Intelligent CIO APAC Issue 13 | Page 79

James Thorley , Regional Vice President – APAC , Turnitin
On the lighter side of things , we ask the industry experts what makes them tick . . . .

. . . GET TO KNOW . . .

James Thorley , Regional Vice President – APAC , Turnitin

wWhat would you describe as your most memorable experience ?

I hope it ’ s still to come ! But , to date , I ’ m most proud of the fact that I ’ ve been able to pull together a fantastic team here in Melbourne . I was employee number eight at Turnitin in the UK in 2005 and the company had a terrific , family-like culture . Ten years later , I was persuaded to move to Australia to spearhead our expansion in Asia Pacific . Going back to that start-up environment , becoming the face of Turnitin in the region and taking responsibility for growing the business here has been incredibly rewarding .
What first made you think of a career in technology ?
The short answer is ‘ nothing ’ because I wasn ’ t thinking of a career in technology ! I was planning a career in education . My ambition was to get a job teaching English in Japan and while I waited for that to come up , I applied for a stopgap gig with a small EdTech company . Sixteen years later , I ’ m still here ! One of the reasons I ’ m still here at Turnitin is because I ’ ve seen the positive impact technology has on education and it ’ s exciting to be a part of that . Working in ICT has also given me lots of opportunities to travel . Before moving to Australia , I oversaw Turnitin ’ s business in Africa , South America and Asia .
What style of management philosophy do you employ with your current position ?
I heard something on a podcast recently which I ’ ve adopted as my management mantra . It ’ s called 25-50- 25 . The idea is that , as a leader , you spend 25 % of your time managing your team , 50 % working with them as a peer – brainstorming , strategising and so on – and the other 25 % working for them , by removing roadblocks and solving problems . As someone who ’ s always had a fairly hands-off style , it really resonated with me . I certainly also do not like to tell people how to manage their own areas of expertise . I subscribe to the idea of hiring people with complementary skills and who can do things better than you can in those areas .
What do you think is the current hot technology talking point ?
AI is definitely the biggest thing in technology at the moment , across a lot of different verticals , including education . For good , and for bad , it ’ s going to be a massive disruptor and have a huge impact on the future of work . It will allow us to do things human beings would never otherwise have the time to do . In the education sphere , I see it being used to provide timely insights and feedback , to students and educators , in ways that could transform the learning process .
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