Our next Trailblazer has over forty years of experience in information technology and digital media in Australia, New Zealand, the USA, and Asia, leading companies such as IBM, Apple, Microsoft, ninemsn, and Xero, and as a result, has been on the frontline of every significant technological shift and economic shock since the 1980s. Steve Vamos, Global Executive, and former CEO, joins us in our latest episode to discuss this further as he reflects on his career and provides insights from his book, “Through Shifts and Shocks – Lessons from the Front Line of Technology and Change.”

Listen to episode twenty-five:

About this episode:

Steve’s experience on the frontline of uncertainty has provided him with a unique ability to get straight to the point of what leaders must do today: establish great teams, maximise the potential of individuals in their workforce, effectively achieve alignment of aspirations at every layer of the organisation, and approach challenges with the right mindset.

**This episode is a must-listen for leaders today who face increasing uncertainty and volatility.**

Having experienced every technology shift and every economic shock in the past five decades certainly has given Steve clarity across key areas, including leadership, culture, and creating great teams. As he explains in our discussion, each of these waves and issues he has experienced represents a change issue, and it’s only human to find change hard. Through his experience, Steve knows too well that meaningful change comes from great teamwork and collaboration. Still, many teams today aren’t working to their collective and even individual potential.

Steve also recognises that creating better teams needs to come from the top, the leadership team. To establish great teams, people leaders need to enable individuals within their teams to speak up and improve how they work together every day, as little changes each day can lead to the creation of a whole new environment.

Steve touches on many other critical parts of his book, “Through Shifts and Shocks – Lessons from the Front Line of Technology and Change,” including the three lenses that he feels from his experience and lessons learned as a global leader that leaders today need to have in approaching change, how essential alignment is in effective communication through every layer of an organisation, and how we need to shift how we manage our workforce going forward from beyond the task level to managing to their individual potential.

He leaves us with key advice for leaders on remaining relevant and for those who may fear change or extinction: keep learning from experiences, failures, and others and be a ‘learn-it-all,’ not a ‘know-it-all.’

Find out more about this Trailblazer:

Steve Vamos

Author, Global Executive,
and former CEO

Steve Vamos is a former CEO and Global Executive with more than 40 years’ experience in information technology and digital media. Steve served as CEO of Xero from 2018 to 2023.

Steve has lived and worked in Australia, New Zealand, the USA and Asia at the frontline of every significant technology shift and economic shock since the 1980s with companies such as IBM, Apple, Microsoft, and ninemsn.

Steve has also been a non-executive director of ASX listed companies such as Telstra, Fletcher Building and David Jones and several start-ups and emerging businesses.

Steve also founded and ran a not for profit called the Society for Knowledge Economics (SKE) from 2005 to 2014. The SKE was a cross industry collaboration aimed at improving the quality of workplace leadership in Australia.

In his newly released book, Through Shifts and Shocks: Lessons from the Front Line of Technology and Change, Steve shares eight Must-Do actions that represent the most important lessons he has learnt about how leaders need to think and act in the face of uncertainty and change.

Tune in next week as we speak to a new trailblazer in another episode in our series on Thriving in Uncertainty.

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