Were you interested in being a leader before you took on your first leadership role?
Director, IT in Software, 201 - 500 employees
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 Software, 201 - 500 employees
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 Biotech, 11 - 50 employees
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 Education, 51 - 200 employees
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 Biotech, 201 - 500 employees
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.Director Of Information Technology in Education, 201 - 500 employees
My leadership roles over the years (School to Career Coordinator, Chamber of Commerce President, Director of Information Technology, MACUL Executive Board Member, among others) were born out of recognition by others that I would be a good fit for the role. It really has never been my goal to pursue those leadership roles. It was really more of a "good fit" and I was asked to consider stepping into it. I am driven to do the best possible job I can in whatever role I have. I don't believe I have a drive to climb a leadership ladder.CIO in Consumer Goods, 1,001 - 5,000 employees
At the time, being a techie didn't have a great career path, so the leadership direction of travel made the most sense to me.Editor-in-Chief in Media, 201 - 500 employees
Throughout my journey, starting from my early days in Kindergarten, I have had the privilege of holding leadership positions. Whenever an opportunity arises for me to assume such a role, I approach it with a sense of humility, considering it as a natural progression. Each time this happen again, I always genuinely appreciate my employer and the team for entrusting me with the responsibility, recognizing the collective effort that contributes to our shared success.CMO in Healthcare and Biotech, 201 - 500 employees
Yes, it was my career ambition. I knew I was going to have a career in marketing when I was a junior in high school. I grew up watching my father ascend the ranks and I wanted to follow in his footsteps.CTO in Healthcare and Biotech, 11 - 50 employees
Yes I were! I remember well when I was circa 13+ years old and my dad came to the house at night after his Executive MBA with all the business cases he had to read. I was so curious about them, that I read many of them, discussed with my dad about them and I knew that I wanted to become a leader at a moment when I’ll be working. So, with this thought in mind, along with my dad’s advices when I began working I began preparing myself to become a leader whenever the opportunity would arose.
That happened back in ‘95, since then I’ve been very happy.
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433 PARTICIPANTS
Community User in Software, 11 - 50 employees
organized a virtual escape room via https://www.puzzlebreak.us/ - even though his team lost it was a fun subtitue for just a "virtual happy hour"