In this interview series on inspiring digital technology leaders, we take an inside look at how enterprise technology leaders make systems work in some of the largest and most complex business environments in the world. Meet the Individual, Understand their Challenges, and learn about Their Vision of the Future.
An Interview with Steve Walker
Introduction
At the heart of all our systems are the teams we create to build and manage them — this is why helping people to be the best they can be, can make the difference between success and failure for the whole enterprise. In this interview we hear how Steve Walker, a C-Level technology executive, has relentlessly focused on the individuals in his teams to create organisations that people want to work in, and help foster an environment that makes it possible for everyone to help build the future of the enterprise.
Steve is an experienced technology executive with an extensive background in the global logistics industry. His focus is on empowering people with confidence in themselves and each other as part of an effective team, which has helped him build successful and enduring global IT organisations.
Bitesize Takeaways:
Make change programmes as short and intense as possible
Don’t be afraid to fail, but fail fast and cheap!
Even technology jobs are really all about people
Put the team up front for success, put yourself up front for risk
Inspiring and Developing staff is the key to success
Manage people rather than tasks
Systems Integration is essential, but can massively drive complexity
Vague requirements are a constant frustration
Understand the Use Case before you choose a technology solution
Great teams start from the top
We should aim to manage by exception
Plan the long term strategy even if you don’t yet have the budget
Adapt… or Fail
Meet the Individual
Q. Tell us a bit about what you currently do:
In my current role of CIO, Asia Pacific, I firmly believe that without great IT, DHL cannot provide world class solutions to our customers and I am therefore focused on quality, innovation and adding value for customers and the business. Asia Pacific is seen as the powerhouse for growth in DHL and as such delivering great IT is a cornerstone for success. I also lead our global Warehouse Management Systems Centres of Excellence and am the board sponsor for innovation across the APAC region.
Q. What motivates and inspires you to get up and go to work everyday?
Although my job is about technology, actually for me to be successful it is all about people, whether it’s my staff, my stakeholders or my customers. I get up every morning thinking about how I can inspire the people with whom I will come into contact.
From a leadership perspective I have two role models, Alex Ferguson, ex-Manchester United manager who said “My job was to make everyone understand that the impossible was possible. That’s the difference between leadership and management” and Nelson Mandela, ex-president of South Africa who explained “It is better to lead from behind and to put others in front, especially when you celebrate victory when nice things occur. You take the front line when there is danger. Then people will appreciate your leadership.”
Q. Tell us about your journey to get to where you are today?
When I started in business, IT was in its infancy and we were using mainframes. I remember a “mini-computer” being delivered and how excited we were. My guess is that our smartphones today have many times the processing power that it had and it shows how far we have come in the last 35 years. And the pace is staggering — just over 10 years ago there was no such thing as a smartphone and now most of us can’t imagine our lives without one! I actually started off my career in logistics and only moved into an IT role 17 years ago. Since then I have done a variety of roles across IT and have met some incredibly talented and interesting people along the way.
Q. If you were to do anything other than what you do now, what would it be?
I love the supply chain industry but have also worked in manufacturing which I enjoyed very much. Other than a CIO I would love to be CEO!
Q. What books or podcasts do you recommend for Enterprise Technology Leaders?
I loved reading “Losing the Signal” by Jacquie McNish and Sean Silcoff, the story of how Blackberry rose to become the dominant mobile player and lost it all. The book “Zero to One” by Peter Thiel, describes how various start-up businesses have become successful and the key ingredients that make that possible. Finally a friend of mine, Manoj J Vasudevan has written a leadership book, “The Mousetrap Way” which is a great read and learning for aspiring leaders!
Understanding Their Challenges
Q. What do you personally spend most of your time dealing with?
I spend almost all of my time dealing with people. Whether it’s customers, my stakeholders or my staff, I am usually in meetings or interacting in some way with them. I get energy from working with and interacting with people and I find that the vast majority of people that I work with are truly excellent and inspirational.
Q. How do you handle the demand on your time with large distributed teams?
I can’t say it’s not a challenge so I try to be very disciplined in my approach. I start my day at around 7:30 and review emails from around the world that have come in overnight. I book an additional 30–60 minutes each day to act on other specific issues and then book time in my diary for any specific items that will take 30mins plus. The rest of my day is taken with meeting and I try to hold a 1.2.1 with my direct reports monthly which is usually a Skype call. This way I am up to date and know what are the important things to track in between time. The key to managing distributed teams is to have good people that you trust and regular communications to ensure priorities and strategy is aligned.
Q. What is the most important thing you focus on to make the organisation successful?
Simple: inspiring and developing my staff!
Q. What in your experience has been the best way to do that? What have people responded to best?
It does vary with the individual: some need more confidence and know that I have faith in their abilities, whilst others need to feel appreciated. I tend to understand each person and how I can inspire them and then spend the time to do that and reinforce it as much as l can. Additionally I understand people’s strengths and try to leverage that as much as possible including making them even better at doing those things so they can be even more effective.
Q. What are the most expensive mistakes you have seen made in organisations, and how did they happen?
Of course I have made mistakes and one or two bad ones early on in my career and what I did was to learn from them to ensure that I wouldn’t make them again. Fortunately I haven’t made any significant mistakes for a very long time and one of the key reasons for that was learning to manage the people as opposed to manage the project or activity.
Q. Are there common mistakes that you feel companies find themselves making again and again? Why do you think they make them? How could they avoid them?
I think a recurring theme is not managing change well and understanding that it is a people issue and that you need to bring people along the journey with you.
Q. What drives the complexity in your Enterprise Systems?
Our systems are almost all customer facing and every time we win a new customer we have to integrate to their ERP and do configuration and development to our operational systems to suit the way our customers operate. This means that our systems and processes need to be very agile but at the same time the quality expected is extremely high and with very challenging deadlines. Our integration hub is fundamental to our enterprise architecture as it connects our systems and also to our customers and other business partners.
Q. What are the most frustrating challenges when designing, building and managing enterprise systems?
Dealing with legacy makes building an enterprise approach very difficult plus having to deal with the vagaries of the demand from our customers. And not having lots of money to invest!
Q. How do you achieve long term strategic enterprise goals with a restricted budget and tactical pressures from day-to-day business?
I think it’s still important to have long term strategic goals even if the money is not available and then it’s the CIO’s job to find a way of getting the money. Apart from asking for specific investment amounts, I try to save as much in the run so that we can invest at least some of that into new things and innovation. It is tough in a low margin business but it shouldn’t stop it being achieved.
Q. What has most helped to drive the success of your change programmes?
Getting board support was fundamental and in APAC we have removed virtually all our legacy and now 95% of our revenue runs on the same version of our strategic systems. Almost everybody did not believe it was possible to do and I started as a lone voice but slowly got my board colleagues aligned one by one and then my team and then all we had to do was deliver. It was extremely hard work but rewarding and everyone was very proud when we got to the end.
Q. What approaches have worked best in building buy-in and consensus?
With board stakeholders it was individual discussions: taking their views and showing I was listening and ensuring they understood the why and what was in it for them. For my staff it was about challenging them to think outside the box and believing in themselves and gaining the confidence to believe it could work.
Q. What has most negatively impacted your change programmes?
Very little went wrong actually, it went really well and one thing we did was to make it as short and intense as possible. I believe strongly that it is very hard to sustain long periods of change management and although painful getting them done quickly means that people sustain the energy and enthusiasm necessary.
Q. What is currently holding you back from having the tech/engineering credibility of a Google/Facebook/Amazon?
We are moving in that direction and really working hard to leverage digitisation and innovation across our business. From augmented reality, to RPA, through IOT and Big Data, we have a number of innovation initiatives that we are focused on right now and they are starting to pay dividends.
Their Vision for the Future
Q. What are the 3 key changes that Technology Leaders should focus in the modern world?
Business Culture — if you don’t change to adapt to the modern world you will fail
Don’t be afraid to fail but fail fast and cheap!
Remember the business is still all about people, whether it’s your customers, stakeholders or staff.
Q. What is one thing about the future of technology that you believe in, but most people generally don’t know, or disagree with?
The pace of change will get faster and faster and relentless. However we need to figure out how to master it better so we control it not the other way around!
Q. What can organisations do to take control of their future with regards to technology innovation?
I think a lot of people engage with the technology and vendors and then get taken down a path that suits the vendor. For me it is about understanding new technology and then really focusing on the use case(s), then start thinking about the specific technology solution and vendor. Technology is great but it’s use cases that bring it to life and that’s what companies like DHL can bring to the party.
Q. How can we build better technology organisations?
Getting the right team in place and ensuring that you are leveraging their strengths.
Q. What is the best way to do that, especially at scale?
Start at the top — bring the right IT SMT together and then it will naturally cascade down. And don’t compromise in bringing in the right person. I once interviewed 27 people for a role before I found the person that I knew would be excellent in the role — and he has been! Finally you have to be aligned with HR in what you are trying to achieve so various different ways to recruitment and development can be designed and executed.
Q. What do Enterprise Systems of the future look like?
It will be a huge number of inter-connected devices with a data analytics tool taking all the data and providing predictive information to management.
Q. What kind of information and control will management teams of the future want from their systems?
Immediate information at their fingertips in a form that they can use immediately and more analytical and predictive. Management by exception will also prevail.
Steve kindly provided his time, knowledge and insights in this interview as part of my research for an up-coming book: Mastering Digital: how technology leaders, architects, and engineers build the Digital Enterprises of the Future
You can contact Steve via LinkedIn