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things too long. I worked
in a role that despite
the challenges sapped
my energy and for a few
years made me completely
unhappy. Eventually I had
the courage to resign and in
spite of the initial fear, I have
never looked back. These
days it is not that I give up;
I have just learned to respect
myself enough to know when
to walk away.
Ultimately as a manager and leader it is
about people and how passionate, engaged
and effective they are. If you believe in
peoples’ greatness, empower them to be
the best versions of themselves possible and
hold them to that capability – you can truly
call yourself a leader.
What do you think is the current hot
technology talking point?
In our world it is customer experience,
Internet of Things (IoT) and data science.
The technology world is so competitive that
a successful organisation needs to focus
on bringing extra value to the customer,
to simplify their lives. There is a lot of talk
about Artificial Intelligence (AI) and IoT
but also a slight hesitancy to embrace these
innovations which I believe is purely due to
not knowing where and how to start, and
whom to partner with.
How do you deal with stress and
unwind outside the office?
What do you currently identify as
the major areas of investment in
your industry?
Cloud tools and architecture; advanced
analytics, inclusive of Machine Learning and
data science; and IoT. The ultimate goal is,
of course, the digitisation of the value chains
and providing a personalised customer
experience with frictionless service.
What changes to your job role have
you seen in the last year and how do
you see these developing in the next
12 months?
I have been on a whirlwind of change since
moving from Human Capital Executive to
Chief Operating Officer of Argility. The
benefit is being able to bring all sections
of the business together to drive strategy
and execution. Having an oversight of
sales and marketing now, together with
culture, engagement and operations, has
allowed me to impact from beginning to
end. Going forward, I’m thrilled to be able
to begin with the end in mind and track it
through the full loop.
What advice would you offer
somebody aspiring to obtain C-level
position in your industry?
What are the region-specific
challenges when implementing new
technologies in Africa? Surround yourself with exceptional people who
challenge you, if you’re the smartest person in
the room then be worried. Be teachable and
continuously push yourself to learn and take on
new things. Set WIGs (Wildly Important Goals)
weekly, monthly, yearly – for the right reasons.
There is no doubt that solutions
implemented in Africa have to understand
the challenges, which are often not solved
with international products. Solution
design and hardware needs to be able
to manage unreliable infrastructure in
connectivity and power and must meet the
needs of the customer segment that one
is targeting. Be 100% committed to achieving them. Do
the work; there are no traffic jams on the
extra mile. Make sure you live in integrity
and show the way. Never expect anyone to
do something that you are not prepared to
do yourself. And lastly have courage, take on
things that scare you and if you fall down,
own it, dust yourself off quickly, learn the
lesson and keep moving forward. n
I call them my 2 W’s. Walking my hounds
and writing are my best stress busters. A
couple of years ago after reading Julia
Cameron’s The Artists Way, I started
writing morning pages first thing, a
gratitude diary at night and then a weekly
blog, which have been useful tools to help
make sense of things.
If you could go back and change one
career decision what would it be?
To not hold on so long to something that’s
not working. Over the years, there have been
some stressful situations where I thought,
‘If I just tried this, or tried that’, I could solve
this. The result is that I held onto certain
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