Striving for a Cleaner Pakistan
Sarim Sheikh, MBA '95, President & CEO GE Pakistan, talks of cleaner technology and business innovation
1. What was life like at IBA back in your day?
It was one of the most fascinating, enjoyable and great
learning experiences of my life. IBA of today is very
different from yesteryears. The facilities we had were
very basic and teaching while establishing strong
foundations was still based on an old-fashioned model.
Nevertheless, it was a great learning experience not
only because of strong real-world learning from industry
experts but also a rapidly changing economy in Pakistan.
I also stayed in the AS Nagi hostel for the duration of
my MBA. It would be mild to say that life was tough
there but the camaraderie and tenacity that we developed
has lasted a lifetime.
Above all, the friendships I have built in IBA have been
a cornerstone of my experience.
2. What lessons did you learn on your way to becoming
a CEO?
One of the most important lessons you learn is that your
rise in leadership roles has an inverse relationship to
your ability to get things done on your own. I know it
may sound cliche, but at senior levels of the
organization it is all about team performance.
Team performance however, is dependent on the quality of
people you hire, the culture of collaboration you create
and how well you are able to motivate people around you.
In leadership roles over the last 10 years, I have
always had the goal to create empowered teams and
eventually make myself unneeded. You can only make
yourself unneeded, if you have high performance teams
with the role of a leader being only to coach rather
than manage the business. Fortunately, I have been
successful in most part in achieving this.
3. How would you describe your leadership style?
I spend a lot of time on recruiting people who have the
right attitude, intellect, capacity, relationships and
drive to make the most out of the opportunities
presented to them. My style is to let them run with
their ambition with me acting as a coach to help them
and the organization get to their goals.
4. What role did your better half play during your
career? If you had to give us some advice on work-life
balance, what would that be?
My spouse has had a very successful career in banking
and she has been a great support to me throughout my
career. I take her counsel in many areas and she helps
me stay grounded. Every person is different but for me,
having a life partner who is a professional herself has
been a great boon to my career.
Work-life balance varies from person to person and your
own perspective on how you see work as being separate
from life or an integral part of it. The more important
thing is how you keep your closed ones engaged in the
process so that they are onboard and any disruptions
that are caused are adequately balanced.
5. What made you bid farewell to your organization of
17 years? When do you know it's time to move forward?
As an individual, I have been fortunate to have many
varied and interesting roles throughout my career with
Shell. My main driver in making career choice has always
been predicated on two things: The learning I would get
and the challenge it would present me.
What pulled me to GE is the fact that GE brings
solutions to some of the world's toughest problems
across a variety of industries. When I joined GE three
years ago, it was an operation which was, in my view,
ready to take off, because GE addresses key
infrastructure sectors e.g. energy, transmission and
distribution, oil and gas, healthcare, aviation,
transportation, lighting. Now, if there is any region
that needs it, it is the one I look after i.e. Pakistan,
Iran & Afghanistan. So that has been my passion, to see
if I can help Pakistan get the benefit of what GE brings
and GE to also benefit in return.
6. Do you feel Pakistan can be energy efficient in
future? What innovative ways would you suggest to solve
some of Pakistan's most pressing challenges in energy
sector?
Pakistan's has one of the lowest power consumption rates
per capita in the region. While a large part of this due
to level of industrialization and consumption in the
country, but severe shortages also play a key role. We
face a vicious cycle of lower availability driving lower
growth.
As an energy deficit country, conservation requires us
to work not only at the consumption side by leveraging
more efficient technologies i.e. LED lamps, inverter air
conditioners, more efficient vehicles to using what
resources we have more efficiently. Indigenous natural
gas meets almost 50% of our energy demand and ensuring
that we maximize the use of each molecule is critical to
our energy security. Too often in my industry I see the
same molecule being used to generate 3 times the
economic benefit vs. average use in Pakistan. To manage
this pricing of gas has to be addressed to ensure the
most economic use.
Government has adopted a welcome strategy to diversify
its resources relying on Hydel, Thermal (LNG), Coal and
Wind/ Solar. While I may not be in agreement with the
relative weighting of each, I think it is great for us
as a country to diversify our energy resources and
encourage both public and private sector participation
in addressing the energy crisis.
7. Environmentalists put a major onus on energy and
fuel companies for environmental degradation. Having
spent most of your career first in Shell, and then in
GE, what do you think are the responsibilities of energy
companies towards environmental conservation?
Energy companies need to push into clean technology, alternative energy and eco-friendly infrastructure. They need to do more than mere PR posturing. Words need to be backed up with visible actions and long-term strategy.
General Electric is fast-becoming America's largest
non-conventional energy company by embracing the
environmental friendly technology. The strategy is to
enhance resource productivity and reduce environmental
impact at a global scale through commercial solutions
for our customers and through our own operations. As a
part of this strategy, we are investing in cleaner
technology and business innovation, developing solutions
to enable economic growth while avoiding emissions and
reducing water consumption, committing to reduce the
environmental impact in our own operations, and
developing strategic partnerships to solve some of the
toughest environmental challenges at scale to create a
cleaner, faster, smarter tomorrow.
8. Do you have any regrets from life?
I spent over 10 years of my career abroad and returned
in 2011 to Pakistan. Both my parents unfortunately
passed away within 15 months of my returning to
Pakistan. My biggest remorse is that I was unable to
spend more time with them.
9. What message would you give to students and graduates
while charting out their careers?
Your whole life is ahead of you; you can make mistakes
and still come out ahead. However, the biggest mistake
one can make is to take no risks. Taking risks and
accepting challenges where you have a likelihood of
failure is the only way for you to grow and learn; and
to become better leaders.
PS: I do not know any of my contemporaries who
graduated from IBA and are not doing well. So don't be
afraid to take risks and make mistakes.
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