision and goal, plus possess a tenacious attitude to never give up through difficult times. You need to be able to inspire people, to fight for your team, to earn respect and to build loyalties. It is important to have a good team with you and to reward them whenever you can, to celebrate each success along the way.”

Lastly, in his concluding comments, Dr. Man is happy to tell us about the plans ahead for both himself and the company, as he predicts exciting times ahead for Myndar, hinting at expansion and huge potential

growth amongst the industry.

“Ultimately, we are planning for IPO to be listed in Hong Kong in 2020. We want to expand our products and solutions worldwide and to build “Myndar” as international brand globally.”

Contact: Fiona Chan Address: Unit 301-302,3/F, Building 12W, No. 12 Science Park, West Avenue, Hong Kong Science Park, Shatin, New Territories, Hong Kong Phone: 0852 3999 4389 Website: www.myndar.com

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Swiss Excellence in Business Aviation AMAC Aerospace was incorporated in 2007, as a result of a group of individuals with a desire to create a world class MRO. AMAC’s Group Executive Chairman & Chief Executive Officer, Kadri Muhiddin speaks to us about the firm and some of the service it provides.

Established in 2007, AMAC Aerospace have raised the bar with all activities surrounding maintenance, completion and refurbishment. The company’s first completion was for a narrow body VIP client and the project was returned to service on budget and on time, a target which is more often than not hard to come by in today’s market environment.

With over 100 years accumulated experience in the aviation industry between them, they knew they could do this. The group came from a successful background within this particular sector who understood exactly what is necessary to satisfy the market and the particular clientele. Kadri tells us about the services offered by the firm and what types of clients the firm works with, noting how client satisfaction is important to the company.

“AMAC’s customer base quickly included Governments and institutions, High Net Worth Individuals (HNWI), Royal families and organisations with large fleets for charter including narrow and wide body aircraft. Our clients continue returning to us, following satisfaction of completed work on their aircraft and new clients approach us after they learn from others about our particular

expertise in Business Aviation.

We do not classify our clients by region, wealth or size of aircraft as every aircraft is a personal and unique tool, therefore we respect these reasons and complete every project based on when they arrive versus when they are scheduled to leave.

“Highlighting its success, our company is now the largest privately owned MRO & Completion centre in the world that offers the products and services through a hangar network of 7x different hangars spread around the continent. Also, we have surpassed the $2 billion mark in sales in less than ten years of operation and we believe that whatever interesting projects presents itself to AMAC, we are prepared and capable with our

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engineers and craftspeople to prove ourselves.”

Referring to his past roles, Kadri discusses how he draws on these experiences when making decisions in his current role.

Boasting a wealth of expertise and extensive knowledge within the industry, Kadri is able to exert his influence amongst his staff and has overseen the rise of AMAC, alluding to the fact that he sticks to his own mantra, which has overseen his success.

life has been in aviation. From becoming a qualified licenced Avionics engineer at the age of 21 years old, working on the shop floor to heading our own MRO in 2007. Opportunity and necessity have taken me from signing aircrafts off to sitting in the board room/directing the way forward.

Starting with a small company and transferring that exposure to operating a multibillion dollar organisation, whilst maintaining the target and improving on this with every year.

“Regarding my leadership, I have a mantra, which I have taught my three sons and I repeat to my colleagues across the board.

‘To be successful is not only to reach your target but to maintain and always try to improve the standard.’ My whole working

“Previously, my engineering position within a major airline saw me working with my hands on the aircraft. Also, I led teams to work on these aircraft, and it does not matter which country you are in, most air authorities have the same rigid form for understanding

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their directives, which can easily be manifested into a working dynamism that allows for over selfdevelopment.

to. A marathon team for example demonstrates to me that the company considers itself as one team and one family.”

“In 2007, when AMAC was presented at EBACE in Geneva with just a model of the impending hangar, interest was so great that the response showed us the future was bright. Today, the group have nearly a thousand employees in total. We have our main hangars in Basel with facilities and or offices in Zurich, Istanbul, Bodrum in Turkey and a facility in the south of France in Auch. My face and name are synonymous with the companies that have been founded and built. I offer guidance, good understanding in the area of expertise that I am versed in, I offer myself to my entire staff as we adopt a flat management with an open door policy. Also, I move forward with my management to make sure that our business runs smoothly and efficiently, relying on their professional performance and quality in their craftsmanship which is second to none. Lastly, I do not take credit which is not mine or the company’s achievements.

Success only comes from the people that I work with, they are the engine behind the scenes and they are the ones who deserve the credit.”

Another aspect of AMAC’s ongoing success is how staff approach a new client, when undertaking a project. Making a good first impression is always important, and Kadri comments on the company’s process, which guarantees right from the start that the outcome of the project will meet the needs of everyone involved, and in some cases, surpass client expectations.

Being a successful leader, it is important the CEO’s vision and mission is translated and ingrained into the company’s staff. Kadri discusses his leadership style in a little more details, explaining how he ensures everyone within his organisation understands his vision and works towards it. Tell me about your leadership style.

“Put simply, my leadership is well known for its simple flat management with an open door policy and no bureaucracy. Since I worked on the shop floor, I considered teamwork key. We are all a link in a chain. Each one is responsible for his part. Also, we have a news circular for the whole company to contribute with their personal news, marriages, births and so on, it gives AMAC an opportunity to share news with everyone, so we all know what is going on. It makes me proud to see what the staff are all up

“Essentially, my role today is to leave most of it to my management team to start with presentations and discussions whilst I am aware of its progress.

Various departments can be involved at this stage, so that I am often there in person when it comes to particular situations and or concluding the agreement. If a client is interested in a completion service, a project typically moves from a design for the outfitting of the aircraft.

“Once the designs are ready to be distributed, we give the design package to our multi-disciplined engineering departments and they will systematically dissect the details to make sure that the project can be delivered to the expectations of the owner or in our language is a ‘Go’. It is rare for us to see a design package, which might constitute a ‘No-Go’. Once engineering has completed their analysis and work, we then have our Project Management team draw up the necessary milestones for project production. A number of meeting will be necessary to fine tune any details, which the client might want added but once the project has surpassed the design and engineering phase the production will usually start straight away.

“At AMAC Aerospace, our philosophy is to get the aircraft in and out on time and on budget.

We are not interested in creating a parking lot outside our hangars, we are only interested that the aircraft remain up in the sky to serve their purpose. With this notion, we look to ensure that

Swiss Excellence in Business Aviation

we complete the project to the client’s satisfaction. To date, we have nearly 20 completion projects delivered on time covering all sizes from narrow to wide bodies.

With maintenance projects, we have surpassed over 3500 modification projects in the 10 years we have existed and those projects range from belly camera installations, SDS, new SATCOM installations through to specific STC developments for one offs.”

Overall, Kadri talks about his future aspirations for AMAC, mentioning some upcoming projects which the firm will undertake. He observes that client expectations are rising, but staff will endeavour to ensure that they continue to match client demands, with the ultimate goal of surpassing their requirements.

Kadri signs off by telling us what plans he has regarding his own career, and how he plans to build upon his ongoing success.

“Looking ahead, AMAC started small and expanded in line with market forces and customer demand, and it will continue to do so. We are proud to say we believe we have raised the standard and for that reason customers are happy to return

to us. Moving forward, I hope to continue with being able to provide a service of excellence that also goes above a customer’s expectations, so that it is them who will keep AMAC going from strength to strength.

“Ultimately, my career remains in aviation as part of the companies I lead and support. I have no other plans to expand further than with my current portfolio.

My aim is to ensure that those companies continue to grow strong and successful as they are today. At my time of life, I prefer to encourage and develop the next generation coming through the ranks. Their success and enthusiasm will be mine too. When the time is right, we should hand over to our young generation to innovate and lead the industry.

Keeping the same old people will not serve the benefit of the company in the long run.”

Company: AMAC Aerospace Contact Email: info@amacaerospace.com Address: Sternengasse 18, 4051 Basel, Switzerland Phone: 0041 583103131 Website: www.amacaerospace.com

CEO MONTHLY / JANUARY 2018 11

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Wellness is a Lifestyle Starting as a premium loose-leaf tea company, Sahara & Co has risen from humble beginnings.

We spoke to CEO Monthly’s Business Woman of the Year 2017 and President of the company, Yvonne Robertson to find out more about her company and her own success.

Three years ago, Yvonne Robertson’s resolute focus on healthy, natural and safe wellness products started Sahara & Co on the path towards the global wellness brand it has blossomed into.

The Sahara & Co Studio is located in Toronto’s fastest growing neighbourhood of Yonge and Eglinton, whereby revitalizing the area is crucial to successfully managing the influx of over 20,000 new residents who are expected to relocate to the area over the next five years. With the firm’s mission being to provide premium products with wellness benefits, there is a lot of hard work that the team have to undertake, and Yvonne alludes to this when describing how the firm plans to achieve its mission.

“Achieving our mission is more difficult than it appears, as verifiable sourcing and block chain management is difficult when amalgamating a collection of ingredients. In the very crowded and competitive market of tea blending, we take the extra steps to ensure that we are a company which we can be relied upon.”

Boasting a global presence, Yvonne describes the types of clients and customers that the team typically works with, outlining who is usually interested in its offerings.

The business has risen rapidly, holding many brands in its portfolio which have spread all over the world.

“Sahara & Co may be locally run, however our appeal has grown worldwide. The blending of the ethnic cultures lends itself to diverse tastes and opportunities, and we have been inspired by the vibrancy of Toronto in the research and development of our various products. This has transpired into an international appeal and we have adjusted our product offering accordingly.

“In our short business history, we have expanded throughout North America, some parts of Asia and the Middle East under various brands: Sahara Tea luxury loose leaf teas; Sahara & Co lifestyle products, and the soon to be launched Studio Line, an affordable wellness option for everyday living.”

Regarding the competition, Yvonne tells us how the company is able to differentiate itself apart from its competitors, commenting on the relationships that the team build with customers, acknowledging that if people produce the right products then they can cater to everyone.

“Essentially, what makes us unique is our grassroots beginnings. We are local, which is not the trend.

Our Mentorship Program is rare to find and we put a lot of effort into exposing young leaders. Every summer we hire three University students, and they experience international travel, sit in on trade issues and learn to apply marketing strategies.

“This experience is crucial if we want to foster a sense

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of entrepreneurial spirit and motivation to become a business owner. All too often there does not seem to be venues to encourage and inspire women to step out on their own and take calculated risks.

My first incorporated company was in my twenties with a tremendous amount of family support. Often, I hear of apprenticeship or mentoring programs who have the students working for free, and I completely take issue with this.

“Moreover, I think what sets us apart is that we want not only the opening order but the relationship with our customer. We want our companies to succeed and we help them as it applies to us.”

Talking about the internal culture within the firm, Yvonne comments on the fact that the firm has a great working environment, with the company keeping in contact with those who leave, and that the mainly female staff all work together to produce great products and services.

“Personally, I think our corporate structure and philosophy lends itself to attract female workers.

We have a strong return ratio of

university students and university graduates who keep in touch even when they have graduated from our Mentorship program.”

Ultimately, with Yvonne at the helm, there looks to be a bright future for Sahara & Co, and Yvonne signs off by commenting on the innovative and exciting new products that the firm is working on, “Looking ahead, the future for Sahara & Co is exciting. We are currently creating new and exciting products to help bring the focus on Mental Health. In 2018, I think we will be able to launch a new line of products to help the entire family with the crisis of anxiousness and balance. However, we want to do it right so I am taking the time with our R&D. “

Company: Sahara & Co, Ltd Contact: Yvonne Robertson, President Contact Email: sales inquiries, sales@saharandco.com Address: 953 Mount Pleasant Road, Toronto, Ontario, M5P 2L7, Canada Phone: +1 647 341 4151 Website: www.saharandco.com

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Joseph Pacini: A CEO on top of his Game XIO Group is a global multi-billion dollar alternative investments firm headquartered in London, with operations in China, Germany, Hong Kong, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States of America. Joseph Pacini provides us with an overview of the company and discusses his own success.

XIO Group’s strategy is to identify and invest in market-leading and high-performing businesses located across Europe and North America and to help these companies in capitalizing on untapped opportunities in fast growing markets, particularly those in Asia.

Joseph outlines his own role as CEO of the firm, and what he wants to achieve in his role.

“Throughout the firm, I am responsible for the overall strategy and management for XIO Group.

My goal is to set foundational principles, ensure the company hires exceptional talent and let them govern themselves.”

Joseph was told early in his career that luck is where preparation meets opportunity. He attributes

this as one of the keys his to success, alongside hard work, and the ability to prepare and look for opportunities everywhere and in a variety of avenues. From a young age, Joseph’s career has been on an upwards trajectory, as is clear when he talks us through his career milestones. He touches on his education, his first role and how his career has progressed to this level.

“From Brigham Young University, I graduated with University Honors and am attending the Harvard Business School OPM program.

I have worked as an Analyst for Bain Capital, in a variety of capacities including Head of Alternative Investments for Asia for J.P. Morgan, Head of Alternative Investments for Asia Pacific for BlackRock and now CEO and Founder of XIO Group.”

A common theme of being a successful company is a good internal culture, and Joseph ensures that his motivation, ambition and ability to maintain a happy working environment is understood by all staff. Joseph lives and leads by example, with the belief being that if his staff watch the way he works and acts, then they will follow, thus resulting in the success of the company.

Discussing the key attributes he possesses which make him an award winning business leader, Joseph points us towards his ability of employing the best talent through his appropriate hiring structure, and working with his team in order to fulfil the company’s ambition.

“Throughout my career, a major factor in my success has been

hiring great people and working with them to achieve common goals. I am able to work with them and give them advice which they may require in order to achieve similar success of their own. Also, I am of the opinion that people should work hard and take chances in order to succeed.”

Ultimately, there looks to be a lot of positivity currently buzzing around XIO Group as the company designs its upcoming projects and solutions. Joseph and the rest of the team at XIO Group are looking forward to the next areas of growth for the firm in the coming years.

Company: XIO Group Contact: Joseph Pacini Address: XIO (UK) LLP, The Shard, London, SE1 9SG, UK Phone: 020 3608 1331 Website: www.xiogroup.com

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Sound of Success As the CEO of Twin Sisters Digital Media, Karen Mitzo Hilderbrand has led the company through 30 years of dynamic changes in the music and now publishing industry. We take time to profile the success of Twin Sisters Digital Media and Karen Mitzo, looking to uncover the secrets of their success.

Twin Sisters Digital Media started out as a record label that was dedicated to teaching children through music. The company’s discography grew to the 3300 songs written, recorded, and fully owned by the twin sisters.

When Napster changed the music scene with the idea of all music being “free”, Karen knew the company had to adapt and change to keep ahead of the game. Most major record labels were out of business, and/or consolidated to the big four within a few years.

During this time, in 2006, Twin Sisters shifted from only music products to becoming a more rounded educational products company servicing the retail segment. Also, they started their digital distribution with the start of iTunes.

When the same thing started to happen in the publishing industry with the expansion of the iPad and other tablets, books and children’s media were heavily also going digital - all while the traditional book publishers were struggling.

At this time, Karen knew that there had to be big changes to Twin Sisters in order to make it through these times. Shutting down the publishing company in 2014, the Twin Sisters focused solely on building a comprehensive sustainable recurring revenue stream through intellectual

property licensing of their content.

Twin Sisters Digital Media was then rebranded and thousands of innovated products were added to the line over the course of the next several years.

The team invested in a central database of all of their content, called Pub Hub, that could easily be distributed to their hundreds of growing partners. Their main content areas include: • • • • • • • • • • • •

Songs - (3300+) Digital Albums - (550+) Audio Books – (700+) E-Books – (500+) Video’s – (250+) Sheet Music (100+) Teacher Resources (1000+) Sound Effects (200+) Art Library (15,000+) Photo’s (250+) Apps (15+) Augmented Reality Books (15+)

Keeping up with the technical changes the books are enhanced with audio, video, and animations and projects are being explored with AR and VR components to aid in the learning experience.

Customers include music streaming sites such as Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music and more. E-Book sites include EPIC, Meegenius, Farfaria, SCRBD, and hundreds more! Audio book sites such as Playaway and video sites

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such as YouTube also showcase the Twin Sister’s products.

Physical products are licensed to various large publishers worldwide such as Barbour Publishing, Landoll, PBS Publishing, Bendon International, and Scholastic Asia. Endless accounts are now providing ways for children to learn on phones, tablets, smart boards, and computers.

The Twin Sisters and their staff is developing over 150 new products per quarter in these segments in order to grow all of the different digital channels. (All product copyrights are fully owned by the twin sisters in Twin Sisters IP, LLC.) By keeping up with AR, VR, EPUB, HTML 5 and other innovations in publishing the company plans on being the leader in providing content to companies specialising in educating children.

Karen’s past experience as an Industrial Engineer brings warehousing, distribution, logistics, project management, technical and financial management skills to the organization. Her recognising industry trends and being adaptable, has helped the company succeed for over 30 years, which is why she was chosen as one of the 50 SMART Business Owners of 2017 award for Innovation.

g Sound of Success

Contact: Karen Hilderbrand Company: Twin Sisters Digital Media Address: 1653 Merriman Road, Suite L-1,Akron, Ohio, 44313, USA

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Perfecting the Art of Cell Recovery Advancells is a research oriented company that places a strong focus on therapeutic applications of Regenerative Medicine. We profile the company, as we look to discover more about innovative ways.

As one of the pioneers Stem Cell Company in India, the team at Advancells are passionate about the almost limitless potential of Human Stem Cells in providing a natural cure for any aliment that our body suffers from. With this belief, the firm strives to deliver technologies for the safe and effective treatment options to patients all over the world at the highest medical standards.

Working closely alongside some of the best medical practitioners at world class medical centres across the globe, to provide the therapeutic solutions to their patients. The organisation is involved in several clinical trials and innovations across the world to consistently improve and further establish the safety and efficiency of their technology.

All of this is on their journey towards the search for the “elixir of life”. Advancells are backed by doctors, stem cell experts and clinical research scientists to continually monitor and improve the effectiveness of the Quality Management System with excellence and Anti Ageing Therapies.

The vision for the company is Regenerative Medicine will soon be the centre of all kinds of therapeutic solutions applicable

for a patient irrespective of the kind or stage of disease they would be suffering from. With the use of regenerative medicine protocols such as Human Stem Cells, combined with augmented and supplementary natural therapies, it will soon be the gold standard in keeping us healthy and young for a long period of time.

As for the organisations mission, they aim to be at the forefront of the vast research that is occurring across the globe within the field of Regenerative Medicine. The firm strives to consistently develop new, more efficient protocols and technologies that will be beneficial to the patients.

Also, it will bring Regenerative Medicine to the centre of medical management of patients irrespective of the disease/ condition that they might be suffering from.

Moving the topic onto Advancells’ speciality, the company do not follow the practice of one size fits all, and thus a unique protocol us prepared for each patient; specially keeping in mind the best cell source, viable cell quantity and reinjection protocol. Advancells takes great pride in being transparent with our patients and as such, every cell is being produced in their

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laboratory is tested for viability, efficacy and safety, before being released for transplant.

Every patient gets a certificate of analysist as a proof of their promise to them.

At Advancells, they have perfected the art of cell recovery and are able to consistently recover more than 94% cell count form various cell sources.

This is up to 10 to 20 times more than what other dated technologies can perform. They have the ability to even expand the cell count via culture if the same is required in particular patients.

The overall aim for Advancells is be a global leader in providing every patient with a highly customised protocol for a 360 degree management of their disease/condition keeping Regenerative Medicine within the centre of therapeutic solution.

The firm’s aim is to provide

patients with a complete solution starting from preparation of the body to receive the transplant of the most viable, safe and efficient quantity of stem cells extracted from a source most suitable for the disease to the actual transplant, as well as post transplant preparations and follow up for the patient.

Advancells aim to integrate their protocols with the conventional medicinal protocols, thereby providing the patient with the bet medical care, which is an accumulation of Medical and Surgical management along with Regenerative Medicine for an all-round management of the disease.

Looking ahead, Advancells hopes to continue the journey and the successes they achieved thus far, and will use it as a bench mark to obtain the endless possibilities and opportunities that are yet to come.

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CEO Optimism Booms Despite Increasing Anxiety Over Threats to Growth A record-breaking share of CEOs are optimistic about the economic environment worldwide, at least in the short term. That’s one of the key findings of PwC’s 21st survey of almost 1,300 CEOs around the world, launched today at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos.

Fifty seven percent of business leaders say they believe global economic growth will improve in the next 12 months. It’s almost twice the level of last year (29%) and the largest ever increase since PwC began asking about global growth in 2012.

Optimism in global growth has more than doubled in the US (59%) after a period of uncertainty surrounding the election (2017: 24%). Brazil also saw a large increase in the share of CEOs who are optimistic global growth will improve (+38% to 80%). And even among the less optimistic countries such as Japan (2018: 38% vs. 2017: 11%) and the UK (2018: 36% vs. 2017: 17%), optimism in global growth has more than doubled since last year.

“CEOs’ optimism in the global

economy is driven by the economic indicators being so strong. With the stock markets booming and GDP predicted to grow in most major markets around the world, it’s no surprise CEOs are so bullish,” comments Bob Moritz, Global Chairman, PwC. Confidence in short-term revenue growth on the rise This optimism in the economy is feeding into CEOs’ confidence about their own companies’ outlook, even if the uptick is not so large. 42% percent of CEOs said they are “very confident” in their own organisation’s growth prospects over the next 12 months, up from 38% last year.

Looking at the results by country, it’s a mixed bag. CEOs’ outlook improved in several key markets including in Australia (up 4% to

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46%) and China (up 4% to 40%), where the share of CEOs saying they are “very confident” in their own organisation’s 12-month growth prospects rose.

In the US, CEOs’ confidence has recovered. After election nerves last year, the early focus on regulation and tax reform by the new administration has seen confidence in business growth prospects for the year ahead rising significantly – from 39% in 2017 to 52% in 2018. And North America is the only region where a majority of CEOs are “very confident” about their own 12-month prospects.

In the UK, with Brexit negotiations only recently reaching a significant milestone, business leaders’ drop in short-term confidence is unsurprising (2018: 34% vs. 2017: 41%).

The top three most confident sectors for their own 12-month prospects this year are Technology (48% “very confident”), Business Services (46%) and Pharmaceutical and Life Sciences (46%) – all exceeding the global “very confident” level of 42%.

Strategies for growth remain largely unchanged on last year’s survey – CEOs will rely on organic growth (79%), cost reduction (62%), strategic alliances (49%) and M&As (42%). There was a small increase in interest in partnering with entrepreneurs and start-ups (33% vs 28% last year).

Top countries for growth: Confidence in US continues, reinforcing lead on China CEO confidence in the US market extends overseas, with non-US based CEOs once again voting it the top market for growth in the

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CEO Optimism Booms Despite Increasing Anxiety Over Threats to Growth

next 12 months. This year, the US reinforces its lead on China (46% US vs 33% China, with the US lead over China up 2% compared with 2017).

Germany (20%) remains in third place, followed by the UK (15%) in fourth place, while India bumps Japan as the fifth most attractive market in 2018.

“Even with high levels of global growth confidence, business leaders want and need safe harbours for investment to secure short-term growth,” comments Bob Moritz, Global Chairman, PwC. “Access to consumers, skills, finance and a supportive regulatory environment are reinforcing leading markets’ positions, for business leaders to achieve their short-term growth targets.”

Jobs and digital skills: headcounts to increase; leaders concerned about availability of digital talent Confidence in short-term revenue growth is feeding into jobs growth, with 54% of CEOs planning to increase their headcount in 2018 (2017: 52%). Only 18% of CEOs expect to reduce their headcount.

Healthcare (71%), Technology (70%), Business Services (67%) Communications (60%) and Hospitality and Leisure (59%) are amongst the sectors with the highest demand for new recruits.

On digital skills specifically, over a quarter (28%) of CEOs are extremely concerned about their availability within the country they are based, rising to 49% extremely concerned in South Africa, 51% in China and 59% in Brazil.

Overall, 22% of CEOs are extremely concerned about the availability of key digital skills in the workforce, 27% in their industry and 23% at the leadership level.

Investments in modern working environments, learning and development programmes and partnering with other providers are the top strategies to help them attract and develop the digital talent they need.

Impact of technology on employment and skills While recent research by PwC showed that workers were optimistic about technology improving their job prospects, CEOs admit that helping employees retrain, and increasing transparency on how automation and AI could impact jobs is becoming a more important issue for them.

Two thirds of CEOs believe they have a responsibility to retrain employees whose roles are replaced by technology, chiefly amongst the Engineering & Construction (73%), Technology (71%) and Communications (77%) sectors. 61% of CEOs build trust with their workforce by creating transparency, at least to some extent, on how automation and AI impact their employees.

Bob Moritz, Global Chairman, PwC, commented on the findings and how they affect the global corporate landscape.

“Our education systems need to arm a global workforce with the right skills to succeed.

Governments, communities, and businesses need to truly partner to match talent with opportunity, and that means pioneering new approaches to educating students

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and training workers in the fields that will matter in a technologyenabled job market. It also means encouraging and creating opportunities for the workforce to retrain and learn new skills throughout their careers. As the interest in apprenticeships and internships shows, lifelong training relevant to a business or industry is critical.”

The digital and automation transition is particularly acute in the Financial Services sector. Almost a quarter (24%) of Banking & Capital Markets and Insurance CEOs plan workforce reductions, with 28% of Banking & Capital Markets jobs likely to be lost to a large extent due to technology and automation.

Threats to growth: CEOs fear wider societal threats they can’t control Despite the optimism in the global economy, anxiety is rising on a much broader range of business, social and economic threats.

CEOs are ‘extremely concerned’ about geopolitical uncertainty (40%), cyber threats (40%), terrorism (41%), availability of key skills (38%) and populism (35%).

These threats outpace familiar concerns about business growth prospects such as exchange rate volatility (29%) and changing consumer behaviour (26%).

Underlining the shift, extreme concern about terrorism doubled (2018: 41% vs 2017: 20%) and terrorism enters the top 10 threats to growth. The threat of over-regulation remains the top concern for CEOs (42% extremely concerned), and over a third (36%) remain concerned about an increasing tax burden.

Key skills availability is the top concern for CEOs in China (2018: 64% extremely concerned vs.

2017: 52%). In the US (63%) and the UK (39%), cyber has become the top threat for CEOs displacing over-regulation. And in Germany, cyber jumped from being the fifth threat in 2017 to third place (28%) this year.

A year after the Paris Agreement was signed by over 190 nations, which saw countries commit to voluntary action on climate change

and low carbon investment, CEOs’ concern about the threat of climate change and environmental damage to growth prospects has now doubled to 31% of CEOs (2017: 15%).

High-profile extreme weather events and the US withdrawal from the Paris Agreement have significantly raised the profile of business action on climate risk, regulation and resilience.

In China, over half (54%) of business leaders are extremely concerned about climate change and environmental damage as a threat to business growth, equal with their levels of concern about geopolitical uncertainty and protectionism.

“The higher level of concern is being driven by larger societal and geopolitical shifts rather than the dynamics of business leaders’ own markets,” comments Bob Moritz, Global Chairman, PwC. “It’s clear their mid to long-term confidence in revenue growth is tempered by threats the business world is not used to tackling directly itself.”

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Trust and leadership: CEOs divided over whether future economic growth will benefit the many or the few Echoing the theme of the World Economic Forum this year, CEOs acknowledge that we live in a fractured world. They are divided over whether future economic growth will benefit the many or the few. They see the world moving towards new, multifaceted metrics to measure future prosperity.

Bob added further insight into these developments and the issues he believes are concerning CEOs around the world.

“The higher levels of CEO concern about broader societal threats underlines how companies are navigating an increasingly fractured world. CEOs across every region and country that we spoke to recognise that the old ways of measuring growth and profit won’t work alone for the future. Particularly in the context of the Sustainable Development Goals, we’re likely to see more work developing and defining metrics that capture and communicate an organisation’s

purpose in a way that is relevant to businesses’ stakeholders in the coming years.”

Examining the key challenges to trust for businesses, CEOs admit that delivering results in shorter periods of time (60%) is the main challenge. However, following this, there is a significant shift with the majority reporting higher levels of pressure to hold individual leaders to account (59%), including for misconduct. Over a third report more pressure from employees and customers to take political and social stances (38%) in public.

In the Banking and Capital Market (65%), Healthcare (65%) and Technology sectors (59%), the profile of leadership accountability was higher than average. So too were expectations in the US (70%), Brazil (67%), and the UK (63%). High-profile debates on diversity, immigration, social inclusion and pay equity have raised employees’ expectations of leadership to engage in political and social issues, particularly in the US (51%), China (41%) and the UK (38%).

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Resilient Employees Start with The Right Recruiting Resiliency expert, speaker, consultant and author Eileen McDargh has helped organizations and individuals transform the life of their business and the business of their life through conversations that matter and connections that count. She discusses the right way to hire employees in order to build resilience in your teams.

My mother always said, “To end well, you must begin well.”

Of course, she was talking about how you separated clothes for the washing machine or how you chose vegetables at the market.

But it’s also true when it comes to creating a resilient, sustainable workforce. The questions you ask in the recruiting phase will help both you and a potential employee determine if you have the right fit for your organization.

Because today’s work environment is one of constant change as well as one with fluid teams, the ability to deal with different people as well as respond to unique situations is paramount. Likewise, there must also be a values fit-a real fit.

Values are not something posted on the wall and forgotten. Rather, values are demonstrated in every day actions. Thus, your questions must also dig deeper into how this potential employee makes decisions.

looked at the required technical skill base. These questions are designed to evoke behavioral responses. You might also give these questions in advance to the interviewee. They are not easy to think about on the spur of the moment. And if it is a young recruit, their life’s experience might not have opened up to such encounters.

1.

2.

3.

4.

Consider these top five questions as a way of determining if this is a match made in heaven or hell. By the way, I assume you’ve already

Describe a situation where you had to work with someone whom you didn’t like or respect. How did you handle that?

Think of a difficult decision you had to make regarding a work (or school) situation.

What criteria did you use to decide a course of action?

Think of a situation in which you were moving right along and then, suddenly, something happened to pull the rug from under your feet.

What was that situation and what happened? What did you do?

Please think of the worst and the best customer/client experience you have ever had. What was it and how did you handle it?

5.

Let’s pretend this is your last day on earth and you are listening to people talk about you. What do you want to hear?

Bonus Question: Would you be willing, after 4 months on the job, to come back and tell me what we can do to improve either your job, a process, a procedure or a policy?

This last question is one that you dare not ask unless you are willing to actually call the employee, listen to her ideas seriously, and respond in a meaningful way. I firmly believe that “new eyes” in a setting can see things we might no longer see or hear.

Finally, a resilient employee is one who can grow through challenge as well as opportunity. The key word here is “grow”. There might very well come a time when growth opportunities with your business are no longer available. This is where you do what you can to help them find their next growth enterprise and wish them well.

Don’t get caught in the trap of “I spent all this money to train them and they are gone!” If you begin well and end well, you will have a business champion for life. She can very well send you your next employee as well as bring more customers or clients to your door.

And that helps you grow and sustain a resilient organization.

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The Benefits of Business Leadership Executive Coaching Tom Bordon is a freelance writer who has extensively written about CEO Club in Atlanta and corporate executive coaching. His articles focus on guiding CEOs, COOs and top level executives about the benefit of conferring with other business owners in a CEO association for gaining helpful insights in making new business plans, exit planning and business strategies. Here he explores the benefits of coaching leaders to drive them to real success.

Can you learn leadership from a book? No, leadership requires experience, exposure and real-life challenges that constantly test your abilities to rise above the obstacles and win your way.

Business leadership is no less different. But yes, business leadership skills can definitely be polished and sharpened with the help of executive coaching. It helps you to get an objective view of problems to be able to apply different remedies to different situations.

Let’s examine how executive coaching sessions can help develop the essential business leadership skills you would need to chart strategic priorities, raise the competitive level of your organization and team and boost operational efficiency and productivity in your firm. As the CEO especially of a small or mid-sized firm, you can greatly benefit from business leadership executive coaching, be it from a reputed executive coaching

expert or by joining a reliable CEO association or CEO club in your city.

Executive coaching sessions at a CEO association or CEO club are nothing less than brief, handson experiences for business leadership training. When you sit down with a CEO peer group to discuss your specific problems or look for solutions to particular challenges, the conference members provide performance solutions to help you get a fresh perspective into how you can go about getting the answers.

This is because in a CEO club, the members themselves are business leaders who have had to steer their firms through typical challenges small and mediumsized companies face. Hence, their way of visualizing a problem or suggesting solutions is based on proven experiences and not theories.

CEOs of small and mediumsized companies often give short shrift to business leadership skill development under the impression

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that such executive coaching is necessary only for a Fortune 500 company, a multinational organization or a large-sized company. This is a myth and can make you lose many opportunities of optimally improving operational efficiency and enhancing productivity among employees.

Business leadership executive coaching arms you with the skills you would need as a team leader to discharge your myriad and crucial responsibilities. These crucial responsibilities include prioritizing tasks along with deft handling of people’s issues while keeping a fine balance between the two.

Moreover, as a team leader, you have to manage differences, align your employees into a cohesive, focused team, motivate and empower them to meet targets and stay productive and focused on the task at hand.

Business leadership skill development also helps you identify your own strengths and weaknesses so that you can

efficiently balance and manage your endless different tasks through the day with smarter time management and a result-oriented approach.

One of the most important and significant aspects of executive coaching for business leadership skill development is to help the CEO get the necessary expertise required to create and sustain a great team. The CEO who is able to build and empower a performing team achieves the most success.

To help CEOs build and maintain highly efficient teams, executive coaching takes them through various key areas of team dynamics.

As the business manager or CEO of your company, you yourself need the expertise, confidence and knowledge to make important decisions and be accountable for the outcomes. Also, you must be able to empower others in the company to create solid, lasting relationships, and build the organization for the future.

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Sitel Group Names Philippe Riveron Chief Ventures Officer Riveron becomes a member of the Global Executive Team and CEO of both Learning Tribes and TSC. Sitel Group, a worldleading provider of customer experience solutions, has recently announced the promotion of Philippe Riveron to Chief Ventures Officer (CVO).

“Philippe Riveron’s depth and breadth of experience as a leader in driving innovation and performance are the attributes we sought to propel the success of our Ventures and to accelerate our plans of expansion,” said Laurent Uberti, CEO and President, Sitel Group. “His contributions and achievements as founder and CEO of one of our largest ventures, Learning Tribes, have been invaluable in driving value to our clients and nearly doubling our client base in just four years.”

Riveron joined Groupe Acticall (now Sitel Group) in 2007 as Co-Founder and CEO of Learning Tribes. Prior to this position he served as the Head of Customer Experience for a top-tier telecommunications company.

He also served as Vice President of the French Association for Customer Relationship Management from 2003 to 2014.

Under Riveron’s leadership, the Learning Tribes, Sitel

Group’s international learning and development organization, experienced revenue growth of 133 percent from 2014 to 2017, literally tripling its membership in the period (from 30 to more than 90 in 2017) and expanding its geographical presence into Europe, North America, Brazil and China. Additionally, Riveron has been the driving force behind the innovation of the modern and socially engaged learning initiatives, exemplified by the Learning Tribes’ MOOC, “CX101,” designed to train and certify job seekers and interested customer experience candidates looking for new career opportunities.

As CVO, Riveron is responsible for the coordination and management of Sitel Group’s ventures including Learning Tribes, Extens Consulting, Novagile and TSC. In this role, he will accelerate the ventures’ transformation within the industry and nurture each of the organizations. Riveron will remain the global CEO of Learning Tribes and also serve as the global CEO of TSC. “This is a pivotal moment for our industry and organization so I feel honored and excited to join the Global Executive Team as Chief Ventures Officer,” said Riveron. “I

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firmly believe we will continue to surpass our goals of innovation and growth while differentiating ourselves internationally through our shared commitment of driving customer-centric results.”

Sitel Group is one of the largest customer experience companies in the world. The group is comprised of industry-leading firms providing business process outsourcing, digital marketing, training and talent management, technology and innovation, consulting and analytics solutions.

With subsidiaries such as Sitel, TSC, Learning Tribes, Extens Consulting, Sitel Insights and Novagile, the group’s services are leveraged across geographies, verticals and all stages of the end-to-end customer journey, helping clients effectively harness the industry’s explosive digital transformation and consistently deliver outstanding customer experiences.

With over 30 years of industryleading experience, Sitel Group’s 75,000 associates service over 400 clients – Fortune Global 500 companies as well as local businesses – through its network of more than 150 offices in 25 countries.

g Sitel Group Names Philippe Riveron Chief Ventures Officer

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Altify Revolutionizes Account Planning with the Launch of Winter ‘18 Easy account planning, team collaboration, and new executive insight capabilities transform complex team selling.

Altify, a pioneer in digital sales transformation technology, has announced its new Winter ‘18 release, designed to help B2B sales leaders and their teams more easily collaborate around the customer to improve win rates and sales velocity. Altify’s Winter ’18 solution enables sales teams to set up their account plans in minutes and get guidance on the right level of planning for every opportunity, while also providing more data and insight for sales leaders and front-line sales managers. Time-pressed sales teams can now work collaboratively, effectively, quickly, and intuitively.

“We focus on helping our customers be more successful by providing productive, secure, and sustainable solutions,” said Peter Redfurn, director, global enterprise accounts at Johnson Controls.

“Altify’s Winter ‘18 release gives our sales leaders more insight and makes it easier for our sales teams

to build plans and deliver value to our customers.”

“Selling into large accounts starts with truly understanding their business and what is important to them,” noted Steve Grywul, director, national enterprise sales, Bell Canada, “the new Altify Winter ’18 release makes it easy for us to collaborate to gain insights and map their priorities so that we understand how to best serve our customers.”

“The best enterprise sales leaders understand that sales is a team sport,” said Anthony Reynolds, CEO of Altify, “Our latest release gives sales leaders real insight on their key accounts and strategic opportunities, with the ease and simplicity of a solution to empower the entire extended team. Best of all, with our new plan set up, sales reps will spend less time planning and more time in front of the customer.”

Altify’s Winter ‘18 release gives executives total control over account plans and sales deals,

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while also providing simplicity and an improved user experience that takes advantage of Salesforce’s Lightning platform. Altify provides the only account management and opportunity management solution that is built natively on the Salesforce platform. The new release allows opportunity and account plans to be easily configured so users only see what they need, based on account size or deal complexity.

Altify Winter ‘18 focuses on: • Executive Insight – Best practice deal management and team management dashboards provide coaching insight, monitor activity and look for the right engagement with prospects. Front-line sales managers using Winter ‘18 support their teams more effectively to develop key deals across well-targeted accounts. Key plan elements can be quickly exported to PowerPoint and Word for executive meetings and deal reviews.

•

Simple plan set-ups Guided workflow and best practices allow sales teams to create new account plans in minutes. Pre-configured opportunity plan types ranging from easy to complex help salespeople get started quickly and enable everyone in the wider team to get involved and to understand client needs and their role on the account team from the outset.

•

Salesforce-native, collaborative user experience - Enhanced Lightning user experience provides easy and intuitive navigation and a single cloud repository stores all sales plan assets for a consistent, user-friendly and collaborative user experience. The new features and UX improvements are available in both Salesforce Lightning and Salesforce Classic.

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Altify Revolutionizes Account Planning with the Launch of Winter ‘18

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The Future of Online Marketing Resiliency expert, speaker, consultant and author Eileen McDargh has helped organizations and individuals transform the life of their business and the business of their life through conversations that matter and connections that count. She discusses the right way to hire employees in order to build resilience in your teams.

Today’s business world is certainly different than it was just a few years ago with the Yellow Pages, magazine ads, and radio spots.

These days, consumers rely on the web and advertisers must focus on SEO, PPC, keywords, and social media. What will the future of digital marketing look like?

The global marketplace is changing on a daily basis. For instance, advertising with Yellow Pages was quite important for a business’s overall exposure not too long ago.

The same can be said for direct mail campaigns and magazine ads, as well as spots on the radio.

However, now that we are living in 2018, a business needs to focus its attention on the latest marketing trends, such as search engine optimization (SEO), pay per click (PPC), and social media.

Relying on online marketing in today’s business world, a company can track 100% of its inbound calls, emails, and online chats to figure out a business’s exact costs down to the penny. Folks have search engines, like Google, in the palms of their hands, pockets, or purses.

When a local business used to spend approximately $25,000 a year advertising in Yellow Pages,

they can now depend on websites and content management systems for less than $10,000 a year.

Quality content writing can attract search engines for no cost, as long as you know the latest and greatest tricks to the trade. You can even set your own budget for targeted PPC campaigns, while connecting with friends and followers to share your messages on Facebook, Twitter, and other sites don’t cost a dime.

One technique that will be amazing for your business getting seen online is a good mix of original content and digital images. These days, your business must get a little bit more creative than simply posting stories and reviews on the web. Place relevant and informative links within your content too.

Surfers of the web want to see vivid photos, listen to audio files and play with interactive components, as well as watch video clips. It is smart to introduce visitors to your page with a short video introducing your business and its products or services. Save longer videos on your webpage for indepth descriptions for seemingly interested customers who have already scrolled and clicked on your site. The more visual content

28 CEO MONTHLY / JANUARY 2018

that is relevant to your business that’s on your website, the better.

Allow people to instantly share the information via email or on their social media pages.

As far as what the future of adverting will consist of, internet marketers will be able to identify exactly when their targeted customers are searching the web.

Movie theaters will be able to advertise their show times to an entertainment reader every Friday afternoon, while ads for a New England Patriots jersey will appear when a sports fan is checking the football scores on during the playoffs. One thing will remain certain; marketing solutions will continue to progress, just like they have for the last five decades.

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The Future of Online Marketing

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Companies That Pay Their CEO Modestly Perform Better Companies who pay their CEOs more modestly perform better financially, according to new research from Vlerick Business School, with the research showing UK firms overpay CEOs when compared to European neighbours.

Conducted by Professor Xavier Baeten at the business school, the study examined the pay levels and habits of CEOs and CFOs in 861 companies in the major stock indexes across Europe, including the FTSE 100 and 250 in the UK, the OMXS60 in Sweden and all listed firms across Germany, France, Netherlands and Belgium.

Using firm performance data to calculate what companies should be paying their CEOs, researchers found that firms with better financial performance tended to pay their CEOs less than others.

Analysis of the data also revealed that UK companies, along with those in Germany, overpay their CEOs in comparison with other countries – and that there were more cases of CEO overpayment in firms with more widely dispersed share ownership, another feature of UK companies.

Professor Xavier Baeten, who conducted the study, commented on the findings and what they mean for firms around the world.

“This paints a very clear picture showing that UK companies

significantly overpay their CEOs in comparison to other major nations in the EU. They are not paid more because they perform better, but because, amongst other things, CEOs in the UK have more control over the company as a whole relative to European firms due to wider dispersion of share ownership.”

The study also found that, taking into account fixed remuneration, short-term incentives and share option grants, UK CEOs are paid 94 times more than the average worker in their firm, and that although CEO pay in the UK had dropped slightly this year to a median of €4.3m, this figure rose to €4.9m when adjusted for the effect of the Brexit vote on the British pound.

Baeten adds, “Taking everything into consideration it is clear that UK companies should look closely at how they pay their CEOs – not just how much but also how their pay packages are structured. The best performing companies in this study tended to pay their CEOs a little less, and they also tended to pay more of their package as fixed salary and less in the form of variable, share-based, remuneration.”

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1801CE05

Winners’ Directory

Name: Craig Donaldson Firm: Metro Bank Award Title: CEO of the Year 2017 – United Kingdom

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