The 20 most successful business women to watch 2019

The
20Most
Successful
Business Women
to Watch in 2019
Anne Krog
Iversen
FEATURING
Enhancing Employee Engagement
through Commitment, Cooperation,
and Empowerment.
Vol 11 | Issue 02 | 2019

Certainly, An
Unbiased Future!!
eyond doubt, the change has been occurred in the
Bcorporate world, and it is continuing to occur.
With globalization, technological innovations,
new perspectives, paradigm shift in the beliefs and
preferences of people, change can be witnessed in all the
spheres of the business ecosystem. The drastic change
that has been occurred is in the arena of leadership. After
understanding the importance of contribution of women
in marketplace, they are been warmly welcomed in the
hats of leaders and other coveted positions such as CEO,
President, and more.
Decades ago, women were undercounted whenever it
came to entrepreneurship or leading an organization.
And now, from business to technology, administration,
education, healthcare or government, women gradually
made their mark in almost every sector at regional,
national, and global levels. By walking an extra mile,
they have been at the helm of every ﬁeld.
Talking about the business world, women have brought a
substantial change in the corporate ecosystem by turning
their creative ideas into successful business models. By
combining their passion and creativity, they are taking
businesses to the next level. In fact, the organizations
that have women in their board of directors, or are solely
run by women, are changing the landscape of world by
providing reformative solutions that are catering to the
needs of businesses as well as individuals. Sheryl
Sandberg, the COO of Facebook, Indra Nooyi, the
Chairman and COO of PepsiCo, Ginni Rometty, the
Chairman, President, and CEO of IBM, and many more
are in the list. Their success stories are proving to be an
example for upcoming entrepreneurs.
While these big names are continuing to set example for
others, there are also some other businesswomen, who
are signiﬁcantly contributing to the business sphere with
their glorious triumphs. With an intent to admire and
Editor’s Desk
Instead of proving to be
equally good, they chose
to develop a belief in self
and rise above.

acknowledge the contributions of these women
leaders, Insights Success has curated a list of “The
20 Most Successful Business Women to Watch in
2019”.
“No company has a culture, every company is a
culture.” This statement from Peter Thiel shows the
value of work culture in an organization. A healthy
work culture is the key to building an exceptional
organization which positively brings growth,
productivity, and committed employees. For a
culture officer, creating an effective work
environment is not a one- time job, it requires
understanding and endurance that needs time,
attention, and leadership. Considering the
significance of work culture and its affect on
employees’ overall performance, Anne Krog
Iversen, Chief People, DNA and Culture Officer
at TimeXtender, spends a lot of time aligning
culture building with day-to-day work activities to
create a healthy and prosperous workplace and thus,
features on the cover of this edition.
Delve in to more such inspiring stories and lessons
from many such significant entrepreneurs in this
issue and reap the fruits of motivation. Also, make
sure to scroll through the articles written by our in-
house editorial team and CXO standpoints of some
of the leading industry experts to have a brief taste
of the sector.
Enjoy the read!
Hitesh Dhamani

Articles
28
38
The Art of Leading
Attributes of a Good Leader
Empowering Women
Dynamics of Women :
Participation in the
Ever-changing Modern
Workforce
58
Unbiased Future
Establishing Gender Equilibrium
Integrated Approach
Maintaining a personal and
professional life balance
46 CONTENTS

42
44
50
56
Lindsey Myers
Personifying the True
Essence of Passion
Rishika Lulla Singh
Bringing Shift in
Digital Entertainment Media
Lorraine Chiroiu
Enriching the Future
of Australia with Biotech
Ruby Castellanos
Exemplifying the Perfect Blend
of Discipline and Passion

sales@insightssuccess.com
November, 2019
Editor-in-Chief
Senior Sales Manager Business Development Manager
Marketing Manager
Technical Head
Technical Specialist Digital Marketing Manager
Research Analyst
Database Management Technology Consultant
Pooja M. Bansal
Managing Editor
Anish Miller
Executive Editor
Hitesh Dhamani
Assistant Editors
Jenny Fernandes
Rohit Chaturvedi
Visualizer
David King
Art & Design Director
Amol Kamble
Associate Designer
Kushagra Gupta
Kshitij S Peter Collins
John Matthew
Sales Executives
David, Kevin, Mark, Jay
Business Development Executives
Steve, Joe, Alan, BinayJacob Smile
Aditya Marry D’Souza
SME-SMO Executive
Prashant Chevale Calvin Jones
Circulation Manager
Robert Brown Stella Andrew David Stokes
Asha Bange
Co-designer
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Anne
KrogIversen
Enhancing Employee
Engagement through
Commitment, Cooperation,
and Empowerment.
COVER STORY

“This statement from Peter Thiel shows the value of work culture in an organiza on. A healthy work
culture is the key to building an excep onal organiza on which posi vely brings growth, produc vity,
and commi ed employees. For a culture officer, crea ng an effec ve work environment is not a one-
me job, it requires understanding and endurance that needs me, a en on, and leadership.
Considering the significance of work culture and its affect on employees’ overall performance, Anne
Krog Iversen, Chief People, DNA and Culture Officer at TimeXtender, spends a lot of me aligning
culture building with day-to-day work ac vi es to create a healthy and prosperous workplace.
We wanted to find out more. Below are the details of the interview with Anne:
Give a brief overview of your background and your role at TimeXtender.
I’m the Chief People, DNA & Culture Officer and co-founder of TimeXtender. My passion is people - it’s
all about people helping people fulfill their purpose, goals and dreams. I try to ensure that we all
enjoy the journey - knowing that focus, hard work and a whole lot of passion can help our employees
reach their des na on at work and in life. I believe in the concept of ‘1000 people - 1000 ways.’ Our
purpose at TimeXtender is to give businesses instant access to data, enabling them to make quality
business decisions with data, mind and heart. We do this for one simple reason – because me
ma ers.
How does TimeXtender posi on its cu ng-edge technology to appeal to its target audience?
To start, it’s important to note that we’re a market leader in data management with our high-
performance data management pla orm Discovery Hub®. We’re focused exclusively on Microso ,
which allows us to provide our outstanding technology to companies looking to rapidly construct and
manage a modern data estate on Microso data pla orms. More specifically, with Discovery Hub,
companies can build and manage their corporate data estate on Microso Azure, on-premises or
hybrid. Discovery Hub fully prepares corporate data for Azure, ar ficial intelligence and advanced
analy cs. This emphasis has led us to being named a Finalist as a 2019 Microso Data Estate
Moderniza on Partner of the Year. Discovery Hub is built with automa on in mind, enabling
companies to use a single, integrated pla orm rather than a patchwork of tools. This results in a huge
me and cost savings for businesses and a fully opera onal data-driven enterprise.
How necessary is it to align business with technology and what are its outcomes?
To be successful, today’s modern business must have access to its valuable enterprise data on a
moment’s no ce. This isn’t an op on. Organiza ons that do not provide business users data at their
finger ps will fall behind. Decisions regarding how to run their business now and into the future must
be based on reliable, accurate data. In order to make superior and strategic business decisions, users
o company has a
Nculture, every
company is a culture-

within func onal areas need to evaluate insights, trends,
history, analy cs and reports. However, it is also very
important to know that decision making shouldn’t be
predicated solely on data. Using your mind and your heart
are key factors in making good decisions as well. This helps
us bring knowledge and intui on, plus passion and interest,
into the decision-making equa on to help us make a more
complete business decision. In sum, we call this making
quality business decisions with data, mind and heart.
What were some of the primal challenges and roadblocks
that you faced during the ini al phase of your journey?
As TimeXtender began to grow, we lost a valuable
colleague from within our execu ve inner circle. Then, as
the company began to emerge onto the global business
tech scene, there was a lot of ac vity within the company.
Several years ago, to help us all deal with these issues
along our journey, and to provide calmer, stronger
emo onal intelligence, we rolled out our corporate mental
health program. Mindfulness has given us the life skills to
become be er at self-management both at work and at
home. This helps us all iden fy with a common purpose
greater than life’s challenges and growth rates. Along with
mindfulness, we’ve used Dr. Stephen R. Covey’s ‘The 7
Habits of Highly Effec ve People’ program as our
centerpiece for developing our company DNA, and it has
truly been a game-changing catalyst for helping
TimeXtender grow over me.
Along with the 7 Habits, what else comprises your
corporate mindfulness program?
We have a weekly recharge session where we have regular
a endance from the majority of our employees. We have
also hosted online recharge sessions as well. During our
weekly gatherings, we might include media on, yoga,
breathing, peaceful walks or other related mindfulness and
mental health ideas. We also have a weekly breakfast on
Fridays so that the team can socialize and engage with
each other. We also ins tuted a minute of silence to start
our business mee ngs. The power of silence helps us all
get grounded and recharge and recover from previous
business engagements as we prepare for the new mee ng
about to take place. In addi on, our corporate offices are
decorated with inspiring ar facts to help reinforce our
beliefs and way of life. This helps to promote and foster a
harmonious, peaceful, and tranquil environment for our
staff and visitors.
Describe some of the vital a ributes that you think every
business leader should possess.
Well, there are several a ributes that any business
professional should have but if I had to iden fy the top

“
three that come to mind I would say trust, resiliency and
perseverance. At TimeXtender, our business is centered
around our industry leading Discovery Hub. Our research
and development team works relessly to advance the
technology as mes and needs change. But, really, if you
think about it, we’re also in the people business. We have
hundreds of partners and thousands of customers around
the world. What makes this all work is the trust in our
rela onships. Trust is very important. Secondly, I would say
that being resilient is essen al as well. There are ups and
downs in any business and it’s important that we stay even
keel and consistent as we guide the business through
cycles. Related to this is perseverance. We have to possess
grit as it’s a compe ve world out there. To aid us here our
company DNA is now designed so that our employees can
become more aware and focused in their work and
personal endeavors. Providing corporate mindfulness at
work during the workday is a big part of who we are at
TimeXtender and it inspires us and helps us persevere in
the short and long runs.
What is your advice for emerging businesswomen?
Several years ago, the term “so skills” and possessing
those skills became a hot topic in the business world. Today
a lot of emphasis is put on having emo onal intelligence.
We work and deal with, buy and sell from people. It’s
extremely important to understand human rela ons and
being a en ve, not just to business requirements, but to
people’s personal needs. These skills are not always innate
and can be learned, so along with studying and gaining
experience in one’s chosen career path, it’s essen al to
also learn rela onship skills at the outset, but really
throughout your professional career. In addi on, I would
say that searching out more experienced management
peers to learn from can be quite beneﬁcial for someone
advancing in corporate management. Having a corporate
mentor to turn to who possesses more experience can help
someone accelerate along the learning curve and ﬁnd
greater success in management. Also, it’s important to
build, expand and nurture your personal network. Having a
business network can help you expand your knowledge
base and provide access for support and opportuni es.
TimeXtender inspires quality business decisions with
data, mind and heart. We do this for one simple reason:
because time matters.

“
Where does TimeXtender see itself in the near future and
how will you catalyze the change?
TimeXtender con nues to grow by leaps and bounds each
and every year. We’ve been rated one of the fastest
growing private technology companies on numerous
occasions. This is evidenced by our very high growth rates,
growing customer base, and ever-expanding partner
network. But we’re not res ng on our laurels. There are
s ll myriad businesses around the world who could beneﬁt
from Discovery Hub to create win-wins with us. The ability
for business users to have instant access to trustworthy
data is vital to any organiza on. And today, this necessity is
now moving into the cloud. Discovery Hub makes all this
happen for businesses.
That said, companies have choices when it comes to
selec ng technologies to manage their data estate on
Microso Azure. The ques on becomes, what is the best
op on for building and managing your data enterprise
today and tomorrow? What will ensure that you have a
future-proof data architecture? We wholeheartedly believe
the answer is Discovery Hub. The technology leverages the
power of automa on to help business remove manual,
redundant, repe ve tasks in favor of automa on for
coding. It provides a single, integrated pla orm to help
organiza ons beneﬁt from ‘one version of the truth.’ The
more companies that learn about Discovery Hub the more
our business con nues to grow. We expect this market
leadership to con nue today and into the future. And
we’re exci ng about our prospects.
It’s inherent within our corporate DNA that we believe that
people do business with people, and with that focus, we
will always strive to maintain our resiliency, and to have a
sustainable organiza on, so that we can be the best we can
be for our partners and customers that we serve.
Every day we work to make the complex simple, to
automate all that can be automated in the data-discovery
life cycle and to execute on what matters most.

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Being a business leader, there
are many professional traits
needed, but the skills and
abili es such as leadership,
communica on, persistence and
constant sacrifice are few of the most
important traits. Things like easy and
quick success are just words, a leader
has to put daily efforts and constancy
to demonstrate that the company has
strong and stable founda on. ALICIA
ASÍN PÉREZ, CEO of Libelium, is an
evident and profound example of how
skills of the leadership shapes an idea
into a successful business.
Below are highlights from the
interview conducted between ALICIA
and Insights Success:
Give a brief overview of your
background and your role in Libelium.
Libelium’s IoT technology is helping to
improve people’s quality of life and
companies’ compe veness. The
company offers solu ons for different
spheres such as agriculture, parking
systems, urban monitoring, waste
management, environment or security
& emergencies.
Libelium is an interna onal company
whose por olio includes IoT products
for all the markets worldwide with no
specific focus by region or country.
Libelium’s technological pla orm is
commi ed to the interoperability of
different sensors that allow the
measurement of any parameter
through any wireless communica on
protocol and send the recorded data
to mul ple cloud pla orms.
Libelium has been a pioneer in the
world of the Internet of Things for over
a decade and has con nued to
revolu onize the digital world with
their vision for the future of
technology. Iden fying IoT as a
breakthrough for any company,
Libelium has found new ways to solve
the problem of interoperability of any
IoT project. Furthermore, it has
focused on organizing its rela onship
with the ecosystem and has launched
more partnership programs than ever.
The most striking quality about
Libelium’s Smart Sensor pla orms is
that they can be u lized for a variety
of purposes, from monitoring ci es to
precision crops.
In 13 years, Libelium has moved from
being a start-up to an SME of 5 million
invoicing, more than 50 employees
and customers in 120 countries
expor ng 90% of turnover.
How do you diversify your solu ons
that appeal to your target audience?
The most demanded applica ons by
the market are solu ons for
agriculture, for environmental
monitoring (whether water quality, air,
noise) and smart ci es (with
applica ons such as parking or
detec on of mobile devices). If we talk
about eagerness, there are certain
enclosures that need our technology
to be more efficient and demand it
with urgency criteria: airports,
shopping centers, office buildings. The
projects for smart ci es are long
distance because they involve many
key players and require technologies
that are inoperable enough to
guarantee that the investments are
going to be long-las ng and the
projects can be scaled over me.
What were the past experiences,
achievements or lessons that shaped
your journey?
I was a child with many spor ng,
cultural and technical interests. I
prac ced rowing in high compe on.
Along with the footprint le by my
parents, sport is the other half of my
personality. That’s how I learned what
sacrifice and daily constancy, essen al
quali es in professional life, entails.
Before finishing my University Degree
in Computer Engineering, I decided to
undertake my own business project
with my business partner, David
Gascón. That was the me of social
networks and smartphone apps
startups, hardware did not look like
the easiest way, but we really wanted
to create value in our region and
overall make a posi ve impact through
technology.
What were some of the primal
challenges and roadblocks that you
faced during the ini al phase of your
journey?
Leading a company is like riding a
roller coaster, some day you are
celebra ng an award and the next one
your warehouse is burnt (true story for
us) but nor success or disgrace are
permanent, it is important to always
bare this in mind to keep on working.
Where does Libelium see itself in the
near future and how will you catalyze
the change?
Alicia Asín Pérez
A Proficient Leader with Exceptional Leadership Traits
November 2019insightssuccess.com 20
to Watch in 2019

We live in a society that craves easy
success. But solid success stories
are built on hard work
and excellence.

We are evolving from being a
hardware manufacturer to being a
solu ons consultant for complete IoT
projects. Libelium’s strategy is to offer
high value-added products and
services for the en re IoT value chain.
All our projects revolve around two
objec ves: to grow and to make the
IoT market grow. From the educa on
sector, where there is a long way to go
to transmit technological knowledge
about the use of IoT; through
applica ons to make the industry
more compe ve and reduce its costs;
to the market for daily solu ons.
Everything that we develop in Libelium
is done to provide customers with
ready-to-use technology that
combines hardware, so ware and final
applica on data analysis. This is the
only way to achieve the predic ons of
large investments and innova ve
About the Author
Alicia Asin co-founded Libelium in
2006 with David Gascón and has been
its CEO since the beginning. She is
focused on how IoT is becoming the
next tech revolu on, star ng with
Smart Ci es. She is a frequent speaker
at interna onal conferences on issues
related to Smart Ci es, Wireless
Sensor Networks and the IoT. She is a
computer engineer by the University
of Zaragoza and graduated by ESADE
Business School.
Alicia is also the first woman to receive
the Na onal Young Entrepreneur at
the 2014 mee ng of the Spanish
Confedera on of Young Entrepreneurs
(CEAJE).
results around the technological
disrup on.
What is your advice for emerging
women entrepreneurs?
I would tell them to train for skills such
as perseverance, decisiveness, clarity
of ideas, in general, which are
common features to many brave
people who decide to start a business.
And also skills such as analy cal and
communica onal ability, temperance
in mes of adversity & success,
curiosity for new market trends, and
always & above all, enthusiasm in
every task to perform are necessary.
The professional race is an endurance
race, a long-distance race; it is not a
ma er of speed. The goal is not to
reach the top and succeed at the first
but in constant learning and in carving
out one’s own path, learning from
successes and failures with humility.

Christine REMOVILLE
Global President

Mrs. Christine
REMOVILLE
Re-writing the ‘Digital Transformation’
for Businesses
ver since the digitization came into picture, the
Ebusiness has taken a giant leap in its customary
ways of carrying out processes. Be it a healthcare
or IT industry, the implementation of reliable digital tools
has become a need rather than a want. Meet Christine
REMOVILLE, Global President media and performance
transformation at Dentsu Aegis Network and previously
Carat Global President, understands the significance of
digital transformation and achieved many milestones in her
pathway. With an experienced in consulting and agency
background, she built a robust and proven experience in
leading major global digital transformation programs across
various industries.
One but Many Role
“Studies show that elementary school children will have
nine different careers in their lifetime. Today, successful
women in business are demonstrating this path and
showing that it is more about personal branding; less about
corporate branding,” says Christine.
She emphasizes on her professional roles by stating in
strategic and investment committees of GFI World, a
consulting and IT company. Additionally, she was also
nominated as Global President, Media and Performance
Transformation for Dentsu Aegis Network after having
been Carat Global’s President.
A Leader behind Many Establishment’s Achievement
Christine claims to launch and build Accenture Interactive
in Europe, Latin America and Africa with P&L Ownership,
opened new offices, hired leadership in the Geos, building
teams and launching the brand, going from 0 to $4 billion
revenue in only 7 years with more than 3000 people in
Europe.
Accenture Interactive is recognized by AdAge as the largest
Digital Agency Network in the world for the first time. She
built a Digital Marketing capability with more than 1000
people across 10 Geos including emerging countries. Under
the leadership of Christine, Accenture Interactive was
nominated as Europe Adobe Digital Marketing Partner of
the year.
She also made several contributions in the industry, some
are as follows:
Ÿ She launched Accenture Analytics in France, NL and
Belgium with the associated partnership strategy,
innovation labs and thought leadership., developing
partnerships with SAS and other analytic providers.
Ÿ She contributed in building and deploying Accenture
Marketing Sciences in Southern Europe including the
successful integration of acquisitions achieving 80%
retention scores and 200% year on year growth.
Ÿ She worked for 10 years in Accenture Strategy before
becoming partner for another 10 years, running Merger
& Acquisitions for clients, Post Merger Integration as
well as Business angel for start-ups.
Exceeding Targets
“If I can create opportunity, I am the most useful
person,”quotes Christine.
to Watch in 2019

Her passion includes to create Business Value leading to
more Jobs for people across the world. She created job
opportunities in India, Middle East, Greece, Poland and
many other markets. She states that, with on-going Artificial
Intelligence (AI) trail, her company will need more and
more creative brainpower, humans with empathy, real care
and love with no expectation in return, which is
irreplaceable by AI.
She led Carat across 131 markets and 10000 people and
successfully directed 3 European entities involving complex
cross-cultural and cross-expertise Project Management
(Accenture Marketing Sciences, Accenture Analytics and
Accenture Interactive). She also worked in new business as
part of large organization, to create the new, scale-up fast
and industrialized environment. She transformed Accenture
Interactive from being a small organization to be the
number one digital organization including setting up new
processes, roles and delivery models.
While exemplifying about growth strategy, Christine states
that she have implemented a growth strategy in a digital
environment for CEOs (Wolters Kluwer). She successfully
grew Accenture Interactive from zero to a 4 billion dollar
business. She also led mergers and acquisitions and built
new operating models for CPG clients (ex. Cadbury
Schweppes) and conducted Post Merger Integration within
Accenture (ex. Media-Audits).
Through above statement she emphasizes on her ability to
leverage both her left and right brain for different causes
and jobs. Christine, while working at Publicist, CARAT,
Aegis, and Accenture Interactive—the experience agency,
utilized her right brain efficiently for business aspects such
Like a Chess Game, one must
think several steps ahead, to be
top of your competitor's mind,
and plan with agility
as Creativity, Emotions, Consumer, Holistic, Agencies. And,
as she worked for Accenture, boards she utilized her left
brain for business aspects such as Consulting firms, IT,
Linear, Languages, Methodologies. She also desired to be a
math teacher as a child and was the P&L owner of
Accenture Analytics for France and Benelux. As a result,
she created an experience architect program to deliver end-
to-end digital marketing services which includes media
strategy, planning and buying, Marketing Strategy, CRM,
Digital strategy and road-map, Marketing Sciences and
Analytic. She also contributed in transforming human
experiences SEO/SEM, programmatic, living content, CRM
and campaign management.
Advice to Rely on
Christine advice to upcoming budding business men and
women that one must consciously recognize his or her
feelings which basically are anger, fear, happiness and
sadness, to move towards Business Serenity over time.
Business Serenity is about balance and stability for
everyone when challenges arise. It is about working with
calm and confidence, thinking with clarity, making complex
things easy.
She also mentions her challenge of replacing the Core with
the New through implementing new ideologies to disrupt
the customary way of doing businesses. Which might, in
future, result into a better partnership with several executive
leaders to drive growth agenda in a digital environment.

Attributes
of a Good
Leader

Leadership 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
communication grows. Especially,
when it comes to leadership, there is no
scope for lack of communication. A
Leader who fails to develop this skill is
looked up as incompetent, because it is
his job to send the message loud and
clear. Although, it is also important to
listen as it is an integral part of
communication.
Ÿ 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.
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:
Ÿ Communication Skills
Communication is the basic
requirement for efficiency in a
business. As the level of hierarchy
elevates, the requirement of
The Art of Leading

Turning Science Fiction Into Reality
Afamous American-Canadian speculative fiction
writer, William Gibson, once said -“The future is
already here. It’s just not evenly distributed yet.”
Dr. Elsa Sotiriadis, the Founder & CEO of The
Biofuturist, a ‘bio-futures prototyping lab’ is committed to
change that:“My mission is to make the future more evenly
distributed.” Elsa is on the mission to make breakthrough
innovations accessible to the people whose names get
underlined in red, (all of humanity), by helping companies
re-think how we build the world with the most powerful
design language there is - biomimicry: the code of life
itself.
Elsa is a synthetic biologist, turned biotech venture
capitalist, turned futurist, science fiction author and cyborg.
She is an experienced, popular keynote speaker and
strategic innovation consultant on the disruption between
life sciences and technology. She delivers highly tailored
keynotes for corporate and public events as well as bespoke
workshops and consulting services. Elsa has also helped
invest in, build and launch 25 ground-breaking biotech
start-ups as a VC investor and helped one of the world’s
biggest tech companies to harness digital biology to
future-proof their business. Technology goes under her skin
- she became a ‘cyborg’ live on stage to tweet just by hand
swipe to help push tech into the hands of people, literally.
During her early career, her quest to master the operating
system of life for a more sustainable world led her from
ETH Zurich and a competition for ‘genetically engineered
machines’ at MIT to an astrobiology meeting at NASA’s
Ames Research Centre and to developing bio-robots made
from DNA for her Ph.D. at Imperial College London and
the University of Hong Kong.
On the side, she writes speculative fiction and her debut
novelette Replicon won an honorable mention at the Writers
of The Future competition in LA (her pen name is Elsa
Solaris). She likes to run, often fails at CrossFit and lives
mostly in London and sometimes in Switzerland.
However, life wasn’t always so smooth for her. According
to her, science fiction saved her, during the time when she
was growing up as a half-orphan. Science fiction turned
Elsa into an explorer, who dreamed of science as her
real-life magic power.
Turning Science Fiction into Reality
Elsa believes that we are now living in the extraordinary
times, when people can turn science fiction into reality.
According to her, transforming breakthroughs into real,
human-centric products and services requires a lot of
expertise, but also imagination, visionary thinking and
empathic design to connect the dots and make a real
positive impact. So, prototyping these futures helps
companies better map and tackle their strategic innovation
opportunities, which means creating more value, serving
their customers better and future-proofing the business.
When it comes to the digital biology disruption, we live in
an exponential era, when incremental innovations of 10%
improvement are longer enough. Climate change alone is
the biggest challenge our species faces in the coming
decades. The world is burning. Incremental innovation can’t
save us anymore. What we need is 10-fold disruption.
Elsa also added, “Biology is becoming an information
technology that is re-shaping many industries. In the
coming years, the first flagship products will not be
manufactured, but grown.”
Elsa Sotiriadis

Embracing Science Fiction and Abolishing
Real Barriers
Elsa believes that science fiction has helped
her become an explorer and push frontiers.
So, she suggests every business leader should
read science fiction, because it is the most
powerful mind-expanding drug.
According to her, embracing science fiction
helps us to fire up our imagination, come up
with breakthrough ideas and design human-
centric technologies responsibly. Why?
Because the protagonists of near-future
science fiction novels could be your customers
in five years. Business leaders don’t just have
to solve today’s challenges, but tomorrow’s.
When asked about encouraging women to
take leadership positions, Elsa said, “We have
to abolish the real barriers and confront bias,
because implicit bias it the main cause of the
gender gap.”
She further added, “Your privilege is your
blind-spot. That allows structural and
systemic problems to fester over time and
boom, we have a non-inclusive monoculture
that lacks diversity and where women aren’t
paid fairly. You also can’t make great
products. So, we must break this cycle and
listen very differently, listen empathetically.
We have to ask ourselfs, what does it look like
to make space for each other’s experiences?”
Suggestions for Aspiring Leaders
While asked about few suggestions for
aspiring leaders, Elsa suggested, “Comfort
will ruin you, because growth only occurs in a
state of discomfort. So, to succeed in the age
of disruption, we have to disrupt ourselves
first. To achieve this, mindful habits are
golden because of the compounding effect of
time. And above all, be kind.”
Mastering the code of life is our superpower
to save humanity from climate change and
one day, become a multiplanetary species.‘‘
Dr. Elsa Sotiriadis
Founder & CEO
The Biofuturist
to Watch in 2019

Juggy Sihota
Vice president,
Consumer Health
TELUS

JUGGY
SIHOTAA Trailblazer with Exceptional
Leadership Qualities
n executive with more than 20 years of leadership
Aexperience, and one of Vancouver Magazine’s
Power 50 in 2019, Juggy Sihota has enjoyed a
fulfilling and rewarding career leading many emerging
technology businesses and operations at TELUS. Juggy is
known for her unrelenting focus on quality and efficiency
combined with a genuine concern and commitment for all
who work with her.
TELUS is empowering Canadians to take control of their
health and the health of their loved ones with the right
information, tools, and support they need to live healthier
and happier lives. As a Vice President, Juggy not only leads
the largest Canadian-owned personal emergency response
service in Canada but also is responsible for the national
strategy, execution and operation of TELUS’ entire
Consumer Health business. Together with her team, her
work helps to revolutionize access to healthcare in Canada
through the launch of innovative technology solutions such
as: Babylon by TELUS Health – the fastest growing,
highest customer-rated virtual care app in Canada; TELUS
LivingWell Companion - a wearable personal emergency
response device with fall detection for aging Canadians; the
TELUS Healthy Living Network – informative and
educational content on TELUS’ Optik TV; TELUS Health
for Good Mobile Health Clinics – delivering healthcare on
the streets to some of Canada’s most vulnerable citizens;
TELUS Baby Health App – a Personal Health Records
(PHRs) solution for new parents; and more. Juggy was also
the executive producer for the critically-acclaimed
documentary Painkiller: Inside the Opioid Crisis which
takes a raw look at how the opioid epidemic is ravaging our
country.
Prior to Juggy’s current role, she was the Vice President,
Customer Experience Strategy and Operations, TELUS
Health. Under her leadership, the national Customer
Experience operations team drove business performance
and engagement to increase client loyalty, profitability and
satisfaction.
Community leadership is a critical component of Juggy’s
leadership story. She is currently a Board Director on the
VGH & UBC Hospital Foundation Board as well as on the
Canadian Men’s Health Foundation. She is also an advisor
to the City of Vancouver on racial and ethno-cultural equity
issues. She previously served as a director on the TELUS
Vancouver Community Board from 2008 to 2011. She also
served on the Justice Institute of British Columbia and the
Vancouver Board of Trade’s Women’s Leadership Council.
to Watch in 2019

Ensure purpose underscores
every business strategy and the
team understands the value of
their contribution to the greater goal.
Most recently, Juggy received a Forty Under 40 award in
2012 for her business achievements, inspirational
leadership and community contributions, and was also one
of seven women in Canada to be awarded the 2013
Leadership Excellence Trailblazer Award by Canadian
Women in Communications. In 2015, she was recognized
with a TELUS Legend Award – the highest recognition a
TELUS team member can achieve. Juggy received the
Diversity Champion Award at TELUS in 2016. This award
recognizes leaders who are champions of all diversity and
celebrates those who leverage diversity of thought to help
advance business strategy.
Juggy holds an MBA from Queen’s University in Kingston,
Ontario and has completed Executive Development
programs at Harvard and INSEAD. In an interview with
Insights Success, Juggy unveils her inspiring
entrepreneurial journey. Below are highlights of the
interview:
How do you diversify your solutions that appeal to your
target audience?
Health is important to everyone, no matter who they are or
where they live. At TELUS, we are putting patients at the
centre of healthcare by leveraging the power of our
innovative network technology and information to help
deliver better health experiences for all Canadians so they
may live happier, healthier lives. By revolutionizing access
to healthcare through a diverse portfolio of digital health
products and services; improving communication and
efficiency by driving digital adoption; and creating healthier
communities through a more sustainable healthcare system,
we are bridging the socio-economic divide so all Canadians
have access to the technology they need to access
healthcare and information no matter where they live across
the country. We work in collaboration with healthcare
providers to ensure they’re well equipped to connect with
their patients and other HCPs efficiently and effectively
through digital health solutions.
Describe some of the vital attributes that you feel every
businesswoman should possess.
Every effective business leader should have a good balance
of intelligence quotient (IQ) and emotional quotient (EQ).
In addition to the requisites of the role they are in, I believe
the differentiator between good and great leaders is how
their EQ balances with IQ; and in the most remarkable
leaders it’s almost equal. I think leading business is really
about leading people and leading with empathy is key with
any effective business strategy. People grow your business
and they sustain it.

What were the past experiences, achievements or lessons
that shaped Juggy’s journey?
Early in my career I had to become comfortable with not
fitting in - I was either the youngest (not so much anymore),
the only woman, and/or the only minority. When I sat at
leadership tables, I stood out because of these visible
differences. I was forced to face the positive and negative
perceptions people had of me before they even had a chance
to get to know me or my credentials. This was a lesson that
helped me tune into my own sense of self and have an
awareness that ultimately enabled me to build my EQ and
IQ which I believe has been key in shaping who I am today
as both a person and as a leader.
What are your future aspirations and how will you
catalyze the change?
I want to continue making a meaningful and sustainable
difference in business and in society at a ever-growing
scale. I’m fortunate to work for a company with values that
align with my own where the belief is that in order to do
well in business, we must improve the social health of our
communities and seize the opportunity to drive positive
human outcomes. In my role, this social purpose translates
into revolutionizing access to healthcare for all Canadians
through the adoption of digital health technology.
What is your advice for emerging women
entrepreneurs?
I have three pieces of advice:
Ÿ Be brave, be confident, and you will figure things out
along the way.
Ÿ Get comfortable with being uncomfortable and not
knowing everything.
Ÿ Be prepared for a life-long journey of continuous
learning.

Ineke Kooistra is the CEO of YoungCapital, a leading Dutch recruitment agency, since
2013. She has been working in the recruitment and secondment branches for 25 years.
Additionally, she has also set up and expanded various specializations within the IT
stafﬁng market. Her role as the CEO of the company is to get people moving, motivate
them and coach them.
Together with three male founders, she directs a predominantly female management
team and 1,300 employees, of which 80 percent is also female. This is pure coincidence,
because Ineke doesn’t believe in selecting her employees based on gender.
About the Author

At the top
“It’s all about finding someone’s strengths. Women don’t
outperform men and vice versa. But I won’t deny that it
takes a lot of discipline to stay at the top as a woman,”
Ineke expresses. Just like men, women have a lot of
qualities that match perfectly with a leadership role. It’s
important that leadership comes from the heart. And you
need to have the intention to help others grow and make
them better through your role. I call it Servant Leadership.
If you want to make your company a success, you need to
be of service to the company and its people. This has
nothing to do with gender or background.
That’s why a quota for women at the top is completely
nonsense, according to me. All women who really want to
reach the top, will find a way to break through that glass
ceiling. No bias in the world will stop a woman on a
mission to reach that top position. But it’s wrong to think
that anyone with the right capabilities – man or woman –
can work anywhere they want. There should be a match
between your personality, the company’s values and its
culture. And sometimes it’s just a case of pure luck. Being
at the right place at the right time. If this match doesn’t
come naturally, it’s just not meant to be.
But if there is a perfect match between you as a leader and a
company, it’s the first positive step, in my opinion. It’s still
a lot of work. Having all that responsibility takes a lot out
of you. You shouldn’t be afraid to make choices, and that
also means saying no to certain activities in your personal
life.
I am a mother of two and am not home every day. My
husband and I have been able to make it work. I notice that
a lot of women still find it difficult. But you can’t run a
company part time. You need to dare to go full in. Those
doubts often appear during the initial job interview. Women
say “I want to be a director, but I still have children that I
need to bring to school. Is that possible?” As if there are no
male CEOs that bring their kids to school. The big
difference is that men don’t ask these kinds of questions.
They just do it!
Balance
It’s all about balance. Recently, I attended a forum on
female leadership, where I talked about my role as a CEO.
In the audience, were female students who were just about
to graduate. When the moderator asked which of them
wanted the same job as me, only three of the four hundred
students raised their hands. The moderator was shocked,
and asked the audience what was going on. “She works too
much”, was the answer. “And we also want to be able to go
to parties, exercise and have a social life.” That shocked me
a little. It’s not that I don’t do anything else besides work.
My downtime, social life and work activities are just one
big mix. It’s true that I’m constantly thinking about work.
But I also allow myself to go for a run in the morning or see
my hairdresser during the week. To me, it’s just one full
week in which I can do a lot.
Did I have this go-getter mentality as a child, since I
already knew I wanted to one day reach the top? I think so.
But, at the same time, all the things I hoped for as a child
didn’t come true. What I got is a lot better. I definitely don’t
regret the choices that I’ve made. I started a family, got
married, and am the CEO of a young and ambitious
company. I should therefore be the last person to decide
whether or not one should have a leadership position based
on a ‘home situation’. How you combine the two is up to
you. And yes, that takes a lot of discipline. But if you have
natural leadership qualities, I believe everything is going to
be alright.
The key to achieving this? As a female – or male – leader,
you need to learn to let go and prioritise. Just do your best
and focus on making things better for other people.
Unbiased Future

Personifying the True Essence of Passion
Lindsey Myers
It is certainly a passion that fuels
an individual to make things
happen. In fact, passion defines
the true essence of entrepreneurship.
An avid leader, Lindsey Myers is
exemplifying how a passion for
something can lead to a successful
venture. Lindsey founded Concrete
Blonde Consulting in November
2016 to pursue her passion for
building reputations and revenues
through business development
marketing strategies. The company
has since been named one of the
“Top 15 PR Agencies in New York”
by The Manifest and one of the “Top
10 Best PR Agencies” by Web Surf
Media. This aptly describes how
passion can help everyone to climb
the ladder of success.
Exemplifying Strategic Leadership
Lindsey provides profit and growth
solutions and thrives as a consultant.
A communications expert and
entrepreneur, she has over twelve-
years of experience serving various
industries including consumer
products and services, tech, lifestyle,
hospitality and non-profit companies
in NYC and the Hamptons luxury
market. She graduated from Boston
University with a BS in
Communications and concentration
in PR. She began her career at Word
Hampton Public Relations, a firm
headquartered in East Hampton, NY
and ranked by Jack O’Dwyer’s as
one of the country’s “Top 100
Independent PR firms”. In 2013, she
was made partner and was chosen to
launch the company’s NYC division.
Then, in 2016, she went out on her
own and founded Concrete Blonde
Consulting.
Being recognized a strategic leader,
she has earned a track record for
counseling clients, including Fortune
500 companies such as NAPCO
Security, Inc., to increase profits,
manage brand reputations and gain
market share. She is continually
driven by her enterprising spirit and
innate understanding of consumer
influence.
In addition, she has also been a guest
lecturer at several universities
including Hofstra University and
Saint Joseph’s University. Her
influential leadership and expertise
have earned her numerous accolades
throughout her career including;
PRSA Big Apple award, PRSA
Bronze Anvil award, eight MarCom
awards, nine Fair Media Council
Folio awards, Communicator award,
SABRE award and an Excellence in
Communications award.
Calmness is the Key
Having patience during negotiations
was always the biggest challenge for
Lindsey. It doesn’t matter to her how
much revenue the company is
bringing in or how many leads she
has coming in; she is always anxious
and eager to close the sale. She finds
that running really helps her get
centered and she has also started a
meditation practice to promote calm.
Lindsey believes that a sound
temperament is extremely important
to success in business. She struggled
with this a lot. She is of opinion that
if you want to have more, first you
have to become more. She highly
recommends leaders investing in any
tools to help them reach their goals.
Even, in order to make her
employees resourceful, she gives
them the relevant tools they need to
find the answers themselves and let
them know that she values this skill.
Words of Wisdom
Lindsey advises entrepreneurs to

I’m striving to bring a little
more compassion and
humanity back into the
business world.
“ “
know what they want and expect
they can have it. She mentions,
“In terms of leadership, remember
you might be in charge, but make
logic the boss and make sure the
talent knows you hired them for their
strategic thinking skills and not to
“yes” people.”
According to her, there are three
essential attributes every leader must
possess. The first is having a clear
vision. If you are going to lead
people, then you need to know where
you are going. The second is
effective communication skills, so
Lindsey Myers
Founder
Concrete Blonde Consulting
you can effectively communicate
with your team, because you aren’t
going to get there alone. And, other is
empathy, so that you can connect
with you team and nurture their
talent.
Enlightening Upcoming
Entrepreneurs
In her advice to enlighten upcoming
entrepreneurs, she asserts, “Do it!!
The most important thing you need to
start a business is a belief you can
succeed. If you know that in your
heart then all you have to do is keep
talking to people about your vision.
Will a lot of people say no?
Absolutely. Will some laugh at you?
Possibly. Will there be those who
warn you that you are going to fail?
Make a list of those people and
remember that anyone who thinks
this is more than you can handle is
less than the kind of person you need
in your life.”
“Just keep putting one foot in front of
the other everyday. A lot of people
will say no, but sometimes all you
need is one person to say yes,”
she adds.
to Watch in 2019

Enriching the Future of Australia with Biotech
Lorraine Chiroiu
Biotechnology above all, is serving the global need
for better health solutions, and improving our lives
– at times in a disruptive way. Biotechnology-
powered innovations of this decade have revolutionised
healthcare with their capabilities. However, due to the
complexity and connectivity involved, people and even
governments often remain under-unaware of these vital
developments and their value. Committed to the vision of
bridging the gap between biotechnology and the benefits it
offers, Lorraine Chiroiu, CEO of AusBiotech is
advocating for organisations doing business in and with the
global life sciences economy to ultimately enable access to
technologies. In this way, the lives of Australian citizens are
enriched.
Below are the highlights of the interview between Insights
Success and Lorraine unveiling her remarkable work, and
sharing her thoughts on biotech commercialization,
leadership and many more.
Can you give us a brief overview of your background
and the evolution of your career towards being a
recognized industry leader in biotech?
While initially aspiring to be a journalist, the strongest
themes of my career from the beginning and throughout
have been advocate, writer and interpreter.
My first role after graduating from university was
improving the portrayal of people with serious mental
illness in the media. It involved working with journalists on
behalf of the StigmaWatch programme and was both an
advocacy role and a way if interpreting and facilitating the
experience of people with psychosis for the media and
therefore the broader community.
Fast forward 20 years and as Chief Executive Officer of
AusBiotech, I’m still an advocate and interpreter, but now
for the development of new biotechnologies that will save,
enhance and progress our lives.
Through my ten years of commitment to AusBiotech I have
progressed through the organisation, managing many
aspects of the business. Joining as the Communication
Manager, then Chief Industry Affairs Officer, both focused
on policy and communications, before being promoted into
the Deputy Chief Executive Officer role in 2016 and Chief
Executive Officer in 2018.
In this role I utilize my strengths and capabilities to
advocate on the policy issues facing the sector and to lead
the AusBiotech team to support the industry’s delivery of
technologies that change people’s future. It involves
interpreting between many and varied groups, for example
conveying the needs of biotech companies to governments,
or the commercialization process for a researcher or the
promise of a technology for an investor.
Prior to joining AusBiotech, I worked in corporate and
public affairs roles for a multinational biopharmaceutical
company, the Pharmacy Guild of Australia, the University
of Melbourne and for SANE Australia, a mental health
consumer organization.
Pertaining to your leadership experience, how according
to you, do the changes in technology utilization,
volatility of the market and talent recognition, affect the
overall development of any business/organization?
In my experience, working at the juncture of health
delivery, cutting edge science and business is a unique and
exciting view. We need one eye on the horizon and the other
on adapting what we do and how we do it.
AusBiotech members are developing and commercializing
new inventions and technologies. The recognition of new
trends in technology development has serious implications
for regulation, reimbursement and skills attraction and
development in Australia. For example, the development of
immunotherapies is challenging the way we treat cancers
and regulate therapeutic goods. It means we need new skills
to work in the companies commercializing these
technologies.
What according to you are the vital attributes that a
business leader should possess?
Ÿ The tenacity to keep on trying and to deal with
uncomfortable situations;
Ÿ the emotional intelligence to collaborate with people
and engender their support;
Ÿ Enough humility to know that few achieve success on
their own;
Ÿ authenticity about your values and what you believe in;

Focus on doing the
best job you can, no
matter what job
you’ve chosen.
“ “
Ÿ the ability to adapt, as challenge and change are
inevitable and more prominent than ever;
Ÿ and a sense of perspective about what is (and isn’t)
important.
Considering the necessity of encouraging women to take
up leadership positions, in what ways according to you,
can this be achieved?
I believe that ‘calling out’ imbalance is critical. Simply
asking the question often changes the outcome; is there a
more balanced way we can do this? In the very least, it
creates awareness. AusBiotech has recently launched its
equity and inclusion statement. We’ve agreed as a team to
apply it to our work (conference programmes, committees,
etc.) and it’s wonderful to see the way in which it’s
becoming ingrained in what we do.
AusBiotech’s Life Sciences Snapshot 2017 showed that in
terms of gender equity, while female representation is
around or above 50 per cent for research institutes, funding
bodies, government & regulatory and support services,
females are under-represented in industry, with only 30 per
cent of the workforce female. While pharmaceutical
companies are leading the away on 45 per cent, across the
sector, female representation decreases as seniority levels
increase. At director level the imbalance is stark and
disturbing.
To address this, role models that show us all what is
possible is absolutely key. I will always remember the
powerful effect of the first time I identified with a female
politician, or the first interaction with a female CEO, or
when my best friend was appointed to a global role at
WHO. The women who work in life sciences are incredibly
inspiring, and seeing more on Boards in the coming years,
I’m confident will have an exponentially positive effect.
How you have envisioned your future with regards to
your career as well as your personal growth?
My focus is on the delivery of world-class healthcare, via
the commercialization of technologies and the growth of the
industry. In recent years, health technologies have enabled
us to cure Hepatitis C; to seriously reduce deaths from
cancer; to almost eradicate cervical cancer from HBV; for
the profoundly deaf to hear; and for HIV to move from a
death sentence to a chronic disease. I hope that I can play a
pivotal role in technologies reaching patents in future,
whatever the capacity.
Lorraine Chiroiu
CEO
AusBiotech
to Watch in 2019

Participation in the Ever-changing
Modern Workforce
Dynamics of
No 2019vemberinsightssuccess.com 46

G
one are the days when women were stereotyped to
a certain set of skills and professions, restricting
them from exploring the world of endless
opportunities. Today, women have announced their arrival
in many fields of the business world. Therefore, it seems
more important than ever before to recognize female
contributions in every profession.
Fighting through biased work culture in favour of male
dominance, women have conquered the unconquered on the
account of their distinct calibre and predilections. In the
times when the world female participation rate is to the
dispiriting levels of around 67% and pay-off rate of about
63%, achievements by women go-getters are praiseworthy.
Listening capabilities is one of the
distinguishing aspects of feminine species as compared to
their male counterparts. Instilling and pursuing ones
thoughts is undoubtedly important for effective working.
But being a better listener is something that can make a
difference as studies show that the customer values and
trusts the firms if they perceive that they are being listened
to by the firms. With inherent caring and affectionate traits,
women outclass men when it comes to understanding
critical demands of the customers.
Emotional Intelligence (EI) - the ability to identify and
manage one’s own emotions as well as the emotions of
others - is an essential skill when it comes to dealing with a
diverse class of consumers. Women are naturally gifted
with higher EI making them better suited for pressure
situations and avoiding counter-productive decisions while
keeping emotions in check.
Emotional Intelligence encompasses two major dimensions
– awareness of one’s self and awareness of others. Both the
attributes are very much significant for the survival and
success of any organisation. Self-awareness involves being
familiar with trigger points and behavioural traits when put
to the test. This, in turn, helps to modulate impulses
avoiding conclusions which are harmful for the welfare of
business. In addition to self-awareness, an awareness of
others is equally critical in business. Analysing and
decoding non-verbal communication – that amounts to 93%
of the message – eventually benefits in convincing and
converting a lead into a client.
Collaboration, and not the cutthroat competition, is the
modern era’s principle virtue to achieve success. Many
endeavours which seem to be beyond the bounds of
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, gender-
diverse 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.
Empowering Women

Lack of confidence, according to many experts, is one
prime reason women tend to question themselves and doubt
their worthiness. In order to advance, they must coach their
inner critics.
Out-speak and define what women want professionally if
they want to get succeeded. Too often they don’t know or
rely upon others to define it for them.
“Building relationships with those in positions of
leadership is critical,” Susan Brady, executive vice
president of Linkage Inc. says. “Put down the to-do list long
enough to connect with decision makers across the
organization, and help them understand who you are and
what you bring to the table.”
Women are generally uneasy about asking for what they
want. They must stop thinking about what they need as a
self-serving request. They must develop the courage and
fortitude to stand up and ask for what they want.
While proving value, women tend to overcompensate in
order to demonstrate that they are adding value. Instead
of doing it all alone, change the paradigm and track to
encourage others to take on more responsibility, thus
enabling them to scale and multiply their own impact.
Not to forget, biased work culture and regional
barriers are the crucial obstacles in the road of women
work participation. But, today women are breaking these
shackles and coming out boldly to be a part of economic
processes shouldering their male counterparts.
There has been obvious progress in achieving gender
equality around the world over the past two decades:
more girls are attending school, more women are
working and are being elected to public offices, more
women hold management positions, and the situation
involving women’s legal as well as social rights have
also improved.
However, a great deal still remains to be done to achieve
equal outcomes for women and men. Recognizing
women’s abilities, the values they bring to the
organisation, the transformation they achieve as far as
work environment is concerned, and considering
monetary benefits associated with the female work
participation, corporate sector need to welcome their
emergence with open arms. No future is far where male-
dominated workplaces will be a tale of extinct, we
believe.

In 2012, a young budding entrepreneur identified the need of a digital platform which would combine
entertainment with modern consumer’s interest. This young talent was Rishika Lulla Singh, who founded
Eros Now, a digital platform where consumers can online watch 12,000 plus Movie titles, original series,
Music Videos, Television Programming and others in Hindi and 9 other Indian regional languages.
Rishika has always been quite a free spirit. Having an inquisitive nature, she always enjoyed taking up
challenges. As she realized the evolving dynamics of entertainment consumption, it was a challenge for the
company to also evolve and serve its customers with their evolving needs. As the Chairman & CEO of Eros
Digital, which is one of the first OTT platforms in India, Rishika could foresee a steep learning curve here and
that motivated her to launch this platform. As an individual, she has never believed in doing things
half-heartedly and wanted her platform to be smooth in its user interface and its offerings. With all the ups and
downs faced, today she is proud to say that, Eros Now successfully set up the business ground up and achieved
the first milestone of 10k paid subscribers. All of this wouldn’t have been possible without her team, who have
contributed to build this platform. She believes in celebrating people’s dynamicity and she personally feels that
it lets everyone think out of the box, present unique suggestions and helps in striving for the best.
An On-Demand Digital Platform
Much ahead of its time, Eros Now began its exhilarating journey in 2012 to create a unique mark in the Indian
film & digital entertainment Industry. It has been a pioneer in the entertainment space in India and the company
realized the changing dynamics of the entertainment consumption, leading it to proudly launch India’s first on-
demand digital platform Eros Now. The relations built over the years with leading talent, production
companies, exhibitors and other key participants played an important role in the growth of the company.
Eros Now users watch content on the platform for more than 21 hours in a week- highest amongst all major
OTT platforms in India. The platform has the highest percentage of users consuming content on Smart TVs. A
total of 27% of Eros Now users watch content on Smart TVs. This can be attributed to its applications UI and
in-app content discovery experience. Today, the company caters to more than 154.7 million registered users
and 18.8 million paying subscribers worldwide, offering them 12,000 plus Movie titles, Music Videos,
Originals and Short format content like Quickie to choose from.
Bringing Shift in Digital Entertainment Media
Rishika Lulla
Singh

Rishika Lulla Singh
Chairman & CEO
Eros Digital

Embracing Challenges
One of the biggest challenges that Rishika faced was creating awareness and educating the customers to manoeuvre
their way between screens and still maintain the same ROI with the change in consumption habits. However, with
the help of the talented skilled team of Eros and backed by knowledgeable leaderships, the company has embraced
the challenge together, as an organization citing it as an opportunity to grow and cater to a global audience that
loves consuming Indian content.
Getting Ahead with Passion
Rishika is a firm believer of maintaining a personal life after work. As a kid she had laid down a strong foundation
in terms of discipline, outlook and approach and this helps her in maintaining work-life balance. Also, she was
intrigued with technology and always knew she needs fast paced evolutionary environment. Rishika’s passion for
tech and entertainment helps her in passing on the same zeal and enthusiasm to the entire team to always aim for
the best. Sharing knowledge and passion helps her in boosting confidence and she ensures a combined effort leads
the company to greater heights of success.
The Indian entertainment eco-system is at the cusp of evolution and everyone is learning, innovating, educating and
spreading awareness amongst each other on a daily basis. It is therefore extremely important to be patient in order
to achieve visions and goals, be it technology advancement or reach. Rishika believes in learning from each other
and from those around her and creates an environment of growth on both personal and professional fronts.
A Leader ‘Must’
Rishika believes every leader must embody a few characteristics like self-belief, discipline, dedication, hard work,
confidence and willingness to inspire others. It helps in building confidence amongst the team to act now and not
later, think creatively, have confidence, and never give up. She asserts “Inspiring your team and colleagues with
your actions is the best possible way to create a positive environment to overcome any current or future
challenges.”
A Thoughtful Advice
According to Rishika, many successful Indian women have inspired others with their phenomenal achievement in
varied business domains and have emerged successful not only in domestic but also on international sphere. So, she
advises them to set a very high goal, be unafraid of roadblocks, and be persistent towards achieving success.
to Watch in 2019

If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn
more, do more and become more, you are a leader.“
“

Exemplifying the Perfect Blend of Discipline and Passion
Ruby Castellanos
t is believed that self-confidence is
Ithe first step to success. Business
leaders who trust their own
capabilities are the ones who build
successful ventures. One such global
business leader is Ruby Castellanos,
who considers self-confidence as a
crucial trait for leaders. She is
currently holding position of Country
Manager at Ufinet in Chile, Argentina
and Paraguay, and works in order to
extend the successful model of the
company in such geographies.
Since 2002, when Ufinet had begun its
expansion in Latin America working
hand in hand with the electricity
distribution companies that were
acquired at the time by Unión Fenosa,
Ruby Castellanos began her
professional career at Ufinet Colombia.
During her career at Ufinet, she had
been responsible for the Operation and
Maintenance area in the pacific zone
and was a telecommunication Service
Manager for the most important energy
distribution company of the Colombian
south-west. She later served as
Business Development Manager for
Latam, participating in the expansion
and growth of Ufinet in the region
through Greenfield international
projects, M&A processes and new
business models. Currently, she
occupies the position of Country
Manager for the southern cone and is
responsible for the countries Chile,
Argentina and Paraguay.
The value propositions of Ufinet is its
flexibility and proximity to its
customers. It allows Ruby to make
customized solutions according to
customer’s necessity. Also, decision
making at Ufinet is quick, being a large
organization but with a light structure
that allows making decisions quickly
and it is an element which is valued by
customers.
Network and Service Expansion
Ufinet will undoubtedly be the main
wholesale neutral carrier in Latin
America with the most extensive fiber
optic network. In the last 4 years it has
entered in 7 new countries and every
day adds more km of fiber optics, as
well as strengthening itself as an
infrastructure operator through the
business lines of towering and
wholesale FTTH. Punctually, the
southern cone has an important role in
the region, where the company is
deploying more than 200 km of fiber
optic in Santiago covering the main
areas of the city and it is analyzing the
network expansion nationwide. On the
other hand, Argentina and Paraguay
are very advanced in the development
of models of wholesale FTTH. It is
important to highlight that Paraguay is
becoming increasingly important as a
gateway to Brazil, which is the last
country in which Ufinet entered, with
more than 6 thousand km of network
that extends to the borders with
Argentina and Brazil. Likewise Ufinet
in the three countries of the southern
cone is working on innovative and
integral towering solutions on which it
has a very special focus.
Self-confidence is the Key
Ruby believes, self-confidence is
essential to face any challenge. This
mitigates the fear of risk and allows
one to work with a positive attitude.
Another important aspect is the
balance. A woman needs quality time
for herself and her family. When one’s
personal life is fine and has the support
of family, the rest flows in an
extraordinary way. Ruby adds “In this
very competitive world, it is important
not to be dominated by failure because
not always everything goes as we want,
but the important thing is not to lose
sight of the goal and recover to
continue, persist and not to desist.”
Learn from Everywhere
Ruby mentions that starting a
professional career as part of the
technical team is a very enriching
experience. The technical part allows
to know the root and fundamental
elements of business continuity, as well
as helping to develop resolving skills.
Subsequently, using this experience in
telecommunication’s project and
evolving them in business models is a
process that is achieved with an
interdisciplinary team from whom you
are always learning. In short, having
gone through different areas of the
company allows you to know the
business in depth. Ufinet has a team of
excellence at all levels from whom you
learn every day. Learning is a decision
and one should not miss the
opportunity to make the best of each
to Watch in 2019

one. I feel proud and grateful for
witnessing and participating in the
growth of Ufinet.
Being a Professional and Mother
Ruby believes that being a very
young mother and doing a
professional career with such a great
responsibility requires discipline and
focus to attend all fronts at the same
time. Also, earning the respect of
colleagues and great professionals
who have a lot of experience in a
professional field with a strong male
presence, has been an interesting
challenge for her.
Believe in Yourself
For Ruby, it is crucial for a leader to
believe in himself/herself. She
asserts, “If you trust your abilities
you will achieve the goals you set for
yourself. The discipline and love
with which you do things will be
reflected in your results. Live
intensely and enjoy your facets as an
executive, mother and wife, but also
dedicate time to yourself. It sounds
difficult, but it is possible with
discipline. Balance generates
well-being and this, in turn, will help
you focus on your goals.”
Discipline and passion to
do what you really like are
characteristics that are
visible in your
environment and brings
you very positive results.
Ruby Castellanos
Country Manager
Ufinet

In my role as chief evangeliser for OLIO – the
world’s only neighbour-to-neighbour food sharing
app – I speak about our work and journey at a lot
of events. And without fail I’m almost always asked
something along the lines of “How do you juggle
having a family with a start-up?” Whilst this is an
extremely valid question – and it touches on a topic
that’s very close to my heart, it really frustrates me
because I never hear the same question levelled at male
peers. As a result, this seemingly innocuous question is
laden with an enormous amount of gender bias,
generally to the exclusion of men. I would suggest that
if we want to achieve a fulﬁlled balanced life for all –
male and female – we have to ensure that we’re all
participating in this debate about work/life balance, and
that inclusivity needs to be the starting point.
Another challenge in this area is, funnily enough,
the gender bias experienced by men who choose to
be the “stay at home Dad”! Several years ago my
husband and I decided that given our respective
career paths and motivations in life, it made
sense for me to be the “bread winner” and for
him to look after our two kids and home,
whilst developing property in his remaining
time. This has given me the ﬂexibility to
pursue the opportunities for OLIO with full
vigour, and has been absolutely invaluable in
terms of helping me to achieve a balanced
life. However, sadly, my husband
experiences more than the occasional
disparaging passing comment and has even
been asked “When are you going to get a
proper job?” Thankfully he has no self-
Tessa Clarke
Co-founder & CEO
OLIO

employee’s induction, we talk about the importance of a
balanced life, and in our line manager training, we stress
that the line manager is responsible for working with their
direct reports to ensure that they are achieving a balanced
life. What this means is that on a day to day basis our team
chat will often show someone walking the dog at mid-day,
someone else with their kids at 3pm and others heading off
to swim or yoga. Each team member is responsible for
ensuring that their work is done, according to whatever
schedule best suits them, and as a result, we have an
incredibly motivated and productive team, the majority of
who say that working for OLIO is the best job they’ve ever
had! If you aren’t already talking about how you can
achieve a balanced life as individuals and as a company,
then I can highly recommend spending some time on it, as
the rewards will be enormous!
Tessa Clarke is the Co-founder and CEO of
OLIO, a free app tackling the problem of
food waste by connecting neighbours with
each other, and volunteers with local
businesses, so that surplus food can be
shared, not thrown away. Since its inception
in 2016, 850,000 people have joined OLIO
and have together shared over 1.2 million
portions of food.
OLIO also publishes ZeroWasteWeekly.com,
a website and newsletter that aggregates all
the best zero waste news from around the
world. Prior to founding OLIO, Tessa spent
10 years as a digital Managing Director in
the media, retail and financial services
sectors, and gained her MBA from Stanford.
Tessa is passionate about the sharing
economy as a solution for a sustainable
world, and is equally passionate about the
importance of leading a ‘balanced life’.
esteem issues, and thinks he has the best job in the world!
But I highly doubt that in this day and age anyone would
ever dare say this to a woman; and so why to a man? If
women are to be truly equal in the workplace – and to
achieve a balanced life, then we need to adjust our
perceptions of what it means to be a male in a modern
society, and accept that this will require men to taking on an
increasingly prominent role in the delivery of childcare –
which is to the benefit of all involved, not least the children!
Gender issues aside, I spend a considerable amount of
mental energy working towards achieving a ‘balanced life’.
I prefer the terminology of a ‘balanced life’ rather than
‘work/life balance’, because when you’re an entrepreneur
(and especially an entrepreneur working from home), the
two can become very mixed! And to suggest that ‘work’
and ‘life’ are the antithesis of one another surely isn’t what
we should aspire to. In the very early days of setting up
OLIO, it was pretty much impossible to lead a balanced life
because we had to achieve so much, in so little time, and
with virtually no resources. As we’ve grown the business
and the team however, both Saasha my Co-Founder and I
have achieved a much more balanced life – which is
important, because the start-up journey is a series of
marathons, not a sprint, and so it’s essential to avoid
burnout. We find that working predominantly from home is
extremely helpful in achieving balance (5-10 hours per
week gained back through not having to commute!), and we
both carve out time during our working days to exercise. In
the early days we used to feel quite guilty about exercising
when we ‘should’ be working, but now we recognise that if
we’re to perform at our best then we need to be mentally
and physically fit and exercise is absolutely critical for this.
Plus, I find that I have many of my best insights and
inspirations for OLIO when working out, so it really is
killing two birds with one stone!
As well as working towards a balanced life for ourselves,
we’ve really baked this into the DNA of the company too.
And this has manifested itself in a couple of important
company policies. The first is our holiday policy – we have
no cap on the number of day’s holiday an employee can
take; however we do have a minimum and insist that
everybody has at least 20 days off. This is because we saw
research from other companies who had adopted a limitless
holidays policy, and it actually showed that the number of
days worked by employees increased, not decreased! We
also think it’s really important for the team to have a
collective break over the Christmas holidays so everyone
can really relax, confident in the knowledge that their email
inbox isn’t rapidly filling up! We also ensure that in every
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