Leadership at scale: The organic rise of a Viva Engage superstar at Microsoft

Ravi Vedula didn’t know it was going to happen.

He didn’t plan it.

Yet somehow, he became a Viva Engage superstar.

“Modern leadership is about kindness, it’s about empathy, and, frankly, it’s about authenticity. With Engage, I get to talk to my 1,000-plus-member team every day. I get to know them, and they get to know me.”

Ravi Vedula, corporate vice president, IDEAS

When Vedula looks back at why he first started posting on Microsoft Viva Engage, it was because he wanted to connect with a team that was too big to meet with one-on-one. The team also spans multiple continents and time zones.

It was about being real and accessible.

“Modern leadership is about kindness, it’s about empathy, and, frankly, it’s about authenticity,” says Vedula, a corporate vice president of engineering who leads our IDEAS (Insights, Data, Engineering, Analytics, and Systems) team here at Microsoft.

“With Engage, I get to talk to my 1,000-plus-member team every day,” he says. “I get to know them, and they get to know me.”

That’s the “why” in this story.  

The “what” is how Vedula became a Viva Engage superstar—he is now arguably the most influential person on the platform here at Microsoft.

Connecting with your employees

For many leaders, the challenge isn’t deciding what to say to their team—it’s figuring out how to build visibility and trust with employees spread across regions and time zones. At Microsoft, that challenge has reshaped how leaders like Vedula think about communication, presence, and influence in a digital workplace.

Traditional leadership communication models based around periodic team meetings and carefully phrased messages don’t always scale. They can inform, but they rarely invite participation. And when communication stays unidirectional, leadership presence can begin to feel distant, even invisible.

“What stands out about Ravi’s use of Viva Engage is how naturally he connects with his stakeholders. He brings technical depth without losing the human element, and this combination has expanded his reach across the organization.”

Murali Sitaram, corporate vice president of Viva Engage

That’s why more leaders are rethinking not just what they say, but how they show up. Leadership presence isn’t about volume or polish. It’s about showing up consistently, in ways that invite participation and dialogue.

The journey that Vedula took from new Viva Engage user to influencer offers a clear example of how leadership presence can scale without becoming impersonal.

“What stands out about Ravi’s use of Viva Engage is how naturally he connects with his stakeholders,” says Murali Sitaram, a corporate vice president of Viva Engage. “He brings technical depth without losing the human element, and this combination has expanded his reach across the organization.”

Sitaram says his colleague’s goal has always been about creating a dialogue with employees to give them a closer connection to their work and our company mission.

“Ravi does this with transparency and openness, qualities that are accentuated by his use of the Engage platform,” Sitaram says.

From broadcast to conversation

Vedula first started using Engage because he wanted a way to show up consistently for his team, to build trust, and be visible, and he wanted to do this without relying on one‑directional broadcasts or infrequent all‑hands meetings.

Engage gave him a place to speak directly and listen openly.

“Every Engage post is a statement of culture. It’s like a culture flare we’re sending up every time.”

Ravi Vedula, corporate vice president, IDEAS

What makes Vedula’s approach distinctive isn’t a communications plan or a carefully curated feed. It’s the decision to treat Engage as a place for conversation rather than corporate messaging. Instead of polished announcements, he uses storylines to recognize milestones, celebrate people, share personal anecdotes, reflect on lessons learned, and respond directly to employee comments.

Those everyday moments become signals—not just of what leadership values, but of how leaders can participate alongside their teams. “Every Engage post is a statement of culture,” Vedula says. “It’s like a culture flare we’re sending up every time.”

“Ravi’s use of Viva Engage shows exactly why we built deep integrations across Microsoft Teams and Microsoft 365. By sharing openly through storylines, he’s created a trusted channel that meets employees where they work. That’s the kind of leader‑driven communication ecosystem we envisioned.”

Jason Mayans, vice president of product management, Viva Engage

Today, he posts consistently—often multiple times a week with lots of engagement. His team doesn’t just read his posts; they respond to them.

Meeting employees where they work

Using Viva Engage to meet employees inside the flow of their daily work enable Vedula to be persistently present to his employees.

“Ravi’s use of Viva Engage shows exactly why we built deep integrations across Microsoft Teams and Microsoft 365,” says Jason Mayans, vice president of Product Management for Viva Engage. “By sharing openly through storylines, he’s created a trusted channel that meets employees where they work. That’s the kind of leader‑driven communication ecosystem we envisioned.”

When communication shows up in the flow of work, leadership presence shifts from an event to a rhythm—something employees experience regularly, not just during major announcements or all‑hands meetings.

Over time, that rhythm of consistent communication shapes culture.

“Customers often ask what great leadership communication looks like in Viva Engage. Ravi is one of the examples I point to. His storylines feel real, relatable, and useful—and employees respond. It’s the kind of engagement I hope other leaders are inspired to model.”

Steve Nguyen, principal program manager, Viva Engage Customer Experience

Recognition feels authentic. Participation feels safe. Leadership becomes something employees experience consistently, rather than something reserved for formal moments. Comments and reactions aren’t afterthoughts; they’re part of the conversation—and part of how trust is built.

For Vedula, that visibility isn’t about scale for its own sake.

“It’s about ensuring people feel seen, heard, and connected to the work they do and the mission they support,” he says. “Consistent, everyday engagement reinforces that I’m present as a leader—I’m not just observing from a distance.”

Putting leadership principles into practice

From a customer perspective, Vedula’s journey offers a practical model for what effective leadership communication can look like with Viva Engage.

“Customers often ask what great leadership communication looks like in Viva Engage,” says Steve Nguyen, a principal program manager for Viva Engage Customer Experience. “Ravi is one of the examples I point to. His storylines feel real, relatable, and useful—and employees respond. It’s the kind of engagement I hope other leaders are inspired to model.”

What stands out in Vedula’s approach to using Viva Engage isn’t polish or personality.

“In the era of hybrid work, one of the biggest challenges in employee communications is helping leaders stay connected at scale. Viva Engage is a powerful tool to help leaders stay connected to their employees in the daily flow of work, rather than only during big events like an all-hands meeting.”

John Cirone, senior director of global employee and executive communications

It’s consistency, authenticity, and a willingness to treat communication as a shared space rather than a broadcast channel. Different leaders will bring different styles—but the underlying principles remain the same.

Crucially, Vedula’s approach doesn’t rely on personality or scale.

It relies on trust.

“In the era of hybrid work, one of the biggest challenges in employee communications is helping leaders stay connected at scale,” says John Cirone, a senior director of global employee and executive communications. “Viva Engage is a powerful tool to help leaders stay connected to their employees in the daily flow of work, rather than only during big events like an all-hands meeting.”

Leadership in digital spaces is cumulative. Each interaction either reinforces or weakens credibility. Scaling leadership isn’t about saying more—it’s about listening well and showing up consistently in the places where conversations already happen.

“I can’t be in every room… but the impact of what I’m saying can be felt in every room when I post on Engage.”

Ravi Vedula, corporate vice president, IDEAS

Vedula’s evolution from first Engage post to superfan favorite illustrates a broader lesson: when leaders treat communication as an opportunity for participation instead of a performance, employees feel empowered to help shape that culture.

Digital workspaces deserve the same care and intentionality as physical ones. The conversations that unfold there—day by day—send powerful signals about trust, recognition, and belonging.

As Vedula puts it, “I can’t be in every room… but the impact of what I’m saying can be felt in every room when I post on Engage.”