Were you interested in being a leader before you took on your first leadership role?
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Director, IT in Software2 years ago
I was at Samsung for about four years, which is where I started leading a small team. I had no interest in doing it whatsoever, I just wanted to be in the data center. I trusted machines more than people at that time. It was my boss who took me under his wing and said, "You don't know what you don't know, but I'm going to show you what you need to know." I valued that a lot early in my career, and it taught me empathetic leadership moving forward. So my time at Samsung was pivotal, not only from a technology perspective but in terms of learning to work with and lead people to be successful in their careers. Director of software engineering in Software2 years ago
The fact that I could contribute better if I had a say in the direction of the product we were building. Unfortunately many organizations don't take the input of developers on the directions of their companies and products. A waste of brilliant minds. As much as I love programming, I saw many missed opportunities that could have made us better. As a leader I could contribute more to making the company and our offerings better. Director of IT in Healthcare and Biotech2 years ago
I was. I had a large operations background and saw all the areas that could be improved. I thought being in a leadership role would allow me to make that happen. Little did I know that I'd just be in a lot of meetings instead of doing work :-)IT Director in Education2 years ago
I was 25 and had been working at the City Government IT office for 2 years. I was offered a position as a Manager for the Network Department, which I refused to take since there were coworkers that had been there for longer, were older, and in my opinion more prepared than me. I had no option but to accept the offer and managed to feel comfortable in the position, and learn to work with important teams and on important projects, but I always thought that I was at the right time in the right place, as getting a job as a Manager is not something that I sought out intentionally but that I definitely worked for.CIO in Healthcare and Biotech2 years ago
I was interested in being a leader before I took on the role as I was extremely interested in strategy and driving business change. I enjoyed the hands on work and still do when the team needs support. The most nervous part for me was moving off the "tools" to becoming a leader I thought I would be disconnected from my focus area. Little did I realise that it allowed me to expand my knowledge and learn so much more from others who are specialists in their areas.