Linda McIntosh

My philosophy is that how you treat others is how you treat yourself. I want my contributions to be valued and therefore, I believe everyone has something to bring to the table. Diversity is a core strength to be successful. Diverse opinions must be considered as they contribute to the whole. I am not an ‘I’, but part of a ‘we’.  

My passion for people translates into how I work. The way people are valued can make or break the delivery of a product or service. Without the desire to listen, drive innovation, maintain persistent communication, bring order to chaos, and inspire passion in others you will fail in your delivery; this is what I have learned over the years. When you have these key elements, you will have a paradigm-breaking team who together, can deliver on time and win awards. 

My brand of compassionate leadership ensures alignment and continuity of the overall organization strategy that typically involves change management. Finding the balance of people, process, and tools is a starting point to bringing about organization delivery changes. Since I live, eat, and dream strategic product/program and portfolio delivery implementation, I always focus on listening to people first.

Over the years, my successes have come because of developing and practicing good leadership skills. I discovered through many trials and errors that a good leader not only has to possess the attributes I learned in my personal life but should also cultivate a people centred leadership. Build team collaboration, encourage teams to question the status quo, develop purpose-driven missions, take ownership, be mission and action-oriented, self-disciplined, and above all possess the ability to mentor and inspire others. At the end of the day, a good leader knows how to create great leaders. 

Currently, I manage Microsoft Azure Cloud DevOps portfolios in the Azure Global Commercial Industries group, targeting enterprise oil and gas customers migrating to Microsoft Azure cloud with the goal of reducing costs. If I weren’t in the tech industry, I would become an educator. I have a passion for transformative mentoring, uplifting, inspiring, and motivating people.

My mantra is, “Practice compassionate leadership, focus on improvements, bring solutions to the hardest problems, know your worth and don’t ever, ever quit.”

-Dr. Linda McIntosh