Success in leadership is about making yourself redundant: Ben Dawson, VP Cisco ANZ

The ultimate yardstick for leadership success that Ben Dawson, VP Cisco ANZ uses is whether or not he can make himself redundant.

The head of Cisco in the region spoke exclusively to Digital Nation Australia about the evolution of his leadership style over time.

“In any role I've had in leadership, and I've had several of them over the journey at Cisco, the way I gauge success is: do I feel like I've ultimately made myself redundant?” he said.

“I get to a point in my role where I can look around the business and know that I've developed the talent, skills and leadership qualities in those around me that means that I can step out and have somebody fill that space or have the team be able to fill that space. That to me, is the definition of success. Others will be the judge of how good I am at that.”

Dawson told Digital Nation Australia that success in leadership does not mean having all the answers or knowing all the details.

“Earlier in my leadership journey, there was much more of an expectation that I felt I had to know everything about everything to prove I had a handle on the business,” said Dawson.

“Whereas as I've run larger teams, larger businesses, I realised it is not necessary. I try to build a culture where people will anticipate what I need to know, when I need to know it. And so I'll know the right things at any point in time. I've had to let go so that people feel like they've got the space to do their things as well.”

Ultimately, it's about giving employees the right tools, the right development and curating the right environment to get the job done, without getting in their way. With this support, individuals will often grow to deliver what needs to be done, he said.

“Success for me is where we don't have to micromanage people's activities.

“A good week for me is where we've decided as a leadership team what we want to focus on, what our priorities are, what are the critical things that need to be done, and then the next time we talk about that is when it's done.”