We Not Me
Episode 92 - Transitioning to a senior leadership role
Show Notes
A successful transition to leadership calls for a significant shift in mindset. Not only do you need to enhance your existing skills, but also adopt new ones and let go of habits that may have earned you you success in the past.
A transitioning leader understands the importance of team dynamics, makes space for collaboration, evolves their leadership style, and embraces continuous learning.
This week, Dan and Pia are joined by Iain Gauld, the Chief Information Officer at Contact Energy in New Zealand. With a background in computer science, Iain started his career in tech with the intention of effecting change. Over time, he transitioned into team leadership and management roles, continuously learning and growing as he did so.
Takeaways from Dan and Pia
Three reasons to listen
- To learn about the transformation process from a technical role to a leadership role in a team
- To understand the dynamics of team building beyond technical skills
- To discover how to apply principles of Agile approach to enhance leadership skills
Episode highlights
- [00:12:22] Moving into leadership
- [00:17:31] T-shaped leadership
- [00:20:56] Skills emerging leaders need
- [00:23:49] The role of psychological safety
- [00:28:12] Adapting and evolving as a leader
- [00:31:33] Leadership in the next decade
- [00:33:20] Iain's media recommendation
- [00:34:17] Takeaways from Pia and Dan
Links
- Connect with Iain via LinkedIn
- The Leadership Pipeline: How to Build the Leadership Powered Company, by Ram Charan, Stephen Drotter, and James Noel
- Same as Ever: Timeless Lessons on Risk, Opportunity and Living a Good Life, by Morgan Housel
- Team #1 by Patrick Lencioni
- Leave us a voice note
Meet the guests
With over 25 years of experience in IT strategy, leadership and delivery, Iain is passionate about driving digital transformation and growth and delivering business value in any given sector. As the CIO at Contact Energy, he leads and execute an enterprise technology strategy and roadmap that supports an ambitious transformation and growth program with over $1bn+ company wide capital investment. Iain brings diverse perspectives and experiences to the executive leadership team, and align my values, motivations, and goals with the organisation's mission and culture. In his current role, he has driven significant digital transformation and business benefits through ERP upgrade (S/4Hana), new cloud data platform, improved integration, lower cost to serve, CRM strategy and mature cyber security framework. He has also developed and led the customer technology strategy and roadmap to underpin a revitalized retail business strategy. Iain has leveraged his skills in manufacturing process improvement, customer relationship management, and IT strategy to achieve these outcomes. In June 2023 he completed the MIT Sloan Advanced Management Program, and have also obtained certifications in SAFe Agilist and Company Direction. Iain's prior experience was heavily focused on Financial Services industry leading IT strategy and delivery through a number of senior roles at JPMorgan Chase (UK - 5 years) and then Macquarie Bank (Australia - 10 years)