KEY POINTS:
You get the feeling that Katrina Troughton is more than a little uncomfortable at being singled out as a mould-breaking high-achiever.
Okay, so when she was appointed as IBM's New Zealand managing director in October 2004, aged under 40, she was the youngest person ever appointed to that
role.
And yes, she has spent all her working life with the same company - joining as a graduate trainee in 1990. She admits that, in today's world, with Gen Y employees ubiquitously seen as the young and the restless, that may seem a little unusual.
But she's just done what was right for her at the time and there's nothing unusual about that. So, no, she doesn't feel that landing the top job in just 14 years constitutes a "meteoric rise".
Indeed, she seems a little embarrassed at the suggestion.
"The question people ask me a lot is, 'Did you start with this idea that you wanted to be managing director?' And I didn't.
"But the two things that I've always looked for are that I'm challenged and I'm learning new things ... I've had a lot of opportunity to have some really strong experiences that have given me the background and the grounding [for management].
"I think what has actually happened in my career is that every time I got to the point where I've got a bit bored, an opportunity has popped up and IBM has challenged me with it. And suddenly it's, 'Oh, what a fabulous opportunity'." Take how Troughton joined IBM in the first place.
It was, she admits, somewhat accidental, but one of those unmissable opportunities.
"I didn't go out looking for a career in technology and if you'd asked me I would have laughed at you," she says.
Having been accepted into medical school straight from Hutt Valley High, Troughton decided to take a year off to study other subjects that interested her - such as economics and commerce.
Enjoying them too much to quit, she ended up doing a double degree in science and commerce, and never made it to med school.
In her final year, like all about-to-be-graduates of the late '80s and early '90s, Troughton knew she had to actively hunt for a job. Unemployment was high and actually landing a job was a skill in itself.
"I think most of us were pretty happy if you got a job, let alone a job that paid you well and trained you."
So graduates were advised to go to as many interviews as possible, to get used to the process, then, when they were at an interview that really mattered to them, they'd get it right. Troughton went to a few interviews - including one with IBM.
"Selling is an art and, in hindsight, I think they asked me a lot of questions about what I liked doing, what I was interested in and why, and then told me that this was my opportunity to go and do that.
"Because I was really interested in medical science - around what difference it can make to people - this whole new idea that technology is really enabling some of the change in many of our industries was brought to life in those interviews and I think that was sold to me really well."
It's something that continues with IBM today, she says - that search for people with the right attitude, rather than necessarily the right qualifications.
"What I think IBM has always had a strong tradition of is that we hire a lot of people who aren't IT graduates by background. IBM has a strong history of training graduates, so I think they looked for characteristics and passion and interest as opposed to 'have you done programming 101?"'
After the graduate programme, Troughton moved into the PC and software area which was, at the time "considered novel and unusual".
"Probably in those days I knew less than the average graduate does when they start working now.
"It's amazing how quickly you become an expert when no one else is doing it."
By 1994, she had been appointed New Zealand software manager - a job that "sounded bigger than it was".
"At the time that role was not a large role.
"But I was part of the NZ executive team, so that opportunity to hear and understand and work with the board and team was just fantastic."
After three years, she reached the stage most New Zealanders in their 20s reach - thinking it might be time to head overseas for a while.
Enter one of those fantastic IBM opportunities.
A job working in data management across the entire Asia-Pacific region became available. Troughton jumped at the chance.
It was a role that changed her opinions and shaped her approach to management.
"The opportunity to work in Asia, across different cultures, different management styles - the different ways you have to motivate and think about employees - really taught me a lot about how important a lot of our diversity policy is, and the difference you can get in a team through differentiation.
"There's absolutely more than one way you can do something and still have a successful outcome."
Troughton doesn't like to generalise, but when asked to give an example, she agrees to - just this once - explaining the "really interesting" different cultural approaches to tackling the same company project.
"We try things, New Zealanders and Australians, we go 'oh, I think we could do it like this' we always just start, we get into it, we adjust and we change, and we're getting through the list and, 'oh, that didn't quite work, so let's do it like this'.
"And we can't understand why other people haven't quite started - 'hell, you should just get into it'.
"Whereas, what I saw in the Japanese was that they're just incredible thinkers and very collective. So they don't do anything until they've really planned it and thought it through.
"But when they execute, they execute. Everyone's aligned, going in the same direction and they just execute very tightly."
Other cultures want to have a tight definition of the rules at every stage of the process.
"Once you mix three or four people with different experiences and backgrounds, then you get some interesting conversations and different outcomes altogether."
It taught her to feel more comfortable about sometimes relinquishing control of the process, instead learning to focus on the big picture.
"I think it really taught me to think in terms of outcomes. I think you learn that there's absolutely more than one way to do it.
"Maybe the way that you think you should do it isn't necessarily the right way and you have to have a level of trust in people about what the outcome will be.
"So I think it's helped me to change, to focus far more on what the outcome is, to focus on the things that are important and let people have that space to go do it."
After four years - during which time the job grew and changed dramatically, exposing Troughton not just to different cultures, but also the skills required for successful takeovers - it was time for another change.
She took on the role of general manager of software across Australia and New Zealand and then, two years later, it was time to head back home to oversee the New Zealand operation.
She is not about to advise anyone on whether they should advance their career by actively seeking new jobs with new employers or whether they should stick with one company and work their way up.
She says it all depends on what you personally need to do well.
"The first and most important thing is what a person's trying to achieve and what they want to do.
"But I think from my perspective, I was quite clear on what I wanted, in that I like a challenge - I actually know I need an environment that does have a level of change. I do get bored and you don't get the best from me.
"I've been lucky enough to have some very, very different roles and that's the real advantage of a really large organisation, in geography [and] the challenge of different products and different clients, a whole set of different challenges, and that's what's driven me.
"I think the most important thing is being clear on knowing what it is that gets the best from you and then matching that."
