|
Home > Newslist
Aaron's top tips for business success
Thursday May 15th 2008. Posted: 09:00
 |
|
Aaron McCormack - a World Economic Forum Young Global Leader
|
Aaron McCormack, 36-year-old chief executive of BT conferencing, has been named as one of the World Economic Forum’s Young Global Leaders for 2008. Earlier this year, he was also a finalist in the Best Executive category of the international Stevie Awards - in which BT conferencing scooped the title of Best Multinational Company in Europe. BT Today asked Aaron - who is also the company’s age champion - to share his top tips for success.
Aaron’s involvement with BT goes back a long way. His father was a GPO engineer in Northern Ireland for 35 years and he says - only half-joking - that he joined the company at the tender age of seven. He said: “Dad used to get my brother and I to cut the grass outside the telephone exchanges where he was working for 50p in our school holidays. “I was always fascinated by the idea of all those switches inside the exchanges and couldn’t wait to start working with them myself. When I was applying for university, it seemed natural to look at BT sponsorship to do an engineering degree - which meant I also got the chance to do work placements in various parts of the business every summer holiday.” In fact, Aaron decided very early on that his future lay in sales and marketing - not in his father’s world of engineering. Aaron studied at Queen’s University Belfast, where he first become involved in politics - a career he says he might still consider in the future. As a youth leader and member of the national executive of the Alliance Party, Aaron took part in the “Brooke talks” - with Northern Ireland secretary at the time Peter Brooke - in the early stages of the peace process. He also ran for parliament. “Although, as I was standing against John Hume and Martin McGuinness, you won’t be surprised to learn that I didn’t get in,” he said. During his time with BT, Aaron has worked in such diverse locations as the UK, Korea, Seattle, Belgium and Washington DC. His first role was with the BT customer quality centre in London, working with multinationals such as Mobil Oil and Lloyds Bank. A merger and acquisition project in Korea was followed by a six-month project with Microsoft at its headquarters in Seattle - and then a two-and-a-half year stint in Washington DC on the Concert joint venture. “It was great to be given so many early opportunities to work on diverse projects around the world - something I would advise anyone to do,” he said. Returning to the UK, Aaron moved into product management - looking after internet protocol (IP) products. He said: “I learnt a lot about the multi-disciplinary skills needed in product management - a good introduction to general management.” Another joint venture project - this time with AT&T - was followed by a return to IP products, and a sudden, and unwelcome, promotion. “My boss - Bill Fugelsang - died suddenly at work,” he explained. “Tim Smart asked me to step in until they could find a replacement. I ended up doing the job for four years.” Today, Aaron is based in Boston in the USA. He describes his current role as “the best job I’ve ever had”. “It is a mixture of being able to work with all the power of BT behind me but with all the responsibility that goes with a stand-alone business,” he said. “It’s an exciting time for videoconferencing too - it’s a great business benefit that ticks all the environmental boxes and right now it’s the age of immersive video which provides the highest definition image clarity we’ve ever had.” His nomination as a World Economic Forum Young Global Leader - he is one of 245 executives, public figures and intellectuals chosen from a pool of 5,000 candidates - will see Aaron doing what he loves most: rolling up his sleeves and getting stuck in. “One of our roles involves building human networks to tackle global issues through a range of formal and informal lobbying,” he said. “For example, as a keen surfer, I am passionate about coastal water quality. Wouldn’t it be great if I could put someone involved in a water company together with someone in a technology company developing sewerage solutions? The possibilities are endless.” Aaron’s top tips for success include: - expose yourself to the widest range of situations and experiences possible
- learn voraciously - be a sponge and soak up everything you can
- don’t be a poet. It’s not enough to talk a good game - what matters is getting things done
- don’t just copy others’ business habits. Develop your own way of doing business and leading people
- be self-aware and honest about what you are good at and what you aren’t so good at.
| 
Last updated:
11:55