Vol 06 | Issue 05 | 2020
THE
10 MOST
INSPIRING
+
BUSINESSWOMEN TO WATCH IN
WOMEN IMPOWER DYNAMICS OF WOMEN PARTICIPATION IN THE EVER- CHANGING MODERN WORKFORCE
2020
THE ART OF LEADING
ANDREA MANDELBAUM INSPIRING OTHERS TO GET AHEAD
ATTRIBUTES OF A GOOD LEADER
Editor’s Desk
Leading with Inspiration
In moments of success, Leaders share it with others and in crisis they lead them with courage
I
n last few months a novel virus known as the coronavirus has transformed into a pandemic and spread infecting hundreds of thousands of people around the world and impacting humankind societally. And while we have yet to see the incalculable impact that will follow the pandemic—due to state and nationwide lockdowns, the closure of countless businesses, social distancing, and/or transition to remote work for millions across the world—every one of us has begun to witness its severe impact on the global economy. Businesspersons, in specific, are one of the people that have been greatly affected economically by the COVID-19 pandemic. From marketing and branding to technology, healthcare to food industry and in between, businesses have been forced to continuously adapt to the changing tides. In this edition, 10 businesswomen share their inspiring stories of how they are leading business in this era of crisis and navigating the effects of COVID-19. In its upcoming edition “The 10 Most Inspiring Businesswomen to Watch in 2020”, Insights Success is bringing the journeys of some of these dynamic who are recognized for successful business ideas, leadership and entrepreneurship across the world. The cover features Andrea Mandelbaum CEO of Mc Luhan, who leads the company with her sterling marketing strategies and exceptional leadership qualities. She says “my efforts and objectives are
centered on being a leader in technological innovation with an additional orientation on high capacity usage, which represents an unforgettable useful experience for the client.” Andrea’s career’s early stages started on 1994. After graduating, she started working in statistics for a market research company, while pursuing a postgraduate degree in Business and Marketing. On 1996, she found the company Mc Luhan, which on 2000, she sold to WPP group, and then worked in the company for three years. Later, on 2003, she reestablished Mc Luhan under a concept orientated to customer relationship consultancy based in technology. In the last 10 years she has become a specialized reference in the region on issues of artificial intelligence, consulted by the press and giving conferences. Let’s unveil such alike, inspiring stories and interviews of many such passionate leaders in this special edition and spread a word about their contribution in making this world a better place. Also, while flipping the pages, don’t forget to go through the articles and CXOs written by our inhouse editorial team and industry experts respectively.
Rohit Chaturvedi
08 16 22 30 34 40 46 52 26 38 Articles
ANDREA MANDELBAUM Inspiring Others To Get Ahead ELLEN VOIE Creating Gender Diverse Culture in the Transportation Industry JOANNA RILEY Helping Organizations to Boost Recruiting ROI
LAURA GOODRICH Helping Organizations to Have an Innovative Workforce
LEANN HACKMAN-CARTY Visioning to Make World a Better Place
MARINA TOGNETTI An Inspiration for Women Entrepreneurs in Tech MARNE MARTIN An Avid Leader Transforming Businesses via Technology Zahara Malik A Proficient of Impact Investing WOMEN IMPOWER Dynamics of Women Participation in the Everchanging Modern Workforce The Art of Leading Attributes of a Good Leader
ONTENT
Cover Story
16
08
22
34
30
40
52
46
Editor-in-Chief Pooja M. Bansal Managing Editor Anish Miller
Executive Editor
Assistant Editors
Rohit Chaturvedi
Jenny Fernandes Bhushan Ghate
Visualizer
Art & Design Director
Associate Designer
David King
Amol Kamble
Kushagra Gupta
Co-designer Asha Bange
Senior Sales Manager
Business Development Manager
Kshitij S
Andy Mitter
Marketing Manager
Sales Executives
John Matthew
Daniel, Ethan, Vishnu Vardan
Technical Head
Business Development Executives
Jacob Smile
Anish, Joe, Alan, Omkar
Technical Specialist Aditya
Digital Marketing Manager Marry D'Souza
SME-SMO Executive Prashant Chevale
Research Analyst Frank Adams
Database Management Stella Andrew
Circulation Manager Robert Brown
Technology Consultant David Stokes
sales@insightssuccess.com June, 2020
Follow us on :
www.facebook.com/insightssuccess/
www.twitter.com/insightssuccess
We are also available on : Copyright © 2020 Insights Success, All rights reserved. The content and images used in this magazine should not be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior permission from Insights Success. Reprint rights remain solely with Insights Success.
COVERSTORY
ANDREA MANDELBAUM INSPIRING OTHERS TO GET AHEAD
Andrea Mandelbaum CEO of Mc Luhan
The 10 Most Inspiring Businesswomen to Watch in 2020
A
s technology has become a synonym of success, every company craves to acquire and cope up with it. Mc Luhan is a consulting company that specializes in customer relationships which are designed to create the best experience based on AI technology. The company offers its services in markets such as banking, insurance, health, government management, retail, entertainment, mass consumption, telecommunications, and utilities. The company has experts in each business and for each product line.
One of the experts is Andrea Mandelbaum, CEO of Mc Luhan, who leads the company with her sterling marketing strategies and exceptional leadership qualities. She says “my efforts and objectives are centered on being a leader in technological innovation with an additional orientation on high capacity usage, which represents an unforgettable useful experience for the client.” In 1994 Andrea stepped into her professional life after her graduation when she started working in statistics for a market research company. This was while pursuing a postgraduate degree in Business and Marketing. In 1996, she established the company, Mc Luhan. However, in 2000 she sold it to the WPP group and then worked in the company for three years. Later, in 2003, she re-established Mc Luhan under a concept orientated to customer relationship consultancy rooted in technology. In the last 10 years, she has become a specialized reference in the region on issues of artificial intelligence, consulted by the press, and giving conferences. A Team of Experts “My motto is always being a step forward in innovation and have a flexible structure so we can adapt to changes quickly,” says Andrea. Per day, Andrea spends between two to three hours studying new technologies, usage per segmentation trends, and behavior in the face of technological tools. Also, she speaks a lot with the clients so they can tell her their problems and needs. She asserts “clients lay out their difficulties to us not knowing how to cope with them and ignoring if there is a technological tool or not to apply.” After brainstorming and with the help of a multidisciplinary team of experts per field, the team at Mc Luhan starts the design of the product that can solve the needs of the clients per sector and as per industry. She opines “I value teamwork, the fact of listening to each other, and the company internal and external community, as well as the professionals who can provide knowledge in both, always including them within the frame of professional respect and honesty.” Inspiring Work Environment Andrea opines “It seems to me that the most significant trait
is the fact that we work as women and we do not copy men´s models to reach for success.” She believes this is something that has evolved in the last years after the movements and initiatives of women empowerment. Twenty years ago, women who managed to make progress made it at the expense of scarifying their private lives. She adds, during her professional life, she has always been surrounded by men at the boards of directors; but, due to her personality, she never felt fear or insecure about not being at the same level as them. 70% of the workforce at Mc Luhan, since its inception, has always been comprised of women. And they have always been empowered as this feeling has been natural for them no matter if they were part of the company or not. It is in the company spirit. There is a great environment of collaboration and respect among all genres that constitute the company. The value resides in the people and not in their genre. Always Ready to Face Challenges The first obstacle Andrea faced was creating a company being too young, a woman, and having way too innovative ideas. However, she was tenacious, and she believed in the model. The 1996 Latin America was 5 years behind the rest of the continent when it came to the progress of technological services. So, she engaged to spread out her service. She explained what it was all about and clarified the concept of a 360-degree view of the customer for service. Political and economic conditions and changes in Latin America are not easy to surf, but Andrea believes it helped her on not only being creative with the services the company supplied but also on how it offered to the customers and how needs would arise for each market. For each crisis, Mc Luhan and the team try to find support solutions rooted in technology for their clients. For example, under events such as the COVID-19 pandemic, the company developed a service with immediate effect to tackle crisis caused by absence, suspension of activities, or evacuation of the customer service team. It also designed a virtual nurse who activates a care protocol and gives recommendations when it identifies and pre-diagnoses Coronavirus. This service made quite an impact as the company launched it
“
“My vision is always being
ahead in
solutions that cause a change
“
in the way of
doing things creating unique
experiences”.
when companies and governments were arranging their contingency plans. So, the company supplied a solution that others believed to be impossible. Empowering Women For Andrea, women‘s empowerment isn’t new. She has been using it to fight since she was young. She has always sought to make an alliance with other women in her company. In fact, Andrea‘s associate is a woman, and they have been carrying forward the whole company in perfect balance for years. Together, they foster talents in the company as well as in the clients. They have seen women who started from ground level and are now performing at important company positions. That gives Andrea deep satisfaction. Recently, Andrea found herself in an initiative called Woman in AI (Ipsoft), in which she was invited to be the regional pioneer in charge to inspire new generations to participate in STEM (Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics). This is where Andrea can set the improvement standards and adapt them to Latin America because only a few women pursue degrees in STEM. So, she suggests hiring women from different disciplines, such as psychology, sociology, HR, marketing, etc. They can study and work within the AI (Artificial intelligence) environment because the faster they develop in the business, the better they will be positioned in the market. In a short period, every device will be deeply engaged with AI, and the ones better prepared would reach the best business positions. However, Andrea believes "we should start from the beginnings. What did I want to allude to that? I say that very few little girls between six and twelve years old see themselves working in STEM since there are almost no models to follow." So, she believes, it is important to produce education and motivation at a very early age so they can approach technology not only as users but also as developing tools that will follow their own preferences. Insights on Meritocracy On meritocracy, Andrea asserts, “I would like to explain its meaning first. It is the power of merit, the power is understood as right. This right is given to the deserving individual. Still, if we want to decide who deserves it according to the individual efforts, all participants should be fixed at the same starting point. What usually takes place is that this point is not located at the same place for everyone, consequently, the ones launching from a different condition will spend more time to reach or probably, do not reach the expected at all.” She further says “If companies analyze the value only relying on the individual capacity, we would be ignoring the surrounding conditions and situations such as genre, social
and economic environment, culture, geographic place, just to mention some of them. In consequence, defining the parameters while considering the situation, environment, capacities, and efforts of the individual plays a key role if we want to settle when and where someone can reach the expected. We should use the meritocracy as a motivational strategy, but the starting point must be fixed before analyzing.” Envisioning an Advanced Future Andrea is now focusing on placing and enhancing Mc Luhan‘s AI (Artificial intelligence) bots. The team is currently introducing a new line that allows clients to have unique experiences through AR (Augmented reality) + VR (Virtual reality) along with AI (Artificial intelligence). After COVID-19, lots of shopping habits will change, and the company will be there offering usage and purchase experiences so real that one would even feel being physically inside the store.
Global Subscription $250.00
$130.00
$70.00
$25.00
1 Year
6 Months
3 Months
1 Month
(12 Issues)
(06 Issues)
(03 Issues)
(01 Issue)
Stay in touch.
Subscribe to Insightssuccess Get Insightssuccess Magazine in print, & digital on www.insightssuccess.com
Vol 06 | Issue 05 | 2020
THE
10 MOST
INSPIRING
+
BUSINESSWOMEN TO WATCH IN
WOMEN IMPOWER
DYNAMICS OF WOMEN PARTICIPATION IN THE EVER- CHANGING MODERN WORKFORCE
2020
THE ART OF LEADING
ANDREA MANDELBAUM INSPIRING OTHERS TO GET AHEAD
ATTRIBUTES OF A GOOD LEADER
“
Choose E xc e l l e n t, Choose Insights
Ellen Voie Founder Women In Trucking Association, Inc.
16 | JUNE 2020
www.insightssuccess.com
“
S
tarting a non-profit association is extremely difficult. To make matters worse, I started Women In Trucking in 2007, just before the recession hit the industry. To overcome this, I had to prove that gender diversity was an urgent and important goal,” says Ellen Voie. She is the founder of the non-profit organization, Women In Trucking Association, Inc. and envisions a more genderdiverse culture in the transportation industry.
According to Ellen, in the beginning, she would stand in front of trucking company executives, and they would tell her that gender diversity wasn’t an issue. Age, ethnicity, or gender didn’t pose any roadblocks in hiring professional drivers. However, once she started showing them the benefits women bring to the industry, they started listening. She said, “Women have been proven to be safer commercial drivers because they take fewer risks. Women are often better with paperwork, customers, and in taking care of equipment.” Women value their relationship with their carrier more than men, so this made trucking companies start to ask the organization to provide more information on attracting and retaining women as drivers. “We knew we
www.insightssuccess.com
had to provide the data and so we have focused on research to understand female commercial drivers better. Once we had hard data to offer the industry, we became the experts, and more importantly, the resource,” She added. Below are highlights of the interview conducted between Insights Success and Ellen Voie: Kindly take us through your journey to becoming a proficient leader. The key to being a great leader is to listen. I listen to our members when they express their concerns or frustrations related to being a woman in the trucking industry. Our members range from CEOs to drivers and technicians, but regardless of their role, they are still a minority when it comes to working in the area of the supply chain. When a driver tells me she has a problem reaching the pedals or seeing over the dash of the truck, we listen. When a CEO says to me she feels marginalized in the boardroom filled with male colleagues, we empathize. Listening to our members is crucial to our success.
JUNE 2020 | 17
“we’re the only organization with the mission to support both drivers and management in the trucking industry”
How do you diversify your organization’s offerings to entice the target audience?
What are the vital traits that every businesswoman should possess?
In addition to listening to our members’ concerns, we look at ways to make their jobs less challenging and more rewarding. We also look at ways we can reach beyond our industry and share our message with those who might not understand the transportation industry. For example, we created the Girl Scout patch so girls can learn about the supply chain and how it pertains to them personally. We added an activity book that shows how the grain in the field is shipped to the baker on a truck, from the baker to the packager on a truck, and so on. We also created a truck driver doll so children can play with a toy that might lead them into a career as a driver.
Any businesswoman, especially women in male-dominated careers, needs to possess a thick skin. We need to forge ahead with the attitude that we know what we’re doing, and we’re not going to let anyone stop us. On the positive side, once we’ve proven ourselves, we are not only accepted, we are appreciated. Women in male-dominated environments can and do, show our peers that we are capable.
How do you strategize your game plans to tackle the competition in the market? Our membership consists of anyone who believes in our mission. To that point, nearly anyone can join the association. However, we want to attract people who believe in the benefits of gender diversity. We really don’t have any competition in the association arena, as most of the trucking associations are segregated by types of transport (tankers, flatbeds, rigging, etc.) or geography (state associations) or even the size of the company (owneroperators, small carriers or large carriers.) Our focus is gender diversity, and we're the only organization with the mission to support both drivers and management in the trucking industry. 18 | JUNE 2020
Have you, in any way, contributed towards the cause of women empowerment. Our entire mission is to empower women. Whether they are drivers, technicians, safety managers, CEOs, or directors, we offer information and resources to help them identify and overcome diversity challenges. Every presentation I give to women (and men) to identify and understand unconscious bias in hiring, promoting, and recognizing potential is another step in addressing and, more importantly, stopping hiring and promoting practices that inhibit the advancement of women. What are your insights on “The myth of meritocracy”? And how it could bring a change in today's business arena? In my experience, women who work in male-dominated careers have a harder time proving themselves. Many female drivers have been told to go back home and bake www.insightssuccess.com
The 10 Most Inspiring Businesswomen to Watch in 2020
bread or take care of babies. However, once you have confirmed that you can do the job, you gain the respect of your male peers. Men admire women who succeed in their environment, for the most part. There are always men who are intimidated by women who do the same job, but although those voices seem louder, they are often in the minority. Men with integrity respect women who can do the same job. How do you cope up with capricious technological trends to boost your personal growth? Technology is only a tool. Once you recognize that this tool is something to be used as needed, you can control your “submission” to it. I don’t allow it to rule my time, and the silence button is often used. On the flip side, knowing what
www.insightssuccess.com
applications benefit your productivity can enhance your personal growth. I have apps that track my steps and my calorie intake as well as apps to help me in my extensive travel schedule, but I don’t use apps that distract me from doing my job. What are your future endeavors/objectives, and where do you see yourself in the near future? I anticipate the Women In Trucking Association to grow in both geographic regions as well as in our North American presence. We are currently creating chapters to continue our work in regional and local areas. We have also created a driver ambassador who will take a tractor-trailer to trade shows, schools, and other events to give people a hands-on experience in learning about the trucking industry.
JUNE 2020 | 19
Joanna Helping Organiza ons to Boost Recrui ng ROI
22 | JUNE 2020
www.insightssuccess.com
The 10 Most Inspiring Businesswomen to Watch in 2020
E
ntrepreneur, advocate, and mentor for diversity in technology are just a few of Joanna’s titles. The most important, however, is CEO and Co-founder of Censia, an AI-powered talent acquisition software. Censia allows talent teams to add AI to their existing recruiting process to instantly predict which person is most likely to succeed in any given role and then discovers them among applicants or the global talent pool. On average, it helps recruiters reduce the time spent on manual tasks by 90%. Many factors influenced how Joanna became a leader, one of which was coming from a family of entrepreneurs. She grew up witnessing the process of creating things, the struggles of being a change agent, and she can't imagine any other way to live. During her early career, she had the opportunity to work abroad and meet with business leaders and government officials around the world. No matter where she went and who she spoke to, everyone shared the same concern: they felt they couldn't hire enough capable talent for their companies. Joanna found this shocking and started researching the topic, only to discover that the talent was there all along, but that there was no good way to analyze it and that unconscious hiring bias was keeping a lot of people out of the right jobs. This is where the idea for Censia was born. Factors that had Huge Impact Two factors that had a significant impact on Joanna were that she had dyslexia growing up and that she was a rower. Being dyslexic made her become more resourceful and learn the value of communicating well and being personable at a very young age. It also made her realize just how important it is to focus on what people can bring to the table and what they can’t. Knowing that people have different strengths and that diversity of talent makes a company stronger from a young age is a concept that lies at the core of what Censia does. Rowing, on the other hand, taught Joanna that one needs to bring strong people into one’s team and align them. If even one person is rowing in another direction, the boat goes nowhere, and it is the same with a company: if people don’t align on the mission and goals, the company can’t grow. But if everyone is working towards the same goals, the desired growth becomes exponential. An Obsessively Customer-Centric Organization One thing that motivates all of Censia’s business decisions is that the company is obsessively customer-centric. Therefore, Censia designs all of its offerings and optimizations to meet their customer’s needs. Censia designed its software to be easy to use as a cloud solution or to integrate into existing systems with the simple of giving talent teams access to the most cutting-edge AI-powered talent intelligence without any cumbersome migrations, coding experience, or extensive training. The company wanted to make finding the best talent for its clients as simple as using Google. Joanna chose this model because most enterprises have invested heavily in implementing, setting up, migrating to, and training their staff in enterprise solutions. These solutions are complex and efficient, so rather than changing and migrating, Censia gave them the option to extend and enhance what they have.
www.insightssuccess.com
JUNE 2020 | 23
Joanna Riley Co-founder & CEO Censia
24 | JUNE 2020
“ www.insightssuccess.com
Listening is the Key According to Joanna, all leaders need to take a step back, take an honest look at their company’s results, and listen to what their customers are saying. That is the most important thing. Embracing Vulnerability What Joanna has found is that women are often afraid to talk about what they aren’t good at, but understanding what one is good at and isn’t good at is the key to being successful. Only when a leader knows her strengths and weaknesses can she strategically hire others to fill in the
“Hire the smartest people you can and align them so that everyone is pursuing the same goal. Focus on your customer's pain points and help them solve their problems in the most e ective way
gaps. Many leaders feel as though they can or should do everything themselves, but Joanna believes this prevents them from scaling in the long run. Tackling Roadblocks Joanna has spent most of my time working as an entrepreneur, so she has much more experience facing challenges in that field than she does incorporate business. Both of her parents were entrepreneurs, and she knew from a young age that this path will be full of both successes and failures, but that ultimately, one person can create amazing things. Joanna’s mom used to produce some of the greatest movies, and seeing one person orchestrate all that magic made Joanna realize how powerful one individual can be, and how much one has to take on in other to accomplish this. As a child, Joanna’s father read Rudyard Kipling’s poem “If ” to her at bedtime, and she always felt as though this describes what it takes to be an entrepreneur. Joanna also believes that women are more influential than they realize, and need to own how much influence they have on the world, even when they are not in a position of power. When Joanna spoke at the G20 summit, she asked everyone she met why they wanted to lead a country, and so many of them said it was because they had a mother or an aunt in their lives who overcame great adversity. Future Ready Joanna and all her team are actively pursuing Censia’s mission to transform the way people find, hire and nurture talent by making AI-powered talent intelligence accessible to companies of all sizes, and to eliminate unconscious hiring bias for good. In addition to this, the company has launched ReadyToHire. This initiative uses artificial intelligence to instantly match people who have lost their jobs to open roles at companies with hiring needs. To date, Censia has helped more than 2 million people whose jobs have been lost or are in danger of being lost connect with companies who are expanding.
possible. If you can do this, your company will always succeed." www.insightssuccess.com
JUNE 2020 | 25
Dynamics of
Participation in the Ever-changing Modern Workforce
26 | JUNE 2020
www.insightssuccess.com
Women Impower
G
one are the days when women were stereotyped to a certain set of skills and professions, restricting them from exploring the world of endless opportunities. Today, women have announced their arrival in many fields of the business world. Therefore, it seems more important than ever before to recognize female contributions in every profession. Fighting through biased work culture in favour of male dominance, women have conquered the unconquered on the account of their distinct calibre and predilections. In the times when the world female participation rate is to the dispiriting levels of around 67% and pay-off rate of about 63%, achievements by women go-getters are praiseworthy. Listening capabilities is one of the distinguishing aspects of feminine species as compared to their male counterparts. Instilling and pursuing ones thoughts is undoubtedly important for effective working. But being a better listener is something that can make a difference as studies show that the customer values and trusts the firms if they perceive that they are being listened to by the firms. With inherent caring and affectionate traits, women outclass men when it comes to understanding critical demands of the customers. Emotional Intelligence (EI) - the ability to identify and manage one’s own emotions as well as the emotions of others - is an essential skill when it comes to dealing with a diverse class of consumers. Women are naturally gifted with higher EI making them better suited for pressure situations and avoiding counter-productive decisions while keeping emotions in check. Emotional Intelligence encompasses two major dimensions – awareness of one’s self and awareness of others. Both the attributes are very much significant for the survival and success of any organisation. Self-awareness involves being familiar with trigger points and behavioural traits when put to the test. This, in turn, helps to modulate impulses avoiding conclusions which are harmful for the welfare of business. In addition to self-awareness, an awareness of others is equally critical in business. Analysing and decoding non-verbal communication – that amounts to 93% of the message – eventually benefits in convincing and converting a lead into a client. Collaboration, and not the cutthroat competition, is the modern era’s principle virtue to achieve success. Many endeavours which seem to be beyond the bounds of
www.insightssuccess.com
possibility can be attained by combining efforts from different resources, channels and departments. Further, collaborating products with consumer experience are enormously important. It leads to crafting the best solutions for customer’s pain points and compelling value propositions that reflect their overall business objectives. Multiple studies have found that women prefer to work in teams, while men prefer to work alone. An unfaltering affinity towards collaboration primes women to garner success in different fields of business which gives them an edge over others. Increased profitability can be a motivating factor for many firms to hire more pool of female talents as many studies support the fact. Statistical research shows that Fortune 500 companies with the highest representation of women on boards financially outperform companies with the lowest representation of women on boards. Moreover, genderdiverse teams have higher sales and profits compared to male-dominated teams, and a recent Gallup study found that gender-diverse business units have higher average revenue than less diverse business units. Trust over female leaders is an attribute which needs to be reciprocated while making the choice. More American workers perceive female executives as honest and ethical than male executives. Pew’s “Women and Leadership” surveyed Americans in 2015 and found that 34% say women are better at this, while only 3% say men are better at it (64% say there’s no difference). While it’s unclear whether this means women are actually more honest, it’s a subtle reminder of how tangled some business decisions can be. Leaders are often tasked with choosing between options that aren’t black and white, ethically speaking, and the capacity to lead honestly is important to the entire company’s success and job satisfaction. Not to mention, increased job satisfaction and organizational dedication to cite positive and meaningful business culture are the added advantages feminine employees carry to the organisation. However, the journey is not all merry go round every time. Hindrances – seen, unseen – are there to check the unrelenting zeal of women aspirants to thrive in the industry. These obstructions need to be pointed out and rectified to create an environment that fuels women empowerment. JUNE 2020 | 27
Lack of confidence, according to many experts, is one prime reason women tend to question themselves and doubt their worthiness. In order to advance, they must coach their inner critics. Out-speak and define what women want professionally if they want to get succeeded. Too often they don’t know or rely upon others to define it for them. “Building relationships with those in positions of leadership is critical,” Susan Brady, executive vice president of Linkage Inc. says. “Put down the to-do list long enough to connect with decision makers across the organization, and help them understand who you are and what you bring to the table.”
Women are generally uneasy about asking for what they want. They must stop thinking about what they need as a self-serving request. They must develop the courage and fortitude to stand up and ask for what they want.
While proving value, women tend to overcompensate in order to demonstrate that they are adding value. Instead of doing it all alone, change the paradigm and track to encourage others to take on more responsibility, thus enabling them to scale and multiply their own impact. Not to forget, biased work culture and regional barriers are the crucial obstacles in the road of women work participation. But, today women are breaking these shackles and coming out boldly to be a part of economic processes shouldering their male counterparts. There has been obvious progress in achieving gender equality around the world over the past two decades: more girls are attending school, more women are working and are being elected to public offices, more women hold management positions, and the situation involving women’s legal as well as social rights have also improved. However, a great deal still remains to be done to achieve equal outcomes for women and men. Recognizing women’s abilities, the values they bring to the organisation, the transformation they achieve as far as work environment is concerned, and considering monetary benefits associated with the female work participation, corporate sector need to welcome their emergence with open arms. No future is far where maledominated workplaces will be a tale of extinct, we believe.
28 | JUNE 2020
www.insightssuccess.com
Laura Goodrich Co-founder GWT Next
30 | JUNE 2020
www.insightssuccess.com
The 10 Most Inspiring Businesswomen to Watch in 2020
T
oday where uncertainty is the only certain thing, organizations need their leaders and employees to be effective with change and innovative in spite of the obstacles they may face. Laura Goodrich is a transformation expert and one of the Top 20 Global Thought Leaders, who provides a designed process that, combines live or virtual experiences with micro learning programs. She is the Co-founder of GWT Next, a company that transforms leaders and employees to be innovative in the workforce. In 1994, Laura read an article titled “On the Cutting Edge of the Digital Age.” It grabbed a hold of her, bringing forth an epiphany about how the workplace would change in the coming decades. Industries across the globe would face unprecedented shifts in their operations: she knew leaders and employees would struggle. Laura started off with speaking and training programs that gave both leaders and employees the tools they needed to prepare for the future of work. During this time she had some pretty incredible experiences and eventually was placed amongst the top 10 executive coaches from an international organization. From here on out, she was identified as a global thought leader in the Future of Work, Change, Emerging Technology, and Culture. These experiences led to producing transformative processes that include assessments, coaching, micro learning, specialized toolkits, and roadmaps that create measurable outcomes. Challenges Demand Resistance In 2001, two of Laura’s major clients chose to discontinue their contracts, and she was at a crossroads. There was a
void left by post-9/11 panic and selling services of any kind felt impossible. Laura pondered over this question for what felt like eons. But, deep within her, she felt called to dig deeper, to truly understand “what's next.” As soon as she quieted her mind, the strangest of things happened. I got the idea to do television and the idea would not leave me. After that she got the idea to do television and the idea would not leave her. She thinks “we all have weird, fleeting thoughts; they often go away as quickly as they come. However, this idea was not one of those.” Through a long string of opportunities, Laura broke into the industry and eventually found a producer to work with. The team began writing concepts for TV shows. One of them caught the attention of a network, and the company were asked to cut a demo. Joining Hands with a Proficient Laura’s now business partner, Greg Stiever, an Emmy Award-winning producer and director, produced the segment. Long story short: it didn’t work out. But shortly thereafter, he asked to meet for coffee and share an idea. Both Laura and Greg immediately got along and began to build strategies on how to pair their talents. In fact, this meeting led to their first film together: Seeing Red Cars. After that, Laura wrote a book by the same name, which Forbes called a “must-read” for leaders wishing to accomplish positive change in the workplace. She adds “We created a few more workplace training films, which were subtitled and sold internationally.” Unique offering GWT Next has a unique processes that address the
LAURA
GOODRICH Helping Organizations to Have an Innovative Workforce
www.insightssuccess.com
JUNE 2020 | 31
“My passion is to empower as many leaders as possible and truly make a difference.”
challenges faced by leaders, teams, and organizations in a change-dynamic environment. Everything can be done virtually, which includes assessments, team and leader coaching, micro learning, and accountability tools to track behavior metrics on an interactive technology platform. The processes are entirely focused on mind-set, preparing for the future of work, transformation, and leading teams remotely. All of this is dependent on the company's research and keen observations of human behaviour. First in the Market For GWT Next, there weren’t many toe-to-toe competitors in the marketplace when the company started. That may sound great, but as being one of the first ones to show up, it had to do quite a bit of heavy lifting. Things were like this for quite some time. As a result, the company had to create high-quality processes and products from scratch without many points of reference. “But we’re proud of what we’ve done so far” says Laura. The company’s disciplined approach to researching emerging technologies, global connectedness, demographic shifts, and the changing expectations of employees has allowed it to truly distinguish itself. The goal, from the getgo, has been to empower leaders and employees to transform the underlying assumptions of the workplace and stoke the flames of innovation.
There is a lot that needs to be fixed and one can’t possibly get to all of it. She advises to upcoming businesswomen “Be realistic about what you can do. I’d also recommend playing to your strengths and partner with those who can compensate for where you fall short. Once you’ve figured out your area of focus and have found a good team, be ready to work harder and longer than you’ve ever imagined. But despite the pain and difficulty, you should be finding deep meaning in your work. That’s what gets you through.” Overcoming Challenges Laura asserts “We were very early to market and found significant challenges in finding the right market and a fit for our products.” The tipping point was the convergence of these five things: improved digital platforms, adoption of those platforms, the right partners, and the arrival of new, virtual solutions and the necessity of remote work worldwide that revealed new opportunities for the company. She further adds “All of these things allowed me to make good on my passion to empower as many leaders as possible and truly make a difference.”
Be Real and Focused According to Laura, focus on real, solvable challenges. 32 | JUNE 2020
www.insightssuccess.com
Leann Hackman-Carty Visioning to Make World a Better Place ”
eadership, integrity, professionalism and vision are vital traits that every business women should possess” says Leann Hackman-Carty, Founder and Principal of HackmanCarty & Associates. She believes we can save lives and livelihoods, and is “passionate about creating a sustainable, disaster-resilient world for everyone.” As a social entrepreneur, she desires to make a meaningful global impact.
L
for over a decade, and learned a significant amount about civic leadership. Since then, I have continued to seek out leadership roles in both the private and non-profit sectors. To me, leadership is about having a big vision on where you want to go- but also understanding the tactics that it will take to get there. It is also about being able to inspire others to join you on the journey, and recognizing that together you can achieve more.
Leann also a Chief Creative Officer and Channel host of MYD Global, a YouTube channel dedicated to “all things disaster-related”, and author of the “Master Your Disaster” series of preparedness, response and recovery guidebooks.
How do you diversify your organization’s offerings to entice the target audience?
Below are the highlights of the interview conducted between Insights success and Leann Hackman-Carty: Kindly take us through your journey on becoming a proficient leader. I have had the privilege of having great leadership role models during my career. Starting early as a child- my parents always encouraged me to be involved at school, as a volunteer, as a leader. I also had an amazing university professor who challenged me to better understand my values/background and how they affected my world view. My first “real” job after university was working for an Alderman, who then became Mayor of Calgary. I worked with him 34 | JUNE 2020
Understanding who your target audience is, and what problem you are solving is where it all starts. Instead of developing a product, and then trying to find a market for it, a business person should spend the time clearly defining what the problem is, and then determining how your solution will help solve the problem. Don’t sell a solution looking for a problem. How do you strategize your game plans to tackle the competition in the market? To be honest, while it is always good to understand who your external competition is and what they are doing; I find it much more energizing and productive to focus internally on refining my products and services. I don’t actually spend a lot of time looking at what others are doing. I want to be the best at what I do, and sometimes that means paving the way, not www.insightssuccess.com
Leann Hackman-Carty Founder & Principal HackmanCarty & Associates
www.insightssuccess.com
JUNE 2020 | 35
The 10 Most Inspiring Businesswomen to Watch in 2020
looking at what others are doing. As per your opinion, what roadblocks or challenges were faced by you in a corporate business? And how did you overcome them? We all have challenges we need to overcome. Whether we are young and people don’t take us seriously; or a woman overlooked or dismissed when her male colleague is in the room, we all need to be mindful of how we are perceived by others, and look to either enhance our assets or mitigate our liabilities. To me, my response has been to work that much harder to ensure I know as much as I can, and am as prepared as I can be. Some things are in our control, others aren’t. Focus on what you can control. Have you in any ways contributed towards the cause of women empowerment.
“
“Know where you want to
go, source as many quality materials and resources as you can and then pave your own unique path.”
36 | JUNE 2020
I had very strong female role models. From my grandmothers, to my mother, my mother-in law, my aunts, my sister, my friends, and many of my colleagues. There were only two girls in our immediate family growing up. We were both encouraged to pursue our dreams. I never felt that I was inferior. It was never an issue for me. I just felt I needed to work hard, be prepared and I would succeed. However, I know that isn’t the case for every woman. I guess I have always gravitated towards organizations and causes that help support and further women's empowerment. “To those that are given much, much is expected”. Guess I took that seriously. How do you cope up with capricious technological trends to boost your personal growth? While I believe it is important to focus on personal growth, to be honest, I don’t spend a lot of time doing that right now. Maybe it is because I have teenagers, run my own business, run a non-profit, chair a women’s peer advisory board, host a YouTube channel, and try to keep sane while doing all of that. I just don’t have a lot of time right now to sit back and engage in “personal growth”. I consider getting up every day, and trying to make an impact that day, as my personal growth plan. What are your future endeavours/objectives and where do you see yourself in the near future? I want to make a difference in the world. I have always had a bigger vision for what I wanted to do. I am going to continue to build on my disaster preparedness, response, recovery and resiliency work as I believe that is where I can make a significant difference there. I am also always looking for unique commercial opportunities that I can get involved in that have the potential to disrupt industries.
www.insightssuccess.com
Attributes of a Good
Leader
38 | JUNE 2020
www.insightssuccess.com
The Art of Leading
L
eadership is about using the power of a position to empower a group of people in order to attain a common goal. A leader’s task is to implement the plans that usually look good on paper, through a delegated team, in a specific time with an ongoing motion. She/he may use the traditional method or may think out of the box. It depends on the leader as how to do it; the ultimate motive is to get the job done. Although, each and every individual has a different approach on leadership, some might say it is about setting examples, some might say it is about sharing the authority; what matters is, taking the right decision when it is most needed.
Leadership varies from one organization to another. An organization is a dynamic body and creates new probabilities every now and then. And with new probabilities, come new challenges. Although, it is impossible to overcome every challenge, the business environment has adopted certain leadership styles for the efficiency of business: The Participative Leader Participative Leadership is the process of sharing authority with the work force in order to get optimum efficiency. The team, after getting access to certain powers, works responsibly to accomplish the goals set by its leader. The shared leadership also helps in case of any requirement of change, as the employees adapt quickly in such environment. Incidentally, this style of leadership fits best in a scenario when there is a limitation of time. The Transformational Leader A transformational leader inspires the team through effective communication and an intellectual environment. However, these individuals require www.insightssuccess.com
more detail oriented managers to successfully implement their strategies. Transformational Leadership is considered among the most effective employees of the organization. One of the examples of this type of leadership is when a leader is assigned on a higher level for effective environment. The Transactional leader The transactional leadership, as the name suggests, enables the leader to incentivize the team corresponding to their performance. The team gets rewarded when it attains the goals and the Leader has the power to review the results and act accordingly when the team fails to do the same. The goals and the strategy to attain them are decided by the leader and the team itself. The Situational leader Situational leadership is a theory that the best leader will adapt to the required leadership style according to need of the hour. A Situational leader may adopt democratic style while discussion business with senior executive, but may switch to transactional at the time of team review. However every individual has a natural style of leadership and it may be difficult to switch roles at a certain point of time. Qualities of a good leader There is an old proverb that says, “Give a Man a Fish, and You Feed Him for a Day. Teach a Man to Fish, and You Feed Him for a Lifetime.” So is the case with leadership. One of the basic qualities of a Leader is to pass on the leadership skills. Following are some of the qualities of a good leader:
communication grows. Especially, when it comes to leadership, there is no scope for lack of communication. A Leader who fails to develop this skill is looked up as incompetent, because it is his job to send the message loud and clear. Although, it is also important to listen as it is an integral part of communication. Integrity C.S. Lewis said, “Integrity is doing the right thing, even when no one is watching.” Be it giving credit to one of the team members or be it admitting a mistake, a leader wears integrity as a badge of honor. They do what is right, no matter what. Ÿ
Empowerment As mentioned earlier, Leadership is about using the power of one’s position to empower a group of people in order to attain a common goal. A good leader shares his authority with the team in order to get the job done. By doing this, he shows confidence in the team and obliged by the gesture, the team works with full enthusiasm to accomplish the goal. Ÿ
Decision making There is risk in decision to making. Great leaders take great decisions when the stake is high and it is the success of those decisions that make them great. To add up, a good leader takes right decision at the right time. In conclusion, a good leader can be defined by the dynamics of his style in leadership, the values that he brings to the organization, the methods he uses to make the best of the resources, and the kind of decision he makes in the given situations. At the end it is about the attitude of an individual to bring the change for good. Ÿ
Communication Skills Communication is the basic requirement for efficiency in a business. As the level of hierarchy elevates, the requirement of Ÿ
JUNE 2020 | 39
40 | JUNE 2020
www.insightssuccess.com
MARINA
Tognetti An Inspiration for Women Entrepreneurs in Tech ”
T
he passion for entrepreneurship came later on in my career” said Marina as she built first a successful career by large multinationals, Procter & Gamble, Philips, Sara Lee, The Boston Consulting Group and eBay; and got an MBA from INSEAD. Marina Tognetti a tech entrepreneur, who is the founder and CEO of mYngle.com, a global language training platform. She asserts “It was when working as consultant on a project on internet strategy that I first saw the potential of internet to disrupt entire industries and change forever the way we buy/sell/interact. I had to be part of that! That was the driver to start an innovative company as mYngle.”
Combining Excellence and Advancement According to Marina, in mYngle, the company nurture an obsession for customer satisfaction, and this is also one of its key strengths. It looks to continuously improve its service. The company does so by constantly listening to users’ feedback and improving accordingly, as well as leveraging new technologies at its advantage. This is also reflected in mYngle’s internal evaluation systems and how it assess job. It constantly monitor its users’ reactions and try to adjust accordingly, using adapted versions of NPS (Net Promoter Score), which defines that only excellence counts. The organization’s average lessons’ scores are 4.9/5.0. Results speak for themselves!
“BE THE CHANGE YOU WISH TO SEE IN THE WORLD.” www.insightssuccess.com
JUNE 2020 | 41
42 | JUNE 2020
www.insightssuccess.com
Understanding User’s Needs Marina strongly believes that the key to success is not constantly comparing with competition, but aligning with what customers want. Constant focus on customers and their needs is one of mYngle’s pillars and key strengths. This is particularly important when one is in an industry like online education, is in a transition or evolution phase, where the main challenge is not competition but the unawareness or inexperience of customers. Education was (and in large part still is) operating in the old traditional way, offering learners what is available, not what they need. But “One size does not fit all.” Marina says “By understanding the customer and diversifying our offer in terms of teacher- content- frequency, we can match each specific need.” Vital Traits for a Business Woman “We are living in an era of fast and drastic changestechnology, volatility of the market, talent development,” says Marina. This affects the role of a leader, man or woman, which must be able not only to adapt but also to ride the positive trends. For Marina, a business woman must have a strong ’Vision’ to set the direction and anticipate and navigate challengeswhich also means being able to ‘Think out of the box’, adapt and change to keep the business successful. Marina further said “she must not be afraid of taking (calculated) risks in order to anticipate trends and steer the company also in turbulent waters. Last, but not least, she must be able to build an organization that is also agile. That requires developing people that think and not only do “jobs’’, employees that are entrepreneurs, fostering a culture of experimentation.” Learning through Experience The main challenges were when the company had to ’pivot’ from the initial business model to a completely different one. Marina says “We had launched mYngle as a marketplace, something I knew very well from my previous eBay experience. We thought we got it all: funding, lots of Awards and PR, a very motivated team. But something in the business model was not functioning as we expected. We listened to our customers and they gave us the new direction, and they gave us the new direction, from an open marketplace to a quality global online school, from B2C to B2B. That is the mYngle that you see now.” Empowering Women Marina opines “The tech world is still particularly male dominated: only 5% of tech start-ups are owned by women. That is why I aim to be a role model for other women in
www.insightssuccess.com
tech, but an accessible one, trying to give a genuine picture of what it takes to be an entrepreneur, the ups and downs that we all have but few want to share”. She added “A strong leader is not the one without faults, as we all have faults, but that which is so self-confident to be able to show her vulnerabilities without being scared that it would impact her strength.” Marina regularly presents at international conferences on the topics of female leadership and entrepreneurship, and won numerous awards for her role of woman in technology such as 50 most inspiring women tech leaders in Europe, 50 most inspiring women in Dutch technology sector, Iconic Women Creating a Better World for All and many others. Truth and Myth of Meritocracy Although the tech world might seem to perfectly fit the meritocracy idea, it is actually not the case when one compares chances for men and women. For jobs at leading tech start-ups, most outreach and recruitment take place through word-of-mouth, alumni referrals and personal networks, which are predominantly composed of males. Also, women entrepreneurs are not getting venture-capital funding at the same rate as men. This despite the fact that data on returns show venture-backed tech start-ups with women at the helm outperforms those led by men. Technological Advancement Technology should be seen as an opportunity, as it opens directions that only a few decades ago seemed unattainable. It allows new businesses that can disrupt entire industries. ‘CHANGE is GOOD’ as it forces improvements and continuous developments. “I am a business person,” Marina says “so do not need to be an expert in its implementation, but I must understand its implication for a business: how it impacts a company, the customers, the value chain.” On Future Endeavours The future challenge for mYngle will be in keeping innovating and being ahead while the market moves from early stage to more mature. For Marina personally, it will also be time for the idealistic voice inside to speak, the voice that believes in giving something back for a better world. She walked this path and learned a lot. That brought her in a privileged position, where she can act and implement new ideas that can make a difference. She can now use her skills to make the world just a little bit better.
JUNE 2020 | 43
Marne Martin An Avid Leader Transforming Businesses via Technology
n an interview with Insights Success, Marne Martin—President Service Management Global of IFS, emphasizes on her impeccable journey and her contribution in the evolution of IT sector. Her unique ideology and methods have helped her to achieve many milestones in her pathway, creating a better roadmap for her company to prevail.
I
regardless if one is naturally talented or not. I have grown a great deal over the decades, and feel that I am only part way along the journey. For example, technology skills are equally critical to being an effective leader, and in how we partner with businesses embracing digital transformation. Technology is continually evolving, and we must also evolve with it on a personal and operational level.
Insights Success admire such personalities and takes pride in featuring Marne in its special edition, “The 10 Most Inspiring Businesswomen to Watch in 2020”.
How do you diversify your organization’s offerings to entice the target audience? First step is agreeing what is the target audience, as that may not be the audience that you have today or that you think you want. If you look through history, you find examples of companies that were innovative in their time, but then the market changed and they didn’t. Likewise, consumers change generationally and with societal change. Therefore, a company has to be nimble and adapt to their target audience not only in the short and long term, but also move quickly along the way in case that audience does shifts due to size, distinction, or profitability.
Below are the highlights of the interview: Kindly take us through your journey on becoming a proficient leader. Growing up on a ranch and being captain of sports teams were both great training in my early years. I was very fortunate in my employment out of college to be able to lead teams, learn from mentors, and work internationally over the decades to hone my skills. Working in other cultures and countries around the world was supremely enriching to continue guiding the journey of becoming an effective leader. Leadership and management skills don’t happen in a vacuum. It is with experience and peer review that we grow, 46 | JUNE 2020
The second step is assessing whether you have the cash and talent to diversify. Diversifying is easier if a company has already executed on a focused strategy and has talent that is scalable, e.g. a foundation already laid with the existing product or services that can be positioned into a new business model, sales motion or market. Diversification can www.insightssuccess.com
The 10 Most Inspiring Businesswomen to Watch in 2020
Marne Martin President Service Management Global IFS
www.insightssuccess.com
JUNE 2020 | 47
“Hard work, resiliency, creativity and most importantly, the ability to manage your talent empathetically to get the best out of people, are the keys to success.” be expensive though, which is why many cash limited or startup companies are better off focusing on a single product or service that is excellent and then as momentum, investment and/or profits allow, diversifying through organic means or an acquisition. To diversify an organization’s offerings, look to whether the company is best served by adding another product or service, going into a new or different market or geography, and / or add a new sales motion. All of these are forms of diversification where the best one or combination needs to be mapped to what generates the most business value for your target audience, and the greatest profits or momentum for the company. Diversification is successful when you can use it to maximize the returns on the talent, products or services that you have to sell aligned with a go to market strategy that is tailored to the customer segment, pricing, delivery, packaging, sales motion, etc. that can be executed on. A diversification strategy therefore has to fundamentally tie into the business plan and strategy you have as a company, and what your exit strategy is (if applicable). Diversifying by organic development versus acquisition also acquire differing degrees of time and money, as well as risk. I have seen businesses that had great talent and also a great product simply run out of cash if they tried to diversify without adequate funding and got over-stretched, as well as companies that stayed single product / single customer segment too long and got caught behind the market. Diversification is important to the long-term success of most businesses, but it can’t be done “randomly” where a company doesn’t understand the market, the target audience or how to grow profitably. While there are very successful companies valued highly on the stock market or by their PE owners that aren’t profitable and continue to find access to cash, that is always a riskier proposition, especially in times of fluctuating consumer or business demand and availability of capital.”
competition in the market? Momentum, talent, and customer focus are all key to being competitive and continuing to win. A successful strategy has to focus on the customer first. Then, the talent that is necessary to be successful and differentiate the company from its peers. Finally, the momentum that can create an avalanche of demand where customer acquisition and retention becomes ideally cheaper over time in order to be able to redeploy funds into ongoing innovation and differentiation. Without that momentum, cost of customer acquisition and retention can become very costly and eliminate the ability to earn profits. What are the vital traits that every business women should possess? The ability to achieve results and work with all sorts of people is paramount. In these two areas, women in business need to differentiate themselves even more than their peers in order to maximize recognition and opportunities of being promoted. Hard work, resiliency and creativity to find solutions in tough or complicated times are also critical traits. Lastly, one needs to be not only a good coach, but also be coachable. As per your opinion, what roadblocks or challenges were faced by you in a corporate business? And how did you overcome them? To some degree, I probably had more challenge launching my career in the international business scene coming from a small town in Wyoming than the fact that I am a woman. Networking and being in the right place at the right is key regardless of gender. If those connections don’t from from family or alumni, it can be even more challenging. For women specifically, there is the balancing act of demonstrating toughness, leadership, drive and ambition to levels where you maintain your team’s respect and support for initiatives you’re leading. Along with these traits, having a high degree of emotional intelligence is what has benefitted me, and I suspect every woman that has either broken the glass ceiling or found a way around it is the
How do you strategize your game plans to tackle the 48 | JUNE 2020
www.insightssuccess.com
same. Men may at times be successful without a high degree of emotional intelligence, but I have personally never found that to be the case with women who reach the highest levels of their organizations. Persistence is also key. One needs to recognize that every day is a new opportunity to not only prove oneself, but also enrich and improve those around you. The most successful leaders are ones that act as “multipliers” in their organizations. Managers also in many cases need to lean in and continue advancing the careers of women who want to raise families or have other care obligations. I chose to travel and work internationally at times in lieu of child care or other care obligations, but many women wouldn’t have made the same choice, and frankly, we need to get to a point where woman don't have to make the choice. Times are changing, but there is still change to be made. Have you in any ways contributed towards the cause of women empowerment. This is a multifaceted question. Do I believe and advocate that women should be valued and encouraged to be whatever they want to be – yes. Do I model success and encourage, hire and promote other women in the workplace - yes. Could I do more? Most definitely, and that is something we as women should continue to work towards - supporting each other. We need more metrics and alignment all around the world to focus on what matters. Education and earnings are of course essential as empowerment is theoretical without metrics that matter. Empowerment first comes from within related to confidence and psychology. However, there also has to be a supportive ecosystem from society, family, partners, colleagues and those who invest in initiatives. We need companies that enable women to gain the skills and competencies required to earn commensurate return for their skill, talent, and work efforts. What are your insights on “The myth of meritocracy”? And how it could bring a change in today’s business arena? Diversity in the workforce is critical to driving unique success in a business, and diversity can only be achieved if we look first at meritocracy. Meritocracy has to be the driving force or else some of your most talented people will either be left on the sidelines or underutilized. If the person can add value to your business, your customers, and be multiplier, you want them! Don’t let a lack of meritocracy in your organization hold you back, because it will. How do you cope up with capricious technological trends to boost your personal growth? One has to keep their eye on the results that matter, as that www.insightssuccess.com
is the “through line” when you look to align technology trends with continued career and personal progression. I love to read and learn new things. I have always felt that opportunities present themselves to not only myself, but anyone who never stops learning and looking for new challenges. It is also much easier to advocate and encourage digital transformation to customers and peers when one is also always looking to learn and embrace new things oneself. What are your future endeavors/objectives and where do you see yourself in the near future? I find great satisfaction in supporting the growth and success of people and businesses alike. In the near future, I see myself continuing to lead companies and business units as my focus, with also the opportunity to sit on more boards. Also, motivating more women to achieve their dreams and be successful in STEM careers is near and dear to my heart.
JUNE 2020 | 49
ZAHARA MALIK
A Proficient of Impact Investing ”
I
have always seen my challenges as a learning curve to really develop and grow. Both communication and diplomacy are imperative in order to overcome any challenges,” says Zahara. Zahara Malik is the CEO & Co-founder at Grosvenor Capital, an independent business services company. She is an experienced investment professional with a demonstrated history of working in the financial services industry with a focus on Impact Investing, Deal Origination, Emerging Markets, Sustainable Development, Value Based Investing, and Government Relations.
She asserts “my career has never been a simple straight road (as with many of us) and therefore it was important for me to ensure I had some professional mentors and soundboards to help me navigate through any roadblocks. Even to this day, since we launched the company, I believe in mentorship more so than ever and I am extremely grateful to those who continue to support me in my journey.” Below are highlights of the interview conducted between Insights Success and Zahara Malik: Kindly take us through your journey on becoming a proficient leader. I started my journey with Mosaic, which is a part of HRH Prince of Wales, Princes Trust which focused on the 52 | JUNE 2020
www.insightssuccess.com
The 10 Most Inspiring Businesswomen to Watch in 2020
importance of mentorship for the youth across the UK. Having started within the charity sector, purpose and impact has been at the forefront of my journey, and throughout my career I was forever searching for ways that purpose and profit could align beyond philanthropy. Philanthropy still plays a pivotal role in my journey, however I was looking for models where global issues went beyond a campaign, a time of year or to solve a single problem. This is where Impact Investing bridges people, the planet and profit. My biggest turning point was in 2012 where I studied my masters at UCL, London and I ran a campaign with my colleagues where we built a school in Chittagong, Bangladesh for Jaago Foundation. Following this I went into understanding the commercial fundraising world where my focus had primarily been Africa centric in which I was fortunate to have some great mentors who taught me the many layers within the investment world. How do you diversify your organization's offerings to entice the target audience? We are determined to bridge the gap and shape the impact investing narrative across the GCC. Impact Investing is a term that is fairly new to the region but the concept of impact is embedded in regions principles, we work to build and define an organisation’s or the investors’ purpose in their investment mandate and ensure that we support their journey as they focus on purpose driven investments that do not compromise their returns. How do you strategize your game plans to tackle the competition in the market? I believe in collaborating and joining forces as and where possible, particularly in the unprecedented times we are facing now. I don’t believe that competition should be feared but especially in the Impact Investing space we are all driven by creating impact and to support people and the planet, so where we can come together to simply share thoughts and work together for the wider purpose we should remain to do so. My game plan is therefore to support anyone who is on the mission to drive impact investing. What are the vital traits that every business women should possess? I would expect it to be the same as a business man, we should all encompass integrity, professionalism and to have a strong work ethic. Have you in any ways contributed towards the cause of women empowerment. I have also been fortunate to be a part of projects including Girls do Good, A global EdTech movement & social impact product changing the way children learn highlighting some
www.insightssuccess.com
JUNE 2020 | 53
incredible female role models around the world. Most recently I also joined the Football for Peace Steering Committee which is focused on harnessing the power of football globally through peace and diplomacy. Kash Siddiqi the co-founder of Football for Peace, alongside FIFA legend Elias Figueroa at the UN with the late Kofi Annan established the organisation to really drive the movement of women and football, I am fortunate to now work with the wider team to continue to grow this globally. As your previous question alluded too unfortunately there is still a differentiation between genders in the professional world. I am a strong believer in women supporting women, I have been grateful to have men support me throughout my professional life and I am determined to ensure we all work together to create a level playing field that is equal and diverse across the board. How do you cope up with capricious technological trends to boost your personal growth?
“The world of Impact Investing is still growing and therefore the more that we unite together to achieve
I believe we should embrace technology in every way that we can, with the growth of tech and digitization during the global pandemic it has become evident that we need to be able to connect, communicate and sustain both our business models and professional development using technology.
social and
What are your future endeavours/objectives and where do you see yourself in the near future?
environmental
I have a long way to go and as we are only a year into the journey, for me at the moment its important to try and continue to shape the narrative for Impact Investing across the GCC region. Thought leadership is imperative for our journey and one of my favourite quotes is, “Day by day, what you choose, what you think, and what you do is who you become.” Heraclitus, Philosopher (c. 535 B.C. - 475 B.C.) We hope to stay on the road of impact investing where we can continue to bridge the world of value-based investing and to add directly to the 2030 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. I am determined to continue to work with partners and peers into to achieve this global mission.
prosperity we will be able to leave a long and lasting impact for our future generations.”
54 | JUNE 2020
www.insightssuccess.com
Zahara Malik CEO & Co-founder Grosvenor Capital
www.insightssuccess.com
JUNE 2020 | 55
