KACHARAGADLA

There is a very simple measure of the health and culture of any team or organization:  its energy level . Among high-energy groups, we witness motivation by inspiration. There is a buzz in the air. Individuals and teams are innovating, displaying enthusiasm and optimism about their work. In lower-energy organizations, we see motivation by tasks and timelines. There is a sense of busy-ness, but little excitement about the business of the group. In this article, we will examine the role of energy in leadership, including the novel perspectives of a military Special Operations leader who has lived leadership on the battlefield and in the boardroom. Leadership As Focused, Directed Energy When we examine the writings of those who have worked extensively with leaders and organizations, the energy factor pops up repeatedly. Tom Peters, in his book  The Little Big Things , explains that “the ‘business’ of leaders at all levels is to help those in their charge develop  beyond their dr

Many organizations would like their leaders to create more innovative teams. But how exactly should they do this? If you ask highly innovative leaders what makes them effective you are apt to hear, “Well, I don’t know. I haven’t thought about it.” Or they will make something up that sounds compelling. But the fact of the matter is that people who excel at something aren’t usually very good at pinpointing exactly what accounts for their skill. So to find out more, we conducted our own study. We began by collaborating with a respected organization in the telecommunications industry whose leaders scored well above average on most managerial competencies. We identified 33 individuals who scored at or above the 99 th  percentile on innovation, as measured by their peers, subordinates, and bosses in a comprehensive 360-degree feedback survey.  We believed these closest colleagues would have the most accurate view of what made this group of leaders stand out from the pack in this large

A study of successful board chairs across countries shows how they engage, enable and encourage boards Boards of directors often get media attention when something goes wrong. The board of VW, for instance, was recently in the news after it received a terrible corporate governance rating based on the 2015 emissions scandal and its fallout. Examples of how not to behave as a board are easy to come by. Yet most boards are not like VW’s because they use good governance to work well. To find out what makes a board chair successful, the INSEAD Corporate Governance Initiative conducted 74 face-to-face interviews with experienced board chairs to produce a research project spanning nine countries – Belgium, Denmark, Italy, the Netherlands, Russia, Singapore, Switzerland, Turkey and the United Kingdom. Since boards of directors are not always transparent, and the role of their chairs doesn’t come with a handbook, we hope this report will shed light on the workings of board chairs.

In 2016  Alexandr Wang, 20 , took time off from his graduate computer science studies at MIT. He headed to Silicon Valley to join his friend and fellow developer  Lucy Guo, 23 . Two years  earlier, Guo - a 2014 Thiel Fellow - had left her senior year at Carnegie Mellon to pursue her own tech career.  Now, little more than a year after Wang left Cambridge, the two are leading a $4.7-million startup.  Scale , “The API of Human Intelligence,” serves such giants as Alphabet, P&G, GM Cruise and more. From high school dropouts to Stanford Ph.D’s, most of the  Forbes 2018 30 Under 30 Class in Enterprise Tech  are augmenting Artificial Intelligence with indispensable human skills.  Both Wang and Guo have substantial experience in tech, including stints at Snap and Quora. So they know that despite the considerable hype AI is, as they describe it, “not ready for prime time.” And, like much of this year’s class, they took risks to create something new. Scale offers immediate access t

As a brand, social media is one of your biggest assets. Here's some advice from the experts at VSCO. As an  entrepreneur  or small-business owner,  social media  should be a top priority. From promoting your products to building a community to developing your  brand's voice  -- the benefits of having a solid grasp on your business's social media presence is essential to the success and appeal of your company. But don't worry, you don't need to spend thousands of dollars on fancy equipment or hire a third-party agency to do it for you. But that doesn't mean just throwing a bunch of random pictures up on Instagram either. Instead, it's important to be thoughtful, listen to your audience, learn a few quick and easy camera tricks (yes, you can use your smartphone) and eventually, build a voice, a community and a large following. To help you achieve all of these things, we've brought in some help from photography app  VSCO 's Kendal Kulley, an a