VOL 03 I ISSUE 05 I 2021
Understanding Leadership Avid Leaders Who Have Taken Their Businesses to the New Heights
TOP
FEATURING
Rhonda
Vetere
BUSINESSWOMEN LEADING THE
CHARGE OF SUCCESSFUL
BUSINESS IN
2021
Enabling Profound Business Outcomes Through Technology
Editor’s Desk Bringing Down the MaleDominated Walls
W
e cannot ignore the fact that the maledominated industry still exists in the majority of leadership roles. And, women are often ignored and taken less seriously in the workplace. Today to be an efficient leader, women need to stay in contact with industry experts and be updated with the ongoing technological needs. Due to the versatile needs of the industry, it is crucial to take time in adapting to these changes to change the above-mentioned situation. Women hold the power to drive change in the world. They always feel the intend to bring positivity and impact the business for good. Keeping an environment of supportive people helps women in business to overcome this challenge. Having a healthy and a team of believers is also very important, it helps the leaders to be confident in their decisions and working. Breaking the pattern by spending time with family and friends makes the leaders more creative and energetic. Technology is the future and has already become a part of our lives. As a leader woman should never miss this opportunity of entering the field of innovation. Women have their own ways of leading the team, they tend to be more responsible and always lead with empathy. Soon, in the industry, all the versatile roles will be represented by women. So, it becomes necessary to be ready and keep the desire to lead all the sectors of the industry. Women in business are always ready for opportunities and challenges coming their way. They are aware that their role in society and the business is for a higher purpose. With their leadership and experience, they can guide other women and the team to build their careers. Today, women are role-models for other women leaders in business and other sectors. There are so many success
stories around the world of women successful in leading and making their mark in the world. Expanding the knowledge and keeping an everlearning mindset will help one to grow in the business. These businesswomen are trying their best to bring change in the world. On other hand, we as a society should support diversion-inclusion and should not be gender biased in the workforce. It is only if we as a male-dominated workforce keep a bigger aspect and have wider thinking of promoting the women in all the strata of the field that will bring the change at a greater aspect. Driving these business outcomes globally Insights Success features such passionate businesswomen, in its upcoming edition of Top 20 Businesswomen Leading the Charge of Successful Business in 2021. Featuring this edition is the Cover Story of Rhonda Vetere - a passionate leader who believes in giving back in and out of the office. She is the Executive Vice President and Chief Information Officer of Herbalife Nutrition. Rhonda is a 2x author and an avid sports fan. Her latest book is titled Grit & Grind where one can learn about her leadership style. Lastly, while flipping through the pages make sure to read the CXO standpoints by the industry experts and the creative articles written by our in-house editorials. Let’s begin the journey!
Sourabh More
sourabh@insightssuccess.com
COVER STORY
10
Rhonda Vetere
Enabling Profound Business Outcomes Through Technology
ARTICLE
28
40
Understanding Leadership
Effective Workforce
Avid Leaders Who Have Taken Their Businesses to the New Heights
Leveraging the Right Talent in the Company
18
22
32
36
44
48
CONTENTS 18
22
32
Dr. Kerstin Oberprieler
Irene Froehlich
Kim Vogel
One of the World's Leading Figures in Behavioural Science
Making an Impact on Healthcare
A Dynamic Business Executive
44
48
36
Marina Tognetti
Rachel Andalaft
Rebecca Harrop
Innovative Tech Entrepreneur
An Entrepreneur at the Heart
Leading the Multiple Role: Parent, Educator and Inspirational Tech Professional
Editor-in-Chief Sumita Sarkar Managing Editor Anish Miller
Executive Editor
Assistant Editors
Sourabh More
Jenny Fernandes
Visualizer
Art & Design Director
David King
Asha Bange
Associate Designer Kushagra Gupta
Co-designer Kartik Balapurkar
Senior Sales Manager
Business Development Manager
Kshitij S
Peter Collins
Marketing Manager
Sales Executives
John Matthew
David, Martin, Sagar
Technical Head
Business Development Executives
Jacob Smile
Steve, Joe, Aidan, Binay
Technical Specialist Aditya
Digital Marketing Manager Marry D'Souza
SME-SMO Executive Amol Wadekar
Research Analyst Frank Adams
Database Management Stella Andrew
Circulation Manager Robert Brown
Technology Consultant David Stokes
sales@insightssuccess.com March, 2021
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Featured Person
Company Name
Brief
Amber Manning CEO
Just Cuts Franchising justcuts.com
Just CutsTM was founded on one simple idea – that people want quality style haircuts from a qualified Stylist, at an affordable price.
Bahar Schmidt CEO
Eluxit eluxit.com
Eluxit is an online platform where you can purchase high-end trips from trusted, vetted travel agents or travelers who are reselling their non-refundable travel packages.
Carolina Winterliv Deputy CEO
Card Group cardgroup.com
Card Group International is a world's leading greeting card and gift products franchise.
Caroline Gudin General Manager France
Coty cotyinc.com
Coty is one of the world’s largest beauty companies with an iconic portfolio of brands across fragrance, color cosmetics, and skin and body care.
Chiara Pensato CMO
Cutover cutover.com
Cutover is the leader in Work Orchestration and Observability, enabling teams to plan, orchestrate, and analyze complex work faster, smarter, and with greater visibility.
Christine Beckwith President & COO
Vision for Success Coaching and Consulting visionyoursuccess.net
As the visionary behind 20 / 20 Vision for Success, Christine brings her personal and professional philosophy into the firm.
Dr. Kerstin Oberprieler Co-Founder & Chief Executive Officer
PentaQuest pentaquest.io
PentaQuest works with clients to address organisational cultural and performance challenges through the application of of sophisticated, intuitive, and elegant product and services.
Gilan El Saadawi Chief Medical Officer
Realyze Intelligence realyzeintelligence.com
Realyze Intelligence is backed by one of the largest integrated health systems in the nation – UPMC. At UPMC, Realyze is being used for improving patient care, extending analytic capabilities, and supporting clinical research.
Irene Froehlich Chief Communications Officer
DrFirst drfirst.com
DrFirst has pioneered healthcare technology solutions and consulting services that securely connect people at every touchpoint of care to improve patient outcomes.
Ivanka Janssen SVP Global Integrated Supply Chain
Philips philips.com
Philips India Limited is a subsidiary of Royal Philips of the Netherlands, a leading health technology company focused on improving people’s health and enabling better outcomes across the health continuum
Company Name
Featured Person
Brief
Kim Vogel Director Board of Directors
TriCo BancShares tcbk.com
Tri Counties Bank provides a unique brand of Service With Solutions® offering a breadth of personal, small business and commercial banking services to communities throughout Northern and Central California.
Marina Tognetti Founder/ CEO
mYngle myngle.com
mYngle is the pioneer of online language lessons.
Namrita Khandelwal Founder
Vertara vertara.net
Vertara is a California based design and fashion accessories start-up, founded for empowered women, to empower women.
Rachel Andalaft CEO
Mangifera Analytics & REA Consult rea-consult.com
REA Consult comprises of Management and Consulting professionals committed to building bridges for international sustainable investments.
Rebecca Harrop Senior Lecturer in C ybersecurity
University of Bedfordshire beds.ac.uk
University of Bedfordshire is an internationally recognised and award winning institution with a heritage of quality education going back more than 100 years.
Regina Lowrie President & CEO
Dytrix dytrix.com
Dytrix supports the critical risk management requirement of Knowing Your Counterparty (KYC).
Rhonda Vetere Executive Vice President and Chief Information Officer
Herbalife Nutrition herbalife.com
Herbalife Nutrition is a global nutrition company.
Sharon Parsons Associate Director Product Design/Development
Humana humana.com
Humana's cultural foundation is aligned to helping members achieve their best health by delivering personalized, simplified, whole-person healthcare experiences.
Sherry Graziano Head of Digital Commerce
Truist truist.com
SunTrust and BB&T have combined in a historic merger of equals to create Truist, the sixth largest U.S. bank holding company.
Zahara Malik CEO & Co-Founder
Grosvenor Capital grocap.co
Grosvenor Capital (“GroCap”) headquartered in the UAE, is an independent business services company.
Rhonda Vetere Enabling Profound Business Outcomes Through Technology
“
Opening up, being transparent, listening, learning, holding folks accountable with data and putting myself in others’ shoes. Leading from every chair on the Team.
“
COVER STORY
U
nprecedented times call for unprecedented, winwin, innovative, decisive, and practical solutions from business leaders. Driving business outcomes of an organization is not an easy task. It requires prolific expertise, comprehension of global business trends, optimum utilization of technology and the teams or resources in hand, and so much more. Possessing the passion to lead, an urge to contribute and servant leadership are important attributes found within successful business leaders.
Rhonda Vetere is one such a passionate leader who believes in giving back in and out of the office. Servant leadership is in her heart and she enjoys investing on people’s career and seeing them grow. She is the Executive Vice President and Chief Information Officer of Herbalife Nutrition. Rhonda is a 2x author and is an avid sports fan. Her latest book is titled Grit & Grind where one can learn about her leadership style. She is a triathlete, and she was quoted in Shape Magazine, “Racing is my outlet, it’s not about competing with others – I’m finding joy.” She is a true
corporate athlete as well. She aims to truly inspire change and growth within the organizations and people around her. Purposeful and Conscious Rhonda’s journey started when she was a little girl with big dreams and she has worked since the age of 12 while going to school and this continued while in college working full time and going to school full time. From being a lifeguard to working in telecommunications and across a plethora of industry verticals in her career, she has always been very purposeful in the areas that she worked and made conscious career moves and always ran into the fire to help during crisis management business times whether it was 9/11, AIG “too big to fail,” Lehman Brothers collapsing or a financial merger/acquisition(s). A True Corporate Athlete Rhonda continues to pursue challenging athletic achievements because she finds that the training increases her mental toughness alongside keeping her physically healthy and helping her to make better decisions.
Over the years, she has completed over 60 half and full marathons, triathlons, and have completed six 70.3mile IronMans. Even though she travels 75% of the time, fitness is an important part of her routine and something she encourages her team at work to maintain as well. She strongly believes in being a Corporate Athlete in and out of the Board Room. Mission Driven Rhonda’s goal has always been to be a well-rounded executive and work with all the industry verticals with multiple organizational transformations driving business outcomes. Managing through crises and intense moments throughout her career has enabled her to pick up nuggets in what works and what does not, on a global scale. Rhonda’s mission is to use her experience and leadership to drive change in the world. She wants to positively impact IT, businesses, and institutions – and the people they serve. Prioritizing Learning Rhonda believes in learning from her industry peers and thus stays in contact with them regularly. She considers it important to learn and stay updated about what is going on in the world and different industry verticals. “The latest and greatest shiny object in technology often is not the best answer and taking time to learn is important,” Rhonda adds. Evolving Business Solutions Herbalife Nutrition is a global company that has been changing people’s lives with great nutrition products and a proven business opportunity for its independent distributors since 1980. Herbalife’s offerings depend on various industry verticals it caters to, however bottom line is the world has changed immensely over the year and business offerings will continue to evolve with the targeted audience whether it is online, mobile or even more high touch service and having technology help enable business outcomes even more while using data insights. Herbalife offers high-quality, science-backed products, sold in over 90 countries by entrepreneurial distributors who
Rhonda Vetere, Executive Vice President and Chief Information Ofcer, Herbalife Nutrition
COVER STORY
provide one-on-one coaching and a supportive community that inspires their customers to embrace a healthier, more active lifestyle. Through Herbalife Nutrition’s global campaign to eradicate hunger, it is committed to bringing nutrition and education to communities around the world.
focused on running across the Serengeti for young girls’ empowerment through sports and education. This is a 55mile run for woman empowerment with armed guards and doing career fair with them as well. Breaking through Barriers
Global Emotional Intelligence Rhonda believes that communication, managing organizations through change, taking risks and leadership are key qualities businesswomen should possess. She considers managing through diverse industry background and global expertise as pivotal. She prioritizes receptivity, adaptability, dealing with conflict, and having crucial conversations.
Rhonda expresses that being one of the youngest femaleManaging Directors in the financial sector was a barrier for her breakthrough, and with a proven track record, showing results and measuring them with the support of male leaders, she overcame it. She is willing to go to the ends of the earth to get things done correctly and efficiently alongside my team. Servant Leadership
Mobility is at her forefront – thinking outside of the USA and having global emotional intelligence is important according to Rhonda. She likes to take up hard assignments around the globe. With over 25+ years of experience and having managed IT divisions of over 20k+ people across multiple continents, Rhonda has lived and worked all over the globe with people from a variety of culture and has managed up to 162 countries, she considers ‘global’ to be her middle name.
Rhonda believes that nothing is very perfectly balanced. One of her mottos’ is when you say “no” to something you are saying “yes” to something else. She learned later in her career that servant leadership is a priority and needs to be balanced in the calendar. Everything is scheduled in her life – often a year in advance. She appreciates opportunities to speak to students and contribute to professional and academic advisory boards. Valuing the Role of a Mentor
Empowering Women through Example Rhonda’s work energy is focused on digital transformation and working on developing talent, focused on the next generation of leaders, succession planning and continuing to enable business outcomes through technology. Her plan for the next significant impact on the world includes two large events: Race Across America, this is a bike race across America in June 2021 to bring awareness towards Veterans and those suffering from PTSD in silence. This Team is made up of industry leaders, Military personnel, Olympic athletes and more. This race will be 3,070 miles across America. In October 2021, her impact is
Rhonda believes that social media is a distraction for aspiring leaders, and she suggests to guard against it. She considers that the next generation of female leaders need to focus on business outcomes and not get tied into the social media vortex. She emphasizes on the fact that instant gratification in one’s career does not happen overnight. Rhonda considers it important to find a strong role model and a mentor who has a proven track record. She advises young leaders to have courage, speak up, take risks, take hard assignments outside of the US and find a mentor.
& & 20 The
Most
SUCCESSFUL
BUSINESSWOMEN to Watch, 2020
kimberly Khoury
Paving her Way in Sustainability Development
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Top 20 Businesswomen Leading the Charge of Successful Business in 2021
Dr. KERSTIN
OBERPRIELER
One of the World's Leading Figures in Behavioural Science
N
ot afraid of stepping up and always ready for opportunities - Dr. Kerstin Oberprieler helps, organizations and employees thrive by unlocking employee motivation using cutting-edge behavioral science & gamification. She is the Co-Founder & Chief Executive Officer at PentaQuest. An interview conducted between Dr. Kerstin Oberprieler and Insights Success shows her genuine desire to serve the clients, PentaQuest, & the world. Below are the highlights of the interview: Kindly take us through your journey on becoming a proficient business leader. I started PentaQuest with the idea of making work more fun. My background is in psychology and commerce and I always had people comment that this was an odd combination. My response was always “Really? People and business are the most logical combination in the world”. Outside of my career I have also represented Australia in Taekwondo and was always search for ways to hack my own performance and motivation. So when I came across the concept of gamification in 2013, it was like a light bulb went off in my head. I started applying gamification to my colleagues at the time and became fascinated by this methodology for bringing about behaviour change in the workplace. I also began my Ph.D. in workplace gamification. It wasn’t long before I had requests from clients to help them apply this same approach to improve their workplace experience, and so PentaQuest began.
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We now serve clients all over the world, delivering consulting on gamification and behavioural science as well as having a Software as a Service platform to give the power of game mechanics to our clients to help them help their organisations to thrive. As a female leader, what has been the most significant barrier in your career? And how did you overcome it? One barrier I’ve experienced is being taken less seriously than my male counterparts. This is incredibly frustrating. I’ve had male leaders of similar experience to me be condescending and assume that I know less than they do, purely because I am a woman. I find other women do not have this bias upfront. To overcome this, I surround myself with other women leaders, especially those whose businesses are bigger, older or better than mine. I also surround myself with men and women who believe in me and my business, so that my circle is fully supportive of me and my endeavours. Life’s too short to surround yourself with people who block or hinder you. How do you balance work and life responsibilities? It’s easy for your business to take over your whole life because you are so passionate about it. But it’s important to understand that work is one part of life and that other areas need to be cared for in order for work to do well. I’ve come to appreciate just how important rest is to fuel my energies for work.
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Some of the strategies I use include having a set finish time for work (sometimes hard with international meetings), a strict rule of no work on Saturdays, and giving plenty of time to my martial arts practice. I find that when I take a break from work to focus on exercise, friends and family, and relaxation, that I come to work with more energy and creativity. How do you diversify the company’s offerings to entice the target audience? PentaQuest is at the leading edge of organisational cultural transformation through intuitive and engaging products and gamification services. We have quickly realized that the typical manifestation of gamification falls far short of its potential; companies that are offering gamification products build these around simple competitions and gimmicks and have missed the opportunity to build solutions that leverage big data, social and behavioural sciences, and psychology, all in a seamless user interface design. Through the integration of these disciplines, PentaQuest is able to offer customers unique capabilities and solutions that engage their employees and shift the culture towards one of high performance based on innovation, strategic focus, and agency, and enjoyment. How do you cope up with capricious technological trends to boost your personal growth? Technology is part of modern life and will only become more ubiquitous. As the leader of a technology-based business, I embrace new technologies and like to explore their potential for increasing human potential and higherperforming workplaces.
like women (stereotypically more caring and emotive). This dichotomy is untrue and harmful of course. But the truth is that women are still underrepresented in business leadership. And this is especially so in start ups and technology business. So vital traits for business leaders include a clear vision, determination and grit to achieve this, and a genuine desire to serve your clients, your team, and the world. Where are you focusing your energy right now, and where do you hope to make an impact next? PentaQuest grew rapidly in 2020 due to the increased recognition and need to engage staff remotely, and do so in a human, appreciative and even fun way. So, our focus currently is on continuing with this momentum. We have a well-established client base in Australia and the government sector, and our focus is to grow our reach to ensure that we support more businesses, and help their teams thrive. What would be the biggest challenge for the next generation of women and how can one be a strong role model for them? I see so many amazing young women entering the workforce. My hope is that some of the barriers women face are fading and the next generation does not need to deal with these as much. A truly equal workplace may take a few years or decades yet, unfortunately. Gender aside, I see the biggest challenge for the next generation (as well as existing ones) to be that of climate change. Climate change is the biggest challenge facing us all and it will affect generations to come.
What are the vital traits that every business women should possess? It’s often debated whether women leaders should act more like men (stereotypically ruthless and objective) or more
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Be PASSIONATE about making a DIFFERENCE - DELIGHT the world!
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Dr. Kerstin Oberprieler, Co-Founder & Chief Executive Officer, PentaQuest
www.insightssuccess.com
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Irene Froehlich,
Chief Communications Ofcer, DrFirst
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Top 20 Businesswomen Leading the Charge of Successful Business in 2021
Irene Froehlich Making an Impact on Healthcare
H
ospitals and physician practices strive to provide the highest quality of patient care in a fast-paced, high-pressure environment. By ensuring healthcare providers have access to other clinicians and information they need when they need it, Irene Froehlich, Chief Communications Officer at DrFirst, is uniquely positioned to help them deliver. In an interview with Irene Froehlich and Insights Success, we learn about Irene’s journey as a leader in healthcare and discover how DrFirst closes the gaps between information and people so that all sectors in healthcare can create better outcomes together. Below are the highlights of the interview: Please take us through your journey of becoming a skilled business leader. When I started my career, my mentor told me to always be on the lookout for opportunities to solve real problems. He also told me to look for the strengths in people, not to focus on their weaknesses. And lastly, to give people the benefit of the doubt, not to assume malicious intent. Those three principles have been instrumental in helping me over the last 21 years working at DrFirst. My responsibilities have spanned sales, account management, talent acquisition, corporate culture, marketing, and public relations. Through the years, my teams have executed a wide variety of initiatives that have helped bring in top-notch staff, shape the company’s culture, develop strategies, and established DrFirst’s brand and reputation. Steve Jobs had a saying, “A players hire A players, but B players hire C players, and C players hire D players. The trickledown effect causes bozo explosions in companies.” When it comes to building successful teams, I am a firm believer in bringing in talented people who are better than yourself in their individual areas of expertise and
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empowering them to be proactive, creative, and take personal responsibility for achieving results. As I mentioned earlier, it’s important to be able to identify problems, but many leaders stop there. Good leaders must be prepared to roll up their sleeves and help solve problems. Your team respects you more when you are willing to be part of shouldering the burden, and you are focused on finding solutions. Doing so also gives you real world perspective that helps when you look at the bigger picture and make critical decisions. One thing to note, you won’t always make the right call, but you have to have confidence in owning your choices. Be honest when you’re wrong, learn from your mistakes, and be real with your team. They will be more willing to take chances, to admit fault, and grow when they see that it’s OK to “fail fast.” At DrFirst, we try to convey to our teams that if you have a difficult choice to make, you will always be supported in your decision if what you’re doing is morally and ethically right and is in the best interest of our customers. Lastly, when you work in a company as innovative and entrepreneurial as DrFirst, you often find yourself operating at breakneck speed. Everyone is passionate, driven, and smart, and sometimes in that type of environment lots of plates are spinning at the same time. It’s easy to feel overwhelmed, slighted, and overlooked if you allow yourself to have that perspective. But, if you give people the benefit of the doubt and assume the best in others, you’ll find that we are often aligned in goals, and there’s no reason for hurt feelings or animosity. Approaching others with that mindset allows you not to be defensive and inquire from a place of seeking to understand rather than to accuse. If something feels out of place or uncomfortable, don’t fall into the trap of the “Fundamental Attribution Error,” thinking the other person has a bad attitude or is intentionally malicious or trying to hurt you or cause
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If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough. -Albert Einstein
frustration. The more insight and empathy I have, the more trust and goodwill I can have, allowing for a swifter resolution of issues or difficulties. How do you cope with fast-changing technological trends to boost your personal growth? Being better today than yesterday is an important part of the DrFirst culture. Being a wife, mom, and career woman, I am always looking for ways to grow personally and professionally. There are only so many hours in a day, and I try not to waste it doing things that are meaningless. For example, I don’t watch TV or read fictional books because they prevent me from investing time into my family, my community, or learning. Very early in my career, when I was right out of college, I read that the world’s most successful business people read three developmental books every month. So, I set a personal goal to do that. When I was younger, I read these books the way that the average person reads. Most people read every page word for word, but the strategy for fitting in so many books a month is to start by reading a summary of the book to understand the most important salient takeaways. Then you skim or speed read through the whole book and ask yourself whether you need a deeper dive into the material. If so, then you read it again from cover to cover. If not, then move on to the next book.
As a female leader, what has been the most significant barrier in your career? And how did you overcome it? The most significant barrier I faced early in my career had more to do with my age and maturity than being a woman. I have always been one of the youngest managers at DrFirst, and in my youth I had a bit of an attitude and a tendency toward demanding things be done rather than reaching agreement through persuasion and collaboration. I assumed people weren’t taking my ideas seriously because they thought I was young and inexperienced. Eventually, I learned that it’s far more powerful to ask questions and lead people to reach the same conclusion rather than telling them what to think. As they say, “You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make it drink.” By asking thoughtful and learning questions, with a goal of seeking to understand, you have a greater chance to influence and let people own their ideas. Despite what some might think, expressing vulnerability and asking for help, clarification, or input can be a sign of strength and confidence, not weakness. The right questions are signals of trust — and they can inspire people to trust you in return. For example, rather than telling your team about a new opportunity you've identified, ask them, "Do you see a game-changing opportunity that could create much more value than we’ve delivered in the past?" A big yet simple question like this can inspire a burst of collaboration and creativity across the organization. And if you consistently demonstrate a question-first mindset, you’ll help establish an overall culture of curiosity and learning that will keep your team innovating and responding to challenges effectively. I’ll also admit that I had a fiery temper in my youth —and it certainly didn’t win me any support with the leadership team. I’ve learned that when you start getting upset, people get defensive and stop listening, and after a few burns, trust is lost and is hard to regain. So I’m very intentional about trying to understand other people’s perspectives, why decisions are made, what the backstory is, monitoring my
One of the ways I use technology is to passively learn while I’m doing other things. These days, my free time is limited, so I subscribe to a book service that provides book ratings and summaries. I also have switched to listening to Audible books. This allows me to fit in a workout for my brain and my body, or close my eyes and relax after a long day. Typically, I will speed up the pace of the reader, and then stop and go back when it’s something interesting I want to listen to more closely.
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the information they need when they need it, so they can provide the best possible patient care. This is more important now than ever as every corner of the healthcare industry is immersed in meeting the many challenges of the coronavirus pandemic. We are introducing new products and services, including our Healthiverse Enterprise SuiteSM that allows clients to achieve better outcomes through the power of synergy than with separate, stand-alone solutions. One example is iPrescribeTM, a free prescription app, which replaces the doctor’s paper prescription pad. Another is Backline Telehealth, which allows healthcare staff to securely communicate with each other, the EMS team, and patients. We also have products for pharmacists, pharmaceutical companies, payers, and patients. It’s a galaxy of information that we are pulling together to create efficiencies and better patient care.
tone, slowing down my speech, and presenting my thoughts calmly. Sometimes I fail, and I ask my teams to hold me accountable so that I can be aware of opportunities to be better. How do you balance work and life responsibilities? I think it’s especially easy for women to fall into the trap of trying to be perfect (the perfect mom, the perfect wife, the perfect friend, the perfect employee) and feeling guilty when they fall short. I used to feel guilty about being hyperfocused on work rather than being a good cook or spending time cleaning my house. Guilt about these things is a useless emotion that can get in the way of personal and professional growth. I learned to embrace that I can choose the things I want to excel at and find ways to compensate for things I don’t enjoy doing. For example, I hired a housekeeper because, frankly, it’s cheaper than marriage counseling, and I’d rather spend my time outside of work relaxing and having quality time with my friends and family. I also have my groceries delivered because I’d rather spend $99 a year to have delivery than have to spend my time searching for things at the store. I’m fortunate to have a husband who partners with me to run the house and a daughter who is responsible and also manages her own chores. Where are you focusing your energy right now? Last year, I led a rebranding for DrFirst as part of our 20th anniversary, including coining a new word: the HealthiverseTM, representing all the stakeholders in the interconnected healthcare universe. Today, I’m focused on our efforts to “Unite the Healthiverse” with new technology products that give healthcare providers and organizations
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Of course, the hardships of the pandemic have also affected our staff. They are inspired to be able to make an impact on the heroes on the frontlines and have shown tremendous energy and commitment to DrFirst and our clients. We are focused on helping DrFirst find new ways to keep our talented staff engaged and in sync, as so many of us are working at home and facing unique distractions and challenges, such as feelings of isolation, working from our living rooms, and helping children with virtual e-learning. What advice would you give to the next generation of women leaders? There was a time when I didn’t like the term “women leaders” because I felt that there shouldn’t be a designation. A leader was a leader. But the truth is that there are real barriers women face in the journey to leadership. It is important to share lessons learned with women to create a chain of successful women in leadership positions. My advice to women is to not dampen your ambition and to use your influence to build up and support equality in the workplace. Integrate your life experiences and leadership philosophies and use them as a guiding compass. Learn how to collaborate, empower others, and build real connections in both your personal and professional lives. Be driven by a higher purpose, not just collecting a paycheck or doing enough to get by. Have confidence in yourself, don’t second guess your decisions. And lastly, have a grateful heart. Thinking positively, looking for opportunities to be thankful, and counting your blessings gives you the mental fortitude and the right attitude to be strong for yourself, your family, and your team. For the last 21 years, DrFirst has taken bold steps to disrupt healthcare with innovation. It has been my privilege to be part of this team—working together to make a difference in improving collaboration, make clinical information accessible, and "Uniting the Healthiverse." March 2021 | 25
AVID LEADERS Who BUSINESSES to
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Understanding Leadership
ho have taken their o the NEW HEIGHTS
A
re the words business and enterprise the same? By the same logic, are businessmen and entrepreneurs, the same?
In reality it could be as different as a river and an ocean. Both after all are waterbodies with marine-life which are important for life’s existence the way we know it. That is precisely the point where the similarity ends. One has a flow (never an ebb!), is pliant for most parts, and has water than can be consumed. The other ebbs and flows, remains unpredictable for most parts, and cannot be consumed due to its brackishness. A business and an enterprise too are the same. They are meant to provide something to a desired audience against money. And people strive to keep it that way. Where things go apart is with respect to an ideology, and the need to bring about change. Businesses are set ideas that make money with existing or defined ideas. Entrepreneurships typically test ideas for their worth, and where found useful, can bring immense changes. We present to you four entrepreneur-businessmen who while changing the world have given the world of business one central idea. That it makes sense to be different! Larry Page Larry Page, short for Lawrence Edward Page is an American computer scientist and entrepreneur. He and Sergey Brin were instrumental in creating Google, the most admired of online search engines, and today also one of the most popular of websites that provide a range of services from online payment to everything that an individual may require to work and perform better. Incidentally, the word Google is a misspelling of the word "googol" i.e. the number 1 followed by 100. But today it doesn’t make sense as Google has gone way beyond 1s and 100s. It reaches practically every individual on the planet and affects just as many.
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Exactly what did Page do? He built an algorithm to link the backlink of webpages to an index. Through this index, one could visit all the attached backlinked websites either directly or through further links. Today, this index called Google connects to practically every website and is thus a motherlode of information. Google brought Page a significant amount of wealth which according to Forbes recently is in the range of USD 89.7 billion, making him the 8th-wealthiest person in the world! Google wasn’t his only magnum-opus. Together with Sergey Brin, Larry authored a research document called "The Anatomy of a Large-Scale Hypertextual Web Search Engine", which is said to be one of the most downloaded scientific documents ever! Mark Zuckerberg The creator of Facebook had all the signs of being a geek right from early on. He loved computers and programming so much that his parents arranged for a private tutor! In some time, the tutor became the taught! It developed to the stage where he left college in 2004 to pursue his new creation which later became Facebook. Right then it over a million users. Speaking of creativity, he developed a messaging platform in BASIC called ‘Zucknet’ at just 12 which was used by his dentist-father! Facebook had companies including AOL and Microsoft lining up to buy it but Mark had other interests. His one-time colleagues accused him of stealing their idea which went to court. He fought the same and came out unscathed. With time Facebook grew in size and capacities so much so that a decade back, he was the Time Mag’s ‘Person of the Year’ in 2010 besides Vanity Fair placing him at # 1 in their list of New Establishment! Year 2013 saw FB register on the list of Fortune 500 for the first time! Mark all of 28, was the youngest CEO on the list!
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As far back as October 2019, FB's daily active user based averaged 1.62 billion- a YOY increase of close to 10%. His current worth as on 31 Jan 2020 was USD 78 billion! A geek with a big heart, he has signed the 'Giving Pledge' under which he shall donate a minimum of 50% of his networth to philanthropy. It’s rumoured that his earnings by the end of March 2021 could be over USD 100 billion which effectively may make him the 5th richest person in the world! Elon Musk The disrupter who is tearing apart every business idea that we know of was himself bullied in school. Retreating into his shell, he sure has come up with ways to bring down the biggest and baddest of them all. The co-founder of PayPal (PYPL) and Tesla Motors (TSLA), founder of SpaceX, and the Boring Company is doing things the way no-one ever has. Besides thinking seriously different, he does things as differently, right from being very ethical at work to working as many as 80 to 120 hours per week with a laser-like sharpness to his vision and focus. His net-worth as per the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, is as on Jan 26, 2021 an astounding USD 209 billion making him the richest person in the world. A badly bullied child in school, he found respite in technology and as early as 10, managed to create a piece of software which he sold locally for a princely sum of USD 500.00! He later moved to Canada, and then the US to complete his education. A Bachelor of Science in Physics and another in Economics from Wharton School saw Musk take to physics as a career. Another one of the ‘leave education half-way thru’ billionair-entrepreneurs and techgeek, Musk quit his PhD in applied physics from Stanford University- in just two days to immerse himself into the ocean of disruptive entrepreneurship that was unfolding around him in Silicon Valley! It resulted in the birth of Zip2 that was eventually taken over by AltaVista, reputed search engine till the early 2000s. Then came X.com which later morphed as PayPal which was bought by eMay for a whopping USD 1.5 billion! Next came the jewel in his crown, Tesla in the year 2004 of which he is the CEO and main Architect, and which today is the world’s most popular car brand that threatens all there is in the name of automobiles! Wanting to go beyond Earth, Musk founded SpaceX and is quite close to both NASA and USAF when it comes to designing projectiles and things for the military. If there’s one thing certain about this man, it is that he questions everything and every order. And unlike others, comes up with viable alternatives! These aren’t the only folks changing the world of business and the world overall. There are others too. It’s just that these are among those who have brought unimaginable
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changes. In subsequent days, we shall feature more like them in this space. Reed Hastings Reed Hastings, a student of math from Brunswick in Maine in the US is a Graduate which he did in 1983. He later served the US Army for a brief period and coming back to the US went to Stanford for a Master’s degree in computer science. Beginning 1988, Hastings changed tracks and became a software developer who went on to found Pure Software (later the Pure Atria Corp) the one he sold in 1997 for an astronomical sum. A chance encounter led to the birth of Netflix in its original avatar in the year 1997. He was charged a huge sum as late fee for having held back a rented video-cassette. With CDs and DVDs making a debut, he came up with the idea of delivering the same by courier and this led to the birth of Netflix in California in 1997 in its original mail-order avatar. It first started with DVDs on rent for a week which subsequently became an unlimited scheme for which lists could be registered on Netflix’s website. In time, Hastings partnered with movie studios and aggressively marketed Netflix’s catalogue that had practically everything for everyone from films to documentaries to indies. While this was all going on, Hastings also launched streaming services that permitted viewers to accesses movies and TV shoes by downloading the same on to their gadgets. The year 2011 shall be remembered for Hastings bad decisions including the splitting up of Netflix despite which Hastings was instrumental in Netflix getting into content meant exclusively for streaming with “House of Cards” in 2013 being the first in the series. In time, streaming services became so successful that it became synonymous with the word Netflix leading them into full-length feature films. These aren’t by any means the only entrepreneurs. There are others like them and we shall only see more in the future, some of whom we shall keep featuring in our articles. www.insightssuccess.com
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Top 20 Businesswomen Leading the Charge of Successful Business in 2021
Kim Vogel A Dynamic Business Executive
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ife is not about a perfect plan. No one gets everything they want and in difficult times it is important not to give up, but instead, have faith that you will end up where you are meant to be. While it is helpful to set goals, life will inevitably throw curveballs your way. Kim Vogel is the Board Director at TriCounties Bancshares and former President and Co-Founder of BaseVenture. Kim shares how the unexpected lead her on the most fulfilling career trajectory and to building several game-changing technology companies. A Serial Technology Entrepreneur As a child, Kim Vogel would never have guessed that technology would lead her to her life-long career. Kim’s venture into entrepreneurship and innovation began in the late 1990s as the CFO of Semaphore Partners, one of the first digital marketing agencies. Kim was one of the original members of the executive team that grew the business to become a global powerhouse with clients like General Motors, Orbitz, and more. Shortly thereafter Kim joined some of her team members at mFoundry. As many start ups do, mFoundry pivoted its business model until it found its niche in building one of the first mobile banking software platforms and selling its service to some of the largest financial institutions in the world. Kim was one of mFoundry’s initial executives as she and her team gave birth to mobile banking and other original payment technologies. This innovative company helped to redefine the way that people bank by introducing the then-crazy notion of banking on a mobile device. mFoundry was the first company to submit a mobile banking app to the Apple App Store and one of the earliest to introduce the www.insightssuccess.com
ability to deposit a check via a mobile device. Kim served as CFO of mFoundry for almost a decade, which grew to become the largest provider in North America and was later sold to FIS (NYSE: FIS). Shortly thereafter Kim and her colleague John Pizzi co-founded Base Venture and started to build out their next amazing team. BaseVenture is an innovative force in the alternative investment and wealth management industries. It is a cloud-based software company that develops innovative solutions in the areas of financial reporting, data visualization, and process management. The enterprise’s award-winning platform, “FundManager.io”, helps organizations simplify and automate how private funds are administered and managed. By providing users with data intelligence, reporting, workflow management, and document storage, “FundManager.io” radically simplifies the process of fund management and provides a platform that is intelligent, scalable, affordable, and secure. It’s All About the Team The best part of Kim Vogel’s journey has been the chance to build and nurture great teams. Building great companies is a team sport and it is not something one can do very successfully by themself. Kim constantly tries to create her own, ‘dream team’. From Behind a Desk to a Seat at the Big Table The Board Room At Harvard Business School, perhaps the most soughtafter job for Kim was that of a Wall Street investment banker. While attending, it was hard not to get caught up in the competitive, fierce, and glamorized portrayal March 2021 | 33
Kim Vogel
Former President & Co-Founder BaseVenture, Currently Public Board Member TriCo BancShares
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Expect the Unexpected
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of life in banking. But that was just the beginning. Without realizing it, Kim’s MBA, technology background, and finance/audit skills, and time serving as a c-suite executive were solidifying the skills needed to be a successful board member. What began as a sparked interest in a business school class quickly evolved into figuring out Kim’s passion and expertise as a board director. “I would have never imagined my years in public accounting as an auditor, work on Wall Street and operational experience as an executive were some of the exact skills boards look for,” said Kim. It is an unparalleled opportunity to grow as a person and businesswoman. Kim Vogel’s career progressed and she became the Chief Financial Officer of several companies. Each of these companies had a board of directors, and as CFO, she worked closely with the board on a regular basis. Kim enjoyed the different dynamics of the board members, each contributing something unique to growing our company. An Experienced Leader Rooted in Mentorship After graduation, Kim Vogel headed to an investment bank where she gained invaluable business experience and, perhaps most importantly, learned to navigate the crazy hours and become an even harder worker. All in all, Kim found her path, reached her highest career goal, and realized her greater purpose – using her experiences to provide others with guidance on their own career path. www.insightssuccess.com
Kim Vogel makes her personal mission to provide mentorship to career-minded young girls. She loves to coach driven young girls and share her three most important lessons that she learned in navigating her own career. First, never underestimate the power of education. Second, find your niche. Third, stay true to your roots, remember where you started, and above all else, have faith in your journey. Transformation Continues to Higher Eduction Kim Vogel’s key to success is to stay open-minded, focusing on opening new doors and creating as many opportunities for herself as possible. She is currently focused on two primary areas – first and foremost to make a difference in the world. Kim is channeling her efforts in higher education as this was the gamechanger in her career. As a first-generation college student, the impact of her education has been the root of her success. She is working intensely to ensure others have this same opportunity as a former adjunct professor and most currently as a board trustee for Saint Mary’s College. Second, Kim is focused on continuing her professional career objectives through public board work. Kim is so drawn to this work as the perfect trifecta of where she is professionally wanting to maximize impact, coach others, and still be challenged.
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Marina Tognetti, Founder and CEO, mYngle
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Top 20 Businesswomen Leading the Charge of Successful Business in 2021
Marina Tognetti Innovative Tech Entrepreneur
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hange is all around us. Markets keep changing as a result of fast-paced advancement in technology. This influences the way business is conducted, for consumers as well as for companies. This means that to be successful one must be able to adapt and shift the perspective, focusing on customer-oriented strategies. But ‘CHANGE is GOOD’ as it forces improvements and continuous developments. As a business leader, Marina Tognetti does not think that she needs to be an expert in everything, but that she should instead understand the implications of current trends and dynamics, and how these can impact the company, its customers, the value chain.
businesses. While many of the traditional offline players have been challenged by this sudden shift, mYngle was already in the ‘right place’, leveraging many years of experience and proven capabilities to deliver successful online training.
In this era of challenging technologic evolution, the vital traits of a business woman are similar to that of an innovative entrepreneur. She must have a strong vision, to set the direction and anticipate and navigate challenges, but at the same time be flexible and able to adapt. She must not be afraid of taking (calculated) risks, in order to anticipate trends and steer the company in turbulent waters, building an organization that is agile to respond to this fast-paced environment. Marina Tognetti is one such leading tech entrepreneur, Founder of myngle.com, but the passion for entrepreneurship came later on in her career.
Leveraging New Technologies mYngle nurtures an obsession for customer satisfaction, and this is also one of its key strengths. It looks to continuously improve its service. It does so by constantly listening to users’ feedback and improving accordingly, as well as leveraging new technologies at its advantage. This is also reflected in mYngle's internal evaluation systems and how it assesses its job. It constantly monitors its users’ reactions and tries to adjust accordingly, using adapted versions of NPS (Net Promoter Score), which defines that only excellence counts. Its average lessons’ scores are 4.8/5.0.
When Marina graduated from University it was an era when entrepreneurship was not very common for academics. She built first a successful career by large multinationals, Procter & Gamble, Philips, Sara Lee, The Boston Consulting Group and eBay; living and working in different Countries, and got an MBA from INSEAD. It was when working as consultant on a project on internet strategy that she first saw the potential of internet to disrupt entire industries and change forever the way one buys/sells/interacts. She wanted to be part of that!
Quality Global Online School During challenging times, mYngle listened to its customers, and they gave the new direction, from an open marketplace to a quality global online school, from B2C to B2B. The key to success was accepting that change was needed and not being afraid to question assumptions, truly listening to its customers.
Delivering Successful Online Training When mYngle started, it was pioneering, amongst the first to provide one-to-one teaching of all languages over the internet. Now COVID has completely changed the world as everyone knows it, causing major disruption to many
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That is where mYngle can make an impact, keeping ahead in this digital transformation by constantly innovating and pursuing the best possible quality and results, educating the market on the difference between improvised solutions and years of expertise. Online learning will be an intrinsic part of the new normal, and mYngle is a part of it.
Prioritizing being Happy and Balanced Marina knows that the 80 hours’ week cannot hold forever. That is what many entrepreneurs do, especially at the beginning or when they go through difficult periods. But she learned that it is especially in periods of challenges that one has to find the energy and motivation to keep on pushing forward. To keep the balance, she mixes time for mYngle with lots of sports and time for
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Confidence comes not from always being right, but from not fearing to be wrong. 38 | March 2021
herself. She knows that being happy and in balance gives her company the right leader able to drive it in the most difficult situations. Exhibiting a Genuine Picture Marina aims to be a role model for other women in tech, but an accessible one, trying to give a genuine picture of what it takes to be an entrepreneur, the ups and downs that everyone has but only few actually want to share. Looking Within for Answers Probably the most important advice Marina gives to an aspiring entrepreneur is to stop comparing. She says that the stories one reads about the few that ‘’got it all’’ are rare exceptions and often not the full truth. She advises to let that go of that and to let go of trying to imitate types of leadership one sees around but which doesn't reflect oneself, and be really true to oneself. She advises future women entrepreneurs to not look around for answers, but to look inside.
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Effective Workforce
LEVERAGING THE
RIGHTTALENT IN THE COMPANY
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eople have always been the greatest asset of a company. Talent Wars will define the winners and losers in the next decade. If companies only stick to traditional talent strategies, they’ll lose. After many years as a corporate leader, I founded WrightNow Solutions 4 years ago focused on unlocking the future potential of people and companies enabling rapid growth and success. With that success and growth comes a need to develop a strategic plan for talent acquisition, including the importance of retaining and developing talent. Organizations must have a talent strategy that delivers on key business objectives and positively impacts their staff. This article will exhibit the strategic use of talent and how to leverage them for maximum influence as it builds a thrust behind business growth. But first, let’s discuss the difference between upskilling and reskilling as these two processes are important in talent development to build a stronger, more resilient workforce. Upskilling focuses on learning additional skills or enhancing existing abilities. Employees are provided training to learn new skills to advance or improve their current performance. Alternatively, reskilling focuses on learning a new set of skills to enter a different occupation or career path. It is really helpful in situations where jobs become obsolete due to technology advancement, outsourcing, or automation, and it becomes necessary to train loyal employees for new roles in emerging fields of specialization. Organizations will win when they prepare their people for “the digital enterprise”. Career Development at all Levels Successful implementation of talent development strategies depends on the involvement of stakeholders across the organization. For more strategic, proactive talent decisions
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across the organization, career development should be considered for employees at all levels. Perhaps your company can create a program to train and move high potential warehouse workers to the corporate supply chain org. Maybe your company provides an internal technology certification program to prepare high potential customer service reps or other hourly workers to be promoted to the corporate technology function. Equally as important is leadership cultivation. It seems to be a struggle to find and retain top talent. Raising the emotional and digital IQ of employees is one big step towards creating a culture where people want to work and grow. People in leadership roles require consistent learning, growing, and developing. Digital leaders will need to master the art of influencing and have the personal power to really make an impact. Companies that want to maximize their employees’ professional growth have worked with us to customize their learning experience to develop visionaries and trailblazers. Why do Companies Choose to Upskill/Reskill? In coming years, new roles are expected to be introduced because of technology advancements, and to remain competitive, the company must show a strategic response to changing skill demands. When considering internal career development vs. new external talent, a recent study shows that “33% of departing employee's salary is spent on recruitment efforts and 66% is spent on the intangible cost of lost productivity and knowledge. Upskilling/Reskilling costs less than $10,000 per employee.” While there is definitely a need to procure external talent to gain an outside-in approach to new innovation at times, there’s a strong business case to invest in developing internal talent.
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Personal Development Plans: Understanding the knowledge, skills, and personal traits of each employee is required to identify specialized skills, competencies, and interest. Ÿ Identify Future Needs: Identifying the capabilities in existing employees and required skills to meet future demand. Ÿ Credentialing Program: Increase morale and credibility by offering industry-recognized certifications. Ÿ Match Skills to Needs: Place the right talent in the right roles. Ÿ
Who should be selected for Upskilling/Reskilling? Choosing the right employees for the right upskilling/reskilling talent development programs ensure a career path for the employee. Also, it increases the engagement and retention of the employee. With WrightNow Solutions vast experience in orchestrating talent development programs, we find these items are key: The Right Participants: Include people that have an interest, are motivated, display grit, manage time well, have learning agility, and possess other characteristics that are important for your organization. Ÿ Experiential Learning: Sessions are designed such that participants are introduced to real-world situations to convey learning principles. Ÿ Provocative Topics: Growth in mindset and habits are changed when there is a strong interest from the learners. Ÿ
Companies that upskill/reskill their workforce have reaped benefits including, but not limited to: Ÿ Ÿ Ÿ Ÿ Ÿ
Deeper understanding of the company's needs and its stakeholders Employee morale boost Improved employee retention Increased Diversity, Inclusion, and Equity Increased ROI
Upskilling/Reskilling acts as a valuable asset that enables companies to be responsive to new technological solutions and innovative business practices. How to Establish Progressive Talent Development Programs Talent development programs are designed to address the skill gap based on a competency-based approach. These programs are aimed to evaluate and assess each role's specific skills and understand the need for skill development of employees for their new roles. The following are considered when creating a culture of career development:
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About the Talent Development Firm, WrightNow Solutions We, at WrightNow Solutions, provide a purpose-driven talent strategy that helps organizations attract, equip, develop, and retain the key talent thriving companies need. If you’re running an organization and want to win the war on talent, establishing or enhancing the ability to navigate through career pathways within the organization is essential. As talent development improves, business performance and its ability to meet changing requirements improve. WrightNow Solutions is here to create unique and sustainable talent strategies and deliver experiences to elevate people and companies to their next level of success. Let’s build this future success Wright Now.
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Top 20 Businesswomen Leading the Charge of Successful Business in 2021
RACHEL ANDALAFT An Entrepreneur at the Heart
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t’s all about exercising self-reliance and self-motivation in every step of career to climb the ladder of success, believes Rachel Andalaft, the CEO of Mangifera Analytics and REA Consult. Rachel is an engineer and certified finance professional. She has over a decade of experience in renewable energy investments. Born in Brazil and based in Germany, she is dedicated to enabling investments in the renewable energy sector. She founded REA Consult in 2016, a management and consulting company working with energy investors. In response to the company’s success and the exciting reform taking place in Brazil’s energy sector, Rachel founded Mangifera Analytics to serve the investment community with accurate, reliable, and up-to-date information on this blossoming market. In an interview with Insights Success, Rachel sheds light on how she is heading Mangifera Analytics to offer actionable market intelligence on the Brazilian energy sector. Below are the highlights of the interview: Kindly take us through your journey on becoming a proficient business leader. During the first decade of my career, I was blessed with business opportunities that allowed me to expand my horizons and understand the complexities of international businesses. However, there was always a voice in my head telling me that “I could do more”. Over time this voice grew to a realization that I can do more, and that slight shift in perspective changed
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everything. Not only did I begin to trust in myself, but I also felt a duty to do more and a duty to motivate the people around me. I try to motivate everyone I work with to not compromise when striving for excellence by growing more aware of themselves, their abilities, and their ambitions. How do you diversify the company’s offerings to entice the target audience? I believe in constant adaptation towards more sustainable businesses. While this certainly includes sustainability in the context of social and environmental responsibility, my view of sustainability in business is much broader. I strive for sustainable business excellence every day, be it for a construction company or a bank, by relying on strong structuring and long-lasting solutions. What are the vital traits that every business women should possess? Self-awareness is the most important characteristic anyone should cultivate in business. The traditional corporate structures and communication culture, which used to focus on feedback as the main inspiration for personal growth, no longer exist today. Instead, self-awareness has become paramount to maintaining the edge between oneself and others, thereby having faith in yourself is crucial. Where are you focusing your energy right now, and where do you hope to make an impact next? I have never been more focused on bridging responsible and profitable investments in the energy sector. As developed markets mature and emerging markets follow suit, the challenges of governance and compliance for sustainable investments have only grown more important.
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my personal life. I attempt to keep the habits that count towards my quality of life, however and wherever they arise, but I also don’t give up on the habits that bring me enjoyment. What would be the biggest challenge for the next generation of women and how can one be a strong role model for them? Inclusion and diversification in business had been increasingly promoted through more networking, more empathy, and more exposure to “the other”. The events of 2020 have brought about a much-needed acknowledgment of remote working models, for example, meaning we now face a new cycle where we will have to rely on our “virtualselves” much more than before. The definition and management of this virtual-self will require a range of soft-skills, that are relatively new to the business world. Therefore, the openness to see beyond the virtual-other will now play a bigger role in promoting diversified talents.
A great example is my latest business venture Mangifera Analytics, a business I launched in late-2020. Mangifera Analytics is a platform dedicated entirely to mitigating investors’ reservations and fears about approaching a vibrant but often challenging emerging market. In this case, we are talking about the renewable energy sector in Brazil. As a female leader, what has been the most significant barrier in your career? And how did you overcome it? Female professionals still face very little diversification in the business landscape, it is not just a lack of representativity. As an individual, you want to expand your connections and learn from as many experiences as possible. On one hand, I think that my personal intercultural background, living between Europe and South America, has made me aware of and helped me appreciate the vast range of perspectives the world holds. On the other hand, I actively and intentionally promote diversification and inclusion within my own businesses. How do you balance work and life responsibilities? I compromise on the “how” but not on the “what”. I have learned to value flexibility both in business activities and in
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There is no such thing as a silver bullet. Everything counts.
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There is nothing more impactful than transferring the expertise and lessons learned you have learned to your next opportunity.
How do you cope up with capricious technological trends to boost your personal growth? There is an overwhelming offer on new stuff every day, whether you are wasting time by not adopting a new form of email integration or if your friends are split between different messaging apps. For technology, the 1950s is prehistory but even in 2021, I find the Eisenhower Decision Matrix from that decade continues to prove helpful. Focus on what is important and don’t dwell when you need to move on to the (real) next best thing.
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Rachel Andalaft, CEO, Mangifera Analytics & REA Consult
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Rebecca Harrop, Senior Lecturer, Cybersecurity
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Top 20 Businesswomen Leading the Charge of Successful Business in 2021
Rebecca Harrop Leading the Multiple Role: Parent, Educator and Inspirational Tech Professional “
B
e yourselves. Fearlessly. When (when, not if) you mess up – own it. It is not a big deal. Don’t agonise over it or overthink it. Own it, learn from it, let it go, move on,” says Rebecca Harrop. She has been a key educator in the UK for more than twenty years; teaching thousands of people computing skills. She is currently Senior Lecturer in Cybersecurity at the University of Bedfordshire, Associate Lecturer in Computer Networking and a Study Advisor with the Open University, Cisco Networking Academy Manager and – not so long ago – recipient of ‘Role Model of the Year’ in the Women in IT Excellence Awards. In an interview with Insights Success, Rebecca shares her insights over modern security trends and its changing aspects, leadership and most importantly how women are making their way in tech world. Below are the highlights of the interview: Your opinion as an experienced educator, how have things changed over the years in Network Security? I have been doing ‘Cybersecurity’ since back when it was simply ‘Network Security’. Now it is about twenty different specialisations and the world is crying out for everyone, and anyone, capable. Now is a very good time to pursue a career in IT, Networking and Cybersecurity. There is something for everyone in these careers – risk assessment, business management, information security; it is no longer just technical roles. I have been a further and higher-level educator for nearly 25 years now, teaching thousands of people of all ages, all abilities, all backgrounds. www.insightssuccess.com
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I think this prehistoric vision of the middle-aged white geek-guy with pens in his top-pocket can still put people off pursuing careers in Technology. There are still traces of that stereotype but now there is plenty of room for anyone that is qualified. What are the vital traits that every businesswoman should possess? I think fearlessness and to realise that making ‘mistakes’ is how we learn. Not to be frightened of making fools of ourselves – a little – and to be immediately suspicious of anyone who calls themselves an ‘expert’. Anyone who professes to be ‘an expert’ in anything has usually both underestimated the complexity of the issues and overestimated their own abilities. When working in a predominantly male dominated profession, women also need tenacity and self-confidence; sharp-wits and a sharp-wit can also help. Where are you focusing your energy right now, and where do you hope to make an impact next? Interestingly, overcoming the COVID challenges has paved a way for new teaching and learning practices. My experience in remote teaching with the Open University helped me to efficiently move all my lectures and practical classes online, so I just buckled up and ran with it; and so, did the students. We have some valuable teaching insights that should be built upon when we return to a new normal. These instances of remote working in a changing landscape make it globally important that everyone realises we must take a personal, as well as corporate, responsibility for Information Security. I think that is where my current interests lie.
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As a female leader, what has been the most significant barrier in your career? And how did you overcome it? There are issues that I have had to ‘overcome’ to become a successful Woman in Tech, but the reality is far simpler and less gritty – nobody ever told me that I couldn’t do it (or if they did, I never listened) and so I just did. So, have faith in yourself and don’t ‘worry’ too much. If you find a thing that you love – just keep with it, regardless. I worked hard in a pre-dominantly male-oriented arena, but I knew my stuff and eventually that earned respect from my peers, regardless of gender. I came to realise that there are a lot of ‘blaggers’ out there who pretend to know what they are doing but really, they don’t. Perhaps it is like the geek equivalent of not knowing if your car-maintenance person is ripping you off or not until you understand engines.
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It is hard – but you do what you can, whenever you can, and remember to find the moments, the memories, the love and laughter, the spaces in-between wherever they present themselves. What would be the biggest challenge for the next generation of women and how can one be a strong role model for them? Women can, at last, be more outspoken, brave, bold and clever! This is a good thing, but women can sometimes think they have to be aggressive or cutthroat to others to show strength. Not so. We can be brilliant without a need to bring others down. We do not need to be confrontational just for the sake of it, nor at someone else’s undeserved expense. I used to love the saying: ‘Never attribute to malice that that can equally be explained by stupidity’.
How do you cope up with capricious technological trends to boost your personal growth? Capricious technological trends: blockchain, AI, bitcoin, data mining, wearables. Use it where it is genuinely useful to yourself or your clients and not just for the sake of latching onto a new or emerging tech. And for goodness sake – think of the consequences of a breach of the data before deciding if it is worth implementing. Do the consequences outweigh the convenience? Understand risk.
“ There is an absolute
need for every person to be responsible for Information Security. Look after data – it is critically important.
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How do you balance work and life responsibilities? My mum died of cancer at the start of 2020, a month or so before the first lockdown and that brings many things into perspective. Vulnerability and mortality remind us to grab opportunities where we feel alive and truly ourselves; it can be the simple things: flying a kite, watching your children, sharing a coffee and a smile - these are the moments that we really live for.
Look after yourself, help others where you can, give the benefit of your experiences, but it is not your job to chase them or berate people if they won’t follow - and don’t assume they are out to get your personally, they may just be a fool. Women do not have to act like they ‘think men might’ to succeed. They can just be themselves. It is simply the skills and experience that should be the key factor regardless of gender.
www.insightssuccess.com
March 2021 | 51