Breaking Borders by Kate Isler

Author:Kate Isler
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harpercollins Leadership
Published: 2020-12-31T00:00:00+00:00

* * *

The voice in my head kept repeating, “What have you done?”

* * *

The trip continued several hours later without incident. I landed in the middle of the night and collected my bags. I was not an experienced traveler. Instead of a few large suitcases that could be loaded on a trolley and put easily into a taxi and a hotel room, I had five small bags of varying shapes and sizes. The first penalty was the extra bag charge from British Airways, followed by several trips to and from the bag carousel, the taxi, and into my hotel room.

After a restless first night, I pulled myself together and drove my rental car across the sand for my first day of work at the Microsoft Middle East office (Microsoft ME). I jumped in with both feet and both hands. The largest IT event in the region was taking place in three and a half weeks, and Microsoft ME had an enormous presence. To the team, I was the instant expert on all things Microsoft and marketing; it was overwhelming but fun. I worked on every aspect of the event, from media relationships and partner presentations to lighting in the booth and shopping for clothes for demo people to wear. It was fifteen-hour days, a decision every minute.

Sonja, the owner of our marketing agency that Doug and I had met on our first visit, became a friend and partner immediately. Sonja knew everyone in the business community and how to get things done in Dubai.

GITEX was a three-day annual event. The Middle East/Africa regional director, Bryan, and the Microsoft International VP, Chris, were both coming to the trade show, along with several other international guests coming to conduct partner meetings and technical presentations. I planned to return to Seattle two days after the trade show ended.

I spent the whole night before the event making sure everything was working and in order. I had just enough time to shower and change before greeting the international executives and partners as they streamed to our booth in the main hall of the exhibition center.

On the second day of the event, Microsoft ME hosted a meeting for all the regional partners so they could meet with the VP from Redmond. This meeting turned out to be the most important of my career in the Middle East. Microsoft and Bill Gates were already iconic: Bill was a visionary and our partners all wanted a piece of his rising star.

I was the only woman at the meeting in a room full of thirty-five Microsoft partners from more than twenty countries. The first thing that Chris did as he stood up to address the group about Microsoft strategy and business plans in the region was to introduce me. He gave them my name and title, then said that I was in the job to represent Bill Gates, and whatever I said was to be heard as the direction of Bill Gates, and they should respect me as they would him.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.