The League of Extraordinary CEOs by Insights Success Media

www.insightssuccess.com November 2018

The League of

The Art of Leading Attributes of a Good Leader

CEOs

Imparting Wisdom Successful Personality Traits to Learn from Elon Musk

Ruggero Gramatica CEO Yewno, Inc.

Ruggero Gramatica: Transforming Information into Knowledge

Omnichannel Agent and Customer Engagement Solutions Simplify and personalize the customer experience, empower agents and achieve business success with one workspace for all channel interactions, application integrations, and CX reporting.

An Ode to the Pathbreakers “

ere’s to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently. They’re not fond of rules. And they have no respect for the status quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them. About the only thing you can’t do is ignore them. Because they change things. They push the human race forward. And while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people, who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do.” – Rob Siltanen This amazing piece of creative was written by Rob for Apple’s “Think Different” ad campaign. The motive of this campaign was to honor the uniqueness of people who think differently, the ones who aren’t a part of the herd. Personally, when I read the lines, I picture the Former CEO, Steve Jobs. The man who convinced a whole generation to believe that buying an apple product will change their life. However, this isn’t about Apple and its CEOs, this is about the crazy ones, the individuals who don’t just get the job done with grace, but actually push the industry beyond the edge of excellence. But how do they attain that? What is it that they do so differently that others fail to think about? I mean, leading an enterprise is a process that has been tried and tested for years and is quite standard around the globe, right? Wrong. According to a statistics report of 2015, only 30% of the top100 CEOs in US had a post-graduation degree in business administration; 33% of the S&P 500 CEOs were from engineering background; 28% of fortune 100 CEOs had an expertise in finance and not in business administration. These facts clearly convey that

there is no standard criterion of appointing a CEO, and managerial DNA is not the only quality that the world is looking for. Which takes us back to the previous question, what makes a CEO extraordinary? There are so many answers to this question. The most significant one is passion. The most common line you will find in the stories of successful CEOs is how passionate they were towards their work and their goals. Their passion drove the companies and the employees to write their success stories. However, passion goes in vain without direction. And direction comes from vision. Having a strong vision helps in identifying the problems and make quick decisions to resolve the same. Speaking of quick decisions, the recent trends suggest that the increasing dominance of technology in the market has ignited anxiety among the CEOs in USA. Apparently the factor of uncertainty has grown thick in the market becoming a potential challenge for leaders. This leads to the demand of foresight and real time decision making from the CEOs. Be it countering an issue, identifying a new opportunity or handling a high risk situation, how one reacts to these situations is very significant in the business today. And an efficient reaction to these complicated situations is what comprehends the role of a modern CEO making them stand out from the rest. Making them extraordinary! And to honor the contribution of these individuals, Insights Success has featured “The League of Extraordinary CEOs”. Featuring as our Cover Story is Yewno, an enterprise that transforms high quality, institutional level structured and unstructured content into a dynamically evolving knowledge graph that quantifies complex relationships among financial, economic and socio-political concepts. Also, make sure to flip through articles, written by our in-house editorial team as well as CXO standpoints of notable industry personalities to have a brief taste of the sector. Let’s start reading!

Abhishaj Sajeev

Christopher Grey: Devising Transformational Tech Strategies

Leadership Viewpoint Healthcare Technologies: Driving Successful Innovation

18 Maestros Insights Inculcating Employee Leadership

36 Expert's Advice Key Aspects of being a successful CEO

The Art of Leading Attributes of a Good Leader

Imparting Wisdom Successful Personality Traits to Learn from Elon Musk

Editorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Pick The Glass Ceiling Effect: Another Perspective on Women and Leadership

Ali Al-Khalifa: Reforming the Art of Leadership

26 David Mansilla: The Task Master of IT Solutions

Eldee Tang:

Providing Leadership for Digital Ecosystem in the Mobile World

Fred Cooper:

Personifying Effective Leadership

Gil Eyal:

The Maestro of Influencer Marketing

Darren Roos:

Passionate About Making a Difference Through Exemplary Leadership

Ineke Kooista:

Creating Opportunities for Young Generation

Kristen Carroll:

Nurturing Top-tier Talent and Empowering Organizations

50 Meade Lewis: Pioneer of Resource Leakage Solutions

56 Tom Fedro: Implementing Transformational Leadership and Delivering Success in Complex Technology Markets

Editor-in-Chief Managing Editor Executive Editor Assistant Editors Contributing Editors Visualiser Art & Design Director Associate Designer Co-designer

Pooja M. Bansal Anish Miller Bhushan Kadam Jenny Fernandes Hitesh Dhamani Abhishaj Sajeev Shubham Khampariya David King Amol Kamble Shubham Mahadik Poonam Mahajan

Art & Picture Editors Paul Belin Jayant Khanna Senior Sales Manager Passi D. Business Development Manager George Henry Marketing Manager John Matthew Business Development Executives Steve, Joe, Alan Sales Executives David, Kevin, Mark, Gemson Technical Head Jacob Smile Technical Specialists Amar, Pratiksha Digital Marketing Manager Marry D’Souza Online Marketing Strategists Alina Sege, Shubham, Vaibhav K SME-SMO Executives Prashant Chevale, Uma Dhenge, Gemson, Irfan Research Analyst Patrik James Circulation Managers Robert, Tanaji Database Management Stella Andrew Technology Consultant David Stokes sales@insightssuccess.com

November, 2018 Corporate Ofces: Insights Success Media Tech LLC 555 Metro Place North, Suite 100, Dublin, OH 43017, United States Phone - (614)-602-1754 Email: info@insightssuccess.com For Subscription: www.insightssuccess.com

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Cover Story

Ruggero Gramatica: Transforming Information into Knowledge

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Yewno transforms Information into Knowledge.

The League of

Extraordinary CEOs

Ruggero Gramatica CEO Yewno

n an interview with Insights Success, the CEO, of Yewno, Inc., Ruggero Gramatica, shares his key insights on how artiﬁcial intelligence is transforming the relationship between information and knowledge, and what that means for a multitude of industries. Below are highlights from the interview conducted between Mr. Gramatica and Insights Success: Give a brief overview of your background and role in Yewno. I have over 20 years of experience in startups and company turnaround. Bringing strategic leadership as well as technological and operational expertise to bear, I have contributed to the growth and expansion of 5 successful start-ups both in the United States and across Europe. I’ve operated successfully in both blue chip and early stage environments. I bring to these roles a strong

“Yewno: Knowledge at your ﬁngertips”

technology background, financial and quantitative analysis skills, strategic thinking, operational expertise, and commercial and business acumen. In addition to a PhD in Applied Mathematics from King’s College London, I hold an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School Of Business, an Engineering degree from the Politecnico di Milano University and a Certificate in Quantitative Finance. How does today’s economy affect your business? Over the last 50 years, a variety of industries have heavily relied on the Information Economy. This encompasses everything having to do with organically producing and making information available, or with accessing structured information. Around 2005 there was a revamp of the Artificial Intelligence paradigm where new frameworks were devised, thanks to the breakthrough of cloud parallel computing and storage. Machine Learning techniques and deep neural networks became practical tools to model complex data, and we officially entered into the Knowledge Economy era. Information, albeit a fundamental building block, is no longer sufficient. Knowledge - seen as actionable, intelligent, and correlated information - has become an important element of most business practices. At Yewno, we transform Information into Knowledge by processing hundreds of millions of unstructured sources, from scholarly to financial, economic, political, and social data. We construct an ever-growing Knowledge Graph of correlated information where relationships are interpreted, tracked in real time, and processed to serve an intelligent framework.

“Yewno takes research in directions never thought possible”

How necessary is it to align business with technology and what are its outcomes? We are now living in a world where technology is a fundamental component of our everyday life. As companies seek better operations efficiencies, market penetration, and/or consolidation, being aligned technologically often represents gaining an edge. There is always a need for this. What were the past experiences, achievements or lessons that shaped your journey? Throughout my entrepreneurial journey, I have thrived on the ability to accurately determine the driving variables of a business or industry. I pride myself on catching the mobile business revolution in the very early days, as I did with the broadband explosion, and now with Artificial Intelligence. Nothing came for free. It required years of observation and hard study to become competent and like anyone, I had to go through much trial and error to hone this skill. According to you, what is the importance of the ability to develop comprehensive strategies in the role of CEO? In order to succeed, you must pay obsessive, maniacal attention to the driving factors of whatever business you are in, or want to pursue. The ability lies in mapping and constantly observing what variables are changing, thus determining opportunities and risks. Listening to others and learning from other success stories (and failures) is also important. Finally, pay attention to the similarities between different types businesses and industries - they are stronger than one might think.

What were some of the primary challenges and roadblocks that you faced during the initial phase of your journey? Every business has some type of barriers to entry. The key to overcoming those barriers is to confront them head-on rather than ignoring them or hoping that you won’t encounter them. With Artificial Intelligence, the biggest barrier is defining the industry, and which part of the industry we belong to. AI has become a buzz word, a much-too-big, allencompassing umbrella term for anything from machine learning to neural networks, robotics, and even medical devices like prosthetics. Because AI is such a general term, and many of its specific capabilities aren’t well known, the connotation can be vaguely scary or negative. Examples include fears of black-boxes, or machines taking over, or concerns of machines replacing our jobs. Effectively communicating what Yewno is, and the specific value we provide - helping people to wade through the mind-boggling mass of information available to them, and to extract only what is most valuable - has been paramount to our continued success. Where does Yewno sees itself in the near future and what are its future goals? We are proudly building a great company, thanks to our excellent team who have fully embraced our mission. We are successfully building a framework where dispersed and fragmented information is formed into knowledge in a dynamic way. The goal is to provide this service to private individuals and business alike, across industries, who will benefit from this new paradigm, and to build a legacy for generations of smarter services and lifelong learners. Provide one line that best describes your vision and approach to business? Be a visionary and develop a compelling business idea that follows your vision. Find the right partner to work with you, and try not to compromise in the choice of the people working with/for you. Recognize when you make a mistake, and act quickly to correct it. Finally, if you truly believe in your vision, never give up!

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The League of

Extraordinary CEOs

Company Name

Management

Brief

ARIIX ariix.com

Fred Cooper CEO

ARIIX is an international opportunity company that creates superior, exclusively branded products marketed through independent representatives.

ASTAD astad.qa

astad.qa CEO

ASTAD delivers the highest standard consultancy in and across project and construction management, engineering, design and sustainability.

HYPR Brands hyprbrands.com

Gil Eyal CEO

HYPR is the World’s largest and smartest Inﬂuencer search and discovery directory that provides real-time analytics for social Inﬂuencers across major social platforms.

IFS ifsworld.com

Darren Roos CEO

IFS develops and delivers enterprise software for customers around the world for companies that manufacture and distribute goods, maintain assets and manage service-focused operations.

ISU Corp isucorp.ca

David Mansilla Founder & CEO

ISU Corp is a high tech company specializing in enterprise software development and consulting.

The LMC Group lmc.group

Kristen Carroll Founder & CEO

The LMC Group provides fractional management and executive services to companies nationwide and in various industries. The LMC Group includes LMCPays.

mIQroTech mIQroTech.com

Meade H. Lewis Founder & CEO

We set out to develop an advanced solution to solve the common on-going problems in this vital industry.

Noble Vici Group, Inc. noblevici.com

Eldee Tang Founder & CEO

Noble Vici Group, Inc. is a company on the cutting edge of technology, through in-house developments and external acquisitions the company is building an ecosystem of IoT, Big Data, Blockchain and E-commerce.

Paragon Software Group Corporation paragon-software.com

Tom Fedro CEO

Paragon oﬀers disaster recovery and backup software solutions along with highly specialized embedded ﬁle system driver technologies.

YoungCapital youngcapital.nl

Ineke Kooista CEO

YoungCapital helps the younger generation get to work to pave the way for making their dreams hard reality.

Healthcare Technologies Driving Successful Innovation

Benedikt Brueckle

Chief Executive Officer CompuGroup Medical US

he world is changing rapidly, so is healthcare technology. In today’s accelerated technological environment, changes are occurring at a blistering pace. In the last ﬁfteen years, we have progressed from phone books, to computers, to handheld devices. Although not as visible to the naked eye, healthcare has actually progressed at an even higher velocity than many of the technologies we are familiar with. Doctors have moved from loose paper based charting, to structured computer documentation that allows for standardized reporting and benchmarking, all the way to system assisted medicine. This transition from paper to digital has opened the doors for technological advancement within healthcare at a pace that has never been seen before. These advances in healthcare technology are having a profound eﬀect on the entire healthcare ecosystem. They

are allowing for cross-functional integration and collaboration amongst disparate healthcare professionals and systems. Consider this- if you received a prescription ten years ago, it was likely on a piece of paper. Today, it is transmitted electronically through a clearinghouse to the local pharmacy. This simple change alone accounts for an almost unlimited branching of technological opportunities such as drug interaction comparison, medication adherence, utilization tracking and ways to overcome the opioid crisis. Now, multiply this times 10,000 and you begin to see the speed at which healthcare technology is driving innovation. Advancements in Healthcare technology are further accelerated and driven by companies such as CompuGroup Medical. CompuGroup Medical is the leading company solely focused on e-health with more than one million users worldwide. It is currently in the ﬁnal stages of development of the foremost cutting-edge electronic medical record, practice management, patient engagement, and provider/patient toolset platform in the industry – the MediOne platform. These types of technological advancements will continue to facilitate a better exchange of patient data, as well as drive additional utilization through intuitive adoption amongst both provider and patient communities. Innovation such as this will continue to deliver a surge of better patient outcomes while November 2018|

improving operational and financial efficiency within the healthcare sector. This will, in turn, allow providers to deliver better care across the continuum of the patient/provider universe. Healthcare technology businesses, just like any other business, are based upon need, service, creativity and ultimately customer satisfaction. Competition is strong, so what is your company’s differentiator, what makes you unique? This is the question you ask yourself as a company in this competitive technology market. For businesses, you need to move with the times and the technology. The business culture is fast paced and with a creative edge. When developing and testing a technological breakthrough, companies must ask themselves whether or not they actually innovate, and whether or not that innovation is at the expense of the user experience: = Do you just plan to reinvent the wheel ? = What will distinguish you from the competition ? = Will the product need a tutorial and extensive training ? = Is it intuitive enough ? = How will the User Experience be ? However, the most important question is if the product will actually enable the customer: l Will the customer be able to achieve their goals of digitalization ? Businesses will survive and keep up with these healthcare advancements in technology by expanding on the points below: Ÿ Envision: Make sure you have a clear vision of what the supposed outcome will be. Have a clear WHY for what you’re doing. Don’t just do it for the sake of doing it or “winging it”. Ÿ Plan: This is your roadmap, your guide to how the business will function and what your end goal will be. Make sure to account for changes as well, as they will inevitably happen. Ÿ Implement: It’s all about how you implement your plan. This requires obtaining the proper personnel. You cannot have a lackluster, lackadaisical freeloader waiting for things to drop in his or her lap. They need the tenacity, the forward thinking, and the drive. Processes need to be put in place as guidelines for your departments to work collaboratively with an end goal in mind. Ÿ Grow: Healthcare technology is a growing business. Physicians are eager to increase their efficiency and lower administrative burdens to be able to spend more of their time with the actual patient. Patients want |November 2018

About the Author Benedikt Brueckle is the CEO of CompuGroup Medical US. He is the top performing management executive in e-Health and digital healthcare with expertise in building and optimizing organizational processes, measurement systems, and infrastructure to maximize business results. He also has expertise in running software operations throughout Europe, including restructuring, opening new markets, and expanding market share. Benedikt focuses on developing strategic plans into workable solutions, and benchmarking performance against key operational targets and goals. In addition, Benedikt oversees mergers and acquisitions in various countries with due diligence by negotiating contracts and post-acquisition integrations. His success is proven through his initiatives that exceed operational performance targets and yield measurable outcomes. CompuGroup Medical's CEO is a strategic leader, driven to grow and expand business organically and inorganically, explore new markets, and excellent care, with the least amount of cost and the best return. Move with the times- market trends, competitive analysis, trade shows, and focus groups are just some ways your business can grow. You should be the sponge of knowledge and you should have a creative and aggressive marketing campaign. Communicate what your business can do effectively, efficiently and creatively. Ÿ Lead and Challenge: Your business should be at the forefront of the technologies. You want to be the leader not the follower. You want to be able to push the trend and create the market saturation. Invent and create. Be the one that comes up with the idea and implement. Make sure your business is unique in what it is offering.

Ali Al-Khalifa Reforming the Art of Leadership

Ali Al-Khalifa CEO ASTAD

y avidly exhibiting the determination to redefine the project management ecosystem, possession of reformative, liberal and compassionate leadership qualities, and efficient management capabilities, Ali AlKhalifa has been recognized as one of the most profound and influential personalities in the League of Extraordinary CEOs.

Malaysia and China. In 2017 he ranked number one in Construction Week Magazine’s annual Power 100 list. Establishing Benchmarks Founded in 2008, ASTAD provides consultancy in project and asset management, encompassing the design and construction of building and infrastructure projects. It manages all details every step of the way from project conception, through to the completion and ongoing management.

Ali Al-Khalifa is a prominent executive at the forefront of the project management business in the Middle East. He has an evident track record, being the CEO at ASTAD, where he has led the delivery of complex mega-projects with international partners across a broad range of sectors. He has developed ASTAD’s dynamic and visionary approach to corporate management, which has resulted in the company becoming one of the largest project management consultancies in the region.

ASTAD’s teams work across a myriad of sectors from universities and world cup stadiums, to transportation systems and even entire cities. No matter the size or complexity of a project, the organization aims to ensure that it is delivered on time and within budget.

Ali studied mechanical engineering in the United States, followed by an MBA, before embarking on a career spanning almost two decades working in Dubai, Singapore,

“We always aim to deliver projects to the highest quality, while maintaining the overall eﬃciency from initiation to completion. This approach ensures a stable operation, and

November 2018|

The League of

Extraordinary CEOs

ASTAD establishes priorities and coordinates activities with all stakeholders to ensure that projects are delivered safely and to the highest international standards, working closely with its clients along the way, turning their vision into reality. Possessing Distinctive Proficiency In Qatar, ASTAD’s local expertise gives it the competitive edge. It is well versed with the processes, systems, culture and traditions, being a Qatari company. Over the years this has helped the organization successfully delivery mega projects in Qatar, and these mega projects in its portfolio have prepared it for any type of project in a large spectrum of sectors. ASTAD was one of the first local project management consultancies in Qatar and thus did not have a great deal of local competition. However, many international firms were and are in Qatar, with years of international experience

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in a construction project need to fully understand how a project fits into the future of the country, adding value and reducing risks. Envisioning a Global Ascension ASTAD recently completed a five-year business strategy and identified strategic partnerships as the way forward with operations abroad. It has signed an agreement with a theme park consultancy firm in the US and has done the same with several real estate and construction stakeholders in Korea, Oman, Kuwait, Tunisia, France, Turkey, and the UK as well as in Russia, which will allow it to penetrate new markets. As ASTAD grows internationally, it wants to strengthen its collaboration with the existing market operators that share the same values. It is investing a lot of time in research and market analysis before collaborating with firms worldwide. The company currently has offices and projects in Oman, Kuwait, UK, Albania, Sudan, Somalia and Burkina Faso. It helps suitable and carefully selected international partners enter the Qatari market, which has led it to work with

Empower people to lead.

behind them, so the company knew that it had to establish a highly skilled team from all parts of the world, and it accomplished the same. The organization’s international team coupled with its local expertise pushed it through and clients began recognizing its attention to detail and quality, throughout the development of projects and programs. ASTAD currently has more than 800 employees from 62 nationalities and also has extensive experience in sectors such as sports, transportation, residential, education, hospitality, infrastructure, culture, and commercial. The company has delivered over 250 projects and holds over a decade of experience within this industry locally and internationally. ASTAD holds a proportionate blend of skills and a deep understanding of Qatar’s construction industry in terms of what the authorities need, what might be acceptable, and what will not work in Qatar. It fully understands contractors and collaborates with them accordingly.

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strikes the perfect balance between time and quality,” states Ali.

leading ﬁrms that have worked with the likes of Disney on projects in Qatar. To date, ASTAD has acquired several major projects in more than 6 countries which will keep it engaged in the upcoming year. It has been the organization’s goal to enter the transportation sector over the last few years and currently, ASTAD is involved with all rail-related projects in Qatar. ASTAD aims to work in rail projects in Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, and across the Silk Road. Additionally, it looks forward to accomplishing more projects in the aviation sector. It sees aviation as a strategic sector for its business and, pertaining to this, Africa is a region with huge potential, while keeping in mind that infrastructure will remain its core business. Regionally, Oman and Qatar also present great business opportunities to ASTAD’s progress graph.

“Oil is a major source of income for Qatar, and the citizens seek to invest this resource in the most eﬃcient way possible to guarantee the future generations’ wellbeing,” Ali expresses. Pertaining to this, he advises that all parties |November 2018

The Art of Leading

Attributes of a

Good 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 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

November 2018|

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.

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. Empowerment Ÿ

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.

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

Following are some of the qualities of a good leader: Communication Skills Communication is the basic requirement for eﬃciency in a business. As the level of hierarchy elevates, the requirement of 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. Ÿ

|November 2018

David Mansilla: The Task Master of IT Solutions

David Mansilla Founder and CEO ISU Corp.

t takes immense knowledge and courage to set up an IT solutions ﬁrm. It is very demanding to keep up with the rapid changes that occur in the ﬁeld of technology, let alone leading the industry with that scenario. David Mansilla is the founder and CEO of ISU Corp. and manages to lead the industry with its outstanding custom software solutions. David’s role is to set the vision for the company and lead its clients and teams to a successful end-goal. David Mansilla fell in love with computer programming since the days of Apple’s primitive Macintosh II. Like for many, David knew that the capabilities of this technological development would be important in the future. Ever since then, it became a deep passion; it’s that same passion that drives his software company to thrive. David Mansilla’s leadership guides his company to new heights, and he ensures that a client’s needs are met from inception through to the conclusion of a project.

All Encompassing Solutions As a software development company, ISU stays on the cutting edge of the newest technologies, which, in turn, keeps its clients up to date as well. It gives the clients the advantage of staying ahead of the game and continuing on a path of profit growth. The company’s solutions range to suit the needs of several different industries. Based on its aforementioned client needs, ISU is currently working on incorporating cryptocurrencies and artificial intelligence in its work. It is also working with Salesforce integration and development. What makes a Leader According to David, there is a big difference between being a manager, and being a leader. He believes that there are three differentiating factors and those are: 1. Setting a vision, 2. Inspiring employees to work toward that goal, and 3. Handling the net performance for the company. Every CEO should be able to provide this to November 2018|

The League of

Extraordinary CEOs

Next is a focus on culture. “Having the ability to inspire employees means caring for the workplace culture and maintaining an environment where everyone can be at their best. And lastly, they must be able to oversee the increase in sales and net proﬁts and make sure the sales and marketing department is focused on going after the right client,” asserts David. Happy employee equals Happy Client David believes that the one thing he has learned throughout his years of experience is that happy employees lead to happy clients. In the beginning, he

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new developers in order to take on larger clients. Finally, they found what works for them in staying ahead of this problem. “We have people in over nine countries, and although it’s still a diﬃcult thing to handle, our experience helps us uphold a stable and established business,” says David. Technology is the Future David believes that ISU Corp will keep growing. The company recently had its annual company retreat, and over 30 of its employees came out. The more people that he brings into the ISU Corp family, the more companies he will have the privilege to work for and help grow. On that note, David along with its team plans on continuing on the leading edge of technology and moving forward with their plans for AI and cryptocurrency.

Custom Software solutions above the rest.

was hyper-focused on ﬁnding his ﬁrst client. “We went in 100%. The passion was good! However, we would soon discover that with larger clients, we needed larger teams,” said David. He also needed to prioritize employees. According to him, company culture truly sets the tone for how a business is going to grow. As a result of learning this vital lesson, he has gained bigger clients and earned industry recognition for the company’s process and culture. Most recently, ISU Corp was honored with the Canadian Business Excellence Award for Private Businesses, thanks to its balance of employee and client happiness.

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their businesses if they are to see growth. They must know the next step and communicate to others how to get there.

Cryptocurrency is the Key David’s advice for budding entrepreneurs would be to start looking into cryptocurrency and blockchain. He believes that with any sudden boom of promising developments, people will fear it’s just a fad or a bubble and stay away from it. However, Blockchain is here to stay, and it’s important to keep an ear open to the next opportunities that are to come.

Overcoming Adversities with Experience One of the biggest challenges that David faced was finding the right clients and the right employees. According to him, with the growth of a company, it’s difficult to maintain the right employees that match up with the demands of its clients. With every spurt of advancement ISU Corp made, his team would find itself running out of capacity and in need of quickly finding |November 2018

Eldee Tang: Providing Leadership for Digital Ecosystem in the Mobile World

Eldee Tang Founder & CEO Noble Vici Group, Inc.

he perception of leadership differs from enterprise to enterprise. Some organizations still believe in the “Leaders are born and not made” theory. Regardless of whether leaders are made or born, performance is the key aspect of leadership. Looking at the dynamics in business today, what defines a leader most is how he embraces continuous learning to make better decisions. Noble Vici Group Inc. has one such leader as its Founder and CEO and his name is Eldee Tang. Eldee came from humble beginnings and built his experiences through his infallible and undeterred principles. At the age of 30, he successfully built his company and grew its presence in Asia. He believes that a company’s strength is derived from the management’s trust in its people, while the people form the strength collectively. He attributes a company’s success to the excellent contribution of its employees and the concerted effort of all stakeholders. Inculcating Values Eldee started Noble Vici Group Inc. with a vision to

build an ecosystem of IoT, Big Data, Blockchain and Ecommerce to form a digital revolution that provides users with the tools to live and interact in the modern mobile world. He strongly believes in his employees and imbues the values of the company that are courage, entrepreneurship, excellence and aﬃrmation, which are important to react to the rapidly changing digital world. Eldee drives corporate social responsibilities behavior in all his employees as he believes that every individual function in relation to the larger communities. Corporate social responsibilities give meaning to what they do. He also believes that as a CEO, it is important for him to listen attentively to his stakeholders, aﬃliates, business partners and users. “Relationship building is key importance in today’s diverse and dynamic digital world.” He adds. Building Brand Equity V-More, one of the leading e-commerce platform in the shopping space, is the brainchild of Eldee. V-more has more than 5,000 merchants, more than 10,000 quality products, 89% returning customers and 300,000 active November 2018|

The League of

Extraordinary CEOs

global users. V-More rewards merchants and customers through its aﬃliate incentivized marketing program.

biggest challenges was reacting swiftly to the ever changing consumer trends and putting the right talents together to respond to these trends to bring the business to the next level.

According to Eldee, building brand equity is important and sending out the message to his stakeholders, aﬃliates and users is priority for him. He believes “It is important that they understand what we do and we work closely with diﬀerent focus groups.” Eldee and his team, listen, understand each group’s behaviors, and strategize based on each focus group preferences. They study consumer trends closely and listen to their needs. Eldee understands that Noble Vici Group Inc. has the technology tools and automated marketing processes to reach out to its target audiences.

Future Aspirations According to Eldee, Noble Vici Group Inc. will focus on V-More making a bigger footprint in Asia. The business model of the company is technologically driven to disrupt the marketplace. He aims to be the leading e-commerce player, giving users enhanced shopping experience with easy and simple to use tools and more benefits from the affiliate incentivized reward program for his affiliates and merchants.

Milestones Attained When Eldee decided to embark on his entrepreneurial

Divulging Wisdom Winning and losing are like yin and yang. One cannot

journey, he experienced a fair share of success and setbacks. According to him, success is a fulﬁlment and recognition of his works, challenges are push factors to drive him ahead and further. His achievements mark a milestone in his pursuit of excellence but the most important is growth presence in the region. Some of his greatest achievements include; Knights of Malta, in 2017 when he was knighted by Sovereign Order of Saint John of Jerusalem, Academic Excellence Award, United States of America in 2016, Global Outstanding Young Chinese Award, China Hong Kong in 2016, and Most Promising Entrepreneur Award from Asia Paciﬁc Entrepreneur Award (APEA) in 2010 . Eldee is not a stranger to hard work and success, he believes that the outcome of setbacks comes with prudence, persistence and excellence.

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I would like to seek higher reach through the spirit of courage, entrepreneurship, excellence and aﬃrmation.

exist without the other; they are both essential to have to give a complete experience in an entrepreneur’s life. Eldee shares his rule of 4 Ps as an advice to aspiring entrepreneurs. He inspires them to be passionate in what they do and do what they do best. He encourages them to persevere in the face of failures and roadblocks. He recommends to seek out synergistic partnerships so that both the partner and the company can bring the business beyond what a single individual can achieve. Most importantly, he advises to apply prudence in every aspect of the business.

Challenging Trends According to Eldee, it has been a discovery journey for him as he had to convince his aﬃliates, employees and stakeholders to believe in his business model. One of his |November 2018

Fred Cooper: Personifying Eﬀective Leadership

Fred Cooper CEO ARIIX, LLC.

n an interview with Insights Success, ARIIX CEO Fred Cooper, Ph.D. shares his key insights regarding his role at ARIIX and solutions provided by the company and leadership. Below are highlights from the interview:

inﬂuence of all seven partners. I currently hold the title of CEO and oversee the creation of policies and procedures that are fair, reasonable and that anyone can execute. I want to make sure that on some level everyone is replaceable, even myself. That is how you create a legacy company that will continue without you.

Give a brief overview of your background and your role in ARIIX.

How do you diversify your solutions to appeal to your target audience?

I got involved in the direct selling industry because of my statistical background in compensation plans. I was hired by another direct selling company as a consultant, which eventually presented a full-time oﬀer, and I worked my way up to the position of president at that company. After 15 dedicated years, I disagreed with some of their policies and practices, so I started my own company and became their competition.

We get input from a variety of individuals, cultures, and demographics, which leads to our clients dictating what our representatives are going to sell or the type of business they’re going to create. We support cultural diversity on a grand scale. Limiting how you conduct business in regard to cultural inclusion is not a wise business decision. At ARIIX we’ve chosen to include global perspectives in the form of councils from every market and across skill sets, such as athletes, doctors, professors, etc. When we create a product or a service, all of our markets, worldwide, are already invested. By doing this, we gain a diverse view,

Even though I am, ultimately the reason ARIIX was created, it exists today because of the dedication and

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Extraordinary CEOs

Describe some of the vital attributes that every CEO should possess. A successful CEO should be a people person. Someone with charisma, who is motivational, inspiring and leads by example. If people don’t want to work for you, you’re not a good CEO. What were the past experiences, achievements or lessons that shaped your journey? You may think that everyone respects you, likes you and thinks that you’re brilliant, but quite often all the accolades and everything that you think is “you,” are not. A title is merely a title. I’ve learned from watching others how necessary it is to keep yourself grounded and not get “too big for your britches.” So many people surrounding CEOs are only telling them what they think they want to hear — they’re saying all the “right” things and treating the CEO in

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petty schemes; it’s never worth it. Focus on finding competent people to work with. That’s where the value is, because at first no one wants to work for a start-up, and you have to bring the right people in so that your business ideas can flourish. Where does ARIIX see itself in the near future and what are its future goals? In the near future, we want to become better at our three core competencies, which are taking orders, shipping products and paying commissions. We want it to become even simpler and easier to deploy those three things. Then we want to do the exact thing on a grander scale in more countries.

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which gives us a vantage point to come up with solutions directly to our target audiences.

Provide one line that best describes your vision and approach to business. Don’t spend time generating excuses — whatever it is, just get it done.

Don’t spend time generating excuses — whatever it is, just get it done.

a totally different manner than they would the moment the title is gone. I like to surround myself with people who will tell it like it is. I listen to my enemies — sometimes their criticism is accurate. I don’t always introduce myself as a CEO. I like to introduce myself to people who have no clue who I am. For other CEOs who want to practice this, if you find yourself having to tell others, “Well, I’m the CEO” in order to get the reaction you’re looking for, odds are you have people around you over amplifying your qualifications and you need to ground yourself. Every CEO should figure out what they stand for and then start developing their business acumen in that direction. Your character, your reputation, and your presence should speak for themselves if you’re being authentic.

What is your advice for emerging entrepreneurs? You have overestimated sales, you have underestimated costs, and you can’t imagine how much work you’re about to embark on. Don’t get discouraged. No matter what you do, it’s going to be stressful and you’re not always going to get the support you think you need. This is the time in your life as an entrepreneur when you’re just going to have to hold yourself up and do whatever needs to be done. If you’re an entrepreneur, you’ll ﬁnd a way to get it done, and if you’re not an entrepreneur, you’ll ﬁnd an excuse for why it couldn’t be done.

What were some of the primary challenges and roadblocks you faced during the initial phase of your journey? When we entered the market, we faced criticism from competitors and past employers. Competitors will always try to tear you down, but you have to continue moving forward with new approaches and angles to make yourself stand out from the competition. Don’t get involved in their |November 2018

Gil Eyal:

The Maestro of Inﬂuencer Marketing

Gil Eyal

Founder & CEO HYPR Brands

il Eyal is the CEO and Founder of HYPR Brands, a company which offers marketers indepth audience analytics for over 10 million influencers across major social channels. He has revolutionized the way many of the World’s biggest agencies and brands are running influencer marketing by focusing on the same data, analytics and audience demographic information relevant to any other form of marketing. Under Gil’s direction, HYPR boasts a client base of over 100 Fortune 500 brands, as well as the biggest advertising and PR agencies in the world, including LVMH, Whitewave, Mediacom, Michael Kors, Calvin Klein and Revlon. As the pioneer in the influencer space, Gil also served as the COO of early player photo-sharing app Mobli Media, and has worked with influencers ranging from Leonardo DiCaprio, Tobey Maguire, Pitbull, Lance Armstrong, Lil Wayne and Serena Williams to Nash Grier, Bart Baker and Cameron Dallas. He is an accomplished public speaker, and

has delivered keynotes at notable influencer marketing conferences, including Influencer Marketing Days in New York and Influencer Marketing Hub in London.

Digiday Top Boss Award in the technology industry, as one of 10 Israelis impacting the New York Tech Scene, as well as one of 40 must follow digital media inﬂuencers. He is also a two time winner of the MarCom Awards for Excellence in Marketing and Communications (Platinum Level and Honorable Mention). he has done MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, as well as a Bachelor of Laws from Bar-Ilan University in Israel. Resolution as a Service Gil believes that the key is to focus on problem solving and identifying pain points. According to him, any product

November 2018|

The League of

Extraordinary CEOs offering needs to be a solution to a real issue that a client is facing. If one can identify a challenge that is enough of a problem to enough people, it’s easy to differentiate. Giving an example of his company, he asserts, “HYPR does not focus on the challenge of connecting with influencers. That’s a real challenge to a lot of people, but we don’t think it’s a big challenge. It’s one that can be addressed in multiple ways.”

According to him, one should create an environment where people genuinely feel like they belong and one must do that by making the organization ﬂat, encouraging questions and working together to deal with mistakes and challenges. One way to do that is allowing people to easily transition if they’re not doing something they’re excited about. The rewards are tremendous. Motivation always trumps resume for me.

Gil focuses on automating the process of identifying influencers – letting a computer look through a large pool quickly and make smart decisions. That’s a real pain point because clients don’t want to miss influencers that the company should be considering, but they also can’t look at every influencer and process how well they should do compared to thousands of others without a sophisticated tool.

Adversities of a unique Idea

According to Gil, there are many components that deﬁne leadership but one that isn’t often spoken about is a high

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Embracing Ambiguity

Gil believes that startup founders should embrace the idea that people will look at them funny and whisper behind their backs. According to him, one’s idea should sound odd to people. If it’s obvious, everyone can see it. If one’s ahead of one’s time, a lot of people just won’t get it. The other challenge he talks about is fund raising. “Raising money as an entrepreneur is a very humbling endeavor. You meet many very smart people who don’t necessarily understand your vision or your industry the way that you do. You always have to ask yourself if you’re crazy or if the market just can’t see it yet.” He asserts.

Solve a burning problem for someone.

tolerance for ambiguity. He believes that Strong CEO’s make decisions knowing they are lacking information and that some of their decisions will be wrong. They need to stand behind these decisions and continue to inspire confidence with their employees, investors, management team and shareholders. “A good CEO is able to avoid the natural inclination to analyze to the point of paralysis even though they don’t have all the answers.” He asserts. Assigning Fulfilling Jobs Gil spent the first decade of his professional career doing a job in which he was not interested in. and it was very hard for him to find motivation in that kind of an environment. When he started building his own businesses, I know I wanted to create environments that get people excited to work. He believes, employees who are motivated, have a genuine interest in what they do and feel comfortable in their work environment, produce better. “The last thing you want is an employee who is doing enough to keep their job.” He states.

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Automation Is Future According to Gil, Influencer Marketing can play a major role in the future of marketing so long that it becomes data driven and automated. He feels that the demand today cannot be answered because processes are completely manual and require a tremendous investment of time and effort without producing quantifiable results. This will change over time and HYPR wants to be one of the drivers for this to happen. Imparting Wisdom Gil asserts that the fleshy, trending markets aren’t the ones that necessarily produce the best returns. Hence he advises the young players to look for a problem no one wants to or knows how to solve, no matter how lethargic a job it is. That’s where the money is.

Inculcating Employee Leadership

s a CEO, being a good leader is essential to keeping employees happy and motivated. After all, a company cannot run without good leaders at the top. But instilling leadership in your employees is the key to growing a successful company. As CEO I know I’m not omniscient and I rely on my team for ideas. Encouraging employee leadership may seem obvious but it isn’t. Many managers and C-level executives want to control what’s being done because they feel they know what’s best, strictly enforcing a chain of command. They don’t realize this not only makes employees feel undervalued and unmotivated, but it also stunts innovation. You never know who may have a good idea! Here at All Aces Promotional Staﬃng, we not only encourage everyone to have a voice but empower them to come up with best systems and new ideas. Everyone has assisted with the growth of our company and everyone knows how important their roles and voice are. It makes them WANT to contribute and instills company loyalty. One way we do this is by giving full ownership of the position to each employee and encouraging them to make decisions. We’re in the event staﬃng business so this could

mean how they communicate with staff and clients, determining how to troubleshoot situations, and coming up with the best methods for logistics. We give them general procedures to follow, and guide them through this process so they know they have the freedom to work as best suits them but also have a team to assist them when needed. We trust them to get the job done with the tools we give them. People become better at finding solutions and have more self confidence when they know they aren’t being micromanaged. Since the event and marketing world is not 9-5 we have remote Fridays, flexible scheduling as needed, and some employees who work remotely altogether. We have shown that this freedom leads to better productivity instead of people slacking off. This has led to a high level of success for us as a company. We also leave room for employees to contribute to roles outside of their normal job duties and explore their passions inside and out of work. This is how we learned we had some amazing graphic designers on the team, and now have better business card and social media ad designs and company decks, than from anyone we’ve ever outsourced! We gave them the basic guidelines and creative freedom, and were floored with the results. Being in the event staffing

About the Author Lauren Raimondi, the Owner of All Aces Promotional Stafng, Inc. is an unparalleled leader with 16 years of extensive experience in promotional marketing, event stafng, and logistics. She avidly believes that passion, creativity, efciency and a network of the best promotional talent are a key to creating successful events and client relationships. She is procient at reading people and situations, a trait she acquired through playing poker, and that is how All Aces got its name.

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and experiential marketing industry can be stressful at times and very dynamic, so we implemented company breathing and meditation 2-3 days per week with our Client Relations Manager to help reduce the stress and keep everyone focused. Nurturing creativity outside of their normal positions had led to new ideas within their current positions that have improved eﬃciencies and client relations all around. “Having a shared goal is required in being a strong, family-oriented team, and at All Aces that shared goal is a combination of personal and professional endeavors. Lauren is great at empowering people to take a deeper look into their skills and gifts, and cultivates them. She realized that I’d thrive and be more passionate as the team’s Client Relations Manager than my previous role, and recommended the switch in positions. Knowing I was also intent on launching my yoga career, she also encouraged me to start teaching breathwork and meditation to the team, increasing my conﬁdence as a yoga teacher and bringing me closer to the rest of the team. It’s not what I’m doing for work, but who I’m doing the work with, and I choose to work with people who want to empower one another in all areas of life!” says employee Rebecca Schlosser. By empowering our employees, trusting them to make decisions, and encouraging creativity, we’ve developed a highly collaborative culture where people encourage each other to do well and succeed. People come to work motivated instead of looking at the clock for the day to end. As we continue to scale we will look for even more ways for our team to contribute and become leaders in their own roles.

Lauren Raimondi Owner

All Aces Promotional Stafng, Inc. |November 2018

Darren Roos: Passionate About Making a Diﬀerence Through Exemplary Leadership

Darren Roos Chief Executive Oﬃcer IFS

uccessful organizations are shaped by the visionary leadership of the CEO. Great executives do this by building strong businesses that analyze and effectively execute. Darren Roos is one such influential CEO. He has accelerated the growth of IFS and reaffirmed its leading position as a producer of nimble and responsive enterprise software business solutions for customers around the world. A Proven Track Record Darren was appointed to the role of CEO of IFS in April 2018. Since then, he has been leading his talented team in further scaling the company’s global business and extending IFS’s leadership position in Field Service Management (FSM), Enterprise Asset Management (EAM), and Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP). As an industry veteran with a nearly 20-year track record in the international software industry, his ability to deliver results has earned him a reputation as a customer advocate, industry thought leader and cloud expert. Outside of IFS, he also currently maintains a Non-Executive Director position at Micro Focus International. Prior to joining IFS, he was the President of SAP’s Global

ERP Cloud Business, where he had end-to-end responsibility for all product and go-to-market functions. He oversaw an organization of over 5,000 staff in that position. During his tenure at SAP, he also held other leadership roles, including General Manager of Northern Europe and Chief Operating Officer of EMEA. Before his time with that global firm, he was the President of EMEA, APJ, LATAM at Software AG and a member of its Group Executive Board. Leveraging Latest Innovations IFS is focused on providing world-class solutions to five core industries: manufacturing, energy, utilities and resources, services, aerospace and defense, and engineering, construction and infrastructure. This focus is a differentiator for it in a market where most of its competition provides more generic solutions. It increases the appeal of these solutions in two ways: firstly, by offering meaningful choice and flexibility to its customers around how they license, pay and deploy its software. Secondly, it leverages the latest innovations around AI, IoT and next generation UX to enhance the usability and value its customers derive from its solutions.

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The League of

Extraordinary CEOs Enabling Appropriate Direction Darren believes that his primary role is to ensure the entire organization has a clear view of where it is headed and how it will get there. According to Darren, a CEO needs to be decisive and a strong communicator. He believes that ultimately the success of any organization comes down to the eﬃcacy of the strategy and the quality of execution.

Mastering One’s Craft Darren suggests that instead of thinking about the next promotion, one should focus on mastering their craft, proving themselves in their current role and then overperforming. He says that instead of being in a hurry to only do what’s ’new and shiny,’ one should focus on being great at their immediate tasks. He emphasizes building a career instead of constantly looking for new things.

Darren believes in creating an environment where everyone can contribute according to their capacity. He believes his ability to build a diverse team -- whether that be based on age, gender or ethnicity -- and then getting the most out of them is a key attribute. He also values employees who have a positive attitude, strong work ethic and are authentic.

Remain Focused Darren stresses that obstacles and challenges are inevitable, but you should choose to be resilient in tough times and remain focused. Also, do not be afraid to ask for help from more experienced team members.

No Substitute for Hard Work Darren has a fundamental belief that there is no right way to do the wrong thing or no wrong way to do the right thing. He adds that people also may not be able to control how

Sensible Alternative for Clients Darren believes IFS has a once-in-a-generation opportunity to transform the ERP market in its core industries. He comprehends that with the heightened pace of digital

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Always remain focused on what customers want, what they need and ensure you deliver.

bright or creative they are, but they can control how hard they work. It is the most consistent determinant of success. A good moral compass is further required for long-term loyalty and he treats trust as a currency. He believes that if one puts in the work then they will consistently win.

disruption today, customers require solutions that are easier to use, quicker to deploy and cost less than the competition is oﬀering. IFS represents that sensible alternative for tens of thousands of clients around the world. As it has proven in 2018, it can and will continue to signiﬁcantly outgrow the market.

He points to other great leaders, including Jeff Bezos, Indra Nooyi, Elon Musk and Michael Jordan, as proof that hard work pays off. The Power of Choice Darren was not a very career-oriented individual in the first few years of entering the enterprise software industry. He confesses that he was rather lazy, unfocused and lacked resilience. One day, he decided he could continue coasting or begin putting in the work. He chose the work and the decision energized him. In less time than he wasted waiting for his career to really begin, he has achieved success and progressed to the top leadership position at a large global business.

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Ineke Kooistra: Creating Opportunities for Young Generation

Ineke Kooistra CEO YoungCapital

n an interview with Insights Success, Ineke Kooistra, CEO of YoungCapital, shares insights on various attributes to become a successful leader. She discusses about her experiences in the recruitment industry and the challenges and lessons that came out of it. Also, she broadly discusses the company’s core competencies and its establishment in the market. Below are the highlights of the interview conducted between Ineke and Insights Success: Can you give a brief overview of your background and your role within YoungCapital? I’ve been working in the recruitment and secondment branche for 25 years now. Both in the general and specialised staffing sections. Additionally, I also set up and expanded various specialisations within the IT staffing market. My role as CEO of YoungCapital is to get people moving, motivate them and coach them. I also safeguard the strategic decisions we make together as a company. Obviously, everyone makes their own decisions in their own line of expertise. But, when it’s necessary, I’ll have the final say.

How do you diversify your solutions that appeal to your target audience? We are a recruitment agency that focuses on young talent. Eighteen years ago, we started online, while all the other recruitment agencies required their candidates to walk into their oﬃces. We still have this pioneering role online. That’s probably why every day more than 2,000 new candidates subscribe to our site, and our turnover has gone up 60%. You immediately feel our energy and our entrepreneurship the moment you walk through our door. We do everything in our power to keep our people happy & healthy, and make them stick around as long as possible. What makes me happy is that, when they go, they leave with a positive feeling and know that our door is always open. Describe some of the vital attributes that every CEO should possess. Curiosity and being attentive to your own people. Make sure that you always seek out an honest and open conversation, and take your time to really listen to each other. Give your employees the freedom they deserve, and always make them feel like they’re worth it. I try and incorporate what’s best for everybody into all my decisions.

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Extraordinary CEOs

What were the past experiences, achievements or lessons that shaped your journey? One big challenge that we’re currently dealing with is the fact that we’re growing incredibly fast. It has a huge impact on basically all our operational processes. Our IT systems need to change, and we have to be careful that we don’t become this cumbersome organisation. And that, in turn, has an impact on our people. Some of them are more adaptable than others. Our growth also puts an immense pressure on management. That’s why I make sure I eat healthy, exercise enough and drink less alcohol. I need to stay ﬁt. And I make sure that I keep having fun with the people around me; to keep enjoying it all. If you’re mentally strong, you can handle the good and the bad.

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What is your advice for the emerging entrepreneurs? Pay back all of your loans as soon as possible. Don’t live beyond your means with money that doesn’t belong to you, and that could possibly cost you your company. And don’t start a company with the intention of selling it big the ﬁrst chance you get. No, start a company that you believe will truly make a valuable contribution to society. About the company The idea behind YoungCapital surfaced in 2000, when the founders of the company were looking for a part-time job. They quickly noticed that there was no platform yet for their needs and target group, so they created it themselves. What started as a simple website grew into an innovative temporary employment agency that would change the Dutch recruitment landscape for good. And they’re growing. Fast. Currently YoungCapital is active in 11 countries and have an online database with almost 6 million candidates. But they’re also rapidly

No company will grow if they don’t genuinely care about their people.

Where does YoungCapital sees itself in the near future and what are its future goals? We want to become the best talent developer in the Netherlands. Focusing on recruitment, secondment and education. After that, we want to achieve the same result all over Europe. Ambitious? Not when you look at our numbers. It took us just one year to become the third biggest party in the Netherlands in terms of growth. Provide one line that best describes your vision and approach to business? “The future of work can be structured in different ways.” It all depends on the economic tide. From a permanent to a temporary or agency contract: everything is possible. We also see that new approaches to working are created every day. Traineeships that teach young people techniques that their current educators don’t offer yet. Or hyperflex platforms for short-term jobs and mass vacancies in times of scarcity.

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Whether it’s the client, YoungCapital employees or the company as a whole. Never do anything for personal gain. Always look ahead and consider all your options, while at the same time making weekly and monthly reports.

expanding as a company, with 1.300 employees that work in 60 different locations. In 2018, they had a turnover of around 500 million, which is expected to grow to 1 billion in the next four years. YoungCapital believes that young people are more important than ever because of the rapid digitisation. They encourage innovation: provide new ways of communicating, collaborating and solving problems. They just approach it a little differently. With their fresh vision and endless energy, they can conquer the world. As digital natives, they have new ideas about working. They are ambitious, creative, flexible and connected. This encourages innovation in organisations and helps to break taboos that are in the way of growth.

Because, if we’re completely honest with ourselves, we know that not every employee within a company can be oﬀered a permanent contract. It would be unwise from an employers’ perspective. So we should focus on creating new ways of structuring the way we work.

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Editorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Pick

November 2018|

The Glass Ceiling Effect: Another Perspective on Women and Leadership “

he glass ceiling is a barrier so subtle that it is transparent; yet so strong that it prevents women from moving up the corporate hierarchy” ---Ann Morrison, American Author The term “Glass ceiling” can be defined as an unacknowledged upper limit in corporations and other organizations, above which it is difficult or even impossible for women to reach out to the highest ranks.“Glass ceiling” is a popular metaphor widely used for the hard-to-see informal barriers that prevents women from getting promoted or achieving further opportunities in leadership positions. The metaphor of “glass ceiling” has also been used to describe the limits and obstacles faced by racial minority groups. The U.S. Department of Labor’s 1991 definition of glass ceiling is “those artificial barriers based on attitudinal or organizational bias that prevents qualified individuals from advancing upward in their organization into managementlevel positions.” (Report on the Glass Ceiling Initiative.) Famous American actress cum author Ann Morrison defines the concept of the Glass Ceiling as: “The glass ceiling is not simply a barrier for an individual, based on the person’s inability to handle a higher-level job.

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Rather, the glass ceiling applies to women as a group who are kept from advancing higher because they are women.” The Elements behind the Glass Ceiling: It is pretty obvious that women are facing a lot of hurdles to break through the glass ceiling and reach to the highest leadership position throughout the ages. Preventing both women and organizations from reaching their full potential, the invisible “Glass Ceiling” denies us all of the maximal benefits of gender diversity in leadership. Some of the most common barriers are highlighted below: Job isolation: Women are offered the same kinds of job roles like staff, public relations or occasionally finance specialties that rarely lead to the more powerful management positions. Over time, women are eventually excluded from jobs in the mainstream of business, the route taken by CEOs and presidents. Old-boy Network: There are many instances when men gets the managerial powers in an organization who manages greater numbers of people, enjoys more freedom of hiring and firing, and controls the company’s assets directly while women are deprived of such authorities and powers.

It is the “Old-boys” of the organization that makes all the policy; where the women are kept virtually absent. Sex Discrimination: In a recent survey, working women were asked about the greatest obstacle they had to overcome to achieve success; “simply being a woman” was the most frequent response. In another survey by the Wall Street Journal, women leaders quoted their most serious obstacle in their business careers to be “male chauvinism, attitudes toward a female boss, slow advancement for women, and the simple fact of being a woman.” These instances are enough to prove the prevalence of sex discrimination in the workplace. Sexual Harassment: Sexual harassment remains one of the biggest barriers for women in managerial roles. A corporate environment that tolerates sexual harassment intimidates and demoralizes women executives. Even after the adoption and enforcement of numerous laws against sexual harassment, women do not feel sufficiently encouraged and empowered to speak out for fear of compromising their work. Benefits of Women in Leadership: Studies found that inclusion of women in business leadership has significantly improved such factors as firm value, financial performance, economic growth, innovation and social responsiveness and philanthropy. The additional benefits of women in corporate leadership include stricter monitoring and supervision and fewer legal infractions such as fraud and embezzlement. A better balance among women in leadership positions can create a more diverse team of leaders with different perspectives and a greater ability to contribute new ideas and thus enhancing the profitability. The transformational leadership style often used by women tends to be a good option for contemporary organizations, as it encourages employee morale, motivation and performance. Overcoming the Barriers: Strategies Women’s progress up the corporate ladder is still limited by the “glass ceiling” despite the myriad of Government policies and programs which have been introduced to ensure that their talents and skills are recognized and accepted. Women can help themselves to overcome this career hurdle by: Ø Acquiring appropriate business skills and know how; Ø Taking up line-management positions rather than management service roles; Ø Gaining the necessary experience through “apprenticeship” and “acting positions”; Ø Seeking career counseling; Ø Volunteering for leadership and executive positions; Ø And lastly, acquiring the ability to measure their operating effectiveness in the workplace. An awareness of the emergence of new barriers to their progress is also worth considering. The current socio-economic situation is creating different “glass ceilings” in the form of the downsizing of organizations, new differentiated and self-directed career paths, the advent of the contractual worker, and the care of aged parents. Conclusion: Since the latter half of the 20th century, women have made great paces in increasing their representation in the work force. However, a considerable gap remains in achievement of leadership positions across different fields. Renowned feminist Gloria Steinem stated it best: “Clearly no one knows what leadership has gone undiscovered in women.” It is far past time we strive to find out and finally shatter the glass ceiling.

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Kristen Carroll: Nurturing Top-tier Talent and Empowering Organizations

Kristen Carroll Founder & CEO The LMC Group

arnessing the right talent is an absolute for any organization to leave its mark in the fiercely competitive current market. Organizations around the world are in search of adept professionals who can comprehend the critical needs of the industry and empower organizations through their notable contributions. The jewel in the crown of LMC Group, its Founder and CEO Kristen Carroll, has enabled numerous organizations to achieve their visions by nurturing and providing business guidance. In an interview with Insights Success she shares her comprehensive approach towards the business and some instances that have shaped her rise. Below are the highlights of the interview between Insights Success and Kristen. Give a brief overview of your background and your role in LMC Group. I never envisioned a traditional career for myself, reporting to the same office to do similar work each day, so entrepreneurship is a natural fit for me. However, while most entrepreneurs do not have the foundation of a traditional corporate background, I was fortunate to work in some large global organizations before breaking out on my own. Ÿ

My background is in talent acquisition and management, primarily in the healthcare industry. Early in my career I spent several years as the Director of Talent Management and Workforce Planning in a large healthcare system in Boston before launching my own human resources and business consulting firm. In 2014, I assembled a team of experts and founded The LMC Group to provide management services to organizations of all different sizes and scopes, helping to select and manage top-tier talent, developing and executing their strategic vision, and ensuring their financial and operational health. In the initial phase of The LMC Group, I acted as our principal consultant, but as our team grew, I was quickly able to shift to the CEO role. I still provide some consulting services, but far more of my time is spent as our chief visionary and strategy officer. My goal from the beginning was to nurture and equip our talented team members to take over leadership in their areas. Essentially, by assimilating our great team, I was able to backfill myself. How do you diversify your solutions that appeal to your target audience? Our solutions are predicated on the fact that every client has a unique set of goals, strengths, and challenges. I don’t Ÿ

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The League of

Extraordinary CEOs

We intend to leave our clients far better off than we find them, and the only way to do this is to get to know their culture, priorities, and values before we make recommendations. We find that by starting with no preconceived notions we can tailor our approach precisely to ensure great outcomes with much higher levels of buy-in from our clients. Describe some of the vital attributes that every CEO should possess. Compassion, integrity, empathy, resilience, self-awareness, and efficiency. Ÿ

What were some of the primal challenges and roadblocks that you faced during the initial phase of your journey? As a non-traditional thinker, I go into each situation seeking the whys and hows of every decision and process. While this iconoclasm may have gotten me in a bit of trouble when I was starting out in my career, it has served me well in the ensuing 20 years as I ﬁnd innovative solutions for our clients. Ÿ

I’ve also grown in self-awareness throughout my career. I know my strengths, and I surround myself with a team whose talents and insights complement me and compensate for my shortcomings. I always recommend that CEOs hire employees who are smarter than they are! Where does LMC Group see itself in the near future and what are its future goals. We plan to broaden our approach as we provide high-level resources at multiple access points. We want to level the Ÿ

What were the past experiences, achievements or lessons that shaped your journey? Early in my career, I had the absolute gift of working for Ÿ

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Absolutely anything is possible, yet just because you can doesn't mean you should.

Helen Drinan, now the president of Simmons College in Boston, MA. She had just left her position as the president of the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) and was serving as the CHRO for a large hospital system. Helen was the most charitable and affirming leader I have ever known: a brilliant altruist and mentor. She assembled the strongest team of senior HR leaders I have ever seen and orchestrated a collaborative, cross-training environment where we all left our respective roles with significantly more than we arrived with and offering significantly more to the organization we operated within. She embodied the core of the very best HR has to offer, in her flawless understanding of an organization’s business needs and her ability to leverage employees as the catalyst for an organization’s growth. I still strive to be a leader on par with Helen Drinan. While large organizations may be successful and longstanding, that doesn’t mean they always know the best ways of doing things. That was a great realization for me to have early in my career, empowering me to challenge the norms and status quo as I worked with different clients and industries later on. Since I was able to save tens of millions of dollars for a billion-dollar organization early in my career, I knew I could help any company find better ways to do things through my consultancy work. |November 2018

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believe in selling a generic set of pre-fab services to clients who differ in size, financial position, and market, among other differentiators.

playing ﬁeld for small- and medium-sized business to compete with the industry leaders. One access point we are implementing now is the automation of some of our resources. We will always take a customized approach, but through automation we can make our knowledge available to smaller companies that aren’t currently able to invest in a deeper engagement. What is your advice for the emerging entrepreneurs? Don’t spend too much time or money up front in the planning stage. Be as lean as you can and force your organization to pay for itself. Money is an object; don’t saddle yourself with grandiose plans and huge budgets. Leanness should be a core principle at all phases to remain ﬁnancially healthy. Ÿ

Don’t do anything that causes you to lose sleep at night. Financial decisions, ethical considerations, and the people you align yourself with are the most likely factors to rob you of your peace. Be sure you can live with the choices you make.

Meade Lewis:

Pioneer of Resource Leakage Solutions

Meade Lewis CEO & Founder MiQrotech

n an interview with Insights Success, Meade Lewis, CEO and Founder of MiQrotech, shares insights on various attributes to become a successful leader. He also shares his experiences on his journey as an entrepreneur and the challenges and lessons that came out of it. Also, he broadly discusses the company’s core competencies and its establishment in the market. Below are the highlights of the interview conducted between Meade and Insights Success: How do you diversify your solutions that appeal to your target audience? The first step to reaching our target audience is to be able to listen. Listening to your customer is critical to be able to implement the solutions they need and, more importantly, solutions they will pay for. With energy being an old industry, being able to communicate in a confident manner and marketing through more convention means is a priority. Finally, innovation is the key to what separates any firm from their competition; at MiQrotech, innovation is in our blood.

To summarize my business strategy, I would simply use three words: Innovation, tactics, and execution. Innovation is critical for inventing the product, upgrading the product, and continuously staying twelve steps ahead of competitors. Tactics are necessary for planning the order of operations for each and every challenge that emerges. Finally and most importantly, execution is required for getting things done. Without innovation, the company provides nothing unique. Without tactics, there is no strategy and the firm will fail when faced with opposition. Without execution, all of your plans stay as exactly that, plans that are lost in imagination. Describe some of the vital attributes that every CEO should possess. A Chief Executive Officer holds dozens of roles but, by far, the most important is the role of leader. Morale, talent acquisition, and product all revolve around the CEO’s ability to lead and the ability to love their employees. By providing your staff with a powerful mission greater than any one individual, by providing these colleagues with a challenge so that they are continuously learning, and by providing those coworkers with a friend to truly listen to November 2018|

The League of

Extraordinary CEOs

What were the past experiences, achievements or lessons that shaped your journey? Steel is forged in ﬂames and, similarly, world changers are forged through hardship and pressure. Through great hardship comes the ability to overcome. While going through hardship, I relied on the leaders around me to help me conquer those obstacles. With their love, support, and challenge, I grew and I excelled. Now, with my Eagle Scout Award, my Good Samaritan Award, my countless awards in business as evidence, I know that none of these things would be possible without the leaders I worked with in the past.

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well as continuously upgrading our AI analytics. Within the next ﬁve years, we plan to have drone systems, drilling analytic tools, and tools to make oﬀshore platforms safer. By leading the oil and gas innovation charge, we want to fundamentally change the way that energy is gathered and transferred by greatly reducing the risks involved. What is your advice for the emerging entrepreneurs? If I were to give advice to anyone interested in entrepreneurship, it would be to be able to adapt and learn incredibly fast. You are confronted with so much information on a daily basis, dozens of challenges, hundreds of emails, thousands of terms, that learning becomes a massive part of your job. I would also recommend that in the very early stages of planning, that the entrepreneur learns their market. Know the value of the

Our mission is the accurate detection of oil and gas risks using advanced integrated technology so that customers save money, avoid downtime, and protect the environment from spills

What were some of the primal challenges and roadblocks that you faced during the initial phase of your journey? The primary obstacle I have had to overcome in my career is agism. I am young. Helping to direct people who are double, even triple, my age has been diﬃcult at times. However, respect is earned and, with that in mind, I had to prove my worth to these individuals. By working longer, harder, and more passionately than anyone else in the room, you will quickly earn the respect and admiration of those that you are working with. Respect doesn’t recognize age. Where does mIQroTech sees itself in the near future and what are its future goals?

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them, and you will ﬁnd a team that will never stop beating the odds.

Total Addressable Market (TAM), know your competition, know why you are better, and know why you will capture a significant section of the market. Most of all, keep moving forward. About the Leader Prior to MiQrotech, Meade was the Chief Information Technology Officer (CITO) of multiple oil and gas firms where he focused on research and development. Cofounding his own analytics company by the age of 22, he consulted for various government entities before his successful exit. An Eagle Scout with 15 years of coding and innovation experience, Meade Lewis readily accepts the label of “nerd”. Now, Lewis has created the company credited for changing the pipeline monitoring industry as a whole.

The mIQroTech mission is summarized in a single phrase: “Change energy, change the world”. Using Internet of Things (IoT) technology, merged with Artiﬁcial Intelligence (AI), we are predicting oil and gas pipeline leaks before they happen with a projected 96% accuracy. Currently, we are developing a smaller, more powerful sensor array as |November 2018

a successful

CEO Shanaz Ramzi CEO & Founder Starlinks

About the Author Shanaz Ramzi is the CEO and Founder of Starlinks. Before starting Starlinks, she has worked as the Editor of various publications for HUM Network. She also holds brief experience as the Editor in platforms including G.L.A.M. , Masala TV Food Mag, and HUMSAY, a bimonthly magazine on media. Shanaz is also an Author of the book, Food Prints, a reference book on the cuisine of the country. Shanaz graduated from the University of Karachi as Bachelor of Arts in Journalism.

n my limited experience of being a CEO of my company for almost three years, and having worked very closely with the CEO of a television network where I was GM Public Relations and Publications for 11 years, I have realized that there are certain qualities that are a must for a CEO to succeed, no matter what line of profession they are in. To begin with, I feel that it is very important to regularly interact with your colleagues as it instills confidence in them and the interaction invariably yields valuable results. If the organization is big, then weekly meetings with heads is imperative, while in smaller organizations like mine, with around twelve employees, I find daily meetings with the entire team is a healthy exercise. An open-door policy, where you are willing to hear suggestions, complaints and updates without any red-tapism, and with an open mind, also serves well. I also find that a CEO, who is hands-on, and not afraid to get their feet wet, inspires confidence in not just the team, but in the clients and other stakeholders as well. I make it a point to be physically present at every event no matter how big or small, and am there to

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plug in wherever required, or do fire-fighting and take instant decisions when needed. Another very important aspect in order to run a company successfully is being organized, prepared and meticulous, and demanding the same from your colleagues. If your home-work is done thoroughly and you have every little nitty-gritty worked out in detail on paper, half you battle is won. There may of course, still be the odd, unexpected situation arising that will require you to trouble-shoot but if you can adapt well to any situation without panicking, you will emerge victorious. The way you conduct yourself at work from the start of your career and the reputation you acquire because of your working ethics and style will remain with you throughout your career. Often, it is your reputation that precedes you and if you are heading a service sector, clients will flock to you on the basis of your earlier reputation even if you are just starting up and have nothing to show in your portfolio as a CEO. When I launched STARLINKS, a PR and event management company in November of 2015, I had two retainer clients by the 5th of that month, who had heard from the grapevine that I had resigned from my job and was now launching my own company. I hadn’t even officially announced my company till then! And I have to say that it has only been through word of mouth that we have had clients to date, for they have all sought our services themselves and we have not had the need so far, to actively pursue any client. This was the singular reason that a client as huge as LuckyOne mall, believed to be the largest mall in South Asia, approached us for a pitch for their launch event, even though we were hardly a few months into the business at that point, and there were far more established and senior companies in the running. I think LuckyOne Mall is a great example to illustrate the importance of my second and third points as well for in spite of formidable competition we finally nailed the project, because of these two aspects. I know for a fact that my personal interest and presence throughout the project made a lot of difference to the management of the mall and instilled confidence in them. What’s more, our presentation was so detailed and meticulously prepared that we had thought of everything under the sun and beyond and included it in it. I am sure that gave us the edge we were looking for. And finally, I feel a successful CEO must be as quick to offer praise and appreciate their team as they are to criticize |November 2018

them. A demotivated team that feels no matter what they do, their work will never translate into appreciation, either verbal or through increments/bonuses, will never be loyal to the company or work happily. Company profile STARLINKS was started with a vision to redefine the role of PR in Pakistan. It proudly claims to be pioneers in bridging the gap between PR & corporate social responsibility. It constantly endeavors to assist their clients in engaging and strengthening their relationships with their stakeholders and society as a whole. In the less than three years of its existence, the company has fast risen to become not only one of Pakistan’s leading event management and PR companies, but one of the top PR companies in the world. In the first year it bagged the most coveted and prestigious project of launching the biggest mall of South Asia, LuckyOne mall, and a year later had won the bronze Stevie award for Best Start-up of the Year in the business service industries. In its third year it has won two awards – Gold SVUS for Best Female CEO of the World and Silver SVUS for Best PR Agency Achievement of the year. STARLINKS’ prides itself in managing any and all kinds of events with expertise, be they corporate, private, conferences and seminars, opening ceremonies, product launches, cultural festivals, award ceremonies, fashion shows, lifestyle exhibitions or film premieres. The events PR has not just been confined to programmes held in Pakistan but have been successfully carried out so far in Ontario and England as well. With numerous events under their belt, the team comprises young, enthusiastic individuals. In spite of their diverse backgrounds, all envisage one goal: to strive for excellence. Future expectations When STARLINKS was launched, its management was in no doubt that it would one day become the leading PR company of Pakistan, but no one thought the success would be so meteoric. The five-year plan was already achieved in the first year, and that achievement has been exhilarating as well as humbling and challenging. For with such unprecedented success come a lot of expectations and responsibilities. In order to expand the business the team now plans to widen its portfolio, and has already started offering digital services, while celebrity client management is also on the cards.

Tom Fedro: Implementing Transformational Leadership and Delivering Success in Complex Technology Markets

Tom Fedro

CEO & President Paragon Software Group Corp.

n an interview with Insights Success, the CEO and President of Irvine, California-based, Paragon Software Group Corp. (PSGC), Tom Fedro, shares his key insights for go-to-market success, international software licensing strategy, and most importantly, leadership. Below are highlights from the interview conducted between Tom and Insights Success: How do you diversify your solutions to appeal to your different target audiences? Paragon targets two well-defined audiences with its product portfolio. Our flagship backup and disaster recovery solutions, which include Paragon Protect & Restore (PPR) and Paragon Hard Disk Manager (HDM), are targeted at small to midsize businesses (SMBs) and sold through resellers. These proven software offerings protect small business workstations, servers and virtual machines – along with entire IT infrastructures – and continue to earn industry awards for their effectiveness and value.

The second target audience for Paragon is large consumer electronics manufacturers – OEMs that make tablets, phones, routers, media players, Network Attached Storage (NAS) boxes, action cameras and other devices. These manufacturers use Paragon’s embedded file system drivers to gain valuable data management and cross-platform communications capabilities, and Paragon plays an important role in ensuring a frictionless experience for their customers around the world. Our software sits between the manufacturer’s platform and an associated storage device, serving as the “Rosetta Stone” that performs all the “translation” between the two devices to allow them to communicate. Whether it’s a MAC laptop, an iOS phone, a Windows tablet or something else, Paragon ensures that, regardless of operating system or file system, communication with the storage device is flawless and first rate. Recognizing that in today’s competitive environment it takes more than technology for a company to be successful, I have also worked to diversify Paragon’s paths to market November 2018|

The League of

Extraordinary CEOs through a variety of channels. We sell through OEMs, resellers, system integrators and e-tailers as well as through the company website and have been able to use channel diversification to reduce risk and increase sales and profits. Paragon’s success in driving business with these varied methods is the result of a strong focus on partnership, including a tight alignment of the necessary resources, investments and deliverables to effectively meet the needs of different go-to-market partners and strategies. For example, for PSGC’s reseller partners, we established an operation in which the company offers critical enablement elements such as streamlined sales motions, marketing and demand generation as well as U.S.-based engineering, support and technical resources. Describe some of the vital attributes that every CEO should possess. Some key attributes would include curiosity, vision, realistic optimism, and the ability to take risks and lead from the front. But most important is the ability to hire the

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brand awareness in our target markets and a small marketing budget. The biggest roadblock we set out to overcome was getting our foot in the door with the largest manufacturers in the world. We knew that our technology could have an impact, so we persevered and Cisco Systems became our first customer in 2008. Earning their business started a domino effect, leading to relationships with other top brands as we demonstrated our commitment to integrity, quality and customer service. Where does Paragon Software Group Corp. see itself in the near future and what are its future goals? Our aim is to continue to expand our business with our current OEM customers while also identifying new consumer electronics manufacturers who face the challenges of burgeoning storage requirements and crossplatform communication. We want to be their go-to resource for file system driver technology that transforms the customer experience and elevates their success in the market. In addition, we see our widely used technology for Bare Metal Recovery (BMR), Hyper V and other

Lay out the vision and plan, hire the best people, give them the resources they need, stay out of their way and win – and while you’re doing it, always give back and serve the community in measureable ways.

right team, give them the resources they need to be successful, and then check your ego at the door and get out of the way!

What were the past experiences, achievements or lessons that shaped your journey? In reﬂecting on my journey, not only at Paragon but in the senior executive positions I’ve held leading up to my current role, what stands out the most for me are my experiences with international software developers from China, Russia, Ukraine, Western Europe and beyond. Working closely with our team to identify and convey market requirements, then negotiating and delivering multimillion dollar license engagements in new and highly competitive markets has shaped my career and been very rewarding. I’m especially proud of all that we’ve accomplished at PSGC these past 10 years. What were some of the primary challenges and roadblocks that you faced during the initial phase of your journey? When we launched PSGC we faced the same challenges that other new businesses often face including a lack of |November 2018

technologies as vehicles for empowering our OEM partners to reach new levels of success in the cloud backup space. About the Leader Tom formulated Paragon’s business model and go-tomarket strategy, hired its talent, and continues to guide its success in a variety of complex markets. Under his leadership, PSGC has established technology agreements with many of the world’s largest consumer device manufacturers including Cisco, GoPro, Seagate, Western Digital, Netgear, Amazon, Dell, ASUS, Toshiba, Hewlett Packard, Hitachi and many others. About the Company Founded in 1994, Paragon Software Group offers a wide range of software tools, solutions and technologies. These offerings range from low-level storage management and file system drivers to solutions for safekeeping and recovery of operational, business and user data across heterogeneous platforms and environments.

egends never need an introduction. They tend to be victorious despite of their uneventful histories. They stick to captivating traits such as Discipline, determination and self-belief which help them accomplish wonders in the long run. One such example of an extraordinary person is Elon Musk, a South African Business Magnate, Investor and an engineer.

Strong Risk Tolerance Founding a start-up involves a great deal of uncertainty and risk. A study found that after 10 years of being in business, 96 percent of the start-ups fail. Going by the statistics, Musk must have faced the same odds against him, when he had decided to leave an otherwise comfortable life to start a risky and uncertain business venture.

Musk is the founder, CEO, and chief architect of SpaceX; co-founder, CEO, and product designer of Tesla Inc.; and co-founder and CEO of Neuralink. As of February 2018, he is the 53rd-richest person in the world and has a net worth of $20.8 billion, which is far more than the net GDP of Greece taken into consideration.

For instance, Musk left his PhD program at Stanford University to find a company called Zip2 with his brother in the year 1995. Later, the company was sold to Compaq computers, profiting Musk a bit over $20 million. Following this, Musk once again took a great risk by investing millions of dollars to found a company called X.com, one of the world's first online banks.

While each entrepreneur possesses a unique set of traits that makes him/her successful, this Tech founder has a few traits much diﬀerent from any other ordinary CEO, which has allowed him to build some of the world's most respected and innovative organizations. Musk once quoted, “When something is important enough, you do it even if the odds are not in your favor.”

‘Always Be Learning’ Attitude An astounding and less-known fact about Elon Musk is that he is self-taught in programming and in many advanced level subjects. He read and understood a variety of books, which helped him gain endless and persistent knowledge and understand diverse concepts.

Let’s have a look on these personality attributes and characteristics that make him a contender for the most innovative intellectual entrepreneur of the century alive.

The best piece of advice on learning and implementation is to constantly think about how things could be done in a better manner and question self to seek the answers.

Hard-work and Characteristic Work Ethics Elon Musk is a hard-working innovator, working for about 100 hours a week, and has been productive since many years. He may even be considered as the hardest working employee of the company, setting standards for his colleagues to follow and implement. Since the ﬁeld of work lies inside his radius of interests, he enjoys it to every moment and bit when it comes to learning and execution.

Feedback Loop It is of prime importance to recognize the present symbol or otherwise ‘status quo’ in the market as an organization and re-position accordingly. Musk solicits constant feedback of the companies and executes ‘self-analysis.’ He induces eﬀorts and divergent strategies to improve customer feedbacks and strives towards perfectionism.

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For example, he seeks out his critics and tries to converse with them. This habit of self-reﬂection at regular and considerable periods is pivotal for any entrepreneur or organization to succeed in the long run. Tendency for Vertical Integration Vertical integration is a strategy where an organization or a ﬁrm acquires business operations within the same product vertical. Both Tesla and SpaceX embrace this concept. For example, Tesla not only produces electric cars; they also generate public awareness about their cars via Tesla showrooms across various countries. And SpaceX does not only have the primary goal of rocket propulsions; they develop their own rocket architecture as well. Faith in Self and the Founding Team Musk undoubtedly possesses a profound belief in his own capabilities

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as well as the potential-seeking factor of its founding team. He does not hesitate to gamble on large scale unless he is genuinely aware of the expected end-results. It is equally essential to maintain clarity of doubt in any large scale organization. Under his supervision, Musk encourages in creating a positive and comprehensive environment across his ﬁrms. Preferring to Stand Out From the Crowd Musk elects to bring up innovation at every level of his understanding. He tends to impart theoretical knowledge at the base level, applying changes and executing the same on the practical level. He relies more on transitional aspects such as research and development, thereby increasing the probability of ground-breaking inventions.

Tesla Motors, a far headed firm headed by Elon Musk, is anti-ordinary. Its compelling marketplace has become a one-stop destination for potential buyers where they can interact about product specifications. They also have video testimonials that far outperform in the sales-dominated industry. There is no ambiguity that Musk, by far, has been a pillar of inspiration for budding entrepreneurs and investors because of his prolific and optimistic approach towards life All these traits possessed by Musk, in some manner or the other, coincide with most of your habits. The only thing that stands as a potential barrier between these two is identifying your strengths and working on them on a continual basis. Go on, apply these traits into your daily life, and you may become the next big CEO the world is in need of today!