Chief Information Officer (CIO) - IT Technology
Article From: CareerOne.com.au
Mark Hennessy passes on the secrets to his success; Pic supplied by ACS
IBM's vice president and global chief information officer is not what you might expect.
The top technology post is actually Mark Hennessy's first "pure" technology role and his academic background includes arts, economics and the obligatory MBA.
His 25-year career with IBM kicked off in sales and marketing, moved through finance and distribution to senior management.
Today Mr Hennessy is responsible for leading the technology needs of 372,000 employees worldwide, plus "8 million square feet" of data centres, thousands of servers and applications. Since his appointment in July 2007 his focus has centred on strategic business initiatives to encourage innovation and growth for IBM.
Speaking at an Australian Computer Society seminar in Sydney, Mr Hennessy said three factors drove his career - keeping his skill base broad; good listening skills; and being prepared to jump at every good opportunity that came his way.
A good understanding of globalisation and how it could best benefit the company were also crucial as well an ability to "collaborate" with colleagues, partners and clients to achieve the best possible business outcomes.
"I started off in sales in Chicago in the US and had a number of different sales and sales management roles," he said.
"One of the first things that I learnt from those jobs was that I had to work hard at listening - listening to what the clients were saying and to what the senior members of the team was asking and telling me I needed to do."
"Don't rush into a conversation as you'll often find the most important nugget of information is at the tail end of the sentence."
When Mr Hennessy gained his MBA in 1990 from the Graduate School of Business at the University of Chicago he was promoted from sales into a finance role.
"When I moved from sales into finance [at IBM] I had no idea how important to me getting that background in finance was going to be. Now, when I try to evaluate different types of investors I can actually do the analysis myself."
Mr Hennessy was promoted into a distribution role in the mid-90s. A move that was unexpected and unwanted.
"I was all ready to be made an executive assistant [in finance]. I was even picking which executive I thought I was going to be aligned with," he admits. "Sure enough, I got the job offer and it was completely different. It wasn't part of my career path and I thought I was in big trouble."
When it turned out that distribution was an emerging part of the IBM business it dawned on Mr Hennessy that he had been given a great opportunity.
In 1999, he became "vice president, systems sales, Asia Pacific" based in Tokyo where he directed the sale of IBM's servers, storage, networking and printer products throughout 22 countries in Asia.
From 2001-2004 Mr Hennessy worked as "vice president, distribution channels management" responsible for optimising all of IBM's go-to-market resources and spending worldwide.
Career lessons
By moving around the business and making t he most of each post Mr Hennessy says he acquired a set of skills that helped him "become very competitive in the business and also add value".
"There are people who take the siloed approach and decide 'I'm going to do one thing and be very good at that.' It's a decision you have to make. It's up to you to manage your career. It's up to you to decide what you want and then evaluate the best way to go," he said.
Mr Hennessy says it's also important to learn from mistakes recalling IBM in the early 1990s as an example.
"We took our eye off the ball," he explained. "We stopped thinking about our clients in the market place and concentrated on what we were doing, how we were going to make money and how were going to shape the market place moving forwards.
"The marketplace reacted very negatively and clients moved away from us. The value of our company went way down and I actually had to lay off a lot of employees. It was a very difficult time."
"The IBM company learnt its lesson and I personally learnt my lesson. I'll work very hard now until the end of my career, whenever that is, to make sure we don't make that mistake again," he said.
CareerOne.com.au
The top technology post is actually Mark Hennessy's first "pure" technology role and his academic background includes arts, economics and the obligatory MBA.
His 25-year career with IBM kicked off in sales and marketing, moved through finance and distribution to senior management.
Today Mr Hennessy is responsible for leading the technology needs of 372,000 employees worldwide, plus "8 million square feet" of data centres, thousands of servers and applications. Since his appointment in July 2007 his focus has centred on strategic business initiatives to encourage innovation and growth for IBM.
Speaking at an Australian Computer Society seminar in Sydney, Mr Hennessy said three factors drove his career - keeping his skill base broad; good listening skills; and being prepared to jump at every good opportunity that came his way.
A good understanding of globalisation and how it could best benefit the company were also crucial as well an ability to "collaborate" with colleagues, partners and clients to achieve the best possible business outcomes.
"I started off in sales in Chicago in the US and had a number of different sales and sales management roles," he said.
"One of the first things that I learnt from those jobs was that I had to work hard at listening - listening to what the clients were saying and to what the senior members of the team was asking and telling me I needed to do."
"Don't rush into a conversation as you'll often find the most important nugget of information is at the tail end of the sentence."
When Mr Hennessy gained his MBA in 1990 from the Graduate School of Business at the University of Chicago he was promoted from sales into a finance role.
"When I moved from sales into finance [at IBM] I had no idea how important to me getting that background in finance was going to be. Now, when I try to evaluate different types of investors I can actually do the analysis myself."
Mr Hennessy was promoted into a distribution role in the mid-90s. A move that was unexpected and unwanted.
"I was all ready to be made an executive assistant [in finance]. I was even picking which executive I thought I was going to be aligned with," he admits. "Sure enough, I got the job offer and it was completely different. It wasn't part of my career path and I thought I was in big trouble."
When it turned out that distribution was an emerging part of the IBM business it dawned on Mr Hennessy that he had been given a great opportunity.
In 1999, he became "vice president, systems sales, Asia Pacific" based in Tokyo where he directed the sale of IBM's servers, storage, networking and printer products throughout 22 countries in Asia.
From 2001-2004 Mr Hennessy worked as "vice president, distribution channels management" responsible for optimising all of IBM's go-to-market resources and spending worldwide.
Career lessons
By moving around the business and making t he most of each post Mr Hennessy says he acquired a set of skills that helped him "become very competitive in the business and also add value".
"There are people who take the siloed approach and decide 'I'm going to do one thing and be very good at that.' It's a decision you have to make. It's up to you to manage your career. It's up to you to decide what you want and then evaluate the best way to go," he said.
Mr Hennessy says it's also important to learn from mistakes recalling IBM in the early 1990s as an example.
"We took our eye off the ball," he explained. "We stopped thinking about our clients in the market place and concentrated on what we were doing, how we were going to make money and how were going to shape the market place moving forwards.
"The marketplace reacted very negatively and clients moved away from us. The value of our company went way down and I actually had to lay off a lot of employees. It was a very difficult time."
"The IBM company learnt its lesson and I personally learnt my lesson. I'll work very hard now until the end of my career, whenever that is, to make sure we don't make that mistake again," he said.
CareerOne.com.au
