CIO Profile: Archie Jackson on how building teams is like parenting

Archie Jackson, senior director and head of special initiatives, corporate IT, and cybersecurity at Indian consulting and technology services firm Incedo, has had the good fortune to work with great mentors at key stages of his career. Over the years he has learned the importance of purpose — why he does what he does — and how creating an effective team can be like raising a family.

After graduating top of his class in electronics and communication engineering, Jackson joined a wiring harness manufacturing plant as an engineer where his job was to manage the IT, network, operations, and sales.

He found his first purpose when he joined the HP global tech support team where he was responsible for solving customer problems and answering them. After being rejected for his communication skills not being of international standards, he describes this as the first of his many successes.

“I gave it all I had. I remember the longest I had stayed on is for 16 hours, for a troubleshooting phone call. I was the only technical person globally who could troubleshoot the issues of HP’s first wireless printer and make it work,” Jackson recalls.

Jackson met his first mentor when he moved to DXC Technology. “Some of his words I still remember are ‘walk the talk’, ‘deserve and then desire’, ‘perform or perish’. He helped me build confidence and to remain focused to do something new, something better every day. He helped me learn how to build great teams.”

And that’s what Jackson continues to even today: “The energy and enthusiasm that keeps me going are to continue to do something new, something good, and something better each day,” he tells CIO India. Here are edited excerpts of his conversation.