Hello VOX Readers, I hope everyone is staying well and healthy. I’d like to introduce the latest #LifeAtVeritas summer interview, which I recently conducted remotely with Garth Scully, Canada Country Manager, based in Toronto, Canada. During this interview, Garth shares his management style, his life/work ethics, how he manages his team across six time zones, and why he joined Veritas two years ago. Read Garth’s interview below.
Garth: The Information Technology Industry evolves much faster than any other industry, which equates to an environment where the IT professional is always learning to stay on top of the latest technology trends. The more training and knowledge the IT professional has, the more employable and better future he or she has over the course of their career. The diversity of opportunity in IT is endless.
Zoe: What career advice would you give to those trying to secure their first IT role?
Garth: Seek out an area in IT that you are passionate about. Whether it is a sales or technical career, with the right choice you will be able to make a commitment to a long fulfilling career in Information Technology.
Zoe: Garth, in your opinion, what leadership traits make a good leader? And what’s your leadership style?
Garth: I personally like the Transformational Leadership approach, which focuses on clear communication, goal-setting, and employee motivation, all of which lead to a strong commitment to organizational objectives.
Here are some but not all of the rules I live by as the Veritas Canada Leader:
- Health, Family, Business in the order of priority when dealing with your Team.
- If I never tell a lie, I never have to remember what I said.
- Never ask a team member to do something you would not do.
- Everyone can contribute to the solution. Inclusion and Diversity is the key to high performing competitive, successful teams.
- Encourage your team to make, act, and learn by their own decisions.
Garth: My business role model is Harvey Schilke. Harvey provided the sales and management foundational skills that have carried me through my 30-year IT career. It is critical to have a strong, ethical mentor early in your career.
Family Influencers are Lori (my spouse), Lauren and Megan (my daughters) – the most amazing individuals in the world; they teach me every single day how to be a better person.
Zoe: How do you define success? And how do you build successful teams across your region?
Garth: Business success for me at Veritas is measured by developing and managing a productive, positive, and diverse Canadian team striving to overachieve our corporate goals. Identifying and positioning the appropriate, capable, sales, technical, and partner resources across Canada has been paramount to our success in my 2-year tenure at Veritas. A successful team approach has been built in Canada by concentrating on an environment of open communication, empowerment, trust, accountability, and focusing on results.
Zoe: What motivates you? And how do you motivate remote teams across Canada? Especially in these uncertain times.
Garth: I am a salesperson first and foremost and the biggest motivator for me is driving results beyond the corporate expectations.
The Canadian Team had the advantage before the COVID-19 outbreak of already having a culture driven by a remote team approach. We are a team of 17 individuals managing six time zones. Some of the successful attributes of this approach have been:
- Constant communication between team members
- Trust in the team’s ability to drive the right results
- Empowering the team
- Focusing on outcomes, not activity
- Making sure the team has access to the right resources to be successful
- And a personal favourite of mine is the weekly virtual happy hour my Partner Leader; Rita Loncar schedules with the entire Canadian Team, which is not business-focused.
Zoe: Garth, why should people choose to work at Veritas?
Garth: There are many reasons an individual should consider Veritas. Veritas is the global leader in data protection dealing with 87% of the Fortune Global 500 and is recognized as the premier data protection organization worldwide. A compelling story for our customers. A strong culture of inclusion and diversity with an unwavering commitment to an ethical business approach. Fantastic commitment to the wellness of the Veritas Team, as demonstrated through our COVID-19 response and mobile work philosophy. Competitive compensation plans are a big plus as well.
Zoe: What’s your favourite Veritas solution or product?
Garth: The differentiation that the APTARE IT Analytics product brings in our executive-level conversations ranks as one of my favourite Veritas products and solutions. A great way to enable the sales and technical teams to have a unique conversation with present and potential customers.
Garth: Family, Family, and Family are my number one priority in my free time, followed by spending time with my family, especially my grandsons at our island cottage. At the cottage, I love doing anything related to building; framing, deck building, roofing, plumbing, and electrical projects.
Zoe: Finally, what technology can’t you live without?
Garth: My DEWALT 20-Volt/60-Volt tools. I have every battery-operated DEWALT tool that you can imagine.
Another great #LifeAtVeritas Interview! I particularly liked Garth's life/ethics rules, I love listicles, and these points really resonated with me. Also, I appreciated how he candidly shared how he leads the Canadian Team and some insights in managing and leading remote teams through this pandemic. It is good to hear how #TeamVtas is adapting around the globe during this pandemic. Hope you have found this interview useful, please leave your comments below. Thank you!
Finally, if you enjoyed this Life at Veritas blog post with Garth Scully, then do stay tuned as there will be more interview-style posts from other people at Veritas. And if this has inspired you to join our team, then check out our job vacancies on LinkedIn and apply here.
