CASE STUDY
ALWAYS LOVE YOUR JOB AND DO
YOUR JOB WITH PASSION AND YOU
WILL BE SUCCESSFUL.
Do you think CIOs are going to
need better presentational skills in
the future?
A CIO is always a public (internal and
external) facing figure and most of his time is
spent in communications and presentations
of various types and at various levels.
With such a critical role and responsibility,
a CIO definitely needs to have good
communications and presentation skills.
Personally, I would recommend CIOs join
Toastmasters (an organisation that operates
clubs worldwide to promote communication
and public speaking skills) where they can
continuously improve their public speaking,
communication and presentation skills.
Is there anything that has occurred
in your career that has taught you
your most important lesson?
its subsidiaries globally. I ensure we have
the right strategies and objectives in place
and they are fully aligned with the business
strategies and objectives.
So you are the senior IT leader and
exercise global responsibilities?
Yes. I am the Senior Group ICT Manager
at GARMCO and look after ICT in its head
office in Bahrain and its global subsidiaries in
USA, Australia, Singapore, Thailand
and Vietnam.
How important is it for IT leaders to
have effective communication skills?
Communication is a pre-requisite for
a good and successful leader. For a
successful IT leader where most of his
time is spent communicating at various
levels, one of his success KPIs is his
communication skills.
www.intelligentcio.com
Career wise, there has been lots of learning
and I am still learning. The beauty in the
IT field is that it’s so dynamic that learning
cannot be stopped or even delayed. I think the
best thing I’ve learned is that, always love your
job and do your job with passion and you will
be successful. If you do your job just as a job,
in a long run you will not enjoy it and chances
are there that you will not be successful.
Secondly, your success was only possible
because of your team who had supported
you in your success journey, so ensure you
take good care of your team and value their
efforts and input always.
Overall how would you describe your
managerial style?
My managerial style is very simple. What I
like for myself, I like for my team and what
I don’t like for myself, I don’t like for my
team and that is the secret of my success
as a manager. Respect, encouragement,
motivation, empowerment and trust are the
pillars of my successful managerial style.
How important is it for CIOs these
days to be versatile?
Fortunately, or unfortunately, a CIO
wears various caps. A CIO is a technical
leader, he is an innovation leader, he is a
commercial leader to an extent and he is a
marketing leader at times as well, and the
list continues.
In a mature organisation, a CIO plays a
critical role where he may be representing
the organisation at the board level. This
requires a CIO to be multi-talented and think
out of the box at all times.
How would you describe the IT scene
in Bahrain?
Bahrain IT is very advanced given the size
and limitations it has. The key benefit here
is that the Bahrainis have got talent and in
many organisation the roles are very well
handled by Bahrainis themselves.
The Bahrain Government through Tamkeen (a
semi-autonomous government agency that
promotes the development of private sector
businesses) is heavily investing in local talents
and start-up business for entrepreneurs.
What might be lacking still is that Bahrain
needs more marketing and promotions of
organisations and even government level ICT
visions as well as achievements – that is my
personal point of view.
Do you have any other
outside interests?
Outside my work, I participate in various
voluntary events where I get a chance to
contribute to society. For example, I have
chartered and am the current president of
Bahrain IT Professionals Toastmasters Club.
I am also VP of the Artificial Intelligence
Society, a board member at the Technology
and Business Society, and a member of CIO
Knowledge Club Bahrain, to name a few. n
INTELLIGENTCIO
57