ART OF SKILLING
Harriet Green, Chairman and CEO of IBM Asia Pacific, on need for talented and skillful young employees
Harriet Green, Chairman and CEO, IBM Asia Pacific, on need for talented workforce
Aself-described landa (cross between a cuddly panda and a ferocious lion), Hatha yoga enthusiast, super boss, mother and wife, Harriet Green, Chairman and CEO of IBM Asia Pacific, is a legend. When she turns up for an interview in a Delhi hotel in a leopard print jacket and matching boots, straight off a flight from Hong Kong, she looks every inch the part. Most recently CEO of Thomas Cook, she’s been chief executive officer of Premier Farnell, a global electronics distribution business, and president of the Asia Pacific sector of Arrow Electronics before that. With a unique managerial style and a reputation for sleeping a mere four hours a day, she is tough, fierce and passionate, everything that a powerful woman would want to embody. Here she speaks on the skills the world needs to learn and relearn.
WHAT IS YOUR ADVICE FOR YOUNG WOMEN NEGOTIATING THE WORLD OF WORK?
In this world of conflicting ideas, you have to be who you are. What makes you tick, how you learn, you have to remain authentic to who you are. Great leadership needs to provide you with the tools you need as we usher in a new era of technology. But the new world is hard for everyone. I was at a course in Aspen, Colorado, and there were several male CEOs as well who talked of how they hadn't had time with their children. There is a heavy gender demarcation of division of labour and hard lines on how you behave. We have to figure a way to go under them, around them, and indeed circumvent them. We need to have the skills to be ourselves especially in the age of social media where our whole lives can be flashing before us. We have to find that inner courage.
WE LIVE IN AN AGE OF SKILL SHORTAGE AND JOB SHORTAGE. HOW DO WE RECONCILE THAT?
There is a worldwide war for talent and a focus on inclusion where employers are looking for talent regardless of age, sex, sexuality or physical disability. Employees are expected to give 150 per cent of themselves. At IBM, as a company that is over a century old, we are present in all the major countries of the world. We see how the will of the people and the force of technology can work through walls and have the incredible tenacity to create things together. Look at the extent of our agile teams in India. We work from 16 different locations to create not just for India but also for Asia Pacific.
HOW WILL ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE IMPACT US?
At IBM, we have 18,000 Watson projects around a billion people globally in different industries. We believe it's not about machines replacing man, but augmenting them. History tells us that different waves of technology creates new jobs and enterprises, releasing new energies and productivities. At the same time, there is another global dichotomy of the free flow of enormous data creating information bottlenecks. IBM has very strong views on how to manage data for good. We have a simple set of rules. We don't seek it and we don't mine it. Eighty per cent of the data we have from clients is not searchable. We are constantly working towards ensuring greater security to individual consumers and businesses without curtailing the free flow of data. Watson is able to process, inform and provide insights, creating patterns and themes. It's a bit like investigative journalism which affords society a degree of closure. It's such an exciting time to be in the world, where the biggest challenge is to equip human beings with the right skills and leadership qualities. Remember change happens only at the pace that human being can bear.
SO WHAT DOES THE FUTURE LOOK LIKE FOR YOUNG PEOPLE?
The greatest thing about ushering new transformations, which we do when good technology meets good data, is that everyone should do their part in it and work out their capabilities accordingly. Additionally, there has to be a real purpose in what we're doing, an intense sense of doing good in the world, which we follow at IBM whether it is our innovations with Watson and health or our work on getting more women in STEM. I strongly feel that young people will now want less to be employed and more to be deployed to be meaningful in society. They need to have the vision, understand their part in it, and have a clear sense of purpose. It's all about the choices we make—which we can exercise except the parents we are born to and the nation we are born in.
IT'S SUCH AN EXCITING TIME TO BE IN THE WORLD, WHERE THE BIGGEST CHALLENGE IS TO EQUIP HUMAN BEINGS WITH THE RIGHT SKILLS AND LEADERSHIP QUALITIES