Two up-and-coming leaders have opened up on their career highs and views on the changing nature of leadership.
Jenny Latimer and Manpreet Bath both featured in Oxygen Influencers 2024, in partnership with Nebula Global Services, which highlighted 25 women and men driving positive industry change from outside the boardroom.
Asked to reflect on her career high, Bath – who is EMEA DEI Lead for DCC Technology – recalled a $20m-plus win while working for Supermicro.
“I was screaming and shouting making sure everyone knew I’d close it,” she said in a special Oxygen Influencers podcast (see above).
Latimer, who is now COO of 100% remote reseller Highgate, picked out the results of a recent employee survey as her proudest moment.
“It just felt like the vision when I first started at Highgate… and making Highgate a place where everyone can be the best version of themselves…it just felt like we’d achieved it with those results.”
“That’s what leadership needs to be”
Latimer and Bath were put forward for Oxygen Influencers partly on the strength of their involvement with non-profits The Channel Community and the Technology Community for Racial Equality (TC4RE), respectively.
Bath noted that “everyone seems to be struggling” with getting “the masses” involved in efforts to boost inclusion in the channel.
“It’s going to be a big focus for us for the next 12 months,” she said.
The duo also reflected on the shift in qualities needed to be a leader in today’s market, with Bath saying it is now as much about ethical concerns and company culture as it is about “numbers, numbers, numbers”.
Latimer agreed, saying Highgate’s 100% remote, four-day-week model plays into that trend.
“We always say being 100% remote we’re not going to appeal to everyone,” she said.
“However, for people that are looking for that work-life balance, or maybe an employer that’s going to put employee wellbeing at the forefront… we still want growth of course, we still want to be profitable as a business – but actually there is that balance and I think that’s what leadership needs to be.”
In the podcast, the duo also open up on:
- The work they are doing with TC4RE and The Channel Community
- Breaking the taboo of talking about pay
- Whether a 4-day-week really works
- Their goals for the next 12 months
- Who has the better walk-on song
View episode 1 – which featured a former carpenter and teacher who are now bagging £1m-plus deals in the channel – here and episode 2 – featuring an ESG bombshell drop from Janice Phayre and Shola Sullivan – here.
