Who Are You Helping Grow Along the Way?

One of the things I enjoy most about leading the Data Protection team at Avanade is watching the people I work with grow.

Seeing their progress and hearing their feedback makes me reflect on something I've been learning over the past few years: how closely our own growth is connected to the people around us.

Learning to Lead

I've been working in technology for over 18 years. During that time, I've faced many challenges and had the opportunity to work with some incredible professionals.

Three leaders, in particular, had a lasting influence on me because of how they managed their teams, shared knowledge, and helped others develop.

During my MBA in Cyber Security — Governance & Management at FIAP, I met Professor Eloísa. Her classes on soft skills and leadership made me pay closer attention to how I connect with people and how I can contribute to their development.

I started to realize that leadership requires looking beyond your own responsibilities and understanding how your decisions affect the people you work with.

I've been trying to put that into practice every day, through conversations with my team, supporting them through challenges, and helping them find opportunities to grow.

I'm still learning, and there's plenty of room for improvement.

Taking Chances Before Feeling Ready

This shift in perspective has also influenced how I approach my own challenges.

Earlier this year, I had the opportunity to work on global projects. My English wasn't nearly as fluent as I wanted it to be, and it would have been easy to turn down the opportunity, telling myself I needed more preparation.

But I decided to give it a try.

I went through the interviews, was selected, and spent months working in an international environment, building relationships based on trust and delivering positive results.

That experience played an important role in my professional development and contributed to the business case that supported my recent promotion to Associate Manager at Avanade.

And to think I could have missed that opportunity simply because I believed I wasn't ready yet.

Outside of work, building Rooki and TANQI has taught me a lot as well.

Entrepreneurship has challenged me with difficult decisions, mistakes, experiments, and people whose experiences are very different from mine. I've learned a great deal by listening, reconsidering ideas, and trying again.

All of this happened while I was also learning how to balance my career, education, entrepreneurship, and family life.

Growing Together

I'm married and the father of a four-year-old boy. My wife is one of the people who encourages me the most to take on new challenges.

I also learn from her about the importance of helping others and caring about the environment we create for the people around us.

Since becoming a father, I've been thinking about this even more. About the example I want to set for my son and the kind of society I'd like him to grow up in.

Over time, I've come to understand something better:

When I genuinely care about helping other people grow, I grow too.

I learn from their experiences, reconsider my own decisions, and develop skills I probably wouldn't have learned on my own.

That's why, when I think about my promotion, I think about so many people.

My family, the leaders who believed in me, the colleagues who shared their knowledge, and the people I have the opportunity to work with today.

I'm grateful to every one of them.

Becoming an Associate Manager is an important achievement for me, and it comes with new responsibilities.

I want to keep growing as a professional and, above all, as someone who can help others grow.

Looking back at everything I've experienced so far, I realize that some of the most meaningful moments of my career happened when I had the opportunity to grow alongside someone else.