Seamus Dunne: ‘If you don’t have a viewpoint, people can’t follow you’
From the early days of cloud computing at HP to 3D printing firm Mcor, Seamus Dunne is now leading Digital Realty’s Irish data centre business
Have an opinion but be open to ideas. You can’t really be a leader in business without having opinions but if you’re so opinionated that you can’t listen to other ideas, you’re a micromanager. That’s probably the best piece of business advice that I ever got.
If you don’t have a viewpoint, people can’t follow you. But you have to make people feel like they can express their view, even if it’s different.
You have to have a shared purpose. The McLaren Formula One team had a simple saying. It’s probably oversimplified, but for this decision we’re about to make, does it make the car go faster? If it doesn’t, forget it. Whatever your business is, get a shared purpose and make sure it’s understood and explain why it’s important.
