There is no secret recipe to becoming a successful leader, but there are some common ingredients.
Back in 2012, Google spent two years studying 180 internal teams to better understand what some of those ingredients might be.
What Google found was that factors like dependability, clear communication and psychological safety were vital pieces of the company’s most successful teams. The teams that performed the best had a very intentional style of management that made sure team members felt valued, able to take risks and that they could rely on one another for support.
APA’s 2024 Work in America survey echoed what Google found — that workers who experience higher levels of psychological safety are more likely to say they feel like they belong.
Great managers can make all the difference. Built In spoke with five tech leaders who shared their ingredients for success.
Homebot is a real estate tech company that empowers consumers with personalized and actionable financial insights through the full homeownership life cycle.
What hallmark of good management stands out at your company — and how is it reinforced?
Accessibility. Whenever we welcome a newbotter, I always emphasize that nobody is too busy to answer your questions. No matter your role or team, our leaders make time to ensure everyone is aligned and supported.
Many of Homebot’s managers were promoted from individual contributor roles, which reinforces our culture of leading by example. They don’t just direct, they participate, listen and guide through real collaboration. This approach fosters trust and encourages everyone to bring their best ideas forward.
Because of this, our teams operate with a sense of psychological safety and shared ownership. People feel empowered to ask questions, make decisions and take initiative, knowing their leaders have their backs. That openness has become a pillar of how we grow, learn and succeed together at Homebot.
Which forum or ritual keeps expectations and priorities clear for the team?
Every other week, leaders and key cross-functional partners meet for a go-to-market session to align on priorities, share progress and tackle blockers together. This keeps the strategy from getting stuck at the top and ensures updates flow quickly across teams so we can all speak clearly to our vision.
Along with our team syncs and all-hands, this rhythm helps everyone stay clear on not just what we’re doing, but why. It’s made Homebot feel more connected, transparent and in sync than ever.
What part of the strategy excites people — and what metric shows progress?
Strategy isn’t something we talk about once and hope everyone remembers. Every metric we track ties back to leading indicators across multiple departments, ensuring we’re measuring real progress, not just outcomes.
In 2025, Homebot launched four new strategies that have kept the company energized and focused. We reference them daily, in conversations with customers, prospects and internally. Every Thursday, the entire company aligns on our go-to-market priorities. This rhythm keeps strategy alive and actionable, not abstract.
It’s hard to capture this as a single metric, but the impact is clear: Homebot doesn’t just feel like a great place to work, it feels like a place that works great. These newer strategies have brought us closer together as a company and our customers can feel that alignment too. Their excitement mirrors ours, showing up in renewed partnerships, new opportunities and shared wins worth celebrating.
VelocityEHS is a software company that helps make workplaces safer and more sustainable.
What hallmark of good management stands out at your company — and how is it reinforced?
For me, great management starts with creating a psychologically safe environment. You have to intentionally build a space where people feel comfortable speaking up, asking questions and challenging ideas without worrying about how it’ll land. At VelocityEHS, that comes down to trust and transparency.
We’ve adopted the saying “clear is kind.” To me, that means giving people clarity around expectations, goals and feedback so they always know where they stand and what success looks like. Feedback is shared often and in the moment, not saved for annual performance reviews. Being clear is a way of showing respect, building trust and keeping people focused on what really matters.
When managers take the time to explain the “why” behind decisions, invite feedback both ways and follow through on what they hear, it builds real trust. That’s when people feel safe to take risks, speak honestly and push for better results because they know that if they make a mistake, they’ll be supported, not blamed.
Which forum or ritual keeps expectations and priorities clear for the team?
Clarity is something we create through consistent rhythm and communication. Every Monday, our CRO leads a huddle with the revenue organization to align on what’s most important for the week ahead. Even when the priorities stay the same, it’s valuable to pause and make sure everyone is moving in the same direction.
At the team level, I take those broader themes and pull through the information that’s most relevant for my group. In our local meetings, I focus on what matters most for our team based on where we are in the quarter, the challenges we’re seeing in the field and the opportunities gaining momentum. My goal is to keep the team focused on what will make the biggest impact that week.
In our one-on-ones the focus shifts to individual ownership and accountability. My goal is to give each sales professional on my team the tools to quickly self-assess their performance and identify where they might be off course. From there, we work together to adjust their plan with intention. It keeps expectations clear, creates shared accountability and helps each person stay confident in their path forward.
What part of the strategy excites people — and what metric shows progress?
AI is a major focus and very trendy across every industry right now. What I appreciate about our approach to AI is how intentional we are in how we use it. Across the business, we’ve taken a two-sided approach to AI adoption.
Internally, we’ve implemented enterprise-wide AI tools that help our teams save time and focus on the work that matters most. What I appreciate the most is how our people have remained the focus throughout and how these tools have empowered us to work more efficiently and better support our customers.
On the product side, we find that many companies are layering off-the-shelf AI tools on top of existing software and calling it innovation. Our team of AI scientists is building VelocityAI directly into the core of our platform, powered by the largest and most meaningful dataset in the EHS space. The result is smarter workflows, faster insights and better decisions for our customers.
What excites me most is how real the progress feels. We’re helping customers make smarter decisions faster and because we’re in the safety business, that means more people go home safely to their families at the end of the day.
OCC provides stability to the listed options marketplace by guaranteeing options trades.
What hallmark of good management stands out at your company — and how is it reinforced?
At OCC, accessibility and empowerment are management hallmarks that stand out for me. Our CEO holds regular café office hours where anyone can drop by for genuine conversations — no bureaucratic barriers. This open-door philosophy extends throughout leadership; I’ve consistently found leaders available for both scheduled meetings and impromptu discussions. The empowerment aspect is also meaningful for technical teams. I recently stepped into leading our AI research and engineering function and our CIO explicitly empowered me to define the team’s vision and value proposition. This level of autonomy creates real ownership — you’re not just implementing someone else’s specifications, you’re architecting solutions. Leaders here understand that providing clear direction while granting execution freedom fosters innovation. They trust their teams to solve complex problems creatively, resulting in better technical solutions and higher engagement. It’s an environment where your technical insights drive actual business decisions.
Which forum or ritual keeps expectations and priorities clear for the team?
OCC’s AI Governance Council serves as the primary alignment mechanism for me and my team; it’s a bi-weekly forum that maintains strategic clarity. The council’s effectiveness stems from thoughtful composition: senior leaders with decision-making authority, sized appropriately to avoid the “too many stakeholders” problem that plagues many organizations. This structure enables meaningful progress while maintaining executive alignment. We address emerging technical challenges, calibrate priorities and secure necessary resources in a streamlined process. Similar governance frameworks exist across other functions, creating organizational consistency. For our engineering team, this translates to a clear understanding of what we’re building, why it matters strategically and how our technical work connects to broader business objectives. No ambiguous requirements or shifting priorities. The council provides strategic context that allows us to make informed technical decisions and architect solutions that deliver real value.
What part of the strategy excites people — and what metric shows progress?
The introduction of generative AI technologies has created genuine excitement across OCC — comparable to transformational shifts like the early internet. Our adoption metrics demonstrate enthusiastic uptake as teams discover these tools’ potential to fundamentally enhance their workflows and problem-solving capabilities. What resonates most with technical teams is witnessing AI address previously intractable challenges. Code generation, automated documentation and complex data analysis — capabilities that were theoretical are now practical tools in our development arsenal. Teams are experimenting with innovative applications and discovering new approaches to longstanding problems. Our strategy balances rapid adoption with appropriate governance, ensuring AI augments rather than replacing human expertise. The organizational energy is remarkable and proves that my team’s work is truly meaningful to our colleagues. People view AI as a force multiplier for their technical skills, sparking creativity and opening new possibilities for innovation across our engineering practices.
PatientPoint delivers digital in-office patient education at no cost to physicians, empowering healthcare professionals to connect more meaningfully with their patients.
What hallmark of good management stands out at your company — and how is it reinforced?
At PatientPoint, the hallmark of strong management is clarity that leads to ownership. We focus on making priorities, success measures and decision rights explicit, connect decisions back to the bigger strategy and then trust teams to deliver. When teams know exactly what we’re solving for and why it matters, they can move faster and more confidently. We reinforce this by maintaining a consistent operating rhythm that creates transparency around how priorities are set, how progress is tracked and when decisions get made. We also emphasize ongoing coaching that helps people understand not just what we’re doing, but why it matters. The goal is not control — it’s empowerment. When people understand both the direction and their role in it, accountability becomes something they want to take on, not something that is handed to them.
Which forum or ritual keeps expectations and priorities clear for the team?
Our monthly steering committee is the key touchpoint that keeps the organization aligned and moving in the same direction. It’s where we review progress on our strategic priorities, evaluate and address risks early and align on decisions about where to adjust focus or resources. The value is not just the meeting itself — it’s the clarity it creates. After the committee aligns on priorities for the month, each function translates those priorities into weekly standups and individual work. This cascading structure ensures everyone can see how their day-to-day work contributes to company level outcomes. It removes the noise and keeps us focused on those things that matter most. The result is momentum — not just movement.
What part of the strategy excites people — and what metric shows progress?
The part of our strategy that energizes people most is true partnership with healthcare practices, especially through my PatientPoint. Practices can personalize and manage patient engagement across their waiting rooms and exam rooms in a way that reflects their community, care philosophy and patient needs. It shifts us from a one-directional model to a collaborative one enabling better conversations between patients and their providers in the clinical moment — where it matters most. We measure progress through platform adoption, frequency of use and retention. The more a practice engages with the platform, the more value they see and the stronger the long-term partnership becomes. It’s a clear example of strategy translating into measurable impact: when providers have more control and patients receive more relevant information, everyone benefits.
Wise wants to make money without borders the new norm. The fintech company supports customers with moving and managing money across borders, such as simplifying business payments and making it easy for individuals to spend abroad.
What hallmark of good management stands out at your company — and how is it reinforced?
At Wise, we focus on action-oriented collaboration, transparency and feedback. Our Leads (managers) model this by communicating directly and openly — sharing context and decisions so people can trust the “why,” not just the “what.” This is reinforced by our focus on working cross-functionally to solve customer problems from first principles — breaking them down before looking for solutions. When a challenge or opportunity appears, we prioritize getting the right people together to solve it — regardless of team or ownership. These cross-functional teams tackle projects in tandem, starting first from: How will what we’re doing help our customers? Or why are we working on this? We then leverage skills across the business to innovate quickly and provide solutions.
To support the growth of our employees, who we call “Wisers,” leads get training on how to give effective feedback and support the growth of their team. And it shows — in our annual company survey, Wisers scored their leads in the top 25 percent of tech companies when it comes to caring about their wellbeing and providing open and honest communication. They also score above the benchmark on encouraging and supporting their development.
Which forum or ritual keeps expectations and priorities clear for the team?
We run open planning sessions for anyone to learn and give feedback. Our planning rituals provide clarity on what we are aiming for and why and they allow Wisers to openly discuss and refine how we’re going to achieve our collective goals. With the support of colleagues around the world, every Wiser has a voice and the potential to shape how we work towards our mission of building the best way to move and manage the world’s money.
We host “squad days,” where teams within Wise present their plans to senior leadership. This creates visibility and ensures teams can surface risks and opportunities early, while still empowering them to build and execute on their own roadmap.
We have bi-weekly team calls with the whole company, where teams present key projects so Wisers stay informed about progress against our mission outside of planning rituals. This combination of transparent planning and high‑level feedback ensures our strategy is clear and mission-driven, while allowing for ownership by the teams doing the work. This helps us deliver better outcomes for customers — and a better experience for Wisers.
What part of the strategy excites people — and what metric shows progress?
Wisers are motivated by building solutions that transform how people and businesses move and manage money — instantly, transparently, affordably and conveniently. We listen to customers and study how they use Wise so we build products and features that move us closer to that mission. Wisers score in the top 25 percent of tech companies for feeling inspired by our purpose and mission.
We keep that connection alive by speaking to customers. During our annual ‘Mission Days’ we run a customer challenge — which ensures those who don’t regularly interface with users sit side-by-side with a customer-support agent to experience the journey firsthand and seek out opportunities to improve. This is hugely motivating and reminds our people of the impact behind the products they are building.
For almost 15 years, that dedication has driven Wise’s growth — and the results show it. In FY2025, we served 15.6 million people and businesses, processed over £145.2 billion in cross-border transfers and saved customers around $2.6 billion in fees. In our latest results, 65 percent of payments sent via Wise now arrive instantly. We’re transforming the movement of money worldwide — and nothing is more motivating.
