Hybrid work & leadership with Violeta Luca and Ravi Ram

On Air: Podcast by Femme Palette

What is hybrid leadership? How is it applied in a regular workday? And how can leaders deal with challenges that the future of work holds? In this episode, we sat down with Violeta Luca from Microsoft and Ravi Ram from edtech company Springboard. Tune in to hear perspectives on hybrid work from a corporate giant and a Silicon Valley startup!

About the speakers:

Violeta Luca

Violeta is leading Microsoft Czech Republic and Slovakia since January 1st, 2021. Before that, she has served as the General Manager in Microsoft Romania for the past two years. As a leader, she has an extensive track record in enabling double digit business growth, transforming business models, driving regional expansion and new market opportunities, and building strategic partnerships to enhance customer experience. She was included among TOP 100 CEOs and Forbes Top 50 most powerful businesswomen in Romania and received recognition for Business Development, Innovative Business Model, Best Digital transformation project, and Best Corporate Responsibility Campaign. Under her leadership was Microsoft Romania named #1 employer and she is a Board member of the Digital Transformation Committee under the National Digitization Authority.

“I strongly believe that technologies are more than ever the solution to support our resilience and that a healthy and sustainable culture built around a shared purpose has transformative power. Whether we speak about education, healthcare, or economy at large, having a more resilient society will enable a faster recovery and more sustainable development in the future”, said Violeta. "Slovakia ranks among the strongest countries in Europe when it comes to technology talent and their drive to realize the digitization potential. So, it is a fantastic opportunity to continue to build the digital future for thriving organizations, entrepreneurs, and society at scale.“

Prior to joining Microsoft, Violeta held several leadership roles in general management, sales and marketing in leading companies such as Metro C&C, Dante international, Flanco Retail, Whirlpool Romania or AIG. She graduated from the Academy of Economic Studies.

Ravi Ram

Ravi is Senior Director of Sales at Springboard, an education technology company based in San Francisco. He joined Springboard in 2018, and has also served as Head of Business Operations. Before that, Ravi was a management consultant with McKinsey from 2014-2016 and a Fellow with the McKinsey Global Institute from 2016-2018. He also serves as a leadership and executive coach, and facilitates learning programs with Educe Partners. Ravi graduated with degrees in molecular biology and mathematics from the University of Arizona, and has also been a visiting scholar at the National University of Singapore and Universidad Carlos III de Madrid. He has lived, studied, and worked in Brazil, Peru, Singapore, Spain, France, Germany, Italy, Australia, India, and Kenya. He's a major proponent of the inner sciences of meditation and yoga, and their connection to human consciousness and well-being: Ravi has done a set of meditation practices for 90 minutes every day since July 2016.

Insights from our speakers:

• 73% of workers want the flexible work to continue beyond the pandemic (based on Microsoft research)
• 46% of people think of changing their career - help people understand ‘why’ they are working, not only when and how
• hybrid work paradox - craving for human connection while keeping the benefits of flexibility of remote work
• think of shared service and shared experience as it is something that brings people together
• try things - see what works, what doesn’t and move on