Customer Management Director, Global Infrastructure Organisation (GIO) Asia, Singapore
Having worked for over 13 years in a government-linked company in Singapore, and another 18 months with Microsoft, Unilever beckoned. I wanted to experience working in a truly 'multi-national multi-local company' where there are opportunities to work with, literally, the world. Unilever was all the more captivating because of its long history. I was intrigued to be able to work in a huge corporation that has managed to constantly expand and renew itself throughout the last century.
I enjoy the challenge of reducing technical IT jargon and services into common easy-to-understand language for implementation, and the even more daunting task of helping translate business needs into viable IT infrastructure initiatives. I also really like the global framework we work within, where I talk to my counterparts in the rest of the world, whom I can count on to share experiences, learn from and work with.
An example of a recent initiative was rolling-out the GIO service excellence campaign to all 200 GIO staff in Asia through a series of workshops. We have now established a common language and standard techniques for sharing ideas and solving problems. This is a global initiative that seeks to improve the way we behave, the way we think, the way we deal with issues and problems, and the way we relate to each other. It is designed to liberate the energies in each and every team member to build a cohesive, global team that plays to win.
Outside the office I knit, dabble in Chinese paper cutting, love Chinese opera, and find Chinese calligraphy therapeutic. That I even attempt to do calligraphy usually elicits an "Oh, really?!" reaction, because my handwriting is atrocious - English and Chinese! It may be therapeutic for me, but I'm quite certain my teacher feels otherwise!
