theceomagazine.com | 75what you know and learn from scratch. “In the
beginning, you’re appointed to a job because you prove
you have certain skills and you think you know how
to do everything, but when new challenges come
along, you need new approaches. I found it particularly
useful just asking questions and listening to colleagues
or clients, spending time understanding, and then
creating new ways of doing things.”
Empathy also plays an important role in leadership.
Anna spends a lot of time communicating with
employees through meet-ups, webcasts and internal
social networks. “I use these tools to engage in a
common sense of purpose, where everybody can enjoy
the benefits of collaborating, sharing, growing together,
and having more career opportunities/professional
development,” she says. “It’s unbelievable what you can
learn from a new employee too as they can provide
fresh perspective in addressing a problem.”
While Avanade continues its move into uncharted
territory in more ways than one, the goal for Anna is
simple – maintain the company’s double-digit growth
in revenue. Most important to achieving this goal is
keeping a low rate of employee turnover. “We want
to continue to invest in our top talent, making sure
they want to stay with us for the coming years,” she
concludes. “At the end of the day, this is about our
mission of being the leading digital innovator in
Microsoft ecosystems.”
WHEN ANNA MET BILL
Early in her career at Microsoft, Anna had
the opportunity to meet Bill Gates.
She discussed with him a piece of code developed
for Poste Italiane. “He liked it very much and
asked for more details. He was very interested
in it,” Anna recounts. “As a young developer,
having the experience of speaking the same
language as Bill Gates was just fantastic.”
Avanade was formed by a joint venture between
Microsoft and Accenture in 2000, and the three
companies still have strong ties. They work
together to provide innovative solutions that
digitally transform some of the world’s most
recognisable brands. “Together, Microsoft,
Accenture and Avanade have a longstanding
alliance that’s focused on enabling organisations
across Asia to harness the power of the cloud and
artificial intelligence,” Ralph Haupter, President
of Microsoft Asia, says.