Name: Terrie Anderson

Title: Senior Manager, Data Security Asia

Organisation: Microsoft

CyberSecurity and Secure AI Transformation, Quantum Readiness, Operational Leader, Board Advisor, CYAN member, Technology Influence, and Best Selling Author

Thank you to the 2,000 leaders who’ve generously done the 7 Questions on Leadership!

We’ve gone through the interviews and asked the best of the best to come back and answer 7 MORE Questions on Leadership.

I hope Terrie's answers will encourage you in your leadership journey. Enjoy!

Cheers,

Jonno White

1. As a leader, how do you build trust with employees, customers and other stakeholders?

By being authentic and open to listening. I like to focus more on being interested in other people and their outcomes, rather than trying to be interesting myself. Trust comes from authenticity and a willingness to partner to achieve common goals.

2. What do 'VISION' and 'MISSION' mean to you? And what does it actually look like to use them in real-world business?

Vision means a horizon, or even beyond, seen with curiosity and inspiration for a common and meaningful commitment to a purpose with positive outcomes for all stakeholders. Mission is the clarity on how you will partner and collaborate to achieve the vision.

For example, I have a vision of what a better world may look like, and the mission is my playbook to achieve those outcomes that create the vision.

3. How can a leader empower the people they're leading?

First, lead and don’t try to manage. Understand that people on your team have better skills than you and assign challenging projects and give recognition accordingly. Give credit and don’t take it. Recognise people’s impact and acknowledge meaningfully - awards, promotions, of course, but also small tokens of gratitude such as thank you messages and appreciation notes.

When your team members make mistakes, focus on the lessons learned and remove blame. Share your own mistakes and lessons. Take action on low performers quickly - coach or remove if not coachable - this earns the respect of teams as they are more impacted by low performers- they usually know before you do.

Be open, transparent, authentic, and humble. Never belittle or bully anyone - ever - stay calm and lead with confidence, purpose, but also compassion and humility. Your leadership job isn’t more important, it’s just different.

Learn mindfulness and self-awareness, and understand the words or attitudes from you can have a lifetime of impact on others, positive and negative.

I learnt from a true leader very early - “If you shine a light on your team, it reflects on you - if you shine the light on yourself, your team is in the shadow. I try to live by this mantra every day.

4. Who are some of the coaches or mentors in your life who have had a positive influence on your leadership? Can you please tell a meaningful story about one of them?

There are several leaders who have had a huge impact on me, both positively and negatively.

From the negative leaders, I grew - I learned what not to do as a leader.

From the positive ones, I role modelled and asked questions to understand and learn.

My special story is about a CEO, very early in my career. He was Japanese, and his name was Matsuzaki-San. He recognised leadership in me and coached me in a way that I grew rapidly, and he also taught me the power of humility and equality.

He took a young, successful, and probably slightly wild salesperson and gently moulded her into a leader who understood the value of human empowerment and cultural diversity in leadership, who was unafraid to accept new challenges even if I couldn’t speak the language (literally and figuratively). He developed in me a passionate curiosity, a belief in my own abilities and resilience, and showed me how I could be a different style of leader that could lead high-performance and high-IQ teams to achieve awesome results without burnout. He truly shaped the leader that I became, and I am ever grateful.

5. Leadership is often more about what you DON'T do. How do you maintain focus in your role?

Focus comes from staying committed to purpose. Keeping top of mind your core priorities and what you need to do, therefore what you can pass to others to do. As a leader, you are tasked with leading, not doing - engage in meaningful activities, constantly challenge yourself whether what you are doing could be shared or passed on to others- always remember your job is to lead, to coach, to inspire, not necessarily to “do”

6. If you fail to plan, you plan to fail. Everyone plans differently. How do you plan for the week, month and years ahead in your role?

I have daily plans every day - it’s my last task every evening - what’s critical for tomorrow? I have medium and long-term plans to achieve my team goals, but also to achieve the empowerment and recognition for my team. I have a coaching plan for the year ahead to ensure no person is left behind.

Then I have a personal development plan. None of my plans are long and laborious- they are simple headlines with less than 10 lines so I can focus and remember them.

7. What advice would you give to a young leader who is struggling to delegate effectively?

If you want to be a leader, you must be prepared to stop being an individual contributor. You are no longer the lead violinist in the orchestra; you are now the maestro. No matter how good you were as an individual contributor, it’s no longer relevant - you will only be judged from this day on your leadership capabilities and your ability to create harmony and deliver results as a team.

Decide what you want to be and then let go and embrace it.