Gavin Selkirk
Mark Braithwaite interviews
Gavin Selkirk, Asia Pacific Japan Senior Vice President & General Manager- CA Asia Pacific & Japan
CA has dominated the IT Management software sector globally for more than 20 years. In the early 2000’s, CA went through a period of negative publicity and fortunes caused by the improper management practices of previous leadership. But over the last 2 years, under a completely new leadership team, CA has been transformed and is on the rise again.
As a key player in that transformation, Gavin Selkirk took the challenge of leading 2500 CA employees in the world’s most complex business environment, Asia Pacific & Japan. Gavin moved up from being MD of the Australia/ New Zealand business, which was the stand out performer in the region. In the broader region though, CA had some issues and Gavin had to make some tough decisions.
MB: “Gavin, you are not new to leadership roles but you are quite new to Asia. What have you discovered?”
GS: “I was fortunate in that I have held roles with CA in Japan, Australia and at head office in New York. In particular, the Japan role gave me the insight that one size does not fit all in Asia. This has led me to the uncompromising position of having local nationals running our businesses in every single country. I believe this to be the right strategy. Our localization of messaging around APJ is extreme. We have something called a pulse survey, ‘do you get what we are trying to do?’ The three key areas we look at are senior leadership, communication, and strategic direction of the business. The CEO, John Swainson, continually communicates our 6 key points of strategy and this is then localized by the country leaders because they understand the local nuances. We have made mistakes in the past and we admit that. I don’t want to make the same mistakes again.”
MB: “You have explained that your country leaders localize the message to the troops, but do you change the way you communicate with your leadership team from country to country?”
GS: “No. I am out in the business all the time. I travel 90% of the time. The messages I deliver and the way I communicate this is the same in all countries. I believe people are fundamentally motivated by the same things everywhere. They want to be respected, rewarded and recognized. I have a common approach to how I communicate across the region. I have been advised that in some countries it is not appropriate to talk about the business not doing well. This is one piece of advice I have chosen to ignore. I have a responsibility to shareholders to make sure that our business performs well. My team have agreed results to deliver. Our company has been through a massive transformation and all of the team have their part to play. Having said this, there is a diversity and resulting complexity in APJ that North America just does not have. The leadership task is significant.”
MB: “Does this complexity bring communication challenges with head office?”
GS: “Fortunately, having been the executive assistant to the CEO at one point as part of my executive development in CA, there are no problems there. He has also worked all over the world and understands Asia. But the day to day decisions are made one level down and the US-centric corporate teams can bring some challenges. I continue to try to get them to travel down here so they can understand that the business and people are different. It is something I have to constantly work on. There is no substitute for direct experience in this market. Without this experience, it would be just too difficult. I am now trying to cycle North Americans through the Asian business. When they go back to the US, there will be a better understanding.”
MB: “You were in the military before your IT career. Has this influenced your leadership style?”
GS: “I think there is no better training than the Australian Defense Force. I have had 8 years as a military officer, then 14 years in business. I am in the middle of both of those styles now and I think this has helped me enormously. I believe in people being accountable and my military training helped me work out how to get people to accept responsibility. It gave me a grounding that has helped me fast-track my career.”
MB: “You mentioned that you have only been at home for 3 days in the last 2 months. Are you very hands-on in the business?”
GS: “I am but I have to remind myself every day not to be too hands-on. I took a very hands-on approach when I took over Australia and this is what I was tasked to do in moving the business from its reliance on recurring revenues to becoming new- business focused. The same thing happened in Japan. There is a balance now of being a mentor and coach and resisting the temptation to jump in sometimes and do things myself. Long term, doing it myself does not benefit the business or the individual who is trying to learn. I think leadership at CA in the past was very hands off and directive. That’s not my style. I need to be in the business.”
MB: “Most mature companies like CA have had their ups and downs in APJ. When the downs come, it can be sudden. How do you make sure you know what is happening in your business to ensure there are no surprises?”
GS: “obviously, I have a reporting process, but you can’t beat touching and feeling things for yourself. You have to accept coming into a role leading an APJ business, that there is an enormous amount of travel. If I sat here in Hong Kong and just relied on the information coming in, I would make wrong decisions. There is no substitute for first hand exposure. With experience, you know the questions to ask. Being close to the team, you pick up when there is a problem. Our China business just looked and smelt wrong when I took over the job and after some time, I just knew we had to make changes, which we now have.”
MB: “So, are you saying the first alarm bell came through instinct?”
GS: “In this case I think yes. People want to see the business do well. Nobody wants to be part of a business that is failing. If you provide an environment where people can give you feedback, you will get it. You may not like what you are hearing but this gives necessary input to your decisions. Reporting is about what has already happened, whereas people can tell you what is happening now. I want to be looking ahead not in the rear view mirror.”
MB: “So, how is the business looking today?”
GS: “Obviously, as a public company I can’t make any forward looking statements, but I will say that we have turned the corner in Asia Pacific Japan and this region’s contribution is one that I am very pleased with.
This interview was conducted by Mark Braithwaite, an Asia based Director of Mosaic Global Executive Search at the CA Hong Kong offices on 1 February 2007.
