RTS Labs October 2018

RTS Labs October 2018

OCTOBER 2018

RTS Tech Journal THE FIRST STEP IN PROBLEM-SOLVING Why CEOs Should Acknowledge Their Fears

Who would have thought seeing your company grow could be terrifying?

masks of fearlessness because they are under the impression that by admitting you are worried about the future — that you don’t have all the answers — then you give up your power as a leader. I believe that by acknowledging your fears, you give yourself the opportunity to address them head on. I am still worried about maintaining our company culture and taking care of my employees, but I’ve discovered that the best way to alleviate this fear is to be exceptional at what we do.

In the last few years, our team has almost doubled in size. This is great, because it means we are so excelling in the work we do that our client load keeps growing and we need more people to help deliver that same excellence to everyone. However, adding so many new folks had me worried. What if I brought in new people who didn’t fit with the team and RTS lost that awesome culture we’ve worked so hard to build?

clients hire us because they’re afraid of losing out to their competition. If they aren’t able to innovate and become more effective and grow, then they’re doomed. We have to be an innovation hub for our clients in order to take away their fears and really wow them. I’m not afraid to admit when I am worried or when something scares me. The only way to handle your fears is to acknowledge them first. This is something we do with our clients regularly. When a client comes to us with their fears, we look at their situation and tackle those fears head on, coming up with solutions that solve their problems. But we never reach that solution if our clients aren’t willing to acknowledge their fears. There is logic in admitting when you’re afraid, but only if you are willing to also tackle that fear head on. When you do, you open yourself up to innovative solutions that alleviate your fears. And without those fears that were holding you back, you’re able to grow and reach higher than before.

I believe that by acknowledging your fears, you give yourself the opportunity to address them head on.

Being a CEO means I have a million fears hanging over my head at all times. When I started RTS, one of my biggest fears was that I would fail the people I hired. I have a responsibility to help my employees maintain their livelihoods, support their families, and put food on the table. If I don’t succeed, what would happen to them? There are many people who never admit when they are afraid. Entrepreneurs and business owners especially will put on

We can’t just be the best — we need to be light-years better than our competition and make sure our clients win. By aiming to be exceptional, we don’t just eliminate

the fear of failing as a company, we also go far in alleviating the fears our clients have. Our

-Jyot Singh

Only one question remains: What are you afraid of?

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THE BEST OF BOTH WORLDS

Meet Patrick Warren, Director of Capital Markets

A Lesson in Brand Engagement

As director of capital markets, you could say Patrick Warren knows numbers. Since joining the RTS Labs team this past May, he’s immersed himself in development projects for businesses in the financial services sector, such as investment and private equity firms. Patrick joined the team with 15 years of middle-market investment banking experience. He’s worked with big players in banking, including BB&T and Fifth Third Bank. Why the shift from the financial world to the technology-driven RTS Labs? Over the past several years, Patrick watched as technology became more and more ingrained in the financial sector. All of this technology piqued his interest. He wanted to be a part of it — an active participant, rather than reactive one.

Since Marvel Studios began the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) with “Iron Man” in 2008, the company has become an unprecedented box office force. Marvel can take credit for four of the top 10 highest-grossing movies of all time. While some of that success comes down to the value of the intellectual property, most of it is the result of Marvel Studios’ vision of continued brand engagement. “We try to keep audiences coming back in greater numbers by doing the unexpected and not simply following a pattern or a mold or a formula,” says studio president Kevin Feige. He and his team realized early on that making the movies part of a cohesive, continuing universe would encourage moviegoers to come back to the theater again and again. Odds are that if you’ve seen one Marvel movie, you’ve seen almost all of them. Instead of one megahit, Marvel tries to make dozens of them. It’s a model that other studios have tried to emulate, but nobody has managed to do it as well as Marvel. Part of their singular approach is making sure that the movies impress newcomers and veteran fans alike. “We always set out to just make a great movie,” Feige notes. To that end, a Marvel movie will almost certainly contain Easter eggs for fans who are paying close attention, but they still work as standalone experiences. Fans are so invested in the MCU that they even ignore the long-standing theater tradition of leaving during the credits. At a Marvel movie, more than half the crowd often remains in their seats to see the post-credit sequence that sets up the next movie. No matter what business you’re in, you can learn a valuable lesson from the world-conquering dominance of the MCU. If you can give your customers a reason to stay engaged with your brand for the long haul, you’ll earn a lot more loyalty and dollars. A one-off interaction that customers rave about may garner you referrals, but it doesn’t do much for the lifetime value of a customer. Can every business become Marvel Studios? Of course not. But you can think about ways to get customers excited enough to call you. Continuous engagement can turn regular customers into your most ardent fans. If you need proof, try getting a ticket for the next Marvel movie on opening night.

For instance, Patrick developed a strong interest in Google Analytics and >Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4

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