In this episode, we talked to Nada Ahmed, VP of Transformation at Aker Solutions. Nada has a quintessential cosmopolitan upbringing. She grew up and studied in Pakistan and finished her International Baccalaureate in Hong Kong. She then continued her undergrad studies in the University of Richmond (US), a year in France and then back to Houston. Her first experiences exposed her also to an international journey, that got her an offer from DNV to join their offices in Norway. Humanities and a multi-cultural curiosity helped her progress well in her career and fine-tune her understanding of her colleagues and ultimately enable her to be a better leader via empathy. It's all about connection.
Adaptation was another key skill that she has mastered during her career to navigate the ups and downs of the energy industry. Nada put a particular emphasis on “understanding people better”, to infuse enthusiasm and inspire her colleagues to get to the required change to achieve high performance in a rapidly changing energy landscape.
What kind of transformation is she trying to instill? It’s the shift necessary to drive our industries towards #netzero and match and accompany her clients into the #renewables energies.
Aker Solutions have set an ambitious goal of making two thirds of their revenues by 2030 coming from low carbon solutions or coming directly from renewable services like offshore wind.
What kind of skills are necessary? Adapting to a future that will be very different Nada relies on #agileleadership. She sums it up with the following 7 tenets: empowerment (leading with questions, being humble and to enable growth in others), clarity (clear objectives), adaptability, learning the culture, being collaborative, positivity and accountability, and focusing on outcomes vs. outputs.
Finally, we discussed the difficulties women face in the energy industry. Nada has learned from the biases towards women to become an outspoken and candid leader that challenges preconceptions. She recalls the research done by BCG and McKinsey that performed quantitative research showing that diverse groups provide better financial outcomes and make better decisions. She therefore makes diversity & inclusion as a guiding principle to lead her teams.
United World College: https://www.uwc.org/
Aker Solutions: https://www.akersolutions.com/
"Dare to Lead" by Brene Brown (recommended book): https://cutt.ly/tkX4kLS
David's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidcontrerasdiaz/
Art by: Maria Alexandra Monteverde / Instagram: @mariale.ilustra.asi
Editing, mixing and mastering by: Julio César Fernández / Instagram: @juliocfdez
Disclaimer: This podcast was prepared by myself in my personal capacity and the views and opinions expressed in the podcast are my own. They do not necessarily reflect the opinion or views of TGS and TGS does not guarantee the accuracy or reliability of the information provided herein.