Samia is a Pakistani citizen with a rich experience of more than 14 years in Human Resources of multinational companies with multiple industries, which includes Healthcare, Management Consultancy, Hospitality and Financial Services. In her most recent role, she’s working as Country Head HR for S&P Global Pakistan. She has an innate passion for philanthropy through community outreach. She was awarded Global Goodwill Ambassador for Pakistan for her contributions towards the community in 2019. Also, she was recently awarded “Exceptional Woman of Excellence” by Women Economic Forum for her professional endeavors in the community, with a distinctive voice and vision that are inspiring and innovating a new narrative of leadership in all walks of life.
FWM: You have rich experience in Human Resources of multinational companies. Tell us about your background.
In my most recent role, I’m working as Director and Country Lead HR for S&P Global Pakistan. My purpose is nurturing talent for scalable business and sustainable planet by guiding leaders to engage, lead high performance teams, create EVP by building a competitive advantage, drive cultural transformations, and develop talent and leadership pipeline to deliver sustainable profits. I’ve an innate passion for philanthropy. Completed my LEAD journey from Stanford Graduate School of Business and am a Senior Certified Professional from Society for Human Resources Management, US. My agenda ensures that the right talent is placed in organizations, with the right capabilities and mindset to deliver high business impact deliverables. My personal goal is to build an inclusive and collaborative environment where all diverse perspectives are valued for driving
innovation.
“People are at the forefront of business, which is why it’s time for HR to step up and digress from the idea of having a seat at the table and take on more leadership roles.”
Samia’s Awards and Recognitions include:
Inducted into the WAW Hall Of Fame at the 5th annual WAW – Women Appreciating Women prestigious conference (2021).People are at the forefront of business, which is why it’s time for HR to step up and digress from the idea of having a seat at the table and take on more leadership roles.
Inducted into The Global Library of Female Authors with 99 inspirational women (2020).
Recognized by Women Economic Forum as “Exceptional Woman of Excellence” in Cairo
(2020).
Appointed as Global Goodwill Ambassador for Pakistan (2019).
FWM: “My purpose is to nurture talent for a scalable business and sustainable planet.” Expound on this idea.
I want to tell people who want to work in HR to go for it! People are at the forefront of business, which is why it’s time for HR to step up and digress from the idea of having a seat at the table and take on more leadership roles. I want to see more leaders from HR backgrounds, because without happy, healthy, engaged, and hardworking people the rest is irrelevant. All your strategic plans and wise business ideas are worthless if you can’t nurture talent and make sure everyone is feeling mentally at peace and fully engaged to contribute.
If you’re looking for growth areas, I’d say Learning is hugely important. Reskilling our people is going to be one of the big challenges for businesses as Machines and Technology will continue replacing some non-value add roles.
FWM: You work with many leaders to guide their teams to deliver sustainable profits. Share a few examples.
In my view, the most important traits I look for in a leader for coaching are being open-minded, tolerance, compassion, forgiveness, understanding, and honesty in all they think, speak and act they will create an environment of truth, trust and transparency for the rest of the world to follow by example. It is easy to mould these traits into successful leaders.
The strategies vary between hiring bright fresh kids right out of the colleges, identification of key talent and grooming them to be future leaders. I am very happy to report that I’ve seen some of the high performers who started their careers right out of college.
An example would be that I don’t delay immediate feedback to help people see their blind spots. Once I saw two leaders having a conversation which didn’t go well. I made an effort to set up time and meet with the one leader privately whose conversation seemed off, and offered him support by telling him “I heard the conversation during the meeting today and it was a moment with your colleague. It didn’t go very well. Let me share my point of view on how this so that it may go better moving forward.” The leader was quite happy and thanked me with the immediate feedback and the collaboration increased on professional grounds with his colleague. Offering people, the psychological safety so that they confide and have honest conversations and be there as a trusted partner has come a long way. Also, celebrating their moments of excellence is of vital importance.
FWM: Why are people coming to you today?
I spend hours every day talking to people and even during weekends. It’s one of the things about my job I’m extremely passionate about which is to connect with people at deeper psychological level. I’m hearing that people’s desire for personal safety, wellness, happiness, self-motivation, and professional enrichment.
In a nutshell, it’s about helping people thrive by listening to their personal stories. The best way we can help people do that is by helping people identify their purpose and equipping them with the skills to pursue it. This is about people proactively shaping their future and being in charge of their destination by being on the driving seat to gear towards making their vision a reality.
FWM: You were honored with the “Exceptional Woman of Excellence” by the Women Economic Forum. What did this mean to you?
I feel a great sense of responsibility on my shoulders to nurture and bring life to dreams of people. It’s a very special feeling when you see people who believe your vision and follow your journey. My journey may not be perfect or beautiful but it’s a blend of hard work, failures, key reflections, struggles, disappointments, learning and “aha moments”. Winning this award was a very pleasant surprise and I feel truly blessed for the limitless opportunities presented to me in life.
FWM: What are your goals for 2021?
Global Goals gives us all a sense of our purpose, a reason to believe, bringing our dreams to life, a need to take collective and sustainable action and to make this world a better and safer planet for all to live.
Here are my goals for 2021:
Goal #1:
Empower people/communities (from all walks of life) and help them unleash their truest potential and I’m personally working to inspire a million people so that they can pursue their dreams.
Goal #2:
Support child abuse prevention program “My Body is My Body” and make a positive impact on lives of 100 children.
Goal #3:
Advance the Human Resources profession by working on 2 global projects of high impact.
FWM: Please share social media links.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/samiaqamar/
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZgaVOVwfAITOQogzfpo74w
