C-Suite: Every lock has its key, are you ready to find yours?

Fame and fortune is not enough; an individual’s personal growth is the most important parameter of measuring...

Nadeem Ur Rehman Khan September 17, 2015
Many individuals contend their entire lives to reach the ‘C-Suite’ and yet fail to do so. What are the reasons? Are they not qualified enough? Do they lack the qualities of a C-level executive? Usually, they are doing everything right and yet not being able to make it to the C-suite tier. The reason being that employees are unable to crack the correct code all their lives, and therefore are unable fulfil their dreams.


Photo: Iqra University Facebook page

Every individual has to undertake a separate pathway and one has to find their very own route to success. In order to help students, Iqra University partnered up with the Express Media Group to organise a CEO Talks program during the months of September and October 2015, titled ‘C-Suite’.

On September 14 2015, the first speaker of the ‘executive list’, the dynamic Mr Sohail Wajahat Hussain Siddiqui,  the Former CEO of Siemens West Asia and the federal minister of petroleum of Pakistan, addressed the students. He is also the first ever non-German CEO of Siemens and was also included in the top 100 Business leaders of Pakistan by CEO Club Pakistan and Manager Today Magazine. In his presentation, he highlighted the principles he clung onto throughout his life to attain success for himself and Siemens.

Working hard is essential but to make your way to the top you have to ‘work smart’ and not just work hard. Mr Siddiqui said,
“To stay ahead of the curve you must take initiatives, act innovatively and be courageous”.

What he essentially meant was that envision yourself as the leader and act accordingly. Leadership is not so much the exercise of power itself as the empowerment of others.

His philosophy has always been to grow and empower people. He firmly believes that empowerment leads to ownership, ownership being the backbone of quality; quality which  makes customers feel like they are kings. He emphasised that motivation and trust are two factors that enable teams to achieve benchmarks and deliver unimaginable results.

Photo: Iqra University Facebook page

He also shared that what he attributed to the evolution of a high performance culture encompassing quality management in every sphere of his organisation. He strongly believes that quality and high performance are two sides of the same coin. He propagated organisational efficiency which lead to customer benefit, through a high performance culture and in turn produced business excellence. He underlined that innovation, responsibility, and excellence are the three vital ingredients for success.

Mr Siddiqui concluded his address by saying that if we truly want to change Pakistan, we must first change ourselves. And in order to change ourselves, we must amend our current mind-sets and nurture our thinking processes. He encouraged the students of Iqra University to actively work towards becoming leading entrepreneurs and to create more jobs rather than simply being on the lookout for jobs. He added that attaining fame and fortune is not enough, an individual’s personal growth is the most important parameter of measuring success.

Photo: Iqra University Facebook page

Many individuals are now aware of their potential to make it to the C-suite, are you ready to find yours?
WRITTEN BY:
Nadeem Ur Rehman Khan The author is a graduate of IoBM and a certified educationist from the Australian Catholic University (ACU), Australia. Currently, he is associated with Iqra University as the Manager Corporate Affairs, Alumni & Outreach.
The views expressed by the writer and the reader comments do not necassarily reflect the views and policies of the Express Tribune.

COMMENTS (2)

Kaleem | 8 years ago | Reply I had the honour of working under SWS briefly at Siemens. He is a real professional and was passionate about whatever he did... whilst doing that, he did make a few friends and lots of enemies - as all powerful leaders do. Surely Siemens has gone south since his departure...
nedian | 8 years ago | Reply So did someone asked 'honorable' Mr. Wajahat why his 'principles' resulted in his unceremonious departure from Siemens?
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