My fuel to the soul

Having a sense of purpose and motivation is essential for both personal and professional fulfillment. Throughout my career, there have been a few common factors that have consistently motivated me:

• The crew: To me, the people I work with are the most important factor in any career choice. Even the most successful leader is doomed to fail if they are surrounded by individuals they cannot effectively work with. For this reason, I carefully consider the individuals I will be working with whenever faced with a career decision. I seek out colleagues who are passionate about their work, prioritize the team over themselves, and take pride in their accomplishments. I believe in building relationships that go beyond the workplace and have maintained close friendships with colleagues from past jobs.
• Change making: For me, it is essential that any work I do has a meaningful impact on society and the organization I am a part of. I believe it is important to contribute to something larger than oneself and make a positive difference in the world. That's why I have always sought out opportunities that allow me to make an impact and make a difference in the world and move the needle.
• The brain feast: Throughout my career, I have always approached my professional development as a mosaic, rather than focusing on building expertise in a single domain. I have found that my love for learning new domains and technologies has served me well and has opened up a wide range of opportunities. I am excited to continue exploring new areas of interest and expanding my knowledge and skill set, and I can't wait to dive deeper into this domain

My Leadership finesse

As a leader, I am guided by a set of core principles that shape my approach to management and decision-making. These principles include:

• Empathetic and Caring: As I mentioned before, I believe that people are the most important aspect of any organization. In the long run, what we accomplish as a team will be forgotten, but how we treat each other will always be remembered. In my previous roles, I have had the opportunity to build teams from the ground up and develop strong, personal connections with each team member. I understand their unique strengths, weaknesses, career goals, and personal circumstances, and I strive to support and empower them in every way possible. I would love to do the same here, getting to know each and every one of you more intimately and helping to drive the success of the business through our collective efforts and support for one another
• Trusting: As a manager, I believe it is essential to surround myself with individuals who are more knowledgeable and skilled than I am. This allows me to be the least knowledgeable person on the team, and I take pride in that. I have full confidence in your expertise within your pillar/product area, and encourage my team to seek advice and not wait for permission to take action. While I trust that you will always get the job done, there may be certain programs that require more attention from me due to dependencies on other teams, impact on key metrics, or critical operational issues. In those cases, I may check in more frequently to ensure we are staying on track. Overall, my goal is to empower my team to take ownership and make decisions, while also being available to provide support and guidance when needed
• Transparent: As a transparent and outspoken individual, I prioritize sharing information with my team as soon as it becomes available in order to ensure that we are all on the same page. This is particularly important in our organization given the cross-functional and cross-geographic collaborations that we often engage in. I welcome open and direct feedback and hope that you will also be open to receiving it. While I may occasionally advocate strongly for my own point of view, I am always willing to change my perspective if presented with strong data and counterarguments. I believe that open communication and a willingness to consider different perspectives is key to making informed and effective decisions. I strive to be transparent in my decision-making and to keep my team informed about the direction and goals of our organization.
• Adaptability: I believe that the ability to adapt and respond to change is essential to success in today's rapidly-evolving business landscape. I am flexible and open to new ideas, and I encourage my team to embrace change and take calculated risks in pursuit of our goals.
• Systematic: I find that having a clear and systematic approach to our work is essential to the success of our team. Whether we are building scalable products, managing complex programs, or simply operating as a cohesive unit, I believe that having a good rhythm of business is critical. Not only does this approach help to create predictability and inspire confidence, it also allows us to set clear expectations with our partners. I am particularly skilled at identifying and implementing processes and systems that enable us to work efficiently and effectively as a team. By creating a strong foundation of systematic and predictable practices, we are better able to focus on delivering high-quality results and meeting the needs of our partners
• Collaborative: As a decision-maker, I am committed to involving others in the process and ensuring that all voices are heard. I believe that making informed and well-rounded decisions requires considering a diverse range of perspectives, and I strive to involve others in the process whenever possible. Whether I am leading a team or working as part of one, I make a point of seeking input and feedback from my colleagues, and I value the insights and ideas that they bring to the table. By involving others in the decision-making process, we are able to make more informed and effective choices, and I believe that this approach leads to stronger outcomes and greater buy-in from all involved.

My modus operandi

I am highly motivated and have a strong personal work ethic, and I believe in taking ownership of my work and delivering on my commitments. I hold myself and my team to high standards and expect us to lead by example, taking accountability for the problems we are best equipped to solve. In addition to focusing on our individual functions, I encourage us to think more broadly about the overall business, organization, and company when making decisions.Ultimately, my goal is to contribute to the success of our team and organization in a meaningful and impactful way

• I prefer to use chat or WhatsApp for short exchanges and for situations where I need a quick response (within 3 hours).
• For longer responses or situations where more context is needed, please email me.
• When adding me to an email or chat thread, please provide some context around the reason for my inclusion (either in the same thread or in a separate 1:1 message).
• I am looking forward to getting to know each member of the team and will be setting up 1:1s with everyone initially.
• If you need to reach out to me for anything urgent, feel free to message or call me outside of working hours. I will let you know if I am unable to engage or if I am not available.
• I enjoy socializing and getting the team together, so I am always up for offsites, in-person events, and other team-building activities. However, I understand that we are not yet fully out of the woods with the pandemic, so please feel free to participate at your own discretion.
• I have received feedback that I sometimes send unexpected messages asking for something. If this happens, please feel free to let me know if you are unable to engage at the moment. I can handle it and there is no need to rush. Similarly, if I send a message after working hours, please do not feel obligated to respond immediately. A response the next business day is fine.
• If you have something urgent that you need to discuss before our next scheduled 1:1 (use your judgment here), please do not hesitate to set up an ad hoc 1:1 with me. I believe in open and responsive communication, and I am always available to listen and support you as needed. Whether you have a question, concern, or idea that you want to share, I encourage you to reach out to me at any time. I am committed to being a supportive and accessible leader, and I want to make sure that you feel comfortable coming to me with any issues or challenges that you may be facing. Together, we can work towards finding solutions and ensuring the success of our team and organization.

More details about myself

• One of my greatest strengths is my ability to quickly gain context and effectively operate in a variety of domains.
• I am extremely detail-oriented and not afraid to roll up my sleeves and dive deep into the finer points of a problem or task.
• I am known for my diligence and thoroughness, sometimes to the point of being obsessive about having a solid plan for everything.
• I have a great sense of humor and enjoy making people laugh.
• I am not particularly good at hiding my emotions, and they tend to show through in my facial expressions, tone of voice, and body language.
• When I am handling a problem or issue, I am eager to quickly reach a resolution or alignment and can become restless if something lingers for too long.

Social posts

Beeline Russia Launch by my team at Kaltura:

Venn's LinkedIn welcome post: