My best days start out with a cycle before most of Johannesburg is awake. This clears my mind and sets me up for a focus-driven day in business. Keeping my eye-on-the-prize is one of my better attributes. I have an advantage of creating a minds-eye picture of the end goal and slowly, but surely the finish line becomes clearer and achievable – every time. I don’t chant in the mirror like Suze Orman recommends, however I could improve on the regularity of my pre-work focus sessions. I find that my most productive and rewarding days are when I have objectives succinctly laid out before I engage with people.
My Outlook task list has all my repetitive tasks colour-coded in grey, like monitoring month-end system runs. They are marked in dreary grey because any business-as-usual activities or repetitive tasks are placed on the back-burner. I would far rather concentrate on removing obstacles in a project team, or leading an analysis and project management session than slink into the daily grind of monotonous tasks. This is an area that I constantly try to reinvigorate within myself. I was brought up with the dictum “that anything you do, you must do well”.
On any given day I hold workshops with key banking stakeholders from across all business silos. I pride myself in having a birds-eye-view of business and understanding and motivating the performance of the group. Having a background with business analyst skills, essentially the go-between of business and IT, I am in a position to understand business problems and to remedy these using business cases, specifications, decision tools and interactive workshops. The end goal is to find a solution. I have done this many times in the financial services industry and I am good at it. This is my current area of expertise. I am short of knowledge in other industry sectors and I would like to beef up my knowledge in telecommunications, investment banking and medical research.
I have spent two years in the City in London working in multi-national investment banks, however my current employer for over 10 years has a flat structure and is a small-to-medium company that rewards your ability to be a “jack-of-all trades”. The advantage is that this approach has helped me glean skills and knowledge at breakneck speed and to become an enabler and not a blocker of progress. The more corporate style of management is prevalent in business and I need to learn how to lead in these environments as well as adhere, abide and manoeuvre within the rigorous “Chinese-walls” that are often in place in these entities.
I believe there is always a way around a problem. An opportunity always lurks. My perseverance and creative synapses demand that I search for elegant answers in the bramble-bush of problems. The MBA’s strategic and decision making dimensions are some of the tools that I am excited to absorb in order to strengthen my skills. The diverse curriculum including leadership growth, business environment and the electives will also enable me to re-energise my current career plateau.
When I arrive home I am welcomed by my wife and month-old son. It has taken over four years of IVF treatment to achieve our goal of having a family. The clarity of the moment when I held my son for the first time enabled me to see the future. With the full backing from my wife I am looking to improve my career, enhance my business skills and increase my international mobility. I know the MBA will assist me on this journey. It will also aid me in reaching my full potential. My creative business mind will be jet-fuelled and ready to understand all business functions and take on global projects in the financial services, telecommunications and medical research sectors.
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