There are leaders who measure success by numbers, titles, or valuations — and then there are those who define it by the impact they leave on people and society.
Victor Cho, CEO of Emovid, is undeniably one of the latter.
From steering Evite through the pandemic to pioneering early digital business models at Microsoft and Intuit, Victor has spent his career at the crossroads of innovation, leadership, and human connection. But what sets him apart goes beyond the places he’s worked — it’s how he leads: with joy, energy, and an unwavering belief that leadership is a constant choice to elevate others.
When Victor joined me for “C-Suite Success,” his presence filled the room with warmth and enthusiasm. It’s not often you meet someone whose optimism feels both grounded and contagious, but that’s who Victor is. As he shared his story, one thing became clear — success, for him, isn’t a destination. It’s a deliberate choice made every day.
“You have a choice,” Victor said. “You can be the person who drains energy or the person who adds it. Why not choose to be on the positive end?”
He calls it being “energy accretive” — a term that sounds technical, but at its heart is beautifully, and authentically, human. In every organization, there are those who lift others up and those who don’t. Victor builds his teams — and his life — around the first kind. It’s a philosophy that’s carried him from humble beginnings to becoming one of the most transformative CEOs in business today.
The Long View of Success
Unlike many leaders, Victor knew early on that he wanted to be a CEO. As a teenager fascinated by the earliest personal computers, he imagined leading a company long before he understood what a CEO actually did. But his journey was less about chasing a title and more about methodically building the skills he needed to lead effectively.
“Every decision I made was about accumulating the skills to get to that point,” he told me. “But I’ve never had a single moment where I said, ‘This is success.’ For me, it’s about the journey — staying true to who I am and making progress toward something meaningful.”
That framing — success as progress with integrity — feels rare in a world obsessed with instant outcomes. It’s what makes Victor’s leadership so steady. He’s driven, but not frantic; visionary, but grounded. His focus is not on achievement alone, but on the alignment of values, purpose, and people toward something greater than profit.
Learning from the Downturns
Every great leader has weathered storms, but few do it with such grace. When Victor talked about his early startup during the dot-com crash — a company that didn’t survive — there was no bitterness, no regret. Only reflection.
“If you make the best decision you can with the information you have,” he said, “then there’s nothing to regret. You learn, you grow, and you move forward.”
That mindset became crucial when he later took over Evite, a struggling brand facing declining growth and stiff competition. Through disciplined execution and a revitalized culture, Victor brought it back to profitability — only to face a crisis no one could have predicted: COVID-19.
When the pandemic hit, 80% of Evite’s revenue evaporated overnight. Party invitations simply stopped. Yet, rather than rushing to cut jobs, Victor made a bold choice — to keep his team intact.
“Most of our competitors immediately laid people off,” he recalled. “But I believed if we were going to sell or rebuild, our greatest asset was our people. So, we kept everyone — and that decision gave us the strength to adapt.”
That empathy-driven strategy worked. Under his leadership, Evite not only survived the pandemic but emerged strong enough to be acquired successfully. It’s a masterclass in balancing business acumen with human decency — something Victor sees as essential for modern leadership.
Rethinking Capitalism: The Fourth Stakeholder
One of Victor’s most powerful ideas is his Fourth Stakeholder Framework, which expands traditional stakeholder capitalism to explicitly include society and humanity as beneficiaries of business success. For him, leadership isn’t about maximizing shareholder value; it’s about creating systems that leave the world better than we found it.
“We’ve evolved past the idea that business exists only for shareholders,” he said. “Our responsibility as leaders is to be better citizens, to use our platforms to make a difference.”
That’s his life’s work. As a philanthropist, he’s helped raise over $30 million for charities. As a strategist, he’s mentored and advised countless founders on how to grow with integrity. And now, with Emovid, his mission is expanding again — using AI to transform how humans communicate.
Success in the Age of AI
Victor believes AI represents a turning point as profound as the birth of the internet — not because of its technology, but because of what it reveals about us.
“AI is intelligence as a service,” he explained. “It gives everyone access to higher-level reasoning at a fraction of the cost. That changes everything. It means every one of us can become a CEO — a conductor of intelligent systems.”
But with that power comes responsibility. For Victor, success in the AI era won’t be defined by efficiency alone, but by ethics. His vision is to build an AI company that proves business innovation and social responsibility can — and must — coexist.
“We’re at risk of making some of the worst business decisions ever with AI,” he warned, “unless we ground this technology in human values.”
It’s why his next 50 years — yes, fifty — are dedicated to what he calls a “multi-decade mission” to elevate business citizenship. His goal isn’t just to lead companies; it’s to lead a movement — one where leadership is measured not by what we take, but by what we give back.
Choosing Success, Every Day
As our conversation ended, I was struck by the elegant simplicity of Victor’s message: success isn’t a finish line. It’s a choice — to bring energy, to stay curious, to act with integrity, and to build with purpose.
He’s proof that joy and ambition aren’t opposites — they’re partners. And that when we lead with both, we not only build great businesses… we build a better world.
Listen to the entire conversation on C-Suite Radio or watch the interview on C-Suite TV.
