On the lighter side of things , we ask the industry experts what makes them tick . . . .
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Sylvain Lejeune , Vice President Sales Asia Pacific and Japan , WatchGuard Technologies
wWhat would you describe as your most memorable achievement ?
My top sales guys have never left me ; in fact , some of them have moved with me when I ’ ve moved . The fact that they stick around and don ’ t go across to a competitor tells me I ’ m doing something right in the way I lead them . To me , that ’ s much more memorable than something like a big contract win because it ’ s about us achieving success as a team .
What first made you think of a career in technology ?
It happened by chance . I got my start back in 1995 after I ’ d finished university , at a time when technology wasn ’ t so prevalent in all aspects of life in the way it is now . National service was mandatory for young men in my home country of France and one of the ways it was possible to meet the requirements was by helping to foster the export of French products . My placement was with a small company selling IT storage technology in London . After a very good year there , an opportunity came up to work with Ericsson in Sweden and off I went . Twenty-five years later , I ’ m still selling technology and very pleased I wandered down that path !
What style of management philosophy do you employ in your current position ?
There are many ways to be successful ; some you might not have thought of yourself . That ’ s why I believe in hiring clever , trustworthy people and empowering them to do things their way . Recent events have demonstrated the merit of my approach – micro-managing a geographically dispersed team would be challenging at the best of times and impossible during a pandemic !
What do you think is the current hot technology talking point ?
Most people have clocked the fact that remote working is now a very big thing – and a thing that won ’ t be going away any time soon . As business leaders realize
My top sales guys have never left me ; in fact , some of them have moved with me when I ’ ve moved .
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