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How do we succeed in a teamwork environment, or get along with other groups at work? Are we more open to be criticized than others? How others in our working environment notice our unique working or management style? There are many successful Iranians in management and leadership positions in corporate America. We'll share stories of these individual, who were able to succeed and overcome work-related challenges. Once U.S.-Iran relations get back to normal, where taking non-stop flights to the Far East land at Mehrabad Airport. American and Iranian businesses will be able to establish companies in each other's countries. Both nations will be joining together for various projects, where management style, culture and languages will make the entire process new, unique and yet full of interesting observations to share with one another. We'll be there to report these interactions. What are the areas beneficial to us for improvement? Are we easily understood or do we need further training, tools or other means for our business or projects to succeed? How can we mentor other Iranian professionals to succeed in similar environments? How do we go about mentoring others? How can we develop a mentee program for professionals? We plan to present as many Iranians in management and leadership position as possible. As we move forward, we'll change this section, per our readers' suggestions and needs. So your feedback is critical, needed and for sure appreciated. If you know of Iranians in management, who are willing to share their accomplishments with others, please send us a letter at editor@siliconIran.com.
Last
March, Dielectric finalized purchase of TCI. Dielectric asked the
47-year old Mansour Mousavian, Vice President of Integrated Programs
to consolidate Dielectric, TCI and Central Tower. An Engineering degree from England, a master degree in Engineering and Management from Stanford plus 23 years of experience made Mousavian an ideal person for Dielectric to choose for the task. "I saw how my father, as an engineer was able to mix and match his communication level with all types of construction crew in Iran," said Mousavian. During 1967-68, in 7th grade, Mousavian along with his brother and a friend published their own local newspaper in Tehran, for a select mailing list for few pennies per copy. "We had five or six pages of political section, as well as a science section," Mousavian said excitedly of his fun old memories. He considers being able to make decisions in tough situations a must-have requirement for managers and leaders. Mousavian also appreciates his non-engineering education as a critical part of his success. "Our engineers could have more social science studies, and they could be more successful", said Mousavian. For managers, he recommends:
Nima Alizadeh is the Vice President and General Manager of 120-people
Airnex that provides long distance, international and digital wireless
telecommunication services to high-speed Internet access and Web
hosting services. Alizadeh joined Airnex two and half years ago, as a Financial Analyst. He was convincing enough that in a short period of time, Alizadeh was promoted to the position of vice presidency and becoming the right hand man to the Japanese president of Airnex. Alizadeh completed most of his education in Canada and the U.S. He contributes most of his career success by observing and learning different management styles of people from Iran, Japan, China, Russian and Korean. As far as noticing difference in Iranian management style, Alizadeh provides a frank and interesting perspective. "In a situation when an Iranian [supervisory] is managing other Iranians, the communication regarding work tends to break down between the manager and the subordinate. A patriotic feeling tends to take over and the manager tends to bottle-up all issues." He also noted similar patterns in Japanese management. Alizadeh stresses the importance of separating patriotic feelings and the work that needs to get done, while emphasizing on communicating the expectations. "Iranian [older style] management tends to be very authoritative rather than leading. I believe that the new Iranian management style is one of leadership as we see in the success of many high level Iranian executives in prestigious companies." Said Alizadeh. However, he acknowledges the fact that new leadership style of management takes longer to pay dividends. Alizadeh believes by providing a challenging environment for subordinates, managers will be more successful. His recommendations are:
It is interesting to note it was Savvion that in 1997 developed the world's first Web-based business process automation and management system by using well-known technologies like Java, HTTP and XML. Farshid
Ketabchi, Director of Technology Alliance at Savvion got his position
through four years of working as a Senior Engineer in the company.
The 36-Year old director is sure that his previous 9 years of work
and internships in places like the National Science Foundation,
Dept. of Energy, AT&T Bell Labs, IBM, Bellcore, Fujitsu and Salmon
Brothers were helpful to land him this new position. And not to
mention that Ketabchi has an undergraduate degree in Math and Computer
Science, and a master degree in Computer Science. So how did Ketabchi end up moving from Engineering world to Sales and Marketing? "After over 5 years of engineering, the business side of technology was what I was cut out for. In this role, I was able to attain more success. I used to look down at sales, but now I can appreciate how important and difficult it is, and I can actually do it!" said Ketabchi. Ketabchi, acknowledges the fact that he used little of what he learned in textbooks, given the fast pace of technology evolution and changes. His toughest career transition was from Engineering to Marketing, and moving into business development and making indirect sales. "On the business side, having good sales skills is of out most importance. This means the ability to listen and understand your prospects' needs and provide a cost-effective solution for them that is going to help them succeed. And certainly among Iranians in the high-tech, there are many who have these qualifications...and more" said Ketabchi. Ketabchi describes the world of engineering in terms of continuos improvement, where time is the critical factor. "On the sales side, you also got to listen more and talk less, and when you talk, you must talk the prospect's language, and that is not easy when you are passionate about your product" said Ketabchi. As far as Iranian and non-Iranian style management, Ketabchi says: "One of the good things about high-tech industries especially in the Silicon Valley is that people from all around the world are involved in it. To succeed, you need to work effectively and positively with people from all around. I don't think there are major differences between working with Iranians and non-Iranians. Having said that, I love my culture and people. I enjoy working with other Iranians and as much as I can help it, I want to help them succeed. I get excited about working with other Iranians and some times it is hard to not to switch to Farsi!" Like Mousavian and Alizadeh, Ketabchi comes with somewhat similar message of how human relation is critical in business success. |
Mansour
Mousavian Moving up the Waves 
Nima
Alizadeh Reach Out and Check Perspolis 
Farshid
Ketabchi Feeding Technology Giants with Savvion