Different people need different leadership

2000-2004

General manager, PC division, IBM

“I was willing to work harder than others and was very driven. In a big company there can be more people saying no than yes. I had the tenacity to keep coming back and to keep pushing. You get very creative when the answer is ‘no, no, no’. This was also the first time I realised being a manager is hard because everyone is different and what drives them isn’t what drives me. How do you get people motivated when they’re not? How do you push them through when they think it’s too hard? Management was harder than I thought and, in those days, I was probably more a cheerleader and a positive energy force – ‘Don’t give up!’ – versus being a particularly good leader who was helping people be better at their job. I don’t think I was a great manager my first time.”