The 10 Best Performing CEOs to Watch In 2020

VOL 06 | ISSUE 08 | 2020

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0 1 The

EXPERT’S OUTLOOK LEADING BY EXAMPLE

Best

Performing

THE ART OF LEADING ATTRIBUTES OF A GOOD LEADER

CEOs to Watch In

2020

BENOIT BOUCHE

A PROFICIENT OF PHARMACEUTICAL

Editor’s Desk

Leading with Good Decisions!

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good business is not just a result of hard work and determination, but making the right decisions by the leader too. Being decisive, is an important trait that every leader must possess. The chief executive officer is the representative as well as the sole leader who is capable to take organizations to its utter most heights.

One of the most cherished person, who was also a pioneer in the success and introduction of personal computing, Steve Jobs was fond of quality and how it can affect business. He always have focused on creating better quality products in an attempt to entice his consumers as well as earn their satisfaction with the product. He stands as a perfect example on how one or a company must emphasize over better quality and understands its significance created on consumers’ experience.

Insights Success understands such leaders’ hectic journey and appreciates their wholesome contribution to their respective sectors. And takes pride in featuring various such leaders in its special edition, “The 10 Best Performing CEOs to Watch in 2020.” This issue focuses on some best performing CEOs out there who have made a significant mark in the industry.

Here is the cover for the edition, “An inspiring mission is the most powerful motivation engine. My team does not wake up in the morning to grow our EBITDA, they wake up because what they do during the day contributes to potentially lifesaving initiatives,” says Benoit Bouche. He is the CEO of Nexelis, a leading provider of assay development and advanced laboratory testing services in the infectious diseases, metabolic diseases, and oncology fields.

Infectious diseases is a core business for Nexelis and according to Benoit “the COVID19 has placed our different labs at the core of multiple R&D initiatives with an incredible number of projects initiated in a very short period of time. I can feel every day the pride of our scientists to contribute to the effort.”

Let’s unveil such alike, inspiring stories and interviews of many such passionate leaders in this special edition and spread a word about their contribution in making this world a better place. Also, while flipping the pages, don’t forget to go through the articles and CXOs written by our in-house editorial team and industry experts respectively.

Bhushan Ghate

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Benoit Bouche A Proficient of Pharmaceutical

Christopher Carter Leading a Charge in SAP Solutions

Feras El Hajjar An Ingenious Leader in Digital Transformation and Business Management

Cover Story

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Gary Olson Protecting People and Businesses Through the Use of Artificial Intelligence

Karsten Boehrs Revolutionizing Education and Communication through Simple Accessible Resources

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Katherine Colombino An Excellent Dedicated Professional

Expert’s Outlook leading by Example

Kirsi Ekberg Redefining the Meaning of Learning

Rob Leslie Advancing Business Practices with Digital Identity

Shanaz Ramzi Bringing Perfection in PR and Event Management

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Yatin Patel Elevating Travel Experience

Women Impower Dynamics of Women Participation in the Everchanging Modern Workforce

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Editor-in-Chief Pooja M. Bansal Managing Editor Anish Miller

Executive Editor

Assistant Editors

Kaustav Roy

Jenny Fernandes Bhushan Ghate

Visualizer

Art & Design Director

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David King

Amol Kamble

Sanket Zirpe

Co-designer Asha Bange

Senior Sales Manager

Business Development Manager

Kshitij S

Andy Mitter

Marketing Manager

Sales Executives

John Matthew

Daniel, Ethan, Vishnu Vardan

Technical Head

Business Development Executives

Jacob Smile

Anish, Joe, Alan, Omkar

Technical Specialist Aditya

Digital Marketing Manager Marry D'Souza

SME-SMO Executive Prashant Chevale

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Database Management Stella Andrew

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Benoit Bouche CEO

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B

enoit

OUCHE

A ProďŹ cient of Pharmaceutical

I view politics and lack of transparency as the main poisons against eďŹƒciency in a corporation.

“

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n inspiring mission is the most powerful motivation engine. My team does not wake up in the morning to grow our EBITDA, they wake up because what they do during the day contributes to potentially lifesaving initiatives,” says Benoit Bouche.

He is the CEO of Nexelis, a leading provider of assay development and advanced laboratory testing services in the infectious diseases, metabolic diseases, and oncology fields.

Infectious diseases is a core business for Nexelis and according to Benoit “the COVID-19 has placed our different labs at the core of multiple R&D initiatives with an incredible number of projects initiated in a very short period of time. I can feel every day the pride of our scientists to contribute to the effort.”

A Proficient and The Company Benoit has spent over 30 years growing healthcare businesses and solving fast growth-related issues as an entrepreneur, investor, advisor, or board member. He has a dual scientific (PharmD Pharmacy 1984; PhD Pharmaceutical Sciences/Biotechnology 1986) and business (Advanced Management Program Harvard

Business School 2002) education. His professional background enabled him to gain an in-depth knowledge of all aspects of a healthcare venture stage company and to know how to favor understanding and collaboration between scientific and business persons. He joined NEOMED-LABS in 2017 with the assignment to transform a vaccine R&D unit that had been spun-off from GSK in 2015 with 55 people into an immunologycentric global advanced lab testing services provider. He led a MBO backed by Ampersand Capital in July 2018, acquired Pacific Biomarkers, PAIRimmune, and ImmunXperts since that date and the company now rebranded as Nexelis has more than quadrupled its size in two years.

Benoit came on board with the strong conviction that the concentration in the Contract Research Organization (“CRO”) market left broad open incredible opportunities to companies capable of showing superior agility than multinational CRO giants whose size and overheads are a handicap for turnaround time optimization purposes.

Commenting what has been done to date, he adds “Having built an organization working with top 10 global pharmaceutical companies or innovative

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biotechnology companies and partnering with the most prestigious academic institutions in the world in a few years is our pride. The foundations are in place to bring Nexelis to the next level and become the obvious option in the therapeutic areas the company is targeting”. The company foresees the outstanding growth trajectory experienced these last years to not slow down in the years to come.

An Advanced Analytical Platform Nexelis is a global immunology centric advanced lab service provider with three operating sites in North America (East and West Coast) and Europe (Belgium), and a strategic partnership in place with Public Health England, Porton Down, in the UK. Spun-off from GSK vaccines in 2015, the company has grown exponentially through organic and inorganic initiatives, positioning it as a reference advanced lab services provider in a number of segments including infectious vaccines, oncology (immunotherapy, gene and cell therapy), or metabolic diseases. The versatile team of scientists, working with state of the art technology platforms, has been instrumental in the development, qualification, validation, and largescale sample testing of assays that supported the FDA filing of more than 100 new molecular entities, including blockbuster vaccines and large molecules.

The company believes “Our name is our vision.” It is the next generation of contract research organization, born when companies of global stature agreed to unify and advance to new levels of dynamic management and fast-track sophistication. It excels by combining robust protocols with scientific discipline, human agility and client partnership in order to answer the most demanding mission requirements. Nexelis focuses on ImmunoSciences with a strong reputation for accelerated results No doubt that giant CROs are well positioned to capture mainstream clinical opportunities where global coverage and logistic capabilities first matter. Niche segments such as advanced laboratory testing are a totally different world requiring organizations centered on senior scientific leaders and aiming at favoring versatility and ingenuity. The company believes to be one among a handful of mid-size organizations in a position to build a world class champion providing highly specialized lab testing services.

Nexelis built a truly translational scope of services, aiming at answering all desired and undesired immunogenicity related scientific questions from the lead selection stage to phase III. Nexelis in vitro state-of-the-art analytical platforms include immunochemistry, cellular immunology, viral

The most important virtues inculcated by those people are that real medical progresses are always resulting from initiatives based on collaborative approaches.

Nexelis is signatory of a public statement from a group of experts under World Health Organization (WHO)’s coordination for collaboration on COVID-19 vaccine development: “we will continue efforts to strengthen the unprecedented worldwide collaboration, cooperation and sharing of data already underway. We believe these efforts will help reduce inefficiencies and duplication of effort, and we will work tenaciously to increase the likelihood that one or more safe and effective vaccines will soon be made available to all”.

The world is convinced that the COVID-19 will have changed forever the existing paradigm in the struggle against life threatening illnesses. It will make R&D more cooperative and require a company such as Nexelis to change its business model to develop universal assays endorsed by major institutions accelerating development programs and easing trials read-out analysis by regulatory bodies.

Balancing Work and Life Talking about maintaining balance between work and life Benoit says, “I am not sure that my beloved wife with whom I got married almost 40 years ago would tell that I am maintaining the right balance between my professional & personal life to be honest.” He has had the good fortune to be placed in a job which is just fantastic and must admit that it led him to develop a rather workaholic attitude. This being said, he adds that “ I would never cope with the level of stress coming with the job if I was not with her most of time after work time whether I am in North America or in Europe. To make it possible, she decided to stop her chiropractor activities

and I am extremely grateful to her for this because I could not do what I am doing if she was not on my side.”

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Applauding for COVID Warriors “Quoting the name of a super star researcher in infectiology would be the obvious option. We are seeing their name every day at Nexelis while our meeting rooms bear their names,” says Benoit. But there are so many scientific and business leaders in the infectious field deserving deepest admiration! And this is just impossible for him to not think of and applaud all individuals struggling to improve access to care in developing countries, Bill Gates obviously being iconic in that regard.

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and bacterial functional, flow cytometry, Elispot, and PCR/qPCR platforms.

Empowering Others “Likely true for many businesses, but the CRO business truly is a people business. Not making my team empowered and accountable would just be a suicide,” says Benoit. He avows “In my job as a CEO, what I can make to help them excel might be two things at the end of the day: remind every day the global picture and be totally transparent with them.”

Coping with Advancement Nexelis is investing millions in new systems and platforms every year with the aim to maintain state of the art labs. For Benoit it is not the most important element in the mix however. “A brilliant scientist is somebody capable of ingenuity, equip him with an average platform and he will still do the job,” says Benoit. He further adds “Buy an incredibly fancy new toy to an average scientist and one will still very likely get garbage at the end.”

An advice for Upcoming Leaders Benoit asserts “Keep your ego back to earth, beware flattery, acknowledge publicly your fallibility and be totally transparent with your team.” He doesn’t feel entitled to give a lecture about who a CEO should be or should not be. The reality of the job and skills required might also be quite different for a mid-size company such as Nexelis and for a multinational giant. He added, “If I was to write the job desc of my successor, but it might be something I don’t need to do several years in advance, I would insist on listening and strategic thinking skills, capacity to form a decision, and resilience, I believe.”

Visioning to Get Advance Nexelis management aims at bringing the company to the next level and further expands its scope of services to become a one stop shop from the early development stage to the late clinical stage for companies to whom desired or undesired immunogenicity is a core topic.

The company’s future resides in its capacity to maintain an entrepreneurial mindset, focusing on leveraging the skills of the best scientists in town and invest massively in the innovative technologies required to stay the reference CRO in the advanced lab testing segment.

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VOL 06 | ISSUE 08 | 2020

+

EXPERT’S OUTLOOK LEADING BY EXAMPLE

10 The

Best

THE ART OF LEADING ATTRIBUTES OF A GOOD LEADER

Performing

CEOs to Watch In

2020

BENOIT A PROFICIENT OF BOUCHE PHARMACEUTICAL

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Choose E xc e l l e n t, Choose Insights

Christopher Carter Founder & CEO Approyo

16 | JUNE 2020

www.insightssuccess.com

The 10 Best Performing CEOs to Watch In 2020

CHRISTOPHER

CARTER

Leading a Charge in SAP Solutions

W

hen the focus of attention is on the IT sector, SAP is considered to be the most important IT infrastructure that has always been useful in coping with all the changes. As technological advancements have affected every sector effectively, SAP has seen rapid growth and demand over the last few years.

With this ever-growing technology, it becomes essential to possess a firm understanding of how it can be applied adequately.

Meet Christopher Carter, Founder & CEO of Approyo, who has over three decades of experience working in the SAP industry. A confident leader who has always led his company towards success by creating a clear-sighted vision and delivering ground-breaking results.

Below are the Highlights of the interview between Christopher Carter and Insights Success.

Describe your background and, what did you do before you started, or came into this business?

I like to say I have always been a technologist. I went to college with a Commodore Vic20 under one arm and an Apple 2e under the other. They were my first computers, and it’s what I learned to code on. My first code was to make birds fly across my screen, it was fun and exciting for me.

This is how I got started in computers, what got www.insightssuccess.com

me on the road to SAP, and what led me to owning and creating businesses.

Describe your company and its cutting-edge franchise services which address all the needs of your customers.

Approyo is a part of the SAP PartnerEdge Ecosystem. As a partner of SAP, we provide SAP software as a service. We provide SAP consultation, hosting, and managed services, as well as implementations and migrations onto SAP platform systems. Approyo is made up of a global team of SAP experts, who currently manage over 200+ SAP landscapes and have done over 100 migrations for our customers around the globe.

Over the years, we have worked to bring firms running R/3 up to S/4 1909.

What strategies do you undertake to make your employees resourceful?

The easiest way to make sure your employees are most resourceful in the SAP industry is to provide them with the tools they need to do so. At Approyo, we provide our employees with access to any training they desire. If they want to learn a new platform or get a new certification, who are we to stop them? We will pay to allow our employees to grow and succeed. The more success they experience inside their job, the more success we will experience as a team. The most JUNE 2020 | 17

important thing is to make sure that your team is ready to go through an implementation or migration at all times.

What are some of the vital attributes, in your opinion, that every leader should possess?

In my opinion, there are a few. First, be humble, but know the buck stops with you, so make the decision and go on with it. Do not second guess yourself. I fully believe that once you make the decision, you must live with it.

Next, your staff is your lifeline always, you treat them like gold, and they will treat your company, your clients, and you, with the respect you show. You get what you give.

Lastly, learn your numbers. You are the leader, so you should know your data on all customers on a day-to-day basis, including the ROI, the spending, the revenues, etc.

It’s on you and no one else.

What is your greatest life achievement?

My greatest personal life achievement is the family I’ve been blessed with, having my two incredible daughters with my wife. Business-wise, it is that we created the first virtualized SAP R/3 and S/4 environments for production usage by real customers. Our team had customers ready for launch pre-certification and then we held a certified launch at the SAP Sapphire Now Event. My everyday achievement I am proud of is that I am able to help and educate customers around the globe with SAP landscapes.

community. Our world is run off of business, and successful businesses have ERP systems in place. Those who have not implemented one yet will soon realize that having one is truly the only way to take them to the next level.

What one thing, more than anything else, do you want to accomplish in your business before you get out?

I want to provide the SAP ecosystem with quality SAP Managed service and support, allowing the clients to sleep well at night. Our goal is to help in any way shape or form.

When I leave this planet, I want to have made an impact on people, and I want them to say that I was able to help them personally and professionally.

Where do you see your industry in five years?

I see the industry growing. In five years, it will be 2025, leaving just two years until the SAP S/4HANA deadline.

With such an important deadline in place, those who are currently on SAP platforms will be forced to move to the next biggest and brightest platform. With the success that SAP has shared over the past year alone, I think that it will attract more and more companies to join the SAP

&

“Take care of your staff they take care of the customers, you will find success.”

18 | JUNE 2020

What advice would you like to give to the emerging entrepreneurs?

Just do it. Find the details of a path you want to go down, get the motivation, and do it. If you want to grow and, get going then jump into it, but make sure that you are passionate and dedicated to your mission. You can do whatever you put your mind to if you believe that, in the end, you will get the results you work for.

How do you sustain your entrepreneurial spirit in this changing technological era?

I love technology, and it allows me and everyone to grow! I meditate every morning at 6:00 a.m. to get my mind ready. I spend a lot of time learning about new technology in the marketplace. I love to learn and I love to share my knowledge with the world. I’m constantly on the internet, doing research and learning about new technology, whether it be about SAP, Artificial Intelligence or Digital Transformations.

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FERAS EL HAJJAR An Ingenious Leader in Digital Transformation and Business Management

Feras El Hajjar Founder & Chairman of Infosysta, Founder & CEO of App4Legal

20 | JUNE 2020

www.insightssuccess.com

The 10 Best Performing CEOs to Watch In 2020

igital transformation is vital/crucial for any business. It has become mandatory for business leaders to rethink old operating models with the new one, to become more experimental, and more agile in the ability to respond to customers and competitors.

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Moreover, he is a permanent speaker at Agile Summits in the Middle East and a board member of different organizations including Heriot-Watt University in Dubai, Industry Advisory Board and also at Atlassian Partners Board Member in San Francisco.

Feras El Hajjar, Founder & Chairman of Infosysta, and Founder & CEO of App4Legal is an exceptional leader who has managed to make his mark in the business world with his outstanding performance in IT as well as management sector.

“Nowadays, it is crucial to align the business with technology. Follow the right processes and, using the right tools can be a game-changer when it comes to reaching objectives, on-time,” adds Feras.

Appreciating the Talent

Usually, the integration of digital technology into all areas of business results in fundamental changes regarding business tactics. If done correctly, this can prove much more beneficial for the company. Infosysta is one of the leading companies to provide digital transformation solutions for your business by challenging the status quo with market-proven strategies.

Moreover, Legal technology is quite essential, as it particularly provides and aids legal services. Currently, most of the companies struggle to acclimatize their practices and are falling behind hence, the rise of legal tech has considerably influenced the concurrent legal markets.

App4Legal is a provider of best-of-breed Legal Practice Management Software that provides solutions to keep your Legal Teams ahead of time with a detailed and organized approach.

Feras states that with a clear strategy and communication plan, employees of his company are involved at the early stage of strategic decisions and company’s yearly objectives. Employees are becoming partners of decisions instead of Task Achievers. Talents are compensated and accelerating their careers by giving them all the needed sponsorship to excel.

Overcoming the Volatility in the Markets Feras states that, he and his team firmly focuses on the ongoing as well as upcoming technology and the market needs to swiftly overcome any dilemmas. The company helps people to be agile and how to be more flexible in order to adapt to changes. It also build quarterly objectives at the management level and cascade them down to all teams and employees. He also addresses that the objective may or can

Into the Shoes of Leader Meet Feras El Hajjar, the Founder & Chairman of Infosysta, a company specialized in the Digital Transformation in EMEA and the Founder & CEO of App4Legal a company specialized in Legal Technology. With more than 18 years of multi-national experience in the Software industry including CRM, ERP & HRMS solutions, Feras proved himself as an expert in Information Systems. Being a Software Engineer with solid Management and leadership skills, graduated from Ecole ParisTech in 2002 & Paris Dauphine (Paris IX) in 2003, has earned years of experience in multi-national companies in Paris, Singapore, Dublin, Beirut, Riyadh, Cairo, & Dubai. This solid experience in the domain of Information Technology, with the most known solutions in the market, is the success key to building a sustainable two mature multi-national companies.

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Enjoy what you are doing every day. Focus on the positive side.

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change from a quarter to another and the dynamics of the market are the main drivers of the company’s objectives.

Eye-opener for Better Life Appraoch In 2012, Feras resigned from his job as an IT Director in a multi-national company in Paris to exercise his entrepreneurship skills and build his first company, Infosysta from Beirut to become in less than 6 years the leader in the Middle East in the Agile & Digital Transformation. Later, he launched a unique solution called App4Legal, helping lawyers and legal practitioners to resolve their daily issues with one complete solution to innovate their legal practice. In 2019, App4Legal became a leader in GCC and a major player worldwide recognized by Gartner as a Legal Technology leader.

move by small iterations to close milestone by milestone until one reach its goal. Also suggesting that one must accept the fact that every individual need to sacrifice some ‘less important’ activities while focusing on the ‘critical and high’ ones.

He also emphasizes on some of the attributes that every leader must posses. By quoting, “the Skill to stay macro and to go micro when needed are the ingredient of a successful CEO”, he states that Genuine Leadership is showing the way to others. An excellent communicator who can by a simple email or a meeting pitch gets actions into efficient executions.

He also put some light, on why is it necessary to be an organized person driven by objectives. As he states, an objective-driven organized person knows where to stop putting efforts and where to focus.

Advice to Rely On Feras believes in the word Focus. He advice that, one must 22 | JUNE 2020

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Gary Olson Protecting People and Businesses Through the Use of Artificial Intelligence.

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rtificial Intelligence (AI) is transforming almost everything connected to human life, including employment, economy, communication, public safety, privacy, security, healthcare, etc.. To make the world a better place to live and save lives using AI, GT Digital Ltd., uses Cognitive Intelligence technology that connects the dots from accessible and available digital information to help identify potential threats and intention to prevent events that will protect lives and property.

GT Digital Ltd. is led by Gary Olson, Founder & CEO, a thought leader, technology designer and strategist in the media technology industry. Gary designed GT Digital’s flagship Artificial Intelligence solution MediaMaestro, the first technology that connects the dots by correlating video and data to uncover and prevent physical threats.

Firm Foundation As a serial entrepreneur, Gary started and operated several successful businesses. Each of these businesses focused on designing new technology solutions for the media production industry merging video with data. Gary has been on the forefront as the broadcast and production industry transitions to computer-based technology from proprietary technology.

Gary is one of the industry leaders and has been an evangelist in the convergence of video and data as media production and distribution moved to file based and IP technology. The 2nd Edition of his book "Planning and Designing the IP Broadcast Facility" was just released after the success of the First Edition.

The problem our first responders and public safety services face is preventing horrific and violent attacks on society. To address this challenge, Gary developed the concept to use artificial intelligence connecting the dots by correlating video and data from all available and accessible open sources. This idea was a natural outgrowth that brought together all his areas of knowledge and expertise.

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Cutting-Edge Services According to the company, organizations in every industry are drowning in video and data. These organizations are all challenged by the overwhelming amount of data collected that appears in many formats and types coming from multiple sources. AI tools can help analyze this data and quickly provide information that allows analysts to discover solutions.

Gary states, no human can manage or process the overwhelming amount of digital information, including video, social media, online, sensors, and other sources being collected for research and security. There is a need for artificial intelligence technology to help identify strange behavior or announced intentions to commit crimes. GT Digital is the first AI technology that can analyze and correlate all this data to help professionals prevent violence and criminal intent. Using Artificial Intelligence to save lives and protect property is essential today.

What the Future Holds?

Gary knows that AI continues to evolve, and as the tools and technology improve, AI will be beneficial in all aspects of society and business services. As science continues to progress on quantum computing solutions, this will vastly improve the ability of AI technologies and expand some of the exact capabilities.

Giving Back to the World Gary states statistics show that over 75% of mass shootings are committed by people who spend a lot of energy announcing their intent long before they commit the act. It is time to save lives from these mass shootings and acts of domestic terrorism. He would like to see his technology help predict to prevent as many of these as possible.

Different Perspective on Technological Advancements Gary is fortunate that he was raised with an innate sense of curiosity and wonder. Continually excited about the www.insightssuccess.com

The 10 Best Performing CEOs to Watch In 2020

Gary Olson Founder & CEO

changes in technology he is also a bit of a pragmatist in its application.

He thrives on new challenges and loves figuring out new technology solutions or "inventing," a solution using components from typically disassociated sources or industries.

“Connecting the Dots - Predict to Prevent to Protect!”

Pave Your Own Way Gary believes leadership is team building. It’s crucial to any successful business to have full participation and support from your team. Find the right people and trust them. It’s more important to have smart people on your team than have them think you are the most intelligent person in the room. Another essential rule to remember is everyone has their style and way of doing things. Different is not wrong, just because it is not the way you would do it, as long as it gets the same result. Do not impose your way of doing things on others.

Being an entrepreneur doesn’t mean doing everything or knowing everything. It means surrounding yourself with a team that has the knowledge and skills that are not your strength. Not everyone is strong in business or is a financial expert, and sometimes a great technologist is a horrible manager. Hire others with the skills you lack and allow them to excel and trust them. Gary says, “If you can’t trust your team, you brought in the wrong people!”

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JUNE 2020 | 25

Dynamics of

Participation in the Ever-changing Modern Workforce

28 | JUNE 2020

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Women Impower

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one are the days when women were stereotyped to a certain set of skills and professions, restricting them from exploring the world of endless opportunities. Today, women have announced their arrival in many fields of the business world. Therefore, it seems more important than ever before to recognize female contributions in every profession.

Fighting through biased work culture in favour of male dominance, women have conquered the unconquered on the account of their distinct calibre and predilections. In the times when the world female participation rate is to the dispiriting levels of around 67% and pay-off rate of about 63%, achievements by women go-getters are praiseworthy.

Listening capabilities is one of the distinguishing aspects of feminine species as compared to their male counterparts. Instilling and pursuing ones thoughts is undoubtedly important for effective working.

But being a better listener is something that can make a difference as studies show that the customer values and trusts the firms if they perceive that they are being listened to by the firms. With inherent caring and affectionate traits, women outclass men when it comes to understanding critical demands of the customers.

Emotional Intelligence (EI) - the ability to identify and manage one’s own emotions as well as the emotions of others - is an essential skill when it comes to dealing with a diverse class of consumers. Women are naturally gifted with higher EI making them better suited for pressure situations and avoiding counter-productive decisions while keeping emotions in check.

Emotional Intelligence encompasses two major dimensions – awareness of one’s self and awareness of others. Both the attributes are very much significant for the survival and success of any organisation. Self-awareness involves being familiar with trigger points and behavioural traits when put to the test. This, in turn, helps to modulate impulses avoiding conclusions which are harmful for the welfare of business. In addition to self-awareness, an awareness of others is equally critical in business. Analysing and decoding non-verbal communication – that amounts to 93% of the message – eventually benefits in convincing and converting a lead into a client.

Collaboration, and not the cutthroat competition, is the modern era’s principle virtue to achieve success. Many endeavours which seem to be beyond the bounds of

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possibility can be attained by combining efforts from different resources, channels and departments. Further, collaborating products with consumer experience are enormously important. It leads to crafting the best solutions for customer’s pain points and compelling value propositions that reflect their overall business objectives.

Multiple studies have found that women prefer to work in teams, while men prefer to work alone. An unfaltering affinity towards collaboration primes women to garner success in different fields of business which gives them an edge over others.

Increased profitability can be a motivating factor for many firms to hire more pool of female talents as many studies support the fact. Statistical research shows that Fortune 500 companies with the highest representation of women on boards financially outperform companies with the lowest representation of women on boards. Moreover, genderdiverse teams have higher sales and profits compared to male-dominated teams, and a recent Gallup study found that gender-diverse business units have higher average revenue than less diverse business units.

Trust over female leaders is an attribute which needs to be reciprocated while making the choice. More American workers perceive female executives as honest and ethical than male executives. Pew’s “Women and Leadership” surveyed Americans in 2015 and found that 34% say women are better at this, while only 3% say men are better at it (64% say there’s no difference).

While it’s unclear whether this means women are actually more honest, it’s a subtle reminder of how tangled some business decisions can be. Leaders are often tasked with choosing between options that aren’t black and white, ethically speaking, and the capacity to lead honestly is important to the entire company’s success and job satisfaction.

Not to mention, increased job satisfaction and organizational dedication to cite positive and meaningful business culture are the added advantages feminine employees carry to the organisation.

However, the journey is not all merry go round every time.

Hindrances – seen, unseen – are there to check the unrelenting zeal of women aspirants to thrive in the industry. These obstructions need to be pointed out and rectified to create an environment that fuels women empowerment.

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Lack of confidence, according to many experts, is one prime reason women tend to question themselves and doubt their worthiness. In order to advance, they must coach their inner critics.

Out-speak and define what women want professionally if they want to get succeeded. Too often they don’t know or rely upon others to define it for them.

“Building relationships with those in positions of leadership is critical,” Susan Brady, executive vice president of Linkage Inc. says. “Put down the to-do list long enough to connect with decision makers across the organization, and help them understand who you are and what you bring to the table.”

Women are generally uneasy about asking for what they want. They must stop thinking about what they need as a self-serving request. They must develop the courage and fortitude to stand up and ask for what they want.

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While proving value, women tend to overcompensate in order to demonstrate that they are adding value. Instead of doing it all alone, change the paradigm and track to encourage others to take on more responsibility, thus enabling them to scale and multiply their own impact.

Not to forget, biased work culture and regional barriers are the crucial obstacles in the road of women work participation. But, today women are breaking these shackles and coming out boldly to be a part of economic processes shouldering their male counterparts.

There has been obvious progress in achieving gender equality around the world over the past two decades: more girls are attending school, more women are working and are being elected to public offices, more women hold management positions, and the situation involving women’s legal as well as social rights have also improved.

However, a great deal still remains to be done to achieve equal outcomes for women and men. Recognizing women’s abilities, the values they bring to the organisation, the transformation they achieve as far as work environment is concerned, and considering monetary benefits associated with the female work participation, corporate sector need to welcome their emergence with open arms. No future is far where maledominated workplaces will be a tale of extinct, we believe.

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Karsten Boehrs:

Revolutionizing Education and Communication through Simple Accessible Resources

Karsten Boehrs CEO & Co-investor

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echnological innovations take time to enter the growing market. For an entrepreneur, monitoring and providing the best user experience is a quest that can’t be achieved over night. Open conservations about setting goals and defining timelines for the product development, paves a creative way towards success.

Besides, learning, adapting, and improving are the keys for becoming a successful CEO of an organization.

One such agile personality, having a focused vision to achieve his goals is Karsten Boehrs. While helping his children in studies, Karsten realized that education and learning processes are continually witnessing changes. His son’s passion for gaining knowledge through online videos inspired Karsten tremendously. This advent of technology in the education sector and its rapid digital transformation motivated him to become a Co-investor and CEO of simpleshow.

Karsten started his career working in the logistics and sales industry. He has an excellent experience of working at management positions with various multinationals including Axel Springer and Otto Group for over two

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decades. Now, in his role at simpleshow his focus is on the strategic expansion of the company’s market position through internationalization and focused technology development.

About simpleshow simpleshow is the leading professional explainer video production with several thousands of videos produced in the global market. The company with its production team delivers services essential in creating videos and interactive eLearning courses for corporate customers in a variety of different styles and formats. With the mission to provide simple and effective explanations for everyone and anytime, the company is developing intelligent solutions for wide target groups, such as the online DIY video maker mysimpleshow.com mysimpleshow.com offers business and enterprise plans with premium features directed across all small-scale and large-scale companies. The intelligence behind the application includes text inputs running through a semantic analysis, a natural language processing stack, and an integrated world knowledge database to produce iconic www.insightssuccess.com

The 10 Best Performing CEOs to Watch In 2020

visuals. These are then arranged and animated by an intelligent layout algorithm resulting in a video, which the user can individualize, download, and share.

With over offices in ten countries, the company builds on a universal and scientifically proven methodology that blends simple messages with visuals that stay in mind. Under Karsten’s guidance all of the company’s offerings follow this approach, focusing on five fundamental elements: Context— An effective explanation ,looks at the topic from the target group’s perspective, providing a context the audience can refer to.

Simplification— An effective explanation focuses on the essentials. This entails reducing the topic to its core messages and simplifying the language.

As simple as possible, but as complex as necessary.

Storytelling— An effective explanation is embedded in a story, as stories help to create identification and are easy to remember.

Visualization— An effective explanation uses the power of visuals.

Multisensory— An effective explanation stimulated several senses.

A Visionary Leader Karsten’s love for the sports made him an enthusiastic cyclist as it combines all the qualities and values mandatory for understanding the roles of a CEO. He believes, the key enablers for his achievements are passion, perseverance, strategic thinking, smartly adapting with changes, constant learning and improvement. With the vision that the people are the most valuable resources of a company he states “I always try and develop my corporate family to be the best they can be”.

An example of his leadership style that focuses on empowering others, Karsten recalled a meeting in New York, where he was really impressed meeting a young freelance creative writer. He kept supporting him throughout the years that made the writer a confident and a trusted decision-maker. Today the former concept writer coleads the company’s 50 people operations in the US. Besides, leading and nurturing a smart and loyal team, he states “We have so much potential to seize opportunities, tackle challenges, and grow our business”.

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Under the leadership of Karsten, his team has created an online browser-based tool ‘mysimpleshow’. This tool allows its users to create their own simple explainer videos, transforming the way people communicate. The company has integrated AI into this tool, which is referred to as its ‘Explainer Engine’.

Karsten’s entrepreneurial vision is to change the world for the better. With simpleshow his idea is to revolutionize communication and learning through simple and accessible resources.

Catalyzing the Market Change Karsten’s idea of creating learning and communication resources is changing day-by-day with the growing digitalization. simpleshow is investing time and resources into creating amazing tools, products, and content resources to catalyze to this evolving change. They are constantly improving mysimpleshow.com as a software product and establishing brand awareness to be the go-to DIY explainer video creation tool.

Advice for Budding Entrepreneurs Karsten’s advice to new-age entrepreneurs is to stay focused. Defining the goals with agility will help them to achieve milestones. In addition to produce a business model, he adds, “Decide how your product and methodology will stand out from your competitors and make those distinctions your unique selling points”.

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An Excellent Dedicated Professional ith more than 80 successful implementations and a highly qualified team with more than 20 years of experience leading the most challenging projects in the country, Software and Services Consulting SRL is positioned as the number one partner in Paraguay of SAP Business One. Confidence, Clarity and Constant Accompaniment are some of the terms used by its clients to describe what SSC means to them because in each step the company takes together, as a team, it looks for ways to help its clients strengthen their projects and evolve sustainably, what today makes it differentiate the company from the competition. One such highly qualified team member is Katherine Colombino – Chief Executive Officer with a very clear objective to pull all its energies towards a single focus: Customer satisfaction.

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consultant in Sales, Implementation, Development, Training, and Support of SAP systems, also holds a Degree in Systems Analysis, Post-degrees in University Didactics and English Teaching Staff. With extensive experience in the area of management of Work Teams, Katherine holds various positions of Headquarters for more than two decades. Before the opening of SSC SRL, for 4 years, she was in charge of the Business Unit of SAP Business One in Infocenter S.A., a Paraguayan partner of SAP and an IT company with an exemplary track record in the national market and with more than 20 consultants in different areas.

It is also an SAP Certified Consultant “FI” and “MM”. She has developed from Market plans, sales, personal motivation policies among others within the unit and contributed progress towards the project goal.

Strong Knowledge of Business Katherine completed her education from Asuncion Polytechnic Faculty and the National University of Asuncion. She joined Consulmatica SRL as Systems Development Manager. After 5 years in that position and having put the system on the market with great success, Katherine held the position of Support Manager for more than 6 years, so her orientation was customer satisfaction.

She has incorporated more than 50% of clients as Sales Manager at Infocenter S.A. actively, she had collaborated with marketing campaigns and events for SAP development, conflict resolution, in addition, to support tasks of definition and development of solutions to specific problems of the client, always having as focus, excellence in attention to the customer.

Millennial Paradigm Being informed is essential, and knowledge is necessary to understand the great changes that are already there and which SSC faces. Just as it happened with the millennial paradigm, telework, etc. that break into the lives without asking permission. The company has to be in constant change to adapt easily. It works nowadays exclusively with SAP BUSINESS ONE Systems, and everything that involves development, deploying, licenses sales, support.

Teaching how to work, how to confront difficulties, skills that one was learning in her career through the years and the example itself are her strategies that she tries to make everyone imitate to the best of their ability. The company also participated continuously in training courses and interpersonal skills.

A Glimpse into Katherine’s Journey Currently, Katherine Colombino is the CEO of SSC Software & Services Consulting SRL. She is a specialized 34 | JUNE 2020

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The 10 Best Performing CEOs to Watch In 2020

Katherine Colombino

Chief Executive OfďŹ cer

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Any company must-have technology, without technology, the company is going to die. We are in the era of Technology. You can choose, you are in, or you are out. But that decision will mark the future of your business.

Strength and Commitment Katherine Colombino had a car accident, with her father, at the age of 8 years. The diagnosis was a paralysis in her legs due to a spinal injury. Although she has to move with wheelchairs, she had all the same capabilities as any person.

That incident made her stronger, and with a great capacity to adapt to difficult situations, she also developed her best in several areas. They have to be strong because leadership must be something that others have to feel about you. Many times all is not given by knowledge, but the strength of your heart and your commitment is transmitted by your voice, your gestures, your life.

“Inspire the ordinary to become extraordinary. Be resilient.

Set goals and motivate continuously to achieve. Encourage feedback without judgment. Hire people who align with your culture and aligned with the goals of the company. Put the right person in the right role. Get to know your team.

Empower employees to unlock their ‘zone of genius.

‘Remember that leading is an inside job”, says Katherine.

Optimizing Processes in Time Software and Services Consulting wants its clients to recognize them as strategic partners to accompany them in 36 | JUNE 2020

The limitations in life are not given by your physical or situation itself, they are given by you, if your mind changes, your world too. their growth and expansion processes. The company is highly competent professionals, motivated and aligned with an internal knowledge management policy and the development of human capital. It provides commercially attractive solutions that respond to the real needs of the customers. Collaborate with the country, generating highly qualified professionals. Reach the sources (universities, colleges, companies) and provide their training services.

Education does the country well, produces citizens aware of their duties and obligations. And above all, first-rate professionals, without discrimination, “exportable” to any first world country.

SSC’s greatest value is customer satisfaction, honesty, the obligation to be the best in the area it chooses, the company’s commitment to the present and the future of keeping up to date with the technological areas and providing first-level knowledge and services. www.insightssuccess.com

Leading by Example E

verything starts and stops with you, the founder or CEO of the business, the person who everyone looks to when it comes to setting an example. As the leader of your company, your job is to inspire the people around you to push themselves and, in turn the company, to excel in everything they do. To do this, the leader must show the way by doing it themselves, by walking the walk and talking the talk.

Warren Bennis was an American scholar and organizational consultant. He is widely regarded as a pioneer of the contemporary field of leadership studies and is known to have created the famous quote “Managers are people who do things right; leaders are people who do the right thing.”

As the leader, you know that keeping your team together, working towards a common goal, getting them to support and help each other is your job. If you succeed, they will succeed; morale will rise and more success will follow.

There’s almost nothing worse for company morale than leaders who follow the “Do as I say, not as I do” philosophy. When this happens, the loss of enthusiasm, energy and goodwill among staff is like watching a tyre deflate with frustration, cynicism and mistrust replacing any positivity that previously existed.

No matter what the situation, double standards, where people do one thing, and then say another is always a recipe for a disaster. It can be very destructive. If this has ever happened to you, I am certain the feelings that you remember are of deep frustration, a sense of disappointment and total let-down. It can be energy sapping and very hard to break out of once it has happened.

As a leader you know that you have a responsibility to your team. They look to you for guidance and strength; it is the essence of what being a leader is. And a big part of your responsibility is to lead them with and by your own actions.

So, why is it so important and what happens when you fail to do this? When you lead by example, it is the creation of the art of the possible. People can look at you and say, 38 | JUNE 2020

“Well, if he is willing to do it, then so can I.” When you set the tone of any activity, you become a source of inspiration and you make it easy for others to follow you.

This brings me on to Trust. It is the inevitable by-product of having done your job as a leader well. Trust takes time to nurture and build. But, when you stay true to your beliefs, to your core principles and when you keep your word your staff will know. Consequently, your team will follow your lead. They will put their trust in you, even when things are tough in a business. By opening yourself up to your team and showing them the way, the odds are that they will follow you anywhere.

Good leaders drive their people forward with energy, excitement, vision, inspiration and trust. A team without trust in their leader will see poor productivity, higher absenteeism and greater staff turnover. Enthusiasm may disappear and the team may fall apart. The vision you’re trying so hard to make happen will lose its appeal, all because your team doesn’t trust you anymore.

Good leadership takes real strength of character and a firm commitment to do the right thing, at the right time, for the right reason …..even if it is hard. This means doing what you say, when you say it. If your team can’t trust you, you’ll never be great and you wont succeed. It’s like running a race with your shoelaces tied together. If your team knows that you’ll also do whatever you expect from them, they’ll likely work hard to help you achieve your collective goal.

Great leaders have changed the world because they lived by their own example. They made accomplishing great things the norm and not the exception. So, if you ask a colleague to do something, make sure you are willing to do it yourself. Make sure you set the example. Look closely at your own behaviour. Show respect to others and that respect will be returned. If you want people to listen to all opinions and points of view, make sure you listen yourself. We were given two ears and just one mouth for a reason!

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Expert’s Outlook

About the Leader Rob Leslie is the Founder and CEO of Sedicii. Rob is a serial entrepreneur has a successful track record of establishing and growing businesses to considerable scale.

Sedicii was founded in 2013 and has won over 15 technology and innovations awards to date including, most recently, the BBVA Open Innovation “Fintech for Future” Award. BBVA is the oldest and largest Fintech Innovation Program in the world and has highlighted Sedicii as “the start-up with the greatest potential to transform the financial sector in the next 10 years!” Sedicii has developed a patented zero knowledge proof protocol to help people and businesses prove their identities in real-time without compromising their right to privacy.

Rob is a World Economic Forum Technology Pioneer for his work on the zero-knowledge proof protocol and has spoken at Davos on cybersecurity, digital identity and other technology issues affecting the world’s economies.

Prior to Sedicii he co-founded Kyckr (ASX:KYK) which is now listed on the Australian Stock Exchange and provides organisational identity services for KYC & AML services to banks and other regulated financial institutions across the globe. Rob was also part of the original management team in Dell Japan that established and grew the business to almost 300 employees and $300M turnover in its first 4 years.

Rob Leslie Founder & CEO

Sedicii

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The 10 Best Performing CEOs to Watch In 2020

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The 10 Best Performing CEOs to Watch In 2020

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Advancing Business Practices with Digital Identity

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riven, persistent, optimistic, a multi-tasker while at the same time listening to and being unafraid to ask for help” says Rob Leslie. For Rob, these are the vital attributes of a leader. He adds being a leader can be a very lonely place. However, he opines “the benefits far outweigh everything else. There is no better feeling in the world than taking an idea and seeing it blossom into a successful, vibrant, profitable business.”

Rob is the CEO and founder of Sedicii, a federated, global identity verification network which enables real-time identity verification. In 2018, Sedicii won the BBVA Open Talent / Fintech Award and it was commented that “Sedicii has the greatest possibility of transforming the financial sector in the next 10 years”. As a visionary leader, Rob wants to see this become a reality together with having enriched the lives of all his company's employees by leaving a healthy, profitable company before moving onto his next challenge!!

Below are the highlights of the interview conducted between Insights Success and Rob Leslie: Describe your background and what did you do before you started, or came into this business?

I am an Electronic Engineer by profession having graduated from Dublin City University (DCU) in Ireland in the 1980's. I'm a serial entrepreneur – Sedicii being my seventh (7th) start-up company. Prior to Sedicii I was co-founder of Kyckr which was floated on the Australian Stock Exchange in 2016. In my earlier professional life I worked in Japan for 20 years before returning to Ireland where I am currently based. While in Japan I was part of the initial management team in Dell Japan that established and grew www.insightssuccess.com

the business there to almost 300 employees and $300M turnover in its first four years. It is now a billion-dollar business. I was also a partner in a Japanese computer services company called PTS which was acquired in 2000 by a Singaporean firm as part of their entry into the Japanese market.

Describe your company and its cutting-edge services which address all the needs of your customers.

Sedicii is developing a platform to manage digital identity.

We develop software as a service for KYC, AML and for the identification and authentication of people, vehicles, products and other physical and virtual goods using our unique, patented ZKP (Zero Knowledge Proof) protocol.

Sedicii is creating a federated, global identity verification network which enables real-time identity verification by certified, trusted identity providers (governments, banks, telco's, utilities), ensuring that businesses can react quickly to new government, regulatory and industry demands for real-time identity verification, authentication and trust services. Included in our identity network are products including authentication software, a KYC and Customer Onboarding solution and a Collaborative AML Monitoring Platform which we believe is unique in the world as it assesses both sides of a payment for AML risk compliance.

What strategies do you undertake to make your employees resourceful?

Sedicii is currently a small team of 15. We have an allinclusive strategy holding weekly meetings with the team which are multi-locational in Belgium, United Kingdom, the Canary Island of Tenerife and our headquarters in Waterford in the south-east of Ireland. This is a high-level meeting where everyone is encouraged, and dare I say, JUNE 2020 | 45

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Never lose your

makes the achievement all the more rewarding. Add to this the fact that Sedicii has consistently won – year on year – varying technology awards which now number over 20.

vision and always

What advice would you like to give to the emerging entrepreneurs?

Be prepared to listen to advice. Don't be afraid to ask for help. Refine your thoughts and have good sounding boards from trusted advisors. Be prepared for good times and challenging times before you succeed – never give up on your vision and believe in yourself. Be realistic in terms of what one person can achieve. Persist. Persevere.

believe in yourself. expected to participate. Ideas are bounced and expanded upon and the team feel empowered and an integral part of Sedicii. I believe that the success of a company is dependent upon its people and I encourage everyone to share their ideas which in turn drive them to be resourceful.

There's nothing like a feeling of being valued and listened to, no matter your role in a company, to spur you on to do better and go the extra mile in my opinion.

What is your greatest life achievement?

The pinnacle of my professional life to date would certainly be the accolade of being named a World Economic Forum (WEF) Technology Pioneer and speaking at Davos; the only software company in Ireland to be afforded this accolade 46 | JUNE 2020

How do you sustain your entrepreneurial spirit in this changing technological era?

A person's sustainability is a positive attribute rather than something to be tolerated. Technology is an integral part of our day-to-day lives, like it or not, it's here to stay. I've been described as a glass half-full person and believe in technology and embracing it for the betterment (rather than the detriment) of everyone. I see our technology as a way and means to preserve a person's fundamental right to privacy whilst, at the same time, the absolute need to ensure that fraud and criminality can be tackled through better compliance and always up-to-date identity records. This is for the benefit of the world economy and the protection of all of us. www.insightssuccess.com

Attributes of a Good

Leader

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The Art of Leading

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eadership is about using the power of a position to empower a group of people in order to attain a common goal. A leader’s task is to implement the plans that usually look good on paper, through a delegated team, in a specific time with an ongoing motion. She/he may use the traditional method or may think out of the box. It depends on the leader as how to do it; the ultimate motive is to get the job done.

Although, each and every individual has a different approach on leadership, some might say it is about setting examples, some might say it is about sharing the authority; what matters is, taking the right decision when it is most needed.

Leadership varies from one organization to another. An organization is a dynamic body and creates new probabilities every now and then. And with new probabilities, come new challenges.

Although, it is impossible to overcome every challenge, the business environment has adopted certain leadership styles for the efficiency of business: The Participative Leader Participative Leadership is the process of sharing authority with the work force in order to get optimum efficiency. The team, after getting access to certain powers, works responsibly to accomplish the goals set by its leader. The shared leadership also helps in case of any requirement of change, as the employees adapt quickly in such environment.

Incidentally, this style of leadership fits best in a scenario when there is a limitation of time.

The Transformational Leader A transformational leader inspires the team through effective communication and an intellectual environment.

However, these individuals require www.insightssuccess.com

more detail oriented managers to successfully implement their strategies.

Transformational Leadership is considered among the most effective employees of the organization. One of the examples of this type of leadership is when a leader is assigned on a higher level for effective environment.

The Transactional leader The transactional leadership, as the name suggests, enables the leader to incentivize the team corresponding to their performance. The team gets rewarded when it attains the goals and the Leader has the power to review the results and act accordingly when the team fails to do the same. The goals and the strategy to attain them are decided by the leader and the team itself.

The Situational leader Situational leadership is a theory that the best leader will adapt to the required leadership style according to need of the hour. A Situational leader may adopt democratic style while discussion business with senior executive, but may switch to transactional at the time of team review. However every individual has a natural style of leadership and it may be difficult to switch roles at a certain point of time.

Qualities of a good leader There is an old proverb that says, “Give a Man a Fish, and You Feed Him for a Day. Teach a Man to Fish, and You Feed Him for a Lifetime.” So is the case with leadership. One of the basic qualities of a Leader is to pass on the leadership skills.

Following are some of the qualities of a good leader:

communication grows. Especially, when it comes to leadership, there is no scope for lack of communication. A Leader who fails to develop this skill is looked up as incompetent, because it is his job to send the message loud and clear. Although, it is also important to listen as it is an integral part of communication.

Integrity C.S. Lewis said, “Integrity is doing the right thing, even when no one is watching.” Be it giving credit to one of the team members or be it admitting a mistake, a leader wears integrity as a badge of honor. They do what is right, no matter what. Ÿ

Empowerment As mentioned earlier, Leadership is about using the power of one’s position to empower a group of people in order to attain a common goal. A good leader shares his authority with the team in order to get the job done. By doing this, he shows confidence in the team and obliged by the gesture, the team works with full enthusiasm to accomplish the goal. Ÿ

Decision making There is risk in decision to making.

Great leaders take great decisions when the stake is high and it is the success of those decisions that make them great. To add up, a good leader takes right decision at the right time.

In conclusion, a good leader can be defined by the dynamics of his style in leadership, the values that he brings to the organization, the methods he uses to make the best of the resources, and the kind of decision he makes in the given situations. At the end it is about the attitude of an individual to bring the change for good. Ÿ

Communication Skills Communication is the basic requirement for efficiency in a business. As the level of hierarchy elevates, the requirement of Ÿ

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Shanaz Ramzi Chief Executive OfďŹ cer

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The 10 Best Performing CEOs to Watch In 2020

Shanaz Ramzi Bringing Perfection in PR and Event Management

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n an interview with Insights Success, Shanaz Ramzi—Chief Executive Officer of StarLinks emphasizes on her impeccable journey of gaining a successful stature in current hectic markets. Her unique ideologies and methods assisted in achieving many milestones in her pathway.

different parts of the world, which have helped StarLinks to do PR for events in Dubai, London, Houston, Toronto and Colombo.

Increasing Efficiency

Shanaz started her career as a freelance journalist in 1994 and wrote prolifically for various publications, both local and international, including for their leading English newspaper Dawn. In 2004, she was hired as Head of PR and Publications by an upcoming television network, HUM, and while continuing her writing, she joined the organization as one of the founding team members. She stood with them for eleven years, finally resigning in November 2015 from her position as GM PR and Publications to start her own PR and event management company called StarLinks.

Shanaz and her team holds daily meetings to discuss the progress of projects/clients on hand and to brainstorm for future endeavors. She states that daily targets are set by the entire team and end of the day reports is to be submitted so there is clarity in how much each has succeeded in meeting their targets. An increment system has also been put in place based on the employee’s productivity, pro-activeness, resourcefulness and creativity which works wonders to motivate the team to put in their best. Further she adds that a fixed commission is also given to those employees that bring in new clients or projects.

A brief on StarLinks

Her traits led Impeccable Achievements

StarLinks PR and Events is basically a PR and event management company that has a strong CSR component as well. While the company offers pro bono services for various charitable institutions, she and her team also try to involve the company’s clients in CSR activities to enable them to give back to their country. They believe in going the extra mile for all their clients and have fast developed the reputation of under-committing and overdelivering. Company’s small team of 12 people works dedicatedly through its head office in Karachi, while it has linkages in other cities of Pakistan as well, as in

Shanaz strongly feels that every leader, and particularly one in the PR business, should and must have a cool head, tons of patience, and the ability to listen, as well as delegate. Through quoting, “A good leader is one who is accessible at all times, and who inspires confidence and respect,” Shanaz implies that the leader should be handson and know their work thoroughly, so that they can’t be hoodwinked.

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“My parting words -- Never fear competition; help others to succeed, forge partnerships, and success will be yours.”

five foreign students, and over 250 local participants taking part in the conference, which provided boarding and lodging to all the foreigners, as well as to over 60 local delegates in the interior of Sindh – in custom-made, eco-friendly resorts – as well as in Karachi, the most challenging part of the event was not the logistics or the conference itself, but the fact that the president of Pakistan and his entourage attended the opening day. The nightmare of meeting the protocol requirements and security measures made everything else pale into insignificance, but the fact that the company managed to pull it off to rave reviews by one and all, was a feat they are all very proud of.

An advice for Triumph in Tech-oriented World

greatest life achievement – her marriage of forty years to her childhood sweetheart; her two beautiful children; her book, Food Prints published by OUP, the first of its kind in Pakistan; or her two international awards received soon after establishing her company for Start-up of the Year, and Best CEO of the World. She states, perhaps, in retrospect, in a post Covid-19 world it is simply staying healthy and being in touch with her childhood friends all across the globe digitally.

Having said that, she would like to add here that there are two projects that she considers her greatest work achievement to date, which she would like to specifically mention. The first is the launch of the biggest mall in South Asia, LuckyOne Mall, which she and her team were entrusted with in the very first year of her company’s existence. It was humbling enough that the company landed the mammoth project in the face of stiff, and far more experienced competition, but what was even more over-whelming was that it landed up extending its launch activities from three days to thirteen full days, with her team staying at the mall day and night, in order to ensure footfall, for most important shops had not opened up on time.

Shanaz finds her work extremely challenging and the times we live in constantly evolving, and feels one must be grateful to this ever-changing technological era. She states that she is learning something new from her young colleagues daily, and while there is the occasional time when she misses the way it used to be, by and large she is grateful for the changes for it does make connectivity, gathering information, keeping records and so much more, a lot easier and quicker. One has to learn to move with the times, and rather than being daunted by the head-spinning technology, she find it exhilarating and exciting.

She also states the fact that there are many emerging entrepreneurs in their industry as it has been growing rapidly this past decade, but many of them are oneperson shows with no overheads, no legal standing, and are not registered as taxpayers. Her advice to all these youngsters is that there are no short cuts in life – if they want to truly succeed and make their mark, they need to go about it the right away, even if it means making a substantial investment into their business.

She also states that the second project was a three-day international conference for INTBAU Pakistan— International Network for Traditional Building, Architecture and Urbanism – that she and her team carried out last November. With 30 foreign delegates, 52 | JUNE 2020

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