to bring in such daring leaders from the shadow to broad daylight, we have come up with another interesting edition, “The 30 Most Daring CEOs in Business”.
1. The way of business solutionsJanuary 2018
www.insightssuccess.com
Ahmad Eied:Ahmad Eied:The Leader Known for Creating Milestones in the
Telecom and Communication Industry
THE
30
M O S T
D A R I N G
CEOsin BUSINESS
Expert’s Column
Stay Daring as you
Grow, Lessons from a
Female Disruptor!
Ahmad Eied
Founder & CEO
THE BUSINESS LEADER OF THE YEAR
MANISH GOEL
TRUSTSPHERE
Leader’s Insight
How To Overcome
Obstacles When Starting
Young
2.
3.
4. Every Risk is
Worth Taking
ne of the most well-known English business magnates and the founder of Virgin group, Richard
OBranson once said, “Every risk is worth taking as long as it’s for a good cause, and contributes to
a good life.”
I believe life is a challenge and with each of its step, there lies a risk. With every new morning, there
appears a new task which we must accomplish and succeed for a better future. And, daring is not the way
of living, it’s an attitude that helps us to take critical decisions in the times of need and urgency. It requires
a daring attitude to start a company with almost negligible or no backup, but it's also a challenge to engage
employees and keep them motivated for better productivity.
It’s not easy to make employees believe that the company cares about them and their career, but it’s not
something that is impossible to accomplish. And, it’s essential for the growth of the company. The leader
must show trust on his employees and exhibit reliance in their capabilities. One should reveal confidence
in them; motivate them to discharge their job responsibilities with more productivity. If you are a leader,
make your team believe that their contribution matters for the future of the company. When nothing else
works, incentive is that magical tool which works like wonders while motivating the employees and
generating more efficient work from them. After all, everyone loves to get rewarded, irrespective of the
age, gender, salary or designation.
The most successful leaders say that the more you invest the more returns you can expect. And, if you
can’t invest anything else, invest time on your employees; make them believe that you are concerned
about your employee’s career growth and their future. Once, you involve employees only at the
management level and simply ignore the subordinate ones from the major company decisions, the
employees in the lower positions start feeling isolated and unimportant, hence, the leaders must include
them too in company’s important decisions.
And, if you still believe that your idea isn’t a fantastic one, so you can’t turn your company into a
successful one, and then it's time to stop worrying about them. It’s time to forget about the idea which you
Editor’s Note
5. thought was a brilliant one in the beginning, instead, start focusing on the skills, sharpen them and be
a leader of your own kind. And, consider what one of the greatest Chinese business magnates and
technology entrepreneurs Jack Ma says, “Never give up. Today is hard, tomorrow will be worse, but
the day after tomorrow will be sunshine.”
And, to bring in such daring leaders from the shadow to broad daylight, we have come up with
another interesting edition, “The 30 Most Daring CEOs in Business”.
On the cover of this issue, we have Ahmad Eied: The Leader Known for Creating Milestones in the
Telecom and Communication Industry. One such leader, who turns every negative energy into a
positive opportunity by creating revolutionary milestones in the world of telecom and
communication services, is Ahmad Eied, Founder and CEO at Skytel Systems, a leading VoIP
company providing turn-key Internetworking solutions, extraordinary VoIP systems, technology
consulting, managed and professional IT services and on-time technical support for companies
worldwide.
Ahmad is one such personality who never stops thinking about work and office. With the motive to
give something better to the world, he says, “I believe that if I have a goal that I have achieved then
my goal wasn’t set high enough.” He even shares the biggest strategy to win every challenge in
business and says, “The more knowledge you are going to give yourself the better you are going to be
in business.”
Along with such an inspiring story, we have covered up other fascinating stories of remarkable
business personalities like Aleetza Senn: The Creative and Energetic Entrepreneur Making Digital
Data Simplified, Accessible and Actionable to Businesses, Ash Robinson: A Possibilitarian Leader
Redefining Women’s Wellness, Ashton Bishop: A Predictably Unpredictable Leader Redefining
Business and Startup Ideas with Strategy and Creativity, Cindy Jutras: A Technology Polymath,
Edward van Leent: A Passionate and Energetic Entrepreneur Redefining the Data Center Industry.
This issue has also enlisted other well-known business personalities like Edward B. Silverman:
Leading for the Long-haul of Security Industry, Erik Rasmussen: A Daring Leader Who Helps
Businesses Turn Risks into Opportunities, Eyal Iffergan: Driving the Legal Industry into the Future,
Joe Caserta: The Best-Selling Author and Entrepreneur Leading Data Intelligence Forward, Natalie
Turner: Unlocking Potential and Inspiring Innovation, Nicci Rossouw: A Vibrant and Fervent
Leader of the Rise in Robotics, Pam du Plessis: The Passionate and Loyal Leader Creating Positive
Impacts in the Valve Business Industry, and Ruslan Desyatnikov: A Pioneer Paving Path Towards
Qualitative Software Testing. Along with such inspiring stories of business leaders, we have also
enlisted Getty Goh, Vishy Karri, Guy Kurlandski, William Diotte, Tom Albert, Barry Maxon,
Madeleine Paquin, Gitte Aabo, Matt Hertig, Blythe Masters, Justin Nodelman, Peter Kirwan,
Susan McCarthy, Gordon Shevlin, and Chris Mann.
Most interestingly, this edition comes up with some extraordinary articles from the experts of the
industry. Experts like Lara Hodgson, President and CEO at NOW Corp and Eugene Cheng, Partner
and Creative Lead at HighSpark, among many others, have contributed their words for this issue. To
enrich you with some latest ideas and refresh your mind, our in-house editors have written some
interesting articles like Be a Leader, not just a Regular Boss and Efficacious People Constantly
Chase the Impossible.
It’s time to flip through the pages and enjoy the journey.
Rajarshi Chatterjee
6. CONTENTS
Ahmad Eied:
The Leader Known
for Creating Milestones
in the Telecom and
Communication Industry
10
COVER STORY
Editor’s Pick
Be a Leader, &
Not just a
Regular Boss
54
Efficacious People
Constantly Chase
the Impossible
Industry Insights
36
62 What's new
in Business?
Find Out
What Turns a
Person into CEO
Editorial Desk
66
7. How To Overcome
Obstacles When
Starting Young
Starting Young
Stay Daring as you
Grow, Lessons from
a Female Disruptor!
Expert’s Column
70
Manish Goel:
A Passionate Tech
Leader Pushing
Edges in Social
Network Analytics
20
THE BUSINESS LEADER OF THE YEAR
40
CXO
STANDPOINT
The Creative and Energetic
Entrepreneur Making Digital
Data Simplified, Accessible and
Actionable to Businesses
Aleetza Senn
24
26
A Possibilitarian Leader
Redefining Women's
Wellness
Ash Robinson
8. 28
32
34
38
44
46
A Predictably Unpredictable
Leader Redefining Business
and Startup Ideas with
Strategy and Creativity
Ashton Bishop
A Technology Polymath
Cindy Jutras
A Vision to Transform Private
Security
Edward B. Silverman
A Passionate and Energetic
Entrepreneur Redefining
the Data Center Industry
Edward van Leent
A Daring Leader Who
Helps Businesses Turn
Risks into Opportunities
Erik Rasmussen
Delivering the Legal
Profession into
the Future
Eyal Iffergan
9. 50 The Best-Selling Author
and Entrepreneur Leading
the Data Intelligence Forward
Joe Caserta
52 Unlocking Potential and
Inspiring Innovation
Natalie Turner
58 A Vibrant and Fervent
Leader of the Rise in Robotics
Nicci Rossouw
60
The Passionate and Loyal
Leader Creating Positive
Impacts in the Valve
Business Industry
Pam du Plessis
68 A Qualitative Software
Testing Pioneer
Ruslan Desyatnikov
13. The Leader Known for Creating Milestones
in the Telecom and Communication Industry
Seeing my team
happy, seeing my
team laugh and chatter
make me happy
COVER STORY
14. uccess is not final; failure is not
Sfatal; it is the courage to
continue that counts,” said the
former British Prime Minister and one
of the most celebrated writer Winston
Churchill.
An entrepreneur’s life is not at all easy.
There are stones of failures which form
the pillar of success in an
entrepreneur’s life. There is hardly any
successful person who hasn’t failed in
life. They might fall down over and
over again, yet every time they will get
up; they surge ahead with even
stronger dedication, unwavering
willingness and profound
determination. They believe in
themselves, their idea, their motive,
and every time they rise from a fall,
they make a step closer towards
success. The leading contributor of the
American industry revolution and the
magnate of the business industry,
Henry Ford once said, “Failure is
simply the opportunity to begin again,
this time more intelligently.”
One such leader, who turns every
negative energy into a positive
opportunity by creating revolutionary
milestones in the world of telecom and
communication services, is Ahmad
Eied, Founder and CEO at Skytel
Systems, a leading VoIP company
providing turn-key Internetworking
solutions, extraordinary VoIP systems,
technology consulting, managed and
professional IT services and on-time
technical support for companies
worldwide. Ahmad is unlike all other
entrepreneurs whose lives have been
inspiring us for ages. He is not just the
CEO of a leading communication
service providing firm, rather he is also
the sponsor and one of the driver of the
Skytel race cars.
Passion, Dedication, Determination
and Courage is What Makes People
Successful
Ahmad doesn’t only keep his daring
attitude limited to the business deals
and corporate life; instead, he involves
his schedule in accelerating and
rushing in the car on a deadly sports
car race track. Ahmad is an extremely
busy CEO and a highly passionate
businessman; hence, it often becomes
difficult for him to get out of work
even when he is not working. Either
while going to sleep or taking a
shower, he is always thinking about the
next strategy for the company. But
when he is in the car, at high speeds of
180-200 MPH and there’s an opponent
right next to him, where a mistake can
blow him out and may cost his life, it’s
the only 12 seconds of his day and life,
when he can actually stop thinking
about work and concentrate on life.
Ahmad further stated about his passion
and said, “I am constantly thinking
about my work, trying to make my staff
better, trying to strive on how we can
give better customer service, just to
make sure that our product is ahead of
the game and our partners.” With a
goal to always strive further ahead in
life, Ahmad with the able support of
John Belich, CTO at Skytel, has led
the company to be enlisted in Inc. 5000
fastest growing companies 2017 and
also to be in the list of the Next-Gen
VoIP and help the company stand as an
All-in One technology Provider for
Superior Business Efficiency.
About the Journey which Molded a
Young Man to a Successful Business
Personality
Ahmad is always striving further in life
and always sets goals that are too
difficult to achieve. To support this
fact, he said, “I believe that if I have a
goal that I have achieved then my goal
wasn’t set high enough.” With an
ultimate goal to conquer the telecom
and VoIP industry, a vision to achieve
that coupled with the firm belief that
“with failure comes success”, Ahmad is
redefining every terms in the industry
to help people communicate better and
effectively.
Begin his career in 2001, with the
computer retail stores during the times
of economic uncertainty was one of the
daring decisions Ahmad took in life.
With a motive to get out of the
community level thought process and
start competing in a global level,
Ahmad started Skytel Systems. During
that time, when VoIP was barely out of
the ground and anybody hardly knew
about it, the Founder of Skytel started
developing a VoIP system. Times were
difficult, even failures were prevalent,
yet Ahmad was always firm with his
determination and eventually
succeeded.
Slowly, Ahmad started replacing his
old telecom providers with the VoIP
system he developed and began to give
it for free to his clients. Eventually, he
started selling his retails stores and
initiated the growth of Skytel. Now, he
proudly recalls that Skytel was formed
with no debts or bank loans. Once after
finalizing the name of the company,
Skytel started getting into the veins of
the business communication and
carrier hardware systems.
About the Leading VoIP service
Provider
Incepted in 2009, Skytel provides
enterprise-grade hosted VoIP and
unified communications to businesses
and institutions. It is rapidly becoming
the standard for business
communication worldwide. The
company delivers a wide range of
unified communications product,
including voice, video, contact center,
managed IT services and mobile
applications. Skytel's cloud-based
“
“The more
knowledge
you are going
to give yourself
the better you
are going to be
in business”
15. phone system comes with full PBX function, admin
controls. and unlimited phone features. Its video
services are known for its point-to-point and
multipoint virtual meetings and video
collaboration. Skytel’s advanced contact center and
monitoring are available through its Contact
Center. With Skytel, customers can access all the
services using their mobile devices, desktop
computers and web browsers.
Starting Skytel was the most daring thing Ahmad
has done. He was unsure about the outcome, yet
he took the step forward. From working in a
450sq. ft. facility, Ahmad has lead the
company to a level where it now works in a
15,000 sq. ft. building, with extraordinary
facilities like a game room, think-tank
room, a beautiful kitchen with a bar and a
training center. Though there are plenty of
VoIP service providers in the market today,
Skytel stands firm with its extraordinary
facilities like its unlimited facility i.e.,
unlimited local long distance
to unlimited
international calling,
and even unlimited
tech-support. In
the current
scenario, where
companies are
more into finger-
pointing one-
another, Ahmad
ensures its clients
that Skytel has the
solution to
I am constantly thinking
about my work, trying to
make my staff better,
trying to strive on how we
can give better customer
service, just to make sure
that our product is ahead
of the game and our
partners
‘‘
‘‘
16. problems that are hampering their
communication.
The company even goes on flight to the
end-users location and physically
installs the phone system for them, and
gives training to every single staff
member on the usage of the system.
Skytel’s billing system is also quite
simplified, and offers unlimited
benefits. Along with being the leading
VoIP service provider, Skytel is also an
IT provider. Owing to their roots in the
computers and IT industry, Skytel has a
vast experience in the field; making
them an expert in solving IT related
issues. The company possesses an
enormous amount of knowledge on the
firewalls, network, routing and internet
service providing.
The Company ensures Updated
Technology with Greater Security
Skytel doesn’t compromise on the
security of its clients and provides a
secure VPN connection for its
customers through LAN or WAN. Its
clients are free from boundaries and
makes calls securely from anywhere
they wish. And, to make that possible,
Skytel offers cellphones that ensures
secure call anywhere-anytime. Apart
from the technical industry, Skytel
serves a wide range of clients and has a
strong client-base in the medical
industry. The company offers a robust
system providing backup options
which protects users from internal data
breaches. While talking about the
security offerings of the company,
Ahmad said, “We assure our clients a
secure connection and everything from
LAN to WAN and even the computers
remain secured within our network,
leaving them with no scope of
complaining.”
Skytel offers some amazing services,
among which stands Skytel Contact
Center. With this, Skytel can integrate
its users’ phone system with CRM, and
in case the user doesn’t have a CRM, it
can integrate the data with simple excel
spreadsheet. With this system, the
company offers scheduling and
campaigns so that the users don’t have
to dial-in the numbers, they can
directly pick the number, call it which
is automatically open then in whatever
theorem they choose. It is also a useful
tool for coaching purposes as with this
system, the managers can actually hear
the call live and can give instant
feedback to the caller. Its recording
options help the caller to hear it later
and improve his/her skills.
Tactics to Maintain a Healthy Work
Environment
Ahmad still maintains a traditional and
personal approach with each of its
employees to maintain an outstanding
working environment. Every morning
after reaching the office, he shakes
hand with each employee and asks
them about their life to fill his quench
to establish employees’ wellbeing and
their work satisfaction. Whenever
possible, he takes up a quick stand-up
meeting with every team of his
company, except for the administrative
team with whom Ahmad has a formal
meeting. Like any other successful
leaders, Ahmad knows how to
appreciate people and motivate his
employees.
While talking about the secret behind
his motivation, Ahmad said, “My team!
And the feedback our clients give.” He
further added, “Seeing my team happy,
seeing my team laugh and chatter
makes me happy.” The leader of the
team also said that to keep himself
motivated, he listens to motivational
and inspiring speeches of others, which
puts him in a sound place. While
validating this point, he said, “Those
successful speeches makes me who I
am and helps me to keep my team
happy and motivated as well.” Ahmad
also gives a huge credit to the CTO and
considers him to be the one whom he
can completely trust.
While talking about John, Ahmad said,
“His training methods, his patience,
his tactics of managing all these people
and his customer service is so high that
I have seen second to none.”
A Leader’s Advice to the Rising
Entrepreneurs
“Never give up! If you have a dream,
you have to follow that. You’re going to
fail and you have to get back up to do
it. Every time somebody says that you
can’t win or you won’t, or it can’t be
done, then you need to think of that in
a way that it can be and it will be
done,” asserts Ahmad. He advises
people that no matter how bad the day
is, people shouldn’t show negativity or
weakness to others and mentions,
“Your clients, your peers, you friends
have to see courage, they have to
believe in a confidence that you have in
order for you to grow the company.”
Ahmad further stretched the point by
saying that everyone wants to see their
leaders happy and motivated.
Ahmad also suggested his followers to
start learning today instead of investing
money on others to do it. He suggested
people to be courageous and said, “You
can only do the best you can. All you
can do is all you can do.” With such
motivation, Ahmad is leading the team
to grow the company at a 517% growth
rate of the present state. He further
states his plans to expand its services
and focus on a solution that will help
teenagers from being bullied, a service
which will help parents monitor their
child's activities and save them from
doing anything that will harm them.
“Never give up! If you have a dream, you have to follow that.
You're going to fail and you have to get back up to do it”
17.
18. Address :
Country :City : State : Zip :
Global Subscription
Date :
Check should be drawn in favor of : INSIGHTS SUCCESS MEDIA TECH LLC
Never Miss an Issue
Yes, I would like to subscribe to Insights Success Magazine.
Name :
1 Year.......... $250.00(12 Issues) .... 6 Months ..... (06 Issues) ..... $130.00
3 Months ... (03 Issues) .... $70.00 1 Month ...... (01 Issue) ..... $25.00
Telephone :
Email :
Insights Success Media Tech LLC
555 Metro Place North, Suite 100,
Dublin, OH 43017, United States
Phone - (614)-602-1754,(302)-319-9947
Email: info@insightssuccess.com
For Subscription : Visit www.insightssuccess.com
SUBSCRIBE
TODAY
CORPORATE OFFICE
19. Management BriefCompany Name
Allgress, Inc.
allgress.com
Founded in 2008, Allgress helps enterprise security and risk
professionals solve the problem of how to assess, understand
and manage corporate risk.
Gordon Shevlin
Founder & CEO
Alight Analytics
alightanalytics.com
Alight Analytics is a full-service marketing analytics firm,
managing marketing data and delivering actionable dashboards
and insights for its clients.
Matt Hertig
CEO
BrightFunnel
brightfunnel.com
BrighFunnel is a growing team of marketing enthusiasts
building the intelligence layer for your revenue stack.
Chris Mann
CEO
CoAssets Pte Ltd
coassets.com
CoAssets is Southeast Asia's first public listed crowdfunding
site with offices in Singapore, Australia, Malaysia, China and
Indonesia.
Getty Goh
CEO
Caserta
caserta.com
Caserta is a leading data intelligence firm with a reputation of
creating bold and state-of-the-art solutions.
Joe Caserta
Founder & President
Collexion
collexion.com
Collexion is an award winning company that offers an online
platform that connects buyers and sellers to a curated
collection of high-value collectibles, art and antiques.
Peter Kirwan
CEO & Co founder
EPI group of companies
epi-ap.com
EPI Group of Companies is a leading global services delivery
platform providing all types of data center services, including
data center auditing, data center audit certification, data center
consulting or data center and IT training courses.
Edward van Leent
Chairman & CEO
Eureka! Restaurants
eurekarestaurantgroup.com
Eureka offers exceptional hospitality services with eateries and
drinks.
Justin Nedelman
CEO
Exaptec
exaptec.com
Exaptec is a service robotics company. They specialize in end
to end system integration and providing customized solutions
to their clients to solve their particular challenge.
Nicci Rossouw
CEO
Digital Asset Holdings
digitalasset.com
The Digital Asset Platform delivers flexible infrastructure for
regulated financial institutions to share processes and data
securely, on a need-to-know basis, without the need for
reconciliation.
Blythe Masters
CEO
20. Management BriefCompany Name
Expert 365
expert365.com.au
With a vision to address Internet of Things (IOT) solutions for
horticulture farms with focus on optimising irrigation water, Expert
365 offers products which assists farmers to make corrections to their
ad-hoc practices via provision of precise estimation of irrigation.
Vishy Karri
CEO & Co-founder
FIT4MOM
fit4mom.com
FIT4MOM is world’s one of the largest wellness companies
dedicated to the strength in motherhood.
Ash Robinson
CEO
GuideAdvisor
guideadvisor.com
GuideAdvisor.com puts Guides at the forefront to connect avid
Travelers with the insider experiences only a local Guide can
provide.
Susan McCarthy
CEO
Hyperion Global Partners
hyperiongp.com
hgpresearch.com
Hyperion Global Partners is the premier global consultancy for
legal business strategy and operations.
Eyal Iffergan
CEO
Invincible Valves
(PTY) LTD
invalve.co.za
Invincible Valves (PTY) LTD is a well-established Valve
company that distributes valves of its own as well as on behalf
of the biggest manufacturer in South Africa.
Pam du Plessis
Managing Director
Leo Pharma
leo-pharma.com
Leo Pharma is a multinational Danish pharmaceutical
company, founded in 1908, with a presence in about 100
countries.
Gitte Aabo
CEO
MeasuredRisk
measuredrisk.com
MeasuredRisk connects disparate indicators of risk harvested
from a multitude of sources and distills them to give the
C-suite clear visibility into business risk; enabling key
business decisions to be made.
Tom Albert
Founder & CEO
Mint Jutras
mintjutras.com
Mint Jutras is an independent research and advisory firm that
specializes in analyzing the business impact of enterprise
applications.
Cindy Jutras
President
Mocana
mocana.com
Mocana is a San Francisco-based company that focuses on and
embedded system security for industrial control systems and
the Internet of Things.
William Diotte
CEO
Logistec
logistec.com
Logistec Corporation is a publicly traded company with
activities in marine and environmental services.
Madeleine Paquin
president & CEO
21. Management BriefCompany Name
Premonition
premonition.ai
Premonition.ai is an Artificial Intelligence system that mines
Big Data to find out which Attorneys win before which Judges.
Guy Kurlandski
CEO Co-founder
QA Mentor
qamentor.com
QA Mentor is a multi-award winning company which is ISO
27001:2013 and ISO 9001:2015 certified with 256 global QA
resources in eight different countries offering more than 30 QA
Testing Services covering all time zones.
Ruslan Desyatnikov
Founder & CEO
safetychain Software
safetychain.com
SafetyChain Software is a leading innovator of food safety &
quality assurance (FSQA) management solutions.
Barry Maxon
Founder & CEO
Skytel System
skytelglobal.com
Skytel Systems provides turn-key Internet working solutions,
turn-key VoIP systems, technology consulting, managed and
professional IT services and on-time technical support for
companies with 2-1000+ users - from 1 location to numerous
locations nationwide.
Ahmad Eied
Founder & CEO
Sparkline, Inc.
sparkline.com
Sparkline is a Singapore-based innovative enterprise created to
provide companies with a strategic, transparent and practical
approach to Digital Analytics.
Aleetza Senn
Co-Founder & CEO
SOS Security LLC
sossecurity.com
SOS Security is a leading provider of security personnel and
related services, helping a broad range of clients in the
corporate, government and high net worth sectors to protect
their people, assets and reputations.
Edward B. Silverman
Chairman & CEO
Sustainia
sustainia.me
Sustainia is an international sustainability advisory group &
digital studio working to accelerate action towards a
sustainable future.
Erik Rasmussen
Founder & Executive
Chairman
The Entheo Network
6-i-innovation.com
Through a range of partners, the Entheo Network offers
managers, trainers or consultants, whether independent or
within organizational life, a practical suite of applications,
systems and tools that help to unleash innovation potential.
Natalie Turner
Founder & CEO
TrustSphere
trustsphere.com
TrustSphere is a widely recognized market leader in
Relationship Analytics helping organizations leverages their
most valuable-asset – their collective relationship network.
Manish Goel
Co-founder & CEO
Step Change
hellostepchange.com
Step Change is a strategically led digital creative agency that is
creating a space where strategy meets creativity, and working
together to create a full from-the-ground-up digital offering to
challenger businesses.
Ashton Bishop
CEO
22. As the co-founder and CEO of a startup that is
breaking new ground in workplace analytics,
Manish Goel is, by all rights, a visionary
technology leader. Passionate about the power of people
and how they can leverage their individual and combined
knowledge networks to solve complex organizational
challenges, Manish is blazing a trail by using Relationship
Analytics to better understand these networks. He firmly
believes that an individual’s network of relationships is a
key measure of their social capital and it is this relationship
capital that also forms an important predictor of the
individual’s potential success. From an organization’s
perspective, harnessing the combined network of all
employee relationships is one of its most valuable assets.
Combining years of technology experience with
persistence, this astute CEO has led his company,
TrustSphere, to achieve exponential growth working with
some of the largest organizations in the world and
successfully partnering with many leading technology
companies including IBM, Salesforce, Veritas and
SugarCRM. Under his guidance, the company has been
recognized as a technology innovator by market analysts
and continues to win various awards around the world.
Innovation is a core value that Manish has always inspired
among his team at TrustSphere. Consequently, its different
solutions have been widely acknowledged by customers for
providing unique perspectives that have helped them
increase sales team effectiveness, improve diversity &
inclusion initiatives and provide insights for their leadership
development programs.
To understand Manish’s past is to understand his vision
Manish has over fifteen years of experience in the
technology and innovation space, as an investor, a
consultant and most recently as the CEO of the technology
startup. Belonging to different parts of the innovation
ecosystem has given Manish a relatively unique perspective
on the workings of the industry and an ability to bring
innovation and execution together. He is a believer in the
power of diverse thinking. Throughout his career, he has
had the privilege of traveling extensively and of working
with clients and business partners in over 30 countries.
Working with people from such diverse backgrounds and
cultures and understanding their different perspectives has
been a key ingredient of his success.
Manish started his career at PriceWaterhouseCoopers
(PwC) in their Strategic Change Consulting Practice in
Sydney, where he was a part of the Financial Services
practice. There he worked on various projects across the
Asia Pacific region which involved evaluating and
executing the role disruptive technologies could play in
transforming the way clients operated and competed in this
diverse market.
20 January 2018|
23. He was then transferred to London
where he was invited to help set up
PwC Venture Partners - PwC’s
Corporate Innovation and Principal
Investment Unit. There he worked as
an Investment Director with a
particular interest in Financial
Technology (FinTech) and was
responsible for making several
investments in startups.
After his time with PwC, Manish
established Greenoak Capital Partners,
a venture capital firm focused on
startup investments, particularly
around data and analytics. For several
years, he also served as the Chairman
of the US-based Online Trust Alliance,
a non-profit industry alliance formed to
promote and advocate for the
protection of online privacy and trust.
Passion for the value derived from
shared knowledge is what drives
Manish
Manish strongly believes in the power
of people and the value of relationship
networks. He says that human beings
have an incredible ability to achieve.
“Our ability to transform, evolve,
innovate and solve problems is
unparalleled. We achieve most when
we work as interconnected teams,”
says Manish. “Technology, when used
ethically and appropriately, can act as
an incredible enabler to help teams
collaborate to solve the most important
problems of the day.”
When talking about his personal
objectives, Manish said, “I thrive on
creating a culture to bring teams
together to achieve the impossible - to
take the moonshots others dare not.
Motivating and enabling creative and
audacious individuals to make amazing
things happen is inspirational.” He
further adds, “The belief that we as
humans can resolve many of today’s
societal problems by working together
keeps me motivated. I believe the
ethical use of technology is an
essential part of how society can and
will evolve – whereby technology can
liberate knowledge and truth otherwise
trapped within layers of data. Being
able to democratize these insights for
the benefit of individuals and teams
means we can resolve problems
without cognitive bias.”
Manish is a master of taking calculated
risks. That is likely what pushed him
towards taking the most daring
challenge of his career so far, i.e.
establishing his latest venture,
TrustSphere. Bringing network
technology to the market has been
much more challenging than one
would think, especially given the
potentially sensitive nature of the data
being analyzed. Establishing a startup
which is now working with some of
the largest companies in the world has
been an incredible journey and a huge
challenge. He has not only established
it into a successful company but also
guided the team to help them create
solutions which solve some of the
more complex organizational
challenges for business in the digital
age.
About TrustSphere, Manish’s latest
Startup
Being a recognized leader in
Relationship Analytics, TrustSphere’s
technology enables organizations to
unlock the inherent value of their
collective relationship networks and
Manish Goel
Co-founder & CEO
TrustSphere
January 2018| 21
24. use these insights to make smarter decisions across various
business functions including human capital management,
sales and risk & compliance. It offers advanced analytics
for industries where employee relationships and customer
relationships are built and maintained using corporate
communication platforms including financial services,
professional services and healthcare among others.
TrustSphere is different from social networking tools which
map ‘connections’ between people. Its algorithms can
measure the strength of relationships and assign a
“relationship score” to distinguish from ‘simple’
connections. After analyzing these relationship networks,
TrustSphere’s clients leverage these real-time relationship
insights by surfacing them in various business applications
which support organizational workflow. These include
CRM systems, collaboration systems and talent
management systems.
Although Organizational Network Analysis is not new, the
process of data gathering and analysis for firms to date has
been somewhat manual. TrustSphere’s offering is built to be
‘passive’ in nature and learns from existing interactions and
is therefore both unbiased and highly scalable. It’s ability to
deliver real-time network insights by continually
understanding an organization’s network and deliver these
into applications which support workflow such as CRM
systems is keeping the company ahead of the race.
Ÿ What makes TrustSphere unique? TrustSphere uses data
ethically which means that it never looks at messaging
content such as the body of emails or instant chat
messages or voice calls. The company is committed to
the protection of individual privacy.
Ÿ TrustSphere’s technology has been built for the
enterprise and it has performed organizational network
analysis for some of the largest organizations in the
world across their entire employee base.
Ÿ The overall philosophy of ‘hyper-contextual’ insights
enabling companies to use the analytics generated by
TrustSphere on a real-time basis directly in multiple
applications makes TrustSphere’s relationship analytics
platform amongst the most powerful in the industry.
Manish further talked about the company’s plans and said,
“We will continue to innovate and build on our current
success. We are working closely with our business partners
to build even more exciting and value adding solutions to
delight our clients.”
Manish’s Secret to Success is Continuous Learning
Manish shares his secret behind his company’s growth and
says, “I enjoy learning everyday - from both junior and
senior colleagues alike. It’s only by openly sharing ideas
and knowledge that collaboration, innovation and growth is
possible.”
He mitigates traditional startup risks by hiring smart,
passionate people who have integrity and curiosity. As he
says “Hiring smart people, creating a culture of guided
experimentation and working closely with the broader
ecosystem helps us understand when to accelerate and even
when to pivot ”.
To budding entrepreneurs in the industry, Manish’s advice
is, “Don’t be afraid to take on those challenges about which
you are passionate. However be prepared to defend your
perspective – there will be many naysayers. If you are an
innovator, you are likely to be ahead of the market. This
means being realistic about how long it will take for the
market to catch up with your vision, no matter how correct
that vision may be. And find the quick wins. These become
the proof points you will need to bring others along the
journey with you. Your team is critical. This team extends
beyond just fellow employees – but also to your advisors
and investors. This wider group is critical to your eventual
success. In particular, choose investors who share your
vision and who are knowledgeable and patient. Our success
to date has been largely due to the continuous support of
our investors. Finally - give before you ask. Being generous
is a virtue and usually has an unexpected (positive) effect.”
“Our ability to transform,
evolve, innovate and
solve is unparalleled”
22 January 2018|
25.
26. The Creative and Energetic
Entrepreneur Making Digital Data
Simplified, Accessible and Actionable
to Businesses
Good business leaders create a vision, articulate the vision,
passionately own the vision, and relentlessly drive it to completion.” -
Jack Welch, former CEO of GE.
It is a well-known fact that behind every successful enterprise lies a creative
mind filled with self-discipline, a sense of integrity, persistence, a clear
idea about the direction and the ability to take action-oriented wise
decision. One such successful entrepreneur who is marked with/known
for/built up of creativity, discipline, positive energy and an attitude that
compels to take risks to make something bigger, is Aleetza Senn,
Co-Founder and CEO of Sparkline, Inc.
Motivated by others, family and her team, Aleetza takes the
necessary steps to overcome all the challenges that come
in her way of progress and builds a path towards
tomorrow’s data industry. In life, we tend to face
challenge with every step we take. A successful
entrepreneur is the one who doesn’t scare away from the
challenges; instead they win over those critical situations
and achieve something extraordinary, Aleetza is an
example of such an entrepreneur.
Aleetza is passionate about solving real world problems.
Her passion to go deep into the human conversations and
understand how tech and humans interact for a better
global climate has led her company to redefine the
industry. Under Aleetza’s guidance, the company
successfully supports some of the biggest names in
industry in various sectors, from Travel - SIA and AirAsia,
Ecommerce- Lazada, Zalora, to Banking, SCB and
Global brands like Google and McDonalds among many
others.
The Path Which Took Aleetza from an Ordinary
Employee to an Extraordinary Entrepreneur
The leading entrepreneur talked about her initial days
and stated, “I started as an actress on TV and
“
Aleetza Senn
Co-Founder & CEO
Aleetza Senn:
24 January 2018|
27. thought my path had been decided,
only to land a job at Google a few
years later in Australia, where I was
the 6th employee in APAC.” Staying
there for almost a decade and
contributing majorly in a variety of
sales and customer-facing strategy
roles helped her to earn an enormous
amount of experience. It was the time
when she decided to be her own boss
and embark on the journey to build a
digital business.
Building a business all of a sudden
from nowhere, beginning a new
venture and establishing that in the
market is not at all easy. Beginning a
new venture and instantly building it
from scratch to successfully establish it
in the market is no easy task. But,
Aleetza started her business with no
funding and did it. Now, it’s been four
years and the company is a well-known
name in its domain. “Thinking on your
feet, being creative and agile have all
been refined skills through the
process,” added Aleetza.
Aleetza has setup her business in a
dynamic industry where exciting things
happen at every moment. . Ad tech has
nearly doubled in the past consecutive
five years and there is now much more
scope to improve communication with
the customers. As a major percentage
of the investment is going into the tech,
rather than skills, there arises a
problem in the industry that is
reminiscent of having a Ferrari and
not knowing how to drive it, or service
it and hence, making it work for the
buyer is actually of no worth. Hence,
Aleetza says that investing in
infrastructure and talent is paramount
as is knowing what teams should spend
time on, and reducing manual labor
through automation. So, she came up
with the idea of Sparkline, with which,
businesses will not only be benefited,
but also get higher efficiency.
About the Company which is
Making Data Simplified, Accessible
and Actionable
Sparkline was created to simplify
digital data, make it accessible and
actionable to businesses. It offers
consulting in an agnostic manner and
provides training to handle the
concerns of 50% of the marketers who
feel that their skills are redundant in
the next three years. Aleetza has
expressed the need to govern
communication through technology, so
finally the company is empowering its
clients by building tech which speeds
up the action-ability, lowers manual
labor costs and focuses on evolving
through data.
While following this extraordinary
procedure of working, the company
has showcased a profitable career for
four years. With a set of patented
solutions, the company is building tech
to support analysts in fighting the data
accuracy and governance issues as
more data and more people gives rise
to more complexity. Aleetza says, “We
have tools that can narrow 40-hour
labor into 3 minutes; and for products
like Adobe Analytics, we have built the
most comprehensive data Audit tool in
market.”
Sparkline is not just supporting
industry leaders, but the company has
also established an analyst internship
program, alongside Google and the
Singapore Government to train
graduates to be work-ready analysts.
Most interestingly, the company’s
training has helped students to get
placement on multinational brands like
AirBnB, Uber and Ernst and Young,
and that too with a salary package
which is much higher than those who
did not participate in the curriculum.
The tech-giant Google has labeled the
internship program as Squared Data.
The CEO of the company has declared
that their extraordinary course will be a
part of Sparkline Academy and will
soon be open to everyone from 2018,
and not just for those selected by
Google.
What Fuels Aleetza’s Creativity and
Energy to keep her Motivated?
Aleetza has a wonderful team of
professionals and an amazing family,
what more does a person need in
his/her life to be motivated. She says
that believing in oneself that he/she can
solve a problem for a company or an
individual is always the greatest
motivating tool one can get. She
further adds, “I always admire those
that stick their neck out as it were, even
in adversity, because they believe that
integrity and meaning is more
important than money.”
Apart from being a leading
entrepreneur, Aleetza is the mother of
two beautiful children who keeps her
daily stress away. She is also an
adventure enthusiast and her most
remarkable memories include
traveling, climbing Kota Kinabalu,
skydiving and visiting exotics places
like Maldives and walking the Great
Wall in China. She sheds some
interesting words about traveling and
says, “Travel makes us aware that the
world is larger than ourselves and
much more accepting towards diverse
culture, religion, and environment.”
Aleetza’s Message to the Blooming
Entrepreneurs
Be patient and do it for the right
reasons, not through the get-rich-quick
route. Being an entrepreneur is exciting
and daunting all in the same day. When
you wake up each day, you need to
know why you are doing what you are
doing, not just for yourself, for your
family and anyone that invests or
works with you. Believe in your cause
and be open in the journey.
www.sparkline.com
|January 2018 25
“Believe in your cause and be open in the journey”
28. A Possibilitarian
Leader Redefining
Women’s Wellness
Ash
Robinson:
Become a possibilitarian. No matter how dark things seem to be or
actually are, raise your sights and see possibilities- always see
them, for they’re always there.” -Norman Vincent Peale.
According to the U.S. Department of Labor, 75 percent of mothers with
children under 18 are working full time. As life becomes busier, especially for
moms who are raising families while juggling successful careers, prioritizing
health and fitness can be a challenge. In an industry where people often recycle
the same old ideas, one woman is taking a different approach. Meet Ash
Robinson, CEO at FIT4MOM, who is taking a sustainable and holistic approach
to women’s overall wellness and redefining fitness at one of the world’s largest
wellness companies focused exclusively on mothers.
Through FIT4MOM, women receive access to healthy, supportive communities of
women when they begin to prioritize their own self-care, of which fitness and nutrition
play a significant role. Despite the continued growth of fit-tech, online programs and
workouts on demand, FIT4MOM believes their key differentiator is its 1,800 local
communities of moms who actually know and support each other in person.
With a passion to unlock the economic contribution of women in local communities
worldwide through improving access to resources, Ash is making a major contribution to the
wellness industry through FIT4MOM. In the last year alone, the sales at its franchise locations
have increased over 45%. She has also successfully in implemented scalable technology,
‘‘My passion is
to unlock the
economic
contribution of
women in local
communities
worldwide
through
improving
access to
resources
‘‘
Ash Robinson
CEO
26 January 2018|
29. established a growth culture and
generated extraordinarily high growth
in the chain wide revenue in her two
year tenure.
The Inspiring Journey of this
Leading Entrepreneur
Ash first became a CEO at the young
age of 26, when she successfully grew
her early education company into a 60
unit brick-and-mortar franchise chain.
She then sold that company to a public
company where she became the COO
for five years. In 2014, she started her
own culture and leadership consulting
firm, bon.fire, which helps CEOs and
business owners navigate significant
leadership transition, culture or market
change. Through this work, she began
a consulting project at FIT4MOM,
which led her to become the CEO of
this company, six months later.
On her role at the company, she said,
“FIT4MOM exists at the intersection
of my own passion and past
experience— we create healthy, local
communities of mothers nationwide
through our fitness, nutrition and
coaching programs using a franchise
model.”
While going down the memory lane,
Ash stated that she has seen the
emergence of two key themes in her
personal career — first one is creating
communities, whether in classes for
kids, peer groups for entrepreneurs, or
fitness for moms— and to fulfill that
she has helped create and manage a
strong community at the forefront. The
second theme is women’s leadership
and entrepreneurship, where she had
the great pleasure of working and
coaching hundreds of women
executives, business and franchise
owners.
“Seeing the unique and powerful
combination of women creating
community and watching business
achieve organic, exponential growth is
what inspires me daily,” says Ash.
Changing the World for a Better
Tomorrow
Early on at FIT4MOM, Ash chose to
update and evolve the company’s
brand image in a very significant way.
“I believed this was a necessary change
to reach our target market - the
millennial mom,” said Ash. She has
played an active role in changing and
altering a brand image that was not
only successful, but also deeply
beloved and important to thousands of
women nationwide, which was a big
challenge internally.
Making a change is not at all easy, no
matter how positive it could be. On this
brand change, she was met with
resistance from her own team, and
even some of the company’s most
successful franchisees. In the
beginning, the road was bumpy, filled
with ups and downs. Those who have
invested deeply in growing the brand
from the beginning started to feel that
they could not see themselves in the
new version. They felt that it was too
risky as they already had a large
customer base. But Ash made the
change and it was successful. In only
18 months, the revenue of the company
soared.
She now says, “Our team has really
taken to our modern look and stronger
voice and they’re living it everyday.
FIT4MOM is a brand we are all proud
to represent and grow.”
Ash talked about the major
contributing factors behind her
company’s success which included
major investments made into the brand
refresh, building an incredible team
and culture of sales and revenue
growth, deploying new technology
from a learning management system,
delivery of virtual training and courses
and launching Workplace by Facebook,
which connected its geographically
dispersed team of employees, owners
and instructors into a powerful and
personalized online community.
About the Company Re-shaping the
World
FIT4MOM is the nation’s leading
company for pre- and post-natal health,
wellness, and fitness programs for all
stages of motherhood. Headquartered
in San Diego, California, FIT4MOM
has franchises throughout the US,
reaching hundreds of thousands of
mothers all over the nation. With
FIT4MOM’s newest digital campaigns
and products, FIT4MOM is continuing
to expand to reach women, mothers,
and families worldwide.
“FIT4MOM is more than a fitness
franchise; we believe in building
communities through connecting with
local families, businesses,
entrepreneurs, and neighborhoods,”
says Ash.
What Keeps Ash Motivated To Go
Through all the Challenges
Ash's young and adorable kids, their
tenacity to learn and resilience, their
ever-expanding optimism, and their
desire to help others, is what inspires
her every day to create a better world.
Ash concludes the interview by saying,
“Watching and learning from women at
FIT4MOM as they juggle the demands
of modern motherhood with career, all
while positively impacting the lives of
others is amazing… and all the
inspiration I need to do my part!”
|January 2018 27
30. Ashton Bishop:
A Predictably Unpredictable
Leader Redefining Business and
Startup Ideas with Strategy and
Creativity
We don’t
believe in
just doing
strategy. We
believe that
to win in
business,
you need to
be strategic.
So that’s
what we
bring to our
business
consulting,
as well as
our digital
and creative
execution
offerings
Ashton Bishop
CEO
28 January 2018|
31. FFew CEOs can lay claim to a law
Few CEOs can lay claim to a law
degree, a stint as a street
performer, a taekwondo black
belt, and being a co-founder of
Australia’s best-reviewed agency
(according to Google My Business).
But this motley medley is exactly what
you’ll find on Ashton Bishop’s résumé.
Ashton is the CEO at Step Change, a
strategically led marketing agency with
a pragmatic business thinking based in
Pyrmont.
With a list of achievements that reads
more like a bucket list than a CV, he
has run million-dollar campaigns for
billion-dollar brands, created
Australia’s first mobile app, won film
awards, guest-lectured at leading
universities, and won Speaker of the
Year for Australia’s number one CEO
network — three times.
As a predatory marketer and expert in
pinpointing how brands can grow by
outsmarting their competitors, Ashton
is becoming the primary catalyst to
“inspire step changes in businesses and
people” with his aptly named startup,
Step Change, which he founded with
business partner Jeff Cooper in 2009.
Built on the belief that strategy without
creativity is a recipe for mediocrity and
creativity without strategy delivers
more misses than hits, Step Change is
outsmarting its own competitors with a
30-strong team of creative mavericks
and strategic thinkers who are racking
up a client list flooded with household
names including Hewlett Packard,
Fairfax Media, Commonwealth Bank,
ANZ, TEDx Sydney, Sony Pictures,
and AGL to name a few.
An Unusual Journey to
Extraordinary Success
Tasmanian-born Bishop has always
loved a challenge. From state titles in
athletics and a black belt in martial arts
to graduating from university with a
law commerce degree, Ashton took the
next logical step: he ran away with the
circus. After those three fateful days
and his subsequent yet still-born
sojourn in stand-up comedy, he aspired
to a career in advertising. The result
was a turn in telesales.
Never one to back down, he went on to
spend the next decade working for the
likes of Ogilvy while simultaneously
acquiring the global patent for Color
Changing Footwear and launching Eric
the Circle, the world’s first draw-it-
yourself cartoon with over 20,000
iterations.
But by then, the GFC was in full
swing, and the threat of bankruptcy
loomed. He had a family to take care
of, along with these two massively
risky startups; and just to spice things
up, Ashton quit his comfortable and
high-paying consulting job to dedicate
himself to Step Change full time.
At the company’s inception, he and
Jeff had no stable capital, no client
base, and no true standout offering to
attract more of either. It was worth it.
Eight years on, Ashton is now at the
helm of a thriving creative hub across
six regional locations, has a loving
wife and two adorable children and has
even built his own bespoke leadership
programs Powerful Presence and
Powerful with Purpose.
Strategy Meets Creativity
Once just two guys sharing a Mac and
surviving on credit cards, Step Change
has now evolved into a strategic
marketing powerhouse, catering to
over 100 unique businesses every year,
with a turnover graph “that’s got a
healthy ‘hockey stick’ feel to it”, and to
this day, is all about inspiring step
changes in businesses and people.
The agency’s eclectic client list covers
all sectors from finance and tech to
healthcare, media, food — even
funeral homes. And Ashton gets a kick
out of mentioning that they’ve recently
taken on a fertility clinic: “So we really
are birth to burial across the business
now.”
As an agency, their strength lies in
tapping into the symbiosis of
marketing and strategy. “We don’t
believe in just doing strategy,” states
Ashton. “We believe that to win in
business, you need to be strategic. So
that’s what we bring to our business
consulting, as well as our digital and
creative execution offerings.”
Staying Present in Every Moment
From his humble origins in street
performing and call centers to
surviving the inevitable adversity of
multiple startups, it’s easy to see how
this turbulent history could foster more
altruistic motivations.
“While I have many aims, goals, and
passions, my greatest challenge is to
stay [focused] on the difference I can
make in the present moment,” says
Ashton. “In a world of distractions,
frustrations, and confusion, I believe
there’s huge power available by
staying present in the moment.”
What drives him is his ability to equip
leaders to realize their potential and
leading them to live more fulfilled
lives. And what better environment to
do this than a consultancy: “I’m very
fortunate that the work we do at Step
Change with business leaders and their
organisations allows me to be a part of
many people’s journeys.”
Ashton attributes the credit of his
success to his own trinity of mentors:
“Mark Nichols, who got me started as
a presenter; Gavin Larkin, who got me
focused on the difference I can make;
and Dave Trott, who taught me how to
think.”
And his advice to budding
entrepreneurs? “Understand risk. Get a
mentor to avoid making mistakes you
can’t afford to make. Learn how to
learn. Stay curious. And remember that
life’s a song, not a journey — google
Alan Watts on this.”
|January 2018 29
32.
33.
34. In this faced-paced era, where
technological evolution is a
massive challenge for every
business, entrepreneurship often entails
significant risks. Owing to the
challenges in achieving a competitive
edge, it’s imperative for new-age
entrepreneurs to dwell with those timid
souls watching their old business
models suffer slow but inevitable
defeat. There is no doubt, making
headway in this evolving maelstrom of
business and technology
transformation is tough. However,
failure to act will only make
tomorrow’s task more insurmountable.
Here’s a story of a craftswoman who
dared to take risks and challenge the
existing brands and categories. Cindy
Jutras founded the technology
research and advisory firm, Mint
Jutras, which specializes in analyzing
the business impact of enterprise
applications. Combining deep and
broad domain expertise, years of
technology experience and fresh
primary research, the company offers
actionable insights on how to make
software investments pay dividends.
The One who dared to be Different
Cindy started her career as a
programmer/analyst working in a
manufacturing company. It was the
time when very few women were in
the professional ranks of businesses,
the time when most “professional”
women back then were either teachers
or nurses. After a few months of
competently progressing in her role of
a software expert, Cindy realized her
role was overhead at the manufacturing
company. Soon after, she was working
for companies that produced and sold
enterprise applications. She worked for
those software companies for over 30
years before becoming an industry
analyst.
A Technology Polymath
Cindy Jutras:
We must realize
that a lot of
limitations we
come across
are self-imposed
“
“
Cindy Jutras
President
32 January 2018|
35. “After 14 different acquisitions
(sometimes as the acquirer, sometimes
the acquired) I had done just about
everything I ever wanted to do in
software, from designing and writing
code, to product management,
marketing, pre-sales and consulting
and a lot of things I never wanted to do
(pricing and licensing and alliance
management),” mentions Cindy.
With over 40 years of corporate
experience, Cindy is now a widely
recognized expert in analyzing the
impact of enterprise applications on
business performance. Cindy
established Mint Jutras driven by her
passion to produce something tangible
from her efforts. She’s an entrepreneur,
who derives great enjoyment and
satisfaction out of producing
something. In her professional life, this
includes surveying, writing and
speaking, as well as mentoring younger
professionals. This kind of
entrepreneurship thrives from moving
fast and furious, since speed is a
powerful asset in the competitive
world.
The Inception Story & Challenges
ERP systems are often the backbone of
any successful company—connecting
all aspects of the enterprise and
providing employees with the essential
information needed to keep the
business running. To streamline and
automate business processes, capturing
the right transactional data is an
important aspect. Every analyst and
analyst firm operates under a different
business model. Mint Jutras is an
independent research and advisory firm
that specializes in analyzing the
business impact of enterprise
applications. It was a daring task for
Cindy to overlook her well-positioned
role of an industry analyst and start
building from scratch. She said, “I had
no supporting infrastructure – no IT
team, no legal team, no one marketing
me or my services, no one selling
them… and no paycheck. Sounds like a
nightmare but it was actually quite
thrilling!” Leadership requires vision,
daring, and organization, but it also
requires the creation of strong
communities that can withstand failure,
uncertainty, and competing job offers.
Cindy proved herself in the role of a
successful President at Mint Jutras
thriving under competitive pressures.
Instead of viewing competition as an
obstacle, she perceived it as an
opportunity at every turn. She
maintains a competitive edge over
other independent analysts, as well as
the large firms like Gartner, Forrester
and IDC, even as she operated under a
non-compete agreement with her prior
firm in the early years of Mint Jutras.
Cindy is an inspiring leader who
defined her own unique business model
and distinguished her organization in a
crowded market.
Cindy asserts, “Even though we all
have (slightly) different ways we make
money, the challenge is in
differentiating the firm. Mint Jutras’
writing and speaking style and the
insights we share, which are based on
a unique combination of 40+ years of
experience, backed up with real data.
And we have developed some signature
products that not only deliver insights,
but also include a call to action.”
Unlike other analyst firms who serve
the end user, Mint Jutras serves the
vendor community. The company
delivers actionable insights through
content such as published reports, blog
posts, speaking engagements and
advisory services. The team writes and
speaks to business decision-makers,
but their customers are the solution
providers of enterprise applications.
A Sagacious Leader with Vision &
Perception
Over the past six years, Mint Jutras has
managed to triple its annual revenue
stats and has had real influence in the
market. Above all, Cindy contemplates
the market acceptance of Mint Jutras’
signature products of vital importance.
She envisions strengthening the
reputation of both Mint Jutras as a
firm, and Cindy Jutras as an analyst.
Her core focus is simply on continuing
to deliver the kind of unique value that
has become the hallmark of Mint
Jutras. Her personal goal is to leave the
world a better place, whether that
means adding beauty as an artist, being
a role model, influencing younger
people to recognize and realize their
full potential, or giving back to the
community.
She advises the new entrants in
business citing, “Clearly define your
business, develop a business model and
evolve with it. Be willing and able to
take risks. You no longer get paid just
for showing up.”
Cindy holds a Masters of Applied
Science from Boston University and
graduated summa cum laude with a BA
from Merrimack College in
mathematics, with concentration in
physics and computer science. She has
traveled the world speaking at
executive conferences on her original
supply chain concept, Virtually Vertical
Manufacturing. She has also authored
the book ‘ERP Optimization’ as well as
numerous magazine articles and has
published hundreds of benchmarks and
other research reports.
|January 2018 33
36. S
OS Security is a leading provider of security
personnel and related services, helping a broad range
of clients in the corporate, government and high net
worth sectors to protect their people, assets, and
reputations. Today, SOS Security is the fifth largest security
personnel company in the US and growing.
The Early Years
For Edward B Silverman, CPP, the journey began shortly
after he graduated as a polygraph examiner. After attending
the University of Maryland, he proceeded to the Backster
School of Lie Detection. Shortly thereafter, he started his
career administering polygraph examinations built around
investigative services.
It wasn’t long before he sensed that there were
opportunities beyond polygraph services. Security
Operations Systems was founded in 1969, as an offshoot to
his father’s window cleaning company, International
Services, which also provided limited “watch guard”
services for their clients.
The real journey began in the early ‘70s, after Edward
obtained his New Jersey Private Investigator license. By
then, he had been operating his polygraph business for four
to five years, already engaging with clients and listening to
their feedback.
This was also a period of mergers and acquisitions, and as a
result, many of their clients were suddenly regional,
national and global players. At the same time, the security
industry big players were consolidating: Pinkerton became
the Securitas, Wackenhut became G4S, and Guardsmark
Edward B. Silverman
Chairman and CEO
Edward B.
Silverman
A Vision to Transform
Private Security
“Believe in
yourself
and work
harder
than
everyone
else”
34 January 2018|
37. was acquired by Universal, which was
later acquired by Allied to form Allied
Universal.
As clients encouraged him to “grow
with us,” he knew he couldn’t ignore
the opportunities any longer. He
changed the company name to SOS
Security to better compete for the long-
haul, began providing security
personnel and related services, and
started making major investments in
the company.
Changing for a Changing Industry
In 1991, Edward established company
headquarters at One Security Plaza in
Parsippany, NJ. As clients faced new
security challenges, the company
acquired and deployed new security
expertise, methodically setting up
operations in many states, one state at a
time, and continuing to add the best
resources domestically and abroad to
meet client needs.
“I knew we could create a new
benchmark for quality, and achieve the
goals developed in partnership with
our clients,” says Edward. “That’s why
we invested in institutionalizing our
quality and client-centric culture and
developing what has become our
hallmark programs – the Pursuit of
Excellence and Team Partnership
Program (TPP).”
The “Pursuit of Excellence” program
provides a framework to recognize
employees for achievement, client
satisfaction, and quality. The TPP
formalized the company’s approach to
open and trusting client relationships.
With each client engagement, the TPP
has played a vital role in open
communication, teamwork and
accomplishment of goals, requirements
and expectations. He adds, “With TPP,
we committed to learning and growing
in myself and I worked hard, which led
to a full college scholarship and after
college, competing in over 30
marathons - always striving to be the
best for myself, and at the same time
balancing work, family and fitness. You
may even say I was “obsessively
dedicated” – with my efforts leading to
qualifying for the Olympic trials,” said
Edward, adding, “My biggest asset is
my optimism. Likewise, my biggest fear
is disappointing myself, because if I
disappoint myself, I will disappoint
those that count on me.”
Driving the Way to Success
Having been in business for nearly 50
years, there have been many
milestones along the way. From being
recognized repeatedly as one of the
fastest growing small companies in NJ,
to one of the top 50 largest security
companies in the US, to now being the
fifth largest security company in the
U.S., with no signs of slowing down.
From the beginning, growth has been
driven by a dedication to meet clients’
evolving security requirements. As
needs expanded and changed, so did
the scope and character of SOS
Security’s growing portfolio of security
solutions.
Going forward, Edward believes the
greatest challenge will be to continue
growth while remaining boutique. “I
believe we can stay ‘small’way past a
billion,” said Edward, “We will
continue to have a team of top talent
focusing on our client priorities, we’ll
work hard to attract the best resources
and partners, and strategically acquire
like-minded companies to help us
deliver our global security mission.”
with our clients by maintaining regular
and transparent communication on all
key program aspects.”
Preparing for a Marathon, not a
Race
With the foundation laid, the next step
was building his team. He knew with a
team of the best people, he could
provide high-quality services and build
a first-class security company. To
maintain sustainable growth, Edward
recruited expertise of former Secret
Service and FBI agents, state and local
police and industry experts.
He also established strategic
partnerships with the best international
companies to support its emerging
global clientele, saying, “Adding the
“best of the best” to our team was the
key in maintaining what we were
building.” Currently, the company has
about 10,000 employees and growing,
with 70 offices in major metropolitan
areas throughout the world.
Continuing its commitment to client
operations, the company recently built
a state-of-the-art Global Command
Center to support operations and
services ranging from security
personnel and executive protection, to
retail loss prevention and risk
management, intelligence analysis and
fire and life safety.
Motivation Comes from Within
Edward says his motivation came
early, and from perhaps a surprising
source - his 7th grade track coach. “He
taught me to believe in myself. He
instilled the concept that to achieve
goals, you need to believe in yourself
and work harder than everyone else. I
knew I was not the most gifted athlete,
but I was the most dedicated. I believed
|January 2018 35
38. uccessful entrepreneurs typically possess a growing
Smindset. Rather than trying to prove they are better
than others, they emphasize on trying to improve
themselves. Such leaders have faith in building strong,
collaborative teams and are driven by pure optimism as
they see themselves as geniuses who only need helpers to
implement their ideas. The person having the right attitude
and smart decision making skill is greeted by success.
Businessmen who dare to lead a life striving for their
personal best knows the mirage of perfection and knows
well that perfection is not always possible, in fact, it's hard
to achieve.
One is continuously evolving, changing, and moving
through life. It is the focus on chasing perfection and
attaining excellence for results, what takes them forward.
Business is a shared experience guided by shared
perception of roles and objectives. Successful people have
the zeal to chase the perfection and end up meeting with
excellency.
Altering The Path is an Approach to a New Choice
Successful people are where they are today because of their
goals. Goals determine 95% of a person’s behavior. It is
very important to know the difference between the goals
that inspire and goals that trap. Perfectionism is perhaps the
most common goal setting trap. Goals, by definition are
meant to be the ideals. The best stories about entrepreneurs
are full of fresh beginnings and unexpected detours. If you
find yourself criticized by others on what you’re doing, or
feeling frustrated even when things are going well, think
about making a new plan.
Success looks different to different people
Success looks different to everyone. Being successful
actually requires the zeal to drive, the ambition and to work
36 January 2018|
39. efficiently. It involves numerous failures and the ability to
come back from those failures and continues to strive for
success, is what drives people to be successful. For
entrepreneurs, they may look at success in terms of their
bottom line. Once they achieve certain financial milestones,
they believe that they have made it. Success can be defined
in so many other ways. If we just focus on money, we lose
the sight of the bigger picture in life. Striving to make the
bottom line at all costs while disregarding people, the
environment and the community, may provide short-term
prosperity, but once again, it has the “I win” mentality
while putting down or disregarding the effects on others.
Finding Immense Room for Improvement
There is a saying- Humans always resist change as they fear
to go out of their comfort zones. It is a natural and
reassuring thing to resist putting ourselves in new
situations. One needs to encourage a philosophy of
constant, logical, and sustainable improvement throughout
the organization. This allows continuous improvement to go
beyond being a slogan on a poster, so it becomes the way
company operates at all times.
It is by the ability to learn that one finds Success. The
successful entrepreneurs often are inspired by someone
iconic or they set their minds in viewing their bosses or
mentors as an inspiration. They are resources for these
people to be open to. If one goes into any situation
believing that the issue has already been figured out, he
stunts out the ability to become more successful. When one
is not caught up in proving himself or showing off his skills
and talent he is more relaxed and is open to learn. Things
are not frantic. The person is open to listen and observe,
which allows one to progress.
The Correct Attitude and Effort to Create Future
Believing in the effort one has to put always gives fruitful
results. Businessman should believe that to achieve greatest
potential in life one has to learn to monitor the attitude and
its impact on the work performance, relationships and
everyone around him. Attitude talk is a way to override the
past negative programming by erasing or replacing it with a
conscious, positive internal voice that helps one face new
directions. The internal conversation—that little voice one
listens to all day long—acts like a seed in that and leads to
the programming in the brain and affects behavior.
Believing That There Exists an Angle
It is their belief that in any situation to come up with
something good there has to be some lows. There cannot be
good without bad, hence it is the spirit of finding creative
and fruitful angle to every dreadful situation they face
during their entrepreneurship career. These businessmen
tend to mend themselves in such a way that they find an
angle to come out of the state from which they were
struggling to fight. Acknowledging the fact that their
service is something larger than the rough time they have
been facing allows them to emerge in a much better way.
Achieving perfection may never happen but the results can
lead to outcomes that were never imagined. The people who
are known to be achieving success might be daringly
slaving away in the background for years; decades even, to
turn their dreams into reality. To go through each stage of
success, one has to master that level of ability and then the
next step would unfold naturally.
Industry Insights
|January 2018 37
40. Edward
van Leent:
A Passionate and Energetic
Entrepreneur Redefining
the Data Center
Industry
In today’s fast changing world, ‘change’
is the only constant. The IT and data
center industry is no different in that it is
changing rapidly and at an ever faster pace.
For many organizations the budget for the IT
department is hardly growing, yet the
demand for ITservices are growing at a rapid
pace and therefore, arises the need for CIO’s
to squeeze more out of every dollar they have
available in their limited budgets. It is
therefore not surprising that the enterprise
data center market is moving into cloud,
standardized solutions as well as deploying
hybrid solutions by combining on- premise
data centers and cloud solutions to maximize
IT capabilities, improve speed of innovation
whilemaintainingbudgets.
In this fast pacing industry and rapidly
changing world, one leader who is making
extraordinary benchmarks in the industry of
the Data Center with passion and energy is
Edward van Leent, Chairman and CEO of
EPI Group of Companies, a leading global
player in the data center services industry
providing services such as data center audit
and certification, data center consultancy
and globally accredited data center and IT
training courses. Equipped with a strong
technical and business background, Edward
has led the company to be the largest
ANSI/TIA-942 audit & certification
organization in the world. Under his
leadership, the company has also established
itself to be the first and largest globally
accredited data center training company in
the world. He is the driving force behind the
growth ofthecompanyfromalocalUK
Edward van Leent
Chairman & CEO
38 January 2018|
41. brand into a globally recognized brand
for datacenterservices.
Establishing Operational Excellence
toEnsureMaximumEfficiency
Being a result oriented person, Edward
always keeps the bigger picture in mind
while looking at operational excellence
to ensure maximum efficiency. Behind
every successful person there is always
someone or something that motivates
them, supports them in the hard times
and push them more towards the
destined success. Similarly, Edward is
thankful to his parents for supporting
him to be what he is today. “I came from
a low incoming upbringing, but my
father and mother gave me the best
education they could afford and gave me
great values to which I still live by such
as win ethically, work hard, work smart
and let nothing stop you from reaching
yourgoals,”says Edward.
Initial Days which Shaped up his
Successful Career
Edward is an extremely hardworking
person who turned every opportunity
into a successful trail to make his career
a progressive one. He started his career
in electronics and chip design, Edward
then moved into the CAD/CAM
industry where he grew himself from an
engineer to supervisor and then the
manager. Soon after that he moved into
the High-Availability computer and data
center industry where he held various
sales and senior leadership roles and
where he was awarded the “Chairman
Achievement Award” Achievement
Award as one of the highest accolade in
his career. The career graph of Edward’s
life took another huge rise in the year
1997, when he moved to Asia as the
Director of Customer Services Business
Development for the Asia-Pacific
region.
Everything changed again in the year
1999; it is then when Edward moved to
EPI as the CEO for Asia-Pacific. In
2001, he became the Chairman & CEO
for the company looking after all
worldwide affairs. Since then till now,
the leading entrepreneur has managed to
grow EPI to be a global brand with nine
offices worldwide supporting a partner
network serving over 50 countries and
over 130 cities. With a passion for the
data center industry increasing the
quality of data centers and assisting
people working in the industry to gain
the required competences and personal
development, he is leading the company
to serve people globally and win
recognitionsworldwide.
About Leading the Data Center
ServicesIndustry
Since 1987, EPI is delivering a wide
range of data center services, enabling
businesses worldwide to design,
implement, optimize, test, operate and
maintain their mission - critical data
center to ensure it meets and exceeds the
business expectations. It offers a wide
range of globally accredited certified
data center professional training courses
such as CDCP, CDCS, CDCE,
CDFOM, CDRP, CDMS, CTDC,
CTIA, CTEA along with other certified
IT professional training courses such as
CITP, CITS, CITE which are fully
aligned with the European e-
Competence Framework. These courses
enable organizations to educate and
align their staff on data center design
principles, data center efficiency, green
data center principles, data center
migration, and ANSI/TIA-942 design
andaudit.
Revamping the Complete Business
Structurewas a Daring Decision
EPI was originally in the industry of data
center design and built, with a very
successful reputation in Europe. But
starting the same business inAsia turned
out to be very different. While taking an
interview of the CEO of EPI, Edward
shared his experiences and stated that
starting the same business in Asia was
challenging since the strategy, which
was very successful in Europe, didn’t
work out in Asia as by the time they
arrived in Asia, the market was already
dominated by a few players who were
working at cut throat prices to
outcompete each other on price rather
thanquality.
Edward soon realized that although they
had won recognitions worldwide,
products and pricing on the basis of
European standards was not really going
to help them in theAsian market. Hence,
he changed the entire business model of
the company and moved it from being a
data center design and build company
into a data center audit, certification and
training organization. It required a
complete revamp of the organization
including the staff to align the
organization with the new business
vision and strategy. It was a daring
decision which Edward took, but in the
end, it proved to be the right move and as
a result of his strategy, putting in place
an efficient operating model and by
aligning the human capital he managed
to turn-around the business. Edward
talked about the steps he took and said,
“As a result of our strategy and
operational excellence we have now
become the largest training and data
centerauditorganizationintheworld.”
Edward concluded the interview by
advising the budding entrepreneurs and
saying, “Have a razor-sharp focus.
Make sure you have a strategy and
appropriate operating model and hire
the best people you can find. Make sure
you keep a razor-sharp focus and don’t
g e t d r a g g e d i n t o a l l k i n d o f
opportunities that might come along
side as that will distract you from your
path.Stickwithyourstrategicdecision.”
Make sure you keep a razor-sharp focus and don't get dragged into
all kind of opportunities that might come along side as that will
distract you from your path to success
“ “
|January 2018 39
42. Stay Daring
as you Grow
Lessons from a Female Disruptor!
Lara Hodgson, President & amp; CEO of
NOW Corp, is a leading and daring
entrepreneur, who is known not only for
her extraordinary professional career but
also for her excellence in her academic
career. With a major degree in Aerospace
Engineering from the prestigious Georgia
Tech and graduation degree from Harvard
Business School, Lara possesses an
enormous knowledge in the engineering
and business world. She has graduated
with highest honors and went on to be
named as one of the top 20 students in the
US by USA Today. She not only serves as
CEO of NOW Corp, but she also serves as
Board President for Atlanta Heights Charter
School, trustee of the Ga Tech Alumni
Association board, member of the boards
of the Ga Tech Engineering College, the Ga
Tech Scheller College of Business and
Patterson Real Estate Advisory Group, and
Entrepreneur in Residence at Harvard
Business School.
About the Author
Everyone likes to talk about “start-ups” and
“entrepreneurs.” Starting a business is
exhilarating; it is all about the possibilities.
But anyone who has started and grown a business
will tell you that start-ups are easy but scale-ups
are hard.
To grow you need four things: Commitment,
Customers, Capital and Capacity. Many people start
a business to create a job for themselves. Others
want to build a company that grows and succeeds
beyond their tenure. Be honest with yourself – and
your family. Without your commitment and theirs,
success is not possible. The following tips will help
you maintain a daring attitude as you manage the
challenges of scaling.
10. Capitalize on Trigger Events – In order to
secure that big target customer, you must engage
them when they are open to being engaged. Trigger
events are events that make the prospective customer
open to engaging. It could be a market event
(positive or negative), a competitor’s move, a
change in leadership, etc. For example, if your
prospect is quoted in an article on a particular topic
or event you know that is an area of interest for
them. Dare to frame your value in the context of the
trigger event.
Expert’s Column
40 January 2018|
44. 9. Change the Game – When your market is accustomed to competing along a certain set of attributes, find another
attribute and offer something different that requires others to pivot in order to compete. For example, if your industry
is accustomed to requiring deposits or up front payment, and competitors compete on price, find a way to offer
extended terms. Don’t commoditize your product or service by competing just on the axis that competitors have set.
Dare to change the game.
8. Be Creative – Most follow the rules of engagement that have been set by their predecessors. Take a risk and get
noticed. The key to being creative is to first be curious. Ask questions. What you NOTICE is more important than
what you KNOW. Dare to notice and dare to ask “Why?”
7. Find Holes in the Gate but Always Befriend the Gatekeepers – Getting through to the decision-maker can be
difficult, but don’t let that stop you. Call after hours and spell the person’s name in the voicemail system, try a
common email moniker, and if you do get through, be sure your message is short and intriguing. In your zest to get
around the gatekeeper, don’t forget that the gatekeeper can be your best friend! If you can develop a rapport with him
or her, you will not have to crawl through a hole in the fence again. Dare to find a hole and to find a friend.
6. Fail Fast and Fail Forward – Failure is not OK. Failure is AWESOME! Failure happens when you take a risk,
you try something new, and the sooner you fail the cheaper it is! Failure gets you one step closer to success. If you
don’t fail at something this week, shame on you! Dare to fail at something every week and to celebrate it!
5. Forget Work-Life Balance – Can you have work-life balance or not? It is the wrong question. You can have it but
you don’t want it. When a see-saw on a playground is balanced everything is average and I have no desire to be an
average mom, an average wife or an average CEO. Instead of balance focus on optimization and stop trying to multi-
task. You will accomplish more and you will do everything better. Dare to stop trying to achieve balance.
4. Pick Your Door Carefully – All doors do not lead to revenue. When you make a contact within a prospective
customer organization, think ahead to whom the right “buyer” will be. Don’t chase a path into the organization that is
not directly connected to your desired target. For example, if you are trying to get to the chief procurement officer, the
fact that you know a person in government relations may not help. Also be aware of internal politics, if you come in
the wrong door then when you get to your target you may not have credibility or support based on the door you came
through. Dare to be patient.
3. Diversify Your Portfolio – While that big customer may look like the key to your success, don’t build a business
around one customer or even one type of customer. Many small businesses go out of business because their one large
customer gets acquired or goes out of business. Try to have a mix of both commercial and government customers. In
some economic cycles government purchases more and at times when government budgets are cut you can rely on
your commercial customers to keep the business growing. Dare to diversify.
2. Grow Without Growing to Death – More businesses grow out of business than go out of business. Larger
customers typically equal larger sales, but they also take longer to pay, which puts a strain on your company’s cash
flow. Common advice is to get a loan or use factoring to fund the credit to your customer. If you sell to consumers,
you can accept credit cards for payment and get rid of A/R without any debt or liability. If you sell to businesses and
governments, you can use NOWaccount®, a B2B payment system, to get paid immediately and eliminate A/R with no
debt or liability when your customer won’t pay with a credit card. Dare to grow fearlessly.
1. Be Sure Your Glass Ceiling Isn’t Really a Sticky Floor – All too often the greatest limitation on our business’
growth is us. We hold back growth out of fear, uncertainty, lack of vision, and our ability to bring in talent. Have the
courage to step out of your comfort zone. You don’t have to be an expert at everything. Bring in strong resources so
you can spend time working on your business not just in it.
Expert’s Column
42 January 2018|
45.
46. Erik
Rasmussen:
A Daring Leader Who
Helps Businesses
Turn Risks into
Opportunities
Impossible is just a big word thrown
around by small men who find it easier
to live in the world they’ve been given
than to explore the power they have to
change it. Impossible is not a fact. It’s an
opinion. Impossible is not a declaration.
It's a dare. Impossible is potential.
Impossible is temporary. Impossible is
nothing.”-Muhammad Ali, the Legendary
Boxer.
Being there and playing a leading role in
any industry for more than half a century is
one of the greatest experiences an
entrepreneur can ever earn. Not only does
it make one seasoned about the industry, it
also makes the person ready to fight any
battle in that field. In any business, one has
“
The difference between
a risk and an opportunity is how fast you
discover it – and act on it. We help
our clients make that difference‘‘
‘‘
Erik Rasmussen
Founder &
Executive Chairman
44 January 2018|
47. to struggle every moment, dare to take
risks and keep on fighting to survive
the battle. One such daring business
leader who is innovating new ways to
help clients quickly turn global risks
into new and sustainable opportunities
is Erik Rasmussen, Founder and
Executive Chairman at Sustainia, an
international sustainability advisory
group & digital studio working to
accelerate action towards a sustainable
future.
The world is fast-changing and every
organization has to keep reinventing
and changing itself to keep up the pace.
With an enormous wealth of
experience of being in the media and
think tank business for 58 years, Erik
not only knows the tricks of the trade
in publishing, but also has a steady
finger on the pulse when it comes to
cutting-edge innovation that will build
tomorrow’s sustainable society. Under
Erik’s intense guidance, Sustainia is
showing the world that behind every
risk lies an opportunity, and they are
themselves applying this mindset when
they explore new markets through
networks of hundreds of experts,
thought leaders and business leaders.
“I like to challenge myself by taking
risks. It’s part of my DNA to seek ways
to push boundaries and people’s
perception of what is possible. I have
embarked on many ventures in my
professional life, and every one were
against all odds,” says Erik.
Taking Risks is what takes an
Entrepreneur Forward
Constantly challenging himself, Erik
continuously innovates, thinks out of
the box and mobilizes all his mental
resources to bring about new ways to
work with sustainability. With a
mission of creating a new narrative
around sustainability and accelerate the
transition towards a sustainable
society, Erik founded the company
Sustainia. With last year’s launch of
the digital solutions platform, Global
Opportunity Explorer, Sustainia is now
striving to turn the United Nation’s 17
Sustainable Development Goals
(SDGs) into new business ventures.
The Global Opportunity Explorer is a
joint project of Sustainia, DNV GL and
UN Global Compact, created on the
conviction that the SDGs offer a
myriad of business opportunities with
great value to companies, society and
the environment.
Making a business out of saving the
world is highly challenging and only a
few people in the world dare to take
such a daring decision. Erik is one of
them. “I think we have had a good
start and a magnificent journey ahead
of us. But when you start ventures like
this, you have to accept that failure is a
realistic option,” he says.
Erik further explains that all industries
face the same challenge: the speed of
change. It is estimated that within just
two decades, about 75 percent of the
corporations on Standard & Poors list
over the 500 biggest companies will be
out of business, simply because they
didn't change and adapt in due time.
This tells us that a business leader must
have the courage to reinvent his/hers
business if he/she wants it to survive in
the long run. A motto in Sustainia has
therefore become, “Kill your core or
the core kills you.” Erik further adds,
“That is the reality of today, and that’s
why it’s so important to move out of
your comfort zone as a leader.”
From a Curious Lad to a Leading
Entrepreneur
Erik started his career at just 17 years
old as a writer for a local Danish
newspaper. He quickly became
fascinated by how the news influences
our society and our minds, and
discovered communication as a driver
of change and behavior – something
that has guided him throughout his
career. Furthermore, Erik’s curiosity
earned him multiple opportunities to
test, innovate and expand the notion of
journalism. For example, at the age of
just 27, Erik created a milestone in the
media industry by becoming the editor-
in-chief of the then crisis-ridden
Danish business daily, Børsen, which
he re-profiled and turned into one of
the most influential and prosperous
dailies. From redefining journalism
throughout the 60s, 70s and 80s, Erik
went on to found one of Scandinavia’s
leading think tanks and media
companies, Monday Morning. Even
now, he is leading his latest company,
Sustainia, with the ambition of making
it a global market leader. “For me it
has been an ongoing motivation to
challenge old standards and norms and
expand the borders for what
journalism and media can achieve,” he
says.
Erik's passion for journalism has
earned him the membership of the
international Media Council and has
also elected him to be one of the
world's 100 most influential journalists
by World Economic Forum.
About Sustainia
Sustainia doesn’t fit into any traditional
sector, but provides advisory and
analysis to help clients turn global risks
into opportunities. The company was
founded in 2011 and provides
extraordinary services including
strategy consulting, building digital
tools and impact communication –
everything fueled by a conviction that
solving global challenges is a strategic
choice businesses cannot afford to
dismiss. Based on analysis of
thousands of real cases from more than
180 countries, Sustainia is helping
companies transform into a new reality,
which takes into account the deep
social and environmental problems the
world faces.
Erik’s advice to blooming
entrepreneurs: “Define your dream and
have the courage to act it out. Don’t be
afraid of failures, but perceive them as
an inescapable destination on your
journey to success.”
|January 2018 45
48. Eyal Iffergan:
Delivering the Legal Profession into the Future
Winning is not easy. Success does not come overnight. It takes hard work, sleepless nights, tremendous dedication,
intense sincerity, extraordinary knowledge, exceptional expertise and a wealth of experience. A leader is not born;
it’s a quality that one has to earn. Here is the successful story of one such leader who is inspiring the world to do
better and achieve more.
Eyal Iffergan, President and CEO at Hyperion Global Partners has been leading the legal and intellectual property
business communities with his unique brand of creativity and dedication for over two decades.
The Journey from Entrepreneur to Industry Leader
Eyal is considered one of the foremost figures in legal operational performance management. He is an expert in addressing
the challenges of legal business process, organization, technology and operations.
Having worked on diverse scenarios with a wide range of clients, Eyal possesses broad-based legal process and technology
experience in leading and managing influential global practices and companies. Eyal has also founded and helped build
several market-revolutionizing enterprises.
His portfolio includes programs for transformation in IP Management, Information Strategy, Workflow and Process
Automation, Practice Operations, Risk Portfolio Management, Performance Management and Operational Excellence.
I’ve always been
driven by one goal:
set the world on
fire and leave
it a better place than
how I found it
I’ve always been
driven by one goal:
set the world on
fire and leave
it a better place than
how I found it
“
“
Eyal Iffergan
CEO
46 January 2018|
