Computerworld Hong Kong: Are women taking up IT executive roles in Hong Kong?
Agnes Mak: There are too few women executives in the industry. I'd like to see women taking up about 20 percent of all the IT executive positions, but we are not even close to that. I think the current proportion of male to female executives is about nine to one.
But the situation seems different in mainland China. There are more women taking up executive positions relative to Hong Kong. I don't know why, but surprisingly, many female executives are taking up critical roles within [mainland] organizations.
CWHK: Why are there fewer female executives in Hong Kong?
AM: I don't think women in the industry are at any disadvantage compared to their male colleagues. Female executives are more detail-oriented with better communication skills and can better handle stress than men.
But I believe many have a difficult time balancing career and family. Building a career in this industry is very demanding, both in terms of time and energy. After they've reached certain management level, most women are forced to make a choice between career and family.
CWHK: What are the challenges for Hong Kong female IT professionals to advance in their career?
AM: To strike a good balance between the professional and personal life is never easy, especially for the working mother. Of course it's more challenging to be a working mother than a full-time homemaker, particularly if they lack support from their husbands.
But I have a lot of respect for women who have given up careers for their families. I realize many capable women in the industry have chosen not to pursue their career once they reach mid-level management, because that is often at the same time that they start a family and have children, who need a lot of time and support. It's a really a difficult choice to make.
CWHK: How do you balance career and family?
AM: I'm very lucky since my two daughters don't take up very much of my time, besides my husband has been very supportive and willing to share responsibilities at home.
I was also lucky to take up management positions at an early age. I was made department head when I was only 26. That experience allowed me to acquire and polish my management skills when I was still young. So when I had my first child, my career was already well developed and I could afford to spend more time with her.
But, as a mother of two children, I've also been through that struggle between career and family. I thought about quitting my job and staying home to raise my daughters, especially when they were three to four years old. They were so adorable and wouldn't let go of me every morning before I went to work-that was my weakest point.
Being a mother is a very difficult job. It's a very long term project and often takes years before the "ROI" reveals itself. On the other hand, I really enjoy my job as a CIO. Being able to coach and train my staff, making them experts, and seeing the company's business growth because of their effort-that's a great achievement for me.
CWHK: How do you compare parenting skills and management skills?
AM: They are similar in many ways. I've learned a lot from the relationship with my daughter that is applicable in my career.
I was a typical mother who's paranoid and concerned with my daughter's academic work. I would cancel all my business lunch appointments two weeks before her examinations, then locked myself up in her room during lunch hour and set up mock exam-questions for her.
During those years, I had the worst relationship with my daughter. But later, I realized there's no way I can be by her side for her entire life. I've learned to let go, and surprisingly she got a perfect score during the examination without my help.
My colleagues back then must have found me very difficult to work with as well, because I was an idealist-very particular and demanding. But now, I've learned to let go. Unless it's a critical project, I'd let my team share many of the jobs while I guide them along the way.
CWHK: What's your management philosophy?
AM: Since our business is expanding, I'm taking up more responsibilities and projects. I'm training my team to handle projects independently.
They should always try to tackle problems themselves, before seeking help from me and I'll step in only when those solutions don't work. I will not put up with my team presenting me a problem. I'd only offer help and support when they have demonstrated an effort to handle the problem before approaching me. That has been my policy for years and my entire team understands it well.
At the same time, I encourage my team to be upfront in sharing their concerns and problems. Only then we can work out a solution as a team. Throughout all these years, I'm quite proud to say that my team always approached me for any problems.
I always tell my team, no one is perfect; I won't know all the new technologies. But we complement with each other on different parts of the project, that's why we are a team. Teamwork is particularly important in IT because no one is able to complete an enterprise scale project individually.
CWHK: What does it take to be a successful CIO in Hong Kong?
AM: Apart from technical knowledge, as a CIO, most important are communication and interpersonal skills.
CIOs should always find ways to make use of technology as a catalyst-to carry out business strategy much faster and effectively. IT can definitely help to lower costs, but it's also particularly useful in speeding up transactions, boosting sales and revenue.
We shouldn't just sit and wait for requests from business users. Even when users make a request, we should also understand the business and technology well enough to advise whether it's the right kind of technology to apply.
But during the process, I'm not only managing technology, but also people. Therefore people skills and communication skills are particularly important.
A CIO also plays a coaching and counseling role. The way I train the team is that I'd never give them a definite answer for their questions. I'll ask them a lot of questions instead, leading them to find out the answer themselves.
To be a successful leader in the team, it's my job to find the right people to do the right job, as well as to develop their potential.
CWHK: Mobile communication is a vibrant business, with lots of M&A within the industry. How do you cope with the changes in business needs and ownership?
AM: The CIO of a telco needs to be very flexible and liberal. That person should always be ready for changes. You cannot be stubborn and stick with the original plan when the environment and business requirements have changed.
Having an open mind also helps CIOs to see things from a different perspective. Whenever there are changes, even if unexpected, we should always be receptive and manage them with a positive attitude. I tend to look at any situation beyond its immediate impact, but from a bigger picture and on a brighter side.
However even for businesses that are not as volatile as telcos, business directions still change according to the market. Therefore CIOs should always be flexible and liberal to take on changes.
CWHK: How's your team structured?
AM: We have around 30 people in the application development and architectural team. Our infrastructure team has recently join PCCW Solutions, after the merger of Sunday and PCCW. So instead of being part of Sunday, the infrastructure team is now our IT outsourcing provider. They manage Sunday's data center facilities, particularly on the technical level.
This is a good move for us, as PCCW Solutions has many more resources then we used to have in handling infrastructure.
CWHK: What's on your wish list to make your job easier?
AM: I wish to have a personalized filter, labeled for Agnes Mak. It would filter and feed me all the appropriate information that I need to know.
New technologies are merging in a much shorter time frame. I find it difficult to keep up and understand them all. Sometimes it's annoying to find out that information is not useful or relevant to me, after spending time studying it.
There's an overflow of information, it's very tiring just to screen them and find out the useful ones. It's like competing with time. I wish the filter would put the useful data at my fingertips, so I could turn that data into information, then into knowledge and wisdom-so I can make decisions much faster and easier.