Rethinking How You Lead
At Tricon Capital Group, Executive Vice President & Chief Financial Officer Wissam Francis oversees all aspects of his company's financial management—including financial reporting and analysis, capital market strategies, investor relations, and more. He came to the Leadership for Senior Executives program at Harvard Business School Executive Education to gain a new perspective on these responsibilities while deepening his self-awareness as a leader. In this interview, he shares how the program inspired him to grow personally and professionally.
What did you gain from this program?
Leadership for Senior Executives opened my mind to the concepts of empathy and situational leadership. It taught me the importance of understanding the context from which a person operates. In the past, when I have encountered an issue, I have made judgements based on my own interpretation of the situation. Through the program, I have learned the value of reflecting on the experience of others, building context around their perceptions and developing empathy. These skills have helped me to create more thoughtful and executable action plans as well as define my team's opportunity and performance gaps.
Did you experience any "a-ha!" moments in the program?
Through completing the program's self-reflection exercises, I discovered that while my self-awareness and relationship management skills were high—indicating positive emotional intelligence—I was lacking in empathy skills. That's an unusual combination, since these would generally go hand in hand. I learned that empathy requires listening, without having judgement or making predetermined conclusions. With this recognition, I'm able to offer my team the leadership, guidance, and solutions they need and bring greater success to my business.
How would you describe this program to someone considering it?
Someone asked me to explain how I experienced the program and here is what I told them: When you first put on a pair of yellow glasses, everything looks different—everything is yellow. You get a new perspective, but after a while you start to see this perspective as normal. All of a sudden, you don't see yellow anymore; it becomes your new reality.
This program enables you to take off those yellow glasses. It helps you cast aside what you thought you knew about leadership and management and see the world through a new lens. It gives you a different perspective.