Eucham hosted a discussion with Mr Shahzad Ishaq, responsible for the largest consumer asset business in Pakistan, managing a staff of 1400 professionals. Formerly Citibank Europe Plc – Hungarian Branch Vice President, Card Portfolio Head, in charge of a quarter billion USD of card business, Mr Ishaq is a TEDx speaker and an active member of the Founding Council of EuCham CEE.
Mr Ishaq shared his valuable knowledge and management experience in Europe and Asia. He emphasized on the importance of long term thinking and considered the compromise on long term vision as one of the reasons for the economic crisis. There does not exist primarily a need for innovation inside a company but more often a need for discipline in order to take small steps and constantly build on them.
The success in the professional path and the initiation of a new challenge starts with knowing the context: people, key opportunities and challenges as well as the 10 key relationships that could either make or break the business. Another aspect that Mr Ishaq referred to was the “cultural acceptance challenge” and how a good leader has to develop people who understand multiple cultures and are able to easily integrate in systems with distinct characteristics.