Sarah Guirguis During a rich conversation with Malak El Baba, Visa Egypt Country Manager, she talked to us about everything you need to know about female leadership, and particularly inspired us while sharing what works for her both on a personal and professional level.
What attributes do you believe make a great leader?
- Being empathetic: Being empathetic is not a personal trait only but also a soft skill that is needed in anyone’s career development. Empathy in a female leader promotes both cooperation and commitment in the workplace. It is an important leadership quality because it offers employees and customers alike the opportunity to be and feel heard. You will end up with happy employees, happy clients, and good bottom line results!
- Being persuasive: Successful female leaders genuinely believe in their ideas and present them with full conviction and passion. Passion is incredibly compelling and can help move the needle toward success, both personally and professionally.
- Being resilient: Female leaders tend to show consistency and perseverance. Despite many positive changes in the modern family setup, there is still a general tendency for women to be primary family caretakers, so managing work, home, chores and the pressure that come with them must mean we are natural multi-taskers. Being resilient through these tasks and making the impossible, seem possible – naturally – is very inspiring.
- Being motivated by challenge: I have found many women I’ve interacted with to be natural creative problem solvers. The desire to overcome a challenge makes a great leader.
- Being able to think big: Women can make great leaders when they harness their innate ability to dream big, challenge assumptions and inspire teams – and more importantly lead by example.
- Being a good listener and communicator: Communication is a natural skill for women. Great female leaders are the ones who know how to use it with their various stakeholders. Listen and digest information before reacting and communicating openly with high emotional intelligence is a valuable way to build trust with your networks.
What are the main lessons you learned in your career so far?
- If you are waiting for someone to recognize the value you bring, you may wait forever. Recognize your own worth. If you want to work on a project, speak up.
- If you want to lead a team, say so. You don’t need to have a leadership title to be considered a leader in your organization. Whatever your position is, find a role you can excel in and become known for – whether it’s heading up a key initiative, solving problems or resolving conflict. At Visa, for example, we say that everyone is a leader and embracing these behaviors helps your professional and personal growth.
- Let your voice be heard – getting your direct line manager or sponsor or colleagues to be your cheerleaders and amplify your efforts is great, but also try your best to grab the opportunities to share your point of view when you can.
- No one will appreciate your contributions until you appreciate them yourself. Work to become known as someone who can be counted on.
How do you balance your time between work, family life and social life?
I truly believe that women are natural multi-taskers. And post COVID and working from home, we are expected to deliver even more. I have been working from home since March 2020, so I am expected to be a great leader at work, a great housewife, a collaborative partner to my husband, a great mom to my young son, an online/homeschool teacher, and a great social element in the community.
These are many expectations! Personally to balance all these, I start everyday with fifteen minutes of quiet me-time over my morning coffee. This allows me to do the following:
- Set priorities
- Plan. Plan. Plan
- Delegate at work and in my personal life where possible
- Have some time to refuel
- Process and accept that it’s okay to be overwhelmed every now and then – we are humans
- Pat myself on my back and feel proud of my small and large achievements
Are there any stereotypes you felt you needed to break through in our culture?
I guess being under-estimated has fueled me – with the odds against us, many of us have to fight to get to the top – and I personally am not an easy loser!
I consider myself lucky having worked for the past 9 years in a company that supports women and diversity and inclusion as part of its DNA. Internal mobility is also something that is supported. When I first joined Visa’s Egypt office, I was welcomed and accepted even as a non-Egyptian. That acceptance made me excel and become even more passionate about the place I work for.
Nine months ago, I “reset” my career and moved from marketing to the business development and sales side of the company. It was a very tough decision to do but when I think back on what I overcame:
- Moving from my “comfort zone” of almost 20 years of marketing to a new space that is mainly dominated by men
- Becoming the first female country manager for Egypt – and only the second in MENA
- Becoming the first non-Egyptian CM for Egypt, a country that is so proud about its own talents and resources and heritage and defying a traditional CM stereotype
- Achieving and building trust and support, with both our clients and my colleagues
I have to admit, it is not always easy. Anything can go wrong, but the most successful people are problem solvers who do not let their egos get in the way. You have to remain calm, confident and check your ego at the door. Listen to your team and always be committed to getting the job done. Your efforts and results will show that you’re capable and are the best person for the job. And always keep your support network close to get you through the rough days.
What advice would you like to give young women today?
On a professional level
- As a leader, build teams first, products will follow.
- Dream big; you can achieve.
- When you truly want something, go full force after it and believe that the law of attraction will make it happen.
On a personal level
- Love yourself to be able to love others.
- Marry to make yourself happy, not others.
- Don’t be silent.
