Growing up in the early 2000s, Raymond McCullagh saw firsthand the explosion of technology now ubiquitous in our daily lives. As a digital native, he was along for the ride of the evolution of mobile phones, cloud computing and much more. And he knew from a young age he wanted to be a part of it.
After graduating in 2020, he joined Avocado Consulting’s graduate program, which gave him the opportunity to forge relationships and gain valuable experience across a wide array of technologies and solutions. Since then, he’s developed a passion for solving business problems, helping others be successful and leaving a positive mark on the people he works with. That includes learning and coding AI algorithms to help improve the solutions and build working models that can be deployed across the company and even with clients. His efforts and contributions have not gone unnoticed by peers.
McCullagh received the 2024 CompTIA Community 2024 - ANZ Future Leader Award for his success and innovation in advancing the technology industry. We asked McCullagh what challenges and opportunities he sees in the market, and what he’s learned about leadership. Here’s what he had to say.
What does the CompTIA Community ANZ Future Leader Award mean to you?
Receiving the ANZ Future Leader Award has been both a humbling experience and one that has allowed me to reflect on the many challenges, people and other leaders that have helped me on my journey to become the best leader I can be. When I received this award, it asserted to me that compassion, dedication to craft and a willingness to speak up are all traits that everyone should employ, regardless of whether they consider themselves a leader. It has encouraged me to continue that philosophy and to share it with everyone I work with.
Who has had an influence or played a big role in your career and why?
Both Mohamed Chmais and Mohit Dewan have had an invaluable impact on my working style and trajectory. I have worked with Mohamed frequently at Avocado and he has shaped my view of the ‘ultimate professional’ as someone who is well-connected, client-focused and outcomes-focused; all of which I aspire to. Mohit Dewan has always been an exceptional mentor and leader. Through him I have grown to appreciate both the macro—looking at the ‘big picture’ of both technical and non-technical problems, and the micro—such as the importance of small conversations and how to appreciate different people’s needs.
What is the biggest challenge facing the IT Industry for the next five years?
I believe the next challenge facing the industry is managing, navigating and responding to the rapid changes in technology capability and demand as trends emerge and recede. We've recently seen an explosion of attention towards technologies such as cryptocurrencies, NFTs and generative AI. While GenAI is a revolution in a lot of ways, it demanded a shift in focus—whether realistic, constructive or not—for large swathes of the industry to focus on this new capability. The industry will need to ensure these rapid shifts don’t endanger their ability to operate through turnover in talent or loss of capabilities.
What is the biggest opportunity for ANZ MSPs?
The shift to greater complexity is a constant for many organisations, whether that's due to introducing AI capabilities, coordinating multiple silos of business or keeping track of the environments they now utilise. I feel MSPs have an opportunity to be the guiding hand and to operate as partners with clients through managing not just the technical complexities, but process and cultural complexities that come with many organisations. Many clients don't have the expertise to effectively manage vendors, SaaS providers and their own infra. However, MSPs are positioned to effectively translate, coordinate and excel within all the noise.
What advice do you have for being a good leader?
I feel that all too often leaders choose to rely too strongly on a single style of leadership, rather than adapting their leadership style to the situation and/or people relevant. This could be either “leading the pack” from the front, from behind or somewhere in-between. Effective leadership needs the leader to know when to lead by example and work alongside those under them, and when it would be more constructive to lead less directly by steering the conversation but not taking control. Remember to listen to those you're leading, as leadership is a two-way street, not just top-down.
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