Five minutes with: David Heffernan, Vice President Human Resources, Global Business Services Europe at IBM

Five minutes with David Heffernan, Vice President Human Resources, Global Business Services Europe at IBM, urges HR to sate its curiosity.

What do you think is key to being a successful in your role?

I think the key is to look at the people challenges in the shoes of the business; ‘what are the overall challenges that the business will face?’ and then being able to look at them through a people lens. Start with the business perspective first, and then overlay a people lens on top of it.

One of the things I found to be critical to success is to be relentlessly focused on continuously upgrading your team, and having the best people around you. There is only so much you can do yourself; you are an enabler of a much bigger organisation and you’re an enabler of a team of HR people, and the overall impact you and your team create will depend on the calibre of the individuals within it.