Sonia Couto, managing director of Konverge, says listening is her most important skill as a leader, even when she thinks she knows the answer. She relies on her smartphone as her only essential device and would spend her final two hours with family in Kitchener-Waterloo.
Definitely dealing with people, having different personalities, different experiences. Sometimes, you know, as a leader, you have a vision and a direction that you want to take, but there are all these other people on your team who have different ideas. The one of the most difficult things is to tell people, I wasn't asking, I'm just telling you to do it the way I want you to do it. It's, it's really hard to, to come out and express that. My phone. I can't live without my phone. I, I can live without my laptop. I can live without my TV, but my phone has everything that I need. I need and want. If for whatever reason I can't get access to all of my other devices, I have everything on my phone. I have the capability to do everything that I would normally do on a regular day if I have my phone on me. That is the most important piece of technology that I, that I use on a daily basis. Definitely, 100%, the most important skill for my role is Listening. I have to sometimes just keep my opinion to myself, and sometimes even if I know what the right answer is and how to get the job done right, listening to what others have to say is really important. I would get out of my house, get in my car, drive an hour to Kitchener-Waterloo area, and be with my family. That's where I want to be if I have 2 hours left on this earth.
