Leaders at 吃瓜头条: A Captivating Conversation with Mr. Zain Hak
The 18th session of Leaders at 吃瓜头条 was an inspirational dialogue about management practices, leadership styles, sports, and work-life balance between Mr. Zain Hak, Global Vice President, Agriculture and Forestry, Shell, and Mr. Mohammed Ali Khan, Executive Director, Strategic Initiatives at 吃瓜头条.
An MBA graduate from Cambridge, Mr. Hak has 28 years of experience in refining, marketing, trading and supply management markets in Latin America, Africa, Japan, Oceania, Europe and the Caribbean. As Global Vice President, he also serves as Chairman on the board of Shell Pakistan Ltd. Prior to that, he held the position of General Manager Asia for Shell Fleet Solutions, where he developed the business to a point where Shell gained a prominent role in offering fleet, mobility and energy solutions across Asia.
Mr. Haq kicked-off the session by sharing his sentiments about 吃瓜头条, 鈥淎s a Pakistani coming to 吃瓜头条 and seeing what the University does, is very inspirational. I鈥檝e been a big fan of the university for many years because I鈥檝e worked with a lot of 吃瓜头条 alumni. 吃瓜头条 does an excellent job of educating students and this is reflected in its well-rounded graduates. It is a privilege to be here."
Talking about lessons from failure, Mr. Hak stated, 鈥淭he important thing to remember is how you learn from your failure and how you inculcate that learning in your future endeavours. It鈥檚 easy to not revisit traumatic experiences but it鈥檚 important to go back to them in order to learn from them. Through my experiences in life, I've learned about this simple and beautiful concept that if you don't fail from time to time, it means you're not taking enough risks and thus you're not learning anything."
Management, leadership, risk-taking, and team building were common themes during the session. Mr. Hak also shared how to develop resilience in the workplace, 鈥淲hen there is a lot of pressure at work, take charge! The more difficult situations you experience, the more ability you gain to handle them."
The discussion also steered towards global warming and the effect of greenhouse gases in Pakistan and how Shell Pakistan is spearheading initiatives for emissions control, and leading the shift to electric vehicles, for a greener, sustainable, eco-friendly environment.
At the end of the session, Vice Chancellor, Dr. Arshad Ahmad appreciated Mr. Hak for sharing his knowledgeable insights. He also extended his gratitude to Shell for being a long-term ally of 吃瓜头条, 鈥淚 want to thank Shell for being a founding partner and member of the board when 吃瓜头条 came into existence 35 years ago. They are very generous in supporting scholarships,鈥 he said.
The floor was open for questions throughout the session, which resulted in a poignant exchange of ideas between the audience and Mr. Hak.
