Key to Success for Brazilian IT Manager: People
By day, Sandra Portugal is an IT Relationship Senior Manager at Oi /Telemar in Brazil. But by night, she runs a blog for women called Projetando Pessoas (English translation: Projecting People) where she shares her own professional learnings and sparks conversations with women in Brazil about their own career experiences.
We were delighted to connect with Sandra and learn more about her path to success.
Tell us more about your career path – how did you get to where you are today?
SP: I’m an IT Senior Manager with 31 years of professional experience. I’ve been working for Telecom Companies for the last 13 years.
Despite of having a bachelors degree in Mathematics, a master degree in System Engineering and a MBA in Business Management, my success came from managing people!
Despite of having a bachelors degree in Mathematics, a master degree in System Engineering and a MBA in Business Management, my success came from managing people!
Being a leader of people and working on team motivation helps me to manage great teams and lead them to success.
Why did you choose to launch Projetando Pessoas? What do you hope to accomplish with this site?
SP: Projetando Pessoas is a website which shares career experiences. Some are my own professional learning, corporate cases, and team building stories.
We talk about human values, corporate culture, principles, concepts, methods, career choices, people management, dreams and action plans to achieve goals.We also talk about all of the right ways to project manage people.
It is a great pleasure to contribute and help others with life choices and career decisions. In a near future, I hope to work as an independent consultant and a coach, sharing my experience and leading others.
What do you think has made you so successful?
SP: Personal determination, resilience and the luck to have great people working with me. Members of my team, good bosses, great clients/users, they have all been my partners, helping me build and accomplish success projects.
What experience have you learnt from your success and failure?
SP: From success I have learnt to be humble, because life is like a ferris wheel with up and down moments. We always have to treat people equally in despite of the circumstances.
From failure I have learnt to be strong, to be like a Phoenix, rising from the ashes and reborn, to be able to shine again.
What things or people have helped you develop professionally along the way?
SP: Great leaders as well as simple bosses have helped me to develop competence by their examples.
Excellent authors and books gave me ideas and theories to introduce in my routine, helping me to improve my own knowledge about career development.
What advice would you give to other women who want to advance in their careers?
SP: Be strong, and independent, so that you can grow by yourself. Be competent, implement ethics and responsibility in the work you do. Learn to balance work and personal life.
What’s the riskiest thing you’ve ever done professionally?
SP: The riskiest thing I’ve done professionally was when I stepped down from the highest position in a company, so that I could balance my career and my family. I made the right choice and despite looking unwise in the eyes of competitive women and men. Later, they understood that it was the perfect thing to do at that moment.
New and exceptional opportunities reveal themselves, and I had proved that we must dare.
What percentage of time do you spend networking, and who do you network with?
SP: I network frequently. Each interaction, each opportunity, each professional or personal moment may be an important moment share.
We construct our personal image daily by being the best we can, sharing the values we have and putting it into practice. I network throughout every online outlet, like Linkedin, Facebook, Twitter, Blogger, Google+ and Skoob.
Network frequently. Each interaction, each opportunity, each professional or personal moment may be an important moment share.
We construct our personal image daily by being the best we can, sharing the values we have and putting it into practice.
Follow Sandra on Twitter @Projetapessoas, like her blog on Facebook, or connect with her on LinkedIn.
