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Ken Gosnell: Creating Great Leaders

Experiences shape great leadership. Many leaders often think they are not good enough or don’t know what to do. In reality, most of those leaders have the needed answers, but they require a place that can inspire their best thinking to achieve the best results in business and life.

Every business leader needs a place to get an unbiased and different perspective to generate new ideas and thoughts about their business during their leadership journey. They need a safe place to share their doubts, fears, and concerns. Additionally, they also require an Executive Team of Mentors who can help them learn the best business practices.

So enters Ken Gosnell, the founder of CEO Experience, a full-service private consulting company helping CEOs through various types of retreats to learn business principles to help them grow their business with Kingdom Impact. The organization offers peer retreats, private retreats, team retreats, and strategy retreats, all featuring the monthly Executive Retreat Guide, which serves as a business magazine and executive journal.

As a founder of the organization, Ken always wanted to highlight the value of each person’s personal experience and then benefit from the idea of learning from others’ experiences so that one doesn’t have to suffer years of disappointments and setbacks to understand what took years for them to learn.

He believes CEO Experience equals Well Done, which are the two most essential words in the world of business and have the potential to transform any leader’s performance and life.

Ken states, “It is not good enough for a leader to only succeed in business. True success is being significant in business and life.”

Starting the Journey

Initially, Ken tried to do life and leadership alone. However, he felt lonely at the top and wasted too much time repeating the same mistakes, and then he learned a better way. It was learning from his own and others’ experiences as well. He realized that a wise business person would never underestimate the lessons they can learn from various businesses and business experiences, even if those have no value at all. Ken believes that business success and innovation often come from others who have never done it before or can see the business in a new and fresh way.

Ken authored a book entitled “Well Done- 12 Biblical Business Principles for Leaders to Grow Their Business with Kingdom Impact” in 2021. In that book, he explained the best ideas he learned in businesses from the Bible and other business owners and CEOs. It highlights over 200 companies and business leaders who have led some of the largest organizations in America over the last 150 years.

Under Ken’s leadership, CEO Experience seeks to build the CXP CEO Executive Retreat Guide and each CEO retreat to discuss what is currently happening in the marketplace through a lens of timeless truths proven to work in every generation and location. The organization promises never to repeat an executive guide but instead provide new content that is current and relevant for the marketplace each month. Additionally, the CEO Retreats (https://ceoretreatday.com) use several innovative methods, including biblical case studies, CEO interviews, assessments, tools, and best ideas from the past.

Ken states, “We understand that the market is constantly changing and their new challenges to face every day, but we believe that leaders who succeed today are the ones that prepared yesterday.”

Women Leaders are Changing the World

Ken believes that women CEOs are slowly becoming the norm, which is good for businesses. As an organization, CEO Experience often reminds CEOs that God established the first woman CEO when he created Eve and gave her a landscaping business. However, it has taken the rest of the world thousands of years to catch up.

“Women leaders are different from men leaders. They are far ahead of their men counterparts in many areas, and there are areas where they are still behind.”- Says Ken.

CEO Experience’s retreats are Collective and Individualistic; its CXP Executive Retreat Guide is one part personal and business journal and one part business magazine. The guide is full of Experience Questions, Win Activities, Writing Blocks, and CEO Tools to help business owners capture their best thoughts and the best ideas of others. The organization believes every leader is essential and valuable and must work to improve themselves. Leaders who work to improve their leadership style become better leaders and produce better results.

Motivating CEOs

Ken believes energy is the most significant asset for any business leader. CEO Experience has designed its CEO Retreats and CEO Executive Retreat Guide to be inspiring and informative. Several leaders often feel they are not suited or don’t know what to do. However, the organization understands that every CEO has the answers, but they often need a place that could inspire their best thinking to achieve a breakthrough in business and life. The CXP CEO Retreat helps leaders to make the decisions they need to make and provide them with the needed courage to make the critical decisions to move their life and business forward.

“Self-awareness always precedes self-improvement.”

Business is always complicated, and many leaders often reach a stage where they feel like giving up. This is where CEO Experience help leaders build momentum by highlighting wins and creating a monthly winning wall to press into what is working. While too many organizations work to fix leaders’ problems, very few look to maximize their win and success rate.

Additionally, CEO Experience uses a leaders’ dashboard to help them determine their energy levels and enhance focus. The leaders’ dashboard also allows leaders to review the most critical areas of leadership to understand where to focus their energy and time.

Preparing for the Future

With the promise to provide the best leadership experience to its partners, CEO Experience works to develop the culture at the retreat to be inspirational and informative. Both the CEO Retreats and the CEO Executive Retreat Guide are authored to encourage and inspire CEOs and business leaders.

Ken says, “Our mission is to help dynamic CEOs practice continual growth for Kingdom Impact to hear the words Well Done. We want to work with Christian and faith-driven CEOs and coaches in every major city in America and worldwide.”

Every year, CEO Experience offers training for coaches to launch CEO Retreats in their respective cities. It has also prepared a Christian coaching training retreat, starting in January 2023, in Orlando, Florida.

Gender disparity: Why Men Still Get Promoted More than Women

Today, women are represented in every industry in the U.S. work market and often hold prominent positions in fields like medicine, education, and law. However, women in the U.S. makeup nearly half of the entry–level workforce, but comprise only a small portion of managerial positions. Even as more women take on more leadership roles, most women in the U.S. still do not get promoted because of their gender.

New research has revealed that the chances of getting a promotion are especially slim for woman. The study, from Columbia University, found that gender bias is still present in recommendations, especially in fields such as science, business, and technology.

Why Women are not getting promoted

According to the “Women in the Workplace” study, for every hundred men hired or promoted to a higher position, only 72 women are promoted and hired for the same role. The statistics for women of color are even lower, with just 68 Latina women and 58 black women being promoted to managerial positions for every 100 entry-level men who are promoted to the same job. This gender difference in the promotion to management was called the “broken rung.” This gender difference in the promotion to managerial positions was called the “broken rung.” This unfair treatment is viewed as the start of inequality in the workplace that eventually leads to a wider gap at higher management levels.

Today, nearly 60% of bachelor’s and master’s degrees are awarded to women, suggesting there is no shortage of qualified women entering the pipeline, yet this percentage is not represented in the promotion to top positions.

It is hence disheartening and hurtful for female employees who put in the hours and have the necessary skills and experience for a managerial role, to get passed over for promotions. What hurts, even more, is that these women often lose out to a male counterpart who may not be their equal on the basis of skillset, agility, or experience.

When these women do not feel like they receive the recognition they deserve in the workplace many of them sink into a depression, and display less commitment to the organization, and some even leave the company while others work even harder to prove their worth.

Unconscious Bias against Women

Men have been advantaged over women in a lot of subtle ways in the workforce. The most obvious explanation for this is gender bias against women; the belief that men are slightly more capable or competent than women is still alive, prevalent, and pervasive in corporate culture and this notion impacts the decision-making of higher-ups.

Women are faced with an unconscious bias and limited workplace support, that even the most ambitious women may feel that making it to the top can seem like an out-of-reach goal.

Unfortunately, this bias starts way before women even apply for a promotion. There is a long-standing culture where women in the workforce are often being bestowed with adjectives like ‘nurturing’ and ‘helpful’, while men receive stronger descriptors like ‘confident’ and ‘ambitious’.

This can result in stronger excellent recommendations for male candidates and significantly fewer good recommendation letters for female employees. This perpetuates that female strengths are less valuable than male traits and, and consequently there will be no attempt to change the business world to a more gender-intelligent or gender-equal space.

Higher standards for women

Women in the US constitute of approximately 50% of the entry-level workforce, but fill only about 21% of high level executive roles. One of the main reason for this disparity is that women are being held to a higher standard.

While it is true that women often take more career breaks than men, particularly to perform motherly duties and prioritize caregiving responsibilities, it is also a fact that women receive higher performance ratings—they are 7.3% more likely than men to receive a “high” rating in performance—their potential ratings are 5.8% lower. The authors estimate that lower potential ratings explain up to 50% of the gap in promotions.

A study found that managers consistently underestimate women’s ability to perform in the future. During this study, the researcher Kelly Shue and colleagues found that women, tended to have higher performance scores than men during evaluation time, whether or not they had been promoted into a more senior role.

“It appears that they were held to a higher standard,” Shue says.

Remarkably, even when women exceeded expectations, they still did not receive the benefit of the doubt and continued to receive lower potential scores even though their most current performance proved that their previous performance potential score was false. This phenomenon is prevalent throughout all the ranks but gets a lot stronger when senior positions are involved.

Shue points out. “Women get progressively lower potential scores relative to their actual future performance as we rise up the corporate ladder. So, this is going to contribute, I think, to a stronger and stronger glass ceiling the higher up we go.”

How to Fight Back Against Gender Discrimination

Women who are at the short end of this gender disparity in the workplace may feel like they are out of options.  To remedy this gender disparity, it is crucial for women to know their rights and the laws that protect them from any form of discrimination on the work floor. Female employees must be aware of New York State and City Human Rights Laws and Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. These laws protect women from gender discrimination at work and overall make it illegal for employers in the United States to treat an employee differently at work because of their sex or gender.

Women who face gender discrimination at work should go here and must contact an employment discrimination lawyer who has experience dealing with gender discrimination claims to assist them in their fight against their employer.

Companies can also actively combat this kind of bias by amending their evaluation system and focus more on promoting employees on their performance alone.

Final words

It is crucial that employers understand the contribution of female workers to the economy and how important they are in the workforce. This means that a course correction is needed in how employers regard their female employees and promote them accordingly and no longer contribute to – and uphold negative biases against female employees.

Dr. Madeline Ann Lewis is President/CEO of the Executive Women’s Success Institute, a 22-year Army veteran, creator of the online course “Crack The Career Code: Unlock The Amazing Power Within To Lead With Confidence, Charisma, and Credibility”, host of the Success 4 Women Radio/TV Show, Career Strategist, International TEDx Speaker, International Bestselling Author, Trainer, and Business Consultant. She helps women progress in their careers into upper management and executive-level positions by providing them with a fast track, yet comprehensive toolkit of life skills and abilities. She also helps women who are transitioning out of the workplace into business entrepreneurship. Dr. Lewis has numerous awards and accolades. And…she was just selected for the 2022 Veteran Champions of the Year (VCOY)” in Corporate America” list. The 2022 VCOY Corporate list honors 30 champions who advocate for our nation’s veterans in the civilian workforce.

If you want a guide for career-driven women. Download my guide New Rules For Executive Women Success here now!

Rohit Gaur: Driving Productivity Across Digital Product Teams

Founded in 1989, Infragistics is a world leader in providing tools to accelerate application design and development. Several blue chip companies, including Fidelity, Morgan Stanley, Exxon, Ikea, Bank of America, and Intuit, depend on Infragistics tools to build their applications.

Based in Gurgaon, India, Rohit Gaur has spearheaded Infragistics operations in India for the past decade. As the company’s Managing Director, he leads sales and operations for all Infragistics software and services in India. An industry veteran, Rohit has over two decades of experience in sales, building relationships with clients and partners at several large multinational companies, small and medium-sized businesses, and Indian government organizations. Being a leader of the organization, Rohit helps Infragistics maintain its position as a world leader in UI development tools and multi-platform enterprise software products and services. With his help, Infragistics has more than 250 employees, with offices spread across the U.S., Australia, Japan, Uruguay, Bulgaria, India, and the U.K.

“I am proud to lead Infragistics’ growth in India and provide leading-edge enterprise software that solves problems for those working in the fast-paced field of technology. I enjoy building trusted client relationships, forming true partnerships with our customers, helping them tackle new challenges, and meeting their customers’ needs in innovative ways,” he stated.

Rohit started his first job as a Channel Manager at Symantec Corp in 2001. He continued in the IT space further and moved into Serena Software as an Enterprise Account Manager. Later he joined Microsoft as Alliances Manager – North India. In June 2011, he started serving Symantec as the National Sales Manager – Enterprise (PSU) before joining Infragistics in May 2013.

Groundbreaking Products

As an organization, Infragistics stays ahead of its competition by encouraging internal innovation in product development and enhancement. One of its latest product offerings is Reveal, an embedded analytics platform allowing clients to integrate analytical capabilities into existing applications to bring real-time data insights to decision-makers. Reveal brings the power of data to all users and enables much quicker data-driven decisions inside the application without switching the context. Embedding Reveal into an application saves time, increases productivity, and helps with a better analytics experience.

Recently the organization has also built a new digital workplace tool named Slingshot. Clients can use this platform to get the work done in the digital realm and be productive irrespective of their location. The best part about Slingshot is that it streamlines a company’s workplace tech stacks by providing remote, in-person, and hybrid teams a single place to collaborate, set goals, make data-driven decisions, share content and communicate within the context they are working on. This revolutionary tool keeps people connected even when they are far apart and transforms the digital workplace with a software platform that can connect all departments, including R&D, marketing, sales, customer support, manufacturing, HR & IT.

The firm’s other popular enterprise software products include Indigo.Design, a design-to-code system; App Builder, low code/no-code software; and Infragistics Ultimate, a leading UI/UX toolkit.

Embracing Innovation

Rohit says, “Companies like Infragistics, which are clear market leaders, have one common factor — they all embrace innovation. Not only can internal innovation represent significant cost savings, but it can also successfully originate new concepts and enhance employee engagement. Because we create teams that support innovation and welcome creativity, everyone can be involved in generating ideas, improving those ideas, and prototyping the best ideas.”

With the launch of the Infragistics Innovation Lab, Rohit and his colleagues successfully cemented the firm’s commitment to its internal inventors and entrepreneurs. For several years, the organization informally developed game-changing enterprise software products in-house. Presently, Infragistics has a $50 million fund and a formal process for constant innovation, which it needs to continually stay ahead of the technology curve. The firm’s Innovation Lab encourages its employees to contribute with a regular stream of insights that could help shape any upcoming innovation. It also empowers internal inventors to experiment with innovations beyond its core UI/UX products without the need to generate immediate revenue.

Tackling the Pandemic

When the pandemic started impacting organizations and their employees, everything quickly moved online, and employees struggled to tackle the new normal and be productive without being able to collaborate in person. However, Infragistics’ global company already had a lot of people working remotely, and the organization had the needed infrastructure in place to completely shift its workforce online, resulting in high productivity levels.

During the pandemic, many organizations started working to redefine their workplaces to be much more productive for in-person, remote, and hybrid teams. As a company, Infragistics recognized that these businesses were in dire need of a better digital workplace with a single platform allowing their teams to collaborate on data analytics, projects, content, and chat. So, it ramped up its effort to develop the revolutionary Slingshot platform to support firms that were not fully prepared for the pandemic and released this platform to meet the needs of remote, hybrid, and in-person employees.

Picture of the Future

Infragistics is leading the enterprise software market with cutting-edge innovations in low-code software, business intelligence embedded analytics, and transformational team-performance software. Its development strategy goes beyond the UI/UX tools to include product development tools, embedded analytics, and digital workplace software.

Infragistics’ founder and CEO Dean Guida guides the firm in maintaining its focus on innovation, improvement, and success in the enterprise software tools market. Over the past three decades, Infragistics has demonstrated a passion for excellence and takes pride in the quality of everything it does. In the future, it will continue to develop solutions for its clients that are rooted in a deep and thorough understanding of their needs.

 

Dong Jin Son: Helping Brands Grow, Innovate, and Transform

Based in Seoul, Korea, Krema Worldwide has created various award-winning ideas to help brands grow, innovate, and transform. With its wide range of strategic and creative talent, Krema derives optimal strategies and crafts globally competitive campaigns.

Having worked with global behemoths like LG Electronics, Samsung Mobiles, Lotte, and Disney Korea, the founder, and CEO, of Krema Worldwide, Dong Jin Son, brings more than two decades of experience with him. Majored in foreign literature, Son joined Korea’s number one advertising agency Cheil Worldwide, where he was assigned to the department of global marketing business. Soon, Son went on numerous business trips across the world and accumulated local marketing insights, and realized that advertising is not just a creative video that appears on the viewer’s screen but it is a solution that solves various concerns of the marketers. At this point of time, Son understood that his role was limited only to large organizations, so he voluntarily left Cheil Worldwide and moved to a three-person startup. Meanwhile, he completed his MBA from a University in Finland and received his doctorate in digital content, which helped him understand clients’ concerns in their broad business
activities. Later in May 2009, he founded his own company Krema Worldwide, focusing on providing specialized services for overseas marketing and clients who can utilize the organization’s capabilities while conducting global marketing.

Path Breaking Services

Since its foundation, Krema Worldwide has successfully established itself and proliferated in sales and size in a yearly manner. As a result, Krema received 17 awards in the last five years in various leading international festivals like Cannes, New York, and One Show. The organization was also ranked among the top 10 across multiple ad journals, including Ad Age and Campaign. “This is proof that our company has been recognized worldwide for creativity, which is the core of advertising. Since January 2019, we have also expanded the area of ad agencies to an e-commerce business that encompasses all participants in the marketing ecosystem.”- says Son. He explains the primary goal of his business is to provide A to Z solutions starting from overseas marketing to sales agents for various small and medium-sized companies that have competitive products but lack an international presence. Krema also has a roadmap to build a very competitive e-commerce platform by connecting clients, individual sellers, digital media owners, and financial & trade businesses.

Working as the backbone of the company, Krema’s planning professionals make the most timely, trendy, and accurate marketing results by learning fast trends. They are the strategists, communicators, and do-it-all creatives who deliver flawless project execution from concept to creation. Additionally, the firm uses current technologies like AI, data, and metaverse to internalize all the internal and external resources in the shortest time possible; depending on that; immediate service can be operated. With its agility and mobility, Krema’s business model is much ahead of other professional agencies.

The Asian Business Environment

Son feels growth in Asia will be much more noticeable in the future, especially in Indonesia, which has witnessed a rapid recovery of the advertising market since late 2020. The proportion of digital advertising costs in countries like India and Indonesia stands around the 20% range. However, with the rapid growth rate of 10%, they will soon become the pillars of the global advertising market. As a result, the traditional North American and Western European markets will start decreasing in the future.

He explains that Asian consumers are highly interested in social networks. They know the process of learning information quickly and communicate actively, even in non-face-to-face situations. Additionally, their huge interest in the latest technologies meant they were the first to embrace Metaverse and NFT to grow their businesses. So, marketers need to study diligently and move quickly because of these unique characteristics of Asian consumers. Ad-agency’s flagship products have also changed along with those trends. Even a decade ago, an advertising agency’s primary job was to plan and produce commercial advertisements for a market mainly focused on TVC and print. Now cut to 2022, most of the organization’s products are YouTube-based video advertising or a website for consumer awareness of corporate brands and content to communicate with consumers over various communities. At present, organizations are paying much more attention to AI, metaverse, and OTT platforms.

Future Roadmap

As the founder of his company, Son’s short-term goal is to successfully pivot from the world of digital content to the new area of media. He says, “Global advertising trend is shifting to non-face-to-face, virtual reality after endemic, enabling agencies to propose the most practical and efficient ad packages the clients need. To this end, the company’s professional staff are working hard on R&D every day and night and, at the same time, continue to challenge through constant internal collaboration. In the mid-long term, it is to properly demonstrate the synergy caused by M&A. It is to successfully combine marketing assets based on IPs of ads, movies, and dramas to develop service products for clients that have never existed before.”

Led by Son, Krema recently ran M&A with Asia’s one of the best new media content production companies Dexter Studio. He feels the synergy of M&A is of utmost importance in realizing Krema’s dreams. It’s also much easier to raise investment funds than it used to be. “I strongly believe skilled tech resources combined with our planning resources would greatly increase the chances of achieving business objectives. We’re not going to stop here, but we’re going to expand our reach further as a group specializing in global digital media and content.”– he says.

Few Thoughts

As an industry, advertising is well known for its cutthroat competition. Recently multiple cases of business failure have emerged due to the pandemic. Son says, “But in the meantime, someone is making money out of this red ocean, leading the market, generating demand. I try to keep Dexter Krema (changed company name after M&A last year) listed in that mainstream. Only diligent research and development, maintaining a young and fast organization, and constantly finding newness and collaborating with outside powers make this possible.” This year, Dexter Krema plans to lead the industry by introducing the latest marketing by combining various partners and technologies related to the 4th industrial revolution. “In addition, we will share the fruits of the fast-growing company with all our stakeholders, helping to create a successful future for each employee, not the fundamental goal of sales as mentioned earlier.”– he added.

10 Ways to Improve Your Communication Skills

Communication skills is one of the required skill for any employee and businessman in every field of work.  Being able to communicate with people creates your impact and impression on them. Better speaking abilities help you to get tangled in daily conversation and people easily. If you have a vast knowledge of things but are unable to communicate your ideas firmly, then your thoughts and innovative ideas cannot reach many people.

The ability to communicate with people often helps you in your personal and professional life. One cannot develop good communication abilities in one night or a year. It is a long process; you must be attentive and a learner throughout your life. If you are practicing daily for the skill which you want to acquire then you can be able to get perfection in any skill. Communication is a two-way process, so the most essential thing is practice, it helps to flourish your abilities and perfect your skills. First, try to understand anyone in front of you, and then by thinking in mind give an appropriate and suitable answer or explanation to him. Many people try to give quick responses to others while discussing, but this is the absolutely wrong thing; you should prepare your solution by analyzing that person’s point of view and then give a response to it. 

So, let’s seek some basic steps to improve communication at personal and professional levels.

  • Enhance your listening abilities

If you think speaking has a vital role in communication, it is not entirely true because listening is also a very important part of communication. If you listen to the other person carefully and give 100 percent attention to him, you get more prepared for your response because if you know the subject and issue, you can conveniently give your response to that person. While talking with another person, if you take a call or are busy with some other work, your distracted personality can make an impression on that person. So be attentive and reactive while talking with others, especially with professional people. 

  • Try to put forth your ideas in a simple way

No matter how much people listen to you or who listens to you, just convey and deliver your ideas in simple words with confidence. One thing is you noticed that people listen and give keen attention towards those things and communicate where they sound like some simple things. Actually, simply delivering complex ideas or things is an art of communication! So anyone can gain it by practicing and observing small things. So it does not matter how difficult things are; make it simple stupid!

  • Be confident and self-aware

Your good communication is the reflection of your self-belief and confidence through which you are able to impress people. If you are clear about your thoughts, emotions, and ideas, you can easily communicate with people by pulling their attention and interest toward your speech; this is called self-awareness. Emotional intelligence plays an integral part in all processes of communication. Self-aware people with good emotional intelligence can handle various hard and exciting situations with great attitudes. So before listening to others in the communication process, give priority to listening to your mind and inner voice; then you don’t need to hesitate while speaking. 

  • Focus on Body Language

Though now, there are virtual meetings and videoconferencing in business meetings as well as any other meeting. But body language is necessary for the communication process between two people. The position of your hand, crossing your legs, and eye contact with another person define your personality and speaking skills. So give, focus on your movements, and make eye contact while communicating with people.

  • Pay attention to your tone and voice.

At the time of any conversation, voice tone matters the most. Tone or voice is not much important during informal communication, but at a professional and formal level, your voice tone tells many things about your overall personality. Sometimes many understandings between people happen due to the wrong pitch of voice during the discussion, don’t be so loud. Say your point with politeness and softness. Your low-pitched voice and etiquette tell about your calm nature and thinking mind. So also, in tough situations, think in your mind before you say something and then answer calmly. 

  • Make eye contact

Effective eye contact shows your confidence level with people while communicating. It shows the honest side of your personality. Making eye contact with a communicator tells you that you are paying full attention to his speaking and are interested in talking with him. Don’t creep in between the communication; it creates a wrong impression and misconception. 

  • Ask Questions

Good communication happens when one is eager to ask a question to another person. It shows the interest of that person in his speaking. This questioning of one another results in the exchange of information and knowledge between the two people, which is known as effective communication. As discussed in one of the above processes, communication is a two-way process. The response from another person matters the most to continue the speaking between the two people. 

  • Clear in mind before speaking

If we share our thoughts or ideas with people, especially at a professional level, then make sure to think and plan about the important points in our minds. In formal cases and at any other time, try to speak after you get clear in your mind, which helps you convey your point of view to another. Do not stand in front of people without preparation or practice for any important meeting or presentation because this communication does not impact the audience or listeners. 

  • Be to the point

The sign of an effective communicator is that it catches the desired subject or topic on which he has to speak. You have seen the leaders in the world who communicate with people at the time of the speech, they already prepare the important points and topics to cover, and they can effectively put their thoughts up to their audience. The other benefit of speaking is you get clear about your thoughts and don’t hesitate while speaking. Many times while saying, people think that effective communication means too much speaking, but it makes a wrong impact on other people. If you talk by considering specific ideas and thoughts, then people start to give you respect and value to your sayings and visions. 

  • Record your voice while speaking 

Good communication is not an inborn skill. You have to acquire it through practice and keeping yourself updated. But it requires consistency. To improve your communication skills, you can try one simple process. You only have to record or make your video while speaking on different topics and observe your body language, voice tone, pronunciation, and confidence level, which help you brush up your skill daily. By giving only half an hour for this process, you will get better at communication within a few months or years. You will notice your changing personality and communication level in a few years by practicing it daily.

Bizsu: Helping with Best Energy Savings Solutions

Founded in 2019, Singapore-based Bizsu helps companies save 25% on air conditioning consumption by using a very simple and patented net. Bizsu helps its clients by providing the easiest and one of the most energy-saving solutions on the market presently. It does not use high-tech solutions like others; instead, it uses a low-tech solution entirely made of natural ingredients. 

Over a century ago, Willis Carter invented the air-conditioning machine, which is about the same type we use nowadays. Although very useful, we humans added this system everywhere possible, resulting in an enormous amount of pollution. So, now we need maximum energy efficiency to minimize its impact as soon as possible. Bizsu wants to help its clients reduce their carbon footprint and energy consumption. For example, the startup ran a pilot at CapitaLand, and the result showed that it has achieved up to 51% savings on their AHU in LogisTech, a certified Green Mark Platinum Super-Low Energy building and one of the most efficient buildings in Singapore. 

Bizsu’s primary solution, named CONTINEWM®, is a Japanese patented net made out of a specific ceramic, saving 25% on air-conditioning consumption on average. Unlike any other energy-saving solutions, CONTINEWM® fits every kind of air conditioning system, making it accessible and compatible for all. This also uniformizes the temperature while purifying air, requires only a few minutes for installation, fits any air conditioning system, and lasts a lifetime. 

As a startup, Bizsu has witnessed companies set up carbon reduction objectives without the knowledge to implement them effectively. So, the firm also provides sustainability workshops to educate employees regarding climate change, and then according to their company activities, BIZSU helps them define the initiatives they want to carry out in the short, mid, and long term. 

Saving the Environment

Brice Degeyter, a serial entrepreneur, a human-centric person, and an environmental defensor, founded Bizsu in 2019. While working on his dream job in 2016, Brice was shocked by how we humans treated the environment and amazed by the solutions and opportunities available to us. Brice then decided to devote his time and energy to bringing sustainability solutions with maximum impact. 

Experienced in sustainability initiatives for several big companies, Brice understands the importance of making customers loyal, suppliers happier, and employees prouder. Under his leadership, Bizsu works with some of the biggest companies, including CapitaLand, Keppel, JLL, Bollore Logistics, Food-Panda, etc. 

Asian Market Trends

Brice believes that the Asian market has enormous potential, and he feels this is just the beginning. According to a poll by JLL in the Asia Pacific region, as much as 70% of organizations were willing to pay higher rents for green-certified buildings. So, an increasing number of employees and companies want to focus on sustainability and environmentalism. Also, the younger generation prefers to work for an organization that cares for the environment. Another research says, around 40% of millennials have selected a job due to the sustainability factor of the company, whereas 70% feel that their company’s good sustainability plan will encourage them to work there long term. So, working for the environment is essential to attracting and retaining talent. This showcases how all the stakeholders are ready to pay a premium for sustainability; hence, going green is definitely worth the company’s cost.  

Changed Priorities

Once founded, Bizsu started offering different solutions. As many sustainable solutions exist, Brice wanted every company to know them and be able to buy and use them. However, it failed to meet the market need. Eventually, Brice realized air conditions represent 30% of Singapore’s CO2 emissions. With the massive number of air conditions across the country, Bizsu and its clients have a lot to gain by saving energy. So, step-by-step, the company focused entirely on air conditions and devoted time and energy towards bringing sustainability solutions to maximize effect and impact. 

“Air conditioning represents an astronomical amount of Singapore’s CO2 emissions, roughly 30%, so we want to provide the region with our solution and help save one million tons of CO2 in Singapore by 2027.”– says Brice. 

Mission and Vision

As an organization, Bizsu aspires to create fast ROI and easy-to-implement solutions to reduce energy consumption for real estate, hotels, warehouses, and schools. The firm wants to help clients reduce their carbon footprint as much as possible for as long as possible. 

Sustainability for Bizsu means reducing the amount of CO2. So, as a business specializing in energy savings, Bizsu’s main priority is to help companies do that. It believes that the best strategy for companies to reach their objective is to focus on sustainability and reducing carbon emissions. 

“We should not have to compromise between business and sustainability. Both are compatible, and we prove it every day.“- states Brice.  

Preparing for the Future

Bizsu believes that we are currently in the age of the sustainability revolution. Earlier it was the digital revolution of the 1990s and 2000s. Now a sustainability revolution is ready to start, indicating that if businesses fail to choose the proper course of action, they will struggle. We have already seen several companies, like Kodak, Blockbuster, etc., fail due to a lack of adoption. So, as we witnessed decades ago, if businesses are not evolving quickly enough, they will face serious consequences. In the coming years, just like the digital world is crucial to our daily lives now, businesses will have to focus on doing good for the environment.

Mary Radenkovic: Celebrating Feminity by Creating Iconic Styles

Meet Mary Radenkovic, the founder and designer of London-based women’s luxury brand Lavishly Appointed. Hailing from the Mediterranean, Mary’s connection to the sea and nature, coupled with her love for fashion, inspired her to create her own brand that celebrates femininity, style, and luxury with sustainable practices at the forefront of the process. The brand was created for like-minded women seeking unique and eye-catching dynamic pieces that can take them from day through night.

Launched in 2016 in London, Lavishly Appointed offers essential costumes, bikinis, loungewear, innovative body adornments, and dresses that are designed and developed by Mary.

Following its philosophy, ‘buy less, buy better,’ the luxury resort brand creates several unique, multifunctional, and timeless pieces with a razor-sharp focus on craftsmanship. Most of the products made by the brand are artisanally handmade by women for women.

It’s all About Sustainability

Mary says, “The company values are all about sustainability. The swimsuits are made out of recycled plastic. Resortwear is 90% handmade – in that way, we are helping artisan women.” The brand’s garments are made of exclusive, premium, sustainable materials. The brand doesn’t believe in only practicing sustainability. Instead, it strives to create a movement to spread awareness. In order to bring change and awareness, Lavishly Appointed has started the ‘Save the Fish campaign,’ encouraging its clientele to participate in the change. When clients buy any products bearing the brand’s Goldfish logo, 20% of the profit goes to several non-profit organizations working on ocean wildlife preservation and the reduction of plastic pollution.

However, when it comes to practicing sustainability, Lavishly Appointed’s manufacturing process uses solar energy to power its warehouse. Additionally, it is also fighting for equal pay for the workers. Mary and her team at the company want to show that they are not only selling fashion products but are also selling a lifestyle and a message.

In addition to its environmental awareness, Lavishly Appointed takes great pride in handling the production process. The human aspect is also cherished in every step of the production process, taking into account the human rights of every artisan by providing a nourishing environment for their creative process. As a firm supporter of women’s and children’s rights, Mary makes sure that Lavishly Appointed’s female employees have equal status with its male workforce.

The True Mentor

Although Mary is friends with many successful entrepreneurs willing to share their words of wisdom, she only considers her late grandfather as her true mentor. Also, a fashion designer, Mary’s late grandfather helped her develop a genuine passion for fashion at a very young age that has been with her.

Mary made sketches for her first collection at the age of 12 and started working in the fashion world at 15. Initially, she worked as a model for beachwear, make-up, and hair products and became a face for multiple European brands.

Suggestions for Younger Self

Mary suggests that entrepreneurs must love what they do. She says, “You can only be your own and enjoy your own success if you have fought for it, failed several times, and eventually achieved it yourself. I think it is when you turn behind and reflect on everything that happened, and you realize that despite all the difficulties, you managed to get your idea and your dream to come true.”

Picture of the Future

Mary’s goal is to go back to the days of handmade production, just to bring back individuality and uniqueness. So, every design from Lavishly Appointed is entirely handmade by some of the finest artisans in the business.

When it comes to the future, the brand is hoping to have its own fashion show at the Miami Fashion Week. Mary states, “Opening our first branch store would be the next challenge and the next step, but we have not yet decided on the details.”

Rajiv Malik: Revolutionizing the Digital Ink Experience

Established in 1983 in Japan, Wacom is a global leader in the pen display and tablet market for creative users across the planet. The brand Wacom is derived from the word ‘Wa,’ which means Harmony in Japanese. Wacom products are widely used by the creative communities, including; illustrators, animators, graphic designers, editors, fashion designers, and industrial design professionals.

“Led by its current Sr. Director, Rajiv Malik, Wacom India also provides digital ink solutions for its wide range of partners at the global level Wacom is providing Ink solutions to various partners using and producing tablets and smartphones. However, Wacom India is focussed on developing Creative, Education, and Digital Signature solution markets only.”

Journey of the Leader

Rajiv started his professional career with an exciting opportunity to promote Professional Recording Media products in Film and Television Studios, News and Entertainment Channels, Independent Documentaries, and Film Makers.

He says, “As I networked with the industry, and made many good industry friends while interacting with some of the amazing and highly successful Creative Directors, Artists, and Technical Heads, I felt the need to go deeper to understand how technological advancements are helping the industry to unleash the creativity.”

This was the crucial time of transition for the industry from analog to digital. It eventually enabled Rajiv to switch to the core industry of A/V professionals, where core broadcast and digital imaging products have been an integral part of all film and broadcast studios. With Electronics Engineering as a base qualification, Rajiv has always been very passionate about working closely with the Creative Community and Technologists. He has also pursued a master’s degree in Business Administration at a later stage.

Not a Typical IT Company

“What I learned while joining Wacom is that it’s not a typical IT trading company.”– Says Rajiv. Creativity flows in Wacom’s DNA. It designs products with a strong intention of supporting creative professionals. He adds, “Diversified culture, strong leadership, values, and ethics, with creativity at the core, were reasons enough for me to join this amazing company. This very well resonated with my previous work background.”

Rajiv’s most ambitious project is transforming traditional Wacom office set-ups into Creative Experience Centers. He plans to redesign these spaces to reverberate with creative minds, not just for aspiring artists but also for internal team members. He feels Wacom’s customers must get the feel of its products by simulating an artistic environment. Along with the metro cities, Rajiv also plans to expand Wacom India’s presence in smaller cities and towns to provide the best experience to the widely spread creative communities with diverse backgrounds.

Tackling the Pandemic

Rajiv says, “Though the Pandemic was unfortunate for all, however on the brighter side, our business saw exponential growth.”

The pandemic increased the practical usage of pen tablets in the education sector. During the lockdown period, academicians discovered how digital pen tablets and displays play a critical role in remote teaching and learning. It helped people realize the power of digital tools, helping professionals and students communicate much more effectively without missing the natural flow of knowledge transfer.

Soon distance education became much less cumbersome. With more accessible and effective education, many of the ed-tech groups came forward and established themselves very quickly. Rajiv further adds, “The Media and Entertainment industry saw a big shift towards OTT. Access to Creative as well as Academic Education, and WFH for the Corporate sector gave a big boost to our business.”

Current Market

Rajiv feels the market is changing rapidly, even faster than it ever did in the past. With the ever-changing situation, most institutions that have already experienced the advantage of digital tools are constantly working on setting up Hybrid set-ups/classrooms for a long-term perspective. He believes the market has evolved to a large extent and will continue to evolve in segments like education, film, and television production in the coming years. Also, content creation for cinemas is bouncing back to its earlier levels after two consecutive years of slowdown.

Picture of the Future

Wacom plans to further develop and introduce its state-of-the-art products and cutting-edge technologies to support artists express their creativity safely. Rajiv says, “Supporting communities by introducing easier-to-use, highly accurate devices to support creative expressions will remain at the core. There’s a growing need to secure the precious content created by artists, which is being made possible with the help of blockchain technologies.” The company wants to further expand its presence and strengthen close two-way communication with its clients via various platforms. By demonstrating its latest products, solutions, and the best hands-on experience to budding professionals, Wacom’s direct presence as a legal entity in India makes a lot of difference.

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